- Location
- FR
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Found it in the inventory (yrs messed up a spoiler, so it underLing clan finances and assets, reagent and archive assets, misc, and accidentally hidden in the large pill furnace's spoiler.)
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.
Alphaleph
The Firstiest of First
Sure she can.
The more important question is whether it's legible.
View: https://youtu.be/3ga0kSA0wyU?feature=shared
I wonder if this is a thing for Cultivators, where no matter how high they go, their writing is still as bad as when they're Red.
LucidProp
Pocky Eating MafiaDoka
The Ascendant Spirit of "Doctors are only able to write chicken scratch which must be divined and interpreted by specialists in the pharmacy".
Oh no, its because they imprint their intent when they write. Its always comprehensible to a qualified individual, while to anyone else its a doodle
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Real World Note: My mother is a doctor, and her handwriting is absolutely as bad as you'd expect and, because of this, I can tell you the reason why this is the case. As a child and all the way through High School, her handwriting was normal. In medical school, however, she needed to take notes so fast that it permanently messed up her handwriting.
Not super relevant to the discussion, but an interesting anecdote I thought I'd share.
Holiday schedule
- Location
- America
We did keep the painting arts and a lot of the art philosophy. Most of the material items like the statues and bling got put up for auction, and it was confirmed on discord that Meng Delun woke up to go view the tapestry that we gave to the Meng, and then when he was going back to his retirement home his caretakers told him about the summit while coaching it in terms that would purposefully incite him, then enabled him to move all the way over near the summit on some incitement and encouragment by deniable assets of the western territories.
Yeah...maybe not our best call.
Last edited:
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
Eh, it turned out alright. We lost some cache with the Polar Nations because of the instability, and Ling Qi got literally burned, but flushing out the Meng reactionaries and killing their credibility is a boon. Make no mistake, the Weilu Reactionaries were always going to move against us eventually, and this particular movement cost them nearly everything and gained them nothing. The Little Xiangmen court also gained a lot of rep from their handling of the situation. Strategically speaking the Meng's actions ended in a win for us... Though there were definitely costs.
It got everyone on our side and was a massive wound to the Meng reactionaries, creating and expanding the Emerald seas nationalist faction across the province giving ourselves and Renxiang major credibility to the point where Jiao and Xin see the future shifting enough in a positive way to have a child, so I do think it counts as one of our best calls
- Location
- Washington
If we didn't have meng delun trying to ruin things we wouldn't have had all those opportunities to impress Cao Chun without compromising our actual goals. It totally was our best call.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Yeah, the actions by the "reactionaries" allowed us to please the moi without compromising on the goals of the summit near as much as we likely would have had to otherwise; and in addition to the things previously said it also indirectly got us the (really cool and useful) Domain ability we now have, so I'd say things worked out in the end.
Also, unless I missed something, it wasn't stated at the time that giving the tapestry to the Meng would have caused the otherwise very unlikely series of events to occur as they did so…referring to it as "not our best call" seems rather odd to me.
Like, i don't know about you guys, but when I thought of potential consequences to giving the tapestry and stuff to them "A really old Sovereign getting really pissed off cause some treasonous elements of his faction wanted to use him as part of a plot to crash a diplomatic summit, cause multiple inter-province and international incidents, and then try and drag the rest of the Meng Clan down with them" definitely wasn't one of them. Unless there was foreshadowing for that, that I missed I really don't see how we could have foreseen such unintended consequences of our actions.
Also, unless I missed something, it wasn't stated at the time that giving the tapestry to the Meng would have caused the otherwise very unlikely series of events to occur as they did so…referring to it as "not our best call" seems rather odd to me.
Like, i don't know about you guys, but when I thought of potential consequences to giving the tapestry and stuff to them "A really old Sovereign getting really pissed off cause some treasonous elements of his faction wanted to use him as part of a plot to crash a diplomatic summit, cause multiple inter-province and international incidents, and then try and drag the rest of the Meng Clan down with them" definitely wasn't one of them. Unless there was foreshadowing for that, that I missed I really don't see how we could have foreseen such unintended consequences of our actions.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It certainly feels like a "hindsight is 20/20" situation to me. I'm sure there are any number of things that Yrs could have used as the catalyst for the event, this just happened to be the one that got used.
If I recall, we knew that the Weilu Reactionaries were pissed enough at us to do something to us, but it wasn't particularly predictable how they chose to attack us.
Fabula Amanti
I want a Grimoire, but I got books.
- Location
- Singapore
You know, with Xuan Shi basically declaring his intent to marry in, I wonder if his relatives back on the Isles would be curious enough to send a high realm observer to check on him and her. Also, would he be provided retainers? We've seen the Bai and Meng mentioned to have vassal clans and families as retainers I wonder if we would see want colorful characters might be interested to travel so far away from the Isles to serve.
It was the weilu themed party where we played Tsu in a play that really cemented their hate of us. (One of our only unanimous votes funnily enough.) The Meng at the sect, Meng De I think? Was a member of that faction and spread the story of what happened later which eventually reached the elder. Yrs mentioned that his social status have been destroyed in the sect now and he's desperately trying to regain it.
Last edited:
Indeed. Meng Delun provided a most auspicious sacrifice to commemorate the event
The only ting worse then being tribulated BY Ling Qi is being a tribulation FOR Long Qi
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Meng Delun throwing himself on the pyre of our ambitions as a supplementary blood sacrifice was very nice of him, for sure.
- Location
- California
We will honor his sacrifice by remembering his name, maybe.
Is this a bad time to ask who you're talking about? (/j)
Last edited:
Year 45 Month 13, Arc 4-7
She toyed with a few responses in the breath between one word and the next. This was a perfect example of her dilemma around how best to communicate a truth. Xia Anxi was not primed to believe the baldest version. If she answered so cleanly he would dismiss her, no matter how sincerely she spoke.
On the other hand, cloaking the truth too much would just give him the wrong idea, leave dissatisfied and unanswered, or worse, make him actively misunderstand. Here… she thought leaning close to the former was better.
"...She wants trust. I spoiled her in some ways, I think. I've seen how she worked on Xiao Fen."
Bare truth, followed by an aside that he could investigate himself to 'prove' it. He couldn't avoid interacting with the Black Viper after all, and this would put him more in the mind to pay attention.
"It's important for her to know you, so that she can trust you with more important things."
He didn't quite gape at her, or otherwise make a fool of himself as they crossed the gently swaying rope bridge over the vast drop below. It was a clear day and the great black and yellow and brown expanses of the winter fields below were visible through the thin clouds. He did stare at her incredulously out of the corner of his eye.
"And now you are needling me again."
"Only a little," Ling Qi replied lightly. "I know you dislike my wording, but the truth is there. Bai Meizhen may delegate to you, but she is not interesting in sitting in a closed palanquin, kept pure from the grimy world outside."
Play the part he wouldn't accept as a partial jest. It would be swept aside, but the words would stick in the back of his mind. She considered what could be shared. "It's frustrating for her to receive only the good news, the rosy news, you have noticed that, surely?"
Bai meizhen had mentioned such things in passing. Her friend was still very… prideful, and saw many things as beneath her, but Cai Renxiang had instilled some appreciation for accurate reports.
"I have," he replied grudgingly. "There is some value in not having to… massage the truth to avoid punishment, I will grant. Heiress Suzhen's harsh views toward that sort of thing are… disruptive though. Perfection is impossible, yet less is an insult to their sublime command. Things get done without the rulers being aware of every little stumble and have for ages. Inviting more scrutiny is… unwise. What does a lofty throne understand of production delays and snags in supply lines and other petty minutiae of trade and industry. It is a waste of their time."
"Only what you tell them I suppose, unless they are annoyed enough to learn themselves," Ling Qi said dryly. "So better that she know you well enough to see that there's no need to check then?"
"Better that my results speak for themselves. I am going to get myself into trouble, speaking the way she demands in front of another white serpent, one of these days," he grumbled.
"That almost sounded like a direct complaint. Aren't you afraid I will tell on you?" Ling Qi asked, tilting her head as they brushed past another pair of nobles, caught up in their own screening techniques. Ling Qi was polite enough to not poke through them.
"I do not know what game you are playing, but, some fragments of your needling line up with my own observations," Xia Anxi said grumpily. If that Keung can get away his passive aggressive routine without any censure, my words won't provoke a reaction either."
He really… resented having to learn a whole different system of etiquette, most of all, Ling Qi thought. That was what it was in his worldview. What she saw as friendly openness… for a Bai, he merely saw as a divergent and confusing new ruleset he was scrambling to learn. She could feel around the edges of that perspective. She had felt like that right at the beginning in the Sect, learning how the rules were different than those of Tonghou's streets…
…And where they were the same.
"I understand lady bai is fully in line with her Mother. If it helps maybe you should think of it as… getting ahead of where things are going?" Ling Qi mused.
"Yes, very helpful," Xia Anxi said, shaking his head.
"I think so," she agreed cheerfully.
"Hmph, it isn't a matter I control, so I may only ride the waves," Xia Anxi said. "I do not think I have ever heard someone weaponize optimism quite like you."
"I think that might be a little much," Ling Qi sniffed. "I'm not weaponizing anything. If I wanted to hurt you, I think you would very much know it, Xia Anxi."
She let the cold creep up, and he hunched his shoulders and grimaced. "I suppose I will just have to remain in your good graces then."
"You will," she agreed. How strange that he would feel more comfortable with this than anything else she had said today.
Honestly, it was good to be reminded that even things she saw as entirely good could be twisted around into malice or burdens in the minds of others. It was no wonder the Empire leaned so hard layers of obscuring formality to keep everything neutral.
Though that might have been the wrong comparison. After all the Bai were probably like that, before the Empire, from what she understood. Indeed, those lessons had probably been ones their ancestors had contributed to its construction.
"You know I've answered all these questions," Ling Qi said. "Would you be so polite to answer one of mine, Xia Anxi?"
"I would be rude to deny that," Xia Anxi said carefully. "You're canny enough not to ask something I can't answer."
"I wouldn;t want to make things awkward, no," Ling Qi chuckled. "No, nothing of the sort. I just wanted to ask you your honest opinion on the Emerald Seas."
"And I suppose you want me to throw propriety to the side hm? Speak candidly, like a drunk dockworker complaining about his overseer in the tavern?"
"I would appreciate if you left out the slurring and expletives. I am still a lady of refinement," Ling Qi sniffed with faux haughtiness, giving him an amused look.
"So that is your line? Fascinating," Xia Anxi said dryly. Shaking his head.
He didn't answer her as they began to climb the shallow steps grown into the upward curve of the branch they were ascending. Foot traffic was growing again as they left the industrial district and its environs inside. And she could see in the distance bright eye drawing color. That was probably their destination.
"You are a reservoir on the edge of bursting. Or at least a pack of cats all chasing different mice. Your Duchess is the Queen of those cats for now, but your Lady will have a struggle of it taking that throne. There is no clear expectations or traditions left to hold them together," Xia Anxi said. "That is what you are doing with this whole Weilu revivalist business, is it not? Attempting to cobble together a symbol you can use as a foundation."
"Is it?" Ling Qi wondered.
He snorted. "Being humble doesn;t suit you. It is a good scheme, and one difficult for any one of the 'cats' to raise their backs over. That your Lady inends to use her time well is a point in here favor and yours."
"Any group needs a story it can tell at its center," Ling Qi agreed. "I think Tsu and the Throne of seasons are not totally gone from peoples minds, as you implied."
"A fair point, but when every count has their own story of who 'Tsu' is it makes little difference. That too is baffling. Yao is Yao. The Fisherman, Inviolate Death, there is no variation in who he is, from the northmost shore to the southern fens. Yet here I would think there were a half dozen men called 'Tsu'. Stitching him back together again seems to be your project, and it is not one I envy you on. I expect you'll be assassinated long before you manage."
"I've not heard it put that way before, but I can't say its wrong," Ling Qi chuckled. "As for assassins, I am very good at catching knives."
If not always in a way her friends liked.
"I, on the other hand am very allergic to knives, and should like to keep them far away from me," Xia Anxi huffed.
"Oh? You have my sympathy, such an allergy must be a hellish one to live in the Thousand Lakes."
"You are not wrong."
+1 Community XP, +1 Power XP
"It was hardly that Sixiang," Ling Qi said. "Though he is fun to banter with, at least when he forgets to act like I'm probing him for weakness."
They were back in her rooms at the Cai guesthouse, the light of dusk bleeding through beneath the shuttered window. Steam curled up around her face as she poured from the teapot in her hands. It was a dark, bitter blend. Not usually her sort of tea but it felt appropriate tonight.
"Do you want a cup too?"
"Sure thing," Sixiang said, sprawled out in the chair across from her. "Could use a little shock. No worries about me getting back in your head?"
"...I've missed it, and I think I'd rather not be alone for this," Ling Qi admitted, raising the pot before pouring in the second cup she'd set out. The tea had a strong earthy sort of scent, that reminded her of black fields and fallen leaves.
"Qi, you know…" Sixiang paused.
"I know, we haven't really talked about things. Thank you for going out with me the other night anyway," Ling Qi said.
"...Yeah. Suppose this isn't the best time to have that conversation either," Sixiang sighed.
"Best not get distracted from my assignment, no," Ling Qi said, smiling wanly.
On the table between them, the slender high necked vase sat. It didn't smoke or vibrate or even distort the air with malicious Qi.
But there was an undeniable feeling of menace, of waiting darkness there.
"S'pose not, don't want to give the memories in there anything to hang off of easy, eh?" Sixiang said, taking their cup up. She winced as they slurped down a heavy swig of the bitter tea and made pinched, pained expression.
"Sip. Sixiang," she chided, doing just that. It hit strong.
"Yep nope not my kinda tea. Abandon body!" Sixiang gasped, gagging comically. Porcelain clattered to the table, wood and metal whirred, and where her friend had been was only the doll like frame of wood and porcelain that sagged limp into the seating
And the empty space at the back of her mind filled with glittering presence.
Welcome back.
Glad to be back, if just for a bit. You ready to do this?
About as ready as you were to gulp down that tea.
She sighed, steeling herself, and reached for the vase.
On the other hand, cloaking the truth too much would just give him the wrong idea, leave dissatisfied and unanswered, or worse, make him actively misunderstand. Here… she thought leaning close to the former was better.
"...She wants trust. I spoiled her in some ways, I think. I've seen how she worked on Xiao Fen."
Bare truth, followed by an aside that he could investigate himself to 'prove' it. He couldn't avoid interacting with the Black Viper after all, and this would put him more in the mind to pay attention.
"It's important for her to know you, so that she can trust you with more important things."
He didn't quite gape at her, or otherwise make a fool of himself as they crossed the gently swaying rope bridge over the vast drop below. It was a clear day and the great black and yellow and brown expanses of the winter fields below were visible through the thin clouds. He did stare at her incredulously out of the corner of his eye.
"And now you are needling me again."
"Only a little," Ling Qi replied lightly. "I know you dislike my wording, but the truth is there. Bai Meizhen may delegate to you, but she is not interesting in sitting in a closed palanquin, kept pure from the grimy world outside."
Play the part he wouldn't accept as a partial jest. It would be swept aside, but the words would stick in the back of his mind. She considered what could be shared. "It's frustrating for her to receive only the good news, the rosy news, you have noticed that, surely?"
Bai meizhen had mentioned such things in passing. Her friend was still very… prideful, and saw many things as beneath her, but Cai Renxiang had instilled some appreciation for accurate reports.
"I have," he replied grudgingly. "There is some value in not having to… massage the truth to avoid punishment, I will grant. Heiress Suzhen's harsh views toward that sort of thing are… disruptive though. Perfection is impossible, yet less is an insult to their sublime command. Things get done without the rulers being aware of every little stumble and have for ages. Inviting more scrutiny is… unwise. What does a lofty throne understand of production delays and snags in supply lines and other petty minutiae of trade and industry. It is a waste of their time."
"Only what you tell them I suppose, unless they are annoyed enough to learn themselves," Ling Qi said dryly. "So better that she know you well enough to see that there's no need to check then?"
"Better that my results speak for themselves. I am going to get myself into trouble, speaking the way she demands in front of another white serpent, one of these days," he grumbled.
"That almost sounded like a direct complaint. Aren't you afraid I will tell on you?" Ling Qi asked, tilting her head as they brushed past another pair of nobles, caught up in their own screening techniques. Ling Qi was polite enough to not poke through them.
"I do not know what game you are playing, but, some fragments of your needling line up with my own observations," Xia Anxi said grumpily. If that Keung can get away his passive aggressive routine without any censure, my words won't provoke a reaction either."
He really… resented having to learn a whole different system of etiquette, most of all, Ling Qi thought. That was what it was in his worldview. What she saw as friendly openness… for a Bai, he merely saw as a divergent and confusing new ruleset he was scrambling to learn. She could feel around the edges of that perspective. She had felt like that right at the beginning in the Sect, learning how the rules were different than those of Tonghou's streets…
…And where they were the same.
"I understand lady bai is fully in line with her Mother. If it helps maybe you should think of it as… getting ahead of where things are going?" Ling Qi mused.
"Yes, very helpful," Xia Anxi said, shaking his head.
"I think so," she agreed cheerfully.
"Hmph, it isn't a matter I control, so I may only ride the waves," Xia Anxi said. "I do not think I have ever heard someone weaponize optimism quite like you."
"I think that might be a little much," Ling Qi sniffed. "I'm not weaponizing anything. If I wanted to hurt you, I think you would very much know it, Xia Anxi."
She let the cold creep up, and he hunched his shoulders and grimaced. "I suppose I will just have to remain in your good graces then."
"You will," she agreed. How strange that he would feel more comfortable with this than anything else she had said today.
Honestly, it was good to be reminded that even things she saw as entirely good could be twisted around into malice or burdens in the minds of others. It was no wonder the Empire leaned so hard layers of obscuring formality to keep everything neutral.
Though that might have been the wrong comparison. After all the Bai were probably like that, before the Empire, from what she understood. Indeed, those lessons had probably been ones their ancestors had contributed to its construction.
"You know I've answered all these questions," Ling Qi said. "Would you be so polite to answer one of mine, Xia Anxi?"
"I would be rude to deny that," Xia Anxi said carefully. "You're canny enough not to ask something I can't answer."
"I wouldn;t want to make things awkward, no," Ling Qi chuckled. "No, nothing of the sort. I just wanted to ask you your honest opinion on the Emerald Seas."
"And I suppose you want me to throw propriety to the side hm? Speak candidly, like a drunk dockworker complaining about his overseer in the tavern?"
"I would appreciate if you left out the slurring and expletives. I am still a lady of refinement," Ling Qi sniffed with faux haughtiness, giving him an amused look.
"So that is your line? Fascinating," Xia Anxi said dryly. Shaking his head.
He didn't answer her as they began to climb the shallow steps grown into the upward curve of the branch they were ascending. Foot traffic was growing again as they left the industrial district and its environs inside. And she could see in the distance bright eye drawing color. That was probably their destination.
"You are a reservoir on the edge of bursting. Or at least a pack of cats all chasing different mice. Your Duchess is the Queen of those cats for now, but your Lady will have a struggle of it taking that throne. There is no clear expectations or traditions left to hold them together," Xia Anxi said. "That is what you are doing with this whole Weilu revivalist business, is it not? Attempting to cobble together a symbol you can use as a foundation."
"Is it?" Ling Qi wondered.
He snorted. "Being humble doesn;t suit you. It is a good scheme, and one difficult for any one of the 'cats' to raise their backs over. That your Lady inends to use her time well is a point in here favor and yours."
"Any group needs a story it can tell at its center," Ling Qi agreed. "I think Tsu and the Throne of seasons are not totally gone from peoples minds, as you implied."
"A fair point, but when every count has their own story of who 'Tsu' is it makes little difference. That too is baffling. Yao is Yao. The Fisherman, Inviolate Death, there is no variation in who he is, from the northmost shore to the southern fens. Yet here I would think there were a half dozen men called 'Tsu'. Stitching him back together again seems to be your project, and it is not one I envy you on. I expect you'll be assassinated long before you manage."
"I've not heard it put that way before, but I can't say its wrong," Ling Qi chuckled. "As for assassins, I am very good at catching knives."
If not always in a way her friends liked.
"I, on the other hand am very allergic to knives, and should like to keep them far away from me," Xia Anxi huffed.
"Oh? You have my sympathy, such an allergy must be a hellish one to live in the Thousand Lakes."
"You are not wrong."
+1 Community XP, +1 Power XP
***
"Date went well?""It was hardly that Sixiang," Ling Qi said. "Though he is fun to banter with, at least when he forgets to act like I'm probing him for weakness."
They were back in her rooms at the Cai guesthouse, the light of dusk bleeding through beneath the shuttered window. Steam curled up around her face as she poured from the teapot in her hands. It was a dark, bitter blend. Not usually her sort of tea but it felt appropriate tonight.
"Do you want a cup too?"
"Sure thing," Sixiang said, sprawled out in the chair across from her. "Could use a little shock. No worries about me getting back in your head?"
"...I've missed it, and I think I'd rather not be alone for this," Ling Qi admitted, raising the pot before pouring in the second cup she'd set out. The tea had a strong earthy sort of scent, that reminded her of black fields and fallen leaves.
"Qi, you know…" Sixiang paused.
"I know, we haven't really talked about things. Thank you for going out with me the other night anyway," Ling Qi said.
"...Yeah. Suppose this isn't the best time to have that conversation either," Sixiang sighed.
"Best not get distracted from my assignment, no," Ling Qi said, smiling wanly.
On the table between them, the slender high necked vase sat. It didn't smoke or vibrate or even distort the air with malicious Qi.
But there was an undeniable feeling of menace, of waiting darkness there.
"S'pose not, don't want to give the memories in there anything to hang off of easy, eh?" Sixiang said, taking their cup up. She winced as they slurped down a heavy swig of the bitter tea and made pinched, pained expression.
"Sip. Sixiang," she chided, doing just that. It hit strong.
"Yep nope not my kinda tea. Abandon body!" Sixiang gasped, gagging comically. Porcelain clattered to the table, wood and metal whirred, and where her friend had been was only the doll like frame of wood and porcelain that sagged limp into the seating
And the empty space at the back of her mind filled with glittering presence.
Welcome back.
Glad to be back, if just for a bit. You ready to do this?
About as ready as you were to gulp down that tea.
She sighed, steeling herself, and reached for the vase.
Last edited: