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〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Jeff
AGE: 28
JOURNAL:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
viewtiful_jeff
IM / EMAIL: Discord: ViewtifulJeff#3086, E-Mail: motowncatscrown@gmail.com
PLURK:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
ViewtifulJeff
RETURNING: N/A
〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Rua
CHARACTER AGE: In canon, 13 years old. With added Cape and Cowl history, 16.
SERIES: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
CHRONOLOGY: Post-series, with Cape and Cowl history.
CLASS: Hero
HOUSING: Random location, no opt-in.
BACKGROUND:
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, the third Yu-Gi-Oh! series, takes place predominantly in two locations, Neo Domino City, a futuristic prosperous "utopia" city, and Satellite, an island connected by a bridge. The two used to be part of the same landmass, but were separated by a disaster known as Zero Reverse, a massive earthquake that ripped the two apart. Zero Reverse was caused by the overload of "Momentum", an energy reactor that produces infinite energy. Separation from the rest of the city led to the Satellite, for many years, being a run-down slum, populated by criminals and kept in check by the Public Security Maintenance Bureau, the ruling body of both Satellite and Neo-Domino City. Eventually, the two cities were reunited by a bridge known as the Daedalus Bridge, and the state of Satellite was brought much closer to Neo-Domino City.
The overload of Momentum, and consequently, the destruction of Zero Reverse, was caused by Yliaster, a mysterious group that controls the entire world through economic, political and sometimes temporal manipulation. Yliaster was created 5,000 years prior to the beginning of the show as a group of ancient Nazcan people who were besieged by evil abominations known as the Earthbound Gods. They begged an all-powerful deity, the Crimson Dragon, to save them from destruction, and the Crimson Dragon responded, giving its power to five humans in the form of tattoos representing parts of its body (its head, wings, front claws, back claws and tail). Those five humans were known as "Signers". The Signers commanded five dragons, servants of the Crimson Dragon, and the Earthbound Gods were defeated and sealed away. From that point on, the influence of the Crimson Dragon and the Earthbound Gods would pass through generations, creating new Signers and Dark Signers to continue their battle as necessary. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's centers on the current generation of the Signers, as they battle the Earthbound Gods and then Yliaster, the group that seeks to manipulate the world to their ends.
This generation's current Signers, at least at the start, are Yusei Fudo, Jack Atlas, Aki Izayoi, Crow Hogan and Ruka (no last name given). The former four all have incredibly interesting stories and by and large are more important to the overall plot of 5D's than anything else, but for the most part, they are tangentially related to the current subject, which is the last Signer, Ruka. At 12 years old, she's the youngest of the Signers. She is also fraternal twins with her brother, Rua. Rua and Ruka live in Tops, the highest point and the wealthiest part of Neo Domino City. Their parents are almost always absent, regularly leaving to go to other countries for work, so the two spend the majority of their time alone together. As the two are pulled into the battle of the Signers and the Dark Signers by forces beyond their control, Rua repeatedly tries to protect his younger sister at the cost of his own safety and eventually, at the cost of his own life. He initially faces the Dark Signer that was destined to battle his sister, and although he is unable to complete the fight himself, he buys his sister enough time for her to complete a mission given to her elsewhere, allowing her to come and finish the battle, securing victory for the both of them, and eventually, playing an integral role in the overall victory of the Signers over the Dark Signers.
(note: this is when 5D's initial plot ended, and when shit completely stopped making any sense)
Once the Dark Signers are defeated and Satellite is reunited with Neo Domino, a new threat surfaces some time later - that of Yliaster. It is revealed that Yliaster's reach comes from the future itself; they are a group of people who live in a future that was destroyed by Momentum. A catastrophic breakdown of the system caused the entire world, and virtually all of humanity to be wiped out. Thus, those that were left sought to make sure that Momentum would never become capable of destroying the world. To that end, they caused Zero Reverse, in an attempt to make humanity turn away from Momentum. When that failed, and Momentum was recreated and used to great effect in Neo Domino City, they decided the only course of action was to destroy the entire city and hope the technology never escaped to the rest of the world. The Signers fought against Yliaster to stop Neo Domino City from being destroyed, and once again, Rua and Ruka took part in the fight. This fight eventually took them to the floating citadel known as the Ark Cradle, the headquarters of the leader of Yliaster, Z-ONE (pronounced 'zone'), and the weapon that would destroy Neo Domino City (basically, they used dueling to create a map made of energy called the "Great Circuit", which would create a portal that would allow the Ark Cradle to travel back in time, at which point it would fall on Neo Domino City, and its Momentum Reactor would collide with Neo Domino City's, destroying both and wiping the city off the map, do you see what I mean about this shit not making any sense?).
While aboard the Ark Cradle, Rua and Ruka (along with good friend, fellow Signer, and all around cool guy, Jack Atlas) faced one of Z-ONE's protectors, Aporia. The three of them dueled Aporia, who overpoweringly forced them into a corner until Rua made a move that gave them a fighting chance at the cost of his own life. This does not go unnoticed by the Crimson Dragon, who saw fit to revive Rua and reward him for his constant support of his sister by making him a Signer, giving him the mark of the dragon's heart.
Eventually, partially in thanks to Rua and Ruka, whose support played a pivotal role in the final fight, the final battle was won by their good friend, fellow Signer and all around cool guy, Yusei Fudo. Yliaster was broken for good, and the safety of the city and the world was ensured. Following the defeat of Yliaster, Rua and Ruka left Neo Domino City to live with their parents. From there, Rua sought to become a professional duelist, following in the steps of his idols, Jack and Yusei.
(In-game history):
Rua's first arrival in the City was in July of 2009. After getting his bearings, he wound up discovering that his sister had already been living there for a while and he pretty quickly wound up moving in with her and Miles Edgeworth (and soon after that, Remus Lupin). It was a different kind of experience than Rua was used to, going to school, living with two pseudo-parental figures all of the time (as opposed to having neither of his actual parents around most of the time). During this stretch of time, Rua didn't get much involved in the constant adventures going on in the City (at least to the best of my recollection/research), mostly keeping to himself and doing stuff like working for KaibaCorp and trying to use his technopath powers to whatever effect he could to make things he thought were cool, like a toaster with arms. Kind of notable, though is the time he and his sister got kidnapped by the Major in the midst of one of his plots and were brainwashed to be sleeper agents of his. In October 2010, Rua wound up being ported out before this actually came to anything for him, but it did leave his sister a heck of a mess to clean up once her own brainwashing was gone and she had to deal with all the projects Rua had been using his technopathy to build in secret in their basement.
Rua's second arrival in the city came a few years later, in April of 2013. Again, he more or less immediately moved in with his sister, who this time was living with Karkat Vantas. This was a bit more similar to what Rua had been used to, living more or less alone with his sister with little in the way of adult supervision, except this time there was also a very shout-y grey-skinned guy living there too. In that respect it was similar, in almost every other, it was very, very different. In the several years he'd been gone from the city, his sister had grown and changed in ways that Rua hadn't been prepared for. This led to friction that at least once resulted in a fight between the two over the rift that had grown between them - though the hard feelings between them never lasted too long, they also never made great progress in dealing with these issues, either. Partially because there was plenty of external stress going on to keep them a bit too busy to deal with their internal issues adequately.
The primary example of that external stress being that they were sent on a number of trans-dimensional excursions throughout 2013 to the locations of TiraForsae, New Vesuvius, Asthenoa and Capers (Rua was not around for the trip to Metricog). The simple act of being uprooted and dropped into another dimension for a week was stress enough but of all of them, New Vesuvius was definitely the one that impacted Rua the most. The cruel nature of its history with imPorts left an extremely sour taste in his mouth -- far worse than that, it led to him dying in that world before he was sent back to the City. The death and being ported back to the city, in addition to leaving him pained and fatigued, affected Rua's powers, giving him an enforced memory sharing power that, when he accidentally used it on Karkat, gave him some extremely unpleasant memories of Karkat's, including one of him and Ruka attacking each other. The whole experience of New Vesuvius, from the world itself, to his death there, to the way it affected his powers (and a pretty badly timed port-out of his sister during all of this) stuck with Rua, badly. Life proceeded and this all eventually culminated with, well, there's no other way to put it - the apocalypse. During the literal, actual end of the world that housed the City, things went extremely poorly for Rua and his group of friends, him having to watch as two of them (Karkat and another member of the same species as him, Nepeta Leijon) were struck down by metamen from the organization Vulcanus. Ultimately unable to do anything about either one of their deaths, Rua had to move on and, with his sister, leave that world to cross to the new one. Rua didn't make the entire trip though, drifting away from his sister as they traveled from their dying adoptive universe to the new one.
PERSONALITY:
Rua's twin sister Ruka is logical, down to earth, reticent, intelligent and soft spoken. Rua, to compare, possesses...none of these qualities. Perhaps that is for the best though, as the two balance each other out? Yes, let's go with that. So, to balance his sister, Rua is lively, energetic, outgoing, and often brimming with confidence. 'Coolness' is an important thing for him - most of the time, stuff is worth doing, but sometimes it's only worth doing if you can do it and make people think "wow, that guy did the hell outta that stuff!" in the process. This, in part, comes from the two men Rua idolizes and regards as two of his best friends - Yusei Fudo and Jack Atlas. Rua has a tendency to grow attached to people older than him, mostly young adults, people in their 20s, and regard them as something similar to an older sibling figure. He also has a tendency to idolize said figures, think they're just the most awesome person in the world and want to emulate them. Chalk it up to a lack of strong parental figures in his life, maybe. This also draws back to his love of 'coolness' - Rua loves to do things bombastically, he loves to impress people and hear their praise. He seeks attention in general and, specifically, approval, in this way. To put it simply, he's a true extrovert who loves making friends and doing new things.
To put it less diplomatically, however, he is also impulsive, short-sighted and sometimes he can act a little...dumb. Rua rarely plans for more than what's right in front of him and often attacks problems head-on in just about the most linear way possible. The truth is, he used to be worse. Some years ago, he was unduly arrogant, hyperactive to a fault and by his own admission, kind of a damn crybaby too. These traits all still exist to some degree to be sure (except for the crybaby part - he'll deny there's any trace of that left dawn 'til dusk), but they've been tempered by harsh experience and perhaps more directly, Rua's own desire to grow to be more like the two men he idolizes. Always having energy to spare, instead of just acting obnoxious, Rua tends to throw himself into various activities where his excess pep will be put to better use - his mainstay will always be the game of Duel Monsters, but he also tests his mind and body other ways, physical fitness, tinkering with machines, etc. He's a bona fide lover of any kind of sport that will get him from Point A to Point B faster and can usually be found boarding, blading or biking his way somewhere or another when he has some free time.
The person Rua's spent the most time with, from when he was a child has always been his twin sister, Ruka, and the truth is, the two do make a pretty effective duo. Rua's adventurous confident side leads the two to new experiences, but Ruka keeps him grounded well enough to not get them into trouble too often. Though he sometimes acts like his sister cramps his style (especially when she starts giving him guff for some of the dumb stuff he does), that really couldn't be further from the truth. When they were both younger, he harbored some sense of resentment towards her. His sister was sickly and frail as a child and could rarely, if ever leave the house and with their parents often absent, that left Rua to be the one to take care of her, which basically meant he couldn't leave the house either. For an outgoing young chap like Rua, this eventually bred some resentment towards his sister, which soon led to feelings of guilt as well. But, he eventually talked to Ruka about these feelings and worked through them and the two grew closer as a result. More important to Rua than anything, than appearing 'cool', than being a champion duelist, whatever, is his sister. When the two were younger, Ruka once told Rua that she was his "hero" and since then, whenever danger has reared its head, he's been dedicated to protecting her, no matter the cost to himself (up to and, one time, including his own life). Rua loves his sister more than anything and, honestly, if he is apart from her for any extended period of time, it messes with him, probably more than he's willing to admit. Ruka's the most constant, stable thing in his life. Without her, there's no one to keep some of his sillier notions in check, sure, but the simple absence of his sister just makes him anxious. Both he and Ruka are their own person, for certain, but without his twin around, Rua sometimes can't help but feel there's a part of him missing as well.
In-game history:
In terms of how his previous times in the City have affected him, it's given him a very…different relationship with his sister. Rua is used to knowing just about everything that's going on with Ruka and vice-versa. In the City, this just wasn't the case and probably never will be -- Rua went in and out of the city multiple times while his sister just stayed there, growing and changing in ways that he completely missed. This is represented kind of perfectly in his sister's eyepatch. It's there and it's indicative of something major that happened to Ruka (i.e. that she lost a freakin' eye), but he has no idea how it happened and moreover, he's never been able to brooch the subject and find out. Ruka's time, both in the dead universe that held the City and the universe they fled to from there, is so much greater than Rua's that he just doesn't know where to begin filling in those gaps. The fact that a lot of the things that happened in that span of time, from the surface at least, appear to be really bad things that left a negative lasting impact on Ruka only complicate things further. Rua is used to Ruka being the stable one. When it became clear that she wasn't anymore, he didn't know how to handle it anymore. All of this has led to a rift between the two that is just completely alien to Rua. It's something Rua knows he has to deal with, but...again, he's not used to being the stable one. So he's still trying to figure out exactly how.
(the following couple paragraphs were added after a request for revisions to elaborate more on how his time in the City changed Rua)
Rua's development within the city follows a sort of line of direct escalation where, at the very start of his first stay (and in truth, most of his first stay), his time in the city didn't change him in a particularly significant way. He was still mostly the same dumb, exuberant kid he was before arriving and after leaving. The more time he spent in the city, starting with him arriving again in 2013, the more it started affecting him, eventually culminating with some extremely significant events happening one right after the other at the end that affected him in a very real way. In his life back in Neo Domino City, Rua is no stranger to emotional drama, adventure, peril and even death, but in the City, he had to confront those things in a very different way. In the City, a lot of his safety nets (his older friends and their great big spiritual benefactor, the Crimson Dragon) were gone. Those things were more direct and often, much more complicated. And the thing is, for the most part, without those safety nets, Rua found himself in the position of being kind of unable to adequately deal with those things. He wasn't able to reconcile the rift that had grown between him and his sister, he wasn't able to save himself from dying out in New Vesuvius and he wasn't able to do anything when the end of the world arrived.
The end of the world that housed the City, it'd be pretty safe to say, affected Rua more than anything else in his prior two years there, not because of anything he did but because of everything he failed to do. They weren't able to stop the world from dying and Rua, on a more personal level, was unable to keep two of his friends from dying and had to watch it happen to both of them, in a far more direct, tangible and traumatic way than he'd ever had to in his own world. When his number was called, he didn't turn into the awesome hero he wanted to be, like his friends and idols, Yusei and Jack and he didn't have a lot of time to ruminate on that (y'know, what with the apocalypse happening), it still hung on him and will continue to hang onto him, along with all the rest of the stress and emotional turmoil he faced in the city that he wasn't able to deal with, like the rift that grew between him and his sister or his own death and the consequences of that. Now, having said all that, Rua's not the type to feel sorry for himself forever. He's only the type to feel sorry for himself for a little while. The realization of what he feels was a failure to rise to the occasion will make him want to become better. Will make him more selfless, more protective of the friends he does have, more determined to learn the ins-and-outs of his powers and how he can best use them for good. Basically, his failures will, in the end, push him to be a better hero and, hopefully, a better brother as well.
POWER:
1) Technopathy
Rua is a technopath, capable of manipulating electronic machines and software. This power set can be split into a few points:
- Understanding: When Rua has direct contact with a machine and he concentrates on it, he gains an understanding of it -- its parts, its composition, its function, etc. The level of concentration necessary to fully understand something is directly related to how complex it is - something like a toaster or a watch takes about 2 seconds to get,.but a car or a particularly advanced computer would take significantly longer. Disassembling the machine, seeing all of its working parts, prior knowledge or research on it, that kind of thing tends to expedite the process. Understanding a machine, in addition to giving him the knowledge of how to build and use said machine himself, is the basis for the rest of Rua's technopathic powers.
- Control: When Rua understands a machine, he can release an electrical signal that will allow him to mentally control it. The degree to which he can control any given machine is directly related to how well he understands it. Breeding familiarity with a particular machine will make controlling it easier and successfully controlling it will bring that familiarity. The range of his ability to broadcast the signal to manipulate a machine depends on several factors, including the type of machine, Rua's familiarity, etc. As a basic rule, unless he's intimately familiar with something, he needs to be very close, up to requiring direct contact. The electrical signal can be carried by a machine designed for such things, extending its range, but obviously, Rua would have to build something to do that first. The signal isn't soundless or invisible. When Rua's using it, his hands glow blue and release sparks, accompanied by a faint but no less present crackling noise.
- Software/Data: Since computer software is, in effect, basically just electrical data, it does fall under the purview of Rua's powers, but it works a bit differently. The theory is the same, if Rua focuses on a piece of software on a local device, he'll gain an understanding of it, but since computer programs tend to be more complicated, it usually takes longer. When he starts trying to affect non-local devices, it gets tricker. It's doable if he has a device capable of carrying his signal, but it's difficult, requires a lot of concentration and is pretty inelegant. If he's, say, trying to electronically infiltrate some kind of system, he'll probably be noticed.
- Empathy: When dealing with a sentient artificial being like an A.I., a robot, etc., Rua can passively feel their emotions. This ability is one of proximity and level of interaction. If Rua's interacting with an A.I. over the internet or something, he'll get maybe a little twinge here or there of what they're feeling. If it's in person, he'll feel it more strongly. If he uses his ability to actively interface with them to try and understand or control them, he'll become very directly linked to their emotions and experience them firsthand. It's worth noting that when interacting with sentient beings in this way, they can try to reject him and, essentially, boot him out of their brains. Like with the rest of his power, Rua's ability to affect a sentient artificial being is down to understanding of what he's dealing with, but A.I. tend to be really complicated so this is just about the tallest mountain to climb that Rua can find. If he was able to successfully establish and maintain a connection with an artificial being then he'd be able to affect their emotions. It would just be very, very, very, very, very (etc.) hard to do if they didn't want him in there.
2) Signer
On a completely different and much less technologically advanced note, Rua is also a Signer, which is denoted by the mark on his right forearm. The mark on his arm, in the shape of a dragon's heart, is a sign that was given to him (and then taken away when it was no longer necessary) by the Crimson Dragon, a being of nearly infinite power that gave parts of its strength to five humans called Signers. Rua was the sixth, given his mark as a reward by the Crimson Dragon for tirelessly supporting his sister for so long - when his job was finished however, the Crimson Dragon relieved all the Signers of their marks and with it, their powers. After going through the Porter, Rua will gain the mark back. The mark's power will be represented in two ways.
- Signer Connection: By default, the mark is empathically linked to the rest of the Signers. If another Signer is using their powers or is in some kind of danger, Rua will be able to tell through his mark. He can also gain a vague sense of where another Signer is by focusing on them through his mark. The reverse for both of these applies as well, allowing other Signers to sense Rua as well.
- Stress Absorption: Some powers are very stressful. Physically, mentally, emotionally, they can have a big cost attached. Rua can defray some of that cost. By using his mark, Rua can absorb some of the stress, concentration, backlash, etc. required for others to use their own powers, making them able to use them at less risk to themselves and thus hopefully, use their powers more efficiently. The level of proximity this takes is kind of a case-by-case thing, but line of sight is generally the bare minimum and the closer Rua is, up to direct contact, the more effective the mitigation will be. The back end of this, of course, is that using this power is inherently stressful to Rua and if he overdoes it, he can do some serious damage to himself.
〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
Okay, so, liiiiiike. Here's the thing about me. Back home, I was in the middle of really intense training and development to become the greatest D-Wheeler the world had ever seen! I was gonna become world champion! And if you don't know what a D-Wheeler is, it's basically someone who plays Duel Monsters while riding on a motorcycle. Duel Monsters is a card game. Yes, it's playing a card game on a motorcycle, stop snickering, it's the coolest thing ever and I bet it's way cooler than whatever sport you have in your world! I know what kinda dumb stuff you guys have back in your own worlds! Floatin' around on broomsticks and whatnot.
Actually, Quidditch sounded really cool the way Remus described it but that ain't here or there.
The point is! You guys don't get Duel Monsters or D-Wheels here so I can't really continue my incredible training regimen and even if I could, it just kinda. Wouldn't count when I got back home, so there's no point. Universe bouncing stuff is weird and I don't like it. But we're not here to complain! We're here to make lemons outta lemonade! [Beat. He thinks for a second.] ...lemonade out of lemons. You. You have the lemons. And then you use them to make lemonade. And then the lemonade tastes good. [He shakes his head.] Okay, we're just gonna edit that out before we post this. [And yet somehow, he didn't.]
Anyway! Since I can't become the world champ in dueling while I'm here, I gotta become the world champ of something else! I've narrowed it down to videos games or baseball. On the one hand, if I pick baseball, I'll probably make more money and have bigger arms. If I pick video games, that'll probably be easier on my knees? And. Y'know. I'll get to play more video games. And even if I can't become a world champ at that… ...I dunno, I could probably like. Get really good at streaming or something. But if I do baseball, I'll eventually be able to run really fast….and a baseball player is probably a cooler identity for a hero to have...like, he hits home runs by day and saves the world by night!
[He lets out a 'pfffft' noise and shakes his head.]
But, uh, yeah, seriously. I gotta find some new hobbies 'cause like. All of my time back home was spent on dueling but like nobody knows what that is, here. So, uh. We got any pick-up baseball teams here or anything?
LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE: Beep beep!
FINAL NOTES: Beep boop.
NAME: Jeff
AGE: 28
JOURNAL:
viewtiful_jeffIM / EMAIL: Discord: ViewtifulJeff#3086, E-Mail: motowncatscrown@gmail.com
PLURK:
RETURNING: N/A
〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Rua
CHARACTER AGE: In canon, 13 years old. With added Cape and Cowl history, 16.
SERIES: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
CHRONOLOGY: Post-series, with Cape and Cowl history.
CLASS: Hero
HOUSING: Random location, no opt-in.
BACKGROUND:
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, the third Yu-Gi-Oh! series, takes place predominantly in two locations, Neo Domino City, a futuristic prosperous "utopia" city, and Satellite, an island connected by a bridge. The two used to be part of the same landmass, but were separated by a disaster known as Zero Reverse, a massive earthquake that ripped the two apart. Zero Reverse was caused by the overload of "Momentum", an energy reactor that produces infinite energy. Separation from the rest of the city led to the Satellite, for many years, being a run-down slum, populated by criminals and kept in check by the Public Security Maintenance Bureau, the ruling body of both Satellite and Neo-Domino City. Eventually, the two cities were reunited by a bridge known as the Daedalus Bridge, and the state of Satellite was brought much closer to Neo-Domino City.
The overload of Momentum, and consequently, the destruction of Zero Reverse, was caused by Yliaster, a mysterious group that controls the entire world through economic, political and sometimes temporal manipulation. Yliaster was created 5,000 years prior to the beginning of the show as a group of ancient Nazcan people who were besieged by evil abominations known as the Earthbound Gods. They begged an all-powerful deity, the Crimson Dragon, to save them from destruction, and the Crimson Dragon responded, giving its power to five humans in the form of tattoos representing parts of its body (its head, wings, front claws, back claws and tail). Those five humans were known as "Signers". The Signers commanded five dragons, servants of the Crimson Dragon, and the Earthbound Gods were defeated and sealed away. From that point on, the influence of the Crimson Dragon and the Earthbound Gods would pass through generations, creating new Signers and Dark Signers to continue their battle as necessary. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's centers on the current generation of the Signers, as they battle the Earthbound Gods and then Yliaster, the group that seeks to manipulate the world to their ends.
This generation's current Signers, at least at the start, are Yusei Fudo, Jack Atlas, Aki Izayoi, Crow Hogan and Ruka (no last name given). The former four all have incredibly interesting stories and by and large are more important to the overall plot of 5D's than anything else, but for the most part, they are tangentially related to the current subject, which is the last Signer, Ruka. At 12 years old, she's the youngest of the Signers. She is also fraternal twins with her brother, Rua. Rua and Ruka live in Tops, the highest point and the wealthiest part of Neo Domino City. Their parents are almost always absent, regularly leaving to go to other countries for work, so the two spend the majority of their time alone together. As the two are pulled into the battle of the Signers and the Dark Signers by forces beyond their control, Rua repeatedly tries to protect his younger sister at the cost of his own safety and eventually, at the cost of his own life. He initially faces the Dark Signer that was destined to battle his sister, and although he is unable to complete the fight himself, he buys his sister enough time for her to complete a mission given to her elsewhere, allowing her to come and finish the battle, securing victory for the both of them, and eventually, playing an integral role in the overall victory of the Signers over the Dark Signers.
(note: this is when 5D's initial plot ended, and when shit completely stopped making any sense)
Once the Dark Signers are defeated and Satellite is reunited with Neo Domino, a new threat surfaces some time later - that of Yliaster. It is revealed that Yliaster's reach comes from the future itself; they are a group of people who live in a future that was destroyed by Momentum. A catastrophic breakdown of the system caused the entire world, and virtually all of humanity to be wiped out. Thus, those that were left sought to make sure that Momentum would never become capable of destroying the world. To that end, they caused Zero Reverse, in an attempt to make humanity turn away from Momentum. When that failed, and Momentum was recreated and used to great effect in Neo Domino City, they decided the only course of action was to destroy the entire city and hope the technology never escaped to the rest of the world. The Signers fought against Yliaster to stop Neo Domino City from being destroyed, and once again, Rua and Ruka took part in the fight. This fight eventually took them to the floating citadel known as the Ark Cradle, the headquarters of the leader of Yliaster, Z-ONE (pronounced 'zone'), and the weapon that would destroy Neo Domino City (basically, they used dueling to create a map made of energy called the "Great Circuit", which would create a portal that would allow the Ark Cradle to travel back in time, at which point it would fall on Neo Domino City, and its Momentum Reactor would collide with Neo Domino City's, destroying both and wiping the city off the map, do you see what I mean about this shit not making any sense?).
While aboard the Ark Cradle, Rua and Ruka (along with good friend, fellow Signer, and all around cool guy, Jack Atlas) faced one of Z-ONE's protectors, Aporia. The three of them dueled Aporia, who overpoweringly forced them into a corner until Rua made a move that gave them a fighting chance at the cost of his own life. This does not go unnoticed by the Crimson Dragon, who saw fit to revive Rua and reward him for his constant support of his sister by making him a Signer, giving him the mark of the dragon's heart.
Eventually, partially in thanks to Rua and Ruka, whose support played a pivotal role in the final fight, the final battle was won by their good friend, fellow Signer and all around cool guy, Yusei Fudo. Yliaster was broken for good, and the safety of the city and the world was ensured. Following the defeat of Yliaster, Rua and Ruka left Neo Domino City to live with their parents. From there, Rua sought to become a professional duelist, following in the steps of his idols, Jack and Yusei.
(In-game history):
Rua's first arrival in the City was in July of 2009. After getting his bearings, he wound up discovering that his sister had already been living there for a while and he pretty quickly wound up moving in with her and Miles Edgeworth (and soon after that, Remus Lupin). It was a different kind of experience than Rua was used to, going to school, living with two pseudo-parental figures all of the time (as opposed to having neither of his actual parents around most of the time). During this stretch of time, Rua didn't get much involved in the constant adventures going on in the City (at least to the best of my recollection/research), mostly keeping to himself and doing stuff like working for KaibaCorp and trying to use his technopath powers to whatever effect he could to make things he thought were cool, like a toaster with arms. Kind of notable, though is the time he and his sister got kidnapped by the Major in the midst of one of his plots and were brainwashed to be sleeper agents of his. In October 2010, Rua wound up being ported out before this actually came to anything for him, but it did leave his sister a heck of a mess to clean up once her own brainwashing was gone and she had to deal with all the projects Rua had been using his technopathy to build in secret in their basement.
Rua's second arrival in the city came a few years later, in April of 2013. Again, he more or less immediately moved in with his sister, who this time was living with Karkat Vantas. This was a bit more similar to what Rua had been used to, living more or less alone with his sister with little in the way of adult supervision, except this time there was also a very shout-y grey-skinned guy living there too. In that respect it was similar, in almost every other, it was very, very different. In the several years he'd been gone from the city, his sister had grown and changed in ways that Rua hadn't been prepared for. This led to friction that at least once resulted in a fight between the two over the rift that had grown between them - though the hard feelings between them never lasted too long, they also never made great progress in dealing with these issues, either. Partially because there was plenty of external stress going on to keep them a bit too busy to deal with their internal issues adequately.
The primary example of that external stress being that they were sent on a number of trans-dimensional excursions throughout 2013 to the locations of TiraForsae, New Vesuvius, Asthenoa and Capers (Rua was not around for the trip to Metricog). The simple act of being uprooted and dropped into another dimension for a week was stress enough but of all of them, New Vesuvius was definitely the one that impacted Rua the most. The cruel nature of its history with imPorts left an extremely sour taste in his mouth -- far worse than that, it led to him dying in that world before he was sent back to the City. The death and being ported back to the city, in addition to leaving him pained and fatigued, affected Rua's powers, giving him an enforced memory sharing power that, when he accidentally used it on Karkat, gave him some extremely unpleasant memories of Karkat's, including one of him and Ruka attacking each other. The whole experience of New Vesuvius, from the world itself, to his death there, to the way it affected his powers (and a pretty badly timed port-out of his sister during all of this) stuck with Rua, badly. Life proceeded and this all eventually culminated with, well, there's no other way to put it - the apocalypse. During the literal, actual end of the world that housed the City, things went extremely poorly for Rua and his group of friends, him having to watch as two of them (Karkat and another member of the same species as him, Nepeta Leijon) were struck down by metamen from the organization Vulcanus. Ultimately unable to do anything about either one of their deaths, Rua had to move on and, with his sister, leave that world to cross to the new one. Rua didn't make the entire trip though, drifting away from his sister as they traveled from their dying adoptive universe to the new one.
PERSONALITY:
Rua's twin sister Ruka is logical, down to earth, reticent, intelligent and soft spoken. Rua, to compare, possesses...none of these qualities. Perhaps that is for the best though, as the two balance each other out? Yes, let's go with that. So, to balance his sister, Rua is lively, energetic, outgoing, and often brimming with confidence. 'Coolness' is an important thing for him - most of the time, stuff is worth doing, but sometimes it's only worth doing if you can do it and make people think "wow, that guy did the hell outta that stuff!" in the process. This, in part, comes from the two men Rua idolizes and regards as two of his best friends - Yusei Fudo and Jack Atlas. Rua has a tendency to grow attached to people older than him, mostly young adults, people in their 20s, and regard them as something similar to an older sibling figure. He also has a tendency to idolize said figures, think they're just the most awesome person in the world and want to emulate them. Chalk it up to a lack of strong parental figures in his life, maybe. This also draws back to his love of 'coolness' - Rua loves to do things bombastically, he loves to impress people and hear their praise. He seeks attention in general and, specifically, approval, in this way. To put it simply, he's a true extrovert who loves making friends and doing new things.
To put it less diplomatically, however, he is also impulsive, short-sighted and sometimes he can act a little...dumb. Rua rarely plans for more than what's right in front of him and often attacks problems head-on in just about the most linear way possible. The truth is, he used to be worse. Some years ago, he was unduly arrogant, hyperactive to a fault and by his own admission, kind of a damn crybaby too. These traits all still exist to some degree to be sure (except for the crybaby part - he'll deny there's any trace of that left dawn 'til dusk), but they've been tempered by harsh experience and perhaps more directly, Rua's own desire to grow to be more like the two men he idolizes. Always having energy to spare, instead of just acting obnoxious, Rua tends to throw himself into various activities where his excess pep will be put to better use - his mainstay will always be the game of Duel Monsters, but he also tests his mind and body other ways, physical fitness, tinkering with machines, etc. He's a bona fide lover of any kind of sport that will get him from Point A to Point B faster and can usually be found boarding, blading or biking his way somewhere or another when he has some free time.
The person Rua's spent the most time with, from when he was a child has always been his twin sister, Ruka, and the truth is, the two do make a pretty effective duo. Rua's adventurous confident side leads the two to new experiences, but Ruka keeps him grounded well enough to not get them into trouble too often. Though he sometimes acts like his sister cramps his style (especially when she starts giving him guff for some of the dumb stuff he does), that really couldn't be further from the truth. When they were both younger, he harbored some sense of resentment towards her. His sister was sickly and frail as a child and could rarely, if ever leave the house and with their parents often absent, that left Rua to be the one to take care of her, which basically meant he couldn't leave the house either. For an outgoing young chap like Rua, this eventually bred some resentment towards his sister, which soon led to feelings of guilt as well. But, he eventually talked to Ruka about these feelings and worked through them and the two grew closer as a result. More important to Rua than anything, than appearing 'cool', than being a champion duelist, whatever, is his sister. When the two were younger, Ruka once told Rua that she was his "hero" and since then, whenever danger has reared its head, he's been dedicated to protecting her, no matter the cost to himself (up to and, one time, including his own life). Rua loves his sister more than anything and, honestly, if he is apart from her for any extended period of time, it messes with him, probably more than he's willing to admit. Ruka's the most constant, stable thing in his life. Without her, there's no one to keep some of his sillier notions in check, sure, but the simple absence of his sister just makes him anxious. Both he and Ruka are their own person, for certain, but without his twin around, Rua sometimes can't help but feel there's a part of him missing as well.
In-game history:
In terms of how his previous times in the City have affected him, it's given him a very…different relationship with his sister. Rua is used to knowing just about everything that's going on with Ruka and vice-versa. In the City, this just wasn't the case and probably never will be -- Rua went in and out of the city multiple times while his sister just stayed there, growing and changing in ways that he completely missed. This is represented kind of perfectly in his sister's eyepatch. It's there and it's indicative of something major that happened to Ruka (i.e. that she lost a freakin' eye), but he has no idea how it happened and moreover, he's never been able to brooch the subject and find out. Ruka's time, both in the dead universe that held the City and the universe they fled to from there, is so much greater than Rua's that he just doesn't know where to begin filling in those gaps. The fact that a lot of the things that happened in that span of time, from the surface at least, appear to be really bad things that left a negative lasting impact on Ruka only complicate things further. Rua is used to Ruka being the stable one. When it became clear that she wasn't anymore, he didn't know how to handle it anymore. All of this has led to a rift between the two that is just completely alien to Rua. It's something Rua knows he has to deal with, but...again, he's not used to being the stable one. So he's still trying to figure out exactly how.
(the following couple paragraphs were added after a request for revisions to elaborate more on how his time in the City changed Rua)
Rua's development within the city follows a sort of line of direct escalation where, at the very start of his first stay (and in truth, most of his first stay), his time in the city didn't change him in a particularly significant way. He was still mostly the same dumb, exuberant kid he was before arriving and after leaving. The more time he spent in the city, starting with him arriving again in 2013, the more it started affecting him, eventually culminating with some extremely significant events happening one right after the other at the end that affected him in a very real way. In his life back in Neo Domino City, Rua is no stranger to emotional drama, adventure, peril and even death, but in the City, he had to confront those things in a very different way. In the City, a lot of his safety nets (his older friends and their great big spiritual benefactor, the Crimson Dragon) were gone. Those things were more direct and often, much more complicated. And the thing is, for the most part, without those safety nets, Rua found himself in the position of being kind of unable to adequately deal with those things. He wasn't able to reconcile the rift that had grown between him and his sister, he wasn't able to save himself from dying out in New Vesuvius and he wasn't able to do anything when the end of the world arrived.
The end of the world that housed the City, it'd be pretty safe to say, affected Rua more than anything else in his prior two years there, not because of anything he did but because of everything he failed to do. They weren't able to stop the world from dying and Rua, on a more personal level, was unable to keep two of his friends from dying and had to watch it happen to both of them, in a far more direct, tangible and traumatic way than he'd ever had to in his own world. When his number was called, he didn't turn into the awesome hero he wanted to be, like his friends and idols, Yusei and Jack and he didn't have a lot of time to ruminate on that (y'know, what with the apocalypse happening), it still hung on him and will continue to hang onto him, along with all the rest of the stress and emotional turmoil he faced in the city that he wasn't able to deal with, like the rift that grew between him and his sister or his own death and the consequences of that. Now, having said all that, Rua's not the type to feel sorry for himself forever. He's only the type to feel sorry for himself for a little while. The realization of what he feels was a failure to rise to the occasion will make him want to become better. Will make him more selfless, more protective of the friends he does have, more determined to learn the ins-and-outs of his powers and how he can best use them for good. Basically, his failures will, in the end, push him to be a better hero and, hopefully, a better brother as well.
POWER:
1) Technopathy
Rua is a technopath, capable of manipulating electronic machines and software. This power set can be split into a few points:
- Understanding: When Rua has direct contact with a machine and he concentrates on it, he gains an understanding of it -- its parts, its composition, its function, etc. The level of concentration necessary to fully understand something is directly related to how complex it is - something like a toaster or a watch takes about 2 seconds to get,.but a car or a particularly advanced computer would take significantly longer. Disassembling the machine, seeing all of its working parts, prior knowledge or research on it, that kind of thing tends to expedite the process. Understanding a machine, in addition to giving him the knowledge of how to build and use said machine himself, is the basis for the rest of Rua's technopathic powers.
- Control: When Rua understands a machine, he can release an electrical signal that will allow him to mentally control it. The degree to which he can control any given machine is directly related to how well he understands it. Breeding familiarity with a particular machine will make controlling it easier and successfully controlling it will bring that familiarity. The range of his ability to broadcast the signal to manipulate a machine depends on several factors, including the type of machine, Rua's familiarity, etc. As a basic rule, unless he's intimately familiar with something, he needs to be very close, up to requiring direct contact. The electrical signal can be carried by a machine designed for such things, extending its range, but obviously, Rua would have to build something to do that first. The signal isn't soundless or invisible. When Rua's using it, his hands glow blue and release sparks, accompanied by a faint but no less present crackling noise.
- Software/Data: Since computer software is, in effect, basically just electrical data, it does fall under the purview of Rua's powers, but it works a bit differently. The theory is the same, if Rua focuses on a piece of software on a local device, he'll gain an understanding of it, but since computer programs tend to be more complicated, it usually takes longer. When he starts trying to affect non-local devices, it gets tricker. It's doable if he has a device capable of carrying his signal, but it's difficult, requires a lot of concentration and is pretty inelegant. If he's, say, trying to electronically infiltrate some kind of system, he'll probably be noticed.
- Empathy: When dealing with a sentient artificial being like an A.I., a robot, etc., Rua can passively feel their emotions. This ability is one of proximity and level of interaction. If Rua's interacting with an A.I. over the internet or something, he'll get maybe a little twinge here or there of what they're feeling. If it's in person, he'll feel it more strongly. If he uses his ability to actively interface with them to try and understand or control them, he'll become very directly linked to their emotions and experience them firsthand. It's worth noting that when interacting with sentient beings in this way, they can try to reject him and, essentially, boot him out of their brains. Like with the rest of his power, Rua's ability to affect a sentient artificial being is down to understanding of what he's dealing with, but A.I. tend to be really complicated so this is just about the tallest mountain to climb that Rua can find. If he was able to successfully establish and maintain a connection with an artificial being then he'd be able to affect their emotions. It would just be very, very, very, very, very (etc.) hard to do if they didn't want him in there.
2) Signer
On a completely different and much less technologically advanced note, Rua is also a Signer, which is denoted by the mark on his right forearm. The mark on his arm, in the shape of a dragon's heart, is a sign that was given to him (and then taken away when it was no longer necessary) by the Crimson Dragon, a being of nearly infinite power that gave parts of its strength to five humans called Signers. Rua was the sixth, given his mark as a reward by the Crimson Dragon for tirelessly supporting his sister for so long - when his job was finished however, the Crimson Dragon relieved all the Signers of their marks and with it, their powers. After going through the Porter, Rua will gain the mark back. The mark's power will be represented in two ways.
- Signer Connection: By default, the mark is empathically linked to the rest of the Signers. If another Signer is using their powers or is in some kind of danger, Rua will be able to tell through his mark. He can also gain a vague sense of where another Signer is by focusing on them through his mark. The reverse for both of these applies as well, allowing other Signers to sense Rua as well.
- Stress Absorption: Some powers are very stressful. Physically, mentally, emotionally, they can have a big cost attached. Rua can defray some of that cost. By using his mark, Rua can absorb some of the stress, concentration, backlash, etc. required for others to use their own powers, making them able to use them at less risk to themselves and thus hopefully, use their powers more efficiently. The level of proximity this takes is kind of a case-by-case thing, but line of sight is generally the bare minimum and the closer Rua is, up to direct contact, the more effective the mitigation will be. The back end of this, of course, is that using this power is inherently stressful to Rua and if he overdoes it, he can do some serious damage to himself.
〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
Okay, so, liiiiiike. Here's the thing about me. Back home, I was in the middle of really intense training and development to become the greatest D-Wheeler the world had ever seen! I was gonna become world champion! And if you don't know what a D-Wheeler is, it's basically someone who plays Duel Monsters while riding on a motorcycle. Duel Monsters is a card game. Yes, it's playing a card game on a motorcycle, stop snickering, it's the coolest thing ever and I bet it's way cooler than whatever sport you have in your world! I know what kinda dumb stuff you guys have back in your own worlds! Floatin' around on broomsticks and whatnot.
Actually, Quidditch sounded really cool the way Remus described it but that ain't here or there.
The point is! You guys don't get Duel Monsters or D-Wheels here so I can't really continue my incredible training regimen and even if I could, it just kinda. Wouldn't count when I got back home, so there's no point. Universe bouncing stuff is weird and I don't like it. But we're not here to complain! We're here to make lemons outta lemonade! [Beat. He thinks for a second.] ...lemonade out of lemons. You. You have the lemons. And then you use them to make lemonade. And then the lemonade tastes good. [He shakes his head.] Okay, we're just gonna edit that out before we post this. [And yet somehow, he didn't.]
Anyway! Since I can't become the world champ in dueling while I'm here, I gotta become the world champ of something else! I've narrowed it down to videos games or baseball. On the one hand, if I pick baseball, I'll probably make more money and have bigger arms. If I pick video games, that'll probably be easier on my knees? And. Y'know. I'll get to play more video games. And even if I can't become a world champ at that… ...I dunno, I could probably like. Get really good at streaming or something. But if I do baseball, I'll eventually be able to run really fast….and a baseball player is probably a cooler identity for a hero to have...like, he hits home runs by day and saves the world by night!
[He lets out a 'pfffft' noise and shakes his head.]
But, uh, yeah, seriously. I gotta find some new hobbies 'cause like. All of my time back home was spent on dueling but like nobody knows what that is, here. So, uh. We got any pick-up baseball teams here or anything?
LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE: Beep beep!
FINAL NOTES: Beep boop.