[Thread] From the top...

[black_not_white]

Characters: AU Manjoume Jun, open to whoever
Where: the rooftop of Apartment Building 2
When: mid-afternoon
Summary: Though he's certainly not going to go out completely in the open right now, Manjoume needs some fresh air. Care to poke?
Warnings: Besides Manjoume's easily-irritated nature, it depends on who shows up.

Comments

[black_not_white]

Not much... That still didn't change the fact that he had gotten rid of it! It was gone from inside of him! It might not have been out of his life, seeing as his version of the Academy, back home, was saturated with the stuff, but it was out of him! The fact that Asuka's brother's ghost had told him (through her) that he'd stepped in to keep it from taking him again... The fact that his ability to see spirits hadn't returned... They had nothing to do with anything, he insisted to himself!

As a subconscious action that, if commented upon, would probably be excused by a shiver due to the winter weather (no matter how little that usually mattered to him), Manjoume pulled his North Academy uniform's black coat tighter around himself and tried to reassume at least the tiniest bit of composure, pointedly looking away from Johan.

"I..." he began, but it was a moment before he managed to continue, "I'll ask him about it, then." To himself, he insisted that he wasn't admitting that Johan was right. However, he did (more or less) trust that version of Judai, and had seen that he would do something if it was necessary.

Nothing would be necessary, of course, he refused to believe that this could possibly be the case... but it couldn't hurt to make absolutely certain that what Johan had seen was simply a mistake, right?

[eightgemmaster]

Johan nodded a bit; whatever it was, he had faith that Juudai would be able to sort it out. That was simply what Juudai did.

Thoughtfully, he began to set out each of the Gem Beast cards, taking a good long look at each of them, the tips of his fingers caressing each one. They'd been threatened more times than he cared to remember here, and he treasured them all the more because he knew how close he had come to losing them.

Love you guys, he thought, knowing they'd hear him. He was still aware that Manjoume was there, though he had no idea if the other could see spirits or not. To most people, it would look as if he were just going through his deck, after all.

[black_not_white]

Johan cared a lot for his cards, didn't he. Not that it was strange - all good duelists cared about their cards, after all. But the way he was acting with them, it was almost like they were even more important to him.

Did all of Johan's cards house spirits? It wouldn't be surprising - previously, Manjoume had had multiple spirits living in his own deck, too. In fact, back home, somewhere back in Osiris Red (unless they'd been moved), he had an entire collection of cards that housed the spirits of monsters with zero attack points. Vaguely, he wondered what had become of them - if they hadn't been moved, Zaloog and the Black Scorpions were probably making sure that they all stayed safe. Not that he would be able to tell, if he were to see them now, but. And that wasn't even mentioning the Ojamas...

For a guy like Manjoume, who had so carelessly thrown his spirit partners to the wind like trash... standing here, watching Johan sort through his deck so lovingly... It made him feel as though he shouldn't be there, as his seeing it somehow made the whole thing dirty or something of the sort.

[eightgemmaster]

Johan glanced up briefly, his fingers on Rainbow Dragon's card. "Can you see them?" he asked curiously. He didn't think so, since Manjoume hadn't reacted to Ruby Carbuncle at all. But he wanted to know.

[black_not_white]

It took him a moment, to decide how exactly to answer the question. It was kind of unsettling, to be asked that question directly like this. There was a reason he tried to push thoughts about it to the back of his head - he wasn't sure how to deal with everything that had happened, with the memory of how everything had just gone quiet the moment they had left his hand...

After a moment, however, he hid his expression even further and settled on "No. I haven't been able to see spirits for a while now."

[eightgemmaster]

Johan frowned, looking at him again. It was obvious that bothered Manjoume quite a bit. He couldn't be sure if the other would want to talk about it, either. Especially not to him, since they'd really just met.

Finding some way to respond to that wasn't easy, either. Johan considered a few options of his own and finally nodded slightly, starting to gather up his own cards. "If you want to duel sometime, just for the practice of it, let me know. I'm always up for a good game." He grinned some; he'd been trying to think of someone he could duel, not just for the practice, but for the fun of it, and hopefully to show Haou that he was a duelist.

But mostly for the fun of it.

[black_not_white]

A duel just for the practice of it. Internally, Manjoume couldn't help but smile. One would think that a game would be just that - a game. Certainly, something that a myriad of different kinds of careers could be - and were - based from. But it seemed as though almost all of the rounds he'd played, for the longest time, had had some kind of catch to them. A duel just for practice, without any strings attached... That could be a nice change of pace.

"I'll let you know," he replied.