(Untitled)

[strongest_tool]

WHO: Rua, Ruka
WHERE: Moonybase
WHEN: Late Wednesday afternoon, after Ruka gets home.
WARNINGS: Children!?
SUMMARY: Ruka is back. Rua missed her.
FORMAT: I'll format you.

Comments

But I don't want to be formatted...

[gallitrap]

Ruka had, to be honest, fallen asleep mid-flight from the Porter Tower to the so-called "Moonybase," but woken upon arriving at that destination. A little groggy, she'd given her thanks and farewell to Jaime, who still had zombies to fight and people to rescue (like a real hero, she thought momentarily), but she sobered up quickly looking on the front of the house. It didn't seem different from when she saw it earlier that day, in her mind, but something like a month had passed between that trip to the kitchen and this moment.

A month was a long time... what if they all had grown accustomed to her absence, and enjoyed the freedom from her shackle-like presence? It was one thing to sound welcoming and excited over the Network, but what sort of reception would she find in the house? She was honestly terrified.

"Breathe, Ruka," she reprimanded herself, clutching her duel disk tight to her chest. "They wouldn't have-"

And in that moment she heard the door slam open and her name being called, and-momentarily panicked before being washed over in relief-Ruka laughed, running up the rest of the path to meet him somewhere along the way. "Rua!"

TOO BAD.

[strongest_tool]

"Ruka!" Rua repeated as the two twins ran towards each other. Rua was heedless of anything besides his sister at this point - unfortunately, that included the steps on the porch he was charging down. It also included the shoes he had failed to tie.

It also included the hockey stick in his hand. Which, now that he was tripping and falling right on to his face, was flying right out of his hands in Ruka's direction.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[gallitrap]

While Ruka certainly didn't have the speed or reflexes to save Rua from his unfortunate tumble down the steps, she could see when a hockey stick was going to fly into her face. Attempting to dodge, though, with legs still mostly asleep, Ruka fell to the side on the short front grass, hockey stick clattering and skidding down the pathway behind her.

Her weight on her right side, she was glad at least that she hadn't accidentally snapped her duel disk-but in a moment she was pushing up to her hands. "Rua! Are you alright?!"

[strongest_tool]

Despite all the pain in his face, Rua managed to give his sister a thumbs-up and mumbled "mmmgh ohky!" through a faceful of pavement. He then put both his hands on the ground and pushed himself back up. He had marks all over his face now, but it didn't look like it was dampening his mood.

"Hey hey, how was it flying home with Jaime? Did he blast any zombies on the way home? Did you get to blast any zombies?" Surely, the questions about how she was, what had happened while she was gone, etc. etc. were forthcoming.

[gallitrap]

Pushing herself to her feet properly, she winced on Rua's behalf when she caught sight of his pavement-abused face, before she was battered with questions.

"I... fell asleep, on the way over, I think," she admitted, a little embarrassed. Jaime was a much smoother flier than Bizarro, for sure.

[strongest_tool]

"Heeeh!? How could you fall asleep while flying?!" Rua muttered. "I don't get you sometimes, Ruka..." He added afterwards, arms crossed.

"...What was it like to go home?" He then asked out of nowhere. "Did you remember the city while you were here? Do you know how long you were there before you came back?"

[gallitrap]

Jeez, I was just tired, she started to say, but stumbled into thoughtful silence when Rua rapidly fired his rounds of questioning.

"I didn't go home," she answered after a moment of pause, eyebrows drawn, expression thoughtful. "At least, I don't think I did."

Her memory, as far as she could tell, jumped straight from the staircase in this house to the Porter machine in that tower, across town, just a little while ago.

[strongest_tool]

Rua blinked. Then he blinked again. "So...you got ported...forward?" He muttered. "Instead of out?" He rubbed his head, confused. "....I don't think I've ever heard of that...you don't remember anything about when the little you was here for a few days either?"

[gallitrap]

She shook her head, frowning in thought. "No, nothing like that. I remember that other people had been switched around, about a week ago. Ah," she cut herself off, shaking her head once more. "I mean, about a week before I was... ported forward, I guess. It's hard to believe so much time has gone by."

She knew other people had gone through similar jumps forward without returning home; it had happened at least once with Metabee, she was sure, and if it happened to him and to her, it must have happened to at least some of the others. At least, she thought so. Still frowning with confusion, she added, "has a lot happened? Since I was gone."

[strongest_tool]

"Uhmmm...." Rua rubbed his head as he thought. He was starting to get more and more confused by all of this.

"Well...the porter messed around with more people than it seemed like it would, again, and you...got switched for a 3 year old version of you. But you were in a coma at first, 'cause of you being in the Spirit World and stuff." He explained. "But then Bakura - uh." He paused. "The new one - the one that came in a little while ago and doesn't live with Alastair...he helped wake you up."

"Theen..." Rua's eyes slowly wandered off to the side as he wondered how to tell her about their little trip to the ice cream shop with Dr. Banner.

[gallitrap]

She listened to Rua recount the details as they moved into the house, her head bowed in thoughtful silence. She remembered seeing herself at that age, residing in the Spirit World, and how it had been Rua, calling her name, that had woken her up.

"I know who you mean. But, ... why would he do something like that? Everyone said he wasn't a good person, right?"

[strongest_tool]

"That's...what they said, but..." Rua seemed confused himself, but suddenly put his metaphorical foot down and shook his head vehemently. "Y'know what? No way! I'm sure they just made a mistake or something! He helped wake you up, and he didn't even want anything in return, so I'm sure he's not a bad guy!"

[gallitrap]

"Rua..."

She was hesitant to throw away those words of warning so easily, especially from Yuugi, but... that guy hadn't seemed so bad when she talked to him when he first arrived in the City, and if he'd gone out of his way to help her-for nothing in return, even-then, perhaps... Perhaps Rua was right? He usually was, when it came to trusting other people.

Finally, she nodded in agreement. "Yeah. If he hasn't done anything wrong, then there's no reason why we can't be friends, I think."

[strongest_tool]

"Yeah! I'm sure we can be friends with him!" He said and nodded, as if that was the end of it.

"...so uh." He rubbed his head. "...while you were all little n'stuff, somethin'...else happened I should prooobably tell you about..." He muttered.

[gallitrap]

That tone of voice was never a good sign. Ruka frowned a little, eyebrows drawing in to a thoughtful scowl. "Something else?"

Her first instinct was someone's port out-or, perhaps, something worse. "What happened?"

[strongest_tool]

"Well, uh, you know Dr. Banner - uh, Bruce Banner, right?"