Like Atem thought, she didn't know how to respond to his request for a game. "We are in a Game Shop. We could take a break and play a game after the stress of today," Atem added.
"Yes, The Greatest Pharaoh."
"Atem is really what I would prefer," he said. "Do you prefer Masika?" She was quieter again.
"Yes, The Greatest Pharaoh Atem."
Oh. This wouldn't be easy. He went around to find a game that wouldn't be too competitive. Something simple. Ah. Strange game to be hanging around. He bent down to grab it, noticing Ebonnee was on top of it. Yes, very correct game.
"Ebonnee?" Masika noticed her too as her cat jumped off the game and went over toward her. She rubbed up against her leg.
"Here is an interesting game." Atem held it up. "Connect Four." He went over and set it up, explaining the simple concept. While Grandpa was away, as well as Yugi and Téa, he could try and get to know Masika.
They didn't talk much while they played, but Atem could tell Masika was enjoying the game. She was watching the sides very intently. While she was watching the game, Atem noticed her cat kept rubbing up on her stomach and chest while they played. That cat truly loved her or loved attention.
Yes. Him killing it was definitely a hindrance, but he had to get her past that.
Masika gently petted it a certain way, from the head to halfway down the body as she held her game piece.
Atem watched as the front door opened. It was no customer, it was Mokuba.
"Mokuba," Masika called to him. "Hello."
"You're playing a game with the Pharaoh?" Mokuba asked as he came over. "Connect Four?" He just kind of looked strangely at Atem.
"A simple game to break the ice between us," Atem said. "We might be here for some time before we figure out a way from this punishment. It's better if we know each other."
"Oh." Mokuba seemed to understand that. "Um? So." Mokuba shifted around. "Can I steal her for a little bit?"
What? "What do you need with Masika?"
"It's personal," Mokuba said.
"I don't think that's a good idea yet," Atem informed him. "We still don't know how long it will be before we switch back."
"Oh. Do you hear Yugi right now?"
"I did before." It had been some time since Yugi chimed in again. It would be harder to catch him in the soul room. He turned down every single filter so he could hear him. Yugi. Still nothing? He should be getting blasted with Yugi's thoughts. "Masika, can you reach Téa?"
Masika concentrated, her eyes darted around. "She isn't speaking to me."
Hm. "Did she stay in the soul room, or had she been talking to you?"
"Oh. We spoke . . ." She looked at the watch she was wearing. "She scolded me a few minutes ago."
Scolded? "About what?"
"Pharaoh. She does not wish for me to call you The Greatest Pharaoh."
Perfect. "That's fine. I really do prefer to be on first name terms only. Simply the name Atem works better." Yet, she still didn't look very comfortable with that. "I know that my role in Ancient Egypt was much different than yours, Masika. However, that role doesn't define me today. I am simply a person trying to be a friend."
"Being friends is good," Mokuba agreed. "So, as a friend, could you come with me now?"
Not again. "We just lost contact with Yugi and Téa now, Mokuba," Atem reminded him. "It would be better to wait and see when they return."
"Fine," Mokuba groaned. "I'll wait. Masika, can you call me next time you're here though?" He gave her a phone. "That's your new Kaiba phone. The number in there is just to me. You can add more numbers as you get friends. Call me when the Pharaoh has freed you."
He didn't have to frame it with those words.
"Thank you." She bowed gently and took it as he left.
They went back to playing the game. He finally got her to call him Pharaoh Atem. Not Atem, but at least it was progress. However, there was another interruption.
One that if Yugi could connect, he would be connecting right now.
Ryou Bakura strutted in. "Sorry for interrupting, Yugi. Or, are you still . . ." He seemed to struggle with his name too. "Pharaoh? Pharaoh should work, right? Sorry."
"I am still Atem," Atem answered him.
"Sorry. Um? No Yugi yet. Then, you must still be Masika?" He looked toward her. "So? Bakura has told me a great deal about you. Um? Pardon, but do you think you are going to become a good little fuckbuddy to the Pharoah?" He grinned mischeivously.
Ugh. "Bakura." Not the friendly Bakura. "Leave."
"No." His voice changed, done with his trick of mimicking Bakura's personality. He showed off his chest and showed the millennium ring, digging into his skin. "I have no powers, same as you. Unless you want to put up a physical fight, you weak prick, then you'll let me have her."
"Téa wants me to stay, Bakura," Masika told him. "I am bound to her, so I have to listen."
"Your half and halfing." Bakura leaned in the doorway. "You have half control, so half leave with me."
"That isn't an appropriate way to think about it." Atem tried to keep his voice steady. /Atem: This. Fiend! I can't believe he's just walking around freely again!/ He didn't mind sharing space with a random Egyptian woman that never did anything wrong. But, Bakura?
Yes, if Yugi was there he'd be telling him to calm down so he didn't upset Masika about her 'friend', which would be bad for Téa, because she was sharing with Téa. But? It was a real.
Real.
Hard.
Thing.
"Come, Bitch, we're leaving," Bakura answered. "I've been with Ryou Bakura for years, I know his whole job, I can take care of you."
"No, fucker," she said right back to him. "I need to listen to my vessel, not a right bastard like you right now."
Atem wouldn't mind her words, if she hadn't been smiling the whole time. They were literal friends, cursing each other, because that's how they had acted before.
"Weak bitch, Rider," Bakura chuckled.
"Téa is in charge." She made a move in Connect Four. "I need to ask her permission about what she wants."
Bakura groaned. "Fine." He glared at Atem.
Atem glared right back.
"Even if her vessel says so, she'll never call you by your name, Pharaoh."
"I know that I was responsible for the death of her cat." Atem wasn't going to play with him.
"I saved her so many times, I am her hero. You have no idea the things I did for her," he muttered. "Yet you sit there wearing a puzzle made of the souls of my entire village. No matter what you do, or what you force her to call you, she'll never be your friend."
/Atem: Keep it together. Breathe. Keep it together./
"How many times did I save you, Masika? Tell . . . Atem," he said snidely.
Masika didn't answer right away. " . . . it depends upon your definition of 'save'. If you mean how many times you physically saved my life, I would say three, however if you are also counting the times you helped free me from terrible situations which made death more appealing, then it would be . . . a lot."
Hm. That's the most he'd heard her talk so far.
"Perhaps we can play a game around here, where you can be surveyed from being a right ass?" Masika asked him. "Téa should be fine with that. It'd be a good starting point."
"What about you, Pharaoh?" Bakura asked him. "Do you mind if the fucker who skipped rope with your father's corpse plays in your game shop nicely like a good boy?"
/Atem: Yugi, I cannot handle this!/ Atem stood up. "Leave this place until you learn some manners!"
"Fucking make me," Bakura threatened him. "Yugi's still a weak ass, Ryou Bakura's body can take him any day!"
"My Bandit King," Masika called to him. "Stop annoying the Pharaoh and go. We'll talk later when you're more interested in playing instead of annoying The Pharaoh."
"That'll be awhile," Bakura said as he finally turned to leave. "Fine! Maybe I'll just go and get Bakura in trouble instead!"
Bastard. Atem looked at Masika. She didn't seem concerned with the matter. He probably wouldn't hurt his host body then. "How?"
"This way." She gestured diagonally.
Huh? /Atem: She won? She did./ Bakura distracted him so much he wasn't watching hard enough. "Congratulations. I'll set up the next game." This time he wouldn't get distracted. "How did you know Bakura, and why did he save you multiple times?"
Masika paused thoughtfully. "Your subject's past life isn't that important."
"I think it is." He wanted to know.
"Similar upbringing circumstances. He helped because he was my friend." She absolutely dodged the question and details. "Who goes first?"
"You do," he said. "I'd appreciate knowing more details than that, Masika."
She made her first move. "My family was killed when I was eight. I was sold to someone else and ran away. Bakura found me. He tried to take me to Kul Elna to live with him, but the spirits wouldn't allow it. Instead, he tied me to his monster, and watched out for me that way."
Diabound? He made a move. "How did he tie you?"
"Whenever I was in deep trouble, I would be teleported to him." She watched the board.
They found camaraderie as children. So? There was a spark of good left in that side of Bakura. A spark. A small spark. "If he can resist saying anything mean to me, I wouldn't mind if you played with your friend here."
"He'll need time," Masika said. "I knew him best before the curse of his village boiled inside of his blood. He stopped coming to my aid when he said he was getting too dangerous."
Oh. "The curse of his village moved slowly in him?" Atem never knew that. All that anger and hatred piled up within him, causing him to bond with Zorc. /Atem: The village is now at ease. Zorc is gone from Bakura completely./ He looked back toward Masika as she made a move. /Atem: He didn't come down for a fight. He is wanting the friend that he deserted back then./ Bakura's soul was beginning to be cleansed.
Ryou Bakura was right, he wasn't really a threat. The test will be to see how he respects Ryou Bakura's body now that he has control. Would he hurt it or abuse it in a way his vessel wouldn't like?
He played several more games with Masika. Now that he could concentrate, he won all but one. The first one. However, she would eventually win against him. She herself was very good at that game.
He asked her about her experiences in her time since she had her full memory. She shared some, not going into much detail. It was clear, Ancient Egypt wasn't as kind to her. When he got the nerve to ask how she passed on though?
Things turned.
"I respect the almighty Pharaoh," she said as she released the catch to let the pieces fall, "but I find it a great offense to ask about the end of one's life."
Hmm. "I know that you were the owner of Ebonnee, but I wondered if your death had anything to do with your chosen place as well." He tried to explain it.
She lifted her eyes toward him without lifting anything else. A disturbing look came across her eyes. Even though she had obeyed him, this was something that she couldn't seem to do.
Okay. "Did you look like Téa when you were alive?"
"Similar. All but the hair," she answered. "I kept mine in braids and curls, or I shaved it off. Depending on the husband at the time." She made the first move of the new game.
Hmm. /Atem: There is a block of ice between us. More than just getting used to being friends with a past Pharaoh./ Was there something else Bakura knew about how she died? /Atem: That block, it must be that./ "I would appreciate knowing what is keeping you distant from me?"
"You are The Greatest Pharaoh, I am but a humble servant to you."
"False." No. "You are using that as an excuse. You are a very good actress." He smirked. "If you had absolute respect for your Pharaoh, you wouldn't have cursed in my presence."
Yep, there it had been. She started to relax, almost in defeat. "Ebonnee came out of the card. Do you remember who was supposed to come out of the Ties of Friendship?"
Oh, it had to do with the Ties of Friendship card. "A daughter." Yes, Yugi even dated Rebecca to get the Ties of Friendship for it.
"You used people to summon the monsters. When a monster was defeated, the summoner was too."
Hmm. "You and your daughter were used to summon?" Impossible. "The millennium items allowed the closest to me to summon. I would have no need of that."
She stubbornly put in a piece. "You're right. It's just the pathetic puny mind of your subject. She remembers Ancient Egypt, but no, she must be wrong about her death. Your move, The Greatest of All the Greats Pharoah Atem."
Oh. Oh. Oh! "You are a very good actress." This whole time he had thought she just couldn't call him by his first name. /Atem: The longer the name, the more foul she has actually been to me. Her version of cursing, without being accused of anything, to stay in good manners with her host./ She wasn't afraid or frightened of him, she hated him. "Why would I use you when I had millennium items at my disposal?"
"I don't know," she said firmly. "I have no idea what things a Pharaoh thinks about. Your millennium items were strong but not perfect. You only had so many, yet there were so many disposable subjects."
That attitude. "Who did you raise?"
"Heba and I were in charge of your Dark Magician." She held up the fake Dark Magician Téa had. "You're right though, it must all be in my head. It was absolute instinct that I knew how to summon from a picture. Came with the position as spirit with Téa, right, The Greatest of all Greats Pharoah Atem?"
That? "If I did have need of a summoner, that wasn't one with a millennium item, I'm sure I wouldn't have chosen a wife and child." He made a move.
"You didn't see," she said hoarsely as she put the card back away. "Just like you couldn't see an innocent, small cat in the way."
Hm. /Atem: She might have something. I cannot always win. I cannot always be right./ That was something he needed to remember. Maybe she was onto something about why she was chosen.
"Are we done yet?" She clinched her teeth together. "Do you feel like you tried to be friendly enough today?" She glared at him. "You have to be friendly to your past lowly subject, Pharaoh, there's no choice. This past spirit is trapped with Téa, the one woman your Yugi self always loved and still can't get over years later. Oh no, you don't get to decide anymore." She threw in another piece. "You're stuck running a peasant little game shop with an unkempt spirit and her cat. Screw up, and Yugi will lose Téa. I'll convince her that Bakura can help her with the same thing, even faster considering he already knows everything his light side does, and with me whispering in her ear all the time, it won't take long before she has a new husband in the other gentler Light Bakura. Then you'll have a real good rest of existence with someone who would always secretly hate you, just because you couldn't make a friend." She emptied the playing board and let the pieces smash on the table. "Is that about right, The Greatest Pharoah of all the Greatiest Greatest Pharoah's Atem?!"
Atem watched her stand up.
"I will stay peacefully here, you do not need to try to be friends with me. I will learn the way the Game Shop works, however, I will also give it my all to learn from Téa, so that she does not have to give up on her dreams in New York. In the end, whether it is the Game Shop in Domino City, or dancing in New York, her wish is what I will listen to. Not yours, Not Yugi's, no one but this vessels own wishes will dictate my actions! Anything else and I will convince her to go to that sweet Light Bakura."
Atem folded his hands together. /Atem: Okay. Every friendship is different. This one will prove quite a challenge./
"Oh, don't look like that," she complained to him. "That was not a challenge I just set upon you, The Greatest Pharaoh. I tolerate you. I do not need to be a friend." She groaned with a mocking sound. "Atem."