[ 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. ]
...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.]
You were very cute. [ there was no real difference between her and nogiku, as cats, but it's about The Energy, too. ] But, no, we had been watching then as well.
[ she's light as anything, so he'll make the trek back to the alleyway houses, cradling her close. the pout is very cute. jiuqing is extremely cute, no matter the shape. ]
[she gives a little huff as she says that, settling back down so that he can carry her more easily. not that he really seems to be struggling with it at all... she should probably feel a certain way about a man carrying her to his house, but honestly, his arms are warm and she's still sort of chilly from being desaturated, so.
if she cuddles a little closer to him, no one can say anything about it.]
...I guess I can't really complain. If I'd died first, I would have been watching you all the time, too.
[she is going to regret drinking so much tomorrow morning.]
[ he won't argue with her, there. instead, he'll just let her get settled, meandering back towards the houses. crossing through the nodes is easy enough - even being dead for weeks, he still knows the layout, from observing the living - and it's a quick trip.
but he can tell she's still feeling a touch cold, from her desaturation. an absent thought is set aside for when they're back in the house. ]
... you've already died once, Jiuqing. I would rather you not face that fate again.
[ as if the woman who raised him hadn't spent years nearly succeeding in killing him? ]
[it's not a face he should have had to face. not in his childhood, and not here, either. when chang geng does die - because all people die, in the end - she wants it to be after he's led a long, full life.
not a miserable death in a place like this.
she reaches up to put a hand on his cheek. her hand is still cold, but his cheek is warm.]
And you're not going anywhere. [...] Nowhere but home, once we're free of this.
it wasn't the first time someone's tried to kill me, and it won't be the last - it'll just be the only success, he doesn't add on.
instead, he just closes his eyes, briefly, tilting in to nuzzle her hand like a dog deprived of gentling touches, of affection and kindness, soaking it in. when he opens his eyes again, his head is tipped down, looking at her. ]
And you'll see your mother again. [ chang geng doesn't say that she'll be going home, because it doesn't sound like much of a home, to him, outside of her mother and her small group of friends. it's easy to remember the way it felt, when she was strangled to death - how her heart broke for her mother in that first life. ]
[her mother is waiting for her in daxing - that thought, more than almost anything else, had kept her going all this time. no matter how tiring her experiences in the prism were, no matter how low she felt, or how difficult it was, she couldn't give up; how could she, when her mother was there, just out of her reach? she has to get back to her.
she'd worked toward that with a single-minded focus all this time, just as she'd lived her second life with that same focus.
...but she can't say it will be easy to go back to daxing, especially if they don't find some way of connecting their worlds. if the offer he made a month ago is just an offer, and not something that either of them can follow through on.
she looks up at him, returning his gaze, and resolves to make the best of the time they do have, just in case.]
...but, even if it's safe for my mother in Daxing after all, if she doesn't need the safe haven you offered her...
[ it's wishful thinking, isn't it, to think about being able to travel from this place to great liang, to daxing, to travel between the two.
to give jiuqing and her mother somewhere safe to go, rather than lingering in a world where so many people are out for their blood when all they want is to live in peace and quiet. great liang is a place full of difficulty, certainly, but none of the ones that they would face, in daxing.
they would be safe. they could have peace. ]
... I would like that. There are some things that we both have to see to, aren't there? [ he hopes that gu yun is still safe. does he know that chang geng has been gone for months, now? does he know that he was going to surprise him on the road?
miss chen and the little soldier surely would have told him.
he hopes he hasn't burnt down the great liang countryside because of it. ]
But... I would still like to meet your mother, as well. So I will have to come and visit Daxing.
[lin yue's father still lies in the lin manor, comatose as he's been for quite a long while now. she'd left instructions, and prescriptions, with the local doctors to keep his symptoms at bay; she hadn't known how long she would be away for, when she left to join the army at the battlefield.
if they're at all competent, he'll be alright - no improvement in his condition, perhaps, but no deterioration, either. she'll still have time to find the medicines she needs to counteract the rare, deadly poison.
...and then she won't have anything to do with the lin family anymore.
the thought is a little bittersweet, but it is what it is. lin yue has made his choices. she's made hers.
she looks up at him, her expression a little faraway, but soft nonetheless.]
My mother would love you. [she can imagine her reaction to him, honestly. it makes her smile to think about it - even if she's not sure how she could possibly explain where she was all this time, or how they met.] ...and I'd love the chance to introduce you to my friends. You and Yujiao would get along very well, I think.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
week seven, thursday
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.
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...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...
no subject
[ she's light as anything, so he'll make the trek back to the alleyway houses, cradling her close. the pout is very cute. jiuqing is extremely cute, no matter the shape. ]
no subject
[she gives a little huff as she says that, settling back down so that he can carry her more easily. not that he really seems to be struggling with it at all... she should probably feel a certain way about a man carrying her to his house, but honestly, his arms are warm and she's still sort of chilly from being desaturated, so.
if she cuddles a little closer to him, no one can say anything about it.]
...I guess I can't really complain. If I'd died first, I would have been watching you all the time, too.
[she is going to regret drinking so much tomorrow morning.]
no subject
[ he won't argue with her, there. instead, he'll just let her get settled, meandering back towards the houses. crossing through the nodes is easy enough - even being dead for weeks, he still knows the layout, from observing the living - and it's a quick trip.
but he can tell she's still feeling a touch cold, from her desaturation. an absent thought is set aside for when they're back in the house. ]
... you've already died once, Jiuqing. I would rather you not face that fate again.
[ as if the woman who raised him hadn't spent years nearly succeeding in killing him? ]
But it doesn't matter, now. We're all back.
no subject
[it's not a face he should have had to face. not in his childhood, and not here, either. when chang geng does die - because all people die, in the end - she wants it to be after he's led a long, full life.
not a miserable death in a place like this.
she reaches up to put a hand on his cheek. her hand is still cold, but his cheek is warm.]
And you're not going anywhere. [...] Nowhere but home, once we're free of this.
no subject
it wasn't the first time someone's tried to kill me, and it won't be the last - it'll just be the only success, he doesn't add on.
instead, he just closes his eyes, briefly, tilting in to nuzzle her hand like a dog deprived of gentling touches, of affection and kindness, soaking it in. when he opens his eyes again, his head is tipped down, looking at her. ]
And you'll see your mother again. [ chang geng doesn't say that she'll be going home, because it doesn't sound like much of a home, to him, outside of her mother and her small group of friends. it's easy to remember the way it felt, when she was strangled to death - how her heart broke for her mother in that first life. ]
no subject
[her mother is waiting for her in daxing - that thought, more than almost anything else, had kept her going all this time. no matter how tiring her experiences in the prism were, no matter how low she felt, or how difficult it was, she couldn't give up; how could she, when her mother was there, just out of her reach? she has to get back to her.
she'd worked toward that with a single-minded focus all this time, just as she'd lived her second life with that same focus.
...but she can't say it will be easy to go back to daxing, especially if they don't find some way of connecting their worlds. if the offer he made a month ago is just an offer, and not something that either of them can follow through on.
she looks up at him, returning his gaze, and resolves to make the best of the time they do have, just in case.]
...but, even if it's safe for my mother in Daxing after all, if she doesn't need the safe haven you offered her...
[...]
I still want to come and see you, myself.
no subject
to give jiuqing and her mother somewhere safe to go, rather than lingering in a world where so many people are out for their blood when all they want is to live in peace and quiet. great liang is a place full of difficulty, certainly, but none of the ones that they would face, in daxing.
they would be safe. they could have peace. ]
... I would like that. There are some things that we both have to see to, aren't there? [ he hopes that gu yun is still safe. does he know that chang geng has been gone for months, now? does he know that he was going to surprise him on the road?
miss chen and the little soldier surely would have told him.
he hopes he hasn't burnt down the great liang countryside because of it. ]
But... I would still like to meet your mother, as well. So I will have to come and visit Daxing.
no subject
[lin yue's father still lies in the lin manor, comatose as he's been for quite a long while now. she'd left instructions, and prescriptions, with the local doctors to keep his symptoms at bay; she hadn't known how long she would be away for, when she left to join the army at the battlefield.
if they're at all competent, he'll be alright - no improvement in his condition, perhaps, but no deterioration, either. she'll still have time to find the medicines she needs to counteract the rare, deadly poison.
...and then she won't have anything to do with the lin family anymore.
the thought is a little bittersweet, but it is what it is. lin yue has made his choices. she's made hers.
she looks up at him, her expression a little faraway, but soft nonetheless.]
My mother would love you. [she can imagine her reaction to him, honestly. it makes her smile to think about it - even if she's not sure how she could possibly explain where she was all this time, or how they met.] ...and I'd love the chance to introduce you to my friends. You and Yujiao would get along very well, I think.