A few years now. I sort of... well, somewhere between "fell" into it and "was pushed," if I'm being honest. Monster design. Then, after I got my GED, I even went to art school for a little while but... ah, "higher education" isn't very... feasible, for ImPorts.

[ It's been a while since they've talked, but the difference is marked: from their first meeting to their last, Ruka has carried a visible, heavy tension, in the clench of her arms and the tightness of her expression, in the evasive way she spoke about most everything. Some of that lingers still, of course, but it's much less than usual. It is, in truth, the closest he'll have ever seen her to relaxed in the two-ish years he's known her. ]

At least, it wasn't for me, back then. Things might be different here.