[open] we're closed to the earth until further notice

[reformedsinner]

Who: Cho Hakkai and you
When: Oct 15-17
Where: Around the Near and Far Shores
What: The best way to deal with stress is to stay so busy that there's no time to think about it, right? No flaws in this plan.
Warnings: Ayakashi-fighting violence in the Oct. 16 PM prompt, probable mention of illness/death in the Oct. 16 AM prompt, mention of suicide in Gojyo thread

Oct. 15 - Gardening, Temple of Li Tieguai

[Mid-morning finds Hakkai in old clothes and rubber gardening clogs at the front of his temple, where bright yellow chrysanthemums have bloomed all around the outside wall. He has a stack of cheap plastic pots, a trowel, and a wheelbarrow half full of pots filled with freshly uprooted flowers, and he's leaving a long series of sad little pits in the turf behind him.

It's not that he minds flowers, of course. Flowers are fine.

It's just that he's noticed the way these particular flowers seem to be influencing his mood, and he doesn't like it at all.

He sits back on his heels as someone approaches, and wipes sweat off his forehead with the back of one hand, leaving a long streak of mud there instead.]

Good morning! Would you like a potted plant?

Oct. 16 (AM) - Prayers, around Tokyo

[Tokyo's crowded on Sunday mornings, even on a gray and rainy day like this one, where the first gold and orange leaves of fall have been beaten down from the trees and are fading to soggy brown in the gutters and the canals. Hakkai slips through the crowds like a shadow, messenger bag over one shoulder as he scrolls through his phone calendar and snuggles his transparent umbrella closer down over his head. It's not doing much to keep the water off; he keeps having to dry his phone screen on his sleeve, to the annoyance of the small white dragon snuggled down on his scarf.

Chirps of complaint trail in his wake, and he looks up from his phone to murmur to the dragon quietly.

Unfortunately, that means he's not looking where he's going anymore, and in a crowd like this, if anyone's standing still--

-- well, they've just been run into by a man, a dragon, an umbrella, and a very heavy bag.]

Oct. 16 (PM) - Leech Treatment, Ikebukuro

[Hakkai hadn't really planned to wind up doing any fighting today. He has a long list of followers he needs to visit. He's busy, damn it, but a bloated purple leech-thing had detached itself from the neck of a glazed-over pachinko player as he brushed past and lunged for his face.

He hadn't had a choice, which he plans to point out to Chikusa if this gets him in trouble, considering that he also hadn't brought any of his shinki.

The leech is determinedly crawling towards him across the concrete. He aims a kick at it, and it dodges with surprising speed and bites at his toe, leaving an ugly, deep scar across the leather of his shoe. Jeep, reluctantly, lifts off his shoulder and circles up above the umbrella as Hakkai considers the stubborn ayakashi.

This is not the afternoon he'd planned on.]

Oct. 17 - Morning Classes, Abandoned Temple School - Mingle

[Hakkai doesn't always show up for the morning shinki spell practice sessions, but he's here today, sitting towards the side of the courtyard and taking notes in a battered memo book in between circulating to help with borderline or Bind spells. He'll occasionally stop, too, to listen in if anyone's talking about other spells. He'd only bothered to learn Bind himself, after all. It might help to learn a few extra....]

Comments

[reformedsinner]

[Burst: no, apparently not. It's deforming, instead, squashing slowly flatter and flatter under his foot. It manages to be equally disgusting.

Hakkai looks up from the ayakashi to Gojyo, who's clearly decided not to help, meeting his eyes.]

Apparently I do. My mistake.

[Because he sincerely doubts that anyone else had thought he was dead. It's not an unreasonable assumption, for someone finding an empty temple ground, but wouldn't anyone else who made the assumption ask? Wouldn't anyone else know at least one mutual acquaintance? There are Chikusa and Ken, for one thing.]

Where did you get the new hand?

[The ayakashi, slowly flattening, is also slowly oozing free.]

[erogappa]

[ Hopefully Hakkai's got a plan to restrain a nearly liquid ayakashi, then. Shame that he doesn't seem to have one of his shinki with him. ]

What, this old thing? [ He holds it up, clenching and unclenching his new fist. It responds to his commands, and he can feel with it, but it still doesn't feel like a part of him. It's alien -- worse, it's stolen. It's the hand of a man he killed, and sometimes he's really not sure if he's better off having it. ] Had it for years.

[ The sleeve of his jacket slips down over his wrist, revealing the brilliant edge of a complex tattoo. Gojyo doesn't seem to notice, tucking his hands into his jeans pockets. It's getting cold! ]

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai's tone is dry.]

Tucked away for a rainy day?

[The hand's movements are natural, easy, with no tension or clumsiness that Hakkai can spot. Mikan does good work, and it must be healing well.

The bright tattoos on the wrist make him blink, startled, but he doesn't mention it. So, has Gojyo's mission of revenge involved finding himself a new limb, too...?

Without his attention on it, the leech has almost succeeded in oozing free.]

[erogappa]

[ Ayakashi really are the most disgusting creatures. Since shinki (and gods too, for that matter) can turn into ayakashi, doesn't that sort of imply that all ayakashi were people once? What a terrible way to spend eternity. At least the soulless shinki doesn't seem to have enough brain to be suffering... but Gojyo can't help but wonder about the soul of the thing sliming out from under Hakkai's shoe. It is aware? It's sure active enough. They're always hungry, those ayakashi. Hungry, and hurting others because of their obsession.

There's probably a lesson he could learn here, but that kind of navel-gazing is best left to academics. ]

I was hoping for a matched set, but us beggars can't be choosers.

[ He glances down pointedly at the mess under Hakkai's shoe. ]

Your booger's gettin' away.

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai follows the glance, and sighs. A glimmer of light brightens in one palm, and he leans down to fire the bolt at the ayakashi.

It splatters a hole through the creature, which gives a shudder, and slumps: not banished, but stunned, for the moment.

He steps away from it, wrinkling his nose slightly at the squish of his sock. The scratches aren't deep, but they're deep enough that his blood is soaking the knit.

He's silent for a moment, before commenting quietly:]

Ayumu's worried about you, you know.

[erogappa]

[ Hakkai's bleeding. Gojyo's really unhappy to discover that this upsets him. He turns away, scanning the crowd for... fuck it, anything. Anything that isn't Hakkai and Hakkai's injury. ]

That's stupid. I'm fine. [ He glances at Hakkai out of the corner of his eye -- how much did Ayumu tell him about their raid on Buddy's killers? ] She knows I can take care of myself.

[reformedsinner]

Mhm. [It's a very noncommittal noise. Hakkai steps away from the ayakashi; it's twitching, at the edges, and he's not sure how long it's going to take for it to put itself back together.

He pats his pockets, and sighs, pulling out his packet of tissues to do a bit of mopping up. It's not the most useful for bandages, but it might be enough to get the bleeding to stop.]

That doesn't always stop someone worrying, does it?

[erogappa]

[ He's still pretending not to be watching Hakkai's self-care, but he's doing a really terrible job at it. There's blight in there too, isn't there? God dammit. ]

Here.

[ He plucks a clear plastic hip flask out of his pocket and tosses it to Hakkai. The shrine water inside might still be vaguely whiskey-scented, but that won't stop it from healing blight. ]

What's she doing talking to you about me anyway? I thought she dumped you.

[reformedsinner]

[There's definitely blight in there; Hakkai glances up, and catches the flask sailing towards him, leaving a rusty smear on the plastic from his fingertips. He offers Gojyo a careful, silent nod of acknowledgement, and uncaps the flask, washing the purple stains at the edge of each cut away with judicious splashes.

It takes him two tries to secure the cap again. There's a part of him, carefully walled up, that's screaming with panic at Gojyo's proximity. It's the part that can't stop remembering a surprised look and blood that never really was on his hands, and a text message that really had been sent. I was going to kill myself....

His hands aren't shaking, but he doesn't trust them to throw the flask back. He presses a few more wadded-up tissues over the cuts, holding them with one hand as he holds the flask out for Gojyo to take it back.]

We still talk. And Chikusa invited her by for dinner.

[erogappa]

[ Hakkai holds out the flask, forcing Gojyo to come closer. It's a stupid power play, but Gojyo's going to be the better man here, and that means taking the two steps over and retrieving the flask without snatching it away (and also, so carefully, making sure that his fingers don't touch Hakkai's).

He ends up with Hakkai's blood on his new hand. Tucking the flask back into his pocket, he balls that hand into a fist and takes those two steps back, putting breathing room between the two of them again. ]

That asshole? He tell you that he jumped me the other day? Out of nowhere, bam! Knocked me right on my ass for no reason.

[reformedsinner]

Did he? [Gojyo doesn't touch him as he takes the flask back. He's ashamed by how much of a relief that is, by the way his shoulders relax as the other man steps back.

The tissues have to stay where they are, to stop the bleeding; he keeps looking down, keeps one hand pressed over both folded bits of tissue, both cuts.

He wonders if Chikusa had picked Gojyo on purpose -- it sounds like something he'd do, petty revenge for Gojyo coming to him with all those questions, or for whatever else Chikusa's found annoying. Or it might have just been boredom, of course.]

No, he didn't mention that. How did he manage to knock you over?

[erogappa]

[ Yeah, they're both awkward as fuck around each other. And if either of them had any sense, they'd have walked away from this conversation five minutes ago.

There's really a pull between them, isn't there? Does Hakkai feel it too, or is he above such things? It's like... like walking by a shop window and seeing a big glossy cake. And you know all that sugar will make you sick, and you don't even really like sweet things anyway, but you stop and stare, and your mouth starts to water. When you're on the other side of town you don't think about it much, but as soon as the cake window comes into view? Bam. Instant craving.

Or maybe it's just him. ]

Borderline. Little shit snuck up behind me when I was sparring with one of those automated dummies at Bishamon's place and knocked my feet out from under me. Wouldn't tell me why, either!

[ He holds up his new arm again, and waggles the fingers a bit. ]

Just gave me shit for losin' this.

[reformedsinner]

[The tissues are sticking, and the bleeding's stopped. Hakkai considers them for a moment, then reaches down to tug his bloody sock up over them in what must be the clumsiest bandage he's ever improvised. It still looks as though he'd been savaged by a chihuahua, but it gives him a few more moments to not look at Gojyo.

He is, he reflects, unbelievably pathetic.]

He does things like that. You haven't teased Ken recently, have you?

[He's out of excuses, so he straightens back up, looking around -- the ayakashi is gone, and the fine hairs lift at his nape at that sight. Gone, in the dozens of trampling feet passing through the street every second. It must have found a new host.

He's going to have to come back here with Asshole, later. Or Ken; the leeches are just the right size for a half-sized dog to maul.]

[erogappa]

He's gonna do something like that to somebody who isn't as nice as I am and end up with a hole in his head, [ --Gojyo retorts dryly. ] I didn't do a damn thing to his gross d--

[ The word dog sticks in his throat, and his head actually jerks back as a wall slams down behind his eyes. It takes a moment for him to swallow it down.

Why is he still here? Why is he still talking with Hakkai when he knows that talking with Hakkai always ends up hurting him? He's got more important things to do than babysit a grown man with a couple scratches on his leg.

Thinking about the job ahead of him helps. He needs to get going -- if he misses the pachinko owner reporting in to his handler, then that's another couple days, maybe even a week, before he'll have this chance again.

Without another word Gojyo turns and heads off into the crowd. ]

[reformedsinner]

[Gojyo chokes on the word dog, and Hakkai winces, gaze flicking to his face. He hadn't known Gojyo knew Ken well enough to make that dismissive joke -- yes, it's not hard to make, but still.

Gojyo's already disappearing into the crowd. Hakkai exhales, wipes the last blood from his hands on the seams of his slacks, and pulls his phone out again.

He looks after the other man for several long seconds, silent, before he can pull his attention back to the address on his list. Following Gojyo won't do any good. Maybe he'll stop back by the bar to speak to Ayumu, or contact her, at least. Maybe.

He hates being helpless.

At least, useless as they are for this problem, there are plenty of things that he does still need to do.]