untiltheend | IC Contact

Yes, luckily. Jedao returned with me and Sanzo is remaining at home to handle things there.

How were you? I believe we were only gone for about a day, Barge time?

[At least that's what Jedao's room computer believes, and Hakkai suspects it's trustworthy.]

Indeed? How good for Mr Sanzo. [Sebastian did not like Sanzo.]

And yes, I believe only a little more than a day. I have been well as always.

[...Ugh, but Hakkai will want an actual answer, won't he.]

...That is to say, nothing of note has happened in your absence, sir.

[Sanzo works hard to be disliked; Hakkai is rarely surprised when he succeeds.]

I see. I'm glad to hear that.

Although I suppose something is bound to happen soon enough, given where we are, ha ha.

When would you like to meet next? I realize it hasn't been as long for you as for me....

Well. I would hardly think I have made any progress worthy of discussion in one day. Certainly not when I have been here for well over a year already. [And has made absolutely no progress in that time.]

How long has it been for you? Should you need a jog to your memory, then certainly... [Then they can definitely have a talk soon.]

It's not as if our last talk was yesterday for you. [A few days prior, admittedly. But not yesterday. Hakkai hums softly.]

For me, it's been a few months. Perhaps... tomorrow? Or the day after? Depending on how busy your schedule is, of coruse.

[Yes but consider: Sebastian hated their last talk and isn't particularly eager to continue it.]

Tomorrow is fine. In your cabin?

Why don't you come down to mine and Jedao's? [And, with a touch of gentle amusement:] We have a better tea selection.

["Placate the angry inmate with an upgrade in reception". He sees how it is.]

Are you certain you should waste your good teas on someone like myself? [He can't even taste it properly.]

Would after lunch shift be acceptable?

[And Jedao might like to see him, and... well, the little cabin on the third floor hardly feels like his except for his having a key, anymore.]

Hospitality is what good tea is for. That's the opposite of a waste.

After lunch shift would be perfect.

Then I will see you then.

---

And, as always, Sebastian knock's on Jedao and Hakkai's door five minutes after dinner shift on the dot.

Hakkai opens the door with a small, polite now, stepping back to give him room to enter.

"Sebastian," he says: there is a note of honest warmth in his voice. "Come in; please, make yourself comfortable."

He gestures to the couch, where a tea service is already set out. Small steamed cakes and a bowl of fruit from the greenhouse sit beside a round- bellied teapot; steam whistles from the kitchen as the kettle comes to the boil. He does know Sebastian well enough to know when to be ready, but tea steeping is extremely time sensitive. It has to wait for his actual arrival.

No notes of honest warmth, please and thank you: he's trying to stay pissed off at Hakkai here.

"Thank you," returning the bow as he enters.

It's the first time Sebastian's been invited here by Hakkai, but he's already been over twice as a guest of Jedao's ~~plus that one time we Do Not Mention~~, and so he opts for the end of the couch he's previously been sitting at. Primly crosses his legs and folds his hands in his lap.

No notes on the tea timing; precise steeping time is indeed Important.

"Matters workout out favourably at home, I take it?"

He asks less out of genuine interest and more out of if you leave a second time to do fine tuning I will bite your head off.

Sorry, Sebastian: you're going to be forced to deal with Hakkai's affection. At least he isn't soppy about it.

He gets the kettle from the kitchen and settles down on the other end of the couch, pouring water over the already measured tea-leaves in a cloud of vilely fragrant steam. It's the blend he'd gotten for Sebastian at the alien space station.

"They did," he agrees, neatening the cups on the saucers. "After this, it's all -- well -- politics. I'm happy to leave that to Sanzo. And to Prince Kougaiji for his part, of course."

He smiles as he reaches to pour. No biting required: he's staying now.

Sebastian tilts his head slightly as Hakkai pours the tea into both of their cups. He recognises the scent, and, while it doesn't smell as good as it did when he still had his sense of taste in tact, it still doesn't smell bad by any means. But he does remember that Hakkai found it disgusting.

"I see," he says, and pauses a moment to consider what to say. Aside from his various Masters - and then only before the resolution of their Contracts - he's never before cared much about potentially never seeing any one person again. I am very glad-- Relieved-- Still angry with you--

"I am glad to hear it."

"I'm glad to be back, too," Hakkai says, and settles his elbows on the table, wrapping his hands around the teacup. It smells vile, but he's determined to drink at least one cup for the apology. As important as it had been, as short as the disappearance had been from Sebastian's perspective, he'd left Sebastian here without a firm promise of his own survival to return.

"And there's no other reason for me to leave this Barge now until you've graduated. I don't intend to."

Ah. He catches on to the likely point of the tea after a moment, and smiles somewhat wider. Hope it tastes absolutely awful.

"Mm, is that to say you have decided on a Deal for yourself, then?"

Since... whatever it was they were doing back in their world... apparently wasn't enough.

"No. I'm still in the same situation there," Hakkai says mildly. "If no one else needs it for a more urgent cause, I'm sure I can find something that would help me in the future, but my own world... we've finished our journey. What's left to do there can't be wished away."

He takes another sip of the tea, expression not flickering in the least at its vile flavor.

"Why do you ask?"

Sebastian too takes a sip of his tea. He hasn't bothered to try it since giving up his sense of taste for suffering... and is pleasantly surprised to discover it still tastes good. Not delicious, not like it did before with so many notes of suffering, but still far better than the slop tea humans favour.

"Well. Remaining here, for however many [tens of, hundreds of] years it will be, without a concrete goal at the end of the tunnel... surely that would be tedious for anyone eventually." And Hakkai did have that out just now; no one could have complained had he chosen not to return to the Barge after he'd finished his mission back home.

Yes, he knows Hakkai said he takes his commitment to graduating Sebastian seriously. He knows, but... Sebastian's world is transactional, in the end. Selfish, self-serving.

"I don't think it'll take you as long as you may be imagining it will," Hakkai murmurs over his teacup. "Even since we met, Sebastian... you've changed.

"But even if it's a few decades, there are worse places to make a home than this one. My goal is your graduation. What I do with the deal... well, I'm sure there'll be something that needs a deal at some point, for myself or someone I care for."

Maybe even for Sebastian, if he needs it.

Sebastian pauses for a moment over his teacup. Changed, has he? Well. Clearly not in ways deemed relevant to the Admiral. He's grown meeker, weaker, more reliant on pathetic little insects to reassure him of his progress...

"Assuredly. There is always something to be desired."

He takes a sip of tea.

"Surely Instructor Jedao will have some ideas, once his own Inmate graduates."

Then the two of them can go living happily ever after in whatever world they so choose, with a fresh Deal of Jedao's to cash in on.

Edited 2024-03-05 20:48 (UTC)

"Perhaps so," Hakkai agrees mildly, "or perhaps you will, by then." He considers Sebastian for a long moment.

"I know what Jedao wants for his next deal, and it isn't to leave the Barge. Not yet."

He takes another sip of tea and then looks down at his cup for several long moments, before looking back up at Hakkai.

"Come, now. Please do not do that."

Malcolm Bright is an idiot who gives his Deals away to his inmates. Mr Cho isn't that much of an idiot or an altruist-- and neither is Sebastian enough of either to believe in such an offer.

"No? I'm not offering it as an incentive," Hakkai adds. "After all, the reward for graduation is freedom, and I wouldn't insult you by implying you aren't already working for it. But I don't need a deal; I never have wanted one, unless this trip I've just completed would have gone... badly."

If they had failed, if they had all died: that would have been worth a deal to change. But they had succeeded without one. He shrugs and takes another sip of the tea.

"Why would I not offer it to someone whose happiness matters to me?"

........

Hakkai gets a look of utter bewilderment. Who is this mystery person whose happiness Hakkai cares about?

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Re: After he and Jedao return from Saiyukiverse