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[knifemonopoly]

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.

Main handle: < Player1 > Anon: < turtleluck >, < actuallydied >, < burner >

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[softspokenlandlord]

Of course. I'm glad that I could tell you. And I'm glad you felt comfortable telling me your mother's name back then as well...

[Maybe Atem had told other people. It's okay, it's not as if he couldn't. But Ryou feels that between them, sharing something about long-forgotten parents that were good and kind is special. A cherished pair of memories.

A hand traces up along the gap between Atem's wings where they join at his back, his pads only softly pressing against Atem's body, mapping the space out softly.]

...I love you.

[There's something so reverent in his words as he stands on one knee, feeling Atem's tail wrapping around his own, the wings and arms encircling him and making him feel wanted.

His gratitude towards Atem can't be measured. He's always so interested in Ryou, and Ryou shouldn't be surprised anymore, but he can't help it.

Remembering Atem's mother is the best he can do. Kiya...he will remember. Names are important, after all. Good family even moreso.]

All this from a snow globe...It's a good thing after all, then.

[knifemonopoly]

[The hand between his wings makes him sigh, quietly: there's no scars there right now, nothing to dull or mar the feeling of having a hand at his back, trusted and allowed in close. If he could still purr, Atem feels like he would; it's still odd to have that missing, even after nearly two months.

If Ryou weren't quite so thoroughly covered in fur, Atem might be tempted to make a move, because having hands at his back always feels important...but, they've just been talking about family, the mood's probably not right anyway.

So, instead, Atem gives a single, firm nod.]

Yes! Yes, this gift...I think it's good.

I love you, too.

[softspokenlandlord]

[Maybe the mood's not enough for anything too heated, but that's fine. Ryou is just happy to be here with Atem, close and warm.

He just wants to hold the demon in his arms as close as possible, cherish him and appreciate everything he does and represents.]

...I think perhaps...she would have liked you. If she could have met you. My mother...though, I'm twice as certain you and Amane would have gotten along.

[Two confident souls put in the same room, and she wouldn't even have to defend her brother. He wonders...what would she have been like at this age with him? How would she have grown?

He's happy for the globe, happy that Atem wanted to talk about his family with him, but that thought, it brings him back a little, reminds him why he misses his sister and mother at all, and his ears slick back a little.]

I miss them. It's nice to see them, b-but...I still miss them.

[knifemonopoly]

[The tail that's wound in Ryou's shifts, its spade curling around to pet the fur with its flat side, slow and soothing. He's pleased to hear Ryou's family would have liked him, delighted even: it's important for your boyfriend's family to accept you if you're serious, right? But, Ryou's sad again...]

...remembering family that's gone...it's good to have memories of them, but it can still make you feel lonely, if you think about them long enough.

[He knows that now. Atem's family...they've been dead for so long...they're separated by an ocean of time, and any remains might not even have made it, or been identifiable if they had...]

But I'm glad I got to see them. Maybe one day, I'll be able to show you something like it.

[softspokenlandlord]

I'd like that very much.

[Ryou's tail twitches a little, but he doesn't dislodge it from Atem's, nor does he move away from him. The petting is comforting. Being close like this...it's always good. This kind of thing makes him feel utterly at home, and not so upset that he doesn't have any family here.]

Besides, we both believe in life after death, right...? We'll see them again. For certain.

[Ryou doesn't necessarily tie his beliefs into religion. He...struggles with religion as a concept. But if he didn't believe in life after death, then he wouldn't have gotten so fixated on Ouija as a means of communication. Sure, it didn't work out for him, but he still believed in the concept.]

[knifemonopoly]

Yes.

[Atem shuts his eyes, nuzzles the side of Ryou's neck. If all 7 Millennium Items are collected, and the Eye of Wadjet judges him worthy in the ceremonial battle...it's possible to reach the afterlife, even without the proper rites done to his body and a tomb to sustain his spirit. He can get there...and, he believes, Ryou will, too.]

Even we doubted sometimes whether we were right about the afterlife. We built tombs and maintained offerings for decades, and we recited the dead's names dutifully...but sometimes we wondered if we had it right, since no one ever came back to tell us.

But there is an afterlife. I was sent to it, and I came back. I might not remember, but...that's the proof we were always looking for. So, you'll definitely see your family again!

We both will.

time to ask a gay question

[softspokenlandlord]

[Ryou lets out a low growling hum from deep within his chest, a comfortable noise, but he doesn't speak for a moment. He's considering what he's going to ask next...because he doesn't like thinking about at least one part of it.

Death...it's scary, but he's stared it in the face before. It's what comes after that concerns him at this point. Especially now.]

...I hope that whatever happens, when I die for good, I get to see you again. Do you think...we will see each other again after everything?

"no, god, i don't want to be married. i do, though, want to spend forever with you"

[knifemonopoly]

I think we will.

You'll have to get to Aaru...

...but, that's not impossible.