wound up

[blue_ice]

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."

Comments

[blue_ice]

"Mokie..."

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."

[shadowslipping]

What an odd thing to say- but then, perhaps not, given those scars.

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."

[blue_ice]

"It's definitely very possible. You've been good to us, I've seen you with the others," is what he can say for now, with the smallest hint of a smile.

"I could...tell you the story, if you want. So you know where he's coming from."

[shadowslipping]

"The story..?" ...She pauses, and slowly shakes her head. "...I won't push for that kind of thing. I'm fine trusting his judgement, neh? I can say the same to you after all- you have a good heart as well."

[blue_ice]

Seto smiles a little, touching the place on his chest where the locket usually hangs.

"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."

[shadowslipping]

"Oh?" Yuume crosses her arms loosely and simply sits back in wait- waiting until Seto returns, opening the locket.

"....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..."

[blue_ice]

"You look just like him...I should've realized right away." Seto smiles awkwardly when he remembers the other picture in there, and he takes it back with a little cough. The other picture...all those years later, Mokuba would hold on to the last trace of him. It makes Seto's eyes sting, and he blinks forcefully to deal with that.

"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."

[shadowslipping]

"...'had it com-' ...Ah." She doesn't dig any farther into things on that. Vaguely put as it was, the vagueness in itself speaks volumes after all. Instead she therefore works to carry the topic away.

"...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..."

[blue_ice]

That subject does in fact interest him. Kaiba carefully climbs back into the water, shivering pleasantly as he adjusts to the heat once more. It's still nice.

"...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?"

[shadowslipping]

"I ride it quite regularly, actually, for my commute... ...it's interesting, but it was pure chance that the company took that path. The world at one point broke into four separated dimensions- when they became aware of the other, a war broke out... ...it just so happened that around the point that shadows began rising, and the war had ended, that they realized the technology once used to try and reach the dead could be perhaps repurposed to encourage that peace further..."

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."

[blue_ice]

"To reach the dead..." he echoes, an odd expression of guilt flickering across his face.

"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."

[shadowslipping]

"....I obviously can't speak for you, but at the very least, some version of you returned," she hums, before nodding slowly. "...I would say it's both- it's safe enough when you're on the train, passing through, but the few visits I've taken there have been tense; shadows are as varied as people, and then even more than that. Some are perfectly easy to get along with. Others will attack without warning."

...That said. "...A...pharaoh, though?"

She's trying very hard not to ask about what he saw there.