Five ★

[peonymarket]

[A. It's a very, very confuzzled Chinese nation that picks up the phone today, back from his brief droning.]

Ah? What happen? This very stupid joke, I letting you know! I was in middle of very important meeting, and-

[And by brief, I mean "a day". Yet for China, it's been over three hundred years. Give his brain a sec to catch up, yeah?]....What

Comments

C

[lotuslife]

[She doesn't manage to call back in time to catch him before he's off to the hardware store. Her mind is a strange mix of emotions- confusion, anger, hope. There was something very different about his voice, then, wasn't there, and he was talking about...

...Well.

She doesn't even bother knocking, because she regards this house to be as much hers as it is his (even if it is Mayfield's, after all, and only shelter, not a home), and as soon as she comes to the hallway and sees him, she stops.]

[peonymarket]

[He's just putting the finishing touches on straightening some of the fake family portraits that hang from the walls when he first hears her enter and then sees her. For a moment he just pauses, regarding her a little warily- visions of their most recent past flashing through his head, the old hurt of betrayals and breached borders and the slow, slow scabbing over -and then China just nods. His expression is calm, his back straight, although he might look just a little more worn and tired to the sister he both loves and hates the most.]

Nihao.

[lotuslife]

...Hong Kong, and then you. [She shakes her head in disbelief, takes a small step back.]

Something's different, isn't it? [Exhales. Are her hands shaking?]

[peonymarket]

...Time has passed for me. [a brief moment, an inner debate behind his eyes, and he takes a small step forward.] Over three centuries....is very long time, you understand.

[lotuslife]

[She squeezes her hands shut, balls them into tight fights, takes a step forward.]

I waited for you.

[She manages a laugh- uneasy, soft, but still there.] I suppose you do not want to be welcomed back, but you are here, anyway...

[peonymarket]

[A slow, small smile that's prepared to crumble away into nothing if need be.]

Hope I not gone too long, ah...

[lotuslife]

[She shakes her head: No. What is time to either of them? Nothing. Her hands reach out to grasp at his.] No. Not too long.

[ . . . ] ...I'm sorry. [She will not be wasteful this time or let this opportunity slip through her fingers. But first. . . She can't forget what had happened before he left, even if it was more than three hundred years ago to him.]

[peonymarket]

[He's silent and still, letting her take his hands, his eyes casing over as he remembers. And remembers. And remembers. The curse of eternal memory paid back in full- the wounds and deceptions of this town coming back to him as his mind shifts back through the years.....

A long, long moment. Then he squeezes her hands once, gently; "you are forgiven." It is something the earlier China would not degrade himself to do, communicating that priceless absolution through anything other than an imperious stare and cold, lofty words from atop the throne of his heart. But this China has changed, if just enough to survive, has paid for that old, foolish, bloated pride in blood and shame and steel; he will let that incident go. It's the best for both of them.]

1/2

[lotuslife]

[Her posture relaxes, but only a fraction, and the relief that emits from her flickers for a moment, almost palpable, before it disappears and her expression smooths out into something impassive and cool and blank. Her lips remain faintly curved in a smile, though, and she lets her hands linger in his for just a moment longer than is needed before pulling them away and slipping them back into her sleeves with a soft slide of fabric.]

...Hm. [Of course, she never thought that she owed her brother anything- her pride is too great for that. And despite the fact that this, that whatever has happened to cause him to move forward in time such a great number of years, has made her immediately much more distrustful of him, she can still smile- because this, though a thing made of tension and bitter words and memories is at least not unfamiliar or a painful reminder of a past that long since died.]

[lotuslife]

[A nod- it's for herself more than it is for him, and she brushes past him, speaking as she does.] You'll let me help out around here again, yes? [Her voice is soft, cautious, light.] I am tired of staying with comrade Russia. [She doesn't wait for a reply, holding her hands out for the broom.]

[peonymarket]

Ah, well....little of Russia go long way. [a quiet little laugh, and he hands the broom over; that should be answer enough.]

[lotuslife]

You take a bit and it lasts a very long time. [makes a pinching gesture with her fingers and no SHE WOULD NEVER DO THAT IN FRONT OF RUSSIA... she takes the room and takes over the sweeping, looking content to do so.]

[peonymarket]

There very many bits to take, too. [He also copies her gesture, smiling, spreading the pinching fingers to indicate stretching. Then he hovers off to resume dusting, still in earshot.]

[lotuslife]

[wrinkles her nose a bit damn foreigner and abruptly realizes how nice it is to talk like this again, ahh ;u;] ...Though now that you've given him cake, I don't think you'll easily be rid of him. [NEVER FORGET]

[peonymarket]

[asian famirry bonding time yiss] Well, if had given vodka, would literally be pounding door down right now. Could be worse.

[lotuslife]

Are you sure he is not stuck in the vents right now?