Day 32: Lunch

[damnrudecock]

Sanosuke hadn't quite been ready to part ways from Kenshin, but his nurse was insistent, and she was offering food. That second thing was what really got Sano off the couch and headed to the cafeteria. And at the very least, the thing about Okita had been settled, which meant the fighter could focus on his meal

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[opposingheaven]

"Yeah, I remember what happened," Kenren agreed with a slight grimace. Man, that hadn't been good to see. He wasn't certain how anyone could object so strenuously to defending themselves against creatures that were attacking them, or even taking action against monstrous creatures created by the Institute. It had to be themselves first, otherwise they wouldn't survive. Even if he wasn't going to go out of his way to kill, he still wasn't going to sit back and not work against the Institute. "He won't hear anything from me though. No sense alienating him or pushing him to interfere." It was Kenshin's choice after all. Kenren could appreciate being allowed to choose whether to fight or not.

He raised an eyebrow at the sudden chill in Homura's tone when he spoke. It had been a joke. If he'd wanted to insult someone, he'd have done a damn sight better at it than that. "Relax," he said softly. "It's not an accusation or anything. Just a joke. You put such high stock on free will, I figured you'd have given them all the facts and let them choose, I just find it amusing that they'd still choose to become a god even with all the information." He wasn't trying to slight Homura. Geesh, was everyone uptight today?

"Mmmm, perhaps. I geuss it depends what their objective is. Perhaps they really do just like taking those who are strongest and testing us to destruction. Wouldn't surprise me. It just seems a stupidly complex way of doing things if their goal is anything more practical." Weaker people could become good soldiers and would be more malleable after all. He frowned at the implication though. He couldn't imagine Tenpou ever breaking. He had a temper and all, but he was smart enough to play whatever game he chose and it was damn near impossible to think he would succumb to this place's lies.

[screwthegods]

Kenren's word was good enough for Homura, the demi-god knowing well that the Taisho wasn't one to go about things in an underhanded way. Besides, it would benefit neither of them to reveal that particular goal to Kenshin, at least not until Homura could make sure of certain things. The problem was that at the time, he wasn't entirely able to go about it. Saturday, however, would be a different story, particularly if the same events happened as the week before.

Until then, Homura would have to be patient, and careful.

When Kenren made clear that he was just joking, Homura relaxed the muscles he hadn't even realized he'd tightened. "It was more of a disappointment to me, every time they said yes." The easy way to achieve a dream, but at what cost? The ability to choose, freedom of will was everything to Homura. He couldn't understand why anyone would knowingly give it up, even for something as supposedly grand as immortality. "I misunderstood your intent, but given my life, I'm sure you can imagine how the issue would be a sensitive one for me. I have no desire to be like the gods I despise in the Heavens." And if he ever did, Homura doubted he could live with himself.

"Perhaps so. I could be wrong, of course. I have little doubt that we'll find the motivation in the future." How far away that day was could be a depressing though, but Homura could be patient. So long as he was relatively sure Rinrei was safe, he could take his time here to accomplish what he needed to.

[opposingheaven]

Ah, that was better. Kenren leaned back in his chair when he saw Homura relax, glad to have averted that little argument. At least he knew that it was a touchy subject now. He could avoid any more missteps like that. "I'm not surprised it was a disappointment." Why would you knowingly put immortality and utter boredom over being able to actually live? It sounded so ridiculous to him. He smiled at the other god and shrugged dismissively. "I don't need to play court games here. If I'm going to insult someone, I'll just do it. But I can understand you not liking the implication." There was no point getting irritated at being misunderstood. Maybe he had been playing Court games for too long.

He sighed and nodded his agreement. "Probably. Landel seems like he enjoys gloating and dropping hints so I'm sure he can't keep quiet about what he really wants forever," he said with a touch of wry amusement. It was a little irritating to be held prisoner by someone like that who had left so many gaps that they should have been able to exploit. Although the thought of such a man managing to break Tenpou was hard to swallow and made him really want to break something.