An uncommon scene was currently unfolding within the Chaldea lounge, a surprisingly empty location with the exception of a few servants. The two most important ones were Ryouma and Oryou, with the former making the foolish mistake of trying to do something nice for the dragon. Ryouma had gotten his wife a gift, a small frog contraption made by the resident genius on his behalf, and as a result of what Oryou considered harassing a fellow maiden, she was currently mad at her husband, passive aggressively trying to get Ryouma to leave her alone. Eventually he got the hint, and did just that, intent on letting his wife cool down for at least a moment before they inevitably made peace again.
Yu Mei-ren on the other hand was doing her best to relax in the lounge, a place she had taken to laying down and reading in whenever she was away from her husband. Seeing the scene unfold, her initial thought was to ignore the now alone dragon, or simply go back to her room before a new altercation. That was almost what she did before she thought back to her husband's previous request to make friends. She initially reasoned that befriending the blue haired lancer was more than enough friends for the next few… millennia. Although in a rare moment, she eventually talked herself down from her continued reclusiveness, although this wasn't completely out of the kindness of her heart, or an earnest desire to make friends.
The elemental had been roped into watching romantic comedies with some of the more tech literate servants, encouraged to join in by Xu Fu of all people. Initially, she considered the films and television shows crude, mockeries of relationships by people who could never understand true romance. However, as she watched more and more she began to find herself enthralled by the situations, while she still considered them ridiculous at heart, some part of her overactive imagination put her and her husband as the center stars of the cheap plots. They were already clearly the most in love couple in all of Chalde, no other servants could claim to even come close to feeling what she felt for her beloved Xiang Yu in her every waking moment. She was way better than those idiotic women who needed to be won over with silly things like 'boom boxes'. Yet for some reason, all the other servants kept cooing over how 'romantic' the shows were as if they weren't sitting next to a woman who felt nothing but love in her every waking moment. In that moment she decided all she needed to prove how true her love was to find people to show it off to. She imagined herself on a double date with Ryouma and Oryou, the two of them jealous in admiration as Xiang Yu lovingly showed her affection, it was almost enough to make her explode in affection… which would inevitably end with her exploding outright. And it was with that thought she began walking towards Oryou, intent on befriending her so that she may better show off her ideal love with Xiang Yu.
"I saw you and the detective fought earlier, not that I'm surprised, not everyone can be as perfect as me and my beloved Xiang Yu," Yu replied, a tone of attempted understanding in her voice, although in typical Yu fashion it'd be very easy to confuse the statement as a pure insult.
"Yep, Ryouma is the worst husband in all of Chaldea," she replied deadpan, shockingly taking very little offense from the blatant insult to her husband
"I'm glad you can agree, there's no way that anyone could compare to my beloved Xiang Yu." Yu agreed cockily, speaking her husband's name with reverence as she did.
Just as quickly as she started her attempt at understanding, she had forgotten why she was even talking, quickly overcome by just how lucky she was to have a husband like Xiang Yu.
Oryou didn't respond, attempting to tune out the elemental as she played with a wind-up frog toy Ryouma had gotten for her. Try as she might to beat the information out of him, he wouldn't admit where he had gotten the strange contraption. This to Oryou was more than enough reason not to argue with Yu over Ryouma being the worst husband in all of Chaldea.
"I mean did you expect he could compare once you saw him compared to me and my beloved?" Yu questions genuinely, "He's far more handsome than Ryouma, far more brave, far more strong, and much more intelligent." She finished matter-of-factly.
"You're beginning to annoy Oryou…" the dragon muttered, starting to get perturbed by the ranting of the doting wife beside her. While she could easily agree that her husband was anything but smart, he far exceeded Xiang Yu in other qualities in her eyes… and was far more handsome than every other man in Chaldea.
"Why? I'm only speaking the truth, is there something wrong with saying Ryouma couldn't possibly compare to my beloved Xiang Yu? Perhaps we could have dinner sometime and I can show him off to you." Yu responded in a tone of voice that was somehow mocking sounding yet completely genuine, a not-so-subtle segue into her initial plan managing to worm its way in. The elemental was always used to her patient master putting up with her antics, and didn't quite realize she was literally 'poking the bear'.
As soon as Yu Mei-ren finished her sentence, Oryou lunged forward and bit her hand like a dog defending its owner, clenching down and drawing a small amount of blood as an angry expression overtook her face, "I said that you were annoying me, now Oryou is mad!"
On the other side of Chaldea, Ryouma was currently standing around Da Vinci's lab, looking around the laboratory absentmindedly as he waited for the aforementioned Da Vinci to finish working on some contraption. Eventually, she finished, wiping the sweat off her brow as she looked at Ryouma expectantly, a smile on her face, no doubt expecting praise for her previous creation of the mechanical frog.
"Can you please make a larger one? I'm worried Oryou will break the first one, you know how she gets sometimes," Ryouma requested, looking down at the young genius standing in front of him.
The detective was currently trying to get Da Vinci to make another frog contraption, happy that his wife's reaction to the first one was so positive. He was currently taking advantage of his wife's current bad mood over getting her a gift to get her yet another gift. The dragon always hated when he bothered other people on her behalf, but he was happy being a 'useless husband' if he was able to see her try to hide a smile as she watched the mechanical frog croak. Besides, eventually, she would get over him and force him to watch it hop around as she rode on his shoulders, and all would be right.
Da Vinci was about to protest that a creation of hers would never break under such a simple strain like a dragon's grip before the both of them were suddenly interrupted as the wall next to him suddenly burst open.
Ryouma only had time to let out a yelp of surprise as he was grabbed by Xiang Yu, "Hey what's the big idea, big guy!" Ryouma attempted to question, looking back at Da Vinci as she desperately looked at the hole in the wall, her griping and moaning getting quieter as Xiang Yu continued to drag him against his will towards what seemed like the complete other side of Chaldea.
"I apologize for the sudden disruption, I've calculated that our presence is needed urgently." Xiang Yu responded simply, not elaborating on why, where, or for what purpose as he continued toward his destination.
Ryouma sighed but ultimately decided not to argue, in the short time that he had gotten to know the berserker he learned that it was better to just go along with what he was saying, more often than not it was for a good reason despite his chaotic way of going about it.
That purpose was soon discovered as they approached the common room and discovered that it had been nearly destroyed. The whole room was filled with the sickening scent of Yu Mei Ren's cursed blood, soaking the carpets and cushions of what little remained undestroyed. Even the walls and ceilings weren't left untouched, with Oryou's dragon form not having nearly enough room to manifest in the small space. The both of them were seemingly completely uninjured, but it wasn't for lack of trying as they attempted to bite and slash at each other to little avail. The contained environment made it easy for Yu to avoid Oryou's attacks, and Yu's blades had very little effect on Oryou's hardened scales.
The two husbands immediately got to work dissolving the argument, standing between the battles as they attempted to calm down their respective partners. For the most part that mere act alone was enough to cease the ongoing hostilities, neither woman trying to get past their spouse to continue the battle, even if Oryou looked like she was about to knock Ryouma aside to do just that.
Xiang Yu was the first to try to dissolve the situation, his foresight preparing him for such an encounter much earlier, even if his calculations only gave him a rough idea of what he was to expect. As much as he did love his wife, he knew she was prone to displays that could be seen as… aggressive, to the other servants within Chaldea, and while the rate at which he had to interfere was decreasing, he was always prepared to help her see the error of her ways.
"My beloved Yu, I need you to listen carefully, the future situation depends on it," Xiang Yu spoke with a sound of absolute urgency, even if it was partially obfuscated by his robotic voice, and even further obfuscated by Yu Mei-ren's ever-present rose-tinted look of whatever Xiang Yu spoke.
Immediately Yu Mei-ren ceased her attack, her latent curse dissipating in the air by Chaldea's purification systems without her noble phantasm activation sustaining it. While her fierce fighting spirit would never be completely subdued when she was angry, even by the presence of Xiang Yu, her heart without fail melted upon seeing him, as if years of hatred were pushed to the side. Sheathing her daggers she ran over to Xiang Yu, listening intently to what he had to offer to her.
"Of course my beloved, what do you require of me?" she answered, the thought of the fight temporarily out of her mind when confronted with her beloved needing her aid.
"Apologize to the dragon, it is pointless and destructive to continue whatever argument is taking place."
"Oh but she started it, all I did was talk about my beloved Xiang Yu and how he was so much better than her husband, and she attacked me!" she argued, seemingly unable to recognize her past mistake, or at least subconsciously toned it down.
Xiang Yu didn't respond, instead turning his expression into an almost imperceptible frown, something most people would not even recognize.
Yu Mei-ren however, was not like most people, and the effect it had on her was instantaneous as her expression turned from frustration to distress over the sadness she had inflicted her husband with. Without missing a beat she ran up to the dragon, seemingly unafraid considering that they were still technically fighting.
"Oh, I apologize for insulting your husband! I'm sure you love him just as much as I love my beloved Xiang Yu, I just can't help myself from talking about him!" She apologized, sounding surprisingly mournful, although it was difficult to tell whether it was serious or if she was just trying to put on a show for Xiang Yu. She didn't conclude the need for her apology on her own, only recognizing her mistake due to similar interactions in the past, but it was as genuine as an apology you could expect from the elemental.
Upon hearing the apology, Oryou was silent for a bit, before shrugging… or at least shrugging as best as a dragon could, before soon turning back to her humanoid form. Soon after she adopted her customary position floating atop Ryouma's shoulders, deciding that she had done far too much standing for one day.
"Oryou accepts, let's go back to our room Ryouma," she responded simply, egging him to leave the room.
Ryouma heeded her command, making sure to grab the frog contraption before leaving, even if Oryou puffed her cheeks as she continued to deny she was grateful for it.
"So what caused that whole altercation?" he asked the dragon above him, Oryou typically wasn't one to get into altercations, or at the very least start them.
"Nothing important, Oryou thinks she wants to go on a double date with us," she replied simply, a bored expression on her face as if they weren't just killing each other a moment ago.
"Well, do you?" Ryouma questioned. He figured he knew the answer based on recent experience, but his wife had surprised him with plenty of strange things.
"Sure, it's not like Oryou has anything better to do," she answered absentmindedly, even though she had to admit it was nice to see someone so devoted to their husband.
Ryouma was as flabbergasted as ever, but decided not to press the matter, at the very least his wife seemed to no longer be mad at him. After all, a double date sounded… nice, even if it was with such a strange company. Despite his best efforts, there wasn't a lot of room for a romantic rendezvous in Chaldea. And so he settled on a contented smile at the idea, putting his hand in Oryou's, who did not refuse his touch despite the blush forming on her face.