[Locked: April, Bakura/Malik] Dominion Trip!

[twinpharaohs]

Yugi is sitting in a couch in the Nexus, holding up a hand-written sign reading "April! :)", in a weird sort of homage to the way private drivers guide their customers to them at the airport. Yami's currently nowhere in sight, by virtue of the fact that he's pretty much still asleep, though he's aware that Yugi intended to try to take April to Dominion today. He'll likely wake himself up when April shows up.

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[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

After receiving information from Yugi that everything was set up and ready, April made her way following his directions.

She laughed, noticing his sign. "Hi~!"

[twinpharaohs]

Yugi grins in response, leaps up, and hugs April excitedly, dropping the sign in the process. "Hey~!" Yami, wake up! April just showed up!

Moments later, a bleary-eyed but smiling Yami appears beside Yugi. "April," he says, sleepy cheer in his voice. "Glad you could make it."

"Hope you've got a jacket or something," Yugi says with a smile, tugging on his own black denim jacket. "It's really cold in Dominion right now. We're in the Pacific northwest, after all."

((OOC: By the by, Dominion City is on a Hellmouth. Don't know if April will be able to sense that or not, but thought I should mention it. ^^; I've got a map around here somwhere. I'll see if I can find it in time for my next tag.))

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

"I do have warmer clothing on me, as I have been spending time in Smallville and it is winter there." April returns the hug. Glad to see both Yugi and Yami.

"Besides, I do not sense the cold as much as others do."

[twinpharaohs]

((OOC: Here's the map. :) Wish I had a painting or something to go with it, but I've never been good at drawing environments.))

Yugi grins. "Awesome. Ready to go, then?"

When he PINpoints them back to Dominion, they arrive on a cliff overlooking the main city. Yugi blinks, then says, "Ooops. Not quite where I wanted to end up." Then he takes in a deep, astounded breath. "Wooow. Probably just as well, though! Look at that view!"

The view is, indeed, spectacular. They can see almost the whole city from here and, given that this is the year 2998 we're talking about, it's quite futuristic. And, naturally, very aesthetically pleasing.

Humans are, after all, a bit vain.

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

Standing there looking down at the Dominion, April can sense something more than the futuristic city. And the aestetically pleasing buildings.

"It is very large."

[twinpharaohs]

Yugi grins a little. "Cities like L.A. and New York are still much bigger. Dominion's relatively new. It was founded in... what, 2026? Been several centuries, but New York's been there since the 1700's at least." He smiles out at the vista for awhile longer before saying, "Hmm... now how do we get down from this cliff? I don't think there's a road here."

Yami shifts uncomfortably. "Might have to make a brief trip to the Shadow Realm. I'd rather not, but..."

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

"What is the Shadow Realm?"

[twinpharaohs]

Yami grimaces. "It's the place where I and the other spirits of the Millennium Items sealed the Shadow Games. Naturally, they're not too fond of me, since I was the one who planned the whole thing. I can use it to get us from here back to Yugi's house, and even though we'll only be there for a few seconds, those seconds have the potential to be very unpleasant."

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

"There is no other way?" April would like to prevent unpleasant travels.

[twinpharaohs]

((OOC: Yeaaah, they don't know about that road there. *points to map*))

Yugi grimaces as well. "I don't see a road anywhere nearby. Looks like it is." He casts a significant glance at Yami, who nods, and vanishes. Moments later, he reappears where Yugi was previously standing, completely solid, the Puzzle flashing with gold light as he does.

"Safer this way," he notes, half to himself. "April, take my hand, please."

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

Cautiously, but trusting both Yugi and Yami, April takes his hand. "Guide us through safely."

[twinpharaohs]

"I'll do my best," Yami answers with a small smile. Then he closes his eyes, and, the All-Seeing Eye flashing briefly on his forehead, brings them into the Shadow Realm.

It's an appropriate name. There's no discernable geography, and very little ambient light. What light there is consists entirely of dim blues, reds, and violets. Nothing appears to be in the vicinity, but then, in the low light, it can be difficult to tell for most people.

Yami exhales slowly, opening his eyes and quickly surveying their surroundings. "So far, so good," he says. "Come on. Don't let go of my hand." He starts off in what would be a western direction, in the material world.

Then, somewhere, in the distance, an inhuman roar sounds. Yami's eyes widen, and he swears in ancient Egyptian. "We're going to be in trouble if we can't beat whatever that was to the waypoint," he says quietly. "Almost like they can sense me when I turn up..." he adds in a sub-vocal mutter.

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

April adjusted to the low-light situation by using some of her vampire abilities. She kept her hand secured in Yami's.

The roar made her flinch slightly. "What is it?"

And now I'm going to borrow stuff from Fable III.

[twinpharaohs]

"Shadow Monster, most likely," Yami answers, quickening his pace. "Won't know what variety until it gets here, and we'll want to be gone by then."

And then he steps in something black and slimy. Not that it's easy to tell that it's black in this light. But it's definitely slimy. And it starts crawling up his leg, the rest of the puddle also rising up in thin streams, like viscous, gravity-defying ink. "Ra's beak!" Yami curses, pulling his leg away from the puddle, black stuff still clinging to his trousers.

I think the Shadow Games got some ideas from the Darkness in Fable III, Yugi notes.

Yami snorts briefly in response. Hopefully it doesn't have the same effect as the stuff in the game. Then he staggers, the edges of his vision starting to blur, legs beginning to feel stiff.

((OOC: Alas, it does have the same effect. The goop acts as a paralytic and also steadily drains away sight and some life force.))

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

April provides support when Yami staggers. "I am not sure what the effect is... but the health of your aura has started to fail."

[twinpharaohs]

Yami grimaces, blinking several times. "I've seen this before. Granted, that was in a video game, and I've no clue where the Shadow Games came up with the idea, because I'm fairly sure they haven't played that game. Help me out of this stuff, and don't step in it. It's a paralytic, and it'll slowly blind you." He squints a little, trying to clear out the blurry edges around his field of vision, to no avail. "My vision's already starting to go..."

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

April relays what Malik says to the others in the room. Then returns to her mental conversation. "That must have been difficult for you."

Gah HTML fail

[twinviziers]

Malik laughs, a hysterical note to it. Difficult? he asks. I was trapped in empty black, nothing to see, touch, hear, taste, smell, sense... no-one to talk to, and grieving the whole time... He laughs again. My heart's shattered.

He means his mind, Bakura clarifies. The ancient Egyptians believed the centre of human thought and emotion is the heart.

But Tepeysa knows all that already, Malik adds, a disjointed smile playing across his face.

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

April gets the sense that Malik blames Tepeysa, so says nothing. There is little she could argue in this case.

She relays the statement to the others in the room. Depending on them for advice.

[twinpharaohs]

Yami considers all of this with a frown on his face, leaning back into the sofa. Yugi clutches at Yami's hand nervously. "That's it," he says, at last. "That's what the Crawler meant. The Games caused Malik's insanity. That was Their revenge."

And actually, no, Malik doesn't blame Yami for it. ("Tepeysa" is the first half of Yami's full name.) He was just noting that none of what he said was new information to Yami.

Another thought occurs to Yami, and he leans forward and grasps April's shoulder. "Ask Malik if he recalls anything about the Shadow Games and Narmer," he murmurs. "He always had a better head for history than I did."

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

April knew how hard it was to carry the weight of insanity. She picked up a lot of memories of her mother, Drusilla.

"Malik. Do you recall anything about the Shadow Games and Narmer?"

[twinviziers]

Malik frowns very deeply for several moments. Narmer, the first Pharaoh. United all of Khemet to drive away the false gods. Tepeysa's great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. But as he relates to the Shadow Games... I don't know anything for certain. He smiles a little. But I will note that Tepeysa's family had to get their powers from somewhere. And that the Games love it when They can make deals with which to exploit people and gain more power. Power is ever sweet, after all...

Must you always overplay it? Bakura asks Malik with a roll of his eyes.

Whoever said I was overplaying anything, Nekhnet?

((OOC: I keep forgetting to add this, but "Nekhnet" means "Child". It's Malik's nickname for Bakura.))

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

April really didn't like the accent of words that Malik had chosen. It made her feel uncomfortable. And using her darker vampiric tone, she relayed the words, using the same tone that she heard in her head from Malik.

She was not sure what to say now. Or do.

[twinpharaohs]

Yami notes Malik's emphasis, and a rather distraught expression crosses his face. "...Is he suggesting that Narmer made a deal with the Shadow Games in order to help drive off the False Gods?" He asks, his voice a bladed hiss. It's not directed at April, and he seems to be glaring mostly off into the distance and not at anyone in particular.

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

April returns the question to Malik. This sounds like a dark conversation. Thick with intrigue and secrets.