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Freminet didn’t exactly know what had possessed Father to move to Liyue and to further specifically move to the Chenyu District, though the best answer he could come up with was that she was interested in all the different business opportunities that were present here. Either way, the four of them were now in Liyue and the best they could really do was just live with it.
Freminet looked around the house that was now his and his siblings home. Lyney and Lynette had already situated themselves, leaving him with the only vacant bedroom. He walked over to it and then placed down all his things. The movers would still have to bring the most important things into the small house, but Freminet wasn’t exactly ready to interact with any of them just yet, nor was he ready to really interact with any of the peers that he would most likely encounter at the high school that Father had enrolled him in, always being two steps ahead of everyone else, all without so much as a smile, or even a smirk.
Shaking his head to prevent impending doom from the thought of trying to interact with strangers entering his mind, Freminet more focused on setting up what he could in his room, from the small amount of belongings he had on his person. He wouldn’t be actually going to the high school for a few days, so he could prepare himself for such a feat if it did end up happening if at all. Freminet first took out Pers, a plush penguin that he used to calm down if need be, and placed him down on the mattress that was not quite a bed just yet, and then he took out some tooth brushes and toothpaste, the usuals and then emptied the rest of his backpack and then sat on the mattress. The mattress was soft but also slightly firm, and likely would be a nightmare on the back until the bed actually arrived.
Then, his siblings decided to poke their heads into the room, and Lyney hummed in his approval. “It’s quite small,” he commented, before turning his gaze on Freminet. “But, it’s perfect for mon frère, is it not?” Without really waiting for a response, he waltzed over to where Freminet was situated on the mattress, Lynette following silently, before sitting on the side table and regarding her brothers with a deadpan look.
“Stop referring to him in the third person,” she eventually said, and it only roused a chuckle from Lyney, though Freminet reached for Pers, for no true reason really, but there was a particular light in Lyney’s eyes that had Freminet on edge. But then, Lynette’s eyes found Freminet. “You’re scaring him, which is the exact opposite of why we are even here in the first place. You wanted to wish him luck for school, remember?” Lyney blinked and then whipped his head around to face Freminet again, and Freminet only really looked at him.
“Right, right, sorry. I got a bit distracted there, sorry Frem-“
“You’ve said that already,” Freminet responded quietly, and Lyney blinked. “Uh, you said something about school?” However, Lyney had seemingly gotten distracted again, by something outside of Freminet’s window. “Lyney, that’s a plant,” Freminet deadpanned and Lyney jumped. He raced back to where Freminet was sitting and Lynette rolled her eyes.
“Sorry about that, I thought I saw something,” he apologized yet again, and Freminet and Lynette shared a look. “Anyways, Frem-“
“Don’t call me that.”
“Okay fine. But anyways, besides the point. Father mentioned that she enrolled you in that high school? Chenyu Vale High or something?” Lyney’s voice darkened and he got serious. “I’m not sure why she would enroll you there, she knows you don’t do well in crowds-“
“She wants Freminet to make some new friends, you were there when she said this Lyney,” Lynette retorted. “Stop playing dumb.” Lyney glared at her.
“I’m trying to ease into the conversation without causing him to have a preemptive panic attack!” He retorted. Freminet merely blinked at the two and then looked between them.
“Uh, I’m still here,” Freminet tried, causing the both of them to whip their heads to face him.
“Freminet,” Lyney began. “How do you feel about having to go to school? With who knows how many people you could encounter? Do you feel that you could handle it? After all, you don’t know how it will work in terms of meeting people.” Freminet squeezed Pers and he looked at the wall.
“I’m not… too enthused about it. Just the very thought of being amongst all those people is giving me anxiety, and you say Father wants me to make friends? Well… I’m not entirely sure how she expects me to do that, as I’d much rather just blend into the background.” Freminet let himself imagine the very scenario: Him being surrounded by strange people. Them, turning to face him, curiousity in their gazes, staring. At. Him. Expecting him to do something? Or were they just curious?
His heart rate started increasing and he shook the thought away, hugging the plushie closer, Lyney and Lynette slowly fading back into view.
“No, I don’t think I can handle it.”
~~~
It was surprising to find out that, despite being new, and very clearly not from here, Freminet’s fellow students didn’t exactly pay him too much mind, which he was silently grateful for. As he walked down the passageway, most were either too focused on their phones, or on each other, as two teacher-aged people were currently making out in the hallway, which was… slightly disturbing, so Freminet just silently scurried past them. In a corner beside the very classroom that Freminet was about to enter were three boys around his age.
Two of them, the navy-haired and light blue-haired ones, were leaning into each other like they were a couple, and the final one, the brown-haired one, was showing them something on his phone, the light blue-haired one blushing profusely. Freminet watched them curiously for a while. The brown-haired one’s eyes were a dark amber with a hint of red, and even his hair was under-dyed with red. They were speaking in a language Freminet didn’t quite understand, but he decided that he’d refer to them as Brunet, Bleu and Glace for the time being. Then something seemed to light up Brunet’s eyes and he suddenly raced into the classroom, Bleu and Glace following close behind, and Freminet figured he should do the same.
When Freminet entered the classroom, he was once again surprised, as none of the gathered students really paid him any attention, acting like he’d gone there his entire life. Which was good, that they weren’t really giving him much attention. That way, nerves couldn’t really get the best of him. He looked around the classroom and noticed Brunet sitting in the very back corner, talking to Bleu and Glace who were sitting in front of him with an energy that even Freminet didn’t think he could really keep up with if he knew Brunet personally. Glace tired easily, eventually switching back around in his seat meanwhile Bleu continued talking to Brunet for a while, seemingly having more energy to engage. It was also then that a Freminet noticed that the only empty seat in the classroom was next to Brunet’s desk, so he silently slipped into the seat, none of the three really noticing.
However, it was then that the teacher seemingly materialized out of nowhere, regarding the class with a warm smile, almost reminiscent of one of an actual mother, and then her birdlike eyes zeroed in on Freminet’s desk, causing him to freeze. “One senses that we have a new fledgeling in our midst,” the teacher commented, walking through the desks, as if she was a predator stalking her prey. That description was a bit dramatic, but, Lyney was Freminet’s brother so. “If so, one asks that the fledgeling show themself up at the peak.”
“Translation: I think we have a new member in our class, and if we happen to have so, I ask that they please come to the front of the class,” said a voice, and Freminet snapped out of his daze, to find Bleu smirking at him. This caused Freminet to sit up straight and before he could cough out a response, Bleu’s yellow eyes narrowed as his smirk widened. “Not to worry, my newbie liege, I happen to be well-versed in the diction of our teacher, if I do say so myself. Though, I do have to admit, I know it mostly because of my dear Chongyun, but, you didn’t hear that from me…” he punctuated his whisper with a wink, before turning back in his seat. Freminet, on the other hand, looked at where the teacher was now basically glaring at him. Swallowing, Freminet slowly lifted himself from his seat.
As he walked up to the front of the classroom, he could feel everyone’s gazes turn onto him and he swallowed again. When he did arrive at the front of the classroom, the teacher’s gaze immediately softened and it was back to that motherly one again. Even her tone was motherly as she looked back at the classroom. “Now that the fledgeling has shown themself, one asks that they introduce themself to everyone in here. Though, don’t feel like you have to haste, take your time, fledgeling.”
“I-I’m…” Freminet looked at everyone, watching him, and his throat started to close up, but he tried to push through, so he didn’t come off as weird. “Uh… I’m… Um F-Fr-“ He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the stares, but he could still feel them on his being. Just say it quickly, get it over with. You can do it Freminet. “I’m— Freminet,” he said quietly before scurrying back to his desk. He then pulled his hood over his head, since he couldn’t bring Pers to school, and tried to breathe normally. The teacher could be heard saying something in the language that Freminet didn’t understand, but whatever she had said made him stop feeling the stares, and he eventually calmed down.
For the rest of the school day, Freminet generally kept a low profile as he headed to other classes, and none of them were really as eventful as his first class that day had been, where he had introduced himself, which was great. So, for the rest of the day, he just let the day happen until the very end where he had decided to walk home, as it was the most efficient way to do so, anyways.
Freminet traversed throughout the unfamiliar streets as he tried to find his way back to the house that he shared with his siblings and Father, but he soon found himself practically walking in circles so he stopped, and tried to rack his brain so he could retrace his steps and find the house. Though, he didn’t exactly hear the approaching wheels as he thought, and he didn’t hear the yell before something crashed into him and hit him hard on his side causing him to stumble onto the floor mere inches from the busy road. Freminet quickly picked himself up and looked around to find the culprit for what hit him, and then his eyes found it.
A skateboard, lying wheels up, revealing a decal of a lion dog on the underside.
Freminet blinked at the board. It had slight indents as if someone had been jumping around on it, and its wheels were grooved, as if to help with grip. The board wasn’t built for speed, as he could clearly tell, and seemed more built for… power? He wasn’t exactly sure how much power or sturdiness a skateboard could really withstand, as despite knowing a fair bit about mechanics, skateboards weren’t exactly his forte. Freminet was more well versed in the mechanics of diving equipment, though this part of Liyue didn’t exactly have an ocean. Plus, even if it did, Freminet wouldn’t exactly know how safe the waters of Liyue were. He was used to Fontaine’s, but he didn’t live there anymore.
The attachments that the wheels were connected to, Freminet couldn’t quite recall the name, were looking a little worse for wear, in his opinion. Rust was starting to creep in, and, he rolled the wheels, the wheels seemed almost a little loose. Not necessarily a recipe for disaster, but certainly a worrying sight. Freminet almost wanted to meet the owner of this board, just to discuss some things, and maybe offer to help, even if the very thought of meeting the owner seemed anxiety inducing. Also, Freminet was starting to feel a little light headed, for some strange reason.
“Oh my Archons, are you alright?” A voice above him said. “It slid out from under me and headed straight for you.” Freminet turned around to find himself staring into Brunet’s eyes. “Oh hey, admiring the board huh?” He said, completely changing the subject. “Made it myself, impressive huh? Okay that’s a little lie, I had some help. Oh! You should’ve seen me earlier! I jumped really high this time! You know, before it slid out and hit you. Oh right! Are you okay? You haven’t spoken at all, you’re not concussed, right?” Freminet blinked as Brunet transferred to a different topic without really seeming to take a breath. He was having a hard time keeping up, but eventually actually heard what he was asking.
“I’m… okay? I think…? Kinda hurt though.” Freminet responded in a somewhat daze, and Brunet looked concerned. Freminet also supposed that it was because of the particular daze that he didn’t really feel all that anxious around this guy. Brunet grabbed the board somewhat awkwardly and stood in front of him, his dark amber eyes looking conflicted. “What… uh, were you doing? Before it hit me, that is,” Freminet asked, standing up but swaying slightly, still feeling lightheaded. Brunet’s eyes, seemingly have forgotten about the fact that the board had hit Freminet, lit up and in his dazed state, Freminet found it cute.
“Why, Wushou dance of course!” Brunet responded, before going off on a tangent about the type of dance and stuff, but Freminet was feeling too lightheaded to really absorb any information, and felt close to passing out, causing Brunet to stop mid-sentence and look at him with concern, before finally yelling, “Archons above you’re bleeding!” Which cut through Freminet’s daze for just a second, before the world went black.
Freminet was awoken by something pressing on his cheek and he opened his eyes slightly, causing voices to swim back into his hearing. “Man Chai get off him! I need to reapply his bandages,” said the voice of Brunet, and Freminet could hear him shuffling around, before the pressure on Freminet’s cheek was lifted followed by a meow of protest. Then, something cold was pressed against Freminet’s head and he fully opened his eyes, startling Brunet mid wrap, causing him to let out an embarrassed chuckle. “Don’t freak out, New Guy, but you’re in my house. I don’t know where you live so I just brought you here. You just passed out and I kinda freaked out. Oh, this is Man Chai.” He grabbed the russet and black cat, and ignoring its protests, showed Freminet the cat. “Oh! I haven’t introduced myself yet. I mean, I already know your name right? Because of what Auntie Xianyun did? Fremi-net, right?” Brunet asked, wiping the cat hair off of his hands. “Hopefully you aren’t allergic to cats, haha, Man Chai sheds a lot. So, it’s kinda impossible to avoid a cat allergy in this house. His hair is like everywhere. I try to clean a lot of it, but the particles are still out there in the air, you know? Oh, have you heard of or met Xingqiu, yet? Rumour has it he’s one of the ones next in line to run his family’s business. You should see his face when I bring it up, he hates it.” Noticing Freminet’s lost and blank look, Brunet laughed awkwardly. “Sorry, I talk a lot. It’s probably strange for me to talk about all this with a stranger.”
“It’s Fremi-nay, as in, rhymes with hay,” Freminet began, deciding that going down the list of Brunet’s questions would be the best way to talk to him, or at least, best way to try to talk to him. “Also, if I was allergic to cats, I wouldn’t be able to live with my sister, now… would I?” Brunet’s eyes lit up and he grinned.
“You have a sister? What is she like?” Freminet blinked as the conversation took yet another detour, and he looked at him.
“Very straightforward. Though, mostly not very talkative, though she does talk sometimes. Though that time depends on the month or day. My brother is the… opposite. Very flighty, extroverted, and mischievous. He was even looking into joining the circus or putting on a show so… yeah.” Brunet looked thoughtful for a moment. And then his eyes found a poster of some blonde haired man, and he glanced at Freminet.
“Would your brother be interested in something like S?” Brunet commented, seemingly have completely forgotten that Freminet still didn’t quite know his actual name. Freminet blinked. S? He’d never heard of whatever this S was. The name being a simple letter didn’t exactly leave much to the imagination, as anything could be whatever this S was. Freminet needed more information.
“S? What is S?”
Brunet gasped as if he was offended, but then his face broke into a grin and he started the explanation. “S is a skateboarding course. S? Skateboard? Get it? Anyways, it takes place in this abandoned mine. Plus, it is extremely secret, you tell no one about it. The first rule of S, is that you don’t mention S.” He then paused. “Which means… I’ve broken the rule, whoops. Anyways. Every so often it holds these contests, right? So, skateboarders go head to head in races and beef it out, you hear me? Then that contest happens and skateboarders get eliminated, one eventually coming out on top. This guy,” he grabbed Freminet and pointed at the blonde man in the poster, Freminet feeling a bit uncomfortable at the closeness. “Jackpot, he won last year, right? So he’s the one to beat. Oh! Another thing about S is that you don’t go by your real name. You go by a nickname. So for example, I don’t go by Gaming there, there I’m known as Lion. That way, you can keep things even more secret than just using your real name, you get it? Also! Even if you’re not a skateboarder yourself, you can earn yourself a nickname. For example, Jackpot’s ‘partner’, in quotation marks, is called Owl! Xingqiu and Chongyun aren’t really skateboarders, Chongyun comes because of Shenhe, his aunt, and Xingqiu comes because of Chongyun. You know, it’s funny how that works-“
“Slow down, Gaming.”
“Wh- Hey? What? How did you find out my name? I didn’t even introduce you to myself! How did you get that information-“
“Um,” Freminet paused, folding under the accusatory look Gaming was looking at him with. “When you were uh… telling me about the nicknames and such, you said your name. Plus… it wasn’t a bad thing, I was just calling you Brunet in my head so-“ he shrugged, and Gaming’s expression turned into embarrassment. He let out a laugh, and Man Chai chose that moment to leap onto Gaming’s lap, causing him to smile and start petting the cat, to the cat’s otherwise indifference.
“I went running off my head again, huh?” Gaming said calmly for once, and Freminet didn’t really have to catch up to understand what he meant.
“I didn’t really mind,” Freminet shrugged. “It makes it easier for me to figure out what to say without really overthinking anything. This is the easiest conversation that I’ve had with a stranger in a while.” Gaming looked over at him.
“I noticed that you seemed to not really like being the center of attention when you introduced yourself to everyone. You were trembling,” Gaming was now busying himself with tapping his fingers on the side table to an imaginary beat, using his other hand to continue to pet Man Chai.
“I’m not sure if being honest and vulnerable with a stranger is all that good, so I’ll just say this, I don’t do well as the center of attention.”
“Oh yeah! Do you think S would be your brother’s scene?” Gaming said, fire reigniting. “Would he be into all that danger and heart racing entertainment, huh? Would he enjoy dancing the track and meeting all the different the races at S-“
“No. He may be flighty and extroverted, but that is far from something that would be his scene. He’s even terrified riding Kinich’s grappling hook, and I’m sure that that is just as exhilarating.” Gaming chuckled, and Freminet was surprised that he found it cute.
“Is… Kinich a friend of his?” Gaming asked curiously, and Freminet blinked.
“No. Kinich would not be interested either.” At this Gaming burst out laughing and Freminet blinked.
“I wasn’t asking. I was simply curious if it was anything like Xingqiu and Chong-“
“I should get home.” Gaming blinked as he was just remembering that Freminet was at his house. “I was trying to get home earlier but I got lost.”
“Well, I happen to know my way around this district, if you happen to know the address to it,” Gaming hummed out the offer, now playing with the zipper on his jacket. Freminet looked over at him and then felt a wave of anxiety wash over him.
“Have you heard of 17 Upper Yaojun Street?” Freminet asked quietly and then Gaming’s eyes lit up.
“That’s the street where Ms Yukong lives,” he stated. “I definitely know where that is.” He stood up and walked over to Freminet. “I go there when I want to hear more stories about the legendary Xianzhou fleet. Have you heard of those stories, Freminet? I’m not even sure if they’re myth or real but have you heard…”
~~~
When the two of them finally reached 17 Upper Yaojun Street, Freminet thought he’d heard about practically all the stories about this supposed Xianzhou fleet, Gaming flying through every story with a passion that was admittedly endearing. Though as they walked up to the house, Freminet had to break it off. “This is the house, so, I better get going.” Gaming smiled at him.
“Goodbye! I’m happy I could help. Though, oh! I have an idea.” He took out his phone. “Here, have my number, so if you ever get lost again you can text me.” Freminet smiled and then entered his number.
Hi, this is Gaming :)
Freminet chuckled lightly at the message and then turned his gaze on the guy in person. “I never really got the chance to say it, but… I do know a thing or two about mechanics so…”
If you ever need me to fiddle with your board or want me to add something, text me, ~ Frem.
With that, Freminet closed the door behind him and left to find his siblings