thenearshore | Someone passes // And while I wonder // If it is he,

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Someone passes // And while I wonder // If it is he,

Who: Yuri & Ukoku
What: Ukoku's drinking and talking to the moon, Yuri's picking up the pieces.
When: [shrugs and make s 'i dunno' noise] the 4th going into the 5th i guess
Where: Ukoku's temple
Warnings: Ukoku?

[Nothing with Ukoku was ever straight-forward or simple, Yuri should have known that. Yuri did know that, really, so why was it she got the mad hope every time that she might finally get actual answers?

Something something true madness being repeating the same thing and expecting a different outcome something.

It had started with a text earlier in the day, sent from Yuri to Ukoku, with a picture attached of one of the many pictures she'd taken of the strange chalk drawings and formulas found on his floor the one day. I have a few questions. She had to concede defeat here and go directly to the source, since her attempts at studying on her own hadn't gotten her anywhere.

Though she'd been informed to stop by later, she hadn't been able to actually get over until really later, the moon nothing more that a sliver of silver cutting through the sky. She teleports in, landing softly on the steps leading up to the temple and wrinkles her nose, already able to pick up the scent of alcohol.]

...Ukoku...?

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[ The inside of the temple is tomb-silent. There's clutter around the edges of the atrium, but the floor is clean and empty of the sigils that were there.

Then something falls in the kitchen, and Ukoku leans into the doorway in a chair balanced on its back legs. ]

Yeah? Hi.

[ His voice is steady and casual, and the rumpled shirt unbuttoned too far is part of his normal state of personal chaos, but the languid way he moves and the dull shine in his eyes give him away. His hair is pulled back with a bright yellow stupidly childish hair tie (with plastic bananas, because he has a theme going here/he's an embarrassment), and he could stand to shave. There's a smudge of dried blood on the edge of his hand.

The flat screen against the wall gives the kitchen a dim blue light. He has something displayed on it, a mosaic of images magnified beyond recognition, marked with cryptic single letters. A few dishes float in soapy water in the sink, as if he started to wash them and then forgot to finish. ]

[Yuri can't really remember a time she's been so cautious entering Ukoku's home. While she'd quietly joked about spiders and flies that first time, this feels worrisome of an entirely different sort.

She moves to the kitchen then, standing in the doorway as she eyes him critically] ...You're going to fall. [Just saying. She glances around the kitchen then too, then back to him. Did he cut his hand? God, where does she even begin with this hot mess?]

What are you doing? [Might as well start at the top and work her way down the laundry list of questions she has right now.]

Working.

[ He was, but that was hours ago. He lets his chair fall forward and leans back to watch her upside-down. ]

Are you here to supervise? [ A beat. ] Oh, you asked about the, um—thing. Here. [ He stretches out his arms and wiggles his fingers. Help him he's old, thanks in advance. ]

[Working, he says, and Yuri casts a skeptical look around the kitchen. SureJan.gif]

If that's how you want to put it. [Supervise...Babysit... Same thing, right? She moves around him and takes his hands with a mildly exasperated shake of her head. She feels the urge to just tip his chair back and let him fall, but she thinks he might be just drunk enough to actually fall and maybe hurt himself.]

That's not really important right now. What's wrong with you? You've been drinking. [Like, a lot.]

Have I?

[ It's cheerful and dismissive. That's it that's the response. He spins her around to face the doorway and starts to lead her out with an arm around her shoulders. He's not leaning on her, exactly, but that arm is not there because he's big on affection. ]

Nothing is really important. [ He makes an indistinct sweeping gesture: Ergo, ] Everything is really important. What did you want to know?

Hey-- [A grunt of protest and she stumbles against him some, nose wrinkling in distaste.]

Where are we going? [That's the first important question here, honestly, and she sighs.] I've been trying to make sense of it myself, that's part of why I was going to those classes to begin with. [She pauses in her explanation, wondering how much of this he would even remember. Probably most if not all, but if the drinking kept up...

Whatever. She presses on.] I can't make heads or tails of it. [Granted it hasn't been long since she started researching to begin with, but she's impatient, okay?] What are they for? [Start broad, narrow it down.]

They are for opening a door. To a dimension. For holding things. [ He pauses by a column and beams at her, clapping her on the shoulder. ] And now you're complicit. Okay? So let's keep it a secret.

[ He moves away from her to slide down to the floor with his back against a column. ] See that box right there? [ It's a few feet from him, in the shadow of another column: a cardboard shipping box with a jacket stuffed in it. ] Somewhere in there is a little metal thing that looks like it has, um, claws on either side. Take it out.

[ In the meantime he's just going to sit there and look like he's two seconds from falling asleep. ]

Is it an illegal door. [Ukoku brings out her sass, she can't help it. But... To another dimension? The implications of that are enough to make her head spin.] Who would I even tell? [Jeez, Ukoku.] You could stand to trust me a little more.

[Which she supposes he does, in some way, or maybe she just happens to always be conveniently around. She looks to the box and wanders over, retrieving the object in question (using the light from her phone to make sure she's grabbing the right thing. And of course she has to peek at anything else in the box). She looks it over curiously, and it isn't until she's moving back towards Ukoku that she questions how safe the 'metal thing' she's holding might be.

Yuri looks at it with a mix of skepticism and caution, then focuses her attention on him.] This? What is it? [She eyes him; is he going to be able to stay awake long enough to tell her, even??]

[ The box is otherwise empty—the jacket's just there to make it look like clutter. ]

That is a vajra. [ This would probably be a good place for an explanation, but he yawns into the back of his hand and doesn't offer one. ] C'mere. Sit. [ He pats the stone floor next to him. ]

Those designs you saw are modified for me, but I kind of borrowed the basic plans. They're Susano'o's. [ "Illegal" isn't too far off. ]

A...vajra? [She echoes him, stumbling slightly over the unfamiliar word as she takes a seat next to him. She's sitting close enough that her knee almost bumps against his leg when she sits cross-legged. Yeah, she has no idea what a vajra is, except, apparently, this thing.

At the reveal that the plans and things were Susano'o's, Yuri starts in surprise and looks at him wide-eyed.] Why-- ['Do you have them' she almost asks, but stops herself. That's not the important question here, so she snaps her mouth shut with a thoughtful frown and changes tracks.]

What are you doing with them? [Susano'o, though. The one with the crazy attack on the heavens and the weird ayakashi-- it's hardly like she could forget that. She looks at the vajra with a more wary air now, like she half-expects it to start ticking a countdown any second or something.]

[ He smiles when she interrupts herself. Good girl. ]

Testing them. After that, I haven't decided.

[ She got a non-answer anyway, whoops. His gaze follows hers. ]

That's nothing, it's just a vertex. Roll it over there.

[ He flicks his fingers at the pool. It is a vertex, one point in the edge of an illusion of a clean floor. It's anchored at other points around the room, in boxes disguised as junk behind other columns. Underneath it, the sigils are just as dark and dense and ubiquitous as they were the week before. ]

[Testing if it works to actually hold things and open up dimensions, she supposes? That doesn't explain what it could mean in the longrun, though the possibilities are endless. If he can open up a dimension for "holding things" then... Her mind buzzes with the implications.

What the fuck is a vertex.

She glances to him, then at the vajra, before rolling it as directed. Then she leans back, settling comfortably against his side, and hugs her knees to her chest to watch what happens, if anything.]

[ The floor slopes very slightly toward the pool on every side, so the vajra doesn't stop until it hits the raised edge, and the illusion goes with it, forming a triangle of the real floor between the pool and two pillars in the corners of the room.

Ukoku doesn't react to her leaning. ]

His stuff's underwater. The rest of this is all wiring. [ More or less. He rubs his eyes under his glasses. ] Tantric wiring.

[She sits up and leans in to get a bit of a better look, impressed despite herself before she settles against him again. She considers this all for a long moment and then takes a deep breath, exhaling slowly.

Aright, wow.]

Do the heavens know you have all of this? [She glances skyward, as if expecting Amaterasu's counselors to suddenly bust in all you're under arrest! or something equally dramatic. Still, this could all be very dangerous, especially if they're connected to Susano'o.]

No!

[ It's dismissive, a little exaggerated by drunkenness: of course not. ]

They wouldn't know what to do with it, if they ever got through the code he had it in. You think Susano'o would want them to get their hands on his hard work? I'm respecting his memory. [ He pats her knee meaningfully: respecting the wishes of the dead is super important. He is a good priest. ]

I gave them some other things. He had a lot of notes on making Heaven more aesthetically pleasing, so there was that. That'll waste somebody's time. But this, no, this is for me. What should I do with it?—Did I say it was a door?

Mm-hm... [She totally believes that. She glances at her knee and then tilts her head back to study him.]

A door to another dimension. [That's what he'd said, anyway] You could go anywhere, if it works, provided you could get back. [A one-way door doesn't amount to too much, after all. He'd just be stuck again.]

If you could actually choose where to go you could get us all home, but that's a lot of different worlds to try and get locked onto... [How would you even get the coordinates for something like that?]

That's the thing, isn't it? This is why you need molecular biology. And then we can talk about genotypes, and you'll know everything.

[ He makes kind of a lazy jazz hands gesture. Everything! Except the stuff about magic, none of that.

He's closed his eyes and leaned his head against the pillar. ]

I'm working on it. I'm starting the 9th. [But that's not terribly important and she watches him again.

After a moment she moves away from him and stands, turning to lean over him] ...Hey, come on. You can't fall asleep here. I'll get you to your room. [Thanks to Guy, she even knows where it is! Assuming he wasn't wrong about it anyhow. Yuri reaches for his hands and hopes he'll get himself up at least, she's not strong enough to do this on her own.

Unless she like, drags him down the hallway, maybe.]

[ He can and does manage that, though he drapes an arm across her shoulders again. The corridor to his room is pitch black. ]

Look at you! You'd make a great assistant. Don't put up with bullshit. If I don't give you credit for something, you give me a heart attack, okay? [ He pats her shoulder. What is he even talking about, it is a mystery. ]

[Alright, she can deal with this. Probably. She rests an arm around his middle just in case, though she has to admit that if he passes out she'd be absolutely no use. ~~He's going down, she's yelling timber...~~]

You never praise me. [But she's amused more than anything, sort of playing along as she tries to adjust to the lack of light. Why is this place like this?? Why.] I wonder if I could scare you sober...

[No she shouldn't, really, and she can make out the outline of his door faintly as they come up to it.] It's this one, right?

Yes.—Credit isn't praise; credit is credit.

[ He stops himself from adding to that.

His room is almost as dark as the rest of the temple without the moon to illuminate it, even with its long windows, but there's enough dim light to see the outline of his bed, the incense burner he uses as an ashtray, and a closed laptop on the floor. The room itself is small and the ceiling low, and apart from the abundance of pillows on his bed (and some that evidently fell off and never got picked up), it's weirdly ascetic.

He slides away from her when he's close enough to flop sideways onto his bed, kicking his sandals off. ]

Is that what you want? For me to say you did a good job?

[ This is probably considerably less mocking than he means for it to be when he's (mostly) dressed in office clothes surrounded by throw pillows and his glasses are sort of crooked. He tries to replace them for a second before giving up and dropping them on the laptop. ]

Edited 2016-10-24 16:21 (UTC)

[She supposes out of everyone, Ukoku is the one she'd like to hear praise from the most-- actual praise, not the mocking comments and/or backhanded compliments she might get otherwise. So she rests her hands on her hips and watches him. (He looks a little younger, without the glasses, she notes absently, and it's kind of strange, but--)

Does she want him to say 'good job'? Yes, she thinks. She wants him to praise her.] No. [It's not entirely a lie.] If you praise me just because I ask you to, it's not the same. I'll just have to work harder to earn it. Praise, or credit. [Whichever. Yuri shrugs lightly and takes to looking about his room next. There isn't much to see or poke around, unfortunately, but she moves around anyhow with idly curiosity.

The relative emptiness of the space suits him, she thinks. Not really thinking of it, she starts grabbing the fallen pillows too, and half-tossing them onto the bed. If some go on to hit him, well. That's just coincidence. She's not smiling a little at all about it, nope.]

[ Ukoku covers his head lazily with a pillow when he realizes what's happening. He says nothing, but he reaches toward her—whether he's asking for the pillow she's holding or for her to come closer isn't clear. ]

[She stares at him a moment, before coming over and placing the corner of the pillow she's holding in his hand. Alright, alright, she won't throw pillows anymore. He's drunk and she probably shouldn't be so mean.]

[ With his head covered he can't see it, but it takes him about half a second to decide that's a pillow. Nah.

He pushes his shield aside and rakes his hair back. ]

Why can't they be on the floor? [ He tosses the one he's holding at her legs, smiling crookedly. ] Who're you making it more comfortable for?

That's not where they go. [But it's said with more of an exasperated sort of fondness than any actual irritation. She bends and picks the pillow up again, setting it on the bed.]

I'm making it comfortable for you, of course. Who else? Do you have someone else here I should know about? [She glances around, eyebrows raised in a 'well?' Expression, like some secret girlfriend's going to come waltzing out of a hidden closet or something.] Get her to take care of you. [Her tone is light, obviously joking.

Also don't push your hair back like that and look at her what is wrong with you.]

[ He is innocent! ] It's just you.

[ And maybe Guy, but who's counting. He pauses to look out the window, craning his neck—even Koumyou's on vacation for a few days.

He wriggles back into the pillows and grabs a blanket off the bedframe (where it was kind of piled in a heap; he's an adult). ]

You're out so late. Won't your shinki be worried?

[She looks at the blanket and holds her hand out for it. Do you want her to tuck you in too? She has a brief idle thought of 'why is he wearing his clothes to bed?' before the next second following up with 'no he should definitely keep wearing all his clothes to bed' and trying not to roll her eyes at herself.]

Sometimes I take prayers on my own, without him. They're... [Yuri pauses, wondering how to properly explain.] private things. I don't like having an audience. So, I'm sure he's a little used to it. [There's a strange implication there that she's willing to lie to her shinki about where she is and what she's doing when Ukoku is involved, and Yuri pauses to reflect on that.]

Though I suppose I could just tell him the truth. It's not like we're doing anything I have to hide... [She frowns, a bit perturbed that her first instinct was 'cover up' instead of just 'tell him I'm helping a god friend' or something.]

Edited 2016-10-25 16:47 (UTC)

You should tell him whatever's easiest. [ Whether it's a lie or not. He has all kinds of great how-to-be-a-bad-friend advice like this.

He hands her the edge of the blanket (and manages to not look like he's two seconds from a bad joke at her expense, mainly because her purpose in asking for it isn't immediately obvious and he's a little curious). ]

[She takes the blanket and then just stands there a moment with a peculiar look of defeated resignation on her face. She stares at the blanket and her own hand like somehow it's betrayed her, because she hadn't thought this all the way through. It was silly.

She rests one knee against the bed and pulls the blanket up to drape over him more, but stops short of actually tucking him in. Instead she tosses the rest of the blanket over his face, smiling just slightly in the barest hint of moonlight offered.]

You should go to sleep. You're going to have a hangover in the morning. [And then, because she hadn't thought to ask before, she leans down some, bracing one hand against the mattress, and picks the corner of the blanket up to peer under it at him, curious] Why were you drinking so much tonight anyhow?

[ He leaves the blanket over his face until she lifts it up. Hi, just leave him here to suffocate. He hums in thought, reaching back to try and work the silly yellow elastic out of his hair. ]

It was helping me think.

[ And if she believes that, he's selling a super cool bridge. ]

[Yuri sighs and pulls the blanket back a little, moving to kneel on the bed so she can reach him easier. She bats at his hands--stop before you yank half your hair out--to take care of the stupid hair-tie herself.]

Do you want to try again?

[Yeah not buying it.]

[ He doesn't miss a beat: ] It was helping me think.

[ He tried again.

He probably shouldn't be making bad jokes when her hands are in his hair, but it's fine. Actually divulging any truths here is obviously not on the table. ]

Edited 2016-10-26 16:37 (UTC)

[She tugs sharply on his hair and then mutters a completely fake 'oops' as if somehow it's the hair-tie's fault.]

Fine, pretend to be mysterious a while longer. You're not cute, you know.

[She finally gets the hairtie free from his hair and sits back on her knees, holding it out for him to take. Why is it yellow? Why are there bananas?? Why is he like this.]

[ He says nothing to that.

Instead he reaches out and threads his fingers through the loop, shifting against hers, twisting around them, slow and deliberate, until the elastic is far enough over his knuckles to roll down to his wrist.

Then he takes his hand back. He's watching her, still, as he curls his arm under the pillow.

Cute is definitely not a valid description. ]

[Yuri inhales sharply, once, and finds herself holding her breath. It's stupid, such a little thing shouldn't shake her, but there's something about the silence and his stare that threatens to undo her.

She pulls her hand back to her lap, suddenly very aware of where she is and everything seems too-- much. Like when she activates her abilities and everything seems to jump into sharper focus. She reaches out, her fingertips brushing against his hair to move it away from his face and her touch lingers, uncertain.]

You're drunk. [She mutters it like she's trying to remind someone--him or herself, or maybe both. Or maybe he's not nearly as actually drunk as she'd like to think he is. She doesn't know anymore.]

That's absurd.

[ One hand skims across the landscape of sheets and pillows to rest next to her leg, fingertips light and warm against her skin.

He's drunk, but he'd probably be doing this anyway. ]

[She looks sharply at his hand, feeling strangely disappointed that he's stopped there, and mentally chastising herself for thinking it in the first place. But then, what did it matter if she did?

Yuri sits up more and leans over, one hand still on his face, the other braced against the bed for balance, and kisses him without preamble. It's an experiment, maybe, just to see, because typically Yuri doesn't go for spontaneity.

He tastes like alcohol and she wrinkles her nose slightly when she pulls away, trying to calm her racing heart.] You should sober up first. [Before they actually do anything--if they ever actually do anything. But she'll use his drunkenness as an excuse for now.]

[ He's still, for the most part, tolerant—if she's experimenting, he's allowing it—but he reaches up for her anyway, too slow; his fingers get as far as trailing through her hair as she pulls back. ]

I'm not drunk!

[ He can protest this all night. Eventually, it'll be true. He stops tracing feathery circles on her knee to pat the mattress next to him. It's probably a joke. ]

Mm-hm.

[It's an indulgent, sure, sure whatever you say tone. She glances to the offered place and knows she should say no and go away, but--

She shifts and lays down anyhow, telling herself she's just humoring a drunk. She can leave when he's asleep, maybe, and go back home to Neji's judgmental glare.

...Or maybe not. That can be put off, probably. Yuri sighs lightly] Go to sleep.

[ Well, it was a joke. This is a dubious idea on someone's part, maybe. He throws the blanket over her, too, and snakes his arm around her back to settle at the curve of her hip.

It doesn't take him long, for obvious reasons, to fall asleep. ]

[She was going to leave. It would've been easy to just teleport herself away and back to her place, but she'd gotten comfortable and the thought of 'in a few minutes' never came true.

She moves to him while she sleeps, her guard dropped and her mind automatically seeking out the quiet of his. The dark of it is still strangely comforting in ways she should probably be more concerned about.

Instead Yuri reaches for him, fingers curling into his clothes, clinging like he's the tether she has to this world. Which, honestly, probably isn't a good indication of anything. Oops. But it's a rare, empty sleep and she's grateful for it, sleeping soundly through the night.]

[ He's awake first. It's too early (regardless of what time it is), and his fingers under the hem of her shirt would be nicer if his arm weren't asleep.

After a second he gets up, disentangling himself, and climbs unsteadily past her—which is somewhat unnecessary, but he's hungover, enjoy—and disappears into the corridor. ]

[She grumbles unintelligibly in protest, turning as he moves; her hand unconsciously reaches for him, fingers brushing against his clothes, but unable to find purchase before he's moved out of her range.

When her arm drops, hand dangling over the edge, she forces herself to start waking up and taking stock of the situation. Had she been reaching for someone? She totally had been. Yuri frowns lightly, feeling like she hasn't gotten nearly enough sleep to be functional for this, and turns back over, burying her face in the pillows.

She has the passing, absent thought that it smells like Ukoku and--

Ukoku.

Her eyes snap open and she stares at the wall in frozen mortification. She was still in his temple. In his room. In his bed. Yuri sits up and looks around, suddenly remembering everything that led up to it and the fact her plan of leaving once he was asleep had never come to completion thanks to her falling asleep herself.

Fuck.

She'd kissed him, right? That had happened. She presses her fingertips to her mouth and blushes and frets-- this would only be awkward if she made it awkward, but it was a little awkward and what was she supposed to do now? Try to explain herself? Never bring it up again in the hopes he won't remember through the haze of alcohol? Maybe she should leave. She could leave. But she can't just walk through the door (briefly, in her head, a montage of trying to sneak her way out of the temple through the front door like it's some ninja stealth mission from a video game; she's got a heart meter and everything).

No, no, front door was out, he'd catch her, probably and then she'd have to explain that. So no front door, which left...The window!? Was there a window she could climb out of? Was that somehow less awkward than trying to waltz out the front door?

it takes another moment before she suddenly sighs deeply and pinches the bridge of her nose. Teleport. She was a god, and she could teleport. Why did she always forget that? Fuck. She takes a breath and lowers her hand, already beginning to think of her temple. That'd be the best place to go. And then she could just pretend a good chunk of this night never happened. Perfect.]

[ Ukoku shuffles back in at that inopportune moment, of course, barefoot in his rumpled clothes. His glasses are still on the floor; he's involuntarily squinting at her from across the room for about three different reasons. There's a tall glass of water in his hand.

Finally he gives her a crooked smile. ]

Did you forget you were here?

[ He doesn't wait for a reply. He's heading toward another dark doorway, unbuttoning his shirt with his free hand. ]

[There's a sharp inhale as he re-enters, startling her. She pulls the blanket up instinctively, then looks at it with a mildly accusing, exasperated look. She's fully clothed, what is she even trying to cover?]

I, ah... [Yeah, she forgot. She runs a hand trough her hair and looks around, absently reaching out to grab his glasses and place them somewhere safer near the bed, up off the floor, so they don't get accidentally stepped on.] Sorry. I didn't mean to stay.

[She glances up and-- was he undressing? Yuri freezes, eyes wide and she actually glances around the room as if to silently ask 'is this for real?'] I should-- I have to get back home. [For some reason, surely, and she stands abruptly] ...You should try drinking a little coffee. It'll help with your hangover. [There. She's helped him out, she has a...decent.. Enough excuse to leave. There was closure! She doesn't hesitate then to teleport away.

She'll contact him later to make sure his hangover's doing alright, but in the meantime she's going to drown herself in holy water, bbl.]

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Someone passes // And while I wonder // If it is he,

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