jiaoqiu catchall

[florescences]

bursts into tears

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weekend 0, saturday

[florescences]

[ elysia isn't the best cook in the world, but now that she's out of her sexy angel costume, she wants to look through what's in the kitchen just in case. she brightens when she sees jiaoqiu. ]

Hey, hey, Jiaoqiu, can I ask you a question? Or three?

[fried]

[ OGUHGHGH THIS ART GETS ME EVERY TIME DIES OVER AND OVER

his usual placid smile is much more genuine and warm when he sees elysia poking through the kitchen. he pauses in his way across to the fridge when she speaks, ear flicking. ]

Of course, Ellie. [ he really has to force correct himself to not say miss but he MANAGES. ] Ask as many as you'd like.

w0, MONDAY

[fried]

[ good afternoon elysia, jiaoqiu is out at the boardwalk today! he's dressed like this, sniffing at a box of fries curiously. he puts one in his mouth, and raises an eyebrow.

and then his ears swivel and he pauses, glancing over his shoulder. ]

Hello, Ellie. [ ear flicky. ] How are you enjoying the beach? Meow.

[ .................... ]

Hm.

[florescences]

[ good afternoon, jiaoqiu. pinterest failed me and elysia, but she is also in a cute outfit and loves to see jiaoqiu's style. ]

Hi—

[ she can't stop the giggle from bubbling out. ]

Are you turning over a new leaf? That doesn't seem like the you I've gotten to know.

[ the you she's known for three days. ]

week 0, friday

[florescences]

[ she is going to run at jiaoqiu the moment she sees a flash of his shade of pink. ]

Jiaoqiu! Did anything happen to you last night?

[ she's looking him over for anything that might be different. ]

[fried]

[ he's pretty disheveled - he looks tired and unbrushed, but like, mostly okay? his ears perk up when he hears her voice, and he turns to her. ]

Well. I was locked in the kitchen. [ he says, in a tone that's meant to be wry but comes out sort of just exhausted. ] Are you alright? You're not injured?

w0, SATURDAY 2

[fried]

[ you can find jiaoqiu on the beach, staring up at the stars. ]

[florescences]

[ she is going to come up to his side and hold his hand, if he lets her. ]

week 0, sunday

[florescences]

[ jiaoqiu, your weekend....

elysia is glad he is still alive, or at least not double dead, but he sustained quite the injury, not to mention any emotional toil. she isn't a doctor of any kind, but she can't not visit him. she has a small bouquet she picked from the garden by the church in her hands.

she knocks on the door of wherever he's been taken. ]

Jiaoqiu?

[fried]

[ it has. been a day. he's just half passed out in his room, with a blanket. he's shivering pretty visibly, but he is bandaged... this is cute, also, the flowers!!

he opens his eyes when he hears her speak, and hums. ]

Ellie. [ hello... ]

week 1, tuesday

[florescences]

[ not being able to digest any chocolate is a bummer.... spicy chocolate would be so fun....

anyway, wherever jiaoqiu is, elysia is going to pop up next to him and set a witch hat on top of his head. ]

Boo!

[ she knows he probably heard her coming. ]

[fried]

[ listen if elysia gave him spicy chocolate he'd eat it even if it'd suck for him later

as for this, he does hear her coming, but it still spooks him a little anyway - he jumps, tail poofing up, and then looks at her with a wide eyed expression. today he's looking pretty normal, it's just that his hair is slowly turning white. ]

Wha - oh. [ a beat ] Ellie. It's not polite to cause heart attacks.

[ scolding, but like... teasing. ]

w1, FRIDAY

[fried]

[ we're at the library today, hanging out.

jiaoqiu has a book in hand but he's not reading it, really. he's just kind of staring out into space, lost in thought. ]

[florescences]

[ if the book is open, elysia closes it and places one of her hands over his. ]

Hi, Jiaoqiu. Come back to me?

w2, MONDAY

[fried]

[ this is a nonstarter but tell me if you want baby jiaoqiu (of various ages), random backstory changes jiaoqiu, or unaffected jiaoqiu for your straight man needs and i will give you this thing ]

[florescences]

[ hmmm random backstory changes ]

week 2, friday

[florescences]

[ hi, jiaoqiu. she's just going to reach for his tail, but she makes it extremely obvious so he can avoid it if he wants. ]

I don't like our weekend schedule.

[fried]

[ hello, ellie... he is normal today, and he does not mind her reaching for his tail. in fact, once he notices what she's doing he'll make it easier for her. ]

I don't either. [ sighs... ] I don't like that it's so predictable, now. I almost expected it to be three.

w2, saturday

[florescences]

[ jiaoqiu..... are you going to make me play a game and guess where's at or can she just look everywhere high and low for him because she wouldn't give up looking for him ]

[fried]

[ jhskfskdjfks no I WON'T MAKE YOU ACTUALLY GUESS she can find him, it just might take a while. eventually though...

he's at the top of the lighthouse, standing right up against the edge of the railing, staring into the open air. ]

w3, MONDAY

[fried]

[ we're just jumping into it, here - somehow, you're in the memory fuckhouse, and there's a memory playing over the glass, vibrant and loud. if you can, watch the video clips to go with it because the voice acting does really make it so much better.

The ship is deathly quiet.

You have good hearing - so much that sometimes it hurts to stand in the middle of a crowd of people. You have never heard this ship, or any of the Xianzhou ships, fall this silent. A bad omen.

You have a good sense of smell, too. You could smell the borisin that crept their way onto the ship like vermin, digging their claws into the metal and peeling it away to release their leader. There was not much you could do. You told Feixiao. You led the young ones, too young, the children with swords and no dreams of anything but serving in battle - you led them to the right conclusion, and you hate yourself for it, but what don't you hate yourself for? That doesn't matter. What does matter is you've laid the groundwork. They will do the rest. Your General, and the future you both want.

Ah, right. Your good sense of smell. You can't smell anything other than blood. It's a good thing you lost most of your taste a long time ago. You imagine the taste of iron would be unbearable, here on the ground in this back alley.

You can't breathe right. It hurts so badly - you've never been very good at suppressing pain, and it blares like the loudest of alarms in your heart. You're a healer, you know what the body's limits are, and you know you're stretching them. You know you don't have long.

You look up at the hulking beast in front of you. He looks a little like you - not you, but your species. He's not. Hoolay is a borisin, but somehow, they've managed to all hide their true visages. He grins down at you, teeth and claws stained red with blood. The blood on his claws is yours, but you don't want to think about why his teeth are stained.

"Secrets are a weapon that a hunter cannot live without," Hoolay is saying. "Those who have no secrets are no more than prey, cut open and waiting for death."

You drag in a breath. Choke on it a little.

"What you’re saying is, in your eyes, I am not more than prey that has exhausted all of its secrets, and is simply awaiting its death?" You ask, staring down at the floor rather than Hoolay. Already, there's darkness curling at the edges of your sight, and you know that isn't because you're dying. A side effect.

"Do you think you have some other escape route? Jiaoqiu, I have already peeled back your disguises and defenses layer by layer. I know all the secrets that you and your general have buried so deep," Hoolay growls, voice amused. He thinks he knows. You told him nothing that would hurt your people. You told him things that could sound like secrets, but weren't. That is what you're good for - a clever tongue, quick to lie and persuade. It's all you're good for.

Well. There's one other thing.

"But you have told me all of your secrets too, Warhead," You murmur, eyes still on the floor. Not out of any sense of submissiveness. You simply don't want the borisin to be the last thing you see.

Hoolay laughs. "But you will never have a chance to use them. You will be buried with them right here. Although, you are a fortunate one... After all, you will avoid having to see the tragic future that awaits your general. I'm sure she understands her fate far better than you ever will. One day on the battlefield, she will be overpowered by her ever-intensifying Moon Rage, and finally be torn apart by her own fury and transformation."

He talks too much, you think. But that's alright. That's what you want. You want time. The longer he is here, gloating over you, the longer your General has time to come up with a plan.

"Not even your God can save her from this fate. Although... THEY can lead her to liberation. And the only way to save her is here, in my hands."

Another bloody grin. You huff, and cough, just a little.

"Are you the healer or am I? Are you really that certain of your own judgement?" You ask, idly. Your voice is starting to fail you. It feels like gravel, like trying to enunciate around marbles in your mouth. Gingerly, you rest a hand on your torso, where the worst of the claw wounds are, and turn your head a little, looking out over the wall. Past Hoolay. To the sky, to the world outside this alley, to the sister-ship of your people. You look at the sky.

"I must leave, foxian," Hoolay says, shifting his weight. "But before I go, you know what I must do, don't you?"

And weakly, you reply: "Drink bloodwine... I hear it is a borisin custom to kill prisoners and drink their blood before battle to stir up their madness."

"You really did put hard work into researching us. It is a shame that this is where your journey ends."

And he moves forward. You flinch, knowing what's coming, but it's okay, it's alright, this is your plan. He's right, you did do your research. You knew, since telling Moze to run in the prison, that this might be the outcome, and you are at peace. It's going to hurt, though.

And it does. Hoolay rips into you. Tears flesh from your neck, your torso, like a wild animal. Frenzied, with razor sharp teeth and claws that dig into your arms to keep you still, to stop you from reflexively trying to get away. You can't help yourself - it hurts, you're being mauled, and you cry out, voice ragged and raw, breaking on your screams. Nobody can hear you. Nobody comes to help you.

Hoolay eats and drinks his fill, and tosses you to the ground, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve. He must figure there's no point to killing you outright, or perhaps he doesn't even realize you're still alive. He's driven mad by the smell of blood, the taste of blood, and he lets out a roar of laughter before bounding off towards battle - towards Feixiao, your General.

You are left alone, in an alleyway full of bodies.

Clinically, you know you're seconds from death. You can almost see the autopsy report. Bite wounds that extend over a large area, from the patient's neck to his chest. Fractured clavicle. Toxins in the wounds caused flesh to decay and atrophy. Disturbed blood circulation, massive internal bleeding, neurological atrophy, optic neuropathy. Damage to the liver and kidney, impaired lymphatic and immune system. The only part of that report that was Hoolay's fault are the bites, though. The rest was your own doing.

You smile, weakly, opening your eyes to look at the sky one more time.

Enjoy the taste of my fresh blood... Hoolay. Unfortunately, I am not a man without secrets. I still have one little secret hidden up my sleeve.

Your vision is nearly gone. The sky is a smear of pristine blue.

Tumbledust... I drank it a while ago, and the poison is already flowing through my veins. Sooner or later, you will begin to feel the effects. If the most lethal poison known to this world is able to save innocent lives... then it can also be called a great medicine.

You close your eyes for the last time.

I will do my best to cure you... Feixiao, I kept my promise. At the cost of this insignificant life. Bring victory to the Yaoqing.

and then the room is silent. ]

[florescences]

[ cries over this scene again

this is a testament to how he's been, to how she's known jiaoqiu, using his wiles to bring down those who need to be brought down even if it's to his detriment, or especially because he thinks so little of himself.

she hates the scene that plays out before her, for more than one reason. ]

That is so like you.

[ her voice is soft, and there is a waver to it that there usually isn't. ]

week 3, thursday

[florescences]

[ elysia can trust jiaoqiu to stay in the hospital. this is what elevates him from the others.

she is more composed when she comes to visit him than when she first saw him bloody and nearly unconscious. ]

Jiaoqiu?

[ she will fish him out of the graveyard if she has to. ]

[fried]

[ help, she's right, he does stay in the hospital! mostly! look, he can't stand right now so he's stuck here anyway.

gives you a general wound overview copypaste: he has like, stab wounds everywhere. it's his shoulder, his legs, and in his stomach. they look like someone was trying to run him through with a sword with the shoulder and stomach, but the legs are more shallow, thinner. one of his arms is just absolutely useless - a gouge near the inner elbow/forearm, something that looks like it was made with some sort of sharp teeth. it's messy. there's also some sort of gouge-y bite wound on his shoulder, too.

he's got slash marks across his face, too. kind of claw like. and his left ear is ripped in half - it's missing the top half of it, so he's just got half an ear. it's all bandaged as much as it can be.

when he hears her, he looks up in her direction, but it's probably pretty clear today that he can't see a damn thing. he hesitates. ]

Ellie?

week 7, monday

[florescences]

[ jiaoqiu will probably feel elysia coming before anything else. her emotion is radiating love, and she's doing nothing to hamper it all.

she flies (literally) at him, arms out. ]

Jiaoqiu! [ that's another warning before she's going to wrap her arms around him and spin him around. ]

You have to tell me everything.

[ she is not defining what everything is. ]

[fried]

[ help!!! he definitely feels her coming, and there's a little burst of amusement at the feeling.

he is not expecting to be spun around, but it's okay. he clings a little, instinctively, and then laughs. ]

My feet have not even touched the ground and you are after me. [ he teases, petting her arm. there's such a relief, a bright and happy feeling at seeing her. or hearing her, since his vision as of now is entirely fucked. it's nice to not be sad. ]

I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific. Everything is an awfully broad category.

w7, SATURDAY

[fried]

[ he's curled up in the tavern tonight with booze and a blanket, staring out... a window, i suppose. idk if there are windows. there are now for the sake of this thread. his ear flicks at the sound of someone approaching, and he glances over, with a smile. ]

[florescences]

I don't think I ever told you how happy I am to see you with your sight back.

[ it's been days, but she's sooo filled with joy over it. she settles down next to him. ]