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 Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 10:28 pm
Oh damn, seemed he'd run into someone after all. Amikai had been doing a rather good job of managing to avoid people while he wandered about the garden. It wasn't usually too difficult at this hour when most hanze had finished their scurrying or lolligagging about and had returned to their homes in favor for a warm cup of tea in the cool air of coming night, or had settled down for...whatever else a haka or a married gehaka might do. Amikai knew many unmarried gehaka like himself were probably still hard at work, but surely some of those married were enjoying the quiet of the evening just as he was.
The thought was a little unsettling. He pushed it firmly away, focusing instead on the hanze the path had, traitorously, led him to. Immediately, Amikai stopped and bowed low in the direction of the younger male, eyes immediately casting to the stones about his feet rather than actually toward the Hanze.
"Good evening, my lord," he greet carefully, but clearly. Perhaps the haka would wish to be alone and dismiss him immediately, but it would be rude and almost literally a crime for Amikai to do anything but offer company to the lone haka when he seemed to be the only one about.
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:08 am
It was almost clear that this Hanze wasn't expecting company, nor was he expecting the eyes of the Gehaka to fall. This Gehaka... He looked older than himself. It was no surprise, but it looked as though this Gehaka was greying. He was pretty. His head tilted to the side as he watched those wings and then looked to his ears. Donalbain's lips turned upwards a bit. They were pink. He had no bracer either.
He shook that idea from his head. He wasn't arranging any more engagements like that. "Good evening," He murmured softly with a small sigh. "Please. We are the only ones in the garden this evening. Drop the formalities. That is only good for pleasing the public masses. I will not have you arrested, nor will I yell at you for it."
He seemed mildly annoyed at the manerisms of the Hanze. He was, infact, very annoyed with them. His Haka mother had arranged the engagement that completly fell through and left him hurting like this. "What is your name?" He stood up and walked over to the Haka, his hands busy working on tightening and fixing his obi.
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:57 am
Straightening, Amikai raised his eye to the haka carefully, looking instead to the younger male's cheek or the line of his jaw rather than actually in the eye. Old habits... --besides, he'd met quite a few haka that had presented themselves as tolerant and mannerable only to switch to irritability if he stepped wrong or...
But that had usually been before, when the haka in question had known Amikai was nothing more the an unemployed vegabond, wandering from one job to the other with no master to his name. At least now, Amikai thought, he had a proper job and a proper place; unmarried, but no longer a wanderer with no prospects.
"Muruyama Amikai, my lord," he responded smoothly, or as much so as a rough low grating voice as his could manage. "It is a pleasure to make your aquaintence."
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:03 pm
He sighed and shook his head, bringing one of his hands to rub the bridge of his nose. He gave a bitter laugh and looked over the Gehaka. "Please don't, Amikai-kun," he said softly, his voice soft and smooth. He licked over his dry lips and motioned in front of him. "Please, sit. And no more of this.. my lord business. It is the two of us."
Donalbain then started to gather his hair and tugged it over his shoulder, braiding it slowly as he looked to the flower rings he had just put together. "I won't get angry at you. It's a simple request..." Despite the smile on his face, his bright green eyes still remained so sad, full of regret.
"You can call me Donalbain." He sighed and gave a forced laugh, hoping it sounded more convincing that what he thought. "You have no bracer, so you're unmarried. Do you not have a caretaker?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:24 pm
After a moment of hedging uncertainty, the older gehaka quietly folded himself down near the other Hanze, legs folded up neatly and shoulders hunched slightly forward with his forearms across his knees. A simple request perhaps, but in all honesty one that was difficult to force himself to do. Amikai inclined his head absently in admission to the request despite himself, features playing a dry but accomodating smile for the sake of the haka.
"Donalbain," he parroted faintly, much of the name lost in the rough of his voice or the unfamiliarity of such a name on his tongue. "Yes, I have a caretaker - Riyuyi Tensa is my lord. He owns the..." he hesitated, searching for the right word to describe Tensa's shop with. "The clock shop; perhaps you know of him."
He smiled briefly, the expression fitting oddly into the shallow creases marking his sun battered face. "It is a recent development, though. Riyuyi-sama learned of my lordless state and deigned to take me in." No, up until then Amikai had been rather luckless in it state.
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:36 pm
The Haka nodded a little. He'd passed the clockshop before. Or so he thought. His brain was muddled right now. That rough voice was soothing him some how. "Hm... I have a Gehaka in a similar situation. Naomi. He's an albino, or almost. His eyes aren't like that of what I've read. Well, he was given to me by my Haka mother. He had Naomi and I trained exactly the same. In more ways than one, he is just like a Haka.."
He sighed softly and watched the other Hanze with a smile that seemed calculating. "I sent him to the spa this evening, because... I needed time alone... The Gehaka I was supposed to marry vanished. I haven't heard a word from him since a day before the wedding..." His hands clutched over his chest and he looked to the side with a sad smile. "I suppose he didn't love me. But that's to be expected." He sneered next and gave a bitter laugh. "I'm a bitter Haka, you see. Direct from everyone's mouths."
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:54 pm
Amikai nodded quietly. He'd heard of such things, young haka and gehaka raised in such close proximity as to be nearly one and the same - or, at least, for one to take many traits of the other's domestic lifestyle. the subject was midly fascinating, if only because he'd been raised around only the gehaka of his mother's offspring. 'Learning to paint will do you no good if it's a sword you really need to use.' It was a good philosphy, Amikai supposed, though he could find no fault in the brotherhood between haka and gehaka.
The slight smile faded from his expression as Donalbain continued, lips pursed slightly and eyes hooded as he watched the haka as he spoke. Amikai glanced away momentarily, running his thumb over the knuckles of his other hand. When at length he looked back to Donalbain, he wore a slightly weary smile and a dark hint of sadness behind the eyes.
"That is a shame, Donalbain," he said quietly. "But there are perhaps worse things. Maybe if you looked on it as an opporunity - find someone who might share your feelings rather than run from them. It's far better to be sure of the one your marry." Spoken as if he had any experience in the matter. Laughing roughly, Amikai pulled his bare forearms off his knees, settling them closer to his stomach.
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:03 pm
He was right and Donalbain knew it. He should take the opportunity. "It's just so hard, you understand? He was the one who admitted-" he cut himself off and held up a hand, shaking his head. "No.. You're right. I should get over him.." He took several deep breaths and nodded. "Why aren't you with your caretaker now?" he asked. This Hanze was simply curious about him.
He pushed the flower rings off and sighed as he fixed his Kimono again, this time slipping it off his shoulders and running over a burn mark on his shoulder. He sighed a little, his ears pressing back down into his hair and kept his hair off of it. He would hiss as he pressed his fingers into it. "Mm.. I'm sure.. you're caretaker is very worried about you. If you are not out on an errand, that is. If so, don't let me keep you."
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:16 pm
Amikai winced slightly, looking momentarily sheepish and a touch saddened all at once. "Ah, I don't... -- Perhaps caretaker was a poor word for it," he said, shrugging one shoulder and pausing momentarily to force back a stray lock of greying hair. "I don't live with Riyuyi-sama, I simply work for him. That's far closer to having a caretaker than I have in a very long while though."
He smiled, chuckling. "I'm afraid Riyuyi-sama's shop hours aren't anywhere near the length I'm used to; I'm here because I'm...at a bit of a loss as to what to do with myself." There were still a few hours before he could force himself to sleep. When the haka dismissed him - though, Amikai was nowhere near to ready to be on his way as he had first been - he would probably return home to tidy up or do something equally domestic in an attempt to use up the rest of the hours the day offered.
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:15 am
A nod of the head and a small sigh is what Donalbain gave the other Hanze. Something nagged at the back of his head, like a thought that he couldn't get together. So the other was really alone? His arms crossed over his chest and he sighed again and then winced. Okay, that wasn't going to work. He slowly uncrossed his arms and rubbed at the burn again with a groan. That's the last time I let my brother cook.. he thought to himself. He looked back to Amikai and bit down on his lip in deeper thought.
"Do you have a home? Enough food? Perhaps even a hot bath?" He could provide these things for him. If only for tonight. His green eyes wandered tot hat hair and he smiled, reaching out to touch it and let it run through his fingers. "Your hair reminds me of a Gehaka I once saw wandering down Main Street. He had such pretty wings. The look of a butterfly. Your own wings are pretty. I've never seen a pink like that before," he said softly, not waiting for the other to answer.
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:18 am
"I have home and food enough," Amikai answered. "Hot baths are rather less common." Most days it was far easier to simply scrub off with the cold water rather than take the time to warm it over a fire. Even then, it was a water of scooping water over himself rather than any proper bath - but it had been ages since he'd had one of those and frankly he didn't miss them as much as he once thought he might.
Amikai shifted uneasily as the haka reached out to him, glancing sideways as Donalbain's fingers played through the miscolored strands. "A product of getting old, I suppose; one can't help but get a few grey hairs and wrinkles." He laughed, a sharp bark of a noise that cut off far too quickly to be considered actual mirth, features lapsing into stony reserve quickly enough. In all honesty, he was probably considered vastly too young to be greying already, but ah - stress and worry could do that to a man, he supposed. "But thank you, on both accounts."
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:25 am
The younger nodded and then looked to his own hair with a smirk. "Ah.. Not only age, but stress. I once had red hair." He motioned to the last bit of red next to his ear. "But... the stress of classes, the stress of finding my first husband, taking care of my brother and my servant..." he trailed off with a smile. "I'm beyond grey. I have white hair."
With that said, he crossed his hands in front of him. "I will give you a good hot bath, if you wish." He said, lips still pulled into a smile. "It wouldn't be any trouble on me. You can come back as often as you'd like, as well. My Mother wouldn't mind. He's to busy fussing over Naomi's lessons to notice. My brother wouldn't mind either. He's hardly ever home. I'm not sure where he runs off to.."
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:43 am
Amikai laughed despite himself, mouth flitting briefly into a genuine smile. "Ah, then perhaps you are worse off then me after all," he conceeded, that faint amusement lingering in the tone of his voice and the way he held himself for a moment or two.
A bath. He found himself thinking, briefly and suddenly, of Tensa at the clock shop, the compass rose scar on the young haka's hand dark against the gold skin. Amikai shook the thought from his mind, deeming it ridiculous. To think of such a thing was silly, nevermind inane. Riyuyi-sama's hands, much less his scar, had little to do with the offer of a bath - one that was bizarrely appealing in the cooling evening air.
"I suppose," he said at length, shifting slightly where he sat. "I will accept you offer, so long as it is no trouble to either you or your family."
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Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:07 am
Donalbain nodded softly. "It's no trouble at all. The Hanze I was telling you of earlier, the one with the butterfly wings? He sometimes comes to bath. He was trying to clean himself up for a Haka, but.... that Haka, too, disappeared. It's left him quite sad." He gave a nod to himself and a sigh. "Many Hanze are disappearing. I'm quite worried about this..." He murmured softly, shifting so his legs were now Indian style despite his Kimono. It stayed closed, he made sure.
"Tell me.. Tensu-kun.. He is a haka, no? You speak fondly of him..." A wicked smirk appeared on his lips just then. "You have feelings towards him?" Donalbain could be described in one word; snoop. He loved gossip. "I am not teasing you, just so you know. Please don't take offense. I'm just curious. I haven't met many Haka.."
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Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 11:21 am
To be honest, he hadn't noticed the dissapearance of Hanze, and he felt almost foolish for it. Were so many really sinking off out of sight without so much as a goodbye? That was a touch...worrisome. Clearly, the missing Hanze weren't in his daily routine (not that, up until now, Amikai's routine had been particularly regular). Still, if so many were indeed dissapearing, it would be only a matter of time until one of his own acquaintances went missing...
Something to be mulled over, to be sure.
Amikai glanced up sharply, dark eyes flicking and focusing quickly on the haka's face, the questions pulling him back from his reverie. Amikai pursed his lips, features stilling for a moment before he spoke. The words were low, gruff and spoke either of lies or perhaps some more complex matter. "Riyuyi-sama is my employer; perhaps a friend, but nothing more. My feelings toward him are strictly platonic, if not professional." And that seemed to be the extent of his opinion on the matter.
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