[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.]