Ruby and Elizabeth (First Meeting)

(Liana) "Why didn't Liz counter-attack? There were so many openings, and if I could see them, she could too."

Lillian looked up from her work to see Liana sitting on the edge of her table.

(Lillian) "Because although Ruby's attacks look powerful, Liz made the mistake once of counterattacking, and found Ruby's true strength. The ability to block counterattacks. She got trashed more than she did earlier."

(Liana) "You didn't seem very concerned after the match. Liz got pretty beat up."

Lillian shrugged.

(Lillian) "Another thing Ruby mastered is healing, especially healing Liz with the amount they spar together."

Liana gave Lillian an incredulous look.

(Liana) "You're serious?"

Lillian nodded, giving up on getting any work done while Liana was in the room.

(Lillian) "Ruby's talent is rare, but not unheard of. She has the ability to learn anything in an instant. However, it is different from Liz's ability as well as yours. For hers, she does not need to even see the move performed. She only needs to hear about it, or even just the concept, and she'll be able to perform it. How it works is similar to my mind-reading skill, but yet, different. It's really hard to explain."

Liana listened in disbelief.

(Liana's thoughts) 'Is that even possible?'

Lillian laughed softly as she said,

(Lillian) "Yes, it is very possible. You can ask her to show you if you like."

She then chuckled to herself, causing Liana to look at her quizzically. Lillian grinned as she said,

(Lillian) "Ruby did that intentionally. I just recalled one of her other skills."

Liana raised an eyebrow.

(Liana) "What do you mean did that intentionally?"

Lillian had a playful smile on her face as she said,

(Lillian) "Ruby's skill is that she is able to hear a person's most hidden thoughts. The more you try to hide it, the more she'll be able to hear it. However, an extra part of it is that she's able to hear words that are passed through spells."

Liana raised an eyebrow but waited for Lillian to continue.

(Lillian) "Ruby can hear your conversations if you use mind-link or any other spell of the same kind."

(Liana) "What does that have to do with what Ruby did?"

Lillian pretended to contemplate the question and Liana just smiled and shook her head slightly at Lillian in amusement.

(Lillian) "I was talking to Liz, which made her unconsciously ignore Ruby. Ruby knew she wasn't actually ignoring her, but Liz forgot about her skill, so Ruby just used what Liz thought was her anger to get what she wanted."

Liana had a disbelieving look on her face. She sounded slightly confused as she said,

(Liana) "But her emotions were genuinely angry though…"

Lillian chuckled as she shook her head. Liana raised her eyebrows as Lillian spoke.

(Lillian) "Ruby is really good at controlling the things about her, examples being her body temperature, her emotions and her aura."

Liana's expression showed the confusion she was feeling in her head. Still, she just let Lillian continue, as she knew Lillian could tell she was confused.

(Lillian) "She can pretend to be angry, or any other emotion, and it would fool even a skill like yours or Liz's. That's why my sister couldn't tell that Ruby wasn't actually angry. As for controlling her body temperature, she actually does it subconsciously, even in her sleep, which is why Liz enjoys sharing a bed with her that much."

Liana held back a laugh when she heard the last part.

(Liana) "Is Liz's control over her body temperature that bad?"

Everyone that could use magic was able to control certain things like their body temperature, so it was really surprising for Liana to find out that Liz couldn't do this. However, Lillian's next reply made her smile.

Lillian shook her head as she laughed softly.

(Lillian) "Liz could actually be better than Ruby at it. She just pretends she can't to get to sleep with Ruby. I think Ruby knows too, but she doesn't bring it up. It's kind of an unspoken rule that Liz and Ruby share a room no matter where they are."

She chuckled, remembering the very first time Liz wanted to share a room with Ruby.

(Lillian) "When I first met Robyn, there were a few times that Ruby came over to visit Robyn, and her first visit was when Liz and Ruby first met. The very first time they met they were very literally inseparable."

Liana could tell from Lillian's expression that there was much more to the story than she thought.

(Liana) "Since you're not going to be doing your work anyway, and you're going to tell me the story, why don't we go somewhere more comfortable to talk?"

Lillian gave Liana a look that had Liana trying to hold back her laughter. Lillian asked with a flat tone,

(Lillian) "And whose fault is that?"

Liana blushed lightly and said,

(Liana) "I was bored. Besides, this has to be more interesting than your work, and I think you have elders to do your work for you. Isn't that basically their job description?"

Lillian chuckled lightly and allowed Liana to pull her to a standing position then into a different room. The sitting room that connected to Lillian's bedroom. Liana let go of Lillian to let her sit down, then sat down next to Lillian. Lillian stiffened slightly when Liana laid her head on her shoulder but quickly relaxed.

(Liana) "Just let me stay like this for a while, you can tell me the story about how Ruby and Liz first met."

Lillian chuckled and shook her head lightly but obliged.

(Recollection, but Lillian is telling it to Liana) Liz was practicing a new spell when Robyn opened the door and called out to her, breaking her concentration, causing her spell to go haywire and fire at random. Robyn's eyes widened as she quickly dodged the one that was coming straight at her and used her magic to nullify the rest of them. 'How is it that a six-year-old can create such a huge spell?' Robyn wondered to herself as she observed the results of some of them hitting their targets. She then turned around and jumped slightly. The one that she had dodged had hit her sister behind her. The spell that Liz was practicing was a spell that merged two things together and was not meant to be used on humans. Robyn held back her laughter as she spoke.

"Erm… Liz, meet Ruby. She's my younger sister, but you probably can already tell that. Ruby, Liz is Chief Lillian's younger sister. You're about a year apart…"

She then turned to find Lillian standing right next to her. She jumped in surprise and Lillian simply said,

"You need to work on your detecting."

By this time, they were already fairly close, and Lillian had opened up quite a bit to Robyn.

"I felt Liz's magic fluctuate and came to see what had happened."

Robyn grinned, still holding back her laughter.

"Well, now you found out. Can you separate them?"

Lillian turned to look at them properly, then turned back to Robyn. Robyn's expression changed from amused to worried in a split second.

"You can't?"

Lillian shook her head, causing Robyn to frown.

"I can… but I don't think they want me to."

She slipped her hand into Robyn's, letting her hear their thoughts. Both the younger girls were completely red by this time. Ruby made no move to do anything, while Liz was attempting to cover her face with her hands. The way they had gotten stuck together was… to say the least, awkward. Their lower bodies had gotten quite stuck to each other, all the way up to their chests, immobilizing them. This put their faces directly in front of each other's, and if they leaned even a little forward, their lips would connect. Both their faces were completely flushed, even as they stared into each other's eyes. Their eyes were both blue, but Liz's were lighter.

"Blue."

Liz said softly, and all the other three looked at her in confusion.

"Your eyes are Blue, like your name."

Robyn finally broke and burst into laughter. By this time, Liz knew she had made a mistake. She wasn't completely listening to Robyn when she had introduced Ruby, but was thinking about how blue Ruby's eyes were, and somehow heard her name as Blue.

"Her name is Ruby… not Blue."

Liz blushed even harder. Lillian, finally deciding to have mercy on them, cast a spell and they both broke apart falling… into each other's arms. They both blushed furiously as they stood up properly. Even at six, they had the mentality of a teen, which was common at that time.

"Let's do this again, shall we?"

Ruby held out a hand towards Liz.

"My name is Ruby, but you can call me Blue if you prefer."

Liz blushed as she took Ruby's hand.

"Liz. Short for Elizabeth."

Ruby grinned.

"Then I'll call you Beth."

Liz blushed even harder at that. Ruby actually did end up using Beth as her own nickname for Liz, but she used Liz too.

END OF RECOLLECTION

Liana was laughing uncontrollably by the end of Lillian's story.

(Liana) "I can't believe that actually happened."

Lillian shrugged.

(Lillian) "Believe it or not, it really did happen."