[text/video] un: @skull

[ryuji]

[A few days after gravity is restored to the station, Ryuji returns to the mess hall from Haru's garden to find a small robot flipped upside down, panicking through a series of morse beeps and boops, which- okay, that's kind of cool, and quickly figures out that the paneling and suction entrances of the little guy means it's probably meant for filtration and cleaning.

Looks pretty study, looks... waterproof, maybe? He lends a hand to get him right side up and it starts slowly moving forward. Ryuji takes out his communicator and immediately films this as it happens, because, why not?

He posts two videos on the network- the roomba moving down the hall and one, a few hours later in the fitness center as it crawls from the edge, and dives right in.]

Oh shit! Are you supposed to do that?

Whoa, whoa- I don't know how to fix you if you--- WHOA, COOL.




Hey, sup?

Just lettin you guys know the pool looks crystal clear now. All thanks to this little dude.

I figure I should give 'em a name but uh

Everything that comes to mind is kinda lame

Anyway, I think it's good? Anyone wanna give it the first try?

[Complete with file0033.png - a picture of crystal clear water.]

Comments

[ryuji]

There's like... knowin' the classics. Cool, that's one thing. Kinda makes you look knowledgeable, like you got some meat behind that brainy matter.

Then there's making puns on the classics and that's where I draw the goddamn line.

[Oh. Yeah. Ryuji definitely has tested the waters.]

YUP.

And it's refreshing as hell.

[imperialsun]

If you think those are puns, you need to be around Brown for a day or two and you'll know then for their true value.

[He does miss his friends, but having others like them is good for his moral. Besides, they were leaving to do their own thing for three years...he had already his peace.]

And you haven't grown extra arms yet?

[ryuji]

Nope. Unfortunately still only got the two. But if I did have 8 more, you bet your ass I'd wrestle you down into the pool.

[imperialsun]

8 arms are nothing against a werewolf.

[So says Naoya the wise.]

But I'm coming soon I've been wanting to swim for a bit, especially if there's going to be a lot of people using it.

[ryuji]

Are you gonna turn me into a werewolf again because I swear it did something to me.

I keep seein' this spirit wolf hanging out at the station and it's the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life.

[Spoiler alert: it's just Alucard. He doesn't know that yet, though. He loses his fucking shit when the wolf is around, reducing all forms of actual intelligence to a near nil.]

Sweet! Exclusive VIP pre-screening event.

Text --> Action

[imperialsun]

No. Also no I don't think you're supposed to see a spirit wolf that never happened to me...unless you're seeing a Persona?

[Could a Wolvaan spell have potentially unlocked multiple Personas for Ryuji?

Answer; no.]

Well a QUICK-IP event since you already invited everyone on this post.

[ANYWAY HE'S COMING OVER and when he does he gives him a wave.]

Wow, the water's even cleaner than I thought it could be!

[ryuji]

[The implication that he actually fucking loved the wolvaan spell is something he's not yet ready to deal with.]

Better hurry your scrawny ass over then!!! hahaha

[And he waits for a response to his taunt that never comes, because obviously he's on his way over. Ryuji, as promised, is sitting up on a pool chair, waiting for his undies to dry off a little bit before he puts his jumpsuit back on. For those to be wet and sloshing around as he moves is just about... the grossest goddamn thing he could possibly imagine.

He also has no shame in sitting there, stripped down to his jimmies.]

Yo. [He waves.]

Yeah, Simba's done a bangup job. No complaints here. Temperature's just about right, too. I thought it woulda been freezing.

[imperialsun]

[Love the Wolvaan spell. Become the Wolvaan spell.

Anyway, Naoya has no shame either. He's gone to Hot Springs with his friends, he's seen them in their underwear and naked nbd it's just dudes in hot water.]

So you went with Simba huh.

[In an almost comical fashion, Naoya removes his own suit and voila, there are his undies which are about as boring and average and not as flashy as his personality could sometimes be. Maybe it says something about the trust he has for Ryuji because he doesn't even bother checking the temperature and jumps in before slowly floating back up in a star formation and floating.]

I needed this.

[ryuji]

[Listen, he needs a little bit more time to get acquainted with it, and his inner wolf. God, this sounds horrible to write.

Anyway, Ryuji's not that protectively modest about his body or anything either. They both grew up in a culture where nudity between members of the same sex wasn't reviled, so it doesn't really bother him to see Naoya with his business in the front side just chilling in the pool like that.

The punk smirks, offering an honest to god thumbs up at the other.]

Yeah. I think everyone needs a break. If this were an anime, it'd be the beach episode. Probably right after the tournament arc where the protag loses but hey, that was a close match and onlyyyy if he had a little bit more training, he totally coulda kicked ass.

[Someone please tell him to shut up.

Ryuji gets up and decides its better to dip his legs into the pool and enjoy the way it feels against his feet. He fondly watches Simba continue along its merry way, clearly focused on the task at hand of providing a safe and clean space to swim in.]

[imperialsun]

[Clearly everyone needs to find out about the wonders that is Wolvaan.

Hey hey he's not completely naked, just that his underwear leaves little to the imagination. Very big differences (no). He sticks a thumbs up, causing him to sink for a tiny big before he floats right back up.]

Yeah! Or one of the new 3D video games where they do a stop at a carnival or something...

[Are you kidding, Naoya's a true and true nerd. Plus in 1997 3D is still pretty new an AMAZING and very blocky.]

I wonder if one of the locked up places has an arcade...

[Priorities, Toudou has them.]

[ryuji]

[Raising an eyebrow at the thumbs up, he has to contain himself from straight up telling Naoya what a shameless loser he is. Affectionately, of course. That's how Ryuji rolls.]

New... 3D video games?

[Dude, those have been out since before he was born. Put that into perspective. Ryuji was born roughly the year Final Fantasy IX came out.]

An arcade? No way, dude. That would be cool. And this station, as we've seen so far, is made of straight up swamp ass.

[imperialsun]

[Considering his own friends this would just be on par for the course. Half of Naoya's unofficial job with his team was to be the professional cat herder.]

Well I'm about twenty years from your past, right? I can only imagine what videogames are like in the future. Is virtual reality a big thing?

[He just grins once more, turning splashing over.]

Maybe there will be an arcade cleaning robot.

[ryuji]

[Funny how Ryuji just gravitates to those sort of personalities. For someone that sure has a lot of animosity for organized anything, here he is, cozying up to... a third protag with persona powers. Huh.]

Virtual reality? Haha... nah, man. I mean, you can use these headsets to get a little more immersed, but it hasn't caught on yet. Games just look like movies nowadays.

[Whoa.]

HOLY SHIT. WHAT IF SIMBA HAD A LITTLE BRO OR SIS TO LOOK AFTER?

[Indoor voices, please???]

[imperialsun]

[Embrace your destiny, Ryuji.]

That sounds amazing...

[He sounds so excited about that. Too bad he'll be much older at that time. He winces a bit at Ryuji's indoor voice but isn't going to tell him to keep it down.]

We just have to find them and name them first.

[ryuji]

[He's accepted that he's going to be in protag hell for years to come. Once you've accepted it, you can move on from it and just realize it's better this way. He'll sidekick the hell out of each of them splendidly and hope that they don't fight over him.]

Well... if we have Simba already, I guess we should stick with the Disney theme. Not that you'd really know, right? Most of that shit came out after your time.

[He looks like he's having fun in there. Ryuji stands up, figuring... what's a few more hours of waiting for his undies to dry off, and lifts himself downward into the pool.

Buddy system's in effect, so no need to worry.]

Man... this feels great!

[imperialsun]

[Naoya won't fight. He'll watch others fight because that's how his team rolled. If the group went quiet it meant trouble just like kids. Kids with guns. But just then, his eyes light up in surprise.]

What if we call the next one Swimba? Or can we call this one Swimba?

[He should have thought of his pun a lot earlier.]

It feels amazing! If sleeping here wasn't dangerous, I'd honestly consider it.

[ryuji]

[He looks off into the distance, wondering why his life has led him to this exact point in time. What he's done to afford such an unfavorable misfortune. Why must it be that puns follow him wherever he goes? Did he step on a bug once that was once the Buddha himself reincarnated?

All of that is expressed as a single groaning--]

Ughhhh....

[And then he tilts his head, cracking his neck a little bit in the process.]

Don't be stupid. People die even falling asleep in their bathtub.

[Please don't die, Naoya.

Ryuji likes you too much.]

[imperialsun]

Brown would have loved it, you know.

[In fact, Brown would probably use it in one of his radio shows.]

People die of a lot of things, yeah. I almost lost conscious in a hot spring once counting too much... don't worry I won't be doing that here.

[ryuji]

[He gets the sense that Naoya is talking about someone from home, and Ryuji, who constantly worries that Ann or Futaba are going to show up one day here at the station, feels a slight bit of guilt in his chest for wishing that exact same thing... that they were here.]

How're you holdin' up, by the way?

Missing your friends?

[Yeah.]

[imperialsun]

[Hmmm...he thinks about it before smiling.]

Yeah...if I didn't miss them I'd be asking myself questions. Thankfully we had all just graduated and were going to meet again in three years. If they end up being here, I'll be happy...

[He moves a little in the water.]

...but this means we have three years to figure this entire mystery out. Otherwise I'll have messed up our promise.

[ryuji]

[He thinks about that for a moment- and sort of grimaces.]

If we're here for three years, messin' up a promise to see your friends is probably gonna be the least of our problems.

[Yeah, he says our- because if it takes that long to get off of this station, then he's pretty sure he's going to go nuts.]

But I'll keep 'em in my prayers. Not that those've done that much, but eh. Can't hurt to try, right?

[imperialsun]

[Our problems, huh. Naoya just nods at him, grinning.]

At this point it doesn't hurt to try. I'll continue to make sure that I've grown during those three years, like I promised. [He briefly stretches his legs in the water.] Maybe I'll be a late bloomer and grow a few inches to be as tall as Reiji.

[ryuji]

You should put some muscles on, too.

[He smiles at Naoya.

Because obviously, to be an adult means you should be big and strong. Or something like that.]

100 sit ups a day are gonna hurt like hell the first few times you do it, but it gets easier.

[imperialsun]

Yeah probably...Reiji was called Captain Naked for a reason.

[Meanwhile Naoya wore his jacket all the way up.]

Can we start with a number a little lower than that? I don't mind trying it, I just don't know if I'll be able to survive that. Unless we can use healing spells afterwards?

[ryuji]

Captain Naked? Dude...

[He's heard of Captain Kidd, but that's just causing a weird mish-mosh of thinking of Captain Kidd naked; all bony and terrifying and... without his clothes on? Not really that fortuitous of an image.

He kind of misses the old chap. Having a pirate ship in his heart was pretty neat.]

Well, after the sit ups, you gotta do 100 pushups too. Yeah man, it doesn't get any easier. Maybe you're gonna need to stock up on those healing spells.

[Smiling brightly at him, he gives Naoya a little shove from his floating position.]