xavier_institute_logs | [OPEN] A guaranteed personality

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[OPEN] A guaranteed personality

WHO: Souji, anyone who agreed to go shopping with him, and anyone else who wants to tag along.
WHAT: You know in high school movies / chick flicks when there's this awesome empowering shopping montage where everyone is laughing all the time and no one isn't fabulous?
This probably isn't going to be like that, let's be real.
WHERE: New York, I'm guessing. No, they didn't take the jet there, sorry.
WHEN: Saturday, 13/9
WARNING(S): This is a company consisting of a man who used to eat people, a woman with a PhD in Sexual Innuendo, a teacher who still has romantic feelings about someone who is technically a high school student, a high school student suffering from mutation-induced violent tendencies, and a rape survivor with PTSD. So, probably yes. Only Bridget isn't a walking CW/TW in and of himself, but people's reactions to him might warrant it.
Will add more specific things if required.

This will be a collection log of random things, so just throw up a header inside and play things out at leisure <3

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Hijikata follows him into the shop like a tall, dark, bag-toting shadow. He's dressed sharper than ever, in a new suit for the Fall season -- there's a shade of russet in the dark brown of his waistcoat, and while he's without a tie, his seams and folds are flawless, his jacket tailored to perfection -- and it only makes him stand out all the more starkly amongst the late-summer tourists and the greedy-eyed children. Some people, he's aware, are staring. In a different way than some people usually stare at him.

He stays near Souji (in case he's needed, he tells himself), occasionally speaking out in a low voice.

"If you buy one that size, you'll make yourself sick. We haven't had dinner yet, either."

Edited 2014-09-15 03:30 (UTC)

Souji looks up from where he's squatting to study some truly enormous candy canes, and like a mature adult sticks out his tongue at Hijikata. Then he laughs and bounces to his feet, reaching over to yank teasingly at his hair. "I was just looking. They'd be far too impractical to carry around, and they'd probably get sticky and gross before I manage to eat even a tenth of them." See, he knows how to reason in a mature way about this!

But then again, he is definitely going to grab the sleeve of Hijikata's impeccable suit and tow him along, because they're certainly not leaving yet. "You're sounding just like my mother. Or, well, like I imagine a mother sounds like, I suppose." It's said so casually, it's obviously meant as nothing more than an offhand correction, but probably sounds fairly sad nonetheless. "Is it really your job to make sure I don't ruin my appetite before dinner?"

He doesn't really have to grab his sleeve -- it isn't like he's going anywhere. But he follows along obediently enough, making a displeased face that is really just sound and fury, signifying nothing.

"If I don't, you're going to," he points out, with a little roll of his eyes. The little correction doesn't bother him; what do either of them know about having parents?

Souji is by all accounts already picking up exactly how much Hijikata's disgruntled behavior means, at least to judge from the way he rolls his eyes and lets out another little tittering laugh. "I'm not that young, silly - and you're not that old, either. I know everyone always says I act like a kid, but I think I should be allowed to take responsibility for my own candy-induced tummy aches, right?" Not... even going to deny that this is something that might happen, no.

"But I've always wanted to see what candy stores are like in other countries. A lot of things certainly are... bigger here, aren't they?" He picks up a family-sized bag full of jelly beans and makes a show of barely being able to lift it, before unceremoniously letting it drop. Thankfully, it doesn't break. "But I think I'll try some smaller things. The problem is choosing..." His struggle is real.

"It's all just candy, isn't it?"

How difficult could it really be to choose? For that matter, who had bothered coming up with as many varieties as there were here?

Despite his professed bafflement, the whole scenario felt... familiar. Like he'd been there before, because... well, because he had, of course. It tugged faintly at his heart, and he did his best to ignore it, to shut down the feeling of déjà vu.

"Which ones do you usually like?"

He could remember which ones he used to like, but it didn't seem the time to start presuming.

"There's a lot of brands here that I don't really recognize." And some that he does recognize seem to be in rather different flavors, for some reason. It seems a bit impractical to him, but he supposes that people who make candy know what they're doing.

He sends Hijikata a sideways glance, but decides not to point out that he's sure Hijikata could guess. It seems mean to tease him like that, to keep poking at the sore spots all over the other man's heart when he really is just being respectful, trying not to force Souji into any mold of what he thinks he should be. And he is grateful, truly and honestly grateful, and he can't explain why Hijikata being so very careful with him sometimes irks him.

"But, well, I like fruity flavors. And things that are cream or milk flavored. And chocolate, as long as it's not too dark."

Edited 2014-09-16 11:11 (UTC)

The same as before, then -- sweet, sweet, and more sweet. Hijikata looked around, the sharp vigilance in his eyes seeming rather over the top amongst the rows of colorful boxes and bins.

And then, briefly, he broke away from Souji's side to grab a marzipan-filled chocolate bar and a bag of chewy fruit candies, pressing them into his hands as he returned.

"They're American brands. I don't know if you've tried them." He paused. "The chocolate may be European. I don't know. Not Japanese."

He didn't really know what either of them tasted like, but Souji would like them, if his tastes hadn't changed.

"Nooo, I don't think I have." Souji shook his head, making a small delighted noise as he relieved Hijikata of the candies. For all that he imagined that the other man probably would dip his tongue in tar than have to eat an entire bag of really sweet candies, he still knew that he could trust him to be relatively accurate in his guess, couldn't he?

"It is rather practical to have someone who knows you this well." He leaned up and gently prodded Hijikata's cheek with the chocolate bar. "And if you keep making such a sour face, maybe I'll try making you sweeter by eating some of this, so watch out."

The store clerk, meanwhile, clearly feeling that he should help these tourists - must be tourists, right, since they were speaking Japanese - was suddenly hovering next to them. "Can I help you, miss?"

Souji blinked at him, and then turned to Hijikata, still speaking Japenese as if being polite was something that happened to other people. "Do I really look that much like a girl?" he demanded, not really affronted as much as amused, pulling at the rather oversized clothes he was wearing which admittedly didn't give that much of a clue as to his sex.

Hijikata rolled his eyes, and at least managed to make it look like it was more at Souji than at the shop clerk, who he was sure was just trying to be helpful.

"You're not making me eat anything. And what does it matter? You look fine." As long as Souji was happy with his clothes, and they weren't uncomfortable or ugly or something, who besides Souji really had the right to give a damn if he looked like a girl or a boy?

Turning his attention to the clerk, he shook his head a little, his English stunningly American (and a little disconcertingly regionless) as he switched into it. "I don't think we need help finding anything. We're just looking around. Right, Souji?"

"It doesn't really, no. At least not to me. There are a lot of other people who would think it does, I suppose, but I've never really understood why."

He turned with a wide smile to the by now baffled and slightly embarrassed clerk, exaggerating his own Japanese accent something truly ridiculous as he spoke. "My fiance speaks very well English, yes? No worry, we finding everything we want."

It probably wasn't a very nice thing to do, but thankfully the clerk seemed to take the situation at face value and only repeated an offer to help before retreating behind the counter. Souji, meanwhile, was hiding his face behind the bag of candy in an attempt to look as if he wasn't laughing so hard he could barely breathe. It was about as effective as one could imagine.

He waited until the clerk had retreated to turn to Souji, raising an eyebrow as he watched his absurdly obvious little laughing fit.

"Your fiance?"

He was going to have to wait a while longer for an answer, because Souji was still far too busy laughing himself silly to reply just yet. But once he manages to get himself under control a bit, he treats Hijikata to a winning smile, shifting the candy into one hand and winding his free arm around one of his.

"Well, I assumed that's one of the reasons he thought I was a girl. People often think I act like I'm flirting, and most people don't really tend to assume that you're two men if you seem intimate to them - especially if one looks rather girly." And the fact that saying this to a teacher might be rather inappropriate escapes him completely, apparently. "I'm used to people assuming I'm someone's girlfriend."

Something about that does strike him rather uncomfortably, and he tries to keep his expression impassive. What he feels, though, is... is protective.

"Are you?"

He knows they aren't real, the men Souji alludes so flippantly to, but the thought of Souji being so desensitized to being treated like someone's damn eye candy makes his blood boil a little.

Hijikata seems to be tensing up, apparently bothered by what Souji had said, which was strange considering... well, he doesn't think that Souji's memories are real, does he? So it's hard to see why it should matter so much to him.

"Well, a lot of the men I kept company used to dress me up too, and often in girl clothes. You know, the sort of thing you'd expect a high-end hostess to wear?"

And if it bothers Hijikata, why is Souji telling him? He tightens his grip on the older man's arm a bit, gazing up at him more solemnly now. "But you don't think this ever happened. So it doesn't matter, does it? It's just thoughts in my head."

He shakes his head, teeth gritting briefly, glancing around for actual Japanese tourists before he answers, voice low and sharp.

"You aren't someone's damn accessory. I don't much your head making you think it's all right to treat you that way, either."

Souji tilted his head to the side, watching Hijikata intently as if trying to figure him out. It wasn't that he lacked insight as such, but people in general still tended to confuse Souji; Hijikata, however, was different. There was something about him which just came naturally for Souji to understand, and he tried not to think too hard about the reason for that.

"You almost wish that those people really were real, just so you could get back at them for treating me like that, don't you? It bothers you because it's just in my head, and that means you can't protect me, is that it?"

As always, Souji cuts to the heart of the matter, like his defenses are nothing. He straightens up, shooting Souji a cold look to warn him off of this line of discussion.

"It wouldn't be acceptable either way." Not on Souji's part, on the world's.

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[OPEN] A guaranteed personality

B, for maximum canon parallel!

For maximum sweetness B|

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