fujimaru | Reverie Inbox

[ 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)

It was a compliment, and I did mean it entirely. I just didn't expect you to be so surprised by it. . . . I rather thought those were all things you already knew about yourself.

[He pockets the 7 next, but that's all he can manage; every other shot on the table is difficult, and he's not very good at this yet, so he only manages to move the 6 ball a little closer to a pocket. Your turn!]

I don't... really think about myself that much.

[ Ha ha that's true on multiple levels ha ha she is failing this Be Normal challenge already.

She goes to take her shot, but as anticipated, she's not really good for much; her shot just sends the balls scattering further, none in a particularly good position to be pocketed for easy points. ]

I think I'm pretty replaceable? I'm not saying it to make myself sound pathetic or anything, just--I am? Anything I've done, someone else can do. That's always how it has been. I don't resent it or anything. It's just what it is.

That's a terrible way to think of yourself.

[His eyes narrow, and he goes to try for the 1 ball, but he misses pocketing that too. They are both real pool sharks here.]

I know you have your reasons...I know I won't be the one to talk you out of them. But I can't let it go uncommented on when you say it, that's all.

I don't think it's that bad...

[ She studies the table, walking around it to try and figure out the best position. ]

I really don't. But--...

[ She bends to finally take her shot, and pockets the 3 striped ball,though she scatters the others worse in the process. Hm. ]

...but it's still nice of you to say. Thanks.

...There's a saying where I come from. I never thought much of it when I was living there. I didn't concern myself with such things. But it's an ancient inscription on the wall at the Solaceon Ruin site...

[He walks around the table to try and find a decent shot, hmm. The current layout isn't great.]

It says "All lives touch other lives to create something anew and alive."

That's just what relationships are, right? Whatever their nature, good or bad. They need to be fed and tended to like a conventionally living thing.

[ She leans on her cue a little, watching him. Be normal, be normal. ]

But there's things that stay, and things that change.

[Be normal challenge! He manages to pocket the 1, nice.]

But the people in them can't ever be replaced. When I helped you make curry for us...I wasn't thinking, "anyone else could do this." Regardless of the truth of it. I was thinking of spending time with Ritsuka, and no one else can replace you in that memory.

[ She smiles a little at that, small and sad and fleeting. Be normal!! ]

I hope not. But that's not exactly what I mean by replaceable... Of course the memories I'm actually part of can't be replaced with anyone else. But there's always going to be other times, where you could easily be doing the same thing. There's only ever been one thing I've been irreplaceable for, and that one is...

[ No one will truly know what you're doing, Merlin had told her once. No one will acknowledge it. She still clearly remembers that, years later. ]

... Well. We don't know how that'll end yet. But I'm okay with that. Even if I'm not anything special in the end, I still lived. I still had things I did, and things and people I loved. Being a nobody doesn't take that away from me.

[He misses his next shot, and turns around from the table with a flourish, brandishing his cue at her the same way she did to him earlier.]

Honestly. Where's Kleken when I need him to illusion you a new bingo card . . . I'll just have to write it out myself by hand for you. "Speak highly of yourself for two minutes." "Take a compliment someone offers you." "Lighten up just a little." Of course I'll have to put that last one on my own card, too. It's not as though I don't take some responsibility.

. . . Still. I'm not disagreeing with the core of what you're saying. And I'm not going to dig in my heels any more today.

I would not trust anything that guy gave me further than I could throw it.

[ But she goes to try her luck with balls. You know. ]

What do I win, if I get a bingo on this hypothetical card?

[ This time, she does manage to pocket a ball, which, you know what, she'll take it. It's something. ]

Ha!

[He lets out a cheerful little laugh, putting his hand to his mouth, both at the diss and at her finally sinking a ball. Hopefully it was one of hers. Go Ritsuka! It's still her turn!]

For a bingo? I'll make you something fancy to eat, or I'll at least do my best. For a blackout, I'll contribute to your ball pit.

Wow, listen to you, swallowing your pride like that.

[ She's distracted in trying to decide her next shot. Hm. ]

I'd want to at least vet this card first. I'm not saying I'll agree with it, but I'd want to see.

Of course. Well, I need time to come up with it anyway. It doesn't have to be for this game, either. I'll give it to you once I have it, to look over and decide whether to play along.

[ Her next shot pockets one more ball, but the next one is a miss, and she steps back from the table, giving him a quizzical look. It's more confused than anything, a little more vulnerable than usual. ]

...You're really serious about this?

. . . Well. Yes, but if I'm making you uncomfortable with it, only tell me so. But yes, I was serious. For fun, of course.

...

I don't think I'd want to do a bingo game after all of this, but... there are other ways to do a challenge, right?

Of course. We can find some other game that you prefer.

Probably not poker, either, unless you wanna stack the game so that you can win and boss me around.

[ She says that with some wry good humor, though. ]

Oh, of course I do. Obviously. But I won't. Does this mean you'll also be making a list for me?

If it's poker, I'm not even gonna bother. I never win poker. It's like a running joke, at this point.

I won't pick poker! It wouldn't actually be fun to crush you entirely, unless I truly earned it.

Well, it can't be volleyball either, then, because I'd kick your ass.

[ It's been years since she's played, but she competed! She's confident in her athletic ability! ]

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