Rio

**Overview**

Documents

Gifts

Gallery

"*Rin… I truly do not care about any of that. I’m sorry that Gellis made you believe you’re unlovable, but that’s not true. Obviously, since here I am- loving you.*"
―Echo insisting to Rin that he loves her regardless of her species

## Characters

Rin Morozko
Echo

## Timeline

### Date of Courtship

10/10/2023 (Echo)

**Rio** is the canonical ship between Echo and Rin.

## Canon

### Meeting

After taking up the position of a guard in Praesidium, Rin began to feel as though she was being watched. She tried to shake the feeling off for her next few shifts before she heard scraping from atop the roof. She called out, forcing Echo to reveal himself. Echo had moved to Praesidium for unknown reasons, when asked he simply said that "they don't like it." She spoke harshly with him and brushed him away, though this didn't seem to dissuade him from pursuing more conversations with her. He asked her to teach him how to fly, to which she flatly refused, stating that he should have instincts that allowed him to. Echo shrugged off her harsh words, seeming unfazed by them as he continued to pester and question her. After her shift she returned to the castle, deciding that the heat was more bearable than speaking with Echo.

### Growing Closer

Rio is the only canonical ship in lore where one of the characters involved does not reciprocate the romantic feelings of the other. Rio is obsessed and infatuated with Rin, who feels uneasy around him and dislikes him. Due to the fact that Rin revolves around a debtor and creditor life system, Echo staged multiple events which forced her to become indebted to him in exchange. He feigned being unable to fly to give him an excuse to pressure her into spending time with him. After she had acquired a powerful healing potion from James and her wing had healed, Echo began pestering her to teach him how to fly. She eventually agreed, hoping that he would leave her alone and fly elsewhere after learning. Unfortunately for her, that didn't end up happening. During their flying lesson he lost his balance and fell, only to be grabbed by Rin. She slowed his fall and then gave him some critique, which he already knew. She corrected him, and the next time he leapt from the mountain ledge, he was able to fly back up to her.

Following that the two had a meal of venison, which Echo caught. Rin seemed unwilling to eat it raw or even cooked by his flames, and she retreated into the castle to retrieve some cooking supplies. She cooked herself a meal from the venison that Echo had offered, and introduced him to the concept of cooking with herbs, spices and oils. This led him to kidnap a chef from Praesidium's kitchens to teach him in hopes of impressing and pleasing Rin.

### The Deal

Around the tenth, Echo met Ormr, the two bonded over their somewhat insane and unrealistic ideals of love and Ormr agreed to help him win Rin's favor. He did this by causing an avalanche to collapse on Rin, trapping her. Terrified, she struggled in the snow until Echo came and helped her. Thinking that he saved her life, she promised to make it up to him. In exchange for this, Echo asked that she gave him a chance for a single month, and allowed him to prove to her that she would love him. Throughout the time of the deal, however, Rin's opinion of Echo has not grown in fondness. She has only become more wary of him due to finding out about his divine roots.

During the time of this agreement, she was kidnapped and tortured by Vrai and Miya. She was rescued a couple days afterwards by Ormr and Echo. Echo was later rescued by Ormr after losing consciousness, and the two were reunited after he was brought back to Ormr's room in Alrasid. They shared a kiss which Rin claimed was only in return for saving her. They got into a small argument where she reminded him that their relationship was nothing more than her trying to make up for everything he did to her.

### Responsibilities & The Hunt

Conch appeared before Echo and Rin one day, claiming that Echo was needed in the End and that he was here to try and speak for the telos, who Echo couldn't understand. He told Echo what he knew about the past and began trying to convince him to visit the End. Seeing this as an opportunity to get rid of him, Rin insisted that he leave and figure out everything required of him. He argued and insisted that she should come with, she refused, so he refused and dismissed Conch. The next day Echo visited the End and swiftly fell in love with the dimension. He felt responsible for it and decided to rebuild it, though he had a vision in mind that he and Ormr had agreed upon: to make a dimension that was welcoming to those like him, Ormr, and Rin, those who were viewed as outcasts and give them a community of people like them.

The two were separated for a few days, which Echo longed to see her and Rin thought she had finally rid herself of him. Unfortunately for her he reappeared three days later with Nova, who he wished to introduce to her. They exchanged tense greetings where Nova attempted to usher Echo away from Rin. He eventually grew agitated an teleported the two of them away, leaving Nova stranded in the End with no way to reach him. Echo returned to Rin and proposed that the two go hunting. Rin was hesitant, as she had never hunted anything before. Despite being in the lower class of Gellis, food was always provided. Echo teleported them into a nearby woods where he then shifted into his dragon form. Rin was stunned and seemed taken aback by the transformation and was initially terrified. She believed he was going to kill her, though he showed nothing but signs of affection and made quiet content noises. His menacing yet calm and almost playful behavior reminded her of the direwolves in Gellis, which every citizen is taught to love and trust as they are undoubtedly loyal. That caused her to lower her guard as she inspected him, observing his wings, tail and body in general.

They managed to find a small buck, and took it down together. Rin then caught a small vole she heard beneath the snow and offered it to him. By the time they returned to their default forms both of them were slightly covered in blood. Rin thought she was unfit for the public eye, so she asked if there was anywhere she could get the blood off. Echo pointed her to a small river a short walk away and she went to its bank to wash her hands off. Unfortunately the small rock she had been standing on slipped and sent her plummeting into the frigid current. Unable to swim and panicking, she nearly drowned before Echo leapt in and saved her. The water had shaken both of them up, though it had physically harmed Echo. She felt bad upon seeing his state and returned to the castle to dry herself off and get a towel for him. When she returned she was temporarily unable to find him, though found him preparing the deer.

She gave him the towel and tried to warm him up through physical contact. This was the first time that she had ever felt genuine positive emotions toward him, and she was unsure of what to do. She thanked him and the two spent the rest of their time simply trying to warm up and get comfortable again. Following that, she and Echo began spending more and more time together, and while Echo's affection for her only grew, Rin slowly found herself loving him in return. She began missing spending time with him and would often keep him in her pocket or around her neck during her shifts when he was able to spend time with her.