~XxX~
Lunch-time, standing at the edge of a packed canteen with a sandwich in a little package and my water, wondering one thing.
Was it wrong for me to want my Mother?
She was a constant companion, and it was odd to be alone again...I'd become a stranger in a strange land again. Shrugging the impending insecurities onto the backburner, I looked around and noticed that my brand new adversary was nowhere to be seen, nor was the blue-haired girl that sat on my left hand side. I did see, however, my brand new acquaintance waving me over to join her. With a last wistful sigh at the memories of home and my Mum and I, I navigated the maze of tables and people towards Teá, seeing four people that I assumed were her friends playing the card game I had heard so much about. I stood to the side awkwardly for a few moments, eating my sandwich before I decided to throw caution to the wind and introduce myself, whether or not it meant butting in on the game.
"Hi, I'm Sophie." I held their attention for several seconds before they turned back to the game, the look they gave me made me think they were hardly being rude, after all, they smiled at me before turning back, but I could tell from the shoulder positions of the boys that they were taking their game seriously. I looked over at Teá, who grimaced, amused, and leaned closer to whisper to me.
"They've been at it for hours." She sighed, exasperated, before pointing to the blond. "That one's Joey, he's never really beaten Yugi at a game before and is really trying this time." I pouted my bottom lip, impressed at the tri-colour hair on the apparently unbeaten kid.
"I don't get it." I whispered back, frowning. "Is it like poker?" That appeared to get their attention more than my introduction.
"You've never heard of Duel Monsters?" The blond asked, incredulous. I hadn't expected the Brooklyn accent, "Jeez, where are you from?" He asked, apparently here this game was really big news.
"Um, should I know it?" I asked, leaning forward and peering at the array of cards on the desk. "The artwork's good though..." I tailed off at a look from the shorter boy, Yugi, Teá had said his name was. I guessed that wasn't the correct answer.
"It's not the biggest in Britain, I only knew about it from my Father's travels." Ryou said, leaning into the conversation and lending credence to my lack of knowledge. He struck me as a softly spoken person, and it made me a little happier to hear an English accent that wasn't my own.
"It's a game that's been played for millennia." Yugi said, his eyes lighting up as he spoke. "The Pharaohs played it in ancient Egypt, but now, it's a really good game to play. It's strategy, action and a test of character in one!" I regarded him for several seconds, coming to the conclusion that it wouldn't be good for me to call Teá's friend an idiot as I knelt beside the table, and begun looking over the cards before glancing around the table. After Teá's mentioning of it, I had figured that it seemed like a largely popular game here. Now would be the best time for me to learn the rules of this thing, I guessed.
"So, what now? Am I waiting for someone to fold or shout 'Snap'?"
~XxX~
"So that fuzzball can beat that dragon?" I asked, pointing to Joey's Thousand Dragon card, kid's game or not, it was addicting to watch once you started. "I don't believe you Yugi." I shook my head, smiling as I did so, "Not unless you failed Math. 200 bigger than 2500?" He laughed and shook his head, laying some card or another facedown.
"No, I'm just going to place this card down and end my turn."
After I had asked my question, a sort of unspoken agreement passed between Joey and Yugi as they placed their cards back in their decks, shuffling them and starting a practice duel, teaching me the rules. I had to admit, Teá's group of friends were certainly accommodating, I had also learnt that Yugi was the proud owner of the title, "King Of Games", which was nice to say the least, what made it nicer, (to me anyway), was that it was a title he had won by beating Kaiba in a duel. I now had something to rub in his face the next time I saw him.
"The girl's right Yug, you can't get Kuriboh to beat my Dragon!" I still found it amusing when he spoke, American accents made me laugh in a vaguely delighted way, I wasn't used to them at all.
"Yeah, but Joey, remember that time with Pegasus?" The tall boy, Tristan, said. This was obviously a memory and a half, because Joey's face fell and he slammed his head down onto the table.
"Urrrggh...I knew it was too good to be true..." Joey groaned while Yugi laughed and flipped over his card, summoning something called 'Impostors', the Duel didn't last very long after that. While they cleared the table, I looked at the cards still on it for several seconds, aware that my classmates wanted to see my reaction to my first broken-down duel.
"I still think it would be more fun if you yelled 'Snap!' at the end of it." I stated, tone dry but certainly smiling. They laughed at that and I felt a little lighter, at the very least, I made some semblance of friendship in my first day. I hadn't insulted them, or been condescending at any point. A feat I was quite proud of.
"Oh look." Joey's head snapped up from the desk at the sound of a smug voice from behind me, and I felt my shoulder muscles tense in alarm as the cheery atmosphere shifted. "The mutt lost again, I'm not really surprised, a second-rate duelist such as yourself is easily beaten by anyone." Joey attempted to leap over the table but was held back by Tristan and Ryou, "Watch it Yugi," Seto Kaiba said scornfully as I slowly stood up from my kneeling position and turned round to face him, he was legitimately pissing me off now. "You should keep your mutt on a leash, he might bite someone."
Joey yelled some kind of insult at the other boy while I took the annoyance and anger at his treatment of Joey inside me and compressed it into a metaphorical cube, storing it away and plastering a saleswoman smile on my face instead of a snarl. "Hi!" I said brightly, already taking him a tad off guard with my chirpy attitude and half-handwave. "Yugi was just telling me about the time he beat you at a children's card game and got his title as King of Games!" Yugi hadn't exactly told me anything of the sort, Teá had, instead, informed me that Yugi had won such a title, and answered my question when I asked who he beat.
I got the desired effect, however. Kaiba's eyes narrowed at my kick in the pride, and his voice took on a dangerous lilt. "That was a fluke." He spat at me, "He beat me through unfavourable techniques and if he bothered to tell you, he lost our next duel." He had turned all of his scorn and focus on me and what I was going to say next, not good for my nerves, but I held my ground. Teá bristled beside me and pointed a finger at him, accusatory.
"You won that duel using 'unfavourable techniques'," her fingers hooked round the words as she fought to not raise her voice, "You threatened Yugi with your death if he attacked you! You didn't win, he forfeit!" My right eyebrow attempted to abandon my face as my eyes flicked back to looking at Kaiba and I pouted my bottom lip outwards in disdain.
"That," I pressed, making sure to lace the word with as much condescension as I was capable of, "Sure sounds like an 'unfavourable technique.' In anything actually, let alone a card game." He death-glared at me for several seconds, attempting to force me to back down. Instead I straightened my posture, crossed my arms across my chest, and looked right back at him. If he wanted a scared and kowtowing classmate, he obviously wasn't the only one who didn't know the other's past. After what felt like a minute of this, he growled and turned on his heel, walking off to god-knows-where. I turned back to the people I had somewhat befriended and leant over to Teá, asking her a question as soon as Kaiba was out of earshot.
"Why the briefcase?" I was also vaguely concerned by his coat, which seemed hell-bent of defying all the known laws of physics, I resolved to ask him about such in person. This encounter had made me determined to make myself as much of a nuisance in his life as possible. He reminded me of myself, three years ago, and of how horrible I was. Teá shrugged and glanced over her shoulder at the area where he had disappeared off to.
"I think it's full of cards, or maybe it's got the latest Duel-Disk-System in it..." She trailed off at my look, lingering contempt melting away in favour of complete and utter confusion.
"You mean it's not played like that?" I asked, pointing at the table with the cards still strewn across it. Yugi shook his head at me, successfully calming Joey down enough for the boy to collect his cards and sort them, still muttering under his breath.
"No. Really, we only play it like this when we're here, otherwise it's played with Duel-Disk-Systems." Yugi shrugged as he spoke, "They're a kind of holographic projector, they read the cards and make a life-size replica in the air." I whistled lowly through my teeth.
"Expensive?"
Yugi nodded in answer to my question, "Really expensive, but we've got ours from Pegasus's tournament." I frowned, it seemed a little much for a kid's card game, but after seeing how much the people here loved it, maybe there was a market for such advanced technology.
"So, of course, Moneybags bought the latest?" I asked, it seemed typical of his ilk.
"Kaiba made them himself, he's the CEO of Kaiba Corp. It's the manufacturer of the Duel-Disks and the leading game's manufacturer on Earth." Ryou answered while looking at me strangely, as if to say that I really should have known that. It was my turn to shrug.
"I was home-schooled," I explained, "The most gaming I got in was pulling an all-nighter once or twice to challenge a few friends to an X-Box playoff." I chewed the inside of my cheek a little, loathe to reassess my initial take on his 'spoiled rich kid' personality. "Seriously, the whole world?" I asked, reluctantly feeling more than a little respect for him. It certainly took intelligence to design, make and market a holographic projector that adapted to certain card-based stimuli. Not to mention to be the CEO of a major company at our age. I ceded what vague respect I could to him, but maintained my initial dislike.
The bell rang, signalling the end of our lunch break. Onto the next lesson, but this time with company.
~XxX~
The rest of the day's lessons passed without event, I found out a little bit more about my new friends and was instantly intrigued by the mention of a game store that Yugi's Grandfather owned. I leapt on the chance to visit after school had finished, and was now on my mobile as my four companions walked ahead of me, leading the way. Only four due to the fact that Ryou had decided instead to go home and work on his homework, a dedication I could wholeheartedly appreciate. Dialling my Mum's mobile I got her voicemail, not surprising, she was probably out with Sunny and Chloe and doing something that she hadn't been expecting to do at all. I laughed a little at the thought of my Mum, in her work suit, leading two hyperactive, clever, sneaky, bouncy, innocent-looking girls around a shopping centre or some such.
"Please leave your message after the tone. Beeep..." I cleared my throat and fell into my phone voice.
"Hi Mum, sorry abut your...situation, but it was necessary at the time...anyway, I'm going to the local gamestore courtesy of few new friends I've made. Yes, I trust them. No, I won't be home late. And, yes, I have my keys. Okay? Love you, bye!" The last four words were rushed as we had arrived at our destination, I pocketed my mobile and followed Teá through the doorway. She was already my favourite of the group by far, she was nice, pretty, intelligent and normal. Not to mention her friendliness was rubbing off on me. She wasn't trying to be anything that she wasn't, and I was beginning to respect her for that. Thirteen-year-old me would have scoffed at her values and thrown erasers at her head from the back of the class before insulting her and attempting to verbally crush her.
There are a great many reasons that I am glad I'm no longer that person.
"Holy..." I didn't even have the swear word to finish my sentence, the place was obviously well kept, but it was what it housed that drew my eyes. Games that seemed to be written in some kind of Moonspeak, esoteric games, cult games from the eighties that no-one could remember now, a weird, stand-alone hand that held three dice and countless other things dotted about the place.
"Yes." I said finally, turning back to Yugi, "Just yes. This place is fantastic in so many ways. Honestly." Levelling my gaze at him so he could see that I wasn't just saying that for effect, he smiled and Teá dragged me over to the glass counter.
"Now we just have to find you a deck." She mused as Joey and Tristan joined us at the counter, pointing out different cards and starter decks, trying to figure out which one would best suit me. I frowned at that.
"What do you mean that deck is, 'not me'? I chose it didn't I?" I asked Joey after he shook his head at me expressing interest in the earth-based deck.
"Yug was right earlier." His hands groped the air, trying to find the right words. "Decks are kinda, a part of you in the deck, you make it your own and it shows what kind of person you are. Earth-based decks are loud and powerful." I raised an eyebrow.
"You really better think about your next words." I stated, the threatening chip back in my voice. He laughed before nodding.
"Yeah, but you aren't loud and powerful." He said, amused while I sighed. He was right, but he'd only known me for about four hours, how he managed to get such a clear read on me was mildly annoying.
"Well, how about that one?" I asked Yugi directly, pointing at a deck with the top card as a girl with long green hair, a green cloak and a staff with crystals on it. The card proclaimed her name as the Wynn the Wind Charmer. Yugi looked at it for several seconds before nodding.
"Yeah! The Wind deck seems more suitable, its not got very powerful monsters, but its magic and trap cards can really boost their attack and defence if used well!" I smiled and nodded at him, signalling that I'd buy that one. He went into the back of the store to find his Grandfather and I continued to meander around the store, listening to the other three talk about which cards they were going to get to boost their decks and wondering about any upcoming tournaments. In my short stay here so far I'd come to one certain conclusion. The card game was a social thing too, and I was hardly going to complain about that.
~XxX~