Did you want to Study? PV Ruby Cazares

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Ruby was having a bad day.

Every little thing seemed to get on her nerves. Everyone was just so annoying. Couldn't they leave her alone for one day? She headed to one of the only places where she thought that she might be able to get some peace and quiet—the library. She checked out a book, sat down, and sighed, beginning to read. Hardly a moment later, she was interrupted by the sound of humming, followed by a slam as that person whacked a book on the table. Her table. “You should be more careful with books and pay attention to your surroundings,” she said coldly before she could stop herself.

Her icy eyes narrowed as he shoved books onto her table, pushing her own book into her lap. “Take up all the space, why don't you. Don't leave any for the person who was here before you, no, that would be thinking too much about others,” she snapped. Her voice was quiet, yet sharp and dangerous. This kid annoyed her. What gave him the right to do that? After all of this, he then had the audacity to sit right next to her. She bristled.

His obliviousness and blind happiness irritated her even further. He chuckled and joked and smiled like what he had done was perfectly acceptable. It was not. Perhaps on a day when she had been in a better mood, she would have laughed it off and talked with him—tried to get to know him better. On a different day, she would have been understanding. People made mistakes. But today she saw that as meaning that she could call him out for it. As for the humming, it was not only irritating but the library was meant to be a quiet place. Her safe space. He was ruining it.

She scowled, hoping he could take a hint and get far away from her. It was no wonder the cold Slytherin was sitting alone. Hopefully, he would learn to see the signs that meant that she was not interested in any form of company. Hostility practically radiated from her, and she glared.

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Ruka had to admit he wasn't exactly being the most respectful and attentive that day, but he was just in such a good mood and it had been such a long time since he hadn't woken up willing to throw himself off the Astronomy Tower that he couldn't keep his giddiness to himself.

When the Slytherin girl called him out on needing to be more careful and attentive, he just gave her a sheepish smile, gnawing on his bottom lip as he continued assembling his books. He blushed brightly when the girl scolded him again, this time for taking up all the space on the table.

"Sorry, sorry," he said again, the smile not leaving his face as he managed to adjust the books so they would only stay in one pile. He wasn't going to let the girl's cold tone bother him, not today. Maybe she was just having a bad day, maybe she just needed a good laugh to cheer her up. 
If even he could get into a good mood, there was no way he wasn't able to make her happier too! 

He looked over at her book, smiling brightly at the girl. "School work?" he asked brightly, looking for any excuse to make some small talk. For someone who had been avoiding any human contact for the better part of the last few months he really felt the need to connect that day. He dropped his shoes under his own chair, sock-clad feet dangling excitedly above the ground. "I've been  dying to get away from school work and just catch up on  some extra curricular reading." He grinned, flicking through some pages of his first book before turning to the girl with a smile. "I'm Ruka, by the way. Ruka Tân. And you are?"

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How was he still happy and continuing to bother her after that? Was he that oblivious and not sensitive at all? He blushed, sure, but didn't do anything besides saying sorry. Twice. Maybe she should just leave, since he wasn't going to. However, she was stubborn, and this was her table, her spot. He shouldn't have come over here. Looking around, she noticed that there were plenty of other places to sit.

As for his questions, she wondered if the quickest way to get rid of him was to answer. It was worth a try. “It's not school work, I've already finished that. It's other stuff. Research of my own.” She tried to keep her replies short, as she did not want to get engaged in a proper conversation with him. For Merlin's sake, couldn't he just leave? She thought that her body language and tone was making it painfully obvious, but maybe she had to say it outright.

“Ruby Cazares,” she answered reluctantly. “Couldn't you sit anywhere else? There's an empty table right there,” she said stiffly, gesturing to it. She added hopefully, “You could spread out as much as you want there,” She switched to muttering to say, “and you wouldn't annoy anyone.”

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Ruka was giddy, clearly way too happy for this girl, but he couldn‘t stop himself from trying to spread some joy.
Joy was good.
He fumbled with the pages of his book as he tried his best to gather his emotions again and become a functioning part of society. His breathing calmed down but the bright smile remained on his face. His thought drifted back to the Gryffindor tower where, neatly folded under his pillow, lay the only picture in existence of him and his dad, torches in their hands and concentrated on their choreography.
The picture he had found between letters this morning, the one he had thought had been lost forever. He had almost made peace with the fact that he was never going to see his dad‘s face again, but there it was.
A picture, taken and gifted to them by a random tourist who had watched one of their performances.
After that discovery, how was he supposed to let anything drag him down that day? He was much more inclined to lift other people up instead.

This girl, however, didn‘t exactly seem like she wanted any part of Ruka‘s joy of the day, her response short and a little cool, like he was a really annoying fly she couldn‘t seem to be able to get rid of.

Ruby, as she introduced herself, was definitely not as happy about having some company as Ruka felt, but he just couldn‘t help sticking around anyway. It wasn‘t like she was the first prickly hedgehog he‘d met so far, and it wasn‘t like she was the first person to try and push him away either.

On any other day, Ruka would have left her to it, would have probably gone down to the Quidditch pitch, grabbed a school broom and practiced some kind of dangerous dives to get his adrenaline up some other way.

This day, however, it was her misfortune that Ruka was very set on connecting with people.
He glanced at the table she was showing him, scrunching up his face at the thought of sitting by himself. 
Sitting by himself would give him the opportunity to maybe think about and analyse things a bit too much, and nothing really dampened his mood as much these days as over-thinking things.

„I‘d much rather stay in company,“ he told Ruby with a little shrug, smiling brightly as he turned back to face her again. „So when you say research, what exactly are you researching? Maybe I could help you with some of it!“

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Wow. How thick was he? Was he really so stupid that he didn't understand what she was saying to him? She was telling him to go away, and he wasn't. All she wanted was one moment of peace and quiet. She just wanted to read, was it so bad to ask that? Apparently Ruka refused to accept her desire for personal space and to be left alone. Couldn't he respect her wishes? She was becoming a bit suspicious of his motivations. Surely no one could be that dumb, so he must have realised what was going on and now just be blatantly ignoring her not-so-subtle request. How rude would he have to be to do that?

Some part of her knew that she was hardly being rational. He was clearly just trying to be kind and friendly. A small part of her appreciated that and admired how stubbornly he was trying to get her to engage with him, but she was also stubborn and in a bad mood, and her rationality currently seemed to have taken a holiday and wasn't coming back any time soon. The fastest way to get rid of him now would be to be completely blunt. As a prefect, she shouldn't really do that, and it was setting a horrible example, but would she do it anyway? Yes, yes she would.

His smiling face would be responded to with a cold stare. “Well, I'd rather you not stay in company, at least not mine.” She was completely unyielding, looking at him blankly, completely unapologetic for what she was saying. “I'm just trying to have some time to myself. I didn't think I would have to say this directly, as I was trying to be nicer—” that part was a lie—“but please go away.”

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