Isabel Marias (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
naturalcure) wrote2017-03-08 06:59 pm
naturalcure) wrote2017-03-08 06:59 pm
(no subject)
"So what's going on with you, anyway?"
Desdemona paused for a moment. She didn't look up from her computer.
"I don't know what you mean."
"BS you don't. Something's bothering you. Tell me."
Desdemona paused again. She let out a low sigh.
"Right now, it is a pretty, smart and well-meaning but nonetheless distracting girl sitting on my desk," she said, a light frown creasing her brow. Isabel blinked a couple times...from her position sitting cross-legged on Desdemona's desk.
"Nah, it's not that," she said, shaking her head. "Something else is bugging you. See, I can tell when something's bothering you, Desde-"
"You're actually sitting on my phone."
"We have a special connection, you and I-"
"I need to make some very important calls, so if you could just move to the side a bit…"
"We're not just friends, we're Dragon and Signer, that means we're connected to each other through our souls-"
"I'm fairly certain you've dialed several people already by sitting on it like that."
"And we've had this bond for so long that I can sense when you're experiencing the slightest discomfort-"
"..."
Isabel paused for a moment. She looked down at Desdemona. She wasn't saying anything, just kind of staring up at Isabel, arms crossed.
"This bit has run its course, hasn't it."
"It's just about on the line, yes," Desdemona said with a little nod. Isabel responded by reaching under her legs and pulling out Desdemona's smartphone, which Desdemona then took. The two locked eyes for a second. Desdemona glanced at Isabel's arm. She let out a low sigh. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"
"Mmmmnope." Isabel shook her head. But, for the sake of politeness, she did slide off of Desdemona's desk. "Look, I'm just saying...you really seemed to be enjoying yourself in your new job, but you've been off since those kids from that martial arts school showed up." Desdemona was quiet, so Isabel pushed on. "And, like...not to tell you how to do your job, but...why did you let them in, in the first place?"
"Why do you care about that?" Desdemona asked pointedly. "You have no problem with physicality in dueling, you've proven that multiple times over."
"You're right, I don't," Isabel said with a shrug. "It doesn't bug me at all. But it bugs you. I know it does. You don't believe in that stuff at all. And you wouldn't let stuff like that into a league you were in charge of, no matter what, unless something else was up." Desdemona gave Isabel a perturbed look briefly, then gave a dismissive hand gesture.
"I may not approve of the children from Ryozanpaku's tactics personally, but objectively, I found it prudent to let them in," she said. "The world is a difficult place, as you have seen many times over. Especially for duelists. I'm doing those children no favors by pretending it's not." Isabel stared at Desdemona, skeptically.
"...that's not even close to what you really think," Isabel said, a little incredulous. Desdemona pursed her lips.
"And when exactly did you become such a good judge of what I'm thinking?" She asked.
"You know how dangerous it is for a duelist here, how bad it already has been and will be in the future for a lot of the kids in that league." Isabel crossed her arms. " 'So why don't I at least give them a place to come to that isn't as tough, where they can duel and be themselves in peace.' " Isabel pointed at Desdemona. "That's how you really feel. That's why you wanted to be a counselor and a teacher at that school so badly. And the fact that you can't do it with this league is eating you up inside." Now, Desdemona looked very perturbed. Safe to say, Isabel had hit the bullseye.
"...how did you do that?"
"You talk in your sleep," Isabel said offhandedly. Desdemona gave her an incredulous look. "Oh, uh, I mean, Dragon-Signer bond." She tapped her arm. She smiled a bit. "Yeah. That's it." Desdemona stared her down a moment. Then fall back into her chair and sighed.
"Alright. I admit it. This is...not what I wanted the Super Junior League to be," she muttered, tracing a hand over her temple. "When I took the job to be Commissioner, I thought I would be able to prepare them and give them a place to grow on their own at the same time, but…" She ran a hand over her face. "It's grown much...more complicated than I anticipated…"
Isabel grimaced a bit. It was rare that she saw Desdemona looking this stressed about anything.
"Desde...what're you talking about?" She asked. Desdemona looked up at her and sighed again.
"...you're really not going to let this go, are you?" She muttered. Isabel threaded her hands behind her head. After a second, she sighed.
"Nah...I can't," she huffed. "You're my partner. If something's bugging you, I gotta help." Desdemona actually scowled a little at Isabel for that one. After that sentiment, there was basically no way that she could keep the truth from Isabel and she knew it. She was, after everything, a really soft touch when it came to her partner. She really couldn't hide this from her.
"Alright...I'll tell you. But." Desdemona reached out and grabbed Isabel's shoulder. "Isabel - I haven't even told William or Juudai this. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Yes. You love me more than Juudai or dreadlocks. I knew it - but it's nice to be reminded," Isabel said with a smug little smile. Desdemona squeezed her shoulder and gave her a hard look and she became serious. "I understand. I won't tell anybody."
---
"I activate D/D/D Oblivion King Abyss Ragnarok's monster effect!"
The Oblivion King rose a hand up. A monster next to it, a set of huge jaws, vanished at the monster's gesture.
"I tribute D/D Nighthowl to banish your monster!"
The Oblivion King swung its hands back down. The only monster left on the opponent's field, an Archfiend Zombie-Skull, was wiped away by the effect, leaving their field clear.
"This is the finishing blow! Abyss Ragnarok, direct attack!"
Abyss Ragnarok let out a low growl as it leaned back into its throne. Numerous black stripes came shooting out of its tattered cape, spikes on the end of it. They struck the opponent, laying them out and leaving them on the ground. (0000 LP - DEFEAT)
(AKABA REIJI - WIN)
"THAT'S IIIIIIIT!" MC called out from his commentary desk. "The winner of this match aaaaaaaand STILL! THE ACTION DUELING WORLD CHAMPION! THE KING! OF KINGS! AKABAAAAAAAAAAA REIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIJIIIIIIIIIIII!" As he was handed his title belt, Reiji held it up, to the wild cheers of the audience. "Since the champion won the title six weeks ago and made his open challenge - his challenge for any duelists to point their fangs known as their cards at him and test their might against him, the champion has won six consecutive title defenses in dominating fashion! As of right now, there doesn't appear to be anybody who can challenge the King of Kings!"
As the MC continued to speak about Reiji's dominating string of victories, Reiji placed his belt over his shoulder and started silently walking back up the ramp, his music playing loudly throughout the arena as he walked up the ramp. Another match done. Now he had to get back to the LeoCorp building and--
--halfway up the ramp, he stopped. The music stopped. Different music started. Reiji's eyes narrowed as the audience went absolutely wild...
...and Isabel Marias walked out the top of the entrance ramp. Staring right down at Reiji.
---
"Duel Soldiers?!" Isabel exclaimed. "What the hell are you talking about?!"
"It's called Lancers Selection," Desdemona said quietly. "As I said, the purpose is to establish a fighting force composed of powerful duelists."
"For Akaba Reiji? You're doing all of this - for Akaba Reiji!?" Isabel said, looking like she couldn't believe her ears. Desdemona quietly nodded.
"Leo Corporation...was the one who bankrolled the Super Junior League, almost in its entirety. I was asked to run it by the Chairwoman of LDS, Akaba Himika. For the purpose of finding strong duelists and guiding them to the point where they could be Duel Soldiers." She let out a breath. "To a point where they could be Lancers."
"Wh…" Isabel stood still, in stunned silence for a moment. "Wh...why?! Why is this being done?! Why does Akaba Reiji want you to find Duel Soldiers for him?!" At that, Desdemona didn't immediately answer. She thought about it for a moment. She bit her finger...then she started typing on her computer. Isabel blinked and looked over at the screen as Desdemona brought up several pages about companies - media companies.
"These are companies Leo Corporation bought out and assumed control of all within a very short period of each other," Desdemona explained. "I...only found out about this on a hunch...about what I thought this all...may be related to. But…" Desdemona's expression pulled into a tight grimace. "When I started searching carefully, I found…" She clicked something else, opening several webpages. "These." Isabel's eyes widened, then narrowed. Suddenly in front of her were at least half a dozen articles about one thing.
"Heartland…?!" She muttered. "These are all...these are articles claiming that Duel Spirits caused what happened to Heartland!" She said, aghast. She looked back at Desdemona. "You said that Leo Corporation bought all of these companies?!" Desdemona nodded.
"They did. Among others." Desdemona folded her hands in her lap. "When I saw all of this and how it connected back to Leo Corporation...I realized, that Akaba Reiji may know the truth about Heartland. About who attacked it. So when he asked me to help him put together a group of the strongest duelists…" She closed her eyes. "Though I abhor what appears to be his...meticulous manipulation of the truth. I agreed to help him." She looked up at Isabel. "Because I believe there may be a truly terrifying enemy on the horizon. And we need to be prepared for it."
Isabel was quiet for a moment, before she let out a disgruntled noise.
"Did you ever consider that the terrifying enemy here is him!?" She snapped. "You think he knows the truth about who attacked Heartland and wants to fight against them - you skipped over the fact that everything he's done is shady as fuck! What if he's just trying to manipulate everything to get his own private army of duelists?!" She yelled. Desdemona said nothing until Isabel turned and stormed off.
"Isabel - where are you going?"
"I'm going to the stadium!" She shouted back, grabbing her cloak as she left the room. Desdemona grimaced and fell back in her chair.
---
…
Isabel and Reiji stared each other down for several moments. Reiji could tell instantly that something was wrong. This wasn't just fighting-for-a-title-belt Isabel Marias. She was really angry about something.
Isabel ran at Reiji. He brought his hands up. She leaped at him and threw a forearm at his head. He blocked it and started backing up. She started throwing fists which Reiji mostly succeeded in ducking away from. Eventually, her boot struck him in the stomach. He wheezed, all the air rushing out of him. He bent over slightly and another kick struck him square in the jaw, sending him reeling. He tumbled backwards, landing on his behind. Isabel grabbed him by his collar, pulled him up and dragged him back down the ramp towards the dueling ring.
She threw him into the ring, where he rolled on to his hands and knees. Isabel, meanwhile, pulled down her boot, exposing her bare knee (the real one, not the wooden one). She bent down as Reiji came back to his senses, stalking him like a hunter stalked its prey.
"Get up!" She roared. "Get up, you lying sack of shit!" Reiji started to stumble to his feet. Isabel charged towards him, leaping up to deliver the knee strike--
Reiji ducked down, his head moving out of the way of the knee. With surprising agility, he moved behind Isabel. He grabbed her arm. Isabel jerked against his grip as her momentum carried her past him. He grunted and pulled her back. His other arm came up as she was pulled back and struck her with a hard clothesline. The show of agility and physical strength caught Isabel by surprise and knocked her over, temporarily stunned. By the time Isabel was getting back up, Reiji was already out of the dueling ring and backing up the entrance ramp. Isabel glowered at him, but before she could give chase, security was coming out and was making sure to get between her and Reiji. Isabel tried to shove past them, but they weren't letting her go. Meanwhile, Reiji was taking that as his cue to exit the rest of the way up the ramp. Isabel could've gone past the security, but it would've required more strength than the situation warranted. Instead, she shouted at Reiji as he went up the ramp.
"You're not gonna dodge the next one, fucker!" She howled after him. "I'm gonna beat you in the middle of this ring! And when you're on your ass and I'm holding the title, I'm gonna expose all of your bullshit!"
Reiji said nothing as he walked away. But the last thing Isabel said got him to narrow his eyes again. As the security personnel held Isabel back, he glowered at her for a moment more. His eyes fell to the championship belt, laying on the ramp before him, dropped during the impromptu scuffle.
He grabbed the belt and held it up one more time. The audience cheered. The bit of showboating done with he turned and walked the rest of the way up the ramp and out of the arena. He was dialing Nakajima the second he was sure there weren't anymore cameras on him.
He suddenly had very pressing things to attend to back at his building.
Desdemona paused for a moment. She didn't look up from her computer.
"I don't know what you mean."
"BS you don't. Something's bothering you. Tell me."
Desdemona paused again. She let out a low sigh.
"Right now, it is a pretty, smart and well-meaning but nonetheless distracting girl sitting on my desk," she said, a light frown creasing her brow. Isabel blinked a couple times...from her position sitting cross-legged on Desdemona's desk.
"Nah, it's not that," she said, shaking her head. "Something else is bugging you. See, I can tell when something's bothering you, Desde-"
"You're actually sitting on my phone."
"We have a special connection, you and I-"
"I need to make some very important calls, so if you could just move to the side a bit…"
"We're not just friends, we're Dragon and Signer, that means we're connected to each other through our souls-"
"I'm fairly certain you've dialed several people already by sitting on it like that."
"And we've had this bond for so long that I can sense when you're experiencing the slightest discomfort-"
"..."
Isabel paused for a moment. She looked down at Desdemona. She wasn't saying anything, just kind of staring up at Isabel, arms crossed.
"This bit has run its course, hasn't it."
"It's just about on the line, yes," Desdemona said with a little nod. Isabel responded by reaching under her legs and pulling out Desdemona's smartphone, which Desdemona then took. The two locked eyes for a second. Desdemona glanced at Isabel's arm. She let out a low sigh. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"
"Mmmmnope." Isabel shook her head. But, for the sake of politeness, she did slide off of Desdemona's desk. "Look, I'm just saying...you really seemed to be enjoying yourself in your new job, but you've been off since those kids from that martial arts school showed up." Desdemona was quiet, so Isabel pushed on. "And, like...not to tell you how to do your job, but...why did you let them in, in the first place?"
"Why do you care about that?" Desdemona asked pointedly. "You have no problem with physicality in dueling, you've proven that multiple times over."
"You're right, I don't," Isabel said with a shrug. "It doesn't bug me at all. But it bugs you. I know it does. You don't believe in that stuff at all. And you wouldn't let stuff like that into a league you were in charge of, no matter what, unless something else was up." Desdemona gave Isabel a perturbed look briefly, then gave a dismissive hand gesture.
"I may not approve of the children from Ryozanpaku's tactics personally, but objectively, I found it prudent to let them in," she said. "The world is a difficult place, as you have seen many times over. Especially for duelists. I'm doing those children no favors by pretending it's not." Isabel stared at Desdemona, skeptically.
"...that's not even close to what you really think," Isabel said, a little incredulous. Desdemona pursed her lips.
"And when exactly did you become such a good judge of what I'm thinking?" She asked.
"You know how dangerous it is for a duelist here, how bad it already has been and will be in the future for a lot of the kids in that league." Isabel crossed her arms. " 'So why don't I at least give them a place to come to that isn't as tough, where they can duel and be themselves in peace.' " Isabel pointed at Desdemona. "That's how you really feel. That's why you wanted to be a counselor and a teacher at that school so badly. And the fact that you can't do it with this league is eating you up inside." Now, Desdemona looked very perturbed. Safe to say, Isabel had hit the bullseye.
"...how did you do that?"
"You talk in your sleep," Isabel said offhandedly. Desdemona gave her an incredulous look. "Oh, uh, I mean, Dragon-Signer bond." She tapped her arm. She smiled a bit. "Yeah. That's it." Desdemona stared her down a moment. Then fall back into her chair and sighed.
"Alright. I admit it. This is...not what I wanted the Super Junior League to be," she muttered, tracing a hand over her temple. "When I took the job to be Commissioner, I thought I would be able to prepare them and give them a place to grow on their own at the same time, but…" She ran a hand over her face. "It's grown much...more complicated than I anticipated…"
Isabel grimaced a bit. It was rare that she saw Desdemona looking this stressed about anything.
"Desde...what're you talking about?" She asked. Desdemona looked up at her and sighed again.
"...you're really not going to let this go, are you?" She muttered. Isabel threaded her hands behind her head. After a second, she sighed.
"Nah...I can't," she huffed. "You're my partner. If something's bugging you, I gotta help." Desdemona actually scowled a little at Isabel for that one. After that sentiment, there was basically no way that she could keep the truth from Isabel and she knew it. She was, after everything, a really soft touch when it came to her partner. She really couldn't hide this from her.
"Alright...I'll tell you. But." Desdemona reached out and grabbed Isabel's shoulder. "Isabel - I haven't even told William or Juudai this. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Yes. You love me more than Juudai or dreadlocks. I knew it - but it's nice to be reminded," Isabel said with a smug little smile. Desdemona squeezed her shoulder and gave her a hard look and she became serious. "I understand. I won't tell anybody."
---
"I activate D/D/D Oblivion King Abyss Ragnarok's monster effect!"
The Oblivion King rose a hand up. A monster next to it, a set of huge jaws, vanished at the monster's gesture.
"I tribute D/D Nighthowl to banish your monster!"
The Oblivion King swung its hands back down. The only monster left on the opponent's field, an Archfiend Zombie-Skull, was wiped away by the effect, leaving their field clear.
"This is the finishing blow! Abyss Ragnarok, direct attack!"
Abyss Ragnarok let out a low growl as it leaned back into its throne. Numerous black stripes came shooting out of its tattered cape, spikes on the end of it. They struck the opponent, laying them out and leaving them on the ground. (0000 LP - DEFEAT)
(AKABA REIJI - WIN)
"THAT'S IIIIIIIT!" MC called out from his commentary desk. "The winner of this match aaaaaaaand STILL! THE ACTION DUELING WORLD CHAMPION! THE KING! OF KINGS! AKABAAAAAAAAAAA REIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIJIIIIIIIIIIII!" As he was handed his title belt, Reiji held it up, to the wild cheers of the audience. "Since the champion won the title six weeks ago and made his open challenge - his challenge for any duelists to point their fangs known as their cards at him and test their might against him, the champion has won six consecutive title defenses in dominating fashion! As of right now, there doesn't appear to be anybody who can challenge the King of Kings!"
As the MC continued to speak about Reiji's dominating string of victories, Reiji placed his belt over his shoulder and started silently walking back up the ramp, his music playing loudly throughout the arena as he walked up the ramp. Another match done. Now he had to get back to the LeoCorp building and--
--halfway up the ramp, he stopped. The music stopped. Different music started. Reiji's eyes narrowed as the audience went absolutely wild...
...and Isabel Marias walked out the top of the entrance ramp. Staring right down at Reiji.
---
"Duel Soldiers?!" Isabel exclaimed. "What the hell are you talking about?!"
"It's called Lancers Selection," Desdemona said quietly. "As I said, the purpose is to establish a fighting force composed of powerful duelists."
"For Akaba Reiji? You're doing all of this - for Akaba Reiji!?" Isabel said, looking like she couldn't believe her ears. Desdemona quietly nodded.
"Leo Corporation...was the one who bankrolled the Super Junior League, almost in its entirety. I was asked to run it by the Chairwoman of LDS, Akaba Himika. For the purpose of finding strong duelists and guiding them to the point where they could be Duel Soldiers." She let out a breath. "To a point where they could be Lancers."
"Wh…" Isabel stood still, in stunned silence for a moment. "Wh...why?! Why is this being done?! Why does Akaba Reiji want you to find Duel Soldiers for him?!" At that, Desdemona didn't immediately answer. She thought about it for a moment. She bit her finger...then she started typing on her computer. Isabel blinked and looked over at the screen as Desdemona brought up several pages about companies - media companies.
"These are companies Leo Corporation bought out and assumed control of all within a very short period of each other," Desdemona explained. "I...only found out about this on a hunch...about what I thought this all...may be related to. But…" Desdemona's expression pulled into a tight grimace. "When I started searching carefully, I found…" She clicked something else, opening several webpages. "These." Isabel's eyes widened, then narrowed. Suddenly in front of her were at least half a dozen articles about one thing.
"Heartland…?!" She muttered. "These are all...these are articles claiming that Duel Spirits caused what happened to Heartland!" She said, aghast. She looked back at Desdemona. "You said that Leo Corporation bought all of these companies?!" Desdemona nodded.
"They did. Among others." Desdemona folded her hands in her lap. "When I saw all of this and how it connected back to Leo Corporation...I realized, that Akaba Reiji may know the truth about Heartland. About who attacked it. So when he asked me to help him put together a group of the strongest duelists…" She closed her eyes. "Though I abhor what appears to be his...meticulous manipulation of the truth. I agreed to help him." She looked up at Isabel. "Because I believe there may be a truly terrifying enemy on the horizon. And we need to be prepared for it."
Isabel was quiet for a moment, before she let out a disgruntled noise.
"Did you ever consider that the terrifying enemy here is him!?" She snapped. "You think he knows the truth about who attacked Heartland and wants to fight against them - you skipped over the fact that everything he's done is shady as fuck! What if he's just trying to manipulate everything to get his own private army of duelists?!" She yelled. Desdemona said nothing until Isabel turned and stormed off.
"Isabel - where are you going?"
"I'm going to the stadium!" She shouted back, grabbing her cloak as she left the room. Desdemona grimaced and fell back in her chair.
---
…
Isabel and Reiji stared each other down for several moments. Reiji could tell instantly that something was wrong. This wasn't just fighting-for-a-title-belt Isabel Marias. She was really angry about something.
Isabel ran at Reiji. He brought his hands up. She leaped at him and threw a forearm at his head. He blocked it and started backing up. She started throwing fists which Reiji mostly succeeded in ducking away from. Eventually, her boot struck him in the stomach. He wheezed, all the air rushing out of him. He bent over slightly and another kick struck him square in the jaw, sending him reeling. He tumbled backwards, landing on his behind. Isabel grabbed him by his collar, pulled him up and dragged him back down the ramp towards the dueling ring.
She threw him into the ring, where he rolled on to his hands and knees. Isabel, meanwhile, pulled down her boot, exposing her bare knee (the real one, not the wooden one). She bent down as Reiji came back to his senses, stalking him like a hunter stalked its prey.
"Get up!" She roared. "Get up, you lying sack of shit!" Reiji started to stumble to his feet. Isabel charged towards him, leaping up to deliver the knee strike--
Reiji ducked down, his head moving out of the way of the knee. With surprising agility, he moved behind Isabel. He grabbed her arm. Isabel jerked against his grip as her momentum carried her past him. He grunted and pulled her back. His other arm came up as she was pulled back and struck her with a hard clothesline. The show of agility and physical strength caught Isabel by surprise and knocked her over, temporarily stunned. By the time Isabel was getting back up, Reiji was already out of the dueling ring and backing up the entrance ramp. Isabel glowered at him, but before she could give chase, security was coming out and was making sure to get between her and Reiji. Isabel tried to shove past them, but they weren't letting her go. Meanwhile, Reiji was taking that as his cue to exit the rest of the way up the ramp. Isabel could've gone past the security, but it would've required more strength than the situation warranted. Instead, she shouted at Reiji as he went up the ramp.
"You're not gonna dodge the next one, fucker!" She howled after him. "I'm gonna beat you in the middle of this ring! And when you're on your ass and I'm holding the title, I'm gonna expose all of your bullshit!"
Reiji said nothing as he walked away. But the last thing Isabel said got him to narrow his eyes again. As the security personnel held Isabel back, he glowered at her for a moment more. His eyes fell to the championship belt, laying on the ramp before him, dropped during the impromptu scuffle.
He grabbed the belt and held it up one more time. The audience cheered. The bit of showboating done with he turned and walked the rest of the way up the ramp and out of the arena. He was dialing Nakajima the second he was sure there weren't anymore cameras on him.
He suddenly had very pressing things to attend to back at his building.