thenearshore | [closed] nothing we can call our own but death

Entry tags:

[closed] nothing we can call our own but death

Who: Tenpou and Konzen
What: After the mayhem, a little catching up
When: 6 April
Where: Konzen's house
Warnings: n/a

The things he saw, he can't unsee. It's there when he closes his eyes. They haunt his dreams, if by some miracle he sleeps. The fault is his, and his alone. In that do or die moment, he made a choice. The akayashi loomed above, trapping them inside. They had to do something. And maybe in his own selfish way, he wanted to be connected to Goku again in some way, even if it meant binding him in this strange unnatural manner. Branding him with a new name -- one that was different from the first one he gave him. What came afterward was almost too painful to bear.

There was never much of a chance anyway. But somewhere along the way, he had built up so much hope. There were promises to keep, a new and different world to discover. Even if they couldn't be together then, they would find each other eventually under the cherry trees. A fool's hope, from the very beginning. When he saw the world painted red in Goku's blood, the vision of his death piled heavy on his conscience and his heart. It was like being squeezed all over again, only this time, he couldn't hope for the oblivion that the gate would deliver when it slammed shut.

The night draws close. He sits on the floor in his empty house, by the terrace doors that look out into the courtyard. All the glass doors are open, letting in the spring air. It smells like flowers and water, but he doesn't really pay it much attention. The house is so quiet at this time of day. Though maybe at some point in the the next hour, he might see a welcome face. They have much to discuss, after all. Even if he's not sure he's ready.

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"I'm coming in."

Tenpou's voice can be heard from the front entrance as he steps inside, taking in his surroundings with both hands in his pockets and a cigarette in his mouth.

If this were Tenpou's own temple, he would feel of place in this tastefully decorated space, but living like this will probably be good for Konzen. Not only it's tidy enough, it seems to be bright in here, even though it's almost dark outside. That's somehow fitting.

Walking casually towards the terrace doors in his now tattered labcoat, Tenpou chooses not to address the obvious first. They have time, after all.

"You have a nice place," he comments as he joins Konzen on the floor, looking outside as he speaks. "Whose temple is this?"

The house is small, by god standards. Nothing too extravagant or self-aggrandizing as many temples to the divine tend to be. The rooms are spare and undecorated, with glass and white washed walls to reflect sunlight in the daytime. Konzen thinks it suits him well enough, considering the absurdity of his situation. Maybe some gods prefer to congratulate themselves on their own divinity, but Konzen does not.

He tilts his head toward the sound of Tenpou's voice. When he comes in with his tattered labcoat, he can't help but quirk his lips just a little. Some things never change.

Konzen himself has been patched up since their encounter with a giant cube the day before. He looks a little worse for wear, but nothing close to how he appeared before he died.

"Helios," he says with a snort. The heavens must have thought it quite funny. He pushes a shallow glass bowl toward Tenpou on the floor, to use as an ashtray. He knows to be prepared.

Edited 2016-07-25 02:22 (UTC)

"Hmm, it's not a bad choice for you. I live at Athena's place. It's the same mythology, but Athena is an Olympian goddess... Her temple here looks nothing like this. It's like a miniature Parthenon," he helpfully clarifies.

Though smaller than the real thing, Athena's temple is rather grandiose inside. Still, Tenpou felt at home with all the sculptures, books and assorted works of art that served as decoration back there, and having a lot of space meant having a lot of room for new things to fill it. In fact, Tenpou would have gotten sidetracked exploring his new rooms and the arts collection he had inherited from (the previous?) Athena after their fight, but Kenren had stepped in to take him to his own temple and made sure that he'd washed off the blight last night. Tenpou hadn't exactly appreciated the interruption, but at least he only had a few mild injuries as a souvenir from their fight now.

Tenpou flicks his ash into the glass bowl. "Have you been sitting here for long? We can take a walk around, if you prefer."

Edited 2016-07-25 08:44 (UTC)

Athena sounds somewhat familiar. Konzen isn't all that read up on gods from other pantheons. In fact, he'd been quite certain they were all myths before he arrived here. He still thinks maybe they are. It's not like he's seen any evidence of this 'Helios' that he supposedly embodies now. A sun god. He gives Tenpou a not you too sort of look at his remark. Goku just mistook his hair for sunshine, that's all.

He thinks to ask what a parthenon is, but maybe when he goes to see Tenpou's place, he'll have a better idea. This wouldn't be the first time Tenpou just dropped references that Konzen didn't recognize.

"A few minutes, I guess," he answers instead.

In truth, the house has felt a bit empty. It's been a while since he's had all this room to himself. Goku used to fill his spaces with all his stuff and energy.

He rises to his feet.

"Let's go, then."

Edited 2016-07-25 23:16 (UTC)

Tenpou rises as well, leaving the impromptu ashtray forgotten on the floor as he waits for Konzen to lead the way and glances around once more. Helios's place does seem good for Konzen, a nice place where he will be exposed to the beauty of the things around him without having to go out of his way to search for it. But after all they went through, Konzen might want something else. He might want to reach for it himself.

"I can show you how to get to my place on our way," he offers as they head outside, following Konzen a few steps behind until there's enough room for them to walk side to side. "It's not hard to get there from here." And then Konzen can drop by if and when he wants to, without reason, invitation or excuse.

They step down into the courtyard lined with cobblestone. Konzen doesn't bother to close up his terrace doors. It's a pleasant enough night, and he rather doubts he'll get anyone breaking in here on the Far Shore. (There's not much to take anyway).

The night feels like a luke warm spring, not unlike how the heavens used to be -- dull and temperate. Maybe all places like this are the same. He hasn't been in the Far Shore long enough to know.

On our way?

Did Tenpou have a specific destination in mind for them?

"Sure," he says. And he is curious to see this temple of his. No doubt it's going to fill up with Tenpou's collections soon enough. Assuming they'll be here for a while.

"Are we heading somewhere...?"

"Hmm... I wonder," he says. "But there are a couple of places I could show you, if you haven't explored our new 'Heaven' yet." Such as the location of Menrva's Temple, where Goku is currently staying. He really doesn't think that the destination is the important part, though. And depending on how their conversation goes, it might change.

Tenpou takes a deep drag of his cigarette, so close to the filter it almost burns, then grinds it out with a twist of his foot on the ground. Slippers aren't the most comfortable of footwear to walk in outdoors, but he doesn't seem to mind.

What he minds are other things. And Konzen must have his own concerns... After their fight against the ayakashi yesterday, Tenpou doesn't doubt that.

"Things have changed a lot for us lately, haven't they?" An understatement, but also an open question. Konzen has always been good at steering serious conversations where he wants them to go. That seems a good place to start.

You never really know when Tenpou gives such a noncommittal answer like that. He probably has something in mind, which he'll reveal in due time. Konzen nods and lets him lead the way as he will.

Somehow he doesn't find it too surprising that even in this new sort of 'life,' Tenpou hasn't done away with the cigarettes. The ever present smell of tobacco always lingers around him.

"Hn. You could say that," he says dryly. A lot of things have changed very fast for Konzen. He's still reeling from it all.

"I'm ... glad you're here, though."

It's awkward for him to put into words, but it's the truth. And surprisingly easy to say, considering how hard everything else has been.

Tenpou's surprise isn't apparent, but Konzen can tell it's there if he's paying attention before a gentle smile inevitably spreads on his face.

"I'm glad you're here, too," he says, looking up at the sky as they walk down the path that will lead them to Athena's temple. "Even though this is far from what we had in mind."

Edited 2016-07-27 04:57 (UTC)

He can tell. But only because Konzen knows him well enough. There aren't many people in the world at all who fall under this category for him. Possibly only two or three.

He clears his throat. At least he's finally getting the reunion that he'd hoped for, now. The one yesterday went completely pear-shaped. And maybe he also knows that he acted rather irrationally in the beginning. He'd like to chalk it up to be being so riled-up by his rooftop encounter, but he knows that's not all of it.

"There are the cherry trees, at least," he says with a snort. Though how ironic they'd arrive at the season when they're already scattering to the wind. At least, in the Near Shore.

"...So what're we gonna do?"

Might as well begin with the question that hangs in the air. Because talking about the past, that might be a little painful. A necessary thing that can creep in just a little later.

Tenpou glances at Konzen. The irony of the season wasn't lost on him, but then Konzen's question makes their conversation take a serious turn, and he doesn't comment on it after all. For better or worse, it doesn't feel like there is place for jokes or casual remarks here.

"Are you talking about Goku?"

Edited 2016-07-28 04:15 (UTC)

That they're together again at all must be some sort of design. Heaven has a way of kicking you in the shins when you're down. What he's learned about Goku's punishment is just the worst part of that realization. They need to be ready.

"Him. Us."

He adds, after some hesitation, "Them."

Because much as he'd like to ignore them altogether, it's just glaring right back at him (and Kenren and Tenpou) in the face. With their faces. And Goku was a part of them, too.

"Ah. It makes you think, doesn't it?"

And that's what Tenpou tried to do for the most part of the day, or at least whenever he wasn't distracted by the unusual books and sculptures in Athena's temple. In the end, he went outside to clear his mind, becoming familiar with the paths that led to other temples but accomplishing little more than that. Most of what he had were conjectures and questions.

"Well, since we're not familiar with the way this Heaven works, we can't rule out the possibility that they may be us, in a sense. But most of our doubles are shinki, so we can't just ask and compare. Reincarnation is a delicate subject. And then there's the threat of the blight if they start thinking about it..." He pauses. "Did you see anything when you named Goku as your shinki?"

Edited (someday i will stop editing everything i have faith in this) 2016-07-28 22:37 (UTC)

Tenpou has considered a lot of options, Konzen is sure of it. Reincarnation should certainly be one of them, but Konzen's eyebrow twitches anyway when he hears it mentioned. His encounter with Sanzo has left him with a very nasty impression that doesn't just go away.

Still, he can't deny that Sanzo used to be a big part of Goku's life. His anguish in the moment of Goku's death would have echoed Konzen's own, if he had been there too.

He glances away when Tenpou asks about that very thing. Tenpou must already know that you see a shinki's death when you name them. He's asking about what else he saw.

"... him," Konzen says after a pause. "Sanzo. I saw him. And I saw a shadow behind him. But not its face. Sanzo fired his gun at it, but there wasn't anything there."

Well, a shadow isn't very reassuring. Tenpou nods, noticing Konzen's reaction to his question.

It would be good not to have to discuss this. It seems that everything they need to talk about is personal and potentially painful. But they won't learn anything by keeping silent.

"...Kenren said that the Three Aspects told Goku and the others to stop Gyumaoh's resurrection. They must have made many enemies on their own. But Goku is remarkably powerful. If what happened to him was related to the enemies that we made, learning more about it might help us have a better understanding of the situation."

From the looks of it, even though they were brought back from the dead (so to speak), anyone can die a second time here, and there's no guarantee that it won't be permanent then. Tenpou has no doubt that both Konzen and Kenren will agree that they will not let that happen to Goku again, no matter what, whether their doubles help with that or not. Tenpou suspects that they would, but he understands Konzen's reaction to Sanzo. His own thoughts on Hakkai are more than a little jumbled.

Earlier, Konzen asked what they were going to do. Working out how much of a story they share with the other three might be a good place to start. If Nataku or anyone from Heaven was involved in Goku's death, that would open a whole other can of worms... but at this point, Tenpou isn't sure that this place isn't somehow related to their Heaven. There are too many things they still don't know.

"I have to ask. Could you tell if it was a sneak attack? Or whether a weapon was used? Did anything else make an impression?"

Edited 2016-07-30 08:19 (UTC)

Gyumaou? The one that Nataku got hurt defeating? This is the first Konzen has heard of a resurrection, and his surprise shows in his face. If it really has been five hundred years, why would anyone bring him back now? Everything feels uncomfortably circular. The familiar faces that gathered to Goku, the involvement of heaven in their lives, and now even Gyumaou? The fallout from their time in heaven is still haunting them to this day. Maybe if they're real lucky, Litouten will make an appearance too. And that would just make this whole shit show complete.

He frowns a little when Tenpou inquires further. But of course he needs to know these things, doesn't he? Konzen isn't sure how helpful he can be. But he'll push his own pain aside if it'll be even barely useful.

"They weren't expecting it, no. They were talking one minute, and then there was..."

There was no weapon. None that Konzen could see, anyway. He furrows his brow and continues.

"A lot of blood. I don't think even Sanzo knew what hit him. And there wasn't a sound, so it couldn't be a gun. Does it ... do you think this is related to Gyumaou?"

Konzen doesn't know what sort of powers Gyumaou had. Indeed, there's much he doesn't know much at all about the World Below.

That kind of attack doesn't seem like Heaven's style, but that doesn't mean it won't mean anything to Gojyo. He'll have to see if he can get Kenren to ask him about it later, or have that conversation himself if the other man seems open to it. Since they have so many pieces of this puzzle, they should at least try to put them together... But not around Konzen-- not unless he asks. As far as Tenpou is concerned, he's done enough.

"It's a possibility. It's probably related to their mission, at any rate. And I don't think we are unrelated to that. Assuming that Nataku never recovered, it would make sense for Heaven to seek out Goku and... our doubles, to stop Gyumaou's resurrection." He scratches his head absently. Calling them doubles seems more pointless by the second. "Although I'm not sure why Goku was imprisoned instead of taken back to Heaven in that case, or how a resurrection could be accomplished in the first place." He certainly didn't remember reading anything about that. Another taboo?

Edited 2016-07-31 00:55 (UTC)

"Hn."

Damn hypocrites, all of them. They cast out Goku and shut him up into a cave for five hundred years, and now they want his help? This was bullshit.

"Whatever is going on, someone needs to answer for it. I need to talk to the hag. Have you heard anything about her?"

"Nothing. I asked Kenren about that as well, but he didn't know anything either," he replies calmly enough. "I hope we can find her. I'd like to ask a few questions myself." That last comment wasn't all that calm, though.

As they turn right, a doric style building can be seen at the distance. "Ah, there it is... That's Athena's temple." It doesn't look too big, but it is big enough to be potentially disastrous in the hands of someone like Tenpou.

Edited 2016-07-31 22:55 (UTC)

Konzen nods. He's quite sure that Tenpou does have a few things to ask her. And by the tone of his voice, he won't be especially pleased. Someone has to explain why things went so sideways. The Bodhisattva is a powerful presence, but how much did she really contribute to how things went down? He won't know unless he tracks her down. Litouten claimed that they were all mere cogs in his grand revenge. He would have marveled at the opportunity to bring down the great gods of heaven, including her.

(Yeah, Konzen's angry. But he's also worried).

They come up on the place Tenpou's been staying, and it actually looks like a temple. Pillars line the outside and it looks large enough to house a lot of libraries and places to disappear into for a long time. Konzen snorts.

"And how are you finding it?"

"This place? It's comfortable, even if it looks like this. There must be thousands of books I haven't read in here. And there's also statues, sculptures and other works of art." He pauses, admiring the columns. He really should read more on classic Greek architecture later... And Roman? Yes, Roman as well. "The main hall is a little cold, but most of the rooms are modern and have central heating."

Bringing Konzen to his new place wasn't what he had in mind at first, but then he got distracted with their conversation and his feet led them here instead of taking that turn left and then another turn right. Well, nothing keeps them from resuming their walk, if Konzen still feels like it.

"Do you want to come in?"

Thousands of books and crammed full of art and statues. It sounds like Tenpou could get lost in there and be perfectly contented for quite some time. Wouldn't be such a bad place to be, if there weren't other things to keep them occupied. After all, Tenpou's own collection had been destroyed in the explosion they'd set in their escape from heaven.

"It's not a disaster area already, is it?" he says with a snort. But his feet turn toward the path to the temple as he speaks.

"I haven't had much time to look through it," he admits, walking slightly behind him for a bit before catching up. He has mixed feelings about this, including his inherited collection, but he has to start somewhere. They all do.

In fact, he found a few young adult mystery novel sagas in one of the rooms earlier, and immediately thought of Konzen. "Let me know if you'd like something to read. I saw a few books you might enjoy."

The last time Konzen borrowed a book from Tenpou, he ended up staying up late finishing it. Weird thing was, he didn't think he'd like it as much as he did. Pick something you thought was interesting, he'd said to Tenpou. But 'interesting' was a relative thing, and Tenpou tended to find a lot of odd things interesting.

Konzen had been pleasantly surprised.

The continuation. He asked for it, as Tenpou handed him the pass-code to the Dimension Gate.

Of course.

As though such a promise could be kept.

Maybe not everything is so excruciating, here. He glances at his friend as they fall into step toward the path to the temple, his expression softening.

"Set them aside, then. You still owe me one."

"Certainly."

If Konzen is able to to tie that in so easily, isn't he the one who's able to move forward more honestly, out of the two of them?

...Well, of course he is. If anything, dwelling on the past is Tenpou's bad habit, not Konzen's.

"I'll try to find that one for you, anyway. But I can't promise that--"

Edited 2016-08-03 05:39 (UTC)

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