Chapter 6: Settling In
Silky was busy attending to Ruth's wounds, when she heard the front door open. Silky turned and smiled to see Chise and Elias walk back into the house. However, she was not happy at all when she saw Joseph walk in after them, Ruth didn't like this either.
"Stare..." Silky grabbed a nearby broom and held it like it was a weapon, all while Ruth growled loudly at Joseph.
"Why is HE here? I thought he wasn't allowed out of the damn well!" Ruth said as he continued to growl at Joseph.
"Get. Out." Silky said as she glared daggers at Joseph.
"W-Wait, you can talk?" Joseph asked.
Silky just nodded.
"Oh, sorry, I thought you were mute, n-no offense." Joseph said he wanted to smack himself for saying that.
"All offense has been taken." Silky said.
"Silky, Ruth, hang on. Joseph's our friend now." Chise said as she stepped in front of Joseph.
"(Scoff) F-Friend? Ha, ha! Very funny! You know, you always made good jokes, Chise." Ruth said sarcastically.
"Ruth, now's not the time." Chise said as she frowned at Ruth.
"Chise, listen, I'm okay with having Joseph as the guy who lives in the f*cking well outside the f*cking house, but I'm NOT okay with having him as a friend. Need I remind you that this is the same asshole who tortured you and tried to kill you?" Ruth asked.
"I am well aware of that. But, Joseph is a better person now, Cartaphilus is not in him anymore." Chise explained.
"Yeah, and Satan wasn't in Judas when he hung himself." Ruth said.
"W-What? What does THAT have to do with anything?" Chise asked.
"I don't know and I don't care. Here's what I do know, Cartaphilus is not staying in this house with us. I am against this." Ruth said as he glared at Joseph.
"As am I. I do not want him in my home either but unfortunately, Chise says otherwise." Elias said.
"(Chuckle) So you just do whatever she says? Happy wife, happy life right, buddy?" Ruth asked sarcastically.
"I have no clue as to what you are saying." Elias blankly said.
"Guys, this is not the time for jokes." Chise said.
"Chise, let me tell you something; you know who I'd rather live with? I'd rather live with that cat-girl from Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs." Ruth said.
Cutaway
"So, Yaya, you can turn into a cat at will, just like I can turn into a dog at will?" Ruth asked.
"Mhmm." Yaya said.
"Cool, cool. You want some coffee?" Ruth asked.
"Mm-mm, cats and dogs should not have coffee. It is dangerous and lethal for us." Yaya said.
"Oh, well crap. Good thing I never drank it in my dog form. You want some water then?" Ruth asked.
"Sounds good." Yaya said.
"Sweet, I'll get us some water bowls." Ruth said as he got up. "Yes, me and Yaya are friends, We will explain more in detail once this whole Spell-Breaker arc is over with."
Cutaway Complete
"Ruth, what was that?" Chise asked.
"Doesn't matter. What does matter is the fact that Joseph is NOT staying here and I think that is final! Ow!" Ruth said as he lifted his paw up only to put it back down as he felt great pain in his chest.
"Don't move, you'll make it worse." Silky said as she kept Ruth still.
"(Grunt) Yeah, sorry. Thanks, Silver Lady." Ruth said.
"Ruth, why aren't you in your human form?" Chise asked.
"Oh, well I would shift back to my human form, but I'm paranoid about accidentally shifting the bullet somewhere else in my body. On account of me being lung-shot" Ruth said.
"Oh my god! Wait, if you're lung-shot how are you breathing normally?" Chise asked.
"Well, Silky here used the very small amount of magic she has to disinfect the bullet. It doesn't do much but it should keep me from bleeding internally. Unfortunately it won't last forever so I'm going to have to get actual help soon. But, Silky says I should rest for a bit more before we do that." Ruth explained.
"I'm just glad the shot wasn't fatal." Chise said as she petted Ruth.
"Same here, I'm also glad I turned off our mental link. I would hate it if you had to feel what I felt." Ruth said.
"When did you turn our link off?" Chise asked.
"Last night, just in case you and Ainsworth decided to cross the line." Ruth said.
"What!? What are you talking about, Ruth!?" Chise cried as she blushed heavily, as she knew what Ruth was implying.
"(Softly laughs) Don't worry, I'm just teasing you, sis." Ruth said.
"Very funny, big bro." Chise said.
"Oh, that reminds me; I've decided to change up my name." Ruth announced.
"Change up your name?" Chise repeated.
"Yep, my full name is now Ruth Hatori." Ruth said.
"Hatori?" Chise asked.
"Yep, I've decided to adopt your last name, as we are siblings, even though we technically aren't, but at the same time we are." Ruth said.
"Sounds good to me." Chise said as she smiled to her familiar.
"It must be nice for you Chise, to be surrounded by so many people who care a lot about you." Joseph said as he gave them an innocent smile.
"Ugh, you just ruined the moment, Cartaphilus." Ruth said.
"Oh come on, it's Joseph. Cartaphilus is gone." Joseph said.
"Pfft, I'm sure he is." Ruth said.
"He's telling the truth, let me explain." Chise said as she explained to Ruth and Silky the whole incident with the Spell-Breaker and Cartaphilus.
"(Sigh) Well, if things weren't going bad enough, now we've got our mystery dude running around with Cartaphilus." Ruth said.
"I'm sorry guys, I tried to fight it, I swear." Joseph said.
"Unfortunately, your apology means nothing." Ruth said as e dismissed Joseph's apology.
"Come on, at least TRY to be nice to him, please." Chise said.
"Give us 2 days and MAYBE we will warm up to him." Ruth said.
"A whole month." Silky said.
"Yeesh, well, to be fair, I don't blame you guys. So, can I ask, where will I be sleeping?" Joseph asked.
"On the floor." Ruth said.
"Ruth, can you please stop?" Chise asked.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry." Ruth said as he laid his head down.
"Well, I kind of was already sleeping on the floor when I was in the well." Joseph pointed out.
"You can just sleep in my room." Chise offered.
"Yeah, no." Ruth said.
"(Sigh) What do you mean, no?" Chise asked as she was starting to get very annoyed with Ruth's attitude.
"That is MY room now." Ruth said.
"Since when was it YOUR room?" Chise asked.
"Ever since you and Ainsworth got married. I mean, I'm assuming you two will be staying in the same room, so we can't put your old room to waste." Ruth explained.
"Chise, please don't worry about me. I can just sleep on the couch. I-Is that cool with you, Silver Lady?" Joseph asked.
Silky said nothing as she walked up to Joseph and gave him a stern look.
"You make a mess, there will be consequences." Silky said.
"D-Don't worry. I won't make a mess, you have my word." Joseph said as he offered to shake her hand. Silky just looked at his had and back to Joseph. Joseph but his hand down awkwardly.
"Come, let relax, we need to rest ourselves after that incident." Elias said as he sat down in his chair.
Chise sat down next to Ruth, Joseph just stood next to the couch, and Silky sat in the chair across from Elias.
"Hey, Ruth? What were you trying to tell me before you got shot?" Chise asked.
"Hmm? Oh yeah. So, um... Ariel's dead." Ruth said.
"WHAT!? What happened to her?" Chise asked.
"The Spell-Breaker killed her." Elias said.
"No..." Chise said.
"It was rather gruesome. I have never seen anything like it before." Elias said.
"Elias buried her in the front, said he'd reviver her soon." Ruth said.
"Revive her? You can actually reviver her?" Chise asked.
"I can. I am highly skilled with resurrection spells." Elias said.
"How come you haven't brought her back yet?" Chise asked.
"Very good question. You see, since resurrection spells are very efficient and powerful, they come with a big price. For instance, if I use the spell, my hands break and I am also unable to use magic for a week. Normally, that would be fine, but since this Spell-Breaker is out and about, I need to have my powers." Elias explained.
"Oh, I see. Are there any side effects for the one getting revived?" Chise asked.
"Well, that depends on WHAT is being resurrected. If I resurrect a fae, nothing bad will happen to them. But, if I resurrect a human, well, there will be some nasty side effects." Elias said.
"What kind of side effects?" Chise asked.
"Anything bad; brain damage, severe memory loss, inability to speak, inability to see, inability to hear, severe sickness, loss of limbs, or gender switching." Elias said.
"Um, okay so I can see how most of those effects are bad, but is the gender one really THAT bad?" Chise asked.
"I see your point, but think of it this way; say you die and I resurrect you, if I bring you back as a boy, that would be very awkward, considering that we are married." Elias said.
"Oh, well I guess that makes sense." Chise said.
"It makes me very uncomfortable to think if that ever happens." Elias said with his flat face.
"So, what you're saying is that you hate transgender people?" Ruth asked.
"No! No, you selfish poodle! I have nothing against them, I am jut explaining one situation where a sudden gender change would be awkward." Elias said.
"Okay, moving away from that; I think once you have rested up, we should take you to Lindel. He can heal your wounds safely." Chise said.
"Sounds like a plan, Silky said that I should be fine in about 2 hours." Ruth said.
"That's good to hear." Chise said as she patted Ruth on the head.
"Hey, Uh, Ainsworth?" Joseph called.
"(Sigh) Yes, Joseph?" Elias responded.
"How come you aren't healing Ruth? Don't you have healing magic? I mean, you did heal me up earlier." Joseph asked.
"I do, but Lindel is more experienced than I am. I want to make sure Ruth is healed properly and safely. Ruth is my best friend. I don't want to take any risks." Elias said.
"You flatter me, pal." Ruth said.
"It's nice to see you two are best friends." Chise said.
"Yes, well, to brighten our mood up a bit, I think some music will help." Elias said as he stood up from his chair and walked to a nearby closet.
"Music?" Chise repeated.
"That is correct." Elias said as he rummaged through the closet. "Give me a moment to find the device to provide music to our ears." Elias said as he reached something in the closet.
"Um, I thought you didn't have any ears." Joseph said.
"You will be silent." Elias said as he gave Joseph a glare.
"R-Right, s-sorry." Joseph said as he gave a slight apologetic bow.
"Ah, here it is." Elias said as he pulled out an old-fashioned device.
"Elias, is that a record-player?" Chise asked.
"Chise, I told you I am old-fashioned, no need to make fun of me." Elias said with his flat face.
"Oh, no, no, I'm not making fun of you. It's just I've never seen a REAL record player before. I mean, I've seen them before at museums, but they're the kind of record players that claim to be the real thing thing but they really aren't." Chise said quickly.
"Well, it is rather dangerous and risky to have actual ancient artifacts and objects at museums and such. I mean, look at what happened to Plymouth Rock." Elias said.
"Heh, heh, vandalism and graffiti, you people have nothing better to do." Ruth said sarcastically.
"Ruth, please, no more side commentary." Chise said.
"Sorry, I had to get it out there." Ruth said.
"So, what song would you like to listen to, Chise?" Elias asked as he set his record player down and picked up a box of records from the closet.
"O-Oh, um, well, I don't really know. Could you list a few that you have?" Chise asked.
"Absolutely." Elias said as he picked up a few records from the box. "I have: Mortal Kombat, You Don't Know You're Beautiful, Summer Nights, Ain't no Mountain High Enough, Never Gonna Give You Up, Ghostbusters, Dancing Queen, and Eye of the Tiger." Elias said.
"Wow! Wait, how did you get those songs on record?" Chise asked.
"Ah, it's quite simple, I used what I call an Audio Spell. It is a spell that allows me to capture sound or audio I hear and then I transport it into any sound that can emit sound. That is how I got these songs. Of course, I had to actually hear these songs. It goes to show that going outside is good." Elias said.
"That's so cool, Elias." Chise said.
"Thank you. I will happily teach it to you if you want." Elias offered.
"Sure, that sounds good to me." Chise replied.
"Wonderful. Thankfully this spell doesn't have any nasty side effects and it won't do any harm to your body." Elias said.
"That's a relief." Chise said.
"So, what song would you like to listen to?" Elias asked.
"I guess, Dancing Queen. I have heard that song more than the others." Chise replied.
"Ah, wonderful choice." Elias said as he put the record into the machine and let it play.
For the next 4 minutes, they all just sat and listened and enjoyed the song.
"It's nice to hear that song again." Chise said as she smiled.
"May I ask, when did you usually hear that song?" Elias asked.
"My mom used to play it often. B-Before the bad stuff happened." Chise said as her smiled disappeared and she felt sad again.
"Forgive me. I did not intend to make you remember those bad times." Elias said as he walked over to Chise and hugged her.
"I-It's okay. You don't have to apologize, Elias." Chise said as she hugged him back. After a few moments, Chise looked up to Elias. "How about you pick the next song?" Chise asked.
"Very well. How about this one." Elias said as he put in a record and let it play.
"Elias, isn't this the song, 'Ain't no mountain high enough'?" Chise asked.
"Why, yes it is. A very lovely song. You know the song well?" Elias asked
"I've heard the song quite a few times, I don't know the lyrics fully." Chise said.
"Well, that is your next assignment then." Elias said.
"My next assignment?" Chise asked.
"Yes, I would like for you to learn the song fully, that way, maybe we can sing it together one day." Elias said as he looked at Chise lovingly.
"Aww, that's so sweet." Chise said as she gave him a warm smile.
"(Chuckle) I suppose it is." Elias said as they let the song play out. "It is nice to relax a bit, so much has happened in one day." Elias said.
"You can say that again." Chise said.
"It is nice to relax a bit, so much has happened in one day." Elias repeated.
Chise and Elias just laughed, while Ruth simply cracked a smile.