Chapter Text
Jiyan never liked bittberries that much, or at all if he was being honest. His mother used to cook dishes with bittberries often when he was a kid; she would chop them into tiny little pieces and told him that in doing so it would make it taste less sour when he bites into them. Unfortunately for him, it did not, but he never said anything to her. He’d just offer to cook for them instead when he had the time and that way he could make anything that he enjoyed.
He grew up in a family of healing art practitioners– studying herbs and spices and cooking had always been an important part of it, for he believed that food was the best treatment for one’s ailment, and he enjoyed learning and honing his skills in medicine. So naturally after years of it, he gradually started to tolerate the strange sharp tang of the yellow fruit, best known not only for its astringent taste but also its detoxifying purposes. Although he completely stopped incorporating it into his meals after he moved out of his parents house and enlisted to join the midnight rangers, he was familiar with the fruit and had it in his knowledge on how to prepare it in various ways.
Of course, you could just eat it straight off of the small branch of the plant and still get the raw benefits, especially in a state of emergency. Serving in the military and being sent on missions meant less options in the sustenance department. Resources were scarce and the means and time to prepare food from scratch were limited, if not nonexistent, especially in the overworld. Most times they only had the standard food ration bars for days to survive. Soldiers couldn’t afford to be picky about their food, but Jiyan would still refuse bittberries as a means of nourishment when he could still help it, which was most of the time. He knew that it was a ridiculous act but he carried this die hard habit as he rose through the ranks of the Midnight Rangers. Despite renouncing his role in the medical field with a heavy heart, he took a silent pride in being deemed capable enough to lead troops with his combat skills.
It was five summers ago when his squad was assigned a mission to Tiderise Cliff. He was still a sergeant back then. Locals from the village by the seaside had reported that a particular area was infested with Tacet Discords and Outriders confirmed them to be of Howlers and Tranquilite types.
They came upon dozens of elite and common class roaming around and handled them with ease. Stonewall Bracers were fighting each other on the hillsides, tall as trees and shaking the ground where their stone limbs landed. They turned to him when he led the charge at the front, teal lance radiating power in his hand, expertly avoiding the boulders thrown at him. The rangers took them down. They combed down through the territory and encountered Viridblaze Saurians near the shore, spitting fire and driving them into the water. Jiyan shouted commands to his men, and they pushed through.
The sun was starting to set when they were done. Before making their way back to their designated station near the gates of Jinzhou City, Jiyan granted his squad some well-deserved respite. They could have stopped by the village to treat themselves to a proper meal, but they already propped up and sat down underneath a verdant rock arch to assimilate their current situation. Midnight Rangers had basic first aid training, but with Jiyan’s experience in the medical field, he took it upon himself to assess each of his soldiers by himself and to his relief, found that no one suffered anything more than minor injuries.
The sky had yet to turn dark when Jiyan settled down and the rest of the rangers followed. The grass felt too good under him and he let his eyes fall closed as he sat back against the rock. He opened them again when one of his men dropped down over their heads and landed a few feet away from him. It was Fusheng, a highly skilled non-resonator ranger who was a few years older than him. “Look what I got here, fellas!” Fusheng beamed an infectious grin, holding three ripe bittberries in his hand and offering them to the ranger closest to him, “Here, take these. There’s more of them up there, I’ll go back up and pick some more. Sarge, you want some?”
It was nice to know that in spite of the state of their exhaustion, they were still in high spirits at the end of the day. He nodded in acknowledgement and politely refused, “Thank you, but I’m good, Fusheng. Though I think the others would love some.”
He watched the rangers sliced the fruit open with their pocket knife and ate them raw, some suggesting it would taste even better with certain condiments. He laughed and shook his head in acknowledgement– it just wasn’t for him.
Jiyan took a sip from his water gourd instead. He’d manage, he always did.