Reverie Inbox

[fujimaru]

It's Ritsuka! I've either fallen asleep or couldn't find my phone in time, so leave a message.

[ text / action / etc]

Comments

[fujimaru]

I wasn't here for most of the decoration decisions, I can only work with what is given to me.

[ She's very solemn as she says it, then pins Tsuruno with a thoughtful look. ]

How are you doing?

[fanstheflames]

[ She pauses, then offers Ritsuka the bag. Homemade cookies. ]

Do you want the automatic answer or the "give me a second to think about it" answer?

[fujimaru]

I'd prefer the real one, honestly.

[ She peeks into the bag, then looks up again. ]

We can talk over these and milk? Or tea. I have so much tea right now.

[fanstheflames]

[ With a little smile that's half-resigned. ]

Sure. I'll help you get through the tea.

[fujimaru]

I'm okay at it, I promise.

[ She knows that's not the issue, but she keeps her tone light as she leads the way into the kitchen. ]

Li-sensei is a pretty strict teacher about that sort of stuff. You don't know disapproval till an old man looks at you over his sunglasses and shakes his head.

[fanstheflames]

[ And Tsuruno trots after her, head tilted. ]

That kind of sounds like a movie-style training montage.

[fujimaru]

It kind of was? You don't know intense till you get to know tea people.

[ She's selecting a milk oolong, holding the bag out for Tsuruno to sniff and approve/disapprove. ]

Though I guess Li-sensei is just kind of intense period.

[fanstheflames]

Sensei? Did he also train you how to fight, along with tea-brewing?

[ With a thumbs' up once she's sniffed the bag. ]

[fujimaru]

Actually, no. I've asked, but he always refused.

[ She gets the tea brewing, though her expression is thoughtful. ]

"You can barely hold a spear, let alone kill with it." That's what he told me.

[fanstheflames]

...

I can't tell if he was saying it because you have noodle arms or if it was meant to be deeper.

1/2

[fujimaru]

Oh no, he'd make much more explicit fun of me if it was that.

[fujimaru]

[ Deadpan joke aside, she goes solemn again. ]

...Li-sensei once told me that he only knows how to kill. If he takes up a weapon, or if the weapon is just his hands, he goes in with that intent. So he's always refused to teach me how to fight.

Tea, though, tea is fair game.

[fanstheflames]

Tea's more fun than killing any day.

[ A very sage nod, though her expression's also lapsed into something more pensive. ]

I guess technically that's something all of us Magical Girls have to agree to, too. Even if we didn't quite understand at the time.

[fujimaru]

One of those "deal with the devil" kind of things?

[ She might not be familiar with meguca in general, because she was much more of a robot and mech girl than magical girls, but she's not not familiar with the genre. ]

I don't suppose you guys could unionize?

[fanstheflames]

Unfortunately, Kyubey's kind of impossible.

[ Just. Impossible. But she nods, purposely keeping her tone light. She's done this so much that it honestly comes as second nature. ]

"Fight Witches, beings who spread curses and threaten humanity, in exchange for having your wish granted." Looking back on it, no sensible person would agree to that, with all the stuff they say about wishes, but...

[fujimaru]

Aren't most magical girls like... fourteen, in media? I wouldn't trust fourteen-year-old me to make a smart decision.

...On the other hand, fourteen-year-old me would have definitely thought she knew what she was doing.

[ Ritsuka, you were fifteen when you decided to call a number on a beat-up flyer in the subway,,,, ]

[fanstheflames]

I was fifteen. We're kind of varied, from eleven to eighteen mostly... oh, but Yachiyo contracted when she was twelve and she survived all the way to nineteen! She's a veteran!

[ She's so proud of this. ]

You've got a point, though. From what I can tell, Kyubey also makes the offer when you're at your lowest or most desperate.

[fujimaru]

Wow. Throw him out a window.

[ SHE MEANS IT, ]

Is he, what, your representative talking mascot character? I'm so glad Fou can't talk...

[fanstheflames]

Oh yeah, that's exactly what he is! He's small and white and fluffy and looks like a cat... bunny... thing.

[ Fou's distant cousin. ]

[fujimaru]

[ That is in fact exactly what she's thinking: that sounds like Fou?? ]

Is... is he really fluffy...? Does he sometimes say things like, "Die, Merlin!!"?

[fanstheflames]

M-Merlin...?

[ ???? ]

He's kind of fluffier just in the tail, and the baby one we've been looking after doesn't actually talk, it just says things like "kyuuuuuu" and "mokyuuu!" Iroha-chan understands it somehow.

[ complete with higher pitch. ]

The bigger one has never told anyone to die. I think.

[fujimaru]

That's the kind of thing that Fou does... I wish I had my phone. My real phone.

[ She has SO many pictures of Fou on it, like any good pet owner, even if she's not his owner and Fou isn't really a pet. ]

He's more attached to my best friend, but he'll hang out with me sometimes, too.

[fanstheflames]

I know what you mean... I keep thinking I should ask for mine and the charger from the box so I can show people things, but if it's not little things... [ like clothes and the balls ] ... there's something else I have to continuously ask for.

But maybe next time I can try! Fou sounds pretty cute, though!

[fujimaru]

I've mostly been asking for practical stuff. Like my uniforms and stuff.

[ She tugs briefly on her jacket; it's the arctic mystic code again today. ]

...and also balls for the pit. I'm thinking about putting something up on the bulletin board, after people have had some time to, you know.

Recover.

[fanstheflames]

... Right. [ No wincing, no wincing. ]

People are resilient, at least... but it's been hard on a lot of people this time. In a lot of different ways.