thenearshore | /man in black lyrics

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/man in black lyrics

Who: Gojyo and anyone who wants to stop by!
What: Hanging out, having adventures, engaging in healthy coping habits
When: Any time of any day from May 12-15ish
Where: chez Dinosaur
Warnings: Homo-antagonistic language in the Niles thread.

He's never going to sleep again. Which is fine -- he knows from experience that he can go weeks on end with only a few hours of sleep snatched here and there between youkai attacks. It won't kill him. He doesn't even feel all that tired, not really. He more feels like he's asleep and dreaming than anything else -- everything is at a bit of a distance and his reactions are slowed, like the air's gone thicker or something. Like he's a little drunk, even though he hasn't touched a drop since his return. It's weird and unsettling, but he's sure it'll wear off. And even if it doesn't, it's not something to bother anybody with. He's been enough of a bother already.

So during the day, he sticks close to Hakkai -- he's worried the other man enough already by vanishing, so it's the least he can do to stay near (and if that means running errands or sitting quietly in the back of the classroom while school is in session, he supposes that he can manage). And at night, when he wakes after only an hour or two of sleep, he tracks down Asshole and drags the half-man out to the porch with him, for company while he smokes pack after pack and watches the moon.

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It was a couple of days ago that Hakkai had sent the text out to everyone about how his friend had been found. Given how rough a time it must have been, Trance allowed a couple of days for everyone to be among friends and familiar faces. More out of respect and not wanting to intrude than anything else. However, while Trance genuinely wanted to make sure his friend was okay, she was also very curious.

So after a bit of luck and diligence, it's barely evening when the golden-skinned woman reaches the temple entrance with a potted plant in her arms. She could probably admire the marble and other work if given the chance, if only because everything was still new enough to her, even after a week of being in the Far Shore. Instead of being distracted by that, Trance poked a little in, seeing the redhead and white-haired person on the porch. Well, given the description, she could easily guess who the smoker was. To avoid alarming him, however, she gently called out from the entrance to the temple grounds. "Hello? Um, Mr Gojyo, right?"

With all the time he's been spending with Asshole, it's only made sense to try and get the man to communicate. Gojyo knows that he can't talk to Asshole about their shared past -- and honestly, even if he could, he wouldn't. Banri's much easier to tolerate without his memories -- but his own captivity has made him look at his silent shinki in a new light. What if Banri's really in there, just trapped in the back of his body's mind and unable to speak or control himself? It's not a situation Gojyo would wish on his worst enemy.

First he'd started with writing. Maybe if Banri couldn't talk, he could express himself in text? But while Asshole proved he could read, he didn't seem to understand writing -- Gojyo put a pen in his hand and Asshole would just hold it. Sign language had failed in much the same way. Asshole responded very well to gestures for come here and pick that up, but wouldn't repeat the gestures on his own.

Tonight, it's smoking. Banri had never been much of a smoker, but he'd enjoyed the occasional cigarette, especially when he'd been drinking. So Gojyo's given Asshole his very own cigarette -- lit it for him and everything -- and now it's just a question of whether Asshole will figure out how to inhale.

It doesn't look good. Thankfully, the experiment is interrupted by a visitor. A visitor... with a plant. "Yeah," he nods in response, not getting up from his spot at the edge of the porch (his butt's gonna start leaving a dent there if he's not careful). "You looking for Hakkai?"

Well, it's sign enough that she wasn't going to be intruding or surprising anyone. Though maybe the plant was the wrong choice, Trance couldn't seem to go past any other ideas for gifts. Gently shaking her head, the golden woman glanced over at the white-haired person that... Didn't seem to be doing much. Which seemed familiar, like that other shinki of Dokugakuji's.

That wasn't why she had come over, though, so Trance refocused and gave the redhead a smile. "Sorry, no," she said before starting to walk over to the porch. "Cho- ah, Hakkai, let me know that you were found again. So I thought I'd give a couple of days before welcoming you back. Well, I guess it's more accurate to say that I was curious and wanted to see that you were okay?"

At the very least, she could at least admit to her curiosity. Even after the occasional awkwardness, Trance had no problem being open and honest about her intentions. Setting the pot of flowers on the porch, the blonde explained as a light perfumed scent started to fill the area, "I don't know what other name they go by, or the exact kind, but they're a kind of nicotania. I don't really know what happened, and I'm not going to ask either, but the flowers have a relaxing aroma to them. I thought it might help."

Hands now free, Trance considered offering it in greeting, but thought that maybe it wasn't the best idea. Especially when she doesn't know the circumstances that had him disappear before. So instead the golden woman's smile warmed to a more genuine expression. "My name's Trance."

He can't believe it. How many people did Hakkai talk to?! This chick doesn't even know Hakkai well enough to know his name and here she is, bringing welcome-home flowers to him like he's some kind of invalid, The fact that she doesn't know what happened only makes things slightly better: instead of the whole of heaven knowing what a weakling he is, they all just know that there's a mystery to his disappearance. How long before word gets around? How long before everyone learns just how useless he is?

He doesn't return her smile. He turns his face away instead, hiding behind the motions of lighting another cigarette. "I'm betting you already know mine," he responds, and it's more of a snarl than he intended it to be.

To be fair, she thought Cho was Hakkai's given name. Partially encouraged by the fact that the green-eyed dork used and put that in as her contacts. It was one of the many things that didn't necessarily match up with her expectations and was, well, alien to her. So the best she had was good intentions and guesses about half the time.

It wasn't the lack of the smile back, or him hiding his face that gets to Trance, though. If this was the reaction of a usually surly type, Trance thinks she could've handled that pretty well. However it was the tone that completely wiped the welcoming expression from her face, and the woman isn't much for acting and hiding her own emotions. Which is why her eyes looked ready to well up with tears like a child that had never been scolded before- not that she was about to cry. Instead, she straightened up her posture and took a step back. "If it helps, I don't know which part of your name you'd prefer, because I've learned that there's a lot about this world that I don't understand. So I can pretend that I don't, if you'd prefer that. It just seemed like this would be the nice and right thing to do."

He glances at her instinctively as she steps back, and a pang of guilt immediately softens his scowl. Shit. Here she is trying to do something nice, and he's bitten her head off. Worse, it looks like she's about to start crying. That's right, Gojyo, he mentally chides himself. That's all you're good for, isn't it? Making girls cry.

"Hey," he begins, reaching out a hand to stop her from leaving. "You're right, it was both nice and good, I'm just an asshole. I'm sorry. So don't cry, okay?"

"You're not an asshole," she said while regarding the apology. It didn't change things to how they were before, but it was enough of a sign that perhaps she went into this with a little too much energy. So the blonde looked less like she was about to cry, but still remained a little reserved. Perhaps she should have been more considerate as well, given that she was a stranger in all of this. "And I wasn't going to cry. Run away and be mad at myself for messing up, probably, but not cry."

Because that was so much better. "You didn't mean to be like that, though. Whatever made you disappear was probably really scary, and I can imagine that it would be hard to move past that. So you're forgiven. Here-"

She stepped back forward, reaching her own hand out but not grabbing at Gojyo's. It was an offered handshake, not wanting to force anything. Though if he took it, Gojyo would probably realize that she was about room temperature. At the same time, the golden-skinned woman had a smile back up- not quite as bursting with energy as before, but still kind. A brand new beginning, trying with a new introduction. "I don't believe we've met. My name's Trance; Trance Gemini. I recently arrived and thought I would get to know the area better."

He takes her hand -- he's been rude enough, and holding a pretty girl's and will ever be a hardship. Even a pretty girl whose hands are kinda cold.

But she's not acting like she's cold, so maybe she's just one of those people whose hands are always cool. Nothing weird about that. (The gold skin is a little weird, he's not going to pretend it's not, but he's come to accept that people get brought in from all different worlds. And he's sure not going to make a big deal about somebody's skin color, I mean come on. He's an asshole but he's not that kind of asshole.)

"Sha Gojyo." And then, since she clearly does name order in the Western way... "Sha's my, uh, family name. Call me Gojyo." It was probably really scary, she says, and fuck, she doesn't know the half of it. "Did they make you a god or a shinki?"

They certainly do bring in people of all kinds and colors here. Some had also thought she was a kind of demon when they realized her ears were pointed underneath all of the hair, but the lack of temperature seemed to put that aside.

"Oh," something clearly clicked when he introduced himself. So if Gojyo was his given name, that meant Cho was Hakkai's family name, which really fixed a lot of her perspective. So Trance gets the phone out to quickly fix that contact while answering the question. "They brought me here as Youji- Hedone's shinki. I'm still getting used to how everyone has two names, and it didn't occur to me until now that the order of the real name varies as well. Hakkai never corrected me when I called him Cho, you see."

With that fixed, the phone goes back away. Of course she silently questioned why Hakkai had let her continue that, but reasoned it off as a misunderstanding. She'll apologize later. "You're a god, right? If you ever need more help, just let me know."

A misunderstanding. Sure, that's one word for it. "I think I've got all the help I need with Cho in there," he deadpans, jerking a thumb over his shoulder toward the temple. But he's not going to pretend he didn't understand her offer.

"You much of a fighter, Trance Gemini?" He suspects the answer is no. He suspects that she's one of those helpful people who makes themselves available to everyone (not unlike a certain female version of some surly old man priest), and that she doesn't really know what she's offering. He suspects also that she hasn't made this offer to many people so far, because given some of the assholes calling themselves gods, her casual offer of going nora would have beeen squashed good, especially by the old ones.

Still. It's a nice gesture. "Gone hunting ayakashi yet?"

"I mean, I don't like fighting. It's pretty scary," she admitted, not commenting on how it's a little too scary for her. Really Trance was something of a coward, hiding more often than not, but she'd feel kind of bad admitting to that. However she hated people getting hurt even more, which is where the offer started to come up. "When the people in the city were getting drained, over a week ago, there were a lot of bat ayakashi in the park. I don't know if it counts for hunting them, but I helped Kurama with them."

Which is clearly where she got the idea of offering to take a name from those that might need an added shinki. Some people are just so impressionable. For as naive as she seems, Trance's tone goes a little more serious.

"Whether I like something or not doesn't change it from happening. As easy as it is to hide, I'd rather people not get hurt when it's avoidable. That's far more important."

Nope, he stopped listening at the part where people were getting drained.

"Drained? What do you mean, drained?"

"Hm? Oh," she doesn't really waste time going into explaining. Though how helpful it would be...

"Well, it was the day that I arrived so I don't completely understand, but something was done in a city that was draining everyone that was in the area. Over in the park, there were a lot of lines on the ground and a big cup with this eye symbol, like um... A ritual, I think?

"Youji and some others handled the one behind it all. I guess it wasn't an ayakashi, because he never called me to help him."

See, she says draining, and what he hears is that people were being bled dry, hung up like pigs with their throats slit. "That's dark magic," he mutters -- he's seen enough of it in the past few days to have a good idea what human sacrifice looks like. "The magician... he's dead, right? Your god, he killed him? That's good." That's a relief, is what that is. A visible relief, written all over his face.

"Think I'm glad I missed that one."

"My god and some other people, yeah. It was really a strange feeling being there and just slowly losing all of your energy, but worse watching it. So many people were walking right into traffic."

Not to say anything of the people that were driving. Though it's that Trance didn't know that there was a misinterpretation of what she had said, and continued on. "Hopefully the next time something happens, it's not so dangerous. I think someone mentioned that there's picnics once in a while?"

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/man in black lyrics

May 14th

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