knifemonopoly | IC inbox

[Should he...?

Should he go? Atem wonders. Something's going on, that he doesn't know about, should he find out what, and if it needs to be fixed...?

Then, Ryou's arm wraps around him, and the light his tail is giving off goes back to a calming blue. He's pulled in, and doesn't fight it...his face tucks itself against Ryou's jaw, the tension leaves his body, and he settles in to stay.

If it's the lights, it's probably Lila. And Mukuro and Komaeda know that, too. They can handle it. They're better equipped than he is, especially right now.]

It'll be fine.

[He presses a kiss under Ryou's ear, breathing out a calm, contented sigh.

If Tybolt comes in, Atem will allow him up onto the bed, especially since Ryou seems too tired to kiss much more. Otherwise...this is where they'll stay.]

[ Atem has had...a really bad, rough several months. On some level, this makes sense. The mention of Fabius sends a shiver down her spine, after all. But, still... ]

Doesn't it...feel bad? That it wasn't yours? You...never talked like you liked the Fog, before.

I still don't!

[He rests his hand on the ledge that runs around the edge of the roof, about chest height for him. He feels the concrete under his fingertips, gritty and cold, as he goes on.]

I think the Fog is doing a terrible job of being a god...I don't trust what she says, and she's responsible for people I love going through terrible things.

If Ryou hadn't pledged...I'd have thrown this key out the minute I found it.

[Out of loyalty, plain and simple. But, since Ryou made his peace with the Fog enough to turn to her for power...Atem can pursue his preferred faction, as well. Now that he's admitted that his monster powers, as they are, aren't enough.]

But, what I do...it's in line enough with what she wants that I think I can climb the ranks, make the sacrifices, and get the follower bonuses without compromising myself.

[A beat.]

Or getting...weird about it.

[He's not bringing up Aunamee by name but she knows what he means.]

[ She watches him nervously. Atem, as usual, says a lot, to cover all fronts. All aspects. A light frown sits on Riley's lips, but it doesn't deepen. To be with Ryou, who also pledged, she's learning. To help gain power, to be stronger in order to keep himself safe. ]

...I don't want you to become a different person.

[ She absolutely knows what he means. ]

I don't...think that's how it works. But I think...at least you could make decisions you regret, off her power.

[ Like the power of the nephilim. The monster he promised he'd never be again. ]

....

[He looks down, down at the street below them, the night-traffic going by. It looks almost like a normal city...an old-timey one, but still. If he keeps going the way he has...will he forget what a normal city looks like? Will he lose Domino next? Or Yugi, or Anzu, or Jounouchi...]

...if I keep losing memories, or going through things that hurt enough to change me...then, I won't stay the same person, either.

[Daniel torturing him had changed him. AM burning Ryou in the dollhouse changed him. Losing his heart had changed him. Realizing he's on his own in a way Steve and Mukuro aren't...while not physical, that changed him, too.]

I've already made decisions I regret, trying to prevent trouble for myself effectively. I worked hard on it...but in the end, it didn't get me anywhere.

[He looks over at Riley, lightening up a touch.]

Heh! Are you worried I'll go mad with power?

Edited (typos booo) 2022-03-22 12:57 (UTC)

[Prehensile vines...extra limbs...Atem's always envied them a little, they seem so useful. But, rather than comment on it, he replies to the latter statement...]

Hard to say. Every monster's different! Drink it and see how you do.

[Atem folds the tube over one-handed and deftly clamps it in place, effectively pausing the bloodflow in a way that'll be easy to restart. He's braced, poised, ready to go...if Giorno gets a taste for blood and loses control, Atem's ready to teleport the hell out of here. It shows in the slight hunch of his shoulders, a watchfulness in his expression.]

[ She winces, and then shakes her head. ]

No— not like that, I- know, I don't want you losing memories either, I just... I don't want you to have another thing like...when you became a nephilim.

[He knows.

When he became a nephilim....it was frightening, it had hurt, he'd lost his sense of mercy in the terrible burning light.]

When I was a nephilim....what I wanted didn't matter. I didn't matter. Only what I did was important. And that went for the people around me, too...which was why it was so hard to remember they were people with their own pain.

...but I don't feel that way now. In its own way, climbing ranks with the Fog is selfish...I want to protect myself, and my own memories. I haven't been able to do that, the way I've been [playing.] living so far.

Do you suppose it will affect my mind? Does God-affiliation do that? I assumed it wouldn't, since Noa and Reira are both level-headed enough...

[WELP.]

Well that certainly happened.

Nothing personal but if you intend to drop in while I'm either at work or in Opurrtunkitty, you're going to either need a close fitting hat or to be in some kind of travel-state. I'm fairly certain I'd have walk-outs otherwise.

[The broadcast happens right about when she's waking up, on account of being mostly nocturnal, so she doesn't watch the actual thing. She's got other shit to be doing, thanks. No, instead she catches some bits that are being replayed on the news the day afterward and it makes several things in her head rearrange quickly. Everyone was going on about how it was rude to broadcast the event, to cause problems for everyone, and she didn't... agree with the decision, exactly, but she knows that sometimes releasing footage is a way to make people take notice. Cairo figured it was something like that, you know. Exposing humans so the fucked up shit they're doing doesn't happen again.

The brief clip they play on the news when she absently turns on the TV disabuses her of that notion immediately. It's not even the worst thing that happens, but she sees Atem holding up the film canister so the light is glinting off of it and all she can think of is keys being held up, the glint of light off a knife—

who stayed on track when the world was on attack and when girls don't have your back you have to c-c-c-cut 'em—

The remote clatters to the floor and she scrambles to pick it up because Riley can't see this. Momentarily, Cairo can't even remember if Riley is actually in the apartment or if she's working, but it doesn't matter. It'll send them both back to that basement, to the worst moment in their lives, at least pre-Ryslig. This isn't a last ditch effort to raise awareness. It's a cry for help.

—it was me who decided we could be so much more than they could see if i didn't do it w-w-w-what would we have done?

TV turned off, Cairo thinks about how to approach this. She fucked it up when it was Riley locking them all into a basement. She can't fuck up this cry for help too. Something went very, very wrong somewhere along the way and Cairo doesn't have enough information to know when it happened, to know how far back this mess goes, but it's okay. She can do this. She can put her fucking money where her mouth is and meet people where they are, personal fucked up brain worms and all. She has work in a few hours, so maybe after... yeah. Yeah, okay. She'll grab some stuff from the Japanese bodega, see if he's doing okay. Start from there, takes her cues from his reactions. She'd get pizza, but the place will be closed by the time she's out of work so breads and melon soda it is.

Which is exactly what she shows up with at about 1AM, knocking on their apartment door once before saying:]

Hey, it's Cairo.

[After the dust clears and moods have calmed from Atem's broadcast, Javert privately contacts the younger vampire to offer his hand.]

The path forward is not easy. They will scorn you, they will hate you, and they will turn you out on the street. They will spit your name alongside mine. They will cry, they will froth, they will howl your damnation. They will recognize you as everything they wish to blot out about Her, everything they work tirelessly to forget. I will not. It makes me ill! We are deigned to suffer and to make people suffer. I shall never understand the creatures who claim to follow Her with one breath, and condemn our duties with the next. Hypocrites, all of them! We all must eat! Monsters seated beneath the Fog; weak and selfish men lying with the sheep! That is just. That is natural. It is deserved, like in your demonstration with the swindlers. You understand! Should you need a resource for any reason whatsoever, my facilities and my door are open to you. We must watch after our own kind. Consider this a standing invitation to my home. I owe you much. Be cautious and take great care, Javert.

Edited 2022-03-24 20:48 (UTC)

[...

He opens the door, with less fear than you'd expect.]

Good evening.

[It's friendly, very close to casual, but not unguarded or easy.]

Are you here to ask me about something...?

... No, I'm here to be your friend.

[Normally, there's a kind of breezy quality to the way Cairo talks. She lets a lot of things wash right over her and tries to be as nonchalant about things as possible. Right now, she sounds more determined. She's going to get this right. She's going to be a good friend this time.

Cairo, you said that you would help me—]

I don't need to know why you did it. I don't want to argue about whether or not it's moral and I might not agree with it, but I'm willing to meet you where you are if you're willing to not burn the bridge before I get there.

[Once, she told Riley that she wouldn't help her anymore. That wasn't really true, she just wasn't over the shock of having a knife turned on her. This time, she's going to be more rational about things.]

[ She frowns, partly in thought. ]

I don't know. I don't know...so much around here. But, a lot of things tend to mess with our heads. Honestly I...kind of have defaulted to thinking that, something's going to...mess with my head, or influence me in some way, and I'll come out of it all...

[ She hesitates. Riley doesn't trust herself, see. So, when she sees someone make this kind of choice... She has to wonder. ]

It just. Seems like a possibility. One that I don't wanna see again... or see you go through again.

[When Maya has managed to stop glitching her computer out, she taps as quick a message as she can in hopes she gets it out before the next short circuit.]

hey.

thanks for trying to protect me.

I'm still here if you need someone.

Of course. They say that suffering that's meaningless is harder to bear... ...it's easier to put up with what they're doing and saying knowing it's so that you can get stronger, without getting in the kind of trouble a tier 3 offering gets you into yet. You got enough of that with the Cube.

...

...

[Quietly:]

I don't want to burn it if you don't.

[She'll be able to watch, in real time, as the look on his face goes from confident, armored-up, ready for a battle of wits, to something more sincere and more vulnerable. The fact that she came over here, not to interrogate him, but to be his friend...it means something. It means a lot, actually.]

Edited 2022-03-25 04:11 (UTC)

I know

But it's more than that. Even if I didn't want that power

I'm still behind you ok?

You aren't wrong for playing by the rules of the game.

You're smart enough to know that already but

I wanted to say it anyway.

Part of the rules, I think, is that the whole peninsula loses perspective when something's related to one of the gods. They're outraged, because they can point at us, and say, "At least we're not like THOSE monsters, they're so much worse than us!" But, that aside... ...thank you. If this works, I'll have a power that will mean no one will ever put me in a position like Daniel did, or that other guy did, ever again. Let me know if you make it to three, too...do you know what you're going to ask for?

i guess every story has to have some bad guys right?

[She just thought that bad guys was a lot more clear-cut.

That said, she notes that mention of Daniel specifically as another confirmation that yes, Atem was the one tortured alongside Dandy. She knew it was right to stand by Atem.]G

nah. i have no idea

i think

*maybe*

being a shade makes it kind of hard to ask for things rationally??? so. you know

I should probably wait a little while before making demands.

That's fine with me...I'll abide by whatever terms you choose to set!

Good, because you can consider this a blanket 'you're allowed in my penthouse' agreement as well.

Invitations are important for you, yes~?

Noa!

Yes. Yes, they are! Thank you.

That makes sense. You should be your normal monster type, so you know what you want. If Shade Maya wants an offensive power, but Mer-Maya wants a protective one...it's Mer-Maya who's going to have it longer, so she should have the final say.

yeah!!! exactly!!!

maaaaaybe shade-maya should TOTALLY stop making decisions that are gonna long-term effeect mer-maya altogether, tbh.

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OOPS AFTER THE BROADCAST OOPS

night of the 25th

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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.