[Darin's reaction surprises Hijikata, but he hears him out and stays quiet for a moment afterwards, letting the new information sink in.]
Thanks for giving me more context on this.
[Honestly, he already suspected something like this from Caster's broadcast. She explicitly told Archer that she'd have her revenge, so it stood to reason that he did something unforgivable to her - Hijikata just didn't know exactly what, so he had no way of gauging if it was also unforgivable by his standards. Archer's confirmation of having killed her Master only left the question of what exactly that man's relationship with Caster had been, and Darin just answered that.]
I don't blame her for wanting Archer's head. It's as you say, we all have something to protect, and if we lose it...
[He trails off.]
I do blame her for involving you. I've got no clue why Archer's been so difficult for her to grasp that she had to lure him out by such drastic means, but it was plain wrong for her to put you through that. I get that she was suffering, but why make you suffer too? You didn't kill her Master.
[Darin is compassionate, though, and Hijikata doesn't want to talk him out of that. Holding a grudge against Caster, after all, wouldn't undo what she did to him.]
If you can forgive her I hope she'll damn well appreciate it, and I'll leave her be if that's what you want. But if she pulls a stunt like that again I'm enlisting you to help me kick her ass.
[In fairness, he has no doubt that Darin would have tried to stop Caster this time around too if he'd been able to, so holding him responsible like this isn't really necessary - but it's the principle of the matter.]
no subject
Thanks for giving me more context on this.
[Honestly, he already suspected something like this from Caster's broadcast. She explicitly told Archer that she'd have her revenge, so it stood to reason that he did something unforgivable to her - Hijikata just didn't know exactly what, so he had no way of gauging if it was also unforgivable by his standards. Archer's confirmation of having killed her Master only left the question of what exactly that man's relationship with Caster had been, and Darin just answered that.]
I don't blame her for wanting Archer's head. It's as you say, we all have something to protect, and if we lose it...
[He trails off.]
I do blame her for involving you. I've got no clue why Archer's been so difficult for her to grasp that she had to lure him out by such drastic means, but it was plain wrong for her to put you through that. I get that she was suffering, but why make you suffer too? You didn't kill her Master.
[Darin is compassionate, though, and Hijikata doesn't want to talk him out of that. Holding a grudge against Caster, after all, wouldn't undo what she did to him.]
If you can forgive her I hope she'll damn well appreciate it, and I'll leave her be if that's what you want. But if she pulls a stunt like that again I'm enlisting you to help me kick her ass.
[In fairness, he has no doubt that Darin would have tried to stop Caster this time around too if he'd been able to, so holding him responsible like this isn't really necessary - but it's the principle of the matter.]