knifemonopoly | IC inbox

Power will do that, when wielded unjustly.

[ His kingdom, though. That's odd. The culture of Khemet revolved so completely around the Pharaoh, the country's fortunes so dependent upon whether the king sought to elevate or oppress his people, that she wouldn't expect someone who grew up in that society to call his home anything but belonging to Pharaoh.

Unless he rebelled against that.

Or.....

Saint-Germain takes in Atem's appearance again, reassessing his posture, the particular shape of the monster form he's been granted. She phrases this carefully, both of them feeling the other out, now. ] Do you have any other names?

[....what a funny guess! Especially considering all of the names he's had. He can't help the heh, or the way his mouth twists up in a grin...]

I've got a whole bunch! More than I know what to do with, really...

[One eye closes in a wink.]

But only five belong to me.

As I suspected.

[ Pardon her for not adjusting her stance. She's not going to be outright disrespectful and slide her right foot forward /tkb: TCH, but she isn't going to move her left, either. Both equidistant from him suffices.

Though, now she wants to confirm one last thing before continuing their earlier conversation. Understanding the nuances of multidimensionality is another way of arriving at the perfect truth of the world, and while she sees nothing odd in having never met any Atems during her time in Egypt, she should recall a King.

Even a King who isn't bandying that knowledge about at every possible opportunity, which, frankly, speaks well of him, as Kings go. ]

May I have your throne name? Our histories seem to diverge considerably.

....

It was Maatkheperure.

[Maybe the syllables come across, since it's a language they both speak. Maybe she hears Ra's-manifestations-are-what-is-right-and-true -- or, as another way to read it, the rightful manifestations of Ra.

Either way -- extremely New Kingdom Egyptian. This guy, or at least the officials who had the biggest say in it, picked a pretty traditional name -- but a justice-minded one. His agenda, as king, was ma'at -- keeping the kingdom stable, predictable, safe, after the last generation's war.]

But, don't be surprised if you don't know it...even if we did come from the same world, my name was erased from the record shortly after my death. History doesn't remember me anywhere!

Edited (thanks for nothing, ancient egyptian spellcheck) 2022-07-08 13:33 (UTC)

[ Justice.....

Not a bad priority for a Pharaoh to have at all. If he embodied it, as the name implies. Time will tell. ]

You must have had quite the enemy.

As we do here.

[ yeah that's right somehow she managed to turn yugioh lore into FUCK THE MODS OF RYSLIG, SPECIFICALLY

such is the power of anime ]

[For her part, Trish wants to think Atem has been...okay.

Okay enough not to reach out. But he hadn't before, and she can't blame him for it. When has she ever been dependable? What, truly, can she do when the chips are down?

In a fight, she's no good. In a world that demands use of tooth and nail, what can she accomplish? Atem didn't feel safe, and sought power. Power is what speaks to people the most in a place like this, right?

So if Atem has still struggled, and not spoken to her...she can't be hurt, even if it makes her heart clench. She can't blame him, but she can step back and assess where she's at, currently. At least with him, she can better divine his thought process, since he'd said in so many words exactly what was troubling him. But it's been long enough now, she wonders how he's recovered from it. What scars did it leave? What changed about him, fundamentally, beyond her perception of him?

They talked about safety, she remembers. She supposes it means a lot that she can speak to him in person, and the idea itself doesn't bother her. Just the fact she won't be able to hide, but then, neither can he.]

Okay.

Then let's meet in a few hours. I'll come to the 38-8 and we can chat on the rooftop. I think that ought to be private enough.

How does that sound?

I'll be there. And, if I'm not...tell my friends to come find me. A werewolf should be able to track the scent from apartment 806 to wherever I am.

[He's blacking out, this week....not all the time, but often enough to worry him, often enough to set up a contingency. It's not that he's standing Trish up!

But, as promised, he'll be on the roof of the 38-8. At least, Atem's travel form will be -- Trish will see a black-and-gold jackal dog, with pierced ears and a gauzy scarf, sitting primly among the box-gardens of medicinal plants that dot one corner of the rooftop.

Whether she recognizes him is another matter.]

[Atem's tail wags back and forth, as he makes direct eye contact.]

Blue steak.

[wag. wag. wag.

The rarest kind they have.]

And a cabernet.

[Is he intending to get Ryou drunk....? What a scoundrel. An absolute dog.]

Edited 2022-07-12 23:35 (UTC)

Yes.

[Well done. Excellent segue, done with all the dexterity and finesse of a fencing saber.]

Be careful what you say on the network. The Fourth God, Elias -- he can read all of it. He's a crafty guy...he'll try to make you feel guilty over things that aren't your fault, so you'll agree to join his side of the war. As for the Fog, she might or might not be watching at any time. It's hard to say! She'll likely only get you on her side if you want someone to fulfill the role of a mother for you, or if you feel like you need the permission of someone in authority in order to accept yourself for who you are.

[He says, his Fog-cloak billowing behind him, past his shoulders and out over the empty space beyond the wall.]

But I believe the god-war is just a mechanic put in place to divide us...to make sure that monsters never unite against whatever really has us trapped here, and also, to act as an incentive to make each other suffer, without the people in charge even lifting a finger.

[...

> The waitress has now become suspicious again.]

Certainly, sir! Would you like the recommended sides, or would you like to hear the selection.

[Boy, she feels bad for this white werewolf, he's in an abusive relationship and he probably doesn't even realize it... But she has a feeling there won't be much she can do to dissuade him. So she has to do only what she can.

Once Atem confirms his choices, and she's gone again to put in their meal, Ryou peers through his fingers at Atem...then at his drink...and makes an executive decision.

He reaches out and closes his fingers around Atem's glass, pulling it closer and then, out of some small amount of spite, laps at the beverage a couple of times.]

...If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were the jealous type.

[Maybe he's wrong. But he saw the eye contact for a split second. Very solid eye contact.]

Edited (close your tags, kids!) 2022-07-13 01:57 (UTC)

[ So the "gods" do enforce control through emotional manipulation! Saint-Germain is in little danger of being swayed (most of those reasons are logical fallacies, and the bit about mothers just makes her even more determined to defeat the Fog God, for using filial love as a tool of subjugation), but it's useful to know the opponent's tactics, so she can more swiftly identify them. And the last bit of information - oh, that's the most intriguing of all.

Purposeful division.......It's just as she suspected, or similar. The Curse of Balal, writ large. Not only is understanding impossible, misunderstanding is encouraged. Fear, pain, humiliation, frustration, powerlessness - those are the goal.

Her powerful eyebrows grow, if possible, exponentially in might. ]

And who are these "people in charge", who wish suffering?

[ He'd already said he doesn't know, so this is more rhetorical than anything.....but she wants to know his thoughts, if he has any. ]

[Atem says it's not a bad time, but then he ends on a troubling note. Why would he need someone to come find him for her? He must be affected just like everyone else, and yet he's still willing to talk.

With him, she wouldn't mind waiting longer. And yet it's a relief all the same that she doesn't have to.

When she ascends the rooftops, she sees some familiar sights, and some less so. The dog first and foremost among them, though the out of place species type and the fashionable scarf are a giveaway that it's got to be a monster. As for who, well, who else would be up here? Further, who else would take the form of a jackal?

She closes her eyes, thinks of the memory of an Egyptian sun beating down on them from overhead, and steps forward slowly.

Not casually, but not too quickly either. Her steps are deliberate enough he should hear her long before he sees her.]

If you're not Atem, I may have to eat my own sarong. What's my fate going to be, hm?

[Penalty game: Eat Pant!]

[The dog's mouth opens, and sure enough, Atem's voice comes out.]

Don't worry...it's me! You can leave your sarong un-eaten.

[Guessing game: won! But even though Trish offers a light mood, Atem doesn't keep it up, not for more than a few moments. His dog-mouth falls away from the laugh, down into a more somber line.]

I assume you're here because you have questions.

[It's impossible to tell if he has ligature-marks, not under the gray Fog-cloak. But there are little raw red starbursts on the backs of his paws. His eyes go to Trish's neck and hands, even as he talks -- is she affected, too?]

Edited 2022-07-13 12:04 (UTC)

[Atem requests stuffed mushroom caps and chickpea salad, smelling the tension on the waitress.

But, once she's gone...

...Ryou has stolen his drink. Atem's canine eyebrows go up -- and then, he laughs!]

What in the world gave you that idea?

[He says this playfully, knowing full well that he gave it away a long time ago.]

[Now it's Ryou's turn to raise an eyebrow, though to anyone else it might be harder to intuit because of his bangs.]

So you do know what you're doing then. Oh, for goodness' sake...

[Yeah he's drinking your wine, buddy. This is his now.]

If she calls a manager, you're in trouble, you know.

[Ryou's not actually angry or anything, just a bit frazzled at this point. Honestly...

He tips the glass, taking a respectable sip, then he sets it down and watches the liquid ripple for a moment.]

...This was supposed to be a nice date. I didn't expect the waitress to be so interested in me, or for it to be any kind of distraction. But then again, after nearly two years, you'd think I would have learned by now that the deck is stacked against us, hm?

I wish I knew.

[His eyes fall, and his shoulders drop.]

I don't know if it's one person, or many...but whoever they are, they made Ryslig for a purpose, and the Fog God with it. They put its natural laws into place, and if they have the kind of control I think they do, they know our pasts...and use them to hurt us.

[She tries, but it's clear Atem is very aware of the long silence between them prior to this, and Trish lets the light mood go like a feather in the wind.

Mostly she wants to make it clear from the start, at least, that she's not explicitly angry with him. The fins around her wrists, meanwhile, are too short to obscure her own marks. She's got a choker on, notably, although that's not unheard of with her; however, it is strange for someone with gills on their neck.

Trish pads over, sitting directly across from Atem, so she can lean forward and curl her arms around her knees. It ought to be a familiar look, although the last time they sat together, they didn't look like monsters, and they were settled side by side, sharing the view, rather than scrutinizing one another.

As for his statement, she hums.]

More or less, yes.

[Carefully, she traces the scales of her own knee with a claw.

And then, she jumps into it. They're here to talk, after all.]

...How have you been? [That's probably not a question he was anticipating, and she's quick to append:] I want to know that before I ask the rest.

[It's part of everything she wants to ask him, really. How is Atem doing? And how does that inform everything else?]

Control....

[ The dots are connecting, in her mind. Ryslig is constructed to function as a precise mechanism, where various circumstances trigger twice a month on a recurring schedule. The Fog and Fourth gods' followers are pitted against each other despite the world's history indicating strife between divine factions had led to the initial calamity that transformed monsters into man-eaters.....

Whether the objective is truly to cause as much suffering as possible - or whether something has fallen out of alignment, as Shu Bi claims in his own theories of multiversal masterminds - the results cannot be denied. Ryslig is built to cause pain. To trample its inhabitants with the very fabric of its existence, in perpetuity.

Saint-Germain keeps her thoughts to herself, but her posture is rigid and she's biting her lip hard enough to draw blood with still-human teeth. ]

...well enough.

The truth is, I could use the company right now -- I've gone wandering this week, like some other monsters. If I seem odd, or try to leave abruptly...please stop me by any means necessary, short of my death.

[All of this is said in a quiet, practical tone, as though he were saying, if it starts to rain, I'll need you to get the umbrella, because I can't reach it, instead of confessing a horrifying loss of agency. But, with that out of the way...]

But I knew the difficult fogs would come back eventually. May and June were more or less peaceful...it couldn't last much longer. You'll likely return to your usual monster type soon, too...

[Matter of fact, practical, calm. None of the openness of their talk in a simulated palace garden, or the raw emotion when the network had connected their minds. There's a gulf here, and while it's not unbridgable...this conversation will determine whether or not that bridge will be built.

That scarf floats around his neck, very nearly as light as air. It's Fog-gray, and wisps of it seem to blow off and fade at the edges; even if Trish doesn't know what it means, it's clearly magic.]

[Ryou is...not okay. He's pretty much the opposite of okay, actually. Even asking for a nephilim to effectively bless his bathwater had been hard enough, and all of his social energy had gone into making both an introduction and keeping up the niceties.

So...now, as he waits for Atem to return to the chosen building which met Mana's specifications, Ryou can finally let himself feel, and it's unpleasant. He's been in the tub for a while now, maintaining his corporeality completely so that it didn't get worse than it needed to, but...it's been hours. He's cold and uncomfortable.

Of course, he'd told Atem why he was doing this--that Mana had given him a quest in order to strip away one of his weaknesses. And he'd told Atem that there was a secondary purchase involved. Why would he lie about any of it?

He can't be a shade right now. His mind is still a haze of blood-red anger barely restrained by massive regret. But it won't last for long, and soon...again...he might hurt people. Briefly, he considers releasing his solid state, letting the water soak into his shadows, his lungs, his throat, all of his internal systems, and then resolidifying so that it can't escape.

He wonders idly, as he lazily wriggles his tail just below the water's surface, if that would be enough to repay what he'd done, to Altair, to Nanami, and to Crash. To the innocents who, despite being human, had committed no crime so egregious that they deserved to be torn apart by a rampaging monster.

To Mukuro, who he had very nearly scarred and who he had antagonized until she bit him and warded him off. He should probably try and untangle his feelings about skating so close to death, but that's not his right. Others deserve his consideration.

The sun should be rising within a few minutes. He's ready to burn one last time, just to make sure that he'll never die to the light again.]

[It's in his demon form that Atem flies up to the top of the building. He's supposed to stay here until sunrise, and of his three forms capable of flight, one is weak in the sun, and the other is never being taken again, so demon it is.

Atem's showed up with a blanket and some snacks. Melon pan. Who cares if Ryou gets some of it in the bathtub, eating in the bathtub is fine, in a demon's opinion. The water's as clean as it gets, anyway.

The blanket falls around Ryou's shoulders, and a piece of the bread is held out.]

You hungry?

[The sound of flapping wings gets Ryou's attention, just in time to watch Atem crest the building and alight closely. If anything's going to get him out of his spiral, even remotely, then it'd be Atem.

Ryou smiles faintly when he sees the melon pan and the blanket. Below the water line, his tail glows, fluctuating from a quick-enough-you-could-miss-it purple to a light cyan. The only evidence is how it lights up his face, honestly.]

I could eat.

[He reaches out for the snack, his smile still a bit distant.]

Thank you...for the snack. And the blanket.

[He's pretty cold, since he's been up here for hours. So the blanket around his shoulders does help.]

And...for being here. You didn't have to be.

I want to be.

[He takes one of the pastries for himself, taking a bite out of it, and settling into a comfortable crouch next to the tub of water.]

Mana just said till sunrise, right?

Sunrise, yes. Something's flashy is supposed to happen, I imagine.

[He's kind of uncertain about it, to be honest. The last time he spent this much on something, it wasn't pleasant to achieve his goal.]

I think it's probably going to hurt. It hurt last time. But surely it won't last for a whole 24 hours this time around, I'd probably die from that.

[He takes a bite of the melon pan, and stays silent for a while, chewing slowly and glancing sidelong through his bangs at Atem. Then, after what feels like an age or two, he swallows and adds:]

...If it does turn out that way, I suppose it's penance.

[He hopes not. He's going to report Mana to the BBB if these kinds of painful quests keep happening. Leave a truly scathing Yelp review.

Atem waves his bread airily.]

Please. All of us deserve some kind of punishment. But even if we do, that doesn't make it a good idea to suffer it. It doesn't help!

[Polar opposite of his nephilim logic, here: it's fine to be lazy, it's fine to be happy even if you don't really deserve it, it's fine to be content even if others aren't. Punishing yourself pointlessly doesn't get anything done!]

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and now i want an atem/tkb roleswap au

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<Zigazigah>

<Player1>

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cw; this waitress has it all wrong

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action! atem is such a handsome pupper gosh

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Post-Shadepocalypse, time to neph it up. cw; suicidal ideation

NEPH BAPH NEPH BAPH

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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.