Seto Kaiba (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
blue_ice) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
voidtreckerexpress2020-11-08 08:17 pm
blue_ice) wrote in voidtreckerexpress2020-11-08 08:17 pm
wound up
Who: Kaiba and open!
Where: Spa car
When: Imagination 4, very late at night
What: Someone gives into temptation to indulge and has potentially interesting discussions!
Warnings: Implied/possible mention of child abuse, other war/injury discussion possible. Will update if needed.
It's been...a day. Kaiba's spent time this evening working on how to talk to the others. It's clear as a train they need to regroup on a number of topics and make some changes, but how? And does he even want to try to facilitate? Not exactly his strong suit. He can already imagine the headache. He's sketched out a few potential outlines of topics to open the floor on. Maybe the memorial really is the simplest place to start?
But he's putting that out of his mind. After a late night in the standard car hunched over his notebook, he realizes that the train's fallen quiet in the night. Time to head back to bed. He moves through the largely-empty cars, but as the strange new scent of the spa car filters through in the corridor, he hesitates. The quiet is the perfect time, isn't it?
One ruffle through the closet and a quick shower trip later, he returns, carefully folding his legs beneath him as he sinks in. His torso's long enough that he's only covered up to the ribs and the old, angry red marks between his shoulder blades are exposed, but surely it's quiet enough that that's not an issue.
Finally...at last, he hears nothing but the sound of water lapping the edges of the pool. He can finally relax. He closes his eyes, rolling his shoulders back with a soft sigh.
"...hm. Not bad...maybe."
Where: Spa car
When: Imagination 4, very late at night
What: Someone gives into temptation to indulge and has potentially interesting discussions!
Warnings: Implied/possible mention of child abuse, other war/injury discussion possible. Will update if needed.
It's been...a day. Kaiba's spent time this evening working on how to talk to the others. It's clear as a train they need to regroup on a number of topics and make some changes, but how? And does he even want to try to facilitate? Not exactly his strong suit. He can already imagine the headache. He's sketched out a few potential outlines of topics to open the floor on. Maybe the memorial really is the simplest place to start?
But he's putting that out of his mind. After a late night in the standard car hunched over his notebook, he realizes that the train's fallen quiet in the night. Time to head back to bed. He moves through the largely-empty cars, but as the strange new scent of the spa car filters through in the corridor, he hesitates. The quiet is the perfect time, isn't it?
One ruffle through the closet and a quick shower trip later, he returns, carefully folding his legs beneath him as he sinks in. His torso's long enough that he's only covered up to the ribs and the old, angry red marks between his shoulder blades are exposed, but surely it's quiet enough that that's not an issue.
Finally...at last, he hears nothing but the sound of water lapping the edges of the pool. He can finally relax. He closes his eyes, rolling his shoulders back with a soft sigh.
"...hm. Not bad...maybe."
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Regret. Abandonment.
"...how old was I when I died? Or left?"
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Yuume stares for a moment- and ultimately her voice is distant, and saddened all at once. The words will hurt. She knows they'll hurt but...
"...What I am telling you... ...I am telling you, because if I lie, you will know. ...You're an intelligent person- vastly intelligent, more than any I've known at your age. ...I won't disrespect that," she says quietly, closing her eyes.
But ultimately...
"...We don't know, which of the two it was. If it was the latter, it wasn't willingly. If it was the former, the question of how remains in question. ...Mokuba was one of many to enter what we refer to as a 'Time Lock'- when a shadow is stolen from them, or killed, they become trapped in a timeless coma. He isn't the only one from your time to have had this occur- but he was one of the latest of them, having already grown, married, and had a child of his own."
The implication perhaps stands that Seto did not do so himself- perhaps he can find comfort in that, perhaps not. Regardless- "...At the time, people did not know how to wake them from this state. As it stands, the first official success was not until a number of years after you vanished, and after Mokuba re-awoke."
He can, perhaps, connect the dots.
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"Damnit. Of course I would. But...how was he?"
He deserved better.
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"What I am saying is that you were undoubtedly why he was allowed to wake at all. The first successful awakening of someone within timelock was not long before I was born. You would have been dead yourself before there could be a chance to rouse him. Whatever happened- whatever you did, allowed him to wake before he lost everyone he had known entirely."
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He nods, shaky as it is.
"Sorry, I..."
He should. Probably explain himself.
"He means everything to me, and after everything I've gone through here...I've realized I've done a terrible job of showing it. I gave everything I had financially, but it's the other side of the equation I was awful at. I'm still working on that, and...thanks."
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"...When I was born, you were the first man I was compared to," she finally says quietly. "By an old, old man who had nothing but kindness to speak of. I can think of nothing else for someone to compare a newborn to, on the basis of. You may think only finance was what you gave...but whatever impression you left on my great-grandfather, it was far more meaningful than that," Yuume finishes, leaning back against the tub wall with a sigh.
"...That much...I can at least be sure of."
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Seto's voice is full of strained emotion. Pain, longing...but fondness is the strongest of all. He relaxes a little, but there's still something.
Compared. His adoptive father's awful plan flashes through his mind. Mokuba would never do such a thing, but there were things he didn't know...awful actors with the same ideas could infiltrate the company without him around to stop it.
"What it took to become me...isn't something I'd wish on anyone," he admits softly. "The weight of expectations can too easily become a weapon."
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She nods. "...If it means anything, I doubt he would have thought if that way. The 'you' that most see, compared to someone like great-grandfather... ...I can't imagine he saw you as anything but wonderful. More than likely what he meant to convey was that I would hopefully be as good at heart. ...I can't say whether or not I would measure up in his eyes, truthfully."
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"I could...tell you the story, if you want. So you know where he's coming from."
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"That was the work of the people on board...I've been forced to adapt heavily since arriving here, to being part of society. But I can show you something you probably haven't seen."
He jumps out of the water, hastily wraps the towel back around his shorts, and scrambles over to his pile of clothes. Inside, he grabs the familiar object, cracks it open...and shows her his most precious picture.
(There's also a picture of himself and Yugi Mutou dressed in rather silly neon onesies right next to it, apparently taken in the gym car, but that's not important right now.)
"Family is important to me...and that includes you now. So if there's anything I can do to help you on missions, call me."
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"....That locket style..." She recognizes it. "...Great-grandfather has... ....ah..." ...So then, that's him. "...even though he looks so different, I can still tell it's him... ...I've never seen a photo of him so small," she says quietly, smiling.
And...evidently there's a trend in the family to get crushes on Mutous, but she won't draw attention to that. Instead...
...Well instead she gives a snorted laugh. "Hah -! I genuinely hope I don't need to do so but...I'll keep that in mind, yes. I'd rather not inconvenience anyone after all..."
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"His held a picture of me around age seven...they were taken back at the orphanage. We're adopted, our adoptive father had it coming to him, so I seized his company and transformed it into Kaiba Corporation the gaming giant. That's the short version."
That smoothly...smoothed over, he nods to her. "But it's not an inconvenience to keep the group alive. I'm best suited for technical issues, but I'll do what I can."
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"...My cousin...well. My second cousin rather," she chuckles, "Is the current CEO. ...You could say he brought matters 'back' to games, though I don't know that I would quite classify it as that. More accurately... ...he would be the reason why society didn't collapse when the age of shadows began. Before that...the enforced distance from being able to work with solid vision brought the company into dimensional travel for a time. Arguably, that's still KaibaCorp's specialty actually. They're the reason for the subway...ah."
Yuume blinks. "Actually...you might be interested to hear this Seto, but when I first watched the train's departure through the void, I had thought of the subway. It's fundamentally quite different, but visually..."
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"...An interdimensional subway. I've done some work on the subject, but with that much time passing, it would've exceeded my initial plans."
He closes his eyes. "Did you ride it? What kinds of worlds did people travel to?"
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Well, isn't that just something then?
"...But in terms of other worlds...the realm of shadows- the 'duel monsters realm', you might call it, sits between the four. I've certainly seen that one as well."
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"That was the last thing I remember doing. I'd become...entangled with a pharaoh, whose spirit had ended up trapped in our time. Knowing him changed me, and we had a score left to settle. But he'd left without a word to me, as if I'd meant nothing to him."
Deep breath. "I couldn't let it end like that. So I followed him. And achieved closure of a sort. But it was incredibly risky, and I don't know if I made it back...or if I orphaned Mokuba again."
Another breath. "But at least the plans survived. That realm...it sounds incredible, or incredibly dangerous."
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...That said. "...A...pharaoh, though?"
She's trying very hard not to ask about what he saw there.