Dealing with the Facts (Ino and Richy)

He shrugged a little as he looked away. It wasn't a time of his life he was particularly proud of. He'd done things to survive and that was not limited to just killing his trackers. No, he was enjoying his family life with a wife who loved him and a little girl who loved him as her father,

"Well sometimes hiding is fun." he replied with a shrug, "I never had much fun but I suppose hide and seek is less fun when they kill you if they find you."

Richard could see that she enjoyed the craft her grandfather was teaching her and she was right, it was a very rare skill. Magical dolls and alike were very rare because the magic was so delicate,

"Well it's a really rare talent." Richard agreed with a smile, "The amount of dedication and delicate work that is needed is beyond most people. If your grandfather sees potential in you, enough to teach you, then that really speaks to your credit."

Richard laughed, not only at the way she admitted that she'd squeaked by looking at the floor and blushing but also because she was sure that it wasn't cute when it quite obviously was. He ruffled her hair lightly while still hugging her,

"It is so cute." he told her before sticking his tongue out at her, "Nothing you can do about it."

Ingrid looked at Richard and she blinked softly, she thought that it was horrible for someone as nice as Richard to have been chased like that, but, then she wondered what exactly he had done in order to start being chased and maybe he wasn't such a nice person after all.

"I have not really played hide and seek, so i vouldn't know if it vas fun or not..."

She blushed softly and Ingrid felt her chest well up in pride, she knew that she was pretty good at her craft and she grinned, happy that someone finally reckognised her talent.

"Zank you! I zink zat I can make zem really proud, my family zat is, I am to master it by next year."

Ingrid pouted and stamped her foot on the floor when Richard told her that she was cute, she was definately not cute, but, when she thought about it, it was a lot better than being ugly, so maybe she would just take the cute compliment and live with it until she coud change his mind.

"Hmmmm...fine, I vill accept zat I might be a little bit cute..."

Poking Richards nose Ingrid pulled her tongue out: "Only a little."

He looked away so he missed Ingrid’s thoughtful look about why it was he could be chased to such an extent. Of course, he’d seen the look he thought she’d give many, many, times before after he mentioned that part. Most people were afraid or at least leery of being around him after he’d told them,

“Well now that truly is a crime!” Richard joked lightly before smiling at her, “We’ll have to remedy that at some point. You and Annie would have trouble finding Briony though. Hell, I’d have trouble finding Briony.”

Richard was glad that he’d flattered her because it seemed to do wonders for the girl’s confidence and he saw her physically swell with pride at his comment. It wasn’t even a mild lie or anything; it was a terribly tricky craft from what he knew about it. So much so that he wasn’t sure that he would actually be able to do it, even with his rather powerful concentration,

“Master it by next year you say?” he grinned, genuinely happy for the girl, “That’s amazing Ingrid! To be a master of anything by your age is impressive but to be master of a craft legendary for its difficulty? You’d be the youngest one in decades. Maybe even centuries.”

Although he was very tempted to tell her, Richard managed to barely hold in another comment about her being cute with her little mock tantrum about being called cute. The little pout she was wearing wasn’t doing much to convince him that she wasn’t cute either,

“Well there’s not much else you can do after such a cute display.” He wiggled his nose and stuck his tongue out back at her, “More than a little but less than a lot?”

Ingrid smiled softly and she looked at Richard, although not knowing who any of these people were she assumed that they were Richards family, giggling softly she gazed up at Richard and poked his nose.

"Who are Briony and Ingrid? Are they your family?"

However the fact that she would be invited to spend time with them, smiling even wider Ingrid stood up and folded her arms across her chest.

"Want to see something awesome? If I can have your permission to do it to you?"

Ingrid waited for Richard to agree to what she wanted Ingrid smiled and nodded her head again, she was pretty good when it came to her craft.

"Yes I am very proud of myself!!"

Stopping the pout Ingrid kissed Richards cheek and smirked: "Well I could try and not be cute."

Seeing her smile again brought another smile to Richard's face. He hadn't know Ingrid very long but her smile always seemed to brighten up the conversation. He wiggled his nose and grinned when she asked him her question,

"Well Briony is my wonderful and amazingly awesome wife." he told her, showing her his simple wedding ring, "And Annie is my daughter. Yeah, they're my family. My lovely girls."

Richard raised an eyebrow as Ingrid stood up rather quickly, becoming suddenly a lot more animated that even a few seconds before. He looked at her for a few seconds before smirking,

"Go on then!" he agreed before pointing at her with a smirk, "But only if it's awesome okay?"

She enjoyed her craft it seemed and, if she kept going down the route she was on in terms of her disease, it would be very useful to her because she'd be able to continue what her grandfather started. Either way though, to be anywhere near master level at her age was nothing short of amazing,

"Well you should be!" he ruffled her hair with a light laugh, "I wasn't a master until I was 17. So you're beating me out of the park with this Ingrid!"

Richard took the kiss on the cheek with a grin but pouted when she said she'd stop being cute,

"You can't stop that..." he faked a sniff, "You'll make Richie sad..."

The way that Richard spoke of his family made Ingrid happy, it reminded her of the way that her own father spoke of her mother and her, and she did miss him a lot, she especially missed her mother but, she didn't often get to speak to them.

"Zey zound lovely, I vould love to come and play hide and seek vith zem one day."

Ingrid grinned, this was when she really did get to show off her skills, she stood up, looked at Richard and took a deep breath, closing her eyes to concentrate. Opening them quickly Ingrid moved her hands through the air and white strings flew out of her finger tips.

These attatched themselves to Richards joints and Ingrid smirked.

"You're a puppet now, look, I can make you do zings."

Moving her hand Ingrid masterfully manipulated Richard so that he waved at her.

"You zink zo? Vell, I imagine zat transfiguration is much harder."

Ingrid grinned and she shook her head, using her control over Richard she made him shake his head and put on a happy face.

"You can't be sad now!"

Richard didn’t know the circumstances of Ingrid’s homelife so he didn’t know why she was living with her grandfather and not her parents but that wasn’t for him to ask about, she had to want to tell him,

“Well that sounds like a plan!” he told her with a grin, “I know Annie will welcome playing hide and seek with you and Briony is sure to be just as enthusiastic.”

He could see already, before she began, that she was going to enjoy this. The way she looked at him before she concentrated made Richard smile, it was always an honour to be the last thing someone focused on before slipping into deep concentration. When she began in earnest, white strings of magic flew from her fingertips to attach themselves to him.

Richard frowned a little as he felt the magic of the strings sap the energy of his muscles, apparently giving Ingrid control of them if what she said was true,

“I have to admit, being a puppet is less fun that I imagined when I watched those Disney cartoons…” he joked lightly as he was made to wave at her, “This is good stuff, Ingrid. Powerful and useful magic to be sure.”

He chuckled a little and tried, and failed, to shrug his shoulders,

“Well I’m not the best person to ask about which is harder I’m afraid.” He stuck his tongue out at her, “See, I’ve never tried anything like what you can do. So I can’t compare.”

Richard raised his eyebrow a little, finding it very interesting that he still could when Ingrid was manipulating his face as well,

“Well that’s a relief!” he told her happily, “Now I’ll never frown unless you do!”

Ingrid smiled at Richard and she looked at him with a look of humour on her face, biting her lip she looked at him, wondering why someone as smart as him had made this fundamental error.

"Richard you're missing something quite crucial..."

Giggling softly Ingrid stuck her own tongue out at him Richard really was too silly to miss something as big as this.

"If I was completely controlling you, would we be having this conversation, so my movements aren't connected to yours unless I want them to be, it's part of what my grandpapa has been teaching me."

Ingrid smiled softly again and she gasped, feeling her hold slipping and framing away, as she did so she flexed her fingers, moving them again.

"I can't do it for very long."

Richard raised an eyebrow slowly. It was quite possible that he had missed something. His vaunted concentration only helped on certain things after all. And although he was beginning to get a very basic understanding of some of the magic used in the strings, he'd obviously missed something so obvious,

"I've missed something? Do tell."

The way she giggled almost confirmed for Richard that he had missed something and the thing that he'd missed was pretty damn simple. Wanting to shrug but unable to do so, Richard sighed a little,

"Oh well. Sometimes even I can over look the simple things. And to think... I wrote a bloody article on concentrating on the little things for 'Transfiguration Today'!" he rolled his eyes with a laugh in his voice, "Ah. Grandad Valenska has some tricks up his sleeves."

Richard frowned a little as he saw Ingrid gasp a little. The magic in the strings visibly lessened for a few seconds before she re-established control. He looked at her with only a small smile,

"Why don't you drop it and take a break then Ingrid?" he asked her in a concerned voice, "I don't want you wasting your strength after all."

Ingrid heard Richards sigh and she hoped that she hadn't upset him by what she had just said, after all it might be slightly embarrassing to be proved wrong by a 14 year old girl who doesn't know half as much as you do.

"Uhm, sorry, I guess I shouldn't have pointed it out..."

Giggling when Richard called her grandpapa 'Grandad Valenska' it sounded weird to hear him called anything but Grandpapa but then again, he was quite a stern man, she didn't think he would appreciate being called anything but that by a grown man.

"He has more zan a few tricks up his sleeve Richard, I'm zure zat you vill see a vew of zem if you ever meet."

Ingrid smiled gratefully and quickly whipped her hands in the air, the strings cut and Richard gained control of his movements once more, Ingrid sighed and rested against a tree, getting her strength back.

"Vell, zat vas zee cool zing anyvay."

Richard raised his eyebrow a little and smiled faintly. Apparently she'd taken his sigh as meaning that she'd embaressed or annoyed him in some way but he had been neither,

"Don't worry about it." he told her with a grin, "Just appreciating the irony of a master of transfiguration not figuring something out when concentration was required."

He chuckled along with her, admittedly, rather infectious giggle and nodded as much as the technique would allow him to. For some reason he didn't imagine the russian master was a soft figure so calling him Grandad would probably offend him. Of course this was based on only stereotypes of russian people. The man was probably more likely to be offended,

"If we ever meet I can assure you that I won't be calling him Grandad Valenska." he told her, sticking his tongue out at her with a grin, "A master of a craft like that? Those tricky sleeves would be the end of me."

Richard watched her fling her hands up in the air to cut the strings and felt his muscles begin to respond to his commands again. It was a special technique, that much was obvious. To be able to control and opponent's movements like that was amazing. To be able to do that at such a young age? Simply unbelievable and yet there Ingrid stood as proof. He grinned widely,

"That was amazing Ingrid!" he congratulated her happily, "A trick like that is a very powerful piece of magic! You should be proud of yourself, I know I am. That was most definately cool."

Ingrid smiled and relaxed slightly when Richard told her that he was just seeing how ironic it was and she believed him, it looked like he was impressed with her and she wanted to learn more and more so that she could impress him more and more.

"You vant to know somezing? I probably shouldn't tell you but, I can trust you can't I Richard?"

What she was about to say was something that she had never spoken about to anyone except in a positive manner.

"Yeah, I vould definately recommend you calling him Sir, or Mr. Valenska."

Ingrid couldn't help but bristle with pride when Richard said that he was proud of her and that he thought that she was definitely cool for knowing how to do this so early and she couldn't help but agree.

"Grandpapa says it's a knack, zat is vhy my mozer cannot do it, and my fazer too but he is not of our same blood line."

He saw her relaxing as he assured her that he had not taken offence and that was good but also slightly odd. He'd never thought that a little girl such as her would really care that much about his opinion in such a small amount of time. It might have had something to do with the fact that he was kind to her where as others were not,

"Well I'm a curious kind of person so yes, I'd like to know something." he replied with a wink before smiling, "But only if you're alright about sharing it. You can trust me."

Richard shuckled a little bit, he would have called the man Master Valenska for his level of skills as he was sometimes addressed as Master Romain for his mastery of Transfiguration and Active Alchemy. Sir or Mr seemed a little light but he just grinned,

"I'll be sure to give him the respect he deserves." he assured her with a smile, "He is a master after all. Not to mention he's the grandfather of such an amazing young lady as yourself."

The idea of a type of magic being passed down through blood lines had been around for generations and Richard had never really believed it. If it was true then his own family's 'blood gift' would be in curses and that was easily his weakest area. Of course the idea had merits but before seeing a girl this young performing such advance magic he had been a sceptic. He smiled a little,

"That's amazing Ingrid!" he hugged her gently, "You've got a real leg up on your fellow students with that."

Ingrid smiled and looked around the clearing, she didn't want to get caught telling Richard what she was about to becaus she could get into a lot of trouble but she bit her lip and she looked around one last time.

"I'm going to var soon, Zats vhy I have to get better, Grandpapa was commissioned to make fighting dolls, and ve are both going to puppet zem in the var in Russia."

It left her with a proud smile on her face even if in reality she was so scares of what was going to happen to her, but she knew by then she would bs fixed, and she wouldn't be able to get hurt.

"Iznt zat exciting?"

Grinning Ingrid nodded her head, but then blushes, Richard was so nice to call her lovely and she couldn't help but enjoy the attention.

"You zink? Vat use is zis for school?"

Richard raised an eyebrow at the thought that this was something no one should overhear. He knew no one was around but he let Ingrid check anyway, it made her feel safer he supposed. When she said that she was going to war, Richard's eyes widdened in horror. The thought of a girl as young as Ingrid going to war was not a happy thought,

"You... you're going to war?" he asked her in a very quiet voice, "What... what are you going to war for?"

Although he'd been in a lot of heavy duty fighting in his life, Richard had never been to war before. He'd heard about it though. He'd been sat down to listen to his grandfather's war stories about the war between Grindelwald and the world. And his grandad only used the most horrible stories,

"War..." he breathed and shook his head a little, "Exciting is one word... terrifying is another..."

He reached out and ruffled her hair with all small grin as she blushed,

"Well DADA should be easy for you. Wizard deulling too." he told her with a smile, "How does your enemy attack when you control his movements? Oh an charms... because from what I felt it was most linked to charms."

Ingrid looked at Richard's eyes, seeing them widen in horror, and she bit her lip, she wondered why he was doing that, maybe it was as bad as she had heard the tales from her father as being. For her own sake, she hoped not.

"Vat....vat is vrong? I am zerving my country...izn't zat good?"

She shrugged and smiled awkwardly, that was the very thing, her Grandpapa had never told her what she was fighting for.

"I do not know, but it must be somzing important!"

Ingrid smiled as she looked at Richard, her hair ruffled, she was glad that she had met him, she really was, after all, she now knew that there would be some hope for her in some subjects, if not others.

"Vow! I did not know zat I could be so useful..."