[ She makes a face back automatically. It's an instinctive little-kid sort of gesture, the desire to give as good as she gets. When it passes, though, she leans back in her own chair, cocking her head.
Does anyone think that? The problem is she's almost never the topic at hand, at least to her own face. There'd been the conversation Mash had overheard, with the staff falsifying her records before the Mage's Association could get their hands on them, but other than that... usually, when she does talk about herself, it's all the small things. Hobbies she had before the end of the world, her time with the volleyball club, favorite foods, books and TV dramas and movies that she'd enjoyed... all those little things. It's nothing to compare to the weight of the Master, or a savior, or anything like that.
If he's looking at her face at all, he'll be able to clearly see the confusion as she mulls through the question. Her voice comes slowly, not quite uncertain, but hesitant. ]
I... don't know? I guess if anyone does, it would be Mash...
[ They're a few years off from a Saito Hajime in Chaldea, telling her in all seriousness that all she needs to do is say the word, and he'd take her and run from all these responsibilities, from everything the world has demanded of her. Right now, Ritsuka still hasn't had much time to process the weight of everything that's happened, but pulls off casual confidence enough that this might very well be the first time she's had this sort of conversation at all.
Huh. ]
Or, I guess, if anyone does, they haven't said anything to me. I've always felt like they care about me, and not, uh, the role that I may have played in anything.
You keep saying things like that when they're not mutually exclusive. It makes it sound like I'm insulting you when I'm not. . . . Trust me, when I am, you'll know. I'm not gonna be subtle about it.
[He's bolder with her than anyone else in that way, though he's not unable to muster some snark even in the faces of people who intimidate him under the right circumstances. But Fujimaru doesn't. If anything, Kadoc would say that he serves as proof that someone can give her credit for her singular role in saving humanity without being cowed by her, or reducing her image to nothing but that of a great hero.
Of course he's watching her face. Now, of all times, he has no trouble making eye contact.]
People can give a shit about you as a person and still acknowledge your role. Or so I hear, anyway.
[ She remembers the lashing out in Russia. She remembers how the insults had felt--things that had both hit home and felt weirdly off, like they weren't really meant for her, even as he was flinging them into her face. Coupled with his earlier self-disparaging comment, she's not so sure she would know for sure.
But right now, Ritsuka meets his gaze evenly, without faltering herself. Even if she's still a little confused, it's the sort of thing she can put aside for the moment. ]
I can only know for sure what people think about me when they say it honestly to my face. I'm sure you're right... but it's just not something that's ever come up.
[Okay, she's got a point. He snorts lightly at the question, and while he doesn't answer it, the little shrug and the sheepish look on his face may indicate that, sure, she might not actually notice after all. Not the point!!!
Either way. He does want to make his second point, but he too doesn't actually want this to be a fight, so his tone is a smidge more gentle when he goes on:]
I just know how people think. The other thing you've gotta keep in mind is that no matter how humble you are about it, you can apply the exact same logic to anyone else it might've been in your position. Everyone out there's got some advantage they'd have happily used to do what needed to be done. No one out there does anything alone with nothing at all to their name. Not even me. . . . I used to think that was my position, but I can easily admit I've got my own set of advantages over you when it comes to being a Master. And I'd have used every one of them I could. Would you refuse to give me credit in your position? Or Wodime—he was born with every advantage imaginable.
[ She's only ever seen Kirschtaria Wodime in photos. There's no way to get an idea of what the guy's presence is like from a single solemn ID image, but she could at least see that his hair was fabulous. Even when paired to his voice, she can't really conceptualize of what he's like as a person. Kadoc trying to emphasize the point doesn't really hit home in that sense--she's always been a better learner by doing, rather than listening to lectures.
Is this what it would have been like, to have Team A as they were, and not rebranded to being the Crypters? Would he be lecturing her like this, regardless of how big and where the gaps in their experiences were, in a world where they were on the same side? It's a what-if they've long passed the event horizon for, but she still can't help but wonder a little.
But even if she doesn't get it the way he's explaining it, she does understand. She wouldn't go as far as to say she knows how people think, but she's at least better at it than she was, not so long ago. ]
But okay, okay, fair point. It's just not something I've had time to think about, I guess.
[He huffs into his coffee at the model hair joke. Obviously not! And yet it's not like Kadoc's never noticed that the princely Wodime was also blessed with perfect good looks on top of everything else he has going for him. It's almost laughable, really. And it's definitely laughable to think that was the first thing Fujimaru reached for, but it was probably just a joke, and the thought of arguing it bores the shit out of Kadoc before he even begins. Just imagine the world where he has a whole conversation with her about actually he comes from an ancient bloodline and his magic circuits are beyond compare and—ugh.
She deserves a half-joking warning, though.]
Don't go setting foot into his Lostbelt if that's all you think he's got going for him.
[But that aside.]
At this point, I don't even remember how we got on this in the first place. I just can't stand listening to you be so humble.
[ And she doesn't really consider humble as one of her baseline qualities. Laid back fits better, in her opinion, or maybe lazy if someone felt like being overly harsh. Her plate is empty now, but she's still picking idly at the crumbs, looking at him with a gently bemused curiosity. ]
If you understand how people think, then I guess--is this really that weird to you? That I think this way?
[ Maybe it is. Maybe that's one of those inherent gaps between being a magus and being someone who just sort of walked into something on accident. Not too long ago, the greatest destiny she could have imagined for herself was getting herself together enough to be a doctor, like her mother wanted. And now she's been running nonstop for over three years, desperately trying to catch a hundred falling pieces at once. ]
[He says this flatly, though not without some dry humor, popping another piece of soaked bread into his mouth. No point lying about it, even if it is embarrassing for someone who does pride himself on understanding human nature and the way people think. Perhaps . . . he is not as good at that as he thought. He clearly has a lot to learn about Ritsuka specifically!
He washes down his bite with some more coffee—it's cool enough by now to swig rather than sip—and he isn't smiling at her, but neither is his expression particularly harsh.]
Might as well be open about that. But the issue isn't entirely me not getting how you think. It's you not getting how mages think. . . . Not that that's much of an issue anymore, huh? Here we are. This place couldn't be more different from home.
[ There's a lot about this city that feels so familiar to home--as much as she can really think of Japan as "home," anymore. Sometimes, she thinks about the sinking feeling that had come when she'd thought she would be going back, before everything had gone wrong again, and then she puts it aside to think about some other time. (Maybe never.)
But she gives him another quizzical look, cocking her head. ]
It's not like I don't completely get how mages think, but... I dunno. I guess it's just, when it comes to stuff like that, I don't let what other people think change my mind. I'll listen about when I'm wrong and stuff, but--when it's subjective, you've gotta tell me more than just, "everyone thinks this, this is just the way the world is, so you should agree."
[ That seems very straightforward to her, but maybe she's the weird one after all... ]
[It makes sense, when she says that straightforwardly. Of course she thinks that way, and of course she isn't wrong. It's an admirable trait; he can admit that. But it also wasn't his point, and she's coming at this as if it were, and there's the issue. Kadoc leans on his elbow, pushing his bread bowl a little out of the way; he managed to eat more than half of it!]
I'm not telling you you should agree, or change how you think about yourself. I'm just telling you you should be aware not everyone's gonna see you that way, and they're gonna come at it the same way you just did. What you think of yourself won't change anyone's mind when it comes to what they think of you.
No one here really knows what I've done except the people who already know me.
[ She shrugs a little, and without really thinking about it--he pushed it away! he's not making any indication of saving it for later!--she reaches out to pull a little piece of the bread bowl for herself. ]
The Servants from Chaldea, obviously... the others have recognized me, but I don't think they really know what it's like.
And then there's you.
[ And then there's him. He'd made it a point so quickly to bring up the "truce" he has with Chaldea here, which Ritsuka doesn't entirely understand, either. Hadn't he already agreed to work with them? Wasn't he already, technically, on their side? And he's telling her that he believed she'd be the sort of person to be pulled here, but also...
Also, he doesn't really like her, does he? This is just as likely the kindness that both Da Vinci and Mash had mentioned about him, no matter how much he might deny it. ]
[Kadoc watches her take a piece to eat without saying anything about it either way. He both kinda can't believe she did that, and fully expected her to do that, at the same time. Which is not too far off from his overall impression of Fujimaru, honestly.]
Yeah. I mean, I wasn't talking about here, anyway, which I guess means the whole thing was just a tangent. This is the situation we're in now, for the foreseeable future. . . . Obviously no one here really knows what I've done either. I'd be received much differently if they did. Medea knows, but that's it, except you guys.
[He isn't hungry anymore, but now he wants something to idly pick at, too, so he snatches another chunk of bread from the other side of the bowl. Is this what mindless snacking is all about? Is that how that starts? He's never been that person!]
[ Between the two of them, they can probably actually finish this bowl. Even if Kadoc doesn't look quite like he's on the verge of keeling over, the way he had when she'd last seen him, there's a part of Ritsuka that still approves. Her love-language is probably best defined as acts of service, and even if she doesn't really like the guy yet--she knows herself well enough to know that it's a yet--she does want him to continue on this apparently-healthier path. ]
I guess this is just my practice run for when I go back to Japan.
[ When, and not if. Because he was right: she does fully believe she will, someday, because that's her only path forward. ]
Between you and me, though, I'm not planning on telling anyone except for the big picture details. Maybe that's just me trying to control what people think about me... but I really don't think it's worth it, either.
[He lets out a little heh type noise around his bread at the comment about going back to Japan. But the truth is, the thought of her winning everything, saving Proper Human History, somehow resetting everything so it all goes back to the way it was and everything's fine and dandy—that's more plausible to him than the thought of Fujimaru going back to Japan to live a normal, non-magical life after this, in which she remembers everything but tells no one anything. Now that's a laugh. Kadoc can hardly conceive the thought. Would they even let her do that? Surely not; she'll have to have her memory erased or something if she plans on rejoining normal human society with the kind of knowledge she has. Right? But would she even want that? Wouldn't she yearn for the truth she knew was out there?
He can't imagine just being content to go back to normal.
But here, it's a different story.]
I don't either, but maybe that was already clear. I'm not gonna be casual about it. No one needs to hear my sob story, or my villain origin story, or however you wanna think about it. It'll help no one to make it public. Some people get real chatty on the network about what they've been through, but it's just . . . talk. We're all from our own circumstances here. Mine don't mean anything to anyone but me.
[ There'd been a point, once upon a time, where Ritsuka would have said she would have been content with that choice--maybe wistful that she couldn't have stayed, or regretful of the bonds she'd have to let go, but still content. Now is an entirely different story, but that's neither here nor there. It can be something to debate later. ]
It means something to me.
[ After all, in a very real way, his circumstances directly changed hers. He wasn't the only actor in that, and hardly the driving force that led to where Ritsuka was before she came to this Camelot... but it's still true.
And also, if he's observed even half as much as he's implied to have seen, then he must know some of how Ritsuka operates. It doesn't matter if someone was trying to kill her only days ago; if they're on the same side now, she's willing to work with them.
It's just that this time, the other person also remembers their history. ]
I know that's not the point you're trying to make. But it does.
[He should have expected she'd say it. Someday he'll learn to brace himself for these things she always says. It doesn't surprise him that she did, but he still didn't actually think she would, and now he's hardly sure how to respond, peering at her over the last of his coffee. But he knows this at least: that it wasn't the point.
She knows too, at least.]
. . . Besides, it's an obvious statement anyway. Our histories are intertwined, like it or not. You know, your Chaldean Servants have been pretty accepting of me, but none of them were there. They don't really know what they're holding out a hand to when they accept truce.
[ Or, perhaps more accurately, that's how Ritsuka works. In spite of her stance in the argument they've just had, she does know that the Servants do look to her for an example of how to respond to things... and time and again, she has always done the same thing. And here she is now, again: different verse, same story.
Saving the world isn't an individual thing; that's something she has known since the very beginning. ]
Especially here... why fight on multiple fronts? That's just pointlessly wearing yourself out.
I'd rather be friends with someone than fight them.
You've got this way of sounding both like a completely naive idealist and like a strict pragmatist at the same time. I wonder how you pull that off? Maybe that's your secret. Damn . . . I dunno. I'll probably never know. I'm just thinking out loud.
[He's not even upset about it. Interesting. She frustrates him, yeah, and it doesn't feel great feeling certain they'll never understand one another, but at least in this, there's no bitterness. It's probably annoying to her that he picks at her idly like this . . . he has mixed feelings about that, but it's not stopping him from doing it, apparently.
An idealistic pragmatist. Maybe that really is the secret of having gotten as far as she has, even knowing what horrors she's committing, and being able to look him in the eye even knowing the same about him.
He finishes his coffee, and grabs one more bite of bread.]
[ She just shrugs, a gentle roll of her shoulders. She's less worried about his declaration--there are plenty of people out there who have started out not understanding her, but have become close to her regardless. In her experience, it doesn't have to be a perfect meeting of minds for people to understand each other... but that feels condescending to point out, too. That's not the sort of thing you force, especially when the other person is so wary. ]
I don't know what my secret is, to be honest. Your guess is as good as mine. I just know what I want to do, and I try to remember what I've learned along the way to get it.
So... sorry not sorry, but I guess you're gonna get the chance to learn, too.
I'm the one who's sorry you decided on that for some reason. You're only gonna end up frustrated.
[Sigh. Literally, he does sigh, sitting back from the table some, arms crossed over his chest. But still, he's as comfortable right now as he's likely to ever get at this early stage with her. This is more bickering than arguing, and more reflexive body language than active discomfort. . . . Also, he's full. That was too much bread.]
. . . Who could ever eat a whole one of those things?
You say that now, but you'll just have to wait and see.
[ At least his threats to her life were more of a concentrated blitz, a distant enemy that had been stuck in a slowly-closing circle with her. It's not the same as a Servant casually telling her that she would be an easy snack, or the threat of Kiyohime's mad, uncontrollable rage. Kadoc is at least a human being that can be reasoned with, who isn't as beholden to the stories that shape him as a heroic spirit would be.
But when he says that, she reaches out to snag the last little bit of the bread bowl, shrugging. ]
I could! I did, sometimes. That was in Chaldea, though, so I needed everything I could get.
[ She had to generate resources somehow, and eating was probably the best and easiest way for her to do that. But even then-- ]
...Or, I guess I did it sometimes when we were in competition season, back in school.
What competition? Don't tell me you were a jock. Who am I kidding, of course you were.
[This is as close to good-natured teasing as Kadoc can manage as a person at this point, really. Back in school . . . she'd been an entirely normal person. She was just a normal high school girl who was on the softball team or something, competing alongside her friends, with no idea of what the world was hiding from her.
His thoughts are repeating themselves, he knows. Someday he'll get the fuck over it. That day isn't today. Today, his brain still has to remind him at every opportunity that this girl who'd saved the world was an absolutely ordinary nobody whose training had consisted of softball (maybe it was football?).]
[ The effect doesn't carry over, in a world where things are surely being translated automatically, but to Ritsuka's own ears, she says ball or bust! in English. As it is, it probably comes across as a little more stilted in her accent than normal. ]
I wasn't the best on my team, but I worked hard with everyone. There's a lot that goes into it! You've gotta have endurance.
[What the hell? Kadoc hears the strange intonation and can't place what's causing it; his brow furrows and he tips his head, but he can't make himself ask. Maybe if it happens again. Is he just hearing things?! He'll sound like an idiot if he asks and it was nothing!]
That's the most normal thing I've heard in what feels like forever. It really is exactly what I'd expect of you in that sense.
[ She huffs at him, but there's no heat or offense to it. She's interacted with the mage half of Chaldea's staff to know where some gaps might exist. And to be honest, she can't really imagine a class of magus children doing a sports festival.
(To be more honest and accurate, her first thought at "a classroom full of magus children" just brings to mind rows and rows of copy-pasted miniature sour-faced Kadocs. Terrifying.) ]
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fujimaru
no subject
Date: 2021-09-18 05:27 am (UTC)Does anyone think that? The problem is she's almost never the topic at hand, at least to her own face. There'd been the conversation Mash had overheard, with the staff falsifying her records before the Mage's Association could get their hands on them, but other than that... usually, when she does talk about herself, it's all the small things. Hobbies she had before the end of the world, her time with the volleyball club, favorite foods, books and TV dramas and movies that she'd enjoyed... all those little things. It's nothing to compare to the weight of the Master, or a savior, or anything like that.
If he's looking at her face at all, he'll be able to clearly see the confusion as she mulls through the question. Her voice comes slowly, not quite uncertain, but hesitant. ]
I... don't know? I guess if anyone does, it would be Mash...
[ They're a few years off from a Saito Hajime in Chaldea, telling her in all seriousness that all she needs to do is say the word, and he'd take her and run from all these responsibilities, from everything the world has demanded of her. Right now, Ritsuka still hasn't had much time to process the weight of everything that's happened, but pulls off casual confidence enough that this might very well be the first time she's had this sort of conversation at all.
Huh. ]
Or, I guess, if anyone does, they haven't said anything to me. I've always felt like they care about me, and not, uh, the role that I may have played in anything.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-19 03:20 am (UTC)[He's bolder with her than anyone else in that way, though he's not unable to muster some snark even in the faces of people who intimidate him under the right circumstances. But Fujimaru doesn't. If anything, Kadoc would say that he serves as proof that someone can give her credit for her singular role in saving humanity without being cowed by her, or reducing her image to nothing but that of a great hero.
Of course he's watching her face. Now, of all times, he has no trouble making eye contact.]
People can give a shit about you as a person and still acknowledge your role. Or so I hear, anyway.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-19 03:40 am (UTC)[ She remembers the lashing out in Russia. She remembers how the insults had felt--things that had both hit home and felt weirdly off, like they weren't really meant for her, even as he was flinging them into her face. Coupled with his earlier self-disparaging comment, she's not so sure she would know for sure.
But right now, Ritsuka meets his gaze evenly, without faltering herself. Even if she's still a little confused, it's the sort of thing she can put aside for the moment. ]
I can only know for sure what people think about me when they say it honestly to my face. I'm sure you're right... but it's just not something that's ever come up.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-19 11:04 pm (UTC)Either way. He does want to make his second point, but he too doesn't actually want this to be a fight, so his tone is a smidge more gentle when he goes on:]
I just know how people think. The other thing you've gotta keep in mind is that no matter how humble you are about it, you can apply the exact same logic to anyone else it might've been in your position. Everyone out there's got some advantage they'd have happily used to do what needed to be done. No one out there does anything alone with nothing at all to their name. Not even me. . . . I used to think that was my position, but I can easily admit I've got my own set of advantages over you when it comes to being a Master. And I'd have used every one of them I could. Would you refuse to give me credit in your position? Or Wodime—he was born with every advantage imaginable.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-20 12:06 am (UTC)[ She's only ever seen Kirschtaria Wodime in photos. There's no way to get an idea of what the guy's presence is like from a single solemn ID image, but she could at least see that his hair was fabulous. Even when paired to his voice, she can't really conceptualize of what he's like as a person. Kadoc trying to emphasize the point doesn't really hit home in that sense--she's always been a better learner by doing, rather than listening to lectures.
Is this what it would have been like, to have Team A as they were, and not rebranded to being the Crypters? Would he be lecturing her like this, regardless of how big and where the gaps in their experiences were, in a world where they were on the same side? It's a what-if they've long passed the event horizon for, but she still can't help but wonder a little.
But even if she doesn't get it the way he's explaining it, she does understand. She wouldn't go as far as to say she knows how people think, but she's at least better at it than she was, not so long ago. ]
But okay, okay, fair point. It's just not something I've had time to think about, I guess.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-20 05:02 am (UTC)She deserves a half-joking warning, though.]
Don't go setting foot into his Lostbelt if that's all you think he's got going for him.
[But that aside.]
At this point, I don't even remember how we got on this in the first place. I just can't stand listening to you be so humble.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-20 04:44 pm (UTC)[ And she doesn't really consider humble as one of her baseline qualities. Laid back fits better, in her opinion, or maybe lazy if someone felt like being overly harsh. Her plate is empty now, but she's still picking idly at the crumbs, looking at him with a gently bemused curiosity. ]
If you understand how people think, then I guess--is this really that weird to you? That I think this way?
[ Maybe it is. Maybe that's one of those inherent gaps between being a magus and being someone who just sort of walked into something on accident. Not too long ago, the greatest destiny she could have imagined for herself was getting herself together enough to be a doctor, like her mother wanted. And now she's been running nonstop for over three years, desperately trying to catch a hundred falling pieces at once. ]
no subject
Date: 2021-09-21 02:53 am (UTC)[He says this flatly, though not without some dry humor, popping another piece of soaked bread into his mouth. No point lying about it, even if it is embarrassing for someone who does pride himself on understanding human nature and the way people think. Perhaps . . . he is not as good at that as he thought. He clearly has a lot to learn about Ritsuka specifically!
He washes down his bite with some more coffee—it's cool enough by now to swig rather than sip—and he isn't smiling at her, but neither is his expression particularly harsh.]
Might as well be open about that. But the issue isn't entirely me not getting how you think. It's you not getting how mages think. . . . Not that that's much of an issue anymore, huh? Here we are. This place couldn't be more different from home.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-21 03:25 am (UTC)[ There's a lot about this city that feels so familiar to home--as much as she can really think of Japan as "home," anymore. Sometimes, she thinks about the sinking feeling that had come when she'd thought she would be going back, before everything had gone wrong again, and then she puts it aside to think about some other time. (Maybe never.)
But she gives him another quizzical look, cocking her head. ]
It's not like I don't completely get how mages think, but... I dunno. I guess it's just, when it comes to stuff like that, I don't let what other people think change my mind. I'll listen about when I'm wrong and stuff, but--when it's subjective, you've gotta tell me more than just, "everyone thinks this, this is just the way the world is, so you should agree."
[ That seems very straightforward to her, but maybe she's the weird one after all... ]
no subject
Date: 2021-09-24 03:04 am (UTC)[It makes sense, when she says that straightforwardly. Of course she thinks that way, and of course she isn't wrong. It's an admirable trait; he can admit that. But it also wasn't his point, and she's coming at this as if it were, and there's the issue. Kadoc leans on his elbow, pushing his bread bowl a little out of the way; he managed to eat more than half of it!]
I'm not telling you you should agree, or change how you think about yourself. I'm just telling you you should be aware not everyone's gonna see you that way, and they're gonna come at it the same way you just did. What you think of yourself won't change anyone's mind when it comes to what they think of you.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-24 03:42 am (UTC)[ She shrugs a little, and without really thinking about it--he pushed it away! he's not making any indication of saving it for later!--she reaches out to pull a little piece of the bread bowl for herself. ]
The Servants from Chaldea, obviously... the others have recognized me, but I don't think they really know what it's like.
And then there's you.
[ And then there's him. He'd made it a point so quickly to bring up the "truce" he has with Chaldea here, which Ritsuka doesn't entirely understand, either. Hadn't he already agreed to work with them? Wasn't he already, technically, on their side? And he's telling her that he believed she'd be the sort of person to be pulled here, but also...
Also, he doesn't really like her, does he? This is just as likely the kindness that both Da Vinci and Mash had mentioned about him, no matter how much he might deny it. ]
no subject
Date: 2021-09-25 05:19 am (UTC)Yeah. I mean, I wasn't talking about here, anyway, which I guess means the whole thing was just a tangent. This is the situation we're in now, for the foreseeable future. . . . Obviously no one here really knows what I've done either. I'd be received much differently if they did. Medea knows, but that's it, except you guys.
[He isn't hungry anymore, but now he wants something to idly pick at, too, so he snatches another chunk of bread from the other side of the bowl. Is this what mindless snacking is all about? Is that how that starts? He's never been that person!]
no subject
Date: 2021-09-25 06:23 pm (UTC)I guess this is just my practice run for when I go back to Japan.
[ When, and not if. Because he was right: she does fully believe she will, someday, because that's her only path forward. ]
Between you and me, though, I'm not planning on telling anyone except for the big picture details. Maybe that's just me trying to control what people think about me... but I really don't think it's worth it, either.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-29 04:24 am (UTC)He can't imagine just being content to go back to normal.
But here, it's a different story.]
I don't either, but maybe that was already clear. I'm not gonna be casual about it. No one needs to hear my sob story, or my villain origin story, or however you wanna think about it. It'll help no one to make it public. Some people get real chatty on the network about what they've been through, but it's just . . . talk. We're all from our own circumstances here. Mine don't mean anything to anyone but me.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-29 04:54 am (UTC)It means something to me.
[ After all, in a very real way, his circumstances directly changed hers. He wasn't the only actor in that, and hardly the driving force that led to where Ritsuka was before she came to this Camelot... but it's still true.
And also, if he's observed even half as much as he's implied to have seen, then he must know some of how Ritsuka operates. It doesn't matter if someone was trying to kill her only days ago; if they're on the same side now, she's willing to work with them.
It's just that this time, the other person also remembers their history. ]
I know that's not the point you're trying to make. But it does.
no subject
Date: 2021-10-03 03:14 am (UTC)[He should have expected she'd say it. Someday he'll learn to brace himself for these things she always says. It doesn't surprise him that she did, but he still didn't actually think she would, and now he's hardly sure how to respond, peering at her over the last of his coffee. But he knows this at least: that it wasn't the point.
She knows too, at least.]
. . . Besides, it's an obvious statement anyway. Our histories are intertwined, like it or not. You know, your Chaldean Servants have been pretty accepting of me, but none of them were there. They don't really know what they're holding out a hand to when they accept truce.
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Date: 2021-10-03 04:22 am (UTC)[ Or, perhaps more accurately, that's how Ritsuka works. In spite of her stance in the argument they've just had, she does know that the Servants do look to her for an example of how to respond to things... and time and again, she has always done the same thing. And here she is now, again: different verse, same story.
Saving the world isn't an individual thing; that's something she has known since the very beginning. ]
Especially here... why fight on multiple fronts? That's just pointlessly wearing yourself out.
I'd rather be friends with someone than fight them.
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Date: 2021-10-04 03:32 am (UTC)[He's not even upset about it. Interesting. She frustrates him, yeah, and it doesn't feel great feeling certain they'll never understand one another, but at least in this, there's no bitterness. It's probably annoying to her that he picks at her idly like this . . . he has mixed feelings about that, but it's not stopping him from doing it, apparently.
An idealistic pragmatist. Maybe that really is the secret of having gotten as far as she has, even knowing what horrors she's committing, and being able to look him in the eye even knowing the same about him.
He finishes his coffee, and grabs one more bite of bread.]
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Date: 2021-10-04 04:51 am (UTC)I don't know what my secret is, to be honest. Your guess is as good as mine. I just know what I want to do, and I try to remember what I've learned along the way to get it.
So... sorry not sorry, but I guess you're gonna get the chance to learn, too.
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Date: 2021-10-05 03:31 am (UTC)[Sigh. Literally, he does sigh, sitting back from the table some, arms crossed over his chest. But still, he's as comfortable right now as he's likely to ever get at this early stage with her. This is more bickering than arguing, and more reflexive body language than active discomfort. . . . Also, he's full. That was too much bread.]
. . . Who could ever eat a whole one of those things?
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Date: 2021-10-05 03:44 am (UTC)[ At least his threats to her life were more of a concentrated blitz, a distant enemy that had been stuck in a slowly-closing circle with her. It's not the same as a Servant casually telling her that she would be an easy snack, or the threat of Kiyohime's mad, uncontrollable rage. Kadoc is at least a human being that can be reasoned with, who isn't as beholden to the stories that shape him as a heroic spirit would be.
But when he says that, she reaches out to snag the last little bit of the bread bowl, shrugging. ]
I could! I did, sometimes. That was in Chaldea, though, so I needed everything I could get.
[ She had to generate resources somehow, and eating was probably the best and easiest way for her to do that. But even then-- ]
...Or, I guess I did it sometimes when we were in competition season, back in school.
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Date: 2021-10-06 03:40 am (UTC)[This is as close to good-natured teasing as Kadoc can manage as a person at this point, really. Back in school . . . she'd been an entirely normal person. She was just a normal high school girl who was on the softball team or something, competing alongside her friends, with no idea of what the world was hiding from her.
His thoughts are repeating themselves, he knows. Someday he'll get the fuck over it. That day isn't today. Today, his brain still has to remind him at every opportunity that this girl who'd saved the world was an absolutely ordinary nobody whose training had consisted of softball (maybe it was football?).]
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Date: 2021-10-06 03:54 am (UTC)[ The effect doesn't carry over, in a world where things are surely being translated automatically, but to Ritsuka's own ears, she says ball or bust! in English. As it is, it probably comes across as a little more stilted in her accent than normal. ]
I wasn't the best on my team, but I worked hard with everyone. There's a lot that goes into it! You've gotta have endurance.
[ There it is, that use of English again. ]
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Date: 2021-10-08 04:50 am (UTC)That's the most normal thing I've heard in what feels like forever. It really is exactly what I'd expect of you in that sense.
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Date: 2021-10-09 02:32 am (UTC)[ She huffs at him, but there's no heat or offense to it. She's interacted with the mage half of Chaldea's staff to know where some gaps might exist. And to be honest, she can't really imagine a class of magus children doing a sports festival.
(To be more honest and accurate, her first thought at "a classroom full of magus children" just brings to mind rows and rows of copy-pasted miniature sour-faced Kadocs. Terrifying.) ]
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