[closed]

[existentialcrisis]

Who: Hazel, Jae-Ha, and Ukoku
What: Jae-Ha drunkenly invited Ukoku over. Is it too late to rescind an invitation when someone's actually in your house?
When: 4/27, morning
Where: Aengus's silly temple
Warnings: I don't know why I'm allowed to rp


[ Ukoku is a shadow. A crow's shadow. A short-ish dark handsome (??) stranger, except in this case not a stranger, a vaguely repulsive silhouette of bad intentions in full regalia, with the smell of cigarette smoke and incense and malice clinging to his robe.

Jae-Ha doesn't deserve this. He's a good kid, tall and aesthetically appealing (which has nothing to do with how undeserving he is, but is interesting in that it says something about Hazel), with leggie for days and a talent for waxing poetic, a mildly surprising but undeniably loyal dead-man replacement for Gat.

(He's precious to you, he'd said to Filbert that day in the church: I'm jealous.)

It's not the first time Ukoku has wondered why people cling to other people the way they do, and it won't be the last.

Hazel doesn't deserve this either, probably, in spite of his prejudices and all the souls he's stolen and the wonderfully misguided vengeful justice he's applied. He hasn't had an easy life—but if fate is real, he was never meant to. And from what Ukoku knows of religion in the West, fate is a given and suffering is how saints are made. (Interesting: they run toward hardship, self-punishment and loathing and guilt.)

But he was invited, so Ukoku is standing at the door to Hazel's temple with a gift in his hands: a blue flower in a pot, because Jae-Ha crushed the other one (no he did not). He knocks lightly on the door. Surprise!! ]

Comments

[razzledazzles]

[This is a little like the stuff he's been talking about with Tsuzuki, but he doesn't feel like he should bring up any of it here. Still... All of this vague staring as Ukoku rambles... He's not patient enough for it right now.]

They seemed to catch fire like magic. I was beneath them when it happened. [And, like, drunk as hell, but still.] What are you trying to get at?

[existentialcrisis]

Like magic.

[ He gives Jae-Ha a pleased look, chin propped in his hand. (If Hazel wants to be a bad student and not use his brain, that's his prerogative!!) ]

Burning down a grove while everyone was having a good time isn't a very good way to gain sympathy for a cause, is it? And so many newcomers were around. Everyone who was still there during the fire became kind of a team, yeah? Against someone who named Amaterasu as a target. It's also worth noting that her advisers who've spoken up in public are a water god and a wind god. Who's missing?

[churchbelle]

[Get out of his house, uncle!! Hazel wasn't even there, why would he know that?? Jeez.]

A god of the earth, I'd reckon, among others. [This theory sucks, he rejects it.] How many people were gettin' buried that ya saw?

[pls.........]

[razzledazzles]

[Well, while Hazel rejects this theory, Jae-Ha will just go quiet to consider it. ...Again, it is lining up with his late night talks with Tsuzuki. Conspiracy theories are everywhere these days...]

[existentialcrisis]

Among others, yes.

[ But Hazel's getting obstinate, and by his silence Jae-Ha got it anyway, so it's time to go. Ukoku gets to his feet. ]

But that's not really important. I just wanted to tell you to be careful.

[churchbelle]

[Finally, sweet victory. Sort of. Hazel has the decency (if it can be called that) to look surprised, like he just had so much fun he lost track of the time.]

Oh— sure, sure. Are ya headin' out? I'll walk ya to the door.

[He's already getting up, but not in an eager way.]

[razzledazzles]

[Jae-Ha is still mostly silent. Partially to not piss Hazel off any more, and partially because he's busy thinking anyway. Not just about Ukoku's implications, but about how he's saying this in the first place. If everything Hazel has told him adds up, then there must be a reason... It would be nice if he could figure it out and stop Hazel from whatever worrying might come up over it down the line.

Well, for now, he'll just stand from the table silently. He could spend his time putting away the dishes, but he's going to accompany them to the door, too. It's a little overprotective, but he likes to think he's being subtle enough to just seem polite.]

I hope the food was alright. [Some stock input, for the polite road...]

[existentialcrisis]

Oh, it was! You did very well. Hazel must be a good teacher, too.

[ He stops at the door and turns back, smiling benevolently. ]

Don't be a stranger, both of you!

[churchbelle]

[Get out...........]

We'll be seein' ya around. [Not here! Not here ever again.] Have a good one, Mister Ukoku.

[razzledazzles]

Bye. Be careful yourself.

[Jae-Ha will stand here and wave until the door is shut...

And then lean around to peek out the window slyly. IS HE GONE.]

[existentialcrisis]

[ HE'S LOOKING BACK RIGHT OUTSIDE THE WINDOW

No, he's gone. He takes a few steps away from the house, pulls his phone out of his pocket, checks it for a second, and teleports away. ]

[churchbelle]

[Anyway, they have to burn the plates Ukoku used now. Or, Hazel stares at Jae-Ha until he's done checking for Ukoku LEAVING, FOREVER, and then turns to sulk back to the kitchen.

Ugh. Ugh!!!]

[razzledazzles]

[Well, shit, now he's left to deal with this. He stands straight once Ukoku is out of sight, turning just in time to see Hazel sulking away. He frowns after him for a moment, contemplating his options before he follows.]

Hazel...

[churchbelle]

Still mad at ya.

[HMPH... but come here and help him clean up breakfast anyway. He's not going to eat any of this at all... cute breakfast time has been ruined.]

[razzledazzles]

Should I have handled him like you do?

[There's still that stabbing guilty feeling, but he can focus enough to sound stern about this point, following along. He'll clean, of course, and he'll force Hazel to eat something later.] Each time, you'd fall for his leads and ask questions. Are you trying to upset yourself on top of the rest?

[churchbelle]

[—Okay, rude. Scolding him?? Really? He's already stopped and given up on cleaning, great...]

I didn't fall for a single thing! All he was doin' was goin' on with some made up story about the great picnic conspiracy.

[razzledazzles]

You told me "don't say more than you have to," and then you asked questions out of your own curiosity.

[Hypocrite?? It's because he cares that he's pointing this out. Pausing from his cleanup, he moves over to Hazel's side, placing a hand on his shoulder.]

I know that I've caused you a lot of trouble with this. I'm sorry. [Stop being mad at him...]

[churchbelle]

[Stop calling him a hypocrite and criticizing his intelligent choices!! Hazel shrugs that shoulder, but not really with the force necessary to knock Jae-Ha's hand off. Ugh... he knows he screwed up and talked too much, he doesn't need to be reminded so soon.]

I heard ya the first time. Go pick up your plate. [He needs... to Sulk.]

[razzledazzles]

[The shrug might not be enough to knock his hand off, but it still makes him pull it back with a frown. Well. He said it before, yes, but Hazel had been so heated he wasn't sure if it got across. Now, he's not sure it matters at all. Sorry or not, damage was done, right?

Jae-Ha can only watch Hazel for a silent moment before turning to clean up the table. Leftover plates, and eventually he'll have to deal with that flower so Hazel doesn't have to. But he guesses he can't do much about this on his own, anyway. Hazel can sulk, but he'll have to deal with Jae-Ha thinking about how he screwed up, too. He can't help that.]

[churchbelle]

[He's honestly forgotten about the flower for the moment, just take it out back and let it go quietly sometime... He sinks back into his chair at the table while Jae-Ha moves around cleaning. Ukoku being here... obviously he doesn't like it, but it's on such an instinctual level that he can't quite put it into words. Ukoku was here, in their house? Their house. Even for an hour, it was just as off-putting as the last time he made a house call.

Good to know some people truly do not change in so many years.

He can feel Jae-Ha's lingering negativity, too, although this time he won't snap about it like he did upstairs - that... probably wasn't the best thing he could have done. He hates that Ukoku has the nerve to talk to Jae-Ha, and that Jae-Ha let this happen in the first place. But that isn't his fault... mostly. Taking it out on Jae-Ha isn't going to help either of them.

But who is he supposed to— no, that's stupid. It's Ukoku he should be mad at, not Jae-Ha. Sometime during his Sulk, he folds his arms on the table and rests his chin on them, to frown at the table itself. Hmm.]

Y'didn't... well, no, ya screwed up, but I'm not gonna hold it against ya. [...anymore.] Sorry for tossin' out breakfast.

[this is as much as he can manage in one day......]

[razzledazzles]

[He takes his time with cleaning up, since he wants an excuse to stay in the room and also because he's sad his First Attempt at grits went to such waste. They weren't as good as Hazel's, anyway, he keeps telling himself as he's cleaning up.

The silence stretches on for long enough that a distant worry starts growing in the back of his mind. That maybe yesterday was a fluke, and that he's messed everything up beyond repair. Hazel could rethink things— they're all irrational thoughts and he can at least recognize that, but it doesn't stop the twisting in his stomach as he cleans dishes.

Those words pull him out of it for a moment, and he glances over his shoulder at him before looking back at the sink.]

You were bothered. [He says that like a verbal shrug, like an it's okay without necessarily addressing the direct apology. He's still not sure if he should be apologized to, after everything.]

Can I ask you something?

[churchbelle]

[Hmm... Well, that's the kind of dismissive, "never mind" response he would give, so he doesn't feel great about that now, still... Maybe he shouldn't fly off the handle and get angry at Jae-Ha just because he's there! What a thought!!

Urgh. He's quiet for a moment, before he sits back up just enough to look over at Jae-Ha.]

What?

[razzledazzles]

You could easily tell him to never speak to you again, so there must be a reason why you don't.

[He's just letting water run over his hands, at this point, since the dishes are clean. He's thinking.] So is it fear that holds you back?

[What can this nerd do...]

[churchbelle]

[The fact that Hazel's about to say there's no point in telling Ukoku to leave him alone is... telling, in itself. Even here, worlds away from the last place Ukoku always seemed to know where he was, he still knows. He's still here, and he still knows.

Hazel sighs, slumping back onto the table. Yep, this is the conversation he wanted to have this morning, especially after yesterday...]

I reckon it is. I already mentioned he makes me uneasy.

[razzledazzles]

Yeah. [But the why, exactly is a little glossed over. He doesn't want to push, especially not when he knows more than Hazel has told him (as unrelated to Ukoku as it might be), but he does want to solve this. If there was some way he could make up for what he did... That would be best in every way, wouldn't it?]

Is he not someone I could threaten away?