Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jounouchi was silent as he considered. He had been put into situations that were seemingly kill or be killed before. But he'd always managed to find a way out that kept everyone alive. Yeah, he'd had to hurt people a lot of times. That he didn't have a problem with. But killing someone... damn Kaiba for not giving him the easy way out of this. He knew what the answer was, he just hated to admit it, that it might come to this.

"...I'd kill..." he finally said, voice barely above a whisper. Not for himself or his own survival. He knew it was stupid, valuing even an enemy's life above one's own, but that was something Jounouchi was never able to change about himself. He was a hero at heart, willing to lay himself down for a cause, a person, or even just to give an enemy the chance of redemption. It wasn't something he toted or bragged about. He hadn't even been aware of it himself until he'd faced so many threats with his involvement with Yuugi. But this was different. Normally, the self-sacrifice would save other people, but in this case, it would only hurt his loved ones. So he chose kill.

((I used to be almost 100% INTJ in everything, but I've changed a lot as I've matured. I took the test back in the beginning of high school and had super high scores in it, but took the test again a few months back, aware of how much I'd changed and wondering if I might be a different personality type now, but still got INTJ, just with more mid-ranged scores.

But yeah, I do prefer retelling people the same thing over 'how was your day' stuff, but in the form of chatting, that seems less sincere to me, probably because I don't know anything about this person and don't have an invested interest in them, nor in telling them about myself.))

Jounouchi tensed, not quite gritting his teeth, but more opening his mouth in a small snarl at Kaiba. He had really done some soul-searching there and made himself vulnerable to Kaiba, and the other had just been misleading him, "Well you should've just said that from the beginning!" he huffed, looking away, "I'm just as committed as you are. We've both been doing everything we can to stop this." he turned back to Kaiba, "And there's more to getting out of this than just wanting to enough. We need to work together on this, and if that's the case, you need to start having some confidence in me. I'm not as useless as you've always told me." his eyes were daggers as he stared challengingly at Kaiba.

((Haha, I feel like I already have too many casual friends and Gaia buddies. Not really looking for anymore of those, just one or two super close people. And that's something that's pretty difficult to find online. I mean, you're like my best online-only friend and I love talking to you, but it's just not the same when you can't hang our and do things together, you know?))

Jounouchi tensed more at the 'down boy' comment, about to go into an even angrier rant, but was placated as Kaiba's neutral tone registered, and his words continued. He went silent as he listened, in all honesty, touched at the consideration. Even though Kaiba was only doing it out of strategy and caution, the fact that he was able to have that much insight into Jounouchi and not use it as cannon fodder, well... that was a big step up.

He finally let out a heavy sigh, calm now, "...alright, okay... that makes sense." he admitted quietly, slumping in his seat.

((I tend to end up with a lot more online friends since I roleplay so much. >_o I just recently cleaned out a bunch I don't talk to anymore, and I still have too many. But they're all just casual, mostly just there for the roleplays. I've never become as close to or as personal with anyone besides you and Sara.))

Jounouchi managed a small snort and a smile at that, looking at Kaiba, "You've got that right." he paused, considering, "...I'll try to stop jumping to conclusions about you... as long as you stop giving me reasons to jump to 'em. We'll probably get more done and figure things out better if we're not always at each other's throats, after all... deal?"

((Generally to find roleplay partners, I just join a guild in a fandom I want to roleplay in that has active members who seem to RP. Apparently a lot of people also do it in the roleplay forums, but I prefer guilds, since it let's you talk to and hang out with different people from the fandom for a while before you decide if you want to try roleplaying with them. I tend to stick more to one-on-one these days, as group ones always seem to die pretty quickly, since one or two people inevitably stop posting, and then everyone else sits there waiting around for them. Sometimes one-on-one partners just stop posting too, but it's not as common. I am in one giant group one right now though, but it works a little better because the entire guild is there for nothing but the giant roleplay. And when people stop posting, you have other characters you can still respond with in different threads, and the captain will send announcements reminding people to post, or that we're going to time skip to get things moving with active users, when things get slow. The only thing that sucks is when people playing main characters just stop posting, and suddenly the main characters aren't involved in any of the plot. But anyway, that's my advice for maybe once you finish your PHD, if you find yourself having more of a roleplay itch. I also always have story ideas floating around, so if you ever just want to start a second one with me, let me know. XD But definitely focus on the PHD first, especially that thesis!))

Jounouchi nodded in satisfaction, smiling lightly as he said, "Deal."

Shortly after, they arrived at the shrine that was their destination. It was small, and didn't seem to attract too many patrons. There was a girl in a priestess robe on her hands and knees, scrubbing stone floor. She had tied her hakama and sleeves off so they wouldn't get wet. She overall looked like a normal priestess... until you got to her head. Her face didn't have the elegance that priestesses often exhibited, instead being wide-eyed and childish. Her dull brown hair was cropped short, gel running through it to give it a spikey look. She looked up when their vehicle pulled near, doing a double take when she saw how fancy it was.

((Sounds like a plan. Too bad your attempts haven't worked out too well, though that is pretty common with how flaky people can be. More often than not I wouldn't find a roleplay partner on a first attempt.))

Jounouchi frowned as he looked at the girl, looking back to Kaiba questioningly, "...what's wrong with her? She seems normal to me. And hey, she's actually cleaning, unlike that other guy." he joked.

He waved in a friendly manner as he approached the girl, "Hey, are you Futata Sen?"

She looked up again, standing up. Her knees were covered with wet grime, "I am. Anything I can help you with?" she smiled warmly, then seemed to catch herself. She quickly, pulled her clothing back into place, folding her hands and bowing as she went into honorific speech, "Oh, please excuse me sirs. Yes, I am Futata Sen, the priestess of Domino no Jinja. Welcome! Was there anything I could do for you today?"

((Yes, that is part of having captain abilities. XD))

Jounouchi nodded, not having a problem with being the one doing the talking, "Hi. I'm Jounouchi Katsuya, and this is Kaiba Seto. We're friends of Isis'. You don't need to use honorifics; we're not customers... just were wondering if you could give us advice on some... supernatural problems we're having."

Futata seemed to brighten at this, interestingly enough, quickly going back to casual speech, "Oh, you know Isis? How is she? I haven't talked to her for a couple months."

"She's good, everything going fine." Jounouchi replied, "So um... you got some free time?"

"Oh right, of course!" Sen smiled, dusting herself off and putting her broom over her shoulder, "Follow me."

((Haha, awesome. XD By the way, I was thinking something we might want to do to force a bit of character development would be to have some kind of life-saving from one of the boys. Like Jounouchi could save Mokuba's and/or Kaiba's life, or Kaiba could save Shizuka's and/or Jounouchi's some how. Each scenario would lead to at least some kind of thought and consideration, plus could make the power dynamics and the 'who owes who' thing more interesting between the two.))