Please don't bite the newbie!

[wildcard_of_the_desert]

Just a little to the left and open!  [Sibyll announces triumphantly, standing up and pushing the door open to what should have been an unexplored ruin. Except it's not. Clearly confused, she takes a few steps into the bizarrely green courtyard. Pulling out a handgun, she looks around, clearly bewildered. Behind her, the door creaks shut and vanishes into the wall.]

Wait, no! [A little panicked, she presses her hand up against where the door used to be, tapping it lightly in an attempt to hear a hollow 'thump' that may indicate a hidden door. Not that there's any to be found.]

...Well, damn.

Comments

[fluffydeathdealer]

[Hearing the exclaimation, he peers around the corner curiously. No sense in revealing himself just yet. When he does speak, it's only after spending some time side-eyeing the gun in a wary manner. At any rate, having not seen the door disappear, all he has seen is a frustrated-looking woman hitting the wall and looking around. No telling if she's dangerous or not unless he speaks.]

Uhm. I think you'd need more firepower to break down the wall. It's a really strong wall.

[wildcard_of_the_desert]

[A child? Sibyll turns around to blink curiously at the boy.]

I suppose you're right. [She holsters the pistol.]

Now, you wouldn't happen to know what this place is, would you?

[fluffydeathdealer]

[He looks a fair bit younger than he is, but he's a junior high school student. A fairly short one, though thankfully not on the scale of Yugi. Not that there's much sign of that even if there were many high schools where she came from. He breathes a sigh of relief when she holsters the gun. That thing looks real, and if it is, then that makes this someone not to mess with.]

I don't know what it's called, but it's some kind of school. Only there's not really any teachers, so I guess it's mostly abandoned. For some reason, someone's been kidnapping people and leaving them here. I'm not sure why. The only people I've met here have been pretty rich, so maybe it's a ransom thing, but that doesn't explain me.

[wildcard_of_the_desert]

[Sibyll continues to glance over the boy curiously. White hair, pale as a ghost, clearly never even been near a desert. The gun seemed to worry him some, but it was holstered now. In a show of good faith, she snaps the band on her holster in place, making the gun slightly more difficult to pull.]

And who are you?

[fluffydeathdealer]

Ah-! Sorry, sorry.

[Ryou laughs a little awkwardly, embarassed at himself. Well, she doesn't seem hostile, so that's good. Still, he's never seen someone like this before.]

My name is Ryou Bakura. I'm a student at Domino High School. It's a pleasure to meet you. And you?

[wildcard_of_the_desert]

[She smiles at Ryou]

You can just call me Sibyll. I'm from New Vegas, in what used to be Pre-War Nevada.

[Just a hunch, but she suspects her answer is going to confuse him.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

[That suspicion is correct, indeed! He's heard of Nevada, vaguely, but he doesn't remember hearing about any wars.]

Pre-War? I didn't know anything like that had happened to America. Maybe the news hasn't gotten to Japan yet...

[Or maybe he's been in here longer than he thinks. Either's possible. With his blackouts, it'd be all to easy to lose track of time.]

[wildcard_of_the_desert]

[Japan...Japan... Sibyll has to think for a minute. The name isn't entirely unfamiliar. She remembers seeing it on the globe she has in her suite. Her Pre-War history isn't the best, but wasn't it taken over by China long before the nukes fell?]

[Still, not wanting to look like a clueless idiot in front of a kid, Sibyll decides to change her tack a little.]

Ah, Ryou...what year is it?

[She's still all smiles and kindness, if sounding a teensy bit confused herself.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

[Suspicious though it seems, he doesn't question the question. With his own blackouts, it's sometimes difficult to tell what's going on, so if she has to ask, there must be a reason for it.]

1997. Or... it was when I last checked. I woke up here quite suddenly, so. It's a little hard to be sure. But I don't think a lot of time passed.

[No telling how long he was out. It couldn't have been too long, however. There'd have been signs.]

(D: Hearing how old Yugioh is just makes me feel old!)

[wildcard_of_the_desert]

[She can't even try to hide her surprise. Her mouth slightly open, she just blinks at Ryou for a few seconds. Then she looks down at the wrist computer, presses a few buttons, before looking back up at the kid.]

Well, this raises a bunch more questions then it does answer anything. Because according to this... [She points to her wrist.] ...it's still November 24th, 2281, like it was before I tried opening that damned door.

But you're not lying, either.

(I do not blame you one bit! 8| )

[fluffydeathdealer]

Twenty-t-?!

[That's insane. The odd-looking thing on her wrist - some kind of duel disk? Or maybe a palmtop on a strap - doesn't look like any computer he knows of, but the date on it is pretty clear from this angle.]

That's... That's almost three hundred years. How is that possible?

[wildcard_of_the_desert]

I honestly have no idea.

[She goes silent for a few moments, trying to think. Clearly frustrated with this turn of events, she runs her fingers through her hair and sighs.]

You mentioned others being here. Something about ransom. Are they from...wherever you're from... Pre-War Japan?

[fluffydeathdealer]

Kaiba-kun is, and I've heard Pegasus is here. Pegasus is American but he's from 'pre-war'. Kaiba... I think he might be younger than I remember. Because he's been acting a little strange. Like he doesn't remember things. But I didn't ask him. Kaiba is kinda scary.

I don't know where everyone else is from, but I don't think I've met anyone who was from the future.

[Could she be lying? It isn't clear. But there'd be no point in something this elaborate and she does seem shocked.]

Uhm. Do you want to sit down somewhere? I can get you some coffee.

[wildcard_of_the_desert]

Just water if you have the clean stuff to spare. I don't think my gut can take any radiation right now. A seat would be nice, too.

[She sounds distracted, trying to figure out how in the hell she was apparently send into the long-distant past..]

[fluffydeathdealer]

...u-uhm.

[He looks a little awkward, trying to figure out how to phrase this in a way that won't offend her.]

There's a break room near here! The seats are pretty comfortable, too. And water won't be a problem. There's... no radiation.

[wildcard_of_the_desert]

Oh, right. I suppose that would be a benefit from being tossed into the past. [She chuckles dryly]

Lead the way.

[fluffydeathdealer]

It's that big a problem where you come from? Things must have really gone bad. It's a wonder anyone's still alive.

[He nods, and starts walking in the direction of the lounge. Strange... the idea that the world could be wrecked so badly in just three hundred years. He hopes his other didn't have anything to do with this. But then, evil power probably wouldn't need to irradiate anything.]

[wildcard_of_the_desert]

[She follows him, her expression brightening some as they talked.]

It's not as bad as other places. Lake Mead is clean and that's where the city gets its water from. But once you enter the desert proper, it's harder to find. And, since it is a desert and all, you need to have water on hand or you don't last very long.

[fluffydeathdealer]

Ah, I see! I've never been to a desert before, though my father has. He's an archelogist. From his descriptions, it sounds like it must be really hard to spend time out there. But it must be really fascinating and profitable, too.

[Let's see, the lounge was... around here somewhere. Just going to check the doors until-}

Ah! Here it is. Make yourself at home.

[The dim glow of the vending machines lit the darkened room softly, revealing the mass of comfortable chairs and small tables within. If it weren't for the view of the jungle from the window, it might have looked perfectly ordinary. Apart from the magazines, it was almost unnervingly neat and sterile, though the smell of coffee from the coffee machine indicated that people had been there recently.]

[wildcard_of_the_desert]

[Sibyll investigated the room a little before wandering over to the vending machine to glance at it. It listed what she assumed to be several brands of sodas with a final option of bottled water at the bottom. Pressing that rewarded her with a pleasantly cold bottle. With a grin to Ryou, she twisted off the top and took a few gulps.]

Ah, that felt good.

[She settles down in one of the chairs, and motions for Ryou to do the same.]

Who keeps this place up and running?

[fluffydeathdealer]

Sorry... I really don't know.

[Sitting down opposite her, he rests his hands on his knees.]

There's a scary woman in the cafeteria, but I don't think she's in charge of anything but food. Whoever's in charge, I think they're the one that sometimes speaks over the intercom. If they're in the building, they're somewhere hidden. I wouldn't be surprised if there were secret passageways all over the place. I've never seen any delivery vans or anything, but there always seems to be food... and whoever it is knows where we sleep.

[wildcard_of_the_desert]

Sounds like there's a lot of people here who seem to scare you. [Her comment certainly sounds casual enough, if a bit sympathetic.]

Where do we sleep?

[fluffydeathdealer]

...Just three.

[Kaiba, that lunch lady, and his other self. Three too many, really.]

There's dormitories on both the east and west sides of the building. Well, they're more like shared apartments. Whichever one you go to, you'll probably find they've slipped in in the middle of the night or sometime to leave you spare clothes and food. Or at least, that's how it was with me.

[wildcard_of_the_desert]

So we're being held here, but they're not directly threatening us and are taking care of us, in a sense. Your theory about all this being a ransom makes some sense.

But whoever this is must have considerable power if they're able to pull people through time. I wonder why us?

[fluffydeathdealer]

I can only think of one reason someone would want to get rid of me.

[He doesn't elaborate. Not yet, anyway.]

It could be a 'for hire' thing... and someone's being rewarded to 'remove' troublesome people from the timeline somehow. Or it could be that there's something we have that they want. This could all be a trap to lower everyone's guard and waste their energy.

But it's impossible to know the real answer just yet. There may be some clue on this island.