thenearshore | (no subject)

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Who: Gojyo, Hakkai, and Ayumu
What: Drunk talk. Serious drunk talk.
When: Near the end of the month (what is time, really)
Where: Li Tieguai's temple
Warnings: Will update

It's late, by the time he spots Hakkai's temple. The sun went down before he'd even left Japan, and it's well into the humid evening by the time he stumbles up the walkway to the temple door, red-faced and sweating.

He's not nearly drunk enough for this, he thinks, pausing a moment to lean against one of the wooden columns out front. The sake had hit him hard -- it's entirely possible he was wandering in circles back in Japan, looking for a temple to bring him home -- but most of what's left in his belly is just a roiling disgust, at himself, at Shizuo, at Sharak... at the Far Shore in general.

Mostly at himself, though.

But he can't stand in the street all night (although for a few seconds he genuinely considers it), so with a sigh Gojyo lumbers forward again, pounding on Li Tieguai's door with the back of his fist.

"Oi, Cho Hakkai. Open up, it's me."

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Two idiots on a what? Hakkai's eyebrows shoot towards his hairline as he leans back against the counter. Gojyo and Shizuo? Of all people-- for one thing, besides being an idiot, Shizuo hasn't struck him as being particularly into men.

"You need some idiocy on a date," he agrees, deadpan, "but it is possible to have too much. How did that happen? I thought he was busy pining after Sharak."

"He was," Gojyo grumbles. "He is. That's the problem."

Maybe the problem isn't that he's too drunk. Maybe he's not drunk enough. He licks his lips, considers how well asking for a drink would go over... and shoves that thought back into the cobwebby shadows of his brain. Hakkai's doing him a favor. No reason to push his luck.

"He's been chasin' her for I dunno how long, and she'd finally had enough. But instead of tellin' him to fuck off, she set him up on a date with me!" He laughs bitterly. "She didn't tell me any of this, of course. Waited until I got there and then he was all oh by the way, nobody's interested in you, you're just here because Sharak didn't want to deal with either of us anymore."

Okay, so maybe it's still the self-pitying part of the evening. "Dunno what else I was expecting." Those bleary, bloodshot eyes meet Hakkai's for a silent moment, then Gojyo laughs again and leans back in his chair. "I get th'feeling I'm not the kind of guy who ever gets what he wants."

That glance, Hakkai reflects, felt surprisingly pointed: this isn't a tea sort of conversation, is it? He pushes himself away from the counter, and rummages briefly in the refrigerator, producing a half-full bottle of midgrade sake.

"I don't have any beer," he says, holding it up, "but if you don't mind sake, it sounds as though you could use a drink. If it helps, Shizuo seems much less likely to get what he wants."

And really, Sharak -- setting Shizuo up with someone else as a distraction? Hakkai may not be a relationship expert, but that, he thinks, was a wholly predictable trainwreck. He'll have to twit her about it later.

It's pathetic how much his face lights up at the offer. Like a kid on Christmas -- it's not quite a new-puppy smile, but it's definitely a new-football level grin.

"Not gonna lie, that kinda makes me feel better. And yeah." He straightens up in his chair, casting Asshole a sideways glance. "I'd love a drink. What 'bout him, he doesn't...?" But he already knows the answer to that question. His smile fades. "He doesn't drink, does he."

"No, he doesn't. He doesn't eat either," Ayumu interrupts cheerfully as she steps into the kitchen, clad in a modest, ivory satin-and-lace bathrobe picked up from her recent shopping spree and her favorite lucky cat slippers. Her long, black hair is gathered in a loose braid trailing down her back. The eyepatch she'd taken to wearing over her left eye is presently missing, the drooping eyelid and facial scarring visible behind the bangs covering it.

"Good evening, Gojyo," she continues easily as if the man in question doesn't look like he's had a very rough night or giving any outward indication that she'd overheard anything. It hadn't been much really, just something about Shizuo and a date and Sharak; once she'd gathered that it wasn't an immediate threat to her or her god, she'd respectfully tuned out the rest.

Currently, she's holding Spot in her arms, who seems to be trying to burrow his head into her robe, stroking his fur gently.

"Good evening, Ayumu. Gojyo's asked if he can stay here tonight -- I hope there's no problem with that?"

Hakkai turns to the cabinet behind him as he speaks, setting the bottle down on the counter while he gets a few sake cups. Three, since she's joined them; Asshole doesn't drink, and giving him a cup would be no more than window dressing.

It helps him get his expression under control. Her hair color isn't the same and her face isn't the same, and he isn't going to be so unreasonable as to ask her not to braid her hair, but still, every time she does, it hits him somewhere well below the level of reason. It's what he'd seen naming her, that's all, and he knows it.

And in any case, if she's working on finding herself a new god or gods, it's nothing he'll have to worry about for long.

"And would you like any sake? Though you'd have to put Spot down."

The question gives her a moment of pause, enough for her to involuntarily glance toward Gojyo again. It's not that Ayumu doesn't like Gojyo because she does. He's been very kind and seems like pleasant company but there's just something about being alone in the temple with three men that puts her a little on edge. It's not enough to trigger a proper fear response though so she nods slowly.

"Sure," she says after a moment, giving Spot an unconscious squeeze, causing the cat to meow quietly.

She pets the feline's head reassuringly a few times, relaxing her grip as smoothly and discreetly as possible, before finally setting him down on the floor. Spot doesn't flee immediately, instead rubbing against her leg, purring and meowing a couple of times, before flopping down unceremoniously on her foot.

"Sake sounds great. Is everything well with Sanzo-sama?"

With all the talk of gods disappearing, one can't be too careful.

This temple's so different from Sharak's. So... quiet. And polite.

He won't be able to stay long, he realizes, watching the cat sprawl on Ayumu's feet. He's not a mannerly kind of guy, and asking them to put up with more than a single evening of his will probably end up with them throwing him out. But that's okay. One night to get his shit together should be all that he needs.

He can always sleep in the bar.

"Yeah, she's fine." He even manages a believable grin for her. "We're just havin' a disagreement, that's all."

Spot collapses shamelessly across Ayumu's feet, and Jeep's head appears on top of the refrigerator, rising from his tight curl in the padded basket Hakkai leaves up there for him. It's one of the few places in the house that, while comfortably accessible to a creature that can fly, is still too far to jump for the three curious cats. Jeep eyes Gojyo dubiously from his perch and chirps.

Hakkai, smiling, hands one full cup to Gojyo and another to Ayumu before settling into the chair next to Asshole with his own.

"Of all the many things that Sanzo priests are expert in," he comments mildly, "I think we can conclude romance is not one."

He lifts his cup, smile tilting towards wry. "Cheers."

"Cheers."

Ayumu holds her cup, sipping from it quietly. It's a little odd to see them getting along given the animosity Gojyo had displayed toward her god not all that long ago but Hakkai had told her they'd worked a few things out. But one less enemy is a good thing and one more potential ally even more so. She remains standing for now, not quite having the heart to sit down and disturb the purring cat happily occupying her feet.

"Oh, does Sanzo-sama have a suitor calling, then?"

From what little she'd managed to gather, Ayumu's quite certain that isn't the case given how downtrodden Gojyo had sounded just before she'd entered. At least, not unless he fancied his goddess somehow.

Oi, don't eye him dubiously, dragon. What'd he ever do to you?

"You could say that," he chuckles, taking a sip of his sake like a responsible grown-up who is in no way already drunk. He could talk about his own problems, or he could throw Sharak right under the bus and hopefully start some rumors about her love life. It's not a hard decision. "I have it on good authority that what's-his-name Shizuo's already asked her out."

He'll spill his heart out to Hakkai, but Ayumu deserves better. For her, he'll put up a good front and pretend like he's got his shit together. "Think I hear weddin' bells."

"Or gunshots," Hakkai suggests, and glances up at the top of the refrigerator. "Come join us, Jeep."

The dragon stretches, flutters his wings, and makes the hop down onto Hakkai's shoulder as easily as a cat. Hakkai takes another sip, eyeing Gojyo. It seems, with Ayumu's arrival, that the complaining part of this conversation is over and the unsubtle revenge against Sharak has begun.

Helpfully, he adds, "I'm surprised he finally told her. I thought he was just telling the rest of the Heavens about his crush; he's certainly told me more than I want to know..."

"Oh?"

Shizuo does seem like a rather forthcoming fellow - a trait Ayumu has little complaints about. It's always good to know someone with loose lips and a lot to talk about. On a personal level, she's found the man to be pleasant thus far but on a more professional one, men of his disposition always prove themselves to be useful in some fashion or another.

"He seems like a nice man. I imagine Sanzo-sama could find worse men around here to fancy her than Shizuo-san."

Like that killer running amuck some time back. Briefly, she wonders whatever happened to him anyway. Ayumu had lost track of the investigation after helping Chikusa that one night but she has had other matters keeping her occupied lately.

An idea is forming. A terrible, wonderful idea.

"You should tell her that," he says, as mildly as he's able, and takes another sip of his sake. It's really good sake, smooth and cool. Far too classy for a guy like him. "It's clear she likes him. They're always spendin' time together... but I think she might be worried about bein' a god, and dating a shinki, you know? He offers Ayumu a warm -- and not a little conspiratorial -- grin. "Some folks have a problem with that kind of thing."

"Gojyo," Hakkai murmurs, "please don't get my exemplar shot."

It's not that he minds Gojyo setting Sharak up for awkward conversations about Shizuo -- if she'd gone and set the two of them up in a shameless attempt to stop Shizuo from bothering her, she probably deserves it -- but Ayumu's matchmaking tendencies don't need encouraging. Not when it involves Sharak, at least.

"Besides, I think her real problem is being a priest and dating anyone," he adds in a more cheerful tone, "which she should get over, as, being a god, it's not as if she has to follow those rules anymore."

Despite their differing professional opinions on some things, deferring to her god's word on the matter still comes to Ayumu naturally. Gojyo's malice doesn't seem purposely directed to her and more bound up with whatever had happened to bring him here for the night. She listens with a thoughtful expression, gently easing out first one foot then the other out from under the now slumbering Spot. If she's stealthy enough, she should be able to make it to a chair before he wakes up again.

"But is it really a problem if they're rules she believes in?" she asks quietly, quickly tiptoeing over and away from the sleeping feline, holding her hand steady to avoid sloshing her sake.

Nah, there's no malice here. Just some good friendly backstabbing and shit stirring, that's all.

"I don't believe for a second that she actually thinks there's anything wrong with a shinki an' a god hooking up," he murmurs, dropping his voice to a near whisper so as not to wake the cat and pointedly not looking in Hakkai's direction. "Gods have their memories, they know other ways of doin' things, so they're not stuck havin' to follow the rules of this place like we are."

Well, he tried: Hakkai sighs, resting his elbows on the table in utter disregard of proper manners, and tilts his cup to swirl the mouthful of sake left at the bottom sideways.

"As if shinki have to follow the rules," he says, mildly sarcastic. What is Gojyo trying to convince her of, anyway? That she should go harass Sharak?

He's sure he's just being paranoid to feel as though Gojyo's refusal to glance at him carries a message. It's because the topic feels uncomfortably personal, that's all.

And the change of subject to shinki autonomy might be a blessing in disguise for Sharak as Ayumu's expression suddenly shifts into something a bit more serious as she sets her glass down and carefully pulls out her chair so she doesn't disturb Spot's nap.

"I agree. Shinki don't always have to follow the rules. There's not much point to it once they've stopped being useful."

Ayumu picks up her glass again and takes another small sip.

"But gods don't stop being who they are just because they come here, do they? The things they believe in and care about isn't going to just change because they're not in their worlds anymore."

Yes. She should go harass Sharak. Everybody should go harass Sharak. Shizuo's got the self-esteem of something you scrape off the bottom of your shoe so there's no fun there in poking at the guy, but Sharak? Sharak pretended like he was her friend and then turned around and dumped Shizuo on him. Sharak deserves ever bit of harassment over her love life that he can throw at her.

"I dunno, th'god here seems to be sayin' otherwise," he offers, half-nodding at Hakaki as he takes another swig of his drink. The movement wasn't well planned, and he nearly dumps the rest of his sake down his chin. With a sputter he drains the cup and sets it aside, awkwardly wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Sorry. Wrong pipe."

It's possible Hakkai shouldn't have given Gojyo more alcohol, in the state he'd showed up in; but he accepts the embarrassed excuse with a little nod, and leaves his own cup where he is as he takes the excuse to get back up and head for the cupboards.

There are water glasses in the one to the right of the sink. Shinki do, in Hakkai's experience, get hangovers, so although he isn't sure if it's physiological or just psychological, he fills a glass as he replies.

"To be honest," he says, gaze lingering on the faucet, "it's not because she's a god now at all. I just don't have the proper respect for religious law. Though if she prefers to live that way, of course, it's her choice. Here."

He turns, and sets the full glass down by Gojyo's elbow, adding with a faint spark of amusement, "For drinking, not breathing."

After what Hakkai had told her about his relationship with his sister, Ayumu isn't surprised to hear that. Some people hold the bonds between siblings sacred. As for Gojyo's current state, her expression softens a little. Giving him more booze while he's in this state isn't something she would have done but well, what's done is done.

"If she's happy living that way, good for her."

For a very brief moment, Ayumu looks wistful, maybe even slightly envious. To be content with that sort of solitary lifestyle, sounds almost pleasant. A useful strength to have though she can't say why she feels that way. She finishes draining her cup, holding it out.

"Could I have some more, please?"

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