softspokenlandlord | IC Inbox

[Huh, there he goes...Atem sees Ryou's opacity change, notes the difference in aura, and wonders if there's a correlation with his mood. If so, that's important information...]

Heh. Of course I do!

[He's slept in the one piece of clothing he wears these days -- a hooded sweatshirt with pockets. Pocket space is at a premium, but the important things to keep in there include money, dice, a multitool, and a deck of cards, and Atem pulls that last one out. It's still in one of those small cardboard boxes, so none of them get lost or damaged in a way that a card can be identified by a tear or crease, but Atem doesn't open it yet. He just takes it out long enough to show Ryou that he has it on him.

Really, what did you expect.]

[You know...Ryou probably shouldn't have expected anything different. And yet, he'd asked the most nonsensical question of his ultimate gamer friend. Atem's the final boss. Of course he has cards in his pocket.]

Honestly...I don't even know why I asked.

[Said with amusement, of course. He floats back over to Atem, attempting to peep the deck before it disappears back into its pocket. Any interesting design on them?]

You're always prepared to play a game. Heh! Cards are an easy vehicle for creating games of chance on the fly, aren't they?

[A brief nod! Nothing about the cards is particularly special; it's an ordinary 1950s-style deck, but the design on the back is a little dark.]

Yes. It's important to pick the right game for the right person...but there's plenty you can do with cards. I keep some dice, too. That was how I caught the two Tågevalgten last month...

[Some people carry weapons on them! Atem does! This is what they look like.]

[Look, that's a great design. It fits Atem pretty well, actually?

Ryou nods at Atem's words. It's true that there's plenty to do with cards and dice. He, especially, would know plenty about dice and their versatility. He might even have asked Atem if he preferred to play a dice game, but he's kind of married to the idea of a card game right now, because after having spent so long seeing Atem play Duel Monsters back home, it's been a bit strange having him play anything but card games.

...They're not the same cards but that's not the point!]

Did they cheat when you went against them? You somehow seem to attract cheaters, you know.

[A pause.]

Oh, but not me. I wouldn't dare. To devalue the sanctity of a game like that...well, unless it's written into the rules that someone has to cheat, that's unacceptable.

Mm.

[He nods.]

One of them did. He tried to use weighted dice. I let him....until the last round.

Of course cheating's fine when it's part of the rules and everyone knows it! And, [he adds, thinking again of monsters and survivors and who holds power in the narrative,] if your opponent cheats first...then cheating back is fair play.

But when someone uses an obvious trick like weighted dice, it's very easy to turn that back on them! All you have to do is switch them out when he's not expecting it, then get him to wager it all on what he's sure is a safe bet.

...

Also, he planted some of the Jeweler's Row explosives. So, I'm definitely going to eat him.

[Ryou can't help himself when he lets out a quick, awkward laugh.]

Atem, you can't just say that, honestly!

[Even though Ryou's used to Atem's straightforwardness, it is still amusing to hear him talk so matter-of-factly about eating someone. But also...it reminds Ryou of the uncomfortable gnawing at the pit of his stomach that feels as if its twisting up his chest, his throat, making his teeth want to grind. It's a familiar feeling, and one which he usually tries to suppress.

But he hadn't eaten in the dollhouse. He'd tried, out of curiosity, but the taste of plastic, liquid or otherwise, was enough to make him gag. So nah. No nondescript synthetic soul substitute for him.

...No. No no no, he wants to play a game first! Be quiet, stupid shade body with your instinct to rip the living soul out of something. Not now. He wants to be normal, do normal things with someone he cares about.]

But maybe we can...share him later.

[That came off a little too interested, didn't it? Something in the way Ryou says it at all, the way his glowing eyes seem to intensify. He generally doesn't discuss feeding unless he has to.]

[They might both be coming off a little bit too interested, because although Atem laughs at you can't just SAY that, because yes he can and yes he will, Atem's also looking at Ryou in that way where you've done something thoughtful and expect it to go over well but there's still an undertone of I hope you like it.]

...I did save him for you.

[Any chance he has to get a judged soul to Ryou, he takes -- petrification makes it easier to store someone who's still living, and the second Tågevalgten was deliberately put away for later in the month, to recharge after the fog event. It's probably been terrible for him. But he bombed people Atem knew. He can deal with it. He doesn't have a choice!]

[...It takes him a second, but it does click.

Atem's being thoughtful, as usual. He's helping Ryou get through his mandatory task of snuffing out the existence of another, and not just that...he wants Ryou to know that it was for him, doesn't he? Not just that he did it out of duty.

Not this time.]

It's very kind of you to have done that. I appreciate it.

[He smiles, then floats a little closer to Atem. The aura around him recedes a little, on instinct, and his facial features clean up just a bit more, coming back from the generally unsharpened shadows that he should be, if he didn't put forth so much effort to be solid.

He needs to be solid now, so that he can kiss Atem on the forehead, a brief, loving little gesture.]

Thank you for always making it easier for me.

Edited 2021-09-21 16:41 (UTC)

[Good. Good, his work's appreciated. He doesn't put together that he's acting like a cat bringing in half-dead terrorized rodents for humans it loves because it loves them and wants to share with them, but, that's absolutely the vibe.

The snakes part to allow the forehead kiss, surrounding Ryou's face like a little snakey cloud, flicking their tongues at him happily. 🐍 Ryou! 🐍 Very good! 🐍 Won't go hungry! 🐍 Won't be unhappy! 🐍 Stay close! 🐍 Ryou! 🐍

Their plans for dinner settled, Atem brings up the other priority--]

So...you wanted to play a card game?

[Ryou giggles. Yes, he giggles, don't judge him, the snakes tickle and it's adorable! He's not even bothered that Atem hears it because truthfully, if he can't accept him at his dorkiest, then they shouldn't be dating.

...Dating. Heh. He still thinks that's nice.]

Oh. Yes! Yes, um. We can play anything at all, I'm just happy if we're playing together, you know?

[He moves towards the doorway, floating with such laziness out of the room that one might mistake the area for having no gravity at all. He's comfortable without weight on his limbs, with Atem here, and most importantly, without the constantly running background routine of keeping himself semi-solid to solid, he actually feels incredibly light and relaxed.

Ryou trust Atem will follow, of course, but if he doesn't, then uh. Ryou can just come through the wall. But they definitely need more room to play than what his bed or desk offer, and cards need stable surfaces.]

[Atem gets the idea that they'll be playing in the living room and follows. Ryou looks a lot like a traditional specter like this...almost like a real ghost. Atem chooses not to comment on it; Ryou doesn't like being insubstantial, he's fought it so hard for so long, and Atem's guessing that the reason Ryou is okay with it now is because he's so happy about the rest of the situation.

...

...heh. It's nice to make somebody he cares about happy like that. It's a new way to protect their heart, Atem thinks to himself, slithering out into the living room, pulling the deck of playing-cards out of the box and shuffling them between his hands as he goes.

He settles in a pile of coils on one side of the coffin-table. It's easy to get comfortable pretty much anywhere with a body like this! Atem still feels a little off...maybe he just needs to eat something that's not gross venom-dissolved dollhouse plastic. He really hopes it's that and not that he's coming down with something, because if that's the case, he's likely already given it to Ryou, and having them both down with a summer cold won't be any fun at all.

He starts to deal the whole deck out into two equal piles.]

I was thinking one of the variants on Beggar My Neighbor...what do you think? There's War, Egyptian Ratscrew, Slapjack...depending on the level of physical requirements and complexity you're up for, we could play any of them.

[They played a lot of them by different names, when he and the Ring-Spirit went by different names, too, in the back of classrooms at Bavan Central High School. It's a little nostalgic, if you can be nostalgic for a life you didn't actually lead.]

[Ryou considers whether he wants to play cards while floating for a little while, or just go solid again, be a little more normal. He really doesn't like being like this for too long...but there are benefits. If he's just keeping his hands solid, it's less of an energy drain, right? Which means he'll be able to play games a little longer before his hunger becomes too hard to manage. Because there's no mistaking when he's reached his social limit--Ryou's the sort to get hangry.

For now though, he situates himself on the other side of the coffin-table, floating above the ground on his stomach with his legs crossed behind him. Yes. The teenage girl pose. It's comfortable!]

Egyptian Ratscrew is fine with me! A little on the nose, perhaps, don't you think?

...I wonder why they call it that, honestly?

[He really does look thoughtful about it as he watches Atem deal out the deck. Seriously. It's a weird name for a game, though Beggar My Neighbor isn't exactly on a higher spectrum of normal.]

Even I can't say!

[He finishes dealing out the cards.]

The true origins are most likely lost to time at an American summer camp. But it's very unlikely it had anything to do with Egypt...

[....man, Ryou floating like that is really cute. His...boyfriend? Boyfriend -- is really cute. Atem could have launched into a really nerdy explanation of the origins of cards as gaming pieces and how they originated in China but weren't brought west by traders until after 1000 AD, but it...sort of gets lost on the way out.

They're dating. They're dating and it's okay.]

[Boyfriends or not, Ryou would have accepted that explanation and regarded it with rapt fascination. Because they're both nerds. However, he's also similarly contented with floating where he is, listening to Atem talk and nothing else.

Because he is very much comfortable. It takes a great deal of comfort and trust for Ryou to stay in his shadow form without concern, after all. He wants to be here, playing card games with Atem for as long as he can get away with.]

I imagine not...Americans really will come up with anything, especially if the name sounds even remotely vulgar.

[He's thinking of BS when he says that. Deeeefinitely BS. But Egyptian Ratscrew somehow sounds more vulgar.]

You first? Royalty before peasantry.

[He smiles, and it looks weird because his shadows are so dark, and his teeth gleam white in comparison. He's joking but if it was anyone else it might look threatening.]

Age before beauty.

[And he flips over the first card, starting the game!

He's actually got a vague sense that the game's name may have been Egyptian Rat's Crew, but got corrupted into something more vulgar-sounding...but Ryou's point stands, that the corrupted version of the name was what got popular. After all, the abbreviation is ERS, not ERC...]

[Ryou shakes his head and chuckles, before flipping a card of his own--no face card yet, and it's non-sequential.

Atem would take something that was self-deprecating and flip it into a compliment, wouldn't he? It's very charming. He's...very charmed by Atem in general lately, but that's probably what it's like when you start dating someone.

...When someone asks you out on a Ouija Board. Ryou wasn't aware that was a lifetime goal, but here they are.

Now, all that being said...]

"Age" is a matter of debate, actually. Are we counting your actual age, or all the years in between?

[He laces his fingers, trying to look coy and not quite succeeding.]

B-because if we're counting the thousands, then I'd say you look pretty good for your...um. Your age.

[...That's not even flirting. That's not real. Ryou immediately regrets it, it's so dumb...]

Heh heh! Thank you! But, really, you have--

[Another card; nothing yet.]

--the most captivating smile of anyone I know.

[Figuring out this flirting thing is kind of trial and error.]

[Flirting is hard. Ryou's trying not to get too distracted by the compliments, but...Atem really sounds like he means it. He probably does mean it.

Ryou can't help but smile just because of it. It's a soft, genuine smile. Atem probably knows the difference at this point between a real one and a slightly dishonest one...and this one's full of heart!]

Ah...that's, um. That's really nice of you to say.

[He flips a card--and it's a queen. Oh thank god a distraction!]

Well...that's pretty early on. Good luck.

[He flips over his own card, and seems about to say something--

--but it's a king.

Atem's hand shoots out to cover the pile.]

Ah--

[Ryou...is nowhere near fast enough on the uptake. He kind of just watches that happen with wide-eyed surprise.

...And then he pouts. But only a little.]

That's one to you. Let's see if you can get more than about 10 percent of the deck next time, shall we?

[Friendly trash talk! That wasn't very much at all, do better next time, nyeh!

...Don't worry about how he knew the math.

Ryou flips a fresh card once the pile has been cleared, while keeping in mind that Atem now has at least two face cards to his name. Hopefully the split in the deck is fair, because two out of a possible twelve face cards plus the four aces can't all be in his half.]

Edited (//buffs out some dumb shit, resends) 2021-10-22 06:57 (UTC)

IC Inbox | ryslig

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cw animal cruelty ment in meta

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WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, WhiteWizard. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 007.80.751.19 * WhiteWizard has joined 007.80.751.19 <WhiteWizard> Hello, this is Ryou Bakura! <WhiteWizard> Feel free to reach out to me if you need anything. :) <WhiteWizard>** I will get back to you as soon as possible.