Did not expect to meet you here in the middle of the fights

[shiromadoushi]

WHO: Hell Towers 10th residents and visitors.
WHERE: the MANCAVE / Various locations on HT10th
WHEN: Thursday evening after Alastair's post.
SUMMARY: The City's buggin' out. Bakura's not sure what to do, if anything, meaning it's time to talk to his friends.
FORMAT: Para to start, whatever ya want after.



Mandatory evacuation for the natives. Not knowing what, not knowing how, not knowing from where, just knowing something was there, waiting, lurking...

How did you prepare for something like that? A thing you couldn't see, that you couldn't know that still struck fear enough in the hearts of everyone around... There hadn't ever been warning before. A general nagging feeling, wondering if patterns would repeat... How did you respond to something stronger than a worry, yet still so undefined?

Ben would know. Beatrice would know. They had plans, experience, that feeling that there was always a plan lurking...

But they were gone. And he wasn't a child any longer. He had a family to protect; his friends to see to the safety of...

He couldn't do that hiding behind the memory of vanished guardians.

He was silent as he watched Alastair's video before he stood, getting to his feet heading into the hall. He would ask them what they wanted, and then decide.

Comments

For Matsuka

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura knocked on his friend's door gently. "Jonah-kun? It's me. Are you there?"

[loveyourenemy.livejournal.com]

Matsuka was there, of course. Matsuka had in fact barely left his apartment the past few days except when he had to for work or to take Mouse out for his walks. It took a bit before he answered Bakura's knock, though, and when he came to the door he looked a bit wan. "Ryou... hi."

Mouse came to greet Bakura as well, wagging his tail in welcome, but the dog also seemed anxious, if only due to picking up his owner's mood.

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura reached down to rub the top of Mouse's head fondly before looking up at his friend, concern growing as he took in the worn look. "Mind if I come in for a bit?"

[loveyourenemy.livejournal.com]

"Of course I don't mind." Matsuka moved back out of the way of the door, calling to his dog. "Mouse, let Ryou in." He'd summoned up a smile, but it was difficult not to fidget. As it always did, the ominous atmosphere hanging over the City was affecting Matsuka as well.

"Is everything all right?" As silly a question as that was at the moment.

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura looked almost a bit sheepish as he stepped inside giving Mouse a pat on the head. "I was going to ask you the same... with everything...!" He near sighed. "With everyone like this... I'm worried," he admitted.

Worried about Matsuka especially. There was no way he couldn't be feeling the stress of everything, and the almost caged look just reinforced it even more.

[loveyourenemy.livejournal.com]

"I think everyone's scared," Matsuka agreed, looking anxious in spite of himself. "With so many people evacuating, I can manage, but I can still feel it. What's coming... I think it's going to be very bad."

As he said it, he glanced away towards the kitchen, and started a few steps in that direction with the vague and almost automatic idea of starting some tea. Maybe that would help the nerves.

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura nodded, patting Mouse one last time before following the lead towards the kitchen. "I was just talking to Oniichan... Kiryu-kun wants to stay and fight, so we're going to stay and support him."

It wasn't something Bakura was entirely happy with, but there was no way he could leave with one of his brother's staying. Especially with the way Kiryu fought...!

open to anyone who wants to bother him in the Mancave

[hackeralastair]

Alastair decided the brightly-lit, shiny distraction that was the Mancave was the place to hang that night. He was answering texts and messages to his comm, but in between he had the big-screen on with a lame rip-off superhero movie. And a beer.

He would be there until he was tired enough to crash, so anyone could find him and either join him or harass him.

[shiromadoushi]

Alastair was the easiest one to find, since his post had shown where he was. Bakura flopped down next to him on the couch with a deep exhale.

"Hey."

[hackeralastair]

"Sup." Alastair fiddled with his comm while he sat there, he was so familiar and comfortable with Bakura by now that he didn't need to look up. "This movie sucks, you can change the channel if you want."

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura shrugged. "I saw your post. Can't have a normal Halloween here, can we, huh?"

[hackeralastair]

"Is it sad I don't remember last year?" Alastair wondered. "Two seconds' search and I can find out what happened, because there's always something, but I don't really remember it right now."

He breathed a sigh through his nose while he performed that search. "I was thinking more about Godzilla. Was that the last time the city actually got evacuated?"

[shiromadoushi]

"Yeah... nothing else had much warning to it. Though at least Godzilla, we could see coming!" Bakura sighed. "I don't know what to do, Oniichan... I was going to put the shop on the normal emergency plans but almost everyone decided it would be a good time to use up the vacation time."

[hackeralastair]

"I don't know what to do, either," Alastair sighed. "My work isn't shut down, at least not yet. But I don't know where I stand anymore. I know I'm not hot enough to take down a...a Leviathan," he stammered, using the word for lack of a better term (because he wasn't much familiar with the pop culture of Cthulhu) even though it brought bad connotations with it. "But if it's not that bad, or if it's a lot of bad besides the big monster thing..."

He looked around to make sure his boyfriend hadn't snuck into the Mancave behind him before finishing. "...Kyosuke's not gonna want to bug out of here, and he'll want me to stay with him."

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura looked over at the stammer, a touch of concern in his eyes. This was really bothering Alastair, wasn't it...?

"Neither of us are really cut out for battle at all," he nodded before rubbing at his forehead. "And if Kiryu-kun's staying..." he near sighed. If Kiryu was going to be fighting... he would need to be on hand to heal, wouldn't he?

"I just really worry about Jonah-kun and Momiji-kun..." Neither of them were really the type to just send out on their own!

[hackeralastair]

It would bother him a lot worse once he got an eyeful of the thing coming to attack them. In this pre-disaster time, when no one knew really what they were facing, it was easy to push it aside. "All I can do is take souls. I don't even know if it works on anything besides people. Fucking porter...giving me powers I can't use."

Alastair sighed again. "Matsuka seems like a tougher cookie than he looks, kinda like you. But I wouldn't want you guys anywhere near fighting either. But..." He looked straight at Bakura, then. "...you can heal. People are gonna need you."

[shiromadoushi]

"The Porter's a bitch that way..." Bakura sighed, the curse slipping out naturally without him even noticing.

He looked down at his hands, fidgeting with his scar before he nodded. "Un... but..." he hesitated a moment. "Is it selfish of me, Oniichan? With all of this... I don't want to have to stick around and wait for everyone hurt so I can be there a moment too late again." His fingers tensed in his jeans. "I can't do anything but fix the damage. Until the worst happens, I'm useless. I can't prevent anyone being hurt... I can't even protect myself! I just want to hide away until it's all over...."

[the-other-kaiba.livejournal.com]

Mokuba peeked into the Mancave, then crept in to cuddle at Alastair's side.

"Should we be leaving too? With everyone going... I didn't actually have class today because no one was there. And Niisama's.... Niisama and probably just thinks that everyone's being dumb. I'm worried."

[hackeralastair]

Alastair just about fell off the couch. "Whoa geez what th...what are you doing here?" he yelped, startled. Sure, he could have guessed that Mokuba had access to a driver who would take him anywhere, but still. He was surprised.

[the-other-kaiba.livejournal.com]

Mokuba giggled a little, but quickly stopped.

"Niisama's still at work. I don't want to be home alone without knowing what's going on."

[hackeralastair]

"Still? That bastard." Alastair sighed and settled back down, already over the shock. "I get ya. It's gotta be hard, on days like this."

He sighed a bit and chanced at actually answering the question at last. "I can't even begin to predict what your brother thinks about all this, but he wasn't here for Godzilla. That happened before he got here. But if I know anything about him, I know he'll want to protect you more than anything."

[the-other-kaiba.livejournal.com]

That made Mokuba smile. "That's right. I'm the most important to Niisama." He nestled closer. "And he's the most important to me. So I have to protect him too. How can I do that, Alastair?"

[hackeralastair]

Alastair ruffled the kid's hair. "Get him out of here," he said seriously. "Because even if he did have the kind of power that could save us all, he'd never use it. Beg and plead, give him the puppy-dog eyes...whatever works. You guys...shouldn't be here for this."

[the-other-kaiba.livejournal.com]

"But what about you?" Mokuba asked, looking up at Alastair. "You have to be safe too."

[hackeralastair]

"Yeah, well..." He'd had a talk with Kiryu already, earlier tonight, so there were already plans forming. "...Kyosuke and Ryou have some pretty awesome powers. I gotta stay here to keep an eye on them, make sure they don't get in over their heads. Especially Ryou...he can heal people."