Chapter Text
Hanzo awoke with a start, sweat coating him like a second skin. The room was pitch dark, the light behind his curtains the deep navy of early spring in the wee hours of the morning. After so many years in the same room, in the same routine, he should have been calmed by the darkness.
Yet despite all the heat roaring softly through his vents, despite the broken feverish dreams, despite the blankets, Hanzo shivered. He sat up, joints protesting, and wiped lingering moisture from his eyes. He groaned and ran a shaky hand through his hair. It wasn’t a nightmare that plagued him, but a hollow sense of dread and abandonment that sat like undigested food deep in his gut.
Throwing his feet over the edge of his large, lonely bed, Hanzo strode familiar steps across his bedroom and padded down the hall to his kitchen. The floorboards were freezing under his bare feet, the house silent but for the hum of his straining heating system.
He stopped in the kitchen, pausing in the doorway to survey his empty house. Everything was as it should be. The fire had been doused. The door was locked. So why did he feel so unsettled?
Shaking his head to dispel the feeling, he reached for his trusty kettle. He tapped a rune to make it fill itself with water, then turned the stove on and assembled his diffuser and favorite mug. He knew that preparing a good cup to warm his belly would calm his shaking hands and roiling stomach.
Hanzo expected that the coming day would be hard; facing it with less a broken night’s sleep was less than optimal, but he could deal with it. He would have had to have been up in a few hours for work anyway. But still: today would be different. He had plans. Plans that should, hopefully, resolve the headaches he’d had every day since the new year had started. With a glance at his kitchen clock-- the hands telling him it was nearing four in the morning-- he decided to give up on getting back to sleep and resigned himself to a long day.
He didn’t realize that today was just the beginning.
--
The tiny shop Genji had sent Hanzo to was set back between two shining, modern storefronts, raising Hanzo’s hopes for the place hew as sent to find. But upon investigation, the entrance for McCree’s Oddities And Artifacts was practically in an alleyway. It had a stooped roof and the crooked sign was half-covered by a teetering pile of bric a brac.
Hanzo stared at the disheveled stacks with disdain. There were piles all over the place, many as high or higher than Hanzo himself, leaning against each other like geriatric grandmothers. The display window lay opaque with grime, preventing Hanzo from seeing inside the building when he peeked around a haphazard pile of what looked like candelabras. It was a mess-- and he wasn’t even inside the building yet.
When he shoved past the front door, he found that the inside of the building wasn’t much better. It was dim and dusty, causing Hanzo to sneeze once and then cover his face with his coat as a makeshift mask. There was light coming from somewhere near the walls but wherever it was coming from was blocked by towering piles of stuff . Hanzo saw bits of furniture here and there-- at least one couch and a few tables were apparent-- but they were all covered in... things . Miscellaneous objects were piled with seemingly little to no order, stacked up to the rafters. There, too, things dangled: baskets, mobiles, bicycles, herbs, and clocks tested the strength of the wooden beams.
Hanzo carefully made his way through the only visible path in the mess: a narrow, winding route that eventually led up to a glass countertop similarly surrounded by nicknacks. This appeared to be the only surface in the entire building that wasn’t covered in odds and ends, but only because the glass display case below it was crammed with small objects. Some were on velvet backcloth, held up under dim lights for display: rings and figurines and wands and ornate lighters and charms and a million other small items sat available for inspection.
In contrast the rest of the store, the space behind the glass counter was barren. Not a single living thing stirred.
Hanzo stood for a long minute at the display, boredly looking at the case and the things around him while he waited to be noticed by the staff. He clutched a paper in his hand, rubbing a thumb over a creased corner as he wished that Genji could have recommended a more reputable shop. Something more normal . An artifacts repair workshop, at least, or maybe a good tome with some helpful information. Anything but this oppressive mess.
After what Hanzo deemed an acceptable wait, he knocked loudly on the glass and leaned over the counter, trying to peer into the back room. A curtain separated the two areas, but a sliver of light could be seen below the bottom hem of the red fabric.
“Hello?” Hanzo called out. He looked around again, knocking on the counter once more. “I require assistance.”
Suddenly a shadow blocked the light below the curtain, and the fabric was swept aside, almost blinding Hanzo after the dim shop. A figure stepped out, dusting off its hands and moving the curtain back in place. As the shadow stepped closer, Hanzo made out the shape of a man wearing a ratty flannel and jeans, grinning widely as he moved towards the counter. Hanzo leaned back, recovering his poise. It seemed the staff matched the shop.
“I am in need of help. I am looking for a Mister…” He looked at the paper Genji had given him. “McCree?”
“That’d be me, darlin’.” The man slapped his hands on his hips, standing proud. “But you can call me Jesse. This’s my shop. What can I do you for?”
Ignoring the turn of phrase, Hanzo dug into his pocket and pulled out a small figurine. “I was told you can analyze dark artifacts and break curses?”
“Sure, sure.” Jesse leaned on his elbows on the counter, peering at Hanzo intently. “I do a bit of that now and then. What’ve you got?”
Hanzo held up the object that had been causing him so much trouble. It was a dark wooden disk about three inches across with a design carved into it. It clicked dully against the glass as Hanzo gently set it on the countertop.
“I was cleaning out the attic of my ancestral home some months ago. This was among the items I recovered. However, it appears to be causing me some misfortune.”
“Care to elaborate?” That infuriating smile was still in place while the man peered over at the talisman without touching it. As Hanzo continued, the man reached into a drawer behind him and pulled out a set of leather gloves.
“I…” Hanzo hesitated. “I breed dragons. By the label left on this object’s case, it is supposed to help with fertility and forming close bonds. I thought it might help me with my business.” He pointed to the symbols on the disk. “It’s my family symbol-- an ouroboros of two dragons. I thought that placing it in my home might help them to reproduce, but they’ve been shy.” Hanzo scowled. “And irritable . They will not lay. And if they do not lay soon, the eggs will not be mature enough to hatch by the time the cold season hits.”
“Egg-shy, huh?” Jesse said conversationally. “Sounds like a right pickle. Let me get a good look at this thing.” Tugging on his gloves, Jesse carefully picked up the carving and looked it over. He reached under the counter to pull out a short short, flimsy-looking wand and tapped it lightly over different areas of the disk. When nothing happened, he frowned minutely and then pulled out a soft cloth, wiping over the whole of the object. He set it down again, staring expectantly.
Hanzo’s eyes flickered back and forth between his talisman and Jesse while the shop silently waited. Dust floated back and forth in the line of light still peeking out of the back room, and Hanzo coughed lightly.
“You should really clean up a bit,” Hanzo said, just to say something. The silence was getting to him. Jesse was still staring at the disk when he shrugged.
“It is how it is. It ain’t hurting anybody.”
“I beg to differ,” Hanzo said drily. “My allergies have been bothered since I turned past the bakery next door.”
“You know, you’re welcome to take your money elsewhere,” Jesse said lightly. He was still looking at the disk, fingers hovering above it. “I’m sure you could easily find someone just as qualified as me. You know. Out there. Out of all those artifacts specialists.”
Hanzo turned a bright red, cowed by his words. Genji had not mentioned the man’s attitude . “I apologize. I just-- is something supposed to be happening?”
Jesse flipped the disk over, scouring the back for something. Hanzo had looked the object over a million times and had yet to see anything special about it, but maybe this... specialist could.
“Well, not necessarily. But some of the diagnostics should turn something up. You mind if I hang onto this for a bit? Promise it’s in good hands.”
“I don’t know…” Hanzo said warily. “It’s a family heirloom. I...it is irreplaceable.”
“Gotcha. Here,” he said, pulling out a sheet of paper. “I can write a binding contract if you need it.” He pulled out an ink pad and, dabbing his thumb, made a mark on the form in front of him. “All I need is your signature and you’ll be protected from any dumb shit that happens while this thing is with me.”
“And if ‘dumb shit’ destroys the talisman?”
Jesse shrugged. “Then it was probably too dangerous to handle in the first place.”
That did make a certain kind of sense. Nodding, Hanzo leaned forward to sign the paper, his hand brushed Jesse’s. A smear of ink rubbed off on the back of his hand, and Jesse jerked away with an apology.
“Alright, and if you’ll just leave me some contact info, I’ll get to you as soon as I know what’s what with this beauty.” Handling it in his gloves, Jesse lifted the talisman and placed it into a cedar box, shutting it with a click. “You should get a call within a day or so.”
“Thank you.” Hanzo looked around the shop. “If I may ask...what is all this?”
“What the miscellaneous shit? Oh, you know,” Jesse said, shrugging. “Just things. Might come in handy one day.”
“...Right,” Hanzo said doubtfully.
“Hey now, I don’t go insulting your business. How do I know you got good dragons at your place?”
Hanzo smirked. “Because I am a Shimada. Didn’t Genji tell you? Dragons are what we do. ” And with that, he sauntered around the piles of papers and furniture and out the door.
The mid-morning light was almost blinding when Hanzo stepped out into the sun again. Noise had been muffled in the shop, but now the sounds of traffic and busy city life came to him once again. Hanzo took a deep breath of clean air and sighed.
At least he’d finally get to the bottom of this.
--
Hanzo started a fire when he got home. It blazed in his fireplace, logs crackling as Hanzo propped a cauldron over the coals. First business was to warm up his stone nest heaters; even if they were going to be shy, Hanzo had to at least try to get his dragons ready to breed.
He enjoyed a strong mug of grassy green tea while the stones heated, stirring in a generous spoonful of honey as he relaxed in an armchair in front of the fire. As he propped his feet up, he heard squeaky chirring purrs scampering across the room.
“Hello, children,” Hanzo said with quiet amusement as his dragons hopped up in his lap. They wriggled happily, chirping at him and kneading their talons into his thigh. Hanzo grimaced, sighing resignedly and unhooking them when they struggled to pull their claws out of the fabric of his pants. “You seem to be feeling better. What happened, sweetlings?”
The dragons purred and chirped as Hanzo pet down their glimmering backs, fingers running through their manes. The dragons were roughly the size of a ferret but longer, almost three quarters of a meter in length and covered in blue scales. One rolled on its back, and Hanzo pet the soft scales and bit of squish she had to her tummy.
“Are you eggy, little girl?” Hanzo cooed. “I bet you’d have a wonderful clutch this year.” He poked her belly. “If you’d just lay.” She chirped and wriggled about his lap, clearly enjoying herself. It was a relief from the line of tension she had been just yesterday.
Hanzo sat back in his darkened living room, savoring his drink and his dragons warm on his stomach while the fire dissipated the early morning chill. He had mere weeks left in the breeding season and it was imperative that he get the dragons-- his breeding stock and his pets-- to lay soon. His business depended on it.
When the nest stones were finally hot, Hanzo fished the rocks out with a pair of tongs. Inspecting them to make sure the runes were still marked well, Hanzo set them in an insulated basket and headed out to his corrals to conduct his mid-morning chores.
The structure of his extravagant barn lay behind his home, beyond a yard and paddock for the dragons to play outside when the mood suited them. It was far larger than his own home, providing plenty of room. Shutting the wide door behind him, Hanzo greeted the various breeds of dragon he kept with him-- three mating pairs, two juveniles, and a singular guest.
The Trapper... poor thing. It was recovering from a high-stress situation-- more like it was a rescue, feathers patchy and scales dry. Hanzo had been doing his best to treat it, but was having some trouble dealing with its hostility every time he tried to draw near. Hanzo knew that it had come from an abusive, neglectful man, and he wondered if his sex had something to do with it. Or maybe it was that damned talisman-- it had been particularly edgy when he’d had it on him. Bah. That’s why he was paying an “expert” for his “expert” advice.
After greeting the mated pairs in their large caged rooms and depositing the charmed stones in each of their nests-- they would stay hot for days now that he’d heated them-- he walked to the end of the hall and looked in on the Trapper. It was sleeping, curled up in the piles of blankets and soft tinder Hanzo had provided. His heart swelled with affection, making a mental note to come back later so as not to disturb its rest. He would give it a milk bath later in the day for its skin and perhaps an extra treat tonight at dinner. It was rare to see it so relaxed, and he wanted to reward it.
The female German Wyrm crawed at him as he made his rounds. She was quite large-- elephantine, really-- and she had her obsidian snout up to the bars of the door to her corral. Hanzo chuckled, petting her nose.
“And how are you today, Persephone? Having a good spring? Did you play outside today?” He laughed when she nipped at him affectionately, her sharp teeth barely grazing his forearm. He’d had Persephone and Hades the longest besides his pets-- they were his first official breeding pair, bought as juveniles. Hades could be moody, but Persephone was perpetually cheerful, often rubbing her huge body up against Hanzo as he did maintenance on their enclosure.
“You have been so irritable lately that I was beginning to wonder if you were getting sick,” Hanzo said, patting her neck. She gleamed in the sun coming through the bay doors, faint rainbow shimmers coming off the black scales. “Do you think you will have young this season?” He opened the door to her and Hades’ enclosure, walking around to inspect Persephone’s body.
She was a good weight for eggs. Hanzo had been monitoring her diet carefully-- lots of protein and even calcium supplements to make sure the eggs would have strong shells. If the state of the fat deposits in her armpits was anything to go by, she was exactly where she should be in preparation for young.
He patted her flank and took a peek around her to look at the area of the room she and Hades used as a nest. Sitting in a nice patch of sunlight was a large wooden structure containing a pile of dirty cushions and a medley of debris gathered from the surrounding woods. The stones Hanzo had brought with him lay in the center of it, steaming slightly in the chilly spring air. Hanzo could hear Hades moving around in the paddock outside, no doubt stretching his wings to warm up in the sun.
“Looks like someone was busy,” Hanzo teased. “What made you decide to bulk up the bedding now, my lady?” Persephone only growled affectionately and stretched her wings out, yawning before settling back in the bed with her fresh heat source.
Hanzo took one last look around the room before locking up the barn for the afternoon. He’d be back that night for dinners and to give the trapper its milk bath. He hummed as he walked, thinking that he might even slip in a potion for skin renewal while he was at it. He’d have to start brewing it up now, if that was the case. Did he even have the ingredients for it?
His thoughts were occupied as he slipped back into the house, dodging around his smallest dragons and dipping into the kitchen. Next to his teapot was another pot, this one larger and spotted with layers of old potions on the outside. He gathered his herbs and unguents and fired up the stove, pouring what he needed into the kettle and waiting for it all to steep before blending it.
He was halfway through the process when he heard his Athena spell system chime. Turning off the heat and praying it didn’t sour the brewing process, Hanzo hurriedly wiped his hands on a towel and headed to his main hall.
Settling in front of the big mirror he kept in the foyer, Hanzo traced the unlocking rune into the glass before standing back. Genji’s face appeared.
“Ah, brother! How is the business going? Settling back in okay?” Genji grinned at Hanzo through the mirror.
“Good enough. Not that I don’t appreciate a call, but I was in the middle of something. What do you need?”
“Nothing, nothing...just wondered if you went to see the man I told you about. Jesse does great work.”
“Yes, I did...He’s a very strange man, Genji. Why did you not warn me about the shop?”
“Oh, the clutter?” Genji laughed, waving it away with a gesture. “He’s just like that. Don’t worry about it too much; his skills are unparalleled. He busted the curse on that sword I got last year, remember?”
Hanzo’s eyebrows shot up. “That was him ? But that curse was over a century strong.”
“Yeah, and he wiped it clear off in no time at all. He’s good, brother. Trust me.”
Hanzo sighed. “Very well. I will trust him so long as it helps the dragons. Speaking of which,” he continued, “how is your scaly friend?”
Genji smiled and reached for something out of view, talking all the while.
“She is very good! We found her a sire last month; I believe she will lay her first clutch any day now. I plan to gift the offspring to the monks here. They would be great for companionship and pest control around the monastery.” Smiling gently, Genji held up a rather fat dragon-- no, not fat: heavy with eggs, protruding like large marbles from her tummy. She was a bright green, lighter on her stomach, with a yellow mane and little needles for teeth. She murred sleepily in Genji’s arms as he held her carefully.
“Oh, Genji, she looks wonderful,” Hanzo said wistfully. “I am sure they will be very strong.”
“They’d better be,” Genji laughed. “The father is a Nepalese Nightcrawler. I am hoping they get her temperament.”
--
They wrapped up their conversation quickly, and Hanzo moved back into his kitchen to finish his potion. He spent the remainder of the afternoon brewing up various pots of products: supplements, cures for scale rot, immune boosters, and even a simple sleep aid just for himself. He’d been tired lately, his sleep fitful. If he had to rely on potions for a good night’s sleep, so be it.
After a light dinner, Hanzo moved into the barn and drew up a large tub, filling it with goats’ milk and the skin remedy. He tapped the runes on the large metal tub, letting it all heat up carefully. Everything had to be perfect for the Tenochititlan Trapper to tolerate it. Stressing out that particular beast would be...most unwise.
“Alright,” Hanzo said boldly, walking up to the door of the Trapper’s enclosure. “Let’s get you a nice bath, hm? You’ll feel much better afterwards.”
It hissed at him.
“Don’t be like that,” Hanzo chided, murmuring to try and soothe the beast.
He wrangled it as gently as he could into the tub, petting its writhing body and cooing gently all the while. It seemed to settle for the most part once it was in the bath-- it even fluffed its feathers and gave a single deep squawk of satisfaction-- but startled when Hanzo’s Athena system chimed. The thrashing left Hanzo covered in milk and skin potion, his clothing soaked and his hair dripping.
He shucked his shirt immediately; it would be ruined now, and he’d have a hell of a time trying to get the Trapper calm again. Genji’d probably forgotten something trivial he wanted to ask Hanzo, as he often did, never mind that Hanzo didn’t have all the time in the world to indulge him with. He’d called so many times, and complained of Hanzo’s unfailing unavailability so often, that Hanzo had finally broken and installed another mirror in the actual barn.
Hanzo suffered the chiming as long as he could, fighting to calm the trapper while the tone rang and rang. When at last the dragon was some semblence of calm, Hanzo stalked up to the mirror fully intent on chewing Genji out. He swiped at his face and body irritably-- his beard alone was still oily from the goopy potion-- and scowled at the glass. His mouth was half full of a reprimand when the visual sparked on.
He was startled out of his fury entirely. It was not his brother on the line. Instead, the shopkeeper from that morning-- Jesse, if he remembered correctly-- greeted him with a faltering smile.
“May I help you?” Hanzo said awkwardly. He hadn’t anticipated greeting a stranger without his shirt on.
“Damn, sorry!” Jesse turned away from his mirror, one hand over his face. “Didn’t mean to interrupt nothin’.”
“I was in the middle of a bath,” Hanzo said. “It’s good you called; I was having some trouble.”
“I...yeah?” Jesse peeked out from behind his hands. “Did you... want my help?”
Hanzo scowled. Was this man fishing for compliments now? “That’s why I came to you, wasn’t it?”
A strange expression twisted Jesse’s face. “Was it? You didn’t seem to find me much appealing when we met earlier.”
Hanzo scraped a layer of oily potion off his chest with a grimace as he replied. “Yes, well, I wasn’t dealing with this little problem then, was I?”
“Look, Hanzo, I’m flattered, but-- Is this really--?”
“My Tenochititlan Trapper is still agitated, but that’s nothing out of the norm.” Hanzo lifted his damp shirt up to wipe his face, sighing and pulling a lock of soaked hair out of his eyes. He ignored the distressed squeak coming from the mirror. “Trying to get it to bathe is an ordeal and highly stressful for us both. The sooner you can help me, the better.”
“... Oh .” Jesse looked flustered, this was sure. Hanzo raised an eyebrow.
“Did you have a reason to call me?”
Jesse cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, an awkward, businesslike smile coming over his features again. “Yeah, actually. I just wanted to let you know that I looked the talisman over and I can’t find anything wrong with it.” He scratched at his scruff. “As far as I can tell, it’s doing what it’s designed to do.”
Hanzo scowled and threw his soaked shirt to the side with a wet slap . He could deal with it when he cleaned up the barn later. He could clean it up just like he cleaned up every mess in this godforsaken hole he’d crawled in. “I can assure you it’s not doing what it’s supposed to . My dragons were in excellent spirits this morning when I came back. The only difference between now and the last few weeks has been the presence of that talisman.”
Jesse’s sigh was resigned. “Well, if you’re really set on that theory, I can always come out and look at the work site. It’s definitely possible that there’re other factors or that it’s interacting with something on your property. I’d’ve checked that first with how this whole thing’s going, but house calls are always more complicated.”
Hanzo paused. He was wary of letting a stranger onto the property. Personal privacy aside, visitors could compromise his security. Dragon breeding was a competitive business-- Hanzo did not doubt that there would be people more than willing to pay for access to his property and his dragons, and he had no guarantee that Jesse wouldn’t go and mindlessly chatter about Hanzo’s setup or techniques.
“I don’t know…” he said cautiously. “I’d need you to sign a waver. The Australian Frillneck spits acid.”
“And the rest of them still have teeth, I wager.” Jesse nodded. “I gotcha. Let me sign whatever and I’ll head on over. When’s good for you?”
“Perhaps tomorrow afternoon? The sooner this is dealt with the better.”
“Yeah, I think I can squeeze that in. Got an umbrella to deal with in the morning but that should be wrapped up by lunch time.”
“Excellent.” Hanzo heard a squawk from behind him, and turned to see the Trapper splashing in its milk bath and using one clawed leg to scratch at the patchy feathers on its neck. Hanzo groaned and looked skyward as if searching for divine help. “ Please , Itzi, do not test me today.”
“Itzi?” Jesse asked with an amused quirk to his lips.
“Itzcoatl. An Aztec emperor. Itzi is native to the area.” Hanzo hitched up his soaked pants and moved to soothe the dragon, squatting until he was level with the bath so he could scoop handfuls of the milk bath over its scales and feathers as he talked over his shoulder. Again, he ignored a distressed noise from the mirror. It was probably just spell feedback of some kind. “He is not very regal at the moment.” Hanzo grimaced as the dragon splashed him again.
Steadfastly ignoring the drips of water, milk, and potion running down his torso and face, Hanzo attempted to save his dignity by propping his hands on his hips and facing the mirror head-on.
“I’d like to get back to this, if you don’t mind. I will see you tomorrow afternoon?”
The shopkeeper nodded. He was a tad flushed, and Hanzo grumbled internally, mentally preparing to reschedule if the curse breaker called in sick the next day.
“Goodbye, Jesse.” And with that, Hanzo tapped the mirror again, ending the communication spell. Once again, he saw only himself, looking like some kind of milk-drowned roadkill and covered in gleaming, oily potion.
“Itzi, you rascal,” Hanzo said, returning to the task at hand with a forced note of cheerfulness. “If you do not bathe, you will not get your gizzards tonight. Now, let’s get that potion rubbed in.”
--
Jesse showed up at exactly noon the next day. Hanzo’s yard, though sparsely planted, was sunny enough, and Hanzo waited patiently in a worn chair by the front door, small dragon on his lap. He was just wondering if he’d have to reschedule after all when the artifacts specialist stepped out of thin air with a sweep of fabric and a hint of smoke.
“Dad’s old serape still has a bit of a kick to the threads,” He said at Hanzo’s disturbed expression. “Lets me get around a little easier. Still has its limits!” he clarified when Hanzo looked suspicious. “Can’t go anywhere I’m not welcome. Glad to see it let me in your yard, Mister Shimada.”
Hanzo nodded. “Of course. Are you feeling better today?”
Jesse raised an eyebrow. “Feeling better?”
“You were quite red when we spoke yesterday.”
“Oh! Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” Curiously, Jesse turned a vibrant pink once again. Hanzo decided to dismiss the subject; as long as he didn’t get Hanzo sick as well, it didn’t matter. He just needed the man’s help, not his life story.
“Well…” Hanzo said cooly. “How do these visits usually work?”
“Ahem,” Jesse started, clearing his throat, “Generally you show me the area you’re having trouble with and we work backwards from there. Where’s the problem worst?”
Wary, Hanzo paused. “The dragons are agitated every time I come near them with the talisman. Even in my private quarters-- as long as it’s with me they are irritable.”
“Holy hell-- you keep actual dragons in your house ?”
Hanzo blushed as he realised how it sounded. “Just a couple,” he admitted reluctantly. “They are...special.”
“They don’t, I don’t know...burn anything down?”
“They are more likely to play with embers than spit them,” Hanzo said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Not every dragon breed is destructive. Many have practical uses.”
Jesse smiled. “I get it, I get it. Lead the way, hon’. Show me what you got.”
Ignoring the endearment, Hanzo turned and beckoned for Jesse to follow him.
“Let me show you how a real business is run.”
Jesse followed Hanzo around the back of his house, through the tidy vegetable garden and across the wide yard towards the barn.
Jesse whistled as they approached. “Now that’s a barn. Damn, Shimada, how big are these things?”
Hanzo smirked. “Big enough.”
A great rolling grumble greeted the two of them when Hanzo slid the massive barn door along its track. They walked down the hallway, cabinets on either side of them filled with everything Hanzo needed to care for his stock. The dragons themselves were mostly docile, peering with curious eyes through the bars of their paddocks. Jesse didn’t even bother to hide his curiosity, staring wide-eyed into every enclosure they passed. He stared in wonder at the high ceilings, the clear skylights, the well-worn floorboards. Everything was clean-swept and neat. Hanzo smirked to himself; this was how a business should be run.
The barn was far from silent, despite the peaceful atmosphere put out by the ample light and space. All down the long hall of the barn Hanzo and Jesse heard coos and grumbles, chirps and growls resonating so deep and thorough that Hanzo could feel them in his ribcage. It was the kind of noise that set Hanzo on edge-- the kind of noise that wasn’t quite right, despite the familiarity of it. Hanzo paused to stroke Persephone’s curiously probing nose through the bars of her door as they passed.
“Each dragon-- or mated pair-- has its own enclosure with enrichment items, food and water, and access to an outdoor area. They are allowed free reign of the property within reason at certain times, but never different breeds at the same time. I have differently aged stock,” Hanzo explained, “and it wouldn’t do for them to interact. Some breeds are cannibalistic.”
Jesse grimaced. “Yikes.”
“Indeed.” Hanzo smiled at Persephone, who nuzzled her huge head up against Hanzo’s shoulder, nearly knocking him over, before turning a shrewd eye on Jesse. She sized him up with one purple eye, and Hanzo laughed at her protective nature. “Not Persephone, though. She’s a good girl.”
Persephone snorted smoke at Jesse to illustrate, clearly still not comfortable with the stranger.
Giving her one last pat, Hanzo led Jesse further down the hallway.
He stopped at the end of the wide hall. His mirror hung on the wall beside a closed door, dormant for lack of the Athena spell running through it. Hanzo cracked the door open for Jesse to peer inside.
“Dang, partner. This makes my shop look tidy !”
Hanzo grit his teeth. His office was his secret shame, full of stacks of papers and files, but they were at least organized by month. The fact that there were years’ worth of paperwork here was of little consequence.
“I have been meaning to clean up,” Hanzo admitted grudgingly. “But I was keeping the talisman in here for safekeeping when I noticed the change in my animals’ demeanor.”
“You do anything else new? New, uh, filing system, furniture, renovations?”
Hanzo shook his head. “No. I got back from Japan, unpacked, and came out here to check on the dragons. They were immediately agitated.”
Jesse looked around at the paperwork, then turned back to stare down the long hall of the barn as if considering something. “Who watched them while you were gone?”
“My brother. But they love Genji.” Hanzo’s brow furrowed in consternation. “He treats them almost as well as I do.”
“Did you do anything new while you were gone?”
“No.” Hanzo stared forlornly at the piles of paperwork sitting on his desk. “I spent the entire trip clearing out an old family home. It’s just me and Genji now, so of course Genji has decided he would rather travel than deal with ancient relics.”
Jesse raised his eyebrows. “No one else? Cousins, children, spouses?”
Hanzo shook his head minutely, eyes locked on the floor. He fought the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose-- yet another headache was brewing. He would collapse gratefully in bed tonight.
“There are only myself and my small list of associates left to handle the family business now. I can’t trust anyone else with the generations’ worth of information I have, and as of yet I haven’t taken on an apprentice. Genji is... unsuitable .”
“Damn, Hanzo, but if that ain’t the saddest thing I’ve heard in a long while.” Jesse tipped his hat, looking around the building. “I’ll do my best to help you figure this thing out, I promise.”
Hanzo was quiet. “Thank you.”
Shutting off the lights, Hanzo made to lead Jesse back towards the front of the barn. They were stopped by a sudden screeching and the heavy weight of a body hitting the enclosure door next to them, rattling the door on its hinges.
Jesse yelped and ducked out of the way as a long, talon-bearing leg swiped out through one of the bars on the door, narrowly missing his face. The look of panic on his face was complete, but Hanzo’s instincts had been formed by years of reacting to precisely this kind of thing.
Hanzo rushed forward, grabbing the scaly leg to still its attack. He immediately stuffed a hand through the bars to grab at the back of the Tenochititlan Trapper’s head.
“ No, Itzi!” Calling back to Jesse while he wrestled to get the dragon under control, he said, “He is not usually so--” Ducking under a patchy wing, Hanzo cursed and made to go into the enclosure itself. “--so aggressive .”
Hanzo managed to get the situation under control, sending Itzi out into his paddock and shutting the door behind him, but Jesse was clearly shaken. Hanzo dusted his hands off and wiped sweat off his brow.
“I apologize.” Hanzo looked out towards the paddock with a tired expression-- the face of a man who has dealt with the same problem over and over again. “I really thought he was calming down. He was much more agreeable yesterday afternoon.”
Jesse had a guilty look on his face. At Hanzo’s perceptive eyebrow raise, he grinned guiltily and fished in his pocket for something.
“I ain't been completely honest with you today, Hanzo,” he said as he dug in his pockets.
Hanzo stiffened, fearing the worst. Had Jesse brought in poison or been recording their walk through the paddock?
Instead of a weapon or a spell however, Jesse just pulled out the same wooden disk Hanzo had brought him the day before, holding it up so that its polished surface shone in the soft sunshine coming through the skylights above. This time, Hanzo noted, the curse breaker didn’t handle it with a glove or wand-- it sat innocently in his bare palm...as if it hadn’t caused him such heartbreak .
“I wanted to see what would happen if I brought it in for myself.”
Hanzo’s growing fury finally reached its limits, bursting from his chest in a tangle of words.
“I told you what happened around it!” he shouted, slapping Jesse’s chest and shoving him backwards. “You would purposefully upset my animals like this? Are you even a professional?” He shoved Jesse again, harder this time. He wanted this interloper out. Jesse stumbled as he fled, hands held out placatingly as Hanzo advanced on him.
“It’s not what you think, Hanzo,” Jesse said imploringly. “It’s-- it’s part of the job, I swear. And I gotta tell you, sweetheart, I’m glad I brought it with me.”
“You’re what ?” Hanzo snarled. His hands clenched at his sides.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Jesse said. He was still backing towards the door, but he stopped on the threshold and held out the talisman as a peace offering. Hanzo snatched it out of his hand-- if only to take back any leverage this offender had over him. Jesse cleared his throat once Hanzo had taken it back and stopped shoving him. “But...you might wanna be somewhere more comfortable for this conversation.”
--
They were sitting down in Hanzo’s living room, fire crackling away-- sans cauldron-- with two heavy mugs of tea. Jesse was holding his seemingly more for warmth than as a beverage, but Hanzo sipped at his as Jesse fidgeted with the wooden talisman, turning it over and over in his hands as he seemed to be considering his words. Hanzo had begrudgingly given it back to him at the shopkeeper’s begging. It killed Hanzo to admit that he didn’t know a thing about it.
“You said you have a couple of critters in here?” Jesse said, fidgeting with his cup.
Hanzo nodded stiffly. “Two of a small breed. They are more companions than stock, however. They are most likely wreaking havoc in the laundry room right now.” His grim facade cracked a little as he thought of his pets, the corners of his eyes crinkling with affection.
Jesse grinned. “Sounds mighty domestic.”
Hanzo shrugged and hid a wan smile. “I’ve had them since I was a child. They were my first dragons.” Then his smile turned more sincere, soft and small as it was. “They will probably be my last, when I eventually leave the business.”
Jesse hummed thoughtfully.
“Do you, uh, have any other...people? See anyone? I know you said you don’t have much family left, but do you at least get out?”
Hanzo shifted awkwardly. “I...have business acquaintances I talk with sometimes. And I am on good terms with my suppliers. Though I fail to see how this is related.”
“It is, I swear. So your social circle is, uh...let’s go with cozy. Got any hobbies?
“Some. Archery. Leatherworking. I like a decent cup of tea, as you can see. Why is this so important?” Hanzo said with suspicion. “Because I am the only one running my business and tending to the animals, I work most days of the year. I don’t have time for casual interests. It’s either my life, or no life.” He shook his head. “The trip to my ancestral home was the closest to a vacation I have had in nearly a decade.”
“Look, Hanzo...I don’t know how to say this. Because you really seem to know what you’re doing here. The animals sure seem happy-- most of ‘em at least-- and they trust you. I haven’t run into someone so devoted to what they do in a damn long time. So that makes this pretty hard to say.”
He paused again, and Hanzo sat up in his seat, back rigid as he waited for what was obviously going to be bad news.
“Well,” Jesse said hesitantly. “ You might be upsetting the dragons.”
“ Excuse me?” Hanzo bristled, hands clenching around his cup.
“The talisman-- it’s doin’ what it’s supposed to do. Which is to say, it’s helping with relationships.“ He turned the talisman over so that it was dragons-side-up and slid it over across the table so Hanzo could handle it. “Old magic. Amplifies emotional radiance. If you were feeling sunshine and roses, the dragons would feel it, most like. I don’t think it’s my place to tell you what you’re feeling, but-- you’re probably not at your best. Not like this. Not if its affecting everything this badly.”
Ashen-faced, Hanzo abruptly stood up. The room was closing in on him. Suddenly the fire was too hot, his tea bitter, the sitting room muggy and uninviting.
“I am not-- I am not
lonely,
” Hanzo gasped. “I am
busy.
I--I--” Face falling, Hanzo pinched the bridge of his nose. The same headache he’d started building in the barn was gaining traction, pounding behind his eyes. “There must be another explanation.”
Jesse opened his mouth to reply, and in fact looked like he wanted to stand and comfort Hanzo, but he was suddenly interrupted by chirruping and scrabbling coming from a door down the hall. Hanzo swiftly stepped down the hall, away from the Jesse, the talisman, and the situation as a whole.
When he opened the door and stepped into his laundry room, he had to laugh, though the chuckle was weak. His two smallest charges were struggling to get out of the dryer. The door was hinged partly closed, blocked by a towering basket of laundry. Their little claws clicked against the metal door and their squeaks of distress were shrill. They must have jumped in to investigate and gotten quite the surprise when the door shut behind them. Laughing brokenly, Hanzo opened the dryer and drew his dragons out, scooping their long bodies into his arms. They wound themselves around his shoulders, nipping at his cheeks and fingers and chirring at him inquisitively, and it was all Hanzo could do not to cry into their manes.
After a long few minutes of deep breathing, Hanzo heard soft footfalls on the floorboards behind him. He flinched when a wide hand settled on his shoulder.
“Listen. Hanzo. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it.”
Hanzo held his breath against another bout of shaking. He was sure his nose would be red by now, his eyes wet. He refused to turn around, instead obsessively petting the dragons in his arms.
“No…no, you are right. It’s probably all my fault.” He bit his lip with near enough force to tear it. “I have failed. Business, family. All of it. It was pointless to try in the first place.”
“You ain’t failed nobody, Hanzo.” Jesse said sternly. “Remember that. You do your damnedest to do right by these animals every day. Hell, even Genji has told me about the stuff you go through for them. Sorting chicken gizzards by the case? Who does that? Someone that loves what they do, that’s who.” Jesse patted Hanzo firmly, as if trying to shake him back to his senses. “You just forgot to take care of yourself in the meantime, maybe.” Jesse reached into his bag, drawing out a business card before reaching over Hanzo’s shoulder and stuffing it into his breast pocket.
Hanzo still didn’t turn around. He locked his eyes on the dim corner of his laundry room. A cobweb lingered along the bottom of one shelf, a spider making itself at home next to his detergent and spare light bulbs. One of the dragons chewed on the edge of the business card sticking out of his pocket.
“I said I’d help you fix this, and I mean it. If that means getting a little more involved than usual, well...I’m up for it.” After a pat on the back, Hanzo turned just in time to see Jesse raise his serape, preparing to wrap it back around himself and disappear from whence he’d came.
Hanzo couldn’t stop himself-- one hand darted out to snag the corner of Jesse’s shirt.
“Wait. I…” He swallowed thickly, eyes frantically searching Jesse’s face for any hints of insincerity. “This is a monumental burden to take on.” He did not call out the fact that by ‘this’ he meant ‘himself.’ “You are really willing to… to help? How?”
Jesse nodded. “Absolutely. You let me worry about the how, you hear me? We’re gonna get you feeling better, come hell or high water. I bet your dragons would love to see you take a break now and then. Wouldn’t you, little fella?” Hanzo watched in teary amusement as Jesse reached out a finger to pet the dragon currently plopped over Hanzo’s shoulder, only to get a set of tiny teeth gnawing on his fingertip with a hiss. Jesse shook his hand out with a yelp.
“That’d be the talisman, I reckon.”
Hanzo nodded minutely. “They are usually rather harmless.”
“Then I’ll see you in a little bit? Give me a call, Hanzo, and we’ll figure this out. I’m here for you. And I’m sure I’m not the only one.”
And with that, Jesse swung the last wrap of his serape over his shoulder and winked out of existence, leaving Hanzo alone in his cold utility room clutching his armfuls of distressed dragon.