hanukkah thing for ritsuka

[chutzpahless]

[Frankly, Roman has a hard enough time coming up with Hanukkah gifts for people when there isn't an issue getting supplies from the outside world. He tends to default to things he would like, and... well, let's say Marisbury is a difficult man to shop for.

But he does want to get Ritsuka and Mash something nice. Their last Rayshift took them to the desert, but their wardrobe has a pretty significant gap between 'average temperature' and 'Antarctica', so maybe some nice mittens? There are still tutorials for that online, at least.

Maybe trying to knit mittens in the two colors of the Chaldea uniform was a little ambitious. He's trying to figure out where he went wrong in this pattern when Ritsuka steps into his office.]

Comments

[chutzpahless]

E-eh? Oh, Ritsuka-

[He can't let her see her present before it's ready! He especially can't let her see it while it's kind of a tangled mess! Unfortunately his desk has few immediately viable hiding spots, which means he ends up just kind of shoving the lump of yarn behind his back.]

Right, right, Da Vinci. Did she say what about?

[Nailed it.]

[fujimaru]

[ Yes, that's not suspicious at all. She raises an eyebrow at the flurry of movement, though she isn't going as far as to lean to the side and try to peer around him.

Yet. ]

Something about calibrations? She just said I had to find you as quickly as possible, even if it took a while to convince you.

[ Mostly: Da Vinci wanted someone to catch him in the act. ]

[chutzpahless]

[Da Vinci is a traitor and he knows it.]

Calibration tests shouldn't be that urgent...

[fujimaru]

I thought so too, but she was like, "Romani is in his office, so I want you to get there as fast as you can."

[ Now she's subtly trying to lean and peek around him. What does he have in his hands? ]

[chutzpahless]

[She can catch a look of what appears to be white and blue mittens, if somewhat lumpy looking ones, before he lifts up his laptop and puts the mittens under it. What mittens, there are no mittens here.]

Right, okay, tell her I'll be right there.

[fujimaru]

[ Mittens, huh... since when did Roman take up knitting at all? ]

I'll tell her.

[ She says, and doesn't leave. She's still trying to peek more at what he's hiding. ]

[chutzpahless]

[There's nothing to see! He's not hiding anything! He pushes it further out of sight.]

I notice you're not going anywhere?

[fujimaru]

I didn't say when I'd tell her...?

[ This is surely the moment where she bats her lashes like some innocent girl, except she's less subtle now about trying to see what he's hiding from her. ]

[chutzpahless]

[S i i i i g h.]

It's rude to try to look at gifts before they're ready.

[fujimaru]

--They're gifts?

[ For who? The staff? Mash?? She's surprised for a moment, blinking as she considers a calendar in her head... huh. ]

Is it someone's birthday soon...?

[chutzpahless]

No, it's - oh, I guess I never mentioned that I'm Jewish?

[When would it have come up, really. Aside from maybe in Okeanos when dealing with David's Everything.]

It's Hanukkah soon.

[fujimaru]

Ah--I don't know that much about that...

[ It's a little embarrassing. At this point, Ritsuka's thrown most of what she knows about historical figures straight out the window, but also! There's a difference between Servants and the human staff. In hindsight, she's a little sheepish about not doing any more research on her own. ]

I know, uh--candles? There's not a lot of that in Japan.

[chutzpahless]

That's alright, I wouldn't expect you to be very familiar with it.

[They were a small group even back in his day.]

You can usually bet that any given Jewish holiday is about 'they tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat'.

[fujimaru]

Ah, I see. I'm into it.

[ Especially the "we survived, let's eat" part of things. ]

But is it a gift exchange kind of thing? Should I get you something, since it's your holiday?

[chutzpahless]

[It's highly relatable, unfortunately.]

It's on short notice, so I wouldn't expect anything, but I appreciate the thought.

[And if she did get something for him he'd be delighted.]

-I promise yours will look better than this when it's done.

[fujimaru]

--Mine?

[ It's one of those moments where she'd realized, on some level, that she'd very likely be in the circle of people he'd give a gift to... but it's still a small surprise. Just like Valentine's Day, when people had deliberately sought her out. Wild. ]

Really??

[chutzpahless]

[Blink, blink.]

Of course I'd get something for you, Ritsuka.

[More than coworkers - they're friends, aren't they?]

[fujimaru]

...ah...

[ Two can play at this slow blinking game. ]

Now I really have to think of something.

[chutzpahless]

Don't worry about it too much. I'd be happy with anything from a friend, you know?

[It's the thought that counts, etc. etc.]

[fujimaru]

Of course I'm going to worry about it! This is like Valentine's Day with less warning!!

[chutzpahless]

Valentine's Day is a way bigger deal!

[that may not be the reassurance you think it is]

[fujimaru]

That's still important!!

[ Prepare yourself, Romani Archman, she's determined now. ]

[chutzpahless]

I'm not going to convince you that it's not a big deal, am I...

[fujimaru]

Nope. You're stuck with this now. Prepare yourself, Doctor.

[chutzpahless]

I'll survive somehow.

[There are worse fates than getting a present from Ritsuka.]

[fujimaru]

You'd better! We're going to make it a whole thing. You're just going to have to deal with this for the rest of your life.

[ Look... she can (often) be a lazy girl, but she's determined. They're doing this. ]

[chutzpahless]

Doesn't that seem a little excessive? I hope I'm not going to spend my whole life working here...

[There's a good chance that he will still be working here at the end of his life, but it's not because of how much he loves the job. He tries to avoid thinking about it.]

[fujimaru]

Yeah, I'm probably not gonna be, either.

[ She's not a mage, after all. Eventually, they'll be successful, and when they are--when the other Master candidates are revived--who's going to have the time or space for a girl who has no talent of her own? She just shrugs about it, though, unworried. ]

But you're my friend, right? Things like texts and the internet exist.

[chutzpahless]

That's true. It'd be nice to hang out without the end of humanity hanging over our heads, too.

[They do have some time to relax, but... it's hard to fully let go of their worries.]

[fujimaru]

Right? We deserve to be able to relax! There's a difference between taking a break during a crisis and just having a good time with friends!

[ She puffs up a little at his agreement. Take that, you workaholic doctor! She's going to socialize you with normal people if it's the last thing she does. ]

[chutzpahless]

[After everything is taken care of and over with! He's still going to be a workaholic now.]

What did you do for fun before all this?

[Since the incineration of humanity has put a damper on a lot of hobbies. To say nothing of vacation spots.]

[fujimaru]

I was on the volleyball team at school! I was pretty good!

[ She brightens as she says it, rocking up on her toes for a moment. ]

Uh, and also karaoke sometimes. I had some friends who liked shopping, and I liked walking around, so I'd usually go with them on the weekends. And get snacks.

[ And then she fixes him with a hopeful, expectant look. ]

Now you!

[chutzpahless]

Oh, um...

[Right, he presumably had a childhood, and friends? And went to school? Normal human things?]

-Well, you already know I follow Magi☆Mari, so... idol stuff, I guess? And TV?

[fujimaru]

Idol stuff... Doctor, you've gotta be careful about things like that...

[ As much as the staff (and Ritsuka) might rag him about his KY tendencies, she doesn't actually want to see him become the Stereotypical Male Idol Fan. That's a fate too terrible to contemplate. ]

I'm gonna introduce you to stuff, got it? Movies. Better pop culture.

[chutzpahless]

[He's not! He's totally reasonable! He doesn't care at all if Magi-Mari were to date someone, he's not a weirdo.]

I'm in your hands. Can I ask for stories with a happy ending?

[fujimaru]

[ [ (X) to doubt. ] ]

...yeah. You know what? I think I could do that. I like happy endings too.

[chutzpahless]

That's probably the least surprising thing I've ever learned about you.