thenearshore | Semi-Open

[ Hakkai's in his face and Gojyo's ass is hitting something hard almost before Gojyo even realizes what's happening. ]

Hey! [ --he croaks, grabbing Hakkai's arms instinctively. But Hakkai winces -- this close, there's no way for Gojyo to miss it -- and he releases his grip immediately, hands falling to his sides, all the fight temporarily drained out of him. ]

Shit. Sorry.

[All of that happens too fast for Elsa to do more than gasp and get to her feet, gauze gripped tight in her hand as she pauses to process that no, it isn't going to escalate, and yes, Gojyo has decided to stay seated.]

Don't touch him, [she hisses at Gojyo, eyes flashing as she glares.] And don't yell at him. At either of them. I don't care who you are. You have no right to that kind of behavior here. Hakkai's choices are his own, and if you have a problem with them, you'll treat him with respect. If it's a fight you want, go somewhere else.

Yes, we did something dangerous, but we know what we were getting into. [Mostly.] But it's done now, and we made it back, so your scolding comes too late to be of any use. What did you come to see me for, anyway? It wasn't this. You didn't even know about it until now.

[She suspects it has to do with memories -- what he knows, what she has glimpsed. Maybe it's cruel to tell him to keep his distance from his old friends, but right here, right now, it's the way things are.

Maybe, if she can fix this, they'll have a chance to be friends again. But for now, this is what she feels she must do.]

[ Hakkai's choices are his own, she says, and he wants to snap back with but he's not Hakkai anymore. It's on the tip of his tongue, but he bites it back just in time.

Because she's right, and he knows it. He doesn't have any right to tell Hakkai (or anybody else) what to do. And he doesn't want to! He just doesn't want to be left behind again. They let him come on the journey west, and the gods here let him come after everyone else died. To lose Hakkai now... to lose any of them now... he's not sure he could take it.

So he sits back with a scowl and folded arms, and lets Whatshername yell at him. It's a lecture he deserves, he'll admit that much. Even if he doesn't like it. ]

No, if I'd know you were gonna do something this stupid I wouldn't've let this one-- [ With a head jerk toward Hakkai ] --out of my sight yesterday. [ Yes, he basically passed out from alcohol poisoning last night, but don't think for a second that this would have stopped him. ]

And I'm here because I wanted to talk to you about some god stuff. [ He doesn't actually look at Sanzo, but he lets his gaze drift down to the floor for a moment to see if he can still register the presence of the priest in the corner of his eye. ] Privately.

[Hakkai steps back, rubbing his arm absently where Gojyo had grabbed him. It's not, he thinks, an injury in the strictest sense of the word, but the skin feels scraped raw nonetheless.

His gaze flicks between Gojyo and Elsa. Privately? Really?

Should he even let that happen?

His own temper is still on edge, but she's had just as difficult a day as he has, and he doubts she is going to appreciate Gojyo's... blunt... style.]

Perhaps tomorrow?

[He looks to Elsa for the decision. If she wants to talk now, he'll let her. He'd prefer to be here to protect her, but if they're going to talk about what he thinks they are, he can't be. And for all Gojyo's bluntness, Hakkai trusts that Gojyo won't hurt her. The way he'd instantly released Hakkai's arm when he saw that flinch reinforces Hakkai's first opinion. He is a kind man.]

[ This is a mess, but Sanzo has to wonder just how necessary it might be. Intervening wouldn't help here, but watching does. Gojyo had said something last night, and he thinks it might make sense.

"What if he's already dead? And you can't put him down."

Apparently unmoved by it all, he picks up his tea, and tries not to disturb his too-long ashes on his cigarette as he rises out of his seat. He glances at Hakkai before moving to leave. ]

You three do what you want. I've got reading to do.

[ The yellow lighter remains on the floor, forgotten in the distraction. ]

[Sanzo's departure gives Elsa the brief time she needs to take a breath and think. Yes, she and Gojyo have a great deal to talk about. But she is tired and injured and on edge. It's not the best time to talk.]

Hakkai is right. Tomorrow would be better. I'm not in the best state to have a-- godly conversation.

[Tempers in the temple need to settle. Sanzo needs reminding of the no smoking indoors rule. Wounds need to be tended to. Baths need to be taken.

And Elsa needs to sleep. Hopefully, that will soften the sting of guilt she feels over Hisoka's death.]

Does tomorrow evening work for you?

[ He wants to say yes (well, no, he wants them to not be sweaty and soiled from their impromptu trip to hell, but that ship's come and gone). He's not too keen about scheduling an appointment and coming back like some businessman presenting a funding request, but she looks tired, and Hakkai's clearly faking how well he feels, and Gojyo's not such a selfish shit that he'd demand their time for anything petty.

But the thing is... it's not petty. And, more to the point, he doesn't trust either of them not to do something stupid before he can return.

With a sigh he rises, roughly combing his hair out of his face. ]

I've got two things to say. [ He pointedly doesn't look at Hakkai. ] Your call if I say them to you privately or not. Then after that I'll be out of your hair, and if you want to talk more, yeah, I can come back tomorrow.

[It is pointed, the way Gojyo's avoiding looking at him. Ah. Well. A god-to-god conversation, of course.

Gojyo also isn't demanding that he leave, and so Hakkai supposes he'll trust that nothing he can't hear will be said. He kneels, picking up Sanzo's fallen lighter, and tucks it in his pocket before he turns to pour a final cup of tea for himself. It's going to be over-steeped, he thinks, but it's still hot enough to steam and he finds himself too tired to care about nuances of flavor.

It's Elsa's decision. Hakkai won't comment. Yet.]

Privately.

[Elsa doesn't even need to think about it. If he wants to talk about what she thinks he does, then it must be talked about in private. And if agreeing to listen now will get him out of here sooner than arguing with him, then she'll listen.]

Please. [This she adds softly, more for Hakkai than for Gojyo, though she does mean to be polite to them both now that the fight is draining out of her. It's been such a long day. She just wants to get past this, wants to maybe deal with her guilt a little bit.]

[Hakkai gives her a brief nod, picks up his teacup, and quietly lets himself out of the kitchen.]

I'll be in the library.

[He may desperately need a bath, clean clothes, and a full night's sleep, but those can wait until she and Gojyo have finished their talk, he thinks.

It's possible that he'll need to talk with one or both of them afterwards himself.

He closes his eyes, briefly, once he's out of the kitchen: weariness weighs heavily on him, both physical and that particular emotional weariness that comes of worries he can't allow himself to think about too hard.

Well, he has tea, and he's going to go sit down, he thinks firmly, and heads down the hallway.]

[ He keeps his gaze locked on Elsa as Hakkai leaves -- they've already given away too much as it is. (They, ha! He's the one with the big mouth and the inability to stop staring at his best friend. Any mistakes made are his, and his alone.)

He stays standing quietly in front of his chair until Hakkai's footsteps have receded far enough down the hall. Only then does he speak. ]

I don't know how much you know about who he used to be. Who either of them used to be. [ Sanzo, and the problems there, are definitely a topic for another time, when they're both feeling a little more chatty. ] So maybe this is just stuff you already know, but...

[ Dammit. Dammit. This isn't his secret to tell, but he's the only one who can tell it. This sucks. ]

Those three earrings on his left ear. [ He traces his fingertip around the shell of his own. ] Has he taken them off yet?

i don't know much, [she admits quietly. What she'd seen was too brief to give her enough information. Hints and suggestions, yes, but not the details she needs.

At his question, she shakes her head.] No. They're important, aren't they? I get that feeling, but I don't understand it.

[ If she doesn't know about his limiters, she really doesn't know much at all. Stupid, stupid! Stupid to bring people here without memories and then not even warn their gods about what might happen! He has to get to Goku's god as fast as he can, he thinks, rubbing at his temple to try to work away the headache that's already forming. ]

All right. [ Stupid system! ] The next time you're in trouble, fighting something you can't beat... [ Like, say, the next time you're a dumbass and you go to hell. ] Have him take those off. They're power limiters. Without them... [ He shakes his head. ] There isn't much he can't kill without them on.

[ He pulls a cigarette out of his pocket. ] He doesn't like taking them off, though, so don't do it just out of curiosity or anything. Okay?

[The system is more than stupid, as far as she's concerned, but that's something they won't be commiserating about right now. For one thing, he has things he wants to say. For another, she is very aware of how tired she is.]

Of course I won't. [She frowns again, indignant. What, does he think she'd treat Hakkai the way Mesogog treated her and Zeltrax?] Hakkai isn't some toy. He's a person.

[Gojyo, meet Elsa's issues.

Sighing, she shakes her head and continues more calmly.] What's the second thing you need to tell me?

[ He doesn't know her. He doesn't know what she would do. All he knows is that she's somehow ended up in charge of Hakkai, and people who are in charge of other people, in Gojyo's experience, don't tend to be very considerate of the folks they're boss of.

Still. Her disdain is kinda comforting.

He pulls a paper packet of matches out of his pocket, since some sham priest walked off with his lighter last night. ]

Second thing is this. I can't be around them. I know this. It's... unsafe. [ It's as good a word as any. ] I don't like it, but I get it. But if I'm gonna stay away, I need to know that somebody's gonna come get me if something like this hell trip happens again.

[ Sorry Hakkai. It was a really nice thought, starting over as friends, but it's too dangerous to risk. ]

[In a better iteration of this world, Gojyo would get to know her, would get to understand the way she approaches this, the way she feels about having people bound to her the way that Hakkai and Sanzo are. He'd learn about last year and all she was put through for the sake of an agenda she never would've supported if not for a power she couldn't have even dreamed of fighting.

For now, all Elsa can do is show him how much she has come to care for Hakkai as a shinki, and how she will treat Sanzo with the same respect she has afforded Hakkai.

The fire that stirred in her goes out almost as soon as he speaks the rest of what he has to say.]

Yes. That's-- that's a reasonable request. [And she appreciates that he is taking the initiative on that.]

For what it's worth, [she adds quietly,] I wish you could be around them. [Her gaze is sad when she lifts it to meet his.] As much as I'm inclined not to trust the Heavens, I just... I can't risk losing Hakkai. I can't risk losing either of them, much less both. I know you were close, so please believe me when I say I'm going to do the best I can to make sure they're safe.

[ Gojyo just nods at that, the brief knot in his throat making talking a risk. He lights his cigarette instead, drawing in a deep, burning lungful, and that helps.

Okay. Almost done. ]

Good.

[ He exhales toward the ceiling, mind whirling. ]

We've got t'talk about Sanzo, too, but that can wait. [ He's stopped entirely meeting her eye -- that sympathetic look she gave him is just too much to deal with right now. ] Think you could send those two grocery shoppin' or something tomorrow around sundown?

[ I know you were close. They weren't 'close'. Those are his big clumsy stitches scarred into Hakkai's belly, Sanzo's bullet and Hakkai's lifeforce working together in the bullet hole over Gojyo's heart to save his life, Hakkai the only reason he didn't end up dead a thousand times and Gojyo the one who failed in the end to save Hakkai.

They weren't close. Before Hakkai came into his life, Gojyo didn't exist.

His grin is an easy, relaxed thing, though, as he smirks in the direction Hakkai and Sanzo had departed. ]

It'll be a lot easier to talk if those two aren't snoopin' around, you know?

[Good. She was going to ask him if they could talk tomorrow anyway.]

Yes. I can do that. I have questions that I'm sure I won't get good answers to from the counseling shinki.

[She suspects they'll tell her just to keep Gojyo away and work on bonding with Sanzo and Hakkai. Yes. Very helpful.

That last part gets a bit of a smile out of her, at least.]

I agree. I, uh, apologize for snapping at you earlier. I'm... a little stressed.

[Elsa now is not the time to be rich-lady diplomatic.]

[ Gojyo will never fail to be uncomfortable with apologies, and his default setting for socially uncomfortable situations will never fail to be inappropriate flirting. He bats his lashes at Elsa, cocking his hips to the side and generally doing his best to exude weaponized sexy in her direction. ]

Anytime you want a hand unstressing, you just let me know.

[Gojyo...

Did you really just...]

[You did. You really did.]

There is a pretty severe lack of wine in the house.

[That's it, that's her concession to your flirting.]

[ She didn't yell or slap him or kick him out! This counts as a win! ]

I'll bet you like red, don't you? I'll bring you somethin' sweet and red.

[Because she is a lady. Don't tempt her, though. Last year, she wouldn't have thought twice about stabbing you.]

Actually, I prefer my reds dry.

[ As much as he'd love to stick around and banter with her some more, she's tired and he's got things to do. ]

Then I'll make sure to get the lady what she wants.

[ If he goes out the way he came in, he won't risk running into Hakkai and/or Sanzo, will he? Because he's really prefer to avoid those conversations for now. ]

[If he said as much, she would agree. And since Hakkai and Sanzo aren't here, it falls on her to show Gojyo out.]

I'll walk with you to the front door.

[She begins to lead the way and will go far from the library, for everyone's sake.]

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