Log; Complete

[red-dragon-666.livejournal.com]

When; April 10th. Morning.
Rating; PG-13 [Language].
Characters; Jr./Rubedo [red_dragon_666] & MOMO [hilbertaffected].
Summary; The two are reunited after a year of being apart, and two years of being away from the City. While realizing it's been a much shorter time for those in the City, they take some time to absorb things.
Log;

Jr.: This wasn't how recovery missions were supposed to go. At least if he was going to get stranded, it was supposed to be while in his AMWS. That's what he had been in, after all.

So why the hell was he currently stuck in a damn tree?!

"Mary?! Shelley! Hammer! ...Would someone answer me?!" he yelled at the top of his lungs as he strained to reach up from his upside down dangling position, trying to yank his boot free from the bizarre position the branches had captured it in. What was up with this forest?

"If you're trying to eat me... I'm not very nutritious!" snapped Rubedo as he glared at the tree trunk.


MOMO: There was always a small lag between boot up and awareness, a moment of nothingness that was different to the nothingness of not being active. A moment of stillness, and one the small Realian could count on to relax her, remind her of everything and nothing. And then there came awareness, opening of gold eyes, taking in of the surroundings.

Only where there should have been ship parts, tools, wires, metals and alloys and various things strewn here and there MOMO could see only forest. Standing from her position on the ground, she brushed twigs off of her red outfit, twisted her hat, and paused in her contemplations of why the City had seen fit to suck her back in and downloading the information she could find on the network, systems already patching in and pulling up entries of import, namely those of Sakura Mizrahi.

The familiar voice caused her to glance up and, seeing nothing, move on a few paces and repeat, three times over until she spotted the U.R.T.V. in his tangled mess. "Would you like a hand?"


Jr.: The all-too-familiar voice made him completely lose his grip on the branch he'd been struggling with, and he dropped back down to dangle, tipping his head back to spot the Realian standing below him.

"Whoa! MOMO?! Is this a dream?" Well, either way, this was not how he enjoyed being found, and his surprise at spotting her reverted back to sheepish embarrassment. "No! I got it. Get out of the way."

A pistol was yanked out of it's holster and readied to fire. Squinting, he aimed carefully at the branch. Hopefully this wouldn't end in him losing a foot.

Two shots were fired in succession, cracking and weakening the branch enough for him to wriggle free and fall...flat onto his beck.


MOMO: "Jr...." The small girl knelt beside him, wondering if she shouldn't have just caught him instead. It would have saved some effort, even if she'd had rather he let her free him as well.

But the moment was rather over shadowed by the fact that the last time she'd seen him, he'd been leaving for who knew how long. And yet here they both were, back in the City. Staring rather intently at the red head she smiled slightly, declaring him fit and well despite the fall. "You're not going to die yet. The Durandal is still here, docked in the ocean as previous, if you feel you need to get medical attention, however I'm fairly certain you don't need it." MOMO held out a hand to help pull him to his feet, waiting for a wisecrack, for normalcy.


Jr.: That hadn't been the most graceful landing, but at least he had managed to free himself.

With a grimace, he glanced up to the offered hand before reaching up to clap his own over it, standing and shoving the gun back into it's holster. "Figures that the first time I see you in awhile, it'd be with me hanging upside down like a monkey."

Durandal? That had been destroyed a year ago. ...By the beach...

"We're in the City! Aw, hell! You're kidding me! But...it's been like..." He tallied off the tiny number in his head. "Two years?" His gaze moved back to her, and he grinned, flinging both arms around her to squeeze her tight and give her a quick spin.

"And a year since I've seen you! How ya been?!"


MOMO: "Two years, four days, and approximately seven hours and eighteen minutes." Not that she'd been counting, just that she could. She accepted the hug readily, smiling back in the face of his grin, the metallic clink of the charm on her wrist at the spin adding to her amusement of the situation. "City wise, I believe it has been almost two weeks for myself, slightly longer for you."

Freeing herself the pink haired Realian stepped back. From appearances - change in outfits notwithstanding - anyone would assume they'd been gone but five minutes or something. But MOMO could feel the difference in Jr. that the experiences they'd been through, his travel without her had brought about, and he certainly wasn't the person he'd been when he first arrived in the City. Downloads complete of the missed information she turned her attention back to the question of health. Not that it wasn't anything other than, "Good. I can still operate at full output." While there was a sinking feeling, a clear loss of the mother figure she'd become more and more attached to over the previous year, the resurfacing of her friend, the indicators that Sakura, KOS-MOS, chaos, and Mary were still around, it was all enough to level out her emotions.

Though there was one thing. "Jr., according to the network, Wilhelm is still here. Along with Abel."


Jr.: Two weeks?! That was unreal! So then...was everyone still in the City? Everyone that they had left? chaos...couldn't be, could he...? Now that Rubedo knew...

Immediately, he set her down to gawk appropriately.

"I--...What?! Wilhelm? Abel?! You gotta be yanking my chain!" Holy shit! That was right... "Wilhelm was here when we left! And to think I invited him onto the ship! I didn't even know! And Abel? How's this possible? What else does the network say? Who else is here?"


MOMO: She smiled gently at his response, a slight shake of her head as she did so. "I can't trace departures without knowing to look for them, however the people we talk to most were all active within the past twelve hours." As for Abel, the Realian was still trying to work it out. He interacted as Abel, but spoke in a manner that sounded like Shion's retelling of her encounters with U-DO.

Saving herself some effort, MOMO pulled out one of the most useful pieces of technology, information already downloaded and waiting for Jr. to scroll through and read it. Handing over the now turned on futuristic PDA the Realian turned her attention to satisfying her own curiosity. ...No Ziggy. "What do you suggest?"


Jr.: Happy to accept the item, Rubedo leaned back against the tree he'd fallen from while he quickly scrolled through the contents on screen. The network had really been busy. From the looks of it...it was another curse.

It was strange to just accept that so readily. After so long... Could he really waste time here again? Or was it really wasting time? After all, when he had woken up on the Elsa two years previous, it had been as if he had never left. They had just left the Ormus stronghold...and everything had carried on as if the City had never happened.

"Hell if I know!" Rubbing his hand against shoulder, he handed it back to MOMO and looked at her thoughtfully. "That said KOS-MOS is here too! If KOS-MOS and chaos are both here...then..." What did that mean? Was his search over?

If Abel and Wilhelm were here...then there had to be more to it.

And then, his stomach picked the most appropriate time to growl. With flushed cheeks, Rubedo moved his arms to hug his stomach. "Well, it's already been so damn long... I think they can wait ten extra minutes while we grab some food."


MOMO: KOS-MOS had arrived between Jr.'s departures and her own, though she hadn't actually talked to the android, merely noted her presence. She had been... Preoccupied, if memory served correctly. And speaking of diversions. They were, by her estimate, closer to the beach than the City, but if Jr. wanted to go to the City, that would be where they went.

Freeing her ether bow in case any of the forest animals decided to see how she tasted - though she'd willingly tell them that Realian flesh really wasn't that satisfying and if they got addicted, then what? She was the only one here, after all - she waited on Jr.'s advice on where to head after murmuring a soft, "You get to keep your promises to them."


Jr.: It was true that he was incredibly tempted to just take off running towards the beach... To go into the Durandal and hug everything and everybody inside. He had missed it all... The ship, the people...

But really he needed some more time to process just what their situation was. He was just so giddy seeing MOMO again, that he also was happy to get some time alone with her before responsibilities to chores and other relationships would surely pull them apart yet again.

Other relationships... Sakura... Elena... They were there, too? Honestly, JUST when he had started to move on...

With a shrug, Rubedo waved his hand a bit as he strolled off, taking note of her wary walk. If they got attacked, he'd be quick enough to react. "...Yeah... S'pose I'm not as bad at keeping promises as I thought, huh?"


MOMO: In truth, having gotten comfortable with Juli, talking with Sakura would once again become an awkward thing, though the Realian resolved to try. She wasn't a replacement, she knew that now. Her original purpose, Joachim Mizrahi had finished her with a different intention in mind, and that was the legacy she strove to honor. She hadn't felt intimated by Sakura for the girl hadn't been around while MOMO had tried to understand her 'mother'. And now here she was again, and all too glad to be walking in the opposite direction for the time being.

"I don't think you'd ever intentionally let anyone down." Talking to Jr. was awkward, in that it had been a year, him in space and her with Juli, two very different lives that she didn't know where to start despite an extensive database on small talk.

Thus, she chose the first thing she could thing of to mention. "Um, I want to help you look, this time."


Jr.: Her words made his brow furrow. There was a reason she had stayed with Juli and Ziggy, after all... There was a reason they had split up. Different purposes--both important.

But...

"Man, it sure would be nice having you on the Elsa. I gotta tell you, I've been dying of boredom lately. We haven't been getting anywhere. Shion and Allen are starting to get on my last nerve with their mushy talk, and I've totally run out of books to read! The one person who'd normally be driving me nuts is--"

...Speaking of, where was Albedo? Usually about now, he'd have some smart remark to make, but...Rubedo hadn't felt a thought that was remotely like his ever since entering the City. His footsteps halted, and one hand lifted to settle over the right side of his chest.


MOMO: She smiled softly again at the sentiment, letting him ramble as he saw fit. When Jr. stopped, she stopped, watching the movement carefully before taking the raised hand in her free one. "He's still here, on the network. You haven't lost him." MOMO was far from the perfect comforter, emotions so often going over her head when she could not understand the science of it. But when it came to Jr.-

She tugged gently, resuming her walk with a glance back. "You can still talk."


Jr.: Her comfort did help, even if it was only slight, and Rubedo smiled before picking up their pace again, keeping their hands linked as an afterthought.

"I guess so... It'll be good to see him again, but... If he's the same Albedo that I left here, then... He hasn't...even..." He hadn't been killed by Rubedo yet, or become a Testament, or...any of that. Would they even be able to share words without getting into another fight?

It was something he didn't want to think about. "...Still feels kinda empty inside..." he mused under his breath.


MOMO: She heard it, of course, and couldn't help but frown a little, subconsciously tightening her grip on the hand in hers. "You'll find something to fill the space," gold eyes focused ahead. She didn't want Jr. to worry about anything, not yet. Not when there could be a moment where he didn't have to. "Food first, though?" MOMO added, noting the thinning of the trees.


Jr.: Maybe she was right... Maybe she wasn't... At least for the moment, he couldn't let it bug him. There were more important things to deal with than his petty family issues. Like Abel, and Wilhelm, and KOS-MOS, and chaos, and--

Food! Oh, how wonderful it sounded. He'd never admit it out loud, but he was getting so sick of curry. A good pizza sounded absolutely perfect!

"My stomach says yes!"