ximilialog | sad things will never end but || open

Entry tags:

yakuza: zhao tianyou

sad things will never end but || open

CHARACTERS: Zhao and OPEN!
LOCATION: Teleportation room, sunlight room.
DATE: Immediately upon arrival back at the station, and the next few following days/weeks.
CONTENT: Zhao brings home some Ciraiwei plants and puts them in the sunlight room.
WARNINGS: n/a this should be pretty wholesome
NOTE: will match format style of brackets or prose, your choice

I. in the end it'll be ok || teleportation room

As they all arrived packed into the teleportation room as usual, Zhao felt a sense of relief that they made it. He knew that they had done all that they could, and even if it hadn't been perfect, rarely anything ever was. Even Viv-chan was proud of them for what they accomplished though.

Zhao was ready to return to his room and pass out from exhaustion but then a thought occurred to him as he began to turn and leave with the mass exodus.

"WAIT! HOLD UP. NOBODY MOVE. Wide berth there, thank you thank you. I need a moment. I NEED A MAGNIFYING GLASS AND A PAIR OF TWEEZERS. YO! Help a guy out!!"

In the meantime, Zhao stood frozen in the middle of the group, refusing to move. He had just remembered he had some left over plants from Ciraiwei he was holding onto... and he wasn't sure how well they would survive if he didn't find them sooner than later considering the jump in size. He...he could use some help finding the tiny plants stuffed into his pockets.

II. see the sun rising again today || sunlight room

The next few days Zhao could very likely be found in the sunlight room tending to the tiniest garden ever conceivable. It all fit into one medium sized pot full of dirt but it looked like there was half an ecosystem all tucked into it nice and neatly. Zhao had gathered many plants for the Hivawei to take with them but some of them had been in his pockets before and remained there after. He had wanted to preserve a few--oh, who was he kidding, he selfishly had just wanted to keep some of the beautiful flora species for himself.

Of course, then he had forgotten to account for the size difference. In the back of his mind he'd always thought the world might be small--confirmed by Newt during the mission but--it didn't really hit home so fully until he'd gotten back to the station. Now here he was cultivating the tiniest bonsai garden he'd ever taken care of in his life. Good thing this was his favorite hobby.

He wouldn't mind company, gawkers of his small ecosystem, or even some helping hands. Although he would watch like a hawk if anyone wanted to help with the plants considering their small and delicate nature. He was willing to teach though if anyone wanted to listen to him ramble on about gardening. Or listen if anyone wanted to talk to him about the planet they had left behind to be destroyed by the asteroid. On approach he was probably whistling an easy tune but his attention would turn to the person and he would offer a wide smile.

III. wildcard

[Hit me with anything else you have in mind! PMs or pings to AisuYoukai if you need me, but seriously...anything goes.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As it turns out, Zhao's tiny garden does have a gawker, in the form of Ade who had come to the sunlight room for some simulated fresh air.

"Blimey, I didn't realize they were that small," he says, standing on the other side of the garden pot with a look of wonder on his face. "We really were shrunk down then, weren't we?"

Honestly, Ade had managed to convince himself that it was all a matter of the flora and fauna of Ciraiwei being exceptionally big rather than all of them being rendered tiny. The sight of the little plants before him now puts into perspective how wrong he truly was.

Zhao laughs a little at Ade's reaction to the small plants. "Yeah, we really were. It was kinda hard to be sure, wasn't it?"

From a perspective point of view at least. Though it had certainly made him feel small sometimes being on that planet. Even the creatures had been of varying sizes.

"See these ones?" Zhao pointed to some of the larger little plants just starting to grow from special cuttings the gangster had managed to procure. They sat to one side neatly arranged. "They were the larger than usual variety of plants. But these," he shifted his finger to point out a few teeny, tiny plants that could barely be made out to have flowers on them, "were some of the smaller varieties that seemed normal."

From their experience anyway. The Hivawei were used to both sizes of flora, but Zhao had been fascinated with the larger ones. He only had a few of the smaller ones. Some of them had been lost in transit, too, since they were so tiny once they reverted back to normal size.

"Yeah. I thought everything else was just big."

Ade takes the man's gesturing towards the plants to mean that he isn't intruding and crouches down for a better look, arms resting on his knees. He does indeed recognize some of the plants, albeit at a much larger scale. He's pretty sure he'd even taken seed samples of a few of them.

"You must've needed tweezers to plant some of these," Ade says, admiring. It looks like someone could crush those little flowers to death just by staring at them too hard. "Do you do a lot of gardening here?"

It seems likely that the man has some sort of experience if he's confident enough to work with such delicate subjects.

Zhao bobbed his head up and down a few times. "I have a bonsai tree in my room." A gift from a very special man. That one was important to him because of that. He took special care of it and kept it close.

He lifted his head and nodded to a few various plants around the room. "And I planted those with help from the crew. Viv-chan was nice enough to get them for us," he told Ade. The bonsai trees varied from type to type. "It's sorta a hobby of mine."

It had been his hobby before coming here, and now it was a way to spend the days on the station. It beat being completely bored any day.

"Oh, I've heard of those," Ade says, turning to look at the plants the man had indicated. "They're like little trees you train to grow in pots, right?"

Something like that. Ade had never really been clear on how someone trains a tree to do anything, but it's what he's heard. He stands up to go take a look at one of them, curious. It looks a bit like a Juniper tree, just... miniature.

"Guess all the 'normal' trees we saw on Ciraiwei must've looked something like this from our perspective now," he says, contemplating the delicate little branches. "It's too bad we couldn't have saved more..."

More of the plants, the animals, the people. Even with who and what they managed to preserve, there were those they could not. Ade is silent for a moment, processing a little bit more of the sense of loss he's felt since they left the planet to its fate.

Then, he turns back towards the man's little garden of Ciraiwei plants. "I took a few seed samples while we were there. Dropped them off at the science lab when we got back, but maybe Viveca would let you try to grow those, too."

"Probably," Zhao replied though he didn't really have to. But he agreed and the idea swam in his head for a moment as he imagined what the world would look like from his normal perspective, if it had been possible to go that way. Best they hadn't, but it would have been really cute to see how tiny it all was.

He deigned not to reply to the sad part. He agreed but that was sort of implied in his reaction to look away and refocus on the tiny plants he had in front of him.

"I can only try," he responded as he looked back up with a smile at Ade. "Might bring a smile to a few people's faces to see more of them preserved and growing strong."

Minimus freezes in place. His eyes dart around the room - no immediate danger there. His focus moves to Zhao - does he have a splinter in his finger? He takes three wide steps up to him.

"What happened? Did we forget something?" No one was left behind, he hopes! The meteor didn't hit anyone one second before they were teleported away, he hopes! "I have disinfectant if it's a first aid emergency!"

"Huh? Wha-?"

Oh. Zhao almost laughed at the concern from Minimus. It was well appreciated but unnecessary. Thankfully, he wasn't injured. He took a second to calm down, keep himself from chuckling, and find the words to explain.

"No, no. I'm fine. No injury." He smiled up at Minimus. "I just don't want to lose the plants I got on Ciraiwei!"

Minimus stops his worried run around Zhao and jerks away.

"You dropped them?!" His fear is that the box in which they were being held - Zhao kept them in a box, right? - was dropped, or it broke, or-

"Do not move. Do not step anyway. I have a cleaning kit." Of course he does - he pulls out a box of picks, brushes, and tweezers.

"Um, maybe?"

Zhao watched Minimus with a little bit of amusement despite himself. The situation was not favorable but somehow this reaction was quite...entertaining. He settled his features into a mask of seriousness as he nodded in acceptance at Minimus.

"Sure thing. I'm not really sure where they ended up... they didn't grow like we did, ya know? So they... they either fell or... I dunno, if we're lucky they're in one of my pockets?"

"Oh dear." The tiny plants stuck at the bottom of a shoe. Squashed in the hallways, lost in the crevices of the walls. The remnants of a lost planet gone forever. Minimus opens up the kit and pulls out a magnifying glass.

"Open your pockets."

Zhao hesitated for a moment. Not because he didn't want to comply but because he had to decide which pockets to show Minimus first. He decided to hope they weren't in his jacket's pockets since he had other supplies stuffed in them as usual. He ended up pulling out his front pants pockets first, carefully, to show them.

Sheepishly though he admitted, "I kinda think they might be in the back pockets if they made it." Since many of the samples had been riding on his back before they'd left.

Minimus sighs. Those back pockets are pretty tight, and reaching into them would take some work. "Loosen your trousers and I'll search them. You didn't put your hands in there, did you?" With his entire attention focused on the goal of "inspect Zhao and retrieve the contraband", he shuffles around Zhao and wipes the magnifying glass.

"I did not imagine I would have to conduct a search on anyone other than a Cybertronian..."

Zhao blinked in surprise. He glanced around at the crowd shuffling out and back to the part of the station where they all stayed, and then back to Minimus. A slow lop-sided smile crept onto his face.

"Maybe if you buy me dinner first, ne?"

Not that he really needed someone to buy him dinner before he had fun with them. Okay, okay, he got out a few chuckles before he tried to go back to seriousness. It was really hard.

"All right, you're lucky I wear layers, my friend. But just so you know, this is really awkward."

What was this all about? What did this have to do with flirting? It's just clothing. Don't humans change their outfits? Did he accidentally say something salacious? Why does this keep happening?

Minimus pauses in his work and pulls his hands away. "Do you want a privacy curtain?"

If only Zhao could hear Minimus's thoughts he would laugh out loud. What a cute, clueless robotic individual. Don't worry, Minimus, he's only teasing.

"I mean, that would probably be the courteous thing to do. Not that I mind, but I dunno if anyone else wants to watch me strip while you poke around my backside."

Minimus decides not to look Zhao in the face, turns to the other orbers, and gestures at them to keep on moving. Nothing to see here, no one allowed to watch. He waits until they all leave (making sure they keep a safe distance from where the specimens may have fallen), before he takes light footsteps to the nearest supply closet.

"This is in case they return," he says when he returns with a short curtain and the closest approximation to police tape to hang on said curtain.

When he isn't thinking, Aleksander always finds himself in the sunlight room. The green grass under his naked feet, tickling and feeling too much like home. Not the home as he left it, but the one he was allowed to see by the orbs as they contained them.

The hope of it, possibly. The hope that dwindles with every passing day here. With every step he takes, it's another away from it and he is finding that acceptance isn't the same as feeling the loss.

But it doesn't matter. There are always distractions on the station, and when he doesn't stumble upon it by accident, he will go and find it.

When he spots Zhao among the bushes and plants, he heads over to cock his head at the tiny garden.]

You brought a little of it back with you.

"You bet," the gangster said without looking up from his work. He was very carefully moving one of the plants to a specified spot within the tiny garden. Hopefully, this would better accommodate both plants in the vicinity to gathering their needed nutrients.

Zhao recognized the voice though and after his precision work was finished he readily turned his attention to Aleksander with a full smile.

"It would have been harder for me not to," he confessed easily. "Knowing what was going to happen... I really wanted to take some of the flora with me. I'm glad I got to give most of what I gathered to the Hivawei that got off world before the asteroid though. But this...this is my own little piece to preserve and cherish."

Which sounded way too sentimental to his own ears but it couldn't be helped. He shrugged it off and set down the tiny tools he was using to work with the plants. He straightened to his full height and placed a hand on his back to crack it. He gave Aleksander his full attention again, expecting a conversation to follow. A not unwelcome one by any means.

"That sounds... nice." It isn't unkind, as he looks at the tiny plants. They look fragile like this, but there's still the memory of standing underneath the leaves and looking up. Of dewdrops rolling down, large enough to fill a whole nutshell.

"I've seen a few of these. You were not the only one compelled to save a piece of that world and take it with you."

Had it been that which had moved the crew to try and save as many as they could? Or was it the pain of looking at faces, not yet familiar, and know that death would come for them soon?

"It makes me wonder if the only reason why we are not drowning in memorabilia from past missions, is because everything else was too large for us to take."

Zhao chuckled at the joke at the end. "It wasn't easy to collect these when we were smaller," he pointed out, not without humor. He shrugged then.

"I think some of us do have memorabilia from each world we've been to. Guess we're all just a bunch of saps at our core."

He continued with a lopsided smirk. He recalled a few instances of grabbing something for himself... or someone else.

"Is that what it makes you?"

No judgement in the tone of his voice, but his eyebrow does go up and he smiles. "I was never all that attached to objects-" his room here on the station almost terrifyingly bare. The few trinkets he received as gifts are hidden away in a single drawer and the only... memorabilia picked up on a mission is carefully hidden away somewhere else.

A single drawn poster with Alina's face on it and the sun shining from her cupped hands. The words SUNSHINE STARKOV blazing across the top of it, a reminder of a mission long ago. "But I see why these might draw attention."

The fine leaves, now smaller than a nail. The mist collecting in the ridges and he knows how sweet it would taste, if there was enough of it to gather in a meaningful way. How cooling the shade they threw could be. "What a strange world, so small yet so..." frowning, he settles on "impactful."

"So, what else did you take from missions we have been on, Zhao?"

Zhao grimaced at the implication but he had set himself up for it. Maybe he was a sap. He just didn't like it to be pointed out to him.

The gangster runs a hand over the plants, not touching, they were too delicate for that kind of thoughtless abrasion. Just- hovering over them protectively, contemplatively. They were precious. Unique. And a very particular reminder of bygone things.

He arched a brow as he looked back up from his reverie. Was that a pun? Not that Zhao couldn't appreciate a good play on words, but someone else might not have taken it so nicely. It seemed...too spot on, all things considered. Funny to him though he didn't laugh.

"Weapons and jewelry mostly. I like sharp and shiny things." He said with a dark smile. He wasn't kidding. Though he might have been playing up the 'bad boy' aspect just a little. "I've got," he reached behind him and pulled out a bone knife made from the tail of the snakes from the desert world, "this on me right now. A few more deadly trinkets in my room."

"Ah- shiny and deadly things."

He doesn't reach for the blade, but looks away to examine it from a foot away. The ridges of bone and the sharp edges. "Any particular reason why you might be armed while we are on the station, or-" what he means, is 'do you know' but he doesn't ask. There is no suspiciously specific question about it. But Kovach did have a big mouth, and Aleksander can only guess at who he might have told.

Who Newton might have told, but somehow it felt like a bigger knife in the back for it to be Kovach. Who slept in his room for months, who changed the deal with the orbs and who tried to murder them all last winter. Instead, Aleksander smiles.

"Or are you a careful person. It must be hard, not having the Small Science at your fingertips, and in a way, I am never not armed myself."

Zhao's smile faded and he pulled the offered weapon back away from the cautious man. "Habit from living on the streets. I usually keep a gun tucked away somewhere but I've tried to keep it in my room while on the station. Knives are just useful tools..." he said with a shrug. He smiled again but it was thinner this time. "I like showing this one off because I made it myself from those snakes. Got a couple left if you want one."

He had given a few away like they were friendship bracelets or something. Seeing Aleksander react the way he did made Zhao realize how stupid that was though. Normal people did not carry deadly weapons on them at all times or talk about them like they were pretty accessories.

He put the knife away, back out of sight, and stood awkwardly in front of the other man. He stared at nothing as he thought about Aleksander's last words.

"I don't have any fancy powers, but I was taught to be a weapon from a young age. I don't have to have a sword or a gun to defend myself or kill someone. Sorry if that's disconcerting. It's just...the truth." His eyes flicked up to meet Aleksander's own. "I don't want to hurt anyone. That's always the last option. I definitely don't want to hurt anyone here."

Edited 2023-04-22 18:17 (UTC)

"I am--" he starts, watching the easy smile slip from Zhao's face,"a general. I command an army in my home world. No, I built that army, a little over a hundred years ago. After I watched too many people just like me be cast aside or forced to hide what they were."

The story behind the Second Army was hardly a secret, even in his own world. Grisha lived long lives, far longer than any without the Small Science, yet no one would live as long as him. "I have trained many men, and one thing we train is to never touch a soldier's weapon."

"We also train with swords. With knives and rocks, because sometimes our powers might fail. They might work less effectively or we might be drugged."

Or dragged far away from the element they control. So many creative ways to hurt his people. "I wouldn't insult you by taking your knife away. If that was wrong, then I am very sorry."

Because the second smile, the one that doesn't reach Zhao's eyes, feels-- empty.

"I would very much like to see what you've made."

"Should it scare me, that you might have killed a man. Without a weapon. No-" his voice drops low, like it was on Cirawei. "I am well aware of how cruel life can be, and how hard it works to break children."

The part about that which got Zhao's attention was the over a hundred years ago. Generals of armies he sort of understood. He wasn't that strict, and he wasn't commanding an army, but he felt responsible for the gang that he inherited. And he remembered the stories of his grandfather about the war, and he knew some of his underlings thought of themselves like soldiers even if it wasn't exactly the same. He wouldn't hold the illusion that he knew what it was like but he could imagine it.

What he couldn't imagine was that age drop. "I'm sorry, you're how old?" he blurted out before he caught himself. He shuffled, grinned to mask the embarrassment, and continued on as if he hadn't got stuck on the stupidest part of that information drop.

He shook his head then. "It's not an insult. You're right." It wasn't the lack of reciprocation for the weapon that had faded Zhao's smile. It was the fact that it did seem appropriate, and reminded the mafioso that he didn't fit in with normal people.

Then again, he should know by now that most of the people here on the Ximilia were not all that normal. They all came from different walks in life but most of them were extraordinary in some way, whether it be their own traits or the traits of their world or both that set them apart. It was all very...interesting.

He laughed and turned his head away briefly before returning his attention to Aleksander. The light wasn't as bright in his eye as before but it had returned at least a little. But it wasn't harder now to tell if it held real warmth or was just part of the act. Zhao's whole life was a play he put on. Sometimes it was hard to turn it off.

"Yeah, well, I guess that's hastag Ximilia problems, right? We're all just trying to pretend to be 'normal,' whatever that word means. Anyway," he pointed towards the potted plants, "I should probably finish up what I started here. I'll be free in a bit if you're still interested after that, o.k.?"

"More than a hundred years," but it's said with a grin, teasing and only half-serious. His age was... his. Most people back in his own world would burn him for that alone, even without everything else he had done.

Or been a part of doing.

They feared him. And a general who could rule an army for centuries was- a threat. He still keeps it vague on the station, edging around the full truth with a smile. "I know how I look, but that is because I am Grisha. We look young for decades."

But the line about pretending stands out, coupled with the dimming light in Zhao's eyes and the way his smile is a pale imitation of the one that graced his mouth when he pulled the knife. Well, well.

"Of course, I didn't meant to interrupt your work. I will let you get back to it, but if you want to grab a bite to eat later? I will be in the kitchen."

That was interesting. He wondered why the connection to the the elements gave the Grisha extra long lives but that wasn't really his concern. The point was the man in front of him looked damn good for his age. And as shallow as it was, it was it couldn't be helped. Why not appreciate a fine piece of artwork when it was sitting right in front of one? It seemed rude not to.

Zhao perked up at the mention of food and the kitchen. He smiled. "I won't be much longer here. Do you cook?" he asked innocently. In all honesty, Zhao would love to do the cooking himself. He enjoyed it, and showing off was something in his nature.

"I feel as if I need to talk more about my home world," as he turns, eyebrow arched and smile firmly and warm on his face. "In Ravka, unless you are born rich, you need to know how to cook."

"And Grisha are never born rich."

One sentence, but it explains so much about the way people think in his world. It should stand out, that Grisha were always born to the poor. That the nobles sometimes had children go missing or turn up dead in preventable accidents. How even the tsar (any tsar) never raised a Grisha.

"I am fairly good at making fish, but I am always willing to try new food. Fish are not in everyone's tastes."

Chishiya was just turning to leave when Zhao starts yelling. And to be honest, he’s not sure shouting is really the right way to handle this, actually, since startling people may cause the very problems Zhao seems to want to avoid. He glances over, eyebrow raised.

"Seems like you didn’t really think this through," he says dryly.

He has a commanding voice when he wants one! Which is...not really what he's doing now so much as being a little dramatic for no obvious reason. Maybe that was part of the fun, too. Gremlin got to gremlin.

He grins at Chishiya, showing a little teeth like a feral thing. "Hey, when the going gets tough sometimes you just gotta wing it. Besides, there at the end I was helping more than keeping up with my own shit."

Which was fine. He was happy to help. It just meant he may have forgotten about his own endeavors before the instantaneous trip back to the station.

He hums a little at that. He didn’t bother with bringing any samples back. He just focused on getting the kids to safety. Less to worry about if he just focused on one thing.

Besides it didn’t really occur to him to bring any. He gave the few he actually collected to the Hivawei. They’d have more use for them than he would.

"I have some tweezers," he says. He’d been fortunate enough to grab a pair during his first supply drop. Tweezers are generally always useful to have. He wasn’t going to pass it up.

"Oh yeah? On you?"

Not that he would question it if Chishiya did have any on him at this exact moment, so maybe he was just used to stranger things. It would be very convenient though.

He reaches into the small bag he packed and pulls out a pair of tweezers. "I like to be prepared," he says as he holds them up.

It’s not that strange if you think about it. He figured tweezers could be useful for gathering smaller samples on the mission. Or pulling out splinters, since they had been dealing with plants, many of which were unfamiliar and potentially prickly.

"Damn," he whispered, impressed.

Well, he couldn't really say much. He had spices lining his jacket so there was that to consider. Honestly, he couldn't help it after that one time where there was nothing really to eat but their own hunts. So it was kind of his thing now.

"Good then. Um. What about a magnifying glass? I dunno how tiny these little guys really were... might be hard to find." He pursed his lips briefly and then shrugged. "Eh, we'll find 'em."

[ It all happened so suddenly that Yzak's mind is still catching up with him. One moment he hears the all-too-familiar sounds of destruction as pieces of the broken up asteroid fall to the earth around them, expression tight and teeth grit, trying his best to maneuver the ship around the danger to get to the next group to board it, to that familiar, eerie silence in the moment he feels himself be pulled from the planet.

And then they're back on the station.

They didn't finish.

They didn't save them all.

They saved a hell of a lot of them. But there were still residents of Ciraiwei waiting for them to come and help. And they didn't make it in time.

It's a familiar feeling of failure that begins to stir within Yzak. And the only thing that disrupts it is hearing Zhao's voice cut through the buzz of the Orbers as they all adjust to the sudden change in scenery, loud and alarmed. ]

—What!?

[ He whirls toward Zhao, said alarm quickly setting into him because he doesn't know what's wrong - debris was beginning to rain from the sky and things were getting dangerous and- ]

...

[ He blinks. ]

Tweezers?

[Zhao seemed much less concerned though there was a comical sort of urgency to his movements at the moment. Because it was much easier to be the comic relief in a time of crisis than keep up the fatigue of depression after one of these missions. Besides, he also had his keepsakes to keep him occupied.

Or to be exact: in this moment he had to find his keepsakes and hope they were all right. After all, they hadn't gotten bigger like the crew had upon arrival to the space station.

Zhao glanced up at Yzak and made a vague gesture with his hands.]

Yeah, tweezers! Do you have any?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

sad things will never end but || open

ii

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

I.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

II

no subject

ARg, excuse my fail at writing without []

We can always do brackets if you prefer! c:

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

I

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

I

no subject