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 Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:34 pm
Kouyo more or less ignores Setsushi and his meal in favor of his counting, though he continues the task with greater urgency. When he finishes, the priest seems a bit upset by the total, and sweeps all of the coins back into the jar. Whenever Setsushi wishes for payment from Kouyo, all he needs to do is ask.
Then he takes the bowl and starts eating, apologizing for his previous inattention as he does so; he had to finish what he started first. Kouyo smiles after a few spoonfuls, and adds that he thinks he can still taste plenty of luck in it. Is Setsushi's goal for the New Year to get his friend fat and sturdy? Kouyo would be pleased to try to help him meet that target.
As for Dame Tenkyuu.... Kouyo has an aunt? He frowns a bit, glancing upwards as he tries to remember. So he does.... And she is in Gaia now, as well? The High Priest supposes he will be fine with accommodating her, but agrees that he would like some privacy if possible. Still not used to living with ladies, and all.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 5:02 pm
Setsushi watches the counting silently, his pleasant expression gradually fading as Kouyo continues, but returning when he finishes. He does not ask about the sum, not at this moment, at least.
He seems to much prefer describing how Kouyo will look after one full year in Gaia -- appealingly plump, handsome, and energetic. And smiling easier, if Setsushi has his way.
He then turns in his chair to survey the tiny house, pondering. After a moment, he begins suggesting various layouts to Kouyo -- shall they add another screen to create two 'bedrooms'? Though he cannot think of any arrangement that will not be awfully cramped... and he must give Tenkyuu the bed, as she is getting stiff and old, he notes with a bit of tender sadness, as if speaking about his own aunt.
Knowing Tenkyuu, Setsushi can't guarantee she won't sneak up on them at inappropriate times. sweatdrop But she never means any harm.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 5:25 pm
The younger Porcelain smiles faintly at Setsushi's imagining him in a year's time, but he sinks into a vaguely troubled quiet as he finds himself pondering what else will have changed in a year. The Knight expects them to still be in Gaia, though?
He also gives off a feeling of guilt and sadness, that he does not care as much about Dame Tenkyuu as Setsushi apparently does. She is family, but... for all intents and purposes, a stranger to Kouyo. ... Hopefully he will be able to get along with her alright.
Still, he promises he will do whatever he needs to in order to be sure she is comfortable. The High Priest would of course aid any stranger who required his help. His bunch of blankets is comfortable where ever he puts them on the floor, so he can adapt to however Setsushi decides to rearrange their living space.
-Wait, sneaking up at inappropriate times? ._.;; What else can Setsushi tell him?
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 5:31 pm
Setsushi quickly assures Kouyo that he is not sure they will be in Gaia for an entire year -- indeed, perhaps they will find what they seek long before then. But this does seem to be a long-term operation on which they are set; two months have already passed since Kouyo's arrival, haven't they?
Setsushi moves away from that topic in a hurry, and suggests to Kouyo that he keep the couch, though perhaps moved to another location, while Setsushi sleeps on the floor. When he was buying another set of bedding at a Gaian store he saw quite a variety of cushions, blankets, and mattresses that could become Setsushi's new bed; perhaps he should go investigate them tomorrow...
And Setsushi once again reiterates that Tenkyuu means no harm by her behavior -- although she has thrown Setsushi off-balance once or twice, she has always respected his sensitivities as a maiden, and he is sure she will be able to accomodate Kouyo's nee--
... Then he stops, deeply troubled as he comes to a realization, and asks Kouyo: How much will they be able to tell her?
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:01 pm
Two months.... Kouyo sighs a little and stops eating in favor of pushing the bits of seaweed around in his soup with his spoon. If time is passing at the same rate in the Golden World, perhaps he will not be expected to continue as High Priest when they finally return. However....
But sure, he can take the couch, he tells Setsushi. Kouyo is more couch-sized than his friend anyway sweatdrop He would not mind going shopping with Setsushi tomorrow, either, since he does not really have to work. It has been a little while since the two of them spent time together wandering around in Gaia, too....
As for what they can tell Dame Tenkyuu, however, the priest gives off a frustrated and pained feeling and tells Setsushi, "Nothing, I guess." She is a stranger; it took Kouyo long enough to be able to tell his dearest and only friend, and he is still not sure if he should have even done that.... Kouyo may decide to share more with her in time, but he cannot make that decision now.
Which means that what he wished to ask of Setsushi today should probably wait until Dame Tenkyuu has come and gone. The priest gives up entirely on his soup for the moment, reseting his elbows on the table and his face in his hands.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:16 pm
Setsushi reacts with alarm, reaching out to Kouyo across the table to touch his arm gently.
If it is something urgent or painful, should Kouyo not ask Setsushi now? Setsushi can always tell Tenkyuu she cannot yet stay; nothing has been finalized yet, and he is sure he could help find her some other accommodations somewhere if they looked hard enough.
And although Setsushi respects that Kouyo does not want to share all his secrets, his shows of trust thus far have helped Setsushi understand a little better... and he is not sure how much use he will be if he does not understand.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:05 pm
Bristling with anxiety that he had managed to control or at least hide fairly well to that point, the priest stands and begins to pace across the floor. Stranger or not, he cannot possibly force Setsushi to turn away his own aunt, especially if she is aging in addition to being homeless in Gaia. Even if he tells her nothing while she stays, Kouyo will still welcome Dame Tenkyuu as well as he can.
And... Kouyo was thinking of asking Setsushi to cut his hair for him. If doing so would not trouble Setsushi Who Remains a Maiden too deeply. The priest's hair is still slightly damp from his shower, and he takes his brush from the table as he passes it so he can work on straightening it more while he measures Setsushi's house again. Cutting it himself would be... awkward, and he trusts no one else.
If his aunt is to be living among them, though, Kouyo is not sure he is ready to meet her both as High Priest and as one with his hair cut to show his loss of his maidenhood. Kouyo wishes to try to come to terms with it himself before he must explain anything to a relative. So he should probably just wait.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:22 pm
... Setsushi slowly relaxes back into his chair upon hearing this, as if he had been expecting some sort of horrific tale leading to a frightening request and is relieved to find it is 'only' this.
Setsushi understands, and he will oblige; a fleeting image of a parent bearing a son to his wife's house moves through his mind, but the projection does not linger lest it evoke too many unpleasant feelings in Kouyo. Instead, Setsushi repeats his supporting and comforting feelings, as well as a note of approval; perhaps it will lessen the pain of keeping so many secrets inside...
But Setsushi does send out a very gently challenging feeling as well, in a calm and logical tone: Why does Kouyo wish to delay it until Tenkyuu leaves? Indeed, it will reveal some part of his secret to her, but... It is not as if after she stops living with them she will never come by to see his cut hair. Or is it just that Kouyo wishes for some time to think through this decision? And that he does not want her possible disapproval to affect his choice?
Or does he just want to take his time? Setsushi will support that, too.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:57 pm
No... well... he had his mind made up already, or so he thought. The hardest decision of all of this was made for him two years ago, the priest supposes, but... he does fear her disapproval. Though not as much as he feared Setsushi's, certainly. If Dame Tenkyuu lives with them, however, Kouyo worries he may have to live with her disapproval for as long as she remains, and he is not sure he can tolerate that right now. How can he expect to build a relationship with perhaps the only family members he has left to even consider being able to rely upon if his aunt sees him first for the badly troubled and broken man he is?
... However, lying to her as he has tried to lie to himself and as he feels he lied to Setsushi for so long is also not a way to try to reach out to unknown family....
Kouyo asks Setsushi what Dame Tenkyuu is like, and falls into a contemplative silence save for the padding of his slippered feet back and forth across the floor.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:06 pm
Tenkyuu... is like a dragon-cat, calculatedly nonchalant but always observant, never quite playful and never quite serious, one who does not speak much but to reveal her tremendous wit. She is a good woman, a kind mother to those who are weak and small, though occasionally clumsy with their delicate feelings.
She is not really one, Setsushi concludes carefully, to endlessly hound others about their past transgressions. When Setsushi knew her, she was not one to look backwards at all, but to make the best of what she had and move forward calmly.
However... He pauses, his brow furrowing. ... Her husband died some years ago, and though she has not shown many emotions outwardly, Setsushi knows she must be suffering inside...
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:30 pm
So... he would have no chance of knowing his uncle.... Perhaps Kouyo had received some notice of the man's death up in his tower - he could not recall, as he did not tend to receive much mail of consequence, and paid little of it any real mind - but he suspected if he had, the names on the page would have meant little to him. The priest now feels a bit guilty about this, but concedes to himself that really, he had no way of getting to know anyone who would not come to him in order to poke their fingers between the bars of his birdcage. Dame Tenkyuu probably would not have been permitted to see him, anyway.
She sounds like a good woman, and Setsushi seems to like her. And of course Kouyo now believes that he is best off among his own kind, away from humans like Kumoru who wish to control him. Now he is free of his birdcage and can meet whomever he wishes. If Dame Tenkyuu is close to him already by blood, then it could not hurt to finally get to know her better. Make himself feel a bit more like a real Porcelain.
After determining that Setsushi's home is still the same size it has always been, the High Priest settles back into his chair again, and eats another spoonful of his soup. A few tears trail down his cheeks, but he seems considerably less upset.
... Has Setsushi told Dame Tenkyuu anything of her nephew? he wonders after a moment..
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:59 pm
Setsushi tries not to make it obvious that he listens to that tiny piece of information about Kumoru with intent interest.
Instead, he tells Kouyo cautiously that Tenkyuu would be one of the people Setsushi would most expect to react favorably to Kouyo's... situation, but with the loss of her husband weighing on her emotional state, Setsushi is not sure how she would feel... So far she has shown only strength in front of Setsushi, which worries him more than if she were showing sadness. So Setsushi is not sure he can tell Kouyo anything definite about how she will react.
He has not told her much about Kouyo so far. She does know that he is here in Gaia -- she does not know, of course, that he is moving back in, and he will have to let her know about that tomorrow. Setsushi does not remember her asking after him in any particularly probing way, nor any sort of ill feelings, but... not a particularly large amount of interest either. Yet that may be favorable, as perhaps it will mean more privacy for Kouyo.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 11:30 pm
He faintly supposes that no Porcelain like himself could harm him more than just two humans already had. And if his aunt is suffering as well, from age or from her loss, then he should not hesitate to offer his help regardless of what might happen to him. Kouyo is a priest, not just the High Priest, and so should aid his people.
Kouyo contemplates his soup, then sets his spoon aside to drink the last of it. He gradually decides he would be serving the Name in his own small way, fighting his fear and his pain to eventually bring forth honesty. And simply having Setsushi cut his hair is not like making an announcement of the nature of his half-marriage to every corner of the Empire; a secret is still a secret, and he does not have to tell anyone he does not trust. And If Dame Tenkyuu carries too much of her own pain, then Kouyo will not burden his relative with his own.
This little bird wishes to think of himself for this choice, though.
Closing his eyes for a moment, he combs his fingers through his long hair, privately remembering how Ranko had teased him by sweeping it all forward into his face before they made love for the first and only time. And, just as privately, he works to stave off the much more recent memories of Kumoru also holding onto the priest's hair as Kouyo kissed him in search of comfort he knew he would not find.
"Cut off as much of it as you like, whenever you are ready," he tells Setsushi as he wipes his eyes, also gently reminding his friend that he wished to take a warm shower. "This little bird will be Setsushi's Kouyo until either he can become Ranko's Kouyo, or Setsushi no longer has any need for him." He is devoted to the Knight in thanks, and will serve him as well as he can as a friend-brother-son-but-not-quite-husband.
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:35 pm
Setsushi nods, gazing at Kouyo's hair as he privately contemplates the own heavy weight on his head -- though he may sometimes call it an inconvenience, a discomfort, and a source of shame, the thought of suddenly cutting it short disturbs him. If their positions were reversed, Setsushi isn't sure he'd be as bold as Kouyo... Less privately, he sends a mild feeling of admiration for his friend.
... Setsushi doesn't think he has the implements right now, though, he tells Kouyo. The scissors he does have would not be kind to his hair, and they really shouldn't use the human-made swords either, as they are not as fine as Porcelain swords -- combat-sturdier, perhaps, but not suited for delicate work. Perhaps they can hunt a proper tool while they are out shopping tomorrow. Kouyo could pick it out himself.
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:02 pm
Kouyo sighs a little and fends off Setsushi's admiration. He is hardly proud of being the only Porcelain man whose heart is chained to that of a human.
But yes, he will look for something suitable tomorrow. He forces a sad smile and reaches out for Setsushi's hand. The priest wonders then how his friend is feeling? He imagines this must be difficult for the Ice Maiden as well. Kouyo sends him a faintly cautious but sympathetic feeling, touched with guilt for putting him through this.
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