The Magicians' Realm Chapter 67: Old Records, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Chapter 67, everybody! In which the writer is positively giddy about the results of the election, and finds it very ironic—the media didn't even remotely call for Trump winning, periodicals were already publishing works that said Clinton won….Hey! This is precisely like the Truman/Dewey election referenced back in Chapter 24! What do you know, history does repeat itself!...I hope Trump references that somewhere….

Moving on—apologies for posting this on Tuesday instead of Monday: got ready to post it last night and my Internet said "Oh no you don't."

Movie this week is The Green Mile, which was on several times last week—which I find strange considering I was just talking about it…they're watching me, I swear….

For the record—literally—records do skip, stick, jump and everything else mentioned when not taken care of. They warp in the heat and get dirty, and can get scratched—those who remember CDs, think of those, but not as delicate. And it also provides some insight as to where the phrase "you sound like a broken record" comes from.

And, to be fair, the conversation on the record is a reference to my old tape of The Nightmare Before Christmas—my family was taping it, couldn't figure out the tape recorder, and had to stop the tape while they figured it out. I grew up with no visual for the previews and my family discussing the camera over the audio. I miss that tape….

Angiembabe, thanks for the review! It was happy voting—all this stress right up until I hit the vote button, and then absolute relief because it's done, I did all I could do. And because I always think of the scene in Jurassic Park where Ellie turns on the power when I use the voting machines. To be fair, Trump might be an improvement as he's closer to the ground and understands how the markets work better than a politician—and to also be fair, the President doesn't have as much power as people seem to think (the way our system is set up has three branches balancing each other out, and the President has to field any decision by Congress—and even his vetoes can be overruled by Congress majority). Ah, if only they still accepted write-ins….

DarkstalkerWoF1499, thanks for the review! Distant relatives….

Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes! And yes—Yami has. Multiple times. And then Kineil yells at him for leaving bread crumbs everywhere. It'll catch on eventually….It can! Winter boosts productivity on stories relating to a certain antlered individual! Yes, snow is fun the first couple of days—and then you have to go somewhere….Oh good. :D

FluffyIdiotIsI, thanks for the review! Wow, thank you! I hope to continue to please! :D

References:

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

Pirates of the Caribbean Online © 2005 Disney (the walking stump and toothy plant are references to monsters in this now-defunct game, although I hear the fans are remaking it, which would be nice, because the game rocked)

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

The lights may have taken off the spooky edge, but they didn't make the place any less eerie.

The rooms they stuck their heads in gave the impression that the place had been abandoned in a hurry; some things were out of place, some furniture hastily covered—a couple of bedrooms downstairs had suitcases half-packed.

He knew what was coming, Yami reflected, eyeing a few mouldering dime novels in one suitcase—hastily thrown in over some clothes. But not too far in advance. Did he not see the end coming until it was too late?

If that were the case, he'd have to give the Administrators more credit than he had originally. To pull a fast one on the Skellington Mage….

"Hey Yami!"

Yami started, headed out of the room and down the long dusty dining room—the house was starting to lose its frightening effect the longer they went without encountering spooks or curses or the like.

The end of the dining room opposite the kitchen and living room found him in a parlor-type place, exiting out onto the wraparound porch and a solarium that had been long overgrown.

Jonouchi and Honda were at the entrance to the latter, peering in through the dusty green sunlight.

"Dude," Honda said. "You should see these plants…."

"I'm not going in there," Jonouchi decided. "That one has teeth. And I think that stump is walking around."

"So long as it doesn't walk this way."

"Is that why you called me?" Yami asked, looking at Kels and Anzu.

"The walking stump is news to me," Anzu said, trying to ignore Miho practically glued to her back, where she had been for the whole venture.

"We found some records and stuff," Kels said, pointing over to where Yuki and Bakura were fiddling. "Some of it looks like it might have been them recording on records or film."

Yami tipped his head, intrigued, and followed the girls over.

"Jonouchi, Honda," he called. "Leave the plants alone and help with this."

"Bakura told us he'd break our fingers if we did," Jonouchi called over.

"Seriously?" Yami asked, looking at Bakura.

"They don't have any prior experience with this sort of thing, and they took forever to get the lights on. Yes, I'm serious," Bakura said, setting a reel into a projector.

"And you have experience with this sort of thing? I thought the Majestic never hired out." The Majestic being the local movie theater, which had operated without fail for as long as Yami could remember. But then again, there were people who worked the ticket booth and the concession stands…and yet he had never heard of anyone operating the projector booth.

"I helped with a summer film festival a while back," Bakura said, threading the film. "Remember that year I was off on a walkabout?"

"Was that the year you had several outstanding warrants?"

"Ha ha, you're not funny. Ah." Bakura left the projector, brought an old Victrola closer to the projector before accepting the record Yuki had been cleaning off. "Okay, these two were together, so it follows that…."

He flicked the switch, turned the Victrola on, nearly at the same time. As it were, the audio was still noticeably out of sync with the visuals flickering on a far wall, barely visible in the light streaming in. Yami went to shut the drapes, one ear on the warped record.

"So yOu THinK she'LL L-L-L-L-Like this, MISsss M?" the record asked, possibly matching up with the young man with unfortunate eyebrows, who was holding the camera in such a way that he was looking into the lens. "Hhhhhold on—hOW do you KNNNNNow if it's on?"

"I ttthink IT's that butTON riGHt thERe," another voice cut in.

"I-I-I-It's a hoMEComing present—of COUrse she wiLL," another voice—this one feminine—said.

"What's wrong with the audio?" Yami asked, still shutting drapes—between the cracks, hisses, and skips, it was difficult to make out what anyone was saying, barely able to make out what they sounded like.

"It's an old, dusty record that hasn't been taken care of," Bakura said testily. "And I didn't have a whole lot of time to clean it properly, thank you."

"Sorry," Yuki said. "My fault."

"Only if you have magic cleaning powers you haven't shared with the rest of us," Bakura muttered, bumping the needle as it skipped along the wobbly record.

Yami finished with the windows as the argument on the record between the first and second voice finally concluded, with the second voice saying "stop this."

And then the video cut out—

And then jumped back to life with some different people, too close to the camera to make out.

And yet the first two were still arguing.

"Idiots didn't stop the record," Bakura said, moving his finger above the lurching record before bumping the needle to a new spot.

"—had ttthe camera recORDing—seeeeeeeeeee the little LIGHt heeere?"

Yami tipped his head at the new voice, crossed over to stand beside Bakura as he watched. The voice was vaguely familiar.

Jonouchi and Honda had drifted over to watch too.

"Eh, I've seen better films," Jonouchi said.

"I've seen worse," Honda said.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"You mind?" Kels cut in. "Some of us are trying to watch this."

Yami scowled, both at his friends' bickering and the suddenly muted audio. Whoever was currently operating the camera wasn't doing too well with it—apparently it had dipped forward and was doing a marvelous job of filming the floor.

"Eeesss…gbrfl…upsome," he picked out from the hissing in the record.

And then the needle found its way out of the rough spot, just in time for Yami to hear a voice he definitely knew.

"Ssssssssay pal, WHAt's all tHIS then?"

Yami blinked—it was rough, it was corroded, it was hissing—but he definitely knew that harmonium voice.

"That's Administrator Carter," Yami said.

"Seriously?" Jonouchi asked, sitting on the arm of the semi-covered couch. "But Skellington was killed a thousand years ago! If that's Administrator Carter, then that makes him…really old."

"Magic keeps a person younger and longer lived," Anzu said, before Yami could. "The Administrator must have some really strong magic."

Yami stared at her, prompting her to shrug. "There are some aspects of magic I can learn through book-reading," she explained.

Yami had to concede that point, and returned his attention to the conversation on the record.

"Y-Y-Y-Y-You know, sssssshe's not going TO BE v-v-v-very happy to seeee you," the woman from earlier opined.

"And yet you sAEEY that like I CARe," Administrator Carter said. Yami could see the tip of his wingtip in the corner of the projection.

"OKAYEE, got IT!" the vaguely familiar voice crowed, and the camera lifted, panned to where twin staircases snaked down the walls of what he now recognized as the parlor—

And the video stopped.

Yami blinked. "What?"

Bakura was already scrambling at the projector, managed to stop it as the end of the film flopped around and around and around—

The audio was still going though—but for not much longer; Yami could see the needle rapidly approaching the end—

Just in time for a new voice to cut in.

"SSsay! No one said there was A PArty!"

And then silence as the needle reached its end.

"Well," Yami said finally. "That wasn't very helpful."

Bakura examined the end of the film. "This was cut."

"It was probably edited," Kels said. "Let's be honest, that was a lot of junk."

Anzu was staring at the now blank wall, where before ghosts from the past had flickered. "Then there's a second film," she deduced slowly. "There's more reels, right?"

"A few," Bakura said, looking in the cabinet. "I'm not sure how many still work, though—they're old, the place is old, and they're decaying despite preservation charms." Here he held up something that looked like a milk cap to the casual observer. "Whoever runs the projection room at the Majestic might be able to bring them back," he added after a few moments. "That guy airs old shows—he's got to have some way of keeping them fresh."

"Maybe you ought to see about bringing them back yourself," Yami said to Bakura. "We're not supposed to be here, remember?"

Bakura blew an irritated sigh before flicking the preserving charm back into the cabinet. "That—is beyond my area of expertise."

"Well then," Yami said, turning to face the stairs that had featured in the end of the film. "There's still more to see—maybe there's some answers upstairs."

*\*/*

Teana was going to murder Yami. Of this she was certain.

Her intent must have been plain on her face, because Yami instantly went from pleased to reticent. "This wasn't my idea," he said quickly.

"It was mine, dear," Mitzi said, gracefully getting up from her spot on the settee and coming over. "Although if you still feel like blaming Yami for something, he was a bit over the moon at the idea of you moving in and may have told everyone and their mother."

"Uh huh," Teana noised, looking at one person in particular leaning against the wall. "And why are you here?"

"I told you she'd single you out," Mitzi said, looking at Maxwell.

"Oh wow, someone doesn't approve of me," Maxwell said, clasping his hands to his chest, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm crushed."

"As well you should. Don't worry about him, dear," Mitzi said to Teana, patting her arm. "He's just here for the free booze."

"Marik and Bakura aren't here, are they?" Teana had to ask.

"Not yet, but give them time."

"How many people did you tell?" Teana had to ask Yami.

"Er," Yami noised, scratching at his face. "Well, see, I was very excited about this…."

"I kid you not, he was shouting it from the rooftops," Rocky called over.

"He's exaggerating," Calvin, Rocky's cousin, clarified.

"He was floating along the streets he was so happy."

"That might not be as much of an exaggeration."

Teana looked back to Yami, who at the very least looked sheepish.

"Well," he said, after a painful pause. "You needed a housewarming party."

"Which gets you free gifts, booze, and food," Mitzi added.

Oi. Oi and then some.

Especially when Teana had to actually concentrate on acting put-out—there were quite a few people here, and even the thought that maybe they showed up for her was…well, nice.

"All right," she said finally. "So long as the food's free, I suppose."

"Wonderful," Yami said happily. "Max, you're closest—turn on the radio! We can't have a quiet party, after all! We want to make it memorable!"

Somehow, Teana didn't doubt that at all.