[ She knows better than to actually think it's a line--she knows him! She knows what kind of person he is, and that sort of flirting is definitely not something she believes he could pull off without choking. He had to be sincere about it, which is one of her greatest weaknesses. Just hearing someone express a genuine emotion like that for her--and especially someone she likes already... wild. ]
O--okay, then, uh... I guess I'll just cling to you some more.
[Now the full force of her reaction bowls him over. He was already teetering on the edge of embarrassment, and now she . . . she's like this, that's all! She's always like this. Her sincere reaction to hearing that tugs at his heart just as much as his sincere words had hers.
[ Her fingers curl around his, immediately, clinging tightly--and after a second, she lists to the side a little, just enough so that her shoulder brushes his. She can't really look at him straight on for the moment, but she does peek up at him sidelong, her face pink and obvious even in the dimness of the evening.
The rest of the walk she stays silent, but also close. For the moment, she's not sure what she could say that wouldn't be--some very embarrassing and probably premature confessions, but she wants that contact. As long as he'll allow her to cling, she will. ]
[It's a comfortable silence, at least on Kadoc's part. Not that things aren't tense, but it's a pleasant sort of tension, a buzzing, disbelieving excitement rather than a lingering awkwardness. When he lets go of her hand, a block away from her place, it's only so he can wrap his arm around her instead and press against her side. Some inner part of him panics even at this, that it's too much . . . but he wants to cling, too.]
[ Oh. Ohhhhhh. Ritsuka gasps a little at the weight of his arm, a startled hiccup of noise, and then she leans more into it, her own arm snaking around his back. She feels exactly like a girl on a date, which--she is, isn't she? She's a girl with her boyfriend, walking home after a nice dinner together. This is allowed. It might even be expected.
She puts her head on his shoulder, tilted, until they reach her door, and she has to reluctantly peel away so she can find her key and let them both in. ]
[Strange that her saying that should humble him. But it does; he feels it seep in, the tender weight of being invited into her home. This is her place, and she'd wanted him here. He looks around with more interest than he realized he had, keeping close to her side, hand on her back.]
[ She doesn't know she's echoing those thoughts, but they're true. She'd wanted him here. It feels so lonely and empty here by herself, even if it's a small, cozy place. It's been decorated in warm colors--light cream, sunny teal-green, and dark wood accents. Things are a little cluttered, because Ritsuka is only casual when it comes to housekeeping, and she likes to collect things--souvenirs of her time in this city, mementos of friends and events past.
She leads him to the living room, which is dominated by a very nice plush couch set opposite of a fireplace, then pauses. ]
Um. I could make us something to drink? I've got herbal teas and stuff.
[He glances at the couch. But if she's going to make tea, she's going to be in the kitchen, right? It feels clingy to an outlandish, humiliating degree to want to hang out in the kitchen with her rather than sit alone on the couch, but that's where he's at, apparently.
The sting of that embarrassment is dampened some by a quiet realization: it's not anxiety that's making him want to follow her in there. It so easily could be, and often is: the trivial, stupid social anxiety of feeling awkward an uncertain what to do when he's alone-ish in someone else's house, and the deeper, more painful anxiety of being certain that she has a reason for offering to leave the room. To laugh at him. To text a friend begging for an excuse to throw him out. Hell, to jump out the window—those are all familiar thoughts. But they aren't the ones he's having right now.
No, he literally just wants to bask in the presence of his new! girlfriend! for a while. Wow. Lame, dude.
But a much happier lame than stupid neurosis lame.
[ She glances at him when he comes into the kitchen, but there's just a warm smile on her face. While she'd half-expected him to wait, there's a warm fond feeling that he came after all. It makes the relationship feel more settled--here it is, a small gesture that shows he wants to be around her, that he would actively seek her company out, even when it'd be easy enough for them to have a slightly loud conversation with her in the kitchen and him in the living room.
In fact, when he enters, she beckons to him, holding up a couple of tins like an offering. ]
I've got a chai one and a fruity one. Tell me which one you'd like more.
[ Her voice is soft, and her affection warms it further. Ritsuka might not suffer the same kind of small social anxieties that plague Kadoc, but she also is so, so happy to have these extra small moments with him. He's cute? He's so cute, and as it turns out, she likes him quite a lot. ]
[But he wants to smell them both, since she's offering, so he crosses to her and takes the tins out of her hand. It feels like maybe the most domestic thing he's ever done, somehow. For a night, they're just two young adults who like one another feeling their way around their first time sharing a homey space as a couple. His chest feels as warm as the spices in this chai, which is the one he hands back to her with a nod.]
Yeah, that one smells good. . . . I used to not really be into tea. But I got converted by a fan.
[ She likes him being in her space like this: both in the greater sense of him being in her home, but also so close to her. Ritsuka's personal bubble does still exist, no matter what it may sometimes seem like, and there's something that feels almost subversive to let him this close. Something naughty, for all that this is a completely chaste mundane gesture. It makes her smile warmer, playful, as she turns to put the fruity tea away, getting out the bags and teaspoon to serve them both. ]
. . . I guess you do. Kinda. It's Pepe. He's real big on sipping tea while spilling the tea.
[And that's exactly the kind of thing he says, too. Kadoc misses him sometimes. Moments were Pepe were always among the most welcoming and domestic he ever experienced in Chaldea; it's no wonder he's thinking of them now, feeling welcomed and domestic with Ritsuka, preparing to sit and spend time together over tea.]
That has to have happened after everything I remember.
[He looks over at her, searching and surprised. So Pepe had become Chaldea's ally too? Something about that doesn't surprise Kadoc. It brings up some other emotion in him that he's not sure he can identify yet. Pepe . . . those feelings have always been complicated.]
He didn't stay. In the end, he's loyal to Kirschtaria.
[ And him, specially. Ritsuka doesn't think it's anything about the Foreign God in particular, and it's certainly not to prove anything, the way it had been for Kadoc. His choice had been a personal loyalty. ]
But I did like him. I can see why he'd be fun to gossip with.
[Kadoc nods, leaning on the counter, staring down at the kettle. That's the way Pepe is. All of the Crypters have their own reasons, and Pepe's hadn't been anything so self-centered as Kadoc's. He isn't that type of person.]
. . . He's always wanted to be a big sister to us. Maybe just to me, I dunno. His own words, though. If I was ever struggling and he could tell, he'd pull me aside for tea.
[ There'd been something else there, too. A darker edge, a bitterness that she recognized very well from her Servants. A person like that thrives with a cause to follow, a person they can declare "good" by their own standards, and in Pepe's case, he'd chosen Kirschtaria. Her wistfulness is simply that. ]
Who knows. Maybe your ex-boss and I can come to some kind of agreement, whenever I get to his Lostbelt.
[Kadoc's quiet for a moment, still staring at the kettle, before he lifts a hand to rest lightly on her arm. The truth is . . . ]
He's not exactly my boss, even ex. But I've got no idea what to think is gonna happen anymore. At this rate, nothing would surprise me. Maybe that's because everything's already gotten so out of hand that there's no sane option left.
[Is there any normal, expected, easy way forward for literally anyone involved anymore? No. There's nothing like that in store for any of them.]
[ But she's thoughtful rather than upset, leaning into his touch. A beat later, she even tips her head to let it rest briefly against his shoulder. The angle is bad to hold it for long, but she still likes that little content. ]
I think maybe I'm a little crazy at this point. But I don't plan on giving up. And if it's possible, I'd like to do it without destroying everything in my path.
Yeah. I think you are. . . . But you're still human. That's more than you can say for us mages. A little crazy, but still human.
[He thinks he loves that about her. To think, someone this human is looking to him for comfort. Taking warmth and strength in his presence. He leans his head against hers, wrapping an arm around her and feeling his heart thump heavily in his chest.]
[ Forget the tea. When he leans into her, she just gives up entirely on her prep work for the moment, turning to lean more into him and taking a deep breath. It feels cleansing, in a way: to reach out to someone that she likes, and have that contact accepted and reciprocated. It feels good. ]
For a lot of things. But specifically this, right now.
[Tentatively, he lifts his other arm, wrapping around her for a light hug. It's not that he really wants it to be light. He wants to squeeze her firmly, tell her everything will be okay . . . but there's still a shyness holding him back. Just holding her is enough for this moment. Maybe once he gets his nerve up. Comforting anyone is still so new to him. That's her skill—she can make even a mage like him feel human, too.]
[ Like it's an invitation, as soon as his arm settles around her, Ritsuka turns more into it, letting her body lean more against his. Even a light hug feels good. It helps to ground her further, anchoring her into this moment, with this person, and the whole tangle of emotions that exist between them. She likes this. She likes him, so much. A beat later, she winds her own arms around his waist, equally light, but clingy in its own way. ]
[But this is good. He doesn't have to say the exact words in return, maybe. His tone is light and uncomplaining, and there's no sense of tension or urgency in the way he lets his body fold around hers and just hold on. It's like no touch he's ever had before in his life. It feels like it might be a touch he wasn't ever meant to have, as a mage. There are things Ritsuka understands by now and things she maybe never will, and that's one of the latter.]
. . . Thanks. I dunno if I should thank you for this, but I am anyway.
[ There is a smile in her voice, even if he can't see her face, with the way she has her head on his shoulder. She does still want the tea; she'll get back to preparing it once this is over... but she meant what she'd said. This is important. Sometimes, you just want human connection above anything else. Ritsuka might not understand in the same way Kadoc feels it, but she knows that desire very well.
It's been a long time since she's had it. ]
I'd say you're welcome, but instead, I'll say thank you, too. This is good for me, too.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fujimaru
no subject
Date: 2023-10-13 06:05 am (UTC)[ She knows better than to actually think it's a line--she knows him! She knows what kind of person he is, and that sort of flirting is definitely not something she believes he could pull off without choking. He had to be sincere about it, which is one of her greatest weaknesses. Just hearing someone express a genuine emotion like that for her--and especially someone she likes already... wild. ]
O--okay, then, uh... I guess I'll just cling to you some more.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 05:02 am (UTC)[Now the full force of her reaction bowls him over. He was already teetering on the edge of embarrassment, and now she . . . she's like this, that's all! She's always like this. Her sincere reaction to hearing that tugs at his heart just as much as his sincere words had hers.
He takes her hand and squeezes it.]
no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 05:31 am (UTC)The rest of the walk she stays silent, but also close. For the moment, she's not sure what she could say that wouldn't be--some very embarrassing and probably premature confessions, but she wants that contact. As long as he'll allow her to cling, she will. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 06:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 06:57 am (UTC)She puts her head on his shoulder, tilted, until they reach her door, and she has to reluctantly peel away so she can find her key and let them both in. ]
Um. Welcome to my home.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-31 06:13 am (UTC)[Strange that her saying that should humble him. But it does; he feels it seep in, the tender weight of being invited into her home. This is her place, and she'd wanted him here. He looks around with more interest than he realized he had, keeping close to her side, hand on her back.]
no subject
Date: 2023-10-31 06:26 am (UTC)[ She doesn't know she's echoing those thoughts, but they're true. She'd wanted him here. It feels so lonely and empty here by herself, even if it's a small, cozy place. It's been decorated in warm colors--light cream, sunny teal-green, and dark wood accents. Things are a little cluttered, because Ritsuka is only casual when it comes to housekeeping, and she likes to collect things--souvenirs of her time in this city, mementos of friends and events past.
She leads him to the living room, which is dominated by a very nice plush couch set opposite of a fireplace, then pauses. ]
Um. I could make us something to drink? I've got herbal teas and stuff.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-02 05:40 am (UTC)[He glances at the couch. But if she's going to make tea, she's going to be in the kitchen, right? It feels clingy to an outlandish, humiliating degree to want to hang out in the kitchen with her rather than sit alone on the couch, but that's where he's at, apparently.
The sting of that embarrassment is dampened some by a quiet realization: it's not anxiety that's making him want to follow her in there. It so easily could be, and often is: the trivial, stupid social anxiety of feeling awkward an uncertain what to do when he's alone-ish in someone else's house, and the deeper, more painful anxiety of being certain that she has a reason for offering to leave the room. To laugh at him. To text a friend begging for an excuse to throw him out. Hell, to jump out the window—those are all familiar thoughts. But they aren't the ones he's having right now.
No, he literally just wants to bask in the presence of his new! girlfriend! for a while. Wow. Lame, dude.
But a much happier lame than stupid neurosis lame.
So he heads for the kitchen.]
no subject
Date: 2023-11-02 06:02 am (UTC)In fact, when he enters, she beckons to him, holding up a couple of tins like an offering. ]
I've got a chai one and a fruity one. Tell me which one you'd like more.
[ Her voice is soft, and her affection warms it further. Ritsuka might not suffer the same kind of small social anxieties that plague Kadoc, but she also is so, so happy to have these extra small moments with him. He's cute? He's so cute, and as it turns out, she likes him quite a lot. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-11-03 06:31 am (UTC)[But he wants to smell them both, since she's offering, so he crosses to her and takes the tins out of her hand. It feels like maybe the most domestic thing he's ever done, somehow. For a night, they're just two young adults who like one another feeling their way around their first time sharing a homey space as a couple. His chest feels as warm as the spices in this chai, which is the one he hands back to her with a nod.]
Yeah, that one smells good. . . . I used to not really be into tea. But I got converted by a fan.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-03 06:41 am (UTC)[ She likes him being in her space like this: both in the greater sense of him being in her home, but also so close to her. Ritsuka's personal bubble does still exist, no matter what it may sometimes seem like, and there's something that feels almost subversive to let him this close. Something naughty, for all that this is a completely chaste mundane gesture. It makes her smile warmer, playful, as she turns to put the fruity tea away, getting out the bags and teaspoon to serve them both. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-11-08 07:22 am (UTC)[And that's exactly the kind of thing he says, too. Kadoc misses him sometimes. Moments were Pepe were always among the most welcoming and domestic he ever experienced in Chaldea; it's no wonder he's thinking of them now, feeling welcomed and domestic with Ritsuka, preparing to sit and spend time together over tea.]
no subject
Date: 2023-11-08 07:32 am (UTC)[ She hesitates a moment, then nods, pausing to lean her shoulder against his as she sets the electric kettle to boil. ]
Yeah. He traveled with us for a little bit, in his Lostbelt. I don't know how many details you know about that.
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Date: 2023-11-13 07:44 am (UTC)[He looks over at her, searching and surprised. So Pepe had become Chaldea's ally too? Something about that doesn't surprise Kadoc. It brings up some other emotion in him that he's not sure he can identify yet. Pepe . . . those feelings have always been complicated.]
no subject
Date: 2023-11-13 07:57 am (UTC)[ And him, specially. Ritsuka doesn't think it's anything about the Foreign God in particular, and it's certainly not to prove anything, the way it had been for Kadoc. His choice had been a personal loyalty. ]
But I did like him. I can see why he'd be fun to gossip with.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-15 07:24 am (UTC). . . He's always wanted to be a big sister to us. Maybe just to me, I dunno. His own words, though. If I was ever struggling and he could tell, he'd pull me aside for tea.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-15 07:47 pm (UTC)[ There'd been something else there, too. A darker edge, a bitterness that she recognized very well from her Servants. A person like that thrives with a cause to follow, a person they can declare "good" by their own standards, and in Pepe's case, he'd chosen Kirschtaria. Her wistfulness is simply that. ]
Who knows. Maybe your ex-boss and I can come to some kind of agreement, whenever I get to his Lostbelt.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-20 07:42 am (UTC)He's not exactly my boss, even ex. But I've got no idea what to think is gonna happen anymore. At this rate, nothing would surprise me. Maybe that's because everything's already gotten so out of hand that there's no sane option left.
[Is there any normal, expected, easy way forward for literally anyone involved anymore? No. There's nothing like that in store for any of them.]
no subject
Date: 2023-11-20 07:58 am (UTC)[ But she's thoughtful rather than upset, leaning into his touch. A beat later, she even tips her head to let it rest briefly against his shoulder. The angle is bad to hold it for long, but she still likes that little content. ]
I think maybe I'm a little crazy at this point. But I don't plan on giving up. And if it's possible, I'd like to do it without destroying everything in my path.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-23 07:47 am (UTC)[He thinks he loves that about her. To think, someone this human is looking to him for comfort. Taking warmth and strength in his presence. He leans his head against hers, wrapping an arm around her and feeling his heart thump heavily in his chest.]
no subject
Date: 2023-11-23 08:12 am (UTC)[ Forget the tea. When he leans into her, she just gives up entirely on her prep work for the moment, turning to lean more into him and taking a deep breath. It feels cleansing, in a way: to reach out to someone that she likes, and have that contact accepted and reciprocated. It feels good. ]
For a lot of things. But specifically this, right now.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-29 07:34 am (UTC)[Tentatively, he lifts his other arm, wrapping around her for a light hug. It's not that he really wants it to be light. He wants to squeeze her firmly, tell her everything will be okay . . . but there's still a shyness holding him back. Just holding her is enough for this moment. Maybe once he gets his nerve up. Comforting anyone is still so new to him. That's her skill—she can make even a mage like him feel human, too.]
no subject
Date: 2023-11-29 07:47 am (UTC)[ Like it's an invitation, as soon as his arm settles around her, Ritsuka turns more into it, letting her body lean more against his. Even a light hug feels good. It helps to ground her further, anchoring her into this moment, with this person, and the whole tangle of emotions that exist between them. She likes this. She likes him, so much. A beat later, she winds her own arms around his waist, equally light, but clingy in its own way. ]
This is good.
no subject
Date: 2023-12-08 06:27 am (UTC)[But this is good. He doesn't have to say the exact words in return, maybe. His tone is light and uncomplaining, and there's no sense of tension or urgency in the way he lets his body fold around hers and just hold on. It's like no touch he's ever had before in his life. It feels like it might be a touch he wasn't ever meant to have, as a mage. There are things Ritsuka understands by now and things she maybe never will, and that's one of the latter.]
. . . Thanks. I dunno if I should thank you for this, but I am anyway.
no subject
Date: 2023-12-08 06:42 am (UTC)[ There is a smile in her voice, even if he can't see her face, with the way she has her head on his shoulder. She does still want the tea; she'll get back to preparing it once this is over... but she meant what she'd said. This is important. Sometimes, you just want human connection above anything else. Ritsuka might not understand in the same way Kadoc feels it, but she knows that desire very well.
It's been a long time since she's had it. ]
I'd say you're welcome, but instead, I'll say thank you, too. This is good for me, too.
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