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[ryuji]

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7/21

[purrtagonist]

Sooooo.

Wanna do something slightly questionable but also probably really cool?

[not]

[a great start to things?]

[ryuji]

Dude are you seriously askin' me this right now

[purrtagonist]

My universal Ryuji translator is parsing that statement as a "yes, I totally do."

[ryuji]

Shit, you really got one of those? Must be pretty effin' rare!

But yeah

That's like

The entirety of it

I'm balls deep into the idea of that

a day or so before the storm mission!!

[purrtagonist]

[Ryuji's fancy magic apple watch will inform him of an incoming text message]

You know, it's too bad you can't be our trusty lightning rod with your immunity to Zio.

Where are you right now?

[ryuji]

[Hell yeah he loves that little bad boy lighting up.]

Yeah seriously

But I guess it's better than just like

Yanno

THROWING MYSELF OUT THERE

Which I still kinda wanna do?

Currently scouting around which is still throwing myself out there but whatever man. Something up?

[purrtagonist]

[. . . UM]

As long as you aren't THROWING YOURSELF OUT THERE at lightning bolts it's probably okay.

[his favorite Ryuji is non-fried Ryuji, please love yourself Skull]

Can you meet me near the tunnel entrance in like, ten minutes?

[ryuji]

I'm Sanic fast dude don't worry about it remember track team? I was the star

Kidding

Don't start gettin' gray hairs

Actually

I mean you'd look pretty distinguished maybe it won't be so bad

[Yeah, but then he'd look more wise and aged over Ryuji, which, be careful what you wish for, kid.]

Ten minutes huh? Bet I can do it in 8!!

shortly before storm mission

[cakebuffet]

[Honestly, Ann isn't sure what the etiquette is here, and even if she did, it's likely she wouldn't care. She doesn't typically let herself get all that invested in other people's personal lives if she can help it, but her friends had both needed her to lend an ear, and she'd been happy to do so. When all was said and done, she was happy for them, but there's still a feeling she just can't shake— or put a name to.

Checking in on Ryuji seems like the thing to do, however much he may or may not know, but more than that? They're due to spend some time together before the big mission coming up.]

Hey, you busy? I've got some protein goop I wouldn't mind sharing if you feel like hanging out.

[ryuji]

[Like hell if he knew what was actually bothering him- so much was going on in Struxta now, between the exploration of the tunnels, and the oncoming storm, that it was easy to misrepresent things and transfer anxiety between different objectives. Which is healthy, right? It's like a sore at the edge of his lip that irks him when he smiles. But, whatever, some downtime back at home base will do everyone good. He wants to explore the woods, kick back, spend some time with people he's insanely fond of.]

Hell yeah dude!

I mean nah I ain't busy

But even if I were, I'd make some time, like?

If you're feedin' me

Or you just wanna hang out that's cool too

[cakebuffet]

[The string of replies that comes back at her is so very Ryuji that despite how out-of-sorts she herself is feeling, she instantly feels that much more at home.

She smiles to herself— she can always count on Ryuji to cheer her up, even if she doesn't understand why she needs it.]

I'll have a plate waiting for you when you get here, how about that?
There's been so much going on, I figure we could use some time to unwind and catch up.

[ryuji]

[He's taken years of introductory, intermediate, and advanced courses on Speaking Ann: A Guide to Not Making a Total Ass Out of Yourself, but barely scraped by with C-------





me after class, Sakamoto.

But he knows when she needs to let off steam, almost intuitively, and whereas Ryuji's actual smarts were pretty abysmal, he had a decent amount of emotional intelligence (FOR OTHER PEOPLE...). So, yeah, he'll take the after school detention he deserves, hell, even get rowdy enough so that he gets punished with more of it. Punk as fuck.]

Same place as before?

I've missed turning your shit yellow

post-mission!!

[purrtagonist]

[honestly, one of the very first things Akira does when the mission to dissipate the storm comes to an end is. . . well. reach out to his thieves. to both of them, of course. not that he didn't think that Ann and Ryuji were incompetent-- they could take care of themselves, and he knew it-- but]

[leaders are always gonna leader, aren't they?]

[so wherever Ryuji may be in the aftermath of everything (Akira himself is tucked away in the first aid tent), he'll find a message suddenly flashing on his watch]

Status update?

[ryuji]

Yo!

Currently?

Knee deep in robot ass

[purrtagonist]

Phrasing.

[WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN RYUJI!!]

[ryuji]

[Yeah, he could have... possibly said this a better way. No, he absolutely could have said the exact thing he was actually doing without annotating this in a completely vivid picture, but, where's the fun in that?

So, he'll send over a picture of a store front with a bunch of androids face down, butt pointing toward the ceiling.]

Kidding but not kidding

These things take a while to booty up

*boot up

Whoops

in the midst of everyone becoming a disturbed song

[oculusriffs]

[suddenly, a text:]

hey
is your current status cool or like
completely melting like everyone else

[Dave is doing a Concern, and he sometimes has very dumb ways of expressing it. what he means to ask, is if Ryuji is ... also down with the sickness.]

[ryuji]

Glacially cool, dude

Nose is little drippy, but maybe that's 'cause I'm an athlete and even my nose's gotta run sometimes, y'know?

I'm thinkin' we brought something back from Struxta since everyone's getting sick as shit over here.

You okay?

[oculusriffs]

[.... oh my god. is this where Akira gets all his jokes? or is it the other way around? maybe they feed off of each other like some weird sort of infinite pun loop??]

[stop ... stop that line of thought, Dave, even if it's a completely plausible one. Ryuji's the first friend he's tried texting who isn't currently a living pit of lava, so he just keeps texting frantically. that's as good an indicator as any that he's probably just fine — and it's as good an indicator as any that he's a bit relieved that Ryuji's okay.]

ugh god dammit
didnt astoria think any of this through before sending us out on a new world quest
its not like we willingly went off to robocollege and caught a robovirus
she just kinda dumped this shit on us right
what are we even supposed to do
i dont want to just sit around and watch
nor can i even remember what youre supposed to put in chicken noodle soup

[ryuji]

[It's a positive feedback loop. Don't worry, Ryuji hated it at first, too. Dave, you'll learn to love it. Akira's great at puntificating.

Anyway, that's a lot of texts heading in a few different directions and he sure as hell has no idea how to settle that rage, but he does know a few things, here.]

Nah, she's probably making shit up as she goes and hopin' for the best. I mean, that's kinda how I've done stuff over the last year, and you win some you lose some dude, can't be too angry.

Besides, like, I thought you were supposed to get shots before you went to college.

That said uh

I absolutely know what goes in a good soup

post-underwater adventure time

[parttimes]

Hey did you go into those weird underwater tunnels?

[ryuji]

Yooo man, don't go down there I seen some stuff

[parttimes]

Did you seriously just dive into weird mysterious tunnels on this weird mysterious planet

[ryuji]

I definitely didn't not do that

post-tunnel but while powers are still a thing

[purrtagonist]

[CHECK YOUR WATCH RYUJI, you've got mail!!]

I want to test something and I need your help.