🌈 JIUQING

[impurities]

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wknd 0; saturday

[impurities]

[ chang geng hasn't crossed the bridge just yet, when jiuqing arrives - instead, he's standing with his arms crossed under his cloak, just on the cusp of being targeted by the ghouls swooping through the air, but right where the chill has clearly set in.

he turns his head just enough to see who's come through the archway, before looking ahead again. ]

Evening, Miss Su. [ nothing "good" about this particular change. ]

[countermeasures]

Evening, Sir Chang.

[yeah, she can agree with that. but she's here to investigate it anyway, and she eyes the bridge ahead of them a little warily. today's... certainly been a day, hasn't it.]

...that's new.

[fucking ghouls.]

weekend zero, sunday

[countermeasures]

[when chang geng wanders back into the mansion at some point on sunday, he'll find jiuqing with her bottle of water and one of the cloth napkins that was originally wrapped around a scone in hand, tilting the bottle with the napkin up to its opening carefully so that she can soak it without spilling too much water everywhere.

a moment later, she folds it up, brings it up to her cheek with one hand, and screws the cap back on to the bottle with the other. then she tucks it back into her bag, and turns to go - only to realize there's someone there.]

Oh, hello.

[impurities]

[ chang geng is twisting something in his fingers as he comes into the mansion from all the excitement of the day, and... pauses, as he watches her movements, brow twitching slightly as she touches her cheek with the napkin. ]

Hello, Miss Su. Feeling alright? [ he's used to observing the elusive gu yun, when it comes to health and well-being. he is Looking now. ] Especially after such an exciting day.

week zero, sunday

[countermeasures]

[here they are in the medbay... damien's been seen to, all their pizza has been stolen. who knows what else is on the horizon? jiuqing is checking her phone every so often, but for now, with the immediate work done, she's taking a rest.]

...whew. Thank you for your assistance earlier, Sir Chang.

[impurities]

[ chang geng comes down to join her in the medbay after everything's been taken care of, offering her some water and not a goddamn code red or energy drink from the scarlet apartment. ]

Of course, Miss Su. It was... well, far too exciting, to be sure. Are you doing alright now?

week one, monday

[countermeasures]

[well.

jiuqing, once she realizes that she's getting the urge to word vomit about her tragic past, immediately tries to separate herself from other people. she figures that after the disaster that was their pizza party and the way damien and riff ended up having a showdown on a roof, people might be avoiding the rooftop of the apartments, so up she goes!

she's leaning against the iron railings, staring out at the darkness and the rainbow colored lights that light it up, when she hears footsteps and turns to look over her shoulder.]

—oh. Sir Chang.

[impurities]

[ the two of them had the same idea, it seems.

chang geng gives her a wan smile when she looks back and they make eye contact, realizing that he's not the only one that's come up here, in some bid to escape. ]

Hello, Miss Su. I think you and I had the same goal today. [ there's a clear moment where he's considering whether he should turn right back around - but he makes his way closer, folding his arms behind himself to look out at the darkness and rainbow lights stark against it. ]

week one, thursday

[countermeasures]

[anyway this is what i actually meant to start before i got distracted by noticing i had the wrong week on the last one and then also realizing i was going to be late for work



texting time!]

sir chang, could i ask a favor of you?

comes back fastly

[impurities]

[ wheezes now that i'm free from hell week ]

You may, of course.
What can I do for you Miss Su?

week 2, monday

[impurities]

[ we're doing the garden. i need to tag our other threads also sweats

chang geng had been off and on coming up to the roof throughout the previous week, even after the fiasco with damien and bass, so now that there's actually something here... well, there's more to make use of.

the promise of growing something in the greenhouse is appealing, given how little food that the scarlet apartment has that is even a little delicious. when he sees someone else there, he almost thinks to come back later - but it's jiuqing. ] Oh, Miss Su.

[countermeasures]

Sir Chang.

[she looks up from one of the planters, which she's in the process of watering, and smiles. nothing is sprouting, just yet, but the earth doesn't look disturbed enough for it to have just been seeded... she absolutely ran up here and started planting herbs as quickly as she could.]

Have you come to plant something too?

week two, friday

[countermeasures]

[when chang geng does come into the medbay, jiuqing is just putting away some bandages. she looks up when she hears his footsteps, and crosses over to greet him.

she does stop short of reaching for his hand - she starts to, but then realizes what she's doing and pulls her hand back. touch week. why? this is the worst urge to have around people that she doesn't think want to be touched.]

...Sir Chang, there you are. It's good to see you.

[impurities]

[ he offers her a wan smile, but doesn't bring attention to her aborted gesture. instead, chang geng ducks his head a little, taking a deep breath and coming in closer to her. touch week has been just as interesting for him as the week prior, but...

there is comfort, here, he finds. and at least no one is currently in the medbay besides them. ]

I wish better circumstances brought us to this point, Miss Su.

week two, saturday

[countermeasures]

[once they successfully bully kashuu into medical treatment and kashuu wanders off somewhere (probably to hug yasusada), the two doctors are left alone in the medbay.]

...as ever, thank you for your assistance today, Sir Chang.

[impurities]

[ he stands there, just looking off after where kashuu has gone, taking a deep, slow breath. after he releases it, chang geng looks down at his hands, bloody from the end of trial, from tending to kashuu.

the movements to go wash them are almost mechanic. ]

... we had quite a bit more work for ourselves, today. But I am, as ever, glad to help.

week two, sunday

[countermeasures]

[that execution sure was a lot.

at some point, jiuqing finds herself wandering to one of the far corners of the library. she's not sure what it is she's looking for - peace and quiet? a book to read? some new skill to learn, to distract herself from the events of the day? - but it's chang geng she finds.

she pauses.]

...Sir Chang. [her voice is quiet.] I can leave you be, if you'd prefer, but...

[after what he'd told her yesterday...]

Would you like some company?

[impurities]

[ not me looking back on this and remembering what it was for

chang geng glances up from the book that he's... well, honestly, passively leafing through, not quite absorbing what it is that he's reading. being trapped in place and forced to watch someone slowly succumb to death truly is a cruelty all of its own, but the unfortunate familiarity of marie's condition.

of her medical condition, and the affliction in her heart.

well.

he closes the book, leaning his head back against the shelf he's standing against. ]

... I don't mind. [ no false smile, to offer her - she knows how it's a little too close to home. it would be a disservice to both of them. ] And you've managed to find my quiet corner - I'd hardly want to turn you away, when chance would have this happen.

week three, wednesday

[impurities]

[ bubble time... chang geng is so tired, at this point, that when he and jiuqing are encased in a bubble, he just accepts it. he thought perhaps that the rooftop would spare him, but.

well, here they are.

so he relents. ]

[countermeasures]

[oh.

it's one thing, to see the injuries on someone - she's seen wounds like the ones that chang geng has left on his own hands and arms on others, and she's treated them well. but it's something else entirely to live through this memory. even vicariously, it's so much.

she can't imagine how much worse it must have been to truly live it.

once the memory fades, she's quiet, and then she reaches out to him. she doesn't grab him - instead, she leaves her palm open, hand outstretched.

it's not touch week anymore. but touch can be a comfort, and she finds that she wants to help him, if she can. if he wants to take her hand, if it will help, he's welcome to. and if he doesn't, that's fine too, but she's not going anywhere.]

Sir Chang...

week seven, wednesday

[countermeasures]

[well.

he's still got her hand as they enter the house, because she isn't going to pull it out of his grasp. once they're inside and the door has shut behind them, she looks up at him and gives his hand a small squeeze.]

...so, here it is.

[they worked hard on it!! hopefully he does not hate it.]

[impurities]

[ he does indeed still have her hand. which is not conduscive to taking his boots off when he enters, but he's not going to pay it much mind at the moment. the priority is the fact that -

well, he's alive. chang geng is alive, and the curl of delicate and familiar fingers in his hand is very much real. the rush of racing to the finish line has faded, but the warmth of that hasn't.

it's not as if he'd been isolated. but it's different, now, actually being reunited with the living, all of them together again. especially after they got to watch them put so much work into these houses, into putting their personalities into them, giving them a taste of home, happiness, belonging - even if they didn't know it was going to be a belonging. and jiuqing took what she knew of great liang, what her heart knew of daxing, and put it here. ]

... I know we're not meant to get attached to the places made in the Prism, really, considering what we've learned up to this point. But it feels like a home away from home.

[ when he turns to her, he brings their hands up - and adjusts his grip on hers, so that he might kiss her knuckles. ]

Thank you, Jiuqing.

week seven, thursday

[impurities]

[ once the party starts to wind down with how inebriated everyone is, and it becomes abundantly clear that jiuqing should call it a night -

well, chang geng has opted to excuse the both of them. he has the good graces to let jiuqing keep her dignity, while there are others around, but once they get far enough away, he's stopping them so that he can scoop her up effortlessly into his arms. (she's a full foot shorter than him and so much lighter in comparison)

this entire thing gives him deja vu, actually, and he should question his taste in romantic partners. ]

Let's go, maomi.

[countermeasures]

[thank you for her dignity, chang geng.

...is what she would say at first, anyway. she doesn't struggle when he sweeps her up into his arms, and settles against him, her arms going up to drape around his shoulders to help steady herself -

but then he speaks, and that makes her pout up at him.]

I was hoping you hadn't seen that...

week seven, friday

[countermeasures]

[i don't know where they are. they're somewhere. somewhere not the central node, after watching all of that and being blasted away - and it's not a good feeling, to have seen that and not be able to do anything. to know that the people they've come to care for are at the whims of that - that person? that madman?

jiuqing has never really liked dreamer's vibes. this only solidifies it.

trying the doors hasn't taken them back to the central node. as time ticks on, it just gets harder - there's something restless in her, a frustration with not being able to do anything to protect the people she loves, a fear that she's going to lose more people.

it doesn't quiet, exactly, when she looks over and sees chang geng turning the bracelet on his wrist -

but she's distracted by it, and she moves to come up behind him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head against his back.]

...we're going to be okay.

[her tone of voice makes it a promise.]

[impurities]

[ they're somewhere, trying to get - well, somewhere. at least the graveyard is familiar, and there are still some of the locations they've come to know, although the idea of being in quarantine again is an unpleasant one. he wasn't close to the residents, but they were still among them, with so many to cherish them, and they tried - they tried to help them, they tried to figure things out together, they tried to protect them.

and dreamer, so seemingly well-intentioned if a little off-kilter, questionable at the end to the point that distrust mounted in many of them...

chang geng stops trying, after a little while. he stays with jiuqing, because he's restless, too, but he's not actively attempting in the same way that she is, frustrated and unfocused. colors are too much, too loud, too bright, and he can feel the equally restless claws of the bone of impurity start to drag at the edges of his mind with the way that the prism bends and refracts under what dreamer has done.

(inside his mind, everything is too much. he can feel the edges of a breakdown, the itch itch itch that he can't scratch, the drip and smell and taste of blood in the back of his throat, the - )

externally, all he does is stand there, expression blank, grip a little too tight on his wrist as he uses his thumb to twist the bracelet that jiuqing sent with the living's care package. with each pass of the amber stone, he presses it more firmly into his skin. ]

week seven, saturday

[countermeasures]

[it now occurs to me that i should probably ask, but i feel like the answer would likely be "back at chang geng's house again" and you're cooking dinner, so here we go.

anyway, jiuqing is sticking close to him, her fingers intertwined with his as they walk back - and once they get inside, she leans against him and breathes out what might be a small sigh of relief.]

...it seems like things went well.

[better than she'd expected to, since it started with them fighting a dragon.]

[impurities]

[ yeah no this is perfectly fine, because chang geng is tired and they've probably had their time with others. now it's just - them. and he wants to go back to somewhere that feels like home and just simply Exist for a little while.

(it feels a little like theirs, but he won't say it.) ]

... it feels like it did. It feels like we did and said the right things. We'll see tomorrow, but still.

[ he smooths his hand up her spine absently, leaning back against the door, actually. his head tips back with a light thump, and he closes his eyes. ]