[Closed] The Affairs of Dragons

[justclaws]

Who: Kija and Zeno
What: How to Not Say the First Thing That Comes Into Your Head the Second it Occurs to You 051: Because Kija isn't ready for the 101 class.
Where: The Near Shore, because all the food is there.
When: May 23rd
Warnings: Massive spoilers for Chapter 99 onwards of Akatsuki no Yona, if anyone is concerned about that.


[How, exactly, do you keep something so very much a part of you - something that defines you, that makes you the man you are - a secret?

[Honestly, Kija doesn't know. Has, in fact, no idea. Fortunately, he knows a man who does.

[It has been... been difficult, realizing that Shin-ah and Jae-Ha have no memory of - of any of it. The four dragons, their purpose, their homeland, and their travels together: even the Princess has been stolen from them, she could be stood by their sides and they would never know. Harder still has been to realize that it has to be this way; that to breathe a word of the truth to them will be to condemn them to madness and corruption and no way out but death. These men are his brothers - though even that is a simplification of the bond they share - and he cannot so much as hint at the reason why, still less about what that bond is for.

[Kija wants more than anything to find the man who did this, and force him to return what he has stolen--

[Before that, however, he must consider his brothers. Before he can begin to set things right, he has to be sure that Shin-ah and Jae-Ha are safe. And - he has to think it! - and, right here and right now, one of the biggest threats to their safety is him. It is him, letting slip something he shouldn't. Telling them anything, anything at all, about why he cares.

[Secrecy may be no kind of virtue at all, but it has become a horrible necessity. Maybe he is no good at keeping silent, but Zeno--

[Zeno is quite another story.

[Which leaves him with no choice but to make his way here. The Near Shore may be another country, and far too loud and far too crowded and dizzyingly full of the strangest sights and sounds he's heard in his life, but it does have one advantage over his - his temple, or Zeno's: there are people here who can cook.]

Comments

[eternalshield]

[Hey, Zeno can cook.

It's just more fun to let someone else do it.

Especially here. All of Zeno's adventures to the Near Shore have yielded something new and strange and he's really, really grateful for the convenience of being able to sense Kija's presence, because this place is huge.

He comes up behind his little brother and immediately takes his arm, giving it a little tug.]

Come this way, come this way! Zeno's going to make you try all the chocolate things. It's like you can make anything out of it...

[He had a vague idea that Kija had something serious to talk about, so he steered him toward a cheery-looking cafe with an outdoor seating area. No reason to get weighed down, right?]

[justclaws]

Chocolate?

[No, never heard of that one either.

[Also hi, Zeno.

[Zeno's enthusiasm is as overwhelming as ever: there's nothing for it but to let him take his hand and guide or just perhaps gently drag him toward - toward whatever you called those strange little hostels that served everything in between chunks of weird crusty stuff with a soft, fluffy inside that didn't taste of anything very much, and wouldn't sell alcohol and closed as soon as it got dark. But it was bright and it was cheerful and it was hardly like there was anywhere around here to eat that did sell normal food, so... if Zeno liked it, it was all right. Probably.]

Is that another food?

[eternalshield]

Better. It's a dessert. It comes in a pure form, a drink form, they make cakes out of it, they make it hot, cold, or in-between; it can be a food by itself or it can flavor cold creams or all kinds of things.

The people here are very creative.

[He steers Kija into a chair and sits across from him. Face to face talking positions, though Zeno doesn't anticipate saying much of substance, just letting Kija get his feelings off his chest. He rests his chin on one hand as he skims the menu.

What is a parfait, and why does he have to choose between chocolate or strawberry? Cruelty. Still, once someone finally comes by to take their order, he does go with the sandwich, he just... asks for about five extra things to add flavor.

He doesn't try to prompt or encourage Kija to talk, fairly certain that Kija will get right to the point, soon as he has the vaguest idea of what point he might be aiming for.]

[justclaws]

So... like rice, except sweet?

[Because rice is literally the only food Kija can think of that you could manage to do all those different things with. Or half those different things with. Sugar, perhaps? But nobody ate sugar by itself, or at least you weren't meant to.

[It is all very confusing.

[He lets Zeno sit him down; he pretends to understand what anything on the menu might actually turn out to be. It all sounds basically the same to him, and all equally baffling. Soup seems a fairly safe choice, except that even that seems to have been made out of absolutely nothing he's ever heard of. He ends up settling for basically the same as Zeno but without the terrifying-sounding flavor combinations. If the worst comes to the worst he can always pick it off the fluffy tasteless stuff...

[And then that part is over, and he has nothing to do but look at Zeno and wonder where to even begin.]

How do you manage it?

[No, not like that.]

[eternalshield]

[The waitress immediately returns with drinks while Zeno stares a little, uncomprehendingly.

One of those drinks is steaming hot chocolate, however, and Zeno holds the lip of the cup straight to Kija's mouth.]

Very carefully, like hot tea. [Okay, the drink wasn't there when Kija asked, but...] Zeno nearly burned a hole in his tongue the first time.

[Is he literal, or...?]

[justclaws]

Is that a danger?

[Just... backing up a bit there, Zeno. I can handle the cup, really - there is no real question as to who's going to win a tug-of-war between the White Dragon and... well, most other people he runs across, so Kija takes it and peers into it. Something thick and brown and curiously sweet-smelling stares back. No doubt this drink is very nice, but Kija likes his tongue the way it is.

[He is also pretty sure that he was not talking about the drinks because they were not there.]

Actually, I was thinking of...

[Of how anyone who was as - as mindbendingly old as Zeno managed not to betray that constantly. He would be. There has to be some kind of knack to it. On the other hand, how exactly did you go about asking such a thing?]

Something else.

[eternalshield]

Hakuryuu might have to be a little more specific, to get anything actually talked about.

[Leaving the one hot chocolate for Kija and taking a sip of his own. Really, did Kija want him to prod it out of him? Zeno wasn't overly concerned... Zeno could wait for him to get around to it.]

[justclaws]

[Kija had assumed he was being. Now he is not quite sure what either of them are talking about any more.

[Whatever new experience might be awaiting him in the form of this cup of sweet brown stuff - what is it? It really might be tea, if it were not so unsettlingly thick - he decides it can wait a little longer, and sets it back on the table. It is hardly as if this place has anything to offer but new experiences. Very well, he will try again.]

How long can you keep a secret?

[Because you can manage two thousand years when I struggle with twenty minutes, and that hardly seems fair.]

[eternalshield]

[There are times that even Zeno will admit, it pays to look like a young seventeen-year-old. When blinking innocently is one of the premier examples.]

Like anybody else, however long Zeno wants to...? [You're seriously overestimating him, Kija. It's easy when you're entirely isolated from all human contact.]

[justclaws]

But what if you did not want to, but knew you had to? How long could you keep a secret such as that?

[I saw that blink.

[I think it is lying to me.]

[eternalshield]

Then it'd still be however long you want, right? Because either you want to do what you have to, or you won't.

[He claps his hands together, and waves over the waitress, wanting another cup of hot chocolate for himself.]

Is that all you wanted to talk about? Let's have lunch.

[1/2]

[justclaws]

We are already having lunch.

[Presumably, anyway. He hasn't seen any food yet. Just the chocolate, and Kija is not sure if it counts.]

[2/2]

[justclaws]

I am worried about our brothers.

[No. No, that is not all.]

[eternalshield]

[The waitress sets down their plates, and takes Zeno's cup.

Which is good, because it gives Zeno something to be busy with while he considers Kija's statement. Truthfully, there isn't much there to consider, he's so blunt...]

Because they're dead?

[...but so is Zeno.]

[1/3]

[justclaws]

Because I could make that worse.

[There. He's said it.]

[2/3]

[justclaws]

[It seems a really good idea to be doing something else with his hands. Without really thinking about it, he reaches for the mug and takes a swallow--

[Oh, right. This isn't tea.]

[3/3]

[justclaws]

[It's sweet, it's rich, it's heavy; it's like nothing on earth. Whatever this cup is full of, it's absolutely amazingly distracting.]

What is this!?

[And will it always taste like that? There's only one way to find out.]

1/2

[eternalshield]

Hakuryuu. Don't think so h--

2/2

[eternalshield]

It's good, right? It's hot chocolate. But you can have chocolate lots of other ways, too! It can be a solid or it can be icy and creamy, it's real versatile.

[...what were we talking about?]

[justclaws]

But does it always taste like this?

[He should let go of the cup. Kija really, really does not want to let go of this cup.]

Can anyone obtain it?

[Like me, for instance.

[THIS IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT]

[eternalshield]

Of course~ Zeno buys it all the time.

[Successful distraction...? He chuckles. If it eases Kija's mind, that's a bonus, but really he just wanted to see his cute little face all aglow over the sweetness.]

Wait till you taste it all icy and creamy! We can have that for dessert!

[justclaws]

This place is truly amazing.

[True, there are a lot of very troubling things to be found here--

[Kija thinks, at this moment, that he can forgive almost all of it for the sake of having chocolate. That and clean streets and the strange metal tube contraptions attached to basins and tubs that dispense fresh water, sometimes even mysteriously warming it first, and why does nobody else here seem to grasp the simple, soaring wonder of that?]

But... surely it must be very expensive?

[eternalshield]

It evens out because Zeno doesn't have to cook it himself.

[He takes another sip. And doesn't dwell on it beyond that. Plus, his temple is so full of riches and splendor that if he had to sell a few... but then, they might be sacred to the Hebe-that-was?]

Think of it as an offering!

[justclaws]

An offering?

[Kija isn't sure what he thinks about people giving him offerings. On the other hand, if they all taste as good as this, maybe it wouldn't be that terrible a thing...

[He sips the chocolate again. The sandwich seems irrelevant.

[Wait, wasn't there something he was supposed to be discussing? ]

Zeno, how much do Shin-ah and Jae-Ha know of themselves? I... what if I say too much?

[eternalshield]

You won't, Hakuryuu, you care too much about not doing it.

[Simple faith, simple faith. Have more of it. Kija might be a bit of a boar, but his heart was so gentle and he so cherished the other dragons...]

They know only themselves, if Zeno understands correctly. Seiryuu is still sweet and soft, but all the specific things are gone. They're like flowers in the winter time. They grow back, just not the same ones.

[justclaws]

I see.

[How sad it sounds, put like that.

[He takes another sip of the chocolate, and though the day is such a warm one, the warmth of the mug against his hands is nothing but welcome.]

Then... I suppose all we can do is help them to make new memories, as best we can.

[eternalshield]

It's a little hard to start over. [Take it from the master.]

But there's no other choice, you're right.