[In Progress] -Open-

[note_atem]

Who: Atem and OPEN to anyone who would like a chaperon or who just wants HEY HELP HIM.
What: Welcome to Domino!
When: February 1st, in the afternoon after all the characters get there.
Where: Wandering the streets, parks, wherever you'd like to run into him because he just needs to keep moving.
Warnings: CARD GAMES? ANNOYING CHILDREN? COPIOUS AMOUNTS

Comments

[crimsonguarddog]

It looked like Atem wasn't the only one out of place here. In fact, the city had gained over to a hundred new inhabitants in the span of moments. The redhead was one of them. Out in the forest earning her pay like usual, she had turned after a brief moment of vertigo only to find that several things were immediately wrong. The forest had thinned out, rows of trees in straight lines as if planted there instead of let grown. And more alarming, her clothing had changed with out her notice. There were lights back to where the town should be, far too big for such and for what she had become almost used to over the year.

Oh, not something like this again. This wasn't Gaia, was it?

A quicker inspection had revealed not, and Cissnei had spent the next few hours figuring out just what the hell she had walked into. It was incredibly early in the morning, between the time the nightlife was filtering out and the early risers started to move. Finally she had gotten the L337POD to work and gotten into contact with a few people, thank the gods.

At the moment, she was standing near the area she had told Kaiba to come pick her up from, eying the small coffee shop across the street. Caffeine was really starting to sound like a good idea right now...

[note_atem]

He was immediately rethinking the decision to wear the Duel Disk Seto had made for him. It drew infinite attention to him (though his reputation, hair, and outfit did that just fine on their own) and he really was not in the mood to duel kids for his title- a title which he would actually have to gain back here. As he was no longer Yuugi Mutou, spirit inhabiting, he was now Atem.

He was a person who didn't belong. And he kept checking his LP for signs of what went wrong and where. And was he thinking... perhaps he almost wanted to go back to the island. No, he really did. At least there it was quiet, excluding death and strangeness all over the place.

Autographs this, duel that; he wanted away from it. He had forgotten how annoying that had been almost. Usually it was Yuugi who would have to deal with it, he'd gotten it to a lesser extent but he wasn't in control most of the time. He sighed heavily, trying to remember where he'd come from but he only found himself deeper lost.

He looked up, around, trying to make a plan of escape but there was nowhere to really go. This was Kaiba's city, and as such kids were wearing Duel Disks on every street corner, some already engrossed in battles, and others looking to go. He made his way across the street and into the coffee shop to sit and watch out the window not knowing what else to do. At least inside the buildings they didn't allow duels. No room.

"Now if I could just...." Just anything.

[crimsonguarddog]

She finally made the decision to just go ahead and do it, knowing that combined with what was sure to happen today and her decision to not sleep the night before was either going to make her rather annoyed or burned out, no matter how many times she had done it before. Waiting for the crosswalk light to change before Cissnei made her way over and into the coffee shop, for now ignoring the strangeness of kids fighting with monsters on the streets... She had her gun and Materia in the silver bag that had mysteriously shown up with her, but she had ditched Rekka for now, left so she could find it and possibly sneak it back...somewhere later. It wouldn't do to draw attention right now after all.

Entering the coffee shop the redhead noticed a face she had seen on The NETWORK before, and he looked just as distressed as Cissnei had felt when she had first found herself here. The former turk was much more schooled in hiding it though, and had been for years. With a snap decision she made her way over, heels clicking on the floor to make sure he heard her coming before the woman spoke. "Atem, right? I think we just spoke."

She didn't say anything further on the subject of Salkia, less someone's attention was drawn.

[note_atem]

His first thought was to dismiss her immediately, and he hadn't even looked up. But as his lips parted to form the words, Go away, in his mind somewhere it registered that she'd said Atem. Not Yuugi, not Game King, not any of the other aliases he'd heard today. So he chanced a look up, smiling when he saw Cissnei.

They'd only spoke once or twice before this, he was sure, exchanged names at least. It didn't make him feel particularly better to see her, really it only solidified that something strange was going on here and the Island, as usual, was just doing whatever it wanted. There were a million possibilities as to why they were all here, but she wouldn't know any of them. There was no point in asking or taking his frustration out on her.

"Yes, that's me." He confirmed, motioning for her to take a seat. He didn't have a beverage and was just sitting quietly. But company, and someone who at least knew his name, was better than none.

IT'S MY CITY, I CAN JUMP IN THREADS WHENEVER I WANT. Waffles gets the next tag.

[shutupandduelme]

Damage control. Kaiba HATED doing damage control. But here he was, waking up in his study at home instead of at his desk in the house on Salkia without a word of warning or indication of what was to happen either way. A shower, a change of clothes, a few cups of coffee and a few calls to the office didn't seem to help any. And now...the L33tPOD was still in his pocket. And still working, of all things. He had wanted to go home, but none of this seemed right. It was all too sudden, too convenient, and Kaiba was going to get to the bottom of it. After he fished out a few people he had seen floundering on the NETWORK, of course.

The sleek black limo slid up to the curb, with a dark haired man in a suit and sunglasses hopping out to open the door. The few people on the street already knew what was coming, and cleared out quickly. After all, the city of Domino had learned long before not to get in Kaiba Seto's way. The tall young man got out of the car easily, had a few words with the dark haired driver, and glanced up to look for Cissnei.

Seeing nothing but the coffee shop, Kaiba sighed and straightened his white suit jacket before heading inside. Everything seemed to be working as it should so far, he thought, having no idea of who else might be inside.

[crimsonguarddog]

Good, although it was hard to miss that hair of his Cissnei could of been wrong. There had been another like him around a few times, from what she remembered. Setting her coffee down - No frappichinos or Mochas or anything like that. Just coffee as coffee with a little bit of creamer in it to get all she needed out of it.

"Nice to meet you in person, finally." She nodded slightly and pulled the chair out to sit down, taking a deep sip of her coffee before speaking further. "Despite...this, anyway." Though technically it wasn't much better on the island. But at least she knew the island to some extent.

The woman exhaled slowly, turning her gaze away from the other for a brief moment. The clothing made her uncomfortable, exposing more of her shoulders than she would of liked to be honest, not to mention all of the belts. Although that seemed to be the norm, from what she had already observed and could observe from the window...At least until a limo pulled up and everybody scattered.

For a brief moment, her attention completely off of Atem, hazel eyes narrowed at the man in the black suit first, drawing parallels in familiarity that she hadn't seen in a long time. It vanished though when she recognized the second person as Kaiba, relaxing a fraction. She knew she wasn't back in Midgar, but when one was supposed to be dead, you played it cautiously.

[note_atem]

"And you as well." He replied, at least a little jovial. It was nice to have someone to talk to, despite what they were going through. And it was a little the same circumstance, as he didn't really belong here and he didn't know her thoughts about this place either. He was trying his very hardest to weather through this despite the few hours he'd been in it.

If he had to live here the rest of his days, he knew he had to start getting used to it now. And yet it didn't seem like it would be that way. With other islanders here... something about this felt very wrong. Like a trick was unfolding before their eyes, and it was best not to grasp too tightly. Or maybe that was him being wishful or careful.

"I'm not sure what our best options are right now. To ignore what we know, or to round everyone up and make a plan. We still have the LPs. We must be meant to keep in contact." That at least made sense. But he realized she wasn't paying nearly as much attention as she had been only a moment ago, and he gazed at where she was looking.

A sigh of relief fell from him before he could stop it. Seto. Kaiba Seto. He had never been more relieved to see that man in his life, he was sure. Even when it meant life or death- this felt pretty much the same.

[shutupandduelme]

Kaiba didn't even look at the kid behind the counter while he ordered a coffee (black, the strongest blend they had), being much more interested in who had wandered into the shop.

"Cissnei," he murmured in greeting, eyes sliding over her to land on her more showy table mate, "and...Mutou. Not what I was expecting, but it saves me some time. There are better places to talk than here." And safer places, where he wouldn't have to resort to using Yuugi's last name. For the moment, however, that's who people thought Atem was, and Kaiba saw no reason to cause confusion by calling him otherwise. Just...not Yuugi.

[crimsonguarddog]

She caught the tail end of Atem's plan, and turned her head away from the window as Kaiba entered to respond back to Atem. "Ignoring the problem never makes it go away. But until we gather more information, or find more signals on the Network. I've not the chance to dig into it yet, but from what I assume so far, all of those from the Island are here." She said softly. There was really no need, considering how most people's attention had turned to the CEO.

"Kaiba," She returned when he came over, nodding when he spoke of moving and standing up in response. Quite the idea, after all none of the three of them, she was certain wanted to come of crazy with what was sure to come up in their discussions.

[note_atem]

Atem managed a smile, but it vanished once Kaiba called him by his assumed last name. He realized why, but that didn't make it any better. However, the CEO was offering an out, at least temporarily. Somewhere quiet, away from the stares; it sounded rather nice. And at least wherever that was they could talk about the prospect of being..

Well that was really his own problem. Even if he had said asking for help didn't make one weak, he found himself at odds to do it right then and there. He'd woken up in a house, he had a place to stay he supposed. It was just the identity thing that was really getting him at the current moment.

He stood with a nod, forcing a light smile. "Then, shall we?"

[shutupandduelme]

Kaiba grunted in affirmation, his eyes lingering on Atem just a moment too long before he turned and handed his card to the hapless kid at the counter. Some fumbling and many tries later, as the kid has an irritating tendency to stare at the card, then back at Kaiba, then at the card again without actually swiping it, the CEO hed his coffee.

He swept out of the shop without a word, nodding to his man at the limo who opened the door quickly enough. The brunet hesitated, waiting for Cissnei to get in before he slid in himself, Atem ending up on his other side.

"The Tower. Quickly," he said coolly to the dark haired man in the driver's seat, before hitting the button for the security partition. Glass rose to separate the cabin from the rest of the car. "And now...would anyone like to enlighten me as to what happened?" Kaiba said sharply, leaning back against the seat and crossing his arms in his usual position.

[crimsonguarddog]

Relaxing back into the seat of the limo, her free hand, covered with read leather came up to press at her temple, waiting until it was secure to speak before doing so. "It's the island again, possibly. The L337POD's work, The NETWORK didn't work earlier in the morning, but it does now." She reached into her handbag by her feet and pulled it out, careful not to shift the gun into sight.

"Were either of you awake when this happened?"

[note_atem]

Atem wasn't really used to riding with Seto or in this type of car. He tried to stay equally as distant, moving towards the door as much as he could before resting one leg up on the other and keeping his eyes out towards the window. Once the question was posed, he couldn't really answer. As if any of them had any real idea.

But to Cissnei's he did manage to speak up. Shaking his head, though it only made him feel more useless than a few moments ago. "No." One minute the island, the next Domino. How was it even possible to do things like this, on such a large scale?

"But I think our best bet for anything, still is to round everyone up." And that's where his suggestion would stay, because as far as he would let himself, this was a dream. And they would be back on that island soon. To delude himself into thinking he'd made it "home" as Seto had promised was foolish. Especially when the brunet obviously did not have a hand in this at all.

[shutupandduelme]

Kaiba scowled at the sight of the L337POD in Cissnei's hand, reminded once again of another problem that needed solving. Why was he stil tethered to these people. Everything he had seen so far had certainly indicated that this was the Domino City he remembered. Everything except, of course, the presence of the two people sitting next to him. Perhaps more, but he hadn't checked the NETWORK since the first time. He thought it would be better that way, at least until he got to the office and could take care of...annoyances.

"Oddly enough, it seems I wasn't awake at the time," the brunet admitted, not adding on that he had drifted off from exhaustion at his desk, part of his usual three night cycle. It wasn't so different than what he would be doing here, really. "But it would seem the Island would be involved. There is no other reason the LPs would still work," he added with a frown.

Atem's idea had him scowling. "Everyone...is everyone actually here, then? Are you sure?" he asked, not really liking the idea of getting so many insane people in one place in his city.

[crimsonguarddog]

Cissnei didn't press further as to ask why with either of them - She'd lived with Kaiba in house one long enough to come to some understanding of when to press and when not too. Flicking through The Network absently to see when the last post were made. Jing, mostly some kids, Ken she noted to reply to when she had a moment. "It was strange, it felt like..." A pause as she searched for the words. "Like the whole island shifted under my feet. Then we ended up here."

Setting the LP down the woman shook her head. "There seem to be a few. I'd be able to check the signals when I have a computer and hook it up. Getting them together will be the hard part, but if there are some of the more...Unsavory people from the island here, it would be in best interest to keep an eye on them." The woman glanced over at Kaiba briefly when she spoke. Being here for him is one thing, but everyone else... It was a step to finding a way home for everyone if they could figure out just how it happened.

[note_atem]

"If there are a few already, then they all must be here." He was trying to draw a logical conclusion. "It's a cause for mass chaos. People have been taken from an unsavory condition and placed in a completely new territory with no knowledge- save for the ones who are from here." The Island wins again, he supposed. But that always seemed to ring true. There was not much they could do.

"And so, more than anything, the more dangerous people we've harbored on Salkia; I fear more for the kids of Domino than I do for them." Of course he would care about them, and there were a lot. It was midday and a lot of them were out playing Duel Monsters. They were in danger and they didn't even know it.

"And when you cause chaos and panic betwixt a group of people that were previously detained on an island, the first reaction will be to spread out and run. And for those who maintain violence as a method for anything, they're going to hurt other people." If this was the real world, death would be permanent here. At least for the people of the city. And mortals were capable of rioting and panicking too.

This was a terrible situation to be in, and he was trying his hardest to work out what the next step was. Leading a nation had gotten him this far, but this wasn't his nation anymore. More than anything, it was Kaiba's. So for a long moment in his pause and thinking, he looked right at the brunet.