knifemonopoly | IC inbox

[Ryou does in fact notice that the snake mouth is closing back up, so he blurts out his request without thinking.]

Can I touch the edges? W-when it closes, I mean. I just...wanna see what it feels like.

[Nailed it.

He doesn't realize, perhaps, how uncomfortable he's making Atem...yet. But the answer he gets has a chance of bringing him back to reality.]

[The correct thing to do here is obviously to say no. He ought to maintain some kind of distance, and not entertain all of this. Atem can skilfully redirect, he's good at doing that without hurting feelings, and he won't have to deal with much more than a moment of mild disappointment. Yep. Gonna tell Ryou the truth, that obviously the answer is--]

...okay. The bottom mouth is actually pretty safe...the fangs are sharp, but I don't think they're venomous!

[Yes!

Ryou settles himself down, just to free his hand up so that he can properly reach up. It looks absolutely inane, even he knows he looks stupid, but as long as the payoff is touching the seam, he's okay with that. Atem's just lucky he isn't going to try and pry it open again.]

I want to talk about it more...but later. B-because we're supposed to be sleeping.

[They are supposed to be sleeping. And then Ryou had to say a letter for a word game, and now here he is, reaching his dumb shade hand up to trace along Atem's jawline in what may possibly be the most anti-romantic motion, so no one can accuse them of ANYTHING, even if they were here to do accusing.]

[Thank god Ryou doesn't get romantic about it. Atem's not sure he can handle more than one person running their fingers gently over his face in the kind of way that makes you want to ask questions this week. He just...submits to the curiosity, lets the exploration happen, and is grateful the seam doesn't have as many nerve ending as his lips do. Because that -- that might have been a problem. His eyes might have fallen closed, and he might have given away--

--no. Nope.]

You're right.

I don't want to sleep, though...

[Nightmares where he cuts up and sacrifices the people he loves are hard on him. He doesn't know how many times he's going to have to relive it...]

[Sometime in the future, Atem will open his laptop and find a small slip of paper with a lovingly rendered coupon with terrible handwriting (and you can't be mad at him, he can't hold the paper while he writes, man).

At least it's signed! Atem will know who it's from, even if the rest doesn't give it away.]

[Curiosity temporarily sated, Ryou does then proceed to make it a little awkward, but not intentionally. He repositions his hand on Atem's shoulder, pulling just enough to beckon him closer.

Again, it's very silly, because Ryou's on his back at an odd angle.]

You have to. I know...bad dreams are not helpful. But you're going to fall to pieces if you don't recharge. If you wake up, I'll be here to remind you where you are and what's real. It's not the same as...seeing everyone else you dream about, but I can only be one friend...

[Despite all the ridiculous things that had just happen, Ryou can't help but try and switch back to comforting Atem. Nightmares or no nightmares, he can't continue this way.

It's worrisome.]

[Silly and awkward or not, Atem does shift closer, because pushing himself forward is the easiest thing in the world to do with a lower half like his -- and Ryou's right, he's already falling into uncontrollable laughing fits, he can't go on like this, even if he wishes he could.

But, maybe, with someone present to help pull him out of the dream, ground him in what's real, what's the waking world...

With a breath that carries an air of surrender:]

...I'll try. If you're here...then, it might not be so bad, when I wake up.

[Great job keeping distance there, Atem. You're doing a super stellar job at avoiding romance. But he's tired, and he loves Ryou, and predictable nightmares are the worst, and, let him have this. He's not positive when Ryou became someone he was comfortable leaning on, but it's happened, and he's glad.]

[Between the both of them, they might almost function as a person if they could just get a little more sleep. Ryou is bound and determined for at least Atem to rest.

He smiles encouragingly, and also apologetically because he can't really move from where he is, can he? He's stuck here, so it's good that Atem's body is mostly snake so that he could make the moves he needed to.]

Yeah...I'll make sure to remind you everything's okay.

[Yeah great job not making this terribly awkward. Ryou's sleepy and addle-brained right now, so he's okay with the current status quo. He wants to pretend that everything's perfectly normal between them and that being this close is fine. There are no awkward teen shenanigans in ~~Ba Sing Se~~ Ryslig.

Which is precisely why he sneaks his hand out to snag Atem's again. Normal. Friendship hand holding.]

The timing's right. Last month's crisis has weakened her, so she's more likely to misplay.

[ seriously how has this not occurred to the

hm

let's sweeten the pot ]

I'd do it myself but we both know you're the superior duelist.

[ IT'S NOT EVEN A LIE! amazing. ]

[Literally no idea who is messaging him. The last time Atem heard someone call himself a "duelist," it was Lucius Warhammer40k, and that kind of dueling involved swords, and gore.]

Are you sure you have the right number? If you're looking for a duelist, try Lucius the Eternal! He'll tell you until the death of the universe -- literally! -- about his swordplay.

[ What is the Pharaoh talking ab----Oh.

Oh, gods. What the hell. ]

Duel Monsters. For those of our day and age, it possesses powers as infinite as our own strengths of heart. The Millennium Items seem dormant, but there's nothing saying they're not capable of being re-awoken now that the Fog's hold on this peninsula has loosened.

So unless you're hiding any other resurrected Pharaohs, yes, I mean you. Please don't make me ask the Ring-Spirit. He's lost on my behalf twice already. It's embarrassing.

[OH. Oh, it's Marik. Okay.]

Duel Monsters...I knew it became popular after my time, but I didn't realize the game had any inherent power, besides what the Millennium Items can do to any game. Or what holograms can do to the human mind! It's possible to make the game magic, and play for high stakes, but it's not the game I'd have guessed the Fog God would respond to!

You're suggesting we give the Millennium Items their power back, and play a game of Duel Monsters with her...with the stakes being our release from Ryslig?

[Just to make sure he's got this straight.]

I'm suggesting that if you duel, whatever latent power sleeps in the Millennium Puzzle will be awoken. With a Millennium Item in play, wielded by the one who can command the Gods of dueling himself, the results of any Duel Monsters game should bind even a God.

A pity said "Gods" aren't here to fight by your side. Ra's flames would vanquish any Fog!

[ not that he is biased!! it's a metaphor!!! sun!! fire!! fog!!! totally just for the metaphor!!!! moot point anyway khahahaha ]

[He doesn't mind the hand-holding. Actually, it reminds Atem a little bit of the time he'd died, his body torn to shreds in the back room of a casino, left a wreck in the wake of a mind-controlling parasite, when Ryou had taken his hand, and Atem had seen it, but he hadn't been able to feel it, and one of his last thoughts had been about how that made him feel sad...

But he can feel Ryou's hand now. Even if everything isn't okay, even if that's clearly not true and the lie makes him think of Kaiba, body changed into something unlike himself, working on a hope for escape, and of Noa, who threw himself into the vortex to give the Fog back her power, and Yugi, who's going to have to feed eventually but won't choose how, and Marik, who says he can handle what this place will do to him but Atem's not so sure, and David, who just doesn't want to go back to where he came from, and Mr. Mobius, who doesn't deserve any of this, and Mukuro and Horatio with their one-eye-apiece and Celeste who cut off her wings and Triffany who just wants her husband to live and everyone else whose happiness he'd fight for with everything he had who are stuck in this cruel, cruel game--

--holding hands is okay.]

It isn't.

[Fingers with claws on the end wind around Ryou's.]

But it's enough.

[Enough, for now, to have this support. Things don't have to be okay for him to keep going, and he doesn't even need to have someone else beside him to force himself onward, most of the time...but, right now, "Ryou Bakura being there when he wakes up to tell him he didn't actually just dismember Yugi or Kaiba or Celeste or Ima or any of the other friends he's dreamed about and that he's awake now" is close enough to "okay" to work.]

Like a wildcard...

[That sure does just slip out of his mouth with no context. No-Sleep Atem is inches from rambling about The Light.]

[Interesting...that the game's powerful enough, when combined with Millennium Items, to bind a god...

But does the Fog God even have a deck??

Instead of asking THAT reasonable question, Atem decides to clarify a more immediate point.]

The Gods of dueling...do you mean the Egyptian God Cards?

You've heard of them?

[ hope is the thing with feathers

on fire

it can't be, though, right, right, that would make no sense, right ]

I have them. They washed up on the beach, after the rift closed. They're not in very good condition, but it's unmistakable.

[ after the rift - what, like the tablet from his home he found on the beach smashed into a bazillion pieces, you know, the one the pharaoh needs to - show the -

are you trying to tell him that ryslig delivered to them everything necessary to restore the pharaoh's memories

AND THEN WRECKED ALL OF IT SO NONE OF IT IS USABLE

is that really how his long-term stay here is gonna start?? you tryin to pick a fight, peninsula????!??!?!?!?! do you have any inkling, any IDEA, who marik ishtar is, who marik ishtar knows, yugi can probably put the tablet back together like a giant puzzle (if all the pieces are on the beach) and-

....hey wait back up ]

Define...not in very...good condition.

Edited 2021-08-07 18:39 (UTC)

[Ryou's fingers squeeze firmly.

He knows better than anyone that things aren't really okay, and he'd only been saying that because...he wants Atem to feel better, somehow. They're both just a little too pragmatic for that though, so he just does his best here, and nods. Whatever Atem says, it's okay.

Ryou will support him...even if he is about to slip into a diatribe about the power of friendship or light or whatever.]

Like I said...I can't do much. But I'll keep you close. I'll be here. I'll protect you.

[He's serious. He's not kidding, even if it may as well be a joke coming from Ryou of all people, who was not fragile, but still managed to be emotional and easy to overtake. He wasn't made to protect...but his heart is in it, the words are strong, even if he isn't.

If the emotions in his heart were enough, then Atem would be shielded from any negativity. But the best he can do is words. And maybe...take Atem's painful emotions while he's sleeping to try and kill his nightmares.

He's not sure if he can do that. Can he do that? Maybe he'll fuck around and find out. It's not as if he isn't used to nightmares himself.]

Ahaha...I'm your wildcard? I thought I was a Joker.

[Ok there's a real joke for you. Friendly reminder that Ryou is not batting a hundred, honestly.]

[Hearing Ryou repeat I'm your wildcard? gives Atem the strongest sensation like he's just given away a tell. A powerful sense runs through him that he is doomed, that a bell has been rung that can't be un-rung, because it isn't the kind of thing you say to a friend, it's a pet name, even if the association makes sense. Atem feels distinctly like he's on train-tracks, like he's slipped and fallen and couldn't change direction if he tried, and must play out the rest of the game. So, he'll play, holding Ryou's hand in his and grinning over at him.]

Heh heh...sometimes, they're the same thing! It's not uncommon to play with jokers wild...and having one means that you don't need everything else to go right to win.

[Thank goodness Ryou doesn't have a vampire's sense for heartbeats. Atem's goes slower than a human's, because it's pushing a lot of blood through a very long body, but the pace it's setting is absolutely faster than normal. This is where Atem lives now, where he is telling Ryou Bakura very personally that even though Ryou's an unpredictable element, he's very valuable to anyone who holds him, and with him there Atem can do things the rules normally wouldn't allow, and all he can do is hope Ryou is too sleepy to read the tell.]

Edited 2021-08-08 14:31 (UTC)

[Blessedly, Ryou just take it at face value and doesn't ascribe further non-platonic emotions to it. But even though he doesn't think too hard about what being a wildcard actually means to Atem, he can't help but bring their hands close to his face. Again. And get snuggly.

Again.

But then...he yawns and there is absolutely no covering his big stupid shade mouth, so he just turns away because he's not about to exhale on Atem, but that means Atem gets a nice profile view of Ryou's yawn and the goofy way his lip pulls back and exposes his pointed teeth until the end of the yawn. Then he settles back into just...looking fondly at his friend with tired, half-shut glowing eyes.

He's sleepy. He's warm. If they keep prattling like this, then Ryou will be the first one to go.

So it follows that without understanding the gravity of his words, Ryou just murmurs something quietly.]

'S nice being someone's favorite...when they're your favorite too.

Edited (just changing a word!) 2021-08-08 15:59 (UTC)

It's cardstock that's been in the ocean, so there's pretty bad water damage. I left them out to dry, but they're warped...I think I've avoided mold for the most part, though.

[Uh huh, Atem's doomed. He's in over his head and he can only skip across the surface so long before he sinks. He is still skipping, for now, but eventually that surface tension will break, and one or both of them will get hurt, and there's no stopping it. Where did he misplay? He can't go back and review it now, he's got to live with the cards he gave up and the cards he's drawn.

He does not give in to the impulse to wind his lower half around Ryou again. He does not give in to the impulse to shift closer, to get Ryou's head tucked under his chin, to bring the hand he's holding to his mouth, to say anything that's on his mind right now. Instead, he lightly teases--]

Go to sleep, Ryou. You're already halfway there!

[God, is that true? Damn, damn damn damn, he can't, not when Yugi's moving closer to having to feed every day--!]

[ Marik is usually a fast typist. Impressively so, for the 90s!

But after this message there is a pause. And then ]

dfihwiqgew'oih

Mmh.

[Ryou allows his eyes to close, he tries to relax even though how he's positioned isn't...well, the most comfortable. He is halfway asleep, it came on pretty quickly, to the point that it surprised even him.

But there's a small thought at the back of his mind, one that has him open one eye to regard Atem.]

You too. Promise. Promise you'll rest. Told you before...you need it.

[Atem might believe he's referring to today, but actually...Ryou's referring to months ago, when he'd tried to impress upon a manic little vampire trying to do too many things that if he does that, his next move could be his last before a misplay takes his life. Takes his memories.]

Sleep...'cause you need it. To keep playing.

[Ryou closes his eye again, then exhales softly. He's not asleep that quickly, of course. But he lets himself relax for real this time. Maybe then Atem might relax too. Monkey see monkey do.]

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Don't mind him, just leaving stuff around for Atem to find!

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<hotrod> (link is not icly there i am just obnoxious)

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WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, PLAYER1. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 10.11.0.0.01 * PLAYER1 has joined 10.11.0.0.01 <PLAYER1>** If you're looking for someone you knew as Yugi before June, you've found him! It's Atem, leave a message.