[EFFECT ROOM] The Red Thread of Not-Quite-Fate

[hyperhero]

[This room is definitely one that you wouldn't expect to find in a school, considering that it appears to be a gigantic cafe. Plush carpets, cushioned chairs, a whole bunch of fancy drinks and snacks...

Someone put a dating cafe in the school!]

((OOC: Here's how it works! The room is based off the idea of the red string of fate from Japanese/Chinese legend. On stepping into the room, your character will find a thin but completely unbreakable red string tied to their pinkie, with the other end tied to someone else who's come into the room. The red string persists even if you try to leave, and won't disappear until a full day later. The thread itself will lengthen or shorten depending on the proximity of the two characters, but it won't let you get more than a room's length away from each other.

Here's the complication: the Gods are kind of sort of drunk off their asses, which means that the red string could tie you to literally anyone. Your worst enemy, your brother, your father, Old Man Jenkins... it's one of those things where you're lucky if you get your soulmate! Furthermore, the strings can (by player choice) actually swap around repeatedly, so your character could end up tied to one person all day or have to deal with being tied to five different ones through it!

For characters who don't know about the legend, there's a paper pinned to the wall by the door that explains it (at least, the actual legend, not the drunk-gods part). While the paper can be ripped up, it'll just regenerate a minute or two later.

And yes I purposefully picked the most inappropriate journal for this))

Comments

[fluffydeathdealer]

[This kid... has nothing but duels in his head.

Bakura heaves a sigh, lifting his head at last.]

Why does it bother you? My being grouchy.

[hyperhero]

Because it means there's something making you grouchy, right? So maybe if you get to let loose and have some fun with me, it won't be that bad.

[....That's a surprisingly intelligent answer, coming from him.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

[WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOUR HAIR HAPPENED TO JUDAI YUKI?]

Kh... I'm trapped inside a prison inside a prison, dependant on Ryou Bakura to do anything at all, and unable to fulfil my goals as long as I'm here.

[And surrounded by idiots.]

Do you really think duels will lift my mood?

[hyperhero]

[Eesh, that's pretty bad... but Judai nods after a moment.]

Well, yeah! I mean, if you're stuck in a prison and have to rely on Ryou, isn't it good that I wanna duel with you any time we can? I mean, you get to pretty much go all out with me and enjoy just having fun with it for a while!

Or we could do something else, if you don't wanna duel all the time.

[Ryou has a bunch of games, right?]

[fluffydeathdealer]

Hm...

[It makes an odd amount of sense. Most of the people here are boringly adverse to duelling, after all. And it will help him get more comfortable with the new Lockdown Deck.]

That's fine. I do enjoy duelling, and I need to get better acquainted with the deck you helped me with.

[hyperhero]

See? You already look less grumpy!

[Judai, a smirk is not the same thing as a smile.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

Heh heh... I guess I do.

[Maybe it won't be too terrible.]

[hyperhero]

Let's grab some of the snacks and get dueling outside! Maybe by then it'll come off.

[fluffydeathdealer]

Fine by me. But help yourself to the snacks. I'm not hungry.

[hyperhero]

What, really? But there's a bunch of stuff here! All new stuff!

[fluffydeathdealer]

My appetite's a little spoiled right now. It's all yours.

[hyperhero]

Well, if you say so!

[Brb, looting the cafe.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

[Jeez, this kid... his appetite would unnerve even Jounouchi.]

Let me know when you're done.

[hyperhero]

Done!

[Yep, that's a backpack full of boxes, it is.]

Let's go!

[fluffydeathdealer]

How much food can you even eat?

[He gets up reluctantly, winding the string around his finger to lightly tug at it.]

Come on, then.

[hyperhero]

A lot more than anyone else I know.

[He swings his hand a little at the tug, going back over.]

Right behind ya!

[fluffydeathdealer]

[Firstly, towards the dorms to yoink his duel disk.]

It's annoying... so few people here seem to duel at all.

[hyperhero]

I know! It's boring around here! Geeze, I almost want the classes back.

[Not that he ever paid any attention to them.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

...

Even I'm not that bored. It seems your mind is actually more bothered by boredom than mine. How frightening.

[hyperhero]

Why's that scary? Bored means I'm not doing anything, which means I could be getting better at dueling!

[fluffydeathdealer]

I understand that duelling is all that you need in the future, but it's not healthy to only focus on one thing to exclusion of all others.

But who knows? You might be a duelling savant.

[hyperhero]

Well, I've gotta focus on that! How am I supposed to become the King of Games if I don't keep getting my skill up?

[fluffydeathdealer]

[King of Games...

What a foolish desire. Skilled or not, this boy is nowhere near Yugi's level as a person. He's got a lot of maturing to do before he gets to that point.]

...Even Yugi doesn't obsess as much as you.

[hyperhero]

Maybe not, but he's still a lot stronger than I am! Kaiba beat me here, too, so I'm not even close to ready to taking the title from him.

Besides, it's fun! And that's the most important part of dueling anyway, isn't it?

[fluffydeathdealer]

...

[Is it? Bakura isn't quite sure. To him, the most important part is destroying your enemies afterward.]

Is... it...?