capeandcowllogs | And in some cases, cage squishes donkey.

And in some cases, cage squishes donkey.

WHO: Bakura, Toph, Kolira and Iron Fist
WHERE: Somewhere in the city where shit's going down.
WHEN: Early Wednesday morning.
SUMMARY: Bakura and Toph are doing rounds when it starts becoming clear that Bakura is in no shape to be out and about in this sort of chaos.
FORMAT: Paragraph to start, whatever after.

Bakura had a near death grip on his dice as he and Toph walked through the wreckage of one of Joker's many explosions, looking for survivors.

It was fine. He could do this. He was fine. It was all...

He froze, mid step when a light, alto voice gave a soft, but demented giggle from behind him. "Found you...."

He turned, breath catching in his throat as his eyes widened. No.. it-- it couldn't...

The woman had the sickening grin of the Joker virus, a bloodied knife in her hand, splattered with a red that stained her dress that was a familiar--

No. No it couldn't be...

He shook his head, trying to clear it, fingers tightening even more around his dice.

Pale hair half hidden in a scarf that was half wrapped around her head to keep out the cold that looked--

No! It wasn't-- it wasn't--

I found you, my Ryou---

He stood, frozen utterly in place as the woman lurched forward, knife raised as she laughed again.

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"Then you can give us a hand," Koltira said brisky, as he took hold of Bakura's wrist. "He's pushing himself beyond his limit." To Bakura, he said, "As I have told you before, it's unwise to persist in battle when you are fatigued, lest you risk insanity, or worse. Stop your protesting."

"Bakura, do I have to punch you to get you to go home? Because I will if I have to. You. Need. To. Rest." She scowled up at him through the mask. Scowly scowl scowl. Hopefully it was intimidating enough to work.

To Danny, she nodded.

"I'm Toph, this is Koltira. You seem to know Bakura already, yeah?"

Bakura gave a very small smile at Danny before he tensed, looking down. "I'm not working myself to the bone, I'm fine, really!" he protested, voice suddenly much softer. "I'm not even burning HP yet! And there's so much that needs to be done!" He sounded genuinely upset at this, shoulders hunched a little. "I can't just go in and rest... what if--"

His eyes darted over to where ~~his mother~~ that woman had been, his left hand trembling just a little at Koltira's grip on his wrist. "Just a little more. Then I'll rest and recharge."

"Yeah. Well, sort of. He helped me out before. When I was in a similar situation."

Danny rested what he hoped would be a comforting hand on Bakura's shoulder. "No. You'll rest now. I'll take care of the healing while you're gone." He paused, patting the boy's arm. "Just think of it as shifts, alright? We'll switch places once you're done resting."

"A sound plan," Koltira said, nodding to Danny in approval. To Bakura, he said, "I won't brook your resistance much longer."

"Neither will I. I might not be your team leader anymore, Bakura, but I'm still your friend, and I'm telling you that you're going to go home with me right now. Or I'll drag you there."

She crossed her arms over her chest, the tone brooking no argument.

Bakura fell silent, looking down unhappily before giving a small nod. "All right..." He looked over at Danny with a faint smile. "Thank you."

"No need for thanks. Just do me a favor and get some rest, alright? No need to worry your friends over this."

A crash sounded in the distance, closely followed by a mad cackle. Danny swore under his breath, his head snapping in the direction of the sounds. He turned back to the trio.

"Look. I have to go." He said, already jogging off. He turned around, points to Koltira and Toph. "You two make sure he gets some rest!"

And then he's off.

"Shorel'aran," Koltira said, in the wake of Danny's departure. He turned to Bakura and Toph. "Let's go. Now."

"Yes, please. I'm getting tired anyway."

She slid her arm through Bakura's good one and started walking in a homeward direction.

"You been busy out here, Koltira?"

Well heck, Toph, if Bakura would have known you were getting tired...

Still looking a bit chastised and a bit guilty now, he allowed himself to be lead along. Though he really didn't relish the idea of going back to his empty apartment...

It occurred to Koltira that he didn't know where Bakura lived. "Toph. Where are we going, exactly?"

"Back to the base, of course! Bakura can sleep in one of the extra rooms or in mine. I don't mind taking one of the beanbags since I sleep out there half the time anyway."

Somehow she knew the exact direction, a pretty awesome feat for a blind girl. Not that Bakura knew she was blind (still!), but Koltira did, at least. She almost never got lost in the City anymore.

"Eh? The base...? But..." Bakura hesitated a moment, looking down. It was silly to be worried about cursing his friends to be ported out just by staying over one night...

"But?" Koltira prompted, though he was moving regardless. It wasn't safe to stand still in this City, not tonight.

"It's safer than going to your place alone."

Definitely not safe to stand still. She kept ahold of Bakura, "watching" the large perimeter of her vision to make sure nothing was approaching.

This really was just like the zombies, but with less disgusting stinky mess.

"It's not alone," Bakura protested despite his feelings to the contrary, not answering Koltira's question. "Alastair-kun's working from home today and I'm pretty sure Hiruma-kun's home too."

"I don't care," Koltira growled. He had some notion that Bakura was withholding information, but he wasn't the kind of man who pressed people over their emotions. Particularly not in the heat of a dangerous situation. "We're going to the closest safe place."

"I agree - close and safe is better than far away and safe."

There were some people milling about at the edges of her vision, but they were all in the alleys or inside houses. Nothing too threatening, for which she was grateful.

"We should hurry, though. Don't want to get caught by a group of crazy people."

Bakura went to protest, but shut his mouth again, shoulders slumping. He really didn't want to be alone after all.... He gave a small nod.

Koltira moved the group along until the children's base came into view. "Nearly there," he said. "Be alert."

"Can't see anything around us, at least. Should be good."

The house had remained unscathed so far. Hopefully it would stay that way, if they were lucky.

Bakura did his best not to fidget as they approached. It was hard to be alert when anything could come out of nowhere... Maybe going back to Hell Towers would have been best, after all, the building had good security, even when Hiruma wasn't there and they were on the 10th floor...

But he didn't want to make trouble...

So he kept his eyes low, watching the ground as he fidgeted with his dice.

"If you have something to say," Koltira said, "You ought to say it."

She tilted her head at Koltira's statement, but didn't respond, as it was a question of sorts for Bakura.

The house was fortified enough. She could put up the walls again if need be, but there hadn't been much trouble in their neighborhood as of yet.

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