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Post by mugenginga on Oct 28, 2009 18:18:39 GMT -5
(OOC: Me and FF. You need to know Persona (3&4), and Devil Survivor to play. You need both our permission. yada yada I swear I'm gonna write this out and cap it from now on.)
"Is he going to sacrifice himself...?"
Atem looked at Yuugi with mild surprise. The walk back had been a bit quiet, and he had seen his partner's face getting steadily more worried as they walked. But he hadn't expected to be asked so outright. Atem looked straight ahead as he replied.
"If he has to. He thinks it is his only option right now," Atem replied.
"There has to be another way, right?"
Atem closed his eyes, "No. There isn't always a way out."
Yuugi saw the look on Atem's face and chose not to say anything else. He also looked pained. He knew what Atem was referencing, it didn't take a genius to figure it out. When he opened his eyes he was facing downwards, and he caught a look at the Millenium Pendant. It was because Atem had used himself as a seal that they had even met. But if Atem ever needed to do that again, he didn't know if he could take it. Atem was looking at Yuugi again as they walked.
"I told him to take another option if he finds it."
Yuugi nodded, "There has to be another way, right? I mean, maybe not always, but here?"
"I don't know. We can hope."
By this time the two teenagers had made their way to the apartments. It wouldn't even be a full minute before they were at the front door to their specific complex. If anyone was keeping an eye on the area, they would see the two teenagers.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 28, 2009 19:19:45 GMT -5
Tohru Adachi had returned to the apartments over the group's vacation. He had expected to see the note missing. He had NOT expected to see his door practically hanging off of its hinges.
It had been a rough week for him. This sudden emergence of what the media had taken to calling Apathy Syndrome (from a suggestion by Adachi himself, who had suggested the name after seeing how similar the cases were to those a few years back in Port Island) had spread over Void City. Just that morning he'd brought a young woman carrying a strange staff and wearing what looked like a strange child of a school uniform and a Gundam suit into the hospital. She was the tenth case that day. It was spreading a lot faster than it had back in his own world.
At least now he could relax on his own porch. Or at least he was, until he heard two distinctly different yet still somewhat similar voices talking. He stood up and looked over the railing. Needless to say, he hadn't expected to see two spiky haired brats. And one of them was carrying the puzzle.
He didn't look very happy at this. But most of all, Adachi was worried. If they knew he was back, and that Atem person (who appeared to be outside of the puzzle now) knew he was back, he would most likely have his mind crushed. He hastily got up and closed the door to his porch, a movement that would have been noticed easily if anyone had looked up at Adachi's porch at the time.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 28, 2009 19:27:27 GMT -5
Atem caught movement out of the corner of his eye and stopped as his head jerked up. He didn't look up in time to see who it was, but he saw the door close. His eyes narrowed. Yuugi looked at Atem for a moment before following his gaze up. Wait, was that apartment...?
"Yuugi, go check on Souji."
"Atem, are yo-?"
"Just check on Souji. If someone dies, I don't want him to be involved," Atem covered the remaining distance to the apartments in a run. Yuugi wasn't long behind him.
Atem had kept the door open and was already heading up the stairs. He'd told Yuugi to check on Souji to keep him busy. There was an unfortunate risk that Souji would already be in the man's apartment. He wasn't running for the confrontation. He wanted to speak to Adachi before Yuugi got up there. He was up the stairs in a few moments and standing in front of Adachi's door. He knocked rather loudly on the wall beside the door. It looked like if he knocked on the door itself it would crash.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 28, 2009 19:34:55 GMT -5
Adachi tensed. Damn, they'd seen him. It would be stupid to jump into the TV World. He tried that once before, and besides, it was a stupid idea in the first place. The only reason he'd even thought it was a good idea was because of Ameno-Sagiri.
He kept his hand down by his gun. Thank god he had it still. If it came to it, he could shoot and run. Damn that kid with the Puzzle.
He slowly pulled the door open and saw Atem on the other side. He was sure that this was the one who had been inside the Puzzle before; he wasn't even wearing it, and he had a different skin tone too.
Adachi didn't say anything. Just waited for whatever Atem would attempt to do, and ready to attack back if Atem tried to attack him.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 28, 2009 19:43:12 GMT -5
Atem recognized the way Adachi's right hand was twitching. Popular culture called it an "itchy trigger finger" or something of the sort. It was a terrible way to play down the danger when someone got to that point. Adachi had entered fight or flight mode. Atem looked the man in the eyes, his gaze narrow. It was one of his more intimidating looks. He hadn't really thought of what he was going to say when he got up here. After an agonizing few seconds, he finally found words.
"I'm not going to attack you," was the first thing he said, "But I can't make any promises about Souji. I want you to know I despise your methods. They are those of a coward. One without even the guts to face his opponent head on," he paused for a moment to guage Adachi's reactions so far. No change, "I know I can't do anything to you right now, but I want to give you a warning. If you try to harm anyone I care about, I will subject you to something that would make you wish for death. Do. You. Understand. Me?"
It might have seemed a little odd to Adachi. This teenager, no more than seventeen by the looks of him, was warning him with the authority one might expect a general to have. Sure, Adachi had heard about Atem being a Pharaoh. But knowing that and feeling the warning of one who had once ruled were two entirely different things. As Atem finished his question, Yuugi had made it up the stairs. Atem had told him to check on Souji, but things seemed to be fine. He took a few forced steps forward. He paused about halfway from the stairs and Souji's door. Atem had a very stern expression on his face. It worried Yuugi a little.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 28, 2009 19:52:28 GMT -5
Adachi weighed his options. He could make a snarky remark about how he was being ordered around by a former pharoah/kid with serious issues, make an annoyed remark about the above, or decide to play it safe. He decided to go with playing it safe. Considering Souji's room was right across the hallway... yeah.
"...R-right. Got it." Adachi said. He actually looked like a nervous nice guy at the moment. Of course, he was really anything but, but had Souji been there, he would have raged at seeing Adachi's face. It wasn't anything like his true personality.
Adachi stepped back a little bit. "H-Hey, um... I've got some reports to do so if you'll let me go now, that'd be great."
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 28, 2009 19:57:16 GMT -5
Atem's expression didn't flicker. Adachi's act did not fool the former Pharaoh in the slightest. After maintaining his gaze for a few more moments, he turned towards Yuugi. The shorter teenager had gotten tense as he could actually see Adachi weighing his options. He still seemed a bit nervous about the man, but had relaxed as Atem turned around. Well aware Adachi was still there he pointed towards Souji's apartment.
"Weren't you checking on Souji?" he asked the shorter teen.
"R-right!" Yuugi said. He walked towards the door and knocked a few times, "Seta-kun, are you home?"
Atem crossed his arms as he waited. It would be in Adachi's best interests if he closed the door before Souji came back out. It was likely the silver haired teen already knew Adachi had returned, but Atem wanted to make sure. Adachi had taken his warnings to heart, that much was good. The comparisons he could draw to people he had faced in the past, however, were a trifle unsettling. How far would the man go?
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 28, 2009 21:27:42 GMT -5
Souji pulled his door open just as Adachi managed to push his closed again. Adachi breathed a sigh of relief. Until he could get himself an actual house, or hell, another apartment, he had to worry about Souji down the hall. The teen had never had these kind of anger issues before... Adachi supposed it was shock from the island. That was a nice explanation.
Souji had spent the day getting Kanji settled into the apartments. While neither Kanji nor Naoto would say anything of their attraction to the other, Souji could see it quite well. And so, he had decided that Kanji would stay at Naoto's apartment for now. It had gone well until it was decided Kanji would sleep on the couch. Kanji hadn't seemed to have minded, but Souji pointed out that there were two bedrooms in this particular apartment, and futons didn't cost that much. Kanji still ended up on the couch.
"...Where's Minato?" Souji asked Yuugi. While he wasn't too worried about Minato at the moment, there was always the possibility of something happening.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 28, 2009 21:31:40 GMT -5
"He said he had stuff to do. We split up at the shop," Yuugi replied, "He seemed kind of rattled by something he saw there. K1-kun and Kimura-san haven't changed any, just like Minato-kun said."
Atem waited for Yuugi to finish before speaking, "You're aware Adachi is back, correct?"
There was no use dancing around the fact. Might as well let Souji know as soon as possible. And it wasn't unlikely he already knew. Atem just wanted to be sure.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 29, 2009 6:17:28 GMT -5
Souji paused. "I saw him on the way back to the apartments. I still can't do a thing about him because there's no proof that he tried to murder anyone but Atem." He gave a nervous chuckle. "Didn't mean I didn't have to stop Kanji from trying to kill him."
If one looked inside of Souji's room, they would notice that for once the Amazing Hyperspace Katana was not anywhere nearby.
"What exactly was Minato looking at while he was at that shop?" Souji asked. Minato had been teetering on the edge of life and death, according to Yuugi, who could see his Death Clock. If he was fated to die, then this could possibly be what pushed him to die.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 29, 2009 13:14:56 GMT -5
"All of our hands are tied in that regard," Atem stated. There was an edge to his voice not usually there. He was apparently rather annoyed by the situation as well.
Yuugi was thankful Souji asked a question about a different topic, "I think it was a drawing. Kurosawa-san said somethign about a prophecy..."
Atem looked more serious than usual, "It was a pencil sketch of what seemed to be Minato-kun. A shadow was in the corner and the entire picture was covered in chains. There were splatters that resembled wool and blood drawn onto it. If nothing changes, I think Minato-kun is going to sacrifice himself like he once did."
Yuugi looked down. It wasn't news to him. He wasn't bad at piecing things together, it's just he always tried to look at the more hopeful side of things. He was capable of sacrificing his life, it's just not a "skill" he was able to show unless the situation occurred. While he didn't like to admit the possibiity that Atem could, it was a trait they shared. They would both try for any other route, but if death became the only option they would take it. Atem had just been the only one who had been forced to go all the way with that decision...
All of that might have seemed minor compared to Atem's newly adopted honorific. Unlike most Japanese who handed them out to be polite, they were something one had to earn from Atem.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 30, 2009 5:42:52 GMT -5
Souji didn't like the sound of this prophecy. He'd never really had to deal with them, but they were generally bad news.
"I'm more worried about the fact that he was so rattled by the picture. I think it wasn't so much the contents of the picture that disturbed him as it was that they so closely revealed whatever plans he had. As in, whatever it was was definitely premeditated." He turned to Atem. "Did you hear what the prophecy was, by the way?"
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 30, 2009 5:52:59 GMT -5
Atem shook his head, "I'm fairly sure I didn't hear the whole thing, but Minato-kun muttered the first part. Shadows of the blue haired's past are stirred up again. Blaming himself, he throws himself to be sacrificed," Atem frowned, "It's not exact, and I know how important exact wording can be..." He was obviously annoyed at his inability to remember it clearly, "I'm concerned about the chains in the picture. They looked like those connected to that Thanatos Persona he summoned."
Yuugi waited for Atem to finish before speaking, "I don't know how long he's been planning on doing something foolish. He said that he hadn't made the decision back at the cabin... I don't want to doubt him but I think that is when it happened. That's when his Death Clock appeared, and it seems a rather large coincidence. Seta-kun, do you have any idea how he'd even try to do that? I've heard everything he has said about his past, but I'm still confused..."
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 30, 2009 6:07:06 GMT -5
"...Probably by trying to make another seal on Nyx. He's going to forcibly make his soul into a seal on Nyx, and when he does that, he'll die... dammit!" Souji looked rather frustrated with the cards he'd been dealt. "And he's probably going to make the seal while the moon's still full, so right after we defeat the Arcana Shadow."
"Keep an eye on Minato after we defeat that shadow," Souji said. "Don't let him slip away. He's convinced that he has to die to stop Nyx... I don't want to have to go that route unless it's impossible to stop her any other way."
Despite everything that was going on right now, he felt a little closer to Yuugi...
(OOC: Which means RANK UP! Hey, I can't help it if Souji's rank ups were less impressive than Minato's "THERE ARE VOICES IN MY HEAD DDDDDDDD: " rank ups.)
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 30, 2009 6:13:12 GMT -5
Yuugi nodded. Souji seemed violent at times, but the short teen was beginning to realize that it was mostly stress. Even though his threat about Nanako had been a little over the top, it was apparent the teen was actually a pretty good guy. Yuugi smiled at him.
Atem crossed his arms and looked away as if in thought, "We'll do what we can, of course. But I don't think its going to be on the same night. The full moon is in about six days, and according to Yuugi, Minato-kun's Death Clock reads eight. Unless it changes, I think we'll have some time to recover from the Arcana fight."
"There are twenty-two major Arcana in Tarot, right...? If the Shadows are represented by those, I wonder what one we'll be fighting..."
If Yuugi's comment did nothing else, it would reveal something to Souji. At least Yuugi, possibly Atem, did not realize that their represented Arcana was outside the norm. Duelist, with an M as the roman numeral. Atem seemed somewhat lost in thought, and he was hard to read under normal circumstances.
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