yves & jiaoqiu

[noirges]

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weekend 0 saturday

[noirges]

[ obligatory fit check instead of sexy angel costume! though at least now i can mention that yves was probably covered in bandages beneath his angel costume earlier so it wasn't even that scandalous. if nothing else, it just shows that the lace half mask he was wearing wasn't just part of the costume - it's an outfit staple. yay!

BUT WHOA IT'S FOXY FRIEND TIME. yves is just going to automatically fall into step with him ]

Jiao! [ lucas is out there doing his lil french best but i've decided yves will opt the safer route ] How are you, friend? Doing your exploring?

[fried]

[ damn that is a FIT. jiaoqiu is in his canon outfit, but all his bandages are now covered... a shame. no hot pants for jiaoqiu. anyway, he's making his way through slowly, running his hands over various surfaces as he goes.

and when yves falls in step with him, his ear flicks, and he glances (checks the height chart) up at him, smile in place. he doesn't mind being called jiao, he has had so many people in his life have trouble with his name. ]

Hello again, my friend. [ a little tail wag. ] Much more comfortable, thanks to these beds. An old fox needs a soft surface for a productive day. How are you?

[noirges]

[ yves loves fashion.... he is here to help jiaoqiu get fancy any time you want just say the word. anything for his soup brother ]

Ahaha, I'm doing as swell as a dead man can be. [ truly his spirits are so high given the situation ] You met your roommate then? Are they nice?

week 0, tuesday

[noirges]

[ DID YOU HEAD INTO THE CAVE FOR SOME REASON? WELCOME. it's time to head into the clouds!! they're pink and fluffy, and so very full of mystery. at some point, their blurred edges shift and slide before they take the shape of a gorgeous field of spider lilies. the strange thing? every last one of them are black. they're just an illusion of course, but for some reason yves startles as soon as he sees them

and if you get too close, he's going to grab you right by the hand ]

Ah! Wait, Jiao, it's dangerous up ahead!

[fried]

[ oh, unfortunately his curiosity is so very bad for his health, which is why yes, he does attempt to wander into the cave. he startles just a little when yves grabs his hand, not expecting it, his tail fur floofing up in surprise.

but he does stop walking. ]

Is it? Why?

[noirges]

[ nooo not the startle - yves gives jiaoqiu's hand a little squeeze automatically, his thumb brushing over his knuckles in apology ] Sorry.

[ but his eyes are still fixed on the field ]

It's because... this looks like my home.

And when I was alive, these flowers... If someone accidentally stepped on them or picked them, they'd cause them to die an excruciating death immediately.

week 0 dieday

[noirges]

[ JIAOQIUUUU yves will just go to find him at some point, fretting ]

Jiao! Are you okay? You didn't get hurt last night?

[fried]

[ he's somewhere outside the mansion kitchen, rubbing at his back with one hand and his forehead with the other. disheveled as fuck.

his ear flicks and swivels, and then he looks up at yves, taking a deep breath. no smiling today. ]

Yes, yes. I'm alright, though I've twinged my back. [ a beat. ] Are you alright, Yves?

[noirges]

[ sweet jiaoqiu!! yves immediately looks more worried ]

I'm okay. [ swiftly ] Your back...? You want me to get ice for it? Or a hot compress? Both?

[ what yves is looking for is an icyhot ]

week 0 post-trial

[noirges]

[ that really happened to you

it's a little later in the night because yves is willing to give jiaoqiu some space and to let him talk to who he needs to talk to

but eventually he'll very specifically go to look for him, bringing along a bottle and two wine glasses

and just take a seat next to him ]

Wine okay?

[fried]

[ i should have expected betrayal

he's just sitting... somewhere, idk, a couch or something, staring out into the distance. when yves comes to sit next to him, he glances in his direction. ]

... Whatever you'd like. [ flatly. ]

week 0, sunday

[noirges]

[ FOX MY FOX

wherever jiaoqiu is, yves will just go to find him. he has stuff with him again, but today it's just two containers of extremely insanely spicy soup that no reasonable person should even touch which means it's just right for these maniacs

knocking against the door or wall or whatever surface makes sense to knock against. softly: ] Jiao? You awake?

[fried]

[ it's PERFECT. he can smell it from here and it makes him - well, feel less cold, because he is. he's curled up in his bed with a blanket, bandaged and tired.

he glances over in the direction the knock came from, and then a little unsteadily: ]

Yves? [ like he's. not sure. ]

w1, FRIDAY

[fried]

Yves.
I'd like to see you.
Can you tell me where you are? I'll come to you.

[noirges]

[ the response takes a while ]

I'm sorry.
I can't today.

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 ]

[noirges]

[ what if

two baby ]

w2, SATURDAY

[fried]

[ i won't actually make you play a guessing game but

if yves is out by the lighthouse he'll see a pink fox man standing at the top of it. ]

[noirges]

[ yves will head right up there to join him then ]

Jiao...?

[ sounding worried... even he caught how pained that reaction was at the end ]

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.

The decision to leave Rainsoar Forest after years of working to join the Alchemy Commission is a difficult one, but necessary. This is what you're called to do, you tell your master.

"While the Alchemy Commission is a good place to be, it is ultimately not compatible with my wish to practice medicine for the masses. The one place that requires a healer the most is undeniably the battlefield where the Yaoqing's forces are."

So - you leave your ship - the Xianzhou Yaoqing - and you head to the outer planets to join the efforts. All you've ever wanted to do is heal people, since you were small. This is what you wanted and you show up to the battleground with a vigor in your step, a determination to help. You improve your medicines - cauldron-based medicinal formulas that can be used in a multitude of ways, in order to adapt it to the increasingly challenging, complex, and unpredictable environments that the soldiers must brave. You win the trust of officers and soldiers alike, and your name is often uttered among the troops as someone worthy of respect, who knows what he's doing. You patch the dying, and they thank you, and then they march right back out to battle.

You patch them up. You save them from death. The bugle call for departure sounds off. And they march.

You patch them. They march. You patch them. They march.

Every day is the same, save for the number. Every night, there are less of the faces you know around your cauldron. You look up, and the foxian that called for you to give him an extra bowl last night is gone. One of the other soldiers, a quiet young woman with a bushy red tail, tells you he was found unresponsive on the battlefield yesterday evening, arms ripped from the sockets. The next evening, she's gone too. There wasn't enough of her left to bring back to the camp, they say. Terrible, terrible news. These young lives still end up lost in the endless, ravenous war. It doesn't matter what you do to stop it.

You do this for many years. Year after year, the faces were all different, yet they radiated the exact same vigor and hope. Year after year, only a handful ever make it back. It crawls up in your chest like a frost that will never melt. One day, as you're standing out in the middle of camp, trying to take in some fresh air, away from the smell of blood and rot, you hear screaming coming from one of the tents. Agonized wailing, calling for help, help me, help us, Jiaoqiu --

Before, you might have cried. It's only after blinking several times that you realize that both your eyes are dry. You no longer have any tears to shed. There's something comforting in the emptiness of it, and you sink down into it with relief. Nothing hurts if you don't have the energy to feel it.

Your General, a smart and fierce woman named Yueyu, brings you to her tent every night to discuss what's next. She tells you about a girl that she managed to rescue from a borisin camp, a ferocious former slave named Saran. She tells you that she wants you to look out for her. You tell her that you will do whatever Yueyu commands, even if something in you balks at the idea. It just sounds like... well, it sounds like Yueyu is giving you her will, that's all.

And then one day, the towering Cloudpeer Telescope that bore the wills of the trillions of living beings aboard the Xianzhou finally receives a response from THEM.

A searing blast appears out of nowhere, obliterating the weak Abominations of Abundance into a miasma of blood. A light so blindingly bright tears the sky dome asunder as the Reignbow Arbiter shows THEIR power against the Abundance. Mountains and hills that the light reaches turn into dust - abominations of Abundance and members of the Xianzhou Legion alike crumble and disintegrate, too slow to flee from the light of the arrow sent across the sky.

You heard about how the girl always by General Yueyu's side weaved in and out of the annihilated enemy ranks, attempting to bring the remaining soldiers back with her. Before the wave of light could reach them, you dash into the fray with every last ounce of your strength to save that young lady, before losing your consciousness in the afterglow of the obliterating light.

And in the chaos of the post battle healer's ground, this girl, the one from Yueyu's will, calls for you.

and then the memory ends, and there's silence. ]

[noirges]

[ the island that yves comes from has a multitude of problems. curses, apathy, a population that seems to be rotten at its core even if you could never get yves to agree. however because they are isolated and tucked away, he's never seen war. he's realizing that with vibrance now—the scale at which people go to battle. it is not light skirmishes against the other people in town. no, it is this dreaded, horrible thing where people do everything they can to protect that which they love.

and countless lives are lost for it.

yves goes through the memory and he feels his heart ache in his chest. he does not cry, but his expression crumbles nonetheless. until he hears that final exchange with the girl, and he hears that order. if general yueyu died then... ]

... is she your General?

[ the one who commands him, someone he lived for. ]

w3, SATURDAY

[fried]

[ he's curled up in the lounge tonight, so he's not hard to find. he'll glance up and look in yves's direction when he hears footsteps, though, and wave. ]

[noirges]

[ yves has his basket at his arm this week, wandering over and taking a seat by him ]

Wine, Jiao?

[ sometimes you just

need alcohol ]

w4, WEDNESDAY

[fried]

[ he's wandering around, tipsy and feeling Pretty Good after the party! maybe he is wandering off to the train so he can check on his plants, but he's easy to catch, humming soft to himself. ]

[noirges]

[ jq you are soooo cute. yves is just going to wander into his direction, also lightly tipsy but in a super good mood! he is delighted and fond and this feeling only increases when he comes up to him ]

Jiao! Winding down?