genessia | [Action | Closed] Good news!

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[Action | Closed] Good news!

Who: Amberdrake and Sanzo
What: Amberdrake has to tell Sanzo that Koumyou has shown up in Genessia.
Where: Drake and Sanzo's home in Attleton.
Warnings: N/a

The birds waited as tiny, excited, rainbow puffballs on their perches as close to the kitchen as they were allowed. Sanzo had banned them from the kitchen, to prevent an irritating swarm as he cut up apples to feed the greedy little shits. While he wasn't annoyed at the task, they knew it wasn't worth breaking the rules to grab bits of fruit before he was done.

They were rewarded for their patience when he finally finished and set the bowl of finely chopped apples and grapes on a table in the living room and left them to converge on it, spouting nonsense and trilling in excitement. Sanzo shook his head and returned to the kitchen to clean up. Seemed he was doomed to have to care for over-excited gluttons no matter where he went.

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Amberdrake put an arm around the priest's bony shoulders and pulled him in close, trying to offer comfort against whatever that awful feeling was.

"He's here, he's alive," Drake said quietly, "a few of my birds spotted him coming out of the Bay and I went to talk to him. Got him settled into a nice apartment; showed him how to use the communicator... I told him you'd need time to adjust."

Sanzo didn't resist, nor did he relax. Drake's words filtered through the white noise feeling that filled his mind and made everything slow and heavy, though his head felt light. Thoughts moved sluggishly and faded before he could grasp them fully. Memories and fears flickered on the edges, kept back by shock.

A lie? Trick? Was this real? Sanzo didn't feel real. Yet-

Drake wouldn't lie about this. That was real, that truth, this wasn't a lie but- Trick? No, Drake would not be so easily fooled. An illusion? He wished it was, then he wouldn't have to face whatever this pressure was.

It formed a ball in his throat and made it hard to catch his breath.

Amberdrake tucked Sanzo's head under his own chin, and draped his open robe over the priest along with his arms.

"It's okay, enar ves'tacha," Drake kissed the top of his head. He radiated calm, trying to help Sanzo get through this without having a complete meltdown. "It's okay."

Something snapped and Sanzo gasped like he'd been holding his breath. The way his head swam, he felt like he might have been. He could feel pressure, warmth, calm, from Drake, that was real. He could hear the birds, see- he could see fine once everything settled. There was still an unreal, unnatural quality to the room, some things seemed closer than before and other's farther. But it was real, as much as he wanted to turn and flee from the very idea.

"Ah." The pressure had broken but left him dizzy and strained, it was hard to form words he could put to what he now felt. Overwhelmed, so overwhelmed.

Drake carded the fingers of one hand through Sanzo's hair, as he often did when offering the priest comfort. He threaded the Gift in as he did so, diverting some of the stress chemicals Sanzo was producing away to dissolve harmlessly away from his brain. Just enough to keep Sanzo from spiraling out of control. "It's okay, love," he repeated, for lack of anything else to say.

The haze in his mind started to ease, reality slowly retaking his perceptions of the world. The room still looked odd, like he'd returned home to find everything slightly different, but it felt more real. Drake's help soothed some of the panic that tried to claw its way through the haze, enough that it didn't just take the pressure's place. Fear and relief were there, not quite penetrating the shock he was in.

He rubbed a free hand against his jeans, reminding his hands they could still feel. The other held the airplane, a painful, frightening sign that he was here. This was never a possibility, even dreams only rehashed memories he'd seen over and over, this was so much.

"I'm... okay." He wasn't okay, but he was present, able to process this slowly now.

Drake didn't argue with that, though he did murmur a response. "You will be," he kissed the top of Sanzo's head again, and resumed combing his fingers through his golden hair. "Whatever you need from me, Genjyo, you have it."

Including time. He'd made sure that Sanzo would have time to process Koumyou's presence in Genessia before actually dealing directly with his father. The father he'd seen die right in front of him as a young teen, saving him. Genjyo had seen Koumyou torn apart; had been covered in the older priest's blood...

And now, he was here. Alive.

So of course Sanzo would need time. This was quite the paradigm shift.

Time was about all Sanzo could think to ask aside from Drake's presence itself. Nothing else could make this easier, make it less shocking or overwhelming. He couldn't even be sure it would even sink in completely during that time, not until he'd seen Koumyou in person, proved this was reality and not a passing thought or dream that had consumed his senses.

Sanzo continued to stare at the plane. His life had changed so dramatically with Koumyou's death and it had only been stranger and more dangerous since then. He'd grown used to being on a whole different world, two now, memories lost of more and now- Koumyou had seemingly returned from the dead, or however this shit worked. The universe was fucking with him.

"Should I be happy?" he murmured down at the paper airplane.

"That's up to you, love," Amberdrake wouldn't pretend there wasn't down-sides to Koumyou's sudden appearance on the world. The fact that he could be torn away at any moment was a big one...

"I'm taking a few days off again," Drake added, "I won't leave you alone with this until you're ready."

Sanzo couldn't ignore that major downside. He and Drake had appeared here with no warning, the same with the turtle before that, and worlds before that he didn't remember. Adding to the list of people he'd have to leave behind or watch go was the last thing he wanted.

"I can handle myself," Sanzo replied, while relief and gratitude washed over him. He knew where his thoughts would go if he was left alone now.

"Of course you can," Amberdrake wasn't even being patronizing, "I just plan to make it easier."

He combed his fingers through Sanzo's hair some more, just being warm and solid and there.

"This isn't the weirdest thing I've ever seen happen," he mused, "I've mentioned before that a previous incarnation of yours was on one of the worlds we were both on. And of course, there is that decade I spent away from you that was mere days for you. The multiverse really doesn't care about little things like 'time' and 'death'."

"I don't expect it to care, but it could fuck off for a while." After Ukoku appeared, he felt justified in saying that. Right now, even more. And that jackass was sure to know Koumyou was here too. Goddamnit. He hadn't even had time for this to seem real before he had to worry.

Sanzo gave in and leaned his head against Drake's shoulder. He was forming a headache to top this all off.

"Did you warn him about who else is here?"

"Of course," Amberdrake pressed another kiss to the top of Sanzo's head. The Gift was still in that head, and he lessened the swelling almost without thought. Go away, headache!

"Good. Thank you." For warning Koumyou and the headache relief. There was no stopping Drake from helping so he might as well be grateful.

He paused, trying to gather his thoughts. It went nowhere.

"I don't know what to think of this."

"That's perfectly understandable," Drake rubbed Sanzo's back, under the wing-cut robe. "You may never know what to think of it, and that's understandable as well. I have to say, though, I'm glad to have finally met him. I always wanted to."

"How much have I told you before? About him?" And how much had Drake seen through nightmares and whatever else had happened on various worlds? Sanzo wasn't exactly offering up information now, but it would be good to know.

"Not too much, just that he'd probably like me well enough," Amberdrake smiled against the top of Sanzo's head, "I was a much bigger worrier back then. And I told you my family would have liked you, too, which is true. Though they'd have likely driven you right up a wall..."

"I don't know why you'd think that," Sanzo replied dryly. Being a sarcastic shit made it a bit easier not to dwell on what he probably should be dwelling on.

"...So not much at all. Not that I have any reason to now."

"No, now I can just talk to him myself and be regaled with all the stories about you as a kid that I could ever hope for," Amberdrake teased a little, hoping to keep Sanzo's mind off the more grim possibilities of Koumyou's presence in Genessia. "He brags about you at the drop of a hat. It's precious."

"Do not. Don't ask for anything like that. Why-" Amberdrake's teasing worked, somewhat. At least the horror Sanzo felt now wasn't near as intimidating, more embarrassing. What was this about bragging? He hoped Drake was joking.

"I don't have to ask! He just talks, on and on," Amberdrake laughed gently, "mostly about how cute you were. He saw my phone wallpaper and just went off about how big your eyes used to be and oh you still keep your hair the same way... and so on. He really wanted to know how tall you've gotten. It was adorable."

Drake had seen 'Kouryuu' before, himself, of course. So none of that was a revelation to him. Genjyo had been an awfully cute kid. Tragic, but cute.

"I'm going to destroy your phone." That damn wallpaper. Sanzo had been trying to delete that, along with many other pictures Drake had on his phone, since he made the foolish mistake of showing Drake how to use the camera. Over-affectionate asshole.

The first time Koumyou sees him as an adult and it's that stupid picture...

"No, you most certainly will not!" Amberdrake scoffed, "Just be glad I didn't pull up the gallery app for him. I didn't, you know."

This time.

"And you won't," Sanzo snapped. Not if he could help it! There wasn't much he could do but nag Drake not to. That was an option.

"He'll see me in person soon enough. There's no need for your bizarre collection of photos." The idea of actually seeing his father again was terrifying, he tried not to think about it much right now.

"Good," Amberdrake replied to the bit about the two Sanzos seeing each other soon enough. He ignored the rest, just smiling and continuing to rub Genjyo's back.

Sanzo didn't reply, he'd prefer silence for a while, to think. This news would paralyze him if he let it, so he wouldn't, it would just take time... and a lot of thinking.

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[Action | Closed] Good news!

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