knifemonopoly | IC inbox

Heh!

[He sweeps his own cup out of the way. His guess about the five paid off. He winks.]

No -- you were hard to read, but I banked on you being honest!

[But, he's not gloating about it. Yugi was always very good at winning gracefully; he was always so happy to be playing that it was impossible to be mad. Atem maybe gets where that comes from, now.]

What a curious roll, though...

[Ryou actually groans, not because he's mad at Atem, he's just frustrated now that he's seen the dice that he hadn't bid four fours like he should have! It doesn't cross his mind that he couldn't have known, it just bothers him that he's got a total lack of luck.]

A curious roll? It was the same roll...

[He huffs, staring at the dice mutinously.]

This is what I deserve, I suppose. [No it isn't, Ryou.] I'm glad to know that I'm a hard read, but you're just as skilled. Ah, well. At least I know you're not going easy on me.

[Since they're between rounds, Ryou isn't shy about actually leaning on Atem, lightly since he knows he's the bigger of the two again, but just so that he can derive some comfort. He's not a sore loser, he's just pouting a little!]

[It's true. He isn't. Atem doesn't go easy on people he likes: he just plays fair, and doesn't use all the weapons he'd use on someone he didn't like to secure the victory. With an enemy, they can think he's a creep and a jerk all they like, but when he plays with friends, it's different! Friends are alive and uninjured at the end of the game, and he wants to keep the relationship, and not hurt their feelings.

Atem's leaned on, and one arm snakes behind Ryou, around his waist.]

We could take a break, if you wanted.

[If Ryou's tired, or discouraged, or just wants to collect himself before starting again.]

A little break wouldn't be terrible. It's not that I don't enjoy it. But...I at least thought that of anything we might play, the dice might be a little more on my side. I suppose these aren't my dice, so they're not used to me yet.

[What a strange thing to say! But...Ryou misses his things from home. Sometimes, not being surrounded by his belongings, the things that make up the sum parts of his personality? It's kind of demoralizing. These dice are not his dice yet. He has dice of all shapes, sizes, and colors.

Here, he'd been lucky to find a single pair of D10s.

He feels as if his luck would be better if he was using one of his sets. The ones he played with all the time when he was running campaigns, or joining in on one someone else had made. And then...the ones that he'd seen in the dream world, that Yugi had given him? Those were so cool, he wanted that set!

His ears lower slightly and he relaxes a little more against Atem. He shouldn't be thinking complicated things like this. He's supposed to be having fun, right? And it is fun. Right up until he feels a twinge of homesickness, but he doesn't want to linger on it.]

At any rate...we can't do this all day, can we? H-heh heh. I think a few more rounds--not too many if you keep winning, or I'll owe you my soul's weight in wishes, of course.

[Not that he minds that. He'd happily do anything for Atem!

Since they're not playing the game right at the moment, he shifts a bit, not dislodging Atem's arm but still enough that he can comfortably set his hand on one of Atem's knees. Such a simple form of contact...it's plenty for him.]

But then...maybe we can move on.

[They're both superstitious gamers. Hard not to be, when in a shadow game, the playing pieces reflect your heart and will behave accordingly! Magic's real, bitch.]

Okay. I'm sure your luck will turn around! You've just got to get the dice warmed up.

[As he talks, he reaches for Ryou's hand. He takes it idly -- not to move it, just to turn it over, run his own fingers over it. It's nothing weird, just affectionate and familiar.]

They're new, so it might take them some time to respond...but they definitely will. I'll play with you as long as you like!

[And won't take Ryou's soul's weight in wishes, he promises! The score's 3-0, an early lead but not an impossible one to come back from!]

[When Atem turns over his hand and traces across it, Ryou really, really wishes that he didn't have bandages on. He wants to feel Atem's touch more closely, especially since the burns there aren't half as sensitive anymore as they had been at first.

Is it so selfish to want to hold the hand of someone you cherish?]

As long as I like, hm? I really can't tell you how nice it is to have all of your time to myself right now. You certainly have a way of making me feel important.

[Oh no. Oh no he's starting to feel all soft and warm and affectionate. He's such a dumb romantic who definitely can't help kissing Atem's cheek. Dice. They gotta get back to dice...but...]

You are important.

[It's said like you'd say "the sky's blue," or "there's 8 floors in the 38-8." His other hand slides out from behind Ryou and joins the first one! It's going to be a little hard to play dice while holding hands, so he'll have to let go in a minute, but that's fine.

Nothing's going to last forever. Eventually, he'll either disappear from Ryslig, or Kaiba will make it back, or he and Yugi will find their way out of the game...and, before long, he'll move on. He's very serious about amassing as many good memories as he possibly can, before things change.]

Oh, stop.

[Ryou shakes his head, but he's still happy, and his protests are absolutely toothless. Atem just embarrasses him when he says that, because Ryou has spent an awful lot of time feeling unimportant. Here too, he was so used to fading into the environment, and yeah, he had some acquaintances before Atem showed up...but he feels even now that if Atem had never ended up in Ryslig, then he would have remained a ghost on the fringes of civilization.]

You're the one that's most important. Without you, I would have become someone very different here. Maybe not completely a monster. But not me either. You make everything so much better, just by existing.

[The way he looks at Atem, it's with such a determined sincerity. He means what he says. And he'll say it as much as he can, because holding all of his affection inside is practically impossible at this point. Atem had pulled that stopper out when he'd asked Ryou out in the dollhouse. There was no replacing it, no shutting him up ever again.]

Ah...but I suppose we should get back to things, yes? I've still got a game to win.

[Said with only the slightest of confidence, but he's trying!]

Ah...

[Now it's his turn to feel a little...man he can't even pinpoint what it is. Is it embarrassment? It feels a little bit in that neighborhood -- warm, not quite sitting comfortably in his heart -- and it's definitely brought on by you make everything so much better, just by existing.

He's been thinking a bit, lately, about his own existence, and his place in the world, and whether or not he has one. Being told directly that people want him around -- not just him-and-Yugi, but him as an individual -- hits him in a place where he's tender. Tender like a kiss, or tender like a bruise -- he can't tell.

But then Ryou has mercy on him and taks about the game. That's much easier! Atem picks his dice cup up, all his uncertainty from a moment ago gone. With a wink:]

I invite you to try!

[He shakes the cup up. Ready? he asks wordlessly.]

[Ryou looks at Atem curiously. He's not sure if his words came off right or not, and there's a prickle of concern at the back of his mind...but it's not something he wants to pressure Atem on. So, he too takes his cup in hand, giving it a shake.

He smiles at Atem, giving a brief nod. Very much ready.

A few seconds later, after a few good rattles, his cup clicks on the table, upturned. Please be a good roll...ugh, he doesn't even want to look...]

You first this time. Good luck.

[He closes his eyes and hopes that he has good luck too, because lord knows Atem has all the luck already.]

Same to you.

[Down the dice go; Atem checks them, arranging them in order in his head -- 2-3-4-5-5.]

Two threes.

[Starting on the low side, but not the lowest; plausible, to feel out what Ryou got. He closes his own eyes, letting Ryou take a turn.]

Edited 2021-09-16 03:25 (UTC)

[Ryou waits until his opportunity is given, then he checks his own dice and...finally. Something flexible, at last! He doesn't show his relief, but it's hard not to run a probability subroutine after this kind of roll.

2-1-1-1-4.]

One four.

[Yep, he's back at it again with his strange little up-down bid. Atem had sussed him out as honest before. And he is being honest!

For now.]

[He glances over. Hm, it's like before...he can't get overconfident, but until Ryou starts guessing larger numbers, Atem won't know much about his hand. He plays it safe.]

Two fours.

[He leans an arm on the couch's armrest, propping his chin up on it and gazing over at Ryou. Your move.]

[Ryou raises an eyebrow, that's the most that Atem's going to get out of him at the moment. Though he does consider throwing the variable of an actual expression, just to make the game more interesting.

Maybe. For now though...]

Two sixes.

[He'll see where that takes them.]

[Hmmmmmm.]

Three fives.

[The thing about Atem's poker face is, he always acts like he's winning, no matter what he's feeling. He could be grinning about the truth, or grinning about a lie; it's impossible to tell.

His roll isn't very good; he's got no trump cards to save for the end. But he's betting aggressively, trying to draw Ryou out in response. How's Ryou going to raise the numbers?]

[Interesting. Ryou does take perhaps a moment longer to consider his move, though it's not because he feels entirely cornered yet. He's pretty much pleased with the wilds under his cup. But if he really wants to put pressure on his opponent, then he'll need to get serious.]

Three sixes.

[And he smiles. Just a happy little saccharine grin, like he'd just finished telling Atem about a particularly tasty cupcake he'd bought down the street.

Is he fucking with you, sir? You decide. He still has one good move in him.]

[Hm. Is it that Ryou really has a bunch of sixes, or is he bluffing? He's been hesitant to bluff so far...Atem's not mentioned a six once, so that's probably largely what Ryou's got, sixes and fours.

Atem does not have a single honest move he can make. Four sixes is pretty hard to believe; if Ryou calls him out, he'll lose. He'd have to bluff in a way Ryou would believe...but Ryou's probably guessed Atem doesn't have any sixes under his cup, since he brought the face down with his bet the first time Ryou brought them up. Ryou might think he has a one, maybe, but not a six.

He could guess four fives, but it doesn't sound like Ryou's got any. Does he guess four sixes, and trust that Ryou's got three on his own and believe Atem has a one? Or does he call Ryou a liar, when Ryou's been betting with his best guesses for most of the game?

His mouth twitches up, as if Ryou's just handed him something interesting.]

Four fives.

[A rich bet. A very rich bet. However...Ryou is not inclined to call him out on it for two reasons. For one, Ryou has a stack of aces under his cup that he's been banking on to bait Atem. By all accounts, he did have three sixes, but Atem probably believes that to be an inflexible number.

So...Ryou has the idea that Atem is bluffing this time, not trying to draw out information.

After all, Ryou hadn't bet a single five, had he? But Atem had bid fives twice. There's fives under his cup, Ryou's sure of it. Now...as for how many...that's the difficult part. He isn't calling Atem out though. That's ended in disaster every time. Instead...]

Five fives.

[It's a gamble. If Atem was bluffing his fives both times, Ryou could have just thrown the match.

Your move.]

[Ohhhhh.

Oh, really, Ryou? Five fives on this table, in this two-player game, when he's sure you don't have a single five? It's possible Ryou has a one or two, but it's more likely he's overestimating the number of fives Atem has.

Both ways he could raise the bet would be obvious bluffs. Accusation is the only move he can make.

He tilts his head, pulls a face. (X) Doubt!]

You've overreached this time! I'll call that a lie.

[Let's see what's really under there. He'll reach to unveil his own dice at the same time.]

[Despite being somewhat sure of himself, when Atem calls him out...all of the confidence just oozes out of him. Time for pre-loss anxiety!

He lifts his cup nervously, then peers at Atem's dice

...!!!

Hey! Two fives!]

...Aces wild, right?

[He's not boasting, he's honestly surprised and sort of saying the first thing that came to mind.]

...yes, aces wild.

[He looks at Ryou's little dice pile. Atem runs the numbers. It adds up. He's surprised -- and then, he breaks into a laugh.]

You win! You got me -- with a roll like that, you'd be hard to beat!

[...he just feels good about this? How is it that he just feels good that Ryou took the round? Fun? This is literally just fun? He grins.]

I told you the dice just needed some warming up.

[Ryou can't quite put to thought or words why he feels so satisfied with Atem's reaction as opposed to the fact that he'd just won the round. Winning the round just wasn't important to him, not half as important as the fact that Atem was happy too.

He laughs a little himself, all smiles and flushed cheeks and happiness, but it's not really about the game.]

They did, you're right. I could do with a little more faith, even when I was sure I'd figured out your dice, just a little...I was nervous when you called me out.

Oh, don't be nervous.

[Ryou being good enough at strategy, at keeping emotions off his face, at getting into his opponent's head, to take a round...it really does give Atem that feeling of his heart trying to go faster, his body asking for more evenly-distributed adrenaline.

He turns in his seat, his own hand going onto Ryou's knee as he leans in. One of his own legs, the one closest to Ryou, gets tucked up on the couch under him. Getting up in the shade's space, here.]

All gamers hope the goddess of fortune will smile on them...but there are a few she'll always turn away from! She'll never favor cheaters who do anything to win...the arrogant, drowning in their own powers...or cowards who fear defeat! So, never lose your confidence -- it's not over until the very end!

[Ryou's a good gaming partner. Atem's...really happy about that. Look at him, all flushed and grinning -- how's Atem supposed to not lean in closer, and lower his voice, and remind him about the terms of the bet?]

You know, this means you can ask me for anything.

[Ryou turns towards Atem long before he turns to face him. The way he says not to be nervous definitely strikes some kind of chord. Now the shade's completely attentive, moreso when Atem begins to invade his space.

...He's not sure, actually, whether to focus on the pep talk or the fact that Atem's so close to him, so very close. So enticing, whether he realizes it or not. Ryou is erring on the side of yes, Atem realizes, or else his voice wouldn't have dropped just a bit, and he wouldn't have said that.

Well good job, Atem. You've got your very soft boyfriend leaning in too, with more than a bit of interest.]

Hmmm...I could, couldn't I? But I'm sure you'd give me what I want right now...w-whether I wished for it explicitly or not, right?

[A challenge? Most definitely. But the real challenge was pressing their foreheads together--that familiar contact, the precursor to something warmer, more complete--and stopping there.

Sorry, were they playing a game?]

You think so?

[A hand, its nails carefully cut short, slides around the back of Ryou's neck. He really does like it when their foreheads are together -- it reminds him of all the other times it's happened, it's reassuring, it's comfortable.]

Should I guess what it is, then? I could try it out, and see if I'm right...

[They were playing a game without a predetermined number of rounds, it's fine, it's fine.]

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.

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