![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
empty nest
"Do you think we should have left him there?" Lucrecia asks, hands fluttering nervously in her lap.
"What else were we supposed to do with him?" Hojo says, shortly, fighting back the urge to reach over and smack her on the wrists. "Stop doing that, you know it drives me crazy when you can't sit still."
Her hands stop, for about three seconds. They start moving again the same moment she starts talking. Hojo sighs. His wife is highly intelligent, wonderfully devious and undeniably beautiful, but her tendency to chatter when emotional makes him twitchy. He almost strangled her numerous times when she was pregnant with their son.
Their son, who is in college. The thought still sets his teeth on edge, but not because he's worried Sephiroth won't be able to handle his new environment, or whatever the hell Lucrecia is jabbering about. He's more annoyed his son wants to have anything to do with academia. Hasn't he told the boy his whole life that collegiate science departments are nothing but breeding grounds for the enemy? Simpletons with a piece of paper who think they have the right to legislate science, of all things....!
"Darling, you're driving too fast," Lucrecia points out. "You're also in the oncoming traffic lane."
"I just don't understand why he wants to go there at all," Hojo mutters, angrily jerking the car back to the right lane (why do they even have lanes? Can't people just drive where they need to, in order to get wherever they are going? Simpletons! The world is controlled by simpletons!) and slowing down a bit. "I've told him why academia is poison to a fertile mind! I've told him! You know I have, Lucrecia!"
"I know." She pats his knee gently. "You told him that when I was pregnant, remember?"
"I can't possibly remember every single thing I told Sephiroth while in utero," Hojo informs her. "And clearly, he didn't listen to me. He must get that from you."
Lucrecia's smile turns sharp. "If I listened to you all the time, darling, you would have killed me and buried my body when I was your research assistant."
"Of all the idiotic things to say, woman! As if I would have done something so foolish as bury organic evidence. You know what I always say --"
"If you can bury it, you can burn it," Lucrecia sing-songs.
"I told him that in utero, too," Hojo mutters. "Let's hope he remembers that, at least."
"He's a good boy," Lucrecia says, nodding. She sniffs.
Hojo ignores her. Crying makes no sense to him, unless it's to eject a foreign object from one's eye. Also, Lucrecia tends to keep crying if he acts like he notices. Hojo narrows his eyes and passes a driver who is going way too slow. Idiots! His wife is crying, she needs to be at home where she can do it by herself!
"He's not stupid," Hojo agrees. He never wanted to have children, not really, both he and Lucrecia were somewhat surprised when she turned up pregnant. They'd decided to keep the baby, as the lure of seeing what their combined genetics would create was too great for them to resist. They'd discussed several possibilities of what to do with the offspring when it arrived, but nurturing it until adulthood had been briefly mentioned and quickly discarded.
How strange that's exactly what happened.
"Do you think --"
"Lucrecia, finish your sentences, you know that drives me insane."
"Well, darling, not to belabor the point but you didn't have all that much farther to go." She winks at him, her eyes still glistening with tears.
Occasionally Lucrecia gives him whiplash. He scowls at her and flies through a red light, ignoring the outraged protests of the other drivers. It isn't his fault they are all mindless sheep who obey flashing color signals instead of their own priorities!
"It doesn't make it any less irritating," he informs her. "Now be quiet and have your emotions in silence, would you?"
Lucrecia starts pulling at her hair. "What if his roommate is a problem? What if he distracts Sephiroth, or hinders his learning in some way?"
"I don't know what kind of learning you think he's going to be doing, wife," Hojo growls at her. "At a place like that! College. College! And here I thought we'd decided not to conduct horrible experiments on our own progeny."
"We did, but we also agreed if our progeny wanted to conduct his own horrible experiments, we'd allow it."
"Yes, but I didn't think he'd do them on himself. Just other people!" That mollifies him somewhat, though, to think of his son approaching this as a scientific study. "And if the roommate is a problem, you know what we'll do. It's the same thing we always do when someone is a problem. Like your thesis advisor, or that last cleaning woman who somehow ended up in the basement and had delusions about blackmailing us."
Lucrecia smiles slowly. "And to think how loudly she screamed, just seeing what was in the tanks."
Hojo beams over at her. "That's my girl. See, as I've always told you, the key to controlling your mind and not allowing emotions to overcome you is to concentrate on more important things, like work."
"And to incinerate whatever gets in your way."
"Well, yes, as long as it happens to be organic material -- don't you remember when we had to have the last one completely rebuilt?"
"Oh, it was just a few license plates, Hojo. You know how you sometimes forget the practicalities when you're caught up in one of your experiments." She smiles at him with fondness and something a little bit evil.
"I can't help it I think on a higher plane than most people, Lucrecia."
She slides her hand up his thigh. "No, I suppose you can't." She moves closer, nails digging in a bit through the material of his slacks. "That's why you keep me around, Professor."
Hojo's eyebrows raise. "So you're in the mood for that, are you?"
"Well, we do have the house to ourselves," she says, settling back on her side of the car. At his look, she giggles -- the same charming little laugh she's had since he met her, when he thought she was nothing but a brainless dolt without a single immoral or depraved thought in her pretty little head -- and says, "Oh, they don't count, darling, it's not like they can hear us all the way in the basement. Unless you want them to? Either way, it's not like they're going anywhere."
Hojo's never been wrong in his life, but he's willing to admit he miscalculated just a bit when he first met his wife. He drives a little faster, still feeling the sting of her nails. She's twinning her hair around her fingers again, looking misty-eyed as if she's back to being concerned about their son again.
He's looking forward to their promised evening of depraved sex and highly immoral and unethical science. He supposes he can let her have a few minutes to act like a mother. It's not like she can help the hormones that come along with motherhood, after all.
They already tried that, and it didn't work.
"Don't be so worried about the boy, Lucrecia. He's our son, remember? If he can't find a logical way to deal with something that is bothering him, he can summon a demon to eat the souls of his tormentors. Or he can burn the place to the ground in his fury, and know he will always have a home to go to. Imagine how many children don't have those advantages!"
"I know," she says, wiping her eyes. "I do. You're right, of course."
Hojo smiles. If there are words he likes to hear as much as those, he hasn't found them yet. "Of course I am, don't be stupid." He pats her awkwardly on the shoulder. Unlike everyone else, she finds his touch reassuring and doesn't flinch. Or scream. Or tell him get away from me, you sick fuck!
"This weekend, we can go get some Wutainese from that place you like," he offers, twining his own fingers in her soft hair. He tugs it, hard, and smiles at her.
"That would be nice, honey, thank you," she says, leaning towards him. She rests her head on his shoulder. "We should have plenty of room for them by then."
"I know," Hojo says, and pats her on the top of the head.
"What else were we supposed to do with him?" Hojo says, shortly, fighting back the urge to reach over and smack her on the wrists. "Stop doing that, you know it drives me crazy when you can't sit still."
Her hands stop, for about three seconds. They start moving again the same moment she starts talking. Hojo sighs. His wife is highly intelligent, wonderfully devious and undeniably beautiful, but her tendency to chatter when emotional makes him twitchy. He almost strangled her numerous times when she was pregnant with their son.
Their son, who is in college. The thought still sets his teeth on edge, but not because he's worried Sephiroth won't be able to handle his new environment, or whatever the hell Lucrecia is jabbering about. He's more annoyed his son wants to have anything to do with academia. Hasn't he told the boy his whole life that collegiate science departments are nothing but breeding grounds for the enemy? Simpletons with a piece of paper who think they have the right to legislate science, of all things....!
"Darling, you're driving too fast," Lucrecia points out. "You're also in the oncoming traffic lane."
"I just don't understand why he wants to go there at all," Hojo mutters, angrily jerking the car back to the right lane (why do they even have lanes? Can't people just drive where they need to, in order to get wherever they are going? Simpletons! The world is controlled by simpletons!) and slowing down a bit. "I've told him why academia is poison to a fertile mind! I've told him! You know I have, Lucrecia!"
"I know." She pats his knee gently. "You told him that when I was pregnant, remember?"
"I can't possibly remember every single thing I told Sephiroth while in utero," Hojo informs her. "And clearly, he didn't listen to me. He must get that from you."
Lucrecia's smile turns sharp. "If I listened to you all the time, darling, you would have killed me and buried my body when I was your research assistant."
"Of all the idiotic things to say, woman! As if I would have done something so foolish as bury organic evidence. You know what I always say --"
"If you can bury it, you can burn it," Lucrecia sing-songs.
"I told him that in utero, too," Hojo mutters. "Let's hope he remembers that, at least."
"He's a good boy," Lucrecia says, nodding. She sniffs.
Hojo ignores her. Crying makes no sense to him, unless it's to eject a foreign object from one's eye. Also, Lucrecia tends to keep crying if he acts like he notices. Hojo narrows his eyes and passes a driver who is going way too slow. Idiots! His wife is crying, she needs to be at home where she can do it by herself!
"He's not stupid," Hojo agrees. He never wanted to have children, not really, both he and Lucrecia were somewhat surprised when she turned up pregnant. They'd decided to keep the baby, as the lure of seeing what their combined genetics would create was too great for them to resist. They'd discussed several possibilities of what to do with the offspring when it arrived, but nurturing it until adulthood had been briefly mentioned and quickly discarded.
How strange that's exactly what happened.
"Do you think --"
"Lucrecia, finish your sentences, you know that drives me insane."
"Well, darling, not to belabor the point but you didn't have all that much farther to go." She winks at him, her eyes still glistening with tears.
Occasionally Lucrecia gives him whiplash. He scowls at her and flies through a red light, ignoring the outraged protests of the other drivers. It isn't his fault they are all mindless sheep who obey flashing color signals instead of their own priorities!
"It doesn't make it any less irritating," he informs her. "Now be quiet and have your emotions in silence, would you?"
Lucrecia starts pulling at her hair. "What if his roommate is a problem? What if he distracts Sephiroth, or hinders his learning in some way?"
"I don't know what kind of learning you think he's going to be doing, wife," Hojo growls at her. "At a place like that! College. College! And here I thought we'd decided not to conduct horrible experiments on our own progeny."
"We did, but we also agreed if our progeny wanted to conduct his own horrible experiments, we'd allow it."
"Yes, but I didn't think he'd do them on himself. Just other people!" That mollifies him somewhat, though, to think of his son approaching this as a scientific study. "And if the roommate is a problem, you know what we'll do. It's the same thing we always do when someone is a problem. Like your thesis advisor, or that last cleaning woman who somehow ended up in the basement and had delusions about blackmailing us."
Lucrecia smiles slowly. "And to think how loudly she screamed, just seeing what was in the tanks."
Hojo beams over at her. "That's my girl. See, as I've always told you, the key to controlling your mind and not allowing emotions to overcome you is to concentrate on more important things, like work."
"And to incinerate whatever gets in your way."
"Well, yes, as long as it happens to be organic material -- don't you remember when we had to have the last one completely rebuilt?"
"Oh, it was just a few license plates, Hojo. You know how you sometimes forget the practicalities when you're caught up in one of your experiments." She smiles at him with fondness and something a little bit evil.
"I can't help it I think on a higher plane than most people, Lucrecia."
She slides her hand up his thigh. "No, I suppose you can't." She moves closer, nails digging in a bit through the material of his slacks. "That's why you keep me around, Professor."
Hojo's eyebrows raise. "So you're in the mood for that, are you?"
"Well, we do have the house to ourselves," she says, settling back on her side of the car. At his look, she giggles -- the same charming little laugh she's had since he met her, when he thought she was nothing but a brainless dolt without a single immoral or depraved thought in her pretty little head -- and says, "Oh, they don't count, darling, it's not like they can hear us all the way in the basement. Unless you want them to? Either way, it's not like they're going anywhere."
Hojo's never been wrong in his life, but he's willing to admit he miscalculated just a bit when he first met his wife. He drives a little faster, still feeling the sting of her nails. She's twinning her hair around her fingers again, looking misty-eyed as if she's back to being concerned about their son again.
He's looking forward to their promised evening of depraved sex and highly immoral and unethical science. He supposes he can let her have a few minutes to act like a mother. It's not like she can help the hormones that come along with motherhood, after all.
They already tried that, and it didn't work.
"Don't be so worried about the boy, Lucrecia. He's our son, remember? If he can't find a logical way to deal with something that is bothering him, he can summon a demon to eat the souls of his tormentors. Or he can burn the place to the ground in his fury, and know he will always have a home to go to. Imagine how many children don't have those advantages!"
"I know," she says, wiping her eyes. "I do. You're right, of course."
Hojo smiles. If there are words he likes to hear as much as those, he hasn't found them yet. "Of course I am, don't be stupid." He pats her awkwardly on the shoulder. Unlike everyone else, she finds his touch reassuring and doesn't flinch. Or scream. Or tell him get away from me, you sick fuck!
"This weekend, we can go get some Wutainese from that place you like," he offers, twining his own fingers in her soft hair. He tugs it, hard, and smiles at her.
"That would be nice, honey, thank you," she says, leaning towards him. She rests her head on his shoulder. "We should have plenty of room for them by then."
"I know," Hojo says, and pats her on the top of the head.