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The lands of Teyvat were well known for their various forms of magic and how it affected certain individuals and whether it would’ve caused harm to them or aided them in any way. Vision wielders were especially lucky as in addition to every other type of magic that there was, they had been gifted with elemental powers. Now, elemental powers were only one form of magic and there was another that all of Teyvat had to endure. Even Vision wielders weren’t safe, and that was the very reason as to why Jiaoqiu found himself out in the woods searching for very specific types of mushrooms, specifically Tighnari’s favourite, and edible, mushrooms.
You see, Tighnari had awoken that morning as uncharacteristically irritable. Well, to Jiaoqiu, this irritable-ness was something he was used to, as Tighnari had seemingly always seemed particularly irritable at this time of month. It was almost funny that that was all Tighnari seemed to present as, whereas most Alphas would generally become unmistakably, for lack of a better term, horny. Tighnari’s… spells had always manifested particularly strangely for an Alpha, as all he really seemed to want to do was lie in and not deal with the fact he was experiencing the hormones that he was.
In fact, Tighnari’s spells were almost reminiscent of those of an Omega, despite his Alpha status.
Jiaoqiu should know as much.
However his spells manifested, the point was that Tighnari preferred to just lie in and not act on the urges that he was very likely experiencing. Not that Jiaoqiu minded, as he wasn’t particularly too fussed on doing what might cure such a spell, plus, his own spells didn’t really exactly line up with Tighnari’s just yet. Not that the pair didn’t want children, but it was a bit too early for such a responsibility, as the two had only really recently married, so they had just decided to let the spells happen. After all, you had to wait for a crossover if you wanted to even attempt such an event. So, Jiaoqiu had decided to take care of his husband in such an event.
Jiaoqiu’s eyes glanced over at the mushrooms he was looking at. None of them really resembled the ones that Tighnari liked, and he wasn’t even particularly sure if these ones were even edible to begin with. He’d only moved to Sumeru recently, and though Tighnari had told him a lot about the flora, he still wasn’t hundred percent sure on the different herbs, so he simply continued onward. He gazed around at the foliage as he walked, making mental notes of everything around him and he noticed some Nilotpala Lotuses in a small wetland. Usually, Tighnari’s favourite flower would have no use or purpose, whether medically or food-wise, but he’d recently heard rumours of them being a good spell-suppressant. He’d never exactly tested this particular rumour, however, so it could just be a hoax, but…
It was Tighnari’s favourite flower, and if it did turn out to be a good suppressant… if it did turn out to have a use… Jiaoqiu could almost imagine Tighnari’s eyes lighting up, excited that the flower had a use and probably also in excitement that it had a use in reference to him. Smiling, Jiaoqiu walked over to the lotuses and picked a few. If they truly had no use, then he didn’t want to waste any that he didn’t need to, so he only really picked three and then continued walking.
He eventually came across another mushroom patch and then he reviewed the types of edible on the note that Tighnari had written once, crinkled and crumpled from use, but it was still legible and then he glanced between the mushrooms and the note. These mushrooms seemed to match the description on the note and Jiaoqiu took a closer look at them. The mushrooms even smelt like Tighnari, like he’d been here just a few days prior, which made Jiaoqiu trust these particular mushrooms even more than the previous ones. He picked one and then sniffed at it.
The mushroom smelt like Tighnari when he wasn’t suffering from one of his spells. Tighnari’s usual scent resembled the smell of a damp forest, like the rain had just stopped and the leaves and branches were still freshly wet. Tighnari’s scent also held hints of Sumeru Rose, and Nilotpala Lotus. The lotus moreso, as he spent most of his time with lotuses, their scent eventually becoming entangled in his. Tighnari’s scent had also become vaguely entangled with the scent of Qingxin, probably because of the various different flower pots containing it scattered about their home. Jiaoqiu opened his eyes and looked at the mushrooms again. Yes, these are definitely the mushrooms that Tighnari likes, he decided, and picked a few before standing up. He put the mushrooms away and then continued on his journey, this time heading towards Sumeru City. The main reason that Jiaoqiu was heading there, was to get the ingredients that he usually did for making the suppressants, just in case the Nilotpala Lotuses didn’t work.
No use in causing Tighnari pain if he didn’t have a plan B in the case the lotuses didn’t work.
That would be the last thing he wanted.
Upon entering Sumeru City, Jiaoqiu’s nostrils were assaulted with the smell of burning incense, causing him to wince. It was merely a deterrent against wild Alphas wanting to attack Omegas in the middle of their spells. Nahida had tried her best to curb the issue, but an Archon could only do so much. In a battle of magical instincts and Archons, magical instincts come out on top. However, incense was just incense, though it did remind Jiaoqiu of how Tighnari’s scent changes during one of his spells. Whereas normal Tighnari smelt like a damp forest and herbs, Tighnari in a spell had that acrid smell of burning foliage mixed with the scent of ginger, and Archons forbid, coriander. Though, Tighnari tried to mask this particular scent of coriander by buying perfume, just so Jiaoqiu wouldn’t gag if he so much as smelt him.
No fault of Tighnari’s, of course, he couldn’t choose what he smelt like.
Though, much to Jiaoqiu’s chagrin, that was one of the tells that Tighnari even was an Alpha, seeing as his spells manifested strangely enough to not be considered such. Alphas’ scent grew more… aggressive(?) in their spells, and Omegas’ grew more sweet and softer. Jiaoqiu even recalled Tighnari once describing his own scent during one of his spells as ‘Qingxin mixed with an airy scent of Windwheel, mixed with the smell of a Sumeru Rose, mixed with the scent of a recently made soup, or maybe I’m just hungry’ to which Jiaoqiu had chuckled. Though, aggressive probably wasn’t the correct term… harsh? Possibly? Anyways.
Jiaoqiu made his way through the city, noticing that it was pretty quiet, which was a little strange, but he didn’t think much of it. He eventually neared the little flower shop hidden away in a corner, where its Beta owner was moving around some boxes. Jiaoqiu scurried over and smiled at her. “Ah, Lilya, just the woman I was looking for!” He hummed, and Lilya looked up from the boxes and she seemingly sighed in relief.
“Oh it’s just you Jiaoqiu,” she sighed. “For a minute there I thought it was you know who.” She glanced over at her dwindling Mourning Flower collection and Jiaoqiu let out a little chuckle. He had a pretty good idea as to who she was referring to.
“Hm, so he’s been here recently? Those flowers are looking pretty low,” Jiaoqiu commented. “I’m guessing that means he’s in his spell as well, huh?” Lilya groaned, and Jiaoqiu didn’t exactly need her answer to understand why. She then looked at him.
“You know, you can call it a ’rut’, right? That’s what it is, a rut. You don’t have to call it a ‘spell’,” Lilya stated and Jiaoqiu swallowed slightly, but he didn’t let it show. “Anyways, what can I do for you today?”
“‘Spell’ sounds better,” Jiaoqiu said quickly, shaking his head dismissively. “Anyways. Tighnari is currently in one, like Kaveh I’m assuming, so I’m here for the usual basically.” Lilya nodded and scratched around in her boxes, before slamming one onto the stand, and picking out specific plants.
“Cecilias, courtesy of my sister, Mint, Glaze Lilies, Romaritime Flowers, Sumeru Rose, and various assortments of herbs from Natlan,” Lilya stated. “Remember the order for the tea, rose, romaritime etcetera. Don’t mix for too long or it won’t work.” She smiled at him. “I wish Tighnari well with dealing with this.” Jiaoqiu nodded and thanked her.
“And I wish you luck with you know who,” he hummed walking off. As he reached the entrance of the city, he saw Kaveh’s briefcase pay for coffee beans and then zoom away, as quickly as it appeared. Huh, maybe Kaveh is having a particularly bad one this month. Anyways, he walked off.
Gandharva Ville, in comparison to Sumeru City was a lot more lively. Various people of various orientations of Beta, Alpha and Omega were mulling about having varying conversations, some about finding their own partners, some about the ethics of the varying types of relationships, and some, who were too young to have manifested their status yet, were talking about random things. Jiaoqiu gave them a nod of acknowledgment as he passed them and then walked up to the main house. This caused the conversations around him to turn more into conversations surrounding how exactly they deal with their spells, but Jiaoqiu ignored them.
When Jiaoqiu eventually entered the house, he made a beeline for the kitchen. Tighnari would likely be sleeping anyways, seeing as he hadn’t exactly left their shared bed anyways. Plus, the acrid stench coming from their room was vaguely unpleasant. So, he busied himself in the kitchen, deciding to first make Tighnari’s mushrooms, as you couldn’t exactly take a suppressant on an empty stomach. Using his Vision to light up the coals, he got to work.
Tighnari’s favourite dish wasn’t exactly too much to write home about, simply being roasting mushrooms and then presenting them on a leaf, but Jiaoqiu couldn’t exactly help being a little extra. He grabbed some of the spices sitting on the counter, Tighnari’s favourites, and started sprinkling the mushrooms with them. He also added a bit of flavourant, just to give the dish more oomf, but then again, this entire dish wasn’t exactly breakfast worthy, so he decided to make something else as well. Moving the ready-done mushrooms onto the leaf, and ready for serving, he moved onto the next dish. He decided on a soup, and got to work on that.
He still had some mushrooms left over from the previous dish, so he decided to use those as well. Then he crushed up some Qingxin, as he’d discovered by accident that Tighnari had a strong enough stomach that he was immune to the laxative effects. He picked out some of Tighnari’s favourite spices again and then added that. He added some specks of Sumeru Rose, for flavour, and added some Mint, that wouldn’t be going into the suppressant formula and he finally added some Jueyun Chilli, just a touch, and then began to stir the concoction until it resembled soup and then Jiaoqiu took a taste test of the soup. It was edible for something that hadn’t used a recipe, and tasted vaguely sweet, with a slight tang. Which was interesting, Tighnari might even like such a unique taste.
Next, Jiaoqiu focused on making the suppressant tea. He got out the Nilotpala Lotuses that he’d picked earlier, and decided to test whether the rumour was a hoax or not. It was worth a shot at the very least, and either way, Tighnari would still love the plants. He put aside the Plan B herbs, so he could easily access them should this attempt go awry and got to work. Assuming that the recipe would generally be the same, he crushed up the lotus petals in some boiling water and then put in what else he would need. He started with the Natlanian herbs, only recently rediscovered as the nation had reopened itself, and then put in the petals of a Glaze Lily in followed by the sprinkle of Qingxin that he always added into Tighnari’s tea. Qingxin served no real purpose in such a tea like this, but it did help with masking the bitter taste of the otherwise medicinal tea. Plus, it was representative of himself as well, that’s always good to add. Finally, he added the Mint, the finishing touch on the now light brown beverage in front of him, nodding to himself at a good job done, and the Cecilias were always there should the lotus fail.
Jiaoqiu carried everything he’d made on a tray, and headed over to his and Tighnari’s shared bedroom. He paused at the door, ear twitching at the silence he was greeted with, but he only chuckled in response, and then opened the door.
Tighnari, surprisingly, was awake, staring at the Qingxin in the pot on the windowsill, as if wondering if he needed to open the window a little more so the plant could get more air. He seemed to be at peace, and was displaying none of the irritability that he had just a few hours ago. Though, maybe that was simply because Jiaoqiu had been away in the forest, so he hadn’t had to deal with the hormones that would make any other Alpha ridiculously horny. That was an over-exaggeration, Jiaoqiu knew that as much, but judging by how other Alphas reacted around this time of month, it wasn’t too far off. Jiaoqiu walked further into the room and sat the food down on the side table, Tighnari seemingly haven’t noticed him yet, or maybe he was just trying to ignore him, to make the spell pass quicker. Jiaoqiu didn’t really mind either way.
A low, soft rumble from Tighnari’s stomach as the smell of the food wafted towards him, finally broke the black fox back into reality and he turned his head to face Jiaoqiu. Immediately, his eyes narrowed, but he was smiling. “Breakfast in bed, huh? Fancy,” he joked. Jiaoqiu smiled at him and then presented him with the mushrooms. “Woah, don’t I need something else first?” Tighnari mumbled holding his head. “I have such a headache right now,” he complained, ears sagging. “Where is it?” He said, glaring slightly, but Jiaoqiu only smiled.
“There’s a time and place for everything, Nari,” Jiaoqiu tutted, and Tighnari’s glare grew playful. “And right now, this is not the time for the suppressant tea. You can’t have it on an empty stomach anyways. And judging by that growl just now, your stomach is empty; meaning, that if I give you the tea now, you only aim to make yourself sick, and I quite frankly, don’t want clean up vomit right now.” This roused a full blown chuckle from Tighnari and Jiaoqiu couldn’t help but join in. Then, he presented Tighnari with the mushrooms again. “Now, eat.” Tighnari’s stomach growled again, and he didn’t need to be asked twice, taking the mushrooms.
“Okay, okay, fine,” he laughed. He picked up one of the mushrooms and started to eat, humming in surprise. “These are actually the correct mushrooms.” He turned his gaze on Jiaoqiu. “You’re learning,” though the beginning of the statement started as jovial, Tighnari’s tone darkened near the end, “for once. I mean I’ve told you the correct ones multiple times already.” Jiaoqiu wasn’t too bothered by this however, as Tighnari’s hormones were all over the place at the moment, and he was probably feeling a bit sexually frustrated right at that moment. Then, Tighnari’s eyes lit up slightly. “Wait, the taste is different. It’s spicy, and hm… is that a hint of Nilotpala Lotus? Hm… it’s nice.” He paused, before giggling slightly as if he’d ingested helium. “Nilotpala Lotus…” Jiaoqiu’s ear merely twitched, and he smiled.
“New craving unlocked?” He hummed, as if the last rut craving Tighnari had hadn’t been coriander. That had been a nightmare, but anyways. Tighnari suddenly slapped his ear playfully. “Hey! I’m just saying what I’m observing!”
“You’re glad it isn’t coriander, aren’t you?” Tighnari teased, as he scoffed the rest of the mushrooms down, without seeming to even struggle to swallow them. “But yes, I’m craving Nilotpala Lotus now. I don’t even know if they’re even good to eat! And when I say that, I mean the entire plant, I know you’ve put some in your dishes before.”
“Well, that’s not the only thing I have for you to eat, before giving you the tea,” Jiaoqiu hummed, presenting Tighnari with the soup. Tighnari looked down at it, as if trying to decipher what ingredients Jiaoqiu had exactly used for such a dish. “I used no recipe, I just threw things together, though I tested it and it’s edible. So, just keep that in mind when you try it.”
“You? Working without a recipe? That’s unheard of! How can I be sure you won’t kill me with this?” It was a joke, Tighnari’s eyes lighting up mischeviously, and Jiaoqiu only really smiled in response.
“There’s one way to find out, I guess. I call it: Jiaoqiu’s Special for Spouses Going Through Spells.” Tighnari gave him a look.
“You could probably shorten that, maybe to: Jiaoqiu’s Spell Special. Also, you’re still calling it that? A spell? I think it’s a lot more than a spell, Jiaoqiu, but either way, let’s try this concoction of yours.” Tighnari sipped at the edge of the bowl, swallowing quietly and went quiet. Then, a kind of rigor passed through him, and his tail started wagging under the covers. “This is amazing? It tastes so good, the Qingxin? Jueyun Chilis?” He looked at him. “You need to make this again. It needs to be made public, it’s amazing, such a unique mix of flavours? Thank you.” Tighnari then sipped some more of the soup down and Jiaoqiu simply walked over to where the tea was, quickly reheating it with some Pyro, and then returned to where Tighnari was just finishing up the soup and smiled.
“Now, that that’s all over, here’s the tea you want so bad,” Jiaoqiu said passing it to him. “I tried a new recipe so I’m not sure how effective it will be.” Tighnari gave him a look. “I-I have a Plan B! If it doesn’t work! So don’t worry.” Tighnari rolled his eyes and then drank the tea, and it was then that Jiaoqiu noticed that Tighnari’s face was flushed. “How are you feeling, Nari?”
“These never work immediately, Jiaoqiu, report back in a few hours,” he joked. He patted the bed. “Come and join me.” For any other Omega, this would be a terrifying prospect from an Alpha in a spell, but Jiaoqiu trusted his husband enough for this to not be terrifying and so he joined him in the bed. Tighnari then wrapped his arms around Jiaoqiu’s waist and placed his head on his stomach, wrapped his tail around Jiaoqiu’s leg. “Did anyone cause you issues out there? Like any other Alphas.” Tighnari’s grip tightened on Jiaoqiu’s waist, and Jiaoqiu knew he was only this far down to prevent his currently raging hormones from making him do something he might regret, at least until the suppressant hopefully kicked in. The protectiveness, or possessiveness, depending on how you looked at it, was also another subtle sign that Tighnari was in fact an Alpha, despite not currently looking like one.
“No, actually. Sumeru City was actually quite empty, for some odd reason. I’m not sure if it’s because every Alpha just so happened to go into their spells at the same time, or if something else was going on. I didn’t stay long enough to really ask anything on the matter. Plus, I had more important things to do,” he hummed looking down at where Tighnari was lying. “You know, it is probably a good thing our spells don’t quite line up just yet, it’s almost like they’re waiting for us to be ready.” Tighnari let out a scoff.
“I highly doubt it works that way. It doesn’t work that way in most animals.”
“Since when were you an animal specialist? Who are you and what have you done with my botanist husband? And aren’t we technically different than most animals? We’re sentient for one.” Tighnari sniggered.
“Your botanist husband can very well know how animals work. I don’t have to just know plants, and for your information, I know a fair amount about animals.” Tighnari then sighed and his voice came out soft. “While we’re on the topic, if our spells ever did line up, would you want to take up the responsibility of what could happen? I know I would.” Jiaoqiu snorted.
“Wow, one spell, and you’re already thinking of you-know-what-ing me. Wow, Nari, I must say I’m offended.” Tighnari rolled his eyes.
“I didn’t mean it like that! I’m just wondering if you’d ever want children, not that I want to you-know-what you! In fact, I’m trying my very hardest to not even think about, you know, right now. I don’t even have that on my mind right now! Also you haven’t answered the actual question.” Jiaoqiu laughed.
“Okay, okay! Yes, I’d be willing to take that responsibility, should it occur. But, that is still a while away from doing anything, so we shouldn’t worry about it right now.” Tighnari nodded in agreement.
“Yeah. For now, I’m content just enjoying you by my side.” Tighnari nuzzled into Jiaoqiu’s side, causing the latter to smile
“And by your side I’ll stay, through every spell.”