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[waitingforplayer2]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, CHIAKI NANAMI.

FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

*** galagamer has joined XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
<galagamer> This is Chiaki Nanami.
<galagamer> I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

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action, late May, around carnival time

[knifemonopoly]

[Atem smells it when Nanami comes home.

He's normally not that attuned to his neighbors, even the ones next door. But this time, Atem smells something different.

He smells blood, and the aftermath of fear.

So, he doesn't even go to the door. He knocks on one of the shared walls, instead.]

Yo! Nanami! You okay?

[waitingforplayer2]

[ She's on edge already, tired and disoriented. Though she jumps instantly on hearing the voice, it takes her a minute to figure out where it's coming from. She leans close to the wall and frowns, wincing as her tentacles brush up against the stumps of her missing ones. ]

Is that... Atem-san?

[knifemonopoly]

Yeah! We're neighbors!

[For her, he'll repeat himself. Once again, he calls through the wall:]

I smell blood over there. Smells like yours! You okay?

[waitingforplayer2]

[ Right! She knew that, logically, but it hadn't really registered until now for some reason. ]

It's mine. [ She thinks? She doesn't think Red got bloody, and none of the human viscera was splashed onto Nanami... so yeah, it's probably all hers. ]

Hinata-kun bandaged me up. [ It takes another moment before she realizes how bad that sounds. ] I-I'm okay.

[ Is she? ]

[knifemonopoly]

[Ah, she's gotten first aid...that's good, at least, that's once concern cleared up.]

Lucky it happened during a fog...you'll heal up quicker than you would have on a clear day!

[The other concern is:]

What happened?

[Even though it's a concern, Atem's tone is breezy: it's okay, if she doesn't want his help.]

[waitingforplayer2]

[ She's quiet for a long time.

Because she didn't really tell Hinata, even though it was probably pretty clear. She doesn't want the word getting out on this. Not for her sake, but for Red's.

So, sooner than she'd expected, she has to figure out her story. ]

I got-- hurt at the carnival. [ Bits of the truth, hesitantly. ] I messed up, and-- that's what happened. I know better now, I-- think.

[ The small ache in her belly is enough to remind her of that... she swallows. ] That's all.

[knifemonopoly]

[....

It's his turn to be quiet.

He's heard this kind of thing before. Grandpa had heard this kind of thing before.

It reminds him so much...of someone who doesn't want someone else to get in trouble, even if they're the one that's hurt...

When he speaks through the wall again, it's not to pry. It's not to demand the truth, to know who did it, or why Nanami's protecting them.]

Want to play a game?

[waitingforplayer2]

[ That gets her energy back up, at least. A bit of cautious relief. ]

Mm! What kind of game?

[ That's the sort of thing that's hard for her to turn down, even if she wanted to. ]

[knifemonopoly]

That depends! I've got a lot of games, but I don't know what you're up to, with your injury...

...

[He hasn't been to 804 in weeks.

Should he...?]

I'm coming over.

[If her ears are keen, she'll hear his door open and shut...and then a knock on her own.]

[waitingforplayer2]

[ It's still weird how well she can hear now. She likes it better when things are quieter, and she's able to pick out particular sounds, including Atem making his way over to her apartment.

Even with her injuries, even with Hinata's insistence that she rest, Nanami jumps to her feet and hurries to the door, opening it for him as he knocks.

She looks both more tired and more jumpy than usual, her head-tentacles less active and more slumped against her head. Every time one of them touches the stumps, she winces. But the two stumps on the left side of her head are heavily bandaged, and her right arm is in a homemade splint. ]

Come in!

[knifemonopoly]

Thank...

[He looks at her, in the doorway, in the apartment where Yugi used to live. Where Yugi had held him by the hand

(told him "you can just be better")

when he'd been trying to make sense of his terrible mistakes

(but he can't be better than who he is)

told him he was enough how he was

(but he wasn't)

and sees it frame Nanami, instead.]

Thank you.

[Like a snap of a piece into place, like a recalibration of his understood reality...he understands, really understands, that 804 isn't empty anymore.

And the person who's here...belongs here. It's okay, that it isn't empty.]

I don't need to be asked in anymore...but it's always better to have the invitation! Anyway...

[He takes in how she looks.]

Looks like it's got to be a one-handed game. Right?

[waitingforplayer2]

[ She tilts her head while she looks at him, her head-tentacles wriggling curiously - wince - and she gives an embarrassed laugh at his question. ]

I guess so! But I still think it'll be okay!

[ She's good at games, even one-handed. She steps aside to let him in. Then she's going into the kitchen to put a kettle on. ]

I borrowed some from Insert Coin to play with Ken-chan, but I returned most of them... what would you like to play?

[ The living room is fairly sparse, but there's a soft rug and a couch and comfy chair at least, plus a little table for games - a chessboard, a couple decks of cards. The door to Nanami's bedroom stands open from when she ran to let Atem in - the bedroom is also sparse. She doesn't spend much time here. ]

[knifemonopoly]

[He steps inside. It smells different...it's been two months, and it's been cleaned, so the smell of Yugi is almost gone.

Almost.

He can catch just a little bit of what the bedroom above the Kame game shop smelled like, under the scent of octopus and tea and fresh-card-pack.]

You know, the person who lived here before you had something of a collection...I've been looking after it, since he disappeared.

But it's been sitting in storage...he wouldn't have liked that. He'd want them to be played.

[Atem's positive of that. He hasn't shared then with anybody, yet, not even Ryou, but...]

I'm pretty sure at least a few can be played one-handed. Why don't I go get it, and you can pick one from what's there? He had good taste...they're all pretty fun.

[waitingforplayer2]

He did? [ She pokes her head out of the kitchen to look at him with wide eyes. ] Yeah, yeah! That sounds like fun, I'd love that!

[ She finishes preparing the tea while Atem's away, and she's got two mugs at the table by the time he returns. ]

Did the person who lived here before really play a lot of games, too...?

[knifemonopoly]

[He's back with a stack of games in his arms almost as high as his head -- his canine chin's pressing down on the top of the pile to keep it steady. The boxes are all sizes, all colors, and he'll set it gently on the table.]

He certainly did! His grandfather ran a game shop, so he knew a lot about different kinds of games...

[He picks up the tea mug. Nanami's free to explore the collection: board games, card games, dice games, games of chance, strategy games, dexterity challenges, puzzles...things for one player, two, or more.]

If there's nothing here that looks fun, I've got a small collection of my own. Most of them were gifts from friends...

[waitingforplayer2]

That sounds like a nice place to grow up... [ Her eyes are wide as she stares at the stack of games, slowly running her finger down the stack of them as she reads the names. ]

They all look fun! [ This is a hard choice. She sets aside a puzzle that looks interesting, but probably isn't as fun for two people... and ends up pulling out a strategy game, a name she doesn't recognize, a game that looks colorful and intriguing. ]

This one, but I want to try all of these, I don't recognize some of them.

[knifemonopoly]

Okay!

[He'll open the box, spread the game pieces out, and start setting them up. She's got one arm -- it's only polite! The movements are deft -- this guy's minmaxed for DEX, even with werewolf claws in his way.]

Ryslig's got games I don't know, either...some are unique to this world, and some are kind of like other games, from different places and times...monsters from different worlds than me recognize them.

[Up up up the pieces go, dealt like a hand of cards in a casino. He passes the rulebook to Nanami, to let her read it for herself.]

[waitingforplayer2]

[ She speed-reads through the rules, quickly getting the hang of it, noting the rules unique to this game and what's familiar to her. By the time she's put them down, watching Atem get out the colorful pieces, she's already thinking about strategies. ]

Mm, I recognize a lot of them, especially at the arcade... but there's some that are new.

[ It's a strange life, to be an octo and a jackal playing a game she's never heard of in a sunny apartment room, but not a bad one, she doesn't think, as she starts by taking her turn. ]

But I like pretty much all games, even bad ones.

[knifemonopoly]

What would you say makes a bad game?

[The tone is conversational, idle, kicking around ideas with someone like-minded. The last few pieces are put in place just after he asks: Atem's picked the darkest color to represent himself, a set of pieces of deep indigo.]

[waitingforplayer2]

[ Her color is a lighter pink, to contrast. But it's an interesting question, and she thinks about it for a little while. They're a couple of turns into the game before she finally answers. ]

I think I would start with a game where I'm not having fun, but that doesn't really seem to be right, because some games aren't fun but they're still interesting. So I think actually, a bad game would be something that isn't interesting any more. Like how in Monopoly you'll know who wins really early on, or if there was a game where no matter what you did, you couldn't change anything and the story wasn't interesting.

[ Hmm, she looks at the stack of games but also remembers some of hers from back home and also the arcade's collection. ] I don't think not being able to change the game yourself makes it bad, exactly, because Candy Land is still really fun... but sometimes I'm just not really getting anything out of a game anymore. I'd still play it, though.

[ She brightens, sitting back to wait for him to take his turn. ] Hojo-san actually taught me how to make Monopoly interesting again, though! It's kind of like cheating and kind of like adding new rules, and I guess those can be sort of the same thing sometimes.

[knifemonopoly]

[He nods, taking in her opinions, giving them as much consideration as his turns in the strategy game.

A game that's not fun...that's not interesting...that you aren't getting anything out of anymore, and the outcome is set in stone and unchangeable. Those are good parameters for a "bad" game. He gives a nod, making a good move on his turn, then says, with his chin resting playfully on his hand:]

It's only "cheating" if the new rules aren't agreed on by all players! But what kinds of things can you do to make Monopoly interesting again, when it seems like it's already been decided?

[waitingforplayer2]

[ Oh interesting. So he is practiced at this. She stares at the board, thinking for a while, both about her move and about how to answer. ]

You can make it so that the game is only one step in what you're actually playing. [ Takes another turn, and leans back, imagining it. ] Maybe the game you're actually playing is to see which of your friends is better at lying, and you all keep all of your moves secret and have to guess what you're doing. Maybe the game you're actually playing is to make somebody else get Monopoly instead, so everybody's trying to avoid it.

[ She suddenly sits back up, inspired. ] Or!! Maybe there's an entire secret underground black market, and you have to do all your deals there before you can move up top-- or even go on a dungeon quest-- you could bring Dungeons and Dragons into it too! You could combine games!

[knifemonopoly]

[A smile starts to tug at his face. Extra rules...from reverse-Monopoly to an underground black market, it's all interesting, and it all sounds...]

...that does sound like fun.

I suppose it would depend on who you were playing with...what kind of game changes they'd enjoy the most. After all, dungeon quests aren't everybody's favorite, but I know a few who'd like it a lot.

[waitingforplayer2]

And that's where you come into play, I think!

[ She looks over the board at him, grinning with sharp teeth. ] That's how you design Shadow Games, so I think you'd be able to look at players and figure out what type of game changes would be most interesting to them. Maybe even while they're playing!

[knifemonopoly]

That's right. People's tastes in games are as unique as their important goals...what someone else likes, what someone else wants, won't be the same as you. That's something to remember in Ryslig, as well...

[He shifts one piece, then another, his tone turning thoughtful.]

What would make me happiest isn't what might make you happiest. That's why I'm not going to try to find out what really happened to your arm, or your head, in order to get even for it...because that would be for me, and not for you. If what you wanted was revenge, you have the power to take it, and I'd assist you as much as you wanted! But if it isn't, and you want to protect that person...then, hurting them would only be hurting you, and I don't want that.

[One last placement, finishing off his turn.]

So, if not talking about it ever becomes more painful than talking about it would be...it's okay, to talk to me.

[It's safe, he means, for her and for the person who attacked her.

But it's fine if she doesn't, too. They're in the middle of a game, and it'll be easy to change the subject. This is an ongoing offer, a continuous spell effect that won't be removed from the field.]