The ORC were gathered in the living room of the house, having Haru rest on the sofa while Asia checked him over and healed his wounds. Ruto was in his room, however he was not in as good shape as he would have the others believe. His chest was burnt, his shoulder had a patch of semi-burnt skin from Akeno's lightning, his back was bruised an ugly shade of blue, brown and yellow from hitting the ground hard so many times and the list went on.
He sat listlessly on the edge of his bed in the dark, the only light source coming from the hallway which bled through the gap in the door. He was tired, battered and overall disappointed. He hung his head and sighed, his golden hair falling forward like a frosted curtain. He was slowly healing his wounds with a form of time manipulation, which was isolated to his body, accelerating the healing process.
Outside of his door Rossweisse looked through the gap, seeing Ruto hunched forward with his head down. She almost cringed when she saw the bad bruising on his back.
"Erm, Ruto? Are you okay?" she asked tentatively. "I'm coming in." She opened the door slightly wider and slipped in, closing it behind her. She turned on a small lamp next to Ruto's bed to light the room. From the angle she was at, she could see the more extensive damage to his body. She moved around the bed and knelt down to face him.
"Hey, Ruto? Come on, speak to me." she said, growing concerned at his silence.
"Could you give me a minute? I need to focus." Ruto said tiredly. He kept his eyes closed in concentration as he slowly made his wounds fade.
Self healing? Rossweisse thought curiously. I'm not sensing too much magic being used, certainly not enough for any healing spell I know. She continued to watch him. After several minutes, the burns on his chest and shoulder were gone, his back was normal and other wounds were now healed. However, that still left Ruto looking a little different.
"Uh, Ruto, did your hair get longer from doing that?" Rossweisse asked, baffled. His hair had indeed gotten longer, but he looked incredibly tired. He smiled at her wearily.
"Yeah. That's a side effect of Time Subjection. I control the flow of time around a person or object. However, since I'm using it on myself, the healing process is accelerated, but so is the aging process." he explained. The back of his hair reached the base of his neck while his fringe finished just past his eyes. All in all, Rossweisse liked the new look.
"I've never seen a magic like it. How'd you get it?" Rossweisse asked intrigued. Now that she thought about it, it would be the first time Ruto really went into detail about himself. It suddenly hit her that the person she'd come to have quite the affection for was almost a total mystery to her.
"Well, I guess most of my magic comes from my mother." he began, patting the spot next to him for Rossweisse to sit. She did just that and was quite close to him, but whether he noticed was unknown. "She was a powerful magician in a Fuyuki magician sect. Actually she was one of the 1% of magicians that use magic manipulating time and physics of any kind." he explained.
Rossweisse hung on his every word, eager to learn about him. "My mother, well she was more of a teacher than a parent. She took care of me of course, but she was too professional and distant. She taught me everything I know about magic. My father was the one that got me in good enough shape to use it though. Magic like this really takes its toll on the body, so to slow it down, you gotta be fit." Ruto said.
"Do you have any siblings?" Rossweisse asked with intense curiosity. Ruto had to fight back a cringe.
"Well… yeah, I do. But I'd rather not talk about them." he replied awkwardly. Rossweisse was disappointed at the lack of a real answer, but at least she knew he had siblings. But what bothered her was why he didn't want to talk about them.
"What I can tell you is that I'm the youngest of four. I have a brother and two sisters. They were… well I guess you could say they were better at following our parents' example. They were studious, powerful and overall absorbed in the study of magic. My brother saw me as a threat to his power, my first sister treated me decently if a little careless at times, and my second sister just did her own thing, but she disappeared before our parents fought with Tiamat." he explained with a far away look on his face.
"You don't have to tell me more if you don't want to." Rossweisse said softly as she put a hand on his shoulder. Ruto smiled at her.
"Thanks. Honestly, since then I've really had no idea what to do with myself. I just go with whatever the day throws at me. That's how I can cope with all the insane shit that's been going on lately. " he said with a sad smile.
Rossweisse gave him a sympathetic look. "You don't have any dreams for the future?"
Ruto shook his head. "Nope. At one point I wanted to be a scientist, then a sailor, and the last thing I wanted to be, and you're gonna love this, a vet." he admitted. He looked away from Rossweisse in embarrassment, red colouring his cheeks.
BY THE GODS HE'S EMBARRASSED! Rossweisse mentally squealed. She recovered and asked "So you must like animals then?"
Ruto looked at her with a bright smile. "I love animals. Ever since I was a little kid. I had a bunch of pets back in Fuyuki. Honestly I was excited when I first went to get my familiar when I was 10, thinking I'd get the ultimate pet. Ironically, this guy was as far from being a pet as you can get. He's an Ifrit called Ashrahm. But anyway, my pets were the only ones that I could really be myself around, cos as you know my folks weren't all smiles and hugs."
Rossweisse gave him a warm smile. Seeing him open up about his passions and dreams was something she'd wanted for a long time. Now that she was able to, she wasn't going to waste it.
"Maybe one day you could do just that. Maybe you could be the next familiar master, who knows." she suggested with a smirk.
"And lose my mind like that guy? No thanks. I'm sure a job as a vet is much better." He said jokingly. A comfortable silence settled over the two of them.
Now's your chance, you should tell her. Albion said. She'd been waiting for Ruto to say something for a long time, and now was the ideal time. Ruto took a deep breath, nausea crept into his stomach but he fought the feeling off.
"Rossweisse/Ruto..." the two said in unison. "Umm, you go first." Rossweisse said, sounding uncertain.
"Uhh… I just wanted to tell you something that's been on my mind for a while." he began shakily. "You see… uh… ugh, fuck it, look, I really like you Rossweisse, and I have done for a while. So I wanted to ask you, will you give me a shot and go out with me?" Ruto asked in one breath. Despite his direct question, he practically died of embarrassment on the inside.
WHY DID I ASK IT LIKE THAT!? he raged. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SMOOTH AND SLICK, NOT CLUMSY AND A TOTAL MESS!
Rossweisse stared wide-eyed at him for a minute or so. She blinked once, again, then a third time. Then it seemed to have finally registered in her brain.
He asked… he actually asked… bythegodsheactuallyaskedI'mgonnadie! she blushed madly and decided that she had to answer. She'd finally reached it. Getting her first boyfriend after so many years of ridicule. To think she'd come to question him about the fight and why he'd been so vicious against them.
"Yes. I'll go out with you… if that's what you want that is..." she accepted shyly. At this point Ruto could see steam rising from the top of Rossweisse' head.
Must… resist… witty… reply. Must… preserve… atmosphere. Ruto chanted in his mind to resist giving her a backhanded reply.
"Awesome." was all he said. He then stood up and stiffly walked out of the room, leaving Rossweisse alone. She watched him leave, but still spotted the big, idiotic grin on his face. She lay back on his bed and let out a happy sigh.
"Finally..." she sighed. "I got a good one, Grandmother." She then smiled widely and closed her eyes. Oh how she would rub it in Odin's face one day.