[ OPEN ] "would you calm down a little bit"

[blitzcheer]

Who: Tidus and You!
Where: All over! Armoury, standard coach, training gym, sports gym, and games car
When: Merriment 16 - 20
What: Supplies moving, setting up games and exercise equipment, watching that sports game Tidus is really into and also catching a case of home lifesickness!!
Warnings: Last prompt has connections to death/disappearing, but nothing to do with suicide or negative thoughts.

[ DAY 16 ; armoury car ]

"Heyyyy. Uh, so it looks like the train added the lockers I was hoping for. Since Light left, and Tobes's been gone for a while...," Tidus adds with a mutter, already not sounding that pleased, "--I'm puttin' everything from the supplies into them, 'kay? The healing, shields and weapons. There's a tablet with a list of what everything does and how to use 'em. It's voice-automated too.

So...yeah. That's it. See ya."

It's far from confident, the usual casual-sounding that's Tidus been heard over the ICP, but it's on par to whenever he talks about supplies. Lightning's leave already has his mood down, which is an evident sight to anyone who comes to the armoury, where he made the call (and then switched off, not interested in holding a conversation over the thing). There's nothing exciting going on: just suitcases on the ground with their lids open, the array of healing and weaponry waiting revealed inside that's to be stuffed away.

Maybe you come because of the announcement; maybe you're just passing by. You might hear a "shit!" hissed when one of the finger-sized bottles go rolling towards the other side of the carriage from where Tidus is. His movements are sluggish, and he wears an unguarded, doleful look, uncharacteristically quiet. Unless he notices anyone lingering, or just catches someone's eye -- then he'll pull on a smile, and give a simple "Hey."

Or, he's just taking a second to look at locker and its supplies once it's filled, his back to another locker, sitting on the floor. And you might hear him say-

"Hope you kick that god's ass, Light."

[ DAY 17 ; training gym - standard coach ]

( a: treadmills cw cw inigo don't look )

But he's being better by the next day, or seems to be. In the early morning he's in the training gym, pulling odd square containers out by a wall, with what appear to be bars curled around the sides. To anyone whose attention he gets, he offers cheerily: "Hey, how about a go on one of these?"

It takes some pressing in the right places, and then, the 'box' stars to unfold, turning rectangular while the bars raise - and it turns into what's essentially a treadmill.

"Ever seen one of these?"

Or, he could already be running on one, while the second sits there, a spare waiting to be used. Hop on! Tidus won't stop you.

( b: standard coach - blitzball )

There's a few close CR he might push to join him, but if you're friendly with Tidus and you happen to passing through, he might usher a hand, stop you from where you were going.

"Hey, hey! Wanna see me in a blitzball match?"

He's at a table, a device rolled out and a picture taking up the entire 'screen' and an energy drink open. There's footage similar to this to behold (note: without city destruction), with Tidus perhaps present an outfit like this, and his hair blond. Or, you might even get a chance to see him a year younger, in an outfit the same the rest of his team -- and with his hair a brown.

"Oh man!" He says through a laugh. "I can't believe it got video of me like this! This was when I was starting off!"

[ DAY 18 ; sports gym/games car ]

( attempt a: whomp whomp )

Tidus has got a plan. He's had a plan for a while, thanks to Roland, but now is the time to achieve it. It starts somewhere around morning to noon, after breakfast. There's notices slapped on the outside of the sports gym doors, written in fat felt.

'USING THE SPACE 2 MAKE A POOL'

'SWIMMING POOL INSIDE'
One on one side, one on the other. You might get to read them, before the troubles, or after. What are the troubles? That would happen to be when a sound like the equivalent of a bomb going off sounds from inside the gym, and before the doors can be opened from outside, they slam open from within - and water floods out into the hallway, possibly knocking anyone out there off their feet.

The good of the situation: the water is only knee-high deep on an adult. The bad of the situation: ...the car is flooded, welcoming any unsuspecting person who welcomes through the sports car (and thank goodness someone moved the transgate back out). Tidus can be found inside the car - that's impressive flooded from one end to another, in swimming shorts and coughing up water, while a blue pal is floating on the water the opposite end, wiggling and squeaking 'hiiigle!! piggle!!' desperately. ( But, they're only visible to those with a good heart/of good intentions. )

A plan may have not gone off right here.

( attempt a: dingdingdingding! )

"I've got a pool going in the gym for an hour or two! Come join me if you want!"

But by some miracle, they finally get it right. This pool doesn't take up the full length of the gym but one half of one side, away from the walls and about half the size going up from the ceiling. Tidus might be seen inside the water, or just enjoying floating above it; his blue pal nowhere but to seen, but for those who sense energy, may be able to discern there being entities with the water, that is otherwise nothing more than fresh, natural water.

Grab some shorts from the spa car, come and gawk, complain about the room being used up or whatever you like. Tidus dives into the water and reaches out of the 'wall' of the water, to a large trunk homing pieces of coral, breaking it off and bringing it into the bizarre pool - where it shatters into pieces, and the water wobbles...in delight??

[ DAY 19 ; sports gym - standard coach ]

( a: dance dance dance!! or shoot shoot shoot!! )

Oh no, he's in the sports gym again.

But don't worry, there's no water. This time, there's a holographic figure being projected from a round disk on the floor. About as defined as a wii fit trainer, they stand idle as Tidus - dressed appropriately - flicks through a screen of settings.

"Wanna give it a go with me?" Tidus offers, always happy for company. The dance difficulties he goes for are simple to follow, and there's the option of finding him with Inigo for company, if you want to up the potential for dumery. Two guys just doing repetitive dance moves, and if Tidus happens to catch you staring (though, he really needs to keep his eyes on the coach!), he'll grin and challenge, "Think you can keep up!?", in all his usual daring nature.

( Warning: if Inigo notices a girl/woman looking at him them, the possibility of him shrieking is 90%. )

But when isn't Tidus like that? Always up to something, and willing to include another. There's a new addition in the games carriage that Tidus has been having goes on, aiming to raise his highscore. Look at this wonderful gameplay.

( attempt b: 3am thoughts )

But there's more than only his usual buzzing energy going on with Tidus. He can be found in the standard coach on some of the later nights; another energy drink opened, indulging in a fizziness a guy like him shouldn't be so late. The tablet device sits on a simple stand, while his head rests in his folded arms, watching the blitzball footage.

To some, he just looks focused on whatever he's watching - intensely so. But if he happens to notice anyone come in (a 50/50 chance), he pauses the video, or just brings the device down -- like a guy trying to hide his shame, head turned towards the window, his face a warm pink. He might look back with a not-trying-to-appear-awkward "Hey" if he recognises the person - but otherwise, just, you know. Acting like he didn't do that!

Nothing weird about him, bro.

[ DAY 20 ; sports gym (late) ]

( note: prompt has some allusions to death, may involve talk related to it; nothing negative/suicidal! )

It's late again, and Tidus has something he wants to find out.

Why? There's a few reasons in his head. A few thoughts have been in his head, leading him into the sports gym, out of the way. He could go somewhere more private like the quiet car, but Tidus likes the sports car, spends most of his time in it. He likes the space and silence, as empty as it is right now.

He has a device on him, and he's counting down the time; his SCA on the floor next to him, in easy reach.

Counting how long it takes for his skin and the rest of him to start to discolour, shimmering into greens and blues; until it becomes see-through, until it gets to a point that it scares him, and he can't countdown any more and needs to grab his SCA again, all he can grab at that point.

But as late a time as Tidus picks to do his experiment, maybe he ends up not the only one there, caught with his eyes on the tablet device, ears not picking up on the doors farther away from him when they open.

Unless the person is particularly loud - then he'll reach for his SCA, and scramble to get it on quickly, the colours across his body fading as a more solid form returns.

[ OTHER DETAILS ]

[ Want to do any of the above but on different days? Treadmills, dance exercise, and gaming are available on any of them! Inigo can also be a 3rd person for dancing. Feel free to message me for any questions/plotting!! ]

Comments

[blitzcheer]

It's been how long? He counts the months by how long he's been here, but there's been another timer going on in his head; where it starts in different parts of his life, but here - how long is it going to take to get comfortable with who he is? Is he already? Isn't it still comfortable even if you really never talk about it?

Tidus could roll his own eyes for the change of looks, the wrong message to get out of his comment, but there it is. What sounds like dramatics, and Tidus exhales a breath, his look half-unimpressed, the other half reluctant.

"It's who I am," Tidus replies; one not given immediately, but he lets it out, then gestures to Jingyi's everything. "Just like I meant for you. I'm not telling you to pretend - we've all got our own things."

That make them who they are, their normal. Whether or not they've known it their entirely life or otherwise.

"Mine's just...disappearing. Without help."

Normal things.

[jingyeets]

Jingyi, who on train is more often wrong than right in what he thinks he's understanding, takes that in and reflects on it, breathing out in a sigh. He blinks, and a silvering of light at his crown and behind him presages the return of horns and tail; transformation on a small scale.

"Right," he says, "We do." A confusing amount of them, when their worlds, cultures, expectations all stretch in different directions, and the overlap's not always obvious, or doesn't always lead to the same conclusion.

He gives it a few moments of quiet, partly because it feels like it needs that, and partly so he can think. "So... what does that mean? The without help part of disappearing?"

Stabilised to... stay? If the train would keep tracking their souls when they die, here, if disappearing is akin to death, wouldn't Tidus get caught in a hideous loop of disappearing then reappearing on train? He frowns, rubbing at one of his arms and looking worried. Not just due to an overactive imagination, but trying to get what those words really mean. What part of Tidus's world makes disappearing without help a normal thing?

[blitzcheer]

The granting given to his point - with the return to form, the 'We' spoken - eases Tidus to a degree. At least one part of him, but his mind is coming around to the other; the reason he's in this gym so late, with a timer that likely means very little, but.

He huffs though, a sound of mirth in it as he tips his head. "You get into the gory details." But he's teasing, and a beat after: "I'm a dream. I was dreamed, and without people dreaming me, I stop existing. 'Til I got this." His arm with the SCA stretches out, rested against a knee. Wrist twisting some.

But there's a reason he was doing what he was, the reason for his stories. He bends his arms across both knees, slouching forward to rest against crossed-legs; admitting, with some hesitance, "...I'm not really used to...acknowledging my dream part."

A lie, but not in the way he means it.

[jingyeets]

The huff has Jingyi finally sitting, kneeling at Tidus's side, the proper pose of attention and years of classes attended, of posture that has his back straight, that has his tail draped down between his feet and out, a softly curving ess behind him. He leaves it there, even the tip refraining from twitching.

He doesn't have time to say anything before Tidus is diving into the gory details, which are more surreal to him than gory; but he supposes gory to him is more a literalism, the horrors of the flesh, the horrors of the departed lingering, emotions over finesse.

He has no idea what to make of a dream (other than to ignore one particular thought, about what dreams recur, nudged aside in the moment), let alone one as vivid as Tidus has been. He cants his head to the side, exhaling with his own semi-amused sound. "Thank goodness, for a moment I was worried you'd say you were a ghost." A twitch of his lips, something like wan amusement. "Dreams are much nicer things."

Dreams, and not nightmares. Though his shoulders drop, and so does the smile, face falling into the kind of neutral lines that tend to leave people thinking he's grumpy, even when he's not.

"I can't imagine. Being dreamed... in a way, I guess the train's dreaming you the hardest, when you're wearing that." He gestures toward Tidus's SCA, his own more visible how as his sleeve partly pulls back with the gesture. Not necessary in the same way, but a constant, since right before the mission.

"You didn't always know, did you?" Or he guesses, only from the way Tidus says he's not used to acknowledging it. It could mean other things, like the admission here, to anyone without a pressing reason. Being quite and wandering around at night for his own restless reasons wasn't a given, and space, privacy, quiet, all those were things in high demand and scant supply on the train. Playing with stability, yeah. Just in a different way than he would have ever imagined.

[blitzcheer]

Tidus has no particular qualms to Jingyi sitting, joining him. This wasn't likely to be a quick over and done with conversation, was it? Not that Tidus can know what Jingyi will do, the kind of person he is; only quirking an eyebrow at the point about ghosts, a story there - or way of living - he isn't about to interrupt and ask about.

But his gaze does drop when the train is mentioned, brow narrow, lips with them, a brief thing that leaves his own neutral expression with some heaviness. It's not out of place with what Jingyi asks next, a moment before Tidus answers, their previous conversation recalled, and what he shared about himself already, in tidbits.

"Remember when I said I was really out of touch with the rest of the world?" His nod is small, slight. "We weren't meant to know. Just live, have a life - in a city that stopped existing a thousand years ago. A people's dreaming giving us our lives, so they can remember theirs -- that kinda thing."

And how long has it actually been? A direct answer to Jingyi's question, that isn't just yes or not. He thinks, adding: "It was about...a month, maybe two before I showed here that I found out."

A scoff and drawl, a weary drop in his face. "Reeeaaally heavy stuff to find out."

Sometimes, it helps to not sound so serious.

[jingyeets]

The affirmative noise Jingyi makes is encouragement as Tidus speaks, the rest of him settled into listening. Which, depending on circumstances, he was good at; it just required patience and a lack of people arguing with him or attempting to kidnap him or anyone he cares about, which one would think wouldn't be often, and yet.

Here they all are, on a train in want of a crew, and abduction is something of a staple in all their lives. Crossing that chaos of a river beyond description, colours a shock to the senses, and the pull, the current. He has to shake that thought off, the sudden, visceral memory of anchoring in and out of place.

Dream lives, dream people, a dream: not having to know what the world had lived through after, preserving something longed for, a part of a past that had ceased, at some point, to be the present.

Jingyi has a problem about asking over certain things, not having it occur to him as often that he should; he reaches out to press a hand to the back of Tidus's shoulder, and he'd only check that if Tidus flinches away. Tactile reinforcement was one of the things he'd grown up with, not so much as indulgence as reminder: we know what it is to face heavy things, and none of us have to be alone.

"At least you weren't the nightmare," he says, a half smile for a jest that's not entirely jest, but is bad, either way. "Is that what you're kind of... I don't know, and I suck at being reassuring, so I'm telling you that up front. I'm sure you haven't noticed," he says, allowing himself to sound a touch dry, "But I'm pretty blunt. So I apologise, because I'm going to be a jackass even when I don't know it, and... also sometimes when I do." Disclaiming himself, because he doesn't know how much translates well, and he doesn't have all his fellow juniors, and he doesn't have a world that understand him or what he is or what he does. He's just one more oddity stuck here, with more people in all their varied circumstances. Dream men, dead men, avatars of death, who knows what else?

"Testing that thing out, is it seeing how long you'll stay whole, before the dreaming unravels? Have you... ugh, I don't know. Have you been looking at other anchors?"

His dreams, the river of fractured rainbows, the voices, the SCA. Anchor. Maybe that's where his brain was going, on some level.

[blitzcheer]

For the touch, Tidus's face rises, a look at Jingyi that questions what he's doing, until he figures the obvious. He doesn't flinch, and even the awkward response he does give is still joined by understanding. A gesture he doesn't expect, but can be appreciated.

But what he happens to appreciate the more that Jingyi speaks. Rather, his clumsiness in the act. Giving upfront disclaimers, and that makes him wonder more about this motion of affection, or comfort. It's tickling anyway, that twitches his mouth into a half-humoured smile, the way he watches Jingyi as he speaks.

"You're fine," he'll give back, and even his voice is flavoured by that some humour. His reality isn't so new a fact - alright, new next to seventeen years of life, but still! - that he's about to be totally sensitive about it. Just slow-going, apparently, on wanting to understand it. But he figures too, even as he starts to speak, that the jackass blunt side of Jingyi has yet to make a real appearance.

"I haven't. Other than this," he lifts his SCA hand, the wrist, "--I don't know anything about what to do. I mean, I guess I'm kind of a...summon?" He raises his hand again, looks at the device this time. "--And I don't know the first things about those. Or...anything."

Unhelpful, unuseful, but exactly the truth of it.

"But, that's about it on what I'm doing. ...Sort of." Is that really it? He huffs, a small shake of his head. "I wanna see it, know who I am. Just...take off this stupid thing once in a while."

This being the obvious, and more so when he bats the hand at nothing.

[jingyeets]

Give Jingyi time. Eventually, being too blunt comes out, though if one's lucky, it's in defense of them, instead of aimed at them. Then again, the train might be getting more by proxy, Jingyi's typing slowly improving over long, typed out sessions. Here and now, he leaves his hand where it is, a warm presence that doesn't ask for anything more, and frankly doesn't know what else one offers. Easier when people ask things from him; it'd taken him a month to even ask his sect leader if he'd groom his fur, after contending with the fact he had no one to help him with it and that wasn't resolving itself.

Weird problems. Nowhere as difficult as fading out of waking existence. Still, what kind of power is that, to generate whole living, dreamed cities, living, dreamed peoples?

Tidus answers that in suppositions as he speaks, Jingyi quiet again for not knowing what to say, exactly.

"A summons?" He frowns, brow furrowing, then snaps his head up; Jingyi doesn't have some great depth of knowledge on this, but now he's smiling, bright, and leaning in to sort of bump shoulders with Tidus, his hand still in place where it's been. "I don't know much beyond how to use the tools for it, but you know who does? Who we have two of on train, so even if it's as fickle as ever, twice the chance to get something in the works?"

The twice over might be enough for Tidus to guess, with the weird mess of 'are they all related' going on for the mess of people from the concept of Jingyi's world as a whole.

"Wei-shizhang!" Or, as might properly translate, Teacher's Husband Wei! "Or, uh, I guess only one of them's married... so Wei-qianbei?" Senior Wei. His smile dims, expression more solemn again.

"Wanting to know who you are, see who that guy is, I can get it. Not exactly the way it is you're looking for it, but sometimes, stepping past all the things that bind us to one way, seeing who we are without them's appealing." Different structures, strictures, defined living moments, but still. There's some empathy in all of that, for a habitual rulebreaker, even against theoretically common sense.

[blitzcheer]

Be on the train long enough, and you get used to people who love touch, even like this. That's what it reminds Tidus of, and he can't dislike it; he might even connect it more to a teammate thing, which isn't so far off from their predicament. Teammates forced together by the will of an obnoxious train...

Unfortunately, Tidus isn't always so clever at making connections. Two of, Jingyi says, but he waits for the reveal that comes, and - his expression deflates. Probably unfairly, but.

Ugggghhhh. Does he have to? ... okay, okay, it's a very unfair reaction. But does he have to!? Nothing wrong with the guy, really, but sometimes, you prefer it to be a face you don't know. And granted, Tidus isn't that personally familiar with one of the guys with the same name and face, but that would just be weird, to pick them over the guy you know.

Okay, let him just tuck all of that thought away so he doesn't get lost in the conversation itself. Grumble regardless, whether because of that detail, or what Jingyi ends up speaking about, of one's self, and that.

"Mmmhr. I really don't like it that it's that thing that's keeping me around." He straightens his back a bit, not meaning to disturb Jingyi's hand, but just to hopefully not sound so miserable, thanks to the slouch. "But, I can't go far from the train without it. Even without the air problem." Oxygen, gravity their existences earning a dismissive wave of the hand from Tidus.

"I guess I can ask Wei though. Senior Wei?" Since Jingyi said his name, so. "To do...what though? I know he can make those talismans like you do..."

[jingyeets]

Stick around the train long enough and Jingyi was going to start having casual contact withdrawals, because unlike most his peers, he's from a world that relies on far more of it, and there? He never had to ask for or seek it out. It was just built into everyday interactions, and heading into his second month here, well... it's still young. The nap buddies he's borrowed so far when exhausted have helped, but beware, Tidus, of being added to that list. It is a standing request from Inigo, joking or otherwise.

As it is, he cants his head at the grimace, and lets his hand fall away as Tidus straightens up. It may not be intended, but the shift leaves him reading a cue that doesn't exist, and his hand settles back into his lap while he straightens in turn.

"I'd try finding any other way around it in your position, mostly because I don't like being hemmed in by rules I don't think make sense. Having freedom over things like that, yeah. Even when it's scary."

Even if it has no good answers, or good endings.

He brightens up a touch, getting more animated with his hands when he speaks admit Wei Wuxian.

"He not only has the highest rates of success with his talismans, he makes new ones, and they work. He's the smartest man I know, not that Hanguang-jun isn't brilliant too, but the man behind most our advances in tools and technologies and all kinds of efficiency things is Wei-qianbei. If anyone would know how to summon something, or keep them summoned, it would be him! ... From my world, and... our shared ones, I think."

In this pretty obviously glowing review, it's the first time he hesitates, reaching up to absently run a hand over a horn.

"I'm not entirely sure, I don't get how one of them ended up possessed by a fox spirit, but... he's so smart. He's done things everyone's said are impossible, so he's at least worth talking to, right?"

[blitzcheer]

please don't torture him with snuggle parties, jingyi, inigo tortures him enough.

He doesn't share anything about the hand that leaves, doesn't want to make it awkward. Just focuses on the words instead, eyes on Jingyi, and other than his youthful need to be a big kid about certain old geezers!!, he's comfortable. Appreciative of this private small exchange they have going on, at least for now.

And the utter gushing going on breaks a smile more onto Tidus's face.

"You're a real fanboy, huh?" There's a tease to it, yes, poking fun - but it's true too. He can't imagine Jingyi would take offence anyway to that, right? He doesn't not appreciate the sincerity the other guy is speaking with, and it's the reason he takes in a breath, lets it out noisily.

"You're right- you're right," he says a second time, a note lower. A pause, before he allows himself to confess: "It is scary. If I left the train right now, I'd be gone - totally." Not just disappeared. The other d word, which he seems to be avoiding. "But I was always ready for that before. ...if I think about it now-"

He cants his head.

"--Who likes to think about it, right?" That's probably stupid. Even in the past, he didn't like the idea. But there was a better peace. Acceptance.

[jingyeets]

toddler sized dragons have needs tidus, mostly to sleep strewn across other people, so at least it's not a... three... human... body problem?

Jingyi snorts, smile turning more into a smug sort of self-awareness. "If you think I am for him, ask me about Hanguang-jun sometime." He had a favourite hero, and that favourite was here onboard and he was horrified by the implications. Also comforted. Not because he's necessarily close to Lan Wangji; generational divides are very real, and very present. But because he's a rock in spite of being only human, and he's one of the most accomplished people he knows.

It is not, however, the time to go on lauding Lan Wangji's talents and achievements, and he really only would when they're challenged. Or besmirched. The things that get him, when it comes to anyone he cares about, but Tidus only jests, then falls into something reflective, in that loud exhalation.

Letting go of something, looking toward something else. Jingyi listens, and his tailtip curls one direction, then the other, slow accompaniment to his thoughts.

"Dunno who likes to, but most of us do. Sometimes because a divine spirit possessed statue's got you in a choke hold, other times because you're called on to lay the dead to rest." He glances down at his hands, turning them to look at his empty palms.

"Disappearing... dying. It's scary. It's not the end, where I'm from, as long as your soul's intact enough to reincarnate. But it is the end of one life, and one version of you, and we're all so fiercely protective of the people we are." He pauses, looking to Tidus again, expression a touch apologetic.

"Sometimes you're ready, because of whatever's going on, or whatever you have to face. Then you're not, when things change. Maybe you will be again, but... sounds like that's not where you are right now. Probably haven't been for a while?"

A questioning lilt to his voice, because he's not sure. Also feeling like this is almost a whispered conversation in the dark of the shared courtyards of his youth, talking in the time before they all fell asleep, about this and that, about the dead, and ghosts, and the fears he'd held in his chest when he'd been younger.

cw: talk of death, moving on, etc etc i am no good at warnings

[blitzcheer]

Even with how prepared he is for it (at least, the subject), it brings a heavier heart. The stuff you don't want to think about, or have spoken outloud, no matter how relevant it is to the present. But also, he doesn't come from the place where statues trying to choke you out, apparently.

Then again, some fiends could be stony-like.

But there's some wish to distance himself from it - a joke, when here he is, gambling with getting a close to death as making the threads of who he is be apparent. He hums, a grumbled sound, wanting to hold on answering such a revealing question, but he doesn't. Are you ready?

"I don't wanna die 'til I get to rub this train's face in about it!" He waves out a hand, not caring for the echo of his voice in the hall, the pitch of it as he goes on. "You imagine giving up your life and having everyone go with you, and then the next thing you know, you're here, being used by a train!" It's less raised, more emphasised. Brought back to life by a train - it's worth the animated waving of his hands that continues.

"Every day I'm alive, I don't know when it's the end of it! And sure, I didn't know that when I got here, but yeah, I accepted it! But every day I'm here's another day this train is using me, and I have to sit and think about, I don't have a future I can plan for! I can't be the old me, I'm just whatever's useful to this train, and I hate that!"

That raises his voice, the three words ringing in the empty space, cheeks red and breathing heavy, sharp, a wound up emotion that breaks the borders between frustration and pain, grief, but is trying to stop it from flooding forward. But who knows, with his hands coming down as fists onto his lap, a picture of someone ready for a fight or be willing to curtail their feelings. Maybe.

cw: continued death chatter and reincarnation and i'm no better at these, sobs

[jingyeets]

It's the listening that he can do, not even blinking at the shouting, or the red cheeks, the heavy breathing, the fact Tidus feels all of this really strongly not even slightly surprising. He could say, you're not alone in that. He could point out, the other dead brought back here who have the same lack of control, the same lack of certainty. He could theorise, it has to feel even worse when you can't be stable without the train, at all times. Like being trapped, hemmed in, defined by someone else's decisions and not by your own actions. He says none of those things.

Hell yeah, Tidus is frustrated and scared and uncertain and mad and hating all of it. Jingyi's tail curls around, dragging softly against the floor. If Tidus looks off to his side, the final arc of Jingyi's tail becomes evident, the largest tuft of fur at its end there like some sad lapdog collapsed on the floor by his side. Just shy of touching, but it's an unthought response, the way he'd offer comfort to someone from home, the gesture: you're not alone, you are encompassed, you are part of a whole.

Jingyi gently, because if he's not gentle he's got far too much strength and sending people flying into walls is bad for friendships and social politics, presses his fisted hand against Tidus's upper arm.

"You should," he says, not because it needs saying, but maybe it does. "It's a sucky place to be. I don't think that's all you are, but it doesn't change how you feel about it. So... mess the train!"

He flicks his fingers toward the ceiling, for no better reason than to express train could be a direction. As if the train watches from above, when it has no need for those receptors.

"What you can't control, you can't control, but what you can, we'll work on it. I might not have any ideas, but Wei-qianbei will, and I can always be an energy supply." Out of context, sounding even sillier than it is. "I mean, my golden core's more than strong enough to support anything that needs energy poured in, so, you know, if it helps, drain me. Stupid train might be abducting us all, but what we do for each other, what we mean for each other, this place has no say in."

This entirely relates to offering himself as a battery. Choice. Or something! He doesn't know quite how to put it other than what he's fumbling through now.

[blitzcheer]

Mess the train - he very well could, with the way his heart is going. Start busting up some thing or another, probably the ICP, just to give the burning emotions in him a target to let it out. Except he's not moving, not at the moment, glancing at the odd tail that's within his vision to see what is creeping, but not with any suspicions or thought to its presence.

Not when Jingyji makes his gaze shift away with the fist and the encouragement. The flurry of his mood coming to some ease meanwhile with the offer - maybe because of it, strange as it is, but not so much that Tidus can't follow him. Granted it's easy, between 'I have energy, drain me'.

"I can't just...suck you up, or something." As if to make his point, he puts his hands on his arms, shaking them lightly, like that's totally how one sucks up energy. "I'm not supposed to do. I mean- 'recreation of a city where magic and war never happened, and everything's fine'! It doesn't have a lot of...knowing, about what you are."

Or doing anything about it.

"I'm just supposed to be a human." He looks at Jingyi then, his gaze lifting, for no particular reason than to not have it drooping between them. Expression gloomy, as to be expected. "So I do human things. That's it."

And that's less the part he minds, but he's pretty sure 'sucking up energy' isn't in most human manuals.

[jingyeets]

Jingyi looks visibly caught off guard by that, and then, sorry, he's sorry, but he's laughing into the hand he brings up to his mouth. His tail does lightly thwap against Tidus's leg, more as a really, seriously?! gesture than anything else, and subsides after; he stifles his laughter after a moment, leaving him with his head canted as he regards Tidus sideling.

"For all I look like this, I am human, you know. Hell no you're not sucking me up, what kind of weird thoughts are you having? It's energy, it's, ugh. Qi. Everything, literally everything is made of energy. It's not some weird, anti-human thing, you know?"

No, he doesn't know. Jingyi purses his lips, and then holds out his hand, palm up.

"Do you trust me enough to demonstrate this real fast? No one will be sucking anyone up, promise. Won't turn you into a nightmare, either."

[blitzcheer]

The reaction gets an immediate frown (a pout), that only broadens as Jingyi goes on. Not even the tail thwap (but wow, that's ticklish, guy!), and there's a grooooan that follows after the offer.

"I know you mean energy-" ugh!!! ugh!!!! "Okay, what's more boring than a human? What's a better word! S'not my fault humans in other worlds can have tails and cores and do all kinds of things-"

'All kinds of things' is illustrated by Tidus waving his hands around some, as he is truly a five year old whenever he has to explain what he means and knows he can't. But he'll keep out one of those hands, mimicking the palm up, before flopping it over to make a hand sandwich with Jingyi's. Staring into Jingyi with a (put on) bored expression.

"If I grow horns and a tail, it'll be your fault. And I'll look cooler."

Than you. Tidus is definitely five.

[jingyeets]

Oh for the sake of—how many people was he going to have to lie by omission around if talking about how some humans are also cultivators and some humans are not and the worlds find both are important? Count is up to two, though he handles it with an eye roll of his own.

"The only things boring are really boring people, and people can be any species or powers or abilities at any strength and still be horribly boring. You're not boring." As if the accusation of boring is a personal affront. How dare things bore Jingyi. How dare people be insufferably boring.

He snorts once Tidus flops his hand over into his open palm, then tugs said hand sandwich closer, so he can bring his free hand up, pressing two fingers to the inside of Tidus's wrist.

"It'd make you more handsome," he says, more a distracted response to not getting 'cooler' in this context, "Isn't that obvious? Anyway, unless you end up with air or water affinities, you won't usually make things cooler."

You're welcome, Tidus, for not getting what you said but also roundaboutly getting what you said. Either way, his expression sets into one of concentration, and a small touch of warmth along with a blue sort of softened glow hums at Tidus's wrist. Jingyi's being very careful about what qi he's sharing, the thinnest trickle, because he can't assume Tidus has decent meridians, and if he ends up sending this energy through the circulatory system instead, he wants to to be gentle.

... So have a warm, gentle sensation circulating from his wrist that feels a little refreshing, a touch rejuvenating, since it's a literal controlled energy rush into Tidus's system. Unlike with certain healing parties here, pulling away hurts nothing (thankfully), but if Tidus doesn't decide this is too much, that sensation will circulate the whole of his body within a minute.

[blitzcheer]

Tidus has got to find a way to turn Jingyi's literal interpretations in everything he says off. Or just sit through it and let it go on until it stops, since he knows that 'You know what I mean' isn't actually going to work here.

And he wishes it would.

"Don't think I didn't hear the 'more' handsome," Tidus picks on instead, but his expression unchanged, watching Jingyi get to work; because we're not touching on that second example of misunderstandings at this exact moment.

There's qi sharing to be had, and it's not exactly an unwelcome experience. It's familiar, reminds Tidus of the magics of Spira, Yuna's healings and treatments. Little difference between the line of magic, life, and energy, and maybe this isn't what anyone needs done to them at late o'clock at night, but Tidus isn't going to be the one to think about that.

Instead, Tidus closes his eyes, as if getting as comfortable as possible. Though sleepy is the last thing it's making him feel. Thinking out loud, whether clever or dumb:

"Think you can put a booster like this in pill form?"

He's not being entirely serious, but also, what if.

[jingyeets]

Give him time, a little more than a month... okay, five weeks in, and cross cultural slang is slow going. He'll appreciate the wordplay once he knows, but until then, everyone gets to suffer together in literalism versus figurative language.

Jingyi snorts, a softer sound, at what Tidus decides to point out. While 'hot' is less mysterious, he did hear people explaining that to Thanatos when Rich was propositioning the train (he was not, Jingyi, please), he's just used to attractive people.

And ignoring the Su She's off the world. Worlds. Universes. Whatever.

"An observation," he says. He's pretty sure it's not an implication of anything else. He's also not thinking that amping someone up this late is good or bad: eventually, they all sleep, even if they're not trained (hah) to go down after an exact period of wakefulness, like he is.

"So you don't want to suck out my energy, you want to swallow it whole." Deadpan, though it ends up being a curious idea. He mulls it over, tsking his tongue. "I wonder... you probably could? Maybe ask Hanguang-jun."

[blitzcheer]

bro is it me or is the narration getting saucy, time to slap up a cw: r18 warning up there.

Which Tidus could take a stab at increasing, but there's names again, and didn't Jingyi say that one before? But give him a second, opening his eyes, a quizzical hold to his brow.

"Who's that? I don't think I've met them." Hanguang-jun? Hanguang? Nope, it's not clicking a face into his brain, even with the helpful dose of qi. "It's not a big deal anyway. ...but there was a woman here, she made candies with magic in 'em. We've still got a few."

Magical candies, qi candies. What can't people make with some 3AM inspiration?

cw: saucy narration not to be trusted

[jingyeets]

"He, right. None of you use his title... Lan Wangji. Our sect leader's younger brother." At least giving one more name to the several one might hear Lan Wangji called, and furthering the ongoing confusion of what any of them were called.

He's still worrying over the idea of pills that are simply qi-infused. The trick to it, he guesses, would be controlling the release, so the pill not only stores energy, but releases it in a safe, sane way. For this purpose. Jingyi glances to their hands and frowns, still trickling qi into Tidus.

"What do they do?" What about the candies is particularly magic? The question is more distracted than genuinely curious, but he's right back to puzzling over the pill idea. How the hell did they end up at qi-pills?

"Well, while you work on a solution, I can work on qi pills. If you'll test them out." Go on. Swallow his qi-pills. Apparently it'll even feel good? Hell if he knows, he's got zero experience in this very bizarre arena, but he's sincere about finding solutions. He'd hate being in Tidus's position. That powerlessness, that frustration, it'd drive him to more than his fair share of griping, and he's already a complainer.

[blitzcheer]

There's a small 'ohhh' as Jingyi uses the name, that a name he recognises. This has to be the oddest healing (healing? -equivalent) session he's had though; a guy shoving energy in his direction while they talk about the future pharmacy business of the train.

"They put a magical barrier around your body? Like...around your body. Not a shield kind of shape? For as long as you suck on them. So you don't want to crunch on them, or it stops. Hard to choke on them too."

Because he remembers asking Sakura about that, and that's clearly an important detail to remember. At least Jingyi isn't asking 'how do they work', even if the answer would be easy - but also, disappointing.

(Because he doesn't know.)

But as for their future product, with their hands joined and this...session going on, Tidus huffs, a sound of mirth. "Alright. We've got candy moulds you can use for them - they're heart-shaped." And that spreads the smile on his face, a ridiculousness that isn't lost on him.

"This is a cool trick, but I think you're making me want to go on a jog."

[jingyeets]

Hanguang-jun is why Jingyi is any good at this; Lans were not healers, per say, but they could manage this kind of direct energy transfer for aiding the efforts of healing. Or for assisting with spiritual conditions, even mental ones; Jingyi's more experienced with the physical and some minor spiritual side of things.

Imagining the physical shielding, he murmurs, "Kind of like what I could do in illusion. Or like our robes. They're charmed for resistance to injury and to stay clean, but it stops working with enough thrashing." Hence his lack of robes now, though he doesn't feel comfortable so much as resigned to lighter blue cargo pants and the purple hoodie. Such style, living the train provided uniform life.

"They're heart shaped?" Jingyi looks completely flummoxed at this announcement. Why in the world would someone shape things like that? He only blinks away from imagining why someone would have physiologically correct heart shaped whatevers to design candies, or qi-pills, when Tidus mentions wanting to jog.

"Oh, sorry." He turns that trickle of energy into a slow stop, pulling his fingers away and jumping his hand up to encourage Tidus to lift his in turn. "Though it was kind of what I'd had in mind when I headed this way. That or figuring out the stupid fighter dummies."

[blitzcheer]

Tidus's brow dips to the apparent bewilderment of heart candies, a confusion that doesn't get entirely fixed in his mind by the time they're speaking about jogs, and any 'figuring out that Jingyi is thinking about real anatomical hearts, who does that, what a weirdo!!' doesn't come to pass with the topics already shifting.

He'll have to blow his mind another time. For now - with their hands moved away, Tidus spreading out his fingers and giving hands and arms a wiggle, bending his neck left and right - there's talks of exercise, which raises his brow upward instead, a thought in mind.

"Did you ever use a treadmill back in the fake world? I got a couple from mine -- Zanarkand. You can run on the spot on 'em, you just need to fold them out and put in the settings you want! They're over in the training gym - I can show you how to use them!"

Which he sounds - and is! - delighted to do, to share the technology, an easier way to train that doesn't deal with corners. Though he spread his arms out, gesturing to the sports gym.

"--unless you like the idea of running in an empty gym."

Personally, Tidus would prefer it more if they were outside, on a track. Or anywhere outside.