[closed] Nothing's what it seems to be, I'm a replica, I'm a replica.

[amberdrake]

Who: Amberdrake, Genjo Sanzo
What: Stuff and things.
Where: Drake and Sanzo's current place in Ludmead.
When: Today.
Notes: --
Warnings: --

Braving the trains and then giving massage all day every day one right after the next like he's some kind of massage factory is taking its toll on Drake. He hasn't been sleeping well, despite his excellent company at night, and his reaction time has slowed down juuuust a hair.

Just enough for him to be home during the late afternoon, for once, sitting at the tiny dining table with his head in his hand and an ice pack held against his eye.

Comments

[amberdrake]

"Oh no," Drake manages a weak chuckle at that, "I don't care how casually you ask, I'm not giving you any names over a black eye. I think having his arms pinned behind him by purely mundane means until security got there made the point well enough."

Because while Amberdrake isn't a combatant, and is slower than usual, he's strong as hell and he does know pressure-points.

"How awful does it look?" the kestra'chern asks a moment later, pulling the ice pack away. "It was pretty swollen up by the time I got here."

The swelling has gone down, but that's a pretty spectacular black eye he's got going on. Even on his darker skin, it stands right out.

[sanzo]

Sanzo's arm half-raises before he forces it back down at his side. "Like shit," he grunts, his own eyes widening slightly at the sight, and then narrowing.

"He get you anywhere else?"

[amberdrake]

"I didn't give him the chance," Amberdrake puts the ice pack back on his eye! "I'm not going to be seen by clients like this, I'm taking a few days off."

It isn't his first black eye by any means, but it's certainly his first in a long time!

"I can barely believe how pig-headed people can be, sometimes. Even as a kestra'chern. Of course, I've never been fond of pure-human views." Never mind that he is purely human; having magic is apparently as bad to some people as having dark skin is to others. Drake's been forced into that dance before, to say the least. Being Kaled'a'in anywhere out-Clan had been tough, but being Kaled'a'in in the capitol of Predain while Ma'ar gathered power...

[sanzo]

"Humans are the worst." Sanzo stares moodily at him, but that doesn't look much different than how he usually looks; it's his emotions that tell Drake, more than anything, that he is highly irritated at the sight of the kestra'chern looking like this.

"Did you want anything? Tea?" Even Sanzo can make tea, though he rarely makes anything for anyone!

[amberdrake]

"Sure," Drake knows how rare that offer is; he's not turning it down! "How did your cards go last night?"

He had both slept a little better, without that sutra so close, and a little worse, without Sanzo there. There was no winning! Although knowing Sanzo was still in town negated far worse worries.

[sanzo]

"Made enough to pay the rent." So don't worry about that, Sanzo doesn't add, but the rest of his tone implies.

He gets to making tea-- gong fu style, with the little cups and the oolong and the very hot water, and it takes a few minutes. But it's a lot nicer than poking at Amberdrake's poor mangled eye!

[amberdrake]

Amberdrake watches all of this with obvious interest, albeit with one eye.

"I think we need a new place," he says, "something with room for me to work under my own scheduling and rules." It's not like him to complain, so he hasn't, but he hates working at a spa. Hates it hates it hates it hates it.

He isn't even supposed to talk to most of his clients, and is doing so many massages that it's starting to make him creak and crunch above and beyond what his usual coping methods can keep up with. It's like making a master chef work an assembly line flipping burgers!

And of course, the train to and from every day is a serious pain for someone who hates being moved faster than a war-horse can run.

[sanzo]

"You know..." Sanzo trails off, for he's thinking, or dwelling, or something; or maybe he's just concentrating on getting the tea right. He even gets a small pot of honey while the water takes its sweet-ass time to boil.

"I might've found somewhere. It's not a temple, but it's a dojo-- a place where martial artists train. Kinda old, needs some work, but it's... the right kind of place. A lot... like Kinzan temple, but a lot smaller."

[amberdrake]

"Kinzan is the one you grew up in, right?" It's been ten years since the conversations (and linked dreams) Drake's remembering, but kestra'chern are required to have good memories.

[sanzo]

"Aaa." Yeah. "It wasn't ostentatious, like that other temple was. It was..." Home.

Sanzo states instead, "It would've been peaceful if it wasn't for all the shitty monks."

[amberdrake]

Amberdrake offers a gentle smile, despite holding an ice pack to his face with one hand. "I am perfectly content to let you pick the place," he says, "if you like it, that's good enough for me." Even without having seen it!

[sanzo]

Sanzo glances sidelong at him, and then sighs faintly, and then the kettle whistles before he can say something stupid about Amberdrake having that stupid look on his face!

It's not like dissing Gojyo or Hakkai when they're all mangled; Drake might take it seriously?

He fills the teapot with many, many leaves, and then up to the brim with water. A swirl of the pot, the water gets dumped, and new water goes in. This is allowed to steep as he brings the tea fixings over!

"I didn't see any places like the old bathhouse, so."

[amberdrake]

"The bathhouse wasn't familiar," Amberdrake points out, "it was just there and useful. And in need of a Chosen caretaker after Haku vanished." And his office inside, which had begun as its own building, hadn't been familiar either!

"We're not going to stumble across any white ocean cliffs here, ke'chara, and even if we did, it wouldn't be useful." And he's certainly not working out of a tent, here.

[sanzo]

"The ocean's weird anyway." If he's wistful, Sanzo doesn't show it. "It just goes on and on."

He pours tea for them both, taking his plain, and sits down opposite Amberdrake.

[amberdrake]

"It goes on and on here, too," Drake notes, "but it's covered in the fog." So yeah, no, he doesn't want to live right up against it like he has for the last decade on his own world, thanks!

He sets the ice pack aside so he can warm his hand back up with the tea cup. The swelling is pretty much gone, but the color is pretty intense.

"I'd be quite happy to live somewhere you find familiar, regardless," Drake adds, because of course he's curious about such things, and it pleases him to see Sanzo somewhere he can perhaps relax, if only a bit. "I've been saving money since I started working," so it shouldn't take long to get the place, particularly if it isn't massively huge.