✧𝔻𝔼𝕍𝕆𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ~ 𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃~✧

✧Nan Feng- Rebellious✧

YOU HAD BEEN FRIENDS with Nan Feng for a long time, since you were children. Both of you were very competitive, and every time there was any type of game being played, whether it be for a prize or not, you would always try to beat him. However, his natural luck and skill made it hard for you to beat him, since you were a lazy kid that didn't want to actually try hard.

After Nan Feng ascended into Heaven Realm, your life became boring. You were from a rich family, and your parents made a big deal out of manners and learning how to be a proper member of high society. You had to learn all sorts of things that nobles were supposed to learn, like writing, sewing, swordsmanship, and falconry. Falconry was fun, and you enjoyed watching your falcon, which you had named Swift One, fly around and hunt rats and other small animals. But all the other classes were a waste of time. Swordsmanship was fun, but your teacher always beat you in fights. You weren't creative, so writing was a pain to do. And every time you would try and sew, you ended up either poking yourself with the needle or pins, or hopelessly messing up the stitches.

Despite your failure in all your classes, you slowly became more and more noble, and your rebellious streak was nipped in the bud entirely. You became a good noble child, and the pride of your family, dancing with the rich, spurning the poor, and winning writing and sewing competitions across the country your parents ruled.

Your coming of age ball was a grand affair, in which all the noble families from the area would be coming to your estate and offering the hands of their sons and daughters in marriage to you. You would be dancing for the whole night, and you had practiced good etiquette, how to dance, and overall just how to not fail at the ball, for many days before the actual day came. When the evening came, you were rushed into your bedroom, where your servants did a great job of making you look presentable.

(i'm going to do a timeskip here because it would be hard to describe how to get ready for a ball for male, female, and other genders all in one paragraph, and it would be tiring. just imagine that you're getting ready to dance, you get your hair done, get your face all cleaned up, all that.)

When your face and hair had been made presentable, the servants showed you what you would be dressed in. You were taken aback by how elaborate the hanfu you were supposed to wear for this celebration was. Usually, you wore pretty hanfu, but they weren't as soft and well embroidered as the one that was in front of you right now. The servants laid the hanfu on your bed, and let you change into it.

(pick one of these two, that'll be what you're wearing. they're really pretty, right? i wish i could wear one.)

When you were fully dressed, you walked out into the actual room where the ball was taking place, which was just the lobby of your mansion. Many of the families had already arrived, and you mingled with them, whispering greetings and hopes that they would have a good dance. You were a bit anxious by the amount of people that had arrived for a simple coming of age bal. Did that many people really want their children to marry you?

You walked around, feeling dizzy by the amount of people that were surrounding you. Colorful hanfus began to blur in your eyes as the dance began, and men and women alike danced with you. Before you knew it, your heart was beating fast, and you were delirious. Colors flashed in your eyes, and your face was hot. You wanted to stop dancing, but when you rejected a partner, your parents would yell at you, so you couldn't stop. You were afraid, and felt like you were going to die if you kept on whirling about and spinning and being handed off to partners like an object, like you weren't even a person.

You felt someone wrap their arms around your waist, and pushed them away, telling them that you felt like you were going to die.

"It's from all that spinning around, Y/N. You should go out and play with me," Nan Feng's voice responded in a playful tone.

You were shocked to hear him speak. Had he really come to your coming of age ball, even though he wasn't a noble? If he was discovered, he would surely be kicked out, or maybe even hurt if he didn't comply. You had better run away with him, just to disguise the fact that he was there.

"Let's run," you said, a smile on your face. Your dizziness and fast heartbeat stopped when your old friend gave you a hug and took your hands in his. Together, you ran out of your house and didn't stop running until you reached the river outside the town you lived in. The river shone brightly under the silver moonlight, and your and Nan Feng's faces were reflected clearly in the slowly flowing waters. You hated the way you looked, all done up with makeup, your hair covered in greasy gel to make you look more attractive, and jewels shining on every exposed part of skin you had.

You tore the jewelry off and threw it in the river, and quickly unbraided your hair, getting rid of your braids (or ponytail, or whatever hairdo you want, if you have short hair, just ignore this sentence lol) and washing all the makeup and gel off of your hair and face to look more natural. Water dripped down onto your hanfu, ruining the flowy skirts and delicate cloth that it was made of. You looked like a wet rat, but you didn't care. You were happy, and Nan Feng looked over the moon to be together with you again.

Holding each others' hands still, both of you jumped into the river and started to have fun, splashing each other and dunking yourselves underwater to dodge a rogue wave that one of you would send towards the other one. You had fun, playing for what felt like very little time, but what was actually an hour.

Your family was frantic with worry about your disappearance, and they had sent guards out to look for you and bring you back. You saw a few of the guards approaching you now, and you knew that fighting them would be useless. So you turned to Nan Feng to say your goodbyes.

"Y/N," he said, when you turned to go with the guards.

"What is it?" you asked him.

"Promise me, no matter what your parents say or how much they try to kill your adventurous spirit, that you will always be rebellious."

"I will never let go of my rebellious nature," you responded to him. "Do not worry, Nan Feng, old friend. I will forever be this way."

That was the last time you ever saw him.