thenearshore | /man in black lyrics

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/man in black lyrics

Who: Gojyo and anyone who wants to stop by!
What: Hanging out, having adventures, engaging in healthy coping habits
When: Any time of any day from May 12-15ish
Where: chez Dinosaur
Warnings: Homo-antagonistic language in the Niles thread.

He's never going to sleep again. Which is fine -- he knows from experience that he can go weeks on end with only a few hours of sleep snatched here and there between youkai attacks. It won't kill him. He doesn't even feel all that tired, not really. He more feels like he's asleep and dreaming than anything else -- everything is at a bit of a distance and his reactions are slowed, like the air's gone thicker or something. Like he's a little drunk, even though he hasn't touched a drop since his return. It's weird and unsettling, but he's sure it'll wear off. And even if it doesn't, it's not something to bother anybody with. He's been enough of a bother already.

So during the day, he sticks close to Hakkai -- he's worried the other man enough already by vanishing, so it's the least he can do to stay near (and if that means running errands or sitting quietly in the back of the classroom while school is in session, he supposes that he can manage). And at night, when he wakes after only an hour or two of sleep, he tracks down Asshole and drags the half-man out to the porch with him, for company while he smokes pack after pack and watches the moon.

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For her part, Sharak just stands there and focuses. There's no need for her to move anymore, now that Kouten has been activated, so she stands as serene as the goddess she supposedly is, maintaining it's barrier around her. When Gojyo finally gives in, she opens her eyes again and the sutra returns to her shoulders.

"It wouldn't have helped." Size doesn't matter, it's what you do with it. Sharak adjusts the sutra so that it's resting on one shoulder and tucked into her belt again. "Does that give you the idea of it?"

Size absolutely matters, and he'll never be convinced otherwise.

"Yeah, I think I get it now." It really makes you wonder though, doesn't? How all these powerful people got dragged in here. Sanzo, Sanzang, Sharak... Goku. Were they all taken by surprise? Were they all drugged? Or is the one who brought them here just that super-strong? It's a chilling thought.

He leans the broom handle back against the wall -- he'll put the broom together again in the morning, if Asshole hasn't already done it -- and takes his seat again. "So what'd you want to talk about, Sharak sanzo-sama?"

As powerful as she is, Sharak holds no illusions as to there being no one more powerful than her. It's tempting to wonder if Nataku had something to do with it, what with Dokugakuji's theories, but there's not much to base that off really. One way or another, however, it all seems to come back to the Heavens causing trouble where they shouldn't.

Sharak lights another cigarette and sits back down again too. "I told you, I'm sick of conversations where I have to dance around what people remember." It isn't her fault no one told her the supposed gods were affected by the memory-loss spells as well. For a moment she worries what she's missing, if anything. She takes a moment to take a drag from her cigarette.

"... And I wanted to see how you were doing."

"Me?" She's not here for Sanzo? Why the hell would she care about the teammate -- the servant, and fuck you forever for that comment, Cherry-chan -- of another sanzo? Her wanting to ask him questions makes sense, but caring about his well-being enough to make a house call? He doesn't get it.

Unless they were friends in India? She is a very attractive woman... Gojyo regards her with a considering glance from under those long eyelashes. "I'm flattered."

She's out of your league on your best day, Gojyo, don't even think about it. But for the little time she's known Genjo's team, she's found she likes all of them. That includes Gojyo.

"You're welcome." But there are things she needs to ask him, things she needs to make sure they're on the same page for. "How much of your journey do you remember?"

Huh. That wasn't a very friendly reply. Oh well. Gojyo mentally shrugs, and settles back against the wall in what's rapidly becoming his regular seat.

"Not India," he smirks. But she asked what he remembered, not what he didn't. "We were still in China, heading south. It was fall," and he pauses for a moment to glance pointedly at the hillside behind her, and the spring explosion of flowering plants. "Somewhere around Yushu, I think?" He scratches his head. "I didn't really pay much attention to the map or town names or anything."

Sharak is very friendly, she's just not friendly. She nods along thoughtfully, trying to put it together with what she knows of their journey west so far.

"Yushu... Still a few weeks out from my turf then." No, wait, this is the Genjo Sanzo Party. Sharak quickly corrects herself. "Or months, more likely."

But that at least still includes most of their journey, Sharak thinks. Presumably Gojyo also remembers the rest of his life, whatever that involved, which puts him in a stronger position too. Good.

Yeah, if it said weeks on a map then it would take them months. That's what happens when there's this whole army trying to stop you from getting to your destination.

"Could be," he shrugs agreeably. Weeks, months... he's missing the memories one way or the other. Could be years, for all the difference it makes. "But we all make it to your turf." Sanzo's confirmed that much, at least. "I'm still kinda surprised we actually get that far!"

"Pretty sure there are people out there who lost money on you guys, yeah," Sharak teases. But there they go, the confirmation they've been referencing all along... Gojyo doesn't remember, but he can talk about it, at least. That's something. "Your group did pretty well, all things considered."

Sure, in the time it took them to reach the border, she could have raised an army, marched on Houtou castle, ended all this and then gotten home in time to greet them, but life works in mysterious ways.

Yeah, but she had, like, training. The best they've got to offer are a child's memory of his dad's half-drunk riddles and the tentative brute strength of a couple part-time monsters. Still! They're all still alive, more or less.

"Oi, no did, thanks. We're still in this race. We're just takin' a detour, that's all." Because they're going back, even if Gojyo has to drag the rest of them kicking and screaming away from the lives they're building here. They'll hate themselves for staying when their memories return, and he can't let that happen. "We'll be back breakin' hearts and makin' headlines soon enough."

Ah, but now they also have Sharak on their side. Victory is guaranteed.

"Good, I'm counting on it." She knew that Genjo at least was still taking his mission seriously, but it's nice to hear Gojyo reaffirm it. Despite everything, she's cheering for them. Relying on Nataku feels like a bad idea for now. "... The Heavens need to quit interfering where they're not wanted."

Well that's a strange statement. Strange, and potentially very very disturbing.

"You're sayin' this sorta thing happens a lot?" he asks waving around at his temple, and the Far Shore in general. Have they been here before? ...Just how many of his memories have they erased?

She didn't actually mean for him to get that from what she said, but maybe she should have expected this. Well, all right, she guesses they're talking about this now. Telling Gojyo about his recent unemployment won't help anyone, but everything else...

"This-" she mimics Gojyo's gesture at their surroundings, "is new to me, don't worry about that. I'm talking about our world's divine assholes."

That's really not better.

"The only interfering that they've done that I know of was comin' down and saving Sanzo's life." And setting them on their journey in the first place, but that wasn't really interfering, was it? They had to send Sanzo, because he was going anyway to get his other sutra back. "You're saying things got worse once we got to India?"

"Did you think they were going to get better?"

If so, Gojyo really hasn't been paying attention for the past few years. "... I'm still figuring out the details myself and once you get your head straightened out, you'll know as much as I do. So don't worry about it for now." There's no point, unless Dokugakuji is right and their presence here is connected to the War Prince. "Unless you know something about that Nataku brat you didn't tell me then."

He just snorts at that. No, of course they weren't going to get better, but the heavens interfering is a new and strange kind of not better.

"Nataku?" He does a quick mental scan, and shakes his head when it comes up negative. "I don't know who that is. You said he's a kid?"

Unsurprising. The no-more-forgetful-than-normal Sanzo party had trusted her enough to speak honestly with her.

"He's a god, but to me he just looked like a kid. The War Prince, they called him." And on one hand he'd probably helped save their lives, but on the other... "I was in the middle of talking to him when suddenly I was here."

Accepting a certain definition of 'talking'.

"Another guy mentioned a similar set of circumstances, but as far as I know it's just the two of us."

The War Prince? There's only one person Gpjyo can think of who might fit that description, but she's already said that she knows Kougaiji, and it's not him.

"That doesn't ring any bells, but if he's a god then I bet I know somebody who might know him." He could go get his phone, but if she's got hers then he can continue to be lazy. "You got your phone? Look for the number for a god called Liber."

Because now that he's thinking about it, wasn't Kenren saying something a couple weeks back about a War Prince? His memory isn't what it used to be, and for once it's not the fault of people erasing his memories. He's having trouble thinking sometimes -- his brain goes all foggy when he tries to remember stuff -- and it's really starting to get annoying. But Kenren will have the answers. He's sure about that.

"What am I, your secretary?" But whatever, fine, it's faster to just take out her phone than it is to push Gojyo around. Any chance to understand Nataku better isn't something she can pass up.

Sharak opens up whatever the directory is for gods in the Far Shore and scrolls down the list. Kshitigarbha, Lakshmi, Loki... She pauses for a second and then keeps scrolling to the bottom of the list. Then she slowly scrolls back up. No, she definitely can't see Liber. She hesitates before just passing the phone to Gojyo.

"You find them." Maybe the spelling is different than she's thinking.

She scrolls through her phone's menu, and Gojyo can't help but sigh. He has his problems using the damn things too when he first arrived, but it's not like it's that hard to skim through an alphabetized list and find a name.

He takes the phone from her with a raised eyebrow, and scrolls down. And down. And then back up. ...And then up further, to the A section, looking for Athena. He can't remember Konzen's god name, so he can't confirm that he's gone, too, but it's looking likely.

It's a much muted kappa that hands Sharak's phone back. "Never mind."

Don't fucking 'never mind' her, what the hell. Sharak takes her phone back and glares steadily at Gojyo for a minute. They're not on the list any more. They were supposed to be. What are the possible reasons for them to be missing? She's heard a lot over the past week or so.

"... So, what exactly happens when one of us vanishes from this place, Gojyo?"

He's had a shock, okay?

"I don't fucking know!" he snarls, frustration and grief getting the better of him. Kenren's gone. How long has he been gone? Why didn't Gojyo call him as soon as he returned? There's a guilt there that's going to stick with him for a damn long time.

"I don't know if they're dead, or sent back to where they came from..." Which in Kenren's case would be the same thing -- he'd been resurrected for this little experiment, and now that he's gone, Gojyo's got no doubt that he's dead again. "...or if they're in some other part of heaven or a shinki or what. Nobody knows." Or if they do, they're not talking.

"All I know is that if you're a god, your temple vanishes and your shinki get reassigned. Shinki just vanish, no warning or anythin'." At any time the power that brought them here could pluck them back out, and there's nothing any of them can do about it. Paradise, right? "Kenren was a good guy. He deserved better than this."

Kenren. She's heard that name before- ah, yes, from the other two. The god from their heaven, the same as Konzen. Sharak wonders if he's Hakkai's double or Gojyo's.

"... I'm sure he did." She closes her eyes and puts her phone away. "Genjo should know for certain if he's vanished, he told me he had a name from him."

Perhaps she should check in on Konzen. They hadn't talked about his friends, but if they're anything like their earthly counterparts he was probably effected by this. And if Gojyo thought Kenren might have answers to Sharak's questions, Konzen probably had them too.

Gojyo just nods at that. He'll want to check in with Goku as well -- the kid had been staying with Konzen, and if they'd all vanished then he'll need someplace else to...

...Goku. The memory comes back in a flash: they'd been talking about Goku, him and Kenren. That's where he'd heard the name War Prince. "He's from heaven." They'd met on the grass, fought a bit, shared a cigarette, and then Kenren had told him everything. "Nataku. The War Prince. He was in heaven, with Kenren and them. And somebody..." Ni? No, not Ni, but something like Ni. "...they wanted Goku to take over for him. To fight heaven's battles for them." How the hell could he have forgotten that?!

Sharak tenses slightly as she listens. Remembering what Sanzang told her about the Goku and Nataku of her world... It lines up a little too well. Their Goku had been in Heaven too. He'd known Nataku.

"... The armies of Heaven aren't allowed to kill. The War Prince carries the sin of killing their enemies so that they don't have to."

When the Three Aspects had explained the system to them, Gojyo and Hakkai had pointed out how stupid it was then. Sharak thinks back and tries to remember how Goku had reacted to the talk of Nataku, but she hadn't been focusing on him. But if it really was the same as the two in Sanzang's world then...

"He and Goku were friends, once." They must have been.

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/man in black lyrics

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