softspokenlandlord | IC Inbox

[ Sometimes ya just gotta go someplace peaceful and chill out for a bit. Like the small park Ryou's found! It's a bit of nature in a quieter corner of Baven, some trees picturesquely growing around a small pond. On one side of the pond is a bench, on another is a cute little gazebo. The pond tends to attract various water-loving birds on and off. It's all very relaxing.

Also sometimes, the last voice ya wanna hear is just suddenly there. ]

...Hey.

[ That is definitely the Ring-Spirit's voice! If Ryou looks around though, there's only a few birds about. Normal birds, no harpies. On a related note, normal swans? Fuckin huge.

There's one not too far away that's looking over towards Ryou. Surely unimportant. ]

You... tch, how are. you... holding up...?

[ The Ring-Spirit says this like it's something he heard on tv once. how are you doing, fellow persons,

Also, the voice is syncing awful well with that swan's inquisitive head tilt. Less-surely unimportant... ]

Edited (I thought of a thing to add,,) 2021-03-14 01:02 (UTC)

Hey. Last week was pretty weird! Did you make it back OK?

[ It's not until the 30th that the Ring-Spirit is 1-aware enough, 2-able to type comprehensibly, and finally 3-lost hope of finding Ryou in-person. He's been looking for... at least a few days? He's vague on the length of time. However long he's been looking, he hasn't been able to locate his former landlord and faux-cousin. Bavan's a big city, and shades are well-suited to staying out of sight. He knows Ryou's network handle... so the Ring-Spirit sends a message, hoping he'll get something. ]

Ryou, are you still here.

would you tell me if you were.

[ He's not feeling very optimistic about that, to be honest. ]

it's the spirit. from the Ring.

are you here.

[ There are many reasons he might not get an answer, but... one of them is Ryou didn't survive the trip back. Sometimes the Fog loses her grip on them. Sometimes they slip back into the Sea of Stars.

Ryou might not be anywhere reachable. ]

sorry.

I know it's late but I figure you might be up. I have a dumb problem/complaint. My place is too quiet. Also I think a bear wrecked my living room when I was on the run from weird puppet forest creatures.

[Oh boy. Oh boy oh boy. OH BO-]

Ryou, do you have time to visit at all? I want to talk about something but I think it might be better in person.

[With comfort animals a-plenty.]

As he'd said, Horatio has no intention of giving Atem time to prepare like a proper co-host. He knows that Celeste doesn't care about how their game ended, but ... Horatio thinks the whole thing was pretty dumb of both of them, and inconveniencing Atem in this small, mostly insignificant way is a safe way to get a little payback without showing a hand that he, himself, is still largely unaware of. Dolores made a parting remark at him on his way out the door about being a petty, jealous little bitch, but really, who even listened to her?

He knocked on their door, then let himself in a few seconds later.

"So. The apocalypse thing."

[ After dark one night, when Atem happens to be occupied elsewhere with Kaiba-schemes, there is knocking on one of the windows in apartment 806.

????

Just to reiterate: this is the fuckin eighth floor,,, ]

[He doesn't know how much time he spent on that table. Being blind and immobile made Atem lose his day count; he knew their time in the dollhouse would end, and knew it had to be soon, but he'd been a prisoner in his own body, and aside from a visit from Noa, not much had broken the monotony of his lying-in-state.

He isn't even able to see it, when the starfield outside the windows peels away like paint -- but he does feel it when his body goes back to normal, when "opening his eyes" becomes a thing he can do again.

He sits bolt upright in the living-room blanket pile. Atem's eyes are wide, and his hand flies to his own heart -- beating again, not dead -- and he gasps for air, gulping in his breaths.

He's back. The fog is clear. Early-morning sunlight is shining through the window. It's over.

The light catches on the marble eyes of the little wooden doll, set up in one of the chairs. Atem shoots it a dirty look. He's not sure if this NPC is one who can be caught, if Atem will be able to make good on his threats. He'll need to look into that. But first, Atem's got more immediate priorities.]

Ryou?

[He's not in the room with Atem -- is he in his own room? Atem rolls himself over and heads for Ryou's door. If Atem is back and the fog's gone, everyone else should be back, too.

He just opens Ryou's door. Doesn't even bother knocking. Ryou's room has been zoned for Atem naps for weeks now, so if it's not locked, he's coming in.]

Ryou! Are you--

[They sleep all day. Like, all day. Atem wakes up sometimes, sees that Ryou's still asleep, checks the time, considers the question of vengeance, and then decides to put it off for a few more hours' shuteye. It can wait until evening, until Ryou's rested, until he's rested. So, he doesn't leave. Atem stays, drifts off again, occasionally having dreams intense enough to make his snakes move and leave him mumbling unintelligibly, but mostly snoozing peacefully, until Ryou wakes up.]

ryou

remember how you were talking in july about the possibility of getting a pet

how would you feel about us fostering a baby lion

[sorry, he can't hold down the shift key, he's typing one-handed because the left hand is for Tybolt scritches]

[That could have gone much better.

After Ryou had taken off to go hunt, once it became clear that the Fog didn't see fit to fix the dehydration like she had with Steve, and this was one of those neat little horror-game quirks where the text at the bottom of the screen is reminding him you can't assume what affects one monster one way will work the same on another!, Atem had let off a stream of curses, generally aimed at the Fog, only some of them translated into whatever shared language they all speak here. They largely run along the lines of eat shit, useless god, and, more creatively, I'm going to tear off your ██████ and shove them up your ████ until no one remembers you ever had ██████, ████ ███ ████, when I'm through with you you'll be a forgotten, ████-███ing, █████-less god so you'll have to ████ sideways. █████.

He's been wound up pretty tight, lately.

But, once that steam's been let off, he's got to decide what to do next.

Rooms are put back in order, from both any angry-shade effects as well as worried but well-meaning harpies with wingspans not meant for indoor spaces. Tybolt, trembling in one of his den-hides, is coaxed back out with meat and also a dose of vampiric eye-contact, helping him accept again that there's nothing to be afraid of. Komaeda's prosthetic arm and Steve's preserved heart are put away out of sight, both taken from Fabius's lab and awaiting return to...well, an owner.

What's even left? What is there to do, but wait? Atem's tempted to go out, but the Ring-Spirit's right, leaving Ryou alone right now is probably not the best idea, like not throwing himself up into the mountains or flying as far into the sea as he can get to test the fence and maybe get Yugi out even if it costs him his last freebie life isn't the best idea, like not making sure another body's found with its ribcage open and its heart gone isn't the best idea, like not seeing what's going on with that Black Hat-Handsome Jack murderpark's not the best idea. At least Marik's up for scouting the arrival zone alone.

He fidgets, paces. Re-soothes the cat. Tells a few people in the building the screaming's done. Wonders how bad this will be.]

Edited 2021-10-05 22:06 (UTC)

Thanks for putting up with me when I was a feral child. Do you want to meet Maribelle at some point this month? btw: she's actually really cute!

[ Late in the evening, a certain harpy comes to a stop outside Atem and Ryou's apartment. He pauses by the door, steeling himself to make this better. Things are horrible and that can't continue over Halloween. For Ryou's sake. He has to be better. He doesn't just owe it to Ryou (although he does that as well); if Ryou truly sees him as family, then... he owes it to Kul Elna too.

He won't abandon his family. Even if he has no idea how to both stand by the village and do right by Ryou, betraying neither of them, he'll make it work. His goals always required that he brute-force reality into meeting his specifications, he's only shifting what the specifications are. He'll figure the new specifications out as he goes. He's always worked like this.

The Ring-Spirit takes a steadying breath, goes to knock on the door - hesitates, but no, he's doing this, and finally gets himself to knock. ]

[That could have gone better, he thinks, opening his eyes on a sandbar for the second time in his life.

But it also could have gone a hell of a lot worse.

Atem doesn't fly home right away, from the sea. He needs to eat, recover his strength, his energy -- and, lucky for him, the bars are just closing as the fog rolls into Vandare. There's an altercation outside one of them; it ends with a gunshot, one soulless body, and one too-drunk woman having her address patiently and painstakingly coaxed from her. She'll wake up safe in her own bed.

The sun's coming up by the time she's settled. Atem takes off out the third-floor window, feathers brushing the dirty sides of the frame uncomfortably, but there's nothing he can do about that -- and, with all the energy he feels he can spare just before a fog, travels too-fast-to-see back to Bavan.

He lands impossibly lightly on 806's fire escape. His clothes are dry by now, but there's sea-salt crusted on them; somehow, he manages to smell like the ocean but nice, instead of dead fish and seagull and sand. Atem still wants to get clean, though. It'll be obvious to any awake, temporarily canine roommates (aware-wolves, if you will) that something unusual has happened: who dunked Atem in the ocean, an ocean that's miles and miles away?]

Edited 2021-11-10 04:15 (UTC)

So what's up with you? You doing okay after the drama?

I'm throwing a party on the 1st. Also did you drink enough water? Still concerned about what I saw on the network. Um. Also thank you for not letting me hide. Sometimes I try to bury myself a bit. You're a good friend, Ryou.

[After dark, Atem sticks his head through the back door, the one that leads out to the fire escape.]

Ryou!

Hey, Ryou!

[Has Ryou slept that stuff off yet? It's been a day and a half....he's got to have rested up by now. Where are you, giant dragon dog boyfriend?]

[ A set of books neatly wrapped in bright paper is left for Ryou. It is a fun looking game Annie saw called Kids On Bikes. It appears to be a light-hearted adventure about being a 10 to 15-year-old on an adventure much in the same line as some popular coming of age movies but with the possibility of some mild supernatural elements.

There's a cute little note written in Annie's spiraling handwriting. ]

I saw this and thought of you. Merry Christmas!

[On the night of December 24 Ryou will find a a neatly wrapped package by his door with a small card that simply reads:]

Happy Nattenfest Ryou,
Altair

[Inside is a nice wooden box with a painted chess set inside. The wooden edge of the chessboard has been painted to look like parchment with faded writing that looks like an ancient spell. The language is in Altair’s native language Siffan and the words tell a hidden story. Thanks to the translation magic Ryou will be able to read it and find fragments of a ghost story from Altair's world, like pieces you might find of a long lost civilization. The wooden board looks old, with a few well placed chips in the wood to add to the weathered look and the pieces are painted to look like bone.]

[Ryou is sweet, soft spoken, and Celeste has no idea what to get for him. Until an epiphany of sorts strikes her.

It takes a few visits to the multiversal museum, but a monster can bypass the security easily enough. And while her own exhibit is near torture to enter, she steels herself and eventually manages it.]

I don't know if this is quite your preference, but I can take an educated guess.

[It's manga! Beautifully illustrated fantasy manga in fact. An entire box-set worth of nearly two dozen volumes, detailing the story of a fantastic set of adventurers on their quest through an entire storytelling land. She even included a few books from a spin off about the character's backstories.

Even if Ryou isn't the comic book type, the story was so him, she couldn't think of anything else.]

[from lila, ryou receives a wide silver cuff bangle. embossed on the inside, where the letters will be tangible against the skin, is a single word: STRENGTH.]

[from giorno, ryou receives a blue leather journal and a book of crosswords of increasing difficulty.]

[Maybe putting a present inside of a puzzle box isn't the best method of gift-giving, but it does make it undeniably something from Yugi. Although the little card attached to it with his name and a set of instructions just in case Ryou needs some help opening his gift does the job just as well. The card also contains a doodle of a smiley-face in the corner, with the message: draw this if you need me right away!

When Ryou does manage to get the box open, he'll find a set of game dice that look rather similar to the ones they both saw during the summer. Hopefully they fit the theme of any upcoming Monster World-esque games, or else fit in with the apartment decor if he'd prefer.]

[Happy Nattensfest! Noa's gift is a modeling kit- clays, tools, and apparently it can be easily fired by baking in an oven- it's a fairly inclusive kit! The christmas card wishes him luck with any endeavors with it, though there's an apology that there isn't too much in the way of color variety. There's also a gift voucher for the source store- for when he runs out. Have fun, Ryou!]

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.

IC Inbox | ryslig

> action!

<Player1> a day or two after Role Reversal_

<GODKING>

<Player1> from the next room over (possibly), so late the night he revives that it's almost morning