Bakura's Birthday Shindig [OPEN]

[hackeralastair]

WHO: Bakura, open to his roommates, everyone living on Hell Towers 10th (and 9th), their guests, all of Bakura's friends and their guests, and anyone who can con the party location out of Alastair
WHERE: Hell Towers' 10th Floor Mancave
WHEN: Friday, Sept. 2 from 7pm on
WARNINGS: none unless Kaiba is his usual self. ;)
SUMMARY: Bakura's turning 20! Time for all the fluffballs and assholes who know and like him to party. And collect delicious random CR from each other.
FORMAT: absolutely whatever you want. Please tag yourself in!

The last-minute party is ready to go. Momiji had been entrusted with the decorations, the cake is coming with Maggie, and food and drink are in the process of being set out. The Mancave is still in pristine form, with arcade games and console games hooked up to the giant TV, and poor Pierre still surviving well enough in his tank. Alastair has his longest techno playlist pumping through the stereo. All they need now is the birthday boy himself!

Oh, and Vector, Alastair has a request for you. Something about space bridges, Tokyo, and January.

Comments

[hackeralastair]

"And a pain in the ass," Alastair said flippantly. "Being anywhere where you get three or four languages mixing on the street? I get such a headache from switching between them on the fly." He would never forget Peru.

[origamiguardian.livejournal.com]

Maggie nodded. "I can see how that would be. Especially at certain airports." She shrugged. "Some of our best jobs has been translation work. Although I'm sure being a tech is better and more stable."

[hackeralastair]

"Yeah, you know..." Alastair gave her a small, self-deprecating smile. "It's funny. It took getting teleported into another dimension full of superheroes for me to settle down and get a nice job. Live like a normal guy."

He gestured with his bottle. "So you were a detective back home, too? Makes sense. Doing what you know, and all that."

[origamiguardian.livejournal.com]

"I guess more broadly, freelance... finders. Detective work seemed to suit our skills best. My sisters and I, that is."

She smiled. "Oddly, when I first came here, I got offered a job as a librarian. It's taken awhile for me to come back around to my 'real' job."

[hackeralastair]

"Detective sounds way more exciting than librarian," Alastair grinned. "To each their own, though, I guess. So hey - how do you know Bakura, anyway? Just through the comm?"

[origamiguardian.livejournal.com]

"I liked being around all the books. But I kept reading them all so I don't think I did a good job."

Maggie pursed her lips, frowning. "I... yes, through the comm. I don't remember specifically. I probably offered to lend him a book."

[hackeralastair]

That sounded more than plausible. "Figures. Although I get the sense I might have seen you somewhere before. Besides the network, anyway."

[origamiguardian.livejournal.com]

"I know you and he are from the same world. I used to look after a little girl from your world, Aki. And I went with her to some of the Duel Monsters tournaments. Maybe it was there?"

[hackeralastair]

"Maybe. Were you, really? Taking care of...?" He held a hand down at knee-height to indicate a small child. "...the little one? She's more from Kyosuke's time, not mine, but I remember her from when she was here. I..."

No, wait, Alastair remembered something else. A dark night, a street littered with Duel Monsters cards. "Kaiba," he said suddenly. "Did you run into Kaiba, once?"

[origamiguardian.livejournal.com]

Maggie nodded. "Twice, actually. But the second time... he was out of his mind. It was when all the brainwashing was going on. He was hurting bystanders, so I tried to distract him." She remembered Bruno, and then some other people... it was from her second time here, and her memories were a bit fuzzy. "You were there, weren't you? Toward the end."

[hackeralastair]

"Yeah." Alastair was glad she remembered, it meant he wasn't mistaking things. It really did happen, then. "I picked up his cards. Do you...can you tell me. Did he finally break out some kind of super-power, that time?"

[origamiguardian.livejournal.com]

"Actually..." Her eyes widen as something clarifies in her mind. "I remember thinking he was a paper master. Like me. Not very well trained but... he tossed his cards at me like my sister would at an enemy. Which is weird, because no one's heard of paper mastery outside my world."

"He's not a big reader, is he?" Paper mastery and bibliomania seemed to go hand in hand.

[hackeralastair]

"Paper master...?" Mystified, Alastair had to set his drink down before he spilled it. "I don't know, honestly. I mean, he's a genius, so I'm sure he has read a lot, but I never took him for a bookworm."

He scratched the back of his neck. "See, the only time I thought he might have used some power, he had the same one as me - he was picking up languages from Agatha just like I did. He dismissed it as me not realizing he spoke German, but I'd bet a million bucks he doesn't." This was all very weird, and there was a connection here Alastair wasn't quite seeing yet.

[origamiguardian.livejournal.com]

"Hmm. Usually paper masters seem to be devoted readers." She shook her head. "I don't know.

"He threw the cards at me after I tried to bull rush him with one of my paper minions. I didn't see him try to use any powers before that point." She shrugged. "The problem is, he was out of his mind, so... he wasn't exactly explaining what he was doing."

[hackeralastair]

Alastair listened and mulled it over for a minute or two. "No, he's not the kind of guy to even accept that he has powers, let alone use 'em. Huh." He shrugged it off for now and went back to his drink. "Thanks for telling me, at least. I always did kinda want to know what happened that night. Using his cards for anything other than duels is weird enough."

[origamiguardian.livejournal.com]

"I remember the other time I talked to him, he wouldn't believe me when I told him Aki was summoning monsters with her cards. But I also chalked that up to corporate denial." She frowned. "No problem. He seemed to believe his brother was in danger, so probably was desperate. I know if my sisters are in trouble, I'll do things I wouldn't normally."

She paused, sipped her beer, and added. "To test if he had powers further, he'd probably have to be put under similar duress. Which would be dangerous. On the other hand, if he's an untrained paper master, or anything else..." She pursed her lips. "Powers out of control can hurt thousands."

[hackeralastair]

Believed his brother was in danger... But Mokuba hadn't arrived in the City then. Strange. Alastair filed that away, prepared to think it over later and see if it made any sense. "The good thing about that," he finally said after a minute, "is that Kaiba doesn't believe in powers even when you shove them in his face. He'll probably be fine as long as nothing actually does happen to Mokuba." He thumbed over his shoulder at where the younger Kaiba was, as he was attending this party as well. "And I've got my eye on the kid, too, so hopefully nothing will."

[origamiguardian.livejournal.com]

Maggie nodded. "Good." She smiled. "You ever need a hand, let me know."

[hackeralastair]

"Yeah, sure." Alastair tipped back his bottle for a good long drink. He was being friendly with a girl, he was rather proud of himself!

But Alastair, Maggie is more manly than most men ;)

[origamiguardian.livejournal.com]

Maggie was proud she was talking to anyone at all, and not hiding in a corner reading. The conversation seemed to have run its course, though, so she tilted back her bottle to finish it off, then offered to get him another.

hey he's scared of Himuro and she's tough too

[hackeralastair]

Alastair waved off the offer, he was still working on one and wanted to still be somewhat sober when Mokuba challenged him to play video games. Which, he was certain would happen at any minute.

((perfect!))