The Magicians' Realm Chapter 66: Get A Room, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Chapter 66, everybody! In which I hopefully get back into the swing of things and try not to think about tomorrow, when everyone in the States gets to pick their poison—er, I mean vote. If I drop off the face of the earth again, that's because my family is fleeing the country because Hillary got in (I kid. Mostly).

Movie this week is Blue Lagoon, which I…did not finish watching with my Mom, it was that distasteful. Supposedly, that was Brooke Shield's best movie. That doesn't say much for her acting career.

For those who wonder—Vulcanization is the process of converting natural rubber to the synthetic stuff we use. It was patented by Charles Goodyear (of Goodyear tires) and named after Vulcan of Rome, and might be why Vulcan smells funny. ;) "You can't fix stupid" comes from my Dad—and his boss. They don't deny being daft. And yes, the Amish build things to last.

Jonouchi quotes the Book of Genesis here—Chapter 1, a bit from verse 3 and the rest from the end of verse 5 (God names light and dark and separates day from night in between the quoted sections).

Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, it was—but Shawshank Redemption was good, as was The Green Mile (which is another Stephen King story that wasn't directed by Stephen King). Haha, yes—no matter what the format, Joey/Jonouchi has never been that fond of scary stuff (a memorable example was when he was forced to sit in front on a ride in the horror level of Death-T—the only thing that saved him was the fact that he passed clean out). Good question. And yes, she should. Well, to be fair to Yami, she'll be finding out there's others in the building she'll be wanting distance from….

FicReader, thanks for the review! Yes! Oh man, Season 0/the original seven graphic novels were amazing—and then it was all about the cards, and then it didn't feel the same (I for one loved the character building and throwing characters in crazy situations the first run had). Ah, yes, original Yami…let us not, dear friends, forget the time Yami set a guy on fire for threatening Anzu (and yet that chapter is one of my favorites—something's wrong with me :|). I know! And yes it does…I suppose one could argue that everyone has a breaking point….Remarkably quiet—we live in the country, so no one goes trick-or-treating in our neighborhood; spent the whole day watching Tim Burton films and eating candy we bought. :D

Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes he is—and no, it shouldn't. Thank you—it's great to be back! :D Yeah, the past couple of months have been a little screwy, but barring anything dramatic, things should be getting back to normal (which reminds me, I really need to work on the next couple of chapters). Ah, but it's catching! Yes—but it's finally cooling off; I'm having to break out the longsleeves. :( Wow. And wow *sends you virtual Kleenex* Of course! That sort of thing always waits for the most inopportune time. Yes, get to work!

References:

Casper © 1995 Brad Silberling (the house in general is honestly based off of Whipstaff Manor)

Original characters, + setting © Kineil D. Wicks (myself, not the girl in the story)

Yami's arm was getting remarkably tired.

He was currently sitting on a table across from the circuit breaker Jonouchi—and Honda, who had eventually worked up the nerve to follow them down—were working on, holding up his little magic spark so they could see. He had moved it to his other hand once already, and he had the feeling he'd have to do it again before it was all over.

"What are you doing?" Jonouchi muttered around the tiny screwdriver he had in his mouth currently—he and Honda had their own set of tools, which Yami suspected they kept in pockets that had to be magically enlarged, the way they pulled things out of them sometimes.

"What do you mean, what am I doing?" Honda asked. "This isn't a bomb I'm dismantling—this has to go here, and this needs to be unplugged—"

"Maybe it is a bomb," Jonouchi countered, taking the screwdriver out of his mouth. "You don't know if these people booby-trapped everything—"

"Guys, my arm's getting tired, and I'd like to wrap this all up today if possible," Yami interjected.

"Uh, hello?"

Yami glanced at the stairwell, where the uncertain voice had come from. "Nothing's lurking down here," he called.

Kels appeared, apparently having crabwalked down the steps, leaning down so she could peer into the room at about the same time her feet appeared. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Those are some mighty dark corners."

"If anything were down here, Jonouchi and Honda would have irritated it into reacting before now," Yami assured her. She was shaking a little, he noticed—nervous like the rest of them. And eyeing everything like it was going to jump out at her as she gingerly made her way over to where he was sitting, looking ready to bolt at the drop of a hat—or jump straight up to Heaven, if the way she refused to pick up her feet was any indication.

"The troops are getting nervous up there, general," she declared when she finally reached his side, putting her hands on her hips as she delivered this information. She nodded at Jonouchi and Honda. "What are they doing?"

"Currently?" Yami asked. "Arguing."

"I can see that," Kels observed, glancing to their left. "Have they tried that generator-looking thing yet?"

The boys stopped, glanced to their left.

"I take that as a no, then," Kels said.

Jonouchi and Honda exchanged glances.

"That might be easier," Honda pointed out.

"Agreed," Jonouchi said, directing his attention to the generator. "Hey, Yami, can you move the light a little?"

Yami groaned as he did so. "You did this on purpose," he said to Kels.

"How do you figure?" she asked.

"You get a sort of perverse delight in our pain."

"Then yes," she agreed. "I'm having a ball."

"At least someone is."

"You suggested we all go to a haunted house in October," Kels pointed out. "You visited this upon yourself, I'll have you know."

"We don't know that it's haunted."

"It could be."

Yami opened his mouth to argue—

The lights came on.

"'And there was light,'" Jonouchi quoted. "'And the evening and the morning were the first day.'"

"The rest of us would like to know if that was you guys," Anzu called down the steps.

"It was," Yami called, shaking his hand to extinguish the light he was holding. "Now that that's settled, we can get on to what we came here for."

*\*/*

The foyer was as huge as Teana remembered it.

"Pick any hook for your coat and then we'll move on to rooms," Yami declared happily, gesturing expansively. "Mi casa su casa, what's mine is yours, all that."

"I'd rather keep my coat in my room," Teana said. "Less likely for something to make its home in the pocket or abscond with it."

"And what makes you think I have anything like that infesting my home?"

"I notice you didn't deny it."

"Well, you have met my roommates…."

"I have," Teana said. "And I'd rather not have a room next to them, if it's all the same to you."

"You can't have my room," Kineil said, not missing a beat as she walked by them.

"Well…the good news is, after the first few explosions, I soundproofed their rooms," Yami began.

"Explosions?" Teana asked. "Better yet—first few?"

"So really, you could be right next door and never hear them."

"I don't want to be right next door to them—I'm having second thoughts about being in the same house."

"Understandable," Yami said. "But keep in mind this place was built by giants—they're like the Amish, only bigger. And then I've cast so many spells on the place to keep it standing that one of the Ancients' worldbreaker weapons could conceivably drop on it and the place would still be standing."

"There's still that doubt, though."

"You can't talk yourself out of staying here now—you just got here! You're in the door. We've already contacted the postmaster general."

"And here I thought you were working."

"I was doing that too. I can multitask."

"Uh-huh."

Kineil stuck her head into the foyer, pointing at Teana. "No backing out now! You'll have needlessly traumatized your daffodils for nothing."

"This is true," Teana sighed, patting the poor daffodils—the things were still quaking from the wild ride they had just had.

"No little birdie?" Yami asked.

It took her a moment to figure out what he was asking. "I thought about it, but I couldn't bring myself to cage him."

Yami scratched beneath his jaw pensively. "Okay. I'll just go over and fetch him later."

"What did I just say?"

"I'll be wearing my feathers then. In the meantime—first or second floor?"

"For?" Teana asked, following him into the living room.

"Your room," Yami said, pointing first down a hall leading off the living room before pointing up a pair of winding steps to a landing and the second floor.

"No third floor?" Teana asked.

"That's his," Kineil called from the kitchen, pointing at Yami.

"Workshop and library and such," Yami said, looking up. "And a bed. A really nice bed. One that I fit in."

"Let me guess," Teana said, similarly looking up—like they could conceivably look through the ceiling. "Third floor's off limits."

"Well we could move some stuff around, but I don't think you'd like it—too close to me, right?"

"She means, is she allowed up there?" Kineil said.

"Oh. Well, you are allowed up there. Heph and Vul aren't. Not since…the incident."

"There was an incident?" Teana asked.

"There was," Yami said. "But everything's all right—got all the windows fixed and Vul's eyebrows grew back decently. Although he does smell like rubber now…."

"He smelled like rubber before," Kineil said, pouring herself a cup of something dark. "Now he just smells like burnt rubber."

"If you're going to contribute to the conversation, why are you contributing from over there?" Yami asked, starting to sound a mite exasperated.

"Because it amuses me."

Teana tapped Yami on the arm. "What floor are they on?" she asked, pointing into the kitchen.

Yami looked at Kineil before looking back at her. "First floor. Why?"

"I'll take the second floor."

"Excellent choice!" Kineil said cheerily. "You'll be able to roll off the porch roof in the event of another fire."

"Another fire?"

"It was just Vulcan's eyebrows—I may have mentioned this," Yami said.

"Yes, the incident. That involved eyebrow loss and windows breaking."

"It's part of the reason I made them move most of their operations to the garage out back," Yami said, ushering her to the stairs. "Which, by the way, is not attached to the house, so you can worry less about them setting the place on fire, now let's pick a room out before you change your mind completely."

"I noticed you didn't deny it happening again," Teana pointed out.

"I can't fully guarantee it won't. After all, like Kineil says, you can't fix stupid."

"Exhibit A," Kineil said, pointing at Yami.

"Mock me later."

"I will mock you now, and there is not a thing you can do to stop me."

Yami's expression as he closed his eyes and apparently counted to ten was an aggrieved one. "And you two are friends," Teana observed.

"Yes," Yami said, opening his eyes. "Which means she's the only one allowed to talk to me like that. You too, I suppose, since we're friends. Right?"

"Let's not go that far," Teana said, climbing the steps, one hand on the smooth mahogany railing.

"But you want that!" Kineil called up. "Mocking Yami is a noble pastime—you'll love it!"

"With friends like those," Teana muttered to Yami, a step behind her.

"I take comfort in the fact that I have no enemies," Yami said blithely, hand right behind hers on the railing.

Again, that little shiver, but she quickly tamped it down when Yami walked down the hall, opening first one door and then another on the other side.

"This side looks out onto the solarium, and this side goes out onto a balcony on the porch roof," Yami said, pointing. "I highly recommend the porch side."

She stepped in, looked around, followed Yami as he opened the French doors and stepped onto the balcony—

And then promptly stepped back in.

"Forgot it was raining," he said sheepishly.

"You have issues," Teana decided to say.

"Eh…anyway," Yami said, pulling the doors back shut. "Every room has its own en suite, since fighting for bathroom space isn't fun. I had thought to maybe put a kitchenette in, but after the incident…."

"I notice you didn't confirm nor deny your issues."

"I have the feeling you'd contest me if I did. Anyway, the rest of the rooms are pretty similar on this side. Over here…." he exited the room and crossed the hall. She followed. "Similar setup, except it's bay windows overlooking the solarium. By the by, it is not raining in the solarium."

"I should hope not," Teana said drily.

"And the rest of the rooms are pretty much the same," Yami said. "Except for the ones downstairs, as they have no windows or extra doors, being right at eye level and there being propriety to think about. But I think they're gradually being converted into other rooms, so…."

Teana considered the room, looked out the window and down onto the solarium floor. "How frequently do Bakura and Marik visit?"

"Every once in a while—why?"

She pointed across the hall. "I'll take that one. Maybe the one next to it, so it's not right next to the stairs."

"I'm terribly sorry, but you can't have that one."

"Why not?"

"Because the second one from the stairs on that side is Kineil's room—and she's been very adamant about you not having her room. Why not the one right next to the stairs?"

"Foot traffic, turning too fast, not being fully awake when I hit them…reasons."

"Understandable. Fortunately, the rest of the rooms on that side are free. Take your pick."

She glanced at the one across from them, walked past Kineil's room—and the next one—before settling on one in the middle of the hall.

"Is this one taken?" she asked.

"If that's the one you want," Yami said.

She glanced up and down the hall. "Lot of family?"

"Lots of friends. I had this mental image of everyone dropping in at once and then this happened." He reached past her and opened the door, allowing her to step in. Yes, very similar. And not too terribly bad, despite lacking more than the guest room feel. It felt…nice.

"I'll take it," she said, turning to see him leaning on the doorframe and smiling—the place was made with him in mind, she noted, considering his hair didn't even brush the doorframe.

"Welcome home then."