Bishoujo no Senshi...Sailor Ryder!

[Bean Bandit]

Ryder's vision swam into focus, and the sensation of flying abruptly ceased. He looked around, but the first, immediate sensation was of a table resting firmly beneath his elbows.

His first, quick scan of the room revealed that the room he was currently in was fairly small...in fact, it was the size of a bedroom, decorated modestly in a feminine style, though not terribly flashy in it's decor. A vaguely japanese style to the doors and windows lent a slightly exotic look to the pink walls. A bed and dresser and closet occupied three of the four walls, with the table he was currently sitting at taking up the middle of the room.

The table itself was suprisingly short...in fact, Ryder was kneeling at it, peering at an english textbook in front of him. Directly in across from him, a girl with short, blue hair and a conservative, femininely tailored blouse was leaning over a textbook, writing in it quickly, pausing every so often to look up at the tall brunette looking over her shoulder. The tall girl had wavy chestnut hair tied in a high ponytail, and was dressed in brightly colored, casual clothes. Her green eyes widened, and she nodded every so often in response to something the blue-haired girl whispered.

On Ryder's left, a blonde girl, with an odd hairstyle, twin pigtails flowing out from buns on her head, dressed slightly less casually than the brown haired girl, but not much, munched cookies, while reading a manga secreted within her textbook. On her right, a girl with long, flowing black hair, and deep, violet eyes simply stared into space, ignoring the math text in front of her...

[RyderHakubi]

After spending a moment, analyzing the surroundings and clearing his head out a bit, Ryder began a mental checklist...

OK... 4 girls around me, check.

Somewhat girly room... check.

Everyone in a study group, check.

Wait... didn't one of those girls have a badly done odang... oh crap, Oh Crap, OH CRAP!

At that point, Ryder's mental checklist, and most of his mental functions for that matter, flatlined and and he stared at the textbook in front of him some more, until he could regain coherent thought, and therefore, react to the situation better.  Or until someone were to speak to him...

[Asrana]

It was a while before much happened. The rtelaxed silence of the room prevailed, only interrupted by an occasional suppressed giggle as Usagi read.

Rei seemed content to stare into space, pulled into her thoughts. Slowly, she twirled a lock of black hair around her index finger.

Ami continued to help Makoto with English, writing out corrected sentences and explaining them to the tall brunette.

Eventually though, they came upon something they didn't understand, and called upon their friend's resources.

"Minako-chan? Could you help us with this sentence?" A little shakily, Ami held the large text across the table, pointing to the offending sentence with her pencil.

'The people's chomp is on the cold stone of Austin.'

"I've checked it for any misspelled words, and I can't find any that aren't in the dictionary..." Ami elaborated, frowning. "But it doesn't seem right..."

[RyderHakubi]

If Ryder's mind was a computer, than Ami's words would have pressed the power button, and it would have looked something like this...

>run "ryder angel version 1.exe"
>restarting...
>10%
>30%
>70%
>Reload Complete!

However, since this was reality, Ryder blinked and crawled over to where Ami and Makoto were sitting, and looked over the sentance in front of her.

"Oh, this is an easy one," she began, "what that says is "The People's Champ is on Stone Cold Steve Austin!"

Mentally she added, BAH GAWD!  He's stomping a mudhole in him!  Stone Cold's being treated like a goverment mule!

Of course, this brief mental activity of the sports entertainment kid allowed her to put the issue of her gender and person to the backburner for the moment.

[Asrana]

Ami and Makoto blinked in unison at who they thought was Minako. Glancing at each other, Makoto shrugged.

"Are you sure you're remembering that correctly? I mean, it sounds fine, but it sounds like one of your quotes..." Ami replied, beginning to write down the sentence.

Rei gave a barely perceptible nod of agreement, broken out of her private world by the discussion, and going back to her math homework...

[RyderHakubi]

Smiling a bit nervously, Ryder replied, "Oh, I know I'm correct with this one... Professional wrestling is huge in England, and I was dragged to a WWF show by some friends while I was there."

That was close... Too insider for Minako.  I need to think a bit...

Standing up, she said, "I need to use the bathroom, I'll be right back..." and started to walk to where she remembered the bathroom to be in the series.

[Asrana]

Makoto nodded, turning back to Ami, who'd already mvoed on to the next sentence.

Rei and Usagi continued their activities undisturbed.

The bathroom was where Ryder remembered it. It was rather compact, with white tile floor and walls. To the right was the sink, three toothbrushes above it, next to a mirror. Opposite the sink was a towel rack, and the toilet. At the far end of the room was a glass sliding door, seeming like it would lead into the bathing facilities.

[RyderHakubi]

Ryder turned on the water on the sink and pooled some water in her hands before splashing it onto her face.

Damn, I didn't wake up...

Taking a look into the mirror, she sighed and muttered, "Minako... it had to be Minako.  Why couldn't it have been Ami?  Or at least Makoto... but no, I got the not-as-ditzy as Usagi ditz."

Cracking her neck slightly, she toweled off and walked out of the bathroom and back to the study area.

[Asrana]

Usagi was the only one to look up as Minako returned, blinking in slight confusion, and shrugging. Waiting until the other blond sat down, Usagi leaned over, the beginnings of a begging look already on her face.

"So, Mina-chan, where do you keep the cookies?" she asked, looking shiftily about.

Rei shot an exasperated dark look at Usagi, but math took precedence over argument. For the moment.

[RyderHakubi]

Ryder sighed and pointed in the direction of which she saw the kitchen while walking back from the bathroom.

"In the kitchen Usa-chan..." she said.

[Asrana]

Usagi nodded cheerfully, getting up to retrieve the food...

Not much happened in the next couple of hours. Most of the girls studied, like most people in high school.

Eventually though, the group broke up.

As Rei left Minako's home, silence reigned. Minako was alone.

[RyderHakubi]

Finally alone, Ryder was free to look around her house and get some questions answered...

What day was it?

Did she have school the next day?

Was there anything planned for the next day?

And of course, act like herself, rather than Minako... Which meant that after finding her answers, she was lying on her bed, in a long t-shirt and shorts, playing Halo.

[Asrana]

It was Sunday, an October Sunday.

Minako did indeed have school the next day.

And it seemed that, Mondays being Mondays, Minako's friends didn't feel the urge to go about doing things after school.

A while later, as the sounds of virtual combat were still the main noise in the house, the phone invaded that solitude, ringing like there was no tomorrow...

[RyderHakubi]

Ryder, being the expert gamer he was, paused the game as he laid waste to another Covenent alien, and picked walked over and picked up the, in Ryder's eyes, disgustingly pink wireless phone.

"Moshi Moshi?" she questioned...

[Asrana]

"Hi, Mina-chan!" came an overly excited, but adult, female voice over the receiver, sounding somewhat like Minako's own. "Your father and I won't be home for a couple more days because of some security issues.There should be enough food in the cupboards to last you, but you know where the emergency fund is if it becomes necessary."

There was a brief pause, and some voices in the backgroiund chattering before the woman continued. "So, how's the last few days been?"