The Meaning of Family

Upon emerging out of the tavern filled with smoke and flames, sword in hand, a name was spelt out in front of his eyes. Shimmering letters, hot as a forge, bright as sun. But visible. Oak Town. The city of all history, cultural capital of Fiore. A grin appeared on Lyserg's lips. A challenge? Or perhaps an invitation? Yugi had seemed more like a boy to send out a challenge. Before any thought process could finish, Lyserg had already mentally accepted. He would move towards downtown. Even if a boxcar of hellish fire had just trashed an entire city street, the black markets would not be irritated. He was bound to find a teleportation device that could transport him once in there. And as he knew Oak Town, jumping in such a fashion should not be such a difficult task.

Magical currents, appearing as blue electricity beamed all around in the sky above Oak Town. The afternoon in the market district was bound to be heavily crowded. And a loud crashing noise bellowing through the block after which a man crashed down through the sky did pull some attention. Black Market teleportation devices were often not perfect. But to drop him so far off from where he had intended to, as well as mis-judging the altitude he aimed for was a little bit too much for the mage that was used to higher standards. Fixing the mishaps and asking his way through to find towards the Sparrow estate, he found his path. Arriving at the heavily guarded mansion, he was immediately looked at with doubtful eyes. Not he like he ever bothered with such things.

The neat thing about being able to fiddle with time was that a single spell could get you into such a facility with ease. An application he liked to call "Rift" enabled him to phase through the front gate, all the assaults from guards and guildsmen yelling, calling and attempting to catch him. And that, for an extended amount of time. Doors, walls, ceilings. Lyserg's steps made little sound, and following the density of hired bouncers, he made his way throughout the building. An angry mob following him creating tumult over several floors, Lyserg was quite sure that he was bound to grab some attention. Turning left several times, then turning right several times, flying past staircases and asking some unaware bypassers where the Sparrows were currently habitated, Lyserg was directed towards the living room.

Without opening the door, Lyserg flashed through. Several enraged guards had seen him do so as they had followed him the entire time without being able to do a single thing to him. Standing amidst a Yugi dressed in a laughable night gown as well as Roya, the girl from before, and what appeared to be Yugi's mother, Lyserg sighed. Crossing his arms, he leered to Yugi. A simple "I have arrived." Escaped his lips just as a bunch of overly alert sentinels came crashing in. "Misses Sparrow, we duly apologize, but for some reason this man was able to slip past each and every one of us with every attempt of stopping him phasing right through!!" A forced revelation, as Lyserg felt. He turned around, facing the sweating knights. "A simple 'we were utterly incompetent' would have sufficed." He jested, peering back at Yugi. "I'm not here for chit-chat however Yugi, nor did I intend to bust your party. You called me here, so let us begin." The fully geared Lyserg, in armor and cloak boasted confidence. Guards continuously attempted to grab him. Their fingers merely phasing through his body as he stood there, musing at the architecture and tastefully furnished living room.

Royas eyes veered wide at the sight of the guy from the bar; the one that had just passed straight through the door! “Wait, who invite--“ The girl was cut off as a forceful kick planted itself against the couch she sat accost. The sofa came sliding across the wood floor, Roya still planted down on it as its sailed gracefully across the room, skidding through those polished mansion floors... Well, all until it came to hard break against the wall. The sudden and violent jerk it dented into the walled surface and lurched Roya to the left, face planting into the cushion.

After flopping around like a Magikarp out of water for about two minutes she managed to unbury herself from the sand trap of couch cushions devouring her, single handedly! Roya sighed in relief, a puff passing her lips comically as she finally managed to stand back up to her feet in her racy fitting camisole and shorts. Her bandaged stub of an arm was now clearly visible to this bar guy who followed them here but with the situation at hand she could care less.

She got a good listen from what was going on even from the corner of the room she had been shipped to along with the couch. Roya and Yugi were already suited up for some well-deserved sleep… She wasn’t about to let some little kid brawl ruin that “Ehem.” Roya coughed loudly, her voice bouncing around the spacious room as she padded her way across the floor towards them. She headed their way around the antique furnishings she exchanged a glance with everyone in the room, including those dopey knights who failed to do their jobs.
“Too bad there won’t be a huge ass wizard duel.” Roya said as she arrived within vicinity to snag Yugi up by his ear, whirling him around to face her. She glanced up to the wizard sternly just as she shifted her weight to the side, planting her intact arm against her hip; her breasts gave an unnecessary comedic bounce in her tank top at this.

“Insteaddddd, How about we wash up and head off to bed, surely you can’t resist that offer. “  Roya spoke, shooting him a suggestive little smirk. With that, she slung that tattooed arm of hers around his waist too haul his body to hers. She turned to the

“Certaintly you don’t mind postponing till the morning, Dante was it?” She sounded rather chipper, an absolute contrast from her visage. Sea-green irises sharpened and narrowed darkly to blame him over the whole bounty ordeal that went down at the bar back in Talonia before lightening to turn back to Yugi and tug his waist, urging him away.

WORDS:459 ● TAGGED: @You guys● NOTES:woot

Youth. A juvenile attitude that led one to believe any- and everything was a challenge. Not a twinkling spark of reason could keep the young ones from recklessesly jumping at the first sight of danger. Any opportunity that opened up was a new experience. For most humans, life was fleeting. Patience not a virtue, but a waste of time. And to an extent, Lyserg understood. The extent, however, that caused a half torn zebra-night gown to flutter through the air and land above the brick-built fireplace so beautifully designed, was too much for him. Whilst things flew left and right, guards grabbed through him, relentlessly trying to pursue their meaningless jobs, and some naive ergot thinking he came here to fight for no good reason whatsoever, his hand couldn't help but rest at temple, over which a vein had shown itself, growing proportionally to the amount of commotion in this otherwise tranquile living room.

Eyes shut waiting for it all to blow over, just very short from giving up and leaving, a voice proposed an idea. An idea that at least had the correct direction, albeit him not agreeing to it. A smile, directed at the girl. A psychotic glare, ready to rip anyone's head off, and gritted teeth between which words were pronounciated. "I do not know where mister Sparrow got the idea that I would agree to a 'huge-arse-wizard-duel'..." Lyserg said, his slits closing once more, heaving a sigh outwards. Moving over to a comfortable looking couch, he took his seat. Looking at Yugi,who was battle-ready, half-naked with a misplaced grit in his face. "I forfeit, so there you have your fight." A thoughtful claim, beckoning the end of circumstance. "I really... just took the quickest way in... which happened to be past all of those mongs." A leather-padded hand waved over to the group of soldiers, who were beginning to have no idea what they were actually doing here.

"So... might you tell me what I was to come here for now?" Stoic face, aligned perfectly with straight seated stature and tyrannical gaze. "Because lest I remember, you were the one who wrote it out for me. 'Oak Town'. Was it not?" A question in remembrance. Deafening atmosphere comforted itself throughout the room. In scorn of Yugi's attitude, Lyserg payed him no glance. Instead looking at his mother, who seemed to be awfully unstruck by this situation. Wishing to signal her to call the young lad off his blood-boiling, unreasonably grinding choice of actions. Lyserg was truly starting to question his choice of coming here. Yugi's intuition could be likened to that of a deaf-blind, three-legged street rat.

An invisible sigh eased off her lips and her blue-green pools of hers glanced to her feet. Roya found herself squeezing his waist between her arm. Yugi didn’t need to worry about protecting her or anything, that's what she thought of it…"C’mon… I’ll be fine. I can look out for myself.” Roya whispered beneath her breath, managing her voice to a level which only he himself could hear. The foreigner didn’t throw away her arm up for nothing; it was so she could be a mage. It was so she could fight and defend herself. Now Yugi got her thinking… Was it really enough? Sure she could spark a couple nice flames… but was that anything compared to what he, the culprit of the Era crisis who had summoned Arconologia… and as for the man he faced?  He was the ringleader of an entire dark guild. She could feel the weight of magic pressure in the air without even thinking about it. Everyone’s strength here rivaled her own by a long shot; even Mrs. Sparrow’s power trampled her.

She gave up a lot more than her arm. Only because Roya expected she was getting more than this little bit of magic strength that day, wasnt that fair?… That day She remembered it in the finest detail: The sensation of her palm coiled around that burnt stub of a right limb, the ashes the inflamed arm wafting to her knees which she sat. Visage quivering, She had waited for the little mass of grey flames flickering across the ground in front of her,Monokuroen, to speak yet again.

“The more Sin and Ravage you cause the greater our strength will be the more powerful I grow and the stronger my flame shall become.”

This is the piece where they finally, finally shook on it, the part where an eighteen year old Roya reached out to caress that little ball of fire. She felt its heat snake up her arm on contact, a burning sensation beyond anything she had imagined. Let’s just say the deal didn’t leave any burns but the young lady did stumble out of there with an odd arm tattoo she didn’t remember getting or could never had afforded

Roya had made a deal with a demon, something she hadn’t told Yugi or anyone of.
“Tartarus is reformed, Yugi.”  Roya answered suddenly for the man, Lyserg. She paused as if to seek Yugi’s own reaction before she began to explain how she knew the answer in the first place. “Back in Hargeon, that mage I was with before we set the café on fire, He had the mark on his hand. He did not deny being a piece of Tartarus but rather basked in it.” She sighed this, knowing it probably wasn’t an answer he wanted to hear. She abled his waist from her grip only to free a hand to rub the nape of her neck awkwardly as the two conversed.

From then on… it may be better for her to say quiet, let them talk this whole mess out. Roya felt herself glance to Mrs. Sparrow, whom she also felt had been put on the bleachers.

WORDS:529 ● TAGGED: @Yugi/Lyserg● NOTES:woot

"Honestly, I was trying to pick up the pieces from my past actions.....be under the radar...." Redemption was a funny thing. It led people to believe mistakes were able to be undone. That a bad, morally questionable, socially inacceptable action could be disassociated with by committing to an equally, morally unqestionable, good action that benefitted society. Humorous, and somewhat entertaining to Lyserg. As if there was some way to cope, undo or distance yourself from your past. People loved starting new lives. It was the reason this little tool he kept in a pocket of his cloak, a little flat, circular disk, was so powerful. Enough that it moved people. Drove people. Incepted thoughts and desires into people. It was powerful enough to control those without control over themselves. Such a tool, it was entertaining to Lyserg. That was all there was to it. "I'm sorry, I lashed out. I've just worked hard to let go of the past---and here it is standing in front of me again."

Lyserg simply listened, paced through his mind on how to respond. Yugi was like a waterfall. Barely let anyone else speak, words upon words. A large number of them repetitive, insubstantial or meaningless. He was a do'er, as Lyserg liked to put it. Not a thinker. Yugi rushed into situations. It was the reason he had blurted out his name so openly several hours before in that bar, it was the reason he did not hesitate to burn down the bar and leave in a flash, it was the reason he had challenged him to a fight without even questioning his motives first. As if laying out tarot cards before him, Yugi depended on his instinct alone. On his feeling. Or so, Lyserg's impression was. The hasty young man acted more like a boy. Immature, and still juvenile. "Do you think before you take action, or do you just do things without a means to an end?"

Yugi did not, could not understand him. That was not to blame. Few managed to comprehend the thicket of thoughts that coursed beneath the strands of blonde hair falling down from his face. Crossed arms signified the desire to speak, to respond. An opportunity that did not come up. "Anyway.........tell me. Tartarus. Have you truly brought it back? Or was everything you said over that Lacrima just another scheme of yours?" Parted lips, the sound of an answer building up. Muted, by the dark-haired woman, a doubting glare directed at him. How exactly she came to such knowledge? Nai, Lyserg remembered as she spoke it. He would certainly have to squeeze some things out of him later.

"Well? Are you ready to explain YOUR actions? Regardless of if I didn't meet up with you or not." And as if a wonder occured, silence befell the living room. The guards had silently left the room and removed themselves entirely from the hallway. Yugi's mother had kindly ordered them to do so. But just yet, Lyserg remained in silence. Pupils moved skywards, and arms stretched out. A loud crack resonating from both, he let out a relieved sigh, his face brightened up and a tranquile smile marked his expression. "Well now, is it my turn to speak?" Lyserg asked sarcastically. Albeit not quite liking the use of sarcasm, he could not help himself as of now. Talking around the case, not getting to the point, with him, was annoying.

Scavenging through his pockets, his right hand pulled out a small disc. The small disc. The clean slate. "This." Lyserg spoke, holding up, showing what he had on himself. "The clean slate. Auctioned. From someone and somewhere I won't name. But I wanted to try it out. After you never arrived to our meeting... I was concerned. Concerned with what would happen to the mark." Lyserg spoke non-chalantly. In chunks, only short breaks between words and sentences. "You know, the mark formerly belonging to you.. and the others of Tartarus." Explaining clearly, Lyserg wished to answer any questions there may be. "I simply wanted to speak to you. Finding you turned out difficult, until I heard you were in Talonia. An anarchic city where criminals primarily reigned. And so I decided to auction this." He stated, wiggling the clean slate around like a toy between his fingers.

"I was almost sure I would never have found you, so I devised a method. One of the people who runs Talonia, Luke. I simply asked him to call out a hunt for you. He's a strange bloke by the way. But I thought it could smoke you out. Get you out of whatever hole you were in. And what do you know, it worked. It was chance that you slandered into the bar right when the entire thing was called out." Concluding his explanation. "And let us be real, it was not me who attacked you, it was not me who called out the hunt, it was not me who created the clean slate. I feel no shame in what I did." Calm as ever, Lyserg tossed the little disk in his hand over to Yugi. "Now I have no use for it anymore, do what you wish with it." Not a tool to create peace between them, not something unpucker their confrontational relationship up until now.

Lyserg stood up now. "I don't lie, I don't cheat my way through anything. That is not my style. I use what tools I can find. And I won't pardon myself for the things I do." Strenuous, strict voice directed at Yugi. "I also don't engage in fights I don't want to fight." He added. "I don't owe you anything either. Not an apology, and not protection over your woman, whom I believe is perfectly capable of protecting herself if she weren't with you." His tone shifted into a somewhat provocative, reproachful flux. "Also, you are mighty audacious to ask that of me, to be very honest with you. You flirt with a girl, take her with you, associate with her and make decisions for her. And you want to tell me to look after her? Because of what I 'did in Talonia'?" His fingers physically emphasized the quotation marks.

"You were the one that brought yourself into the circumstance of needing to hide where you did. You were the one that decided to find a spot amidst those people. And they are the people that decided a clean slate is worth more than loyalty. Not me. I merely showed the people an opportunity. They could have not attacked you, the patriarch of Talonia could have rejected my pay, you could have decided NOT to unseal a dragon more powerful than the entire army of Fiore. I did not make these decisions for you, and I won't take responsibility for the circumstance you put yourself into."

Lyserg's eyes pierced at Yugi. Words sharp as a sword. "You are arrogant to think I am responsible for anything that happened. I did not scheme anything. If any one person in the chain of the creator of the clean slate, you, the auctioner who decided to sell that thing, the patriarch of Talonia, and again, you, would have made different choices, none of this would have happened." Lyserg's voice grew calmer, taunting, impeaching upon Yugi. "And you want to know if I brought Tartarus back? I merely use the name and the symbol. Any former meaning it had is menial and does not apply anymore. I like challenges, and I know what people think of it. That is why I decided it might be fun to use it for my own undertakings. I brought nothing back. Nothing from before."

All the while, Lyserg had spoken brashly, a monologue. Precise placements of words would have cut off anyone that dared to interrupt him. His voice, his tone, his stature, his gestures, his expression, they all towered over the entire room, over everyone in it. His spirit had taken the gas pedal, his passion the steering wheel. When Lyserg spoke his mind, you could either leave or listen. But reply before he finished was not an option.

Roya's eyes stalked the slate juggling between his fingers closely, following as it drifted to Yugi’s hand. She kept her gaze with the disk in his hands. No Lyserg didn’t attack Yugi or call out that hunt… but he was the one who brought it up to Luke and now they couldn’t possibly go back home without people trying to nab Yugi or even herself.

Sure she was pretty pathetic comparison to magic strength compared to the two of them… but did her safety really have to be its own little discussion here? Roya would find herself agreeing with the mage she met at the bar on this one. Sure she was capable of looking out for herself…

Little by little she simply stopped listening. The whole rest of that monologue seemed to going through one ear and out the other with her, eyes veering around the furnishings, the walls framing the massive room, out the windows. She was standing idle like the little kid between the two adults and their grown up talk.

That voice of his eventually closed, replaced with the familiar sound of her Yugi’s words… Roya’s attention seemed to shift back around to them; she felt it far easier to listen to Yugi speak.

Family?... She seemed to blink as Yugi said this. They weren’t even related biologically, how could she be more than family? She thought to ask but now wasn’t the time for stupid questions like that, not that she could get a word through the persistent voice of Lyserg. Family? She delved into the meaning of the word once more, completely lost. Roya had her mother, whom had been burned to a pile of ash by these flames of hers. As for her father? She could care less about what he was doing…. Those were the only relatives Roya knew of. There had to be more in Deserito… but she didn’t care for aunts, cousins, in-laws they all had lived in the sanctuary of the city.

Did Family mean something different here in Fiore? Or maybe there was simply another definition she had never come across through her little amounts of teaching her mom had offered…

Roya watched as Yugi stepped to Lyserg, his words reverberating in her head. She only followed after him, unable to find herself giving him the slightest bit of space after this whole ordeal; she was practically glued to him.

“Hey now… You’re not running of anywhere to see what anyone’s built without me.” She said it simply; as if it was something he should obviously know like stopping at red lights or to turn off the water when you were done.

“You want to keep me safe don’t you?” Roya cleared her throat, briefly, as if taking a short little cough. “You can’t do much of keeping anyone safe if they aren’t around you. So I guess I’ve got to go anyways~” She stated this in an attempt to change his mind, If he wasn’t already convinced it was a good idea to take his girlfriend with him to a dark guild that was.

WORDS:532 ● TAGGED: @Yugi/Lyserg● NOTES: Posted while babysitting, pardon shortness/errors!!! 

It was frustrating, talking to Yugi Sparrow. His words, not eloquent. The way he carried himself, brutish. Loose shoulders, feet arythmically tapping to move him forward. Self-determined, sure. But there seemed to be only  vague sense of self-awareness in the muddle of it all. No grace or precision. Words that clicked, not based on thought, but on chance. The things he said, indeed not untrue. But content and flux were indiscriminately departed from one another. It felt as if he happened to hit the right notes. He was of the type of people Lyserg liked the least.

A natural. Others called those a genius. Those that did not require to go through strenuous hardships to arrive where they were. Not experience served as the basis of their skill, their intellect, but pure chance. Genes and circumstance. And whilst that on its own was not wrong or disliked by Lyserg, it was the way it affected the people that were given opportunities by nature. Negatively. It caused haughtiness, and oftentimes reduced the ability of logical self-perception.

Lyserg faced Yugi with indifference. His words of praise meant little to him. He was unable to take them seriously as of now. As he moved to stand side by side, there was not a shred of sympathy that surfaced. "Yes, great." He replied dryly. A hand raised itself to about the height of Yugi's head as he allowed himself to portray an attrited copy of the spell he had used to get in here. A gentle slap on the side of Yugi's arm. One that should have gone through, but did not. "You really do have a lot to learn." He commented non-chalantly. "But so do I." He added silently.

Lyserg tilted his head, beholding Yugi's smug visage as it looked out the window, self-satisfied. "You want to know my name? I propose a game: find it out yourself. If you manage to do that, I'll rethink taking on a fight with you." Tilting back, his gaze now puncutated at Roya, fixed at her. This entire time, Lyserg could not help but wonder how such a self-determined young woman could stand the presence of such an insufferable boy. His steps aligned themselves to carry him towards the brash, raddled looking girl.

He came to a halt, only a couple feet before her. A questioning expression leered up and about, skimming her presence. She was open, like a book. Easily readible. Intentionally however. This girl let anyone peer into who she was. A pleasant sight, to see a strong-willed woman bellow herself out through appearance. "My name is Lyserg." He announced with strong voice. "I have an offer. Come with me. Live with me and those who have accepted my offer. A place far away from the gutter you have lived in up until now. Dignified, free and unbound by those who seek to restrain you." He paused for a second. "You may take someone with you, if you wish to do so." He stated, a gesture hinting at Yugi. "How about it?"

“?” Roya blinked, the blonde's eyes facing her way. and when he moved in her direction to scan her closer? She couldn’t help but stiffen a tad.

“Lyserg,” Roya began, as if to taste the sound of his actual name. There was a long pause as she considered his proposal, her forest colored irises twitching from the man in front of her to Yugi, the windows which led to the outside world... she repeated his words in her head ' Dignified, free and unbound by those who seek to restrain you.'  Roya lived off that self-determination he had seen in her. She'd prefer to keep this freedom that took her eighteen long years to finally obtain. Yugi and Roya were practically kicked out of their home by this damn bounty and now they would have to spend their days running from it, sleeping with an eye--That was not freedom. Maybe it was safe, Tartarus, perhaps far away too?... this was the right move to make in a scenario like this, in Roya’s eyes at least.

“I’ll take your offer.” Roya said suddenly to break the silence. She turned her head gingerly turning to face Yugi. It was then that she spoke to him “Are we going to really pass up sanctuary?…”  Roya merely said, gazing up higher to meet Yugi on eye level. The mage wanted to convince him if he didn’t agree... She wondered if he would detest her choice.“We can’t stay here…or go back to Talonia I think we have to go… “

With this the pyro knelt to retrieve that parchment colored cloak of hers from the ground, likely left behind after he to his room to change initially. “Since you have a tendency to tear your clothes off, little zebra.” Roya pointed out as she proceeded to lead her coat over his bare shoulders yet again, unable to suppress that little smile of hers. Her hand slimmed down to find his, locking her palm and fingers into his grip. “What’s there to lose?...” Roya truly felt she was right… They had nowhere to go, bounties, and the only penalty the world would had to redeem them was death. Roya, for her serial building burnings, taking the lives of those inside and Yugi for the thousands more lives he destroyed the day he summoned Acnologia. “I say we go, both of us. You don’t have to follow me around for the sake of keeping me safe,Yugi. I just.... like being with you. So I want you to come.”

WORDS:423 ● TAGGED: @You guys● NOTES:woot

"How divine." Lyserg called out upon Roya accepting his proposal. His hands clapping together theatrically, a slight grin appearing beneath a satisfied stare going around the three individuals in the living room. It seemed these maniacal youngsters had taken his word for sanctuary and safety. Whilst truthful, it was not entirely truthful. Away from politics did not mean that there was no adventure hanging about every corner. Not to mention that there were still some things he felt he had to cover with Nai. But before he did that, there were several other things he felt required to do.

"Now then, pack your bags, children." His hands whirled up through the air in fluid motion. Provocative, condescending, but undeniably, somewhat entertaining. He knew the impression he had on people when he was his usual self. But he didn't mind. Eyes wandered over to the middle-aged woman standing aside. Yugi's mother, apparently. He could see the physical similarities in face and behavior. He smiled politely. "Thankyou for lending me your child. Miss Sparrow?" He asked with obvious intention. "I'll be sure to come back and give information on the status of your son." Turning back to the two, there was a final act. "Oh, I almost forgot. There is something I need you to do. Before we leave." He stated, peering at Roya, gesturing towards her, whilst grasping into his cloak once more and getting out a small metal satchel. Clicking it open, a small red cartridge of ink stared out into the empty. Dipping his index  into the fluid, a strong fluorescent crimson coated his fingertip. "The tattoo, where do you want it?" He asked non-chalantly.