- Location
- Staring into the void
Those outside of the Meng clan weren't the leaders of the plot.
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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
- They/Them
Also, barring any funny gags I'll want to include or so on, I think I have a framework/outline for the rest of the series!
- Location
- Finland
I was not aware that King Sun was part of the Meng clan.
Joking, yes, but my point is fairly clear, you can cause problems at the wedding, if you can use disposable pawns and make sure anyone who knows about you dies before Shenhua gets to them.
I don't expect it to be likely, Meng had a pre existing faultline to exploit, and a senile sovereign to pull out of death bed, and the wedding is going to have lot heavier security.
But there is an obvious path to messing with things and getting away with it even with Shenhua's truth powers, we have seen how it can be done.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
I, uh, don't think it's wise to doubt the investigative skills of someone who cultivated Truth so hard she overthrew the Hui.I was not aware that King Sun was part of the Meng clan.
Joking, yes, but my point is fairly clear, you can cause problems at the wedding, if you can use disposable pawns and make sure anyone who knows about you dies before Shenhua gets to them.
I don't expect it to be likely, Meng had a pre existing faultline to exploit, and a senile sovereign to pull out of death bed, and the wedding is going to have lot heavier security.
But there is an obvious path to messing with things and getting away with it even with Shenhua's truth powers, we have seen how it can be done.
- Location
- Finland
Yes, she is great, but we have on screen evidence of just how you can work around her abilities.
Again, it would be extremely hard, and it is very unlikely, but it is not impossible.
A little piece of Sun lore. I asked Yrs and he said this bit of the Emperor (Warhammer 40k) unleashing his power is like something a Dusk Sun cultivator might do. Construct art calling on the shades of those past for support:
The Emperor raised His sword in a two-handed grip. As His knuckles tightened, the geography of circuitry ignited along the blade's length, spitting electrical fire and wreathing the sword's length in flame. He didn't speak. He didn't look at any of His warriors. The sword came down. The webway caught fire.
Shapes raged in the flames – shadows and suggestions doing battle with the daemons, their fiery forms indistinct and ever-changing. The fire-born avatars of fallen Ten Thousand, knee-deep in psychic fire and thrusting with lances of flame. The silhouettes of Space Marines, the betrayed dead of Isstvan bearing axes and blades and claws; half-seen sigils of slaughtered Legions obscured by the ash of their blackened armour. A giant among giants, its great hands bared and ready as it seared forwards at the crest of the tidal fire. The tenth son of a dying empire, so briefly reborn in his father's immolating wrath.
- Master of Mankind
The Emperor raised His sword in a two-handed grip. As His knuckles tightened, the geography of circuitry ignited along the blade's length, spitting electrical fire and wreathing the sword's length in flame. He didn't speak. He didn't look at any of His warriors. The sword came down. The webway caught fire.
Shapes raged in the flames – shadows and suggestions doing battle with the daemons, their fiery forms indistinct and ever-changing. The fire-born avatars of fallen Ten Thousand, knee-deep in psychic fire and thrusting with lances of flame. The silhouettes of Space Marines, the betrayed dead of Isstvan bearing axes and blades and claws; half-seen sigils of slaughtered Legions obscured by the ash of their blackened armour. A giant among giants, its great hands bared and ready as it seared forwards at the crest of the tidal fire. The tenth son of a dying empire, so briefly reborn in his father's immolating wrath.
- Master of Mankind
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- Location
- Staring into the void
I think the Meng approached the Sun, not the other way around. Because the Bao are getting very good connections with the Bai, and they likely wanted to offset that by curating connections with the Sun.I was not aware that King Sun was part of the Meng clan.
Joking, yes, but my point is fairly clear, you can cause problems at the wedding, if you can use disposable pawns and make sure anyone who knows about you dies before Shenhua gets to them.
I don't expect it to be likely, Meng had a pre existing faultline to exploit, and a senile sovereign to pull out of death bed, and the wedding is going to have lot heavier security.
But there is an obvious path to messing with things and getting away with it even with Shenhua's truth powers, we have seen how it can be done.
Shenhua would have definitely known the full extent of the Sun involvement, but is politically limited in what she could do to follow-up.
- Location
- Finland
That sounds, unlikely.
Both the Meng initiating contact, and Shenhua knowing Sun involvement.
But it is not impossible.
Entirely wrong as per the interlude. The Meng had Sun agents infiltrated in them to begin with, agents which were burned and self destructed to deny intel about their true operators.
The Meng were an easily manipulated tool, and definitely not blameless, but what actually happened was that the Sun stirred some shit to fester dissension in the ranks and weaken the border security.
A list of Xiangmen activities to unjumble my thoughts somewhat. Ordering is unreliable, and I'm sure I've forgotten things. There's also definitely going to be other things happening that haven't been signaled to us yet. I should be asleep, but lists bouncing around compiling themselves in my head is the anti-sleep.
Touching base with that nerd school for nerds that sold us a bunch of nerds:
It did get mentioned, but I expect this to be off-screened or just be a short blurb/few paragraphs as part of Xiangmen establishment fluff.
Artist meet and greet date with Meng Dan:
Effectively, the task is to go shopping for propaganda, and I think Meng Dan'll have a funny perspective on that front. It's a shame Ling Qi doesn't like him more, or they'd be able to use her Domain's super-secret communication right in front of people. As-is, they'll have to be moderately circumspect with their disreputable dialogues.
Does make me think it's a bit of a shame we're not poking at art with a husbando with more direct salience to the field, either Anxi as a fellow musician or Bao Qian as an artist(ry) fancier. It'll be good regardless. Thematically, solid odds of playing partial prelude to Jia story time.
Bai contingent reunion:
Gonna see our cool friend Meizhen again. It's been a while! I'm curious to see what interesting new scars, physical AND emotional, her retinue has picked up in their time back home in Thousand Lakes. Some kind of update on what's the deal with the Sun/Western Territories would also be welcome. It tends to slip through the cracks despite its strong relevance to the overarching geopolitics of the age.
-time with Bai Xia Anxi:
Gonna be some kind of time spent with Anxi. No clue what it could be, honestly. More, other, art stuff? Can't be astronomy cause we're nowhere near our designated observatory, and flowing water and Xiangmen are a poor mix so no water snek shenanigans seem forthcoming. Music and being a secret poor are the only other things I know about the guy.
Story time with our Senior Brother the Jia patriarch:
We've been instructed to ask one of the most powerful, important, and influential people in the province tocall us stupid tell us the story of the Hui's pyrrhic trapcard dipshittery they unleashed on the people of Xiangmen in their last battle. Considering the dude's epithet is "The Orator", I expect to get punched in the brain real hard by the telling. Which, you know, good.
Actual Wedding:
Should be a gay old time. Expecting at least one ominous proclamation, one conversation with an uncomfortably bigshot personage seeking Ling Qi, and one thinly veiled challenge/laying down of the gauntlet.
Shu Yue waybreaking fieldtrip:
I think the biggest question for how this journey in the darker corner of the Roots' liminal goes is whether Sixiang comes along or not. A little bit of waybreaking should be right up Sixiang's alley, and would be an amazing opportunity to explore their nightmare aspect. Though I'm not sure the venue is fantastic?
Iirc, Sixiang described their nightmare as tripping up the overconfident bigshot, spoiling the plans of the great who think they're greater than they are, that kind of thing. Could be getting the details wrong, but that's the gist I remember. The Roots is billed as being more about how Joe Blow was ground down under the (mis)rule of the Hui. Could be a real enthusiasm gap there, especially since I'm pretty sure we're there to study and pick up/adapt the methods of the (dream remnant) Hui; we're not the good guy or on the side of the oppressed in the scenario, not with the waybreaking tutelage goal we have within the framework of the dream journey.
Granted, I've made no secret of my skepticism towards this sub-arc, and it could be tinting my view of things. I've got concerns with the relevance to Ling Qi and what her actual philosophical/emotional struggles are where it comes to affecting the Ways of others. "Hui were monsters to The Public" just doesn't seem very salient to Ling Qi's particular circumstances, either looking backwards or (especially) moving forwards. Anyway.
Ith bureaucracy rodeo:
Current thinking, I do think this ends up after the wedding. Everyone/thing seems like it's in party mode. Would be a bit of an odd interrupt to go poke at this thing mid-overarching-arc. Maybe as an intermission of sorts? Not a huge amount to say about this one, since we don't know the shape or size of the disconnect between the Ith and the Emerald Seas ministries.
Will be nice to see Diao Hualing again- hoping we don't get a repeat of missing her on the way out of the arc. She's currently our only contact/insight into the Diao, and frankly the broader Emerald Seas nobility scene, so denouements with her are actually pretty important for understanding what we're doing/whatever it will be we have just done.
Seriously, our circle of peer-ish acquaintances is really really bad in terms of Emerald Seas political awareness. Our best two others are a Meng Dan and Bao Qian, a historical scholar from an infamously and performatively insular clan and a guy who soft-exiled himself to the boonies out of vaguely felt discontentment with his clan who also spends a big chunk of the year on the road in the genuinely least politically relevant region of the province. Gan Guangli's from a commoner background and had an entire year less than us to do relevant networking in the Argent Sect. Our Bai pals are literal provincial outsiders. Xia Lin is a career soldier on the back of pure merit, the poor dear. Bian Ya exists, but she's not really accessible to us. We desperately need to cling to any and all politicking palerinos we make.
Diao Hualing a cute.
Touching base with that nerd school for nerds that sold us a bunch of nerds:
It did get mentioned, but I expect this to be off-screened or just be a short blurb/few paragraphs as part of Xiangmen establishment fluff.
Artist meet and greet date with Meng Dan:
Effectively, the task is to go shopping for propaganda, and I think Meng Dan'll have a funny perspective on that front. It's a shame Ling Qi doesn't like him more, or they'd be able to use her Domain's super-secret communication right in front of people. As-is, they'll have to be moderately circumspect with their disreputable dialogues.
Does make me think it's a bit of a shame we're not poking at art with a husbando with more direct salience to the field, either Anxi as a fellow musician or Bao Qian as an artist(ry) fancier. It'll be good regardless. Thematically, solid odds of playing partial prelude to Jia story time.
Bai contingent reunion:
Gonna see our cool friend Meizhen again. It's been a while! I'm curious to see what interesting new scars, physical AND emotional, her retinue has picked up in their time back home in Thousand Lakes. Some kind of update on what's the deal with the Sun/Western Territories would also be welcome. It tends to slip through the cracks despite its strong relevance to the overarching geopolitics of the age.
-time with Bai Xia Anxi:
Gonna be some kind of time spent with Anxi. No clue what it could be, honestly. More, other, art stuff? Can't be astronomy cause we're nowhere near our designated observatory, and flowing water and Xiangmen are a poor mix so no water snek shenanigans seem forthcoming. Music and being a secret poor are the only other things I know about the guy.
Story time with our Senior Brother the Jia patriarch:
We've been instructed to ask one of the most powerful, important, and influential people in the province to
Actual Wedding:
Should be a gay old time. Expecting at least one ominous proclamation, one conversation with an uncomfortably bigshot personage seeking Ling Qi, and one thinly veiled challenge/laying down of the gauntlet.
Shu Yue waybreaking fieldtrip:
I think the biggest question for how this journey in the darker corner of the Roots' liminal goes is whether Sixiang comes along or not. A little bit of waybreaking should be right up Sixiang's alley, and would be an amazing opportunity to explore their nightmare aspect. Though I'm not sure the venue is fantastic?
Iirc, Sixiang described their nightmare as tripping up the overconfident bigshot, spoiling the plans of the great who think they're greater than they are, that kind of thing. Could be getting the details wrong, but that's the gist I remember. The Roots is billed as being more about how Joe Blow was ground down under the (mis)rule of the Hui. Could be a real enthusiasm gap there, especially since I'm pretty sure we're there to study and pick up/adapt the methods of the (dream remnant) Hui; we're not the good guy or on the side of the oppressed in the scenario, not with the waybreaking tutelage goal we have within the framework of the dream journey.
Granted, I've made no secret of my skepticism towards this sub-arc, and it could be tinting my view of things. I've got concerns with the relevance to Ling Qi and what her actual philosophical/emotional struggles are where it comes to affecting the Ways of others. "Hui were monsters to The Public" just doesn't seem very salient to Ling Qi's particular circumstances, either looking backwards or (especially) moving forwards. Anyway.
Ith bureaucracy rodeo:
Current thinking, I do think this ends up after the wedding. Everyone/thing seems like it's in party mode. Would be a bit of an odd interrupt to go poke at this thing mid-overarching-arc. Maybe as an intermission of sorts? Not a huge amount to say about this one, since we don't know the shape or size of the disconnect between the Ith and the Emerald Seas ministries.
Will be nice to see Diao Hualing again- hoping we don't get a repeat of missing her on the way out of the arc. She's currently our only contact/insight into the Diao, and frankly the broader Emerald Seas nobility scene, so denouements with her are actually pretty important for understanding what we're doing/whatever it will be we have just done.
Seriously, our circle of peer-ish acquaintances is really really bad in terms of Emerald Seas political awareness. Our best two others are a Meng Dan and Bao Qian, a historical scholar from an infamously and performatively insular clan and a guy who soft-exiled himself to the boonies out of vaguely felt discontentment with his clan who also spends a big chunk of the year on the road in the genuinely least politically relevant region of the province. Gan Guangli's from a commoner background and had an entire year less than us to do relevant networking in the Argent Sect. Our Bai pals are literal provincial outsiders. Xia Lin is a career soldier on the back of pure merit, the poor dear. Bian Ya exists, but she's not really accessible to us. We desperately need to cling to any and all politicking palerinos we make.
Diao Hualing a cute.
The wedding itself is on the 10th of the next month, so I am almost sure the most of the stuff will be before wedding itself.
Also we just go a terror attack set, it would make sense get something done earlier...
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- Location
- FR
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Agreed, but for a more practical reason: the travel time from the canopy of Xiangmen to the under-roots might be considerable (at least a day ?), and the Renxiang party can't afford to have its diplomat away while they're doing menial work for the wedding. Also, the job itself might not be just a meeting, but a few over at least a handful of days.
I would like to bask in Diao Good Girl Points from whatever the outcome of our little meditation stunt on the way up north was. Maybe Diao Hualing gives us a cookie or something.
That is a worthy goal, I agree!
- Pronouns
- He
I want Chinese pumpkin cakes (南瓜饼), those are amazing
The lack of peer acquaintances was the big downside of picking the negotiations over the inter-sect tournament, so definitely a weakpoint we should try to address at the wedding. Considering it will be the most diverse and important collection of nobles we have interacted with or will interact with again any time soon. I feel if we don't pick up at least a Diao Hualing level contact from the Jia clan (which is very likely after meeting with our Senior Brother) and a handful more provincial nobility contacts, we have sort of squandered the opportunity. Additionally my hope is that we finally get a peer acquaintance from the Peaks that isn't insufferable, because so far they have all been stuck up racists but I feel like ignoring the Imperial Capital in the long run isnt good.
It'd be great if it happens, but it's an open question if we'll have the time. Even just catching up with our friends feels like it's going to be something of a squeeze.
We've already got two high-level abstract Sovereign guided lesson plans we lined up, and at least one of them's supposed to thread through other activities we're doing, with Shu Yue posing us questions in preparation, which eats into relevant word counts. The scope of Huisheng's assignment is really difficult to judge; it's not even tied into an art project, it's just a thing we're doing. Unclear what ramifications and spillover potential it has. And obviously those, plus the reunions, plus the Ith commitment, plus boy dates are all before any wedding related drama comes up. The danger of scheduling things to happen later when they come up instead of; we hit later and there's a lot scheduled.
So, I dunno.
For the Jia, there's a semi-peer 4th realm Argent core sect member who both Cai Renxiang and Gan Guangli have had some contact with. There was also a Jia guy who seemed closer to our age/realm who spoke up in the latter half of the summit. Iirc, after the fight had happened? He seemed pretty enthusiastically pro-Renxiang.
The clan I'm really worried about is the Luo. They're on a direct collision course with our interests in the Wall, and they're well-equipped to co-opt or undermine our efforts. They've already got loads of moderate-but-old-and-storied Weilu cred and far more agents who can action it, which gives them a huge amount of latitude to shift related narratives. If that was the only thing on the table, I wouldn't be worried from what we know of Luo disposition, but there are also material concerns enough to incentivize them putting those tools to work.
It comes down to the Wall, the east, and the White Sky. The Luo already want to open a second road to the White Sky, before the shovels have even struck soil on the first. We put that off for a century, for now, but it isn't an issue we'll have the same initiative and influence over when it resurfaces. White Sky lands are more densely populated in the north to the east, south of Luo lands. The Luo overwhelmingly outstrip the economic, military, and organizational capacities of our little outfit in Shenglu, and they'll hold those comparative advantages for a lot longer than one century. The Luo also have a lot of grudges with Cloud Nomads, who the White Sky are trying to integrate into their own populations, and which our territory split deal partially accelerates.
There's two main issues. One, we don't want the Luo eating our lunch. The most direct thing would be undercutting us on trade, but there's also the possibility of stealing the lead on political interconnection, whether by simple volume of communication or an area we have zero slack capacity to compete with, like marriage ties. And if that road in the east gets built, if Xin'an (and Shenglu) isn't the chief corridor, this would be happening where we don't have the ability to even monitor it. The second issue is one of political tension. Letting the Luo potentially take the lead on interaction with the White Sky means they can cause political fires without our input. Especially with the Cloud Nomad integration issues and tensions at play. And heck, some of the Luo's more southern lands are occupied by what we call the Old Tribes(remnant hill tribes under Emerald Seas authority), and we don't know what they think about any of this. Haven't asked them, so it's tough to judge the potential impacts.
In summary, we badly need a peer Luo contact, and I'm still annoyed we let the one who a) existed and b) was perfectly situated to be aligned with our political interests for the sake of his own ambitions slip through our fingers. Any Luo assigned to us fundamentally doesn't have that Ling Qi/Renxiang-loyalty point going in their favor. They can only be viewed as a more traditionally, and uncomplicatedly, Luo-clan aligned agent. Which isn't the end of the world! But it's about a tenth as useful.
Edit: Hmm. It would be a bit funny if we met Luo Zhong during the offensive, and he was looking for a reputationally tenable out to a more political station than the Argent Sect's continual war footing. "Provincial heir's entourage" has enough prestige nobody could criticize him. Especially since it's not free from martial engagements by any stretch of the imagination, what with us meeting him during a campaign, and Renxiang's normal stationing being on the fringe southern border. But if somebody wanted off of the Ith front specifically....
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We can infer that they like what Ling Qi has been doing since she's got Reputation 4 with them. Approaching Alingge at some point would be advised.
I meant that we don't know how their presence would influence cross-border interactions with the White Sky in the East. I can think of a half dozen factors that could be influenced one way or the other by it, but we don't have the depth of familiarity with the Old Tribes to make any real guesses at it.
We know that their cultivation style is basically "Dungeons and Dragons adventurer," and that they've been weakening from not being able to fully embrace the lifestyle.
What they need most of all is room to go on RPG adventures.Yrsillar said:
Amusingly, it looks like kneecapping the Meng reactionaries will benefit the Hill people there.
Edit: It occurs to me that this is an entire culture that would look at Ling Qi Adventures (TM) and go "Good shit! Keep it up!👍"
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Year 45 Month 13 Arc 2-3
She recovered herself with a sharp intake of breath, a brief burst of ice cold qi clearing the cobwebs from her head. Sixiang was going to make so much fun of her later. She felt very silly as her eyes flicked to the side, not quite able to meet his, if only for a moment. Being able to feel and know the depth of sincerity in his words was NOT helpful here.
"...If you know what you are choosing to get into, then the Ling family will accept the Meng's proposal."
He tilted his head, looking up at her from the garden below. "Oh, and what is your opinion?"
She wrinkled her nose at him, returning her gaze to his. Honestly she wasn't some silly little girl. She didn't know how he got her like this. "I want to see if you can keep this up Meng Dan. And if I really am half so 'fascinating' once you've spent a little more time around me."
He frowned slightly, studying her. "If I am being honest? I can't quite say I like this degree of self deprecation you are putting on. If I have truly made you uncomfortable…"
She grimaced. Qiyi's ribbon hand patted her on the back. Oh, what was she doing, falling back on bad habits like this.
"...Sorry, I have been a little overwhelmed. No. You've never said anything but kind words that I appreciate. I suppose I'm just a little overwhelmed, along with everything else happening these days. Even I really wonder if I should really be at the center of so much attention."
"Perhaps consider fewer acts of nigh suicidal heroism in pursuit of your ideals," Meng Dan said dryly. "Ah well, I suppose I shall have to hold off on the poems written in hearts blood then."
"Oh? Yes, I imagine it would make rather poor ink if we're being honest," Ling Qi replied. "One shouldn't just repeat tradition after all."
"One should iterate on it?" Meng Dan asked, finally stepping away to mount the stairs and join her up on the porch. She straightened up to remain on level with his gaze. "Though I am a bit surprised you know that story to begin with."
"I do actually know a little history. I'm not entirely operating off of skims of books and art meditations."
Though she only knew the story of the second Meng patriarch and their romance with the music grandmistress Lei from Bao Qian, ironically.
"I would never cast aspersions," Meng Dan said. "No. Miss Ling has always been surprisingly well informed on odd stories and fringe details."
"I may not be a scholar, but am very enthusiastic about my walks," Ling Qi chuckled.
"We will have to share on sometime, in better times. The deep library is a fascinating place," Meng Dan said brightly. "I imagine the rest of the liminal is no less so."
"Honestly, tantalizing me with things like 'deep library'," Ling Qi said, shaking her head. "We will. But, for now we have some theater reviewing to do, don;t we? Is Yinhui coming?"
"She will, I assume the same of your Sixiang?"
"Yes," Ling Qi said, turning to head inside. "I'd feel terrible, leaving them out of something like this."
"Oh yes, my Yinhui would be giving me the cold shoulder for months. You would be surprised by the level of pliticking and backroom dealings that go on behind a stage. She adores untangling those sorts of things."
"Of course she does," Ling Qi shook her head. She supposed just focusing on the art wasn't possible at their level, even if they weren't directly seeking good contacts. "Shall we then?"
She thought it was going to be a fun day regardless.
"I gotta feel for the lady playing the duchess. That's gotta be nerve wracking," Sixiang said, hopping to their feet as they continued to applaud among the dwindling sound.
At the very least those heels she was in had to be absolutely atrocious on the ankles, if you were still low enough in cultivation to be bothered by those kinds of things.
"Well, even if it weren't for the wedding I imagine they're well practiced on this performance. 'In the Shadow of Xiangmen' is easily the most popular play going over the events of her Grace's rise." Meng Dan said. "I did enjoy the particular use of smoke as a medium for projecting images when depicting the nightmares and dream techniques employed by the Hui. An excellent use of low cultivation resources to achieve a good effect."
"This troupe is known for preferring low cost effects wherever possible. Their current patron, the Zuo patriarch prefers it, as they perform for the trunk districts often, and even the rootway once a year, at his largesse," Yinhui said clinically. "One notes that this is thus cost saving as much as a point of pride and craft."
"Wouldn't it be better to go all out when performing for the Cloud districts then?" Ling Qi wondered. "...Wel,l it might throw off their preparations, and I suppose the audience was quite excited…"
"It's novel. Up here everyone can afford to throw around flashy illusion formations, the practical effects are their 'brand' though, if I'm getting the shortstack right," Sixiang chuckled
"Unneccessary nicknames aside, that is correct," Yinhui said cooly, peering over the top of her spectacles as she looked up from the open scroll in her lap, full of notes taken during the play.
Qiyi likes the pretty rainbow dress, Can we…?
In private. No rainbows in public. Ling Qi thought quickly. Sixiang shot her an amused look, catching the passing thought.
"I'm most surprised that the ending allowed the Duchess to be shown struggling so…. And for things with the prime minister to be…"
So obvious.
"Her Grace personally approved it. It's true that it isn't shown beyond Xiangmen due to… subversive elements, but as I am sure lady Ling has picked up, Xiangmen's culture is a bit strange even for the Emerald Seas."
It was, Ling Qi had to admit. But, observing the chatter in the low seats and the faces of the troup members behind the stage curtain, basking in the warmth of a successful performance.
She couldn't say it was bad.
But the lanterns were growing brighter, and the show was over. They had arranged some closer interview's later, but for now they had other troups to observe. She…
She raised an eyebrow, looking up at Meng Dan, who stood in front of her with his hand extended. "A little bold."
"Not at all. It is Xiangmen after all," he said breezily.
She hummed, holding his gaze for a long moment. He didn't waver.
She set her hand in his, and allowed him to help her rise smoothly to her feet. She ignored Sixiang's vigorous eyebrow waggling as they leapt to their feet with a whisper of creaking wood and shifting gears from the puppet body beneath their illusory face.
He closed his hand around hers, and she let him. It was… warm.
Though perhaps not for him.
"Lady Ling will find that I will not crumble before petty trials," Meng Dan said dryly, the frost spreading over his finger retreating as she allowed her body heat to rise to something more reasonable.
"Just checking," Ling Qi chuckled. She pulsed her qi in just the right way and the moisture from the melting frost wicked away, vanishing into the air as a brief puff of mist. "So, next on the itinerary is…?
"The Wandering Way Company, performing in the more prestigious Sapphire Sun theater," Yinhui said crisply, hopping from her own seat, tucking her scroll and writing case under her arm with a professional air at odds with her youthful appearance. "We should begin moving, I estimate it will take thirty seven minutes to navigate there under current traffic, barring use of exotic methods."
"And we should avoid those," Meng Dan chuckled, giving her hand a slight pull. She followed along, their spirits falling in beside them. "I doubt either of us wish to get tangled in the security right now."
Ling Qi glanced to her side as they left the box, beginning to descend the stairs which led to the theater exit. Indeed if she slid her gaze a few layers deeper than the surface reality, she could see some of it, the interlocking gears of radiant light and harsh, thrumming constructs of deadly, implacable intent running throughout the cities structure, winding around the great tree like ths scaffolding on a tower.
And that was just what was obvious and visible to even the sharpest third realm senses.
"I have to think no one would be mad enough to cause trouble, criminal, foreigner, ith or no," Ling Qi said quietly. Her skin crawled with the sensation of being under the gaze of so many arrays and wardings. Though it was her own fault. If she'd not chosen to look directly at them, she'd have felt nothing at all.
Meng Dan smiled tightly. "One would think, but it is ever a mistake the underestimate the madness of fools."
She gave a shallow nod, retracting her senses from the liminal, and letting the pressure fade. She couldn't argue with that.
The Sapphire Sun Theater was at the far edge of the second western radial of the cloud districts. Unlike the more grounded structures that lay more trunkward out here, where the vast branches tapered and tapered, splitting off into sub branches and twigs that wee only the size of ancient centennial trees themselves, the architecture was far more fanciful. TheSapphire Sun theater was no different, built from what seemed to be a single massive sapphire geode some hundred and more meters across, carved with outer balconies and delving tunnels all alight with the entertainments within, the whole structure was suspended between two sub branches by a web of glittering silvery cables, and rocked ponderously in the currents of air which blew through the high branches.
The narrow bridge they took to reach it, a construction of silver cable and luxuriously painted and polished tiles, barely wide enough for three people walking comfortably abreast, said a great deal about the more exclusive traffic it was expected to carry.
"A much higher end clientele for this group then?"
Meng Dan, who had not released her hand, nodded cheerfully. "Of course, we've looked into several mid range productions, as evening falls the more experimental and high production shows begin."
"...Why though?" Ling Qi wondered, listening absently to the whistle of the wind through the gaps in very slowly rocking bridge. "I can't imagine what difference time of day would make…"
"...Most cultivators at your level still like to sleep Qi," Sixiang said dryly.
"Oh, right," Ling Qi said, wrinkling her nose. "So these performances are aimed more at higher realms?"
"Somewhat," Meng Dan said. "Spectacle is spectacle, and I do find some of the technical innovations on display in these sorts to be absolutely fascinating."
"You do like that word," Ling Qi teased. They were allowed inside with only a brief flash of the Cai clan's insignia, provided for the day's events. The delving winding halls into the center of the geode showed their splintered gleaming reflections at all angles, a kaleidoscopic display that would have been very disorienting to a mortal.
"Only because the future does show so many possibilities," Meng Dan said. "One might discover many threads to the future by studying what is being developed in workshops and alchemists halls."
"I dunno, I think you find more innovation in people doing more with less," Sixiang mused.
"Disagree. Cleverness is laudable, but it is more impressive to see what is done at the limits of what is possible," Yinhui said, adjustingg her little note taking satchel. "...What is possible without Sovereignty. These things can be improved for further spread after."
"What is your opinion?" Meng Dan asked as they were waved through the tunnel-halls end, intot he cavernous spherical theater hall, so full of light and sound before the show had even begun.
[ ] She preferred the lower end innovations, which could be seen by far more people.(Focuses your part in Cai Renxiang's cultural appeals on the lower and mid nobility.)
[ ] She did see the appeal in straining the boundaries of possibility, even if it was more exclusive by necessity. (Focuses your part in Cai Renxiangs cultural appeals on the mid and upper nobility.)
"...If you know what you are choosing to get into, then the Ling family will accept the Meng's proposal."
He tilted his head, looking up at her from the garden below. "Oh, and what is your opinion?"
She wrinkled her nose at him, returning her gaze to his. Honestly she wasn't some silly little girl. She didn't know how he got her like this. "I want to see if you can keep this up Meng Dan. And if I really am half so 'fascinating' once you've spent a little more time around me."
He frowned slightly, studying her. "If I am being honest? I can't quite say I like this degree of self deprecation you are putting on. If I have truly made you uncomfortable…"
She grimaced. Qiyi's ribbon hand patted her on the back. Oh, what was she doing, falling back on bad habits like this.
"...Sorry, I have been a little overwhelmed. No. You've never said anything but kind words that I appreciate. I suppose I'm just a little overwhelmed, along with everything else happening these days. Even I really wonder if I should really be at the center of so much attention."
"Perhaps consider fewer acts of nigh suicidal heroism in pursuit of your ideals," Meng Dan said dryly. "Ah well, I suppose I shall have to hold off on the poems written in hearts blood then."
"Oh? Yes, I imagine it would make rather poor ink if we're being honest," Ling Qi replied. "One shouldn't just repeat tradition after all."
"One should iterate on it?" Meng Dan asked, finally stepping away to mount the stairs and join her up on the porch. She straightened up to remain on level with his gaze. "Though I am a bit surprised you know that story to begin with."
"I do actually know a little history. I'm not entirely operating off of skims of books and art meditations."
Though she only knew the story of the second Meng patriarch and their romance with the music grandmistress Lei from Bao Qian, ironically.
"I would never cast aspersions," Meng Dan said. "No. Miss Ling has always been surprisingly well informed on odd stories and fringe details."
"I may not be a scholar, but am very enthusiastic about my walks," Ling Qi chuckled.
"We will have to share on sometime, in better times. The deep library is a fascinating place," Meng Dan said brightly. "I imagine the rest of the liminal is no less so."
"Honestly, tantalizing me with things like 'deep library'," Ling Qi said, shaking her head. "We will. But, for now we have some theater reviewing to do, don;t we? Is Yinhui coming?"
"She will, I assume the same of your Sixiang?"
"Yes," Ling Qi said, turning to head inside. "I'd feel terrible, leaving them out of something like this."
"Oh yes, my Yinhui would be giving me the cold shoulder for months. You would be surprised by the level of pliticking and backroom dealings that go on behind a stage. She adores untangling those sorts of things."
"Of course she does," Ling Qi shook her head. She supposed just focusing on the art wasn't possible at their level, even if they weren't directly seeking good contacts. "Shall we then?"
She thought it was going to be a fun day regardless.
***
"What interesting effects," Ling Qi said, her vision going past the descended curtain, to view the props as they were failed away from the stage. The spider puppet wasn;t nearly as large seeming without the magnifying formation at the stages edge making everything occurring so much larger, but it still took four red realm stagehands to operate the thing."I gotta feel for the lady playing the duchess. That's gotta be nerve wracking," Sixiang said, hopping to their feet as they continued to applaud among the dwindling sound.
At the very least those heels she was in had to be absolutely atrocious on the ankles, if you were still low enough in cultivation to be bothered by those kinds of things.
"Well, even if it weren't for the wedding I imagine they're well practiced on this performance. 'In the Shadow of Xiangmen' is easily the most popular play going over the events of her Grace's rise." Meng Dan said. "I did enjoy the particular use of smoke as a medium for projecting images when depicting the nightmares and dream techniques employed by the Hui. An excellent use of low cultivation resources to achieve a good effect."
"This troupe is known for preferring low cost effects wherever possible. Their current patron, the Zuo patriarch prefers it, as they perform for the trunk districts often, and even the rootway once a year, at his largesse," Yinhui said clinically. "One notes that this is thus cost saving as much as a point of pride and craft."
"Wouldn't it be better to go all out when performing for the Cloud districts then?" Ling Qi wondered. "...Wel,l it might throw off their preparations, and I suppose the audience was quite excited…"
"It's novel. Up here everyone can afford to throw around flashy illusion formations, the practical effects are their 'brand' though, if I'm getting the shortstack right," Sixiang chuckled
"Unneccessary nicknames aside, that is correct," Yinhui said cooly, peering over the top of her spectacles as she looked up from the open scroll in her lap, full of notes taken during the play.
Qiyi likes the pretty rainbow dress, Can we…?
In private. No rainbows in public. Ling Qi thought quickly. Sixiang shot her an amused look, catching the passing thought.
"I'm most surprised that the ending allowed the Duchess to be shown struggling so…. And for things with the prime minister to be…"
So obvious.
"Her Grace personally approved it. It's true that it isn't shown beyond Xiangmen due to… subversive elements, but as I am sure lady Ling has picked up, Xiangmen's culture is a bit strange even for the Emerald Seas."
It was, Ling Qi had to admit. But, observing the chatter in the low seats and the faces of the troup members behind the stage curtain, basking in the warmth of a successful performance.
She couldn't say it was bad.
But the lanterns were growing brighter, and the show was over. They had arranged some closer interview's later, but for now they had other troups to observe. She…
She raised an eyebrow, looking up at Meng Dan, who stood in front of her with his hand extended. "A little bold."
"Not at all. It is Xiangmen after all," he said breezily.
She hummed, holding his gaze for a long moment. He didn't waver.
She set her hand in his, and allowed him to help her rise smoothly to her feet. She ignored Sixiang's vigorous eyebrow waggling as they leapt to their feet with a whisper of creaking wood and shifting gears from the puppet body beneath their illusory face.
He closed his hand around hers, and she let him. It was… warm.
Though perhaps not for him.
"Lady Ling will find that I will not crumble before petty trials," Meng Dan said dryly, the frost spreading over his finger retreating as she allowed her body heat to rise to something more reasonable.
"Just checking," Ling Qi chuckled. She pulsed her qi in just the right way and the moisture from the melting frost wicked away, vanishing into the air as a brief puff of mist. "So, next on the itinerary is…?
"The Wandering Way Company, performing in the more prestigious Sapphire Sun theater," Yinhui said crisply, hopping from her own seat, tucking her scroll and writing case under her arm with a professional air at odds with her youthful appearance. "We should begin moving, I estimate it will take thirty seven minutes to navigate there under current traffic, barring use of exotic methods."
"And we should avoid those," Meng Dan chuckled, giving her hand a slight pull. She followed along, their spirits falling in beside them. "I doubt either of us wish to get tangled in the security right now."
Ling Qi glanced to her side as they left the box, beginning to descend the stairs which led to the theater exit. Indeed if she slid her gaze a few layers deeper than the surface reality, she could see some of it, the interlocking gears of radiant light and harsh, thrumming constructs of deadly, implacable intent running throughout the cities structure, winding around the great tree like ths scaffolding on a tower.
And that was just what was obvious and visible to even the sharpest third realm senses.
"I have to think no one would be mad enough to cause trouble, criminal, foreigner, ith or no," Ling Qi said quietly. Her skin crawled with the sensation of being under the gaze of so many arrays and wardings. Though it was her own fault. If she'd not chosen to look directly at them, she'd have felt nothing at all.
Meng Dan smiled tightly. "One would think, but it is ever a mistake the underestimate the madness of fools."
She gave a shallow nod, retracting her senses from the liminal, and letting the pressure fade. She couldn't argue with that.
The Sapphire Sun Theater was at the far edge of the second western radial of the cloud districts. Unlike the more grounded structures that lay more trunkward out here, where the vast branches tapered and tapered, splitting off into sub branches and twigs that wee only the size of ancient centennial trees themselves, the architecture was far more fanciful. TheSapphire Sun theater was no different, built from what seemed to be a single massive sapphire geode some hundred and more meters across, carved with outer balconies and delving tunnels all alight with the entertainments within, the whole structure was suspended between two sub branches by a web of glittering silvery cables, and rocked ponderously in the currents of air which blew through the high branches.
The narrow bridge they took to reach it, a construction of silver cable and luxuriously painted and polished tiles, barely wide enough for three people walking comfortably abreast, said a great deal about the more exclusive traffic it was expected to carry.
"A much higher end clientele for this group then?"
Meng Dan, who had not released her hand, nodded cheerfully. "Of course, we've looked into several mid range productions, as evening falls the more experimental and high production shows begin."
"...Why though?" Ling Qi wondered, listening absently to the whistle of the wind through the gaps in very slowly rocking bridge. "I can't imagine what difference time of day would make…"
"...Most cultivators at your level still like to sleep Qi," Sixiang said dryly.
"Oh, right," Ling Qi said, wrinkling her nose. "So these performances are aimed more at higher realms?"
"Somewhat," Meng Dan said. "Spectacle is spectacle, and I do find some of the technical innovations on display in these sorts to be absolutely fascinating."
"You do like that word," Ling Qi teased. They were allowed inside with only a brief flash of the Cai clan's insignia, provided for the day's events. The delving winding halls into the center of the geode showed their splintered gleaming reflections at all angles, a kaleidoscopic display that would have been very disorienting to a mortal.
"Only because the future does show so many possibilities," Meng Dan said. "One might discover many threads to the future by studying what is being developed in workshops and alchemists halls."
"I dunno, I think you find more innovation in people doing more with less," Sixiang mused.
"Disagree. Cleverness is laudable, but it is more impressive to see what is done at the limits of what is possible," Yinhui said, adjustingg her little note taking satchel. "...What is possible without Sovereignty. These things can be improved for further spread after."
"What is your opinion?" Meng Dan asked as they were waved through the tunnel-halls end, intot he cavernous spherical theater hall, so full of light and sound before the show had even begun.
[ ] She preferred the lower end innovations, which could be seen by far more people.(Focuses your part in Cai Renxiang's cultural appeals on the lower and mid nobility.)
[ ] She did see the appeal in straining the boundaries of possibility, even if it was more exclusive by necessity. (Focuses your part in Cai Renxiangs cultural appeals on the mid and upper nobility.)
Last edited:
- Location
- Canada
Ling Qi: Ewww, I can't believe people sleep instead of meditating at such a crucial time of their cultivation. What a waste. Couldn't be me smh.
In the words of Ling Qi; "Skill Issue"
solarlight
Appreciative Archive Reader
- Location
- Netherlands
Glad to see a new update. Hope everything is sorted on your end Yrsillar.
These are very cute interactions! I am really happy to see how all the positive interactions directed at Ling Qi are helping out with bettering her self-image. She deserves to love herself!
These are very cute interactions! I am really happy to see how all the positive interactions directed at Ling Qi are helping out with bettering her self-image. She deserves to love herself!
Why are you so bloody cute Qiyi!