Hc 1) Tengen being a flirtatious asshole is all fake. Every bit of it. While he is quite witty and sometimes rude, he really isnt mean at all. He puts up this defense. He uses his figure, place in power, and the fact hes a 'god' to scare people away from him. His wives for example, he loves them dearly. He would under no circumstances be even slightly mean like he is to everyone else. He'd put himself in harms way for them. But, people he does want to care about, he does the exact opposite. He neglects their safety, their feelings, he makes them think hes a piece of shit. Like with the the main 3. While he was being honest about thinking Zenitsu and Inoske were annoying, he soon remembered why he even brought the 3 to the district. To get people he loved back. But, he was doing that by endangering others. So, he told them to go home. That was Tengen, the god of festivals. Not that persona. The persona, the jack ass who doesn't care brought them there, Tengen wanted them to go home because they could get hurt. He is rude to Kanroji because he really really wants to be friends with her. But, shes a Hashira. She works a dangerous job, if he did, he could lose them at any moment. Rengoku, Tengen tried this with Rengoku but it fell through pretty quick. He could tell, he knew for a fact Tengen wasnt mean.
He once commented on the whole wives thing and when Tengen got defensive over his wives, and not the fact Rengoku was being deliberately degrading twords him, it all slipped. He knew then and there he wasnt self centered and rude. If he was, he wouldn't have taken the jab at himself. Tengen really wants to be a good person, but its hard when he thinks its better to push people away incase he loses them, then ever take the chance and make memories and be happy.
Hc 2) Tengen takes being the god of festivals very very seriously. When he was young, he would do little celebrations for his siblings, mostly his older ones because he wasn't really allowed to be with the younger ones since they were doing different things. Now that hes older, hes supervised many many big festivals especially around where he lives. He always got told no to partys for the Hashira (Rengoku being the exception), but the master and his wife always let him do it for their kids. He also does it for his wives obviously. But not only does he do things for happy events, he also has a bit of a personal thing he does. He has a celebration of life. Something he started out doing for his siblings, but, as time went on, more and more people were added to this little thing of his. When Rengoku was gone, he too became a part of it.
What he does is he writes letters, and he makes a lantern out of them. And every year on the day he left the Shinobi clan he sends it off into the sky by buring it. He refuses to celebrate his own birthday, but he does choose to celebrate the day he truly feels he got a chance at life. And while hes still here, he uses that day to make sure those who have lost theres dont think hes living without them or for them, hes living with them.
