A/N: I have only two things to say; one, LADYBLACKWELL IS THE BEST PERSON EVER FOR HELPING ME WITH THIS.
Two: this is not my original idea, but I like this better BECAUSE IT'S ALL MEANINGFUL AND STUFF. :'D
Now enjoy the fic. :D
She inhales, takes one deep breath, before stepping onto the deck, pack of cards in hand. Blond curls toss over her shoulders as she moves forward, the gentle sea air feeling almost like a caress, a comforting hand, something that Mai has not felt in a long, long time. She shakes her head to rid herself of the nostalgia and puts on the smile that only she can tell is oh-so-wretchedly fake.
Dealing Blackjack tends to pay well, and it's her forte, much as she resents it. Mai wishes often that she weren't an employee on a yacht that traveled the seas endlessly; she wishes for more. More will come, one day, she knows, but she cannot help but wonder when. It doesn't seem as if it will be soon, at any rate. She acknowledges this.
"Looks like they sent us the good stuff," one old man says, cackling in a way that is undoubtedly lecherous. Mai fights not to wrinkle her nose, and only just manages to keep her smile in place. "Guess we made the right choice by coming onto this boat, eh, boys?" A chorus of laughs rise from most of the man's companions. Mai inwardly cringes, but doesn't comment.
Mai plays the men. She wins. She always wins.
Mai leaves her cards on the table as the men leave grumbling at their defeat. As soon as they're out of sight, she smirks cockily, glad to have beaten them in at least one way, even if she had to put up with their perversion.
She drops the smile with a sigh and crouches to pick up her cards up one by one.
When she stands again, there are two men sitting at the blackjack table, staring at her expectantly.
"My name's Mai," Mai says, looking at the two men before her. They don't seem to be giving her lecherous looks like the last group had, so perhaps they won't be such bad company.
The one with brown hair answers first. "Varon." His accent is strange, Mai notes, definitely not Japanese. His voice is simultaneously dismissive and impatient.
"I'm Jounouchi," the blond one answers, rolling his eyes and punching Varon in the arm. "Sheesh, you're always so abrasive. Lighten up, will you?"
"Excuse me for being the same person I've always been," Varon says sarcastically, punching him back. "Really, if I get on your nerves that much, find someone else to travel with. I just want to get on with the damn game"
Mai can't help but laugh. Impatience she can deal with, and already they seem much easier to get along with than she'd expected. She briefly wonders what their history is, but moves on to the next question without asking.
"So where are you two from?" Mai asks as she shuffles the cards, not really paying attention to the answers. They both shrug at the same time, and again, Varon answers first.
"I was raised in a nunnery in America, but it burned down a few years ago." he says shortly, then looks at Jounouchi, who looks down uncomfortably.
Varon either doesn't notice Jounouchi's reaction or doesn't care, because his only response is to nudge Jounouchi and say, "Go on, tell the nice lady about yourself so we can get on with the game."
Jou smiles. "After that, he met me," he says. "I'm not from America, but I'd gone there for a class trip...I'm pretty recently out of school. Anyway, he met me and we sort of hit it off, except for the occasional bitch fight. We started... traveling together after that."
They both look at each other for a moment, then Jounouchi coughs awkwardly and changes the subject. "So, what about you? Where are you from?"
Mai blinks. "Oh, I guess it's rude to ask about you and then not answer myself," she says, although not terribly apologetically. "Anyway, I'm from Domino, Japan."
"Really?" Jounouchi asks, blinking incredulously. "No way. That's where I'm from!"
"You act like it's crazy to meet someone from your hometown," Varon says, sighing. "Does the phrase 'it's a small world' mean anything to you?"
"Hey, shut up! it's not like we've met anyone else from Domino."
"Did you forget about Anzu and Yuugi?"
"...Maybe.."
Varon scoffs, but looking at him, Mai doesn't see any ill intent in his expression. The way he's looking at Jounouchi doesn't seem hurtful; it looks more...affectionate? She can't find the words for it, but something's there, regardless. Something behind his eyes.
Mai waits for one of them to start talking again, but they don't, so she takes it upon herself to break the awkward silence that's hanging around them. "So...I take it that you've heard about the ghost stories about the schools in Domino?" she asks Jounouchi, keeping her voice light.
The topic change seems to make Jounouchi quieter, the opposite of what Mai had hoped for, but he nods and Varon seems to be more interested.
"You never tell me anything about your hometown," Varon says to Jounouchi, his voice partly annoyed, partly gentle. "I told you about where I was from."
"That's different," Jounouchi mumbled, "It's...I don't want to talk about it, okay? Why don't you get Mai to tell you about it?"
Mai laughs confidently and flips her hair. "Oh, and I do have some stories to tell."
"Pretty girl like you," says Varon, "How could you not?"
"Where I'm from, pretty girls are a dime a dozen," Mai says, laughing again and waving her hand dismissively. Somehow, Varon's complement comes across as sweet rather than overtly flirtatious. She decides to go on. "My parents were relatively well-off, so I went to a private school, where everyone is, predictably, fairly nice-looking. Well-bred and well-groomed. Like poodles."
Jounouchi laughs a little, and chooses that moment to join in the conversation again. "Y'know, I'm of the opinion that other dogs must think poodles are from a different planet. What is with those things?"
Varon smiles at Jounouchi slyly. "You saying you're a mutt? Maybe a stray?"
Mai can't hold back her snicker as she watches Jou's face turn red. He splutters indignantly, crossing his arms. "That's not what I meant, and you know it!"
"Then what did you mean?" There's a glint in Varon's eye now, and Mai sees it. Jounouchi seems not to, though-he's too caught up in salvaging his pride.
"So maybe I'm a stray. But wouldn't you stray from life on the streets? And a dad who hated you?" Jounouchi's face suddenly looks panicked, as if he's said too much, and he abruptly stops talking.
In an attempt to divert the conversation, Mai starts talking again. She tries to keep the breezy confidence in her voice. "My family life wasn't too great, either. Actually, it was pretty typical for a kid who had parents of high class; they worked long hours, or had business trips. Things like that. I didn't really see them very much, so as soon as I found an opportunity to leave, I jumped at the chance."
"So what were you after? Freedom? Companionship?" Varon interjects.
That's a bit too close to home for Mai's comfort. Her facade cracks for a second and a sliver of indignance, of wounded pride, shines through. "What are you after, Varon?" she snaps, "What's your story?"
Varon falters visibly for a moment, before his normal demeanor returns and he shrugs. "I'm really not after anything. As for my story..." Here he wavers, not uncertainly, but as if he's unsure of whether or not he should tell her. "I'm not sure you'd want to hear it."
Mai drops her pack of cards on the blackjack table and folds her arms in front of herself defensively. "Trust me, I want to hear it." Her voice is a little cold this time.
Varon pushes his chair back from the table and leans back. For the first time since their conversation began, he looks Mai directly in the eyes. There's something there, something inquisitive, something searching. What it's searching for, Mai doesn't know, but she does know that she doesn't like it. She doesn't like the feeling that her carefully constructed walls are falling down before that stare.
"Are you afraid, Mai? Is that why you left your fancy school and your pretty friends? It's such a big ocean and such a small boat, and ports are few and land is far. What are you running from?"
Mai says nothing. She just continues to stare into those deep blue eyes as they strip away everything she's hidden behind.
"I've dealt with fear in my life," Varon says slowly, "Now see, I'm a fighter. When I was a child, if something scared me, my first reaction was always to try to beat it into submission. I use my fists and my feet as a barrier against fear, and believe me, I've done everything I can just to avoid it. And you know what I've found out?"
Jounouchi tilts his head to the side at these words, as if he's hearing this for the first time.
"You can't avoid it", Varon continues. "At some point, it catches up to you, no matter how hard you fight or how far you run. There's no escaping it; there's only facing it. Have you faced yours?"
The silence is deafening for a few short moments, before Mai quietly whispers, "You're right. I am afraid."
With five simple words, a crack starts forming in her defense. "What are you afraid of?"
And then the dam breaks.
Slowly, Mai feels whatever self-control she has left fading from her grasp, and words start falling from her mouth before she can stop them. "The places, the people, all the pettiness that they bring..I'm afraid that it's slowly stealing whatever soul I've been given bit by bit. I'm afraid that I'll never be able to do anything, mean anything, because I've never meant anything to anyone, nobody's ever cared enough, and I just...can't...take it..!"
Her voice cracks and she falters, breathless. All three of them remain frozen for a moment, in absolute silence.
Jounouchi stands. He doesn't say a word, but he doesn't need to, and he knows it. All he does is reach across the table and he takes her hand, and that's more than Mai would have ever asked for. "Do you want someone to care?" he asks quietly.
"Do you want to mean something to someone?" Varon adds, his tone soft and yet completely serious.
Mai looks at him, looks into his eyes and looks for anything telling her that they're only trying to hurt her. She doesn't find it, but she does find something else behind those eyes. He looks at her in the same way he looked at Jounouchi a conversation and a lifetime ago.
"Yes," she whispers, "More than anything. That's all I've ever wanted."
Varon stands from his chair. "So come with us."
Mai turns to Jounouchi to see how he reacts to this statement. All she finds is a smile, a warm one. He nods as he squeezes her hand reassuringly.
Slowly, she gives her answer. "Yes."
They stand together and walk away from the blackjack table, her unused deck forgotten behind them.
She inhales, takes one deep breath, before stepping onto the deck, Jounouchi's hand in hers. Blond curls toss over her shoulders as she moves forward, as they all move forward.
Toward the future.