Even though Guy had seen Okita just that morning, it felt like a lot of time had passed between then and now. Or maybe it was more that so much had changed; even though his roommate was smiling, Guy could easily tell that he'd been shocked by this turn of events as well. It made sense, of course. They'd both been here the same amount of time, so they were similarly unsettled by what had happened.
Realizing that he was still standing, Guy circled around his desk and took a seat, grabbing his fork so that he could start on his dinner. Even if he was very much distracted by other things, he still had to eat. "Evening," he returned, knocking off the "good" part because he didn't really know if it applied.
Rubbing at the back of his neck, he wondered how he should broach the whole mess with Okita. In a way, this was easier for him to talk about than what he and Claude had been up to the night before. "Well, it looks like things have hit a breaking point now, huh?" was how he started.
It was the sort of thing that was hard to even know how to comment on. He stared down at this food and took another bite. "Knowing what I do about the military, I'm fairly certain this is going to make things worse for us." He'd never been a part of it himself, of course, but he knew his fair share of soldiers. Some were decent enough, but as an entity it was another story.
Guy was shaken by what had happened today if his position by the desk instead of at it was any indicator. He seemed uneasy about this shift in power which was understandable. If the soldiers were willing to tear gas the patients during the day to control any rioting, then there was no telling what else they would do to ensure order either during the day or the night.
Okita moved further into the room and glanced over at his roommate as he took a seat at his desk and began eating. Guy was having a harder time adjusting to this change than Okita was and for the first time, Okita realized he knew very little about Guy's background. He'd never thought to pry more than necessary into the man's personal life since they got along well enough without being too nosy, and Guy had never really provided any reasons for Okita's curiosity to turn deeper than his strange aversion to women and his friendships with people here.
"So it would seem," he responded, taking his own seat and sipping some water to help wash the taste of the medication out of his mouth. "Have you ever had much contact with military people, Guy-san?" If he hadn't, it would certainly explain why he seemed so uneasy. Okita himself was technically part of a private army sort of thing, but he'd also seen the sort of military that the daimyo and shogun put together. Some of them were fairly well trained, but most of them were lousy at their jobs and yet in a high enough position that they couldn't be criticized for it. Okita generally disliked them, but he couldn't do much about it.
While it was odd for Okita to ask him such a personal question, Guy could understand why he had. It was particularly relevant now, after all, and his familiarity with the military might determine whether he would sink or swim in this new environment. Granted, the answer wasn't a short one, so he was glad that his roommate seemed like the sort of person who wouldn't mind lending his ear for a bit.
Guy took another bite of his pasta as he thought it all over, having already realized that Okita's overall demeanor -- not to mention his morals -- had caused him to assume that he was some form of military himself. But that was a question that could wait for later. "I have, actually. I've never been a soldier myself, but... a lot of my friends and the people I interact with are or were." There was Van, Anise, Tear, Jade, Asch... The list went on and on, really. Okita would know some of the names, but Guy wasn't going to get into all of that unless he asked.
The food was good, but he wondered if that might change now that Landel had been removed. If the nurses had all been forced to leave, wouldn't that include the cooking staff as well? And who would the soldiers replace them with? It was sad to think that he might not get fish anymore, especially after lunch.
"How about you, Okita?" he asked with a side glance at the other desk. He recalled that his roommate had been slow to respond to the roll call this morning, but that didn't necessarily mean anything, did it?
Thanks to his connections, at least Guy would have an idea of what to expect. If his friends were military, then perhaps he wouldn't have a poor impression of it either. It seemed most people who were not involved in the art of killing for a profession tended to look down upon it and understandably so. Most people simply didn't understand the mentality that took hold in such organizations.
The swordsman noticed that Guy wasn't offering any names, but it wasn't the "who" he was interested in so much as the simple "yes or no" answer. Instead of delving deeper for the moment, Okita nodded his head and took another sip of his water before looking down at his plate. Claude was in the military - his demeanor on the field was enough proof of that. So who else?
Guy was asking him a question though, so he shoved the plate away for now, wrapping his hands around his water cup instead. "I am part of a task force entrusted with protecting the capital from rebel forces and enforcing the law. We both are and aren't part of the military and the police." Which meant they were rather detested by both sides, he realized with a smile to himself. He didn't mind being hated, but he knew the toll it took on the others. Turning the cup in his hands, he looked over to Guy, widening his smile in an effort to keep his thoughts off his face. "But you realized that already, didn't you? Do you mind the military, Guy-san? Or do you think this change will be difficult to adapt to?"
While Guy had heard a number of things about Okita's job back home before, it was good to have it clarified another time. Both military and not; it made some sort of sense. It was sort of like how the God-Generals were usually considered above and beyond the normal Oracle Knights, for instance. It was probably a bit more complicated than that, but it was the closest comparison he could come up with on the spot.
Nodding to Okita, Guy then considered his next set of questions. "It's hard to say if it will be difficult or not. I think it depends on how reasonable they are. I don't have a hard time following orders, but if they step over certain boundaries I might have a problem with it." He wasn't going to be all right with one of those soldiers taking the butt of a gun to one of his friend's faces, for instance. It was one thing to do it when there was a riot and they were trying to make their presence known; it was another to make it a common practice.
"I don't mind it in theory, but I think the military can abuse their power if given a chance. So I'm worried that's what will happen here. I also think there are some patients who won't be comfortable with it at all, so that could cause problems." It was hard to say for certain how things would pan out, but Guy was rather uneasy about the whole thing.
As he listened to Guy's concerns, Okita continued to turn the cup in his hands. It was strange to talk to someone about this sort of thing when he knew they had never experienced it themselves. The life of a military man, one who was bound by his orders regardless of how he felt, was a difficult one. The upper echelon was bound to abuse their power and that sort of thing was merely accepted as part of life. The Aizu clan lord had done much good for the ronin in his care, but he also liked to throw his personal army around to make it seem like he was more involved when the Shinsengumi had done all of the hard work. Serizawa Kamo had let his power go to his head and had ruined the group's reputation with his reckless, violent behavior. The Shogun sat safe in his castle while his forces risked their lives for Emperor and Country. It was just how things were.
"It's not the soldiers you need to worry about," Okita said, still smiling to himself as he recalled all the things he'd done over his life so far. "On a day to day basis, as long as they aren't provoked, they shouldn't be able to harm any of us." Or so Okita hoped. Unless this General Aguilar had given free reign to the soldiers to harm whoever they wanted whenever they wanted, disciplinary measures shouldn't be allowed to be taken except in extreme cases.
"Those who are uncomfortable with it..." Okita trailed off, sipping his water as he decided to swallow that phrase where it stood. He was a man of the sword, a killer through and through, so this new regime did little to upset him, but others were not so unkind. For Okita, knowing that the people he would be facing from here on out were a military body meant he could think of them as a concrete enemy. He'd always felt a little guilty when he killed the nurses, but now that the target was other fighters, he felt like the gloves were off and he could point his blade as Hijikata demanded. "What boundaries are you afraid they might overstep?"
It was true that Okita had a point about the soldiers. They all tended to have very strict orders that they were required to follow, and the food fight had been a special case. On a day-to-day basis, chances were that they were going to merely escort them around and break up fights, the same way the nurses had done. There would probably be more physical force used with less needles being jabbed into arms, but...
Despite that making sense, Guy still had to wonder if it would be more totalitarian than that. If was possible they could be treated worse, allowed to do less, and be punished for things that barely counted as rule-breaking. These soldiers didn't exactly seem reasonable from what had had seen thus far. So, while he wanted to hope that Okita was correct, he wasn't going to rely on that being the case either.
As for Okita's question, that was something that he could respond to more easily. Guy paused in eating his dinner and glanced over at his roommate. "Well, I know a lot of people have trouble with authority. The nurses filled that role to a point, but I think that the soldiers are likely to do a lot more ordering around. I think some people are going to resist that and there might be some butting of heads that could lead to violence or a punishment for all of us." The military liked to make examples of people, but they also liked to hold everyone accountable for one person's mistake. There were a lot of variables about the whole issue that made him uneasy.
Realizing that he was still standing, Guy circled around his desk and took a seat, grabbing his fork so that he could start on his dinner. Even if he was very much distracted by other things, he still had to eat. "Evening," he returned, knocking off the "good" part because he didn't really know if it applied.
Rubbing at the back of his neck, he wondered how he should broach the whole mess with Okita. In a way, this was easier for him to talk about than what he and Claude had been up to the night before. "Well, it looks like things have hit a breaking point now, huh?" was how he started.
It was the sort of thing that was hard to even know how to comment on. He stared down at this food and took another bite. "Knowing what I do about the military, I'm fairly certain this is going to make things worse for us." He'd never been a part of it himself, of course, but he knew his fair share of soldiers. Some were decent enough, but as an entity it was another story.
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Okita moved further into the room and glanced over at his roommate as he took a seat at his desk and began eating. Guy was having a harder time adjusting to this change than Okita was and for the first time, Okita realized he knew very little about Guy's background. He'd never thought to pry more than necessary into the man's personal life since they got along well enough without being too nosy, and Guy had never really provided any reasons for Okita's curiosity to turn deeper than his strange aversion to women and his friendships with people here.
"So it would seem," he responded, taking his own seat and sipping some water to help wash the taste of the medication out of his mouth. "Have you ever had much contact with military people, Guy-san?" If he hadn't, it would certainly explain why he seemed so uneasy. Okita himself was technically part of a private army sort of thing, but he'd also seen the sort of military that the daimyo and shogun put together. Some of them were fairly well trained, but most of them were lousy at their jobs and yet in a high enough position that they couldn't be criticized for it. Okita generally disliked them, but he couldn't do much about it.
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Guy took another bite of his pasta as he thought it all over, having already realized that Okita's overall demeanor -- not to mention his morals -- had caused him to assume that he was some form of military himself. But that was a question that could wait for later. "I have, actually. I've never been a soldier myself, but... a lot of my friends and the people I interact with are or were." There was Van, Anise, Tear, Jade, Asch... The list went on and on, really. Okita would know some of the names, but Guy wasn't going to get into all of that unless he asked.
The food was good, but he wondered if that might change now that Landel had been removed. If the nurses had all been forced to leave, wouldn't that include the cooking staff as well? And who would the soldiers replace them with? It was sad to think that he might not get fish anymore, especially after lunch.
"How about you, Okita?" he asked with a side glance at the other desk. He recalled that his roommate had been slow to respond to the roll call this morning, but that didn't necessarily mean anything, did it?
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The swordsman noticed that Guy wasn't offering any names, but it wasn't the "who" he was interested in so much as the simple "yes or no" answer. Instead of delving deeper for the moment, Okita nodded his head and took another sip of his water before looking down at his plate. Claude was in the military - his demeanor on the field was enough proof of that. So who else?
Guy was asking him a question though, so he shoved the plate away for now, wrapping his hands around his water cup instead. "I am part of a task force entrusted with protecting the capital from rebel forces and enforcing the law. We both are and aren't part of the military and the police." Which meant they were rather detested by both sides, he realized with a smile to himself. He didn't mind being hated, but he knew the toll it took on the others. Turning the cup in his hands, he looked over to Guy, widening his smile in an effort to keep his thoughts off his face. "But you realized that already, didn't you? Do you mind the military, Guy-san? Or do you think this change will be difficult to adapt to?"
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Nodding to Okita, Guy then considered his next set of questions. "It's hard to say if it will be difficult or not. I think it depends on how reasonable they are. I don't have a hard time following orders, but if they step over certain boundaries I might have a problem with it." He wasn't going to be all right with one of those soldiers taking the butt of a gun to one of his friend's faces, for instance. It was one thing to do it when there was a riot and they were trying to make their presence known; it was another to make it a common practice.
"I don't mind it in theory, but I think the military can abuse their power if given a chance. So I'm worried that's what will happen here. I also think there are some patients who won't be comfortable with it at all, so that could cause problems." It was hard to say for certain how things would pan out, but Guy was rather uneasy about the whole thing.
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"It's not the soldiers you need to worry about," Okita said, still smiling to himself as he recalled all the things he'd done over his life so far. "On a day to day basis, as long as they aren't provoked, they shouldn't be able to harm any of us." Or so Okita hoped. Unless this General Aguilar had given free reign to the soldiers to harm whoever they wanted whenever they wanted, disciplinary measures shouldn't be allowed to be taken except in extreme cases.
"Those who are uncomfortable with it..." Okita trailed off, sipping his water as he decided to swallow that phrase where it stood. He was a man of the sword, a killer through and through, so this new regime did little to upset him, but others were not so unkind. For Okita, knowing that the people he would be facing from here on out were a military body meant he could think of them as a concrete enemy. He'd always felt a little guilty when he killed the nurses, but now that the target was other fighters, he felt like the gloves were off and he could point his blade as Hijikata demanded. "What boundaries are you afraid they might overstep?"
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Despite that making sense, Guy still had to wonder if it would be more totalitarian than that. If was possible they could be treated worse, allowed to do less, and be punished for things that barely counted as rule-breaking. These soldiers didn't exactly seem reasonable from what had had seen thus far. So, while he wanted to hope that Okita was correct, he wasn't going to rely on that being the case either.
As for Okita's question, that was something that he could respond to more easily. Guy paused in eating his dinner and glanced over at his roommate. "Well, I know a lot of people have trouble with authority. The nurses filled that role to a point, but I think that the soldiers are likely to do a lot more ordering around. I think some people are going to resist that and there might be some butting of heads that could lead to violence or a punishment for all of us." The military liked to make examples of people, but they also liked to hold everyone accountable for one person's mistake. There were a lot of variables about the whole issue that made him uneasy.
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