won't you take me

[kokuyoyo]

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.

Comments

[junkyarddog]

I mean like we've always worked together, even when we were alive. [Ken looks toward the kitchen and, after a moment, turns a little red.] What do you care, byon?

[Gojyo isn't fully trusted yet. He's getting the tsundere response. The fact that Ken is completely transparent regardless of any dissembling he might attempt is a minor detail.]

[erogappa]

[ Bingo. Nice blush, kid. ]

I care 'cause I'm livin' here now!

[ Even when we were alive. The heavens sure want them to create bonds, don't they? How many people here have been given memories to believe they're in love with another person here, he wonders? They could have been told they were in the military together, or brothers, or a dozen other things, but instead they get memories of being important enough to make Ken blush. It's hard to forgive manipulation like that. ]

I don't care, okay? I just wanna know if I'm gonna need to go get some earplugs.

[junkyarddog]

Earplugs? [Ken gives Gojyo a genuinely confused look. Either he's not processing, they're not at that point in their relationship yet, or both.]

[erogappa]

[ Gojyo just blinks at that. So much for trying to be subtle, apparently? ]

Yeah. [ Come on, kid, his expression seems to say. You're not that dumb! ] Earplugs. For when you two get loud. [ He should probably be a little more specific, huh. ] In the bedroom.

[junkyarddog]

[There you go, Gojyo. Ken turns several more shades of red, scowling in petulant embarrasment. And, immediately, he retaliates.] Does that mean I should get noseplugs when you're in the shower for hours, byon?

[Ken's okay with mutually assured destruction.]

[erogappa]

[ Now it's Gojyo's turn to be confused. ]

Oi, it's Hakkai's soap. You've got a problem with it, take it up with him. I didn't pick the stuff.

[junkyarddog]

I can smell stuff through the soap, byon. Like why you were in there for an hour. Not even Kakipi cares about being clean that much.

[erogappa]

[ Wait, is he...? Is he saying what it sounds like he's saying? ]

You're sniffin' me in the bathroom? [ The joke about hearing them in the bedroom was just a joke -- this is serious! ] Don't sniff people when they're in the bathroom! That's private!

[ It's not like they crap but what if they did okay. That's just intrusive! ]

[junkyarddog]

I can't help it if my nose is good, byon! [Ken huffs.] Besides, you were the one being a jerk to Hakkai-sama and trying to get him in trouble with the heavens, and then he brought you into the temple. I would've been keeping tabs on you anyway.

Besides, I smell and hear stuff like that all the time, byon. [Even Chikusa heard Hakkai and Ayumu...but Ken isn't dumb enough to say anything about that to Gojyo. In fact, maybe he'd better add...] ...not from Hakkai-sama. Just around, byon.

[erogappa]

[ Hakkai doesn't... really? Really? Man, that's just not healthy. ...And it doesn't make sense, either. Why would the heavens give Gojyo memories to make him want Hakkai, but not do the same for Hakkai?

That's actually concerning. He's going to need to think about that one. ]

I don't care who else you're sniffin' at, don't sniff me, got it? [ Great, now he's going to be paranoid about his shower time. ] Tell you what, I'll warn you when it's gonna get smelly in here if you warn me when it's gonna get loud, deal?

[junkyarddog]

I don't get to choose how my nose works. [Ken huffs again. But at Gojyo's offer, he tilts his head.] Okay, I guess...but Kakipi and I haven't done anything like that anyway.

["Haven't" implies something along the lines of "not yet".]

What about if you and Hakkai get loud, byon?

[erogappa]

[ Well why not? he's about to ask. You've got all the right parts, don't you? But then Ken has to turn the conversation around and point it right back at him, again.

The kid needs to stop doing that. All he wants is to get Ken to think good thoughts about his boyfriend! Why is that too much to ask for? ]

Never gonna happen.

[junkyarddog]

How come? [Ken frowns.] You like each other, don't you? And don't say something stupid about how you're not the right person, byon. You're still the same person - and even if you weren't, Hakkai-sama likes the person you are now just fine, so it doesn't matter anyhow.

[erogappa]

[ Apparently it's way too much to ask for. Gojyo shoves off from the wall where he's been leaning this whole time and jams his hands deep into his pockets. ]

Hakkai-sama thinks he needs to take care of me so I don't get anybody killed. He's not lookin' for anything like that from me, not now, not ever.

[ Can they change the subject back to Ken's love life, please? ]

The only lovebirds in the building right now are you and Chikusa.

[junkyarddog]

[Ken frowns.] That's not what he thinks, byon. He wants to make sure you're okay 'cause he cares about you a lot. When Kakapi and I were asking him about you and why you hated him, and what he was gonna do to fix things, he got more upset and frustrated than I've ever seen him be about anything. Even when he lost all his memories and Ayumu punched him in the face for stuff he didn't remember.

[He huffs.] If he doesn't want to do anything with you, or you don't wanna do anything with him, that's fine...but at least ask what he wants instead of just assuming dumb stuff 'cause you think you know everything, byon. [Then he lolls his tongue out at Gojyo, mockingly.] Or is it that you're just too chicken to find out for sure?

[This is about as far as Ken's ability to manipulate extends - try to provoke people, in a manner of provocation that would absolutely work on him.]

It's not like you've got anything to lose, if you already think he's not into you.

[erogappa]

[ What Gojyo hears:

Gojyo makes Hakkai upset and frustrated. Ayumu punched Hakkai in the face. Ken argues like an eight year old. In the face. ]

What I think is that I owe Ayumu a drink. [ And also that this attempt at messing with Hakkai via Ken is going to be a miserable disaster, but that's okay. They're both going to walk away alive and unharmed, so as far as bad decisions go, this was was nothing. He runs a hand through his hair, spiking up the two-inch stubble even more dramatically. ] And that brats who don't have the guts to make out with their boyfriends don't have any right to call other people out on it.

[junkyarddog]

[Ken jabs an accusatory finger at Gojyo.] I will if you will, byon!

[erogappa]

[ You know what. Fuck it. ]

Deal.

[ But. There's always a but. ]

But Hakkai's got to say that he's interested first. [ Which will never happen. ] I'm not just gonna walk up and stick my tongue down his throat. But you already know Chikusa's interested, so you've got no excuses.

[junkyarddog]

I know 'cause I had to ask him, byon. [Ken folds his arms over his chest.] So that means you gotta do that with Hakkai, too, right? You can't just wait around for him to say something like that out of the blue to a guy who just stopped hating him.

[erogappa]

[ How the hell did Ken manage to take control of the conversation so completely. ]

Fine.

[ --Gojyo snarls, and that's that. He's committed.

(He should be committed, for this. What the hell is he thinking? This is going to end in tears, or blood, or maybe both.) ]

I'll ask Hakkai if he's into me,[ --which he totally won't be, ] and you kiss Chikusa until one of you falls over.

[ He's gonna lose, but at least he won't be the only one! ]

[junkyarddog]

Shake on it, byon. [Ken commands this, holding out a hand that's only slightly clawed rather than extremely. He's not channeling at the moment.

Then there's a pause.]

...it can't be right now, though. I'm still banned from the kitchen.

[erogappa]

[ Damn right he shakes on it. ]

By tomorrow's fine.

[ And now they have a deadline. ...Shit. Shit. ]

[junkyarddog]

[Ken grins broadly, almost triumphantly.] My part's gonna be simple, byon! Making Kakipi fall over is easy. I do it without even kissing him all the time!