Chapter Text
“Please pay attention.”
Xiao carefully shook the sleeping chemist and hid his frown once the chemist jerked up from their accidental nap. Upon accessing their circumstances, they winced at the look Xiao gave them.
“Sorry,” They smiled apologetically, “It's- It’s just getting a little harder to focus these days, could you repeat that?” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Honestly, Xiao wondered how the Capital decides their chemists, more so how this chemist managed to finish their education with their lack of attention. It was no secret that the villages had a grudge against the chemists from the capital
Xiao wasn’t an exception.
As they continued to discuss the different tasks the chemist was to do for their next permit, Xiao handed them the list of directions for their testing potion.
“I’m not any sort of chemist myself,” He admitted, “But this potion seems to be quite time-consuming. Six hours at least, not including gathering or prepping your ingredients.”
“If you have a date in mind, I can inform Myers and the others that you’ll be unavailable for that day.”
Xiao sat back and opened his pocket calendar, while it was a hassle, he reasoned it’d just give the chemist more access to help the villagers. One day couldn’t hurt, yet, after reading the manuscript, the chemist shook their head and tucked it into their leather bag.
“I don’t need a day off, I’ll get started on it today when I get home after I finish my other work.” They smiled tiredly as Xiao glanced at the clock.
It was almost five pm already.
“Finish… your work?” He asked, concern rising when they pulled out a small journal of their own.
“Some post office work and helping the police department with their storage to earn a bit of money… grab some of the ingredients I'm missing too then I can go home and start prepping the potion-” They scribbled the last bit they said as they talked.
“You’d start at ten at the very earliest” Xiao protested.
“An all-nighter then, I don’t mind. I’ve been pulling a lot since I came here anyways.” They smiled and pocketed their journal. “Was there anything else?”
Xiao wasn’t sure he wanted to ask.
“When was the last time you slept…properly?” He asked hesitantly as the chemist smiled wearily.
“Define properly, I just finished my studies before I came here” They joked, “Before Rue came to the clinic it was alright. Five to six hours was a blessing from the academy’s schedule. It just started to get worse as people kept coming in. I have to wake up every so often to check on my potions during the night so I usually just nap at the table-” The chemist started to mutter to themselves, trying to determine how much sleep they got each night as Xiao stared at them in disbelief.
“Well for the potion batch I had to make for Laura, I had to stir it every thirty minutes so I pulled an all-nighter last night... Most potions are similar to that so…” They furrowed their eyebrows, “..two….hours? Possibly three if I’m lucky but I don’t usually keep track, none of the clocks in the house function anyways.”
“And.. this is not two straight hours, but waking up every so often to make your medicine? Why not do it in the morning?”
“Because I need to go outside to the woods to grab the ingredients for said medicine, Myers frisked me of any of my herbs before he let me inside the house.” They threw their hands up, “I even told him they were homegrown! I had to give so much of my materials back to my colleagues. I was going to make a little plant garden between the house and the hospital, but the plants here are hard to plant outside of their preferred ecosy- ah-! Sorry, I was rambling again wasn’t I?”
Xiao waved their apology away and focused on his previous question, “So you’ve been running around, for the want of a better word, like a lunatic with nothing but a few hours of sleep?” They winced as he continued,
“I would assume when the mayor hired you, he would want you to stay consistent to help for a longer period rather than exhaust yourself. Forget the meeting, did you ever taken a break today?” Xiao shook his head in disbelief when they genuinely had to think about it. “I doubt you’d go home to legitimately take a break if I were to let you go now, It’s already starting to get late, how about dinner?” The chemist shook their head, disheartened,
“The bartender and waitress don’t like me, they have the right to refuse service anyways so I don’t eat there-” They shrugged when they caught Xiao staring at them. “What? I don’t mind of course! I don’t really have enough money to constantly buy dinner there anyways, the forest has quite a few edible plants to make food out of and fish is pretty easy to catch.”
“You’ve been- I- nevermind. Have they ever actually refused service?” They winced,
“I tried going over there when I first came to this village, got the memo real quick that I wasn’t wanted after trying twice, stopped going after that. H-Hey-!” They protested as Xiao threw their scarf over to them as he buttoned his coat.
“Come on, I’m hungry.”
“Are you serious? Hey- Wait- Xiao-??”
–
Xiao calmly sipped on his tea while the chemist had their head in their hands. He never thought he’d be entertained by others suffering, yet-
“Xiao! You’re here early,” Martha examined, “I’ll tell Yorn to get started on making your usual, would you like me to refill your tea?” Xiao watched in amusement as the chemist shrunk in their seat, almost determined to pretend they weren’t there.
“Ah yes, would you mind bringing the menu as well? They mentioned that they haven’t been able to… eat here since their arrival-” Martha’s cheeks flushed as she smiled tightly towards the chemist, “Ah of course! I guess Capital food can start to taste boring after a while huh? I’ll be right back,”
They glared at Xiao once Martha left the table, “Really? Seriously I don’t get paid until tomorrow, I have to wait for my colleague to send me my pay by mail.”
“I’m paying, of course, consider it an apology.”
“For what? You’ve done nothing wrong,” They frowned, “Honestly I should be the one to apologize to you, you’ve been helping me with pretty much no payback.”
“For the er, the judgment from where you came from, as well as underestimating how much time you’ve spent trying to help while expecting no thanks from us.” Xiao took a sip of his drink as the chemist ordered a plain rice and soup dish. Perhaps they weren’t joking when they mentioned they couldn’t afford to consistently eat here.
“It wasn’t polite to judge you for just doing your job” He continued as Martha left to send the order to Yorn, “I suppose this is more so of a request to start fresh, at least for me that is; He chuckled, “I’m not able to sway the other’s feelings but I can put a good word for you. Would that be alright?”
The chemist stayed quiet, albeit shocked, they smiled gently and held out their hand, “I’d love that. It’s… nice to talk to someone who’d rather judge me based on my work ethic rather than my background, although, I suppose I’d have to work on my sleep schedule, won’t I?” Xiao chuckled as he set his cup down to firmly shake their hand.
“I suppose you’ll have to; I look forward to continuing working with you, preferably not while you’re half asleep that is.” His eyes crinkled when they laughed at his joke, perhaps he could introduce them to Helene first, the gambling lady was always happy for a little extra company. Xiao covered a chuckle when they held up their glass of apple juice like a toast.
“To a new friendship?” He held up his teacup and gently tapped their glass, a small smile tugged his mouth.
“To fresh starts, and a lovely friendship indeed.”
…
“I’m still scheduling you a day off for your test.”
“It’s seriously not that bad I swear-”