lady qiao

“I was never okay…" she responded with her head to the side, she was going to break into tears but, tried so hard to hold them back, it was like using chains against a monster, except Yue Hua was the monster. Finally able to look at the cheerful Wu maiden, she looked at her with weak, tired eyes. "I see…" she simply said, "I never thought that you would use it in the end." she admitted with a weak smile.

     Xiaoqiao's brows tilted down, giving the girl a confused stare as she tried to level out just what she was looking at. The woman looked awfully sad, as if she was in a never-ending trance of a despair that no one - or at least Xiaoqiao - could not grasp. 

     "Thank you so much!" She answered cheerily, nodding to his words. This new friend was sure helpful; she made a mental note to repay him with a cup of tea or something of the like. 

"Ah… Lady Xiaoqiao, are you alright? You appear to be acting oddly—"

Clank. The sound of various items falling.

"Oh— oh dear!" Yuezi knelt down to help Xiaoqiao pick up the spilled items. Most of the items spilled were able to be salvaged, and some of them were still in mint condition— however, it was unfortunate for the broken pot. Yuezi wondered what Xiaoqiao was doing with all of those items? From what Yuezi examined, they looked like party favours. Was Xiaoqiao planning for one? Yuezi didn’t recall any up-coming party announcements from the kingdom… 

     She bit down on her lip, focusing mostly on the shattered pot. It wasn't the most expensive of the gifts, but it had a pretty design that she remembered Da Qiao eyeing the last time they went out to the market together. Xiaoqiao could only hope that those around them weren't already gossiping--as it seemed the citizens tended to do. 

     It wasn't the girl's fault, she knew that. Accidents happen; this particular accident just happened to be highly unfortunate for the younger Qiao. Not only did her little surprise go out the window, but she couldn't even cover it up due to her now lack of a bag. Sighing deeply, she replaced her frown with a small smile as she turned back around to face one of the many officers of Wu.

     "It's okay."

     Glancing back toward the scattered items, she shrugged her shoulders. "My Sis' birthday is coming up, so I wanted to surprise her with all these things."

     It wasn't necessarily ruined, because she knew her sister well enough that she didn't have to be surprised to express her gratitude. It was just a little something extra, if anything, and Xiaoqiao couldn't wait to see the look on the elder sibling's face. Oh well.

Sky blue hues directed in the doll-like visage bathed in sunshine, slippered inching their way closer as a drawn sigh escaped her lips.

“I wouldn’t think of it, child.” Fingers threaded into her locks of dirty blonde, terribly annoyed by the scorching heat.

     "I'm not a child," she insisted, feeling the need to correct anyone who thought such things. She was just as capable as anyone in this world, and could stand on her own without the aid of a single person. A child couldn't do that. 

The warmth from the young Qiao has worn off, the inside of Yue Hua was cold once again, and so did the hatred for Wu. It was like a dream when she met the young Qiao, though she didn’t show much emotion, her inside visage was full of happiness but, of course she didn’t want to show that to her enemy. The golden leaves of the trees were falling, showing that it was time for summer to go to sleep. Her eyes watched as the leaves down, it was like that day of when her hope was lost.

     Although she was on the enemy side, she still helped out (even when Xiaoqiao assured her that she was a-okay), so that made her a good egg in her book. She made her way over to the woman, moving fast enough to catch up with the girl, but nothing more than that. She was worn out from battle, but still very able to fight if anyone were to ask. 

     "Heeeey!" She called, waving one of her fans in the woman's direction. When she noticed she got the girl's attention, she was almost surprised at the cold demeanor that was given to her. In their first meeting, the woman didn't so much as give her a smile; it was fine at the time, Xiaoqiao was used to the cold-hard stare of a soldier. This time... it felt different--like her presence was unwelcome.

What an odd day it was for Yuezi. First she bumped into a Japanese vagabond, then she had bumped into Lady Daqiao, and now, she bumped into someone else. Yuezi was usually careful about her surroundings; perhaps it was just an off day for her. She did have a dilemma to think about all day; one that had to be thought out carefully, regarding her love life. However, that wasn’t really important at the moment; she had to make sure the person she bumped into was alright.

"Oh, no, not at all." the long-haired brunette politely replied. "I’m fine, thank you—" her blue eyes looked closer at the person in front of her. Yuezi recognised her from somewhere, but she couldn’t put her finger on it… the person looked vaguely like one of her fellow allies of Wu. Another close gaze at the ‘master of disguise’, Yuezi came to a conclusion.

     Lady Xiaoqiao, is that you?

     "--. . ." Well, there goes that. "Uh--" She stammered, knowing it was too late for her to conjure up another trick to fool this Wu soldier. Darn it, she knew she recognized that face! If only she could slip around inconspicuously... 

     Her lip twitched into a forced smile, as she awkwardly answered: "Yup! Just passing by, nothing strange here, ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

     She lifted the bag over her shoulders, slinging it behind her with a bit too much force. The 'bag' she acquired wasn't anything extravagant, and in fact quite cheap to go along with the attire she was going for. The pressure from all that was in the bag must have been too much, because as soon as it slung behind her back, the bottom ripped open and all it's contents spilled onto the floor.

     "--Eh?!" Spinning around , her face contorted into surprise as she stared at all the exposed possessions on the floor. There were intricate hair brushes, an extraordinary looking dress, decorated in a deep red with white lace and intricate design. There were themed candles, herbs, a broken pot, and paintbrushes in the mix of things.

"Oh, you’re one of the Qiaos?" he repeated with intrigue, his eyes widening in delighted surprise as he looked over her appearance. "Ah…I should have known. I’ve heard tales of you and your sister, and I’ve wondered what you two looked like myself. But if I may say, Lady Qiao, your beauty does live up to its reputation." He dipped his head politely to return her little curtsy, a bit amused by the amount of friendliness she showed him.

     Eeee! She never got tired of hearing that!

     Her body wiggled with delight and she couldn't help but widen her smile, the compliment being one that never got old to her ears. It almost made her forget what she was going to say! "Oh, um--" 

Patches of red filled her cheeks as Xiao Qiao's words stumbled upon her ears. What predicament did she get herself into? She said too much already. Not in the sense for Wei or anything like that, about her relationship with Zhao. She wasn't the type to admit her feelings, especially for Zhao. Nonetheless, she wanted it to slide as soon as possible. The weariness of not sleeping the past few days must have overpowered her and made her speak drunk words.

She looked on as the young girl carefully poured the tea out with demure. There were little women of the battlefield being so soft and gentle, more would be rather rough with the changes of war crafting them into manly figures. However, there were still some, one right before her. She gingerly picked up the detailed cup and brought the tea to her lips, sipping the mixture slowly as the heat rising from the tea lingered over her upper lip.

"It tastes divine, Lady Qiao. You are a true professional at this." Yuanji smiled.

     "You think so? Thanks!"

     Maybe Xiao Qiao was unfair with her assumptions of Wei, but she never met an officer that proved her wrong until now. Yuanji seemed like a strong woman, but not a cruel one. And apparently this Sima Zhao wasn't too bad either; she hoped to come across him one day.

     Taking her time with the tea, she sipped it gingerly and let the taste settle on her tongue before swallowing. She felt proud of her little talent, because even most housewives couldn't perfect the art that she took so much interest in. She even had books on it - books that she was only eager to read once she dabbled upon the first few pages. 

I’ve been roleplaying Xiaoqiao for ten years, majority of those years being on xanga, and three years on tumblr (on another blog which had several more posts than this one, back when I was part of a masterlist) so she will always have a very special place in my heart for me. Unfortunately, though, her muse doesn’t come to me as naturally as it used to, and thus, I lose my inspiration for writing her really fast nowadays.

However, there’s another Xiaoqiao RPer I’ve been watching over, who writes and plays her marvelously, and if anyone ever wants to roleplay with a Xiaoqiao, I strongly recommend fatal-grace. I don’t want to say she’s my “successor”, because that sounds really pretentious, but I really tip my helmet off to her Xiaoqiao! I guess I can call her my Xiaoqiao-kouhai or something, haha.

I wouldn’t say that my muse for Xiaoqiao is dead, exactly (though she’s pretty much borderlining it, sobs), but I’ve been having a lot trouble getting back into her groove (as if that wasn’t obvious considering I neglect this account and her Wei counterpart so badly OTL), but gosh do I really love fatal-grace's portrayal of this girl. 

The mun of this Xiaoqiao will still be around (as other characters lmfao it’s pretty easy to find me. Maybe I’ll pop in as the Wei!counterpart now and then, but, we’ll see…) but I think I will have to put this Xiaoqiao to sleep for a long, long time— which is why I highly suggest everyone to interact with fatal-grace! Her threads are full of life, just like Xiaoqiao herself!