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[folklore]

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[countermeasures]

[once is happenstance, twice is coincidence.

jiuqing is still only on two out of three, but really, ending up in hisui feels like enemy action more than anything else. on the one hand, there haven't been any random murders! ...on the other, there really seems to be no way home. more than that, most everyone she's met doesn't seem to be from another world, as she is. they all claim to have lived there their whole lives, and they don't seem to have any idea of how she might make her way back home.

she feels well and truly stuck.

still, she can't just sit and wait. so while she searches for a way back to daxing, she also establishes herself within hisui - the names of many of the plants are unfamiliar to her, but they're very similar, and she's quick to learn the medicinal properties each of them has. she's known, now, as a traveling doctor who can treat people and pokemon alike.

it gives her a good reason to travel while she searches for some way out of this world, at least. and it's what has brought her to this part of hisui today. she's gathering herbs, sorting them into piles and tucking them away in a basket. skitty and vulpix are accompanying her for safety's sake - until, suddenly, skitty bolts.

jiuqing follows, to find the catlike pokemon affectionately rubbing up on the legs of some random man who is passing by.]

Skitty! You can't just—

[...some random man who looks a lot like chang geng.

there's the briefest instant where she wonders, but - what are the odds? she adjusts her hold on her basket of herbs to keep her hands occupied and keep herself from reaching for him, then bows in apology.]

I'm sorry, sir. She must have startled you.

[skitty makes a purr-like sound and does not move away from chang geng's legs, the brat. vulpix has the audacity to look amused from where it's peeking out from behind jiuqing.]

[impurities]

[ chang geng's tired of being randomly kidnapped to other worlds, at this point.

it hasn't happened often. apparently enough that there's another version of him walking around out there, having also been murdered, but once was more than enough on its own. (save for the companions and friends that he made, across worlds. he'll keep those and the fond memories, instead of the taste of blood in his mouth yet again.)

but he's had to act to survive in more than one situation, in great liang. he steps into hisui, stranded with no obvious way out, and decides that he'll make do until he can find a way out.

at least landing in the northernmost cliffs in the coronet highlands gave him familiar enough ground to stand on. almost like yanhui.

can't just stay in one place, though.

and that's how he finds a familiar face, for the first time that he can think of, in the midst of those travels. his growlithe swivels his head to watch the skitty come darting up, ears perked and tail erect in alert - despite the fact that it's a skitty, but at least the aim is to protect chang geng from everything - and chang geng glances down at the small pokemon. ]

Now where did you... [ not that he can finish. his attention snaps up at the voice that apologizes to him, and he takes in the face, the person, his person. really, he has to stare like an idiot at her for a few seconds, until he moves, kneeling down to offer the skitty his hand. ]

... no, it's alright. No harm, after all, not with those happy sounds.

[countermeasures]

[...he's staring.

she would like to believe that it's because he recognizes her, but after such a long time here without anyone else she knows and no clear way home, she's a little afraid to get her hopes up. better to be cautious.

(but what if it is him? what if it's okay to hope?)

skitty, meanwhile, seems completely unbothered - both by the growlithe's attention and jiuqing's unease - and pushes her head into chang geng's hand. vulpix, recognizing another fire type, eases out from behind jiuqing and prances over to sniff at growlithe.]

She can be a bit overly friendly at times.

[...]

...are you on your way somewhere, Sir?

[impurities]

I had been heading along the coastlands, making my way south.

[ chang geng averts his eyes down to the skitty, carefully stroking the normal type's head with his fingers as she bunts up into his hand. she's cute, and it feels... right, for jiuqing. the thought almost makes him smile, to think of her as the little white cat back in the prism, but he keeps it to himself as he tries not to focus on the longing.

he misses great liang. he misses gu yun, shen yi. he misses cao niangzi, ge banxiao, liao ran. he's missed percy, vax, ruby.

he's missed jiuqing. he's missed her so much, and he hates the fact that he's been unable to find a way home, or even to the prism where the gates to other worlds might solve that problem.

but chang geng looks up at her as his growlithe returns the sniffs to the vulpix, eyes scanning her face.

it's dangerous to hope. but perhaps the way she looks at him... ]

... is there perhaps something on my face, miss?

[countermeasures]

[the skitty makes another pleased sound as she receives the pets that are, quite frankly, her due; once that's done, she winds her way around chang geng's ankles once more before trotting back to jiuqing's side. her vulpix, meanwhile, allows the growlithe to sniff before batting one paw at his side. bap.

maybe this would be easier if she was watching the pokemon instead of watching him. but her gaze doesn't leave his face, not until he looks up and catches her staring; that's her cue to avert her eyes, feeling a little foolish.

surely he would have called her by name had he recognized her, wouldn't he? she really shouldn't get her hopes up.

(they're so similar in so many ways. today, right here, it's a detriment - because they're each guarded, too guarded to allow themselves to hope in a way that would clear this misunderstanding up immediately. they've both learned the lesson of how dangerous hope can be a little too well.)

she lowers her head in apology, her heart aching.]

Ah, no... My apologies, sir. I shouldn't have stared.

[foolish. she knows well enough by now that everyone she's meeting here has lived in hisui all along.]

But what a coincidence - I was headed south myself, once I'd finished gathering these herbs. Perhaps it might be safer to go together...? I'm just about done.