TURBULENT / XIAOVEN

two

authors note: woohoo!! finally finished chapter two umm this chapter is mainly xiao centric and im not gonna lie- if ur coming from my other xiaoven fic ummm this fic is gonna have a lot more angst so LMAOO anyway enjoy!! this chapter is mostly dialogue sowwy <3

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venti doesn't think that xiao would actually tell him the story. he just thought xiao would look at him and say, "i don't know! they came in gradually and slowly chaos took over" and whatnot.

instead, xiao and the others sit in the middle of the inn and speak about what had happened. it was nothing like venti had expected- chaos was unleashed all at once which was quite sad since nearly everyone was around the same age in the group. well, except for a child. which venti doesn't even know where she came from.

the story goes that three years ago, only two months after venti had fallen into a coma, that's when everything went to shit. or, well, that's what one of the people there- xingqiu described it as.

the people there had different experiences- xiao and a woman named xinyan were at their jobs so they saw people turn first hand.

"did you guys work together or something?" venti innocently asks, and almost everyone stares at him with shock that he'd even ask that. well, everyone besides the small child there who didn't even know what was happening.

xingqiu lets out a loud laugh, "pfft, more like they worked completely opposite jobs!"

xiao sends a glare over to xingqiu who puts his hands up in defense but even that action seems like a joke.

"what are you talking about?" venti looks to his right where xiao sat beside him, in their sort of disfigured circle in the middle of the inn.

"i was a psychiatric nurse but still a nurse, nonetheless." xinyan answers.

"oh my god," venti says, "xiao did you give people mental illnesses?"

xiao rubbed his temples and xinyan pauses, "i mean, i think you did, xiao."

"not funny."

xingqiu shrugs, "it kind of is. plus, xinyans kinda right- maybe you didn't give the person direct mental illness but you definitely gave their families some sort of severe mental illness."

"i'm still very confused as to what your job is, xiao." venti says and xingqiu turns to him slowly, the expression on his face not being a very great one.

"right, so think about the opposite of a nurse."

"oh!" venti exclaims, "an embalmer, right? nurses help others get better but you help people exit this world in peace."

"that's beautiful, venti," xingqiu sighs as he pats venti's shoulder, "but you could not be more wrong."

venti furrows his eyebrows, thinking as hard as he could. xiao sighs shakily, getting up on his visibly wobbly legs.

"i'm not talking about this. i'll be in my room if you need me," he says to everyone- pointing his chin to the last door in the hall.

"you okay, xiao? you're not going to-" xinyan begins but xiao promptly cuts her off, "i'm fine."

"xiao, i'm serious," xinyan says, getting up from where she sat on the carpeted floor, "i don't want you getting bad again, you know."

"just fucking drop it!" he says as he walks to his room and shuts the door.

xinyan sighs, shaking her head slightly.

"i... i'm sure he'll be fine, yan," a soft voice came from the corner of the inn- someone who venti didn't even know was here.