Not Nice Seeing You Again PV Ruka Tân Closed

-Interacting with @ Ruka Tân-

If before she had doubts about Ruka’s dad still being alive, him talking about the man with the past tense made that doubt go away. Lydia’s face turned softer, almost sad as she tried to imagine what the boy must have gone through; to lose the only parent you have must have been extremely hard, and the boy’s tone of voice suggested that he felt some kind of resentment towards the man. Not really knowing what to say about that, the strawberry blonde headed girl decided to simply nod, her eyes fixed on Ruka. The more she learned about him, the more the pieces of the puzzle that Ruka was started to slightly make sense.

“I’m not- it’s not like I’m scared of them finding out that I know some of the truth; it’s more... what else there might be that I don’t know yet,” she admitted, answering Ruka’s words with her eyes looking down at her shoes. “And to be fair, I can’t think of any good reason why she would need to lie about that. She hates liars, and she knew how excited I was when I got the letter and-“ shaking her head, Lydia had to take a moment to take a deep breath before continuing. “I guess I just thought I was somehow... special,” That was definitely that made her feel like crap sometimes. “I used to think that all of the hard work I’m putting into getting good grades, keeping up my streak of Os, was something special, incredible even. But now all of that seems... not useless, but it kind of lost the value it used to have? It’s like, I don’t need to show people that I deserve the magic, cause I got it most likely because of my mother,”

As Ruka moved closer to one of the walls, Lydia followed him, not really wanting to shout to be able to talk with the boy. “That’s nice of you, I appreciate that. It is... kind of nice, to talk about this with someone that doesn’t know anything about it. It helps getting an outsider’s point of view,” then, with a small chuckle she shook her head. “It’s alright, I- I get what you mean. She’s might still be young, but she’s still “old”, so... yeah, it kind of makes sense. It’s just- not a lot of people would say it like that,”

A proper laugh then left her lips at Ruka’s joke, and nodded. “I’ll try my best! But who knows, maybe someone will decide to set the quidditch stadium on fire, since it’s Hufflepuff playing,” she tried to joke.

Ruka’s reaction to her suggestion made Lydia’s curiosity increase even more. It’s true that when Flash has talked about Ruka during their private AURA meeting he had done that in... not that positive way, but she knew that sometimes brothers had fights, so she thought her idea wasn’t that up in the air. “Well, even if he’s not your brother, you must care about him as well, if you even consider him part of your family,” she said, and then she widened her eyes when she heard the name.

Jack Burnett.

Since the moment Rafael has talked about him, she had been quite curious about this boy, but it wasn’t like she could just ask the Gryffindor captain about him. “Oh... I have heard of him. I mean, his name. I’ve never actually talked with him,” she said, her voice sounding slightly pensive. “I heard that he’s not... someone you would want to be around? Dangerous? But- the person you are describing sounds like the complete opposite,” she admitted, and looked at the copper haired boy. “I have to admit that I’m curious to know more now. How did you guys meet?”

Ruka sounded genuinely curious about her sister, so she smiled at him and nodded. “We are... sometimes we fight, but that’s normal. Oh, she’s eight years old, so still quite young, but not enough to excuse her behaviour sometimes. She... still likes to throw tantrums a lot,”

@Lydia Cooper

Ruka hummed in contemplation as he listened to Lydia talk about her mum and how she had thought she was special for being the first in her family to have magical blood. "If she hates liars then she must have had a really good reason for lying. You don't turn into something you hate over nothing," he pointed out thoughtfully, lifting a hand to rub at his chin. "I think you should give her a chance to explain before you jump to conclusions. Sometimes... Sometimes we make mistakes with the people we most care about because we care about them so much. She probably thought she was acting in your best interest. Don't hold her love for you against her before you know the whole story." He smiled, a little sadly as he considered all the mistakes he had made out of care, how he had been hurt himself by other's care for him.

"As for being special," he added, shaking his head at her. "I don't think magic is something any of us deserve in the first place. Sure, you're more likely to be magical through genes, but there are still non-magic people born from pureblood families. It all seems more coincidental to me." He offered the girl an encouraging smile. "It's not the magic that makes you special, or how you got it, it's what you do with it. Working hard, getting good grades, that's not something you were born into, that's all you. Don't diminish your own accomplishments like that, it doesn't do anybody any good, least of all you."

Moving on from that topic, Ruka pulled a face at himself as Lydia pointed out that she understood what he had said about her grandma but that most people wouldn't say it like he had. "They wouldn't," he stated in defeat but there was a hidden question there. Why wouldn't they? What was so wrong about pointing out a fact? "I'm sorry, I don't talk to people a lot. It shows." He laughed lightly at his own ineptitude, shrugging his shoulders. "I suppose I'm not very familiar with what's acceptable to say and what isn't."

At least Lydia didn't seem to hold any resentment towards him for what he said, even laughed when he told her to stay away from secret student organised events during the summer camp. The joke she made elicited a bubbly laugh from him too and he nodded, serious expression on his face. "I hope you've got that extinguishing charm at the ready," he said. "Or water. Buckets of water." Hiding his amusement behind his hand for a moment, Ruka shuffled around a bit against the wall to find a more comfortable position before the topic turned to Flash and how Lydia thought he still had to be someone Ruka cared about if he was included in his extended family.

"I suppose," he said with a little shrug, pulling a grimace that would be difficult to pinpoint to one exact emotion. "We're still getting to know each other. Remember how I said I don't know what's acceptable to say and what isn't? I know what's acceptable to say to Flash even less." With a little sigh he slumped a bit before shaking his head. He didn't really want to get into how terrible he was at making the Slytherin feel comfortable around him, it was something he would have to figure out over time.

Mentioning Jack's name had an immediate effect on Lydia, her eyes widening like he had taken her by surprise somehow. It was to be expected that she had already heard of him, especially considering she was apparently friends with Rafa of all people, but the words she said about him made Ruka stop all movement for a moment.

"Dangerous," he repeated before breaking into uncontrolled laughter, bending in half as he slid down the wall a little bit and slapping his hands down on his knees, tears of amusement gathering in the corners of his eyes. "Yeah," he pressed out between bursts of giggles as he straightened up again, wiping a hand across the moist skin around his eyes. There were a few words Ruka would have used to describe Jack - unpredictable, sly, clever, scared, vulnerable - but dangerous was most definitely not one of them. "That sounds very human, alright," he pointed out. "Labelling something as dangerous because you don't understand it. Let me guess, your friend Rafael has been spitting those warnings, has he?" The most plausible explanation, for sure. "Rafa has no clue how Jack works, I wouldn't take his word for it." That much had been clear from the way his fellow Gryffindor had been talking about Jack and his actions back at their encounter in the Courtyard, so Ruka felt confident making that statement.

At least Lydia seemed willing to hear more before forming her own opinion which was something Ruka could respect. "We happened to be in the same room at the same time," he explained vaguely. "And happened to enjoy each other's company." A small smile lit up his face and his eyes. "He's been taking care of me ever since." Shrugging lightly he let his gaze trail towards the nearest window to stare at the blue skies outside as if they held some distant memory for him to find. "I try to do the same for him. Not that there's a lot I can do for him." Shaking his head to himself he looked back at Lydia, smiling as she talked some more about her younger sister.

"Tantrums," he repeated with a hint of amusement in his voice. "Like throw yourself on the floor and scream kind of tantrums?" He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck lightly. "It's nice that you still love her even if she can get annoying." Something Flash apparently was unable to do with is own younger brother. Family dynamics just continued to get more and more confusing with each conversation about them. "I hope... I hope I'll be a good brother, myself. I want to be one, at least."

-Interacting with @ Ruka Tân-

Lydia sighed as she listened to Ruka, his words making complete sense; she knew he was right, that she shouldn't be that upset with her mother, but she couldn't help that part inside of her that kept telling her that she had every right to be madly upset, that she should just tell everything to her mom and let go of all the hurt she had been feeling in the past months, preferably by yelling at her. "I know but- It still hurts, you know? And like, what good reasons could she have, to hide... all of this," she moved her arm in a circle, gesturing to their surroundings. "And the fact that I will barely see her this summer only makes things worse," Lydia had to admit that, even though she knew she deserved some kind of punishment for the Ball and having missed the family party, she strongly thought that having to spend the rest of the summer with her Grandma in London was maybe a bit too much.

Ruka's explanation on why magic wasn't special per se had Lydia tilt her head to the side, as she contemplated his words; the Gryffindor boy was quite wise for his age, one wouldn't normally expect a twelve year old to think like that, and even though this was a surprise, the Hufflepuff girl had to admit it was a rather pleasant one. "I guess you might have a point here. I mean, yeah, us having magic is definitely because of luck, genes and probability, but doesn't that mean that we are somehow special, because we still managed to inherit it?" she wasn't too sure she had managed to properly explain what she meant, but she hoped that Ruka had understood anyway. "I do agree though on the fact that how we use magic makes us special. I think it also shows the kind of person someone is. Think about that dark wizard... Voldemort, was it? He used his talent in a bad way, and that showed the kind of person he was; so if someone uses magic to do good things, it shows that they are good people,"

She gave Ruka an encouraging smile when the boy said he didn't talk to people that much. "It's alright! I personally think you're doing quite well. And well, it's not that it's not acceptable to say- well, technically it's not that acceptable but, I think it depends a lot on the person you're talking with? For example, I didn't take it too bad, but someone else might have gotten offended, while other might have laughed. I guess, it is not acceptable to say, just cause this way one can avoid accidentally upsetting the person they're talking with?" scratching her temple, she looked up as if to search for a better answer. "It's not easy, talking to people, especially if you're not used to it. Let's say that, in order to avoid awkward situations, it's better not to suggest that someone's loved one might die soon," Lydia gave Ruka a small wink, showing him that she was not upset.

A light, bubbly laugh left the girl's lips as she heard Ruka's joke; who knew he also had such a sense of humour? She didn't comment on it, her laugh saying enough for her already, and then nodded at Ruka's words about Flash."I'm sure you'll get there in time; also, It's something that requires some time, effort but mostly the will of properly getting to know someone. Maybe that is why often one might know more their friends and "chosen" family, rather than the blood one,"

Well, Ruka's reaction to Lydia's description of Burnett was completely unexpected; she had imagined him confused, maybe even upset, but not so amused, as if she had just told the joke of the century. When the other boy brought Rafael's name into the talk, Lydia frowned slightly; she had tried to keep him out of the conversation, but apparently his opinion on the Slytherin boy was so "famous" that Ruka immediately knew it was his. "Yeah, it was him," she admitted, cause there was no point in denying that. "Though I'm sure he had his reasons to describe him that way... do you-" she started saying, but then stopped. Maybe she should have been asking these questions to Rafael, or this Jack Burnett himself, but since she did not know the Slytherin boy, and since the Quidditch captain hadn't added anything else about Jack when he could have, Lydia decided to go for it; after all, Ruka was going to be Jack's brother. "Do you know what happened between them?" Something must have happened, for Rafael to think of Burnett as dangerous; he had looked too serious, almost concerned, when he had said those words, so something important had to had happened.

Listening to how Ruka and Jack met, seeing how happy and fond the second year looked, Lydia couldn't help but smile softly. "Like real brothers do," she said, and then looked puzzled at Ruka. "What do you mean when you say that he has been taking care of you? And why can't you do the same for him?" After all, Ruka was going to a boarding school, he was not a baby anymore, so technically he didn't need someone to take care of him.

Or did he?

Lydia nodded as she chuckled, thinking back at the how dramatic her little sister could be sometimes. "Yeah, full on red face, screaming, stomping feet kid. And over the littlest things even," she shook her head, only to give Ruka another encouraging smile. "You already sound like a brother. A good one even, I think you'll be alright." she said. "If I can give you an advice, don't be scared of the fights that will happen, they're completely normal between brothers. Also, remember that a brother, or sister, will always have your back, no matter what,"

@Lydia Cooper

Ruka's brows furrowed a little as Lydia talked, her words worming their way straight to his heart. "I know it does," he said softly, nodding his understanding. If anybody knew what it was like to hold resentment towards your parent without the chance of getting any closure on it, it'd be him. There wasn't really much to say to lessen that pain, no wise words that could shut off that feeling, so instead he slowly moved forward to wrap his arms around the girl, pulling her into a tight hug. The touch felt like fire under his skin but it was the only way he thought he might be able to give her at least a little comfort so maybe it was worth him bracing through it.

If she resisted in any way, Ruka would release her immediately, but if she hugged him back he would remain in that position for a moment, even tightening his embrace a little before letting go again and stepping back, a small smile on his face. "Things have a way of working themselves out," he told her confidently. "It's not going to hurt like this forever, I promise."

With that said, Ruka took to listening to Lydia talking about magic and how the small probability of them inheriting it made them special, how it defined someone's personality whether they were using their magic for good and bad. A broad topic he had lightly touched onto with Persephone already but he wasn't above going into it again with the Hufflepuff. "That implies that people who don't have magic aren't special," he pointed out, shaking his head at the girl in front of him. "We all have things that make us special but I don't think we can take credit for the coincidence of our birth. You'd be just as special having been born into a muggle family, or a pureblood family, with or without magic. Special comes from you, not from some piece of fotune." Shrugging his shoulders he decided to move along with the flow of her thoughts.

"Suppose your idea of that strongly depends on what you consider good or bad," he pointed out thoughtfully. "I'm sure there were people who thought that Voldemort guy was doing some great stuff, otherwise he wouldn't have had that many followers." With a little sigh he leaned back against the wall. It wasn't like he knew all that much about Voldemort, had only read some about it from books in the library, but he was always interested in the definitions of good and bad.

"I don't think you can ever really define a personality as good or bad, really. We all do things for our own personal reasons, following our personal moral compass. We do what we think is right and hope for the best." That was that, really. It was all any of them could really ever hope to do.

Deciding not to dig any deeper into that subject for now, Ruka felt himself pulling a face at Lydia's words about how it wasn't acceptable to say certain things in order to avoid upsetting others. "I guess I've never been all that concerned with upsetting anybody," he admitted with a little laugh. At least he hadn't been, until Flash, who was the first person to have ever made him aware of the fact that he seemingly wasn't careful enough with the way he talked, how he worded things. Not upsetting people was like walking on egg shells, downright exhausting. "But I'll try to avoid death talk from here on out, so thanks for the tip." He chuckled, nodding his understanding and also gratitude for the fact that Lydia seemingly didn't take offence.

Her words about how she was sure he was going to eventually learn how to talk to Flash properly made him smile lightly before sighing as she continued on about close friends and chosen family. Slowly but surely he was getting tired of this word that didn't seem to have any real meaning. "Chosen family," he repeated wearily, a tired expression crossing his face. "What is it with everyone giving that word their own definition and choosing their family as they go? I doubt I'll ever really understand what family means to you all." Didn't the word lose its value and meaning if its definition could just be changed from one moment to the next?

Either way, he didn't take to dwelling on that thought for too long in favour of smiling lightly when Lydia confirmed that it had been Rafa who had told her about Jack. It had only been a guess, but it wasn't very surprising to know he had been right about it.

"It's not really my story to tell," he admitted with a small shrug. "Let's just say Jack doesn't like being violent and Rafa doesn't like when people don't fight back the way he wants them to." Was that enough to give Lydia a vague picture of where their differences lay? "I suppose Rafa will claim that Jack kissed both him and his boyfriend, which I guess he did. On the cheek." Rolling his eyes, Ruka pressed his back further against the wall. "He had his reasons," he continued with a little shrug. "I doubt Rafa cared much for them, though." With a little chuckle he tilted his head to the side, offering Lydia a look that said he didn't know what else to add. "There's multiple sides to every story," he pointed out. "I don't want to give you a butchered retelling of one of them, so maybe you can just ask him about it sometime. Form your own opinion on it, you know?" That was probably for the best; There was no way for him to really talk about this without applying an exaggerated amount of bias, which wasn't a good foundation for Lydia to build her opinion on.

When Lydia asked about what he meant when he said Jack had been taking care of him, Ruka sighed heavily, a defeated chuckle escaping him. He should have known that his words could be questioned; He was just far too used to people just brushing over things he said. "I haven't been doing so well this year," he just said, pursing his lips. "Jack's been helping me with school work. My eating habits." He looked down on himself, lightly tugging at the sleeve of his shirt. "Got me new clothes." He smiled as his hand wrapped around the flame shaped pendant laying across his chest. "This necklace too." He felt his face flushing a bit as he realised that Lydia most likely had no clue what the piece of jewellery really meant to him. "It has... a picture of my dad inside." He smiled before letting go of the pendant and raising his shoulders lightly.

What did he mean when he said he wasn't able to do much for Jack? Was it not obvious in comparison to everything his future brother had already done for him?

"You'd have to know him," he just said with a small chuckle. "He's fantastic. I don't think I have a lot to offer him in return but... He's keeping me around so I must be doing something right, I guess." Humming softly he let his shoulders drop again before locking eyes with Lydia again to listen to her talking about her sister's tantrums.

"Sounds exhausting," he admitted with a little laugh. "How do you deal with that?" Maybe Lydia had some good advice on how to deal with younger siblings that he could forward to Flash. It was worth asking at least.

"I think I'm prepared for fights," he said vaguely, a small smile curling his lips upwards. As Lydia continued to say that a brother would always have your back, his features brightened even more, eyes glistening fondly. "Yeah," he said with a little nod. "That I trust." If he didn't trust in much else, if there was one thing he was willing to believe in it was this. "I'll always have his too."

-Interacting with @ Ruka Tân-

Lydia was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realise, at first, that Ruka had moved closer to her; the sudden feeling of someone's arms around her made her jump up, but once she understood that it was Ruka, she wrapped her arms around the tiny boy as well. If someone would have told her she would have been hugging Ruka one day, she would have not believed it, but she guessed that that day was indeed a day full of surprises. The hug was over soon, but it left a sense of calm inside of the girl; those were probably her favourite kind go hugs, the unexpected ones, so tight that they almost knock the air out of your lungs and replace it with calm and peace.

"Thanks," she only said once she had put some space between them, a small, grateful smile on her face. For someone that wasn't good at talking with people, Ruka certainly knew when to hug someone.

Focusing on the topic of magic, she sighed and shook her head. "That's not what I meant. People without magic are still special, just, magic is not what makes them special? I believe every person can be special, all for their own quality; us with magical powers just happen to be special because of those powers. But-" she said, finding it hard to explain what she meant. "Magic makes us special, but not better than those without it? Also, since we have... this power that allows us to do things muggles can't do, maybe we should even share some knowledge with them? Like they are doing for the Coronavirus pandemic; we don't get affected by it, but we are most likely to create a cure for it so we are helping them out," If Lydia was been honest with herself, in her perfect world everyone would know about magic, and wizards and muggles would work together to create a better world for everyone.

"But there has to be a universal definition 'good' and 'bad' though, otherwise how would we know that, for example, killing someone is bad, while helping someone is good?" this whole conversation was becoming quite deep all of a sudden; not that Lydia minded, of course. "We are all a grey mix of good and bad, yeah. But... we also know if most of our actions are good or bad? If our moral compass makes us do good things or evil ones. Voldemort might have believed he was acting well for his moral compass, but the actions he took were all evil ones."

Ruka saying he had never been that concerned about upsetting other people made Lydia vaguely smile; she didn't know why, but she somehow had that feeling, with the way their conversation had gone back when she had punched him. She nodded and gave him another smile, almost as if to say "you're welcome", before she concentrated on their next conversation subject.

"I think the word family has a slight different meaning from person to person, but- the core of it I think is that, family is made by people that love you, care about you and are ready to support you, no matter what; they are people that help you grow, even by making you make your own mistakes. I think- It's not necessarily a matter of 'blood' relatives, but more how someone makes you feel; that's why for some people their friends are also their family, while for others consider no one their family," she tried to explain, the topic being rather complicated. "Maybe... try to think of it as if it was a wolves pack; there are blood-related wolves and non that all live together. Old ones, young ones, more families all living together, hunting together, trying to support each other... I think, that's how a family should be? No matter how you're related, wether by blood or friendship, you can count on them and they can count on you,"

As the conversation went on and they started talking about Rafael, Lydia listened closely, particularly interested. When the whole kiss fight with Rafa in the Herbology class happened, she had been too focused on her own feelings to ask him more questions about Ruka or Burnett; but later that night, his words had kept playing in her head, and she had found herself getting quite curios as to what the story between them was. She nodded at Ruka, as she thought back at the Blossom Ball. "He can be quite... Impulsive, that is true. And- wait," Lydia said, tilting her head. "Is Jack the friend you were talking about before I punched you?" she asked as she connected the dots. But why would Rafael do that? What had happened?

Lydia didn't have to wait that long for the answer though.

Jack had kissed Rafael and his... boyfriend? If Lydia had been confused before, now she was even more; she didn't care that he liked boys as well, she was just surprised to find that out like that. For a split second she wondered if Rafa and the boy were still together, and a sense of panic filled her; if that was the case, then she had kissed someone else's boyfriend. But the more she thought about that, the more she knew that she was wrong; after the whole talk with Rafael about rumours and feelings, he would have told her if he had a boyfriend, and considering how much he seemed to hate Burnett, the Slytherin action had most likely cause troubles in the couple, even tore them apart.

No wonder Rafael was upset with the snake.

"Cheek or no cheek, it's still the gesture that counts, no matter the reasons behind it," she said with a frown. If she would have been in Rafael's shoes, she would have been pretty upset as well. "I will definitely ask him about it, that's for sure. I might even ask your brother, to have the full story, you know?" being a Libra, Lydia always had a pretty strong crave for justice, and even though right now all she wanted to do was tell Ruka that Jack had acted badly, she still owed him the benefit of the doubt.

When Ruka then started talking about how Jack had helped him, the red headed girl couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness fill her; Ruka was so young, and he still had so many challenges to face, it wasn't fair. No kid should have to go through these kind of things. Her eyes trailed to the necklace, and she felt her eyes slightly fill up with tears as she thought about how much that must mean for Ruka. Before she realised that, the Hufflepuff girl found herself walking towards the boy, before wrapping her arms around him in a small hug. "I'm sure you have plenty to offer him Ruka, otherwise he wouldn't love you this much," she almost whispered, before breaking the hug. She brought a hand up to her face and wiped away a small tear.

"To be fair, I'm not too sure? I guess you just get used to it? Being away from home now helps for sure, but I think it all depends on how much patience you have. But to be fair, I doubt Jack will behave like my eight year old sister with you," she chuckled and gave Ruka a smile. "Then I think you won't have too many problems with your brother. I'm sure you'll be alright, as long as you love each other," she answered him when he said that he was ready for fights and that he would have always had Jack's back.

@Lydia Cooper

The hug had clearly come as a surprise to Lydia, and when he felt the girl jump at the contact, Ruka was just about to pull back to give her some space, but before he could she had wrapped her arms around him after all, returning his hug for a little moment until they both stepped away from the contact again. Lydia was wearing a smile of gratitude which Ruka returned with a small nod as if to acknowledge that he had done something right. His skin was still crawling a bit, his breath slightly sped up from the ongoing anxiety that came with physical touch. It was getting gradually better, however; Two weeks ago he would have never imagined hugging a practical stranger again anytime soon without breaking down. Things were looking up.

"Well," he started lightly when Lydia started talking about things making people special. His whole face lit up as he fidgeted excitedly at the prospect of getting to voice his own standpoint on the matter. These sorts of conversations, completely impersonal, conflicting, without any right or wrong answers, those were his favourite. "I think 'special' is one of those 'It lies in the eyes of the beholder' kind of things. Magic might make us special to Muggles, but it certainly isn't something that defines us as special to each other since we all have magic and are able to use it. So even if it's not what you mean to say by it, singling Magic out as something that makes us special does imply that it's something that makes us not just different to those without it, but also superior in a way. Thing is, you wouldn't be wrong in saying that either, I don't think." He hummed thoughtfully, tapping a finger against his chin. "Like you said, there's plenty of stuff we could probably do with the snap of a finger that Muggles would have to work years for to reach even just similarly good results, like curing a disease. Of course, there's also plenty of stuff Muggles are able to do that wizards and witches have never even thought of because they are so used to being able to solve their problems magically, so a lot of knowledge gathered by Muggles would be special to those with magic too." With a little laugh he remembered how confused Alan had been at the thought of Fire Dancing without any magic involved. Seems to me like it becomes a problem when we get so obsessed with our own 'specialness' that we forget that other people might be special in a different way as well."

With a little sigh, Ruka shook his head. "See, that's a really idealistic thought," he pointed out at Lydia's notion that they should share some of their knowledge with Muggles in order to help them. "What you call 'special', a lot of other people would just call 'different' and when they say 'different' they hear 'dangerous' and you know what happens when humans feel threatened?" He could probably write a book on how people acted when they didn't understand something, how cruel they could get in the face of something that was different and didn't fit into their world view. He had experienced enough out on the streets to know what he was talking about. "Let's just say the last time they thought witches were real they didn't exactly care about whether you were actually magic or not when they drowned you in a river or burned you at a stake." He shrugged his shoulders lightly, a spark of sadness lighting up his eyes for only a moment before his expression relaxed again. "There's a reason for why witches and wizards live in hiding from the Muggles because even if not all of them are like that, the risk isn't worth taking. It would probably jeopardise them more than it would us so maybe the best thing we can do for them is to just stay where we are and let them deal with themselves."

The notion that there had to be a universal definition for good and bad made Ruka laugh lightly. Tilting his head back a bit he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his trousers before looking back at Lydia. "And who gets to make those definitions? Whose moral compass is so flawless that they get the right to define what's right and what's wrong?" At least Lydia seemed to agree that they were all just a mix of good and bad but she still appeared to strongly believe in the distinction between right and wrong, they way society had defined it.

"If killing is inherently bad, how come we do it all the time?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at the girl. "We kill animals to eat them - And don't tell me it's necessary for our survival. There is so much meat going around, people end up throwing it in the trash because they can't eat it all." Having gone through the trash for food multiple times in his life in search for food, Ruka knew all about the kind of stuff people tended to throw away. "We kill them for their fur, their skin, the lot." A little sliver of anger pursed his lips but the expression was only there for a second, so minimal it would have been difficult to notice. "Doctors will end the lives of people to stop their suffering, criminals in other parts of the world still face death penalty. What about those killings? Why are those alright and others aren't?" He let out a chuckle. "That's people for you, we set up definitions and then make excuses for why they don't apply to situations in which they would be inconvenient for us. Even helping someone isn't as simple as you make it out to be. People have all sorts of reasons for why they might help someone else and most of them are inherently selfish. Sometimes what they consider help might even be catastrophic to the person they're trying to help so what does that make of their act? Does it stay good because their intention was good or does it turn bad because it caused unintentional suffering?" A little shrug showed that he wasn't really expecting Lydia to answer any of that. Mostly he was just throwing out random thoughts on the matter.

Anyway, once that topic was done with, it was Ruka's turn to listen as Lydia had a lot to say about the term family. With every added definition it got more and more confusing, and for a moment Ruka wished he just hadn't said anything at all, would have just stayed quiet and let the word pass without questioning it. "If your chosen family is like a wolves pack," he said slowly, forehead creased in confusion. "Then why not call them your pack instead of your family?" Maybe that's what he could do, gather his own pack, give his inner lone wolf some company to trust and rely on. Maybe he'd make Flash a wolf origami.

Blinking his eyes back into focus after having drifted into his thoughts for a moment, Ruka hummed his agreement when Lydia called Rafa impulsive before letting out a little laugh when the Hufflepuff made the connection that Jack may have been the person he had been talking about back in the Great Hall. "I don't recall having mentioned a friend," he pointed out with a sly grin, wagging a finger in her direction. Without confirming or denying her suspicion, Ruka let the conversation drift to Jack having kissed both Rafa and his boyfriend on the cheek, though Lydia seemed to think it was a much bigger deal than he did himself.

"A cheek kiss," he pointed out, rolling his eyes. "People do it in greeting all the time, so if it's the gesture that counts then I guess Rafa punched him for saying 'Hello'." He snorted ungracefully, shrugging his shoulders as he mustered her frown. It didn't take a genius to see that she thought Jack's actions had been wrong, and Ruka sighed as he made his next move.

Rolling his shoulders once, he took a step forward, then another, until he was close enough to hug the other girl again, but instead he leaned forward, steadying himself on the balls of his feet for a moment as he pressed his lips against Lydia's cheek in a little kiss. Before she could potentially punch him again, Ruka took a step back, lifting a hand to run his fingers through his hair, an amused twinkle in his eyes. "There," he said seriously. "Was that so bad? Will you hate me forever now? Will you tell Rafa so he can come and try to drown me in the fountain again?" He hid a small chuckle behind his hand before shrugging his shoulders again and shaking his head. "Still, go ahead," he confirmed with a small smile. "Ask them both. Be a good idea to get both sides of the story before forming your opinion on it." Nodding in affirmation, Ruka leaned back against the wall again as their conversation moved on.

Maybe he was imagining it, but he thought he could see tears sparkling in Lydia's eyes as he talked about everything Jack had done for him. Before he could make sure, however, she had moved forward to wrap him up in another hug, making him tense for a terrifying moment.

One, two, three

Taking a deep breath, Ruka let his fingers tap against his thigh. Surprisingly enough, this seemed to be working, just like Jack had said it might; adjusting his breathing to the rhythm of his tapping fingers as he counted his threes chased a large part of the anxiety away before it could overtake him, enough so that he felt comfortable enough with Lydia hugging him to not just step away from the contact immediately.

Once they did part again, Ruka sheepishly rubbed at the back of his neck. The words she had said remained unanswered for now, though they made something in his stomach coil uncomfortably. Instead of concentrating on that, however, he focused his attention on her words about her little sister and how she dealt with her.

"That's not..." he started, a little laugh bubbling from his lungs when she tried to assure him that Jack wasn't going to behave like her younger sister. "That wasn't really a concern I had." No, he was probably going to have to deal with far more exhausting things than angry tantrums with Jack, but he wasn't concerned. Learning to deal with that was going to be worth it.

What he had really been looking for was some advice to forward to Flash, but since Lydia's way of handling things was apparently a lot of patience and Flash had openly admitted that that was exactly what he was lacking, that was essentially useless. Still he nodded his acknowledgment at her words, a small smile curling his lips that wavered only slightly when she talked about him and Jack again.

"Love is a strong word," he pointed out, face contorting slightly. It was the word that had made him feel so conflicted when Flash had used it right before the kiss, was a word he didn't think he really knew the meaning of, wasn't something Jack and he had ever proclaimed to feel for one another. Brotherly love, was that something he was supposed to feel? Ruka thought he did; All that adoration, admiration, care and fondness he felt towards Jack was sure to add up to something one might call Brotherly love, right? He just still wasn't quite sure if Jack felt anything more for him than general care and intrigue. "But we care for each other," he added with a little smile. "That's a start, right?"

-Interacting with @ Ruka Tân-

The moment they started digging deeper into the whole 'magic-being special' topic, Lydia could see the way Ruka's face had light up, the whole discussion making him definitely excited. She had to admit that these kind of conversations did not happen that often to Lydia, but she really enjoyed them; the rest of the kids were probably too happy, or didn't want to bother for too long over difficult topics that one simply could not have a right answer for; but for the red headed girl, these kind of discussions were always extremely interesting, since they gave her the opportunity to learn more about other people and their point of views.

Lydia sighed, finding it difficult to properly voice what she was thinking. Why weren't wizards special within each other, why were they special only when it regarded muggles? She could still be special, and so could Ruka and any other kid in the school; the fact that all of them had magical powers did not mean that then they would not be special as well. "I don't think that being special makes us superior; different yes, but why would I be better than a muggle? They can be special in different ways, but that wouldn't mean that they are inferior to us,". Scratching the back of her head, she tried to think how to continue. "It's true, humans react to the different in a bad way because they label it immediately as dangerous; the do not understand it, so they prefer to just attack before it attacks them. But- While a lot of people tend to do that, some try to understand the different, in order to have a peaceful harmony with it. Muggle did react badly in the past towards witches and wizards, but who's to say that they would do react the same way now? I believe people can change and surprise you, if you give them a chance,"

"But wouldn't it be nice to just- be able to live a normal life, out in the open? Like- my old childhood friends barely speak to me now, because they are muggles and they don't understand why I went to a boarding school and can't even text them back. The lives of those involved in the muggle world would be a little simpler, if we were allowed to tell people the truth. And imagine how many things we could help muggles with, and how they could help us! Better medicine, communications, transportation systems... We could help each other so much, isn't that enough to try?" She most likely sounded naive, almost childish in a way, but Lydia really tried her best to believe in people, rather than simply assume they would let you down.

When Ruka questioned why they killed all the time, even if it was bad, she got slightly confused for a second: she had never killed anybody, but had he? As he continued talking, everything made more sense.
"We do kill animals because we need their meat to survive; I do agree that we shouldn't use them for like, their fur or teeth, cause we can survive without those, but-" she sighed as she tried not to sound judgemental over vegans and vegetarians. "Even if we tried to find other protein sources, alternatives to meat, it would still not be the same; we are omnivores for a reason. And well, the death penalty should not exist, period. No matter how bad someone had been in their life, we cannot decide when someone gets to live or die. For the doctors and all of that... what if the patient had asked for that, what if they said 'If I'm in this situation, please let me go'? It would be following their last wish, it- it wouldn't be bad..." The whole conversation was getting deeper and in some ways frustrating, but Lydia still 'enjoyed' it. "Why do you always assume the worst out of everyone?" she asked Ruka, and shook her head. "Sometimes people are just good and like to help others and do good actions; there doesn't have to be a selfish reason, or a second end to that,"

A small chuckle left her lips then, when Ruka asked why he couldn't call his family 'his pack'. "I suppose you can do that," she told him, a small smile on her lips. "In the end, it is your family, your people... so you get to choose your own name for that. Would actually sound way cooler that way, to say that you have a pack rather than a family,"

"Well, you stopped yourself before finishing the thought, and you said it was someone you cared about, that I remember," she answered back at the 'not having called him a friend' remark, a smirk on her face. "So that, plus the fact that Rafa seems to really not like Jack, brought me to assume that," she said, and then concentrated on Ruka's words.

"It might have been a kiss on the cheek, but for Rafa it was probably still important. One can't assume everyone has the same boundaries... A kiss on the cheek for Jack might be nothing, but for Rafael might have been quite important and-" she said and stopped herself when she noticed Ruka getting closer to her. She tilted her head slightly to the side, not too sure what the boy was even doing, but it became clear enough the moment his lips pressed against her cheek. In that moment, Lydia felt her face become bright red, and she took a step back from Ruka, just as the boy looked at her with a smirk on her face. So it was a family thing, to just kiss random people on the cheek?

Shaking her head, Lydia looked at the Gryffindor boy. "Wether I tell him or not, I'll have to see," she admitted. "Personally, I don't mind if my friends or people I know give me a kiss on the cheek, but that's me. As I said, I have different boundaries than him, or you and Jack might have. Also, drown you? Are you for real now?" she asked, a skeptical laugh leaving her lips. Even though she knew Rafael had an inclination towards violence, she did not believe what Ruka had just told her; she was done believing things other people -that didn't seem like they liked Rafael that much- said about the Gryffindor Captain, before asking him directly about it. She had done that mistake once, she would have not repeated it again. "I'll definitely ask them both; wether they will answer to my questions, that's another thing,"

Ruka seemed to slightly tense when she hugged him, but she couldn't blame him; after all he had just given her a kiss on the cheek, and since she had already punched him once, she understood why he must have been tense -even though she was completely oblivious to the real reason why Ruka had tensed up. Once they pull apart, she looked at him slightly confused. "What were you concerned about then?"

When she had used the word love, she didn't think too much about it; it was normal for her, after all she did love her parents and her sister, the same way she loved her friends. Sure, it was a different kind of love from the one that, for example, her parents felt towards each other, but it was still love nonetheless. "It might be a strong word, but... isn't love also a strong emotion, feeling? I love my family, and there is no shame in that," she said and then, after listening to Ruka's question, she nodded. "That's a really good start! Also, aren't 'care' and 'love' synonyms? I'm pretty sure you guys have the same level of adoration and care that any other couple of siblings would, and siblings usually say that they love each other,"

@Lydia Cooper

Ruka hummed at Lydia's notion that magic made them different, rather than special, shaking his head at her thoughtfully. "So it makes us special but it doesn't, only makes us different. You're contradicting yourself," he pointed out, a little smirk playing on his lips as he looked at the other girl with his chin slightly tilted up. "It's idealistic, your way of thinking. Sure we could probably be able to help the Muggles out, but you really think they wouldn't feel threatened by our powers one way or another? It just takes one person to start another Witch Hunt." He lifted up a finger as if to emphasise his point before folding his hands behind his back. "You think this Voldemort guy may have felt different? Think he wanted to change the world, maybe?"

With his head tilted to the side, Ruka took a step forward just to step back again immediately as if simply trying to balance his weight. "You can give people a chance to surprise you as much as you want but what if you meet resistance over and over and over again? People who tell you that your powers are abnormal, that you're dangerous, that you - what you are in your essence - are inherently wrong?" He took a deep breath and let his gaze drift out the window as if looking for a far away memory hidden in the blue of the skies. "Maybe it wouldn't be you but someone would inevitably crack. Someone like Voldemort. They wouldn't want to let themselves be pushed around, wouldn't want to try and share their powers with a whole race of people partly unwilling to accept them as they are. Next thing you know ?" He chuckled humourlessly and snapped his fingers in front of his own face. "War."

A simple word, simple concept. Differences sparked arguments, weak personalities corrupted them into fights, desperation for victory escalated them into war. The peacefully living together Lydia was apparently yearning for did not exist in their world of power hunger and deceit.

"Personally I'd rather live in hiding than in war. It's not like we can't still go wherever we want to, we just can't use magic around Muggles. That's fair anyway, don't you think, considering they wouldn't be able to combat us with the same skill set. We adjust to their level because they can't adjust to ours. Even playing field."

Shrugging his shoulders Ruka decided to drop the subject there for now unless Lydia had more to say on it.

At the other girl's notion that they killed animals because they needed their meat to survive, Ruka let out a burst of giggles, quickly lifting a hand to cover his mouth for a moment lest he accidentally spat at her with the force in which the laughter escaped him. "Oh please," he said, waving a dismissive hand between them. "I told you, we have so much meat, people throw it in the bin because they can't eat all of it. You use the term omnivores like it means we need meat for survival but did you know the longest living dog on record was vegan? Dogs are omnivores too, considered carnivores in the wild even, and here's this one, never eating a slice of meat and living longer than most others of his kind. What does that make of your theory?" Raising his eyebrows challengingly, Ruka grinned at Lydia, holding his hands up as if to show that he didn't mean any actual harm.

When the conversation moved on to doctors following patients' last wish by putting them out of their misery, Ruka couldn't help but roll his eyes. "So killing is fine if someone asks you to kill them? What if they could still be helped? What if they just didn't know any better? And what about the person killing them? They'd have to live their whole life knowing they ended someone else's. What kind of toll do you think that might take on them?" He took another step forward, hands folded behind his back once again. "Nothing is ever just right or wrong, Lydia," he told the Hufflepuff solemnly. "Or good or bad or black or white. Most people just feel more comfortable if they can categorise their actions that way because it gives them higher ground to stand on. Boxes aren't spacious enough to spend your whole life in. Don't let them suffocate you before you even started learning how to breathe."

With that he stepped back again, a little smile lightening his features. "I don't expect the worst of people," he explained easily, like it was obvious. "I never said there was anything bad about being selfish. The only thing I expect is that other people's selfishness might not necessarily benefit me, and that's alright." He shrugged his shoulders. "I just like to make sure that my own actions benefit me enough to make up for everyone else's."

When Lydia chuckled, Ruka could feel his expression softening a little, a delighted hum escaping his throat when she confirmed that he could call his "chosen family" his "pack" if he wanted to. "I like that," he said with a little nod before letting out a laugh at her conclusion that he had been talking about Jack back at the origami errand.

"I didn't say I wasn't talking about him," he pointed out, wagging a finger in her direction. "Just that I never called him a friend. Don't go putting labels on my relationships." A small chuckle said that he wasn't upset or even annoyed. While not particularly looking to make friends, Ruka wasn't quite as adverse to the title as Jack, so Lydia's use of it wasn't as much of a bother as he was making it out to be.

Not really reacting to Ruka trying to prove his point by kissing her cheek, Lydia seemed to be quick to move on from the matter, defending Rafa's reaction the same way she had been defending him back in the Great Hall. Ruka just shrugged his shoulders.

"Drown me," he repeated lightly in response to her obvious disbelief. "Dunk my head under water till I almost blacked out. Ask me if my parents would come to my funeral. I don't know, ask him about that too when you see him, maybe he's had a good reason for that as well." His voice was toneless, like he didn't really care if Lydia was going to ask him or not. It wasn't like he held any sort of grudge against Rafa for the occurrence. What was a bit of drowning in Ruka's life of constant fight for survival before Hogwarts? The other Gryffindor's violence did nothing much to awaken Ruka's ire.

After their slightly tense hug, Ruka smiled lightly at her to reassure her that she hadn't done anything wrong as she asked what exactly it was he had been concerned about. "I just know someone," he answered, inclining his head to the left and avoiding eye contact for a moment. "Who has difficulties getting along with their little brother. Not enough patience, they say. I thought maybe I could gather some tips for them." Letting out a little chuckle, Ruka shrugged his shoulders as if it wasn't all that important before concentrating on Lydia's following words about the term love.

"I wouldn't say "care" and "love" are synonymous," he pointed out thoughtfully, tapping a finger against his chin. "I care about a few things and people but I wouldn't say I love either of them." He sighed, leaning back against a wall for a moment as he dropped his gaze to the floor. "I suppose," he said as he pondered her words for a little longer. Jack had certainly never said he loved him, barely even liked to admit that he cared, so what did that mean exactly? Lydia seemed to think love and care was a normal bond between siblings and while Ruka was certain they had a relatively equal amount of care for one another, he wasn't so sure where they stood in regards to love. Sibling love seemed just about as complicated as Friendship so maybe it was best to simply not address it or think about it too much. It would only throw him back into that pit of insecurities he had only just managed to crawl out of.

"Anyway," he said, sounding almost eager to stop that line of conversation. "I should know a lot more about being a brother after the summer. Maybe I should just let things fall into place until then."

-Interacting with @ Ruka Tân-

"I like to believe in people, and that they can be good," Lydia was aware of the fact that her point of view was quite naive and almost utopian; men were naturally drawn to power, they would try their best to gain it, and history perfectly showed what happened when someone felt threatened by somebody else they considered as different. But despite that, Lydia still believed that people were essentially good, and that if put in the right circumstances they could all show their best selves.

A sigh left her lips as Ruka kept talking, his words making Lydia furrow her brows a little; he wasn't wrong, she knew that, but perhaps she was too stubborn to let the Gryffindor boy "win". "Muggles might not be able to use spells, but I'm pretty sure that guns and bombs would work pretty effectively on us as well. If it would ever come to a war it's true that we might have more chances to run away and hide, but Muggles would be able to kill more people in one time than us. Just think about the disasters that the atomic bomb created: no muggle or wizard would be able to survive to it, if one of them fell over their home," the whole conversation had turned way deeper than she would have imagined, but Lydia found herself really liking it; it didn't happen that often that she could talk about these kind of topics with a fellow student. "I actually believe that the playing field is pretty even between wizards and muggles; they might not have the same skills as us, but they have other we do not have,"

Shrugging her shoulders, Lydia crossed her arms over her chest as the topic changed. "They throw away the meat because they kill too many animals and we cannot consume all of that. I'm not saying that is right to kill animals, but- " throwing her hands in the air, Lydia shook her head. "You know what, never mind," she then walked towards one of the windows, only to go back to Ruka a second later. She didn't know what to say back to him, so she decided to switch the topic entirely. "I know the world is not just black and white, but- at the same time, one's actions can be good and bad. Killing is bad, you take the life away from someone else, but if you're doing it to end their sufferings, or if they ask you to, then- well, wouldn't that be mercy, in a way?" shaking her head slightly, as if to show Ruka that he didn't necessary need to answer to that question, she continued talking. "They might not be spacious enough, but you could grow inside of them, and then change to a bigger one once you've outgrown the old one. People can change their opinion over the time, they don't need to stick with their opinions if they realise they were wrong,"

Ruka's small smile was a sign that the whole conversation was still being pleasant for the both of them, no matter the topic; it was a really nice change, compared to how nasty their previous encounter had turned out to be.

"Well, your own actions should definitely benefit you, unless you actively want them not to; would be kind of counterproductive otherwise," a small chuckle left her lips, her eyes fixed over Ruka's face. Her expression softened more when he said he liked the idea of calling his family/friends his pack, and somehow, the red headed girl thought it was quite fitting for him.

Jack's topic was by far the most interesting and complicated for Lydia; she didn't usually like to listen to rumours, since she knew how bad they could get and how much damage they could cause, and her opinion over Jack and Rafa's relationship was, as of right now, based almost only on rumours. She made a mental note not to judge the whole situation yet, and to find out more directly from the two other boys.

"I didn't mean to put a label on your relationship, I'm sorry," she apologised, her eyes scanning over the floor as she felt embarrassed. However, she couldn't help but slightly roll them again as Ruka kept talking of how Rafael had properly tried to drown him. She could have kept arguing about how she did not believe it, especially since Ruka seemed almost not interested in the whole thing; she still stored the information in the back of her mind, not really sure if she would have needed it.

A small, almost sad smile appeared on her lips, before she slightly shrugged. "I'm afraid that the whole being patient and calm is my only advice; I hope this person will, in the end, get along with their brother, it would be such a shame otherwise," after that, she concentrated on Ruka's next words, humming along as she thought about how to reply to that. "Maybe they're not synonymous, but I believe that caring about someone implies that one loves them, even just a little bit; it doesn't have to be in a romantic way, there are so many different level and shades of love," a smile, followed by a blush appeared on her face, Rafael's face suddenly stuck in her mind. Lydia shook her head, and offered Ruka a nod. "Well, after the summer I'll make sure to look for you and ask you everything about it! I have the feeling you won't have too many problems with being a brother," Lydia really meant that, and she tried to show it to Ruka by giving him a warm and bright smile.

Her eyes wandered around the room and outside of the windows; the sun was now shining high in the sky, sign that it was now close to lunch time.