Closed RP: Hakkai and Sanzo

[worldly_monk]

Things at Hogwarts seemed to have quieted down a little in the last week. Apparently the 'Holiday Season' madness was over. Even so, habit had brought Sanzo to a vacant classroom in an isolated part of the castle so he could get some reading done.

He'd found a couple of books that actually had spells to locate hidden objects. Unfortunately they were written in an older dialect that was hard to decipher.

Comments

[worldly_monk]

"Speak for yourself," Sanzo replied. But it was only a token protest. "I'm not sure there's really a point to assigning houses, considering how everyone pretty much goes wherever they want." He toyed with the lighter, flipping it on and off a few times. "I think Gojyo probably bribed the Hat to put him in Ravenclaw, just to annoy me." Sanzo looked oddly amused by the idea. "I guess we did manage to live up to the reputation of Ravenclaw as the house of the drunks though."

[polite-sinner.livejournal.com]

"It's a rather poor reputation to live up to," Hakkai said, with the sort of distaste that was shown mostly out of habit rather than any actual annoyance. "I expect that's one of the biggest draws for our particular house, though, and I suppose I can't blame anyone for it. Free alcohol at any hour of the day or night with no strings attached, except for the risk of an awful hangover the next day. And that, as I understand it, can be cured by a spell or a potion. Even I find it tempting, from time to time." He had one time in particular (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/957289.html) in mind, but he didn't quite feel the need to go into specifics -- Sanzo probably remembered it well enough as it was.

[worldly_monk]

Sanzo gave Hakkai a sour look, uncomfortably reminded of the stupid things he'd done while drunk in the last few months. He couldn't really disagree with Hakkai's opinion though. "How tempting could it be? You don't get hangovers. You usually don't even get drunk." He stopped playing with the lighter and tossed it back onto the table. Privately he wondered how difficult it would be to find that one kind of liquor again, get Hakkai drunk, and get him sing karaoke. "Have you always had such a high tolerance for alcohol? Or did you only figure that out after you started rooming with Gojyo?"

[polite-sinner.livejournal.com]

Hakkai held up a hand, ostensibly to stop and correct him. "I do get drunk," he said lightly, and after a second he added a little softly, "just not quite as often as you and Gojyo, I'm afraid." Smiling sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his neck and gave a short, embarrassed laugh. "A little of both, I suppose. I never really had much of a reason to test my limits until I started accompanying Gojyo to the bar at home every once in a while and playing poker with him and his friends. Gojyo pointed it out first, and after that point -- well, I imagine it was rather low of the two of us to get our opponents drunk while I remained relatively sober, wasn't it?"

[worldly_monk]

"Hm. Normally I'd say you should always take any advantage you can get, even if it's just to win at poker," Sanzo replied. "However, since the two of you basically did the same thing to me on my birthday, I think I'll have to agree that it is pretty low." Despite the angry words, it was obvious from his mocking tone of voice that Sanzo wasn't really that mad at them. After all, it was his own fault as much as theirs. He shouldn't have let himself get that drunk.

"I guess we're safe from birthdays for a while, unless we go home for Goku's." Sanzo drummed his fingers on the table, lost in thought for a moment. "Gojyo said something that night about trying to go home. Have you thought about it?"

[polite-sinner.livejournal.com]

"I suppose that was dishonest of us, on both accounts," Hakkai reasoned aloud, "but in our defense, in the first place, we only used that tactic when we were running low on money for groceries -- added insurance, if you will." Hakkai probably would've won every round on his own, in any case, but not wanting to rely too heavily on his own strong suits (including the existence of what might or might not have been his abnormal luck), he figured it was better to be safe than sorry. "And secondly, I suppose I ought to apologize on our behalf for that, but-- well, did you have fun, at least?"

Hakkai paused at Sanzo's question, before nodding his head once. "I have, quite a few times. I suppose I get homesick, every now and then, and I do actually miss having to do the household chores -- though I imagine I'll be saying otherwise when we return for good." He regarded Sanzo levelly before asking, "What about you? I'm sure you've considered it a few times since you've gotten here."

[worldly_monk]

"Your opponents agreed to play. They knew they were gambling," Sanzo pointed out. "Besides, it's not like you were taking money from little old ladies and orphans." He didn't answer the question about his birthday right away. It hadn't been that bad, but he wouldn't want to encourage those two in their plotting. Eventually he just shrugged. "Some."

Hakkai's idea of homesickness surprised a laugh out of him. "Only you would be missing doing the chores." Truthfully, Sanzo wasn't missing his responsibilities. Except maybe for one. "Now and then," he answered. "But I'm not in hurry. And I need to finish what I was sent here to do."

[polite-sinner.livejournal.com]

Hakkai smiled softly, shrugging a shoulder. "That's one way of looking at it, certainly, but I always imagine that with games of chance like this, everyone goes in under the assumption that there is a level playing field." However, as Sanzo said before, that "level playing field" was skewed in Hakkai's favor more often than not, though he wouldn't be the first to acknowledge that. He smiled a little wider at Sanzo's answer, seemingly satisfied despite the monosyllabic reply. "Some is better than none, which is better than expected," he said lightly.

"Well, Gojyo does say I'm rather domestic," he admitted, "and that holds rather true, it seems. Ah, but isn't there something--" (he nearly added or someone) "-- you miss back home?" Hakkai sat back a little, waving a hand vaguely. "Not that I'm suggesting you drop everything here and return, but a short break might be in order?"

[worldly_monk]

Sanzo looked amused by Hakkai's ethical concerns. "For a casual game maybe. Most serious gamblers go into it thinking they have an advantage. They think they're better players, or luckier, or just better at cheating." He shrugged. "Maybe it's even true for some of them. Apparently Gojyo was able to make a living at it, even before you showed up."

Hakkai's questions about home made him stop and think for a moment. He lit another cigarette, and his gaze wandered to the windows. "I miss the temple gardens," he finally said. "And watching Goku annoy the hell out of the senior monks was always entertaining, as long as it wasn't me he was bothering." There was a faint smile on his face for a moment, but it vanished quickly.

Eventually he looked back at Hakkai. "I wouldn't mind going home for a short visit, but what if I can't get back here? We don't know how the magic works. It brought me here at my request before, but that doesn't mean it will work again." And if he did go back, Goku wasn't going to like being left behind again when he needed to return to Hogwarts.