thenearshore | It's four in the morning

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It's four in the morning

Who: Gojyo and his gods (Ayumu, Goku, and Hakkai)
What: Gojyo has a nightmare. Everyone responds.
When: Very early morning of January 11th
Where: ASATO'S, the bar formerly known as KINYOBI
Warnings: See individual subject lines

[ The last of the Friday Men have left for the night, the glasses and mixware have been stowed in the tiny dishwasher beneath the counter, the place has been wiped and swept, and the lights, one by one, switched off. Finally, exhausted, Gojyo falls into bed, and dreams.

It's summer, and the hallway is stifling hot. The grocery bag in his arms is heavy, the cheap paper softening from his sweat and threatening to tear. He has to hold the bags tight, the sharp edges of their contents digging into his bare arms, and he grumbles a little about all those petty things.

Still, he's happy. The door he wants is in sight now, and his mind is a soft blur of anticipation. He'll set his burden down, stretch out beneath the fan, maybe have a beer... And the day has been a good one too, he thinks, although the details aren't clear. They don't need to be, though -- he did something good, he helped somebody (a kid, right? A lost kid, scared and alone). The bags he's carrying, they're for others too, aren't they? He's been helpful -- he's been useful. Somebody will smile at him when he opens that door. Somebody will be happy to see him.

But this is a nightmare. When he opens the door, nobody is smiling.

When he opens the door, he sees Goku, dead on the floor. Past him is a Sanzo -- Sharak? No, it's Genjo, Goku and Genjo, and as he turns, the bags falling, he sees Hakkai's body out of the corner of his eye.

He can't breathe.

"This is what you wanted!" crows a tiny voice -- it's the kid, the kid he helped, but the kid's a monster, or riding a monster, he can't tell, everything is blurring, "you wished for this!" and he didn't, he didn't want this! He didn't want Hakkai dead, not really, and never Goku, god, not Goku. Not Goku.

He throws himself out of bed in the dark, his summon weapon appearing in a flash, dripping with sweat in the freezing January air. He can still see them, bodies twisted and still, lying on the floor all around him. Dead because of him. Dead because of his mistake. He can't breathe.

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[All gone, my fault, dead, gone, dead, dead-

Goku sits up in bed with a start, gasping for air and tangled in sheets as he falls out of bed with a thud. He's still half asleep, even kneeling on the floor and trying to get free. Still shaking from the terror and grief that has a tight grip on his heart. It's familiar enough to be horrifying, but foreign enough to confuse him.]

Ah... hah...

[Something is wrong. Something is terribly, terribly wrong and Goku doesn't know what. He just knows that the worst thing imaginable has happened, whatever that might be. He has to find the others. He has to get to them right now. Hakkai is just down the hall, but Gojyo is closest. He can get to Gojyo. He just has to reach out-

About one minute after he wakes up, Gojyo gets Goku suddenly appearing in midair over his head and falling on top of him.]

[Ayumu hasn't been a god a full month yet and this isn't even the first time she's bolted awake due to someone else's feeling. She hasn't been sleeping well so she's more than a little disoriented, sorting through cobwebs of bewildered exhaustion to try to pinpoint which shinki's the one in distress right now.

It's not Joss. He's still sound asleep. And the pull's not coming from Maria's room so it's not her either. So that leaves Gojyo.

There's a brief delay before a very bleary eyed Ayumu appears in the bar's common room, still clad in kitty pajamas, bathrobe, and lucky cat slippers with her hair bound in messy, twin braids.]

Gojyo? Where are you?

[The words she calls out are still slurred with sleep. Did she sleep teleport here?]

[Dead. Dead because of him: Hakkai's sleeping lightly when secondhand panic crashes through his mind, jolting him upright on the couch in the front room where he'd set his book down on his lap and closed his eyes against a headache, for just a moment, several hours ago. His sleep is too light to have let him dream, but the clutch of nameless fear feels like waking from a nightmare. For a moment he almost feels cold bone fingers brush him, almost smells blood and bowel, and his hand clenches tight on the spine of his book.

It's not a nightmare. He's awake, and it's not fading. It's his shinki, horrified, choking on shock and grief: not Chikusa, and it's silent upstairs, so not Ken either. Gojyo.

Gojyo, who's alone in that little bar, still in the same place as it had been when yakuza targeted it. Gojyo, who the local gangs would love to kill, if they could only remember him.

Hakkai blinks out of existence in his living room, and a few seconds later is standing just inside the door of Asato's, in yesterday's badly rumpled clothes, a copy of Man and Nature in Southeast Asia held in one hand like a lethal weapon.]

[ There's a few small lights in the front of the bar -- the fridge, the power lights on the jukebox, the dim glow of the exit sign -- but the back is pitch black. Gojyo can't see a thing.

So when something leaps at him from the darkness, he acts on panicked instinct, swinging the blade up and around at his attacker even as he falls back. ]

[Goku is still shaking off the last traces of sleep, even as he falls through the air. This all still feels kind of like a dream. Still, in a dream it's no trouble to sense a weapon coming his way, judge where the attacker's hand would be in relation to a blade, and then deflect it with a kick long enough for him to land on the floor, roll forward smoothly, and then smack his head against the wall as he finishes.]

... Ow! [What the hell... Goku blinks a few times, trying to get rid of the sleep in his eyes and figure out where he is through the darkness.] Whaz goin' on? ... Gojyo?

[Right, right, he's gotta find... Gojyo... Wow, the floor here is really cold. Maybe he should have put pants on first. Instead, he's just wearing the t-shirt and boxers he fell asleep in.]

[Gojyo's under attack. Or at least, that's what it seems like to her sleep-addled state. The sounds of a struggle coming from the backroom and the distress she's picking up is enough to spur Ayumu into action. She's familiar enough with the backroom to be able to teleport to just inside the doorway so she does that now. One hand shoots out toward the light switch on the wall, intent on flipping it and potentially blinding Gojyo's assailant for a moment. Her other hand moves to shield her eyes from the incoming illumination.]

Edited 2018-08-27 14:05 (UTC)

[There's shuffling, the distinctive hiss of Gojyo's shakujo cutting the air, and Goku shouting...?

Goku, but not anyone else?

The light comes on in the inner room in a blaze, and Hakkai stalks towards it, not moving too quickly. Weapons are out, and he can see at least one other figure in there; he'd rather not take a crescent blade to the face for moving too fast.

Also, he's very tired, and despite the eerie clarity that comes of adrenaline layered over sleep debt, he's fairly sure he'll trip over his own feet if he hurries. If this is a yakuza attack, that will probably get him shot.]

[ It's Goku. Whoever is attacking him kicks his weapon aside, jarring his broken arm but that doesn't matter because it's Goku, Goku's alive, he's here. Here somewhere. ]

Goku?

[ Here somewhere, and maybe hurt. Gojyo banishes his weapon with a bleary thought, reaching out with both hands in the dark, feeling for Goku. But he doesn't make it two steps before the lights come on, blinding him all over again. With a hiss, he slaps one hand over his eyes, still reaching out with the other.

He can't let Goku die! ]

Goku, where th'fuck are you!?

Edited 2018-08-27 15:05 (UTC)

[It's dark. Goku doesn't remember where he is. His head hurts. But he can hear a voice-]

Gojyo- urgh! [He slaps a hand over his eyes as suddenly it's bright again.] Aw, come on, what the hell!

[Will no one have pity on this poor monkey? Goku groans and rolls over, getting up onto his knees.]

It's too early!

[After giving herself a second to adjust, Ayumu carefully moves her hand aside so she can get a good eyeful of what they're dealing with. There's Gojyo, of course, and Goku, too, on the floor in his boxers. There's no other sign of any intruders, however, which leaves out the yakuza.

Had it been a god, then? Or at least someone else with the ability to teleport? She stares fuzzily at the scene with a blank expression that quickly gives way to very clear bewilderment.]

Where'd they go?

[Now that the immediate danger seems to be gone, it comes out in a drowsy mumble to no one in particular.]

[By the time Hakkai makes it across the room -- a few more seconds -- his eyes are adjusting to the dazzle of the light. He stops at the doorway, looking around. Goku's on his knees on the ground, Gojyo and Ayumu (Ayumu?) are on their feet by the light switch, and there are no enemies and no bodies anywhere to be seen.

There's not even blood; he takes a deep breath, and is sure. Goku's holding his head, but no one's bleeding.

He pinches the bridge of his nose, allowing himself a moment as the adrenaline in his bloodstream begins, reluctantly, to ebb.]

... Bad dream?

[ He spins around at the voice from the doorway, squinting against the too-bright overhead light (he's really got to get a dimmer bulb in here for mornings). ]

...Ayumu? What...?

[ And there's Hakkai. Suddently aware of how undressed he is (he's wearing boxers, sure, but they don't hide much), Gojyo warily folds his hands over his junk and takes a step back towards the wall.

Everyone was dead, and now everyone's here, and there was a step in the middle that he clearly missed. ]

What are you all doing here?

[Goku could not care less about anyone in this room seeing him in his boxers. He's basically dressed, it's fine. The floor, however, is super cold and the heart-racing terror from before has faded. Maybe he should have put pants on.]

I had a nightmare... [No, that's not right. Goku pauses. He's been through this before with Ayumu, now he thinks about it.] I mean, I woke up and it was like I had a nightmare.

[He's on his feet now, and moving towards Gojyo's bed. He's just going to steal a blanket and sit down there to warm up again.]

So I came lookin' for ya.

What Goku said. It woke me up. It wasn't the other two so I figured it must be you.

[Please forgive her inability to produce sensible conversation. It's been a while since she's had a full night's sleep and it's catching up to her. Ayumu leans heavily against the doorframe. Now that the surge of adrenaline's passed, exhaustion's taking its place.]

Are you alright? Night terrors are pretty terrible.

You've named him?

[Hakkai's question to Ayumu is reflexive, but his tone is curious, and not judgmental. He steps back, just a half-step, to lean his shoulder against the doorframe.

Not really intruding, his body language says, he hopes. Just looking in.

Goku seems to have planted himself on Gojyo's bed, and Hakkai's the only one here not in pajamas, thanks to having fallen asleep in his clothes. He should go, as soon as he's sure nothing's drastically wrong. Soon, probably.]

[ Ayumu wasn't in his dream and he's not talking to Hakkai, so it's Goku he turns to. Goku, whose corpse he can still see when he closes his eyes.

...Goku, who just stole his bed. ]

I thought you were dead.

[ Scoot over, shrimp, he's coming to sit on the edge of the bed next to you, and he needs some of that blanket to cover himself. ]

Fuck, that was a bad one.

[ Still ignoring Hakkai, he glances apologetically up at Ayumu. ]

Sorry. False alarm.

Huh? [Goku pauses in his effort to make himself a cocoon out of Gojyo's bedsheets. The nightmare was about him?] ... I'm not. I'm fine.

[So it's okay. But he feels bad enough that he doesn't even fight too hard for that corner of the blanket Gojyo is stealing back. He doesn't like worrying his friends about that kind of stuff in real life- in dreams there really isn't anything he can do about it.]

... Ayu, you're here too? [Like he only just realised.]

Yes.

[One simple word to answer both Hakkai and Goku. She gives Gojyo a sleepy but warm and reassuring smile. Nightmares happen. She's not going to fault her friend for having one any more than she does Joscelin.]

Do you wanna talk about it? Have some tea or snacks to help you get back to sleep?

[It's a sincere offer, if a slightly self-conscious one. She's not used to doing her nightmare aftercare routine with others present.]

[Gojyo looks past him like he's a part of the wallpaper, focusing on Ayumu for his apology, and Ayumu launches into her mother-hen routine on the spot. Tea and snacks, indeed.

Hakkai's smile is slightly fixed. With a polite little inclination of his head, he steps back, turns, and heads back for the front door of the bar. He'll check around outside, just in case -- and to clear his head in the cold night air -- before he leaves.

But it's clear his being there isn't going to help.]

[ A not insignificant part of him wants to call Hakkai back, assure him that he's fine, maybe...

...maybe nothing. No, it's best that he's leaving. He's got enough to deal with here. So he grins, shy and embarrassed, at Ayumu, then socks Goku in the shoulder for good measure. ]

You should be offerin' this guy snacks, not me! He's the one who just got killed by some little kid!

Hakkai?

[He does want to stop Hakkai from going, he doesn't see any reason why he should leave. Maybe now they can really talk- and then Goku's train of thought is cut off by a punch.]

Hey! ... I did not! I'm not dead! You had a nightmare, dumb kappa, it's not real!

[Some... kid? Goku tenses up under the blankets wrapped around his shoulders. Gojyo can't mean...]

Sometimes dreams can seem very real.

[Does the bar even have tea and snacks? Maybe she should have thought about that before offering but it's late and she's tired. Ayumu can't be away from the temple too long either, not at this hour at any rate. She'd been in too much of a hurry to leave a note and if Joss wakes up from another nightmare to find her gone, he might start panicking.]

I'm afraid we're limited to what's here unless I head home first.

[ Tea, no, but snacks, yes. If she wanted to go digging, she'd find a whole cupboard full of pretzels and chips, and there's edamame in the fridge, in the drawer at the bottom.

She's not allowed to go digging, though. ]

No, Ayu, go home. I'm sorry for wakin' you.

Yeah, but- [Some dreams can seem very real. And sometimes real things can seem like dreams. It's confusing.] but-

[When Gojyo mentions a kid killing Goku, the first one that comes to mind isn't Kinkaku. It's Nataku. But Nataku didn't kill Goku. That never happened, Goku knows that. He knows it in a way that makes his gut churn. Goku hunches his shoulders and wraps the blankets around him a little tighter.]

... You can go home, Ayu. [He'll stay here with Gojyo. She doesn't have to worry about him.]

If you're both sure.

[She's exhausted. Really she should go back to bed before she falls asleep on the spot and gives Joss and Maria a fright.]

If either of you need me, give me a call, 'kay?

[Without waiting for a reply, Ayumu heads out. She's stop outside a moment for a bit of cold, fresh air before teleporting back to the temple.]

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