Domino City Duel Academy

Getting up, she went to work as usual and to eavesdrop on conversation of if rumors of her club have started up. (Hopefully, I'll be able to make quality posts this weekend when I can catch up on sleep better.)

 

"That sounds right. Itadakimasu." Samir follows suit, struggling with the chopsticks for a few seconds. He smiles sheepishly at his date before finally getting the hang of the utensil. The young man manages to snag some noodles and slurps quietly. "Really savory. Too salty for me to really like it, but it's good." He looks up at Felicia. "What do you think?" Her own taste buds have a fairly similar experience to the one Samir stated, but perhaps she likes the flavors better than he does.

 

"Mmh. It is a bit salty. But I like it, especially after a tiring day." Felicia replied, though the academy had a half-day, she was still far too exhausted with... Uru's magic. "Mmmh. If you're struggling, I think you can ask for a fork." She whispers, smiling as she easily picks up some noodles with her chopsticks. "I'm used to these, since my family liked going to a sushi place every weekend." She giggles, before slurping up another mouthful of noodles.

 

[I assume you don't want to go through each class individually like on the first day of classes.]

As Julia wakes, she notices that her phone has received a flurry of text messages between the other three women in the group text. They seem to have settled on meeting Saturday, tomorrow, at 8:00 PM, but they don't have a specific location in mind yet.

Spoiler: Commune Roll

53+10(Spirit Taming)+5(Valkyrus bond)=68 success

Before the professor is even out of bed, she feels her connection to Valkyrus finally become clear again. Hello. However, the voice ringing within her mind is that of the younger man, not the older, wiser timbre of Valkyrus which Julia is accustomed to hearing. I've settled things with the Mayakashi, if the Kitsune holds up her end of the deal. Do you have time to learn the important details, soulbound one?

 

"Wow." Adam says, genuinely impressed. "Have you considered teaching? You're really good at it."

 

The young' man's voice. It spoke with a certain intelligence and confidence. If she had to guess...

Shurit, I take it? So it's still possible for your tribe to do this connection even without the exact affinity? Interesting. As soon as the rules start to make sense, there's always something new to it. I don't think we met properly yet, but you were a massive help in our initial duel with them. Thanks for that, by the way.

She breathed a bit. It sounded like things were most settling, but she was a little wary of what reasons Valkryus might be refusing or declining to speak directly to her, himself.

That'd be good to know. My approach has been a little too reckless for a scholar so far. Unless we coordinate our actions properly, it will just keep making things worse.

 

"I can't do that!" Samir laughs, smiling widely. "What if my date notices how bad I am with these?" He composes himself. "No, I'll give it a few more tries first. Thanks though." It takes him a few minutes, but soon enough the Egyptian boy manages to get the hang of the chopsticks. "What's sushi like? I've never had the chance to have some." The smiling man, less clumsily, manages to grab another few strands of noodles and brings them to his mouth.

 

"Hehe, alright, good luck." Felicia giggles, keeping how perceptive she is a secret. She continues eating, waiting for him to get used to the chopsticks, "Mmh, there you go." She hums as he manages to do it, "Sushi is... well, it's all sorts of things. Basically rice, and whatever the chef can think of stuffing inside of it. Sometimes it's raw fish, immitation crab, fruits wrapped in rice, and seaweed." The red-head replies, "How about you? Did you and your family spend weekends somewhere?"

 

"Me?! Teach?!" Umimaru shows powerful, indignant anger before composing herself. "No." She scowls. "Never. You're lucky I'm helping you at all. Like hell I'm going to go around doing this for some shitty school for the rest of my life. Fuck. That." The student slams the desk with her fist for emphasis on the last two words. "You aren't as dumb as you let on. Wanna give the monster a shot? I haven't tried it yet." She points to the multiple-line-long equation on her page of notes.

 

Not quite. I am Unicore. I am Valkyrus but...younger. Stronger. The spirit explains. A previous version of him kept safe in this armor. Shurit is...well, that's not important. Time is limited. He sidesteps further questions on the matter.

We have made peace with minimal losses in the brief conflict. A protracted war would be very bad, especially with Izanami-no-Mikoto taking an interest. You will be visited by the Kitsune Mayakashi. She will make a request of you. Grant it, and we will have a lasting compact with her kind. The likes of which we haven't had in centuries with her ilk. Unicore sighs. This will not put the feud to rest, but it will cease it. The length of time depends on you, soulbound.

 

Unicore...that makes more sense. Well...not really. But as much as any of this really can.

Hearing him speak, she still had her questions, though she was aware it was limited.

How is it spirits even can die? She knew time was limited, but this seemed like it would be a valuable note. And for herself with dealing with them. If it's a matter of only a spirit can destroy another spirit....does that suggest playing Valkyrus could potentially destroy them?

She was aware that expelling spirits by other effects seemed to do some kind of damage to them, but she hadn't done it with her key card. But she had a feeling that Unicore would understand why this was important to know. It also mattered to how Valkyrus should be played too and the risk level of if the opponent was in a position to do the same.

The fox...it would be ridiculous to assume she isn't plotting something, but I don't believe what she's really after involves the ice tribe either. I don't view it as anything good, but perhaps it would be better to just let things go as planned until it becomes more clear what exactly her manipulations are and who they involve. She doesn't seem vested or concerned with Dakki's interests, at least.

 

"I'll have to try it sometime." Samir files the information away. "I spent as much time boating, fishing, and swimming as I could. Our house is right next to the Nile, so I practically lived in the river. That's honestly the worst thing about Domino City--no river running through it." He has another bite of his salty food. "Other than that, I got to spend a lot of time in the Necropolis and Karnak with my parents. It's...humbling to have all that history all around you every day. Makes you feel small. Makes your problems feel small." The young man gives Felicia a wistful look.

 

The voice chuckles at Julia's reaction to him. Future me can explain another time.

We can only truly die at the hands of another spirit within our realm, but even this is very difficult to accomplish. As a general rule, this is only used as a means of forever neutralizing the most dangerous and harmful foes we encounter. We can be banished for a time by "dying" in battle against each other, but this does not end us without the accompanying ritual, items, and power. These are different for each spirit we wish to permanently destroy. Playing Valkyrus, in your example, may weaken him, but it will not destroy him.

I do not even pretend to understand her. Be safe. The voice falls silent.

 

"Mmh. Then you've had a lot of fish... though cooked, rather than raw." Felicia replied as she slurps on her soup. "Aaah. No, I don't think there is a running river here. Hmm, maybe in the suburbs perhaps, but in the city proper, I doubt it." She adds, using a napkin to wipe her mouth, before slurping on more noodles. "That sounds nice." She said, until she saw Samir's wistful look. "Oh? What's the problem? Just because you grew up in a history rich town doesn't mean you should ignore your own problems. That's pretty much beating the point, right? Didn't someone say that you should learn history, so you wouldn't go and make the same mistakes they did?"

 

It was useful to know that she couldn't severe the connection just by losing a duel. It would take something like having it forcibly banished by a higher power like she did. It probably could be defeated in the physical world and sent back to the spirit realm, but to destroy a spirit completely would take a lot of effort. However, he confirmed that summoning a key card and having it destroyed does weaken them. That might be where to make a window....

She could feel the pieces starting to fall together, but knew there wasn't much that could be done with this yet as she went on. She didn't need to go anywhere, knowing the ktisune would find her way to her soon enough anyway.

 

"Heh, it was just a suggestion." Adam says with amusement. Sure, why not?" He tries to solve the equation.

 

"That's not what I meant." Samir's expression turns neutral. "It helps me think more clearly, and the ruins remind me that I shouldn't take small, unimportant things and treat them like they're all that matters. There's much more to life than whatever daily stresses you have. It's just a way I can relax, that's all." He takes a bit of the filleted herring. "You shouldn't ignore your problems, but they may not be as important and urgent as it first feels like they are. I guess you can call it meditation?" The young man shrugs.

 

As she waits expectantly, Julia finishes up her morning routine...
-----
Time passes, and the professor still finds herself waiting for the spirit, Yoko, to contact her. The scheduled beginning of Julia's first class grows near. She should leave soon if she wants to be there on time.

 

"Ah, I suppose that's right. Basically don't sweat the small stuff." Felicia shrugs, "But still, if a problem is small enough, it's better to deal with it now, rather than wait for it to grow." She adds, as she slurps up the last of her soup. "Aaaah, that was good." She hums, drinking her tea to wash down the salty soup stock. "Meditation, huh." Felicia mumbles, Since he's lived in such a historic place... maybe? "Still, what do you think of our cards. Their designs are nice, but some are based on historic stuff, mythology. Do you think it's disrepectful to them?" Felicia asked, them being the creatures, mages, and others depicted within the cards.

 

Spoiler: Knowledge Roll

77-30(Incredibly difficult)=47 weak fail

Adam is surprisingly close to figuring the problem out, but he still can't quite wrap his head around what those last two variable in the system are equal to.
"If you can do that well on it, I'll get it for sure!" Umimaru brags prematurely. "I can't wait to see what this shitty 'reward' is." She follows up sarcastically. "And I'm waiting until after you leave. I'm not gonna let you cheat off me. Not yet." She smirks at Adam.

Spoiler: Commune Roll

8=8 strong fail