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'Yea? And exactly how honest are you being about this whole mess? Why is Honda playing bodyguard to your sister right now if you think that maybe trust and honesty is the best policy? Why do Yuugi and Honda seem to know more about what is going on than Shizuka? Like you can really talk,' Seto spat back angrily, his emotional self-defense waking him up a bit.

'So you leave your sister in the dark because she'd worry more but think Mokuba would throw a parade in celebration of how fantastic this all is? He would worry more, and there's nothing he can do about it, so I see no reason to drag him into this anymore than you are going to tell your sister every last detail. You can't justify why doing things one way are okay for you but then try and tell me that doing things the same way is wrong in my situation. It's the same situation, if you're going to lecture me at the very least you have to just suck it up and at least admit you are doing the same thing. The only difference is that Shizuka just seems to accept that you are going to lie to her and not tell her anything whereas Mokuba seems to think there's a chance he'll get more out of me so he keeps trying. So really, you're going to lecture me about a lack of trust,' Seto yelled furiously. He wanted nothing more than to storm off, but it was still freezing and he wasn't angry enough to want to die. So he ranted while maintaining his position atop of Jounouchi, although he was finally awake enough to realise how absolutely awkward their position was. He didn't want to make the situation even worse by drawing attention to his new found realisation though.

He wasn't about to move, but he still couldn't stop himself from picking a fight once again. 'Stupid dog,' he muttered into Jounouchi's chest, he'd tried very hard over the last couple of days to not use the hated insult. However, Jounouchi had absolutely pushed every last button in his attempt to analyse his relationship with Mokuba, even if it probably hadn't been mean spirited. He didn't care, he wasn't sure why he had been trying to be nice to Jounouchi anyhow, just because they were stuck together. They were two very different people who would either die soon or find a way to beat this spirit and part ways. Niceties just were not necessary, especially if Jounouchi was going to sit here and be a damn hypocrite.

'Your sister knows more because she's ******** pieced things together, not because you've been anymore forthcoming. I haven't lied to Mokuba either, in fact I've been very matter of fact about telling him when I'm not going to tell him things. I mean think of how your sister ended up here in the first place, planning a trip without telling you because she knew you'd probably discourage it rather than trusting her to be around her own father. Your sister doesn't ask because she knows that's pointless, because she's smarter than that. Don't pretend it's because you're more trustworthy or handling this any better. Mokuba's angry because this is probably the first time I've ever had to try and keep things from him, for your sister that's just the status quo,' Seto ranted, not caring that Jounouchi was trying very hard to stare the opposite way and ignore him. He was angry, and mostly he was angry because lately being so busy with work had already strained his relationship with his brother. He'd never had to deal with the complication of not being able to tell his brother everything when he did see him. Even when they were kids in the orphanage and he was taking punches to protect his brother he didn't try to hide them, he just let Mokuba know they were in it together. This they were not in together, nor was Seto in this alone. He was in this with Jounouchi, someone he had never liked or respected. The hardest part of telling his brother anything right now was because he hadn't quite been able to admit to himself how bonded to Jounouchi this situation had them. Because it unnerved and rattled him, mostly because it didn't bother him half as much as it should. Because he almost found himself respecting Jounouchi, he almost found himself liking him. He was trapped in his office with the man, half-naked and cuddling (for survival only of course) and he was okay with that. It made him ill to let himself know that he was okay with this, how could he talk to his kid brother about this? Because the easy part of the answer was something supernatural was trying to kill them, and he was pretty sure Mokuba understood that without saying anything. Frankly, something supernatural always seemed to be after them, whether Seto believed it or not. That didn't mean he and his brother had to have a long discussion about it. What Mokuba didn't understand was why his brother was acting so strangely, and that had nothing to do with evil spirits and everything to do with Jounouchi. Stupid Jounouchi with his ridiculous half-baked thoughts, and his foolish accusations, and his strangely pleasing constantly changing facial expressions.

Where the hell did that lost thought come from? Clearly this was more of their spirit friend messing with him, messing with his mind. He was confused, he needed to fight this and be less confused before talking to Mokuba. No point in worrying Mokuba with confusion.

((Alright, leaving for Amsterdam for a week tomorrow morning and not taking the tech world with me so I won't be back on until next Sunday I imagine. This will be my last update until then at least.))

'The psychopath tried to kill me, I think I can say whatever I want about that waste of life. And might I add, a waste of life that no matter what you think, or no matter how much you try to control your sister, she actually wanted to see. So sure, she had no reason to hide coming to see you barring the fact that she knew you would absolutely stand in the way of her wanting to see her father. Or have you not figured that out yet? Dd it not even cross your mind for a second when we ended up picking her up when she shows up behind your back and finds herself in over her head? Don't know why she would want to see your pathetic excuse for a father but clearly she did. You never really even bothered to ask her why. It didn't even occur to you that there was a why did it? Or if you did ask I guess you didn't get an answer, because try and hide your shock all you want, you missed that. Maybe if you didn't waste so much time working on your stupid bravado and telling other people what they should do, how they should act and how they should feel then maybe you would have noticed that,' Seto said. He was still angry but he was starting to calm down and he delivered that entire speech in a more neutral tone. His temper cooled in part because he realised they had no real reason to be fighting, in part because the topic of conversation had been diverted from himself for the time being, but mostly because he was now distracted by his own curiosity about why Shizuka would have put herself in danger just to see her father.

((Back, was a bit in vacation recovery for the last couple of days but alive again. Granted won't have internet likely boxing day and the 27th as we'll be in Liverpool with Tom's grandma, after that we'll be in Wales though and happily his parents do have internet.

Merry Christmas Eve/Christmas!!!))

Seto rolled his eyes as Jounouchi proved himself once again incapable of actually thinking through things that made him uncomfortable and instead resorting to senseless violence. Seto pointedly told him he thought as much as he restrained him, easy enough to do from his position atop the angry little man. 'Oh calm down,' Seto snapped, 'I'm not insulting you okay, I'm seriously curious. How are you not curious? If you really want to argue that you know your sister so well then you have to at least admit her behaviour is out of character, shouldn't you spend more time worrying about her rather than being angry at me?'

((Okay the reception downstairs in the guest room Wales was terrible and I couldn't be bothered to go upstairs very often. Back in Birmingham now though, happy to not have to travel again for a long while. Of course ridiculously behind on work so not sure how my meeting with my supervisor will go on Wednesday. Probably will be scrambling to organise drafts of what I need to send to him Monday the rest of this weekend so will probably be back sometime after that. xd Also trying to write an abstract for a conference, a scary conference with real academics in addition to mere postgraduates, so that isn't going well either. It's due Monday as well though so for better or worse I can move forward again after that.

Hope your holiday time was spiff!))

Seto sighed, somewhat amused. He didn't understand how Jounouchi could just shift between two extremes without a second thought, to just act on passion rather than reason.

'Calm down,' Seto ordered, albeit kindly, 'first of all, I don't think we are getting out of here before morning. Second, I'm not sure this thing is after your family so much as it's after you and is trying to hurt you through them. The best thing you can do for your sister is try to stop this spirit, and honestly, maybe put some distance between you. I feel like Mokuba is in more danger with me than on his own. Your mother, her injury only happened when your sister was with you and talking to her on the phone. Your father seems perfectly normal unless we are around. Unless we are able to witness or experience the pain of our loved ones, for the time being at least, it seems quite focused on us. I don't know if it just can't get to our loved ones because it's focused on us or what, but...well I guess I don't know, that's just how the pattern seems to me. If you want to run back we can, although I will probably leave you to it and try to follow up on the lead Isis gave us next. I need someone to tell me how to fight a spirit, because I'm not going to go stand by my brother just to be helpless.'

He eased his grip on Jounouchi a bit after he finished his speech, as the other man at least appeared to be non-violent at the moment. He didn't really want Jounouchi around his brother, but he wouldn't stop him if he wanted to run back. If this spirit was going to torture Jounouchi there was a long line of people to go through before Mokuba became a relevant target. He wasn't running back though, not until he was handed a weapon or an enchantment or anything that he could use to protect his brother. This had to be the most productive course of action, it was the most logical.

((Behind on what I'm teaching next week but other than that I'm fairly on top of things for now. I'm very sorry to hear about your aunt, my condolences to you and your family. Always hard to have a loss around the holidays.))

Seto was glad that was settled, relaxing he moved out of Jounouchi's lap and settled down next to him. 'We really should get some sleep if we can, even if it's only a few hours.' he said, 'tomorrow will probably be another long day.

((Thanks, still a bit nervous about teaching but guess we'll see how that goes Tuesday. At least I'm not solo (though I will be for two of the lessons). Meeting with the lecturer I'm paired with tomorrow to go over our plan for the term. At least she's nice and I think I'll work well with her. We are also doing a medieval/early modern course and she's a medievalist and I'm an early modernist so we have mixed strengths.

Aww, it was apparently the Christmas without rolls. My bf and I didn't do them b/c his family doesn't do them and I was more interested in doing morning pastries than rolls for dinner. My family back home didn't do them because my brother has recently been diagnosed with Coeliacs.))