Trial of Trials : Act 2

[thequestgiver]

There's something uneasy that can be felt in the city, and seemingly no end to the rumors springing up in the wake of the downtown explosion that leveled BOARD's headquarters. Stories of an odd sickness where the afflicted suddenly winds up anemic, their blood levels dangerously low, despite feeling fine that morning have already taken root, others of strange animals seen roaming at night, and horrible screams and gunshots in one of the parking garages....

The space where the ill-fated headquarters lays silent, an empty patch of dirt and gravel that seemed to attract those drawn to stories and rumors. Police have already had to shoo away opportunists with metal detectors, hoping to find something interesting in the impressively quickly cleared wreckage, and others have reported something that just feels... wrong, when they walk by the site. The ghosts of those who hadn't made it out of the collapse? Or something else? Noone can really put a finger on it to explain.

And meanwhile, under the cover of shadows, things unknown to those who still walk in the light continue to move. Whispers of the rogue mage and a treasure trove of information, of upsets in the vampire hierarchy, and sworn revenge on the mages who had used one of their own for their gain.

And deep in a hidden lab, BOARD's remains and allies continue to work, twisting all they can get their hands on to create the perfect weapon; made of the very things they wish to cleanse from the world. The loss of the incapacitated vampire elder was only a small one, with how much they had already extracted and drawn from it. And if the rumors of their knowledge being in the hands of their enemies were true? They would just have to speed up their projected timeline. Or simply slow down that of the world. After all, they were mages. Reality bended to their will, not that of those who opposed them....

Comments

[shironekodoshi]

The Changeling was behind the counter, fingers moving over the keyboard furiously. "You're lucky I like you," was the cold, somewhat bitter and definitely angry return.

[kamenwriter]

Kotaro flinches at the admonishment, but he still manages to make it to the counter. "I'm sorry, Bakura, really. I... I don't know what happened. Something about him was just..."

He didn't know how to explain it. How just being around the man made it so easy to talk to him, to tell him everything. "But he gave me this."

And he slides Hayami's business card onto the counter.

[shironekodoshi]

"Vampire. They almost all have some sort of mind control ability," Bakura answered flatly before, glaring down at the card. "Someone like that gave you something and you carried it here? Don't you have any sense?!"

[kamenwriter]

"S-sorry!!" God he's still screwing up, he didn't even think about that, and now he might have led a real, proper monster to his friend's shop - his home? - and he's backing away from the counter. "I-I should just-- I'm sorry--!"

And that's him turning and bolting for the door. He's not exactly thinking straight right now, he just kind of wants out.

[shironekodoshi]

When the door opens, however, it does not reveal the empty parking lot and waiting car Kotaro had driven there. Instead, all that is visible is a swirling, ill defined darkness, teeming with ill defined shapes that wavered between just patterns in the noise of the shifting mists, or all too real looking fragments of creatures once, or never living.

He won't get much time to stare, however, before a cold, tense and unnaturally heavy hand falls on his shoulder and roughly yanks him back.

"You aren't going anywhere until you calm down." The changeling's voice was sharp and cold, like his grip, and a faint echo reverberated off the darkness; the faint, distant sound of a summer wind chime's single note.

[kamenwriter]

The darkness on the other side of the door makes him stop short in shock, so it's not hard for Bakura to grab him - not that it, or the cold, cutting voice, do anything to help his panicked state. The yank's enough to send him sprawling, in fact, and when he hits the ground he just scrambles to back further away from the door, his chest heaving. Shit, this was a hot mess he'd gotten himself into...

"...s-sorry..."

[shironekodoshi]

Bakura slams the door shut, the glass cabinets rattling lightly with the force, before he turns, leaning back against the door, arms crossing.

"Shirai Kotaro. You will promise me that you will never mention me, this shop, what it contains, or what goes on inside it to another being unless you have seen that being inside this shop already, or I have given you permission to do so. To break this promise will be to forfeit the life of yours I have already saved once already. Is this understood?" The changelings voice was still cold and firm, an undercurrent of power running through it. While not a compulsion, it was very clear that Kotaro was not being given a choice in it.

[kamenwriter]

Even he's not dense enough to miss that this is probably a hell of a lot more of a chance than most people probably got with Bakura. That he was even being given one at all probably spoke very highly of what the Changeling thought of him; but he's really not considering that right now, when the overarching threat of being killed one way or the other just got presented to him.

The nod of his head is slight at first, just a twitch, before he's nodding properly - frantically, even. "Yes, y-yes-- I promise."

[shironekodoshi]

"Good."

Bakura's arms unfolded, the heavy glare finally breaking as he pushed off the door to walk back to his computer.

"Don't forget that you've Promised. Of all the ways you could be killed, breaking it would be the most stupid."

[kamenwriter]

"Right. O-o-- okay..." Kotaro just lets Bakura walk past; he lets his stare turn to the doorway instead, before he just starts staring into space somewhat, his legs curling up as he runs a hand through his messy hair and gripping a handful tightly.

God, if he wasn't in deep before...

Tachibana would probably kill him if he found out.

It's gonna take him another few minutes of shock before he can really calm down, but he gets to his feet again eventually, slightly calmer. At least a little bit.

[shironekodoshi]

There's a bottle of milk waiting for him on the counter when he does come out of it, Bakura scrolling through something on his computer.

"The card doesn't have any enchantments on it." Bakura's tone was much calmer and normal sounding. That and the milk seemed to be almost an apology for the explosion of anger. "He likely thinks he has you enough in hand already that he didn't need to add one."

[kamenwriter]

The milk is a very welcome sight, but he still hesitates for a moment before taking it. He's on edge, it's understandable. But it still helps a lot in calming him down further.

"I'm not surprised, really. With how quickly he managed to do that... mind control thing..." He grips the now-empty bottle tightly, rubbing his thumb against the top. "Honestly, if I'd-- if you hadn't gotten mad at me, I wouldn't have even noticed."

[shironekodoshi]

"Have to get you something to resist that effect," Bakura half muttered with frown, starting to type again. "Should have enough credit to arrange a proper one..... Maybe something to dampen down whatever the hell you have that keeps painting a damned target on your back. Didn't the Doctor get rid of whatever crap was in that bite? And why the hell didn't you come to me with all that data instead of have it out in the open like that?" There was an almost hurt tone of offense in his voice as his scowl looked more like a sulk.

[kamenwriter]

There's not much that can dampen suicidal curiosity, Bakura. But Kotaro does look guilty at the sulked accusation. "I-I was going to, I swear. But Hirose and I have just been busy trying to get any of it in the first place, BOARD's database is almost impossible to crack. We can't get past the third layer of security yet." He rests his hip against the counter, pouting staring at his milk bottle. "There's this file we can't access without it, something about Trials."

[shironekodoshi]

"And you were going at it in the middle of a public place without anything to protect yourself," Bakura sighed, anger finally having faded, leaving him looking more frustrated and tired than anything else as he leaned back in his chair.

"...I can crack that final layer, since you have physical access to the server." He reached down, opening a drawer that was just out of sight and almost delicately pulling out a small figurine, his eyes growing a touch unfocused as he looked down at it.

[kamenwriter]

"I wasn't--!" He didn't even have the servers open at that point, it was all what had been saved on his laptop. So really, the point remained, and he scrubs violently at his hair in self-admonishment.

Which means he misses the figurine being removed from the drawer, but not Bakura staring at it. "...how's that going to help?" But his hand still drifts to the charm in his pocket, restored to its rightful home during his drive. Was this another piece of Bakura...?

[shironekodoshi]

A small, enigmatic smile tugged at the changeling's lips. "There are questions better off not asked," he answered, gently replacing the figure and closing the drawer again before looking up, eyes clearing. "But it will help. It will just take some time to find its way in. There isn't much left in that one, after all."

[kamenwriter]

...reassuring. "Right. W-well." He uses the milk bottle to gesture at the door. "I've got my laptop on me, so I can get that and show you everything we've gotten so far?" Though now it has the feeling of paying a debt rather than sharing information. "It's actually pretty impressive, but Tachibana doesn't seem to think most of it's accurate anymore..."

[shiromadoushi]

"Most of it won't be," Bakura smiled. "But that isn't what's important."

[kamenwriter]

"Yeah." He hasn't got much choice but to agree there. He half turns towards the door, and looks back at Bakura with something like concern. Are we back in the realm of reality now?

[shiromadoushi]

"Just open it slowly."

How swiftly Bakura had switched modes back to his usual would be concerning if he weren't in the habit of rapid switching so often.

But good to his word, when Kotaro opened the door, it would show the correct parking lot. ...if just two doors down from where it had been before. Strip malls, man. All the abandoned fronts looked the same.

[kamenwriter]

The two doors is enough to throw Kotaro off, just a bit, but when he steps out the door he relocates himself quickly enough, and rushes off to his car. He's fumbling with the keys a little, and as he gets the door open he's really, very thankful that this hadn't played out any worse. What if the card had been bugged, what would Bakura have done then? What if Bakura hadn't done anything, just let Kotaro keep talking...?

It's a warm enough day, but he can't stop a shiver as he reaches in for his bag. And then he's off back to the shop front.