have been toying with the idea of an au wherein shen jiu, after burning down the qiu household and running away, comes across xie lian rather than wu yanzi poaching him immediately afterwards:
i'd imagine in this verse he runs away to town rather than immediately being found in the aftermath of what he's done. at this point, shen jiu would be too paranoid to consider reaching out for directions to cang qiong mountain even if he wanted to make it there: what if they knew what he did? or figured it out if he did know? (if he even had the mind to think of these things through his panic)
he doesn't want to end up begging on the streets again, though—too alike his childhood and last time he was in that position, shen jiu ended up with the qius in the first place
so he takes refuge in temples that he comes across, stealing food when he can before moving to a different part of the rather large town he's ended up in so there's no clear pattern of when he shows up at whichever food stall
despite not holding that same respect and unwavering belief in gods (how could he, after everything he's gone through? shouldn't they have stepped in, sometime? what god would let him suffer as he did, separating him from the only person he loved?) he knows better than to try them, and begrudgingly thanks them for the shelter (because this he did appreciate, at the very least, if nothing else)
winter hits hard when it does, and shen jiu, after spending so many years in the qiu household, forgot how the cold seeps into your skin and bones without solid walls to keep out the frigid breeze.
he quickly falls ill with nothing to protect him from the elements but his threadbare clothing, and when he grows ill, he becomes slow. shen jiu nearly gets caught stealing, running away before he can be dragged to a town guard for his offence, but earning himself a nasty wound to his leg as he retreated
sickness + the cold + the wound leave him weak and wanting: missing qi-ge, reminiscing on nights where they'd curl up together for warmth, still cold but not alone, the two of them steady against the storm that raged on ahead of them
fever-ridden and teetering close to death, shen jiu wanders into a temple late at night and sinks to his knees, falling to his side, heart-rate slowing. in his delirium, he misses the figure taking shelter from the storm in the corner, watching him
shen jiu wakes up (he doesn't expect to), warm while he hears the wind whistle. he's still in that temple from earlier, but it's considerably... cozier. a small fire warms the inside and his clothes aren't as damp against his cold skin. his fever's broken, too—he doesn't know how long it's been, but he's glad he didn't die: never realized that he wanted to live until he was close to forfeiting his right to
here is where he meets his accidental saviour: xie lian stood over a slowly bubbling pot of stew that smells heavenly to shen jiu—he'd eat just about anything at this point, starved
his immediate distrust of xie lian stops him from being truly excited about his appearance
their relationship is veryyy shaky at the very beginning: shen jiu refuses to trust him and xie lian refuses to abandon this strange child he found on the verge of death
(there's a strange sort of bond built up when you nurse someone back to life, dragging them away from the brink of death and xie lian isn't interested, but he's curious about this kid who stumbled into his temple at the dead of night on a midnight in winter)
shen jiu's torn between distrust and this desire for company he didn't know he possessed; after being alone with no one but the qiu household [before he went on his massacre] he didn't realized how much he wanted to share space with someone who wasn't actively hurting him until he was afforded the opportunity to experience non-violent company with xie lian
his distrust slowly declines when he finds out that xie lian is a cultivator. despite being arguably too old to learn cultivation to the fullest extent he could have if he started a few years earlier, he still desperately wants to learn
xie lian, perceptive as ever, slowly starts teaching him bits and pieces of the basics, teaches him to meditate, takes care to keep his distance when it looks like shen jiu's getting overwhelmed
shen jiu can't help but get attached. he hates it
shen jiu decides to test xie lian before resigning himself to this
he was snappy, impatient, and argued with xie lian, when he came over, one day, waiting for some form of punishment to come, bristling like a spooked cat.
nothing came of his experiment but a slight frown from xie lian, which made shen jiu feel almost bad—xie lian almost reminded him of qi-ge, which made him feel doubly bad because he desperately wants to find him
shen jiu came to xie lian the next day with a pastry [that he stole] as an apology. and a request:
"teach me how to cultivate so i can be a disciple at the cang qiong sect"
xie lian agrees easily enough: he's been around shen jiu to see that despite the late start, he has potential to be great [especially untouched by wu yanzi and his twisted form of cultivation]
shen jiu throws himself into his studies, working himself to the bone
xie lian is concerned by this and after trying to soften the load of his work doesn't make shen jiu slow down, he becomes stern: warns him against trying to chase too much frivolously
this leads to a breakdown of sorts—where shen jiu gets angry, dismissive, before becoming upset. the average emotional depth of a teenager but, like, 4 times worse because of the circumstances
xie lian coaxes the story out of shen jiu here; qi-ge [the first time he's mentioned aloud by name], the qiu household [only the barest of details. shen jiu refuses to dwell], and the night shen jiu made qi-ge leave, as well as qi-ge's promise to come back
shen jiu finishes by telling xie lian he needs to make it back to qi-ge, needs to see if he's still alive, he's been selfish for sticking around as long
shen jiu tells xie lian that he needs to figure out as much as he can, as fast as he can, so he can leave and make his way to cang qiong mountain with some sort of base knowledge to make it in. and that he's not sorry for pushing himself because he doesn't have time
xie lian is quiet for a while
puts a comforting hand on shen jiu's shoulder and tells him he understands; he knows someone who would do anything to make it back to the one they loved, understands the pain that comes when time and distance separates the two
however, xie lian tells him, he can't let shen jiu push himself. he'll only stunt his progress by hurting himself rather than speed things up
shen jiu is ready to argue again before xie lian offers to make the trip with him
shen jiu doesn't believe it at first—who would bother with helping him for this long if they weren't getting anything out of it? he already found this hard to believe, let alone the fact that xie lian would drop everything to travel with him for weeks on end
xie lian doesn't shake in his resolve, though. shen jiu figures out he's being serious and wants to argue, but he's just—relieved
so many people have stood as roadblocks on his path back to qi-ge; xie lian might be the first person actively trying to help them
it almost reignites hope in him; someone other than him believes in them. someone other than shen jiu thinks they'll make it back to each other and succeed in reuniting. xie lian's faith in him is like a gust of wind beneath his wings
he agrees to their road trip
[xie lian makes sure to tell his beloved he'll be away for a while]
[shen jiu doesn't notice that xie lian buys steamed buns off the same stranger in nearly every town they stop by for a night of rest in the following few weeks]
[xie lian notices, years later, when shen qingqiu doesn't recognize him upon their first meeting in decades. shen yuan doesn't know xie lian, but xie lian knows this isn't shen jiu, anymore]
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thank you @rhyslahey for the tag!!!
last movie: i went to the local cinema to watch a film that recently came out. it's titled މީ އިޝްޤް (written from right to left in my native language, in dhivehi latin it would be mee ishq) which translates to 'this reality'. It was a directorial debut, I think. Was okay, not too bad, not great either. Too much crying and three plot twists being brought out back to back in the second half of the film got me bored. First half of the film and the premise was cute and romantic!
last show: disney lab rats, i revisted a few episodes from season 1.
last song: be quiet and drive (far away) by deftones
song stuck in my head: bero 02 by anar and montagem mysterious game by lxngvx
favourite colour: dark muted blue :D
currently reading: okay, third time's the try, i'm reading red, white, & royal blue. this time i'm not gonna abandon it.
currently watching: b99, i'm on the second to last season i think, i haven't watched in a month or so though.
next on your watchlist: i wanna watch manchester by the sea once i get the time/urge to watch a movie.
currently consuming: nothing. although it's 4pm so i might be heading down to the kitchen soon for a little evening snack…those chocolate biscuits that i bought the other day because i was craving some 😋😋
currently craving: i wanna eat waffles so baddddd
sweet/spicy/savoury: all of it.
relationship status: i could get into one, but im also fine being the way i am rn so interested, but not tempted enough to put a whole lot of effort into being in one.
current obsession: making collages for my sketchbook and trainspotting
3 favourite foods: sandwiches, roshi (roti/chapati) rolled up and cut into thin slices and mixed with fish curry and creme jehi banas (sweet buns with cream made from rose syrup and condensed milk spread on with vertical cuts made on the bun) (pictured below, pure delicious goodness)
last thing you googled: porsche panamera
dream trip: been seeing a lot of aesthetic snowy videos on instagram and like, i wanna see snow so bad, i wanna touch snow, make a snowball and throw it!! i've never seen or experienced snow so yeah i hope someday i do!
anything i want right now: chapter 13 of my stackson cowboys wip please make yourself present in my google docs right now!!!
i'm gonna tag @scribeoffate and @slice-of-magenta !!
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reading trees roots: “WOW i love the friendship between a younger tree and his best bud stream! they’re both so precious! i can’t wait to see what their journey together entails when they leave the siste-”
so yup. this kid stream? he’s actually my new son now i love him so much... on par with sunstrike for favourite obscure warriors background character with a cool name... spoilers for trees roots/avos while we’re at it below the cut as i talk about some design choices! :>>
last chance to get out if you haven’t read tree’s roots. anyhow - stream has the “star shaped” pupils as a nod to how he dies... i know ripplestar got struck by lightning, shadowsight got struck by lightning, mudclaw dies crushed by a tree struck by lightning. but has any cat died directly due to a lightning strike, one NOT sent by starclan at that? you could argue that ripplestar died on impact from falling off the great rock, too. stream’s so special :,) still wish he went with tree on his journey
tree is great, also love him! so here’s some explorations - im thinking he has a topknot/man bun before he joins the clans, but also maybe occasionally puts his hair? fur? back in one for his mediator journeys. another reason for rootpaw to think he’s weird haha. here’s also where i decided that all the sisters/ghost seeing cats have a coloured spot in their eye, maybe it turns white when they see spirits? don’t ask why rootspring didn’t have them in his design i hadn’t come up with it then
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