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

[bastionpc]

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?

Comments

[individuates]

"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."

[yinyangfox]

"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..."

[individuates]

"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."

[yinyangfox]

"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."

[individuates]

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..."

[yinyangfox]

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."

[individuates]

"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… "

[yinyangfox]

"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."

[individuates]

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."

[yinyangfox]

"I don't believe he will see me work, since I have no intention of going into the Skyway again without your express permission," the onmyoji replied with another little shiver of pleasure, half-opening his eyes in order to slide them sidelong over what he could see of Kaoru. He rested against the younger man's chest without any protest, content to be where he was moved about. Few things soothed him more than the redhead's attention.

"You are right, of course. You are always right, but I have no skill at these things. I cannot bear the humiliation, Kaoru. How am I to seek out strangers in this place? What have I even to offer them? Am I simply expected to walk up to a person empty-handed and somehow garner their attention? Things...do not work that way. Do they? Even if they did, that seems terribly disrespectful."

[individuates]

"It worked on me." He replied softly, one fingertip tracing the curve of Seimei's jaw gently. Not that Seimei was the first - Tamaki had ambushed them with nothing but his idea and his intuition, two years ago, but even then that had been under completely different circumstances. "...we all arrived here with nothing, anyway..."

A soft hum and a shake of his head. It wouldn't do to dwell too much on the arriving here, it was the being here that counted, after all.

"Nobody will think badly of you, my love." He murmured, winding his arms around Seimei gently, "And there is no need to force yourself to approach people in ways that are unusual to you. You have nothing to fear if you want to reach out. And a safe place here to return to, always."

[yinyangfox]

"That was different," he muttered, sinking slightly into the water. He wasn't about to explain the differences between their interactions and those with other people. If the boy couldn't see that for himself, Seimei wasn't about to point it out. There was something to be said, though.

"I did not go to you empty-handed, Kaoru. You might not have been able to see what I was holding but it was always there. I trusted you with it from the moment we exchanged words, and you have it in safe-keeping now. However, it is not something I can offer - or would offer - to anyone else. Ours was a very different circumstance."

He inhaled deeply, huffing a soft sigh before snorting a short laugh that sounded bitter even to him.

"For all the times I have gone out and attempted to help, all the times I have bothered making any effort to include myself in their little gatherings, I do not think it has amounted to very much. I hardly speak to someone who shares my home, I have lost my closest companion in all my years. I had never imagined a fault in my own character, but perhaps it is simply that. Perhaps I am not to sort of person people wish to be acquainted with," Seimei mused, resting against Kaoru with another sigh.

"If that is the case, I genuinely have no idea what to do. I will not stop helping where I have the ability to do so, but it is exhausting, involving myself where clearly there are others more capable and more...popular, I suppose."

[individuates]

"I didn't know that in the beginning, though." He confessed softly, pressing a kiss to the side of Seimei's forehead. "I wish I had. I don't always figure that kind of thing out quickly - epecially not when it comes to myself - and I was always a little envious, that you could be so perceptive. But I thought we were all the same, at the start. All of us lost. All of us uprooted..."

The hand around Seimei's waist stroked lightly up and down his side. He was truly sorry for how things had turned out with Taisan, and still blamed himself for the loss. Even if he were to repeat the apology until he was hoarse, nothing would change now, he knew that.

"It's their loss, my love, if that's what they think." A soft sigh, nuzzling into Seimei's hair, "I don't want you to give up - I would like you to keep trying. I don't want you to feel like you have to compete with anyone or to just... keep battering your head against the wall, either."

[yinyangfox]

"Perceptive? I wonder," the onmyoji murmured, shivering under the touch to his waist and hip. Dark eyes drifted closed completely as his head fell back against Kaoru's shoulder. He relaxed visibly, the tilting axis of his world stabilizing slowly as the alcohol ran its course. The words drifted to his ear, filled his mind.

"I will not, I swear. I will never give up, if it is what you want. I will try despite my failings and do whatever I must to be part of your world, Kaoru. I simply...wish you to know that it is not a lack of desire that impedes me so much as me being unfit for the task."

[individuates]

"It's not that you're unfit - you're just unused to this kind of interaction. And that's perfectly all right - certainly not anything you have to apologise for or feel bad about." Murmured quietly, his hand continuing to trail up and down beneath the water, "…you never have to apologise to me at all, Seimei."

He stroked through Seimei's hair again and let them sit in silence for a while, just the two of them and the water. When he thought back to their first bath together… it was amazing, how far they had come since then, never mind the very beginning.

He ducked his head slightly to kiss the side of Seimei's neck.

"But... my love, if we sit here much longer we're going to shrivel up and disappear completely."

[yinyangfox]

He inhaled deeply, puffing a long sigh of disappointment before groaning and sitting himself upright with a small, noncommittal nod. Damn to the depths the fact the water had to prune them, he could have just stayed there all night, wrapped up in everything Kaoru. Letting the hurt and doubt go meant holding onto what mattered more again. He didn't want to part so soon after everything he'd admitted.

Still...

"I will finish cleaning up and rinsing myself. If you would be so kind, could you find me something clean to wear? I will be out in a few moments and go wherever you will it," he remarked, cupping water and bringing it to his face. It wasn't cold enough to banish what Kaoru's lazy touching had done,but Seimei figured it would flag by the time the boy went off and came back.

[individuates]

A smile, releasing Seimei just a moment, only to slide closer again to steal another kiss.

"We can settle down again in our room, later. And then you won't have to let go of me at all, if you don't want. I don't want…" His hand fluttered against Seimei's cheek and through his hair before he finally moved away. "Mmm. Okay. You can leave it to me."

It still took him a few good long moments to hop out of the bath though, unwilling as he was to move away from Seimei himself and, with a towel wrapped around him he lingered another moment at the door.

"I love you. I'll be right back, okay?"

[yinyangfox]

He inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly and nodded, schooling himself to serenity and avoiding staring overlong at the red-haired youth as he departed. When Kaoru was gone, Seimei rubbed wet hands over his face, shook his head and set to doing precisely as he said, cleaning himself properly and ridding himself of the last of his drunken ick. He felt infinitely better, having spoken, admitted his troubles and found himself right back where he belonged.

By the time Kaoru returned Seimei had himself under control and was just rising from the water after diving beneath it to comb out his hair and stand in one go, keeping any tangles from forming as he went. He gave himself the luxury of a long stretch as well, groaning softly as he settled with a soft huff.

It was good to be home and putting troubles out of his mind for a while. And he was indeed hungry after all, if his creaking belly were any indication.

[individuates]

It took Kaoru a little longer to return than would have been expected as he spent a good ten minutes flitting about their rooms to light them, lay out the futon and take care of anything else they might need. He was coming to miss electricity less and less as time went by. He had hated it first - the inconvenience, of not being able to light up a room with a flick of a switch. But he had grown used to it - and really, the lantern lights were much nicer. Much more intimate.

A soft tap on the bathroom door, giving Seimei a few moments to get decent, if he needed, before opening it and peering around it with a smile, proffering the clothes.

"…the futon is ready, and there is food on its way, if you're hungry. I can take care of your hair for you, if you like. While we wait…"

[yinyangfox]

Getting decent hardly seemed relevant when they were prone to bathing together. He tried to be reasonably discreet, but there was little point in rushing to find a robe or something when Kaoru was coming with his clothes. He was, at least, in the habit of keeping his waist below the water until he could rise and take any necessary garments.

"You are too good to me, Kaoru...sometimes I wonder if a truly do right by you," Seimei murmured softly, opening a plain white underrobe and pulling it over his shoulders. He tied it loose around his waist so as not to catch his hair and turned habitually for Kaoru to pull the heavy mass of it free of the clothing.

"I think I could eat, yes. I am perhaps less pickled than before. I apologize for that disgraceful display in front of so many, Kaoru. It was never my intention. I had myself convinced that I could let you go - that it was the right thing to do. I suppose I am more selfish than I want to admit."

[individuates]

"I believe in you."

His arms snaked around Seimei from behind, one hand sliding under the robes just for the sake of skin-on-skin contact. He leaned into his onmyoji's back, head coming to rest between his shoulders and just... breathed him in for a moment. Fresh robes and clean skin, and the scent of the bath oils that lingered on both of them.

"...I was scared that I would lose you, yes... But never that it would be of your will." If he had doubted, he would have run long ago. But the time for running was past. The time for doubting was past.

Indeed, he had never doubted.

He straightened after a few long moments, gathering Seimei's hair and twisting it into one length over his shoulder, spinning Seimei to face him with a soft smile.

"...never apologise. I told you already."

[yinyangfox]

Seimei's hands raised slowly to press against the backs of Kaoru's, holding them against his skin for several moments before the boy pulled away to move his hair. Just those little things thrilled the onmyoji past the point of description, strengthening him where he felt his weakest. He turned obediently when pulled, knowing full well the look on his face said a great deal more about his thoughts than anything else. Where normally he was so impossible to read, sometimes there were things that words failed to illustrate where a look could.

He wanted Kaoru in every sense of the word and his love was indescribable. Leave Kaoru? As if he'd ever had a choice. He could feel his own heart breaking into pieces with every word he'd said trying to reason with the boy, to separate themselves. To save him.

So foolish.

"I will always apologize, Kaoru. I will never deserve you," he whispered, reaching up to cup the boy's cheek gently, dark eyes glittering warmly. "But I will happily spend my life doing everything I can to try. I'm bound to be afraid sometimes, but I'll never run again. Even if I cannot comprehend my own feelings, I promise to bring my thoughts to you before choosing to do anything that involves us."

[individuates]

A contented sigh, mirroring the motion and closing the distance between them for a kiss.

"...I love you. And I consider myself so, so lucky to be with you." There were certain points he was probably never going to persuade Seimei on; he knew that. But that didn't mean he was going to just give up. "It doesn't matter whether or not you believe it, too, but it's important to me that you at least know. That you're the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. And that I'm honoured that I can call myself yours. You do deserve me; even if you don't think you do - as far as I'm concerned that is an incontrovertible fact."

He brushed his nose against Seimei's before pulling back with a smile, taking Seimei's hands to lead him upstairs.

"Come. Our futon is waiting for us."

[yinyangfox]

"You are the only one who can say who deserves you, and I remain ever in awe at how blessed I am by your words," the onmyoji whispered, hands curling around Kaoru's gently before he inclined his head and moved to leave the bath behind. Flattery always pleased him, but somehow, coming from Kaoru, it all meant a great deal more. As though the boy's words were the only truths ever spoken to him.

They crossed out into the main hall, dark eyes drifting about the house with little interest. He was pleased by the structure, but whenever he thought about it without Kaoru it seemed more like a barn or storage shed than a home. The people he lived with, they had made it a home; no longer was the place he resided merely a monument of his solitude.

By the time they got to his room Seimei was caught in a fit of rare emotion and when he had the doors closed behind them he turned and wrapped his arms around the redhead from behind to simply hold him. Face nuzzling neck and cheek gently, he stood there, unwilling to let go for several long moments. With the doors closed and no one to witness it, he allowed himself the moment of weakness. It bothered him to think of himself as clingy or needy in any way, but after the crises they had been suffering one after the other, he felt entitled to the moment. In he pressed a few slow kisses against Kaoru's throat, it was only to remind himself the boy was real.

Perhaps to taste his skin.

Perhaps to accompany the motion of slender hands trailing feather-light down lean arms.

Mercy but all he wanted to do was drown himself in Kaoru.

[individuates]

"I'm yours," Softly whispered, head rolling to one side to bare more of his neck for Seimei's kisses as a pleasant shiver coursed through him, "and you are mine."

One of his hands slid into Seimei's hair, resting there a moment before slipping down to tilt his chin up so he could catch those lips with his own. A sway of the hips as he shifted around, his free hand coming to rest on Seimei's shoulder while the other slipped into his hair again.

He had missed this. He had missed the moments of just the two of them; of touching, kissing, tasting and not caring. He had missed the closeness to the point of aching - had it really been only ten days? - but with Seimei's touches parts of him that hurt to be without were gradually easing.

Seimei certainly made himself difficult to separate from at times like this. It was hard to step away when all Kaoru wanted was to melt into him more, but he managed a couple of steps back, taking the onmyoji by each hand and pulling him to the pool of flickering candlelight around their bed.

"Come…"