Playing with Fire PV Dealla

@Dealla Prince

Ruka couldn't help the bright laugh that escaped him in response to Aphrodite's inquiry. The look on her face said that she suspected his words to be far too genuine to be a joke and he had to hand it to her; She really seemed to have him figured out already. "When you play with fire as much as I do, people just get burned sometimes," he admitted, offering her a smile to make sure she knew he wasn't constantly maliciously setting people on fire for the heck of it, though the way her eyes shone and she made no move to pull away told him that she was putting a considerable amount of trust in his intentions already anyway. "I never mean for anybody to get hurt," he added, a little more serious to bring his point across. As much as Ruka disliked people most of the time, there was no fibre in him that ever wanted to genuinely hurt anyone.

With his lips curling back into a smile, Ruka offered Aphrodite a nod to seal their deal. Clearly she was not afraid of a challenge and seemed eager to throw herself into acquiring a new skill, never mind the dangers and trials that came with it. In fact, that was exactly what seemed to draw her in; There was a thirst for adventure in her eyes that he could feel flickering in his own chest, that resonated deep within him and made him shiver with anticipation. "Deal," he responded eagerly, picking up a little bit of speed in their dance with the excitement buzzing within him.

It ebbed down a little bit when their topic turned to Jack and the apparently general Slytherin Fear of making friends. It didn't seem like Aphrodite could really understand where that apprehension might come from and Ruka took a moment to try and put his own thoughts into words. It wasn't like there was anybody he would have called a friend either - not to their face at least - but his reasons were possibly different to the Slytherins' Aphrodite was talking about. While Ruka disliked most company, he still longed to find positive connections somewhere but simply wasn't accustomed enough to social settings to ever really feel like he was bonding with anybody. It wasn't that he was scared of making friends but rather that his standards for friendship may have been a smidgen too high. Something, however, told him that Aphrodite wouldn't be able to relate to that either. She seemed perfectly socially adept and was quite possibly as rich in friends as one could get.

"Sometimes," he said slowly as he tried to figure out a good way to explain the concept to her. "We convince ourself that sacrificing a good thing is worth not having to deal with a potential bad thing." He shrugged lightly, eyes clouding with a trace of sadness. Pressing his lips into a tight smile, Ruka tilted his head to the side questioningly. "Don't you ever feel like you're giving people a lot of power to hurt you by opening up to them?" he asked with sincere curiosity. "That fear can be... overwhelming to some people." He shrugged lightly, then laughed when Aphrodite pointed out that Jack still owed her a make-up lesson and that giving her his name would help her reach out to him to collect that promise. Narrowing his eyes at her he just shook his head slightly to avoid giving her a straight answer.

Not until they knew each others' names at least. Smiling at her approval for his use of her nickname, Ruka cleared his throat and fixed Dealla with a meaningful glance. "You didn't get my full last name," he told her, the left side of his mouth quirking into a smirk. "It's Burnett. Burnett-Tân." He couldn't be blamed for this, could he? Technically he didn't reveal his brother's name, and if Dealla just so happened to use the knowledge of his own last name to track him down, well. Jack probably shouldn't have let Ruka take on his family's name.

Stepping in a semi circle, Ruka sobered up a little when their talk turned to their families. He couldn't help the grateful smile he shot Dealla's way when she spared him any kind of exaggerated pity. Her condolences seemed genuine, and she didn't prod him for more information that he had already given her, and it filled him with a comfortable warmth that lit up his face and put a fond spark in his eyes. "All the time," he said sincerely when she asked about whether he missed his dad. No matter the resentment he held towards his late father, there was not a moment where Ruka didn't miss him. Still, at least his obsessive thoughts had smoothed out into a thin veil of occasional melancholy that allowed him to continue his life as normally as possible. "He was pretty great. Taught me everything I know about fire." He chuckled, a far off look clouding his eyes for a moment at the memory before he focused all his attention on Dealla again when she started talking about her own family.

Her sentences were short and to the point, but the look that accompanied them was gentle, fond even, and it made Ruka smile. "Your mum's a Muggle then?" he wondered curiously. The differences in blood that some wizards were so obsessed with had never really made any sense to him, and he scrunched his face into a grimace at the thought that anybody would want to separate a happy couple in love for their blood status. "It sounds pretty great, actually," he admitted quietly as he slowly let go of her waist to instead clasp her second hand in a tight grip. "Not the part about your grandparents. Your parents being happy together. Having a cat." He'd never had either of those. The only thing he could relate to was growing up an only child. "Do you ever wish you had siblings?" he wondered. With how happy Dealla seemed to be to have company, he imagined that being an only child may have grown boring and lonely to her rather quickly.

Leaning back a little, Ruka urged Dealla to do the same so they could support each others' weight as he steered them to spin in a circle that must have felt much quicker than it looked from the outside. Still, the feeling of wind rushing across his face and the way the sky above them wildly spun along made him laugh brightly right up until the moment their hands lost their hold on each other and he tumbled backwards to the ground, wildly trying to grab a hold of Dealla to either save himself from a too painful impact, or pull her down on the grass as well so he would at least not be the only one to fall.

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One thing was undeniable, from being set on fire to being promised lessons in fire-wielding and dancing without music under the trees, Prometheus was interesting. And not in a science-project-hey-this-might-explode kind of way. So when he assured her that he didn't set people on fire with the intent of hurting them (ignoring how little sense that really made when phrased like that), she believed him. She certainly hadn't expected to meet someone this intriguing when she'd left the castle today, but she was increasingly glad that she had.

There was an interesting contrast between the two, the way they approached people, how they like to spend their time, and still a silent understanding, as if they'd known each other longer than they actually had, longer than a fifteen minute conversation below trees. He certainly seemed to understand better what seemed like a common disease among Slytherins than she did, and she tilted her head to one side, mimicking him unconsciously, while she listened to his explanations. His return questions had her blinking. "Not... really," she replied, only hesitating slightly, her brows furrowing. This wasn't a lie, although it also wasn't entirely true.

Dee had little inhibitions sharing, talking, feeling. She'd share her life story without a second thought, her life in Whitehaven, the reason they'd moved there. Her emotions tended to run close to the surface, and she usually didn't try to hide them. Most things, she'd tell her best friends just as soon as complete strangers. Most things didn't make her feel vulnerable. The things that did, however... There were things she hadn't even told Ileen, hadn't told her parents, and she wouldn't be able to explain why. Perhaps because she hadn't managed to admit it to herself yet. One thing only, really. "Do you?"

The name Prometheus gave her was slightly different from the one she'd gotten from Manicure Boy last year, and her eyes narrowed slightly, saving that detail. For later.

She smiled at his expression when talking about his father, then smiled a little brighter when he asked about her mother in turn. "Muggle-born, actually! She's a witch, but my grandparents aren't. Well, on that side at least." She grinned, excited, a spark in her eyes. "And yes, my parents are pretty great. Theo, my cat, too. He's blue, you know. You should come visit us some time." A random remark, offhand, as if inviting someone she'd just met home was not a big deal, but sincere nonetheless. Being asked about siblings triggered a scrunched up nose.

Dee had always enjoyed being the center of attention at home. While she didn't really mind sharing the spotlight with her peers - she'd never felt the need to fight for attention, tended to get enough of it as it was - having to share her parents' love might have been a different matter. If she wished for a sibling, it would have been an older one - an older brother, perhaps, someone to dote on her even more. On the other hand, she hadn't had a problem with Ileen staying in Whitehaven over the summer, had enjoyed the obvious affection between her parents and her best friend, and it was likely Ileen would come home with her again for Christmas. Still, she couldn't imagine having a sibling. A shake of her head, resolute. "No. Did you? Before, I mean. I suppose you know what it's like to have a brother now?"

Ruka's cue to lean backwards was quickly taken, and Dee started giggling almost immediately as they started spinning faster, the world twirling around them, wind mixing with Ruka's bright laugh. She started laughing in earnest when he lost his footing, which then turned into an undignified squeak as he pulled her along, fighting for her balance for just a moment before tumbling down into the grass. Her giggling resumed as she rolled around onto her back, nothing hurt or even seriously scraped. "Well, Prometheus... Ruka," she said, smiling at the branches above. "Nice to meet you."

@Ruka Burnett-Tân

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