What are you doing? Why are you doing it?

[fujimaru]

But let's be real, when have any of us actually known that?

IN GENERAL: 1. Spoiler-experienced through the end of Part One 2. Spoiler-aware through current 3. Spoiler osmosis, ish, for events in all other fates 4. OTA Seriously I don't care if they've actually showed up in a fate property or if they're an AU of someone who has, cross-canon, OC, whatever; OTA is Open To All 5. Including for shipping because I'm easy and so is Ritsuka* * Not like, EASY EASY easy, but you know, easy. M/F, F/F, handholding or smut, however things go! 6. Flexible for commentspam and/or longer comments. 7. Hello friends please play with me (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ If you'd rather I write a starter just lmk!

Comments

[gudano]

[Just wandering through all of the threads/posts/Chaldea/etc. aka just invading your life because I have that power.]

There's still hope here!

[fujimaru]

[ OH SHIT IT'S YOU,

She makes a face that's a grimace masquerading as a smile. It's the way you smile at a relative you can't really be rude to but also, how the hell do you play along? ]

For someone like you to say something like that... oh boy, now I'm worried.

[narangerel]

[I am a 5'10 birdlady and what's this????

it's weird. she clearly can't be a normal person, but do you remember summoning a servant like this? And there's a weird mark on her hand...are those command seals? What's goin' on.]

...?!

[Also she literally made a bird peep.]

[fujimaru]

[ Maybe she was trying to summon that other bird and the signals crossed somewhere along the way. Frankly speaking, Ritsuka has given up on pretending she understands in the slightest how the summoning circle really works, and what brings one Servant or another to her. And a birdlady isn't any weirder than some of what she's encountered...

...holy shit, though, the bird peeping is cute.

Phew, okay. Stay calm, Ritsuka. You've done this so many times before, you're a pro at this. She raises a hand in greeting. ]

--Yo.

[ That sounded cooler in her own head but oh well. This is where they're at, now. ]

Uh. Welcome to Chaldea.

[kingshot]

[ Probably like. Prior to Solomon? Somewhat before? Or after? I will leave that up to you. We can play this by ear, but regardless of when it is in time, he's bumping into her in the hall, all smiles as per usual. ]

Yo, Master. Do you have a moment?

[fujimaru]

--Geh.

[ Let's just say this is some wobbly time after Solomon, because she might have some Words for him, but at least they won't all come out right away.

And that doesn't make her automatic reaction to him any less what it is. At least she manages to contain it to that one brief mutter before she smiles back. There's always at least a chance that it's something important. ]

I mean, I do, yeah. What's up?

[hunkofburninlove]

[hark, the beautiful sunrise. the soft, puffy clouds of daybreak, tinged with pinks and golds and all manner of earthly beauty. the smell of sweet grass. the blood curdling danger filling the air]

M ♥ a ♥ s ♥ t ♥ e ♥ r ♥

[fujimaru]

...

[ Pretend you don't see her, pretend you don't see her, pretend you don't see her, for the love of any gods that might still be around to hear, pretend you don't see her.

Ritsuka stares straight ahead of herself for a couple of seconds, her face schooled in a completely blank expression. ]

Ah. I forgot something in my room.

[ And then she pivots very neatly on her heel and marches out.

Not running, though, because she knows very well how that part of Kiyohime's legend goes, thank you VERY much. ]

[gorgonize]

[ a giant monster was about to head into gudako's room for a little privacy and time to decompress from being so avenger-y and angry all the time, but ah...

her sisters are in there.

just gonna.


back away quickly.

and not watch where she's going. ]

[fujimaru]

[ The thing about Stheno in particular is that she might not be Thirsty For Master like some of the others are, but they also don't actually give a shit if she's in her room or not. At least Stheno hasn't tried to send her on another wild goose chase or other in a while, but who knows if and when she'll decide to again.

And Euryale is usually along for the ride or else there to egg her sister-self on.

Which is to say, unfortunately Gorgon is Large and Ritsuka, just like everything about her, is Completely Average in height and build, which means that in a rush, it's not actually that hard to knock her over completely. ]

--Ggggggowah?!

[ Maybe that was going to be Gorgon's name. Maybe it's just the startled yelp of a mouse being crushed. Either way, oops. ]

[udonist]

[So usually when a new Servant emerges from the summoning circle, they materialize standing in place. Musashi, on the other hand, springs from the swirl of rainbow sparks in a dramatic leap, goes right into an awesome forward roll, and comes up from that with an elated fist-pump.]

Yes! Got away clean! Yeesh, I hope shopkeepers are more into bartering in this world . . .

[fujimaru]

--?!

[ Yeah, there's a system to the system, which by now, Ritsuka is mostly accustomed to by now.

So it's really only sheer lucky chance that she manages to scramble out of the way, tripping over her feet until she hits the wall, wide-eyed. Whoa, whoa, what, wait, huh?! That voice-- ]

Y--you?!

[appetiteking]

[It's just a standard morning in the cafeteria of Chaldea and here comes a small king carrying a tray of food with a... well, considerably larger than "standard" serving of everything.

This is normal.]

Master, good morning. May I accompany you for breakfast?

[fujimaru]

Good morning!

[ I mean, once upon a time that was probably intimidating. But at this point, she's at least gotten used to the various eating habits of the Servants. If anything, it'd be more weird to see any Arturia without anything less than supersized servings. ]

I don't mind at all. In fact, please do.

[ Please, save her before a Kiyohime or someone like her swoops in, ]

[onelastknight]

[ honestly you can sort of make a decent guess that any iteration of any Pendragon is going to be in the cafeteria.

this one is cooking, though. unique. charm point. ]

Ah, Master, good afternoon. Are you hungry?

[fujimaru]

Your Majesty?

[ IF THERE'S FOOD, AT LEAST ONE PENDRAGON WILL BE THERE. It's one of those unwritten rules that she has learned, etched in her mind, along with things like "don't run when confronted with Kiyohime, walk slowly," or, "it's fine to have earplugs around Ozymandias because he'll talk loud enough to be heard through them," or "Emiya stress-cooks so he's suggestible during those times."

It's probably the first time she's encountered one doing the cooking, though. ]

Uh, yeah, I could stand to have lunch... what're you making?

[idleidol]

[Remember how the gorgons were hanging out in Ritsuka's room? Yeah, eventually she's probably going to head back to her room, only to find that her bed is occupied right now. At least it's only one of them. She looks downright angelic as she sleeps, for anyone who doesn't know better.

Too bad Ritsuka knows better.]

[fujimaru]

[ SHE SURE DOES, and she has learned to prepare for such contingencies. She'd initially developed this strategy to deal with the contingent who like to sneak into her bed when she's also in it, but it works well enough when she's not.

Which is to say, she has a replica of a replica of the Gae Bolg (thanks, Scathach, it's probably one of the most useful useless Christmas presents she's ever received), which she can use to prod an intruder. If necessary, it's also been useful in completely dislodging a person.

And also, since Stheno is an Assassin, Ritsuka doesn't have to worry about being as gentle as she might have to be with Euryale. ]

Hey. What do you think you're doing.

[summerheat]

[ So you know how you just ran into Kiyohime and that was really fun and exciting?

For some reason, next time you go into your room, you'll find a suspiciously snake-shaped lump beneath the covers of the bed.

It's giggling in a 100% safe way. ]

[fujimaru]

[ I've had it up to here with these *#(&#) snakes in my *#(%@)*(# bed.

...is not what she says aloud, just barely, though she takes a moment in the doorway to rub her face and sigh deeply. At this point, this is starting to become part of the nightly routine in Chaldea, it's just a matter of who, and how safe it is to try and physically extricate them.

Hmm. What's the safest way to do this... after a moment's thought, she puts a hand on her stomach and lets out a louder, more exaggerated sigh. ]

Ah, you know, I'm actually still hungry... I wonder if anyone would be willing to make a snack for me...

[dressoteric]

Master, take these. The rewards from our last battle.

[Hello Ritsuka HAVE SOME HOMUNCULUS BABIES. They're probably moving in their glass bottles. And it looks like getting them was no cakewalk; d'Eon sports a bruise and a scrape on one cheek, their upper arm and right hand have been bandaged, and their clothes are flecked with blood, grime, and even some grass.]

I only apologize that we couldn't obtain them sooner.

[STUPID DROP RATES!!!]

[fujimaru]

Thanks, D'eon, you're a lifesav--

[ Drop rates are bad civilization and there are so many mouths to feed. Ritsuka isn't actually sure what Da Vinci does to make these items work, or how it's decided who needs what -- it's always felt safer to never ask -- but she is rather painfully aware of how meager the pickings can be.

So the first thing she does is take the babies, and then looks up and... ]

---?!

[ ...drops them. ]

Hey, should you even be walking around?! It's okay to rest before you come find me!

[57m]

[ College is a weird time where your hours makes no sense, be it from cramming exams, social events with other college students or just being working at a miserable 3 AM shift at the convenient store near your flat; your sense of time is plain incomprehensible. He's pretty sure the amount of times he goes to bed at 6 AM and wake up at 10 AM is making him dream while being awake.

Which is exactly what Brown thinks when one night he saw one of his store's regulars getting involved in something weird at some ungodly hour after he's going home to some wild party. There's no way he saw tiny Fujimaru Ritsuka getting involved with weirdos and magic right?

He's curious enough that he has to ask her the next time she visits the convenient store on a slow day. ]

Fu~ji~ma~ru~san! How's your weekend?

[fujimaru]

Huh? Uh...

[ For such a small girl, she shops a lot and buys a lot. How does one person go through that much junk food in a week? Not just the crates of packaged ramen, but the chips, the candies, the soft drinks... given the amount she buys, she looks pretty healthy.

(Occasionally she's accompanied by others, anywhere from one to three at a time, but none of them look like the sort to overdo it on junk food either.) ]

Kinda boring, I guess. It was sort of nice to have an actual break for once.

[donestar]

Ah, Master! Do we need to get more embers today?

[ pretty easy going as he asks that even though he knows. he Knows what's going to happen ]

[fujimaru]

[ He has to know. Of course he knows. If only that chill were contagious, because Ritsuka looks more like she's just been fried, perhaps a little literally.

(Someday she'll learn to pay attention when Tesla and Edison start arguing, but today is not that day.)

So when he asks that, she lifts her hands and puts them on his arms, clutching like she's doing it for dear life. ]

We always need more embers.

lmk if that's ok...!

[earphoned]

[ Ever since Minato heard that Ritsuka can summon Heroic Spirits, it's been on his mind more often than not. Is she a Persona user? Heroic Spirit sounds really ambiguous, but Persona isn't any better actually. Well, it should hurt to ask what's the whole deal with this summoning ritual, so he does just that: ]

Hey, I've been wondering about what you said earlier. You know, about summoning...how do you do it, anyway?

[ A summon ticket? Solo yolo time? Or maybe a 10 pull? ]

[fujimaru]

That's...

[ Oh boy. She's gotten lectures and lessons both from various people at this point -- Roman, Da Vinci, even Mash on occasion, and she's slightly embarrassed to admit that she doesn't actually know how it works. There's no gacha in "real life."

For now she tries to play it casual, just shrugging. ]

Magic, mostly.

[ I mean. That's not UNtrue, at least. ]

[bellfry]

[It was a day like any other, which for Chaldea could mean anything but let's say it's downtime now. But with that being said... one could not shake the idea that something was wrong. That something different and strange was about to happen and-

Oh. Kiyohime just rushed through the door.]

Master, I need your hair!

[what]

[fujimaru]

[ What does Ritsuka do on her days off? Probably a whole lot of nothing, when she can get away with it. Maybe sometimes she gets dragged to do training simulations, maybe she's off having an interlude with someone--

--and you know, sometimes she's reading something on her tablet while eating snacks. So when Kiyohime bursts in, she jumps and drops the thing straight on her face. Ow.

The noise she makes is something along the lines of HRTTHF?? before she moves it. ]

K--Kiyohime...??