seasonsrpg | Hello my younger self - Shang Qinghua and you

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Hello my younger self - Shang Qinghua and you

WHO: Shang Qinghua and you
WHAT: One immortal cultivator/author's got a potion of time and he's using it to return to a younger age. So much younger that he's in a whole different body.
WHEN: Aug 28th
WHERE: See starters
WARNINGS: Body transformation?

Starts in the comments

Note: Under the influence of the potion of time, he's returned to his original body. While he still resembles the squeaky cultivator we all know and love, he's going to look more like his shut in and exhausted older? brother. For those who can sense spiritual energy, he ain't got any.

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Shang Qinghua eyeballed the potion he'd bought. He had to admit, he wasn't entirely sure it would do what he was hoping, or if that was even that good of an idea in the first place, but... Well, could he really turn down the chance? He hadn't gotten to see his original face in almost sixty years.

And if it didn't work, he'd spend a day as a kid. Couldn't be that bad. Not like he was back home where he'd be in any actual danger.

"Well, no time like the present." Opening the bottle, he tipped it back in one funky tasting swallow, squeezing his eyes shut.

In a moment, the immortal cultivator was gone. And in his place was a very mortal man with curly hair, worse bags under his eyes, and back pain. And upon noticing that he hadn't gotten (much) shorter, he rushed to the nearest reflective surface to stare at his face. "Holy shit, it worked."

And holy shit he hadn't realized how much he must have based the actual Shang Qinghua on himself. It'd been years between the last time he'd seen his real face and when his new old was the same age. One moment to the next, they could have been brothers. Maybe cousins.

"This is weird."

Edited 2024-08-29 03:08 (UTC)

"Qinghua?" Xie Lian knocks on his friend's door, holding a tray of tea and snacks. Don't worry, he didn't make the latter; they are store bought. He doesn't want Qinghua passed out on the ground!

The way the other man speaks to himself has his interest and he peeks in curiously.

"What's going on? Are you alright?"

Does he look...different? Yes. Yes, he does!

Edited 2024-09-01 11:47 (UTC)

Shang Qinghua jumped in surprise before turning around with a grin. Oh yes, he absolutely did look different. And mortal. "Hey! Yeah, everything's good! Was doing an experiment with a potion I got and it worked!" He pointed a finger as his face. "It's only temporary, but this was my old body!"

He was happy about it, for sure. But from the outside... well, the sleepless nights, long hours at the computer, and poor food on top of that were, well, kind of obvious.

"A...potion?" Xie Lian parrots and stands, shocked, in the doorway. So this is Shang Qinghua's true body - the one that was...electrocuted? He hurries forward then and pulls Qinghua into his arms, checking him for signs of burns or lacerations.

"This... Are you alright?" physically? Mentally? Emotionally?

"I think you look wonderful." he softens eventually, his fear receding bit by bit, "I do like the way mortals age."

Being worried and fussed over brought the blood up into his face as he was checked over. He hadn't even thought of the possibility of being brought to that point, so thankfully there were no burns or signs of the event that'd killed him.

"I'm fine? Probably in the worst shape I've been in in sixty years, but fine," he said, ducking his head in embarrassment. "Ah, you don't have to compliment me. I know I was nothing special back then."

Qinghua is in one piece and that's all that matters. Xie Lian chuckles at the comment and ruffles his friend's hair.

"No matter your appearance, you are wonderful." he states, refusing to back down, "Now, are you hungry? Thirsty? I want to take care of you."

Mortals deserve fussing! Especially cute elderly ones.

Elderly! This body was only thirty!

Shang Qinghua tried to fix his head with a half-hearted huff, simply unable to be annoyed with his friend. "Na, I'm good. I had-" He was interrupted by his stomach'd declaration that whatever he'd eaten had not been in this body.

"Well... maybe a little hungry."

He is almost twice as old as Xie Lian looks now! The horror!

"Mmhm I heard that!" Xie Lian giggles and brings over the tray of food and drink he had brought with him, "Sit and eat. You have to take care of yourself, Qinghua. A spell that powerful requires a lot of energy."

"This body wouldn't have any spiritual energy anyway," he mumbled, allowing himself to be ushered to a seat. As if he'd turn away food. "No one does where I was originally from. Purely the realm of fantasy."

"Are you sure?" Xie Lian fusses around his friend, making sure he has a nice cup of steaming tea to go with his meal, "Yet your story came to life, did it not? Perhaps it is not such a fantastical idea."

He pinked as he was fussed over, wrapping his hands around the cup of tea he was given. One thing he didn't realize he'd missed without a golden core was the way it kept him warm. "It'd be pretty hard to keep that sort of thing secret, wouldn't it? It's a nice thought, though."

"I wouldn't use that logic to explain it away. What is known to the gods is often kept secret from mortals." Xie Lian finds a seat and lowers himself onto it, observing his friend, intrigued, "You look about the age of my teacher."

"I guess."

Sipping the tea, he pinked when he noticed himself being watched. "How old is he?"

"...around thirty?" Xie Lian guesses, "But he looked more around my age the last time I saw him."

Ah his physical age that is. Not his actual age.

"Is he a god too?" Shang Qinghua asked, leaning his head to the side. It made sense to him. God teaches a god. "Or just an immortal like I am in my usual body?"

The body that he had absolutely no regrets about returning to once the twenty-four hours were up. Yeah, he'd missed this one... but he hadn't exactly taken care of it.

"Mei Nianqing is not a god, but he is immortal." Xie Lian isn't exactly sure about the details, "So more like you. He can control his appearance and he is incredibly bright."

Except when it comes to his soft spot for Jun Wu. Though he can't exactly judge him on that point. Everyone has a blind-spot.

As much as Hua Cheng doesn't often appear to notice Shang Qinghua around, for how small the silly man makes himself most of the time, Hua Cheng does keep an eye on him. It would, after all, upset his husband if anything happened to the man.

So a slightly unfamiliar voice perks his attention and he goes hunting, keeping the bells silent to avoid giving himself away until he finds the source of that voice. And he finds someone who looks similar enough to be a relative to Shang Qinghua that the ghost king doesn't just attack.

"Experimenting on yourself?" He questions after a glance to the bottle in the man's hand. "Without someone right with you is unwise."

Aw, come on. Those bells saved him from a dozen heart attacks a day because they made it so Hua Cheng didn't sneak up on him. Without them, and without even the extended senses of a cultivator, he had absolutely no warning before the ghost spoke and let out a squeak that was absolutely just like the cultivator they knew and tolerated.

"Gah, don't sneak up on me," he said, a hand to his chest. "At worst, it would have turned me into a kid. It just took me further back than that." Shang Qinghua paused a moment. "You recognized me?"

The squeak is enough to reassure him of any doubts. And enough to earn Shang Qinghua a smirk as he holds out a hand to silently request the bottle. Just to examine - he has no interest (or need) of such a thing to return to an old body.

"This is gege's house." Simple. Hua Cheng knows who lives with them. Plus...he's a very lucky ghost. "Further back than a child?"

"Ah, right, someone would have to be pretty dumb to even try to break in, wouldn't they?" he said, offering the bottle over. 'Potion of Time,' read the label. It was now empty, having only held a single dose.

"Oh, um. Back to my original body. It's a bit of a story."

Seeing his face from the modern world just made the decision for him. He was getting himself a computer again, and he was doing it today. And then he was going to start writing again.

Hopefully it wouldn't kill him this time.

But first he had to go hunt down a decent computer store, and without the spiritual power to fly on his sword, it was on foot, walking with his face buried in the map he'd picked up at the tourist center.

"Should be someplace around here..."

Hi!

[Rinku is not nearly observant enough to recognize Shang Qinghua, at least not right away. But she happily waves, Mecchan perched on her shoulder and nervously waving too.]

Are you looking for someplace? I might know! At least if it's fun.

Shang Qinghua paused, looking up and smiling at the familiar face. "Ah, hey Rinku. I'm looking for a good computer store. Finally decided to give in and get a computer."

"Eh?" She paused, tilted her head, and blinked a few times. "Oh! Hi! You look really different. Did something happen? Like one of those drastic makeovers when you decide you wanna change your life?"

"Ha, not quite," he said with a laugh, ruffling the back of his hair. Hair that was a lot shorter than what he'd been used to for years. "It's kind of a long story, but this is just temporary. Twenty-four hour potion kind of deal. Then I'll be back to normal."

"Huh... So like shapeshifting?" Rinku thought about this and nodded. "That sounds fun! I'm working on my shapeshifting, but I don't know what all else I should turn into. I figure it'll come up when I need it!"

"Kinda? I bought something that was supposed to turn you younger for a day. Kind of on a hunch." Shang Qinghua laughed, ducking his head. "Good thing it worked out and didn't just leave me as a kid or I don't think my roommate would have let me leave the house unsupervised. Because I used to look like this, a long time ago."

"Whoa!" Rinku's eyes sparkled. "Really? That's cool! I kinda wanna try that now! Oh, but I guess I'd just turn into a kid and then I couldn't do quests or work at the bar, huh... How did you change the first time?"

"So do it on your day off? It's only meant to last a day." Which was too bad because he missed this body. Then again, his current one was in a whole lot better shape.

He grimaced, ducking his head. "I... kinda died? Zero out of ten, don't recommend. But anyway, whole new body."

"I quest on my days off usually." Rinku scratched her head. At the other part, she gulped and shook her head. "Oh... I guess that makes sense. It's still sad, though. Nobody wants to die, even someplace like this where you come back from it."

"More embarrassing than sad, honestly. Spilled noodles on my crap old laptop and power strip," he said, waving it away. "But anyway, I'm having fun getting to see my old face again. Never thought I'd get to!"

Rinku frowned at the noodle story, but smiled and bounced a little at the rest. "Yeah, isn't Ellipsa's magic great? It's like everything exists at once! And you can learn and use all kinds of things!"

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Hello my younger self - Shang Qinghua and you

Hualian+third wheel cabin: Closed to Housemates

ouo <3

<3

;u; <3

<3!

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Nightwake - Open

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