thebastion | [Day 205] It's the end of the world, get drunk

Entry tags:

!npc

[Day 205] It's the end of the world, get drunk

Who: Georges and anyone about
Open: Open
When: 205 sometime in the afternoon
Where: Around the Monument
What: The Cael way of celebrating everyone not dying involves booze, so drink up! (Fun fact: the Cael way of mourning may also involve booze.)
Format: Any
Warnings: Drunken shenanigans, likely. Also feel free to treat this like a mingle thread and not just talking to Georges! (Although he'll try to chat with everyone if he can)

So, just to double check: A cure has been found? Everyone's recovered? No one's dead? It's safe to leave the house now? Excellent.

With this fact well known, one can find Georges starting off his morning not hanging about the bar (as is his custom as the only bartender in the Bastion) but in fact setting up something in front of the Monument. Tables, chairs, some blankets to sit on when those inevitably run out... There's also something of a makeshift bar area, a variety of liquor in fascinating bottles set up along with some glasses.

Everything is all finished up around the afternoon, and Georges goes behind his little makeshift table-bar to cup his hands around his mouth so he can yell-

"DRINKS ON THE HOUSE!"

...What do you mean he technically never makes anyone pay for booze at the end of the world? Just come up and have a drink, Georges will be happy to recommend something. Or maybe bother someone else having a drink?

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"Shh... It's okay..."

He knew they didn't need to talk anymore, but he couldn't allow Seimei to weep whilst saying nothing himself. His hands lifted to hold Seimei's arms around himself gently, if awkwardly, and continuing to lead him down towards the house and releasing him only to open the door and slip off his shoes in the genkan.

"...come with me," he murmured softly, pressing a light kiss to Seimei's forehead and preparing to lead him again through the house, "And I'll run your bath..."

Seimei followed without speaking, releasing Kaoru once he started to move again and simply keeping close, expression distant and thoughtful. When they got to the house and the redhead spoke again the onmyoji barely heard at first, seeming to rise out of a haze. Sliding his feet from his own boots and glancing at the boy he sighed with an apologetic look. he knew he'd been strange, overbearing, emotionally tumultuous. It wasn't a comfortable place for him to be in the least but he couldn't help it.

Opening himself so much to someone else in his life had changed things for him irrevocably.

Nodding once in acceptance of the gentle command the black-haired noble paced quietly through the house and around the main hall towards the massive bathing room, grateful for his more-than-human metabolism as thealcohol ran its course. That meant a fairly early bount of hungover regret, but it also meant he wouldn't be such a wreck for as long as he could have been.

"I...am sorry, Kaoru," he said after a moment of standing in the room, fidgeting with his robes. "I know I have been terribly bothersome...I am always at a loss."

He simply smiled up at him from where he had knelt at the edge of the tub to run the water.

"You are no bother at all, Seimei." Cetainly not compared to the Hikaru and the Host Club, at least. It was a daily fact of life at Ouran, and he had long since accepted it. "Even if you were, you know it wouldn't really matter to me either way. I love you - that means I'd be happy to be bothered by you, and that I'm happy to guide you when you're not sure..." He rose, reaching to a shelf for a bottle of oil and scattered a few drops into the bath before turning back to Seimei, stilling his hands again. "And when neither of us is sure, we figure it out together, right? So you don't need to apologise anymore."

He hesitated, freeing a hand to comb through Seimei's hair.

"...will you let me help you with your clothes?"

"Of course," he answered, tilting his dark gaze to Kaoru curiously before lowering his head into a raised hand and rubbing at his face. He felt so out of sorts, so troubled still despite his full disclosure. A large part of him was relieved to be free of the consuming guilt but he still wondered if he wasn't being selfish.

"I do not deserve you, my Sunset Prince. I have never deserved you. I do not think I ever will. I will spend all my days paying for this wonder and the toil will ever be the most rewarding thing in my life. I wish I knew what to do to make every day as perfect for you as imaginable."

"It's lucky you don't get to decide that, then, isn't it?" He hummed softly, leaning in to kiss Seimei lightly on the mouth - nudging the onmyoji's hand out of the way, if need be, anything he could to try to take that troubled look from Seimei's face. "If it was left up to each of us, where would we be? Thankfully, I'm the one who decides whether you deserve me, and I'll make you believe as I do - that you do - one day. I'll convince you, just wait."

His arms settled on Seimei's shoulders as he swayed deliberately on the spot just… watching him for a few moments before nodding decisively.

"Mmm. Food after we bathe, I think. I know you're tired, but you need to eat something."

"I hope I never become so entitled," he murmured, leaning to kiss back briefly before stretching his arms out to the side and rolling his shoulders, allowing himself to be freed of his garments. He felt tired, mostly from the drink and the stress - the crying as well, though he wouldn't admit it - but he didn't feel quite like sleeping. He just wanted to be close to the boy, forget everything else and pretend for a little while that things were like they had once been.

"Whatever you want. You want me to eat, I'll eat, you want me to dance, I'll dance. After everything I've put you through, it would do me well to feel as though I were somehow making up for it."

"Maybe not right away, with the dancing," he smiled, pausing a moment to make sure the door was properly closed before easing away the layers. "I'm far from averse to the idea, but priorities first, hmm? You can make it up to me by eating a square meal and… and sleeping in my arms, all right?"

Reaching the final layer of clothing, he turned Seimei around gently by the shoulders, giving him no time to figure out whether the spreading blush on Kaoru's cheeks was down to his words or to the rising steam from the bath. Another kiss was placed at the nape of Seimei's neck before Kaoru slipped the robe off him, holding it up by the shoulder seams.

Under other circumstances he might have half-jokingly offered a striptease of his own, but as it was he kept a hold of the robe like a curtain. It wasn't as if they'd never seen each other before, and it wasn't as if getting distracted by each other was a bad thing but… perhaps Seimei wanted the privacy?

…or perhaps it was Kaoru who had suddenly got just a little body-shy?

"…go on, into the bath. I'll be right behind."

He stood there for a long moment, dark eyes drifting along with his thoughts before he stepped forward and reached out, ignoring the robe and everything else to just touch Kaoru's face with his fingertips.

"I love you, Kaoru. I love you so much," he whispered, staring hard at the boy before stepping back and turning away towards the bath obediently. He wanted something else, something more, but didn't trust himself not to be dramatic or emotional again. A good soak would rattle his head free of the sticky mess he'd made of it. Hopefully he'd be less of a mess and more of a man.

His eyes fluttered closed in contentment for a moment as he leaned into the touch, his hands lowering the robe for a moment while he was distracted.

"I missed you." Softly, barely audible over the sound of the water, "I'm so glad I have you home safe."

Unwilling to let the moment hang for too long, he pulled himself out with a shake of his head and saw to shepherding Seimei into the bath properly, setting the robe aside and starting on his own clothes once he was done. Clothes shed, he stepped into the water, submerging himself up to the shoulders with a delighted sigh.

God. Of course they had been able to clean themselves in the hospital but nothing - nothing - could come close to a long, luxuriant bath with the one he loved, together in their own home.

He settled down beside Seimei in the water, and coaxed his onmyoji's head to rest on his shoulder.

"Thank you."

"What are you thanking me for?" the onmyoji asked, shifting in the bath to rest his head where Kaoru wanted. He could have fallen asleep right there, he realized. He just wanted those moments, the closeness. Soaking off his drunkenness was helping, though.

"I have not done anything meriting your gratitude. I have made a mess of myself, of us. I can hardly be considered someone of particular value at this point," he muttered, shifting again to slide an arm around the redhead's waist, fingertips trailing lazily against his side. He felt braver with his action hidden under the water and his good sense inhibited by local spirits, and he wanted to touch the boy, so why not?

"Do not thank my, Kaoru. I am no one worth thanking."

"Not true," Murmured halfway into Seimei's hair as he nuzzled closer, his left hand gathering strands that had dipped into the water and gently twirling them around his fingers, "I know they are not all things you have been proud of, but you've done a thousand, thousand things in your life so far, and every one of them has led you here. I can't be grateful for that? That you're you, that you're mine, that you're here?"

A soft sigh at the arm slipping around his waist, and he shifted a leg, foot sliding between Seimei's ankles. Not about to wrap right around him, but enough to link their legs together and further the closeness they had.

"You haven't made a mess of anything, Seimei. I'm here. You're here. Surely that's all we need?"

"Your optimism forever astounds me," Seimei murmured with a soft sigh, a wet hand raising to stroke Kaoru's cheek gently. Dark brows flicked upwards when he felt the foot, but he didn't recoil. In fact he shifted closer still, the side of their bodies flush as he closed his eyes and nuzzled his nose gently against the hair at the redhead's nape. Kaoru's words brought other things to mind and he thought on them for several moments before speaking up again.

"It is all I need, but I think you need more to thrive than I do. I am little more than cave moss to your brilliant, flowering field. I need no light but yours to live and have no desire to seek out other sustenance, but you..." he sighed softly, fingers sliding from cheek to neck to shoulder, grazing their way down and back up.

"You need the sun and the rain and everything in between. I need to learn to adapt. I am failing to do so. I do not want to talk to all of these people and be involved in their lives, but if I do not, I fail to be a part of your life as well. We may be all we need for one another, at the end of the day, but you are too vibrant to be nurturing this bit of clinging vine all the time."

"Maybe true," he demurred softly, unwilling as he was to concede the point. ”But all it takes is you and I to become an Us. Nothing is ruined as long as we are each here for each other."

His fingertips alighted on Seimei's skin, drawing nonsense patterns from collarbone to collarbone in reciprocation as his foot gently stroked up and down Seimei's leg.

"...you're a rare flower in your own way, you know."

A shiver coursed the onmyoji's slender frame, dark eyes drifting sidelong to focus on Kaoru's face. The hand was one thing, the foot entirely another. Particularly when Hikaru could burst in at any time. He did have to wonder where the other twin was.

"I doubt anyone would draw the same conclusion," he snorted softly. "I am no flower. I have never been referred to in terms of grace and beauty and no amount of your biased flattery is likely to convince me otherwise," Seimei drawled, reaching up and poking one of Kaoru's cheeks.

"It is true, though. I have said it before...I must make more effort to communicate with these people. I opened my house, it was not enough. I offer my services, but these children of their modern times find my arts archaic and laughable. I have no idea what to offer them when they are too ignorant of the past to accept what they are given. My advice is ignored completely when spared, What am I meant to do with these people, Kaoru?"

In hindsight, Kaoru should, perhaps, have locked the door when he closed it. He just had to hope that Hikaru was otherwise occupied and that, if he did come home, he would hear their voices and know well enough to give them space.

'Hope' being the operative word.

"You are, you are!" Sticking his tongue out a little at the poke, shifting a little in the water so he can look Seimei in the eyes and poke him right back. "Biased flattery it may be - I'm not about to deny that. But aren't you supposed to cave to my opinion under any circumstance? Or at the very least leave me with my belief that you are the most wonderful thing in my world intact? Even if you think I'm delusional it would be cruel of you to shatter it..."

"Mercy, mercy!" he laughed, raising both hands and leaning back against the wall of the bath. "You are quite impossible to compete with and your logic is so entirely sound, how can I ever dispute?" the onmyoji asked, arching a brow with notable sarcasm. Sniffing faintly and leaning back to close his eyes, Seimei dipped his hands in the water and poured the contents of his cupped palms over his face.

"You are ignoring my legitimate concerns," he complained, cracking open one dark eyes and pursing his lips. "Though I suppose it matters very little. Their opinions will not change and I am hardly inclined to sell myself like a product. Focusing on this conversation of 'You and I and Us" seems more pertinent."

"I was getting around to them." Still pouting a little, for all that he was glowing slightly. It was good to hear real laughter from Seimei. A relief, really. He hummed for a moment, tilting his head to the side in thought.

"...I think you've tried everything that you can. In the sense that everything that you've tried so far has been about you doing things for others. You opening the house, you offering advice. So let's not make it about you doing and make it about them doing instead. What can they do for you? I'm not saying you aren't skilled already, and I'm not saying you have to change. But there are so many people here I'm sure you can learn something new from. You don't have to master it in a week, you don't even have to be good at it."

...and that would be his tongue poking out again as he teased,

"I'll even go with you. If you're scared."

Edited 2014-08-26 01:59 (UTC)

"Me? Scared? Preposterous," the onmyoji grunted, clucking his tongue and looking away in a huff, entirely put on. A moment passed in thought as he shook his head, unsure of what to say in answer. There was very little he wanted in life besides creature comforts and Kaoru. The trouble was that Kaoru was a social butterfly where he himself was...much more inclined to compare himself with a hermit crab or turtle.

"I do not want anyone to do anything for me," he replied, reaching up and scratching his collarbone with a sigh. "I take care of myself and do things for my home on my own. So far as learning other people's trades..." he trailed off, eyes narrowing slowly. Was it arrogant to want to be himself and not cater to the preferences of those around him? Was he being foolish or childish somehow by not wanting to give up those things that had made him who he was? He shifted slightly, looking over his shoulder at the folded robes tucked away by Kaoru, dark eyes flickering with his insecurity.

"I do not know," he said at last, turning away slightly and ducking behind the veil of his hair, expression uncomfortable. "I am an onmyoji. I shouldn't have to learn to be a chef or a farmer or anything else..."

"But it doesn't have to be their trade... Paar's been teaching people how to speak Dragon... or there's Colin and his library..."

He shifted a little so that he could get started on washing Seimei's hair, reaching for a bottle and a scoop for water so he could wet it properly, but pausing a moment, his arms around Seimei from behind.

"You don't have to give anything up, and you don't have to become something else. You're perfect to me as you are. But if you do want to communicate with others here, you may have to go to them."

"Starfury-san's library is precisely why mine is rendered irrelevant. And I don't need to speak dragon when I can understand every spoken language by man or beast," he pointed out with a discouraged sigh.

"It seems like when I do try, the attempt falls terribly short of the mark," he muttered, glancing at Kaoru before shifting where he sat, turning so it was easier for the boy to reach his hair. Not that it wasn't all around them in a mess of black tendrils, forever like snakes in the water.

"I am, perhaps, not so memorable to these people as I was to the people of the past. I am used to being feared and ridiculed, I suppose. Now I am treated with bland indifference and somehow it is worse."

He hummed lightly under his breath, pouring warm water over Seimei's head and combing the long, slippery ropes of hair back from his face and gathering them together so he could soap them evenly.

"...I don't know what else to suggest, other than to just get in there." He sighed, massaging Seimei's scalp, "Colin has a lot of things in his library that we don't have in ours. And you get on okay with him..."

He ducked slightly when the water ran over him, jarred out of his increasing melancholy long enough to sigh and reach up to rub his face.

"I am complaining over trivial things. I apologize. I believe I get on well enough with most of the people I meet, honestly. I do not know why I am having so much trouble. I did not think I was particularly resistant to communicating with others, but I do not like making house calls uninvited. I have allowed my doors to remain open to others, but it is difficult for me to make the same concessions in etiquette. I rarely find that I have anything to talk about with them. Speaking of their cultures always seems to upset them and that is the only thing I can question and discuss. Their private lives are simply that, and my interest or advice is rarely welcome," he sighed, describing at length only a few of his problems, but enough to emphasize that there really was one.

"I am not good at small talk, Kaoru. I am not...hm. I was never a very good noble."

"You're allowed to complain to me," he smiled, both hands going into Seimei's hair as he shifted position to make his massage a little easier. "I understand you'd be hesitant to wander into someone's residence - even I have misgivings over doing that. But we're not the only ones here with our doors open…"

A slight pout of thought as he concentrated on Seimei's hair for a while, fingers working down to his nape and back up again before he started rinsing the soap away.

"…the offer you made to me when we first met - you offered to teach. Does that still stand? Or was that a special offer just for me? I'd be flattered if it was… but I'm sure there must be people here who want to learn… "

"Yes, its open to anyone. As I recall I made the overture to Hikaru as well, but I think he imagines everything I do to be mere trivial illusion and magic tricks," Seimei sighed, tilting his head back slowly. He didn't manage to swallow a low moan in time, shivering under the redhead's touch and closing his eyes.

"I wanted to teach you, more than anyone else, but as an onmyoji - and the highest ranked one in the court - it was expected of me to tutor those seeking knowledge. I was never specifically made to be a teacher, as that would have monopolized time better spent in service to the Mikado, but I had no qualms answering questions. Without anyone here to serve, teaching people the arts is all I would have."

A soft chuckle at the sound that escaped him, leaning forward to kiss Seimei's temple briefly before settling back again and trying to elicit another.

"…Hikaru just thinks that because it's not real for him yet - he hasn't seen you work. He doesn't know what you can do - thankfully. If he did he really would start asking for magic tricks. Enjoy your peace while you can, my love."

He continued stroking through Seimei's hair, even though all the soap was out of it, one arm bringing Seimei back to settle against his chest.

"There will be people who want to learn, it's just a matter of finding them… I'd still advise you to go out and see others every now and then." At least the ones he found the least irritating… "I know it's not your way to impose on others - that in the past either they summoned you to them, or they came to you, and that it must be weird to go places you haven't been invited to. These kinds of things can be hard to break out of, I know that. But I still encourage you to go to them, as well."

A smile, leaning his head against Seimei's.

"Sometimes good things happen. When you talk to strangers."

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