thenearshore | [catch-all] place your past into a book

[ Perhaps this isn’t the best possible introduction to prayers this incarnation of Minerva’s ever had, nor is it the most appealing. But when a prayer went out for a sitter for a pair of fussy nine-month-old twin girls, Tatara couldn’t help but volunteer -- and he’s dragged Sakon along with him.

It’d sounded fine enough at first! Sure, he’s an only child with no experience with children who can’t yet form sentences or walk independently, but how hard could it be?

...A bit more so than he’d initially planned for, it turns out, as both girls are bereft from the moment goodbye kisses are given and that front door closes behind the quickly-fleeing parents. Oh my. Screaming babies are most definitely not a sound he’s used to -- especially with the shrill, ear-piercing wail these two seem to have. At this rate, he’ll be tone deaf before the night’s over! Wincing at the noise, he asks: ]

I vote we divide and conquer -- one for each of us. Deal?

Huh??

[Sakon looks at Tatara in distress, barely able to hear him over the screaming. Deal? What deal? Run and never look back?]

I can't hear you! They're really loud!

[He's kind of impressed, to be honest. That's a big sound to come out of something so small.]

[ Running and never looking back would definitely be the Ideal, perhaps, at this rate. Unfortunately, they kinda signed on for this, and... welp.

Tatara moves to one of the screaming girls and plucks her gingerly from the floor, planting her on his hip, bouncing gently and shushing while stroking her pigtailed hair. He’s hoping to lead by example, here, gesturing discreetly to Sakon. ]

[ Thank goodness Bandou has off tomorrow, cause he certainly wouldn't be performing well if he was on the schedule. The poor guy's already consumed enough alcohol to be far over his normal tolerance and still has a glass in hand. Though, at the moment, he's ceased drinking and is sitting with his head face down on the bar top. He lets out a deep, drawn out groan and mutters something. ]

nnnngh....I don't get it.

[ It’s late by the time Tatara finishes his shift, and though they both tend to linger even after they’ve punched the clock, he’s not expecting to emerge from the kitchen to see Bandou already drunk enough to be face-down on the bar.

...Though, it wouldn’t take much, now would it? With his tolerance, or lack thereof...

That aside, the elder, who was once ready to go straight home after work for once in his afterlife, instead now feels more inclined to stay -- if only to find out what he’s drunkenly murmuring about.

He takes the seat next to Bandou, instinctively placing a hand on the other man’s back before speaking. ]

Don’t get what, San-chan?

[ At Totsuka's question, he quickly raises his head, fist slamming heavily against the bar top. ]

Everything!

[ Tatara blinks. ]

Everything?

[ His head tilts. ]

You can’t mean everything, San-chan.

Everything about him!

[ He loudly exclaims before going into, what appears to be, a conversation with himself. ]

I mean, why do I care? I sh-I shouldn't care. We weren't dating, we weren't a couple. So who cares, right? Not me! I don't care at all! It's stupid...

[ But his head quickly drops down onto the bar, hands falling limp by his sides. ]

[ Him who?

The first place Tatara's mind inherently goes is to Mikoto -- now there's a 'him' that's easy to misunderstand, or not understand at all. But he winds up thankful for a tongue withheld as Bandou lazily elaborates.

...Welp, one thing's for sure: Tatara's 'him' and Bandou's 'him' are two very different people. The 'him' in this circumstance sounds more like Shouhei. But, he doesn't need to ask any more questions after that last ramble -- everything makes sense. (It doesn't even hit the elder that he could have very well sounded like this just a couple nights ago himself, once again about a very different 'him'. Perhaps he should be grateful Izumo's drinks put him flat on his face before that could happen.)

Discreetly, he signals for a drink, intending to settle in and hear his clanmate out. ]

Sorry, San-chan... it sounds like you're hurting. [ He rubs small circles on Bandou's back through the trademark hoodie. ] But don't sweat it, okay? Everything will work out!

No it won't... It never does.... It's always everyone else and not me.....

[ It's hard to understand him as he mumbles his woes to the bar top. ]

No girl's ever interested in me. And the one girl that was...she turned out to be a guy. And now he doesn't even want me.

[ Tatara frowns deeply and doubles down on his comforting efforts. Sure, he can’t hear word-for-word everything that’s being said with pure clarity, but he did definitely catch ‘no it won’t’ at the beginning and that’s enough.

Despite all that, after piecing together the bit about the girl he liked turning out to be a guy, he has to press his lips together to stifle a giggle. Now would be a really bad time for that, wouldn’t it? Yet, he has to wonder -- just how did he get duped into mistaking someone’s gender? And then, to just go along with it...? San-chan, when did you get so open-minded? ]

Even so, you’ll find someone new! You’re a good-looking guy, San-chan. [ He perks some as he adds-- ] A real catch, I think! So don’t sweat it!

[ Bandou's open-mindedness stems from a combination of compliments and approval from other people and the sexual frustration of a 21 year old virgin. Appease those parts of him and he'll probably follow you around like a puppy for as long as you'll let him.

Unless you're Shouhei. But Shouhei doesn't count. Shouhei takes up a whole section of Bandou's mind that he can hardly comprehend most days.

But hey look, it just so happens that Totsuka has fulfilled that first requirement of making Bandou feel like he's actually worth something. The poor guy's lifting his head up, looking pretty pathetically sad and unsure right now. ]

Do you like me?

[ Like him?

...O-oh boy... better think fast, Totsuka.

Like as in crush-like? Well, he’s only just now realizing he liked a boy for the first time since his puppy love for Mikoto years upon years ago; albeit a boy who is now dead. And he’s still not yet recovered from that fully, though he’s put everything that he can to rest and vowed to move forward.

The concept of liking anyone else in a romantic sense, needless to say, hasn’t occurred to him at all just yet. It’s only been days. But, since he’s been asked, he’d say he likes Bandou both as a person and as a friend; admires his strength and his loyalty. And, aesthetically? He’s absolutely not a bad sight, not at all -- provided you can actually see the man beneath his routine attire. He’s attractive, in a general sense.

But since he’s under the gun to answer and without time to extrapolate lest he look dishonest, Tatara makes quick work of this whole thought process so as not to miss a beat. Smiling warmly as ever, he answers without a blink. ]

Of course I do, San-chan.

Yeah?

[ He brightens for a moment before a stupid grin makes its way across his face. He attempts to scoot his stool closer, only to realize, or remember really, that they are all firmly attached to the bar. So instead, he leans in against Totsuka's own stool, placing one of his hands on the sliver of free space left next to Totsuka's upper thigh. ]

Yeah?

[ He’s drunk. Not just drunk, but plastered -- enough where Tatara would catch a contact buzz just from sharing breaths, if such a thing were possible.

But he’s leaned in, clearly counting on a kiss; and his clanmate doesn’t intend to let him down. Rather, angling back in kind, the god presses his lips gingerly to the shinki’s cheek in a move that’s more sincere and supportive than suggestive. ]

Why don’t we head back to my temple and talk about all this, hm?

[ A small, sheepish laugh. ]

I think San-chan’s probably had enough for now anyway.

[ A blink, then another, and the grin fades. Had he been expecting, or at least hoping for, an intimate kiss? Probably. But after Totsuka pulls away from his more supportive one, it gives Bandou a slight bit of clarity that he'd certainly been lacking since this drinking binge started.

Flirting and a kiss. That's how everything with Eno had begun, too. ]

Ah... yeah. Yeah, okay.

[ Talking about this, instead of remaking the same mistake he had last time, is definitely what he needs right now. He steadies himself against the bar top, hoping to keep his balance when he attempts to stand from his stool. There's a slight wobble, but he manages to keep his footing, for the most part. ]

[ He had been expecting something passionate, perhaps, but... Tatara’s a little short on that still, as it stands. Much as he hates to admit it, even to himself. And anyway, he’s only ever gotten as far as leaning, hand-holding, and forehead-touches before, so given that, a kiss on the cheek still puts Bandou in first place for how far anyone’s ever gotten with Tatara.

Nevertheless, he can relate to the need for physical contact as a means of reassurance, and the want to drink oneself stupid, both -- he’s just already tackled one of those things. And, given he went to bed and woke up alone, it wasn’t the former.

He rushes to place himself under Bandou’s arm at the sight of that wobble, supportive and kind as always. (Plus, given their height difference? It’s probably comfortable.) With that done, he takes them back to his own temple, keeping that arm over his shoulders for as long as the taller needs. ]

If you feel like you don’t want to sober up, I do have alcohol here, too. [ It’s just cheap, off-brand garbage. Izumo would judge so hard. ] And if you get too drunk, you can always stay the night.

[ He guides his guest to the couch, and sits with him. ]

Now, San-chan, tell me about this special friend of yours.

...And, if you want, I’ll tell you about the one I used to have, too.

Uh.

[He's supposed to pick one up?! They're so little! What if he drops her?!

Well...actually, things can't really get worse, so he might as well try. He manages to grab the other girl under her arms and hoist her up, which just causes more screaming.]

OH NO! WHY ARE YOU SO SAD?!

[Because that's going to get answered...]

[ The support on their trek back to Totsuka's temple was obviously needed, because the moment Totsuka releases Bandou, he teeters and sits heavily on the couch. Leaning back, he shifts his glasses slightly so he can rub at his eyes. There's a decent groan as he's becoming more aware of just how far he let himself go. ]

No, I don't want anymore. I'll probably be sick. And ah...sorry I hit on you.

[ He really needs to get better at when he should and shouldn't do that. He's quiet for a bit, trying to piece together everything that had gone on between him and Eno in the last few months. It's difficult with his mind a buzz, right now, but at least he's moved beyond the point of shouting vague portions of the story at Izumo's bar top. ]

I did the same thing to him at a...um [ He has to pause to remember exactly where they were. ] ...spa. In the hot tub. ...I thought he was a chick.

[ ...Okay someone please make sure Sakon never has children. Please. His bellowed concern not only further upsets the twin he holds, but the one on Tatara’s hip as well, who had only just started to calm.

But! It’s fine. This is fine, everything is fine. Everyone makes innocent mistakes like this, right? It’s a quick fix. A simple lesson: ]

Shh... [ he smooths back his little girl’s hair, bouncing her as he sidles up next to Sakon to provide an example. ] Hold her like this, nice and close, and talk to her in a quiet voice.

[ Yeah, like the one the shinki can probably hear over all this wailing. ]

They’re just sad because their parents are gone. It’ll all be over soon!

[ ...He hopes. ]

[ Ahh, beautiful countryside, fresh open air, and--...

...the faintly wafting smell of animal poo. But hey, two out of three isn’t bad, right? At least, that’s Tatara’s logic, as he and his clanmate-turned-shinki traverse a well-traveled country road in search of a specific man in distress over some lost livestock. ]

Should be somewhere nearby... I know we’re close!

[ And that’s not just the stink talking. ]

All we need to do is offer some reassurance, and then we’ll be on our way.

Right...quiet...

[At least he thinks that's what he heard Tatara say.

He tries snuggling the baby and rocking her, but nothing seems to work. The poor little thing. It tears at his heart that she's so sad, even as it tears at his eardrums.]

It's okay. They're gonna come back, I promise...it's okay...don't cry...I'm gonna cry...

[He really is.]

[ Amazingly, Sakon seems he's a pretty quick study. He's not nearly as bad at this as Tatara had momentarily feared, taking to rocking his little girl, snuggling her close without any further guidance.

Unfortunately, that doesn't prove too effective.

But oh gods no, please don't let him start crying, too! Tatara ca n only console so many at once! He sidles up alongside his taller shinki, hoping that reuniting the twin girls, (at least in part), will aid in their comfort.

It doesn't work. At least, not initially. But as the god turns his head to try and talk to Sakon's twin, his own spies something shiny poking out from his shaggy, wispy hair and grabs without a modicum of strength control.

...It's Tatara's cartilage piercing.

For a moment, his face goes pure white from the pain. Whimpering, then, in effort not to simply scream: ]

Sakon... p-please help...!

Wha--?!

[Sakon looks back and forth between Tatara and the little girls, trying to figure out just what he can do about this. He doesn't have enough hands for this!]

Uhhh...

[This is kind of an emergency situation. No time for thinking! Gotta do something!

He sets the little girl he's holding down on the floor, which just off the screaming again, but at least it frees his hands up. He carefully lifts the other girl out of Tatara's arms, which doesn't make her stop tugging on the piercing, but it at least changes the angle.]

C'mon, let go... I'll give you candy! We can go get candy!

[ Fair enough -- he’ll get some water for Bandou instead then, before sitting down next to him. ]

It’s fine! Don’t apologize.

[ He can’t say that with a straight face, even. Not quite, at least. It was more amusing than anything else; maybe a little flattering, honestly. After all, Tatara doesn’t get hit on often. (Has he ever been? He can’t recall.) But he won’t mention that.

Instead, he listens intently, nodding along, turning to look at Bandou when he mentions a case of mistaken gender. ]

And when you found out he wasn’t, that didn’t change anything?

[ He’s proud of you, San-chan. ]

[catch-all] place your past into a book

July 22nd, afternoon; Prayer 39

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July 23rd, evening, Double Cross Bar

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July 25th, midday; Prayer 31

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