[Chise’s not unaware of how much more painful the separation likely is on Ruth, who had already spent one life waiting fruitlessly for a dead child to wake up, and their pact had been the moment in which he’d finally let Isabel go to be by Chise’s side until her time was up. Now he has to go through it all over again.
He’s trying so hard to be encouraging, though, so she smiles in return.]
Fate, huh...
[When she thinks back, was all of it truly meant to be? Nevin had said he’d been grateful to her mother for taking her hands off her neck so that she could survive and become part of their lives. At the very beginning, if her father hadn’t left, she would never have come into contact with Elias, which would’ve meant never coming along to investigate the mysterious deaths on behalf of the church, and she would never have met Ruth.
It’s a realization she has had to face before, when Joseph was making her relive her memories, in that last confrontation; she was able to live, and meet everyone who renewed her will to keep surviving, because of her mother’s final choice, and it was that realization which has allowed her to finally let go of the past and look forward into the future—but there’s something almost comforting about the notion that she was always supposed to meet Ruth, that her life the way it is now would’ve come to pass somehow anyway, the magic that bound her and Ruth together for the rest of their lives was somehow pre-encoded in the fabric of the universe. She doesn’t know if she believes that, necessarily (at the best of times, she feels lucky for it all still), but she likes it. It’s a kind thought on this man’s part.]
I’m Chise. ...I don’t know how much help I would be to you, though. I wasn’t really learning ... how to fight.
[And she’s already unsure how trying to do magic without the fae is going to go. It’s not as though she’s a sorcerer, after all.]
I would say, I’ll probably end up needing you before the other way around, but Elias would be pretty upset with me if I didn’t at least try to avoid that. So I hope I’ll be able to help you first, at least a little.
[She smiles a little sadly at that last part, though.]
I’m not sure. I didn’t have a very good time with school growing up, but things are different at the College. Most everyone’s been very kind to me there.
[She has like, multiple friends??? Upside down world.]
cw for reference to child abuse & suicide, im so sorry
He’s trying so hard to be encouraging, though, so she smiles in return.]
Fate, huh...
[When she thinks back, was all of it truly meant to be? Nevin had said he’d been grateful to her mother for taking her hands off her neck so that she could survive and become part of their lives. At the very beginning, if her father hadn’t left, she would never have come into contact with Elias, which would’ve meant never coming along to investigate the mysterious deaths on behalf of the church, and she would never have met Ruth.
It’s a realization she has had to face before, when Joseph was making her relive her memories, in that last confrontation; she was able to live, and meet everyone who renewed her will to keep surviving, because of her mother’s final choice, and it was that realization which has allowed her to finally let go of the past and look forward into the future—but there’s something almost comforting about the notion that she was always supposed to meet Ruth, that her life the way it is now would’ve come to pass somehow anyway, the magic that bound her and Ruth together for the rest of their lives was somehow pre-encoded in the fabric of the universe. She doesn’t know if she believes that, necessarily (at the best of times, she feels lucky for it all still), but she likes it. It’s a kind thought on this man’s part.]
I’m Chise. ...I don’t know how much help I would be to you, though. I wasn’t really learning ... how to fight.
[And she’s already unsure how trying to do magic without the fae is going to go. It’s not as though she’s a sorcerer, after all.]
I would say, I’ll probably end up needing you before the other way around, but Elias would be pretty upset with me if I didn’t at least try to avoid that. So I hope I’ll be able to help you first, at least a little.
[She smiles a little sadly at that last part, though.]
I’m not sure. I didn’t have a very good time with school growing up, but things are different at the College. Most everyone’s been very kind to me there.
[She has like, multiple friends??? Upside down world.]