[closed] convalescence

[baofeng]

Who ⬤ Yizhi and well-wishers (JGY, NHS, Julieta)
What ⬤ A log for visitors while Yizhi recovers from his hit
When ⬤ Backdated to mid-June
Where ⬤ Yizhi’s apartment
Content Warnings ⬤ Mention of injuries (broken arm) and recovery from thereof

Call him foolish for demanding the Full Hit Experience™ from a begrudging hitman, but Yizhi’d made a fair amount of preparations for being fucked up! He had the nearest hospital on speeddial, and after he’s discharged Yizhi resigns himself to six weeks of rest as instructed by a doctor.

The first few weeks end up smothered by the blood rain, so he ends up really following the instructions to rest at home. Yizhi probably won’t admit it, but he’s very quickly discovered why so many patients don’t follow doctors’ orders. Resting makes you restless, fast.

Also, it’s hard to take it easy when you have to do chores with one arm slung up.

Still, with his television and tablet for entertainment and a nice couch to languish on, Yizhi manages a fair bit of well-behaved, Emily-would-approve rest.

Come visit!

(ooc: While this was initially written for Jin Guangyao, Nie Huaisang and Julieta Juris, existing CR can drop me a line if you also want a visitation thread! Also, I'll still be using bracket tags for tagbacks as normal, this is just in prose because the entire prompt is a single 'bracket'.)

Comments

feel free to stick with prose or whatever format you prefer!

[baofeng]

[When Yizhi appears at the door, his arm is bound and immobilized in a sling. To be fair, the long-sleeved robes they all favor do a good job at hiding any other injury he might have had, but the young man seems in decent spirits for his condition.]

My sincerest gratitude for your visit, qianbei. My house isn’t in the best condition, so pardon me for that…

[He’s mostly saying that as a formality- he knows Senior Jin knows there are extenuating conditions- but still, Chinese hospitality customs are so strong that he can’t help the twinge of embarrassment anyway, so he says it. Yizhi steps aside to let Jin Guangyao in, and the small apartment is indeed a little bit grungy. Yizhi’s kept up somewhat with upkeep, but scrubbing every inch of the floors is just too difficult one-handed, and he’s given up on the bloodied windowsill completely.

Still, it’s halfway homely- the television is playing some kind of variety show, filling the room with upbeat voices. There’s a row of potted plants in a corner. A printed painting of the Four Auspicious Beasts hangs on the wall.]

That’s great! I was worried I’d have to live off cup noodles now that the delivery services are kind of unreliable. What did you bring? It smells really good.

[taintedpeony]

Your home is lovely, please do not mind. I love your taste in decor.

[For his part, he slipped off his bloody boots and shed his raincoat and various tail coverings, to leave them in a bloody bag in the hall. It wouldn't do to trail mud and blood into Yizhis home after all.]

Oh goodness, it isn't bad but is so loaded with salt. I cannot be healthy and conducive to healing. I brought enough for a few days, I can bring more fresh food when you run out. It is important for you to eat nutritious food while you heal.

Ah, freshly fried pork bao, some char siu, some fresh gai lan with garlic and ginger, and a specialty of the region I grew up in.

Dried hot noodles, but I held back on the spice. though I do have a jar of laoganma if you want a bit of heat. It is comfort food for me, in tough times. I would like to learn what your comfort foods are so I can bring them to you next time.

Where do you wish for me to set this down?

[baofeng]

Oh! Thank you so much, Senior.

[Yizhi can’t keep the excitement out of his voice- that all sounds mouthwatering after so many days of sticking to proper sickbed food.]

Maybe over there? On that counter.

[He swings around and flaps his good hand at what looks to be a kitchenette area. Specifically, the one counter next to the fridge, mostly empty except for a box of snacks and a tin of loose-leaf tea pushed against the wall.]

I like… uhm… these all sound really good, honestly. [The Gao household is so wealthy that they cycle through an endless list of dishes, and ironically, this makes Yizhi flounder when asked for one favorite dish. Well, this and all the other things about the Gao household.] I can’t think of much else with this bounty in front of me. Have you eaten yet today, Senior? Will you be eating too?

[taintedpeony]

You are very welcome.

[He stepped inside and set the food down. Some of it needed to be reheated but that should not take long at all.]

I have not had the chance yet.

Did you want some tea as well? Arm injuries are hard to move around in so I can assist with anything you need while I am here.

[baofeng]

Then, do you want to have your meal while you’re here, Senior?

[Of course he offers, even if Senior Jin is not that close- sharing food is a communal ritual across human cultures, the Chinese included. You step into Yizhi’s house, he has to try and feed you, unless you’re a grouchy hitman and refuse all other overtures of hospitality. Yizhi appears behind Jin Guangyao, peering at all the food containers, before moving sideways to retrieve a teapot out of a drawer. ]

Tea is alright for me to handle! I can make some while you get the food ready. I uhm…

[At this point, he blushes red- he does need help, but imagine a disciple of the Jin or Lan clans asking the Chief Cultivator to do their laundry. You can't. It's unthinkably mortifying. And while Yizhi is not actually the rank-and-file of any such clan, Jin Guangyao is still his elder by at least a decade, and basically an authority figure in his mind- obviously he can’t!!!! He’ll die of embarrassment!!!! Imagine surviving a hit from Shuten just to die like that!!!!]

…don’t need anything else for now.

[taintedpeony]

I would certainly be happy to. Thank you.

[Of course he did not mind spending more time with him. He also wanted to take a chance to really assess how he had been faring. Cue worried elder here. He moved about the kitchen and began heating the various dishes and setting them on the low table for them. He looked over curiously.]

Are you certain? Please feel free to tell me if there is anything. I am happy to help.

[It would not be the first time he had assisted a lost nobleman with his laundry.]

This is just about ready. Did you want some laoganma on the side?

[baofeng]

[Yizhi gets to work filling a kettle with water and setting it on the hotplate stove. The process is slightly slower than if he had the use of both hands, but it’s still manageable.]

Let’s eat first. [Perhaps after the meal he will gather enough courage to bring up the things he does struggle with.] Ah, I don’t mind a little sauce. Not too much?

[taintedpeony]

[He began to set the table, heaping the bowls high with food, ensuring that Yizhi had some tender meat in his portion. He no longer has A-Ling here to fret over so Yizhi will get most of this attention.]

I can do that. Here come sit and eat before it gets too cold.

[He set a little bit of sauce for him while taking a good amount himself. When things were worse having something spicy warmed him a lot.]

I'll be glad when this rain is over. I never thought I would see blood rain again. It is like the worst of the war out there.

[baofeng]

Coming!

[Well, that’s a new experience, being nagged at to come eat. Yizhi trots back to the table with a mug filled with cool water, which he pours into their cups. See, he’s figured out one-handed living fine.]

The tea will have to wait until the water boils.

[He settles down, staring with some fascination at the food. There’s a marked difference between the work of a home cook and a hired chef, and he’s only ever had the latter - and other things of course, cafeteria food, restaurant food, but there is a lot of entertainment programming about how wonderful a mother’s cooking is, how filled with love. He’s wondered if that was really only fiction.

Yizhi won’t start until his senior also looks ready to, but in the meantime something Jin Guangyao says catches his attention:]

Have you seen something like this before?

[taintedpeony]

Good boy. [He smiled softly, he felt as if he was with the various troublemakers he's raised. But Yizhi was proving to be a sweet and filial young man with lovely manners.]

That is fine. We can have it after we eat.

[He went ahead and helped himself, eating thoughtfully.]

I have. It was in the place I was before, Hakagemachi. It was where Koemi first possessed me after I had died. That's when I woke up with these tails and ears. The world was dying so the youkai there possessed humans in a last-ditch effort to save their home. Coming here, we're just two souls in a body. Which was odd at first but it feels fairly natural now.

but I am digressing. There was a very upset lake spirit and she manifested her rage in blood rain. Much like this, there was a wave of demonic Qi, that affected the youkai in us as well as made us hallucinate and hear some of our worst traumas. It is pretty hard to wash blood out of so much fur as well...

[baofeng]

Thank you again for the food.

[Yizhi chirps, politely, before beginning to eat as well. Yes he is a very polite boy who only occasionally wants to call Toraguma a bastard.

Mmm, fresh-cooked food! He hasn’t had to live that long off reheated porridge and Doordash’ed deliveries that are cold by the time the courier makes it over, but having something nice to eat is usually worth a celebration. He doesn’t get much time to savor, though, because Jin Guangyao’s explanation is also food of an entirely different kind. Food for thought, I mean. Yizhi has to think very hard to process what his senior just said- possession? Death? Two souls in one body??]

That sounds frightening. [He hedges, to buy himself more time to think. It’s scary, but sitting here in a whole different world, Yizhi’s not actually scared of Hakagemachi at all.] What happened in the end?

[taintedpeony]

Of course.

[It is a valid reaction to have towards Toraguma. After he stiffed his own employee to feed the entire beach Join Guangyao's already low opinion of the man sunk even lower. She Gojyo owes him a favor now for the money he lent him, but he's not too worried about it.]

It was alarming, to say the least.

[He sighed shaking his head before putting some more food in Yizhis's bowl.]

We failed. We could not put the shrines to rest and I assume that the world itself was lost. I found myself here, with a few others from Hakagemachi. Others...like my nephew, I can only hope made their way home.

Though him being Yao possessed will add to so much more trouble. We're a cultivator clan after all. I hope he is alright. He is only a bit younger than you. But the responsibility of our clan is on his shoulders now that I passed from that world.

feel free to drop or keep this on the backburner if you need to focus on RL!

[baofeng]

Oh, no, there’s no need-!

[He might not be able to finish, at this rate! Especially not with what Jin Guangyao is saying- it’s hard to maintain an appetite in the face of such grave stories. Truth to be told, Yizhi’s only eating now because he knows he has to eat to keep going; the sound of the storm outside, sounding too similar to distant screams at times, makes it hard to enjoy food or anything else.

At least the pungent smell of the fried buns and Senior Jin’s laoganma is grounding in its familiarity. Yizhi takes another bite, chews and swallows before speaking up.]

If we don’t succeed here, do you think the same will happen?