The Tales of the Dragon Warrior

Acupuncture and Dancing

(the picture above is Baihe)

Jade stared at the cup of water in her hands with dead eyes. It was likely ridiculously late at night, and like always, she couldn't sleep. Images of Tai-lung and Wu-xi Finger Holds danced in her head like sugar plums in 'The Night Before Christmas', and that just made everything ten times worse for her tired brain. She wanted to sleep, but her body wouldn't let her.

So here she was, at the barracks kitchen table, sitting in the dark like a psychopath, staring into her glass of water like a dumbass, trying to figure out how her life had gotten to this point.

'It got to this point because you didn't look both ways before crossing the street. That's Isekai Prevention 101, Jade. Get your shit together.', a voice that sounded suspiciously like her friend Rachel hissed in her head. God, how long had it been since she had thought about Rachel, or James for that matter in a way that wasn't 'oh God what if I never see them again'?

'Too fucking long.', she thought idly. Jade snorted at the voice's comment.

"Jokes on you, bitch. My shit's never together.", she croaked, before going back to staring mindlessly at her cup of water. After a few moments (or hours. Time was a construct she currently did not like and subscribe to), someone walked into the kitchen. Jade didn't so much as flinch when she felt the gentle light of a candle shine down on her, nor did she when the person holding said candle yelped and jumped back, shocked by her presence.

"J-Jade?! What are you doing up?!", the person behind her asked. She could tell that the voice belonged to Tianyu. Not even bothering to say she could ask him the same thing, Jade looked up from her water, and she answered him.

"Staring into a glass of water while the voices in my head criticize my life choices.", she told him emotionlessly, being brutally honest with the man. Tianyu stared at her, his shock gaining the addition of mild horror, before he snapped himself out of his trance and spoke again.

"Have you slept at all tonight... ?", he asked slowly and nervously. Jade finally looked at him as she gave him her answer.

"No.", she said simply. Tianyu grimaced.

"Okay then, would you like some help with that?", he said. Jade blinked at him slowly.

"What?", she asked. Tianyu gave her a nervous smile.

"Would you like some help with that? I know some remedies that help with sleeplessness, would you like to try them?", he asked. Jade considered him for a moment. Even if his remedies didn't work, she at least wouldn't be bored to death, staring into a cup. What did she have to lose?

"Sure."

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"Are you sure this is a good idea?", a now slightly more awake Jade asked as she glanced back at Tianyu, who was preparing his set of medical acupuncture needles on a nearby table. She was laying on the man's bed, her back facing up. Tianyu gave her a look and gave her a comforting smile.

"Of course it is. I've been doing this for years. Trust me, once I'm done, you'll be drifting off to sleep in no time.", the green haired man assured her, but Jade just shot him a dry look.

"Forgive me for being skeptical of getting stabbed.", she hissed.

Jade didn't like needles. She didn't care what they were being used for; vaccines, tattoos, acupuncture, she hated them. She knew it was irrational to be afraid of such small, relatively harmless pieces of metal when she knew that they usually couldn't do much real damage, but she didn't care if her hatred was irrational, it was still there. Tianyu scoffed good-naturedly at her and chuckled.