CAMPUS WIDE EVENT: I SEE LONDON, I SEE FRANCE~

[intercom_voice]

[Everybody sees everyone's underpants!

By whatever sadistic, poltergeist-like conscious that ruled this place, everything that isn't undergarments has gone missing. Luckily for everyone, tank tops and socks also count as an undergarments, along with the usual.]

((ooc: event will last until the 20th~ available clothing are: socks, plain tank tops, underwear/boxers/etc. and bras. UNDERAGED CHARACTERS DO NOT HAVE TO BE AFFECTED, but if you want to that's fine too.

Have fun, tag your series title, and so on!))

Comments

[destenebres]

[His mouth curves into a little moue of distaste as he remembers that moment. Preternaturally-sensitive ears and a large group of people all squalling as one? Not a fun combination.] I'm just glad the noise was accompanied by a mad rush to the dorms; it at least means relative peace and quiet out here now.

[He comes closer, perching on the edge of the table opposite Bakura.] I'd recommend Rebecca as well, but you seem to have a taste for the paranormal, and it isn't, quite -- though du Maurier does her damndest to make the reader think so.

[fluffydeathdealer]

Is that what you think? My tastes are tailored towards the paranormal, it's true, but... as long as it's atmospheric enough to give me chills, I don't mind.

[He makes note of it, sitting back and folding his arms over his chest carelessly. Compared to Armand, he looks a little worse for wear; there's burn scars over his arms and shoulder that weren't too evident before his change in posture, but it seems he doesn't care enough to try to hide them. The worst of them are pure white by now, evidence of a supernaturally hot fire that burnt away any ability for colour or healing in the area.]

Maybe you should become the librarian. You seem to know plenty about books.

[destenebres]

Then you might well enjoy it after all.

[There's no outward reaction to the sight of those scars, but they've certainly set him wondering. No natural fire could burn hot enough to do that - and he ought to know, he's set enough of them in his long life. He's also wondering when they happened - for what Bakura's admitted would be a perfectly ordinary human body if not for his own presence, to have healed the damage so thoroughly... either the incident happened some time ago, or it's a testament to Bakura's own power.

And then Bakura makes that suggestion, and he can't help but laugh.] I would make a very bad one; I've neither the patience required nor the desire to interact with the masses.

[He doesn't read for pleasure, anyhow, but for understanding. Stories bring home the worries, the fears, the hopes of the people telling them, the essence of the era in which they were written. And if he can learn to understand the times as they change, then he can stave off the stagnation that spells the end for so many vampires.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

Hoh? Heh, I feel special, then!

[It seems obvious to him that, whatever else Armand might be, he's not the type to waste his time. It makes him wonder what the man wants... but he's sure he'll get to that, if he has something in mind at all. Armand is naturally guarded enough to make him suspicious, but if he wanted to attack him, he'd have done it without announcing his presence, he's sure.

Bakura's no stranger to the concept of disliking people in general, though in his case it's mostly refined to the utterly useless and boring types who can do nothing even as complicated as struggle to survive.]

You said you were already headed here. Were you looking for something in particular?

[destenebres]

[He's entirely right that if Armand wanted to attack him, he wouldn't have announced his presence beforehand. But he doesn't want to - it would be the height of stupidity to go making enemies here, where death isn't exactly a permanent condition and there's nowhere to run. And to go antagonizing someone with power like Bakura's...

Whatever else he might be, Armand isn't stupid, and he has well-honed survival instincts.]

I was trapped in a place like this once before; the library there assimilated books and knowledge from all of our worlds. I was mostly wondering if this one behaves the same way. [Because if they're so similar in the minutiae, the means of escape might turn out to be similar as well.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

...hoh? Interesting! I'm not surprised to hear there's others, but for you to wind up caught twice... that's either bad luck or some kind of curse from the Gods.

[His voice is somehow both amused and mildly sympathetic. Places like this are both irritating and interesting at the same time. He's never considered that there might be others, but it makes total sense. In all of the worlds in all of the vast wilderness of existence, there had to be more than one person with the power to make something like this. But if someone could be caught in more than one, that implied less chance and more... paranoia fuel.]

[destenebres]

If God were involved, I think He'd sooner smite me than pull something like this.

[His tone is light, amused - he's always been fond of black humor.]

Frankly, our principal or headmistress or whatever she styles herself acts similar enough to the Head Doctor of Aliunde to make me wonder...

[fluffydeathdealer]

Heh. Maybe He's too lazy to care.

[He wouldn't put it past any God to be that lazy. They never did seem to care unless they were being invoked, from what he knew.]

But if they're as similar as all that, it certainly sounds suspicious. Coincidences are rarely as extreme as this one.

[destenebres]

I wouldn't be surprised.

[The amusement is gone from his voice as he speaks again.] They are that similar; this one [he gestures vaguely upward] even has the same cowardly habit of only ever communicating remotely, and delivering taunts from wherever she's hiding out.

[fluffydeathdealer]

Come to think of it... I noticed something earlier. [Resting his head on his hand again, he mulls it over in his mind.]

Whoever's behind this isn't even trying to obfuscate my abilities to locate them. But they don't need to. They're 'inaccessible'. There, but not there. They can be found... but they can't be reached by any method.

Like the things they took from us... and likely like the school itself, a few weeks ago. It's like they're on a separate plane of existence from us. Isn't that interesting? It's a whole new level of cowardice.

[destenebres]

[There but not there. Can be found, but can't be reached. It almost sounds like a riddle...]

It certainly is. [There's anger simmering there, though it's not directed at Bakura, of course. Really, he can appreciate a certain amount of self-serving cowardice - he's been guilty of it at times himself.

But if a person is going to play with fire (or, in this case, kidnap God alone knows how many very dangerous people) - then they ought to be prepared to take the burns.]

But I can't say I'm entirely surprised, either.

[fluffydeathdealer]

[Self-preservation's never a bad thing; not even close. But Bakura doesn't like it when his opponents hide... or at least not when they hide in ways he can't break through. It may be hypocritical, but being a pawn in someone else's chess game is annoying. He may act casually relaxed, but someone having this level of power over him ticks him off. And what if they took the Ring, next time?

Kh, if he's the one to find the damn headmistress, he'll give her a penalty game to remember for the rest of her days.]

It's infuriating, but not surprising. What it is, is unsporting! Tch, whatever game they're playing, it's definitely tipped in their favour.

[destenebres]

[He's going to have get in line, then - Armand fully intends to rake the woman across the coals when he finds her.]

Yes, that seems to be a common theme too; they don't want to play unless the game is rigged in their favor.

[Which Armand is also guilty of doing, so perhaps it's a bit hypocritical of him to complain when the tables are turned.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

[It's all up to chance, as far as he's concerned. Whoever gets the first opportunity'll be the one to have the most fun... but he doesn't mind waiting. He's good at that.]

But the flaw with games involving living chess pieces is obvious. No matter what precautions you take, you can't account for everything.