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[gothicgambit]

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[knifemonopoly]

[A small, dark smile floats across his face as she mentions his very dear roommate.]

You're right, he doesn't.

[He doesn't mention that things have been a little bit weird lately, that he's feeling flickers of concern about Ryou already, and that he wasn't going to add to Ryou's worries and either risk interruption or make Ryou feel guilty for not interrupting it by telling him.]

Message Annie Dyer. She'll come get me.

[But he's sure, confident, it won't come to that. He splits the chips and slides hers across the table.

It's clear enough she hasn't been home, but she's staying somewhere she can keep clean and get her clothes clean. Is she fighting with Komaeda too, then? She was quick to mention Horatio. She might still be in the building, just not where the rest of them are -- she didn't mention anyone else or any other location, and didn't seem undecided for an instant.]

Any house rules? Or shall we keep this strictly Lucky-style?

[gothicgambit]

[Hm, so many threads to pull on. Annie Dyer is a name she hasn't heard too many times, and Ryou doesn't know... There's a wealth of meaning in that smile, and because Celeste is in a poor mood to say the least, she pushes.]

Lucky-style is fine. Has something happened between you and Ryou-kun? Or are you just being overly noble, as is your want?

[Celeste plays with words as much as cards, that's what makes her near unbeatable. Find the weak point, and exploit it.

For a moment, she wonders if this game may very well ruin their friendship. Well, she's ruined everything else, why should this treasured understanding with Atem be spared? She uncrosses and then recrosses her legs.]

[knifemonopoly]

[Heheheh, so, she's going on the offensive. He leans forward, raising a finger:]

I'm fair! I'm not noble. Ante up.

[He puts a chip in the middle of the table, and once she responds, he'll deal out the cards for the first hand.]

I'm sparing him a difficult decision! Interrupt, and show me that he doesn't trust me...or let this happen, and agonize about the danger I've put myself in. Wouldn't you do the same?

[He picks his cards up, glances at them, then sets them down.]

Though, I presume that's not what's happening with your roommates...

[gothicgambit]

[Her eyes narrow momentarily, and her lips tick in a more real smile at the protest. She elegantly tosses a chip forward between her two shortened claws. She would do the same, of course, but for vastly different reasons. And she has one more jab, if she can just nail the bluff-]

You are a mother hen, is what you are. I've never seen you so fussy as when your poor Ryou-dear is in trouble. If it wasn't for whatever is happening between you and Komaeda-san, I would think your relationship is far more than roommates.

[Because Komaeda and Atem kept staring at each other when they thought no one was looking. Even if Komaeda also had some weird shit happening with Lila who could do better that didn't mean he wasn't pining. The sulk he'd gone into before the joint-birthday party had given her plenty of ammo.

Her eyes are diverted toward her cards when Atem returns fire, mentioning her roommates. The rush of feeling when she even thinks about Mukuro brings an embarrassed push to her heartbeat. If he's hungry enough, he might sense the way the back of her neck has flushed, but her face stays carefully blank and empty.]

No, but I imagine my relationship with Mukuro is rather different, is it not? I am hardly so overprotective.

[knifemonopoly]

[His brows crease, trying to figure out what she's getting at. She hasn't seen us together since before the trees got me...she couldn't have guessed...

--and then she brings up Komaeda, and Atem laughs.]

There's nothing happening between me and Komaeda, either!

[It sounds for all the world like he's fine with that. Komaeda and Lila are going to date, and they'll be happy, and Atem's happy for them, and isn't lonely at all!

He pushes two chips across the table.]

But you're right about the other part. Your relationship with Mukuro...she lied to you. She broke your trust! That's not the kind of relationship you want to have, with the person you live with.

[gothicgambit]

[Hm.. she doesn't quite believe him about Komaeda. But she's not sure if pushing would bring her any benefit. But perhaps if she circles back around. She pushes four chips into the center of the table in turn, intending to ask about Ryou-

Her eyes had been on his, unwavering, until he speaks again, and they drop to her hands. She freezes momentarily, of course he brings it up, of course. It's what she would do.]

You told me once.. In your world you played shadow games and punished those who committed crimes against others.

[She tucks her hand back, into her lap, while her heart beats a disturbed, upset rhythm. An angry cadence a dissonance in the dance.]

Leave our business to me.

[knifemonopoly]

[He'll meet her bet; two more chips. They'll both bet four on this hand.

He discards two cards, draws two more.]

Of course. I wouldn't trespass where I don't belong! I don't know everything about your situation; you're the one who should pass judgment.

...

[The poker face drops a moment, though it has nothing to do with his hand of cards.]

But I'd support you, if you let me know how I could.

I staked my soul on the possibility that you'd come here to play, so that I could see for myself if...it would be necessary.

Call.

[He doesn't raise the bet, leaving it at four chips each. This is the last betting round, they'll show their hands soon...which is, what he's doing right now.]

[gothicgambit]

[He. He would support her? Even she doesn't fully support her, or what she's done. Somehow, that shakes her more than anything. Why...]

Do not make promises like that, Atem, I shall certainly make you regret it. [It's said on another smile, the only warning she can give. He would only get hurt caring about a person like her.

But she doesn't want him going after Mukuro.]

It isn't necessary, I can quite easily handle it myself.

[She shows her cards as well, two of a kind, she'd admittedly been more focused on the conversation than the hand. Weak.]

[knifemonopoly]

I can see that!

[That his intervention isn't necessary, she isn't in a situation that's immediately unsafe.

He flips over his own hand. Three of a kind. Not the full house he was looking for, but both their hearts are on other matters, so neither opening hand is particularly strong. Atem scoops the chips over to his side, then passes the deck to Celeste; they're take turns dealing.]

But to say something like that...do you feel like you need to protect me from Mukuro, or from yourself?

[Because that's what she's doing, by warning him off, isn't it?]

[gothicgambit]

[Celeste takes the deck, shuffling it quickly and business-like. Her hands slow ever-so slightly at the question.]

I'm not certain you need protection from anything, now do you?

[Well, she's not going to bother warning him again. It would be far too telling to answer his question...
She stacks the deck in her favor. Quickly, and efficiently without the slightest tell that's what she's doing. Now to circle back like she'd intended.]

Though Ryou-kun might need protecting from you.

[knifemonopoly]

[He'd argue that, yes. He would, if she didn't go on to the topic that she chooses.

(He doesn't catch the deck-stacking; she's very, very good at what she does.)]

If you're implying something, Celeste, you'd better come out and say it!

[gothicgambit]

[She deals each of them their next hand, certain she'll have a good round, barring him pulling luck above skill. His immediate guard, the hesitance and warning in his voice makes her just a little nervous, and so she laughs - that cold giggle that makes a chill run up spines.]

Well, Ryou-kun is such a sweet thing. Watching you two chase each other around is adorable, but it does make me wonder...

[She places her elbows on the table, and her chin atop her hands]

Are you just playing with your food? Because I'll admit I'm tempted to take a crack at him myself.

[And when she smiles, for once it's with teeth, cruelty glittering in her eyes to leave no doubt about what she means. She thinks Atem is planning on hurting Ryou on purpose, and if he doesn't... she will.]

[knifemonopoly]

[He pulls his cards off the table, and, huh...this is a really terrible hand. Can he bluff his way out of this one?

And then she distracts him. He goes still. It's clearly meant to be a distraction, obviously intended to unsettle him, but that smile, combined with those words...what precisely is it that she means? Obviously, it's a threat, but....]

What, precisely, are you implying your intentions are? Are you threatening to eat him alive literally or figuratively?

[They're monsters. They have to ask.

......also how did she know he bit Ryou, she wasn't there, what the hell, Celeste.]

[gothicgambit]

[Don't you know? I'm psychic
She giggles humorlessly again - aw, that was almost cute.]

Figuratively, dear.

[She says with the tone do keep up and leans back, crossing one leg over the other and tossing a single chip into the pile, to get things started.]

Unless you have more literal intentions? I wasn't aware you were into that sort of thing, though that might come with some of your- [she motions to his outfit] aesthetic?

[knifemonopoly]

I see.

[is that why her hair's so big, it's full of secrets

He throws a chip of his own into the pile, his face carefully blank, a smile tugging up at the corners of his mouth. But, hey, is that a slightly shadowy cast to the parts of his body that, in a living person, usually have the most visible cutaneous capillaries? He's totally bitten Ryou Bakura -- only days ago.]

Well, if you want to romance him, I won't have a problem with it. He really is just my roommate, and of course, I want to see him happy...

[gothicgambit]

[Aaand he's fallen right into her little trap. She trades one card to the side and grabs another, and tosses in another two chips.]

Noble. [she chides, lips turning upward. Now to twist the knife he's so politely poised over his heart-]

You're cute. But I don't want to romance him, I want to break him.

[knifemonopoly]

[He does not discard yet.

His eyes flick up to her. His tone is light, but his smile is gone.]

Why? He's done nothing to you to deserve it.

[Right? Unless something else is going on? Ryou does have a history of being possessed. Is there trouble?]

[gothicgambit]

[She smiles again this time with lips closed and cynical eyes half-lidded in a predator's smile. And her heartbeat has gone calm, calm, calm at this particular gambit. She always did play cruel-]

No, he hasn't. You've never had the urge? When someone is so very innocent?

[knifemonopoly]

Never.

[Now he discards his cards; three, then draws three more. It's a bad hand, just a high card, a queen.

He folds.]

[gothicgambit]

[Her head tilts as he folds, hm, perhaps she'd stacked it too well that time. Fortune does not always favor the bold. She slides the very few chips back to her side and hands the cards over.

While they pass them off, she smiles again. Now more cruelty then grin.]

Really? It's quite entertaining. Perhaps I shall have to lead by example, and Ryou can be practice.

[knifemonopoly]

[It feels like fire is flickering under Atem's skin when she calls Ryou practice. He likes Celeste, cares about Celeste, would support and protect and help her as much as she needed, and he'd thought he understood Celeste, at least enough, but what she's saying is pulling on something fierce and fundamental to who he is. He'll kill before he sees a friend hurt the way she's implying.

Part of him still doesn't know how much of this is a lie, is part of the game, is her trying to fuck with him by threatening what she cares about. But he does know that he won't allow it, and that she should know he won't allow it.]

It's a frequent pastime of yours, then? Destroying a person's heart?

[Five chips in this time. The warm-up rounds are over. The cards slide smoothly over the table, five for her, five for him.]

How do you do it?

[Since. She's. Offering. To. Demonstrate.]

[gothicgambit]

[She glances at her cards and just giggles, smile tight-lipped at his first question. Clawed fingers slide seven chips across the table to raise the bet. The anger, the jealousy that she feels at times, when she thinks about people like Yugi and Naegi and Ryou, who make friends so easily because they're so capable of being 'kind'. It comes in an unexpected wave.]

Do you really want to know?

[She says, instead. Letting that simmer between them.]

Or are you asking to try and dissuade me from your precious Ryou?

[knifemonopoly]

[He glances at his cards, and makes it ten.]

There are as many ways to break a heart as there are variations on poker!

[His voice is smooth, but there's a buzzing in his brain, an echo of a flickering dark, an empty space in his mind that used to whisper to him what justice was, what would balance the scales.]

When you see someone innocent, who you want to crush...

[If she wants to be punished--]

--what are your house rules, Celeste?

[--for what she's done--]

Go on!

[--she's come to the right table.]

Tell me how you play.

cw: suicide ideation

[gothicgambit]

[Well, she had wanted him to threaten her. Celeste had pushed and goaded so he would take this as seriously as possible, and perhaps because what could be more tempting to her then the siren's call of a temporary death at the hands of a friend?]

Hm, I suppose you do want to know.

[She tips a poker chip back and forth between her fingers, before sliding twenty into the pot, making it almost all her chips in the center.]

Then, Atem-dear, I shall do you one better, should I leave this table, I'll show you.

[knifemonopoly]

[There's a mania behind his eyes, a madness, one he's been pushed into less and less since March, but which still lurks when he plays for lives, plays for souls. Threatening a friend...playing a game for their happiness...this knife-edge feeling is like an old friend.]

Celeste, I'm disappointed in you! Raising the stakes in the middle of the game is fine, but you can't expect me to risk Ryou's heart without something of yours on the table in return!

[Twenty chips it is. And the right to walk away from the table. And Ryou. And...?]