Bothersome people...[Bakura/Open]

[Senna Rylee]

Senna meandered around the docks, pacing in a restless manner. She just hadn’t been able to sit still that day, and had been wandering around town since about five in the morning and since then had only stopped to sit on benches that caught her eye for several minutes at a time. Now it was almost quarter to one in the afternoon, and not only had she not eaten (although she wasn’t hungry), she was getting irritated with herself. She had work to do, but it looked as though nothing was going to get done that day.

So, somehow, through her epic wander throughout the city, she had ended up at the docks where she began to pace absentmindedly, thinking of nothing, stressing about everything; although the stressing was just part of an average day for Senna. She tended to exercise during these times…or go on very long walks...right… Regardless, it didn’t keep her from feeling ultimate agitation at the fact that the protective layer of shadow from the early morning was gone, and now replaced with sunlight and people. It was very difficult to think when she was surrounded by so many people.

She’d watched as random people hustled by, carrying bags of food and sipping avidly at a cup of coffee, obviously rushing back to work to complete their lunch break there. But not for Senna, all she ever really ate was dinner. But she had a fine time weirding out the dock workers while they ate lunch. While she had pretended not to be aware of their constant eyeing, she had continued to pace, sneaking her looks around the area.

The slight breezes coming off the nearby water kept sending her long red hair into her face, while the moist air made it stick to her face. Why did it have to be so bloody humid today, she cursed to herself, just pleased with finding excuses to keep complaining to herself. She shot a glare toward a man who was down the talk, approaching her and opening his mouth to speak. She didn’t like him. She could tell from his body language that she wouldn’t have gotten along well with him, and it was in his best interest for him to be warned off. She was in no mood for dealing with exasperating individuals, and in no mood to even attempt to do so. Heads would roll.

[Ryou [+Yami] Bakura]

Stupid host... fine, I suppose you need your food.

As he reasoned that way, his fingers traced the pointy appendages of the Millennium Ring, those pinpoint elements that would show the way, should there be another of the items around. They were quiet now, and perfectly still aside from what little movement the gentle brush of his fingertips induced to them. The small sounds of delicately shaped metal pieces clashing for the briefest of moments was heard from time to time, a tiny jingle, barely enough to catch anyone's attention. A sound that he was also the cause of, and nothing else.

The item's owner and carrier -- no, more, the one who used it as a home and hideout for the time being -- guessed there was nothing he could do right now. The other items were nowhere in his vicinity, and even if they were, he'd need to think carefully before making his move; if there was any move to be made at all, and he wouldn't just conclude more waiting was required. These things could be rather unpredictable, and a single miscalculated step could prove more trouble than it was worth.

Aside from that, the further daylight crept upon the city, driving back the night's last remnants, the streets got populated with more and more annoying people. Coming towards the docks had not been a great idea, just a mere stalling tactic. Since they were all heading this way, he had just inevitably gone where they'd disturb the emptiness anyway, and where it would soon be even more crowded than where he had come from. Albeit later... like now...

He had no choice, what with not liking to be among these worthless fools if he didn't have a specific purpose in mind. Pretending he had a place in their society was a bother. He would just have to leave the host be, and assume control again later. Bakura Ryou was starting to feel hungry, anyway, and weary. He could feel that, so he'd better allow his precious host to take care of himself. He needed this body if he were to succeed, so he couldn't risk its health deteriorating too much.

For now, control was relinquished to the other.

---

And so it was that, around lunch-time, Ryou, much less aware of such machinations, would be waking up between two groups of barrels stacked with what smelled like wine. How unpleasant. His clothes had caught on a bit of the scent, but when he stood up, confused, and looked around, the ocean breeze was quick to fix that problem for him. It blew through his already quite unruly white hair, sweeping it around and chilling his forehead and temples, diminishing the throbbing pain in them. He had no exact idea where he currently was. But, more importantly yet...

Why am I here?

With a small sigh of resignation, Ryou accepted the terms given to him and began to move along. He disliked the situation, but there was nothing he could do about it right now, other than to figure out which part of the port district he was in and make his way back home as fast as he could. His stomach, with its restlessness, reminded him that he was also very hungry. He couldn't remember when or what he had eaten last...

So, half an hour later found him still walking, but this time with a slightly happier expression on his otherwise calm face. His eyes rarely betrayed what kind of situation he was in; the mild expression in them was always too calm for that. He owed his better current mood, though, to a cheese grill sandwich he had managed to buy from a corner store with whatever change he could fish from his pockets. He was now carefully peeling the protective aluminum wrap from around it, and preparing to take a bite out of the first corner.

Which he did. Only... he stopped midway through it, when a figure further along the street caught his attention. It was a red-haired girl, trying to get rid of a man. Lucky for her, he seemed to take the hint and, after making another smaller step of advance, he convinced himself she wasn't thrilled with his presence and went on his way. Of course, as he was finally chewing obliviously on his food, it did not really occur to Bakura that the same restriction might apply to him. He just studied her gestures, and her general way of walking... seemed nervous.

He swallowed his bite just as they were crossing paths, with him on one side of the street and her on the other. It didn't mean much, the dock-side alleys were quite narrow, since less cars came by, and the edges were stacked with containers of all sorts, waiting to be boarded on ships. His head turned slightly before she could pass by him in full and be gone for good.

"Are you all right?" he asked, his slightly distant manner radiating nothing but politeness. Even his smile was a little reluctant, and only there as a formality, not really as some sort of cheerful element.

[Senna Rylee]

Senna was relieved when the man went on his way, no doubt about that. She didn’t know what he had wanted, and really didn’t care. She just hadn’t liked his vibe in the slightest bit, so the relief she felt when he left was awkward, for her to state the list. It was good for him, too, because if he had irritated her further he’d have had a serious problem. She wasn’t afraid to really get her point across. But the nasty glare hadn’t made him back off right away, which had angered her.

As she paced down the confining alley, she had noticed a boy with extremely light colored hair. He was eating something, it didn’t look very healthy and it had an odd shape, therefore disgusting her, not making her the slightest bit hungry even though she hadn’t eaten in literally hours. Foods shaped even slightly like squares turned her off, so sandwiches on bread were a turn-off, and it looked like he was eating a sandwich. She shook her head to herself, raising it slightly so it would be easier for her to sneak looks. She kept an eye on everyone when she was in their vicinity, always studying people, as if she could be expecting someone to attack her at any moment. Perhaps maybe she actually did expect it, but she was used to being so leery, and therefore a mannerism that could come off to be alert or suspicious was now just a habit she had permanently adopted, even when she wasn’t being overly vigilant. But she’d had enough experience with the wrong people to have an excuse to act as such.

Senna was pleased with the fact that she was moving away from the humid area, and had no intention of turning back and forth anymore. The humidity really bothered her as she wasn’t used to it, she hadn’t been down by the docks lately, and had only ended up there due to her mindless wandering at all hours of the morning. The docks weren’t really an area that people like her often frequented, due to its frequent activity. She cursed her wandering, wishing that maybe she’d have taken another path and avoided the docks and the bothersome man altogether. Come to think of it, she’d probably only had an hour’s sleep…something that she wasn’t used to, either. Yet she didn’t feel tired, just that itchy restlessness. Ah, well, at least that explained her bad mood.

A voice made Senna slow for a moment before turning to see who it was. She narrowed her already glaring eyes to greet the face, feeling as though she’d actually be able to bite someone at that point. She wasn’t really thinking anything along the lines of ‘leave me the hell alone’, she never thought like that, she just wasn’t social, and lacking the necessary skills to be social had made her snappish…even when she wasn’t in a downright sour mood.

The one who had spoken turned out to be the boy with the awful looking food. The one she’d been watching carefully. “Why wouldn’t I be all right?” She asked, not really understanding why anyone would really bother asking such a question to a stranger. In fact, she didn’t understand at all. Who would care? Why would they care? She wasn’t purposely assuming that everyone in the world was like her, but her mind immediately jumped to the thought that maybe he wanted something. Didn’t everyone have an alternate motive?

[Ryou [+Yami] Bakura]

There was a long moment of silence. Or, well, it seemed long because the motion they were both in, and their going in opposite directions, made it so.

It appeared as though the girl was going to just ignore him, since she had already gone past without a single word. He couldn't blame her; with all the figures that lurked around the docks, he was pretty wary himself. Most of them weren't bad people, but they had just lived in an environment that made them less... amiable and polite. He didn't think he looked like one of those, but being cautious was always a bonus, so probably she would just want to get away quickly, without fuss. If she was willing to pretend she hadn't heard a question of concern, then he probably shouldn't worry about her well-being because she was fine, anyway. Or maybe she even really hadn't heard him; it's not like he was a very loud person... He was not at all, actually. More on the very discreet side.

With that reasoning, Ryou figured he could stop staring after her and focus on making his own way around, before he ran into so--

Too late for that already. The next moment, even as he was already turning his head to reconsider his exact position and direction, he tripped. The front of his shoe got caught in a rope he had, of course, failed to notice lying around, preoccupied as he was with looking after the red-haired girl. It had doubtlessly been tying some crates together, but some of them had been removed from the block, so it was cut and cast off a little in the way, on the ground.

Surprisingly, although inertia did throw him forward, Ryou managed not to fall to his knees, but instead grabbed blindly to his right and got lucky enough to find the edge of a crate, which he used to regain some sense of balance. He was in an awkward position, and his arm sort of ached a little from the sudden pressure, so he hurried to scramble back to his own feet. Although the rush of the occurrence had him rather shocked, he noticed that in his left hand he was even still holding the sandwich. Nothing that bad had happened; he could relax now. A deep breath of oxygen was due, so he quietly inhaled plenty of air, then breathed it out, clearing his mind and putting it back to work.

It was then that he realized the girl had actually replied to him in the end. She must have witnessed all of this... heh. Bakura conjured up another small, harmless smile as he turned around, using that tiny resort to hide his current interior restlessness. He was just casual, nothing more. As he did so, he mentally reviewed what words he thought he had heard from her, trying to grasp the meaning. Ah, so that was it. He was lucky it had been something this simple, or else, with his distraction, he would be at a loss now and unable to reconstruct her message. And, as such, he'd have to babble and not know what to say.

Not that he did have much of an idea of how to answer her question right now, unprepared as he was because of the small incident.

"Umm..." he stalled for time for only a small second.

His tone retained its mild, tempered pitch, him coming off as almost entirely withdrawn within himself. Even when he did manage to pick up his train of thought and find the explanation behind his previous actions once more, he still retained his neutral expression. The images of what he had observed in her interaction with that man flooded back into his mind, along with how he had seen her walk, casting nervous glances about and trying to keep her distance from everyone and everything.

"I'm not sure, you just looked uneasy," he offered, with the smallest apologetic shrug.

His distant manner said that he would be perfectly willing to leave her alone in an instant, if that was what she wanted. He would even apologize if he had bothered her in any way. Come to think of it, right now he didn't know very well why he had felt the need to check on her being fine, anyway. Seemed just a slight bit redundant, since they were strangers. He was probably just clinging to the only person in his vicinity that didn't look capable of wrestling with a bear, by physical standards. After all, he was... kind of... lost.

[Senna Rylee]

Senna had stopped completely and was now watching the boy with deep interest, simply because he had spoken to her and she was rather uncertain about his nature. Did he deserve one of her killer glares? A verbal threat? Simple verbal abuse? She had plenty available of all three, and in the verbal department…well, she had a way with words to say the very least. And if he turned out to be the violent sort, she’d been in fights before…

She never put anything past anyone. No matter how absurd her imagination could get. She did admit, however, that part of her wariness (or paranoia, but don’t tell her that) could have been derived from the stories she’d make up in her head, sometimes getting so involved inside herself that she’d momentarily forget what had actually taken place.

But mainly she was still stuck on wondering what was up with the question. No one but that man had dared approach her, and others only stared at her in bewilderment with her bizarre pacing and agitated peeks around her. No one wanted to approach her, because, well, she didn’t look exactly normal at that point. Or of sound mind.

But as she watched him curiously, waiting for a response, she watched as he kept walking. She watched as he tripped, amused with how it seemed to all go in slow motion. She watched as he pitched forward, grabbing wildly around at his right side, snagging – by some wild luck – one of those damned crates. She knew they were trouble, but now she praised the gods for allowing her some form of entertainment for the day. She wasn’t ashamed, hell, people were around for the purpose of decent laughs, anyway.

Regardless of whether she truly cared or not, she figured she may as well rush over and help the kid. She’d decided that he might now, after all, be so entirely awful. So she hustled over to his side of the street, chuckling as she did so. He had given her such an awkward first impression that she now felt some sort of goodwill toward him, and now she wasn’t so certain she had to act so leery of him. After all, look at how he had tripped.

Once she reached him she debated grabbing his arm to offer him a bit more balance, but she didn’t really want to touch him, and he seemed fine in that aspect. She scanned him over, realizing only now that his hair was…white. It didn’t look bad, but for a kid she estimated to be about her age, that was something new. It didn’t even seem platinum blonde…just white. That was different. “Are you alright?” She found herself asking, although she was only slightly concerned. She had problems caring about complete strangers. Then a scent reached her…she knew it well. Wine. He smelled like wine.

“Are you freakin’ drunk?!” She exclaimed, seeing that now it all made sense. The clumsiness. He hadn’t seemed drunk at first…she would have seen it instantly. Or…she thought she would have. But then she scanned him over again, seeing the sandwich and jumping backward a couple inches. Eww….gross. It really was square-shaped and awkward looking.

Senna listened as the boy stammered for a moment, but he seemed sober when he spoke. She had looked uneasy…certainly a drunken moron wouldn’t have been able to notice that? It defied the normality of what Senna knew as drunkenness. The ones she’d been around hadn’t been all that aware of their surroundings. Senna herself had never been drunk…she was too terrified of being taken advantage of for that. Maybe he wasn’t drunk, but whatever the case was…this particular circumstance was definitely a new one for Senna.

[Ryou [+Yami] Bakura]

Drunk...?

Ryou turned his head only slightly to look at the girl, as she had run to his side during his whole process of tripping and saving himself from a fall. He only blinked twice quickly, before opening his mouth to say something, which in the end he held back from doing, because he realized he hadn't actually thought up an answer. He had no idea why she would think something like that. Of course, not everybody tripped as soon as they met a person without some sort of reason of the kind, but everything else about him should clearly tell her he was sober. His head did still hurt a little and he was very tired and hungry, but that was not the point at all.

Then he remembered where he had woken up just earlier. Between those barrels, where it smelled strongly of wine, so no wonder. He couldn't feel that anymore, ever since the wind had dulled it. He had probably grown used to the fainter scent, enough to think it had gone away completely, but for someone who was just now getting closer it might be different. And he still didn't know how he had gotten there in the first place... although he could suspect something...

I see, Bakura reasoned to himself, a little flustered interiorly, but not showing it on the outside. So that must be the reason.

"Yes," he nodded a little, finally having found his words, polite as ever. It was not the answer to her second question, but to her first, of course, so he was quick to let her know that by continuing. "I'm fine... Thank you. And no, I'm not drunk, I just wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

He felt the need to excuse himself in detail like that, because this girl's tone and manner were a little intimidating. Her voice was sharp, she had used the milder form of an offensive word, and she seemed to be one of those people who wouldn't mind getting in a fight all that much, or maybe not even starting one... Ryou preferred to keep out of things like that, and he also didn't like to enter arguments for no good reason. When she jumped back, he tried to figure out what was going on, but no idea came to him at all about that, so he dropped it, deciding he'd be out of her hair soon enough.

Just as soon as he could figure out...

A location. He tore his eyes from her and spaced out for a few moments as he looked further along the street. Being the one right along the ocean-side, it was very long and only had buildings on one side, while the other was full of unloaded shipments and platforms leading down to the actual docks, where boats rested along the sides of wooden piers. The larger ships were nowhere in sight, with their rumbling of engines, which was good. The actual port, where the waters were deep enough for that, would be crowded with even more people and Ryou would be getting in their way trying to move around.

Of course, this pleasant circumstance was also not very useful in his present condition. In order to have a point of reference and see how to get back home, he needed to find that, or some sort of lead. He couldn't say he was completely oblivious to the area he had found himself in, but he had no reason to come to the port very often, so he didn't have the slightest clue which way to go to find some means of transportation. He wasn't particularly fond of buses, but even one of those would do quite well right now. If only he'd actually even know which bus to take back to the district he lived in, or at least to one he'd know how to get there from. So in the end... he guessed he did have less of an idea about where he was than he had thought.

"You don't happen to know exactly where we are, do you?" he asked testily, hoping the red-haired girl wouldn't be very annoyed that she'd need to give him directions. "I'm a little lost... I know the general area, but can't figure out the exact location."

If worse came to worst, Bakura figured he could try to use the Millennium Ring's power. Usually when he toyed around with it too much, it would start activating and point towards something. He could follow its lead for a while and hope he got lucky and ran into something familiar. Maybe. It was quite a far-fetched plan, and far from pleasing. It was starting to worry him, now that he was grasping the full extent of his situation.

[Senna Rylee]

Senna was eyeing the boy suspiciously now. Drunk…at noon? He couldn’t be…what kind of loser would get drunk at lunch time. Blech…alcohol didn’t even seem to taste as good during the day. It was for nightfall, that was for certain. It tasted so much better when it was night. And besides, wine should be treated much better. It should be served with the proper foods, and used as an accessory to such, or with a decent book.

She was snapped from her fantasy when something made a loud thump sound in the distance. Probably one of those crates dropping. She briefly hoped that it had landed on someone’s foot, but she heard no cry of pain to go along with it so knew that she hoped in vain. But those creepy dock workers would have deserved it. Oh, yes. Yes they would have. She smirked to herself, then directed her hazel gaze back to the boy…who lacked sufficiently in grace. She could relate…she often tripped over cracks in the sidewalk. Especially when she wore leather shoes. She’d ruined several pairs of boots and shoes just from tripping over cracks.

But he didn’t have to know that.

Finally he replied. She opened her mouth right after he said “yes”, but he hadn’t exactly given her the chance to say anything. He rushed on right after explaining that he was fine, and no, he wasn’t drunk. Okay…good. Although he hadn't said how he got that scent on his clothes, she agreed with herself that perhaps it was best to drop the subject. Besides, if he was about her age he really shouldn’t have been wandering the streets, drunk, anyway. It didn’t look right. But she had to admit he had a pleasant voice, if at all his mannerisms seemed a little mild. She watched his eyes with interest, and looking in the direction he seemed to look to when he tore them away from her. Only now was she realizing that he didn’t seem all that well. He seemed confused to her, dazed.

Huh…maybe she had something, here.

She found her plague of a bad mood shifting away, figurative gears turning away in her head. She’d found a hook, now she could really start analyzing him. If he stayed with her any longer, anyway. It’d be a shame to see such an interesting person walk away, but chances are now that she’d seen him she might see him again. Either way, he was speaking again. This time, asking where the hell they were. With…well, in a more polite way. She almost shrugged to herself. Not everyone appreciated the art of bluntness. And Senna liked being in a position where she was the one with the knowledge.

“Well, it’d be a shame if I didn’t. Walking around all night has its uses,” she grinned at him. “The docks here are actually rather close to the park. We go down this alleyway here, and with a few random turns there’s a main street. Walk down that, and there’s the park.” She spoke rather quickly, excitedly. Her mood shifting quickly. Finally something for her to do. She was pleased by this, if no one could tell. Simple things had a tendency to do that for her, and her complete and total boredom was now cured. She had an outlet for her restlessness.

All thanks to this awkward boy. “Umm…I didn’t catch your name…” she stated simply, looking at him.

[Ryou [+Yami] Bakura]

Walking around at night...? Ryou wasn't sure why anyone would want to be here at such a time, but he was in no position to question her. Besides, polite conduit would prevent him from asking even if he hadn't decided he didn't need to know. Which he had right now, anyway, so there was no point in considering such things any longer. He should be grateful that she actually knew the area, however that had come to be, since he was starting to even consider something desperate like maybe hoping the Ring would locate Yuugi-kun some place and lead him to a more familiar area. He was glad he didn't need to do something like that, moving around and trying to activate his Sennen item.

"Thank you!" he said, with as much of a tone that could be called exclamatory in his case, which was really nothing more than a small breath of relief.

At least the brightening of his expression was genuine this time, unlike the facade smiles he had been displaying before. One could probably tell that by taking a closer look at his calm brown eyes, which were now showing that he really did appreciate her help, although he was still the same reserved person. He had stopped looking so lost.

And he had all the reasons to feel relieved after what he had heard. The park was a place he knew very well, since he wasn't a typical teenager who liked to go to the mall or attend parties. Instead, he preferred to play games or take a walk, which were both activities he could do in the park when the weather was nice. He had been there often and it wasn't even such a long distance from his school or his home, so he could go back by foot instead of having to use public transportation. Everything was looking up right now.

"Oh... that's because we haven't introduced ourselves," he replied to the girl, with the customary polite nod that replaced a typical handshake. "I'm Bakura Ryou."

The very next moment, he felt something stir on his chest, a light move that reached his senses through the fabric of his T-shirt. It was ironic; almost as if it was responding to the fact that Bakura no longer thought of using it, the Millennium Ring had activated. He raised a hand, the one that wasn't holding the now-forgotten sandwich that he had only bit into once, discreetly covering the small glowing element that had detached from among the others and was starting to point distinctly to the right. He was careful not to actually touch that part of the item, but he did try to shield it from the girl's sight.

He hoped she wasn't very suspicious of him now. There was a chance, albeit small, that she had not noticed that, and he would prefer not having to answer any questions about the Ring. He couldn't just explain to her that it was an ancient Egyptian artifact and held a less benevolent spirit inside of it that threatened to take over his body. He could only imagine why that wasn't recommended, not to mention the kind of reaction she would have. If she'd even believe him at all.

He'd better be quick, anyway. Noting the direction the Sennen item pointed in, it was likely that Bakura would be on the right track if he just followed his already established intention of going to the park. Likely the item triggering this reaction from his own was somewhere around those parts, if not even in the park itself. Ryou was pretty curious, and he wondered what kind of person he might find, with what kind of item exactly. Could it be Yuugi-kun? He doubted it; the Ring had stopped reacting to him by itself because Bakura was familiar with the other boy and his Millennium Puzzle already. It would only act as a tracker now if he purposely intended to find Yuugi.

"I appreciate your help," he said to the girl, already turning away, but looking over his shoulder to show another facade, mechanical smile like the ones from before.

It didn't quite feel like a natural end to their encounter, of course, but it wasn't rude either. It would still probably confuse her a little with its suddenness, but if she hadn't seen anything she was unlikely to follow him. Without any other kind of duty towards her, Ryou started on his way, holding the Millennium Ring a little higher than its usual position and looking down at it for indications of the exact path it wanted him to take. The nearby alley that the girl had pointed out to him seemed to be it, so he started towards it, rushing a little.

[Senna Rylee]

Senna briefly wondered what had made her blurt out more information than necessary in regards to the ‘walking around at night’ statement she’d made. She usually liked to stay as distant as possible from people, and now not only had she nearly gone on a ramble of sorts, but she’d also established an opening that could make him monitor her own mannerisms more closely. Why not? That was something she’d do. But oh well, perhaps she had her own issues to deal with like everyone else. That didn’t make her any form of a weirdo.

Oh, great, now she was comparing herself on the same level as the rest of the world.

But upon hearing the boy’s expression of gratitude, she just shrugged, “Whatever, it’s no big deal.” Actually, she found the fact that he had even asked for assistance to be odd. Senna never asked for directions. She’d get herself wherever she wanted to go on her own. Never did she resort to having to ask someone for help. Yuck.

Bakura Ryou...an interesting name. But she couldn't help rolling her eyes. Why hadn't he just given his name instead of explain the obvious reason why she hadn't caught his name? She kind of knew that they hadn’t introduced themselves. Didn’t this kid know of other ways to ask for someone’s name? Seriously. Hadn’t he ever been asked for his name in a way that wasn’t a direct question? She found herself annoyed for no good reason, deciding to blame it all on her lack of sleep. Why else would she go on and on in her head about something rather pointless?

“I’m Senna Rylee,” she replied, biting back an insult. No need to look any more unpleasant today. Perhaps things would begin to start rolling smoothly at last; she should start replacing her current karma with happy, positive karma. Besides, she noticed he hadn’t offered his hand for a shake, which pleased her to a certain extent. She hated handshakes. And he was holding that sandwich in his other hand, so there was no way she had any intention of touching him.

Senna considered what to say next, not really sure if she should or not. She felt her social awkwardness worming its way in on her properly established social territory, irritated with herself. She really didn’t know anything about small talk or conversations, knowing she’d probably stumble over words or say something completely unorthodox, maybe even something that really wasn’t warranted in the least.

She watched him for a moment or so, watched him move the arm that wasn’t holding the god-awful sandwich that he appeared to have forgotten, and then suddenly she noticed something. Ooh…shiny. But wait…that wasn’t right. It was coming from around his chest area. This Bakura person’s chest. And she thought she was odd? What the hell? What did she do now? Was this some odd fragment of a past operation or something? Oh, there she went, on with the morbidity. It was probably some sort of jewel or pendant or something along those lines that she simply hadn’t noticed. And he seemed to be covering it; clearly he was attempting to be discreet about it, too. But she was good; a life of analyzing people made her keenly aware of things like that. Ha! She wasn’t the only odd one!

But he was turning to leave, it seemed. Excuse her, buddy, but if she had to, she could be nosy. No way…an abrupt ending like that and she was supposed to be the socially awkward one? Well bloody hell, he wasn’t doing that.

“Dude! Your chest is glowing!” She called out after him, letting him walk a few paces away. “I thought you might like to know!”

Take that. He wanted to get away from her, then fine, but he could have been more discreet about that. She would have gladly let him waltz away in his obvious rush, but people always had to be very careful in the way they communicated with Senna. She could be cordial and allow people their privacy, because quite frankly she was only interested in analyzing from afar, but his farewell hadn’t sat right with her. She raised an eyebrow, wondering what he was going to say in response to her slightly sarcastic comments regarding that unnatural glow.

[Ryou [+Yami] Bakura]

So she had noticed. Her observation had the gift of stopping Bakura, and of making him ignore the tug of the Sennen item for the time being to turn back to the girl. Senna, if he had registered her introduction correctly. He even lowered his hand from the Ring, leaving its full form, glowing stray element included, out in plain sight. The sun shone off some of the facets, reflecting in wider stains off some rounded portions, but most of it was dulled by the brightness of the item's own glow. Ryou looked down on it for a second, hoping it wouldn't deactivate due to some unexpected change. The other person must have been pretty close, probably near the closest side of the park to here, and he really felt curious enough to want to find them.

Then, he raised his eyes back to Senna, now a small distance away because she hadn't moved to follow him as he departed. Perhaps someone else in his position would have continued to run off, trying desperately to keep the secret of the Millennium Ring despite the small fragment that had been noticed already. But Ryou didn't quite see the point to doing something like that, once the odd occurrence had been already spotted. He guessed it had just been his first reaction, and things weren't really as bad as he had first thought. If he had to tell her small bits abut the Ring, the worst that could happen was her thinking he was a lunatic. Which shouldn't matter too much to him.

"You must have meant this," he said, referring to his artifact with the vague point of one finger. "It's... a little confusing to me, as well. It sometimes points to things."

He wasn't lying so far, and if he didn't add anything else, things should remain that way. He seemed honest enough when he spoke because he was indeed sincere. What you didn't say at all could not be considered to be equal to a lie, which meant purposely telling someone things that you knew were not true. In other words, something that opposed what you knew to be real. That was what a lie was. Simply withholding information could not be treated as such. It just meant telling only part of the truth.

Bakura knew that he could have treated the matter differently from the beginning. It was his fault that he had acted frantically upon his first impulses instead of risking that one other second it would have taken for him to actually sort his thoughts and find something more methodical to do. The glow of the pendant was small, since only a tiny bit of it presented that quality, so Senna might have just as well not noticed it if he hadn't foolishly drawn attention by trying to cover it up.

Truth be told, the only real reason he didn't want to involve her, or anyone, was that such people would be in danger. He now realized that was what actually worried him. If the spirit of the Millennium Ring emerged and took control of his body, there was no telling of what might happen, and he may just be unable to help things in any way. The spirit had already been a lot closer than desirable to hurting his friends before, and Ryou did not want to repeat that experience, which he had only managed to shift by pure luck, because he had been given one chance.

But what choice did he have right now? It wasn't like he could stop her from trying to check this out, if that was what she wanted. His face darkened a shade as his brown eyes clouded with thought, his expression becoming serious, albeit he still looked a little spacey, as usual. It seemed as though he kept fixing her with his gaze, although that went through her at the time, in reality. He forgot about her for a few seconds, trying, to make his decision.

He supposed that the only thing he had left to do about this matter at the time was to hope she just wouldn't follow him. She hadn't given any signs that she would the first time. Bakura now realized that it would have really been wiser of him to just keep running away from the scene, but he couldn't have known that back then. He tried to imagine what she would do, and to get one step ahead of her, but this wasn't like a card game. He didn't know this person, nor could he tell what kind of reactions would come from her when faced with different situations.

Finally, his choice was made.

"You can come with me if you want," he said calmly.

Afterwards, he turned and picked up on his previous speed of departure, rounding the corner as quickly as he could manage. He would be out of her sight a mere couple of seconds after he had spoken. What he hoped to accomplish was that she would consider everything too strange for her taste, or just not worth going through too much effort for, and she would drop it. Or maybe some part of her would rebel against his invitation and discard him, his item and the pursuit altogether. That was what most people would do, he thought. If she did follow him, however... he supposed he would have to think about what to do with that then. For now, solid reality was that he heard no footsteps right behind him.

He wondered if she was even a duelist. If she wasn't, she'd raise no interest to the spirit of the Ring, unless she interfered with him directly. That would be good...

---

[[ Exit to (No More Paperwork, Okay?[Open]) ]]

[Senna Rylee]

Senna watched him closely as he stopped and looked at her. She stared at the item that was now confronting her, no longer hidden by his hand or his shirt. She eyed it for a moment or so, taking in its features, but not being able to get a full look due to the slight distance separating them. She listened as Bakura pointed it out, wondering how in the world it could ‘point to things’, as he had said. It didn’t make sense to her, yet rather than argue about something she knew nothing about, she decided to simply acknowledge it.

“Ah, so that’s what’s been glowing.” She offered a tiny smile, “I doubted anyone was pure enough to make themselves glow.” She shrugged at that, knowing full well that her joke as lame, but she felt as though the situation warranted it. It seemed to her that an awkwardness was hanging between them, but perhaps that was just what Senna felt.

But had she said anything about being confused? No, but clearly this Bakura person had anticipated Senna’s confusion at some of the aspects of the item he had just described. The thought that it also confused him was of no consolation to her, however. Just because he was bound to know more about it than her because he owned it meant nothing to Senna, she always liked to be in the know, despite the fact that it was near to impossible (probably was impossible) for her to know everything.

Regardless, she didn’t really care about his stupid jewellery, no matter what kind of little compass ability it had. She’d only opened her mouth to be sarcastic about it because he’d tried to ditch her in a way that hadn’t sat right with her. Of course, if he’d wanted to hide it so bad the idiot could have just acted as though it was normal, and if she’d pointed it out just say that it was one of those tacky little party necklaces. Or something. That was what she would have done. C’mon, like that was so hard?

But then that would leave only part of the problem solved; getting away from her would be the other part, and quickly. She knew that that was tricky, she had to grant him that. She was always suspicious. By no means would she have gone stalker on the guy, but she’d have forced herself to be despicably nosy, gone out of her way to put him out of his way if he’d been anymore awkward in his attempted farewell. Hell, if he’d managed to escape her she would have had to applaud him. She could be so curious, so wrapped up in analyzing someone, that at times she didn’t want them to get away very quickly. At these times, she knew she had no other choice but to view the act of someone leaving her before she was ready to let that happen as an escape; it could be very difficult to get away, but she was like that purely for research reasons. Personal reasons, yes, but for the sake of her own research all the same. And she wasn’t unnaturally arrogant, Senna could indeed see fault with herself. She was only arrogant in the countenance that she felt as though she was more intelligent than everyone else.

But while Senna was indeed quick-witted and lacked the all-too-common simple-mindedness that most people her age had a tendency to possess, she was also clouded by her arrogance. She wouldn’t notice that someone had out-smarted her until after everything had been said and done, and she knew it. Which was why she had to be on her toes so often, because a surprise could come swiftly and mercilessly. But she didn’t even understand what she was so afraid of losing, and why she was so afraid of being outdone.

She didn’t say anything, noticing that Bakura had evidently spaced-out, and it seemed to her that he was probably going over his present situation. That seemed the logical reason to her, because it was what she would do. She looked over the somber expression on his face, wondering what was running through his head, if he were making an analysis of her, and if so, what he would make of it all.

“You can come with me if you want” he’d finally said.

Senna inattentively reached for the silver pendant around her neck, twirling the Anubis between her thumb and forefinger in a distracted manner, considering her current situation. She wasn’t lost, of course, not physically. But she had no plans for the day, and felt sort of odd, not knowing what to do with herself. He had given her a clear choice, and he’d made the right one. It was all pinned on her now, and there was no oblivious innocence for her to pick on and warp to suit her. This one was perfectly neutral, and it didn’t bother her, either. But whatever he had thought to accomplish by his blatantly uneventful invitation, she wasn’t sure. Perhaps he thought that she would dismiss him, but why would he? After all, wouldn’t it be assumed that she would? That this was too mundane for her to go out of her way to follow? So why would he make a plan just for that reason?

Well, if that was what he had thought, he was wrong. She certainly had nothing better to do, so she shrugged, darting forward to follow him, believing that she would have no trouble follow him. After all, he was only slightly taller than she was, and she did make it a point to stay healthy. She wondered where he was leading her, but decided she’d simply think upon it when they got there, after all, there was no way she wanted to go over all the possible destinations.

----

[ Exit to No More Paperwork, Okay?[Open] ]