The Best Thing About Not Being Home is Missing You

[preuxchevalier]

There are people back home that your character hates. Or maybe they love them, but they're terrible people/influences. Here's your chance to talk or play out that special someone turning up in the Meadous. Are they so far out of their element that they're now defanged tigers? Do they lead right in with their wicked ways? What is your character's CR even going to think when they meet this person?
 

Post with your own character or the person they most/least want to see again who's a bad thing for them. Feel free to play out encounters in the snow between this character and your regular character's CR, or talk it out with if you're not sure you've got the voice down.
 

Fun for all ages! And by fun, we mean misery!

Comments

[chalicejoker]

Hajime had been out taking Darkroach for a walk--the big bug trailing along behind him needed exercise and, it would seem, supervision--when he'd spotted Bakura. As he approached to go say hello, he sensed that something was off. Some sort of darkness.

Darkroach sensed it, too, and the minion fell into line behind Hajime, wringing his hands as Hajime went to greet the other as though nothing were wrong. "Bakura." This was said with a simple, casual nod of greeting. Hajime kept his poker face on; time to see what was going on here.

[shiromadoushi]

Any trace of irritation that might have been showing vanished as the teen turned with a (faked) warm smile that came so easily. "Aaaa, hello!" he returned the greeting, mimicking his hosts's tone perfectly.

There was, however, the barest of pause at the sight of the giant bug monster.

...The hell had he missed.

[chalicejoker]

Undead reflexes and reaction times were very good. Hajime caught that brief pause. Bakura knew Darkroach very well. Bakura even liked the big bug. He glanced at Darkroach to make sure Darkroach hadn't done anything strange since the last time he'd paid close attention to his minion, but no. No unusual choices of neckwear or anything of the sort. Hajime filed this information away and kept his own demeanor as calm as possible. Between that and the darkness he was sensing? Something was off. "Mind if we join you?"

[shiromadoushi]

"Aaa-- no, no! Not at all!" The teen laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Might be good, I keep spacing out today..." he admitted sheepishly.

[chalicejoker]

Darkroach gave Hajime a questioning buzz. He was also an Undead, and even he had picked up on something being off here. When Darkroach noticed a problem, well, that was when you knew you had a problem.

Hajime returned that buzz with a slight nod. "Darkroach would like to know if you'd want to go out to the woods with us. He wants to play hide and seek."

There was a really questioning buzz there, for that was not at all what Darkroach had in mind. Hajime just gave him another nod and hoped the bug would catch on. Get the impostor out into the woods where there were no witnesses, figure out what was going on...

[shiromadoushi]

"Eh? Aaa...." the teen blinked. "Would that be all right? With all the snow... Wouldn't be much of a game, would it!" he finished with a small laugh.

[chalicejoker]

"It'll be fine with the snow. Darkroach loves the snow. Don't you, Darkroach?" Hajime was forcing a smile now, one such that the normal Bakura might have been able to tell something was off. He waited for a comment.

Darkroach gave an enthusiastic chirp. He didn't know what was going on, but okay.

[shiromadoushi]

"Aaa--- if you're sure!"

Yami Bakura sure as hell wasn't. This whole think stunk like a trap and without his host's memories to lean on, he was going through it blind.

...And the way this guy smiled just rubbed him the wrong way.

"Though, it feels a little like something's a bit wrong, I think..." he faltered, rubbing the back of his neck. "My imagination, I wonder...?" he mused aloud.

[chalicejoker]

"Maybe." Hajime just wasn't much of a smiler. He was making Darkroach nervous, even. Hajime abruptly dropped the smile. "Might be some of what's got that aura of darkness hanging around you, then?"

[shiromadoushi]

"Eh? Aura of Darkness?" the teen repeated, blinking a few times. "What are you talking about?"

[chalicejoker]

Hajime had been in situations like this before. Once, back home, when he and Mutsuki thought Kenzaki and Tachibana had been corrupted by one of BOARD's chimerical Undead. His reaction this time was much the same as it had been with Kenzaki that first time.

Without any warning, he lashed out at Bakura, swinging his fist in a nice right hook. Darkroach hissed in alarm and fell back to cower behind Hajime; he had no idea what was going on, but his minion instincts were hardwired to the point he would always back Hajime up in a fight. Even if he wasn't very good at fighting.

[shiromadoushi]

Suddenly at alert, the teen dodged to the side, hand snapping out to try and grab Hajime's wrist.

[chalicejoker]

Hajime's Undead reflexes kicked in, and he nimbly avoided that wrist grab, only to back off. His transformation belt appeared around his waist. "Are you going to tell me what you are, or do I have to use a little force?"

[shiromadoushi]

The spirit's eyes narrowed, glancing down at Hajime's belt before back at his face, trying to assess the situation. As much as his host was a thorn in his side at times, he could be irreplaceably helpful at times; he could lean into his host's mind and find out just who the hell this annoyance was and how best to handle him. It was highly annoying to not have that resource right now...

"Tch..." With that irritated sound, the pretense was dropped. Hair became more wild, eyes darkened and one hand went to his hip as he took a more arrogant, open stance. "Yadonushi never mentioned me?" he asked with a trace of annoyance.

Even with the understood translation, the hint of switch between normal Bakura's polite speech and use of "boku" and the arrogant "ore" of the spirit was clear.

[chalicejoker]

Hajime did not visibly react at the sudden change. If anything, he seemed satisfied to have the problem out in the open. "We've never talked about it." He remained on guard, though he did not yet make the change to Chalice.

Darkroach gave a questioning chirp. "No, Darkroach, that's not the one we know." Another chirp. "In a moment." If he got an answer before attacking, fine. Otherwise? He was very much willing to fight.

[shiromadoushi]

The spirit's arms crossed. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me. Still afraid of what people are going to think, I'm sure..."

[chalicejoker]

"Most everyone here has a secret or two," Hajime said easily. "We try not to judge too harshly. He was still wary, wondering if he should pull his Category Ace and fight now, or if he should allow whoever or whatever this was to continue talking.

[shiromadoushi]

A touch of a smug smile touched the spirits lips. "So, he is here then, is he?"

Any information he could get on what his host was up to in this place would help him immensely. He needed to get his bearings, figure out what was going on in this place and make sure his host still remembered him favorably or if the pharaoh and his brat had undone all his hard work.

[chalicejoker]

Hm. Not a good reaction. Hajime's hand casually came down to rest on the card box clipped to that weird belt. "So what do you want with him, then?"

[shiromadoushi]

The spirit's eyes followed that motion, narrowing just a touch. Another Duelist...?

"He's my Host." It was a flat answer that explained very little.

[chalicejoker]

Hajime decided that he did not like the sound of this "Host" business. "So you're what, some kind of fancy parasite?"

[shiromadoushi]

A small chuckle. "Hardly. I pay my rent like a good tenant."

[chalicejoker]

"And what sort of rent might that be?" Hajime still sounded incredibly wary. Still wasn't liking this. Still looked like he might get aggressive at any moment.

[shiromadoushi]

The spirit was pointedly ignoring that hovering aggression. He knew this body was pathetic and weak. He wasn't so stupid as to get into a fight with someone like this.

"Wishes. Favors. Protection. You could say I'm his guardian spirit."

[chalicejoker]

"And does he appreciate having a guardian spirit?" Because Hajime really couldn't see Bakura liking a sort of dark influence.

He considered transforming and hitting the spirit just to see what would happen.