the_campus | DUEL 003: The Bored Spirit At Play

[To say that Bakura's been in a good mood lately is an understatement.

Thanks to the thief king, he has the eighth key that he needs once he gets out of here. It's frustrating being trapped in this place, but he's spent so long with the Ring's imprisonment that it's easy to cope with this. It's just a waiting game. It always has been.

It's said that the greatest enemy of the immortal is boredom. For Bakura, that's an understatement. There weren't many duelists around, getting rid of people wasn't possible with the curse upon this place bringing them back, and the problem with letting his darker instincts out was that in this place, there was no way to get away with it without word spreading too fast, or his victims recovering. How tedious! Even if he took their souls, this place would probably return them to their bodies before long. He couldn't even pursue the remainder of his collection, with Shadi not being accessible.

So for now, he's sitting on the ground in the courtyard despite the cold, working with a much more mundane hobby. He's making a marionette.

It's not quite finished, but it might look familiar... It looks a surprising amount like a creepier version of a certain young boy with ridiculous hair. It's symbolic! And it isn't the only one there. Hanging over the nearest doorway, waiting to fall down on anyone who opens the door to come outside, is a slightly more intimidating one...]

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[She scowls again.]

And how'd you figure that?

Who do you think keeps him safe from threats? If it weren't for me, he'd probably have died a dozen times by now.

[Though he'd at least have fewer scars. They're not all immediately visible thanks to his coat, but the whitened burn scars on his hand and the faded cut to his cheek are definitely more noticeable in this light.]

...[She notes the scars and winces. She had no idea Ryou was in so much trouble.

He had been so kind to have welcomed her into The Campus yesterday and teach her a few things about how everything worked here, it seems awful to know that someone who seems to enjoy tormenting Ryou - even though he was making out to be some kind of savior to him, would be stuck in his body.]

Alright, Then answer me this, If you're apparently doing such a good job of keeping Ryou safe - Mind telling me why you're out here playing with puppets?

...

What? I wasn't aware there was an inherent threat involved in sitting in the courtyard.

[His voice is filled with relentless amusement. Really, what the hell kind of question was that?]

I asked you a question!

What's the deal with these things?

...? They're marionettes. I was bored, so I thought I'd try and make some.

[...he's actually serious. He was just bored.]

Really now?

[What a weird hobby.]

I'm serious! I didn't have anything else to do, and I found a book on it in the library.

[Just going to shove the other eye in there now, while he's talking.]

The art room had all the supplies I needed.

...The art room?

[Nope, can't say she's had a look in there yet.]

That's right! There's no teachers in the school, but they keep the classrooms well stocked. The art rooms have tons of shit. Everything from painting supplies to ceramics, or photography.

[Oh right, past.]

Photography's when you use a bit of technology to take an instantaneous painting of whatever's in front of it. They used to think it stole your soul, h-heh... But they know better now.

I can figure out how it works on my own without your help, thankyou.

Suit yourself. I won't bother explaining anything else to you, then.

[His fingers are getting tangled in wires. What a pain. He has to use his teeth to disentangle them, flashing those sharper incisors of his as he does. It's minute, but there's differences wherever you look.]

...

[She watches him struggle with the wires. Why is he doing this to himself? Surely he could used a blade or a pair of scissors or something to get him untangled from all of this?

Alas apparently not. Saft huffs and decides to join him, taking his hands. She might not care for Bakura, But she's not going to allow any harm to come to Ryou's body if she can help it.]

That can't be good for your teeth.

They won't break from something like this. This body's weak, but it's not that bad.

[He blinks at her, letting her help. Truthfully, he hadn't noticed the wires at first. Having no feeling in parts of your hands will do that. And he didn't want to cut them because then they'd be too short. But there's no way in hell he's admitting that. That'd be just embarrassing.

He really hasn't done this before. Ryou's more the crafts-y type.]

Thanks very much!

[Flexing his fingers, he sets the things aside for now.]

I wasn't doing it to help you, I just didn't want Ryou to hurt when he finally wakes up again.

[She sighs and sets her hands back onto her lap.]

...It's the ring isn't it? The one Ryou told me about. Somehow that's how you're able to stay in his body like this.

It's fine. There's no feeling where it cut in.

[...he'll admit that much. Sitting back, he shows her, how much of their fingers are unnaturally white even for their paleness. Like they've been burnt by something so powerful that it's destroyed them.]

And I never assumed you did it for my sake. I just didn't care. [He can't get more deadpan.]

You're a good guesser, anyway. You're right. I'm able to take over this body through the Ring's power.

But how...?

Can't you just break free of it or something?

Even if there was a way, do you think I'd tell you? I'm not some friendly NPC, Saft. Information doesn't come so easily from me. Especially not when it's information that puts me at risk.

...What's an NPC?

What? Didn't you tell me you didn't want me to help you out? Heh.

[Griiin.]

A Non-Player Character. In games, they're exist solely to volunteer information.

DUEL 003: The Bored Spirit At Play

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