The swirl of information runs through her mind—rubber bands and fractured hearts and a twin brother, a decade her elder, spinning stories of the life they would lead once she returned home. She knows that there are alternate worlds and alternate times, but as far as the City was concerned, it never broke a timeline on its own. If people returned to their own worlds, it was at the same age, the same physical body, the same set of memories they possessed when they left. It had happened to her, once, years ago. The best anyone could hope for was half-forgotten dreams, and even those were rare. If she returned to Neo Domino City from there, she would have shed the long years and the hurts and every bond ever formed.

If she 'returned' to Neo Domino from the City, she, as she was, would simply cease to exist.

As she thinks, her left hand moves in familiar gesture, to press the heel of her palm against her eyepatch, against the false eye that lay behind; the pressure of solid metal and all the misery it contained helped her focus away from her own feelings, and to other matters.

But that gift of an eye was gone, too; the fabric nearly folds concave under the pressure. With a startled jolt Ruka thrusts her hand back, away from herself, breathing staggered. A swallow, a shaking exhale, and her hand instead moves to settle against her brow, fingers combing into her hair.

Breathe. "That's... that's a lot to take in." Inhale. Exhale. "I'm not sure if I fully understand it... that is, your explanation was fine, but I think... that's something I need to think about to get."