"I'm here, Zagan!" Hakuryuu called through the dark, cramped corridors of Zagan's house. He toed off his rain filled boots and set his umbrella by the door, shaking water from his hair and clothes. A little sunflower with a face full of teeth tugged at his pant leg, pointing down the hall to the kitchen. "Oh, he's in the kitchen?" Hakuryuu smiled at it and bowed his head a little. "Thank you." Hakuryuu carefully tiptoed down the hall around sprouts of plants and splintery boards, bag of groceries in hand.

"Zagan," he called, "I got everything on your list! I'm not going back out there, though, the weather is horrible." Hakuryuu crossed the threshold into the kitchen and sighed. "Not that you'd know anything about that, I see."

Zagan glanced up from the beading he'd been working on. Warm sunlight played through the windows of the open kitchen and filled it with the glow of a fine spring day, reflecting off Zagan's meticulously organized beads and making the various plant and faerie creatures in the room laze about like cats. The kitchen was always sunny, a testament to the otherness of the place, regardless of the weather outside. Just up the hall, in the dark, cramped front rooms, Hakuryuu could hear the downpour he'd walked through to bring Zagan his groceries pounding against the windows.

"Welcome back, Hakuryuu," Zagan said with a smile. "You know where things go."

"Right." Hakuryuu took the bags over to the counter and started to unload them. A bag of dollar-store plastic dinosaurs came first, and he ripped the bag open, tossing the tiny, scientifically inaccurate dinosaurs to the lounging faeries at Zagan's feet. They squawked and trilled in joy, snatching up their presents. That done, he pulled out a box of cereal and the plastic cereal pour tub.

Zagan laughed. "So how is your new roommate working out?"

Hakuryuu paused opening the box, thinking. "Well… he leaves his clothes all over the living room." He ripped the interior bag open the rest of the way and poured it in. "And he can't feed himself. I have to leave things pre-made in the fridge if I'm going out, or he just lazes around all day until I get home, and then he complains that I'm starving him!" He dropped the empty bag into the trash and collapsed the cardboard box, tossing that into the recycling bin. "But he's not all bad. He's more clever than I gave him credit for." Hakuryuu closed the pour spout on the bin and slid it into place with Zagan's other jars and vases. Crunch Berries in a tupperware pour tub looked remarkably odd next to a jar of dried wormroot.

Zagan hmm'ed and stretched, closing his eyes and enjoying the sun like a contented cat. "Are you going to let him know about your little mission?"

Hakuryuu coughed. "I may have. Already done that."

Zagan burst out laughing, and a cacophonous chorus of lesser fae joined in from around his feet. "I hadn't expected you to trust him so quickly."

Hakuryuu shoved Zagan's cheese in a can into the cupboard. "He's been living with me for a little while, now, Zagan. And he saw you. I didn't have much choice after that."

"Well you had the choice to kill him."

Hakuryuu sighed and opened a drawer, throwing Zagan's ziplock bags inside it. "Maybe I decided I wanted some help. Or perhaps I just. Perhaps I'm just getting tired of living alone all the time." That made Zagan's snickering quiet for long enough that Hakuryuu turned around to see Zagan staring at him with an oddly thoughtful look on his face. "He's clever and useful, despite all those faults," he explained softly, somewhat awkward. "It's nice to have someone else around the house."

Hakuryuu put the rest of Zagan's groceries away in silence, enjoying the warmth of the kitchen and letting Zagan work on his beading project in peace. When he was done, he folded up the reusable bag and put it under the counter. "Well, I still need to get rid of the dead body in my bathtub, so I've got to get going."

"Thank you again for the groceries."

Hakuryuu rolled his eyes. "Don't mention it."

"Then I won't." Zagan grinned and finally rose, walking over to the wastebasket by the back door. "Before you go, I have one more thing to ask of you, Hakuryuu…"

"Take out the trash?" Hakuryuu guessed, only a little sarcastic.

"Close, but no." He plucked the bag from the bin and tied it shut before Hakuryuu could see inside. "Take this and bury it, and not today- this weather's no good. Do it on a good day, a warm one with plenty of sun, and during the day as well, if you don't mind."

Hakuryuu carefully took the lumpy bag from Zagan. It was a bit heavier than he'd expected. "Does it matter where?"

"I was thinking the park," Zagan said in an airy voice that meant Hakuryuu would bury it in the park or risk having his fingernails ripped out. "It'll help you later."

Hakuryuu nodded and said nothing more than, "It shall be done." There was no point in arguing, or asking what was in it, or how it would be helpful. Tasks were tasks, and it wasn't his place to question Zagan's whim. Not to his face, at least. He took the bag and headed back to the foyer, putting on his coat and tucking the bag beneath it to protect it from the rain.

"Hakuryuu," Zagan called, and Hakuryuu paused at the door. Zagan's hand, comforting and familiar in its size and magical thrum, cupped his cheek, turning Hakuryuu's face back towards him. "Do be careful."

Hakuryuu scowled fondly at him. "You always tell me that."

"Because you've chosen a dangerous life." Zagan's hand trailed down Hakuryuu's face to his throat, then down over collarbones and chest to rest over his heart. "And I'm rather fond of you." He bowed his head down and kissed Hakuryuu's forehead. "Keep your eyes open, and your mind sharp. I didn't choose to help you for no reason. You'll do fine."

Hakuryuu laid his hand over Zagan's softly, but then decided to lift the hand off him instead. Zagan's affection felt odd after all this time living on his own. "Of course I will."

Zagan laughed and crossed his arms, leaning against the wall. "Well, send my best to your little friend." Hakuryuu grunted, shoving his feet back into his rain boots and grabbing his umbrella. "Stay dry."

Hakuryuu stared in horror at his kitchen. He was used to coming home to it being a mess- Judal never picked up after himself- but nothing like this. The tablecloth was splattered with blood, and he saw a trail of more leading out of the room and into the hall. What in the hell had Judal done to the place? He glared at the blood, wondering what else that inconsiderate, capering manchild had done while he was gone when a dark and terrible thought came upon him.

He thought of the lockbox under his bed, full of stolen Al Tharman documents, and of the bathtub, full of dead Al Tharman cultist, and his blood ran cold. His eyes slowly followed the trail of blood as his mind counted through all the terrible possibilities. His body followed his eyes, slow and dreamlike as a sleepwalker. There was a smear of blood on the back of the couch that nearly looked like a handprint. Poor Judal, he'd had no stake in this save his own misplaced curiosity. Hakuryuu almost pitied him.

Just as Hakuryuu was about to round the corner to the hall, there came a slam from the bathroom, and Hakuryuu snapped from his trance. Stupid! He pressed against the wall, assessing his options. Someone or something was still in his house, still searching for something. Had the intruder heard him enter? Probably not, they would have confronted him by now. Seconds rapidly melted away- he needed to act.

Hakuryuu dropped the magic masking his arm, flexing the wooden joints. He would make it quick- choke them or wilt them with his hand, and assess the damage to his plans afterwards. He reached out with magic, and he could feel the pull of rot & decay from the bathroom, and the pulse of pure power from Zagan's package, still sitting on the bloody kitchen table, and from the bathroom-

"Hey, Hakuryuu, is that you?" Judal called, wandering out into view.

Hakuryuu wasn't sure whether to laugh or scream. The sight of Judal, all in one piece, filled him with more relief than he would have expected, even if he was covered in blood and eating something unidentifiable.

"What happened?" Hakuryuu demanded, looking Judal up and down.

Judal looked confused, then understanding. "Ah! Yeah. Sorry about the mess. I got sorta hungry."

Hakuryuu's brow knit in frustration. "That answers none of my questions. What happened?! Did someone break in?" His relief was fading fast, and panic for his plans bubbled back up to replace it.

"What? No, course not." Judal laughed and took a bite of whatever it was he had clenched in his hand. It left his mouth a grimy, dark red smear. "Anyway, I'll clean up when I'm done."

Pieces slowly fell into place as Hakuryuu watched Judal rip bites from the lump of bloody flesh clenched in his fist. Hakuryuu's stomach turned for an entirely different reason.

"I left you food!" Hakuryuu shouted.

Judal started at the outburst. "Wha-"

"You barely eat anything! You complained the other night when I made curry because it was too spicy!"

"Well that's cuz-"

"No!" Hakuryuu shook his head slowly. "No, I don't want to hear how my beautifully prepared meals are inferior to a day old…" A new level of horror entered into the equation, and Hakuryuu's stomach twisted with renewed vigor. "No! Do you know how disgusting that is? It isn't food safe! You shouldn't eat meat that's been sitting out for more than two hours, let alone the corpse of some filthy cultist that's been laying around rotting all day! It's revolting! It's unsanitary!"

Judal held up his hands defensively and backed away. "Hey, hey now, you're not really gonna ape on how unsanitary it is when I'm literally eating human fle- wait, no, I don't have any answers for that eith-"

"Of course I'm going to be upset about how unsanitary it is! You're going to get food poisoning, or salmonella, or prions, or- it's just disgusting!" Hakuryuu took a few deep breaths. He couldn't look at Judal's blood-covered, guilty face a moment longer. The house around him offered little solace though, and he found himself hung up on the bloody trail staining his carpet. It had been immaculate until now. He'd worked so hard to keep it free of mud and debris, and now there was blood in it. How had he made this much of a mess? "I'm never going to get my security deposit back…" he moaned.

Judal scarfed down the last of his morsel and wiped his hands on his pants. "Yeah, yeah, I hear ya…." He moved behind Hakuryuu and gently guided him to the couch, despite Hakuryuu's rapidly weakening protestations. "It's gross, the carpet's ruined, whatever. No need to be a big baby about it…"

Hakuryuu sat reluctantly down on the couch, scooting away from the blood smear. "You're cleaning this up."

"I guess I can do that."

"Oh, you guess." Hakuryuu crossed his arms. "And change out of those clothes. You look disgusting."

Judal glanced down at himself and struck a pose. "I dunno, I think the blood-covered look suits me."

The look Hakuryuu shot Judal could have frozen the Sahara. "Not when I know it's disgusting day-old corpse blood."

Judal laughed and shrugged, pulling fresh clothes from his bag and going off to change. Hakuryuu stared up at the ceiling. Perhaps he'd been wrong at Zagan's. Judal was a pest. And, apparently, a casual cannibal. He could hear him humming in the bathroom as he changed, as though this wasn't horrifying. Hakuryuu ground the heels of his palms into his eye sockets and groaned again.

Judal returned, unbloodied and still humming. He glanced at Hakuryuu a moment, but when Hakuryuu didn't greet him or remove his hands from his face, Judal simply shrugged and busied himself in the kitchen to search for cleaning supplies. "Can you clean carpets with Windex?" he wondered aloud. Hakuryuu ground his palms into his eyes harder.

"There's a bottle of Resolve in the back of the cabinet under the sink."

"Oh. Sweet!" Judal retrieved it. "It's a pity that dude's dead. I heard that like. People's own spit is the best for cleaning blood."

Hakuryuu lifted one hand off his face to peer skeptically at Judal. "You know the most bizarre trivia."

Judal just shrugged in response. To his credit, he actually did get down on his hands and knees and scrub out the carpet. As Hakuryuu sat on the couch and ordered Judal about, his annoyance faded away. Correcting Judal's technique and telling him what to use on the walls brought a small smile of satisfaction back to his face. When he was done, Judal popped a squat in front of the couch and stared up at Hakuryuu.

"This look good for now?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

"I suppose it will do for now." Hakuryuu shook his head, laughing a little. "I still can't believe you would eat a dead body. You don't even like vegetables."

Judal blew a raspberry back at him. "That's cuz vegetables are disgusting. The texture's weird, they smell funny-"

"And a corpse doesn't?"

Judal pouted. "What, like you've never wondered what people taste like?"

"Never."

"Never?"

"Never." Hakuryuu repeated.

Judal looked almost impressed, as though casually contemplating cannibalism was such a natural and human thing that Hakuryuu's abstention left him stunned. "Wow." And then he shrugged, all his awe was replaced with his usual impenetrable grin. "Wasn't as good as I'd been hoping it would be, though. Probably because he'd been sitting out for- well, you know."

Then it was Hakuryuu's turn to grin, vindicated that Judal's poor food handling choices had lead him to an unsatisfactory snack. "Good." Hakuryuu got up from the couch to retrieve a trashbag from the kitchen. "I hope that means you're done making messes of my house."

"Yeah, for now." Judal hopped up from the floor as Hakuryuu passed, following on his heels. "Guys like that are trash, so it makes sense they'd taste like it, too." A shiver went up Hakuryuu's spine. There was something creeping into Judal's tone like the night they'd met- lazy, predatory menace that didn't need an outright threat to make the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. "I bet you'd taste a lot sweeter, though."

Hakuryuu's breath caught in his throat. Right. Most people don't just laugh off the annoyance of the mess a cannibal makes. He looked back to snap or threaten, something to retaliate, but Judal just smiled back when their eyes met, casual and cat-like. "Don't- don't say such ridiculous things, Judal." Hakuryuu hated the choke in his voice.

Judal laughed. "I don't say anything but ridiculous things though!"

Hakuryuu squared his shoulders. "Well, you've got poor taste in jokes." Judal laughed. "Oh, laugh all you want," Hakuryuu opened the bathroom door with one hand, "but you're not done cleaning yet." The look on Judal's face as Hakuryuu shoved the trash bag into his hands was priceless. He wished he could capture it in his heart and mind forever. "You've gone and made a mess of him, so now you get to be the one to bag him up."

Judal snatched the bag and shoved past Hakuryuu. "You're a fucking jerk."

The yawning gloom of the forest swallowed up the car as Hakuryuu drove them up out of the city into the mountainous woods. Judal leaned his forehead on the window, watching the trees blur past as they drove further and further away from civilization and the hum of humanity. "Almost nostalgic being back out here, burying corpses together like a family." He flicked his eyes over to Hakuryuu.

"We are not family," Hakuryuu said, but he had the smallest smile on his face anyway. The car crunched to a halt. "We are, however, here." He opened the door, walking slowly away from the car to take a moment to just breathe and go back to a time before. He could hear Judal getting out of the car, grumbling about how mean Hakuryuu was, pulling the trash bag full of corpse out of the back seat. The earth pulsed around him, same as ever, but this time he was not alone and dwarfed. The wild pressed against his skull, breathed around him with magic so primal he could feel it in his bones, but with Judal's unending stream of brain vomit, it was impossible to be totally lost. He wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"So now what?" Judal said, body and shovels removed from Hakuryuu's second-hand compact car. "We dig?"

Hakuryuu turned back, walking over to take a shovel from Judal. "No. First we walk." He smiled. "Then we dig."

Judal grinned and followed along. "So…. Come here often?"

Hakuryuu laughed a little. "I don't usually commit murders so close together, so no."

"Hmm…" Judal adjusted his grip on the trashbag.

They followed a crunching path of leaves and brush away from the car and further up the hilly mountainside. After about twenty minutes of walking, Judal started to complain of the trash bag's weight, so they traded burdens and Judal was left to carry both shovels. A little while after that, Hakuryuu held up a hand.

"Here?" Judal asked, looking around. "Is this where I met you the first time?"

"No." Hakuryuu looked at him as though he was a bit dim. "We were in a completely different part of the woods. I'm not going to dump corpses that close to each other."

"Even if you insta-rot most of 'em?"

Hakuryuu laughed. "Just start digging." He stomped the blade of his shovel into the ground and scooped out the first load. Judal made no move to help, instead leaning on his shovel and watching. Hakuryuu rolled his eyes and stomped a second shovelful of earth out. "And I was… well, I don't always rot them. It's a little exhausting, and it makes my arm feel… odd."

Judal quirked an eyebrow. "Working black magic with your faerie gift make you feel all sad and tingly?"

"No, just odd." Hakuryuu unbuttoned his sleeves and rolled them up his arms. The mountain air and shade were cooler than the city's swelter, but it was still late summer, and digging holes was sweating work. "It makes my arm feel more detached. And it makes my phantom pains worse later."

"I see…" Judal said. He hopped up, one footed, on his shovel, as though he was trying to balance on it, then wobbled off. "So even though you have a magic arm it still hurts?"

Hakuryuu nodded. "I did still have almost half my arm removed. So yes, I get phantom pains sometimes. Or itches. Those are worse."

"Mmmm… My left nipple does that sometimes." Judal attempted to balance on the shovel again. "So how'd you lose the arm?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Hakuryuu grunted, tossing more dirt aside. "Maybe I just got hungry."

"Ew."

Hakuryuu paused and gave Judal a look. "Really? After what you did this afternoon?" Judal blew a raspberry at him. Hakuryuu replied by tossing the next load of dirt in his direction. "And what happened to, 'let's work together,' huh?"

"I'm helping!" Judal danced out of the way of the dirt. "I'm providing moral support!"

"I'd prefer some physical support, honestly."

Judal rolled his eyes and pranced off to ring the circle of their little area. Hakuryuu's good hand was starting to get the pleasant rawness of hard labor, and he wondered how long it would be until it got calloused from all this shallow grave digging. In spite of his complaints, it was rather pleasant to have Judal's company. His capering and chatter made the work go quickly, just the two of them in the peaceful wood. Satisfied when the hole was large enough to accommodate the corpse, Hakuryuu braced against the odor and dumped the trash bag out. Just another disgusting corpse, like so many before it. Save the hunk missing out of it.

The morbid detail made Hakuryuu smile a bit.

He reached into his pocket and tossed a fistful of grape holly seeds, gathered from an earlier trip through the woods and now redistributed here, onto the body. In a year or two, they'd probably be a nice addition to the underbrush. He shoveled the dirt back over the hole and gently patted it down when it was all replaced. Death and rebirth all in one fell swoop.

Judal had seated himself in a tree at some point and now was watching Hakuryuu with his head tilted to one side like a curious bird. "All done?"

"Yes." Hakuryuu started back towards the car, trash bag balled up in one hand. "If it's nice out tomorrow we have another errand we'll have to run. Something for Zagan." There was a soft sound behind him of Judal dropping back down to the ground and loping back to Hakuryuu's side. Hakuryuu could tell by his still tilted head that he wanted to know more. "We have to bury something in the park during broad daylight. So I'll need you to help me keep watch so we don't get yelled at."

Judal nodded. "I can do that. As I've proved today, I'm an excellent lookout."

"Oh, is that what you were doing?" He gently punched Judal in the shoulder, and Judal laughed.

"Yes. Now, what are we doing for dinner?"