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It was near evening before the small group of Foxians, plus Moze, reached what looked to be a wetland. Tighnari’s mood also visibly improved upon reaching it, though Jiaoqiu thought his mood had been pretty neutral before reaching this wetland. The wetland had simply just improved it, which brought out a sort of excited shine into the black-haired man’s eyes, causing Jiaoqiu’s tail to wag involuntarily, a sight caught by both Feixiao and Moze, causing the former to smile and Moze to hide a smile by pulling his hood over his head. Tighnari, on the other hand, turned to face the group. “As you can see, this is one of the least foresty areas in the Sumeran jungle,” he explained. “Further up the trail is Port Ormos, where boats often show up to deliver and take supplies back and forth, mainly to Fontaine, but other areas as well.”
“I’ve noticed that you don’t really ship anything to Liyue Harbour,” Feixiao commented, noticeably looking over at Jiaoqiu, who was not so subtly staring at their tour guide. “Surely it’s not too much trouble to?” Jiaoqiu’s ears pricked up, that was her debate voice, and he then glanced over at Tighnari, who looked a little intimidated, but he kept his composure. He gave her a smile and then opened his mouth.
“Jiaoqiu had mentioned you like the truth,” Tighnari responded. “And the truth is, we see no point in going by boat, since the road from Liyue Harbour to Sumeru, though long, isn’t that strenuous, mentally taxing? Totally. But, as long as you know different plants that you can utilize, you can generally survive whatever hardship you might encounter. Jiaoqiu has made the trip multiple times to deliver herbs from Bubu Pharmacy to Gandharva Ville, so if anything, ask him.” Feixiao’s ears twitched in her approval, and her piercing eyes travelled over towards Jiaoqiu. He simply smiled back.
“I mean, knowing the particular… properties of certain herbs certainly helps,” he hummed, causing Tighnari to send him a glare. “Specifically Qingxin. It’s extremely useful for dealing with Hillichurls specifically, I’ve used it more than once on a camp or two when making trips every now and then.” Tighnari then snorted and Jiaoqiu felt that warm feeling once again over take him, and he smiled.
“Every now and then?” Moze piped up from where he’d situated himself near a small hill. “Jiaoqiu you disappear from the Pharmacy every other day, Baizhu has to sometimes send me after you to find wherever the fuck you’ve wandered off to. It’s almost comical at this point.” He didn’t say anymore, but Feixiao merely tutted to herself. Tighnari, meanwhile, had busied himself with crouching beside the surrounding lilypads of the wetland and Jiaoqiu walked over to him.
“The Nilotpala Lotus blooms at around this time of year,” Tighnari commented, gazing at the blue flowers on the lilypad. “Though they only open at night.” Jiaoqiu hummed and looked at the flower.
“You specifically took us here to see the lotuses, didn’t you?” Tighnari gave him a look.
“It wasn’t intentional, but I think we should stop for now. It’s getting late, and the forest is dangerous at night. As the Forest Ranger in charge of you, you’re my responsibility and I don’t want you getting hurt. Any of you. It would weigh on my conscience if anything happened. Anyways.” He looked at him. “Are Qingxins the only thing you know about? Are poisons your speciality? For a chef and healer, I didn’t think you’d have a degree in poisons.” Jiaoqiu’s ears twitched.
“Qingxins may have a laxative quality, but in terms of being a poison, they’re not a poison. In fact, some people can even withstand that effect. Other poisons, such as Tumbledust, are true poisons. Tumbledust though, depends on the dosage, sometimes it merely causes weakness, sometimes death, however a side effect of consuming such a poison is vision loss. I’ve never consumed the poison myself, but I’ve treated… people… who have consumed it.” Tighnari frowned. Jiaoqiu shuddered quietly, and Tighnari put his hand over his. Warmth flowed through Jiaoqiu and he smiled.
“Oh, the stars are beautiful tonight,” Feixiao’s voice cut through the peaceful silence, and both Tighnari and Jiaoqiu lifted their heads to look at her. Even Moze seemed interested. “Oh… even she is there,” Feixiao grew quiet, looking at the brightest star, seemingly shining brighter at the admission. Moze looked into the sky.
“She?” Moze responded, and Jiaoqiu shrugged, returning his gaze back to the blue flower. Feixiao simply shook her head and continued to gaze at the star. “She is where? The star? Feixiao what are you-“
“We knew each other when we were younger,” she continued without explaining. “She even attempted to help me with my… condition . Though it was kind of hard, living on two separate continents.” Jiaoqiu’s ears twitched, this was the most calm he’d ever heard Feixiao be, and Tighnari seemingly noticed it too.
“Is she usually this-?” Jiaoqiu merely shook his head. Tighnari then shrugged and looked back at the blue flowers before them, slowly beginning to open. Feixiao, on the other hand, closed her eyes and almost seemed to be mourning. “Also weren’t you helping her with her condition?” Tighnari added, and Jiaoqiu sighed.
“Only recently, nothing I’ve tried seems to working though, I’m suspecting it might a curse. Though it might be as simple as Baizhu’s cough, but again, with that, I haven’t found anything either.” His ears flopped down. “What kind of healer am I, if I cannot heal someone?” Tighnari gave him a soft look, a kind that made Jiaoqiu sort of melt a bit.
“Hey, even if you never find a cure, you can still help them. I’ve dealt with Collei’s flare-ups before. She still struggles with the after effects of what happened to her. The most you can do sometimes is help manage it.” He smiled, and Jiaoqiu’s tail wagged.
“She was Inazuman, I was from a small Liyuean village,” Feixiao could be heard saying. “And yet, somehow, we made it work. She was… one of my only friends in the world. Until…” Feixiao trailed off to catch her shaking breaths. Jiaoqiu, however, was far too focused on something else to really worry about it, though he could feel her eyes on his back. He could also feel Moze’s eyes on his back, and this was fully solidified after he heard him scoff. Feixiao, herself let out a small chuckle. “Let’s turn this somber mood into something more joyous,” she decided. “Moze, you mentioned you know trumpet?” Jiaoqiu whipped his head around just to notice him noticeably pulling down his hood, and going red.
“Wow, Moze, I didn’t know you had it in ya,” Jiaoqiu commented, earning a chuckle from Tighnari.
“It can’t be any worse than Kaveh once drunkenly trying to play a sitar,” he added, causing the assassin to go more red. “He’d have done a better job sober!” Tighnari looked at the group. “You guys should have been there, he somehow played the low notes high and the high notes low.” Jiaoqiu was invested now, especially because of the mischievous look in Tighnari’s eyes. He hadn’t heard too much about Kaveh, just that Tighnari was particularly annoyed at the situation he had with his roommate, and that they played Genius Invocation together, whatever that was. “Don’t get me started on the singing.” Jiaoqiu’s ears twitched.
“Oh, he sang? How bad was he?” Moze seemed relieved that the conversation had taken a detour, and was now watching them silently. Tighnari sat up and looked at the gathered crowd, though Feixiao hadn’t taken her eye off of Moze.
“He wasn’t so much bad, in the general sense,” Tighnari explained. “But, drunkenness doesn’t exactly produce something angelic, if you get what I’m saying.” Feixiao chuckled slightly and then her piercing eyes lit up as she got an idea, and Jiaoqiu felt slightly worried about what her idea could exactly be. Immediately, her eyes found Moze.
“Moze, you’ll be putting your trumpet skills to use,” she decided. “I’ll do the singing. Jiaoqiu, and Jiaoqiu’s friend, why don’t you dance to the music? So we can now lighten up the mood. Plus, it’ll be easier to talk about Saiguu this way. Up, up!” Jiaoqiu’s ears twitched slightly. ‘Saiguu’? He looked over at Tighnari who was frozen in place.
“‘Nari?” The nickname slipped out accidentally. Tighnari’s ears twitched and he looked between Jiaoqiu and the blue flower, basically opened by this point. His ears then sagged and he looked away.
“I’m not a dancer, and I’ve never danced. If you want a dancer go get Nilou, I’d much prefer to just sit here and guard the lotuses. May I remind everyone that we are in the vicinity of Nilotpala Lotuses? A common flora here? If you damage the local flora here I will have to report you to the Forest Rangers. The local flora is very important to the local biodiversity of Sumeru and I-“ Jiaoqiu held out a hand and smiled, Tighnari twitching his ears.
“We don’t have to dance the entire time,” he whispered. “Here’s the plan: We dance a little, and get mostly out of earshot, and then stop. Feixiao will keep bugging us if we don’t, once she has her mind set on something, she’s hard to shake.” Tighnari’s ears twitched, and he narrowed his eyes.
“It’s my job to look out for you, and going out of eyeshot seems kinda contradictory. But, I suppose if it’s only for a little bit… and if it doesn’t damage any of the lotuses…” Jiaoqiu couldn’t hide his excited tail wag at Tighnari agreeing to dance with him, even for a little bit, and Tighnari clearly noticed it. The soft smile that Tighnari gave him next, surprised him even more. “Plus, if it makes you happy,” he murmured in a tone Jiaoqiu couldn’t quite decipher, but that, combined with the soft look he was giving him, made Jiaoqiu’s insides implode.
The one thing Jiaoqiu didn’t notice, however, was Tighnari’s own tail wagging slightly.
Feeling winded, Jiaoqiu stepped back, and held out his hand. “If you can encourage me to not give up in healing someone, even if it seems impossible, even if all in all it’d just be helping them manage their new chronic ailment, then I can encourage you to dance. Join me, Nari?” Tighnari rolled his eyes at him and took his hand, Jiaoqiu pulling them into position. Feeling Tighnari’s hands on his waist gave him a rush that he wanted to feel forever, but he ignored it for the time being, swallowing deeply. “So, I guess we wait for the, um, music,” he stammered out, causing Tighnari to look at him funny, but he just smiled back.
It wasn’t long before Feixiao’s voice ran out throughout the otherwise quiet wetlands, and the sky was fully dark now, yet the star that Feixiao had been talking to earlier seemed to shine brighter than all the others. The song itself was melancholic, romantic, and full of pining desire. If Tighnari hadn’t taken the lead, Jiaoqiu was sure he would’ve just stood there, taking him in, letting the night pass by, watching the black-furred fox bathe in the moonlight, and no dancing would’ve happened at all. He seemed to be in a trance, his body moving without him being aware of it, Moze’s trumpet playing merely a shy melody in the background. “Earth to Jiaoqiu?” Tighnari’s amused voice snapped him back into reality. There was that strange soft expression on his face again, and all of a sudden he became deaf to the world except for Tighnari’s voice. “You talked high and mighty about leading the dance, and yet I’m leading you.” Jiaoqiu shook his head to clear it.
“And it seems you’re doing perfectly fine with it too,” he hummed. “See? Dancing isn’t so bad, now is it?” Tighnari chuckled and it became part of the pleasant background noise.
“It is only for a bit, remember? We’re doing it to get away from the others.”
‘We’re doing it to get away from the others’
Oh, no Qingxin infused dish could replace the fuzzy mush that statement made Jiaoqiu’s insides become. For a single, stray, dangerous moment, Jiaoqiu wanted to kiss him right then and there. Tighnari almost seemed like he would be receptive to such an impulse, judging by the look on his face, but Jiaoqiu held himself back. This wasn’t part of the plan, if anything it was distracting. But they were… so close.
“Oh! Nilotpala Lotuses!” Tighnari took mercy on him and decided to shatter the moment. Tighnari removed himself from the dancing position and then crouched beside the lilypad. Jiaoqiu did the same, still coming down from the rush of the few minutes they’d been like that .
He felt like he’d just eaten something particularly spicy, that he couldn’t exactly handle, but he wasn’t complaining.
Hey, was he blushing?
It certainly felt like it, as Jiaoqiu felt exceptionally hot. But, there wasn’t anything he could do about it, except wait for it to dissipate, so he just sat down and focused on the lotuses. Tighnari’s nimble hands plucked one of the blue flowers and looked at it. “Hey. We managed to not step on any, which is amazing.”
“I told you we wouldn’t,” Jiaoqiu hummed. Tighnari flicked his ear playfully.
“Sure, but then you zoned out, so it was my responsibility.” Jiaoqiu merely chuckled, but his tail gave him away, by its incessant wagging. Tighnari smiled and handed the lotus to him, however, the two ended up brushing fingers, ending up in them holding it together, and Jiaoqiu’s tail wagging again. Tighnari’s expression softened. “Nilotpala Lotuses are one of my favourite flowers. Not rare, yet still quite sporadically placed here and there. This area houses quite a few. The flower that surrounds them opens at night, letting out their yellow colour.” Behind him, Jiaoqiu felt something soft brush against his leg, and he turned around briefly, to find…
Tighnari’s tail wrapped around his.
He whipped back around to find Tighnari still eying the lotus, though his expression had changed. He had that soft smile again, and when he looked up at Jiaoqiu, it softened even more and Jiaoqiu felt his insides implode yet again. “Their yellow colour even matches your eyes,” Tighnari commented, cupping Jiaoqiu’s cheek, causing the salmon fox to have a near heart attack. “Which is fascinating.”
He was, for lack of a better term, fucked.