Browsing the New Store (Closed)

[Jame Grant]

Well a card shop again. Second time in a while that Jame was in one of these, though first time in this one. Oh he always had such whims that brought him here and there. Well there was usually a reason to his madness. Being here now was that he was in search of a special card. A special card that would help out for his special decks. "Oh where oh where has that little card gone, oh where oh where could it be?" he sang quietly in his native English from America. He certainly seemed like the 'Stupid American,' every once in a while.

He was far from stupid though. He knew what he was doing, knew what to look for, and knew many other things. He had information, and that was very useful.

Right now his information said that card he was looking for was at a great price here. "Ah ha," he muttered as he leaned towards a card. "Aww." He backed off. Similar but no cigar. Where were the Cloudians he needed? He sidestepped smoothly back and forth along the isles.

[Zephyrus Dunavant]

The assistant headmaster rarely went to the card shop. In fact, whenever he needed a card, he usually called in a favor or two and had it delivered from Industrial Illusions, or checked with his much more renowned little sister to see if she had one in her overflowing stock. As a pro league duelist, Adelphie was sure to have dozens of copies of pretty much every card on the planet. With his needs taken care of without needing to leave his own room, physically going down to the card shop—which always carried limited stock anyway—and fighting with students for scraps did not seem like a very attractive option.

That’s why Zephyrus’s impressive veneer came as a bit of a surprise to the regulars of the card shop. The worker of the on campus card shop did a bit of a double take as he walked into the store, and some of the more familiar regulars took a moment to look in his general direction. Instead of noticing them, Zephyrus quietly moved through the store, taking a section to glance at the signs posted above each aisle to guide him to the proper section. Even though he lacked the tentativeness and obvious fish-out-of-water signs of someone new to the store, he still took a moment to glance at the inventory before eventually finding his way towards the proper section.

“Ah, Professor Grant,” Zephyrus spoke, finding the man in the aisle that Zephyrus himself wanted to find, “What brings you to the card shop?”

[Jame Grant]

Jame was probably the only person not to look at Zephyrus when the Assistant Headmaster entered the store. He appeared to be too engrossed in his browsing to even notice his coworker. Jame even picked up a few cards he hadn't been searching for. The strange part about the cards is that they were cheap cards that weren't considered very useful. He even picked up a Skull Servant.

When addressed though, Jame smiled and turned around to face the higher ranking man. "Oh, Mr. Dunavant. This is a surprise of surprises." Jame only sounded mildly surprised as he spoke though, and used the English title of 'Mr.' instead ofone of the Japanese honorifics he was trying to learn.

"I am looking for a card, but its so hard to say no to those impulse items." He chuckled softly as if in mock embarrassment of his own spending habits. "Its a Cloudian. A very neat one whose name I can't remember. I figure if I look at enough cards, I'll see the one I want, and a few others that I can't resist."

Where the others seemed to look at Zephyrus with shock, Jame seemed to speak to him as if they were long time friends, although they didn't know each other that much; Jame was a new teacher here after all. He knew all of the people here though; he had his sources of information, and information was his strength. One or two people know about that more than others.

[Zephyrus Dunavant]

Of course he was looking for a card. People usually entered a card shop in order to look for a card, or to do some window-shopping without actually buying. Zephyrus was never that kind of person, however, he received very little pleasure in looking longingly at objects that would not end up purchasing. Then again, he always had been one with plenty of means to buy most anything that he truly wanted, so it was not a surprise for him to make impulse purchases that others would scoff at or shake their heads wistfully. When Zephyrus really wanted a card, he would just purchase it—instead of spending valuable time waffling or sleeping over the decision.

“I suppose it is a surprise,” Zephyrus confirmed the ‘surprise’ that everyone else seemed to feel when he actually entered the card shop. Usually, Zephyrus ignored open public areas when he could, simply because he was a tad too charming for his own good. He hated getting sucked into a conversation just because he knew what to say or how to say it. But on the other hand, he was never the type of person to forget all the years of etiquette he learned and simply turn on his heel and ignore people, either.

“And I know,” Zephyrus said charmingly, as he himself picked up a ‘Tuningware’ and a ‘Darksea Rescue’ monster from the singles aisles. He hated testing his luck by pulling packs, and would much rather just pick up the single cards that he needed to complete his decks. “It’s so hard to ignore these pots and pans and lifeboats.”

Even though Zephyrus spoke of these cards on such unfamiliar terms, something in the way he spoke was just too… smart… like he obviously knew what he was talking about but simply choosing to speak in such an idle fashion. There was a strange degree of accessibility about Zephyrus that contrasted sharply with the intimidation that he could impart with just his presence. He had an inkling on what card Jame was trying to look for, but he chose not to mention it at the moment since he wasn’t positive on the name.

[Jame Grant]

Jame looked at the two cards that the Assitant Headmaster had picked up. "Oh Neato." He had slipped into English for that one. He didn't know of any word in Japanese that had the same context of neat or amazing that Neato had in English. He didn't mind slipping from one language to the next as some words were better suited for how he felt in his native tongue. And Neato and the other words had that almost childish feel to them. Why he spoke in such a way was a mystery though.

"I don't see those cards used often, but they seem fun. Perfect, the both of them, for Machine Duplication and fun Synchro Summonings." He even began thinking of such decks that would work well with those two cards exceedingly well. With either of those monsters and Machine Duplication, a player could draw three cards along with getting a powerful Synchro monster.

"But anyhoo so nice to see you out of the office," the 'anyhoo of course in that childish English Jame seemed to have. "You should come out more often, otherwise I might have to call in a search for a missing person." He was joking, and his tone showed it, but a bit more outside time wouldn't be bad, right?

"Oh by the way, have you been to the Industrial Illusions in town before? Magnificent place it is. I'd like to get a tour there sometime. Maybe take a class to show them the ins and outs of card lore and how to interpret it." Jame had been inside that building before though on several occasions. It was still magnificent though. He had no idea why he brought it up though. Perhaps professional opinion on the wisdom of taking students there?

[Zephyrus Dunavant]

“I see them used to great effect in certain decks,” Zephyrus pondered. She knew that a number of decks could use them to draw through their decks with remarkable speed and drop huge, game changing synchro monsters on the field at the same time. The amazing thing about those cards is that they changed the synchro mechanic from an inherent negative to something that broke even or even became a positive. And of course, the aforementioned machine duplication made them even greater plusses. “I believe I’ve seen the current Industrial Illusions president use them in her deck of choice.”

Zephyrus only said as much since he didn’t know the name of the current Industrial Illusions president. He knew that Pegasus no longer ran the company and that the company got a new chief executive, but he did not follow them close enough to know the details about who they had selected. And speak of the devil, Jame had managed to steer the direction towards Industrial Illusions. The two professors seemed like they were on very compatible wavelengths, and that was certainly a welcome change from trudging through disobedient students—mostly they were rich kids who thought the rules didn’t apply to them.

“And of course,” he agreed. It was nice to be out of the office. Zephyrus did not teach a class on campus, so he did not have to worry about those duties. He had a lot of administrative duties and took care of the discipline, especially with the Obelisk Blue punks. He was a four-year alum of that dormitory, but he still felt that a lot of their students could be… difficult. “I’ve been… busy— lately.” It wasn’t a lie, but he certainly could have made a much greater effort to be sociable.

“Do you have often visit Industrial Illusions?” he remarked, somewhat suddenly. There was just a sense that Jame had been too forthright in offering that tidbit. After all, what duelist wouldn’t know about Industrial Illusions? Industrial Illusions—if there was one in the Duel Monsters world—was the Mecca of the dueling world. And if Industrial Illusions was the Mecca, Kaiba Corporation was surely the Medina; especially convenient was the fact that the two of them lay so close to each other in the industrial center of Domino City.

Another set of cards caught his eye, and Zephyrus added them to his growing collection.

[Jame Grant]

"Oh you mean Ilythyia Venetainer." Not a single pronunciation error in her name on Jame's part. He knew of her more than he would let on. He knew of her former dancing career, and had even seen one of her performances when she had still been a student while he was on break from his studies. It had been some time ago of course since seeing her dance.

Jame knew Pegasus even more.

"But I can understand you being busy. New to the job and requiring time to get used to it. Everyone needs time to catch up and get settled in." Jame had gone through the same phase on his first few days. And he didn't have to go into such clerical work that Zephyrus probably had to. Boring stuff it was, but necessary.

"As for going to Industrial Illusions, I don't visit as often as I should. Interesting place, but if you go too often, the place will lose its magic." Jame had a smile on his face as he spoke.

"Perhaps I'll head there in a few days. Maybe I'll even give them a few card designs I've made. Not sure how well they'll be taken though; it seems that many people find clowns creepy." Jame did have a fondness for clowns that people would find creepy. Even the creepy clowns were liked by Jame. He found them funny.

"Ah ha, here it is." Jame picked up Cloudian - Acid Cloud. "Believe it or not, I don't have a single copy of this in my Cloudian deck. It'll be hard to determine what to move around for it, but it should be a very useful card." Of course the Ace card of the deck was the opposite of a Cloudian. The Cloudians had low stats while the ace had power out the wazoo.

[Zephyrus Dunavant]

“Ah, that’s her,” Zephyrus released a charming smile as Jame brought up her name. In reality, he had only heard her name tossed around a few times, usually immediately proceeded by the belief that she was ‘too young.’ But with a name as distinct as Ilythyia Venetianer, Zephyrus figured that he should have remembered her. It was rather unfortunate that he didn’t. He did not know the woman very well, and had never so much as met her or saw what she looked like. He just thought it was so unfortunate that people would write off people on the basis of being ‘too young.’

He transferred the cards he had picked into a small bag that he had fetched after entering the store. The old pile had gotten a little unwieldy within all of the toploaders for the cards, and he would much rather carry them at his side than hang onto a handful of Duel Monsters cards. “I suppose I could use a little more… fresh air,” Zephyrus mentioned. He disliked being in the public too often, simply because that meant he would run into more people, and people, by and large, annoyed him. He didn’t dislike mankind in general, just the overwhelmingly high proportion of idiots that consisted within the population.

“I haven’t been in Industrial Illusions for a long time,” he mentioned casually, almost like a throwaway line. He had been, in fact, sponsored by Industrial Illusions for a Pro League career. He had, in fact, a perfect record in the Pro League, having won through the satellite qualifiers and then ran through a major tournament where he claimed the crown, just before he suddenly retired. The life of a professional duelist was just not for him. Too much of the game was arbitrary, and he did not enjoy the limelight.

“Think of it this way, though,” he responded, “Someone is keeping circuses in business.”

Zephyrus grew up in a shipping magnate household, and he understood economics all too well. He knew that any CEO of a successful company would be able to as well. Ilythyia was sure to understand that a card design was good if it would sell and move inventory. If the clowns could do that, then his idea could have some merit. Before he could finish explaining though, Jame had interrupted once he found the card he was looking for.

Glancing over at it, Zephyrus nodded, “What an interesting looking card.” He continued to remark in his charming, playful manner, as if he didn’t actually know what the card accomplished or any practical uses for it. Of course, the façade was very transparent, as most everyone knew that Zephyrus was an accomplished duelist. But he was never one to brag.

[Jame Grant]

"I think I'll be heading there in a few days. A few errands need run in town anyway. Good idea to take a break from the island every once in a while when you get the chance. All work and no play makes whatzhisface a dull boy." Jame had a few supplies he needed and getting into Industrial Illusions again would be beneficial.

"But yes, you do have a point. Perhaps clowns might be popular. And they do need more clowns other than Dream Clown and Crass Clown."

Jame had a small number of cards picked up already, no more than 10. "So how do you like your job her so far? Hopefully you're not bored of it yet."

[Zephyrus Dunavant]

The one thing that Zephyrus disliked was when people talked vaguely. He had a ‘few errands’ to run at Industrial Illusions. He would have guessed the same of any professor visiting that corporation. He knew first hand, as one of the pro league duelists who earned the prestigious sponsorship from Industrial Illusions, that they certainly did not fool around there. The employees, the executives, even the janitors, worked extremely hard and to exacting standards. Nothing less would have satisfied the global demands of Duel Monsters, the card game that practically ran the world.

Pausing at another row of singles, Zephyrus added a few more cards that he figured would make decent additions to his deck. There were simply so many cards that he doubted even the Industrial Illusions president could keep up with them all.

“I’m afraid I find almost everything boring these days,” the assistant headmaster replied frankly. It was a bit bleaker than he would have intended, but there was just something that prevented him from getting excited about things. In a way, Zephyrus simply got too smart for his own good; he became too proficient at expecting and anticipating things that nothing came as a surprise anymore. He became so good at deducing things that people’s actions were hardly out of the ordinary. In fact, he had even deduced that there was distinctly something Jame was not telling him regarding Industrial Illusions, but he chose not to press it.

“I hope the students don’t bore you too much in lecture,” he responded. He could imagine how tough it was for teachers to command the attention of students, many of whom had the attention span of a goldfish.

[Jame Grant]

"The students don't bore me. I think I have them on their toes." The last part sounded almost a bit regretful. He hadn't expected so many people getting uptight over a review quiz that was worth zero points and was only meant to help him make a study guide. He'd be more careful after that.

"But if you need something to spice up your life, I know just the thing. Its one of the errands I'm heading to town for." Although Zephyrus didn't know it yet, what Jame had said was a pun. "Its a home made hot sauce that a friend of mine makes. It has a very strong kick to it. Always fun to cook with. Cooking is a good hobby." Jame liked adding a bit of heat to many of his meals. He wasn't sure how well it would go with the food here, but wouldn't know until he tried.

"Or perhaps you'd prefer a good book?" Jame shrugged. He didn't know Zephyrus well enough to know what he enjoyed. But burning his tongue badly enough that he wouldn't be able to taste anything for an hour or two would be 'exciting,' even if it was bad.

Jame picked up a few more cards that caught his eye. After his explaination of clowns, it was no surprise that the cards he picked up were the two Jester monsters, Lord and Confit. He picked up two more copies of each and put them with the other cards he was getting.

[Zephyrus Dunavant]

Zephyrus blinked blankly. Didn’t he just claim that ‘almost everything’ bored him these days? If that was the case, wouldn’t someone—especially someone as cultured and educated as Zephyrus surely was—have tried to browse through a book? Unfortunately, Jame must have not connected the dots in his head, because the assistant headmaster surely did not see how someone could have let that detail escape them if they were thinking properly. The annoyance never showed on his face, though, as Zephyrus simply breathed an amused ‘hm’ and released one of those charming smiles again.

From what little he knew of the Ra advisor, Zephyrus could tell that he was a kind man who never intentioned put his students through much. When Zephyrus was a student, however, he could genuinely say that he learned far more from demanding professors that knew the subject material inside and out and expected their students to share the same level of understanding. Unfortunately for the student, Professor Grant did not seem to be that sort of person, as he seemed to show a bit of remorse of having the students ‘on their toes.’

“I think I would prefer the chili,” he replied. Hot foods were one of his favorites, and the hotter the better. For someone who could drink Tabasco sauce out of the bottle, it took something really spicy to interest him. Unfortunately, all of the local restaurants skimped on the hot sauce, as if they were afraid of burning the tongues of their clientele. Japan, for what it was worth, simply was not famous for its hot food.

“To both the students and the books,” he added pleasantly for effect. He quickly added a few more copies of Elemental Heroes for his Absolute Zero deck to his burgeoning pile.

[Jame Grant]

When Zephyrus had claimed to be bored by most things, a few ideas is what Jame threw out to give something new and unboring. However out of the two ideas he did throw out, only one seemed to catch interest. "Well I'll be sure to share some with you. Its really hot stuff. Home grown peppers, and a few imported ones. She really takes her hot sauce seriously." Jame was aware of how some places weren't as good when it came to heat, so he was having a few other things sent in as well. He was obviously limited in his cooking utensils here and some rules obviously prevented him having an oven in his room. So he would make due with what he had. Besides the school had good supplies.

"But the students aren't all bad. A few need some work, but the majority of them are good kids. And maybe a few of them will go from me to you," Jame joked. Zephyrus was the head of Obelisk Blue, one above the dorm Jame headed. A few were actually well on their way to challenging Jame. "I'll be sure not to let too many through though. Can't have Yellow be empty."

[Zephyrus Dunavant]

“Or too many Obelisks,” Zephyrus answered, offering the contrary point of view. There was always the old saying that there were two points of view to each situation—and then there was the truth. Zephyrus was one of those individuals who believed in the bell curve. Sure, the distribution may have skewed for any given sample, but, by and large, there was a large center and diminishing tails to most of these distributions. Obelisk was supposed to represent the best duelists, so they couldn't include too many people, by definition.

Zephyrus took a moment to glance at the cards in his bag, sifting through the toploaders with the fingers on his free hand. Even though he rarely went to the card shop, and usually substituted it with ordering cards from distributors or his sister directly, he made up for his low amount of visits with the sheer amount of cards that he picked up. He always would make sure that he got his money's worth. During the time that he was looking through his pack, he did not make much of a sound, and there was a bit of a tentative silence between them.

“But yes,” he continued at last, expertly picking up the conversation again as if there was no break at all, “I would like to see this touted chili your friend makes. I do hope she doesn't disappoint.”

With almost any other person, the last words may have come across as arrogant or menacing, but Zephyrus managed to make it sound so soft and warm that it came across as friendly ribbing to an old friend. A few more singles caught his eye, and he added the gemini cards to his pack.

[Jame Grant]

Jame had to admit that other point of view was valid. Obelisks were supposed to be exclusive; that is why they got the best of everything in their dorms. Why Ras got the good stuff in their dorms was for the reason that it allowed those that were good in. And same with Slifers; they got the worst of everything, but at least they were there. Now if only there were less reds. However that would mean more people for Jame to have to keep an eye on, most of them teenagers, and he knew how scary teenagers could be.

"Well I promise you'll have tasted nothing like it. Just be sure not to use too much or you might not taste anything else at all," Jame joked. The loss of taste would only be temporary. Jame didn't seem to take Zephyrus as being arrogant, and Jame wasn't intimidated as often as he may act like he was.

Jame then saw a clock on the wall. "Hmm. Looks like my time here is running low. We'll have to talk again some time." Jame had a few things to do in a while, including a message to an old friend in the USA.