"Isn't it great?" The child all but explodes with happiness (and more than a touch of pride). "Safety first!"
"Indeed." Hakkai runs a careful hand along jeep's (if you can still call it that) side.
"And also, luggage space. Because you're going a long way, and you probably want to bring back souvenirs and stuff. Like, maybe some wooden crocodiles or Toledo swords or demon hula dolls."
Jeep vibrates with what Hakkai can only interpret as confusion. Understandable, seeing as this morning it had featured neither airbags, nor a spacious trunk, nor – "A parking and navigation laser GPS system?"
"It’s the coolest! Like, with lasers. And satellites! And you can also use it to light cigarettes. Theoretically. Because, you know, smoking is bad for you."
Hakkai wonders whether his companions will all have become non-smokers when they join him in front of the inn.
"Adam, was it?"
Adam nods wildly, straw-colored hair flying. "I hope you don't mind. Just, you guys are great, and you're having a hard enough time already, you know?"
"Indeed." The child bears no resemblance whatsoever to Kanzeon Bosatsu, and although that isn’t necessarily conclusive, Hakkai would be surprised to find the Bosatsu in a form as devoid of sexual overtones as this. The aura is also different – instead of being an incandescent, blinding blaze of incomprehensible power, it is simply… missing entirely.
Remarkable.
"I like Goku best," announces the child who is most definitely not a child. "How about you?"
Hakkai fixes the creature with a stern look. "That is a complex and very personal question, young Adam, which you should not be asking on such short acquaintance."
Adam blinks in confusion for a moment, and then grins. "Oh, I get it! Yeah, it was kind of a dumb thing to ask, wasn't it?"
"Not necessarily. However –"
"But I don't get that whole thing. I mean okay, if you're going to bother liking someone in the first place, and whatever but hey, anyway then it's just stupid not to say so, because otherwise what's the point? And I can tell you for sure that Gojyo would –"
"Adam," Hakkai says, coldly and precisely. "I very much hope that when I see my companions again, they will be entirely unchanged, in all respects. Do I make myself clear?"
"That's not what I meant," mutters Adam, a little sulkily. "I wouldn't do that. That would be wrong!"
That's when Gojyo and the others finally do step out of the inn, and when Hakkai turns back to Adam, Adam is gone.
no subject
"Isn't it great?" The child all but explodes with happiness (and more than a touch of pride). "Safety first!"
"Indeed." Hakkai runs a careful hand along jeep's (if you can still call it that) side.
"And also, luggage space. Because you're going a long way, and you probably want to bring back souvenirs and stuff. Like, maybe some wooden crocodiles or Toledo swords or demon hula dolls."
Jeep vibrates with what Hakkai can only interpret as confusion. Understandable, seeing as this morning it had featured neither airbags, nor a spacious trunk, nor – "A parking and navigation laser GPS system?"
"It’s the coolest! Like, with lasers. And satellites! And you can also use it to light cigarettes. Theoretically. Because, you know, smoking is bad for you."
Hakkai wonders whether his companions will all have become non-smokers when they join him in front of the inn.
"Adam, was it?"
Adam nods wildly, straw-colored hair flying. "I hope you don't mind. Just, you guys are great, and you're having a hard enough time already, you know?"
"Indeed." The child bears no resemblance whatsoever to Kanzeon Bosatsu, and although that isn’t necessarily conclusive, Hakkai would be surprised to find the Bosatsu in a form as devoid of sexual overtones as this. The aura is also different – instead of being an incandescent, blinding blaze of incomprehensible power, it is simply… missing entirely.
Remarkable.
"I like Goku best," announces the child who is most definitely not a child. "How about you?"
Hakkai fixes the creature with a stern look. "That is a complex and very personal question, young Adam, which you should not be asking on such short acquaintance."
Adam blinks in confusion for a moment, and then grins. "Oh, I get it! Yeah, it was kind of a dumb thing to ask, wasn't it?"
"Not necessarily. However –"
"But I don't get that whole thing. I mean okay, if you're going to bother liking someone in the first place, and whatever but hey, anyway then it's just stupid not to say so, because otherwise what's the point? And I can tell you for sure that Gojyo would –"
"Adam," Hakkai says, coldly and precisely. "I very much hope that when I see my companions again, they will be entirely unchanged, in all respects. Do I make myself clear?"
"That's not what I meant," mutters Adam, a little sulkily. "I wouldn't do that. That would be wrong!"
That's when Gojyo and the others finally do step out of the inn, and when Hakkai turns back to Adam, Adam is gone.