[Hijikata smiles a little at that, too. You sure did grow into it. Reiner looks like a literal poster boy for titan war recruitment... and that indirect reminder of there being a whole anti-island-people propaganda machine at work where he's from takes the smile off Hijikata's face again. What a shitshow, seriously.
He lights himself a cigarette, and when Reiner makes that suggestion, he gives him a curious look. His hands on his shoulder seemed to help him earlier when he was using his earth magic, but Hijikata hasn't really correlated the touch energy with his mana meter up until now. He considers the former necessary to stay healthy and not turn to stone, whereas he's been recharging the latter by resting and sleeping (or simply not using any magic for a while). Does prolonged contact make mana recharge faster? He suddenly feels like he should long have checked up on that.]
...
Sure. Whatever works for you.
[He's leaving the choice to Reiner because he feels hapless at figuring out what would be the least awkward thing to offer him. Hand-holding? Standing back to back? He's got nothing! But putting the ball in Reiner's court also shows that he trusts him to not do anything annoying. That's something, right?]
no subject
He lights himself a cigarette, and when Reiner makes that suggestion, he gives him a curious look. His hands on his shoulder seemed to help him earlier when he was using his earth magic, but Hijikata hasn't really correlated the touch energy with his mana meter up until now. He considers the former necessary to stay healthy and not turn to stone, whereas he's been recharging the latter by resting and sleeping (or simply not using any magic for a while). Does prolonged contact make mana recharge faster? He suddenly feels like he should long have checked up on that.]
...
Sure. Whatever works for you.
[He's leaving the choice to Reiner because he feels hapless at figuring out what would be the least awkward thing to offer him. Hand-holding? Standing back to back? He's got nothing! But putting the ball in Reiner's court also shows that he trusts him to not do anything annoying. That's something, right?]