#frostwnd

----- Even after being wiped from and then dragged back into this mundane world, Mariku's memories of the past remain intact. He remembers how he was created, recalls exactly how it felt to pierce flesh and draw blood with his alter ego's hands. He remembers, with such clarity it might as well have been yesterday, wielding the Winged Dragon of Ra in an attempt to drag everyone who dared to face him down into Hell itself.

He remembers, also, that boy - the one who was to the spirit of the Millennium Ring what he was to Malik. A vessel, a body... a victim. The last time Mariku had seen Ryou Bakura, he had been injured, brainwashed and subject to not one but two possessing entities, and it had been he, the demon of the Millennium Rod given flesh, who had ended that endeavor in the darkness of night.

— GROWING CLOSER.

That came out of nowhere. But Dan Heng did not flinch; the look of surprise on his face (his eyes widening slightly) soon gave way to a pensive expression as he brought his slightly clenched fist to his chin. “Hm.” He pondered it for a moment. Tried not to keep her waiting too long, as she seemed to need some kind of comfort. Still, he did not want to rush into an answer without maintaining objectivity. “...It’s true that the Nameless find it difficult to form... deep bonds,” he said.

“We’re constantly on the move, and we know very little about the affairs of a planet once we set out on a new journey.”

A few examples came to mind, such as Amphoreus. It was Madame Herta who oversaw the development of the Eternal Land while they wandered the streets of Planarcadia, Himeko’s homeworld, and faced new dangers. Did she feel… guilty? Dan Heng tried to unravel, or rather, decipher, the thread of Stelle’s thoughts, her concerns, and the source of those concerns, from a different angle. However, in his opinion, she was one of the hardest people to read. What was troubling her, exactly? He didn't know and found himself struggling to understand her. “Are you worried about what March said?”

Something about how the first person they meet after getting off the Astral Express usually is keeping a huge secret.

Those are interesting choices. Coming from someone who's likely seen most of what the world has to offer, it surprises Tartaglia that Aether would mention the same places as a regular citizen. It isn't seen negatively, however. He listens to the reasoning and, to some degree, he relates to the sentiment — should he pick a place himself, the tranquility of sitting by the shore in Morepesok would climb its way to his tongue and leap in the form of words.

@frostwnd ⊹ prompt ⊹ ❝ ( frostwnd Stelle ) "do i look like someone who knows what that means?" Sorry Sunday, she's only really a few years old.

             should he answer truthfully, he would have to endorse expectations that, albeit kept modest, were still too high. At the same time, coexisting with the Trailblazer comes with the caveat of having to question the seriousness of what she says almost constantly. It explains why Sunday waits in silence, letting it stretch between them while he watches over Stelle's expression and gives her time to rectify her initial claims. When it doesn't happen, he breathes out — oh, you're serious about it — and repositions the musical sheet so it's angled toward her on the stand.

@frostwnd ( Ryou ) Ponders this. "What… would you say that other kinds are, then?"