thenearshore | [closed] coffee and conspiracy

Entry tags:

[closed] coffee and conspiracy

Who: Cho Hakkai and Jae-Ha
What: Getting together over breakfast to discuss what they know and what they suspect about the disappearances, in the wake of Kija vanishing and Gojyo going mysteriously missing.
Where: Temple of Dionysus
When: Backdated to the morning of May 9th
Warnings: Probably nothing worse than a little cynicism and some morbid speculation.

[The temple smells of coffee, freshly steamed rice and miso-soup-with-leftover-vegetables; Hakkai doesn't bother to cook much for himself, and Asshole doesn't seem to remember to eat unless he's ordered to, but a guest is at least an excuse for him to stir beyond tea.

He smiles politely as he leads Jae-Ha back towards the kitchen, because really, he's not going to stir to the point of setting the fancy dining room table. It's uncomfortable. This will be the impression he'll make, and he'll see how it goes.]

Thank you for coming.

[It's just a polite phrase, but there's some sincerity in it. He's not particularly grateful for the opportunity to share information -- he cares, of course, but it's slid down a little on his priority list -- but he is grateful for the distraction. Perhaps something useful will even come out of it. Who's to say?]

Oh yes, tea or coffee?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thank you for having me.

[Jae-Ha isn't expecting much at all, so his polite response has some sincerity, too. He's here dressed fairly casually, wearing flat shoes rather than his boots, with his right leg bandaged up to hide any of the green scales.]

Tea would be lovely. [Hazel only makes coffee, so tea sounds nice. He glances around, recognizing this temple...] I had no idea you were here.

Ah -- you know the temple?

[He casts a mildly interested glance Jae-Ha's way as he heads over to the stove. There's already a kettle on it, heating; Hakkai prefers tea in the morning, but, on the other hand, he did not sleep well. He'll choke down coffee and hope it does something for his alertness, he decides wearily, and takes down a cup and teabag for Jae-Ha.]

I've only been here since Elsa disappeared. I'm not sure if you had the chance to meet her.

[He'll help himself to taking a seat in the meantime, staying out of the way and crossing one of his legs over the other.]

I've been here once before to drink with Gojyo. I'm afraid I haven't met Elsa at all, though. I do recall you speaking about her over the network.

[... to drink with Gojyo? It must have been just after he asked for people to drink with on the network, then, Hakkai thinks, and sighs with a long-suffering air.]

I see. That must have been before I came here.

[He tends to remember Gojyo's drinking parties from after his own arrival. Even with Asshole to help with the cleaning, they leave a mark. On carpets, furniture -- occasionally walls if a bottle gets tossed with too much abandon....

He quickly dishes out a few small bowls of rice and of soup, and sets the table as he waits for the kettle to heat. When it whistles at last, he pours Jae-Ha's tea, and settles on his side of the table with breakfast and a cup of coffee. Its scent is strong enough to turn his stomach a little.]

I've been lucky in my gods so far.

[From a certain perspective, he thinks, and smiles without humor.]

But that's not what we're here to discuss, is it?

[He hums like yes, it must have been before then. It had just been the two of them and that soulless shinki. Now, he can bring his hands around the cup holding the tea, staring down at it with a smile that dims. He could speak about his own luck, but there's both good and bad sides to it. Hm.]

Right. I'm afraid I don't have much information, but perhaps with our efforts combined, we may find something new.

[Maybe... maybe.] Where should I start?

[Hakkai takes a dubious sip of his coffee, and focuses his mismatched gaze on Jae-Ha through the steam.]

Let's see. Why don't you start with what you think you're sure of, and I'll tell you what I think I know as well?

[For now, he'll let the tea cool as he speaks, watching it thoughtfully.]

Well, I know that it seems a god who vanishes will have their temple destroyed. Kija and I experienced this personally, and I've gone to check others who faced the same. [He's pretty sure that's fact...] It must be instantaneous and without much of a struggle.

Aside from that, I wouldn't say I'm sure of anything else.

[Hakkai nods quietly, wrapping his hands around his cup for warmth and leaving it on the table as he thinks. The flavor really isn't nearly as pleasant as the odor.]

It must be. I was sleeping in my goddess's temple when she disappeared, and I woke up in a different bed, without having been awakened by any noise or disturbance. I'm a light sleeper.

[He glances up at Jae-Ha, and adds with faint self-mockery:] Or they subdue the god's shinki with some sort of spell before they get rid of her.

That does assume a they, though, of course.

Let's see. I'm sure that whether someone becomes a god or a shinki is effectively based on chance, not anything inherent to the soul. Which god someone becomes does seem to be related to that person's nature or personality.

I'm not sure that we new shinki are really dead.

[As he listens, Jae-Ha sips at his tea. A lot of these match up with what he thinks, so he nods along agreeing that none of the cases he's noticed have contradicted any of that. At least until the last note, which gets him to set the cup down again and lead forward.]

Do you have anything that would suggest we aren't? From what I understand, the gods witness our deaths. Hazel... He certainly saw it.

I can't speak for any of this personally, of course, but I've heard from a trusted source that some of those deaths don't ... match.

[He shrugs a little.]

We're not like normal shinki. I don't see any reason why that couldn't be one more trick played on our memories. It's not something I'm sure of either way, though, I'm afraid.

[That gets Jae-Ha quiet for a moment, and he hides it with a long drink from his tea. Hm. Not actually dead... Well, is it terrible that he's hoping for that, now? What a crushing thing to hope for and have not be true. He really shouldn't. But all the same—]

I've never heard of anything mismatching like that. [He sets the cup back down and traces a finger around the rim.] But there is one thing that troubled me from my memory. I have... an ability that I was born with. By being born, you could say I sucked that ability away from my predecessor slowly until his life ended and I had it completely.

The fact that I still have this ability now is odd. But if I try to think on it any more, my head hurts...

In other words, if you were truly dead, then that ability should have passed on to your successor?

... It's probably better not to think too hard about it.

[Hakkai manages, himself, by pretending that the entire conversation is theoretical, or that it's about someone else. Like Goku, for example, or Sanzo -- Sanzo who Elsa and Gojyo both named, and who could easily have been the one Gojyo was talking about.

It's still risky even to think about this, but he's found himself frustrated enough to take a risk or two, lately.]

In any case, I think it's dangerous to take anything that the Heavens tell us for granted. All they know is how their gods and shinki function, and in some ways, we're very different indeed.

Precisely. I assume that's the case... Just based on his words to me.

[He rubs at his temple, like it's bothering him right now to think on it.] I agree with you on that, at least. But no matter what spells or tricks "they" might be pulling, I firmly believe that my feelings are true.

My principles are strong. They couldn't come from nowhere or from some lie. Well, that's what I think.

[Hakkai's laugh rings unsettlingly false.]

Oh, yes. Perhaps our feelings are the only thing we can trust! With no memories... well.

[He lifts his coffee cup, drowning the urge to laugh again with a bitter mouthful. What a horrible situation to be in, having nothing to follow but his instincts and his emotions. If there's anything he finds himself irrationally certain of, it's that following his heart is a terrible, destructive idea and he'll regret it if he does.

He hadn't quite thought through the consequences of refusing to follow his heart.]

But we aren't completely without memories anymore.

Have you remembered anything prior to your supposed death?

[He figures he'll ask, since he's not sure if Hakkai means the memories they're making now or something more than that. But he's already paying attention to body language and considering it thoughtfully, along with the silence of this temple.]

One or two moments. [It's something he wouldn't have said to Jae-Ha on the network, but in person -- well, Jae-Ha is in the same situation. To whatever extent it places them in danger, it places them in the same danger. He sips, sets his cup down, and folds his hands on his knee, watching them as he continues in a tone that's much too mild.]

It's good to see you haven't disappeared yet, incidentally.

...I see. It makes sense that you wouldn't share it in public when it was such a worry.

[So he was the guinea pig, that's... fair. He supposes.] I'm relieved, but no moment feels safe. I have too much to lose.

[Hakkai would have recommended against it, but what was already done was done: and so yes, Jae-Ha was the guinea pig.

It's possible that the people mentioning disappearances on his post had been noticed, too. Hakkai wonders for a moment if that could be related to his failure to vanish -- if, perhaps, whoever was trying to prevent the memories from spreading also wanted to conceal their actions -- but there's no real way to be sure, so he dismisses the suspicion, and nods.]

When we have no idea who might be acting against us, I find myself unwilling to share anything in public.

Information does get around regardless, of course. And a sufficient number of our disappearances are apparently random.

[He sighs.] You're right, I think. No moment is safe regardless of our actions.

I don't know if talks like this can really help, either.

[He hums, tapping one of his fingers against the tea cup with a frown.]

By the way, where is Gojyo?

At least they're slightly less likely to draw attention.

[Which isn't much of a point in their favor, if nothing useful comes of it in the end, but -- Hakkai exhales, and takes another sip of his coffee. It's getting cold, and, he notes, it tastes even worse cold.]

He's been missing for two and a half days.

I'm sorry to hear that.

[He frowns, bringing one of his hands to his mouth as he thinks. Missing, but the temple is still here.] This may be a personal question, but he named you, right? Do you still have it?

Yes, and yes. [The coffee isn't worth it for the caffeine, Hakkai decides, pushes it slightly away and folds his hands.]

He's not gone. It's possible he's dead, of course. I'm not yet certain what happens when a new god is killed.

...I've heard a few things about the deaths of gods, but there's no way of knowing about any of them being certain, so I don't think it's worth sharing.

[He'll still sip a little more at his tea, mostly to waste some time.] Have you asked a girl named Hajime? She can apparently detect the presence of someone with her ability.

Hajime? No, not yet. I've talked to someone who does psychic tracking, though, and that person's powers were being blocked somehow.

[He shakes his head slowly.] But thank you for the recommendation. I'll try.

[His glance at Jae-Ha is mildly curious, although his yellow eye remains as carefully blank as the green glass one.] What have you heard about the deaths of gods? Don't worry, I won't take any of it as certain.

That they might be more permanent than the deaths of anyone else here. I can't tell you why or how, though.

[It was an offhand comment in a discussion...] I can't help but feel that if a god did die, their temple would disappear, as well.

The original gods come back as children if they are killed -- or so I've heard.

[He folds his hands carefully.] As for the new ones... I don't know any new god who has been killed except Susano'o, and he seems not to have returned.

Which is for the best, of course.

That's the other thing I've heard.

[Reviving as kids. So, contradictions already... But.] It's hard to base the deaths of other gods off of him. But that's right, he's the only one I know of.

That was... spectacular. And the Heavens might have taken action against him, too.

Well, regardless, my name and the temple are still here. I'm sure Gojyo will turn up eventually.

[His knuckles whiten for a second as he shifts the position of his hands, and he smiles at Jae-Ha with apparent unconcern.] The old shinki don't come back to life if they break, either. Our resurrection seems to be related to something about the way we came here.

It's not something that seems very reliable in either case.

[He hums, glancing down at his tea.] I'm certain he'll return.

No. Which is interesting in its own right, isn't it? It's as if whether we stay here or not is a different question from whether we die or not.

[He offers only a faint nod to Jae-Ha's reassurance. It's kind of him to worry. Hakkai, on the other hand... doesn't want to talk about the likelihood of Gojyo mysteriously reappearing as fast as he'd vanished. It's just a little too disheartening.]

That's right. We certainly don't fit into the pattern, at least. A death doesn't mean instant arrival here, either. So they must be unrelated.

So it seems.

To me, that suggests that there must be something, or someone, that's captured us deliberately. If we weren't being forced somehow to remain in these positions, surely death would cause us to move on.

[Surely death would, in other words, still be death. It's the case for real shinki.]

What doesn't make sense is why anyone would bother.

[They can speculate all day, but what's the point? What good is it that they're here?]

That's the real question, isn't it? I'm sure it has nothing to do with our personal interests. Perhaps we're here for our disruptive effect on the Heavens.

Or, as shinki, we're here to ameliorate the disruptive effect of the new gods....

[That was certainly Ukoku's opinion -- but Hakkai's not sure he believes it. The fact that some of the shinki here are souls that once had a relationship with some gods notwithstanding, why bring them in at all if not to create a disruption? Real gods are being replaced. It seems as though it must be an act attacking the Heavens.]

But I think we're all here for the same reasons, new gods and shinki alike. After all, some shinki have become gods. That's certainly not normal.

I don't believe there's any real reason behind whether someone becomes a shinki or a god, yes. So there can't be separate reasons. Especially not when some can become both.

If there is a reason for us being here, it's all of us as a united group.

Yes, I think "disruption" has to be the intended effect.

[He scoots his chair back, with a startlingly loud screech of legs across the tile, and represses a wince at the noise as he gets to his feet and goes to pour out his cooling coffee in the sink. He rinses the cup and busies himself making a cup of tea.]

Would you like any more tea? ... As far as I can tell, if a single person has brought us here, it must be someone with both access to Amaterasu and significant magical power. Perhaps one of her advisers.

No thank you, I've had enough.

[He pushes his tea cup a little further away just to make the point of it.] That seems likely, but... There's little our speculation helps with when we know nothing of them and nothing of what we're causing by being here. I'm not even familiar with the gods themselves.

The native ones, you mean? -- I have a few books I can recommend. [Hakkai wrinkles his nose, returning to the table with his cup of tea.] Of course, those are all human perspectives, which aren't always accurate. When it comes to the heavenly perspective, I'm afraid I've had to rely on those gods willing to speak to us.

Some of whom are less helpful than others. I don't suppose you've encountered Fuujin?

Yes, the native ones... [He guesses he could read up on them, hmm.] Ah, no, I haven't met him myself. I've only heard of him.

I see! I'm afraid he's not much of a talker. He does have quite a temper, though.

[Hakkai's ribs have healed, but Fuujin's furious attack could easily have killed him, if he'd hit that tree differently, or been flung into a tree that was still solidly rooted. Better to warn anyone else who might be looking for information in advance. He clears his throat politely.]

Suijin seems more informative, although I suppose we can't really put too much faith in what they say.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[closed] coffee and conspiracy

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject