Complete Private Acrimony

[Little Doggo]

9:00 PM - Dinner Time.

Bao pulled the headset off, letting it rest on the side of the bed clad on pink sheets. Having done so in a rush made her almost swing to the other side of the bed as she tried to sit down and catch her balance. Even the light on her night desk felt blinding, usually a bastion of safety against shadows and pitch darkness, now repurposed as a wake up tool to pain her poor eyeballs. She rubbed them a little... Is this how adults feel when they drink alcohol?

She will never know, but it had to be like this, given how the movies depicted them just as groggy.

It was a temporary setback for awareness to call back to what had occurred. Even the warm chocolate of the old lady in Solvale, or the many family pictures she showed her were enough to keep her mind out of Ruby's words. A frown crossed her face, but enough tears got shred back ingame, and that emptied her reserves out of it.

"Maybe that's... That's what I wanted." She muttered to herself, trying to rationalize it for once: She wanted to hide her true identity from her sister, and perhaps that's the price she had to pay. "I would treat a stranger just like she did to me, right..?" She wanted to be just like her sister, in every way. Ruby was perfect... Right?

But her heart couldn't bear to be rude, not like her Jiejie was inside of the game. She allowed her anger to get the best of her and challenged her own big sis. Unwarranted as the reciprocated aggression was, she got things wrong-

Bao glanced over to the clock: 9:05. About twenty minutes past their usual for dinner. She blinked, haphazardly putting on her shoes and making sure her hair was tied up on pigtails at the very least to hide just how bad her hair had gotten. Helmet hair they call it, and it checks out, couse it's a mess right now!

She pulled open the door of her bedroom and walked out, heading through the long corridor to the kitchen.

'At least out of the game she's my Jiejie.'

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

It was rather late by now.

Yuhan had called for her sister a handful of times, and eventually had even go to her sister's room, even if she liked to leave as much privacy for the girl as possible.

However, even as Yuhan opened the door, all she could see was Bao idly resting on the bed, with the VR device covering her eyes and making it impossible for Yuhan to see if she was actually using it or just pretending to sleep. Of course, she wasn't going to pull the plug and risk Bao to feel sick because of it, so she simply left her sister at that.

Wearing some earbuds, Yuhan played some music into her ears as she patiently waited, distracting herself while the music didn't allow her to listen to the footsteps of her sister, until she was already nearing the kitchen.

"... Bao..?"

She muttered, as soon as she caught the side glance of her sister, she perked up from her seat, removing the earbuds and smiling gently to her.

"Bao, you took so long. Did you miss the time?" She asked.

"You can always open your device menu to see the time." Yuhan suggested, looking at Bao with a mildly concerned expression in her eyes.

For some reason, her sister's eyes hinted something far from joy.

 

[Little Doggo]

The questions froze her in place, noticing Yuhan standing over with her earbuds down, which could only meant she's been waiting for quite some time now.

"Huh?" She tilted her head, keeping her eyelids half-closed, fingers fidgeting with the buns on her hair as a means to gain time for an answer. "Uhh, I think I fell asleep, Jiejie... Didn't I turn it off?" She shook off her head a bit, letting her hair flow about before waving a hand dismissively.


"I'm sorry, I'll be more careful next time. I keep forgetting about these things in VR. Don't you ever get lost in it?." Low tone paired with a drowsy voice, Bao played it along as best as she could, with a little smile crossing her lips, nowhere near as big as usual, but given how 'sleepy' she was, it had to be a good excuse.

"What's for dinner?" She pondered outloud, doing her best to ignore the concern that washed over Yuhan's face at the moment, but a tingle of regret had gotten spread over her features, given just how worried big sis looked at the moment. "Sorry. I mean it! I just slipped this time, I won't be late again, Jiejie." She reassured her, arms going over her waist as if to strike an usual pose. And she did, albeit a bit slower.It was hard to forget, and even harder to not associate Crimson Ruby with Yuhan right now, mere seconds after the deed.

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Yuhan rose her eyebrows at the reveal, looking over her little sister and letting out a brief chuckle at her clumsy exposure.

"Is that so? I do get lost in it sometimes..." Yuhan said rhetorically, reaching her hair buns and adjusting them gently, before giving a warm caress on her head. "I didn't want to try to wake you up, but try to be careful with the device when sleeping... Diving in and sleeping are different, you can move involuntarily while you are sleeping and you may end up hurting yourself." She adviced, before finally replying the girl's question:

"Meatloaf with peas and mashed potato." Yuhan responded, moving away so she could serve her sister healthy portions of the meal. She was rather tired, as it looked like, so she couldn't exaggerate on it this time unless she wanted her tummy to hurt.

"You don't need to apologize for it. But you are really using a lot of the VR lately..." Yuhan peeked at her sister, humming.

"Are you playing with your friends?" She asked.

@Little Doggo

 

[Little Doggo]

"Is that so?"
"Mmmhm." Bao nodded, keeping her head on place once Yuhan begun to fiddle with her hair buns, turning over to face her sister just as her gentle touch descended upon her. "Maybe I become a zombie for sleeping in VR and start to chase you down... BLEEEGH!" She lolled her tongue out and spread her hands lazily up to her sister's hairs, as if to try and reach out for her brains like a true undead would on the movies, giggling to herself right afterwards.

Once she took a seat, her eyes lighted up to the promise of potatoes and meat. Her stomach growled in a response of it's own, only to be taken by surprise at the size of her portion, with brought a quirked up eyebrow out of Bao. "Jiejie, you have to eat some too." Distrustful as usual on this fact.

She had been very outspoken, time and time again, about how she hated it. It never felt good to eat alone on your own, and less so when the cook herself didn't get her own meal.

"You know the rules." She added, placing down both fork and knife, only to be blindsided with a different sort of question. Big sister had a good hunch most of the times... Now, it's being used against her. "I mean, you also use VR a lot. It's super cool and..."
"Are you playing with your friends?" The question pulled her thoughts out of her mind, her expression glowing up, bringing along a little smile and a rise on her tone.
"Yes! Exactly. But like, not all of them got a good headset I think, they tell me they can't play some of the games I wanted to try out." She paused, resting her wrists over the table as she peered back at Yuhan. "Why? Wanna play a game with me? You know i'm the queen of Rhythm games, I would hate to prove it to you after so long!" She waved her finger from side to side with an evergrowing smug look all over her face.

"Oh, can you bring over the juice? Oh and, you did cook more than this portion right? It's a baby meal!" She mused, fork and knife cutting a little slice out of the meatloaf first, blending it with a few peas before nomming down on it.

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Yuhan giggled at Bao's theatrics, giving her a tighter and more howdy hair ruffle, smirking at her as she released her hair and shrugged. "No matter how zombie you are, you are still my cute little sister. I will just teach you a lesson." She gave a handwave, before pausing to peek at Bao's protest, mentioning Yuhan should eat as well.

"... I've already had dinner... But I think I could go for another meatloaf, at least." Yuhan considered, though she would rather leave a bit of it for tomorrow- Otherwise, she would have to spend a bit more to make a lunch she would usually just take leftovers.

Her face perked up at the mention of playing with her sister, and her elbow rested on the table, just as her chin went for her hand.

"Playing with you? I would totally do it, if you ever want." She returned the responsibility of desire to Bao.

"I won't go easy on you though." Yuhan teased, leaning away and standing up, realizing that after all, she couldn't just control the portions Bao would eat. She took the opportunity to take a bit to herself, before going to the table and resting the portions over it, for her to pick anything she wished.

"There aren't many games that are too much for a VR Device, now a days... What kind of game are you wanted to play with them?"

@Little Doggo

 

[Little Doggo]

"EEP!" Her performance got cut off with a yelp. What a disgrace of a zombie she is, just took a harsher ruffle to get her eyes closed and her maws shut. "Jiejieeeeee!" She pouted, hands reaching up to her hairs just as Yuhan stopped, trying to straighten the mess she left behind. "Thats fine, you will run out of lessons to teach eventually!" She proclaimed, like a masterplan of sorts. There's only so many things Yuhan knew, right?

"... I've already had dinner.."
"Hmmmm?" She muttered, folding her arms just a lil harder, huffing just a little louder
"But I think I could go for another meatloaf, at least."
"Mhm!" Her attitude changed just then, Bao smiled gratefully so back at Yu, only now resuming with her meal, with a bit more enthusiasm than the rest of her mannerisms did. Despite being so cheerful, there was a tingle of forceful into them. But not now, with how much she's starving at the moment.

That, at least, Yuhan could tell apart like water and oil.

When her challenge was given back with a so casual 'if you want', Bao rised a hand to stop her, took a moment to swallow down her meal, then parted her lips to speak. "You should never go easy on me. That's underestimating your opponent, heroine!" She paused to take a quick sip from her glass, all too fast that she ended up choking amidst her hurries.

It took a few coughs to get it out of her system, and a few lesser ones to recover her breath.

"S-sorry, what did you say..?" She replied, narrowing her eyes a little bit until the question bounced back to her, spreading her eyes wide. "Uhhh, it was just an adventure game. It's like, a re-release from an old game? I dunno." That couldn't be the worst of her lies, given friends were... A tricky matter.

Sure, she brought a few back home every now and then, but to play with them..? None had Terrasphere, and even if they did, they wouldn't play a game like this in the first place.

"What games do you play? You also play a lot in VR, and I never asked before so... Is it an online game? That's what everyone plays at school."

Perhaps she could get a better understanding if Yuhan were to reveal a bit more what she thought..?

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

"That's the plan." Yuhan smiled as Bao protested, looking at her sister fondly. "At some point, I will run out of lessons to give to you. And it will be when you will stop being a girl and will become a young woman." She said, letting her hand go from her sister's hair, using her free hands to serve herself for a small second round for the meal, since Bao wouldn't let it go that she wanted to dinner together.

"But you don't need to worry too much about that yet, you are still too young for it." Yuhan reassured, or perhaps halted any misunderstanding or over excitement to achieve the so-called 'adult' status.

When challenged further regarding gaming, Yuhan simply laughed, tugging Bao's cheek and forking a piece of her meatloaf, taking a bite of it as she listened to Bao's answer regarding the type of game she was trying to play. Her eyebrows rose as her sister mentioned the re-release, quickly adding after she swallowed: "Then their VR Device shouldn't be a problem, just play the original version of the game, it should be able to run with a weaker Device." A brief suggestion, perhaps even the obvious one.

But she didn't know how much her sister knew about hardwares, so her tone was mostly soft and patient.

When the question was returned to her, Yuhan half nodded.

"It is an online game, yeah. I play these a lot." She explained. "I do love them a lot. Especially exploration. You can do in offline games, but online games have the 'unexpected' to deal with." Yuhan shrugged.

@Little Doggo

 

[Little Doggo]

A little bit of remorse crawled out through her chest as she heard Ruby speak like that, masked with a hopeful little smile just as Yuhan let go of her hairs.

"But you still gonna be there with me, right?" She asked. Time passes for everyone, and by now she started to figure out that nothing lasts forever. She hated that, specially given how similar Yu's words were to others in that matter, and how fearful she made her of solitude. Eventually, she will be just as big as Yuhan. "There's always more lessons to teach!" She said with a stirring energy within her tone.

It wasn't excitement to be a grown up. Quite the opposite, if the made up circumstances in her head were to be true, but Jiejie knew exactly what to say, or rather, knew what was going through Bao's mind at that point on, given the little disclaimer and reassurance against the journey to adulthood-- They still had a long way to go.

"hiiehiieee!" Her voice dragged on, words barely intelligible thanks to the hand biting at her cheek right now, and the little laughter that accompanied it from the culprit. Bao huffed and puffed once released, like a dignified little princess, before resuming her royal meatloaf, this time focusing on the mashed potatoes rather. "It's not that, it's an old game that got... Reworked? It looks better and cooler that's what I mean! And more people play it online." She elaborated, a hand reached out to cover her lips. "Sorry." Bao added, almost automatically after. No talkie while eating.

When Yuhan finally opened about the game, curiosity didn't die off, if only it grew wider as baby sister's eyes grew bigger in curiosity. "My third eye told me so, mhm." The fact it was specifically exploration what attracted her made sense, given the choice of faction Yuhan did with Ruby. "I also really like exploration. It's so cool to be in a fantasy world. The game I wanted to play with my friends... I went in alone, and it looked so cool, but I didn't get too far after the tutorial. It's called uhh, SyrupStory 3! Have you heard of it?" Something made her believe ol' Yuhan would know, given how prehistoric she is compared to herself!

She waved her fork a little on the air, before stabbing a slice of her second portion and taking it up to her lips. "I would love to play anything with you, Jiejie. Even if it's just for a little while. I'm bigger now, so we can play bigger girl games!"

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Yuhan looked at Bao for a moment, and despite the second to reply, Yuhan didn't hesitate to determine:

"I will, of course. We are sisters, and sisters are there for each other no matter how much time passes." She said, hoping immensely that she wasn't lying to her beloved sister. Life had so many surprises, mostly unpleasing.

Yuhan didn't want to lose the only family she had left, however. So she would do anything within her reach to do it.

When Bao elaborated about the game, Yuhan nodded slowly, pondering about it as she mused about the last few games that were reworked- But soon a name was revealed, making Yuhan perk up. "SyrupStory 3? It is a thing?" She perked up, impressed.

"SyrupStory 1 was so great, way before VRMMOs became a thing... It was so fun, even if it was all pixelated..." Yuhan said, with a nostalgic tone. "After SyrupStory 2 became a fluke, I thought they wouldn't have tried to go for a SyrupStory 3, even less as a VRMMO! I should sure try it someday..." Yuhan beamed with an excited expression.

Her gaze then refocused on her sister, with a brief laugh making the girl shrug.

"Bigger girls games, huh? Let's see if you really can, then..." She challenged her.

@Little Doggo

 

[Little Doggo]

Despite the sourness within, that answer alone helped to wash it all away, her smile widening until it hurt her cheeks to hold onto it. There was no doubt on Yuhan, so she didn't either. It was for granted, they would be family. Forever.

That's all that mattered to her right now.

The surprise on Yuhan's face and the way she beamed up had her mimicking her reactions, mainly since this meant the chances they got to play it were looking positive! "Yeah! It is a thing. It's pretty fun too." Yet given Jiejie's explanation on it, it's clear the middle one was the black sheep out of the trilogy.

"Games were pixelated back then?" Incredulous look on her face, she tilted her head to the side in outmost curiosity. "Huh! You are an oldie." She giggled. "You can tell me all about Syrupstory 1 while we play the third. Aaaand I can be your support!" She perked up. Her favourite role, but she would need to create a new character, too, given 'LITTLE DOGGO' would make it too obvious of who she is. "I'm not that good though, I just started, so go easy on me... But only on the game." She had to put up a disclaimer like that before Yuhan could even reply and call her out for wanting lighter treatment on specifics.

"Bigger girls games, huh? Let's see if you really can, then..."
"Name a day and hour, Jiejie. All these hours dancing paid off for me!" Bao placed both hands over the table, leaning just a little bit to try and intimidate Yuhan with her mere visage, but it was impossible for anyone to be intimidated by such puffy cheeks, despite herself believing otherwise.

If anything, all she did was put herself in range to have them squished.

"Speaking of games! How is your work going, Jiejie? Will you let me be around you while you work next time? I wanna see how you do it!" Wasn't she working for something related to a game? Her memory tried to recall, but it felt so distant by now, ilike a foggy memory of sorts.

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Yuhan's expressions shifted, making her eyes grow wide open. "Hey! Who you are calling oldie?" She protested, humorously pretending to be offended by it, before chuckling and shrugging. "A lot of games nowadays are still pixalated... It is just that in VR Device games, it is better to make more... 'realistic' games, since it actually uses your brain." She explained, pausing for a moment before perking up.

"... I actually have a Wintendo Shift with me. I play with it sometimes, when I am too tired for VR. The online doesn't work anymore, but yeah." Yuhan revealed, wondering if Bao would be interested on trying something more unique.

"This... Or I can bring you to an arcade someday. Have you ever went to those?" She asked.

As she was questioned about work, Yuhan giggled. "I am still working on the musics of that indie game. They are wanting me to voice the character that play those musics, but turns out voice acting is a bit tough." She told, finishing off her meatloaf right away, giving her a time to think.

"... Hmm, you can come with me, sure. But you need to behave." She pointed out.

@Little Doggo

 

[Little Doggo]

Bao quickly begun to whistle, steering her eyes away just as Yuhan begun to openly complain against the truth of her age. What she said however caught her attention back again. Games being still pixelated sounded like such an antique. An idea blinked in her eyes, making ber brows jump. "Oh! So people still do these games when it's not VR? I still see a bunch of pixelated games but I thought they were all old games people still play." She pondered. It couldn't be nostalgia, so perhaps... An aesthetic?

"A Wintendo Shift? Woah, does it have co-op games too? I didn't try singleplayer games but If they are good, maybe." She couldn't go against the flow this time, games are games, and Terrasphere is not the only game out there for her to try. "I know there is an arcade near school." She said, eyes squinting as she tried to squeeze her memories a bit harder. "I know a few of my friends go there after school, and sometimes before P.E. I know they have something like a dance pad thing where we can play songs against eachother. Like Bass Hero but for your feet. So, feet hero." She giggled.

By the time Yuhan finished her meatloaf, Bao realized she had been doing the opposite, too much into the talk to notice there was still food in her plate, prompting her to start nomming it down, albeit a little faster and with less elegance than moments ago.

"You know I always behave!" She replied after swallowing down the last bit of her meal. "You can't give up Jiejie. You are really good at anything you want to do. Besides, imagine how COOL it would be to hear yourself in a game character!" And the fact she would be playing a compositor... "I think it would be a good opportunity too. People will get to know you more, and popularity is good, isn't it?" At least, that's how everything seemed to spin the wheels of fortune in this world: Exposure. The more the merrier.

"Tell me if they want someone else to voice a character too. I can try!"

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Yuhan nodded. "Of course they do. A lot of people love pixelated art, games and even 8-bit to 16-bit-like musics." It was intriguing, but each of those elements haf their own charm, no matter how outdated they could look or sounded. Who would knew that technical limitations of an era could become an object of appreciation in the future.

"It does have a lot of CO-OP games. A lot of their games are made to play with parties, after all." She explained, standing and nearing the TV and the shelves and picking up the video game, gently starting to plug it up.

"I will make sure to visit this same arcade then, this way you have the advantage of knowing the territory so you can try and win against me." Yuhan teased with a faint giggle, then turning the small video game turned on. "But you will still lose." She pointed out with a small smile.

There wasn then a brief nod, as she felt a faint flush on her cheeks, with her sister being so excited about the idea.

"Do you want to try it out..? Maybe I could ask them, when I bring you to meet them." Yuhan pondered, turning to face Bao. "Probably you wouldn't be able to get a whole role, but maybe you could voice a young background NPC, like a teenager?" She wondered.

@Little Doggo

 

[Little Doggo]

"Whaaat? 16 bit music?! Do you even make some of that?" She reeled back a bit dramatically, but that's something Yuhan probably was used to. Bao could be very expressive with the people she felt comfortable with. And that so far is only Yuhan's privilege to see.

Crossing her fork and knife over her plate, Bao stood back up from her chair and walked over to the TV, trying to get a peek at what exactly was her sister booting up. "Then put something so we can play!" She wasn't sure just how safe that would be after dinner, but Bao tried her hardest not to bring it up, if only because the experience would be worth it over a tummy ache. "Does this have Syrupstory on- HEY!" She jumped heading over to the couch and flopping down hard, hand outstretched and waiting for Yuhan to give her a controller. "I'll show you! Boot any game you like, Jiejie. I will best you in just three attempts!" Bao put up three fingers, just in case her sister had stones in her ears.

When asked over to confirm about voice acting, her own embarassed surfaced as she thought twice about her words, shyness bottling up on her neck and forming a timid expression no her face. "I mean, d-do you think I would do some good? Even if it's a NPC, it would be fun to try it..." It wasn't the first time she set herself to a task in hopes of helping herself snap out of that bubble she lived in. "What games does your Wintendo have, by the way? I don't mind playing something co-op. I'm sure you don't want to risk losing against me, Jiejie."

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

"Well... I can, but I am not used to do it." Yuhan admitted, finishing to set up the game, with a fierce "Super Whack Brothers" invading the screen in a stylized logo. Yuhan tugged a controller offering one to Bao, the one that looked less worn out, while she kept the older one to herself.

"I hope you do like fighting games. But even if you don't... Honestly, this one is different from the others." She smiled, and when it was time to select your fighter, several characters, most of entirely different mood and aesthetic from each other, showed up. A few of them, Bao could probably know from seeing them in other games. "And if you think only in three attempts you will defeat me..." Yuhan smirked. "I want to see that."

She selected her character, some strange green dude with big nose and a highlighting mustache.

"... I mean, if it is just an NPC, I don't think it will be that bad? It is good for experience too."

@Little Doggo

 

[Little Doggo]

"It's always good to try new things. Like voice acting, or old games. You can learn plenty from the experience alone!" She replied with complete certainty on that fact, but her face soon turned to face the screen just as the title "Super Whack Brothers" flashed all over the screen, with the intro skipped almost instantly. Her hands went over to the fresh looking controller, at least as fresh as one could call the old piece of tech.

"I play a lot of games fighting monsters and all, isn't it the same?" She questioned, fingers fidgeting over the surface of the controller before a list of characters showed up, and while Yuhan was almost certain of her pick, Bao just flickered between each combatant, to take a look at each and every single one of them. "Ooooh! I know some of these, what is this game?! There's the red plumber and his brother, the princess Preach, Dunce Kong, the Elfen Hero... I don't recognize some of these though!" But if she picked someone she's familiar with it might give away her strategy... "You sure? Imma beat you in one if you don't go all out on me." She boasted, but they were past the time to talk.

She selected her own, picking an unknown to her but very charismatic all the same: A science fiction fox.

A little smile grew on her lips, letting their competition aside for a moment as Yuhan reassured her, or tried to, with the simplicity of their task. If it was a NPC, her role would be minor. There is a big margin of error for her, at least. "Thanks Jiejie. I'll try it if they want me. Maybe you will get to hear that NPC all the time while playing and get reminded of me."

But she set that aside, as soon as these words came out of her mouth, she tried to take advantage to draw first blood on Yuhan, and it didn't take long for her to discover the all mighty laser gun spam, and her entire tactic for this short time was to spam laser gun on Yuhan and get some distance.

Pew pew.

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

"It sure is good to experience new things..." Yuhan smiled fondly to Bao's words, seeing that her sister had a similar mindset to her own. "... Hmm, depends on the type of game we are talking about." She hummed, peeking at the character screen and following Bao's choice for a character.

"Ooh, you've chosen Vulpes, huh? He was very meta in Whack Brothers predecessors" Yuhan pointed out the trivia, looking at her sister with a curious expression. "Why did you choose him?" She asked, wishing to know what exactly caught her attention on the sci-fi fox.

The game started off, and Yuhan ignored the display of annoying spam by using defense and rolling her character. It made things a bit more boring to deal with, but she could live with it.

"Listening to my beloved sis' voice every time I'm playing a game? Maybe that will become my favorite game ever, after all-" She said, and as soon as the words slipped from her lips, a flash of memory from her last log in Terrasphere made her remind herself of Little Doggo, causing a minor distraction that left an opening for Bao to land some hits before Yuhan snapped back to reality.

She briefly shook her head, returning to play normally, and trying to land an air combo on the virtual fox.

@Little Doggo

 

[Little Doggo]

"Well, all games have something you can learn from, doesn't matter what type it is really!" She couldn't think of any concrete example, so saying that felt the most neutral to get her point across.

Her choice seemingly came with a question, and the curiosity out of her sister worked in her favour as Bao hummed inconspiciously so to herself, giving a sideglance back to Yuhan once she gave enough time to brew doubt. "Hehe, well you see, Vulpes is cool and all, but like you said. He was very meta, and still is." Confident, but with an almost gremlin passion to these words. If she could deceive Yuhan, perhaps that would scare her off early in the game.

Unfortunately her strategy didn't work and she got herself into a loop of death, losing one stack on the process as she got mauled by a green plumber with a weird nose. And by then she had resorted to press other buttons and actually begin to fight back.

"H-hey not fair you didn't tell me the controls!" She gritted her teeth, only then finding an opening once Yuhan paused herself entirely, yet she blamed it on what had to be her combo's own potential to freeze her opponent. Maybe something like a stun? This Vulpes is amazing!

And Yuhan could hear it, when she fell herself into that trance, that voice that reminded her of the doomed game, as if she had never left in the first place and all of this had been just an elaborate illusion...

Come on Yu, this ain't a singleplayer game, we are playing together!

And just like it came, it left, the fog in her thoughts cast aside at Bao's giggles as she took a stock out of Yuhan's plumber. Unfortunately, she didn't know you couldn't attack your opponent right as they respawned, and caught herself into yet one of the most infamous combos this game had. Luuchiji was a character to fear...

"H-hey how are you so good?!" She complained, but this time she started to smash all the buttons at once, figuring out how to use the deflect Vulpes was so well known for, and now combining all her strats at the same time, only in random patterns.

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Yuhan rose an eyebrow, curious about her sister's words. Had she played that many games already to know that? Maybe her sister was a gamer at heart and she had never know. It was something Yuhan made sure to take note of.

Bao's attempt to convince her that she was well experienced with the game made Yuhan smirk a bit, deciding to push on a bit further on her gameplay level.

"You look like you know what you are talking about, so how do you don't know the controls?" She questioned, continuing to focus her combos, despite leaving an opening or another so Bao could play a bit herself.

Her words, however, especially the ones that snapped back to reality, made doubt cross Yuhan's mind. Her gaze turned and locked on Bao, watching her expressions, her far more cheerful voice now that she was actively having some fun...

It... Couldn't be... Right?

Maybe she was overthinking, but the overthinking was enough for her to risk an abrupt question, meant to catch her sister off guard.

"Little Doggo, what do you think of Kyra?" She asked, without context or a particular reason, while staring intently to her sister's face.

@Little Doggo