bindings: (Default)
sʜᴇɴʜᴇ. ([personal profile] bindings) wrote2023-06-08 12:31 pm

homophonic ❆ fei du

fei du
love on purpose.

metacognition: fei du ready for (truth) bomb. (131)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-21 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
[ NOOOO AAAA GOD

he can't get any closer or it's going to end badly for them both, and he looks - extremely distressed, for as much as fei du's face can form the expression of Extremely Distressed, brows knitted together, biting his pale lip. ]


Shenhe. [ he says, again, when she starts to panic. it's the same voice he talked to mother he in, what feels like years ago. ] You're here, now. Aren't you? You're in Shibuya. With me, with everyone else you came back with. I need you to try and breathe.

[ at the end of his sentence, he does have to muffle a retch - but he does, and scoots forward, precariously. ]
metacognition: (139)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-21 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ i hate that. fei du's stomach lurches again, at the sight - his expression breaks this time, more honestly. he looks even worse, now, the heartbroken worry mixing with the horrible, well conditioned response. fei du swallows, lifting his hands like he's trying to placate. ]

Okay. Okay, alright.

[ his voice stays soft, but he lifts his hand and takes off his glasses, and then carefully slides his other hand over his own eyes. it does actually help, to take the sight away, helps him keep his careful thoughts in line, force back the conditioning and the nausea, because - he wants to help. ]

I'm not looking. [ gentle. ] Now. This is Shibuya, right? You're back here, with the rest of us. You worried me - I couldn't find you anywhere.
metacognition: fei du doesn't want to hurt old ladies. (126)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-21 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ hmm hate that. he can't see her, now, so he misses the flinch, but every whistling, miserable breath feels like it's in stereo. he can work with that.

fei du nudges forward a little further. ]


You're Shenhe, my friend. [ he says, instead, correcting. kind, but firm. ] And the mission you were tasked with was the same kind of experience that I went through. Like a lucid, painful version of reality, but it wasn't real.
metacognition: fei du...is fei du. (185)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-21 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ another few inches forward, fei du thinks he can't be that much far from her now. the smell is getting stronger, and even if it makes his stomach churn, he pushes forward. ]

Of course you did. [ he says, and there's a gentleness to it, a recognition. of course you did. he wouldn't expect anything less. ] ...Whether you failed or not, it still matters, that you tried.

[ as he makes it a little closer, he slowly, carefully, lifts his free hand out towards shenhe. ]
metacognition: fei du appreciates they didnt force romantic subplot. (120)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-21 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
[ the hand stays, unflinching, long fingers unfurling to an open palm.

that's - horrifying. by now, fei du has learned that these little adventures often feature people they know from home, and that perhaps he was lucky that he didn't have the same experience. they're psychological gauntlets, designed to torture. designed to hurt. ]


... Nahri and Wolfwood are alive. [ just a quiet restatement of fact. ] On the other side. We could go look at the screens and see them.
metacognition: fei du is survivor hero. (49.)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-21 03:58 am (UTC)(link)
[ THIS IS THE WORST!!! ACTUALLY!!!! ]

You aren't anymore. [ it's that same tone. just as firm, just as gentle, all at once. that dissociative, disconnected, awful feeling is so familiar, but he roots himself in knowing how to handle trauma, in recognizing the places that fei du and shenhe are the same and using them to help reel her back in.

his hand stretches back out, a little further. ]


Your choices were stolen from you, like it's trying to steal your identity away, too. If you felt it, then that doesn't make it any less painful, or any less cruel. They were your choices to make, and you were punished for having autonomy in a situation you could not win.
metacognition: fei du will protect you. (144)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-21 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
[ he takes her hand.

the minute it's shakily pressed against his, fei du wraps his slender fingers around her hand. they're soft, uncalloused, even after weeks of being in a murdergame - and more than anything else, they're confident. there is no fear, when he takes her hand the same way he took mother he's wrinkled, trembling one on his own.

because he's not afraid of shenhe. he could never be.

slowly, he starts to pull his other hand away from his eyes - they're still closed - and brings it down, so he can wrap it around her hand, too, and squeezes. ]


...I'm sorry, Shenhe. I'm sorry that happened to you.
metacognition: fei du...is fei du. (185)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-21 01:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[ im frowning like a cartoon character my poor bird

okay. they're getting somewhere. fei du's going to do something stupid - but it's not like he walked here, just out to the park, so. he squeezes her hand, gently, taking the unsteady grip and trying to reassure it. ]


I do. [ because of course he does. actually, he doesn't. this is so, so far outside of his comfort zone, but that's okay - he's going to figure it out, lay out a logical turn of events. and curled up and miserable like this cannot be a place to start. he would know - he's spent too many days vibrating with too much electricity on the floor of his basement, or throwing up until his insides were burning because he took his emetics too far. ]

...Let's get you cleaned up. Maybe someone has some juice left to heal you a little more. We can cover that, too. [ or she could like, die, but he does not want to think about that right now. i hope she got more healing. jesus christ

fei du's voice stays gentle and quiet, hopefully enough to be heard over the terrible laughter hallucination, and he keeps his eyes closed. ]
And once we've done that, we can go from there. If I turn around, can you get on my back?

[ in any other situation - and maybe in this one? - it might be a little funny. but, he's piggybacked wenzhou before out of sheer spite, he can get shenhe. ]
metacognition: too many steps. fei du getting frustrated. (68)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-21 02:48 pm (UTC)(link)
With spite, one can do anything.

[ also shenhe is way lighter than wenzhou so this should be doable. he turns around, opening his eyes now so he can look forward, and adjusts, holding out his arms so she can climb onto his back. the blood smell makes him horrifically, painfully nauseous when it gets worse, but he presses his lips together tight and swallows a retch. ]

Come on.
metacognition: fei du appreciates they didnt force romantic subplot. (120)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-21 03:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[ yeah it's fine he's going to barf everywhere but like hell he's going to do it now. fei du is too fucking stubborn, and his well conditioned reflexes are a result of that exact same stubbornness, so now he is going to ignore it. for as much as his carefully conditioned mental state allowed him to thrive - allowed him to become what he wanted, not what his father did - here, it's been a hindrance, and he's done everything in his power to try and just deal with it. for the sake of shenhe, he has to try.

he gets shenhe up on his back! and it's okay, if she passes out. frankly? that's probably better. it's a little wobbly, but he grits his teeth and will carry her all the way back out to his fancy car, and then drive her sad, despairing, passed out ass back to the hotel where she can get cleaned up. it is a testament to his friendship and how much he cares about shenhe that he would rather have to clean a terrible amount of blood out of his brand new car and his expensive suit that he just got than let her suffer for a single second longer than she has to.

at some point, fei du will have to leave shenhe in someone else's care for a bit because he is absurdly, stupidly ill after doing this, but it's worth it. it's always worth it.

when shenhe wakes up, there's a message on her phone, too, that says: ]


There's an empty room down the hall from the others that I got the key for. When you wake up, send me a message and I'll come get you.
metacognition: fei du is in. (24)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-21 03:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[ bad. bad! now that fei du isn't nauseous he's been running around shibuya to gather Things, checking his phone every few minutes like a hawk. when he finally sees the ping from shenhe, he turns right back around and starts hauling ass back towards the hotel. that's probably where she is? probably? ]

Where are you
Stay put
metacognition: fei du is ready for the afterlife. (80)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-21 04:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[ thankfully he's already emptied his stomach so many times that a small amount of blood isn't like, nightmarishly bad - just a little queasy. what is bad is that he can see that those are, in fact, tears made of blood streaming down her face, and not just extra blood from a random injury.

when he comes in the door, shenhe might notice a couple of things! first of all, he's changed into a different fancy boy outfit (did i really need to link this? no. did i want to? yes.) and second of all, he's got a big shopping bag over his arm. thirdly, his face shifts into surprise, and then realization, and then a brief flicker of shock, and then melts into something more familiar, a gentle smile. he looks like the tiniest bit green, but, it is a marked improvement from earlier. ]


... Your eyes are too pretty to have to cry like that. [ weh. it must be some kind of residual effect, or something - it sucks that she DIED and it didn't fix it, but he will keep that to himself. not for the first time wishing he had healing aura, he comes over, and offers her his free hand. ]

Come on.
Edited 2023-07-21 16:20 (UTC)
metacognition: fei du thinks you're precious. (164)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-21 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he gives her a little smile, eyes crinkling up at the corners with it. reassuring and confident to her uncertainty. ] That's right. Baobei, if you were covered in blood, you would know, because I would be putting my head in the nearest trash can.

[ hemophobia is extremely inconvenient except for this one time where it is completely helpful? nothing says reality like fei du doesn't look like he's gonna yartz.

he squeezes her hand, gently, when he feels it trembling, and then adjusts, slowing his step so he can let her put her hand on his arm, instead. he'll escort her back to the hotel room area, letting her lean on him if she wants, too. a gentleman, kind and steady. up to the room they go! he'll produce a keycard and open up the door to a room that is not full of other people.

it's just quiet. fei du's psp is sitting on the nightstand, charging, and the beds are neatly made: shenhe the duck is snoozing on the second bed in the pillows. ]

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