The Lantern Festival (7) : Scientists have been hard at work trying to understand the strange, glowing qualities of the luminescent caterpillars found in the caves by the reservoir. The caterpillars still shrivel up if they are taken out of the caves but their glowing secretions have been processed into an organic paste that can withstand the outside world. The city is selling paper lanterns infused with various seeds. The glow paste is full of minerals to support healthy plant growth without risking damage to the environment; all lantern purchases come with a small packet of activating power that will heat the paste up enough to mimic the effects of a candle without the concerns of flammability. When the glow paste loses its heat, the lantern will return to the Earth and upon the first rain (or any contact with water) the paper will dissolve and the seeds may begin to grow. All proceeds from the lanterns are put right back into the community to support local conservation and environmental protection efforts.
Having checked out the lanterns with Kemi, it felt a little easier for Lianhua to decide to check them out with Winston, too. The booths were nice, there were places to let the lanterns go, and it honestly felt like a really nice place to be.
A great place for a sort of first date. For a confession. For a walk with a cute boy that Lianhua maybe liked more than she wanted to admit, except that she probably owed it to him to admit to it.
Everything had been so much easier when they were just hooking up. But she couldn't really, reasonably pretend that was all it was anymore. She couldn't ignore the way her heart did things around him. The way his smile lit something up inside her. The way she...wanted things. Like cuddles and movie nights and promises and more than just....a long-term hookup.
Like maybe she wanted to put real words on this whole...situation. Like maybe she wanted more than a situationship. Like maybe she wanted a relationship.
What a wild prospect.
She waited not far from the lantern booths, nervously fiddling with a game on her phone to give her something to do while she waited. He would be here soon, she was sure. And she hoped they would get to have a nice night.
She'd even dressed up in the cute outfit she'd been wearing under her powerup, the night they'd first met. Maybe that was...a charm, or something. Good luck for going forward.
genovianprince
Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2025 1:46 am
Winston felt light-hearted as he made his way over to meet Lianhua for their date. His life had gotten measurably better with her in it. Her sparkle made him happy. She made him want to be better. His relationship with Vanya had even improved by a great deal. The world just felt more right to him with her in it.
The lanterns seemed like quiet the romantic date, so he'd tried to clean up a little more than usual while remaining cool in the summer heat. Unfortunately, it didn't seem that clothing that beat the heat effectively could also meet his standards for formality. Oh well. He hoped Lianhua wouldn't mind. He would rather look a little uncouth than show up drenched in sweat from being outside for longer than ten seconds, especially since the plan was an outdoor date.
"A-Hua," he greeted when he saw her, smiling broadly. he felt that they'd maybe reached the nickname stage—maybe presumptuous of him, but he'd looked into Chinese nicknames and how they worked, so he could do it right for her.
Wow. It felt...it felt really nice to hear a boy call her A-Hua rather than Lily or Lian or...something else they made up that she didn't really care about because she'd only be seeing them a couple times anyway. Very few had graduated to A-Hua privileges, and at least once, taking those privileges before she was ready to hand them out had become reason to end a fling.
She did not want to end this fling.
"Hey, Winston," she said, and she liked to think she sounded smooth and cool, and not at all like a disaster area. She sauntered over, and oh-so-casually took his hand, like this wasn't a big deal to her at all. Because it totally didn't need to be. ...Yet. "Come on, let's go grab lanterns," she said. "We can find somewhere quiet to release them, and then maybe...there's something I want to talk to you about?"
This was terrifying. Lianhua did not like that it was terrifying. Boys had never been scary before, but then, she'd never been serious about a boy like she was about Winston.
genovianprince
Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2025 7:07 pm
Winston's heart skipped a little beat at that, but he tried to reassure himself. Lianhua wouldn't want to talk to him in a romantic setting unless it was good news. Unless. Oh no. Had Lianhua's implant failed? Oh, gods. That would NOT be good news. What if she wanted to keep it? He didn't want to be a father! But he really liked Lianhua...
He took a steadying breath or two as they acquired a pair of lanterns and went to a quieter area of a nearby park.
This was terrifying. Lianhua did not like that it was terrifying. Boys had never been scary before, but then, she'd never been serious about a boy like she was about Winston.
This was nerve-wracking. All throguh picking up their lanterns and finding somewhere quiet to release them, Lianhua was fidgety. She did notice some star charms at the booth, and picked up a violet one for herself--little decos were a sweet treat for an influencer--and fidgeting with it did calm her nerves a little, but not...nearly enough.
"I just...it's not news, so much?" she said, tucking the star charm into her pocket and fiddling, now, with the element to activate the glow paste, "just...a question, I guess." She took a breath. Let it out. "....What are we, to you?"
genovianprince
Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2025 7:26 pm
If it wasn't for the glamour earring keeping his more alien parts tucked away, his ears and tail would have flipped up in alarm. He wasn't sure why she was asking—surely they thought the same thing? Obviously not, if she was asking, but...
"A couple," he answered slowly, also activating the glow paste on his own lantern. "Ever since the second time we slept together."
"Ahhh," Lianhua wasn't quite sure what she had intended to say. Her first response died as she tried to make it, and she let her lantern go, so she could fiddle with her star charm as if that might help her put her words together.
"I hadn't...realized...it was that serious, for you," she admitted. "Like, I haven't--there's not anyone else or anything, but I--we never talked about it? So I didn't think..."
She forced herself to look him in the face.
"I want us to be something real. But I've never done that before. And I didn't think you were already...there."
genovianprince
Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2025 8:30 pm
Winston almost destroyed the lantern in his hands at Lianhua's statement. He stared at her in shock and hurt, slowly putting the lantern down to give her his full attention—whether she liked it or not.
"So you being my first everything didn't matter to you, then," he said flatly. "Nothing I told you about the way people treated me, like a commodity rather than a person, said anything to you about how I felt different about you, when we were sleeping together, and having breakfast dates, dinner dates, patrolling together? Me coming back again and again was what, a game, to you? Not real?"
His hands clenched into fists at his sides and he fought to keep himself under control, because despite the betrayal he felt, he didn't want to lose it on her. In the moment, he hated her—but this couldn't erase the last three months of bliss he'd felt. Of happiness. He felt a hot mix of emotions balling up in his chest; a lot of them, he couldn't identify right away. All he knew was that he hurt, and by the meadows, he wanted to make her hurt too.
Okay. Well. That was about as bad as it could have gone, Lianhua figured.
"That's not what I said," Lianhua knew she had to sound a little desperate, because she felt a little desperate. "I'm just--I'm just used to keeping things casual, not getting too into the romance weeds, or whatever, but you're different, I--"
Lianhua groaned. "I'm trying to tell you that it did matter, even though I thought it didn't, and I kinda didn't want it to. It did. You do."
genovianprince
Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2025 9:46 pm
"So yo saying you want us to be real now isn't you saying we weren't real before? Because, as I understand it, that's how language works."
He bit his tongue hard, face flushed bright red with anger and shame. He didn't want to hear anything else she was saying.
"I'm going home," he said tartly, leaving behind the lantern. He needed to get out of there. Needed to clear his head. He felt irrational and stupid and lied to.
He wanted to be happy that she wanted him back, but learning that she'd had to warm up to the idea over the last three months squashed the newfound softness he'd been growing.
"Winston, wait," Lianhua turned, and started to go after him--but--
Ugh, did she really want to chase after some ridiculous boy? Did she really want to hunt him down, make him talk to her, whatever? Clearly he didn't want her. Clearly she had been stupid to try and pursue it.
She turned around, storming over to find the nearest park bench, and collapsed on it to bury her face in her hands. <******** this. ******** being in love, or whatever. She had been stupid to even try.
