fujimaru | Reverie Inbox

Yeah. Cleaning up after someone after they've had a drunken bender really puts you off that kind of thing.

[ She will take this milkshake, though. This part is fine and uncomplicated. ]

Besides, Da Vinci-chan is here. What if someone else shows up? They'd definitely take that knowledge back and tell everyone else.

Ah . . . well, now you have me thinking for the first time in quite a while about what I would have to face if Mars or Jupiter were to suddenly arrive . . .

[oh god don't think about what a PR nightmare that would be to deal with don't think about it]

Just Da Vinci-chan alone was a surprise! I'm not expecting it, but I'm not not thinking about it.

[ His concern is a little funny, in a way that is both part of and separate from the current mess that is everything else going on right now. She gives him a sharp little grin before trying the milkshake. ]

Mash aside, I think most of my Servants would do okay here. Some would definitely be more okay than others.

[He should have brought himself a coffee . . . maybe later. And he sees that smile! She's making fun of him a little!! (He deserves it.)]

You were worried about how she would handle some of those tasks, weren't you? I take it that means most of your—Servants, aren't such pure-hearted people.

Most of them aren't.

[ Her smile softens into something a little more lopsided, a little more genuinely fond. ]

They're called "Heroic Spirits," but you don't have to be a hero in the same way we'd think of them, in the modern day. A lot of them were--warriors, I guess, for a lack of a better word. People who made their name in battle.

...but there's a lot of them who'd probably handle a task like this pretty well, too.

I see . . . we have similar legends, of course. Though most of ours involve Pokemon. As you might imagine. There isn't much in the way of history of humans distinguishing themselves in battle. Most of those legends end tragically . . . it's an interesting difference. So they've been hardened by battle . . . I can see how such a person might be given to indulge in this kind of game, too.

Most of our legends end pretty tragically, too.

[ And even the stories that end well can still have tragic points where a legend could be born. Ritsuka has never actually read the whole of The Count of Monte Cristo, but she knows enough to know that Edmond Dantes had a better ending than the one the King of the Cavern knows, in Chaldea. ]

You don't become a Heroic Spirit if you were completely satisfied with the way your life went. ...But a lot of them are pretty happy to indulge in other things while they're summoned.

Your Servants, then . . . they're spirits who were heroes in life, for the most part, but have regrets. And so they're summoned back to the world of the living, by the living, to serve them? . . . It's fascinating. But they aren't alive now, either. You've mentioned. Da Vinci . . . she had regrets, but she's still come to terms with having lived and died, is that it?

Regrets, and...

[ She goes quiet as she trails off, tracing an idle pattern in the condensation on her glass.

Omnipotence is too much for humans to handle. My work shall be done within the limitations of mankind.

After a moment, she shakes her head. ]

Things left unfinished, I guess. A Servant's life is supposed to be a temporary one--under normal circumstances, they work together with their Master for the chance of having a wish granted.

It is living, just... one that can't last for long, most of the time.

A wish? So that's the reward . . .

[He looks at her glass too, where the melted wetness is beginning to trickle down the side. Then he stands, moving away from the table.]

I invited you here to play pool with me, actually. If you want. Or maybe darts, though I've never tried that one before. Do you want to play with me? While I ask you what you think of wishes. Ha.

I've only gotten like one crash course in playing pool, so you'll have to deal with that.

[ But it's not a no; she also rises to her feet, following him. ]

Darts, I'm okay at. I played softball in junior high, so I've got semi-decent aim.

You're about the only kind of player I might actually beat, then. I only learned to play it myself a few weeks ago, and I haven't had much opportunity to practice against anyone in the meantime. Maybe you can show me how to throw a dart after this . . .

[He does kind of want to know. The allure of Hobbies here is a strong one, and darts is a pretty solitary game. It might not be bad to have another option for nights when he's bored or overwhelmed and needs something quiet to focus on out of Cerberus, which is what he already does with practicing shooting pool.]

Oh, I see how it is, go after the newbie.

[ She says it with mock-solemnity, picking up a pool cue to brandish it at him, pointing it like a sword for a second. ]

Akira-kun showed me, when I told him I didn't know how to play. I learned darts before I came here, though. And poker, but I suck at that one. I'm not allowed to play anymore, on account that people felt bad for how bad I was.

I never learned poker . . . I was going to say you could teach me, but maybe not, if that's your reputation at it.

[He grabs the end of the stick and moves it away with a huff of a laugh, grabbing the rack to rack the balls on the table.]

Too open-faced for it?

The rules aren't hard.

[ She does poke his arm with the cue lightly, then pulls it back to hold it in a more safe position. ]

But yeah. I'm just very bad at bluffing. Robin said it was like taking the whole "taking candy from a baby" adage too far.

[He swats at it idly, but he's mostly putting the balls in the right order, which there is one of and I used to know it but I don't remember what it is. He knows it! And then he's going to grab a cue and chalk it up.]

Another Servant of yours? One of the less innocent ones again? I don't know. I think you manage bluffing in other situations better than he might think . . .

[ This is fine because I only know how to play pool based off that one Try Guys video, we're doing great,

She tilts her head, bemused. ]

One of them, yeah. Pretty much anyone I namedrop is going to be one. And he tries to paint himself as a bad guy, but mostly he has a lot of bad habits.

...what do you mean by that?

For one thing, you're excellent at telling me things like that you're an ordinary girl with a straight face.

[Ha. He smiles at her, grabbing the cue ball to place it on the table and then bringing out a token.]

Heads or tails?

Heads.

[ She answers automatically, but she's still bemused, her brows drawing together as she looks at him. ]

I'm not bluffing on that, though? I am.

[He flips the token and it comes up heads! Congratulations, Ritsuka, have fun breaking the balls. Saturn leans on his cue and watches.]

I know you think you are. Perhaps the trick would be to teach you the different hands backwards, so that you were convinced all the good ones really were bad. Ha.

Too late, I already know how to play.

[ But for the moment, she's focusing on the setup, her eyes narrowing as she assesses the setup, pacing an entire lap around the table before she picks a position and bends to take her shot. She's certainly no prodigy, and it's not a lie that she has only just barely learned, but she does have a good eye for how to play with physics. Her first strike is decisive, and she watches the balls scatter and stop before she straightens again. ]

--Okay, then, what do you think I am?

[Hmm, that was better than he expected her to do for barely knowing how to play this game. Form counts for a lot! Besides, it's satisfying for that first strike to be a really good crack.

Anyway. He watches her, and then as he walks around the table to try and find the easiest shot to line up for himself, assuming Ritsuka didn't pocket any on the break, he pauses to give her a look. Just a casual one. But she deserves a real, honest, well-considered answer, and it's not like he hasn't thought any about it already.]

. . . I think there are different ways in which humans can be ordinary people. I know you think you haven't done anything that another ordinary person couldn't manage. Maybe you're right. But there are other things that are completely normal for humans to do. Things like giving up, or breaking under pressure, or becoming twisted by their circumstances . . . those things happen every day. And so do acts of courage, kindness, and strength. I still find those extraordinary, even when ordinary people do them. Especially then, maybe. . . . So, yes, you're an ordinary person, who has extraordinary resilience, adaptability, stubbornness, supportiveness, and charm.

[ So, hey, about that lack of a poker face!

If he's looking at her after he finishes saying all of that, he can see the surprise and the confusion on her face, her hands gripping harder on her cue for a few seconds. Even when the initial shock passes, she's still pretty clearly off-kilter. Her next shots probably will not be very good. ]

That's... that feels like you're going a little too far in giving me credit...

[ Charm? Charm?? Saturn, please, she probably still has leaves in her hair from this morning. ]

Ah . . . I didn't think I was saying anything all that effusive . . .

[But this is a problem he has in both directions, sometimes, expressing an opinion he thinks of as fairly neutral and simply honest only to have other react to it as if it's either a great insult or a great compliment. Not that this wasn't a compliment! It was! But she's so surprised when he didn't expect her to be!!

He lines up an easy shot to pocket the 2 ball, so, he's solids now.]

I--I guess it wasn't...

[ It was probably just a normal compliment, huh. It's not anything special, just an observation, and there is nothing especially meaningful about it. It's time for the Be Normal challenge, Ritsuka!

But for now, she just stands there, fiddling with the cue, staring at her hands rather than look at him. ]

Edited 2022-07-25 03:59 (UTC)

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