- Location
- France
- Pronouns
- She/They
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
- Finland
There are easy to make dildo jokes almost everywhere.
We are a rather predictable species.
The White Serpents permit vulnerability in front of parents, their Black Viper, and sometimes in very rare instances of trust, spouses. Being Meizhens tool isn't an obstacle to being a legitimate lover she can relax with, it is very nearly a prerequisite.
- Location
- Canada
On one hand, that's very sad. I'm not quite sure this qualifies as "toxic yuri", but their relationship is still built on some very unhealthy things.
I wonder if this Ling Qi is even capable of reconnecting with her mother or getting close to her sister. I remember her mom initially was weirded out by how inhuman seeming Ling Qi seemed, and this Qi is so much worse in that regard. And she wouldn't even be capable of touching either of them without killing them.
But all this reminds me that I'm still kind of bitter that they didn't work out in the main story. Sigh. They're still very cute together, even with everything else.
Seemed pretty clear to me that this Ling Qi is officially going to be Meizhen's Viper, which is why Suzhen's Viper tested her. So no cover story needed.
- Pronouns
- He
This would make for a great spinoff quest.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Meizhen be like "This wasn't what I intended to happen, but at this point i'm committed so…"
Iirc Yrs mentioned in discord that this version of Qi bought her mother a house outside of tonghou and had her set up there out of familial piety but that's basically as far as their relationship when. A good life, but not what she has in the main timeline ofc.
I meant more in that her being an outsider. I imagine that Ling Qi would always be viewed by the traditionalists of the Bai clan as Meizhen's pseudo viper.
Sort of like how much disdain Meizhen's father gets.
Like even in the short story with a Bai and their viper they treated even their own lover with a domination bordering on contempt - being confused by their own emotions and lashing out at them even with them both being Bai.
Other Bai looking in on this relationship between an outsider playing the part of viper and Meizhen not dominating the relationship and harbouring regret must look like quite the aberration.
Theaxofwar
Definitely not a Bunny Cat in disguise.
- Location
- Standing right behind you
I'm excited for the inevitable crossover between the spin-off and the main story where both Ling Qi are utterly horrified by each other.
Hmm hmm hmm, some thoughts on Green stages.
As a refresher, this sidestory goes through the requirements for rising through Green:
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
And about the Western Territories soldiers:
And then what he said are the biggest bottlenecks in Green (remember: the vast majority of even talented cultivators with plenty of resources will never reach Cyan).
We then look at the requirements for each stage, and see that you need an advanced insight from a tribulation to get to Green 4, and three advanced insights in total to get to Green 7.
So basically mediocre to average Greens will be stuck at Green 3 their whole lives, and good ones at Green 6.
As for those who reach higher, Yrs said:
The genius with unlimited resources track is Cyan by 20-25, Indigo by 40-50, Violet by around 100, Prism by around 200 and White by around 400.
When Ling Qi reaches Green 7 easily (we have all the needed insights already) her potential will be reappraised by the court. When she reaches Cyan by 20 (I believe that's how the math checks out?) it will happen again.
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zoomies have it
- Location
- Space between realms
- Pronouns
- He
GREAT SPIRITS bless our troops, bless the Empire, AND GENTLEMEN! START! YOUR! ENGINES!
I wasn't here when Forge / a huge chunk of Threads was going on, of course, so IDK if it was an option or not but man the Ling Qi / Meizhen story is making me wish we were with her </3
Don't get me wrong, I love what we're up to but it would have been so cool to find our own path with Meizhen to Thousand Lakes and still be nice and warm for her to hold
I'm sure it would have had a lot of neat intrigue and cultivation fun! But I'm still eating well with obsessive Viper vibes Ling Qi. More...more!
Anyhow. Let's move liminally!! Have a conversational (or literal) game of limbo!
Don't get me wrong, I love what we're up to but it would have been so cool to find our own path with Meizhen to Thousand Lakes and still be nice and warm for her to hold
I'm sure it would have had a lot of neat intrigue and cultivation fun! But I'm still eating well with obsessive Viper vibes Ling Qi. More...more!Anyhow. Let's move liminally!! Have a conversational (or literal) game of limbo!
- Pronouns
- He
It was not an option, Lakegate was a huge drama back then.
- Location
- Chicago
- Pronouns
- She/They
Author made a statement at the time that Ling Qi wasn't sapphic, which I thought was a good move. There's a lot of quests that have women as protagonists but really don't want to deal with men as romantic partners, so that was a breath of fresh air to me. 'You don't get to choose your orientation' is both very real and what makes the things like what happened with Meizhan so bittersweet.
Good to know! At least I can dream about what could have happened in a better Ling Qi/Meizhen timeline, even if canon Ling Qi ain't sapphic
I did love how it was handled, despite my disappointment! And now we get to see Meizhan figuring out things on the side while the husbando wars start to kick up...holding out hope for turtle boy, since I love some good adventures and he made a great impression on me, but dang, Meng Dan...
I did love how it was handled, despite my disappointment! And now we get to see Meizhan figuring out things on the side while the husbando wars start to kick up...holding out hope for turtle boy, since I love some good adventures and he made a great impression on me, but dang, Meng Dan...
Year 46: Month 1 Arc 5-6
"But, I merely thought the two of you might enjoy discussing the finer points of liminal movement with a peer," Meng Dan said.
"Well, it is a rare sort of hobby," Luo Yaling said. "Though there's been rumors you had a dancer's sway for a while."
Ling Qi smiled. "I've not been practicing seriously for too long, but yes my graduating tournament probably told on me to a degree."
"Less than you'd think," Luo Yaling replied, grinning brightly. The sharp edge of her canines glinted like burnished silver. "Plenty… well, plenty of nobles go to a moon revel and come to the next morning with their pants flying from a flagpole and dirty scribbles on their bums. But among those, a decent few get an art out of it. Most don't do much with 'em beyond a dabble."
Meng Dan sighed, scrubbing his face with his hand.
"Speaking from experience, Lady Luo?"
"Nah, I don't go getting attached to the party, just gotta have your fun and move on, no reason to let it stick to ya," Luo Yaling said dismissively. "But I've seen cousins and juniors who get caught up. It's not an art that gives you much guidance, is it?"
"No, I suppose not, but then it is fundamentally MY memory of the revel, writ into an art," Ling Qi said. "How could something like that have a clear meaning beyond my own interpretation?"
"And there's the difference," the other woman said, nodding sagely. "I can see why you learned to dance properly."
"How did you come by it, Lady Luo?" Ling Qi asked. "If you find the revels a little too much?"
Luo Yaling cupped her chin. "The yearning to be lighter, faster, free-er. I sought to run and run in the open plains of my home, and when even these proved too small, the laughing moon reached to me to offer the secret of wider plains still, if I could but catch her."
Ling Qi tilted her head. "And?"
"I did not, but in trying, I learned a new way to run. After that, it was off to the Blue Mountain, the respectable place to send your troublemakers."
"That doesn't sound like the introduction the honorable, scholarly Blue Mountain Sect would like at all," Ling Qi said, bemused.
"I mean… they're the great temples; they cater to all of us. Have you met me?" Sixiang whispered, amused themself.
"Our Elders would be a bit cross to hear a disciple saying so, yes," Meng Dan said dryly. "But it is true that the Blue Mountain has long been a place of learning for those with difficult circumstances."
Ling Qi nodded slowly, picking up the meaning. Before the establishment of the Great Sect system, Sects were often under the patronage of single large clans, for arts research or were temples that did not strictly answer to anything but ducal or imperial authority or other… edge-case institutions.
Becoming a priest or a champion of a Great Spirit was also generally honorable for noble children of talent who were not well suited to ruling, leading troops, or otherwise inheritance impaired.
"Inheritance Impaired? You've been hanging around the wrong crowd too much, Ling Qi." Sixiang snorted.
"I admit some of our patrons are a little more difficult to appease than others without a little…" Ling Qi trailed off.
"Space to explore," Meng Dan said diplomatically, chuckling to himself.
"Good enough if you all want to play coy. I get it; you both have so many eyes on you now. How like you to amuse yourself with a scandal meng Dan."
"I'm sure I do not know what you are talking about."
Ling Qi smiled. She would have been mortified once, but… this was all in the court games. Little bits of gossip like this were the lifeblood of keeping contacts for more serious information brokering going. And besides. She would be doing… whatever this was openly from now on.
"But we're getting sidetracked. Baroness Ling. Share a tale of your courses. What's the farthest out you've gone?"
She looked back up at Luo Yaling, who was observing her expectantly. She didn't need to ask; she could tell the other woman intended to reciprocate.
"Mm, I was lost in the deep liminal once, beyond the point where it reflects anything recognizable. Does that count in your perception?"
"The deeps?" Yuo Yaling asked, cupping her chin. "...I've seen them briefly last time I tried my chase of the moon. But I am mostly looking for something vivid and interesting, and unless you have tread in the court of a Great Spirit, the deeps are not that."
"Agreed," Ling Qi said, thinking of the formless shifting chaos, with no or down or left or right, just seething nothing. "Hm, I have traveled far far to the south, with my brother Zhengui and Xuan Shi, seen the crow-shrouded tower of the Southern people's gods and the crone's hut that lives in its shadow, been invited to tell stories by the avatar of death and winter that resides there. You, Luo Yaling?"
"Oh? Passengers? I admit I am not so good at those kind of steps," Luo Yaling said. "For me… I have run the burning lands, where the souls of cities still blaze and heave, overtaken by the Dead. Where every piece of ground is seething combat without end, where the wind is a war cry. From its furthest edge, I have seen the great pit where the sun died and the world bleeds. I'm not one to fixated on a project but… it should be fun to circle it, to see it from every side one day?"
"Not to seek its bottom?" Ling Qi said curiously.
"Maybe when I am ready to pass from the world and dissolve into the wind!" she laughed. "But no, especially now with you speaking of foreign gods… I do remember seeing things in the sky as i ran the burning lands… pillars of light, glittering storms of starlight. I itch to see what lies beyond those horizons a bit more now."
"It's a fine way to see things where the physical world constrains," Ling Qi agreed. "Well assuming…"
"You do not make any mistakes," Meng Dan said. "Dreamwalking is a dangerous art."
"You can come with me next time, if it settles your worries," Ling Qi said lightly.
"Who said I was worried?" Meng Dan said.
"He finds it a little queasy, those bits of the library which have… lost cohesion," Luo Yaling said brightly. "Did you tell her about the first time, when you threw up and nearly teared up because you thought you'd ruined that tome?"
"I did not," Meng Dan said dryly. "There is nothing wrong with being distraught at the destruction of knowledge."
"Oops."
That expression was actively unconvincing of mistaken intent, but then, Meng Dan was not actually upset or even annoyed. She supposed this might be how an outsider would see some of her conversations with Meizhen and Renxiang. Her eyes flicked to the side, sensing another presence.
She felt Meng Dan's attention shift at almost the same time.
It was the younger of the Guo pair, the ducal clan of the Golden Fields, she had noted earlier during the wedding. She was a statuesque woman with a sharp face a long, silky red hair, and her glittering green gown was definitely… well-fitted.
"You know, I don't know if I've just been using your eyes too long, but dang I kinda want to feel those biceps."
Ling Qi very carefully controlled the twitch that wanted to go through her eye.
"Hey! I wanted till we were away from the folks who might pick me up. There's a ton of pretty people here Qi, I got a limit!"
"I caught a portion of your conversation. Rare to see one on the Carefree Way with a bit of sense," the woman said, looking at Luo Yaling.
"I know, right? Holding me back, it is," she said. "Lady Guo…"
"Guo Xinyan, daughter of Guo Xinhua, Ambassador to Great Xiangmen," She introduced herself formally. "I will not interrupt your conversation long."
"Oh? And what brings you to interrupt at all, Lady Guo?" Meng Dan asked curiously.
She felt the other woman's intent and a suspicion bloomed in the back of her mind.
"Only bearing a message, as a favor to a friend," Guo Xinyan said evenly. There was a faint pop, and a relatively thick scroll case appeared in her hand. "Gu Xiulan sends her regards, Baroness Ling Qi. The Ministry of Communication in our province is still… overloaded with official traffic."
Ling Qi took the scroll and bowed deeply. "I am most honored that a Lady of the great Guo clan would deign to perform such a favor."
"For a worthy vassal and commander, such a thing is small. I intended to pass it along from the Argent Peak Sect, but this works just as well."
Ling Qi straightened up at her gesture. "I am curious what Lady Guo will be doing in the South… observing the war efforts for your Mother?"
"That is a part of it, but I must also familiarize myself with my fiance, Han Jian. I will likely contact your Lady as well, from time to time, but let official business come later. Have a good evening, baroness."
Ling Qi nodded, bowing again, only to blink as she fully processed the words, but Guo Xinyan was already leaving.
"Ho, she marrying someone you know?" Luo Yaling asked, tilting her head.
"...Yes," Ling Qi said. Small world, she supposed. She weighed the scroll in her hands. This was a long one. She sent it into her storage ring. She supposed she now knew what she would be doing on the way back south.
"Hmmm," Luo Yaling peered closely at her. Ling Qi raised an eyebrow.
"No, there's nothing fun to pick at there."
Well, that was true.
"Hm, I suppose we really will be getting quite a few visitors. It's a good thing Shenglu has such a charming profile," Meng Dan said, rubbing his chin.
"Hazard of serving the heiress," Ling Qi said. "Though I'm curious, Lady Luo. You implied that your Liminal ability comes completely from the Grinning Moon, without the influence of the dreaming."
"Would you mind talking a little more about your method?"
AN: Have to split this one, we'll be finishing up this arc next time.
"Well, it is a rare sort of hobby," Luo Yaling said. "Though there's been rumors you had a dancer's sway for a while."
Ling Qi smiled. "I've not been practicing seriously for too long, but yes my graduating tournament probably told on me to a degree."
"Less than you'd think," Luo Yaling replied, grinning brightly. The sharp edge of her canines glinted like burnished silver. "Plenty… well, plenty of nobles go to a moon revel and come to the next morning with their pants flying from a flagpole and dirty scribbles on their bums. But among those, a decent few get an art out of it. Most don't do much with 'em beyond a dabble."
Meng Dan sighed, scrubbing his face with his hand.
"Speaking from experience, Lady Luo?"
"Nah, I don't go getting attached to the party, just gotta have your fun and move on, no reason to let it stick to ya," Luo Yaling said dismissively. "But I've seen cousins and juniors who get caught up. It's not an art that gives you much guidance, is it?"
"No, I suppose not, but then it is fundamentally MY memory of the revel, writ into an art," Ling Qi said. "How could something like that have a clear meaning beyond my own interpretation?"
"And there's the difference," the other woman said, nodding sagely. "I can see why you learned to dance properly."
"How did you come by it, Lady Luo?" Ling Qi asked. "If you find the revels a little too much?"
Luo Yaling cupped her chin. "The yearning to be lighter, faster, free-er. I sought to run and run in the open plains of my home, and when even these proved too small, the laughing moon reached to me to offer the secret of wider plains still, if I could but catch her."
Ling Qi tilted her head. "And?"
"I did not, but in trying, I learned a new way to run. After that, it was off to the Blue Mountain, the respectable place to send your troublemakers."
"That doesn't sound like the introduction the honorable, scholarly Blue Mountain Sect would like at all," Ling Qi said, bemused.
"I mean… they're the great temples; they cater to all of us. Have you met me?" Sixiang whispered, amused themself.
"Our Elders would be a bit cross to hear a disciple saying so, yes," Meng Dan said dryly. "But it is true that the Blue Mountain has long been a place of learning for those with difficult circumstances."
Ling Qi nodded slowly, picking up the meaning. Before the establishment of the Great Sect system, Sects were often under the patronage of single large clans, for arts research or were temples that did not strictly answer to anything but ducal or imperial authority or other… edge-case institutions.
Becoming a priest or a champion of a Great Spirit was also generally honorable for noble children of talent who were not well suited to ruling, leading troops, or otherwise inheritance impaired.
"Inheritance Impaired? You've been hanging around the wrong crowd too much, Ling Qi." Sixiang snorted.
"I admit some of our patrons are a little more difficult to appease than others without a little…" Ling Qi trailed off.
"Space to explore," Meng Dan said diplomatically, chuckling to himself.
"Good enough if you all want to play coy. I get it; you both have so many eyes on you now. How like you to amuse yourself with a scandal meng Dan."
"I'm sure I do not know what you are talking about."
Ling Qi smiled. She would have been mortified once, but… this was all in the court games. Little bits of gossip like this were the lifeblood of keeping contacts for more serious information brokering going. And besides. She would be doing… whatever this was openly from now on.
"But we're getting sidetracked. Baroness Ling. Share a tale of your courses. What's the farthest out you've gone?"
She looked back up at Luo Yaling, who was observing her expectantly. She didn't need to ask; she could tell the other woman intended to reciprocate.
"Mm, I was lost in the deep liminal once, beyond the point where it reflects anything recognizable. Does that count in your perception?"
"The deeps?" Yuo Yaling asked, cupping her chin. "...I've seen them briefly last time I tried my chase of the moon. But I am mostly looking for something vivid and interesting, and unless you have tread in the court of a Great Spirit, the deeps are not that."
"Agreed," Ling Qi said, thinking of the formless shifting chaos, with no or down or left or right, just seething nothing. "Hm, I have traveled far far to the south, with my brother Zhengui and Xuan Shi, seen the crow-shrouded tower of the Southern people's gods and the crone's hut that lives in its shadow, been invited to tell stories by the avatar of death and winter that resides there. You, Luo Yaling?"
"Oh? Passengers? I admit I am not so good at those kind of steps," Luo Yaling said. "For me… I have run the burning lands, where the souls of cities still blaze and heave, overtaken by the Dead. Where every piece of ground is seething combat without end, where the wind is a war cry. From its furthest edge, I have seen the great pit where the sun died and the world bleeds. I'm not one to fixated on a project but… it should be fun to circle it, to see it from every side one day?"
"Not to seek its bottom?" Ling Qi said curiously.
"Maybe when I am ready to pass from the world and dissolve into the wind!" she laughed. "But no, especially now with you speaking of foreign gods… I do remember seeing things in the sky as i ran the burning lands… pillars of light, glittering storms of starlight. I itch to see what lies beyond those horizons a bit more now."
"It's a fine way to see things where the physical world constrains," Ling Qi agreed. "Well assuming…"
"You do not make any mistakes," Meng Dan said. "Dreamwalking is a dangerous art."
"You can come with me next time, if it settles your worries," Ling Qi said lightly.
"Who said I was worried?" Meng Dan said.
"He finds it a little queasy, those bits of the library which have… lost cohesion," Luo Yaling said brightly. "Did you tell her about the first time, when you threw up and nearly teared up because you thought you'd ruined that tome?"
"I did not," Meng Dan said dryly. "There is nothing wrong with being distraught at the destruction of knowledge."
"Oops."
That expression was actively unconvincing of mistaken intent, but then, Meng Dan was not actually upset or even annoyed. She supposed this might be how an outsider would see some of her conversations with Meizhen and Renxiang. Her eyes flicked to the side, sensing another presence.
She felt Meng Dan's attention shift at almost the same time.
It was the younger of the Guo pair, the ducal clan of the Golden Fields, she had noted earlier during the wedding. She was a statuesque woman with a sharp face a long, silky red hair, and her glittering green gown was definitely… well-fitted.
"You know, I don't know if I've just been using your eyes too long, but dang I kinda want to feel those biceps."
Ling Qi very carefully controlled the twitch that wanted to go through her eye.
"Hey! I wanted till we were away from the folks who might pick me up. There's a ton of pretty people here Qi, I got a limit!"
"I caught a portion of your conversation. Rare to see one on the Carefree Way with a bit of sense," the woman said, looking at Luo Yaling.
"I know, right? Holding me back, it is," she said. "Lady Guo…"
"Guo Xinyan, daughter of Guo Xinhua, Ambassador to Great Xiangmen," She introduced herself formally. "I will not interrupt your conversation long."
"Oh? And what brings you to interrupt at all, Lady Guo?" Meng Dan asked curiously.
She felt the other woman's intent and a suspicion bloomed in the back of her mind.
"Only bearing a message, as a favor to a friend," Guo Xinyan said evenly. There was a faint pop, and a relatively thick scroll case appeared in her hand. "Gu Xiulan sends her regards, Baroness Ling Qi. The Ministry of Communication in our province is still… overloaded with official traffic."
Ling Qi took the scroll and bowed deeply. "I am most honored that a Lady of the great Guo clan would deign to perform such a favor."
"For a worthy vassal and commander, such a thing is small. I intended to pass it along from the Argent Peak Sect, but this works just as well."
Ling Qi straightened up at her gesture. "I am curious what Lady Guo will be doing in the South… observing the war efforts for your Mother?"
"That is a part of it, but I must also familiarize myself with my fiance, Han Jian. I will likely contact your Lady as well, from time to time, but let official business come later. Have a good evening, baroness."
Ling Qi nodded, bowing again, only to blink as she fully processed the words, but Guo Xinyan was already leaving.
"Ho, she marrying someone you know?" Luo Yaling asked, tilting her head.
"...Yes," Ling Qi said. Small world, she supposed. She weighed the scroll in her hands. This was a long one. She sent it into her storage ring. She supposed she now knew what she would be doing on the way back south.
"Hmmm," Luo Yaling peered closely at her. Ling Qi raised an eyebrow.
"No, there's nothing fun to pick at there."
Well, that was true.
"Hm, I suppose we really will be getting quite a few visitors. It's a good thing Shenglu has such a charming profile," Meng Dan said, rubbing his chin.
"Hazard of serving the heiress," Ling Qi said. "Though I'm curious, Lady Luo. You implied that your Liminal ability comes completely from the Grinning Moon, without the influence of the dreaming."
"Would you mind talking a little more about your method?"
AN: Have to split this one, we'll be finishing up this arc next time.
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Liberation Star: "No. You really, really don't."
Ooo, might be able to work out how to bring liminal travel into Laughing Flight of the Wind thief! We now lack an art to help us there since PLR is so outdated and wasn't very focused!
So we have Mu Wuye and now Guo Xinyan moving in. Anyone else?
Edit: oh also the crafters, that's who I was forgetting...
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