Ooooh, child, things are gonna get easier

[erogappa]

Who: Gojyo and Sharak and Hakkai and guns and the rooster
What: Reunion shenanigans
When: /shrug
Where: Temple Aditi
Warnings: Violence, threats, poor life choices, probably graphic descriptions of amputation


Mind made up, Gojyo finds a temple and transports himself back to heaven.

It's been a chaotic couple of days, that's for damn sure. He holds his right arm -- or what's left of it -- carefully against his side. The end of the stump has been professional sutured and heavily bandaged, but he's still cautious about anything or anyone touching it. It hurts. A lot. The doc had tried to give him pain killers -- fat white pills in mismatched bottles, at least one of which had had a horse silhouette on the label -- but he'd refused. He needed to be sober while dealing with the mess in Japan, and he sure as hell wants to be sober when dealing with the mess here.

There's no goddamn way he's going to be loopy when facing Sharak.

Rounding the bend in the road, the temple slowly comes into view, and something in his chest eases. He'd called this place home back a thousand years ago, and it's still true. Home is where you go when you've got nowhere else to turn, home is where they yell at you because they care for you. Home is where your responsibilities lie.

His step gets lighter -- it's the middle of the night, he's exhausted and in pain, but things are about to get better -- and he mentally begins rehearsing what he'll tell Sharak. Assuming she lets him get a word in edgewise, he mentally chuckles. She might just chew him out, and that'll be fine. He deserves it. But once she's done being mad, he can't wait to talk to her about his new plan. About his new path.

They have the ability to make life better for so many people out in the living world, and not just in the way heaven wants them to. Ayakashi are bad, sure, but so are so many humans -- they can really make a difference, if they want to. And he wants to. He'll tell her about the kids he met, and the men who were making their living forcing the kids to steal and fight and worse things. Those men are dead now, but there's thousands of men like them still out there. Together, they can fix that.

Things are going to be okay.

Comments

[sweetdeath]

[His opinions are totally correct, and he's still working on the complicated parts of cooking, but scrambled eggs are right around his skill level. He ducks under the counter for the slightly battered skillet tucked back in the corner, barely dodges in time to avoid whacking his skull on the way back up, and cracks an egg into the pan, one-handed, with a flourish.

Then leans over, squints at the white, and starts scooping bits of shell out with one of the eggshell halves in his hand. Look, he tried.]

No fires and no ayakashi. It's been pretty quiet. Uh, I'm going to need some help getting the books up to date, though.

[He nods at the overstuffed receipt box under the counter on the other side.]

So where were you all this time?

[erogappa]

[ He tried to do the books? ...Of course he tried to do the books, Gojyo was gone for days, but those books are, um. Complicated. In very specifically illegal ways.

So apparently that's what he's going to be doing this afternoon! That's great. That's just great. This hangover is going to make math so much fun.

The eggs smell good though. ]

Earth. [ He settles into one of the stools on the other side of the bar, resting his chin on his palm. ] I needed a doctor for this [ --this, naturally, being his stump-- ] and I don't trust anyone here. They're all oh, go tell your god, let your god make all your decisions and I'm done with gods.

[ Oh, hey, that reminds him though. ]

Watch out for a chick with red hair and a chainsaw, by th'way. She's not messin' around.

[sweetdeath]

[Tsuzuki almost drops the last eggshell into the pan as the color drains from his face.]

Oh, shit. Did she do that? I, um, I ... saw her at the party too. [His laugh is unsteady.]

You're not hurt anywhere else, right?

[If it'd been too much worse than his hand, Tsuzuki's sure he would've seen the dressings, or at least seen it in the way Gojyo's walking -- but he's moving like he's stiff and hungover anyway, and Tsuzuki hadn't been looking as closely as he should.

She'd done a lot more damage to Tsuzuki than just cutting his hand off, that's for sure. But he'd been fine. He healed. It's just that, with what she'd done, he's sure she'd been planning murder.]

[erogappa]

[ The exhaustion -- emotional and hangover-based both -- means that Gojyo doesn't pick up on the hint being dropped there. Tsu's a sweet guy, and he was clearly distressed at seeing somebody wandering around with a bloody chainsaw, that's all. ]

Just my pride. [ e raises his stump again. ] Pride and my arm.

[ It actually really hurts to even move his arm, thanks to the bruising and trauma and all the rest of that mess. He winces, and tries shifting it the other way -- nope, still hurts. But he's getting better at ignoring it, though. ]

She didn't even take it all th'way off. Had to go find a doctor out here in the living world to finish the job.

[ Not getting any better about feeling sorry for himself, however. ]

[sweetdeath]

You know, my goddess can cast some healing spells. I'm no good at healing other people, but...

[He trails off, and eyes Gojyo sidelong as the eggs sizzle quietly in the pan.]

...I mean, I don't know what happened with your god, but Sakura's a sweet kid.

[So it's not like Gojyo has to be done with all gods. Right?]

[erogappa]

[ No, he's pretty much done with all gods. He leans back on his stool, inspecting the work they did patching the ceiling. They did good work. The plaster's even, the wood isn't bowing... it's a nice clean job. Go team them. ]

Thanks, but I'll pass. [ As much as his arm hurts, as frustrating as learning to live with only one hand is proving to be, asking gods for help is never free. There's always obligation there. He'll do this on his own, and be the better man for it.

Straightening up in his seat, he tosses Tsu a wink. ]

I only need one hand to pull pints with, and I've got you cookin' for me, right? That's all I need!

[sweetdeath]

I'll pick up groceries but I don't do shoelaces, just so you know.

[If Gojyo doesn't want Sakura's help trying to heal the wound... then Tsuzuki's going to help out regardless, because they're friends, and that's what a friend does.

But he's still gonna give Gojyo a little shit about it. Just so they both know it doesn't mean Gojyo owes him, or anything like that.]

[erogappa]

[ Getting shit is expected! ...Much like the shit Gojyo's about to throw back at Tsuzuki. ]

Oi. Maybe I should do the groceries.

[ Those eggs, friend. Those eggs are starting to burn. ]

[sweetdeath]

Huh?

[Funny, it smells sort of like burning hair in here. Did a hair get on the hot plate?

Oh.

Shit. He flails to take the skillet off the heat, wincing at the brownish edge on the omelet. It could be worse, right?! It's not burned a lot--]

Uh, right! Haha, maybe.

[Good thing Gojyo likes hot sauce on his eggs after all! It'll cover the taste.]

I know there was a plate somewhere around here...