the_campus | [MINGLE ] And many happy returns to you, Bakura!

I like the scent. It reminds me of someone important.

[Sitting down in a comfortable chair, he stirs his tea slowly.]

Ah, that's sweet. [She settles down with her cup, savoring its taste for a few moments.]

...Anyway, about the Pharaoh. Bakura mentioned a tablet that's meant for the millennium items. It's a seal for the Pharaoh's memories, but also Zorc. What he said was that he'll go there looking for his memories and end up unleashing Zorc, and then he'll have to defeat it. And if he doesn't, everyone's basically fucked.

[Harriet's making a face, obviously not too keen on that idea. She has another sip of tea.]

Also, the Thief King said Zorc is their evil master. But he's got no contact with Bakura, who doesn't remember it, and I guess it doesn't amount to much. So there's that.

Edited 2014-03-20 07:35 (UTC)

...

Are you sure he didn't just make all of that up?

[Thief King's a jerk, but he's not all that evil. Maybe a bit evil. A fair bit evil. But not evil enough to have an evil master who was basically their tabletop villain.

...he's already forgotten how terrified he was of the guy at the start.

But it's entirely possible for Bakura to make it up knowing it'd get around so that the Pharaoh would be warned off from his own memories. He is petty.

Ryou's tea is neglected as he leans forward to mull it over, staring into it. If it's a true story, bizarre as it sounds, then Yugi's in danger. While part of him is suddenly even more tempted to stay here forever, that's only a temporary reprieve. The spirit could just take another host when he's gone, right? And the Pharaoh, who's scary but nice and strong, would be left in the dark.

Determination sparks in the back of his mind. He can't let the spirit do this sort of thing.]

Don't worry, Vaughn-san! That guy won't let Zorc win, no matter what.

I guess he could have made it up. But why would he do that? I don't really care about any of this shit!

... Well, I suppose I'd care if Zorc was fucking around destroying the world, but.

You're right, he'll definitely win. [unless Malik kills him first. Eh...]

Because the Pharaoh doesn't have his memories, and can't tell if it's true or not. So if it got back to me or to Yugi-kun, he'd have false information.

It's a basic Dark Master tactic.

[Ryou smiles, wagging his finger at her. He seems to have cheered up a little from his dark thoughts.]

Vaughn-san, either way, thank you very much for telling me. If it is true, being forewarned is going to be useful.

[You know, you're kind of a jerk either way.
Oi, oi, isn't that a little harsh~? Calling people such rude names... comes back the laughingly sarcastic thought.]

Well, I'll tell you one thing in favor of it being true - he owns a card version of Zorc, and it is just palpably evil. You can't fake that sort of thing.

[well at least, she's pretty sure.]

If just an image of him gives off that much darkness, then I can definitely believe there is a Zorc somewhere. And behind a seal would make the most sense. It's worked before.

...eh?

[Drawing his deck out, he checks through it until he comes to the card. Dark Master - Zorc...? He can't feel anything from it at all. It's just a card, right?

But if Harriet feels anything that bad from it, it must be dangerous. He likes the effect and the card itself is pretty cool, if chilling, but maybe he should get rid of it. For now, he puts it in a different pocket, along with the ritual card to summon it.]

You sound like you've got a lot of experience with sealed evil beings, Vaughn-san...

[prickling a bit as he checks it out, but she keeps it to herself and just drinks some more tea.]

You probably won't be able to sense it, since you don't war duel. That or whatever keeps Bakura from sensing it would extend to you. But take my word for it - it's bad.

...Oh, that's because I helped defeat one. Rosenkreuz used Eleanor to unlock its seal, because he thought it would bring him glory. He thought it was an Ancient Card Guardian named Manawyddan Fab Llyr.

We never figured out what it really was. But it felt a lot like that Zorc card.

[The spirit can't sense it either...? Isn't that kind of weird? The spirit's powerful, he knows that, and he can use the Ring to its' limits, he's sure. And on top of that, Zorc was one of the spirit's avatars, right? But he can't sense it?

He almost asks if she's sure, but then she says that name and he ends up just staring.]

...

[NOT EVEN TRYING TO PRONOUNCE THAT NAME.]

England has some really weird names.

[Ancient Card Guardian? ...your world is weird, Harriet. Despite that, an admiring note slips into his voice.]

You must be really powerful to do that, though! It's kind of cool...

Heh, thanks! Well, there were three of us fighting him - Rosenkreuz, Elly and myself. So it's not as though I took him down alone. But I suppose I am still pretty awesome~

[She grins a bit, not entirely serious... But he doesn't need to know how lucky she was to have even survived. Sacrificing your life points to create an opportunity is never easy.]

Even so, that's pretty amazing! All of you are really awesome.

[He grins broadly at her. It's not even joking; he's really impressed. Just three people against some kind of ancient evil force? That's really something!]

I'm glad it's all over, though. Things like that must be really scary.

To be honest, I was scared the entire time I was there. It wasn't until Henry was crowned that I could start to relax a little, and even then... I didn't feel any relief until we left and ended up here. I was just happy to be in the right time period.

...

[That's right, poor Harriet's been taken away from home way longer than the rest of them. Poor thing. He sips his tea slowly, almost demurely, sinking into the comfortable silence for a moment.]

It must have been really disorienting. Like culture shock turned all the way up.

Yeah, that was bad. But it was mostly the war thing, [she smiles sheepishly.]

When we fought Manawhatever, it was grueling, difficult and intense. I was angry with Rosenkreuz, afraid for my life, and desperate to protect my best friend... it almost didn't matter what he was. We just had to take him down for the nightmare to end.

[She's suffered a lot, huh... war really is frightening, and dealing with something like that... Nobody really deserves to endure that.]

Sorry... I didn't mean to drag up unpleasant memories. It's fascinating, but if it's unpleasant, please don't feel obliged to talk about it.

... That's no problem. I'm tougher than that, remember?

Anyway, I think the people I met here are the only ones who can understand me on this. In a way it's good to have someone to talk to.

[Ryou smiles and nods, sipping his tea with a little more happiness now.]

I guess it's the closest thing to therapy you can get here, right?

[Not that any real therapist would listen to that story without assuming she was just insane. That really must be tough. She can't really tell anyone other than the people with equally weird experiences that live here.]

Hey, Vaughn-san, would you mind if I borrowed a little bit of your story for a future TRPG campaign? It could be really fun to adapt.

Hm? [she blinks, a little surprised by that. Was he inspired by her now? She picks up her tea and looks into it with a small smile before she takes another sip.] If you want to do that, I don't really mind. I'm happy to have given you an idea.

Is there anything else you wanted to know, though? It could be about my story or Bakura's.

[MINGLE ] And many happy returns to you, Bakura!

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