capeandcowl | ★13

<Audio Post, English. Filtered from Known Villains -Islington, +Hodge, +Kiryu, +Osborn, +Crane. Spider-crypt>
[Her voice is a little shaky at first, but steadies as she speaks.]

There was an explosion earlier today, at the library. I guess it would have been yesterday, by now... the sun should be rising soon.

Mister Romulus was one of the people hurt, really badly. He really doesn't want to go back to the hospital. They cleaned his burns, and I think he said that he'd been on an IV, but... he couldn't have been there long enough for them to fix everything. He was really badly b—

[A sharp whistle of a teapot from a foot or so away, and Ruka cuts herself off. The communicator is set down, though from the way it rattles on the counter her hands must be shaking. The whistling stops. The following is spoken over the noise of a quiet faucet, the pouring of the kettle, and eventually the crack of sharply melting ice. There will be no hot tea for the burn victim.]

Badly burned. I need to know what I can do to help him. My power isn't healing... and it really doesn't look like something that just sleeping will fix. Please. I don't want him to suffer.

[ooc: unless the time line for this plot has changed, Remus was caught in massive computer explosions on Saturday, and is thus not a happy camper. Also as of Wednesday Edgeworth's apartment is unplottable / unable to be found due to magic, though if people leave the apartment they can be found.
Unless Ty and/or Grimm say differently. Watch this space for details!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Now I do want to know how the others answered, too.

Then he's right... that so many people gave up like that is frightening.

It is.

I'm really glad you didn't give up.

If the situation were true, and I did -- I'd have let my friends down... [Thinks about, then adds:]

And I wouldn't be happy with just giving up either.

Edited 2009-06-21 12:55 (UTC)

I made a promise, back home... that so long as I protected everyone, there would always be someone there to protect me, too. If I can keep my promise, then I know that some day that promise will be returned. This mark, this promise... is what led me to my first friends. And to this City, I think.

So... I can't ever give up. I'll protect everything I can to keep that promise... even if it is just a toothpick.

[Silent. That's kind-of sad, Ruka...]

Edited 2009-06-21 13:17 (UTC)

I just— [a yawn. poor kid sounds wiped out.] — wish I could have done something this time. If it had been me, instead... maybe even just one person wouldn't have gotten hurt.

[And there's the faucet again. Sounds like it's brewing more tea time.]

If it had been you, then your friends would just be as worried sick. Don't see that even without you being the one injured, they're still worried about you?

...So don't think they're friends because of what you are, Ruka. They are your friends because they care for you, and who you are as a person -- not what you are. At least, that's how I feel. And I'm certain there are others who feel the same way, too.

... for your friend Yuusei to say that you're a signer first and not his friend -- is just... [trails off, when he realizes that might not be a good thing to say]

But if it had been me, I wouldn't have gotten hurt, and I would have been able to protect someone else! I know they worry... that's part of why I don't help as much as I should. But... I can't not do this.

...

Huh? You... talked to Yuusei about me?

But you don't know that, and you can never know until it happens.

Yes?

I can get closer to Godzilla than most other people because of my shield. It would work against fire, too. I know it.

... he said I wasn't his friend?

But would you have been able to react fast enough?

It wasn't... hm. When we first met, he said you were a signer when I asked if you two were friends. I still don't know what a signer is, exactly, but... [It rubbed him the wrong way.]

Yeah. It launches sometimes before I know I'm in danger. That's how it saved Rua and the others.

Oh...

...

You haven't seen my birthmark, have you?

Birthmark?

Yeah. I guess you didn't get a chance to see it, that day that K— that day I posted the video of the business district?

[A small amount of button mashing, and behold, the video turns on. Here is Ruka in slightly too-big pajamas. She really, really needs to be in bed ten hours ago. Her left hand cups over her sleeved right arm.]

It's not really a birth-mark, even though it's... always been here. Some days it would show up for a little while, and then go away again. It wasn't until the Duel of Fortune Cup that it stayed...

[She lifts the sleeve and shows off her right arm, bearing a rather large, too-perfectly drawn talon of a dragon, or an eagle. It almost looks as though it's a burn, or a brand mark.]

Thousands of years ago, dark creatures called the Earthbound Gods were trying to unleash hell on earth, but the People of the Stars fought against them. Five of their warriors gathered together and summoned the Crimson Dragon, to fight the Earthbound Gods. Even with the help of five Signer dragons, the Crimson Dragon wasn't strong enough to defeat the Earthbound Gods, so instead it sealed them all up in the Nazca lines. Those geoglyphs ... like the lizard, and the spider, are dark monsters. The crimson dragon was sealed, too, and broken into pieces.

This birthmark means I'm a modern Signer — because someone broke open the gates of the underworld, the Earthbound Gods are coming back, and we have to fight them. Hundreds of people have gone missing already, in the City... I think everyone is gone in Satellite.

Yuusei, Aki, and Jack Atlas are three of the others. We don't know who the fifth is, yet.

[She draws her fingers down the length of her arm, and smiles.]

Whenever I'm in danger, it —

[The birthmark glows, and in a moment Ruka is perfectly surrounded by a translucent pink bubble. What she says is only somewhat muffled.]

lights up, and creates a force-field.

[The shield drops.]

So, that's why... why I have to protect everyone, and... why Yuusei would call me a Signer first. We wouldn't know each other, if it weren't for these birthmarks. Not really, anyway...

[...He's stunned. Can't you tell by him not talking, and the faint sound of the apartment air conditioner in the background?]

[Ruka gives a curious look at the communicator before picking it up and switching back to voice-only. It's not that unexpected, is it?]

Sorry... I know it's a lot, and that it sounds... like I'm crazy. I really should have told you all this sooner.

★13

private; audio // the only perfect one here, is you

private; audio // no, you

private; audio // what did i do?

private; audio // you're pretty perfect too~

private; audio // but not quite perfect, you know it's true!

private; audio // when you say that, it makes me so very blue

Re: private; audio // i didn't know you could so easily change hue

private; audio // yeah i'm all rhymed out

private; audio // it was a good run, though! ★★★★

private; audio // yay

private; audio // \o/

private; audio

private; audio

private; audio

private; audio, then video! <spider-crypt time> also TL;DR

private; audio <spider-crypt>

private; switching back to audio <spider-crypt>