thenearshore | won't you take me

Who: The Li Tieguai clusterfuck
What: Well, we're out of a shitty haunted forest, who wants dinner?
When: November 16, evening
Where: Li Tieguai's Temple

Usually, when there's some big nonsense in Heaven, Chikusa can be found out cold or "away" in his own head for most of the following couple of days afterwards... but that apparently only counts for event which involve people. Spending an entire day trekking through a possessed forest filled with violent plant-life and cultists is manageable.... somehow.

No matter how exhausted or injured anyone in the temple is, food still has to be made, and Hakka is in no condition to make it. Thus, dinner is being arranged by the other cook in the house, and invitations have been sent out to the relevant people Chikusa thinks care- namely Nanako and Ayumu, along with anyone they seek to bring. That doesn't mean people checking in on the Li Tieguai temple can't just waltz right into the dinner as well....

There's a lot to do in the time leading up to dinner, after all, depending on when people show up (or, you know, realize there's smells coming from the kitchen). Bon, the resident enormous Tibetan Mastiff, demands attention in the form of bodily flinging himself at people. There's a goat in the garden, tied away from all the important medical herbs. At least four different nekomata wander in and out of the temple ground whenever they please, including Pookie, the most permanent resident, and never shut up.... Not to mention that a Kung-Fu movie has been put on the television for people to watch.

There's also a sign on all entrances to the kitchen that says: CHO HAKKAI IS NOT ALLOWED TO COOK. Presumably Chikusa put it up while making direct eye contact with him.

Either way, mess around until dinner, have dinner, crash in the living room where another kung-fu movie has been put on again... Have fun.

Oh, and before it can be forgotten.... The dinner menu for the night is fritto misto, meaty Amatriciana sauce with bucatini noodles, and all the garlic bread in the world apparently. For dessert? Cannoli again. That... might be all he knows how to make on the dessert front.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Nuh-uh.

[Ken is standing nearby, looking conflicted, idly biting his lower lip as he watches Hakkai.]

Kakapi's gonna be mad you're not resting, byon. [Read: Ken's worried he'll be blamed for being Hakkai's accomplice if he helps him.] You're still tired, right?

I'm not so tired that I can't do simple things around the house, Ken! Chikusa doesn't want me to help in the kitchen, that's all.

[That's definitely not all, but Hakkai is pretending it is anyway. Chikusa hasn't directly told him otherwise.]

I was just exhausted, not badly hurt.

'Cause he wants you to rest instead, Hakkai-sama. [Ken's dumb, but he's not that dumb.] Laundry isn't resting. And you didn't need to do it today...it could've waited until tomorrow, byon.

Laundry is resting. I've stayed in the temple for two days now, I'm letting Chikusa cook, and I slept in this morning.

[Until eight a.m. He'd been a little surprised at himself when he saw the clock.

He had also, technically, slept most of yesterday, on account of having passed out shortly after getting back to the temple, and staying that way. It's good for his energy reserves, at least.]

Yeah, but... [Ken frowns. Hakkai's argument is pretty good, but Ken isn't convinced...even if it's hard for him to articulate why it isn't enough.] Kakipi's worried, byon.

I know he is. In this case, he's worrying unnecessarily.

[Really, it's not as if Hakkai's even badly injured.]

Is making him feel better unnecessary, too? [Ken frowns at Hakkai.]

Of course not.

[Don't think you're going to bully him into wrapping himself in several layers of cotton batting to appease your boyfriend, Ken. Cho Hakkai takes care of himself for no man.]

I've been staying in to make him feel better, after all. I'm not badly injured, just tired.

Yeah, but... [Ken is still frowning. He can sense what's at play here, even if Chikusa hasn't said anything to him.] ...you scared him, byon. You're the god he's liked best since Axel-sama. So he wants to make sure you're okay...and bad stuff keeps happening to you.

[Well, that makes it harder to be sulky. Hakkai falls silent, then, at last, ducks his head with a sigh.]

... I'll talk to him. But I really don't need to do nothing but rest all day.

But you're not back to normal yet, byon. [The fact that Ken can use the word 'normal' about anything about Hakkai, ever, with a straight face, just goes to show how accepting this dog is.] Why do you want to be moving around and doing chores so bad?

["Normal" is relative, after all. Hakkai laughs softly.]

Well, I get bored. I'm no good at resting quietly.

Oh. [Ken mulls this over for a few moments. Then - ]

What do you do for fun, Hakkai-sama?

Ah... well, I've picked up a few hobbies?

[He blinks.]

Why?

Well, if you did something you liked, you wouldn't be bored...and Kakipi can still feel like he's taking care of you.

... To be honest, I do like doing chores. It makes me feel as if--

[He has a home? He's earning his place here? Those are both sentiments, he reflects, that don't suit the man whose home this technically is. And yet, he can't quite shake them.

It may be that he was better suited to being a shinki, if it weren't for the problem of his letting his own regrets slowly destroy him.]

As if I'm accomplishing something.

Although I suppose I could always take up knitting again.

[Ken mulls this over.] I don't usually like doing chores, but...I like setting the table, byon. [The words take a long time to come - identifying with enjoying doing chores took him awhile to think of a chore he actually liked doing.] And I liked when I helped Roy-sama make food. It feels like having family.

[He gives Hakkai a mildly dubious look.] You knit? What'd you make? [He pauses, and then asks, in all seriousness - ] Is it because you were a scarf once?

Oh, I was a woven scarf. [He clips another towel onto the line, and smiles a little at Ken, around it.]

You should help Chikusa and me cook, once he allows me back into the kitchen.

[Ken frowns.] Kakipi doesn't let me help cook, byon. He says I steal too much food and ruin my appetite...

[This is because Chikusa is both blunt and truthful, and Ken cannot resist food when he's hungry...which being in the presence of a meal-in-progress inevitably makes him.]

But you can't ruin your appetite, can you? You're a shinki.

[Shinki don't get full.

Therefore it's fine.]

[Ken blinks.] We can't? [He's always been kind of a bottomless pit for food, so he hadn't realized that was a universal feature rather than just...the way he's always been. (Which means Chikusa's excuse never really held water, but.)]

...then he'll probably keep me out of the kitchen 'cause I'd eat all the food, byon. [Ken's immediate huff, and the way he thinks up Chikusa's next objection with barely a pause, shows just how well he knows his partner.]

Hmm, he might have a point there.

[Ken knows himself, too, it seems. Hakkai softens into a chuckle, and pins the last of the towels up on the line before wiping a hand over his brow and glancing up at the attenuated winter sun.]

Well, Ken, can you carry the basket back inside with me?

[Ken huffs at Chikusa's decision to keep him out of the kitchen being justified, but he still moves without hesitation to pick up the basket.] What're you gonna do now that you're finished with the laundry, byon?

I'm going to sit in the front room and grade worksheets.

[See? He's taking care! Really, he is. He chuckles at Ken's huff, and starts towards the temple.]

won't you take me

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