ruinsprofessor

[ Bakura offered a noncommittal noise in response to the "without further incident" comment, neither confirming nor denying. In comparison to what had precipitated it, there hadn't been any issues. The hellhound had still managed to rankle his mood in the span of the mere few minutes he'd been there.

Instead, he pours two cups and adds the fixings she prefers to hers; doesn't ask, just does it and gets it right, before setting it down in front of her on the table. ]

Well, she seems to know what she's doing, more or less. [ referring to Zatanna ] For a magician.

[She'll take that as agreement; if it isn't, she doesn't actually want to know right now. Raine nods thanks to him when he sets the cup down, curls her hands around it. It certainly looked like he prepared it exactly according to her preferences. She tests it, finds that hypothesis accurate, and despite the lingering mass of less happy sentiments, smiles over the coffee at him. He pays attention.]

She does. We spoke about it, at some length.

[Something about his term choice makes her wonder.] You distinguish her from other mages.

[ He makes his own cup, glad for something to occupy his hands, and leans back against the counter across from her. ]

Her magic is... more similar, to that of the magicians in Egypt.

[ The ones he'd referred to in the past more than once, in terms less than than glowing. Actually, closer to loathing. He decided it wasn't the time or place to inform Raine that he and Zatanna had once had a magical street brawl that had left them both in straits. Really, he was surprised she'd resumed talking to him, even a few years after the fact. ]

Her magic doesn't have the same... costs, that some does. That makes it more dangerous.

[This is good. This is a basis for recovering equilibrium, a hot drink and their equivalent of small talk. The remaining anger will fade, and things will be, if not as they were, then perhaps more sturdy. Raine drinks her coffee carefully, and lets herself relax.]

I believe I see. A lack of checks, in essence? Nothing except the user's morality to keep them from doing things that shouldn't be done?

[Maybe don't tell her about the magical street brawl right now, no. If ever.]

[ Raine couldn't have known how much better that her following his half-spoken train of thought made him feel. He didn't have to explain the context for her to draw the right conclusion. It was something that so rarely happened that it left him momentarily quieted, just appreciating it. ]

Aa. Exactly that.

[She's not sure what to make of that pause; it simply seemed the logical conclusion. Especially given the bits and pieces she's picked up of so many different magical styles while she's been here.]

And you'd prefer no one be that unchecked, I assume.

Still, there are worse people than Zatanna for that sort of power.

[Which is... faint praise, but Zatanna does seem to have a solid head on her shoulders for the most part, from Raine's limited experience.]

Everyone should prefer that no one be unchecked, seba-rekhet. Especially in a place like this, where there ends up being a gathering of people who outstrip the checks and balances this world is able to provide.

[ So many of them here could do so much damage -- and Raine seems to be right in the thick of all of them. The thought's never far from his mind, even without his latest tangle with Valdis. He follows it with a shrug, but he agrees with her observation. ]

There are. She's young enough it could still go either way, though.

Yes. You have a point.

[Raine looks a little bit grim at the reminder. Valdis does come to mind, though her power's a self-destructive one. The rest of Raine's close friends could equally well qualify by Bakura's standards; while their powers all come with prices, a price isn't quite the same thing.]

['Young' doesn't quite earn an askance look-- Raine's among enough centuries-old friends that, relatively, Zatanna does seem young. But by the same token, her students are younger still, and their power in some respects beyond the bounds of what was once considered possible.]

That's fair. Still, she's been here for some time, hasn't she?

[She's had the chance to experiment and hasn't gone completely mad with power, in other words.]

[ Bakura thought for a moment, running through the list of Foreigners in his head. ]

She might be the oldest Foreigner here, actually. I can't think of anyone else who's been here longer, at least. That Welcome Center kid, maybe.

Welcome Center kid...? Ah. Jack?

[Raine takes the same time to think about it, finds she has to agree with Bakura. At least to the best of her knowledge.]

So many of the longer-term Foreigners have gone, since I've been here.

[Some of them she misses. Obligatorily, her thoughts turn to Genis again, and she sips her coffee instead of continuing on.]

That's the one.

[ He nods in agreement to what she said, but it didn't take a clairvoyant to realize where her thoughts went along with it. He hadn't wanted to unduly remind her of her absent brother. ]

I'll have to get the Ring back from the sefatjiw before too long.

[Though she's not at all going to mention it, Raine finds herself profoundly grateful for the conversational redirect. Eventually, it will stop being such a loss to consider. But not yet.]

And how do you intend to do that?

I guess that'll depend on how much she feels like she wants to have a bargaining chip. Worst case, I'll have to challenge her for it, but I doubt either of us are in the mood for another so soon.

[Please don't be. Please. Raine sighs a little over her coffee, recognizing the problems.]

I doubt my speaking to her would help.

I can only hope you succeed.

[For once she holds her tongue on it, but be careful is nearly as distinct in her tone as if she'd said it.]

I didn't think you'd be so eager to stage another intervention, seba-rekhet.

But no, I doubt it would change much.

I hope she doesn't go prodding at the Ring with that sword of hers.

I'm not.

[But if it would help, she would.]

That... wouldn't be good, no. [Raine frowns at her coffee.] It's very strongly associated with light. There's more to it than just that, of course, but it's a particularly destructive blade.

[She'd never want to see it crossed with the Material Blades.]

[ Bakura absently rubbed his chest, recalling the sensation of a blade sliding into it although no steel touched him and no injury had physically appeared there. ]

Oh, I know what it's got going for it. But as they say, the best weapon is just the pointed end of a bad one.

[Raine glances up, motion catching her eye, and can't help but sympathize with the gesture.]

In other words, anything would do? Is the Ring so vulnerable?

[It sounds like concern. The Ring is metal, and has life woven into it. For some reason she'd thought it a particularly durable thing-- after all, it sustained Bakura thousands of years, didn't it?]

[ Bakura chuckled a little, but it was a humourless sound. ]

Hardly vulnerable, no. It cannot be melted, damaged, or drained of power. The shadow alchemy made sure of that. Its bearers, on the other hand, tend to be a little less indestructible.

[ a mirthless smile ]

I should know, I killed its first one.

Edited 2015-08-06 06:03 (UTC)

[UM.]

[Raine doesn't know that she expected anything less, but even so, it's something a little startling, to have Bakura admit it so bald-facedly.]

[Well. A great many of her friends have killed, after all. This has already happened, and there's no changing it, nor does it change the Bakura she knows. In any case, Raine doubts he killed for the fun of it. Maybe it's just that she wants to believe the best of him, but they've spoken of costs enough... no. Bakura knows the weight of a life.]

But you're still concerned for the sword's possible influence on it.

[She's missing a step, which she hopes he'll be considerate enough to fill in.]

[ It certainly hadn't been for fun, no. It had been a life or death match, with Mahaad as determined to come out of the duel its victor just as much as Bakura had been. That damned claw trap would have taken his leg off if it hadn't had the fortune to catch the cuff he wore at his ankle. That had been too close a call.

And he hadn't technically gotten rid of the man completely, as Mahaad's last act was to fuse himself with his ka, and remaking himself as the Dark Magician that continued to serve the Pharaoh, even in modern times. Damned persistent Priest!

Raine's puzzlement left him wondering if there was any good way to eloborate... but there really wasn't. ]

When I was sealed in the Ring, I wasn't the only thing in there, seba-rekhet. You feel how dark it is, but you're only seeing part of the picture. I was never the worst thing bound to this Item.

It isn't even darkness, per se. [Raine gives this a little thought.] Not as an element, at any rate. There's just something... off. Not like living mana should feel.

[Wrong. It sets her on edge sometimes when she's paying attention to it, like being in the depths of the Temple of Shadow with Abyssion laying claim to the Devil's Arms. Mostly she's used to what Bakura feels like, but sometimes...]

[The fact that there is worse bound into the Ring makes her eyes sharp, and she frowns at him.]

And it came with you? What is it?

Not like how you'd think of it, no. It's more evil, than dark.

[ Bakura wasn't the type to toss around that word lightly, but there was no hesitation in how he used it here. ]

It is... hm.

[ Perhaps he'd better back up a bit. ]

The Items were created through shadow alchemy, which was written in a book called the Thousand Years Tome. The Priests only managed to translate the ritual and its spell, but also inside of it was information on what it had been written to seal away: a being called Zorc. Whether a demon, or a dark god, he's used both titles, and he predates Egypt. The Tome claimed that the gods themselves sealed him the first time, to avoid being destroyed by him.

[That was an exceptionally notable lack of hesitation. Bakura is entirely certain that the word evil applies here.]

[That's... a very bad sign.]

I take it that this being was... unsealed?

[Grim. If the being predates the Items, Raine can really only see one way for it to have gotten bound to one. It got loose, or was set loose, and someone re-sealed it.]

[With the way his past is, the way the Items apparently required quite a bit of sacrifice of life to be made... Raine will not be surprised if there was a significant death toll surrounding the entire debacle.]

It was... awoken, is probably a better term. To unseal it, all the created Items had to be put back into the tablet, and that would break the the seals.

[ a pause, and then: ]

So that's what I did.

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