[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

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Well, in that case.

[That might be a flash of remorse on Hakkai's expression; it's hard to say. He's a god now, after all. No one else can see his guilt if he doesn't want them to.

After a moment, he nods, and smiles, faintly.]

Certainly.

[He sets his folded umbrella down against the vestibule wall.]

[smilingbullet]

[ D2 is getting the hang of Hakkai's expressions. It helps that he's trained his eyesight to pay attention to every little detail to make things easier with his job as a sniper. Maybe that's an inconvenience sometimes. D2 wonders if he shouldn't have asked, but he also would have wanted to ask until he managed to regardless. ]

Thanks, Hakkai.

[ He puts down the bag on the floor, mindful not to put it in any puddles dragged in by wet feet and not hard enough to break anything. ]

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You're welcome. [It's automatic; Hakkai pauses, still, for a long moment as D2 arranges the bag into its safely puddle-free spot on the floor, and then steps forward to cautiously attempt a hug.

It's awkward. He doesn't seem to know what to do with his elbows.]

[smilingbullet]

[ Hakkai may be awkward about hugs, but D2 is not. D2 likes hugs, he just minds people's boundaries and thus stays away from them for the most part. But there is no hesitation or awkwardness in his hug, though he's a bit tense.

A little while into it though, all that tension evaporates and is replaced with relief. It's clearly not because of discomfort that he was tense. ]

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[Hakkai doesn't get any less awkward with time; he's a few inches shorter than D2, and he turns his head just a little, to make sure that the other man can't see his expression. He can feel the tension ebbing from D2's posture.

He'd hurt far too many people with his carelessness. Still... he can't change it now.

Eventually, he murmurs:]

It's difficult getting used to the idea that death can be temporary.

[smilingbullet]

[ D2 presses his face into Hakkai's shoulder and presses his palms flat against his back. The warmth of a living being, this living being that he holds dear, that he feels is a comfort.

Losing people... He's used to that. He doesn't remember it, specifically, but he knows about it. He knows so many people who have died. He knows how to deal with that, or at least he's accustomed to it. But the sometimes-temporary deaths in the Far Shore.... ]

Yeah, it's strange. It's not normal but, I'm thankful this time.

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[After a moment, Hakkai lifts one hand to D2's shoulder, and rests it there, against the shoulderblade he can feel through skin and shirt. His touch is light, and still awkward, but he's trying to offer comfort.

Of course, he reflects, he's always been bad at that. The hug seems to be helping D2 more than anything else.]

I am, too.

[Thankful that a reckless decision hadn't cost more than... perhaps it's easiest, he reflects, to think of it as a very bad injury; he has certainly had enough of those. And thankful that D2 survived it, and Ross, too. It could have been much worse.

Thankful, for that matter, that his memory is back.]

[smilingbullet]

[ No, Hakkai is doing good. He's doing really good. It's definitely way better than any comfort D2 got when he grew up (though that's not exactly a high bar to beat). He's grateful for this comfort. It's great comfort in this time, and only Hakkai could give it. ]

Mmmh.

[ He nods a little, his face moving against the fabric between his and Hakkai's skin.

He's always hated losing people - and yet he would never have quit his job willingly - and it's strange to get someone he's lost back but it's one of the good things about the Heavens. That sometimes, miracles does happen.

It takes a while longer, but eventually he peels himself away from Hakkai, for the most part. His hands stays at his waist for a few moments as he looks straight into Hakkai's eyes and gives him a smile that reveals both his gratefulness and his relief. It's not like his body shows obvious signs of distress when he is upset, but when it's slipped away, it's not too difficult to spot the difference. ]

Thanks.

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[A hug is awkwardly intimate; D2 looking down into his face at close range with his hands still at Hakkai's waist is very awkwardly intimate, and Hakkai blinks, clears his throat with a tiny cough, and is the first one to step back.

It's not so much stepping back out of D2's personal space as it is stepping back to make sure that D2 is no longer in his, and his wry smile seems to add a silent, Nothing personal.

(Nothing personal, after all, is meant. He'd have done the same with anyone, or anyone who he'd have allowed to hug him in the first place, a category that includes very few people old enough to have a concept of personal space.) ]

Feeling better?

[From his smile, Hakkai can already guess the answer.]

[smilingbullet]

[ Although D2 does not find it awkwardly intimate in the least, he does understand that Hakkai is stepping back because it's awkward to him. He understands that it's nothing personal, and returns the smile, though his has no single wry traces. It's only genuine and appreciative. ]

Yeah, lots better. I needed that, so really, thank you. This was the best medicine I could ask for.

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I'm glad it helped.

[He hesitates for a moment, and then adds:]

You, ah, don't have to wait so long to ask. Although I hope there won't be a next time.

[smilingbullet]

[ Rather than just say anything to the first, he just gives Hakkai a bright smile.

Then he looks a little more awkward. ]

Well, I, wanted to see if it'd pass on its own.. Y'know, since it's not exactly a common occurrence. And then I thought you might prefer if I didn't ask around other shinki and gods so there was a bit about timing.

[ Of course he can't be sure if that's what Hakkai would prefer but it's better to be safe than sorry and Hakkai is more private a person than D2 is. ]

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Ah, well....

[...so he'd thought he would just feel better without having to worry anyone, if he gave it time?

That's a thought process almost as silly as Hakkai's. He sympathizes.]

I appreciate your concern, but, really, I can manage.

[Even if he is a pathologically private person by choice.]

[smilingbullet]

[ Wouldn't most people prefer to not worry others?

D2's expression turns suddenly mischievous. ]

Oh, so then I should've just tackled you all of a sudden instead. Alright, I'll keep that in mind for next time I need the Hakkai Hug Cure.

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[Hakkai surprises himself with his own laugh; the corners of his eyes crinkle as he nods.]

Yes, exactly. Just, ah, make sure you do it from my left side.

[Since tackle hugs from his blind side aren't likely to end well for anyone.]

[smilingbullet]

[ Ah. Well. That's nice. He's happy to make him laugh and smile. ]

Even if I feel like getting past the challenge that might give me?

[ But he won't come from his blind side, except if it's by accident. ]

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[Cheerfully:]

Oh, I can catch you coming from either direction, but from the left I'll see who you are.

[smilingbullet]

Oh, I don't doubt that. I have seen you fight after all.

[ Against Ayakashi, sure, but still. He remembers that well.

But if he doesn't see who it is he might react slightly different from if he can see. ]

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[Hakkai's cheer falters, and fades back to his former mild expression, as he nods.]

Indeed.

[It's not something he'd normally have trouble joking about, but being jumped at from his blind side is potentially dangerous. And the subject can't help but make him remember the death he'd seen when he named Gojyo, the death that hadn't happened, where Gojyo had caught his wrist as he lost control in a fight, and Hakkai had turned with his claws at the ready before he saw who it was.

He turns his attention, after a moment, to his umbrella; as he opens it, a spray of droplets scatters across his bag. Jeep, nestled down between the handles, looks up with an aggrieved chirp.]

[smilingbullet]

[ There is an obvious change in atmosphere. It makes D2 wonder what Hakkai might have suddenly come to think about, though it was probably the conversation that had reminded him of what it was. He gives Jeep a quizzical look and then Hakkai as well, as if he might be able to tell what was wrong just by looking.

But he has no such abilities. In the end he is merely a completely normal SOG soldier, with nothing supernatural or paranormal about him. ]

It was meant as a compliment-... What's wrong?

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Ah, well.

[He stalls, briefly, and settles for:]

... It wouldn't be while I was fighting, I hope.

[He's trying to sound light and amused, but he suspects he's not succeeding.]

[smilingbullet]

That I'd go for a hug? Of course not.

[ But no, he's not getting away so easily. So: ]

What's wrong?

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Bad memories. Of someone who -- [he hesitates; he's not going to offer details, not when it didn't actually happen, not when it's a memory that can be very dangerous to spread around.

Not when he's talking to a shinki.]

-- who I didn't see in time.

[smilingbullet]

[ D2 wouldn't tell, he doesn't go around spreading people's secrets.

His frown deepens, now even more from concern.

On the one hand, he wants to know so he can try to help more. On the other hand, he doesn't want to force him to talk. ]

...you okay?

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I'm all right. ... It's just a memory.

[He offers a small smile, trying for reassurance. It's fine, really.

Or, if not fine, it's a lie, at least.]