K has become more accustomed specifically over the last couple weeks or so - ever since realignment - with letting himself into the Manor. He still knocks, he's still the picture of polite, still takes care wiping his boots off well and truly before entering, but he does come in of his own volition and he does find the other man fairly quickly.
Unbothered by the question, he just calmly answers in turn: "Only three wrong turns this time. I'll have it down by fall." and moves to set the neat little brown bag of baked goods beside the coffee before glancing to see what Hakkyuu is staring at in turn.
The corner of Hakkyuu's mouth quirks up in amusement at K's easy reply as he steps back and turns to face him with a look of mock offence.
"I didn't start without you, I gave us a head start so you could get to the main event quicker."
The main event apparently being the frog itself, which is what he's been staring at intensely. And then steps aside from to give K space to approach if he wants to.
"Ta-dah," he says in a flat tone, which probably matches the expression on the creature itself, if a frog can have an expression. And if it can, then this one's is uncannily gormless.
The intent, deliberate lack of fidgeting has not been lost on K, who glances up at Hakkyuu's face first before he ever looks for the frog; consternation is common for the other man, and shallow, often sharp amusement, but K holds the rest of his thoughts to himself for the time being.
He is very, very interested in the frog, and the moment he sees it he cocks his head to the side and stops.
"It's real," he says, but very, very quietly, mostly to himself. Hakkyuu has moved aside so K takes one step closer and then slowly, carefully so as not to risk distressing the creature, he crouches down closer to be able to see better.
There's plenty for Hakkyuu to be cynical about in the internal interplay of annoyance and denial related to this animal, but that's more about association than anything else, and it's not really something he needs to inject into the moment K is having. Maybe later he'll resume insulting the chonky little lad, but for now, he just watches, quiet and still.
A less sharpened smile haunts his face, not really in the lips and only really a ghost in his eyes as he slides back to rest his lower back against the sideboard.
In a way, he doesn't want to intrude on this moment, something he hadn't expected would land with such significance and focus for K, so before he says anything at all, he just waits, comfortable enough to do so, or at least content to do so, before saying anything further.
"Doesn't move much and a real shit conversationalist, but it's pretty tolerate and, yeah, pretty real."
The world K lives in now is so full of new, wonderful, living things that he doubts he'll ever have time to study each of them as he wants to - as they deserve to be known, paid attention to, cherished even. He believes this with the fullness specific to a man that spent the entirety of his life on a corpse of what was once a vibrantly living planet, that knew he was going to die without ever knowing anything else - and, technically, did.
But every now and then he gets the chance to do this, to simply memorize the pattern along its rough back, the slit of a pupil in its gold patinaed iris, the nearly translucent webbing between its bell-tipped toes. To watch the way its throat expands and deflates with its breathing, the impossible width of its mouth even though it doesn't so much as move in front of him. He is aware of Hakkyuu, too, but he doesn't rush - not until the other man speaks.
"Why do you scorn it so much?" he asks once Hakkyuu has spoken again, prompt, a question he has been thinking about but hadn't wanted to ask aloud until he was forced to tear a greater fraction of his attention off the frog.
For all of whatever else Hakkyuu is feeling, the sense that K is drawing in this moment as something unique, a personal first, is something Hakkyuu can appreciate tremendously.
Except when the question arrives it means he has to give some kind of answer, and to give some kind of answer means putting an awareness he has out into the world that he's trying to pretend he's in denial about.
"It killed my entire family in the dead of night for political gain," he replies dryly, turning away to grab something.
It's all humour that works for Hakkyuu, having never known and never cared to begin any journey to find who is related to by blood for multiple reasons, with the biggest on being that he has a family that he's more bound to now than he could ever imagine blood could come close to, and why cheapen it by trying to follow a rope that's either going to be cut short or so covered in moss and barnacles as to prove a lack of prior movement.
But that's how he often approaches the world--abrupt and often on the edge of a joke more aligned with his own humour than what most others appreciate and he's been at odds with people's understanding of him for his entire life.
When he turns back, he has a glass mister in his hand with a metal plunger at the top, which he offers to K.
"Here, soak him down, it'll make his little frog day toad-ly fantastic."
Another person might have reacted poorly to that line being fed to him, or at least rolled their eyes, annoyed. K doesn't so much as look up, at least not until Hakkyuu is holding out the mister.
He accepts it, eyebrows raised in good natured skepticism. "Do you often care so much for the comfort of a genocidal creature?" he asks mildly. And: "Frogs and toads are two different creatures, I'm pretty sure."
If Hakkyuu is going to be sharply sarcastic, K is perfectly capable of being blandly earnest.
Giving K a fairly flat look at this very reasonable question and corrective observation, Hakkyuu then gives a slight shrug.
"What can I say, it's the only connection to particular loved ones that I have now,"
Ironically, right now, that part isn't an outright lie, a truth buried obliquely in a joke. There's a momentary pause, something like irritation flashing through his eyes, before he makes an exasperated noise and waves impatiently in the creature's direction.
"Just spray the damn frog and enjoy yourself, yeah?"
"Frogs swim, I don't think you'll do it any harm if you drenched it entirely. I'd probably say keep going until you're done or you get the feeling it's had enough."
He moves to lean his back against the sideboard again, arms folding over his chest, though when he speaks next it's with a little less nebulous annoyance.
"You realize I'm still learning what most feelings even are," he points out, idly, a wry joke of his own to make a very real truth go down a little easier.
But something Hakkyuu has said has raised a larger concern for him for the moment than the other man's surliness. "Does he need a pond or something?" he asks, giving the frog a few careful, experimental spritzes.
Hakkyuu's expression takes on a fairly unreadable state, though he doesn't sound precisely unamused as he simply answers, "Yeah, well, get used the whole learning what feelings are thing, most people don't entirely know themselves. You're probably doing way better than you think and almost certainly better than most."
He watches the frog as it blinks, wetly, lifting one little webby paw to drag it's little fingers over its face a few times as it subtly leans towards the spray K provides.
"I'm sure he'll work himself out. It's a plant room, not a frog room."
But then, he gets the feeling there's a protest on the frogs behalf building so he takes a deep, demonstrative breath that's Oh So Put Upon and adds, "Bet if you ever wanted to bring him a bird bath though I'm sure he'd be real happy about it. Don't let the name fool you, we'll add a little 'bastard frogs welcome' sign, how about that?"
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no subject
Unbothered by the question, he just calmly answers in turn: "Only three wrong turns this time. I'll have it down by fall." and moves to set the neat little brown bag of baked goods beside the coffee before glancing to see what Hakkyuu is staring at in turn.
"I can't believe you started without me."
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"I didn't start without you, I gave us a head start so you could get to the main event quicker."
The main event apparently being the frog itself, which is what he's been staring at intensely. And then steps aside from to give K space to approach if he wants to.
"Ta-dah," he says in a flat tone, which probably matches the expression on the creature itself, if a frog can have an expression. And if it can, then this one's is uncannily gormless.
no subject
He is very, very interested in the frog, and the moment he sees it he cocks his head to the side and stops.
"It's real," he says, but very, very quietly, mostly to himself. Hakkyuu has moved aside so K takes one step closer and then slowly, carefully so as not to risk distressing the creature, he crouches down closer to be able to see better.
no subject
A less sharpened smile haunts his face, not really in the lips and only really a ghost in his eyes as he slides back to rest his lower back against the sideboard.
In a way, he doesn't want to intrude on this moment, something he hadn't expected would land with such significance and focus for K, so before he says anything at all, he just waits, comfortable enough to do so, or at least content to do so, before saying anything further.
"Doesn't move much and a real shit conversationalist, but it's pretty tolerate and, yeah, pretty real."
no subject
But every now and then he gets the chance to do this, to simply memorize the pattern along its rough back, the slit of a pupil in its gold patinaed iris, the nearly translucent webbing between its bell-tipped toes. To watch the way its throat expands and deflates with its breathing, the impossible width of its mouth even though it doesn't so much as move in front of him. He is aware of Hakkyuu, too, but he doesn't rush - not until the other man speaks.
"Why do you scorn it so much?" he asks once Hakkyuu has spoken again, prompt, a question he has been thinking about but hadn't wanted to ask aloud until he was forced to tear a greater fraction of his attention off the frog.
no subject
Except when the question arrives it means he has to give some kind of answer, and to give some kind of answer means putting an awareness he has out into the world that he's trying to pretend he's in denial about.
"It killed my entire family in the dead of night for political gain," he replies dryly, turning away to grab something.
It's all humour that works for Hakkyuu, having never known and never cared to begin any journey to find who is related to by blood for multiple reasons, with the biggest on being that he has a family that he's more bound to now than he could ever imagine blood could come close to, and why cheapen it by trying to follow a rope that's either going to be cut short or so covered in moss and barnacles as to prove a lack of prior movement.
But that's how he often approaches the world--abrupt and often on the edge of a joke more aligned with his own humour than what most others appreciate and he's been at odds with people's understanding of him for his entire life.
When he turns back, he has a glass mister in his hand with a metal plunger at the top, which he offers to K.
"Here, soak him down, it'll make his little frog day toad-ly fantastic."
no subject
He accepts it, eyebrows raised in good natured skepticism. "Do you often care so much for the comfort of a genocidal creature?" he asks mildly. And: "Frogs and toads are two different creatures, I'm pretty sure."
If Hakkyuu is going to be sharply sarcastic, K is perfectly capable of being blandly earnest.
no subject
"What can I say, it's the only connection to particular loved ones that I have now,"
Ironically, right now, that part isn't an outright lie, a truth buried obliquely in a joke. There's a momentary pause, something like irritation flashing through his eyes, before he makes an exasperated noise and waves impatiently in the creature's direction.
"Just spray the damn frog and enjoy yourself, yeah?"
no subject
"I know we've only just met, and I don't have the first clue about what your preferences are. A light misting? A thorough soaking? Something else?"
He painstakingly adjusts the mister in his hand, a stickler for details even when he doesn't know them.
Apparently.
no subject
He moves to lean his back against the sideboard again, arms folding over his chest, though when he speaks next it's with a little less nebulous annoyance.
"You won't hurt him, K. Go ahead."
no subject
But something Hakkyuu has said has raised a larger concern for him for the moment than the other man's surliness. "Does he need a pond or something?" he asks, giving the frog a few careful, experimental spritzes.
no subject
He watches the frog as it blinks, wetly, lifting one little webby paw to drag it's little fingers over its face a few times as it subtly leans towards the spray K provides.
"I'm sure he'll work himself out. It's a plant room, not a frog room."
But then, he gets the feeling there's a protest on the frogs behalf building so he takes a deep, demonstrative breath that's Oh So Put Upon and adds, "Bet if you ever wanted to bring him a bird bath though I'm sure he'd be real happy about it. Don't let the name fool you, we'll add a little 'bastard frogs welcome' sign, how about that?"