geez louise

What a day! The birds were chirping, the sun was shining—truly the perfect day to spend some quality time with her nephew at the park, right? Xiùlán certainly thought so, and that's why she did just that. Would her brother mind? No, of course not! He'd probably be happy to see them bonding, at least she thought so. He wasn't home when she came to fetch little Xìnyì, a total coincidence. Xiùlán wouldn't have planned it that way, of course. And even if she knew he probably wouldn't be gone for long, she didn't feel like waiting around. So she simply made her way inside. Which was easy enough; she knew exactly how to infiltrate—well, anything that belonged to Yu. She didn't even break a window this time.

After that, it was easy to pick up the boy and leave, heading for the park. Xìnyì was all too eager to go with her once he got over his fear of the stranger in his home and recognized her. She bought him some ice cream from a stand to make up for it, and he seemed to have all but forgotten the incident. Actually, now that she thought about it, wasn't he allergic to a certain type of flavor? God, what was it? Hopefully not chocolate, as he had three whole scoops of it on his little waffle cone. Eh, no, probably not. He seemed happy enough to gorge it down, and he hadn't broken out in some allergic reaction yet, so it was probably fine.

As they walked, they came upon a large fountain, one with fishes swimming in it, something which the young boy eagerly pointed out. So she picked him up and carried him towards it, setting him down on the ledge and pointing out the fishes to him with one hand while holding the ice cream cone in the other. "Look! There goes one," she giggled, pointing at a small carp. "And there!" Another one, a huge koi! The biggest one she'd ever seen. Her nephew clearly enjoyed himself, if the giggling was any indication, and reached even more forward towards the water, as if he wanted to grab one of the fishes straight out of the fountain.

Xiùlán noticed, of course, but didn't do anything to stop him. Even if he did fall in, the water wasn't deep enough to, like, drown him or anything. He'd only get a little bit wet. So it wasn't a big deal.

What was a big deal, though, was the familiar figure that came their way—she spotted him in the corner of her eye. Yu, and he didn't look too happy. Xiùlán couldn't imagine why not. Sure, he might have come home to find his son missing, but she did leave him a note. So it wasn't like she kidnapped him entirely.

His sour mood did little to dampen her bright one. Casually, she leaned against the edge of the fountain, so that she was now turned towards her half-brother and his son, who had run up to him and was now happily hugging the older man's leg, as if he hadn't seen him in years. Kinda dramatic if you asked her—Yu should really teach the child a little more independence before he ends up as a daddy's boy.

Xiùlán shrugged nonchalantly at his command. She wasn't budging, not yet. Their little outing had only just begun after all. "What, no, we can't leave yet—I promised I'd take Xìnyì to the petting zoo," she said, her tone innocent, yet laced with mischief. There was a quaint little farm attached to the park, offering interactions with various animals like rabbits and goats. Her little nephew seemed fascinated by the idea, especially the prospect of holding and playing with the furry critters. Xiùlán, however, found them rather mundane, beneath her refined tastes. Despite her promise, she likely wouldn't have accompanied him. Instead, she'd concoct some excuse to bail at the last minute. But using the petting zoo as leverage against Yu? Oh, that was too delicious to resist—the perfect little stick to prod and test his resolve.

As her nephew scampered back to her, she handed him his melting ice cream cone with a playful smile. "Right, Xìn? Don't you want to see those adorable little fluffballs they have over there?" The child nodded eagerly, his eyes shining with anticipation. Turning back to his father, he launched into a babbling plea, his words a jumble of excitement and persuasion. Xiùlán watched with amusement, her red eyes sparkling mischievously as she awaited Yu's reaction, relishing the challenge of his next move.