Mo Xuanyu Encounters Muddy... Child?! Now What?
A-Yu huddled further into himself and whimpered when something – someone walked over him inside the cold shed. The young master was unhappy, thus meant that the Mistress was unhappy, and thus the entire household was unhappy at A-Yu. He curled himself up at the door of the shed, shedding tears. A-Yu knew he was a disappointment, but why wasn’t mother’s things where he left them? Only young master ever comes by to hit A-Yu… Did young master take his mother’s things? Why would young master want his mother’s things?
WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHY
…why wasn’t he allowed to keep his mothers things? Why did he have to lose everything? Why did his mind become the jumble that it was?
Xuanyu fell asleep to the rain and his own tears falling to the dirty floor.
-------------------------------------
Xuanyu came to when he felt something-someone fall over him. He blearily blinked his crusted, swollen eyes, and scrambled ungainly when he saw the dim impression of swaying clumpy shadows that the thing - a person! made as they themselves almost threw themselves into opposite corners of the shack.
Scared out of his mind, afraid that whatever god-awful thing that would wander around in the midst of the pouring rain would tear through his flesh and gnaw on his bones, Xuanyu let out a rather pathetic whine that shrunk into a whimper as the other also regained tier bearing and slowly approached the teen. Hyperventilating slightly, Xuanyu screwed his eyes shut and waited for the inevitable.
…but as the seconds turned to minutes, Xuanyu only heard a slight huff of breath from the other and a quiet, “Are you alright?” that was barely heard over the pattering of rain. When Xuanyu stilled at the sound, he still heard the fluttering and shifting of fabrics, like the other was waving their hands around, drawing close to him as if to ascertain that Xuanyu was okay, but afraid to actually touch him.
Xuanyu peeked past his arms when the other patiently waited for him to come out of his defensive position, staying several feet away to give him space. When his eyes focused in the near ink-black shed, he saw a figure, slighter and smaller than he, kneeling with their head-covering lowered, revealing a foreign face, with a high nose and pale skin, and the most brilliant pair of jade-green eyes, almost reflecting the dim light like a cat.
Xuanyu didn’t see any black lines that would indicate that the other was a fierce corpse, the brilliant eyes were another point against it, and no yao would ask if the he was okay while keeping their distance, covered in mud and with the most worried tilt in their eyebrows and mouth.
Tentatively, Xuanyu uncurled and almost squeaked and tensed back up when the other’s shoulders slumped in what looked like relief.
“My name is Pot-ter Ha-li. I am sorry that I tripped over you when I entered the shed. I was only looking for shelter in the rain and thought that the shed was empty. Are you alright?