Ruggie and Kalim

We get a direct comparison between Jamil/Kalim and Ruggie/Leona in a lunchtime vignette that ends with Ruggie telling Jamil that looking after Kalim seems rough.

Jamil responds that serving Leona seems “far more painful” but Ruggie says, “Kalim’s so nice, it’d just make me uncomfortable. A lid for every pot, I guess.”

Ruggie does not seem to have the best opinion of Kalim, saying that a classic Kalim solution is to “throw money and bodies at problems to make them go away” and frequently referring to both him and Leona as “silver spooners”.

Ruggie teases Jamil about Kalim wandering off, and is less than enthused to learn that Kalim is his chef for the Master Chef course. 

In a vignette where Jamil reaches breaking point and insists that Kalim cancel an impromptu party Ruggie tells Kalim that he will never forgive him for it, saying, “What’re you gonna do about my calorie deficit? I even bought some to-go containers for this!” 

Ruggie insists he is “not letting (Kalim) off the hook” for canceling the party, leading to Kalim and Ruggie organizing it themselves, without Jamil’s help. Ruggie says he can get Kalim permission to use the school cafeteria to cook.

When they go to the school store and Ruggie learns that all of Kalim’s purchases are charged straight to Kalim’s parents he gets Kalim to order the most expensive ingredients Sam has, saying, “What if you threw in some truffles while you’re at it? They’re my favorite! (Well, I’ve never had ‘em before, but I’m sure they WOULD be my favorite…)”.

Ruggie takes over cooking for the party when it becomes apparent that Kalim is a “sheltered baby”, in the end succeeding in filling his to-go containers.

While working at the school store Ruggie tells Kalim that he must spend 500 thaumarks rather than the actual 50 in order to participate in a competition, even recommending what it is he can buy for who in order to meet the quota.

Ruggie claims that he simply made a mistake, but “it’s not every day such a mark—I mean, such a valued customer waltzes into the store.”