fluffydeathdealer | [CAMPUS/IC]

Nothing. I was just saying your name.

[It was kind of silly, now that he thought about, but...

Whatever. He was just going to stay in this hold as long as Bakura would allow it, slowly easing his worries down to their usual tolerable toxicity.]

...heh. I see.

[He lets the hold stay until he feels Malik is safe to let go, before drawing back to look at his face seriously.]

How are you feeling?

[While still looking melancholy, Malik looks considerably less hopeless and desolate than before.]

Better... [He lifts his scared hand, looking down at the glove wordlessly. Despite everything...he still wanted to put a fragment of his soul directly into Ryou's body.

Maybe that would have been a better idea than the knife. Chances are Bakura wouldn't have even noticed.]

But I didn't expect it to go away that easily either. Until I'm sure my alter ego can't take over...I'm always going to feel like this.

It's like a knife hanging over our heads... that guy. Keh...! I'll rip him out of your mind someday!

[With that sharp threat, he looks around thoughtfully. The shards can be left for Ryou to clean up... Malik probably won't feel like food... Nope, nothing of too much interest to be done to distract him. Too bad. But he has to do something...]

With any luck, we'll be out of here soon anyway. He'll surely disappear then.

["Our heads". No, wasn't it just his? But Bakura cared about him, and he cared if that alter ego took over. In that sense, he was in this with him...he had something to lose, too. That thought alone was comforting.]

That's right. Once I kill the Pharaoh, my other half won't have anything to fuel it. That's why getting out of here is so important.

[But wait, hadn't Henry said something about that? It's coming back to him now, those words that stuck with him so firmly at the time. "Hatred and rage are a terrible burden . . . with no end and no way to satiate it."

Even if he succeeded, and he was sure he would...would that other half of him still remain?]

Edited 2013-10-09 23:21 (UTC)

That brat won't know what's coming to him... Heh.

[Taking a seat on the table again, he swings his legs idly, looking for all the world the picture of an ordinary teenager.]

But you don't look too confident... are you going soft on me?

[Malik gives a shake of his head, clearing his doubts by pressing them back into his subconscious.]

No, of course not! I've only been getting stronger. I wasn't lying earlier, you know. I really did summon a 5-star monster. And that reminds me...

[That confidence of his seems to be coming back with a vengeance.] Harriet gave me a "hint"...she'll definitely fall into my hands soon.

...? A hint about what?

[Bakura stares at Malik as if he's grown another head. Could he be talking about the Ra thing?]

Awhile ago, I asked Harriet to teach me her style of dueling in exchange for the use of my Rod--I told you that already. She refused, of course...but then about a week ago she approached me on the beach.

[Malik leaves out a lot of the finer details. His brooding mood at the time and what he'd told Harriet when he'd shown her his back, for one.]

She asked me to consider my deck...what was my favourite card, and do I feel a connection with my cards. It sounded like nonsense at first, but the more I thought about the way I summon my monsters--especially the higher-level ones--the more it started to make sense.

Keh keh...she'll crack soon, I can feel it! [His teeth flash in a grin, and Malik reaches back to pull out his deck.]

I didn't really care for most of the cards in my deck, to be honest. I picked most of them based on how rare and powerful they were, since my Rare Hunters left me with plenty to spare...

So for this exercise, I've been trying to build a new deck.

Edited 2013-10-10 01:31 (UTC)

...

You're that mediocre a duelist...?

[Only picking strong cards with no strategy beyond their rarity... how pathetic. Even Ryou and Jounouchi picked their decks with more care than that.]

... [What--]

What do you mean mediocre?! I almost beat the Pharaoh myself twice, and you've never even seen me duel!

There's way more to dueling than just having strong monsters. Even with the weaker monsters in my deck, I almost beat him twice myself.

I have strategies too! You haven't even seen my Ra or Osiris decks!

[Not that he has it right now. Quite a few of the cards had to be put into his new deck that he was currently shuffling in his hands, expression sour.]

Tch...anyway. I was testing my connections by reaching inside the cards. I noticed out of the ones I could summon, some lower-level ones were easier than others...

Edited 2013-10-10 01:53 (UTC)

Ah, is that so? They must be the ones that resonate best with you.

[Right, good, change the subject before he ends up either punched in the dick or dumped like a sack of bricks.]

The ones 'closest to your heart' can be felt out quite easily, right?

That's what I was thinking. Out of everything I had, I only found a few that felt significantly different.

[So from his deck, Malik pulls out those cards that "resonated best" with him. Two familiar cards; Twin-Headed Behemoth and Spirit Reaper were amongst them. Less familiar were some cards he must have gotten at one of the vending machines: The Illusory Gentleman, Wall of Illusion, and...Thunder Nyan Nyan.

For some reason, he's covering the picture on that last card up.]

But out of all of them Twin-Headed Behemoth was the most powerful.

Edited 2013-10-10 02:23 (UTC)

...? The hell are you covering that one up for?

[The Behemoth... the one they'd tried to escape on. Interesting.

Speaking of interesting things he'll just be grabbing that card Malik is covering up. Yoink.

...oh, that's why. He snickers at the sight, waving the card at him.]

So your inner catboy came out, then?

Hey--! [Malik makes to swipe the card back, but it's too late. It's been seen. He folds his other cards back into his deck as he shoots Bakura a look of mild annoyance.]

What is that even supposed to mean?

[Is he insulting him or flirting with him? The fact he can't tell...he supposes he should be used to that by now.]

A card's a card...1900 attack for a four-star monster isn't bad.

Edited 2013-10-10 07:50 (UTC)

Of course it isn't. You can look over my cards too if you want to see if any of them work for you.

But I guess you really don't have the nature of a duelist if you think that. A card isn't just a card. It doesn't matter, I suppose.

[A light shrug accompanies his words. Their style of dueling... Harry had shown him something unique about it too. It had frightened him... that idea of 'permanently summoned monsters'.]

I think I understand the clue, at least a little. Though not enough to be a direct answer.

... [The offhanded insult has him scorning Bakura even more so with his gaze. Saying he doesn't have the "nature of a duelist"...tch!

His patience was wearing thin.]

If you understand, then come out with it! The faster I get this done, the faster we get out of here.

[He demanding sticks his hand out, not about to refuse the offer from earlier.] Give me your deck.

The Rose Duelists have their monsters permanently summoned into a spiritual form. Meaning all they need to do is to supply them with the energy to take solid form, rather than to pull them into our world. By doing that, there's less direct control. The monsters' own personalities mean they could be troublesome to command if you don't have some kind of loyal connection formed between them.

[He hands the deck over, as well as his spare cards, without hesitation.]

But you should be careful. I know Henry doesn't want me to know much about their skills, and he's the one in charge of their group. If he finds out you and Harriet are talking about this stuff he might try to break her away from you.

[Malik starts to rifle through Bakura's cards as he listens. It would take too much energy to summon every monster here to be sure, so he'll just be taking a "peek" inside each of the ones at his level to see if he feels anything significant.]

I see... So that's why they can summon so many at once, and why they seem to be unhurt when they're destroyed. It makes sense then, and by that logic I should still be able to summon Ra; the card chose me after all.

Keh, and don't worry about Henry...if she tries to tell him anything, my soul fragment will know and stop her.

[He stops at Man-Eater Bug, eyes flicking open as he holds it in his hand a moment. This was the monster Bakura had left to guard him that one time while he was injured, wasn't it? He remembers idly playing with the beast as well. Was that why he felt a connection?]

Yes; they're not supplying them with their own energy like we are. To be honest, it rather unnerved me to begin with. I've never seen anything like it before.

[He watches Malik work, curiously. His own deck was carefully selected, but he feels far less of a connection to them than one would expect. As he'd said to Henry, he would trust few of those monsters not to destroy him if he didn't have control over them. At least Malik doesn't seem bothered by the obvious obsession with death that most of those cards seemed to display.]

But you know, if you manage to do what they do, you'll never have privacy again unless you leave your deck somewhere. Those devils are always popping out to annoy me when I talk to Henry.

If that's the burden I have to bear in order to summon Ra and get out of here, then so be it. All this means is my suspicions were right...learning their method of dueling will make this easier.

[Malik keeps Man-Eater Bug tucked between his index and ring fingers as he continues to look through the rest of Bakura's deck.]

I'll have to talk to Harriet again soon. She's had some time to mull over our last conversation.

[It felt like he'd taken two steps forward, but one back. Now she was even more suspicious of his other self now, but luckily his confiding in her had seemed to undo the most of it.

If only he hadn't let his emotions get the better of him that day...he might have been summoning Ra already!]

Edited 2013-10-10 19:00 (UTC)

Heh. If you can summon Ra in that form, I'll be quite impressed.

[Folding his arms over his chest, he sits back and watches Malik. He doubts it will work like that. Ra is too powerful to be bound that way, surely. And with the will of the monsters... no, he really doubts Malik can do this.]

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