rubytorrance:
Russell would have a cow if he knew that Ruby was attending therapy. He didn’t approve of treatment for mental health issues, even though that was what his daughter deeply needed. She was grown now, still right off the brink of eighteen, but she was an adult and could make her own decisions. She wanted to act grown, to be grown, to blossom into a young woman and be her own person. That was impossible with her father constantly on her ass. So this was something she was doing to better herself as an adult, to get her shit together and make herself a better person. She needed this, she really did. She just hoped that Magnus would be able to help her.
Even though she was trying to be grown, the blonde was still just as lost as she had been all her life, much like a child was. She didn’t know how to act in these situations except to beg, plead, cry for help. “I’ve been better.” Ruby said with a little shrug, looking away from the man and down at her hands which had been neatly folded in her lap, fingers on her left hand picking at the skin on her right hand. After a moment, though, she looked back up at him, trying to be respectful and not act like a dejected brat. “I don’t… Really know how to cope, honestly. I cut my hair,” She reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Daddy wanted to kill me for it, too. He thinks I should be able to handle this and not be upset about it since my mother and I didn’t get along. I just - I don’t know what to do with myself.”
Every case was distinct and he was repeating it like a mantra, but after so many years in this business, especially having worked mainly with people of very similar backgrounds, it was impossible not to discern a certain arrangement, a consistent pattern. Maybe that was what ended up making him so deprived of any drive and passion for his work, those dull replicas. If he collected this multitude of similarities they shared, he could’ve as well turned it into bingo. Ruby’s age was the first aspect distinguishing her from most of the patients coming through the door. Technically she was an adult, and he surely wasn’t going to diminish that fact, but maturity and independence weren’t steady values.
As she spoke, he was only nodding his head lightly and giving a soft hum once in a while instead of cutting in with any comments of his. There was nothing too astounding about her answer, nothing he wasn’t already expecting, what didn’t mean it was good to hear it. The mention of her father’s rigorous tendencies was some food for thought, actually. Magnus was always leaving his personal life and biases outside the office, though as a parent himself he couldn’t help but let his mind wander off to the piece of work Russel was. When silence fell, he disrupted it with a deep sigh and knitted his eyebrows in earnest cogitation. “Your father’s not the best influence. Perhaps a danger, even,” saying matter-of-factly, he glanced off to the side before looking at Ruby with a glint of what could come across as concern. “Just because you and your mother weren’t on good terms, it doesn’t mean you can’t feel the loss. You have the right to grieve, to be angry, confused... And he can’t take it away from you.” What he stated was possibly something flourishing in Ruby’s subconscious or something she couldn’t voice aloud. “Trust me, you’re not handling this situation badly.”











