008 | OVERFLOW

[godsoffortune]

This is an overflow post for 008 | Sakura 2.0: You Can (Not) Have A Picnic. Please bring any further comments here and link to your threads at the original source.

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Hakkai

[gentilitea]

[ Continued from here! ]

Stubborn… [ Jakob can almost relate. But as he doesn’t understand what Hakkai is trying to get at, he ties that cravat around the lower half of his face regardless. Likewise, he understands little of the properties of the cherry blossoms themselves, and finds no other option but to try whatever’s at hand regardless.

Whether or not it works is up for debate, however. He still feels a little unsteady on his own feet. ]

One more stumble…one more stumble and I will be forced to—to…

[reformedsinner]

Are you feeling quite all right?

[Hakkai beams aggressively. He's not doing any better -- he won't be doing any better, he thinks, until he's well away from the trees -- but Jakob is starting to look as though he's being affected, too.

Which makes Hakkai feel a little better about his own unsteadiness.

He's paying excessive attention to where he puts his own feet, and moving very slowly as a result, but, at least, he hasn't stumbled.

Yet.]

[gentilitea]

[ That note of challenge in Hakkai’s voice doesn’t escape him. ]

Ha! I’m surely in a better position than you. [ His voice comes out a little slurred—less form the cravat and more from that stupidly hazy little feeling he’s already getting from the flowers. He’s not in any better shape than Hakkai, honestly, but he tends to be driven by pure unadulterated pride and stubbornness, and he really really hates to lose. ]

As—As a matter of fact, I’ve mastered proper posture! [ Not that he’s demonstrating it at this moment, despite his best efforts. ]

[reformedsinner]

I'm afraid you're leaning a little to the left! [He's helping!

It's possible he's listing slightly himself, but it's despite his very intense efforts.]

[gentilitea]

Oh, I am, am I? [ He quickly veered to the right, almost stumbling into another drunken passerby. ]

—Gods, I did not mean to do that—

[reformedsinner]

Maybe we should both sit down! [Hakkai is standing carefully still, but he's not likely to be any more stay if he starts moving again. He waves at a sunlit patch of grass a few steps away.]

Over there, for instance?

[gentilitea]

Admitting defeat already? [ Jakob aren’t you here to apologize— ] Ugh.

[ Taking another step is kind of a pain at this point. ]

Very well. [ It’s still smack in the middle of this drunken cherry blossom haze, but at this rate, he’ll take it. ]

[reformedsinner]

I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt.

[...by Jakob ricocheting off them and knocking them down. They're not directly under a tree here, and Hakkai's hoping that'll be enough to clear the air a little; even if not, he'll be less obtrusively drunk here.

He settles down onto the grass, sitting on his heels.]

There. What was it you were going to say again?

[gentilitea]

[ He flops on the grass next to Hakkai, thankfully unaware of that totally rude thought behind Hakkai’s words.

Right, nobody should get hurt, because his god wouldn’t like that… ]

I—I was… [ Taking deep breaths to clear his head doesn’t really help with the intoxication, but he’ll do it anyway. ]

Gods, how can you stay so cheerful? [ Not quite what he’d intended to say, but welp. ]

[reformedsinner]

Practice!

[Hakkai folds his hands on his knees and glances up at the petals drifting across the sky with a deeply suspicious expression.]

Besides, if I got angry, that wouldn't be good at all....

[gentilitea]

That’s…true. [ At least he’s not too drunk to remember what nearly happened the last time. But more than that… ]

It’s enviable, even.

[reformedsinner]

If you pretend to smile it gets easier eventually!

[This is not the kind of advice someone would give for "actually being cheerful," is it?

Hakkai looks unruffled regardless. It helps that he's well-balanced. His legs are starting to fall asleep, though, because he's slightly less well-balanced than he thought he was. After a few more seconds, he shifts, stretching his feet out in front of him instead and leaning back on his hands.]

[gentilitea]

Er… [ …What is he even supposed to say to that? He rubs at his temples, wondering if he’s heard that right. ]

Surely you jest.

[reformedsinner]

Do I? [He probably should have. He's thinking through a thick fog, and he shouldn't be talking to anyone in this state, much less someone he finds vaguely annoying. It's too likely he'll say something unpleasant.

Belatedly, he manages to stop himself from talking after the one needling little question.]

[gentilitea]

[ Too late—Jakob’s curiosity has been piqued, and that drunkenness ensures that he will be even less polite than usual.

Especially about a topic that’s been bothering him for some time… ]

I can make neither heads nor tails of you, truth be told, and yet you are one of the most personable individuals I have ever met.

[ Or at least, remembered meeting. Details. ]

[reformedsinner]

You really don't know me at all, that's why.

[He laughs, a little: he's much too drunk to control what he's saying, and he's starting to feel that he's a little too drunk to care.]

Of course, I don't know myself either.

[gentilitea]

[ He clicks his tongue, a little irritable now. ]

It is not as if such things are unique to you. [ And that statement might as well have applied to both, come to think of it. ]

In any case, I won’t pry into what little you might remember of your tedious past. I am only here to make amends. [ In the worst possible way, apparently. ]

[reformedsinner]

I'm a shinki. I don't remember any more than you do.

[It's a lie, and it's too straightforward to be a good lie -- those are always the ones leavened with truth. But that's going to have to be the bald-faced lie he sticks with in public until he knows if Gojyo's right after all. If there's something wrong with the spell that's letting him begin to remember more than his name, and if something about the spell going wrong means he'll be marked as a problem...

Yes, he'll keep the lie until he knows whether it's really necessary or -- not.]

Amends. Did you want to apologize?

[gentilitea]

Hmph, as I thought. [ Jakob, who cared little for anyone who wasn’t his master, thankfully didn’t think to read further into that lie, and simply accepted it at face value. He wasn’t one to pry into other people’s business, after all—that would involve him outright caring about other people. ]

I do intend to apologize, yes. But more than that…I wish to learn.

[reformedsinner]

Learn what?

[Hakkai's head is spinning and it's extremely annoying. He rubs his fingertips over his temple, casting a glance sideways at Jakob. Intend to apologize. It's not all that challenging to say you're sorry, in his opinion.

(It's perhaps harder when you really mean it, but he hasn't gotten the sense that Jakob does really mean this, so that's no excuse.)]

[gentilitea]

To catch flies. [ —recalling their last conversation, he doesn’t think to add in further context, difficult as it is to retrieve from the pink-laced slurry of his thoughts. ]

To sweeten the honey, as it were. [ Is he even making less sense than before? He’s not sure. His vision is swimming in cherry blossoms, the sight absolutely sickening now that he understands their properties. ]

[reformedsinner]

Oh. [Hakkai leans forward, laughing quietly under his breath.]

Ah -- is that all... Be polite! Smile a little.

[It's not hard! It might be easier when you don't really care that much. It's gotten harder in cases where he does care, but that's only to be expected, he thinks. Gradually, his laughter trails off.

His advice might not make any more sense than the question, but it's as good as he can offer with his own state of mind.]

[gentilitea]

Keep up that pretense of yours, you mean. [ He’d figured that it’d be something like that. Then again, he might just be misinterpreting any sort of disdain Hakkai might have on the mortal population. ]

I do that often enough. [ Well, he knows his etiquette, anyway. ] But only to the right people. [ i.e. his god. ]

[reformedsinner]

Exactly. Most people don't like to see an honest face.

Hmm... maybe that's your problem. No one likes to think they're the wrong person, either.

[Ah, yes. That sounds more accurate. Jakob's problem getting along with people is that the feeling he shows most of them is contempt....]

[gentilitea]

[ Jakob falls silent at that. Hakkai has a point, at least—dishonesty is the mark of etiquette, or at least it’s shaping up to be. ]

Your insights on the matter are quite profound. [ Er, so to speak. ] I suppose I’ve never really thought much of how people might perceive my actions.

[ From what he can remember, anyway. And hey, his actions are calculated to be off-putting anyway. ]

After all, as shinki, only my master’s opinions truly matter.