victory_road | ANOMALY DETECTED

[Bakura looks from the tomb keeper's face to the clawed paw that's still stuck into his face and back again.

After a long moment he lowers his head - and starts laughing. Genuinely laughing, not his usual evil cackle. Once he has calmed down, Bakura takes Zoroark's paw solemnly and gives it both a squeeze and a shake.]

You're both idiots.

[Oh.

That's... not a laugh he's heard before. He blinks, looking down at Zoroark for a moment before looking back up at Bakura.

... At least he's in a good mood. He'll take it even if he has to call himself an idiot. Chen stirs a bit but since there's no malicious energy, he doesn't spring into action.]

Yeah. Maybe a little.

[Marik pauses for a second then steps closer and goes to place a hand on Bakura's shoulder with a small smile.]

... I can't make you take me seriously but... I meant what I said, Bakura.

[Bakura has always been moody as hell (most likely thanks to the isolation). Right now Marik and Zoroark are lucky that his inner pendulum is swaying in the opposing direction after taking a deep sway into the upset/angry section.]

So you do. [Whatever.] I'm still not letting you just have a free pass to dive into my memories whenever you feel like it. Like you said, that shit's private.

Besides, you can control that thing about as good as you did Ra. It'll just make you cry like a baby again.

[To Zoroark, he adds in a lower voice "you can stay", which gets promptly rewarded with a happy noise and an attempt to jump into his arms. Apparently Marik isn't the only one with a hand for ghost types - that or Marik and Zoroark share the same bad case of taste-confusion.]

I wouldn't want to dive into them again anyways. Once was more than enough.

[He's going to be ruminating on that for the next while though. Food for thought, as they say. He has both those memories etched into his mind and what Kisara's told him vaguely of the events to work through.

Marik would ask Bakura about ka beasts but he knows he's pushed his luck enough today. He pulls his hand back and instead places both of them on his own hips.]

You forget that wasn't me. That was my other personality. I only ever handled Slifer.

[The blonde narrows his eyes but... he isn't actually angry. The thief can probably see the hint of a smirk on the corner of his lips. This banter of theirs was something he missed.]

You didn't fair all that well against him either.

Hn. But I could control that Runerigus. I'd just need time...

What? Don't want to see any more of the Pharaoh's heroisms?

[He smirks as he fends Zoroark off. Seems like ghosts are allowed a lot more freedom with him that the living.]

You forget that I still remember our duel with that 'other you' damn well! How was it, "trust me, Bakura! I know what we've got to do!"... ?

[He rolls his eyes as he imitates Marik's voice.]

You'd need a spine, you mean, not time. And I'd have damn well won against him if you hadn't tried to backseat drive!

Edited 2022-12-10 03:33 (UTC)

[Marik sneers.]

I have to live with the bastard. I see far more than I ever wanted to of him on a daily basis.

[He really should get his own place...

The tomb keeper purses his lips at the imitation and insult about the lack of a spine. He doesn't sound like that though! Why does everyone make him sound so nasally? ~~Because he is.~~]

Alright, so I messed up big time during that Shadow Game. I'm...

[Huff!]

I shouldn't have butted in and distracted you like I did, especially since... you were the only one to actually do something when I came to you.

[Apologizing is difficult. He hates doing it.]

... I'm sorry, okay?

That- [No, there's no excuse for that. That's ever worse taste than trying to be scary and intimidating than wearing a lavender girl's top.

Bakura grimaces in disgust.]

You've got nobody to blame for that but yourself, lackey.

[He huffs. At least Ishtar realizes that he's to blame.]

Next time you do that I'll seal you in the shadow realm myself. Or in one of your sister's panties!

[It's not a girl's top!]

I know.

[He should have put his foot down but that would have raised suspicion or made things awkward. Having dealt with it so long now though, breaking away might be even more so now. Sigh.

It isn't the threat of being sealed in the Shadow Realm that upsets him. It's the mention of his sister. He wrinkles his nose in disgust.]

You're not capable of-

[Marik stops himself because... knowing Bakura and his many abilities, he probably could do that.

He'd much rather rot in a pocket dimension of the Afterlife than deal with his sister in that manner.]

I won't interject in the future unless you ask for it.

... But I'd rather avoid Shadow Games all together.

[Only Marik believes that!]

Hehehe~ and how I'd be capable of it! Just ask Ryou, I've sealed souls in game tokens before!

[It's a nice little trick he has 'taken' with him from the court and its priests, although he hadn't really been aware of it back then. It's a good thing that that first loss really helped kickstarting his ego and brain properly again.

~~Let's just skip how he's planning to even get one of Ishizu's underwear in the first place.~~]

Why? Are you scared of them, now that you'd have to wager your own soul in them? I could give you a crash course in them, you know~

[Torture, ridicule and quite a lot of other nasty things included for free.]

Ghhh...

[Of course he could do it. Marik finds himself sick to his stomach at the thought.

At least they can shift topics to Shadow Games.]

My other half offered me up after he fought you. That wasn't exactly a fun experience for me.

... Besides, I'm not a Millennium Item wielder anymore. I told you that.

[As much as he'd like to be one again, he knows it won't fly.]

Yugi has three of them, Shadi has two, and you have the Ring.

[That leaves one last item.]

Pegasus doesn't have the Eye anymore. ... Who has it?

[If Marik were to ask Bakura would tell him that all those sealed souls are back in their proper bodies and conveniently had their memories of the imprisonment sealed. He hadn't meant to do them any harm back then, after all. They only should keep playing with his landlord.]

Then you got a taste of what your own victims felt like.

[He hums thoughtfully, before Bakura flashes Marik a grin.]

Do you want to get be one again. And I really wonder about what happened to the eye~

... I did.

[He doesn't feel sorry for what he did. For the suffering his victims went through. The only thing he regrets was that he lost control, let his other half take over, that he had to grovel to get people to help him, and that he had to be on the receiving end of a Shadow Game.

Marik looks off to the paintings again, fiddling with one of his earrings.]

Mn... If one were to fall into my lap, perhaps.

[Even if he didn't do anything as big as trying to become Pharaoh, he misses the power that came with the items. That dark energy.

He looks over at Bakura again.]

... Is it you?

Me? How would I ever have gotten my hands on it, pray tell?

[He doesn't even try to look innocent. Of course Bakura did have the eye. He tore it out of Pegasus face himself. But does he still have it? That's for him to know and for Marik to guess.]

Who has the Rod right now?

I don't know. You probably found a way. You are the Thief King, after all.

[He sighs.]

Little Yugi does along with the Egyptian God Cards.

[The smile Marik is rewarded with is nothing less but beaming. Bakura really likes being acknowledged like that. It feeds his substantial ego in the best ways.]

Yuugi, huh? Is he here as well? Or does the Pharaoh have them?

[Huh. Bakura's full of surprises today, isn't he?]

No, he's not. And the Pharaoh only has the Puzzle. While he's in this world though it has no power.

Only has the puzzle? Oh well. [He falls silent and thinks for a moment.

Then he shrugs.]

Wanna take that instead for the meantime?

[Hm. Marik rubs his chin in thought.]

... It's powerless though. Nothing more than a paper weight. I could have stolen it a dozen times by now but... both Atem and Kaiba would know it was me. I'm the only person who would want the Items here.

Then it sucks to be you, huh? How about getting yourself a proper knife at least?

[Having a way to defend yourself or attack others is always handy. Knives are especially versatile in Bakura's opinion too, since they can be used all the way from thieving tools to cooking and eating to ending another person's life in his experience.]

[Marik shows his teeth in an annoyed, mocking manner at Bakura's first remark.]

... Weapons are either completely outlawed or dull insanely quickly. Hell, I don't even know if I could stab someone or if the knife would dull instantly...

The Gods of this world have a cruel sense of humor.

Are you still going on about that nonsense? Gods don't have anything to do with your misery! This world has processed food, right? How about ropes or scissors?

[He rolls his eyes, throughout fed up with Marik's lack of creativity.]

Because I've seen it with my own eyes!

[He bites his bottom lip.]

Obviously there's processed foods, rope, and scissors. When I've tried to use something for a "different" purpose, it's like... trying to push two magnets together by the wrong ends. It's bizarre...

So, then how do people die in this world?

[If there is processed food, then animals must have died for it. That means that taking lives is possible as long as certain conditions are fulfilled. Marik only needs to find those conditions.]

I... I don't really know. I've seen old folk in the towns but never... thought about what happens to them.

[He is starting to piece things together. They make food so you can kill pokémon at the very least... Maybe? Oddly enough, he finds the thought of killing a human far less upsetting than killing a pokémon.]

I've spoken with people who died back in their world and woke up here afterwards. And considering the supposed origins of some pokémon, there's obviously a form of an afterlife and reincarnation in this place...

[Marik shakes his head.]

... This world gives me a headache sometimes.

It does to me in general, no matter where and what time I wake up to. Anyway. Find out what those monsters use to kill each other and try to use that. I've seen a bird made out of blades, if you don't want to harm the "poor monster" then you can at least get one of its cast-off feathers and work from that point on.

[He rolls his eyes before he suddely smirks. Time to get some fire lit under Marik's ass again.]

Seriously, Ishtar, do I have to explain everything to you? At the rate you're going it's a miracle you managed to hold the right end of the blade when you offed your own family!

ANOMALY DETECTED

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)