tampered | log; ongoing; closed

After Ruca got the idea in his head while talking to Emil over the journals, he immediately headed over the kitchen, intending to make a chocolate cake as fast as he can. Of course, it couldn't be too big on such short notice, but he could make up for it by adding strawberries and more chocolates on top.

Between all the ingredient gathering and mixing, he was talking to Asras about many things: stories about some of the people Asras has met, Ruca's dream about becoming a doctor, and a few memories of the sillier moments in their lives amongst other things. Ruca made sure to avoid too many mentions of the latter parts of the war in Heaven though, both out of kindness and a slight fear that the atmosphere would be poisoned by anger if he did.

After a few minutes of this, he paused what he was doing and stared at his journal for a while. Could Emil really find his way here in that state? He hoped so, but he wouldn't blame him if he couldn't.

Maybe it was too naive of him to just follow the directions Ruca had given him and to accept that offer to chocolate cake. Really, it wasn't like he really just was any kid anymore. He had to be a little more careful now, even if it was just for a while. He... didn't understand this place, and especially didn't understand why he had to come here. Here, Tenebrae wasn't even from the same time ( he was from before!) and there were people who claimed he'd been here before. The one who had been here still had a Ratatosk Mode too...

He felt the familiar twinge of guilt: He'd sealed Ratatosk inside of him...

Eventually, he was able to get to the apartment Ruca gave him directions to. He had said he was bad with directions before, as a reference to his first time as Emil at Palma Costa with Marta, but he knew he didn't really have that problem anymore now.

He knocked.

Mm... cake? Yuri could dig that. He didn't know the occasion, but he definitely wasn't going to complain. A little cake did everyone good - like Leon. Because if the last curse was anything to go by, Leon would just yell at him again for his appearance. Yeah, some cake or pudding or crepes would definitely be needed today.

Before he could get up and investigate Ruca and his cooking, there was a knock.

"I'll get it!" Yuri announced, holding the sides of his shirt together as he hopped up and opened the door. His posture was absolutely terrible already, even as he opened the door and leaned against the door frame.

"Huh."

Back in the kitchen, Ruca was looking over the cake to figure out what else he needed to add. After making sure the frosting was nice and even, he added a few more small chocolates and strawberries as a final touch.

"It's done!" he remarked out loud, more to Asras than himself. "At least I was able to finish this on time."

Well, even if Ruca didn't finish, he still had trifles around and-- Huh. Now that he thought about it, he's been thinking only about sweets lately. Oh dear, he was starting to become Ange. He laughed a bit at that, pretending not to notice Asras raising an eyebrow and commenting that he had too much sugar.

...Okay, he did end up taking that last part to heart. For a couple of minutes, he closed his eyes and willed himself to be calm. Thankfully it didn't take too long, since Ruca wasn't hyper by nature like quite a few of the people he knew.

After a short while, he heard someone knock on the door. Calm now (and more solemn now, remembering just why he made the cake in the first place), he quickly washed his hands and walked towards the door even though he heard Yuri say he would get it.

--Ah, now that he thought about it, he didn't ask Yuri if it was okay to invite Emil.

"U-uh--" Emil hadn't really been looking in front of him as he waited for the door to open for him, but when it did open then he did and that just made him jump a little in surprise. And embarrassment. Did he get the wrong apartment number? He didn't think Ruca had sounded like a lady with... with... a big... bosom. It was even bigger than Sheena's--

"Ah- I'm sorry!" He bowed immediately, and though flustered, this Emil was certainly a bit more composed than he would have been if it was the him from a few weeks ago.

"I-" he looked, suddenly distracted by the hallway lined with hundreds more rooms. "I must have gotten the wrong room...."

"Hey, Emil!" Yuri grinned widely. Still holding his shirt closed, he moved closer and slapped the smaller boy on the back, attempting to steer him into the apartment. "Wasn't expecting you. What're you doing here?"

No, he definitely didn't even mind the unannounced visit from Emil, especially since it seemed to be more Emil and less Ratatosk Mode. It was just too bad he had to see Yuri in this state. With everything hanging out.

"Need something?"

"Ah, so it was you, Emil," Ruca remarked, walking towards the two with a relieved sigh. "Did you have any trouble finding your way here? My directions might have been too vague..."

After he said that, he suddenly looked behind himself to confirm Asras's presence. Sure enough, he was there, looking quite amused at this spectacle. Of course, they couldn't see the large horned guy with a tail, so it just looked like Ruca was looking at empty space for no reason.

He then returned his gaze towards the two. ...More Emil than Yuri though. He still couldn't look at Yuri without getting flustered, thanks to...those. Seriously, those can't be naturally possible.

With the two talking like that, Emil could at least recognize their voices to be the ones he'd heard from the machine he found himself with. The fact that he had it and wasn't too surprised by having it was probably strange too, but Emil had stranger things to worry about right now to really care. One of them had to be Ruca, and it sure wasn't the girl who... reminded him of Sheena.

And then the lady with the bosom slapped him in the back, causing him to tense slightly as he briefly glanced at the lady in embarrassment. He focused on the other kid, the one he immediately thought had to be Ruca after some thought. Ruca hadn't really sounded anything like... well, that person in front of him.

"I didn't really have trouble, it's okay. Thank you for inviting me."

Huh. For some reason, no one would look him in the face today. Did he not make a pretty girl? Yuri thought he was pretty smoking himself. Oh- maybe they were embarrassed. If that was the case, this would be hilarious.

He draped an arm over Emil's shoulder, not letting go of his shirt just in case. He didn't want to show off too much, after all.

"So what's the special occasion?"

"Ah, um, I thought Emil would want something to eat, so I offered to make something. I just finished baking a cake a little while ago..." Ruca replied, shifting his gaze to the ground. Which was normal for him even a month or so ago, but this habit of his showed up less and less these days. Didn't mean it wouldn't come back with a vengeance when he felt particularly embarrassed though. Like now.

Oh man, this was going to be a lot more awkward than he thought it would be.

So the lady's arm being around his shoulder didn't really help things, but he figured it wouldn't be polite to just to pry it off. He breathed deeply and then quietly and craned his head to meet the lady in the face.

"I'm sorry for intruding. It's alright if it's not convenient right now for me to be here, ma'am." And maybe he hadn't said it explicitly, but Emil somehow had the impression that this lady must be Ruca's mom. She didn't look old enough, but then again, didn't women prefer to look younger? Emil really wasn't sure, but being polite was good so there.

"No, Emil. Just call me Yuri. Geez, you really did forget me, didn't you." Yuri disconnected from Emil, crossing his arms across his chest the best he could. "Oh, well, guess it's to be expected."

He walked back into the master bedroom (also known as the living room), leaving Ruca and Emil to do whatever they were planning on doing. He wasn't involved in the plans, but he did want a piece of that cake.

"Save me a piece, would ya?"

"Okay, I will. Do you want anything else?" If Ruca knew what Emil was thinking, he'd probably freeze in shock. And then start flailing a lot. But he's no mind reader, so he just nodded in response to Yuri's words.

After that, he turned towards Emil while gesturing towards the kitchen door, right next to where Asras was standing at the moment. Really, if he were any closer, he'd be quite the obstacle... At least this time, it just looked like Ruca was staring at the kitchen door.

"Um, the kitchen is this way."

Emil didn't really realize he had been staring at Yuri until Ruca spoke again, and then shook his head in embarrassment. Doing that wasn't right at all, but it's not like it was easy not to. Ruca's mom was just too open-- but then again, if Sheena had kids, she'd probably be like that too. Or if Marta had kids.

"Uh-- y-yeah." He cut his own thinking off. A clear mind, somehow, he needed to get to that and think about what he could do. Obviously, this... this was for a reason. There must be a reason he was here. It was the only thing he could think of to keep himself from panicking for his abrupt entry into this scary new world.

And then, once they were at the kitchen, he found the courage to ask. "Is... is your mom always like that?"

Ruca almost tripped over his own feet at the sudden question. As he steadied himself, his face starting burning, making him look like some sort of odd tomato. For a while, he just stood there, his mouth opening and closing, as if he was struck so hard that he could no longer speak properly.

"M-m-mom!?" Ruca's voice sounded unnatural high-pitched as he started to shake his head from side to side furiously. "That's not...I mean...aaaah... We're not related! I mean, we don't even look alike! And plus, Yuri's normally a guy... But um, he's kinda always like that? Umm...!"

In the background, Asras is laughing his ass off. Very, very loudly. This only served to fluster Ruca even more, and his arms flailed as if he could somehow make his point stronger by gesturing something that probably meant "no, of course not; and plus, who'd be the dad?!".

...Hopefully, Yuri couldn't hear him. Even if his voice was being rather loud in addition to high-pitched right now.

Dirk didn't look anything like Lloyd, but they were still family and he was Lloyd's dad. "She could have adopted you, I guess," Emil said quietly, and then thought extra deeply about that part about Yuri being a guy normally. "A guy... normally?"

"I'm not adopted either! I mean, I do have parents, but they're just not here. We just live here with Leon and Teito." As hard as it is to believe, Ruca's face just got redder. He continued to flail about and send SOS glances at Asras (who really couldn't do anything about this even if he wanted to), which just made the general keep on laughing uproariously. "A-and, um, yes. Normally. Right now, he's cursed to look like, uh, that."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised... I mean, I'm here too--" He trailed away and looked down, ashamed that it made him wonder about what it would be like if he'd been "cursed" like that too. But, at least, he looked and felt normal right now. Right?

Unconsciously, he brought a hand up to "check" his chest a bit. Still flat, at least.

"You have a lot of friends here," he noted afterwards.

"Um, yeah, curses tend to do that, it seems..." Slowly, Ruca started to calm down and regain composure. He was still visibly flustered, but his tone of voice sounded more normal and natural now.

"...Eh?" Ruca looked a little confused at the question. "Um...here, you mean? ...I guess so. I don't really know everyone too well, but I've met a lot of nice people here so far." He paused again, looking rather thoughtful. "Back home, I'm pretty bad at making friends though."

"Ah, what am I saying? I really should grab some plates now. Hold on..." Suddenly, he walks over to where they keep the plates and utensils, picking out two plates, two forks, and a knife. Really, he should have done this earlier.

The comment about not having any friends too made Emil smile just a bit. Not because he was amused or anything like that by Ruca's plight, but because that had been him too, back home, for a while. "I had that problem too, not having many friends..." there was a blank in his statement, as if he wanted to say something more, but instead settled for just continuing to smile.

"Okay." And for lack of a better thing to do, Emil followed Ruca as he went grabbing all those utensils.

"Yeah... My friend Iria helped me meet a lot of people I wouldn't even have been able to otherwise talk to though." Ruca smiled, something he tends to whenever he thinks about her like this. She was a very important person to him after all. Once he finished grabbing everything they needed, he brought them to the table and set them down carefully, making sure not to be clumsy and accidentally disturbing the cake.

"Help yourself to as many as you want," he remarked while pulling one of the nearby chairs.

The cake looked good actually, but by the time he sat down, he couldn't help but feel even more undeserving for this short reprieve. This Iria must have been someone like Marta, or even Richter or... every single one of Lloyd's friends, people who were caring and friendly, and every bit different from himself. How were they, he wondered? Was the door to the Ginnunggagap sealed? If he was here, then how was the door holding against the legions of demons behind it?

And Marta...

It was no good being like this, in front of food that someone prepared for him too...

"Thank you for the food," he said before reaching for the fork in front of him.

Ruca actually wasn't too hungry himself, so he only cut a small slice of the cake. He took a bite, wondering what he should say. Conversation had never been one of his strongest points, but he was the host here... He needed to say something, and plus, one of the main reasons he invited Emil over was to try to figure out what in the world happened (aside being cursed, of course) to make Emil sound so depressed.

"Um, how is the cake? I haven't mastered this recipe yet, so it might taste odd..."

...Well, at least that's a start.

Emil took a bit into his mouth and was silent for a few moments. "It's good..." he trailed away uncomfortably, not really sure what else to say. "I mean, I don't think it tastes strange or anything. I... like it."

He took another piece of it to put into his mouth to underline his statement, but it wasn't like he really was hungry.

"Really? Um, that's good, I guess..." Ruca trailed off, looking awkwardly to the side towards Asras, who just said in not too kind words to be more assertive.

'...Easier said than done though,' the boy thought as he cut a strawberry in half and ate it.

The sound of utensils clinking against the plates seemed terribly loud in the silence that followed. Emil himself, made no effort to start with another topic in mind... that is, until he realized he'd all but finished the slice on his plate. He felt like he needed to say something then, anything to break the silence, and decided on something finally.

"Um." He turned to Ruca, "The one that was here in my place before was the earlier me, right? Do you think... this changes anything?"

It was a roundabout way of asking, but it wasn't like he was ready to lay out all that had happened with him in the past few weeks to someone who still felt more of a stranger than anything else.

"...Maybe? I won't know until a few days have passed, but since this is most likely a work of a curse..." Ruca set down his fork, thinking about how to respond. "..I don't think this should be concrete. I mean, it depends on whether you remember what happened before or not, or if you're going to stay like this from now on, but..." A pause.

"...Sorry, I'm not making too much sense, huh?" He looked almost sheepish, and in an attempt to hide how fidgety he was now, he picked up the knife and started to cut another slice of cake.

This would be so much easier if he knew more about Emil. If it was Iria, Spada, Ange, Hermana, or even Ricardo, he could figure out something worth saying, but now... Well, he'd just have to learn how to deal with this. Not like he had any other option...

Ruca's explanation did make sense, in that it made him realize that he'd been hoping after all that this was temporary and somehow, he'd have a means of telling the other him about what had happened. He'd changed over the course of his journey, and he knew that it wasn't only the startling revelation that he was, in fact, Ratatosk that had brought it about. So, that gave him the courage to ask. After all, if he didn't ask, then he wasn't going to answer.

"What I mean is, if the other me returned... do you think it's okay to change something?"

He hung his head and stared at the empty plate as he continued. "Even if you're not sure what's going to happen if you do that."

"I don't think anything is set in stone, so maybe he can. I mean, if the other you knows he has more choices than he originally thought he had, he might be able to do something else instead. At least, that's what I think." He let out a small sigh, trying his best to think hard about his answer. "The only thing is...you have to be careful not to mess it up even further. Some small things, if changed, could probably change your future too much in a bad way."

"And you can get more if you want," Ruca said when he noticed the empty plate.

"Uh--" At first he hesitated, but reached to grab another slice. This slice was smaller than the first he had though. "Thank you."

He sat in relative silence then, chewing a bit thoughtfully, before finally speaking again. "I guess I can't tell the other me too much right now. If he found out, that'd make things worse..."

He, as in Ratatosk. He'd heard Yuri mention the Ratatosk Mode, so that meant that he didn't know he was Ratatosk yet. Ever since that time, he hadn't really gone into Ratatosk Mode anymore, and chose instead to seal the other him through Verius' intervention.

"It depends... I know that things would have turned out rather badly if I had....known about something that happened in my world way before I actually learned about it." Ruca said, thinking about the events of Sky Castle... If he found that beforehand, before he got to know everyone, before he realized that he was lucky all along... He didn't really want to think about it. All he knew is that it would not have ended well. Unconsciously, he glanced towards Asras, looking rather mournful. Asras said nothing this time.

"But certain things might help... Like leaving a message telling him to be somewhere at this time so they can prevent something from happening, maybe. I'm really not too sure myself."

"It's... really how I'm supposed to do something. Or did--" He paused and then sighed. "I don't think my... my plans will change. I know what I did was right, but... I made a mistake. I don't know how I can tell the other me about that... especially with Ratatosk..."

He stopped there. What if he was telling Ruca too much? But then, at the same time, he didn't want Tenebrae to worry if he told the Centurion about the outcome as it happened for him. He didn't want Tenebrae to worry, or worse yet, to think less of him and to realize that Ratatosk really was the only competent one of the two. Of course, he really didn't believe Tenebrae would think that... but.

At the end of it all, he was the one who requested Tenebrae's assistance on the plan, and it was his own failure that... that killed Marta.

"How do you think you can tell him?" A simple question, but Ruca felt he needed to ask that. It might also give him more of an idea of Emil's mindset.

He had to admit though, this conversation was making him respect his friends' advice more and more. Even from the beginning when they just met, they were the ones who helped him sort out his thoughts and learn how to be less socially awkward. He didn't really realize just how hard it was to do that for someone you barely know.

Ahh, this really is hard for someone with his personality to do.

"I'm... not sure. And I don't know if... if there really is something I can do, " he looked up, to the ceiling as he paused to think. "I feel like, if I do something then... is that just like what Richter wanted to do for Aster? What if I screw up this time too?"

He paused again, but when he continued, his tone was harsher. "When it happened, I thought I should have done it in the first place... maybe, that was the right choice all along..." It was a statement more to himself by the time he'd finished. Even if it was probably the best way, he knew it wasn't the kind of thing that would fly by just fine with everyone else.

"If you think you'll screw up, you probably will... I know this probably sounds weird coming from me, but...have more confidence in yourself." He faltered a little while saying it at first, but his voice grew stronger as he spoke, so by the time he got to the last part, he actually sounded rather firm.

"And before you say that... Just think about how your actions affect the people around you. And I mean really think. How the people who knew you before would react. How the people you know now would react. How the people you care for the most would react..." Once again, he looked towards Asras. He remembered having this sort of conversation with his past life before, back when he was dreaming after the destruction of the castle. People would be sad if he just let himself disappear, and it would have been cruel of him to subject them to that when he had other ways to deal with his problems... It's something he only realized at that moment.

"Courage is the magic to turn dreams into reality," Emil said quietly when Ruca finished, "right?"

Saying that after listening to Ruca's words gave him back some of the courage he'd lost from the shock of having killed Marta. And Ruca's words had made a lot of sense; it was something Lloyd would probably say too, but, even then... he couldn't completely agree. Even if Marta would be sad if things happened differently and he turned back into a core to be sealed into the Ginnunggagap for all eternity, that was better than him accidentally killing her, or Ratatosk breaking out of the seal and then wiping out humanity! There was... no way he could live normally after what happened to Aster either. It was bad enough that he'd murdered Aster, but then all of that happened just because of his actions... it was hard to forget.

"I think that what I'm doing will be... right. There's no other way, and I'd been thinking of that all along anyway. It's only right." There was determination in his voice this time, of course, but if anything it was one that was fueled by the grim realities of his choice rather than optimism and hope.

He returned to his cake slice.

"Yes, that sounds right." Ruca nodded. Cheesy, but it works well enough, he decided as he took another bite out of his slice of cake.

"Just promise me you'll get a second opinion from someone who knows more about the situation than I do, okay? I'm not from your world, so there's a lot of things I don't know about." Ruca asked quietly, looking directly at Emil. While an outsider's view can help figure out certain things, there really is nothing that can substitute the advice of someone who knows more about what is going on. That Tenebrae person that Emil mentioned before, maybe. Perhaps he should try to contact him...? But it might be best to not talk about this too much. What to do...

"Mm. I will," Emil nodded, even if in truth he really had no intention of doing so. Somehow, he had to tell the other him something but without letting Ratatosk know. "Um. Thank you, even if I didn't really tell you anything. It helped... clear my mind a little. I'm not as confused as I was now."

He wasn't going to say anything else until he remembered Tenebrae. "And please... don't tell Tenebrae. He'd fuss and he's done enough for me. I think I know what I can do for the other me."

"It's no problem at all. We're...friends." Ruca replied, looking down at his empty plate. Well, he couldn't force himself to eat anymore now. At least there was some cake left for Yuri.

"...I won't tell Tenebrae about what we were talking about then." Ruca replied. Well, that didn't mean he couldn't say that Emil talked to him about something. Just that he couldn't say what exactly they were talking about... Not sure how substantial a conversation they could have without mentioning that particular conversation though. --Oh wait, he forgot something like now. Umm...

"Oh, would you like something to drink? I completely forgot." Ahh, he really was such a bad host.

"Water... is fine, please," Emil answered meekly with small nod. Truthfully, he hadn't been that thirsty either, but the look on Ruca's face kind of told him to request for something at least.

Then, it occurred to him to ask. "We were friends?"

"Okay, I'll go get some..." Ruca quickly found a glass and the water pitcher. He continued to talk as he poured a glass. "Yes, we are." A simple answer, but he didn't really think it needed too much explanation, right?

He set the glass in front of Emil once he was done.

Emil nodded gratefully in thanks, before reaching for the glass. He didn't drink yet though, and instead commented on Ruca's answer.

"I'm glad I was able to make friends here too," he told the other kid. "I guess that's a good thing..."

"People here are pretty friendly. Some more so than others, but it's always like that anywhere, I guess," he said tentatively. While that was technically his impression of the people of this place, he would be one of the first to admit that he hadn't exactly gone out of his way to try to meet everyone.

log; ongoing; closed

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