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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Dec 27, 2009 22:42:48 GMT -5
Minato groaned. "She's got this weird habit of knowing too much about things, messing with things... hey, can I see that?" Maybe there was something about those cards that could help with this situation... Minato never thought he'd be more grateful for Himitsu's help at this point. She'd given this to Ryoji for a reason, he knew.
Izanagi turned away from the group and began to walk away. Naoto turned her head toward him.
"Where are you going?" Naoto asked.
"To get coffee. I will see you all back at the apartments later today," Izanagi said. He turned around again and walked back toward the cafe.
"Tch," Kanji said. "I really wanna punch him, but I don't wanna do it while there's still some of Souji-sempai in there."
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Post by mugenginga on Dec 27, 2009 22:53:07 GMT -5
Atem kept his gaze fixed on Izanagi's back as he walked off. He'd acquired an odd skill over the time since Yuugi had solved the Puzzle. He could pick out when a different personality was in charge. Bakura and Malik both possessed or had possessed dark sides. Honda had been controlled by first one member of the shadows of Kaiba's past, and then all five at once. So Atem had no trouble seperating Izanagi from Souji in his mind, even if it was possible the others did.
"Are we really gonna lose Sensei...?" Teddie asked. It seemed a rhetorical born from worry.
"We have to trust that Seta-kun can figure something out... I'm sure he knows we're cheering for him!" Yuugi said.
Ryoji looked down as Kanji expressed his desire. He didn't blame Kanji, but he felt no better about the situation after punching Izanagi. Then again, Izanagi had snapped back with that line about being the same. For who, though? It was the only thought Ryoji couldn't supress.
"Go ahead," he said to Minato, holding out the case.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Dec 27, 2009 23:09:12 GMT -5
Naoto was worried about Souji herself. Izanagi had said Souji wouldn't last much longer, which meant that Souji had been hanging on for as long as he could. The way Izanagi had seemed almost cocky about Souji's disappearance... Souji must really be nearly gone.
Minato took the case and opened it up. Inside were tarot cards, which he had guessed from the design of the case. He took them out and flipped them over so he could see the designs on the fronts. The designs of the cards all matched the ones of the Arcana for Personas... and then there was one that stood out. This had to be that weird Arcana Yuugi and Atem both had Personas from. He pulled the card out from the pile of cards.
"This is weird... I don't think I've ever seen this card before," Minato said. Naoto walked over to him and examined the card.
"An eye and the Roman numeral for one-thousand... interesting," Naoto said. She looked over at Ryoji. "Do you know what this card is? I can't remember ever seeing this one before in Souji's books."
Minato handed the card to Naoto so she could examine it closer and looked at the rest of the cards. This deck even had the World. Minato wouldn't have recognized the image, except he had seen the image once before. When he had sacrificed himself. Not a fun thought.
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Post by mugenginga on Dec 27, 2009 23:23:10 GMT -5
Ryoji nodded, and then looked nervous, "That is, I'm not sure how I know. There isn't a name on it or anything, but I know the name of it and how to read it and everything. It..." He shook his head.
It probably has to do with that thing you can't tell me and I seem to be trying to prevent myself from remembering. That thing Izanagi was talking about. The diety I'm an avatar of...
"Teddie-kun, are you going to be okay...?" Yuugi was looking over at the bear mascot. He seemed to be slipping into a depressive funk.
Atem glanced over at his Partner and Teddie sadly. Helpless was a feeling he never enjoyed. It wasn't that it was an enjoyable feeling, but he was always able to do something. Right now, all he could do was hope that some opportunity presented itself. They wouldn't give up, that was certain. He knew Yuugi wouldn't, and he wouldn't. Teddie looked about ready to but Naoto and Kanji would support him. And Minato... Atem glanced at Ryoji as he stood there and looked depressed. Minato was who he felt the most sorry for.
Atem's eyes widened as he saw the design on the card when it was passed to Naoto. He walked over to the group, "That looks like the design on most of the Millenium Items."
Minato having seen and shown at least a passing interest in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise would realize Atem was right. All the Items save the Millenium Ankh had some version of the eye or another on them. In fact, the only item that seemed to really not bear the symbol itself was hanging around Yuugi's neck. While the others possessed something more generic, the bits coming off the bottom of the eye on Yuugi's neck marked it as something different.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Dec 27, 2009 23:36:36 GMT -5
Minato looked back at the card again and realized Atem was right. "...Then this is the Duelist Arcana, then, right?"
Naoto narrowed her eyes. "How do you know its name?"
"Remember, that Shadow we fought to wake K1 and Naoya up? It was a Duelist Arcana shadow, and it was Egyptian themed. I remember Souji was having trouble figuring out what this Arcana was before, too," Minato said. He looked down, then back up again. "Ryoji, what exactly's the meaning behind this Arcana?"
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Post by mugenginga on Dec 28, 2009 0:07:16 GMT -5
"...Fate," Ryoji said.
He had nodded as Minato asked his question about the card's name. The fact that Minato knew what it was felt comforting. It meant that maybe it wasn't that strange he knew its meaning. He had an interest in tarot, maybe that was just something for him and not the god he stood for. He looked up and saw several confused stares
"It's hard to read on its own, usually it has to play off another card. The simplest explanation is Fate. Its not like Fortune, which refers more to luck and destiny as opposed to fate. Ah... it seems to relate more to things that can't be changed outside the influence of Death and the rare ability to do so regardless. Does that make any sense?"
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The Kaiba Corporation president named Seto Kaiba had spent what felt like an eternity staring at the gold ball in his hand. It was about the size of a human eyeball. An ironic thought, the American named Pegasus had been "holding" it in that location for quite some time to access its full powers. That vision he'd just had hadn't been just a dream. It had been real. Not that Kaiba would have admitted that out loud. He had a reputation to uphold, after all.
Yuugi had been talking with his friends. He hardly ever gave them a moment's notice. He didn't start now either. A girl he had a crush on named Anzu Mazaki and the everpresent tagalong Hiroto Honda. There was the simpleton named Katsuya Jounouchi, of course. The mere fact that the blond even crossed his mind showed how rattled he truly was. That woman... Kisara that Priest had called her. He had called her.
He clenched his hand around the ball. His jaws ground together with enough force that it hurt. Just because he was willing to acknowledge the farfetched tales of Yuugi and his friends as more than hallucinations didn't mean he needed to consider himself and Set the same damn person. Maybe it was true. Maybe he was reincarnated by that Priest. Maybe that Priest had been the cousin of that Pharaoh. No need to let that damn woman invade his mind. If she had been alive, she was long dead. No need to worry over someone he'd never see.
Kaiba looked up and said Yuugi's name. If that other personality was the spirit of some damn Pharaoh... he shook his head as he threw the artificial eye at Yuugi. Whatever. He was going back to America, telling the company to forward all calls to Mokuba, and sleeping for a week. And then that other teenager, Ryou Bakura, had come running down the stairs. Fine, whatever. He was sick of this. He'd let Yuugi go first, the shorter by over a foot teenager seeming to bear the personality of the "Pharaoh" at the moment.
He'd felt the shaking. Then he'd heard the shouting. Yuugi had thrown his arm out to catch himself on the side of the narrow passage. The light streaming from above had been cut off. He was used to earthquakes, he did live in Japan after all. This seemed rather severe. Kaiba took a step backwards after shouting at Yuugi something totally irrational. If he died he'd kill him or something inane like that. He really was tired. Of course, he'd found no footing behind him. Right now that was the last thing he could remember...
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Kaiba lifted his hand to his head. Or tried to, in any case. He'd taken that step backwards and fallen. Down the stairs, maybe? He felt something damp roll towards his still closed eyes. Felt a little thick for water. He wiped at the eye and opened them. It was bright. Bright, as if he were outside.
His vision came into focus well enough. He was in an alley. Which meant that someone had "rescued" him and dumped him here. Probably robbed him. His eyes widened and he reached down to a pouch attached to his belt in the back, wiping the hand with blood on it off as he did so. He practically tore it opening it up and pulling out a deck of forty cards. The first thing he did was confirm the presence of three of them. He chastized himself for the relieved breath when he saw all of the Blue Eyes cards were there.
He realized one hand was cupped as if holding something. He moved it to the side while still thumbing through his cards and dropped whatever it was. A thunk like metal on packed dirt sounded, and he couldn't fight the curiosity. He looked over to it and narrowed his gaze. It was one of those "Millenium Items" Yuugi and his friends were always carrying. Magical artifacts if he was willing to believe that damn vision. Well, the damn thing could stay there. He didn't know how it had gotten back to him, he'd given it to Yuugi. But he also didn't care.
He had a good whack upside the head. He was bleeding from the impact. He reached up with his arm and wiped the wound with his upper arm. It was a good thing he wore dark colors. Still, a bit of it got onto his trenchcoat. He wiped it a bit, more grateful than he could easily remember for getting the damn thing made with resilient leather. He placed the cards back together and stuck them in the pouch he had taken them from. They were all there, something to be grateful for.
He took a step to leave the alley, wondering what the hell Yuugi had gotten him into this time when he stopped. He turned to look at the "eye" on the ground again. Why was he having the feeling he needed to take that with him? Yuugi and his friends really were bad influences. He mumbled something unkind under his breath as he walked over and bent down to pick up the damn "artifact". If he didn't have a grudge against Yuugi he would have stopped bothering with his group a long time ago. This was insane.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Dec 28, 2009 0:23:42 GMT -5
"Kind of..." Minato said. "...Well, anyways, I'd hang onto that deck. If Himitsu gave it to you, it's probably important."
He turned and looked to the others. "...We should probably go back to the apartments now that we know where Souji was..." he said. Damn Izanagi. He had hijacked Souji's body, and was now trying to make him fade out of existance. And for what reason? Minato couldn't think of any good ones except Izanagi just wanted the body to himself.
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Izanagi stepped outside of the cafe, holding another coffee in his hand. The employees at the shop hadn't expected to see him there. Most of them had heard about what had happened to Souji that morning and honestly thought he was in the hospital. Izanagi also informed them that if that ever happened again, he was going to get their little shop shut down.
Thanks a lot. Now everyone in there hates me, Souji informed Izanagi upon Izanagi choosing to inform the cashier of that.
You never came here before anyways, Izanagi said. And I can see that even talking is causing you to fade away. At this rate, you won't last past this evening.
Souji winced again. Of course Izanagi had to remind him of that. And Izanagi was right, Souji could literally feel his energy draining with every word. This was fucked up. Izanagi had really pushed him to his limit.
Izanagi suddenly stopped as he sensed something.
I sense more dark energy like that from those items your 'friends' carried, Izanagi said. He started running toward an alley. He needed to find out more about this dark energy, especially the more unique feel he was getting from this particular item.
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Post by mugenginga on Dec 28, 2009 0:45:55 GMT -5
Ryoji nodded. He took the cards back and put them into the case. He'd had intentions of keeping it either way. Other than the presence of the Duelist Arcana, there was nothing all that special about it. He was worried about Himitsu more than before thanks to the warnings of his friends.
Atem, Yuugi, and Teddie all nodded at Minato's suggestion. Atem was obviously thinking. Yuugi seemed worried, no surprise there. Teddie looked like he'd just been told his entire family had been killed. Ryoji looked up and shook his head.
"If you don't mind, there's something I want to check. I'll be back by nightfall, okay? I'd probably just be in the way there, anyways..."
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Kaiba put his hands around the gold eye and stood back up. He looked at it again. According to that vision, it had belonged to Set's father. His name had been something decidingly Ancient Egyptian, Kaiba saw no reason to bring it back to mind. He considered dropping it again, but chose to stuff it into a pocket in his trenchcoat. If he left it there he'd end up playing this game all day.
He reached up and pressed what looked to be metallic embroidery. It was on the left side of his jacket, and in truth it concealed a communicator.
"This is Kaiba," he stated. He received no response, "Hello, this is Kaiba. Look, if someone doesn't answer this there will be several people in need of new jobs," he narrowed his gaze. Kaiba Corporation used top of the line sattelites for this channel, nothing should be blocking it, "Mokuba, are you-"
Kaiba stopped as he heard footsteps. He let go of the collar and whirled around. Even with an action as simple as that, his trenchcoat managed to ripple. No wind, but it was hard to tell there wasn't a slight one for how it waved. It looked like a teenager, probably about the same grade of high school he would be in if he wasn't the president of one of the richest companies on the planet.
"Who are you?" Kaiba demanded.
Not knowing about the properties of the Island made no difference to how Kaiba spoke. He spoke in informal Japanese, Izanagi likely wouldn't miss it. It was nearly identical to how Atem spoke, to be truthful. Kaiba chose it because the silver haired teenager before him looked Japanese. He'd only repeat in English if he had to.
He knew it was possible he would. He doubted any want to be thief would have bothered moving him out of Egypt. The buildings indicated they had taken some effort. If he had to guess he'd say he was in one of the bigger cities. Downtown Cairo, maybe.
The energy Izanagi had picked up on was resting in Kaiba's trenchcoat. A hard to see pocket near the front left, to be precise.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Dec 28, 2009 21:31:08 GMT -5
Minato looked over at Ryoji. "Alright. Just be careful, okay? And hey, don't let what Izanagi said get to you. He was pissed; he was probably spouting off whatever he could to get a reaction out of you."
He smiled a bit. He knew that thanks to Izanagi, Ryoji's awakening would come even sooner. But Minato also knew that Souji had been counting on him to stop Ryoji's awakening, and if it came, to convince Ryoji that he didn't have to usher in the Fall. Even if Souji disappeared, Minato was going to try extra hard to fufill that last one.
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Izanagi examined the person in front of him carefully. He seemed almost full of himself. Prideful. One who didn't take losing too well. And most importantly, showy. There was no reason for that trenchcoat that practically seemed to defy gravity other than trying to attract attention to oneself.
He didn't flinch as Kaiba suddenly demanded his name. Izanagi didn't adjust himself much either as he answered Kaiba. "Much" being the key word. He did drop to a bit more informal speech than what he had been using.
"I'm Souji Seta," he said. His eyes moved to the pocket on the left side of Kaiba's trenchcoat. "What's in your pocket?"
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Post by mugenginga on Dec 28, 2009 21:43:11 GMT -5
Ryoji nodded. Right now he didn't think he could trust any words that tried to veer him away from believing Izanagi. If it weren't for the way his thoughts were all but consuming him, he would have believed Minato. But he couldn't. His head hurt a bit, but he held off rubbing his temple until Minato and the others had walked off.
The library. He was headed to the library.
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"Kaiba," was Izanagi's response. No second name, so it was rather unclear if that was meant to be his given or surname. He pulled his hand out of his pocket as he continued, "It's nothing that you need to know about. Move out of my way."
Definently almost identical to how Atem spoke. Kaiba used the same pronouns, but he still came across as ruder. Also didn't help he stood 6'1". He had begun walk forward to leave the alley in the direction "Souji" was standing as he finished talking. The name meant nothing to him, so it didn't really matter. He planned on figuring out where the hell he had been dropped before doing anything else.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Dec 28, 2009 21:53:08 GMT -5
Izanagi didn't move from where he was standing. This Kaiba person was ordering him around. Izanagi didn't care much for being ordered around. This Kaiba was definitely full of himself.
Kaiba... I could swear I've heard that before... I think someone mentioned him before, but I can't remember who, Souji said. Izanagi didn't reply to Souji, but instead continued staring at Kaiba, unblinking.
"That wasn't a request before. That was an order. The item you have in your pocket is a dark magical object, much like the pendant that short spiky-haired kid has," Izanagi said. He had slipped into speaking more formally, like he normally did. "I am not moving until you show me it."
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Post by mugenginga on Dec 28, 2009 21:59:20 GMT -5
Kaiba opened his mouth to give "Souji" a rebuttal. No one, no one, ordered him around. And then Izanagi mentioned with a too much accuracy to be coincidence the Millenium Eye. And then he mentioned who could only be Yuugi. It wasn't any kind of contest which comment took priority in Kaiba's mind. He stopped and gave a nasty glare.
"You've seen Yuugi?" Kaiba's voice was a bit dangerous. It complimented his expression well, with the question seeming like some kind of threat.
The fact that Yuugi was around took higher priority in Kaiba's mind than knowledge about the Millenium Items. For two individuals that didn't know Yu-Gi-Oh! canon that either meant he didn't know what the Millenium Items were or the teenager had seriously messed up priorities. In either case, he wasn't making a movement to pull the item out.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Dec 28, 2009 22:05:03 GMT -5
Izanagi raised an eyebrow. So this person definitely knew Yuugi. And judging by the glare Kaiba was giving him, there was definitely some weird animosity between Kaiba and Yuugi. Izanagi took another sip of his coffee.
"Yes, I've seen him. I've more than seen him. He and his boyfriend Atem live on the floor above me," Izanagi sighed. "Now, please, show me the damn dark object."
He was trying his best to remain civil, he really was. But Kaiba and his messed up priorities were starting to get on Izanagi's nerves. And they hadn't been talking for even five minutes yet. He took another sip of his coffee. Still hot. Well, he liked the taste, at least.
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Post by mugenginga on Dec 28, 2009 22:08:53 GMT -5
Kaiba got to be cut off again. He had opened his mouth to demand where Yuugi was when "Souji" got to the third sentence. He stopped for a moment. He looked like he'd come unwound or something, and was now stuck in that pose. He closed his mouth for a moment before opening it again.
"What?"
He still sounded aggressive, but his mind had clearly gone right past tripped and straight into a faceplant at Izanagi's words. He didn't react to the comment about the item, it was possible he hadn't even heard it.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Dec 28, 2009 22:14:19 GMT -5
Izanagi looked over his coffee at Kaiba, whose brain appeared to have broken. He smirked. Oh, this was amusing. He pulled on a few more of Souji's memories of Yuugi and Atem to mess with Kaiba a bit more.
"Yeah, they've been together for a few weeks now, though they didn't really admit things to each other until the other day. Though I suspect much of that time was because they were recovering from being separated from each other, what with having shared a body for a long time," Izanagi said. He was trying very hard to keep a straight face, and was failing.
Don't tease him, Souji said, though in truth he was finding this pretty funny himself, and he probably would have done something similar had he not been a slowly fading not-spirit. Just slightly less mocking.
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