finalmix: (Default)
joshua "miss bitch" kiryu ([personal profile] finalmix) wrote in [community profile] linkingup2024-10-03 07:22 am

shawarma time

[ some time after Atem's palace when everyone has had the time to get back from braphine's temple, and more importantly get that sand out of your everything (and enjoy NOT 40 degree Celsius weather)

everyone who was in Atem's palace will find themselves suddenly added to a group chat by joshua and he just sends a singular address

it's the address to a shawarma place that somehow magically has a big enough table to fit 14 people. amazing. we love fluid locations like this.

post palace dinner, y'all know the drill ]
beathollow: (CA. 007)

[personal profile] beathollow 2024-10-03 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
...

( mafuyu stands, circling around the table just enough to pull him into a gentle, almost protective hug where he sits. lets him listen to her heartbeat, steady and even. its as if she's trying to shield him from himself. )
metagame: (16)

[personal profile] metagame 2024-10-03 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh... This is nice. She's soft and warm... But also this is really awkward for him. He understands her gesture so he's not pushing her away. But he also isn't quite sure what to do?

Does he hug her back? Pat her on the back? Uh.

Now he wishes he could just hide in the Millennium Puzzle again.

He measures all his available responses, and settles for a stiff pat on her upper back with one hand. Pat. Pat.
]

I'm fine, Mafuyu.
beathollow: (L3D. 033)

[personal profile] beathollow 2024-10-03 11:51 pm (UTC)(link)
No, you're not.

( but she lets go and retakes her seat, freeing him from the awkward hell of being cared for. )

But you also don't have to be.
metagame: (Default)

[personal profile] metagame 2024-10-04 12:19 am (UTC)(link)
[Don't call him out like that.

Why does everyone in this restaurant have it out for him?
]

What about you?

[REVERSE CARD OPEN]

You've been through way more than I have the past few days... Do you want to talk more about what you experienced? You said a Shadow version of your mother took over...?
beathollow: (L2D. 015)

[personal profile] beathollow 2024-10-04 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
( ... it's- a struggle to get through the words, but. maybe he needs this. so she tries, speaking softly and pausing or stammering maybe more times than i care to type out. )

... My mother back home is incredibly controlling- she's manipulative and charming, so she gets away with it as she's never turned violent and can explain herself "properly", and uses this to keep Dad at work all the time, too- so she can have free reign.

All of my life she's isolated me from anyone and everyone she could while also raising me up as a pillar in the community. No one was good enough to be a friend, only a follower- and she was so smooth about it, everyone fell into place as she wanted.

Up until my friends online.

Within my palace, shadows took on forms of others, yes? The one that took on the form of my mother... was really in character. She took over as "the Queen" and even while possessed, I was so terrified that I tried escaping on my own. I almost got to the group even, before she pulled me back.
Edited 2024-10-04 00:26 (UTC)
metagame: (Default)

[personal profile] metagame 2024-10-04 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
[He listens as she speaks, his brow furrowed.]

I had a theory that palaces were manifestations of our ib--- our hearts--- in Nekyia. That yours manifested a metaphysical version of your mother is quite... alarming to say the least. That her presence still haunts you even though she isn't here. Mafuyu, are you afraid she'll take you away?

[What kind of pressure is she under back in her world..?]
beathollow: (CA. 027)

[personal profile] beathollow 2024-10-04 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
That forest wasn't my heart, I know how it looks.

... But, is it fear if it's fact? Every potential friend I had, every club or committee... she's cut them off, turned us apart. She used my computer to stalk my friends. Before we arrived here, I was certain she was about to hurt me, so I had to run away. She-

... Within the palace, she wanted to "fix" me. It... hurt. I felt less like a person and more like a broken marionette. And then I was.
metagame: (Default)

[personal profile] metagame 2024-10-05 12:49 am (UTC)(link)
[Knows how it looks, huh? ... Atem knows what his looks like, too. It didn't exactly look like his Palace. Not really. Hmmm... that theory is busted.]

Unless she learns how to travel the multiverse or Lady Braphine summons her, you're safe here.
beathollow: (L2D. 019)

[personal profile] beathollow 2024-10-05 12:52 am (UTC)(link)
Which is why I want to stay, or... at least go with one of the people here. But- I can't leave them behind, either. My friends.

Those palaces... They're not our hearts. They're our troubles, and what would draw out the most aggression out of us. They're traps.
metagame: (I am good at emotion.)

[personal profile] metagame 2024-10-05 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
[He nudges his falafel back where they belong in his pita pocket again. Probably should eat it before the sauce makes it more mushy... His appetite just isn't there.

Instead he mulls over what Mafuyu says to him.
]

Traps...

You know, you're right. They are our troubles, but that in turn is also a reflection of our hearts. The parts of us we'd rather bury... The damage your mother did is, unfortunately, a part of you. I wish it wasn't. I'm certain others feel the same for you.

[He thinks of Kaiba--- the pressure he went through is startling similar to Mafuyu's. The need to be perfect. Isolated from any potential friends and even his own younger brother. And that... that ended in...

Patricide.
]

After this ends... You need to get away from her.

No matter what. If that's staying here or traveling to a different world... I'm certain your friends will understand.
beathollow: (CA. 006)

[personal profile] beathollow 2024-10-05 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
... I know.

( deep down, she knows that she can't go back to shibuya. she just wishes the girls could come with her. )

What about you? What waits after the end of this?
metagame: (Default)

[personal profile] metagame 2024-10-05 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
[Hoo boy.]

I'll return to where I belong in the Field of Reeds.

[He avoids looking at her as he says it.]
beathollow: (L2D. 042)

[personal profile] beathollow 2024-10-05 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
...

( she was tragically not the egypt kid growing up. but he sounds... sad? reluctant? she's not sure. )

... You don't sound too eager.
metagame: (Default)

[personal profile] metagame 2024-10-05 04:31 am (UTC)(link)
Mm.

[He chews on his lower lip before he answers.]

No... I wouldn't say I'm not eager. My father... My friends... they're all waiting for me. It's supposed to be paradise.

[Y'know... the afterlife...]

And I do want to go back.

[His stare is boring a hole through his pita now.]

Only... it's nice to be alive again--- especially as myself. Not as another person.

[He gestures his hand for emphasis.]

I enjoyed being Yugi's other self! But... he's not me; I'm not him.
beathollow: (CA. 023)

[personal profile] beathollow 2024-10-05 04:33 am (UTC)(link)
... What will happen if you don't go, then?
metagame: (Default)

[personal profile] metagame 2024-10-05 04:42 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not sure actually... Cosmic collapse for my universe? And I doubt the gods would be pleased with me.

[He'd rather not piss them off again.]

Trust me... I'm already on their short list...

I'm not even sure how Lady Braphine managed to bring me here in the first place--- the contract she'd have to write would have had to been ironclad.
beathollow: (L3D. 045)

[personal profile] beathollow 2024-10-05 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, that does sound severe. ... But at the same time, it doesn't sound like you're ready for what's supposed to be paradise...
metagame: (Default)

[personal profile] metagame 2024-10-05 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
Is anyone ever really ready to die?

[He leans his elbows on the table.]

Or, as I suppose in my case, return to being dead.
beathollow: (L3D. 026)

[personal profile] beathollow 2024-10-05 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask that. ... I just...

( she pauses to collect her thoughts. )

I don't feel as if it's right to send you somewhere you aren't ready to return to. And I don't think it's fair of anyone, god or not, to hold it over your head.
metagame: (Default)

[personal profile] metagame 2024-10-05 05:37 am (UTC)(link)
You're a very kind person, Mafuyu.

I'll give it some thought, ok?
beathollow: (OA. 006)

[personal profile] beathollow 2024-10-05 02:43 pm (UTC)(link)
That's all I ask.