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[What does Ryou want out of this?? Atem holds his second mouth still very carefully, taking great pains not to bite down.

After a moment, he announces:]

I' fi's.

The boxes are for you, too.

[Unobtrusive little pastry boxes, not an uncommon sight in this fridge -- but there are more than Ryou last saw in here.]

It's not quite one of everything...but if you want to do that later, I don't mind!

[Because they can do that. Birthday.]

[That's a very good question.

Ryou's not sure what he wants out of this, but what he does know is that...he's satisfied. Maybe he just wanted to look into the void? Maybe he just didn't expect it to open up so wide and thought there'd be more of a challenge...

Either way, he backs out and taps the edge of the Atem's...lip? Is it really a lip, it's just the seam. This is a little awkward, isn't it...?]

Thanks for, um. For letting me do that, I know it must have been weird for you.

[Haha. Hahahaha.

Ryou takes an unnecessarily huge bite out of the anpan because...because he doesn't know why!! He's nervous! All of that's for him?! He already bought so much, what is he going to do with all these sweets?

(Eat them. Eat them all. He'll die a happy young man.)

It takes him a moment to decide what to do, but eventually he chews and swallows that ridiculous mouthful of anpan, shoves the rest of it in his mouth like a piece of toast, grabs the bottle of icewine and one of the pastry boxes, then walks back over to the couch and sits. All of this is done stiffly, because he's flattered and nervous and this is the best birthday ever but being doted on evidently ruins him.

He sets the items down on the coffin-table, then moves to pull the remainder of the anpan he'd been holding between his teeth away.]

You. You ah, planned this very well.

[Said faintly, and his eyes are pretty wide. He's still trying to figure out how to properly thank Atem, and he'd been so worried about that task that he hadn't even gotten glasses for the wine.

...He just leans on Atem. Processing.]

[Planned?

This is an extremely last minute birthday. This is, "I think he'd like to have this doll as a memento, he wants a day in with sweets and wine and games and movies, so that means pastries and the sweetest wine type I can find, and a cleared schedule."

If Atem had planned this well, more friends would be here. As his arm snakes around Ryou's waist:]

You made it easy. What you wanted wasn't hard to plan! Next time, ask for something harder.

[Look out, next-year Ryou.]

[The mouth slowly narrows again. The jaws work a moment, making sure everything's in place, and the tongue smacks the roof of the mouth, sorting out the new, odd, but already fading taste.]

Not too weird!

[he says, as it shuts itself up again.]

There aren't many things I'd say no to, if you asked. Especially after what you did for me this week.

[All the coils tighten around Ryou a moment.]

[Ryou watches the mouth slowly close, waits until Atem's whole entire face comes back into view...then laughs a little, because what? are you saying, you dummy? Of course it was weird!

When the coils tighten around him, the laugh tapers off. It's not as if Atem had squeezed the breath out of him it's just...he likes it. He likes being wrapped up in the majority of Atem's snake body.]

It's alright if you think it's more than a little weird, it won't hurt my feelings. [He winks. It's silly, Atem pulls off winking much better.] But as for what I did...you don't owe me anything for that, I always want to help you. Whenever something difficult arises, we have to be ready to hold each other up, right?

[Atem has done so much for Ryou. So much...that helping with the shed doesn't even compare. Even if they were still just friends, he'd absolutely have put his all into it.]

D...did I? I guess...

[He's still pretty touched by all of this to the point of inarticulacy, but he's clearly happy. He can't help the shy behavior though, the way one clawed foot settles over the other, like he's trying to comfort himself by becoming smaller somehow, or how he takes another bite of his snack that's too big and chews it thoughtfully for a few seconds before swallowing and responding again.]

I would have been happy just being here with you. But all of this is very nice.

[He glances at Atem fondly. He has no idea what he did to deserve any of this. Honestly, he hadn't done enough to deserve Atem in the first place...but his kindness was on another level.]

Right.

[This time, he adds his arms to the hug. They'll stay there, most likely, until Atem dies, near dawn; this one is mercifully quick, a heart attack with very little pain, and his snake-body turns to dust and Atem the vampire sits up out of it.

He feels kind of bad about the mess! He will help clean it up...and at least Ryou has some intact shed parts to keep.]

Edited 2021-10-23 11:38 (UTC)

[If he's looking for what he did to deserve it, Ryou set up a birthday party for Yugi and a nameday party for Atem.

But Atem can't actually read minds, so instead, he passes Ryou the copy of Vandare Chainsaw Massacre.]

Well? You're the horror expert...what will the rules be?

Oh. Right!

[Ryou takes the movie, flips it over and reads the synopsis thoughtfully while finishing off his anpan. Oh, yes. Definitely a slasher. Hmm.]

It sounds as if this is going to be...a mess. I mean the title alone would lend to it but typically that means the people are messy as well.

I say take a drink every time someone gets hurt, anytime someone makes a decision that runs against common sense, and every time someone dies.

...Is that okay?

[He's never made a drinking game before, so he can only hope it's okay.]

That seems like it'll cover it...I'll agree to those rules!

[Oh boy his tolerance is nothing, and there's no strategy to speak of in a game like this. This should be interesting.

Small sips.

He gets up, fetches glasses, and pours two precise and perfectly even amounts. How did he even do that? DEX minmaxing, bitch.]

[While Atem gets the wine ready, Ryou sets up the movie. His part takes a little longer since he's fast-forwarding through previews, but eventually he makes it back to the couch.

Before he settles in though, he opens the pastry box he'd picked out of the fridge and...hell yeah, macarons! He only takes two, before curling next to Atem to watch the title crawl.

Don't get him wrong, he's excited to try the wine, but...surely the cast wouldn't do something drinkworthy within the first fifteen minutes, right?

...Right?

(Spoiler: They do TWO.)]

[Just a bunch of human teens, driving to a rural homestead, picking up hitchhikers. Hmmm....is that one a bad call? Atem has to think about it, one arm around Ryou, the other holding the glass.]

In a situation like that, I wouldn't be afraid to pick up a hitchhiker, either! They probably thought the blood on his face was from working at the slaughterhouse.

[....but not only does that hitchhiker injure himself, he injures Hanklin, and he sets a gunpowder fire inside the car.]

That's two injuries and a no-sense decision. Although, I have to give them credit...they didn't go to his house for dinner and made him leave the car!

[Here's to you, Tally and Hanklin, and all your doomed, partying friends.]

[Ryou pops one of the macarons in his mouth, which oh my god may be a dumb idea? It's super sweet!

...But no. No regrets he's gonna enjoy the hell out of it. It's his birthday, he can do what he likes!

He's done with the second one by the time all of the nonsense unfolds, and while he's not entirely against Atem's logic, he can't keep his own opinion to himself here. He is the horror boy.]

Oh come on, they should have made him leave the van sooner than that, let's be honest. Even by normal standards, allowing him to stay in the vehicle that long was...more than inadvisable. Bet he'll come back later as an antagonist.

[Ryou's seen and read enough horror to know picking up a hitchhiker and letting him be weird in your van is ridiculous okay?

So he reaches one conveniently long arm forward for his glass and...in the interest of compromise, takes a single drink.

He proceeds to then miss the teens arriving to the gas station because he has opinions on this wine.]

...This is really good, where did you get it from?

[No worries about the movie. Someone will start screaming eventually, right?]

[Atem has to give him that. The slaughterhouse talk was enough to set off warning bells, but once the stranger took Hanklin's knife, that's about when Atem would be queuing up behind Yugi's eyes, paying sharp attention for the moment he'd need to step in.

Yugi wouldn't have kicked him out of the car, but that's what Jounouchi's for.]

Oh, the same place the 38 stocks their bar from. I figured any winery they dealt with would be monster-friendly enough to sell to me.

[He's glad Ryou likes it.

Oh no...there's a gasoline shortage in the area...bad news for this crew.]

Maybe I'll get some more later. N-not for today though, this is...honestly plenty.

[Ryou doesn't drink much, his first time was...huh, probably at one of the Tagevalgten's parties? He remembers talking to that Fitz fellow with wine in both hands and...oof. He showed up to tell people not to eat the meat and got tipsy instead...

...At any rate, the point of that train of thought was to think about how he's kind of a lightweight. So hopefully this movie isn't filled with too many dumb decisions, that way he can get his drinking in on the deaths.

Within minutes, he can't help but shake his head though.]

All these red flags...and they're going to an abandoned homestead? This is how people die in movies, you know.

[After that though...he just keeps watching without too much commentary. He won't bore Atem with "Standard horror trope dictates that the couple who wants to separate from the group are going to die first."

He doesn't want to take all the fun out of it. But there's at least one drink or two involved on his end, and no one's even died yet.

It's criminal how invested he is in this movie, for the record. He's happily curled up next to Atem and maybe he has criticisms but he really does enjoy this kind of thing.]

They don't know they're in it! Their choices would seem much more reasonable if they were in a romantic comedy.

[And that's why he's different. Rip to these guys.

The couple clearly intending to spend quality time together goes into the house with the generator, and Atem tsks disapprovingly.]

Mm. Going into a house uninvited, in Vandare...that's a quick way to get into trouble. This guy will be lucky if he isn't sh--oh.

[And then a guy with a leather mask and an apron comes out and gets the trespasser with a hammer.

Atem frowns. He takes the drink for trespassing in a gun-happy city and the other for Dirk's death, dutifully, but something about the apron guy...]

...that's funny. I could swear I've seen him before...

Oh? Doesn't look familiar to me.

[Ryou also drinks, perhaps just a bit too much because that wine really is good.

...Ah. He has to refill his glass. Is he drinking too much? They've still got a fair bit to go, maybe he should take smaller sips.]

It's always the romantic couple getting offed first, I swear. I'm sure she's soon to follow, because obviously she's going to look for him. I don't know though, shouldn't I be disappointed? I thought this was Vandare Chainsaw Massacre.

[Obviously it's a joke, which he snorts at. ~~Laughing at your own jokes is not cringe right?~~

Back to the movie though...now it looks like the young woman's going into the house which Ryou isn't sure counts as a bad decision so much as a concern move, but it has him cringing anyway.]

Another death incoming...

[Chainsaw...what is it about this that's so familiar? There's the start of a buzz in his brain, making it even harder to place, and it's probably not important, so...Atem puts it out of his mind for the moment. He looks at the screen over his own glass, grinning.]

She's doomed.

[Not for a good few minutes, though, as the camera lovingly shows a set piece of a room that's full of animal and human remains. Bones all over the floor, bone furniture, bone chandeliers...]

How much of that would you put in here if you could get away with it?

[He means the apartment.]

[That is a very good question. Atem probably shouldn't have asked but it's too late. No takebacks! So while he's pouring himself more wine, Ryou thinks it over.]

Hmm...I do like the chandelier and the sitting piece, though I'm not sure...if that's a sofa or a bench. They'd be conversation-starters, don't you think? I'm not sure if I could use actual human bones if I intended to have people over though.

[Not unless they were ethically sourced which is basically impossible.]

Maybe a bleached rib and vertebrae windchime would sound cool.

[Ryou no.

Blessedly, they are distracted from any other macabre furniture mentions by the girl being snatched up by the murder. Ryou shakes his head again, then...grimaces as she's hung on a meat hook.

That's a drink. Good thing he topped up.]

Well...we may have to drink to her again, she didn't die on-screen. Movies like this do like to throw the element of surprise in.

[Personally he wouldn't mind it. The wine has begun to make him feel pleasantly warm. He's starting to become familiar with the feeling, but he's pretty sure he's not drunk.

Yet.

While the film transitions to the rest of the teenagers, Ryou takes an opportunity to settle a little further down on the couch, just so he can set his head more comfortably on Atem's shoulder.]

Am I being too weird? When it's fictional, it's interesting...but you probably didn't expect to be dating such a strange person at this point in your life, did you?

[Sorry, Ryou. You're asking him a serious question, but the thing is, the killer got out his chainsaw in that scene, to carve up the boyfriend, and...

And Atem's kind of staring at the screen, like he can't believe it. Ryou's asking, "am I too weird?" but all Atem can say is--]

That's the Chopman.

I...I'm sorry, the what-man?

[Ryou cannot even. WHAT?

Did he just call the chainsaw murderer the Chopman? Is Ryou missing something? Did Atem see this guy from the movie somewhere in real life?! It really isn't outside of the realm of possibility--]

[--And then, just out of nowhere, he starts laughing. Oh god oh jeez where's the remote he has to pause why is this so funny it's like Atem made that name up, but did he? DID HE??

~~I guess you had to be there~~

Give him a minute, he has to stop laughing he can't be sloshing this nice-ass wine everywhere, it tastes too good, but man it takes him a minute.]

H-have you seen this movie before?!

Edited 2021-10-27 03:31 (UTC)

No, but I've seen him. In Domino. The hair's not the same, but everything else is...

[The irony of following up an "am I too weird for you" question with a statement like this is entirely lost on Atem.]

He was working for Kaiba. At the "theme park of death!"

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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.