[CAMPUS/IC]

[fluffydeathdealer]

[This is a general post for threads that can't go anywhere else, to prevent making closed posts for one or two characters.

Threads here are 100% IC for the_campus.

05/10/13 - A Soft Heart Breaking. (Date Mislabelled on actual thread)
05/10/13 - What Family's For
8/10/13 - Trespass of the Soul
13/10/13 - Fears of the Past
13/10/13 - The Great Evacuation
14/10/13 - A Beach Date! Jokes Spiralling Out of Control
31/10/13 - Questionable Intentions
03/11/13 - Secrets of the Mind]

NEXT

Comments

[stealshinies]

[Wait, there'd been another name...Yugi Muto. Tch, out of the few people Ryou named, two of his targets were among them! He'll just have to word his requests carefully. If his Ba was close to these boys, then he might be even more useful than he thought.

But there was one more name that brought a low chuckle out from within him.]

Mahad? Well, there's no need to worry there. After all, he's already dead. I killed him.

[fluffydeathdealer]

...

[Oh goddammit, he doesn't know.]

Well... that's... kind of a funny story...

[stealshinies]

[His expression turns flat, even sour at that.]

...What?

[fluffydeathdealer]

[Oh, he really doesn't want to be the one to tell him. Don't run, don't run, don't run.]

People... don't stay dead here.

[stealshinies]

[His voice shook slightly with a growing anger.]

What do you take me for, Ba?

[fluffydeathdealer]

[Oh god. Please don't let this guy decide to test it out on him.]

I'm not lying! It takes a few days, but people come back! Henry told me himself about Mahad-san.

[stealshinies]

H-heh heh... [This little bastard was lying right to his face!

Bakura reaches into his shendyt, pulling a knife from a hidden pocket.]

Would you bet your life on that?!

1/2

[fluffydeathdealer]

S-seriously...? [His face pales. He doesn't want to die, even if it's temporary... But he's telling the truth. Henry had said that Mahad wasn't the first person to die, too. Swallowing, he nods, slowly. His throat feels dry.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

[Folding his hands in his lap, he meets the thief's eyes with firm - if terrified - determination. He's scared, but even if he's not experienced it himself, he trusts that it's true. Besides... he's faced down death before. He can steel himself for this... right?]

If you want to test it, there's no way I could run away anyway. But I'm telling the truth.

[His voice shakes. If he's got to die, he at least wanted it to be less... meaningless.]

D... do it if you want.

[stealshinies]

Well, since you've given me permission...

[...It was time to test his Ba's tongue holding skills. He wouldn't kill him, of course. After all, he was a part of him he might need in the future.

Bakura brought his knife closer, pressing the tip carelessly to Ryou's neck with one hand. Without anything holding Ryou in place, the boy could easily just move away.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

[His body wouldn't stop shaking. The most terrifying person he'd ever met was pressing a knife to his throat. Even if he'd wanted to run, he couldn't have. His body seemed incapable of moving. This wasn't some casual scare. He was really in danger here.

Even if death wasn't permanent here, his body was still treating it as it was. His mind was still in that mindset. Of course it was! Things like that, like people coming back to life, were just fairy tales. Like ghosts or magic.

...why was his mind still in that mindset again?]

...

[Oh god, he was going to draw this out, wasn't he? That jerk!]

What are you waiting for...?

[stealshinies]

You seem awfully frightened for someone who believes that people can come back from the dead... Not three thousand years from now, as a fragmented soul, but as a whole!

[He presses the tip to Ryou's neck harder, and then draws it along the flesh to create a thin red line.]

If you're so confident, Ba, then plunge your neck onto my knife yourself!

[fluffydeathdealer]

Ow...! [Ah, that fear was just getting greater... WAIT WHAT-]

Eh-?! That's... cruel, Bakura-san! I don't have the nerve to do that myself! If you want to test it, go ahead, but don't tell me to do such a thing!

Even if it's possible, I'm still human. It's instinctive to be scared... and I don't like pain...

[stealshinies]

Tch.

[Bakura grabs Ryou by the hair and tugs him harshly forward, as if he were about to do it himself. However, he angles the knife in such a way that it nonlethally slices the side of Ryou's neck open instead.

Ryou's face was pressed up against his chest, to the point that he could hear the rapid beat of Bakura's heart if he tried.

That fear...that trembling and stuttering! He enjoyed seeing that in the eyes of others he was trying to scare. But he was annoyed, too, by his Ba's insolence and by his weakness.

He would never show such weakness in the face of imminent death! Even if he felt it...it wasn't for the enemy to see!]

[fluffydeathdealer]

[Too quickly, Bakura's hand is roughly entangled in his hair, yanking him forward. For a moment that seems to stretch on forever, he's only aware of a sudden pain in his throat and the warmth of blood against his skin.]

Ah-!

[The pained yelp is about all the sound he can make as he realizes to his surprise that he's not dying. ...The hell?

Instead, there was only the unnerving warmth of his scary past's closeness and the sound of his heart beating. This was uncomfortable.]

...huh...?

[He's not dying... that's good. Instead, he's just going to melt here, okay?]

[stealshinies]

[Not okay.

Bakura isn't done with him yet. He presses the knife back over that bleeding wound and forces Ryou's head back with the hair fisted between his fingers.]

So... Are you still prepared to die over such a pointless bluff?

[fluffydeathdealer]

[Ow ow ow ow ow...]

I told you! I'm not lying! We can go find Mahad-san right now, if you want!

[stealshinies]

[Find Mahad, and risk him trying to exact his revenge? That was a fucking stupid idea. This environment wasn't to Bakura's advantage in the least, and he had no way of summoning Diabound.]

I think I've heard enough. [He let the words hang ominously for a moment, his knife moving slowly from Ryou's neck.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

[So... he's not dying, right? Wrong? He's not sure.]

I... is that so? Sorry...

[stealshinies]

I'll test this "theory" of yours out later. For now...

[He leans in, his lips cracking to reveal the white of his teeth in a grin.]

You wanted to taint your soul, right? H-heh heh... I can teach you all about hatred...and what the weak-willed slaves of "justice" call vices!

[fluffydeathdealer]

Un... [What has he gotten himself into? He's not so sure that anything to do with this guy and vices is a good thing.]

Please, if you would. I'd appreciate it.

[stealshinies]

Phh... [He purses his lips a moment.]

Lesson one: ...Don't act so polite when I'm trying to taint you!

[fluffydeathdealer]

R-really...?

[Asking Ryou to be impolite is like asking water to not be wet. But he guesses it is pointless to be polite about someone trying to make his soul blacker.]

I'll try.

[stealshinies]

Good...then what should I do first? [He lets go of Ryou, allowing him some space, but not for long as the Thief King soon presses a hand to the other boy's chest.]

Or rather...what should you do first? Thieve or kill animals--pick one, my Ba!

[fluffydeathdealer]

[Why are you so touchy-feely?! And what kind of a choice was that? Well, the animals one won't piss anyone off, at least. Unless there's some kind of forest god who protects them.]

I guess... animals?