Marja was an absolute delight, and was slightly confused at the fact her grandson had mostly dropped his accent for "proper city talk".
To be fair, she had never dealt with Vil in a mood. Epel knew better than to tempt any possible lectures from his future Housewarden.
"I still can't believe you put temporary dye into your hair just to hide," said Epel, shaking his head. "Also, I had no idea you were a fan of Yugi Muto, the top duelist."
"It's not temporary. This is my natural hair color. I'm planning to get it properly dyed before next year," said Vil absently.
It took Epel a second to register the fact that several of his friends, were not so silently howling with laughter at the fan comment.
"Yes, Vil, explain to Epel exactly how much of a fan you are of Yugi," said Atem with dark glee. He was clearly cackling about something.
Vil blinked, before a wicked smirk filled his features. Epel had a sinking feeling in his gut...which soon played out when Vil pulled out his hair tye, revealing the familiar star-shaped hair style and zig-zag bangs that the duelist was famous for. A hair style that no one could replicate without a hell of a lot of spare time and far too much hair spray to hold it in place.
Epel knew fully well there was no way in hell Vil would bother with that sort of effort just to cosplay as Yugi Muto. It was then that the realization hit him.
"You're Yugi Muto, the king of Games?" he said, mostly in disbelief. "HOW? How did you go from someone who was my height to a tall prima donna?!"
Bakura began cackling even more.
Vil scowled.
"I was carrying around a pendant made of almost pure gold, as well as a thick chain. It caused my posture to constantly bend forward because I almost never took it off while awake," said Vil flatly. "Due to a stalker issue, I decided I needed to change, so I underwent an...extreme diet and exercise regimen. What you saw when you started Night Raven was the result."
He could see Epel's thought process.
"Before you ask what it was, most of my height came from a very overdue growth spurt, and I restarted the potion regimen much earlier this time. Odds are you would have gotten almost as tall as Sebek by the time you graduated."
Epel pouted.
"So...mind giving us a general lesson on how to use the plushies?" asked Vil.
Epel blinked.
"You're actually going to race in a provincial festival like this? Overnight?"
"I don't see why not. You still want to boost the economy of your home, right?" said Vil. "What better way to draw attention to it then to have it featured on my official MagiCam page? Well...after the fact anyway."
Epel perked up at that. He didn't need to be given more of a hint to show Vil and the others around to the hot spots of Harveston and the popular attractions during the festival. Being given carte blanche to brag about his home was all the incentive he needed.
Atem, Bakura and Marik stuck close to the bonfire or the vendors selling hot foods and drinks, as they weren't used to this level of cold. It made Vil and the others cackle at the sight.
However the real entertainment came from practicing with their newly made plushies. Marja was more than happy to sew them for the boys...especially with how quickly Epel took to them. The fact Vil happily paid her a larger than normal amount of cash for the job didn't hurt either.
Another bonus, since the three Egyptians had lived in a vastly different climate, they had no idea of all the options regarding what sort of animals they could choose.
Seeing Atem with a fox, Bakura with a raccoon, Marik with a squirrel, and Ryou with a rabbit was amusing...especially when they found out what Vil's team had gone with.
Idia had gone with a bear, since that was what he had gotten last time (he even picked the same fabric swatches). Vil had chosen a snow leopard, and had picked fabrics that would allow Marja to create one...he found it adorable she had also stitched the tail to the leopard's mouth, much like an actual snow leopard. It was both practical and cute looking. Jounouchi had chosen a wolf with great glee. Ortho, much to the amusement of his brother, had chosen a lynx.
"So what are your team names going to be?" asked Epel.
Idia was grinning now.
"Game Kings," said Idia. Vil smirked at him, while Atem pouted because they had lost the coin toss. He still swore that coin was rigged.
Epel looked to Atem.
"Shadow Mage," said Atem. Ryou rolled his eyes at how unimaginative it was.
Vil was very eager for the brief lesson with Epel over how to control the plushies for one simple reason.
Watching the three Egyptians suffer through snow down their shirts from their inability to control the sled was hilarious. Sure it was incredibly awkward for him as well, but it was still better than Atem and the others.
Atem kept glaring at the cackling Vil and others. It was hilarious.
And then Vil declared war by throwing the first snow ball. It went down hill from there.
Two hours later...
"ACHOO!"
Vil snickered.
"Bless you," he said.
"I hate you," said Atem.
Vil stuck his tongue out with dark glee. Bakura would have snickered, but he was firmly burrowed under as many blankets as he could hoard for himself, with Marik leeching off what little heat he could get from his boyfriend. Ryou just snickered.
"How is it that Ryou is the one who's the least affected out of your team?" asked Epel, baffled.
"These three are from a climate comparable to what Kalim and Jamil grew up in," explained Vil. "They've never really seen snow like this before."
"And Ryou?"
"I'm from London," said Ryou amused. "We do get snow there."
"Brat," said Bakura with no real heat to it.
"Considering I'm the one least likely to get a cold after this trip..." snickered Ryou.
"Are you okay with staying in the assembly hall?" asked Epel. "I know the cots aren't the most comfortable..."
"Idia warned us ahead of time, so we brought sleeping bags," said Vil. "Which reminds me, I also brought my spare make-up kit and a few things I thought would fit you."
Epel made a face, but didn't argue. He knew how fashion conscious Vil was. On the plus side, at least he now had someone to properly talk to, even if it was over video call.
Before the sled race...
Vil narrowed his eyes at the group of dwarves nearby. He could honestly care less about their species...he was more interested in the fact that they had said Neige's name like they knew him personally. More importantly, Epel immediately recognized them as future students of the Royal Sword Academy.
After he said that, Vil quickly remembered where he had seen them before. At that damn Song and Dance Competition, playing the part of 'children' who danced rather clumsily around Neige while singing a common children's song. The only redeeming aspect of their performance was Neige.
Vil was still somewhat salty over the fact Rook had been the deciding vote. He had made up for it by tracking him down to STYX, but it still irked him.
Hearing their overly sappy friendship talk was making him nauseous. It was like Anzu in her "friendship triumphs over everything" phase back in high school!
Which was fine from a teenage girl, but sounded absolutely cringe worthy coming from teen boys, even if they did look like children. Epel snickered at the face Vil made just listening to it.
"So we're agreed...we absolutely wreck their time and beat them at any cost?" said Vil to the others.
Both groups agreed, if only because there was no way they'd let someone who looked like children beat them.
Atem's team, despite their best efforts, soon began to lag. To be fair, Atem and his group didn't really have much experience with magic outside of card games or using the Items as a crutch.
"Should I feel sorry that we tricked them into a bet regarding who would have the best time?" asked Jounouchi.
"You really want to wear embarrassing outfits during the next dueling tournament?" countered Vil.
"Hell no!" said Jounouchi.
Vil smirked. He had made a bet with Atem's group that the team with the worst time on the course would have to wear matching outfits arranged by the other group during the next dueling tournament. With the implied knowledge that the outfits would be as embarrassing or cringeworthy as possible.
Vil was very determined to have fun and force all four of them into maid outfits or something similar. The frillier, the better. Jounouchi had taken one look at the group and had to do his best to not die laughing at the mental image...even if he suspected Vil was trying to nudge Atem together with Kaiba to further insured the dragon obsessed teen left him the hell alone from now on.
Idia was their lead musher, as he was the tallest of the group next to Jounouchi. Ortho followed behind in third, with Vil trailing behind the lot. He still cursed being so short, and could not wait for that overdue growth spurt to finally hit.
Seeing the first pit stop, the group made an extra burst of energy.
"You guys are in second place," said Yuu. "The Mayor's team is in first."
"I can live with second place, so long as we beat those stupid dwarves," said Vil flatly.
"You're trending on MagiCam, by the way," said Yuu. She then turned to Idia. "Thanks for showing me how to link to the drone."
"No problem," said Idia grinning.
Ortho Beta was controlling the drone, keeping track of both teams. Yuu was posting the live feed on MagiCam, and thanks to a few hashtags (mostly Vil's name) the feed was trending like crazy.
Harveston was about to get a massive tourist boom, and she wouldn't be surprised if the anime that had gotten Idia to visit the town the first time had a sudden surge in popularity as well.
Atem looked tired, and beyond cold.
"You can always bow out, you know," said Vil.
"Absolutely not," said Atem, his competitive spirit still going strong.
"I'll warn Jii-san to be prepared for three sick idiots later," said Yuu. Solomon had all but adopted the strays his grandson kept bringing home. As such, most of them simply called him "Gramps".
In the end, Vil was satisfied with having second place. The Mayor's team was much more familiar with the terrain, had far more experience and honestly he would rather lose to the locals.
He was satisfied knocking the dwarves into fifth place...and was openly cackling over the fact that Atem's team was in seventh.
Back in Domino...
"Is this really necessary?" complained Bakura.
"You lost the bet, you pay the price. Besides, I put Atem in the shortest skirt...Marik has the second."
Bakura perked up at that.
He felt the entire thing was worth it when he caught Kaiba staring after Atem's ass, regardless of how much he denied it later.
Considering Atem came home suspiciously late after a meeting with Kaiba with rumpled clothing and a satisfied air, Vil felt it was worth it.
Marik simply vanished for a week the second Bakura and Ryou go their hands on him. Not that he was complaining...much.
