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.

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[Save Hakkai, too. He stares, taken off guard, with the tips of his ears actually turning very slightly red as he absorbs that statement.

So Chikusa told Goku that.]

I see.

Nothing really happened.

[There's just the faintest defensive hint of emphasis on really, enough to say as clear as the words Hakkai is definitely not going to use that Chikusa wasn't making anything up.]

[Just save them both from themselves. Wow, Goku isn't sure he's ever seen Hakkai blush even that much. That's weird.]

Nothin' really?

[Goku is confused. "Nothing really" isn't at all the same as "nothing". This is all kind of beyond him and he doesn't quite get it but something must have happened. Otherwise Hakkai would just laugh or say that Chikusa was being dumb. As it is, Goku is just lost.]

So... Chikusa was lying? [Can Hakkai look Goku in the eye and outright lie to him?]

[He can lie to Goku. But, in this case, he doesn't think it's a good idea. Goku is very straightforward, after all, and what Hakkai tells him -- if he believes it -- is likely to be repeated to others.

Others like Chikusa, for example, who Goku would immediately want to correct, and who isn't likely to have much patience for Hakkai's desire for privacy.]

No, he wasn't lying. I think he may have been exaggerating a little, though.

[That clears up absolutely nothing for Goku. He still has no clue what's going on. Chikusa was exaggerating when he said Gojyo and Hakkai had sex, but he wasn't lying? Nothing really happened but something happened? Why can't anyone just tell him clearly exactly what's going on?]

... Did you guys kiss or something?

[Is that something Gojyo and Hakkai are doing now?? Goku isn't sure how he feels about that. It's definitely not bad but... This is so weird.]

[Talking to Goku about the disaster that is his relationship with Gojyo is not exactly how he wanted to spend this afternoon, but, it seems, here he is. Chikusa owes him an apology for this.]

Yes, we did, but it was a mistake.

[And not one Hakkai's planning to repeat anytime soon: not with how thoroughly it had destroyed their barely-resurrected agreement to try to be friends, and not with how fragile Gojyo is now. He neatens the edges of one of the towels on the line, unnecessarily.]

So it's nothing to worry about.

I didn't say I was worried.

[There's something in the way Hakkai says "it's nothing to worry about" that makes Goku think it is something to worry about. However, there's also something about how tense Hakkai is that makes Goku worry for himself. He's missing information and it's strange. He's used to not understanding things Hakkai says, but they usually involve math in some way.]

... Are you worried?

I'm worried about him, but not for reasons that have anything to do with who he's kissing. It's Gojyo, after all....

[So, terrible kissing-related decisions are only to be expected, aren't they?

Ha ha.]

He's been running off and doing dangerous things a little too often.

Well, yeah, it's Gojyo but...

[But it's also Hakkai. He expects bad kissing-related decisions from Gojyo and maybe from random women he meets that don't know any better. Of all the bad decisions Hakkai makes, Goku never expected kissing to be involved in any of them.

Maybe he should just stay out of this one. When Sanzo gets back- which is bound to be any day now- he can ask him and maybe he'll know if they should get involved. Hakkai's already trying to change the subject, after all.]

He really freaked out when you were missing. He wanted to start setting everything on fire.

[Hakkai's made a lot of bad decisions lately. He'd rather Goku not find out about too many of them.

It's embarrassing, for one thing.]

Did he?

[Is he really that desperate for whatever stability Hakkai's presence seems to offer him? Hakkai winces.]

Well, I'm glad he didn't set everything on fire before we were out of the forest....

[Running off and doing dangerous things is way less embarrassing, all things considered. They're all so well practiced at it, after all.]

I stopped him! [Be proud of him, Hakkai, Goku was a responsible adult and voice of reason while you were gone.] And I told him you'd be fine, but he still kept freaking out.

[Gojyo's so dumb, not having blind faith in his friends abilities to survive all kinds of danger.]

[Running off and doing dangerous things is a normal kind of bad decisionmaking. Making out at parties is a very abnormal one. Hakkai'd rather not find himself having to explain the reasoning behind it.

It's all embarrassing.]

Well, you have to remember, he hasn't known me very long. [He doesn't have a good benchmark for Hakkai's resilience. And, besides, it hasn't been all that long since Hakkai was garrotted while trying to complete an ill-timed assassination attempt, anyway.]

But I'm glad you stopped him.

Well, I mean, he was only a little worse than he normally is when somethin' happens to you.

[He doesn't normally try to fistfight random teenagers in the woods or try to start a wildfire on a whim and he normally maintains some chill in times of crisis, but still. It wasn't very weird.]

Anyway, it's all fine now. You're okay and he's okay and we only set some stuff on fire in the end!

And I think everything that was set on fire in the end deserved it.

[Because, really, fuck those trees. And vines. And underbrush; Hakkai still has some very annoying thorn punctures.]

But, yes, I'm certainly hoping that things will be a little quieter for a while now... and I'll be careful of forests.

Good! If you get kidnapped again, you'll look really weak, Hakkai!

[You only get one freebie. Okay, he's obviously just teasing. After getting kidnapped by trees a little teasing is practically obligatory. Even for Hakkai.]

Gojyo and I were in the forest for ages without getting captured, you know! We escaped when we weren't even trying to!

I wouldn't want that! If even you and Gojyo can find your way through the forest without being tackled by a tree, then I really look bad, don't I?

[He affects a despairing expression.]

Maybe if you start carryin' matches or an axe or somethin'...

[This is a serious problem that they need to brainstorm solutions to.]

[He sighs, still dramatic.]

I'll have to sew some very large pockets into my slacks if I'm going to start carrying an axe.

Perhaps a little spray bottle of herbicide would do the trick?

won't you take me

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