Hijikata blinked and turned when the kid started talking again, this time with a steel to his voice that Hijikata hadn't expected. He hadn't meant anything by his words, but listening to the speech they'd provoked out of the boy...
He looked away. He didn't smile, and covered up his expression with a short cough. Ch', this environment really was getting to him, wasn't it? For a moment there he thought he'd heard something in the boy's words worth noticing: soul, was it? Like echoes of the words Hijikata'd bit out to the enemy who taunted him before Kondo-san'd taught him that he too could have a sort of pride in this dismal work, that though they'd have to use darkness to achieve it there'd always be a light in their heart so long as their conviction was strong and their purpose untainted. Something like that.
....yeeeaaah, this place was really getting to him if some speech made by some brat who'd just gone through puberty could remind him of the Shinsengumi. Heh, what was next? The Mayora Kingdom? Showgirls in his pizza? Cannibals in the closet? Man-love?
Thankfully for his sanity, before Hijikata could get any further, something came out of the Osaka kid's mouth that spurred a real bout of coughing. Wait. Hold on a sec. Did the kid just say...no, he had to be kidding. But who else could the "best of the best" be? There wasn't much room for interpretation, and sometimes when people said "mother" they didn't mean mother mother, but maybe mentor, or--
--wait. Wait wait wait. In that case, couldn't he have just used "father" instead?
"...did you just call this guy your mother?" Hijikata said when he could stop coughing, voice heavy with a note that could not be described more aptly than by this guy had better not be serious and I DON'T WANT TO KNOW.
He turned to look again at Homura, even more on guard now that there was a whole new possibility behind the word "like" coming out of his mouth.
"A god, huh?" Hijikata half-sighed and bit into the pen again, completely unaware of the sizeable dent he'd made in the plastic already.
A War Prince.....Life just never got any easier, did it? Hijikata still had painful memories from the last time the scriptwriters dragged them off and deposited them in that weird place with the white background and that bitch of a Victory Goddess and the legions of perverted gods and angels after her (far too communal) ass. So far, Homura didn't strike him as the sort, but if he was being called "mother" by some kids...
...well. The moment the god stripped and started acting like a newlywed, Hijikata was out of here.
"...forget it. I don't want to know."
Making eye contact again, Hijikata asked, "You said we share the same goals, but there's one thing I'm just not getting. People like me aren't easy to deal with, so what's the point of gathering us together and limiting membership if all we want is to get out?"
His eyes narrowed.
"Revenge isn't your only motive. There's people we 'know' outside the Institute. Think you can save them, as well?"
no subject
He looked away. He didn't smile, and covered up his expression with a short cough. Ch', this environment really was getting to him, wasn't it? For a moment there he thought he'd heard something in the boy's words worth noticing: soul, was it? Like echoes of the words Hijikata'd bit out to the enemy who taunted him before Kondo-san'd taught him that he too could have a sort of pride in this dismal work, that though they'd have to use darkness to achieve it there'd always be a light in their heart so long as their conviction was strong and their purpose untainted. Something like that.
....yeeeaaah, this place was really getting to him if some speech made by some brat who'd just gone through puberty could remind him of the Shinsengumi. Heh, what was next? The Mayora Kingdom? Showgirls in his pizza? Cannibals in the closet? Man-love?
Thankfully for his sanity, before Hijikata could get any further, something came out of the Osaka kid's mouth that spurred a real bout of coughing. Wait. Hold on a sec. Did the kid just say...no, he had to be kidding. But who else could the "best of the best" be? There wasn't much room for interpretation, and sometimes when people said "mother" they didn't mean mother mother, but maybe mentor, or--
--wait. Wait wait wait. In that case, couldn't he have just used "father" instead?
"...did you just call this guy your mother?" Hijikata said when he could stop coughing, voice heavy with a note that could not be described more aptly than by this guy had better not be serious and I DON'T WANT TO KNOW.
He turned to look again at Homura, even more on guard now that there was a whole new possibility behind the word "like" coming out of his mouth.
"A god, huh?" Hijikata half-sighed and bit into the pen again, completely unaware of the sizeable dent he'd made in the plastic already.
A War Prince.....Life just never got any easier, did it? Hijikata still had painful memories from the last time the scriptwriters dragged them off and deposited them in that weird place with the white background and that bitch of a Victory Goddess and the legions of perverted gods and angels after her (far too communal) ass. So far, Homura didn't strike him as the sort, but if he was being called "mother" by some kids...
...well. The moment the god stripped and started acting like a newlywed, Hijikata was out of here.
"...forget it. I don't want to know."
Making eye contact again, Hijikata asked, "You said we share the same goals, but there's one thing I'm just not getting. People like me aren't easy to deal with, so what's the point of gathering us together and limiting membership if all we want is to get out?"
His eyes narrowed.
"Revenge isn't your only motive. There's people we 'know' outside the Institute. Think you can save them, as well?"