[X] Plan Learning Magecraft With The Emiya Family
"It's kinda plain, ain't it?"
Sayaka turns to Kyouko, who despite her grousing is still shoveling tempura-fried potatoes and cold soba noodles into her mouth like a hungry wolf. "And yet that's not stopping you," she says, shooting the redhead a dirty look. "'Sides, as long as Mister Archer's making lunch, I am there."
"Actually, all I did was help chop the veggies," Archer says, turning Sayaka's compliments over to Kure Minako. "Kure's the one who did all the frying. So if you're going to thank anyone, thank her."
"Uh, sure." Sayaka looks over to the mother Kure, seated between her daughter and your servant; she's caught in the middle of shooting Archer a smile when Sayaka says "Thanks, Missus K." Fun she may be having, you can tell that Sayaka isn't at ease with the thought of being around Mikuni Oriko and Kure Kirika, and from the look on her face thanking the mother of one of them was not something she expected she would have to do.
A few minutes ago, Archer called for you to let you know that lunch was ready and waiting out on the patio. When you and your friends arrived, you found a veritable bounty of tempura-fried vegetables, alongside a big bowl of zaru soba and plates enough for all eleven of the Mikuni cabin's occupants. Eggplant and potatoes; kabocha squash and maitake mushrooms; gobo and lotus roots. You can't remember the last time you've had any of these; and certainly not the last time you've had the tempura-fried. Once you've spooned yourself up a portion of the cold soba, you go straight for the lotus roots and gobo. It's a simple lunch, hardly what you've come to expect of your servant's culinary skills - which is to be believed if he contributed as little to the lunch as he claims - but it's a filling meal for lunch on the beach all the same.
"Are you having fun so far, Homura-chan?"
You smile for Madoka, seated beside you, her plate piled high with eggplant and zaru soba. "Yes, today's been a very nice distraction from what I usually have to deal with." Though, as your eyes scan the patio table, that clearly isn't as true as you wished it were. Sayaka and Kyouko have already gotten into one fight today, and from the way they're staring each other down it looks like another one is soon to be coming in no time at all; you encountered a witch last night; and Kure Kirika is still looking more than a little distraught by the events of earlier this morning. Sayaka-Kyouko drama, witches, and emotional issues between your teammates; that checklist looks disturbingly like what you have to deal with on a regular basis.
You sigh, shaking your head as you correct your earlier statement. "Actually, today's just been a beach-themed version of what I usually have to deal with." Still, you muster up a smile, and you give Madoka's offered hand a gentle squeeze, saying "But I'm glad you're here with me, Madoka. That alone is enough to make everything better."
"Hey, so like-" Sayaka manages to pull herself away from her budding conflict with Kyouko long enough to address the elephant in the cabin. "-What's going on between Archer and Missus K?" she asks you, louder than she needed to be if she wanted to remain covert. "Like, are they together, or what? 'Cause she's been looking at him the way you and Madoka look at each other ever since we all got on the train."
"As I understand it, Kure Minako has either developed feelings for Archer, or simply finds him attractive," you respond, sparing Sayaka from Kure Kirika's description of her mother desiring the bone of your servant's sword. "I'm not sure which one it is. It may be both. They aren't together, to my knowledge, but Archer has told me that he wishes to give her some life help, so maybe she's hoping she'll have her chance then."
"Well, I for one think it's sweet." You don't want to cast judgement on Hitomi, but of course she would think that. So far, theirs is the only heterosexual romance among the cabin guests, even if it's little more than the aspirations of a desperate single mother. True, Hitomi is dating Kamijou Kyousuke - though with how infrequently you see the pair interacting, you find yourself doubting that - and Lancer once had a husband, but neither Kamijou Kyousuke nor Lancer's husband are present here; only a gaggle of predominantly-lesbian teenage girls. "Kure-san deserves a bit of happiness in her life just as much as any of us, and if she thinks Archer-san can give her that happiness than all the better for her."
"Yeah but, like, that's Homura's dad," Sayaka says, showing off her mouthful of chewed tempura eggplant as she speaks. "Er, dad-substitute. Ain't that like, still kinda weird?"
"Why should it be? They are both single parents; and as such they share in similar struggles. Would it be any less strange than your mother falling in love with a man who was a single parent himself?"
Sayaka crosses her arms as Hitomi brings up her mother, "Psh"ing her words with "My mom works too hard to ever have time to find someone. And what if they start dating for real, then? Or worse-" Sayaka lowers her voice, looking around to the four of you with shifty eyes as she says "-what if they get married? Then Homura'll be sisters with that girl." To emphasize her point, Sayaka thumbs over to that girl; Kure Kirika has hogged almost all of the kabocha squash for herself, but alternates between eating for herself and feeding slices of the fried squash to Mikuni Oriko. "I know where Homura's coming from with them, but it still weirds me out to think that she could be sisters with one of them if Mister Archer marries her mom."
"So? As I've told you many times, Sayaka-san, I don't know what Kure-san was like before, but from what I have seen of her she's a very sweet girl, if perhaps more affectionate with her girlfriend than she should be in polite company."
Sayaka rolls her eyes, and you decide to let blue and green continue their back-and-forth regarding Archer and Kure Minako on their own. "So Madoka, how are things at home?" you ask; you came here, partly, to spend time with your girlfriend, and you're going to make the most of the time you have with her. "Is everyone doing well?"
Madoka offers an enthusiastic "Mhm!" for you, swallowing her food in order to say "Everyone's doing well. Mama's still complaining about her boss not retiring, though. She keeps saying 'any day now' but every day she says it, I think I believe her less and less."
"Her boss is that kind of guy, is he?"
"I've met him a few times; he's really nice, and despite being old he's really strong and in good health, too. I don't think he'll be retiring any time soon."
"Hey, so when are you two gonna kiss?" Sayaka's question, while not one you're unfamiliar with coming from her, still takes you by surprise; you had thought she would still be conversing with Hitomi, but as you look to her former conversation partner you are greeted to a beet-red blush and a look that says "I tried to stop her" from your seaweed-haired friend. "I mean, those two-" Sayaka thumbs over to Mikuni Oriko and Kure Kirika;
"... Of course, I said yes to Kirika when she asked me out, but at first I wasn't really sure if being with another girl romantically was something that I was comfortable with," Mikuni Oriko says to Tomoe-san. Why this snippet of their conversation stood out to you enough to draw your attention, you can't say for sure, but it certainly provides a nice distraction from Sayaka. "For a lot of our early dates, we'd snuggle up on my bed and watch Italian lesbian romance films." She leans over, giving Kure Kirika the hug that her chocolate-haired lover was leaning in for expectantly. "It helped me to realize that I was fine with the idea of loving another girl; quite fine, in fact." With a smile, Mikuni Oriko turns her head to Kure Kirika, asking her "We had our first kiss while watching Viola di mare, didn't we dearest?" to which Kure Kirika responds with an enthusiastic nod of her head.
"You're taking Italian as your foreign language, right? Do you have a lot of Italian films that you like to watch, or were those ones just to see if you were comfortable with the idea of a lesbian relationship?"
"A little of both, actually." Mikuni Oriko responds to Tomoe-san's question with a nod. "My grandmother was born in Italy, but moved to Japan after marrying her husband. My mother grew up speaking both Italian and Japanese, and even though they both died when I was young, my mother and grandmother both tried to teach me the language as well. I've been teaching myself since I was... Ten, or maybe twelve, and as part of that I found myself getting intimately acquainted with Italian cinema. Hearing the language being spoken, rather than just reading about it in a book, has gone a long way in helping me learn the language, and over the years I've built up quite the collection of Italian-language films. So, when I started dating Kirika, I just decided to branch out into another genre."
"-are seriously like wa~ay ahead of you two in the romance department. You might want to get on that if you ever want to catch up to them." You stare at Sayaka, who really can't seem to make up her mind about whether she's okay with two girls kissing or not. She teases you and Madoka constantly, and yet yesterday she said to you how she finds the affections of Mikuni Oriko and Kure Kirika weird. "And it's like, at the rate you two are going, by the time you're kissing they'll have moved on to, you know, other stuff."
You have to suppress the thought; memories of the talk Archer gave you yesterday morning are still fresh in your mind, and you don't need anything else making today awkward for you. Unfortunately, "Homura-chan, are you alright?" it appears that you've gone and done that to yourself anyway. "Your face turned all red all of a sudden.
"I'm fine, Madoka," you say, choking down your zaru soba in an attempt to cool yourself off. It isn't working; you can still feel the heat of your blush. Whoever said that zaru soba cools you off was lying.
[ ] Wat do?
