thenearshore | I've never actually been to Texas.

Entry tags:

I've never actually been to Texas.

Who: Sharak and Ukoku Sanzo. The happy couple.
What: Hot Date 3: Texas Sutra Massacre
When: June 4th
Where: Some dive bar in Dallas
Summary: Important Sanzo business.

[She needs to stop answering Ukoku's calls, Sharak thinks as she stares down the front door for this bar. She should probably start ignoring his texts too. Actually, ignoring Ukoku all together could only improve her life. After all, none of her other acquaintances force her to track down their shitty bars with tacky coloured lights and far too many flags hanging outside on a whim. It had taken her and Google maps an hour to find the place, even with teleportation. It had taken longer to dodge Kainé's prying questions as to why she was going out not dressed in her robes for once- leather boots, black jeans and a red, off-the-shoulder shirt are her uniform for the evening. The sutra is simply Somewhere. The tail is where it always is and always will be.

A large man with the sleeves cut off his jacket shoves past Sharak on his way in the door. Her eye twitches and her hand goes for her gun in the holster on her hip (at least no one around here seems fazed by that) before she forces herself to stop. It's going to be a long night. Save your bullets.

With a deep breath she pushes the doors open and strides inside like she owns the place. Her stare finds Ukoku quickly.]

Why the hell are we in Texas?

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[ Ukoku's sitting at a corner table with a serious drink made less serious with a little umbrella in it, waiting for her. He's wearing his standard lazy professional uniform—sleeves rolled up, loose awful tie (purple), an irreverent accessory (a watch he doesn't need with monkeys printed on the band)—and the leather jacket on the chair next to him is definitely hiding a sutra. He points to a shirt (or a man wearing a shirt, but the man himself may as well not exist, in this case) depicting crossed rifles looking Extra Heroic, lovingly airbrushed. ]

I thought you'd feel more at home!

[ He brought her to Texas to call her a gun nut, that's it, that's the joke!! ]

Look at you. Wow.

[ He's actually propping his chin in his hand to stare at her. He is a priest. ]

Edited 2017-01-15 05:05 (UTC)

[Don't ask me where the Kouten sutra is currently hidden on Sharak's body, just trust that is is there. She puts her hands on her hips, which does nothing to help her be less attractive, and glares at Ukoku unimpressed. Yes, yes, she has legs, what a shock.]

Should I do a twirl? Act your age.

[Ignoring the joke because it's true, she is a gun nut. She passed three stores on the way here that she had to force herself not to enter. She might come back later on her own.]

I'm twenty-four.

[ Ergo, she should do a twirl. He flicks a balled-up straw paper at a server—they need drinks (or more drinks, in his case)—and pats the table in front of him. Sit!! On the table, if possible. ]

So! Let's talk about Genjo.

Then you look terrible.

[Sharak orders something strong when the server gives them their attention- she feels like she's going to need it. She ignores Ukoku patting and instead steals a chair from a nearby table to pull over and sit on.

But, ah. Genjo. The reason she's here, in part.] Sanzang and her temple are gone too. [Sanzang never met Ukoku, as far as Sharak knows, but she assumes he knows who she is anyway.] You going to tell me you know something about it?

I don't know anything! I just speculate.

[ He pauses to order drinks, whatever they are, and continues immediately after the server's turned his back, digging out a pack of cigarettes. ]

However: his dissolution of the suppression of his memories was pretty far along. Did he tell you anything about it?

[Well, she wasn't expecting anything useful out of him there. ]

He told me about it. [Leans back in her chair and frowns at nothing in particular.] He thought the Maten sutra was responsible. The obvious conclusion to jump to is that he was right or the enemy thought he was.

[She's not saying it's the wrong conclusion to jump to, but it is still just a theory.]

Edited 2017-01-16 23:03 (UTC)

I think he was right. I was there when he remembered what sounded like years of his life, after he'd focused on the sutra for a couple of hours. I've never had a reason to use mine around my shinki. How much do you have to channel yours for that barrier?

[ He's just asking her this bluntly, smiling—and also not addressing the implication that he might be a little bit at fault here, but look, he was being a good mentor. It's fine. ]

[Meanwhile Sharak is fighting the urge to reflect on every action she took and didn't take with Genjo and blame herself for this. She was actually trying to be a good mentor!]

A lot at the start and then not much after. But it is constant and my shinki has been sleeping under it for nearly a month now. [As in, almost directly underneath the medium channeling the power. And Kainé would tell her if she remembered, Sharak is certain of that. ]

But the Kouten sutra doesn't illuminate, it holds. The Maten sutra is more likely to have an effect on the spell, if any of them do. [The actual designations of the sutras are mostly vague as fuck, but that's how Sharak applies her own.] ... Or yours, maybe.

[Nothingness and death. There's possibly something between that and shinki, if they're looking for it.]

Well, if your shinki hasn't remembered anything, you're probably right.

[ He smokes in contemplative silence for a moment, watching two people get into a mild argument over a TV station. ]

I guess I should try to find out what happens to them when they disappear, now that he's my responsibility. [ Responsibility is super important to Ukoku Sanzo, let no one doubt. ] What else can we argue about in the meantime? Not that we have to argue.

Were we arguing before?

[They've been down right civil so far, Sharak thinks. She's busy glaring at the back of the bartender's neck, wondering where the hell her drink is.]

I don't remember Genjo ever being your responsibility though.

Of course! That's something gods are supposed to do, yeah? [ Also super important: doing what one is supposed to do. Their drinks are here, anyway. Ukoku takes his—another serious drink with an umbrella—and drops his first umbrella in it, also. ]

And he's a friend's son, so I feel obligated. [ TO MAKE HIM SUFFER, or something, maybe, who even knows. ]

As if either of us are gods... It all comes back to Koumyou Sanzo, huh?

[He'd appointed them both, hadn't he? Honestly, she swears, if this all comes down to childish jealousy she's going to be annoyed. Well, she has a drink now, at least.]

I can't believe he asked you to "look out for him" or anything like that.

[ He has to laugh, earnestly tickled. ]

Me? No. I guess he probably thought Genjo could look out for himself, whether he was around or not. Koumyou thought the world of him. It was hard to get him to shut up about the kid. [ He waves a dismissive, careless hand. ] Anyway—it was just general interest. I had to see how he'd turned out, you know? And then, as it happened, he was having a tough time here. [ He shrugs. He was being a good person, see!! ]

Koumyou's taste seems to have been all over the place.

[She agrees on his judgement about Genjo, at least... She wonders what the hell he was thinking about Ukoku though. Maybe he just liked having someone to talk to.]

But you love to be helpful, don't you? Watching over him here and back in Shangri'la. [Messing with his head. Trying to kill his monkey. So helpful.]

[ Ukoku points at her good-naturedly with one of the little umbrellas, chewing on an ice cube. ]

Listen—I was just pointing out that he's not practicing what he's preaching. [ This is about to be the most hypocritical discussion in history, RIP. ] Is it really non-attachment to drag all your friends into danger with you? Especially the kid, Goku—I think he'd lose his mind if that kid died. Which is terrible, if you think about it, since he's evidently the only one who's been tasked with stopping the resurrection. It's not like it'll get easier as they go West.

[The look on Sharak's face as she stares Ukoku down cannot adequately be described in words. Rest assured, she's aware of the hypocrisy.]

So you decided to help by trying to kill them both. [Does he think no one ever tells her anything or something? That's only true here, thank you very much.] As far as I can tell, he didn't drag any of them anywhere. They've all made their own decisions.

[And as of right now, Genjo isn't the only one who's been tasked with stopping the resurrection and... they also all just got fired... But Sharak has no intention on letting Ukoku into the loop there.]

[ He pauses in turning the little umbrella inside-out to give her an affronted look. ]

Who said I was trying to help? I have a reputation to maintain, my dear. [ Among all of like, six people… ] Let's not start any rumors about me being helpful.

[Raises her hand with her drink in it to gesture at Ukoku.] "My dear" me again and I'll ruin more than your reputation.

[She'll fuck you up. That's a relevant and important part of this conversation.]

Anyway, I think you're underestimating all four of them, but you already know that. [Someone has to take Koumyou's spot on the Genjo Sanzo Fan Club now he's gone.] Being attached to people isn't a weakness. I doubt Genjo would have made it as far West as he has on his own.

[For one thing, he'd have been walking.]

[ His face is half-hidden by his glass, but the corners of his eyes crinkle at the threat. ]

Well, sure. He's a pretty tough kid, but a few tough kids are better than one, right? It's the emotional thing that's the problem.

[ He takes a drag, considering her. ]

But I kind of wonder how well can you really empathize. [ Here's some more irony he's just going to steamroll over. ] You don't seem like the getting-attached type.

[Her grip on her glass tightens briefly. Genjo himself is the obvious jab there, but Sharak suddenly finds herself thinking of Hassan and- oddly enough- Kainé. Getting attached... Yeah, they'd both have words for her on that subject.]

... Not saying you're wrong. [A hypocrite, but still. She ignores his gaze, instead looking at her glass as she puts it down on the table.] Genjo's better with people than I am.

[Possibly the only time anyone has ever said those words, in that order, out loud, with complete sincerity.]

[ If she weren't making such a fascinating expression, he might have laughed. Instead he's lost his usual slightly mocking smile, for now; he's just watching her, interested. ]

Oh—do you envy him?

[ It's a real question, but he doesn't bother waiting for a response. He's just prying. ]

I'm not criticizing, anyway. You might not have gotten where you are if you weren't kind of a perfectionist. [ He can relate, in a way. He's cracking all the ribs of the little umbrella, turning it into something like a flower. ] And a Sanzo isn't supposed to play favorites, yeah? [ People might notice. He remembers. ]

[There's a difference between getting along with people and making real friends, as Ukoku knows perfectly well and probably better than Sharak.]

I told you I admire him. [Which isn't the same as envy, but it's what she'll admit out loud.] We all have our own ways of doing things.

[Some ways may be better than others. Ukoku being able to relate to her probably isn't a good sign.] ... But no, we're not.

[ He flicks his shitty garbage flower at her. Have this token of his affection. ]

But that's what other Sanzos are for. You can be friends with me! I'll sneak you into Houtou Castle and give you a tour. That'd be nice, right?

[ A FUN TIME between FRIENDS. ]

Edited (when you write a tag that's too honest) 2017-02-01 00:36 (UTC)

[Shitty garbage flower hits her hand, bounces off and goes ignored.]

Sure, sounds like fun. [A better date than this one, at least.] You could even introduce me to your girlfriend and whoever else needs their ass kicked over there.

[Doesn't Gyoukumen Koushu versus Sharak Sanzo sound like the best cat fight ever, Ukoku? You'd have a front row seat.]

[ What girlfriend, he's free and single!! Date him ]

I'd like to see that! We'd have to figure out how to smuggle in a lot of bullets for you. Maybe we could bring Genjo, and you can both drag me back from my life of delinquency.

[ Something something face justice. All five sutras in the same place would be a fun time, too. ]

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I've never actually been to Texas.

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