#auuuugh time to tag..

[kestralpaw]

[Image ID: a digital drawing of real world Basil from Omori. He is looking forwards at the camera with his eyes closed and his mouth in an open smile. He is holding a bouquet of mostly pink flowers with both hands. Around him are polaroid photos, all of which replicate the current scene, but are drawn with the headspace color palette. End ID.]

some old-ish basil art for the soul

close-ups under the cut

[Image ID: all close-ups of the drawing described above. The first image is of his face, and the second image is of the bouquet. End ID.]

no closeups of the hands. sorry

[spaciebabie]

I can't draw so I have something else to flustered you spacie. E621.net, search, tags: springtrap (fnaf) kogito.

OH ITS PORN I WASNT EXPECTING THAT SDKFHSDFHAJK

[mayoiayasep]

love it when my brain get so envious that seeing a piece of art makes me want to crack my skull open on the wall. /sarc

[symerr]

2 double a batteries coming right up!

[duskier]

sorry I'm like.... obsessed with the idea of gaz just LOVING it when you're all soft and sleepy and clingy in his arms. not just because he gets to enjoy his little gf needy and wrapped around him like a little koala but also because he could do anything to you and you'd be whining and begging for it. there's been countless nights where he's had to mind you sleepily climbing into his lap and nuzzling your face into his neck, hips absentmindedly finding the ridge of his cock through his jeans and grinding until he's chubbing up in his pants. one of his arms is steady around your waist to make sure you dont fall, rubbing gentle circles on you skin to keep you in that dazed and half asleep state. the other one is under your skirt, pushing your panties aside and spreading you open so you're ready to take him and when you do, your head just lolls against his neck as you mumble his name half asleep. he thinks you're so fucking adorable like this while he's rocking into you gently. his cute little sleepy darling <3

AUUUUGH anon you get me, you are in my head, this is my lifeblood, omg,,

I don't read/write this as somno but gonna tag it as that just in case !

Gaz who loves you being sleepy because YES you are a little heat seeker and he is a radiator, a match made in heaven. Loves you being a heat seeker because he loves being physically close to you in any sense of the word. Loves you because you are his needy girl and absolutely loves to give you what you deserve.

You could probably cuddle for hours in that sweet spot between sleepy and horny, lights dim and AC on high while you're comfortable in bed. Get him in his PJ'S just because it's easier to feel his hard on through them- he adores the sweet feeling of holding you close, arms wrapped around you so he can grope at your chest, rocking himself up against your ass. Groans quietly, pretty lashes fluttering shut each time you grind your hips back for him. Neither one of you in a rush, just at a low simmer until finally you're soaking through your underwear and turning around under the covers so you can kiss him.

Gaz pulling away from the kiss and his lips are shiny when he smiles, breathlessly asking, "You ready, love?"

Everything still moving slow, soft, and quiet; the two of you only pulling off what clothes were strictly necessary as you straddle his hips. He takes the time to tuck up the covers over your shoulders to make sure the two of you stay warm while you line his cock up with your hole.

You lazily ride him, letting his length fill you slowly and you even take little breaks whenever your hips tire out or you want to just cuddle- the closest two people can be, him buried inside of you. Heartbeats so close together, him kissing your nose while you scratch gently at his scalp and shoulders- makes him groan in a different way, his body going limp beneath you.

"Gonna kill me angel," He whines, so you lift your hips and sink down on him again to make him gasp and grasp at you.

Tired smiles and hushed giggles, your fingers intertwining as he holds your hands as you pick up the pace.

"Gonna- shit, gonna make me cum like that, angel."

He's warning you- he would let you draw it out as long as you pleased, but maybe you're looking forward to your soon impending nap, maybe you're lost in the way his pretty brown eyes are rolling back in his head, maybe his little moans are getting the better of you- you don't stop riding.

"Yes, yes, ye-es--" His hips flex and buck up into you when he finishes, the both of you panting as you collapse on top of him.

He insisted he get up and clean the two of you off, which makes you whine indignantly, but he's swift and you're soon drifting off to dreamland, once again held in the warmth of Gaz's embrace.

[duskgryphon]

send me questions about my funny guys okay?

Hey rewrite your oc stuff

responding to this hours later because i uh. took a while to revise this lmao

Okay so! Technically not talking about any specific ocs here, but rather my personal project world. I got sent an ask about bug dragons, so I'll start there I think? After some explanation. Essentially this world is entirely removed  from the concept of Earth and humans. Different galaxy, different planet, different life. It's still in. very early stages so a lot of things are subject to change, a lot of things I'm still working on. Though this is sort of misleading; I've been working on this world, in it's vaguest sense, since late 2016/early 2017 ish. The most recent iteration started I believe around the start of 2021? But I've been giving it a lot more focus in the past couple of months. It's also turned into a partly speculative biology based project. Gaining an interest in specific subjects does that to yah I guess.

So, bug dragons. What are they? "Bug dragon" refers to a large number of species, mainly those that would be classified as athropods and annelids. They aren't technically insects, though they do, in part, replace insects here. Like the aforementioned phylums, they encompass species with and without flight and worm-like species. There are, additionally, a small number of species that make up some of the sophonts in this world. They're uh. currently unnamed, though two have designs that are mostly set in stone? The classification that distinguishes specific species of sophonts from one another is whether or not they're "true" bug dragons. True bug dragons have no capacity to transform, but the other species do. The only species with the capacity to transform are sophonts, since they're the only ones that developed a need for it.

I should also note, coming back to the fact that this is completely removed from Earth, human languages don't exist. It'll take a lot of time and effort for me to get even vague individual constructed languages down, but if anyone is interested in this I'll try to make things as clear as possible. Uh, "bug dragon" is also technically a temporary term, for the previously stated reasons, but I think it's a perfectly viable name for them from a human standpoint, so I'll probably keep referring to them that way.

id: An image depicting various bug dragon sophonts on the left, with text describing what each are on the right. The top one shows a species of winged bug dragon with a long body, six legs, and a tail ending in a stinger. The text reads; "Species of bug dragon with the ability to transform. They come to just over 7 feet." The middle one shows two characters from different species transformed. One of them is shown to stand bipedally, with four sets of arms. The text reads; "Concepts for two bug dragons, both transformed. Their transformation resembles one of the other sophonts, though they keep their insect-like appearances." The bottom one shows one character of a species of true bug dragon, she stands on four legs, with a set of arms hidden under a coat pinned at the neck. She's almost bird-like in shape, and has a tail and what resembles rabbit ears. The text reads; "Species of "true" bug dragon as shown by A'rei's concepts. They come to around 4 feet."

[disabledfurry]

"is this eye strain?" i don't know everything is white. or grey. or yellow. all the time

i've had double vision for 27 years. hahahaha auuuugh

i don't want to over-tag shit if it's just a me problem but at the same time i would prefer to help other people who have similar problems when i can

but the thing is the person who said "anything can be eye strain" is fucking not wrong

i am so sick of this

[wanders-in-stars]

WIP Wednesday

Auuuugh gawd uh no this is absolutely not a week late idk what you're talking about, anyway yeah here's a thing. (originally tagged by @dalishthunder.)

~~~

Tamar was alone, on her hands and knees in the red-stained snow, gasping for breath. The Nordic winds pierced her now-bare skin like fangs, but she welcomed the sensation -- it was proof she was human again.

"Why?" she choked out, her voice ragged, torn. "Why?"

The Wolf gave no reply.

"Answer me!" Tamar screamed, the words a howl on the wind. "Why didn't we run? Look what we've done -- look what we've done!"

...It is unfortunate.

"'Unfortunate'? 'Unfortunate'? We just slaughtered an entire village -- and you call that 'unfortunate'?"

They attacked first.

"Why didn't you run? We've always run--" A sob, sudden and strangled, cut off the rest. It took Tamar several seconds to realise it was her own.

And then it was too late to stop them. Like the breaking of a dam, the first sob paved the way for the rest, violent and distorted as they wracked her shivering body.

Why? Why, why, why? Why now, of all times?

I am sorry.

Sorry won't bring them back.

[low-po1y-princess]

the next episode of beast wars im gonna watch is code of hero and transmutate is right after that i dont think im ready

[strangestcase]

@spider-xan

Fermina “Mina” Harker, neé Murray, she/they, trans bisexual woman, autistic as hell, used to work as a chemistry teacher at a school, and was training to upgrade (in a sense) her job into becoming her husband’s secretary- until they had a run-in with Dracula and the rest is history. Both the Harkers have become dhampirs, but Mina has greater powers, since she, let’s say, inherited Dracula’s abilities, in part because he wanted her to become his (evil) successor, and in part because they had had a part in killing him. They’re hard to control, and make her pretty unstable, but… they manage. She now moonlights as a monster hunter with Jonathan as their assistant.

Time has passed.

And she’s been recruited as the on-field leader of the League of Extraordinary Gentlepeople.

Now in her forties and in charge of a child, Mina is constantly multitasking. She is clever and talented, so of course they’re absolutely convinced she has to be capable of everything. She HAS to be the best vampire hunter, the best typist, the best hero and basically a Messiah, and everyone’s mom friend, and everyone’s therapist, and everyone’s crutch and everyone’s AUUUGH. Poor Mina is crumbling under this self-inflicted pressure, because if she isn’t kind and sweet and hypercompetent, which is their entire personality, as her Dracula-slaying adventure hammered it in her over and over, she is nothing but a burden. And they can never complain because she’s NOT like the other girls. She isn’t hysterical or emotional, she’s calm and collected and AUUUUGH. One of these days she’s going to blow up and their dhampir abilities will get the worst of her.

Mina needs a therapist and a long paid vacation. As for her relationships with the other members of the League:

Irene Adler: The relationship started out tense. Very tense. Irene is terribly smart, and terribly snooty, has a bad temper, and can’t be bothered to pick up after herself. Plus she’s a rich, famous singer; what does she know about hardship? About horror? And yet she demands to join her in hunting the Madman (aka Edward Hyde), to tag along in highly dangerous missions, and to “mingle”, whatever that means. But as they keep interacting, Mina starts to put their weird “not like other girls” streak behind her. Irene has recently lost one of her closest friends, [REDACTED], and she’s way more competent than she looks- a veil is lifted off Mina’s eyes and she begins to respect her way, way more.

Captain Nemo: The relationship begins as purely professional, nothing much but hellos and thank yous, in part because the Captain is a pretty dour person and very curt, and in part because the Captain still has trouble trusting people. The Captain and Mina eventually warm up to each other as they discover they have a few interests in common. On Mina’s side, she admires the Captain and would like to be closer friends, because she earnestly believes that would make the entire League run smoother (let’s not forget the Captain is who drives them around) while the Captain sees Mina as a capable person to work with. And nothing much more until the Captain concedes and admits Mina is, in the Captain’s eyes, more than just an ally. So, yeah, it worked out! Yay!

Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde: This one is a bit weird because Mina, of course, is wary of Hyde. He’s a monster, not just in the metaphorical sense. They’re as strong as five adult men and a strange aura of hate follows him around. Hyde… well, he doesn’t have many good things to say about Mina -or the rest of the League- at first, but specially Mina, because she was the one to catch him. With a sleeping dart and a net. It quickly finds out Mina sees them as more than just a freaky thing to use as a battering ram, which is the bare minimum but Hyde rarely gets that, and mutual respect starts to grow. I say mutual because Mina knows Jekyll is… rather pleasant; most of the time at least. But as Hyde, it’s difficult to pretend they aren’t a very dangerous man…

Harlow Griffin: Let’s not beat around the bush here, THEY DONT LIKE EACH OTHER. Harlow sees Mina as a stuck up snobbish idiot who acts too high and mighty for a chemistry teacher, and Mina sees Harlow as a lowlife asshole too stubborn to ask for help, too rebellious to follow orders, too cynical to be a hero, and too crude to be a teammate she wants at their side. At least Hyde minds his manners around her! They bicker a lot and Mina often has to grab Griffin and draaaaaaag him into doing his job. Not to mention the only reason Griffin doesn’t dip or even get rid of her is because, well. Dhampir. Yes, he’s got nothing to do against Mina, plus he’s headstrong as all hell and telling him “you can’t do this” is the best way to keep him motivated.

Alice Byrd: Alice follows Mina around like a lost puppy. Fae thinks they’re the coolest. The bestest. The most amazing-est. They taught faer to shoot better and corrected her form with the Vorpal sword, and she’s always showing faer new gadgets and technological advancements. Mina tolerates this and kind of sees Alice as a niece of sorts. Hey, faer family life isn’t great, it’s only fair. She grows tired at times, nothing too bad… and Alice tends to run headfirst into danger as if it’s nothing, so Mina has grown this new layer of mom friend, destined specifically to keep Alice moderately safe. Not like fae really notice, or at least fae doesn’t say anything when fae does.

BONUS ROUND:

Dorian Gray: Bitter exes.

Dangles a pendulum in front of you. Ooooh you want to ask me about my League of Extraordinary Gentlepeople… you want to ask me about the characters and their interactions so fucking bad…

[mokutone]

omg ur tags about gai in the gaara post are SO CORRECT. i literally cry thinking about how caring he is and what that's like for gaara and naruto. like at the beginning of the ep where tsunade was introduced and gai gave naruto a jumpsuit and how that made him so happy. the way gai is able to understand the kids are strong but they're still kids and need love and support i love him so much 😭

oh god hello yes. youre right..you’re right...and when naruto first saw gai sensei appear, wallop rock lee, and then wrap him in a hug and tell him how proud he was of rock lee and they were both crying, and sakura and sasuke were (UNDERSTABDABLY) like Wow What The Fuck Is Happening...and naruto was just like. “wow...i wish he was MY teacher...” i lost my fucking MIND he JUST WANTS SOMEBODY TO BE PROUD OF HIM. FUCK. ANYWAY.

it takes kakashi like years to be able to say shit like “naruto youve come so far and im so proud of you” and by the time he's emotionally capable of doing that naruto is so used to him NOT doing that that any attempt scares him shitless! every time kakashi tries to say good job naruto is like “AUUUUGH NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!?!?!” poor boy! poor boy!!! (you can also see in some eps kakashi realize like. “ah fuck. i really messed this up...he doesn’t trust me when i say good job :(((” which is so funny and sad. rip mr depression)

but yeah you’re right. gai is really really good at understanding the kids and respecting them and supporting them, and hes so emotionally involved in their lives and so present...i really love him so much...he’s such a beacon of sunlight...

even during the fight with gaara and rock lee, where gaara is trying to like straight up murder rock lee and gai intervenes—when gaara starts having a breakdown and starts demanding like “WHY, WHY are you PROTECTING him, WHAT are you DOING” gai doesn’t, like, respond as though it’s a stupid question, he doesn’t even give a easy answer like “it’s my duty as his teacher” or “of course i’m protecting him, he’s my student” and those would be VALID and truthful answers, but he gives the even more honest and emotional one, that rock lee is precious to him!!!! that he cares about this kid, that he doesn’t want to see this kind of grievous harm befall him when he’s unable to defend himself,

that’s why the like “he’s precious to me” line really fucking kills me because its. he just. auuauauuau [howls] thats his SON....

it really just. that’s not an answer he had to give gaara, and in context it sounds incredibly ridiculous unless you realize that gai already understands that this kid has no concept of being loved, and that this is something that he needs to hear

gai also like. makes a really weird face when he’s dealing with gaara (both in the arena and the hospital) that i haven’t seen him make since? if i remember correctly it looked a little like this, i don’t have the anime open in front of me but it made an impact on my psyche

idk it looked, to me at least, very serious, with a little bit of...distaste, that could be read as pity, or discomfort, which i interpreted as a reaction to (and therefore understanding) of gaara’s situation, but even further as an understanding that this isn’t really a matter he could involve himself in too far. 

his priority here is obviously and necessarily rock lee, who gaara tried to kill, and then tries to kill AGAIN (stopped, once more, by gai) idk. it hit hard on my heart. i think gai knows when he sees somebody in need, even if the only thing he can afford give them in the moment is the absolute bare minimum, he gives it, and that just rocks my world

[jhessail]

This took forever but here’s another part!

https://jhessail.tumblr.com/post/179884933509/quick-disclaimer-i-do-not-own-yu-gi-oh-do-not Part 1 https://jhessail.tumblr.com/post/180390075874/httpjhessailtumblrcompost179884933509please Part 2 “https://jhessail.tumblr.com/post/190212985974/chapter-1-chapter-3-a-card-a-card-a-card“ Part 4

“Is he going to be okay?” One of the boys that carried Stephan asked the nurse, a young-looking man with pink hair and a scruff of hair on his chin. Yuna faced the nurse with concern from the boy’s question. The man looked at the group of teens in front of him and rubbed his hairy chin.

“You’ve done well to bring him here, I’m sure once the ambulance gets here, he’ll be perfectly fine.” The teens shared an exhale of relief. “What happened?” The nurse asked seriously.

“He just showed up like this Mr. Cameron.” One of the other boys spoke. Mr. Cameron studied the group closely but Yuna turned away to look over Stephan. Who would do this? Yuna had to turn away as she could feel a gurgle of anger swirl around her shoulders, the eyes answering her rage at the injustice of the collapsed boy’s injuries. Yuna knew she couldn’t actually do anything to avenge this incident, but she still couldn’t help but feel like she could. She knew none of the details behind what happened but Stephan had the courage to come to school even after his obvious pain.

She couldn’t do anything to ease that, but she could offer her friendship after he recovered. She wasn’t going to join the Duel Club but she would offer to play a match to help Stephan get better for his tournaments when she had free time. Thinking of matches…“Hey Tatsumi, did Stephan send you anything about this?” Yuna shook her head, rage still massaging her shoulders tensely.

“No this morning was the first I saw of him since yesterday.”

“Is there a reason he would contact you...Tatsumi, was it?” Mr. Cameron quirered. Yuna frowned, breathing through her nose to calm down, her hand gripping her duel card. The girl turned back around to see the boys who helped her and Mr. Cameron staring at her.

“He was supposed to answer a riddle I gave him, but we didn’t exchange phone numbers so he wouldn’t have had any way of contacting me…” She should have thought of that. Why didn’t she give him her cell? Mr. Cameron tilted his head,

“Are you not registered on the grid?” Yuna blinked, mimicking the nurse and tilting her head.

“Grid?” She was suddenly surrounded by stunned stares and Yuna suddenly felt nervous.

“You really weren’t joking about not owning a deck!” Said one of the boys, standing out with his spiky black and red hair. Yuna’s face must have shown an incredibly amount of confusion as the boy continued, “Anyone who has a deck is registered to a grid system in city hall.” Okay? “It makes it so we can pretty much duel anywhere and anytime, our decks and a lot of information is paired together, so if you were registered he’d be able to contact you through that.” Huh...Yuna wasn’t aware of that. Was that how it worked back in Neo Domino as well?

“Hello! We’ve come to take the injured!” Yuna jumped at the loud voice that erupted in the room, four men marched in, guiding the students away so they had room to maneuver and take the incredibly injured Stephan. Yuna watched, misery churning as the professionals started to set off, an audience gathering to watch. Yuna squeaked as they passed, Stephan gripped her elbow. At her shriek the carriers paused, one of them grabbing his hand softly. He wasn’t letting go.

“Miss, please follow us for now, we don’t want agitate the patient.” Yuna helplessly looked down and frowned as Stephan was crying again, his hand gripped her harshly but shook at the same time. Yuna nodded and kept pace with the EMTs and even found herself climbing into the back of the ambulance. Oh she hoped someone told her teacher she wasn’t purposely skipping class. The ride was smooth, one of the EMTs worked furiously to heal Stephan. His bandages got replaced, an IV was set up and Yuna watched with horror.

“W-why…” Stephan started to speak. Yuna forced herself to focus on the young man, she could feel her hands starting to shake. “Why haven’t you taken one of my cards?” Yuna could feel the EMT’s eyes piercing her core, but she ignored him. Yuna sighed and answered,

“That was something Tsukasa came up with. I didn’t want to take any cards in the first place.”

“I thought...you liked Duel Monsters…” Yuna nodded.

“I do. I love it so much, but I love the Kings even more.” She flushed a little, her hand moving to softly grip Stephan’s hand, rubbing her thumb on the top of his hand. “I live my life by what I think they would do. At the end of the day, if they had the choice, I think they wouldn’t take a card from a fellow duelist.” Yuna smiled, her heart feeling exposed with that truth. Of course the Kings had taken cards from fellow duelists, but often through rules or necessity but not from a second thought prize. “If you really want me to take a card, I was going to go for cards you don’t put in your main deck.”

Stephan watched her through her tiny speech and while he stopped feeling the pain of the stabbing sharpness from his outer wounds, there was a part of that terrifying goop that had attacked him yesterday still smashing his insides. He felt guilt from seeing what kind of girl she was. Stupid and cute yes, but also sincere. He gritted his teeth in pain from both how earnest the girl was and the goop of what was surely the shadow realm mashing up his organs, the painkiller rushing through his veins doing nothing to aleve the terror.

He hissed and gripped Yuna harshly, earning a gasp of pain from the girl. He could get rid of the goop inside of him, he could feel it. Like he felt earlier he had to let the girl tell him the answer to the riddle, now he had to get her to take a card. He coughed and both Yuna and the EMT gasped as blood inched its way out his mouth. “Stephan!” Yuna cried as the EMT started to take measures to help the young man. He opened his mouth to plead but the EMT must have put something other than pain killers in his veins, because his vision became black and his words incomprehensible.

“Everything will be okay miss.” Yuna nodded as Stephan’s grip finally slackened and she could pull away. Sympathy crossed her expression and she looked away as the EMT started to do tests. Yeah, she would definitely offer her friendship.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hi big sis!” Claire greeted her enthusiastically and Yuna gave her a short awkward smile back.

“Are you bleeding?” Ms. Mokfu asked alarmed as Claire grabbed the tri-colored teen’s hand. Yuna frowned, looking down at the hand that Claire held. The blonde looked up at her incredibly concerned.

“No I’m fine. This came from...a friend.” Yuna smiled sadly down at the girl, rubbing off the crusted blood she hadn’t realized was there. “But don’t worry about that either, he’s going to be fine.” Yuna reassured the children who stared at her. Ms. Mokfu studied the young woman and watched the children crowd around her.

“Are you sure you’re fine? If you need to take today off it’s okay.” The teacher offered. It wouldn’t be a big deal, the kids in her classes were used to the shenanigans of the children and the lessons that Ms. Mokfu would end up circling around their actions. Yuna shook her head,

“No, I really need to be around my other friends.” Yuna finished and her face transformed, flushing with embarrassment. “I-I mean with them! It’d be irresponsible of me to take this duty and take off the third day!” Ms. Mokfu watched as the teen yelled at her very animated, then continued to watch as Yuna grabbed Ryu and Claire in her arms and fled, more words to defend her decision were spoken as she went into the side building. As they closed the doors of the building, Ms. Mokfu turned and looked at one of the two spirits that was always with her.

“Could you keep an eye over here?” Guardian Angel Joan smiled at her gently, then shook her head. The teacher scoffed, “Oh come on!”

“Sky Scout isn’t here, you need protection with you.” The Duel Monster bluntly stated, no compromise was in her voice. The teacher rolled her eyes, stomping her way to her classroom. Ugh, she was lucky most of her students were lax and go with the flow kind. Tsukasa being the heavy exception to that rule. The blonde teacher made her way to her classroom, pointedly ignoring the Duel Monster flouting behind her, hoping she offended said Duel Monster. She could hear the students from outside her classroom, which is what she was hoping for, for more potential answers of the mysterious blood on Yuna.

“Hey did you hear about what happened at Seawynne High?”

“Yeah, and I heard it was Ayumu’s fault.” Ms. Mokfu frowned. She knew Tsukasa was cold around the edge but he had never physically hurt someone. No he gladly always volunteered to duel his problems away. Something Ms. Mokfu knew all too well.

“I heard it was over a Duel Monster’s card.”

“Well that’s no surprise, there’s no one who’s more obsessed over Duel Monsters than Ayumu.”  

“Is it true Ayumu?” One brave soul asked. “Did you start a fight over a card?” Ms. Mokfu couldn’t stop herself from peeking into her classroom, seeing a yellow-coat dark-haired girl towering over the sitting brunet. The young man looked up at the girl and said nothing. A harsh tension sifted through the room and the girl, Ms. Mokfu recognized her as Bethany Oliver, stood where she had asked the question, frozen like an icicle.

“Well Ayumu?” A boy wearing a red coat asked, walking up behind Bethany and pushing her to the side slightly to become the new focus.

“I did nothing wrong.” Tsukasa simply stated, and his gaze went back down to the book that was open on his desk.

“Aha, of course not! C’mon Beth, let’s go.” The boy pushed Bethany back to their desks, chastising the curious girl. Tsukasa was the only blue coat in Ms. Mokfu’s room, but he also did not wear said blue coat. The dividing classes between the red, yellow, and blue coats existed but because this was a cram school instead of a full academy the focus on superiority wasn’t as focused on. Ms. Mokfu tried to listen a little harder, hearing harsh whispers of gossip of what happened but Tsukasa’s voice interrupted in spying,

“Ms. Mokfu.” She jumped, her cheeks flushing as Tsukasa continued, “If you are not going to teach us today, I could go to Dr. Horai’s classroom today.” The teacher paled and opened her door,

“No I’m here! I can teach you all amazing card techniques!” The teacher started to charge into the center of the room and yelled as she tripped over her coat, falling flat on her face, giving the kids a much appreciated round of laughter from everyone except Tsukasa. Ms. Mokfu moaned as her nose started bleeding. When she got up, holding her nose and praying inwardly it would stop from just her plugging it up, she jumped when Guardian Angel Joan shifted in front of her. The teacher bit back the words she wanted to tell her worried spirit but then realized the angel wasn’t even facing her.

“Ms. Mokfu do you need a tissue?” A considerate yellow-coat boy asked, walking up and phasing through Guardian Angel Joan to give the teacher a handkerchief.

“Thank you Sam.” She unceremoniously stuffed the handkerchief in her nose and studied the duel spirit, seeing she was focusing on Tsukasa. Weird. “Alright class, today we will go through some of the rarer counter trap cards and how they can-”

“Ms. Mokfu...please go to the nurse’s…”

“You’re bleeding from your mouth now…” Her students bluntly remarked, worry in their tone as the blood from the stuffed nose just traveled to exit her mouth when she spoke.

“Oh...I suppose I should.” She saw Tsukasa roll his eyes, “I will be back in a minute children.” The rest of her students continued gossiping as soon as she left the room. She wasn’t stunned when Guardian Angel Joan appeared by her side. “You alright?” The teacher asked, marching instead to the bathroom to clean her face.

“...I will not lie to you, I am fine.” Ms. Mokfu rose an eyebrow, “Something’s bothering you though.” The angel turned to look back at the room the two had left.

“I am unable to exactly figure it out...but there may be something coming...regardless, I will continue to protect you.” The teacher rolled her eyes.

“That something gotta do with Ayumu?” Guardian Angel Joan gave her a meaningful glance that of course told the teacher nothing. The teacher cleaned her face and worked on making her nose stop bleeding while pondering what could have possible happened. She’d just have to keep an eye out on Tsukasa, because surely the gossip was exaggerated.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“NO! WE’RE DUELING TODAY!” Kayo’s voice somehow echoed in the small building.

“I’M NOT GOING TO DUEL A LOSER LIKE YOU!” Sakura yelled back even louder. Yuna covered her ears as Claire started to join in the shouting match with obnoxious giggling. How did they even get like this? Yuna had answered Claire’s incessant questions about what happened to her today when they started to argue. As though to answer her thoughts, Ryu pulled his sketchbook up to Yuna’s easy to spot level and it remarked,

“Kayo challenges Sakura to duels often because Sakura’s a better duelist than him.”

“Oh? You’re a duelist Sakura?” Sakura scoffed at her question, banishing Kayo away with her hand. Kayo bared his teeth at her for the motion,

“Yes but I find dueling boring.” Yuna felt offense creep on her face and Sakura glared at her with disdain, which told Yuna that her third eye likely peeked a little out from her forehead while Kayo hissed,

“If you find it so boring hurry up and give someone else your cards!” Sakura faced the pink-haired boy with an ugly look. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t just hear you say that.” Yuna blinked, seeing Kayo bit his lips tight and tears starting to fill his eyes. Sakura’s eyes also looked bitter with the sting of liquid. Yuna had no idea what just happened so her next words came out slowly,

“Um. Could I see your cards?” She hadn’t asked to see Kayo’s deck before because she had been preoccupied with reading the children stories and making sure they got their stupid delicious food on time and of course the unfortunate game between her and Stephan. Sakura and Kayo shot her dirty looks so she continued waving her hands awkwardly, “I mean if you don’t mind. I don’t want to use your decks or anything…” She rubbed the back of her head shyly, “I’m just curious about what kind of cards you have.” She continued to be stared at harshly by the two when Ryu wrote something new in his sketchbook,

“Come on guys, if you’re going to spend time yelling at each other than you can let Yuna look at your cards while you do that.” At the words, Kayo’s gaze became softer and he dug into his backpack with a sigh.

“I’m sorry Sakura.” Kayo muttered, moving things around his backpack and keeping his face hidden away from the white-haired girl. Sakura tensed and turned away, quietly muttering back,

“It’s fine.” Yuna tilted her head, wondering what exactly what that was over. Her confusion was interrupted when Kayo drew out a fancy tin box and pulled it open. Yuna stared at the deck in the tin with fascination and wonderment.  

“Oh they’re all so cute!” Yuna started to softly touch the cards, her hands practically feeling like static electricity ran through them, spreading them carefully. This was the first time she had ever gotten to directly touch a deck. Back in Neo Domino, nobody ever offered her the chance to touch or even look at their cards. “Most of these are Madolche cards…” Yuna muttered to herself. It took a determined mind to successfully pull off the combos that could win the duel with these. They were cute cards that didn’t mostly didn’t have high attack or defense, but they were hard to keep down if you got the Queen out. “Do you like cute things Kayo?” Yuna cheerfully asked. Kayo glared at her and grabbed his cards, putting them back in his tin.

“I don’t care that they’re cute.” Yuna tilted her head in a confused way. “I can’t lose by deck out with these.” Huh...It was true that it was quite difficult to deck out with them but was that really a big deal? Most duels didn’t last long enough to be a deck out loss unless someone had actually built their deck that way. Dishonorable in Yuna’s opinion, but it was an option. The young woman pondered inwardly if Kayo lost by deck out a lot.

“Here.” Yuna blinked as Sakura brought out her own box. It was better decorated and reminded Yuna a little of the description of King Yugi's millenium box. Yuna glanced at Kayo to see the boy shuffle off next to Ryu who wrote something to show Kayo. Yuna then focused on Sakura’s cards as the girl opened the box.

“A fusion deck!” Yuna recognized the uniquely colored monsters immediately. “Crystal Gem Knights…” she muttered like she had earlier noting Kayo’s deck. Sakura puffed her chest out proudly,

“I’ve never lost a duel.” Kayo made a short displeased sound from next to Ryu.

“Do you want to see my deck big sis?” Claire asked, holding her hand in the air as Yuna kept staring cheerfully at the cards in front of her.

“You have a deck too Claire?” The blonde nodded cheerfully. “Kayo why don’t you challenge Claire to a duel?”

“Because I can’t get better dueling Claire.” Kayo sneered as Ryu put his sketchbook in the boy’s lap. Yuna looked over at the girl who just giggled at the remark. Well if she wasn’t offended then Yuna shouldn’t have to worry about it.

“Well okay then, sure Claire, I’d love to see your deck too.” Yuna turned her attention back to the fusion deck, the cards looked incredibly well-kept and all of them were shiny. They must have been a stupidly expensive set, “Man no wonder you’ve never lost before Sakura, this is a great deck.” Sakura beamed smugly at her. Yuna put the cards back carefully in the fancy box, “But don’t get overconfident, if someone gets rid of your fusions you could lose.” Yuna winked at the dark girl whose face transformed immediately at the insinuation. Claire burst between the two before Sakura could start yelling at the older girl,

“Here’s my deck!” Claire had hers in a normal deck holder and she beamed cheerfully as Yuna looked through her cards. Ah, she could understand now why Kayo wouldn’t want to duel Claire. It was an unbalanced deck with low powered warriors and mis-matching robot cards that didn’t affect each other. She had very little trap cards and a few equip spell cards, her strongest monster was the Puppet King but with what she had she wouldn’t be able to get him out short of pure luck. Still,

“These are awesome Claire.” Yuna smiled at the young girl. A deck was a person’s soul and if Claire’s soul was a low powered deck right now, then that’s just who Claire was, and there was nothing wrong with that. Claire beamed and giggled cheerfully.

“I have an idea!” She suddenly burst after taking a few moments of giggling and bragging while Kayo and Sakura just stared bluntly at the blonde. “I challenge you to a duel big sis!” Yuna gave the girl a shy smile,

“Sorry. I don’t own a deck myself.” Now knowing that people were registered to a grid system for some reason, she wasn’t surprised when the children gave her shocked looks. Claire was the first one who shook off the shock and remarked,

“Well that’s okay! There are training decks inside the cram school.” Claire beamed. “You’ll even be able to use some of the old duel disks too.” Yuna felt her heart race.

“Old duel disks?” Claire nodded and Kayo spoke,

“Yeah, they’re sometimes used as a cap since a lot of the newer rules aren’t programmed into them. I’ve heard they’re also used for the history lessons at the cram school.”

“Oh you know quite a bit Kayo.”

“That’s all Ms. Mokfu.” Kayo replied with disgust on his face.

“And because the duel disks work from the older rules, the decks they have prepped are specifically for them!” Claire cheered, as though she was finishing a thought she was trying to speak earlier. “So come on,” the blonde grabbed her hand, “I challenge you to a duel big sis.” Yuna felt a rush of adrenaline flow through her and she stood up immediately. Stars and hearts felt like they were flouting from her aura as she bounced in place to be led to this amazing place with old technology and a deck she could duel with.

“Wait a minute, are we allowed to use that stuff?” Ryu’s sketchbook flew into her gaze and immediately Yuna felt despair creep down her spine.

“We’ll be fine.” Claire waved Ryu’s worry off. Sakura brushed her hair and said, “If we get caught I’ll just say mommy said we could.” Even Kayo cheered from that, confusing Yuna for a moment, but she threw any questions because who cares? Dueling! Dueling! Claire led the older girl with the other three children following them as they creeped into the Duel Cram School.

Every time they entered this school, Yuna always felt a form of exhilaration enter her. It didn’t seem to be that big a deal the earlier times, but today she was going to duel! Ah, who knew babysitting her new friends could come with more benefits than friendship!? The group entered a room that didn’t look like it had been opened in a while, when the lights shot on Yuna could swear she saw dust particles float in the air.

Duel disks were behind a glass display and behind them were decks. This place had one heck of an honor system because they weren’t already taken...or perhaps most people didn’t consider them as good cards. Regardless, Yuna could feel herself bounce in place again, patiently waiting for permission from the children to charge in.

“What are you doing here?” Yuna screeched, jumping forward into the room, then turning to the voice. Seeing him instantly made her eyes reappear, she may have pushed thinking about what she would do the next time she saw him to the back of her head, her body apparently did not. Her body was tense and she glared at the brunet who stood in the doorway. Yuna twitched when Claire touched her hand,

“Big sis are you okay?” Tsukasa just stared at her with a blank face. As confusing as his non-reaction was, Yuna was still incredibly angry at him. He was acting like nothing had happened, like he hadn’t disregarded Stephan’s life for a card earlier. Yuna marched towards him, standing up as straight as she could, feeling a strange imposing nature overtake her as all the eyes focused on the brunet.

“I asked you a question.” Her irritation must have flowed into the air because Tsukasa’s face morphed slightly in response. Otherwise he didn’t budge and seemed to patiently wait for a reply. Claire spoke from Yuna’s side, having followed the intimidating getting more upset woman,

“I challenged big sis to a duel.” Tsukasa looked down to the blonde and understanding crossed his eyes. He moved to position his hand against his face remarking simply,

“Pretty sure you don’t have the clearance to use this equipment.” Yuna felt conflicted, she was still incredibly upset by Tsukasa’s regard for human life but it was hard to stay angry at someone who wasn’t reacting to her scary eyes. He wasn’t even asking the same questions the kids did. Did he just not see them? 

“But...you were going to use one of those decks?” His eyes met Yuna’s own.

“Of course I was, I don’t have one remember?” Yuna felt a strange feeling cross the air as soon she spoke. Tsukasa smiled at her, and suddenly Yuna’s anger fled for a replacement of fear.

“Then...why don’t we duel instead of you and her?” He seemed too excited for this. “You’ll be dueling an actual student of this school.” He came closer to her, it took all of Yuna’s willpower to not shift backwards. “We can even make it an Intention duel.”

“Intention?” Yuna asked nervously.

“You don’t know?” Tsukasa tilted his head momentarily, passing by Yuna to open the glass panel to the duel disks.

“Well it is only a regional rule.” Kayo offered, shifting to be by Yuna, nervously Yuna noted. “I wouldn’t do it if I were you Yuna.” She looked down at the boy,

“Why not?”

“An Intention duel lets a person decide a rule in the duel. Like...they can forbid magic cards being able to be played, it’s just to spice up the duel…” Kayo looked away nervously for a moment as Ryu and Sakura moved close to him. “But I have heard it being used for gambling and other things.”

“What do you mean for gambling and other things?” Yuna asked, flinching slightly as a loud screech echoed in the room as the glass panels hadn’t been maintained for a while. Heck of an honor system.

“An Intention duel can also be used for bets. Like a duelist could say they intend to win someone’s wallet.” Sakura helped, her hands gripping Yuna’s skirt with tension in her grip.

“Are you right or left-handed?” Tsukasa’s asked.

“R-right.” She answered.

“Anyway, yeah, Yuna don’t do an Intention duel with Ayumu.” Kayo insisted, this time also gripping Yuna’s skirt. All of the children were gripping her skirt now, all of them looking incredibly nervous. “He’s a blue coat who’s never lost a duel before.” Sakura nodded to his words with complete agreement. Tsukasa faced the group, a duel disk on his right arm and he had another duel disk in his hands.

“These disks will only allow tribute, fusion, and ritual summons.” Ah it’s true they looked the oldest brand of the dueling disks in the room. “So that will cap the duel perfectly for someone who’s never dueled before.” He sounded smug, but hearing that he’s never lost a duel before he may have earned that smugness. And if ‘blue coat’ meant Obelisk like in the stories than yeah, dueling an Intention duel against him was probably a bad idea. Yuna wouldn’t mind just dueling in general but…

“You want to do an Intention duel with me Tsukasa?” He just smiled at her for an answer. A part of her shook because of how confident he was, but another part of her, the loudest part of her, was shaking with excitement. She’d be able to duel someone, using the same technology of the oldest Kings. She almost felt like someone was whispering in her ear, enticing her to react to her deep inner thoughts. Right, what would a King do here? “Alright. I accept your challenge!” Yuna pointed at Tsukasa, her stance shifting to stand tall. Tsukasa presented her the duel disk, like a peasant to a king.

She felt Ryu pull her skirt particularly hard, and when she turned to him he gave her a worried look. A smile that was not her own but inspired by the Kings she loved spread across her face. “Don’t worry guys, everything will be okay. I just have to believe in myself and in my cards.” She saw Sakura grit her mouth and was a little surprised when Kayo tensed. If she had enough time she would have asked why they were all so scared, but she accepted Tsukasa’s challenge. Yuna walked forward to the still presenting Tsukasa, the children let go of her skirt.

When she slipped the disk around her left arm, it felt like the first breath of life one took after being underwater for a long time. She wasn’t sure, but it also felt like she could feel every cell in her body bursting with energy. Despite herself, she took a deep breath and spotted Tsukasa at the glass panel again. Despite being a jerk earlier, he was abnormally patient and gracious about this. It was definitely conflicting.

“I’ll be using one of these decks as well.” Tsukasa remarked, grabbing one of decks from inside the glass panel. “You can look over these if you wish.” Yuna stared at the deck Tsukasa grabbed, wondering if he had taken the time to look through the decks like he was offering for her. If they were doing an Intention duel, it was possible he was thinking of manipulating the duel to help the deck he had picked. Yuna shook her head and grabbed the deck closest to the opening, momentarily thinking before she spoke that the deck she picked looked like it may had been moved up for her to specifically grab,

“No. I’ll go with this one.” She moved towards the wall, giving enough space between the two for the holograms to pop up between the two for the duel ahead. “So tell me how do we make this an Intention duel?”

“Well it won’t be registered because these disks are a bit too old to do that so we’ll just go with using our eyes and common sense to not place the cards down.” Gosh, he was incredibly smiley now. It was so unnerving in it’s own way. “My Intention is that dragon type monsters can not be played.” Uh-oh. His smile shifted almost darkly as Yuna quickly frowned. It wasn’t her imagination, the deck she grabbed must have had a load of dragon monsters in it and Tsukasa had planned for it. She knew she shouldn’t assume that was the truth, but her eyes appeared without prompt as she gritted her teeth. “And you?”

“...” Yeah. She knew what she wanted to say and what at least ONE of the Kings would do. If a person could make their intention be for their wallet then she could make hers, “I intend to teach you a lesson Tsukasa!” She boasted but froze when something strange surrounded the two. A dark burst of energy surrounded the duelists, becoming an arena of darkness. “What the-”

“Yuna!”

“Big sis!”

“What’s going on? Is this normal for an Intention duel?” Yuna looked at the children outside the arena, barely making them out from the shifting wall of terror. Tsukasa burst out laughing maniacally and Yuna realized something horrifying through his laughter. She touched her forehead, feeling the eye big and wide without her anger. What was going on?

“I knew something was up with you.” Tsukasa finished laughing, and Yuna felt her nerves light up as his eyes looked a little mad. “I can finally start my journey…”

���Your journey?” Yuna stepped backward, flinching as the black aura smacked the back of her ankle. Ow that hurt. Wait, ow that hurt?

“I told you before didn’t I? I’m the future king of duel monsters.” Yuna nodded, hoping her confused look helped him continue. He brushed back part of his hair, “I will be a light that will destroy a great darkness.” His smile was maddening, and staring into his eyes was like looking at a black hole, all-consuming and eery. “Don’t worry,” The crazy smile seemed strangely gentle, “I will free you of your curse and continue to cleanse the darkness.” Okay. She never thought he was this sort of person in a million years. Then again, if he really was to be a new Duel King then he would have a fantastical adventure ahead of him, and Yuna supposed it could be possible that a King would know at least a little of what he had to look forward to.

“Big sis be careful!” Claire’s voice cut her internal thoughts.

“Maybe you should stop the duel, we don’t know what this is, Ryu says!” Kayo shouted, pointing at Ryu’s sketchbook that was near impossible to read from where she was.

“I draw!” Tsukasa interrupted. At the mention Yuna felt her body click to paying attention to him, her blood rushing with adrenaline, and her normally hateful eyes focused on their opponent. She had no time to think about all of this insanity of Intention, her eyes, or Tsukasa’s destiny. Right now she was about to have her first duel, and she may have started at a serious disadvantage. Tsukasa looked down to his cards and threw two cards on the duel disk. “I lay two cards face down and end my turn.” Two big flat cards appeared in front of him, one in the monster zone and the other in the spell/trap zone. He either didn’t get a good hand or he was luring Yuna into a false sense of security. He stared at her confidently and Yuna found herself frozen by his stare. What if by losing this duel she DID actually lose her eyes? He said something about cleansing her darkness and he seemed so sure and he wasn’t freaking out because of the weird darkness around the two.

No. It didn’t matter. She said all she had to do was believe in herself and in her cards and that’s what she would do.

“I draw!” Yuna declared, drawing from the deck and stared down at her hand for the first time. A strange amount of clarity flowed through her, that feeling of taking a deep breath from being submerged into water for so long overcame her again as she looked at the cards. Her first duel, her first hand, and despite all the questions and her lack of experience, her face shined with a grin. Elation at the amazing fact that she was doing something she had wanted to for so long. This was dueling!

Staring at the cards quietly she tilted her head at one of them. She had never seen or heard about this card before so she couldn’t help but ask, “Um. Sorry, I know this is probably really ignorant but the duel disks won’t use a card it can’t read, right?” Tsukasa blinked at her question and approached it politely,

“If it’s not registered in its database there shouldn’t be any way it can play it no.” Yuna nodded. “You shouldn’t have any cards in that deck that can’t be read by the disk.” He finished, looking slightly annoyed at reiterating the point. Yuna nodded again,

“Okay then, I put two cards face down and end my turn.” She slapped two cards in her trap/spellzone and stood with a fixed grin.

“Is that all? No monsters to place down?” Tsukasa taunted.

“Nope, not this turn.” Yuna couldn’t help but answer back. A genuine back and forth with someone. Despite how angry and upset she was at him earlier, she could feel something from this. Was this the beginning of a connection? Understanding how some of the Kings felt came to her easier now. She had two dragon monsters in her hand but she was forbidden from using them. Tsukasa drew his next card, playing it up flashy and Yuna could understand. It was part of the fun.

“I tribute summon to bring out Summoned Skull (2500/1200).” The monstrous arch-fiend emerged and Yuna felt an amazing amount of glee bloom at watching the hologram come to life in front of her. “Go Summoned Skull, attack her life points directly!”

“I use my trap card,” the flat card in front of her flipped, “Mirror Force!” It would destroy Summoned Skull and hopefully she would get the lead on her turn from his empty monster zone.

“Too bad for you, I had Trap Jammer waiting for that.” He smirked and Yuna gasped as the card dispersed in front of her and braced herself as Summoned Skull continued charging to her. Bone connected to flesh and Yuna flew back, hitting the black aura and she couldn’t help the screech of pain from exiting her mouth. The black and dark area that surrounded the two physically gripped her with a monster like hand, squeezing her to aid her scream of pain. She fell to the ground, when the monster hand let her go, panting heavily to catch her breath. Her life points flew from 4000 to 1500 in a single blow. The tri-hair colored girl pushed herself up, spotting Tsukasa staring down at her with an irritating smugness.

That jerk!

“Yuna are you okay?” Sakura asked. Right. She wasn’t by herself here. She glared at ground to try to focus. Her normal eyes felt dizzy and sick from the pain she hadn’t expected, and her stomach churned with a queasy motion that made her want to vomit.

“Big sis?” Claire called through the barrier.

“I’m fine!” She lied. She shot the children a huge grin. “I’m having a ton of fun.” Her ribs felt the worst, it felt like that monster hand had pierced through her flesh to scratch her bone. Her clothes and lack of blood disagreed with that thought. She finally forced herself up, doing everything she could for the smile not to budge off her face. Now she was worried though, what would happen if she did a direct attack against Tsukasa? Would he experience the same thing she just had? Yuna wanted time to stop and be given time to think but Tsukasa seemed entirely focused on dueling no matter the circumstance,

“I activate Galaxy Cyclone.” The card popped on the field, “Destroying that card on your side of the field, say goodbye to-”

“Perfect!” Yuna managed to lean into her grin. Her spell card popped up in reaction to its destruction, “Change Of Intention’s effect activates.” She pointed to the card and was surprised when even Tsukasa’s face morphed,

“Change of what?”

“I’ve never heard of that card before.” Kayo remarked.

“When this card is destroyed on the field it forces a player to change their Intention for the duel.”

“What?”

“There’s no way that card should work or exist!” Tsukasa yelled and Yuna stared at the hologram ahead of her, expecting it to just burst at his words. It did no such thing and just glowed brilliantly. “I end my turn.” He hissed but she didn’t budge. “Draw your card you cheater.” Yuna growled,

“I’m not a cheater! You told me that I shouldn’t have any cards that couldn’t be read by the duel disk! And look!” Yuna pointed at the card still glowing to finish its activation, “You wouldn’t be able to see the card if the disk couldn’t read it, now change your Intention Tsukasa!” His face shifted to look a bit nasty and Yuna felt her forced smile falter a little at the darkness in the other boy’s face. 

Oh gosh.

“Fine.” Tsukasa’s eyes narrowed. “My new Intention is spell cards cannot be played.” Yuna nodded to this, wondering if her deck’s second highest card count were spell cards. His own deck must not have had that many considering that would be a huge disadvantage for any duelist except a for power house. He no longer had a smug face, but his grimace reminded Yuna of a determined warrior that would do anything he could to win the battle. He really wasn’t worried about her pain or this situation at all. He was more angry at what the thought she was a cheat than fighting the ‘darkness’ that was inside her supposedly.

“I draw.” The young woman did as she said and her grinned bloomed. Perfect! “I put a monster down and end my turn.” Tsukasa scoffed at her move.

“Yuna you need to stop making those amateur moves! You need to find a way to attack back!” Kayo yelled from the sidelines and Yuna did her best to not shout back, she didn’t want Tsukasa to have any idea of what she had planned. Tsukasa didn’t even comment and drew his card, his disgruntled expression told the young woman he was all business now. He looked down at his cards and played a monster, Archfiend Soldier (1900/1500) came out standing menacingly next to Summoned Skull.

“Attack her face down monster Archfiend Soldier.” Tsukasa’s tone was full of contempt. Yuna’s monster was revealed, Snowman Eater (0/1900), and Tsukasa scowled. The clash between the two monsters left them both standing and Tsukasa verbally growled.  

“I activate Snowman Eater’s flip effect!” Yuna cried cheerfully, “Snowman Eater destroys one face up monster, say goodbye to Summoned Skull.” Yuna’s grin became more genuine and she could hear the children cheer in the background. The monster broke apart like her earlier trap card and Tsukasa continued to frown.

“Don’t get cocky just because you managed to get rid of one monster, you cheater.” He simply said. Yuna bit back her words of anger. “I end my turn.” He shut his eyes with the irritation of a person who was getting a massive headache. Yuna found her forced smile leaving and she stared hard at the boy across from her.

“Tsukasa.” He opened his eyes at her call. “Are you having fun?” He stared dully at her. “I don’t know what’s going on here,” she stated and she took a deep breath, her nerves wiggling on her tongue as she continued to speak, “but dueling is supposed to be about having fun.” He made a noise.

“Should someone who believes in the Duel Kings say that?” She flushed and grabbed her arm, jumping at the feeling of her eyes flinching from her touch. It was like touching a scab, you wanted to pull it off because it interrupted the texture of your skin. Because it was there. Gosh there was so much weird happening here!

“I can say that because I believe in the Duel Kings.” Yuna could feel the eye on her forehead react to her words, an unbidden amount of courage swelled inside of her heart. “They go through such hardships and adventures but one of the most important lessons to take from their legends is to try to have fun with dueling. If you don’t then can you really say you’re a true duelist?” Tsukasa looked bored with her statement and she couldn’t help the blush of embarrassment cross her cheeks. She even heard one the kids make a remark of how lame her statement sounded. Darn it, but it was true and she wasn’t going to let anyone shame her for thinking it.

“I can’t have much fun going against a cheater.” Tsukasa replied finally, “Now take your turn.” Yuna bristled at his response and couldn’t help but yell,

“Why the heck are you calling me a cheater so much?”

“Because I KNOW that Snowman Eater wasn’t part of that deck. You’re not only a cheater but a liar because you obviously have duel cards to exchange with that deck.”

“Excuse me?” Her face grew red with rage.

“Oh there’s more eyes.” Claire remarked loudly but that didn’t interrupt Yuna’s stride.

“I am not a liar, and I’m definitely not a cheater! This is the first time I’ve ever dueled and look around us Tsukasa! There’s obviously some weird magical stuff happening to us, what if THAT’S why a card got in my deck, huh? What if YOU have cards that weren’t in your deck?” She didn’t feel strong or powerful but she couldn’t help but continue spitting out her words full of venom. “And aren’t you the cheater if you knew what my deck was made out of? Your first Intention was for no dragon cards could be played after all.” Yuna drew a card from her deck, “I sacrifice Snowman Eater to bring out Chthonian Emperor Dragon (2400/1200), a dragon card that I’ve had since I first drew my hand.” The dragon emerged, roaring unto the field.

Tsukasa’s expression moved between confused and annoyance. He must have recognized that this was part of the original deck. That didn’t matter to Yuna now, she was too angry at being called such rude things to give him a chance to back pedal. “Attack Chthonian Emperor Dragon, destroy Archfiend Soldier with empiric flame!” The dragon spread its wings and a fireball erupted from its mouth, destroying Archfiend Soldier effortlessly. The flame continued and Tsukasa screamed as the fire surrounded him his life points cutting down to 3500.

Seeing his pain Yuna’s rage faltered. Right, while he didn’t blast off into the arena around the two, that didn’t mean he didn’t feel like the pain of the flame. Something sinister and magical WAS happening to the two of them, and no matter how angry she was at him, she didn’t want him to get hurt. “Tsukasa are you okay?” She asked. As the steam faded from his body, Yuna was taken aback as Tsukasa started laughing maniacally once again.

“Was Ayumu always this crazy?” Sakura asked Ryu who shook his head.

“That felt real.” Tsukasa gave a crazy grin to his opponent.

“I could have told you that. Are you ready to stop the duel now?” Maybe he finally would have enough sense to consent to quitting the duel. “You’re not having fun-”

“Wrong.” Tsukasa’s grin spread and now his entire face lite up with insanity. “This is just more proof.” Yuna found herself paling, “There’s nothing more fun than becoming a king!” Oh no. “Go on Yuna, end your turn and I’ll turn this duel around with one card!” He certainly held the confidence she would expect from a king, and she certainly wasn’t sure she could beat him even though she held the stronger monster now. He was determined, she could see that. Yuna frowned, she really didn’t want to continue because she didn’t want to find out when EITHER of them hit 0 life points.

“I put one card face down and end my turn.” Unfortunately Tsukasa would know immediately what kind of card she put down was because of the no spell rule, but if she was lucky he wouldn’t be able to get rid of her trap card, at least she didn’t know of another trap card that could do that on the turn it’s put down from the top of her head. Tsukasa continued to grin and drew his card with a flourish and Yuna tensed, expecting that what he said was true, that he would reverse the duel with the draw of one card. It was a King’s strongest gift.

“I put two cards face down and then end my turn.” His grin was bright and confident. Whatever that trap card was, it made Tsukasa sure he would win, that much Yuna could feel exuding from his stance.

“Careful Yuna!” Kayo called from the sidelines.

“We’re with you! You can win this Yuna!” But did she WANT to win? It was nice how encouraging they were at least. One thing she knew for certain if she could avoid getting thrown into the dark arena around them she would be happy with that. Yuna stared at his side of the battlefield nervously and drew her card. A quick look down told her best move to do,

“I summon Soldier Dragons (700/800).” The bunch of dragons piled together roared. “Attack his face down monster.”

“Yuna that monster is way too weak!” Sakura scolded her and Yuna squeaked. That was true! She got a bit too caught up in the moment, but to Yuna’s surprise the monster that flipped over was weaker than hers...but with a terrible effect for her. Penguin Soldier (750/500) squealed as it was destroyed but,

“Penguin Soldier’s flip effect activates! Soldier Dragons and Chthonian Emperor Dragon are sent back to your hand.” He grinned victoriously and Yuna paled. He could take her out with one monster.

“Yuna you can use Soldier Dragon’s effect!” Kayo yelled over the dark wall. Soldier Dragons effect? Oh right!

“Because of your activation I can use Soldier Dragons to bring out a level 2 or lower dragon type.” Yuna opened her deck to actively see what her cards actually were for the first time since they started the duel. Oh whoa, more magical spooky stuff. The pictures on her duel cards resembled the darkness that surrounded the two duelist for their Intention duel. There was only one card that she could make out so she had no choice. “Here comes Troop Dragon(700/800) in attack mode!”

“Yuna that’s a dumb move!” Kayo shouted from the sidelines. “You’re not going to do enough damage with that lousy 700 attack points!”

“Yeah, he can easily take you out you idiot.” Sakura hissed in agreement with the pink-haired boy right next to her. Yuna frowned staring anxiously at the trap card on Tsukasa’s side of the field.

“Attack with multi-army stab!” Yuna encouraged the gathered dragons who charged under her command. Tsukasa groaned with pain as his life points flew down with the stabs of their sword and spears to 2800. Yuna held her breath, expecting Tsukasa to activate his trap but he just stood up from the attack and waited patiently. “I put one card face down and end my turn.” Tsukasa drew his card and his cocky expression burst all throughout his body.

“I summon Vorse Raider (1900/1200)-”

“I activate my trap, Chain Destruct-”

“And in return I’ll activate mine! Heavy Storm Duster!” A burst of wind swirled around Yuna, she yelled as both her traps dissipated in front of her. “The problem with activating that card is I won’t be able to attack this turn, I put one card face down and end my turn. How lucky for you.” Yuna stared helplessly at her graveyard. Tsukasa was really good at countering her traps, he really was a strong duelist. Yuna stared down at her cards, she only had the two dragons and two spell cards. She could sacrifice her Troop Dragon to bring out her Chthonian Emperor Dragon again and that would probably be the best move.

Her hand wiggled to the card, a heavy cloud of tension surrounded her. She didn’t want to get hurt again. She didn’t want to lose her eyes if they were her ‘darkness’. She didn’t want to hurt Tsukasa anymore. She could feel an awful feeling swirl with the decision, her eyes darting back to Tsukasa’s trap card being bold and plain on the field.

“Yuna don’t forget to draw.” Kayo shouted. Right. Yuna’s hand trembled to the deck.

This is how some of them felt.

At the realization Yuna felt an energy she wasn’t sure really belong to her flow inside her heart. Right, there was so much going on and she had no way of understanding or knowing how to deal with it, but she could do at least one thing again. She had been constantly saying it, but she hadn’t really FELT it until that very moment. She gave her opponent a genuine smile. He looked slightly taken aback by it. She would believe in herself, and in her deck, no matter what. The young woman drew her card.

“I tribute summon to bring out Fortune Lady Earth (???/???)!”

“What?” The monster appeared with a flourish of a flying creature despite being a spell caster.

“Her strength is based on her level, so this turn she’ll be a 2400 attack and defense creature because she’s a sixth level monster.” The monster on the field reacted to the positive boost by flexing and despite her face being heavily masked, she gave Tsukasa a confident grin.

“These duel disks are busted! There’s no way they should have been able to read and play that monster!” Tsukasa yelled, it felt like there was a lot of that today.

“Why’s that?” Claire looked over at Sakura and Kayo for an answer.

“I don’t think that card was released until past these kind of disks history.” Kayo gave her, “I would agree with Ayumu if it wasn’t for the fact there was this stuff,” he waved at the arena in front of them, “around. For all we know the normal rules could still be in play, they could probably xyz, synchro, or any of the other ways to summon if they have the cards.”

“Go Fortune Lady Earth, attack with foruteous earth smack.” Tsukasa scowled as she smacked Vorse Raider and the young man hissed as his life points fell to 2300. The active duel monster blew Tsukasa a kiss with confidence before returning to Yuna’s side. “I end my turn.” Tsukasa’s mood wavered and he glared at her with pure fury. Yuna did not budge. She was going to have fun and trust in herself, it didn’t matter if she won or lost, she would adapt and adjust to whatever happened at the end of this duel.

Tsukasa grit and bared his teeth at her and drew his card. He looked down at his card and trauma seemed to fill his face.

“Why...why is this happening?” He asked out loud, glancing down at his duel disk. Yuna kept silent, not wanting to push the brunet in front of her. He seemed far into this, and while Yuna was pretty excited at the thought of any proof of the existence of the Duel Kings, she wasn’t entirely happy about the circumstances behind it. Heck, Yuna still had no idea how this was happening at all. “I should have drawn a card that will end this in one turn.” His body swayed slightly as he continued. “I’m going to be the next Duel King.”

“I believe you.” She bit her lips nervously. This is far more talking then she ever really did with another human being and it was weird, but she could really feel part of his heart through the duel. His expressions came easier for her to read than anyone she had ever got to talk to and throughout the duel she could feel his anger and his glory. He was really a good duelist. “But here’s the thing about the Duel Kings Tsukasa...they all had to learn something important either through losses or draws.”  He glared at her. Yuna frowned in response, yeah. She needed to stop talking, this was going into her Intention in the first place.

“I end my turn.” It seemed like there was a part of him that gave him, but at the same time, Yuna could feel that he held a true anger towards her.

“I draw,” Yuna drew another card and blinked at it. “I activate Fortune Lady Earth’s effect,” she pointed to her monster who flexed once again as her level went from six to seven and added another 400 attack points making her a 2800 monster. Tsukasa screamed, “Her second effect activates and you get 400 points of damage for her boost in attack.” His life points went to 1900. “I now summon Dark Blade (1800/1500).” Yuna stared at the glaring boy, waiting for either a quip or a demand or the activation of his trap card, and she got one of those things.

“Hurry up and end this duel cheater.” Whatever Tsukasa’s trap was, it apparently didn’t matter because Yuna pointed up to her strong monster. A part of her wanted to ask again if he just wanted to end the duel but another part of her acknowledged his determined stance. He was going to go down with pride.

“Attack with forteous earth smack.” The active duel monster smacked Tsukasa directly and Yuna flinched as he flew into the black dark ominous wall and she ran at him quickly as the wall gripped him harshly as it had done the same to her earlier. The children gasped in the background and Yuna gripped the monster’s claw as Tsukasa’s scream echoed in the air. “Let go, let go!” Yuna demanded, trying to feel the hand away.

“Your...Int…!”

“What?” Yuna looked up at him, flinching as his skin started turning into a different color. Why wasn’t the strange thing fading? The duel was done! Tsukasa couldn’t word anything more as his mouth was occupied by his screams. Yuna started to beat on the monster claw, her fists starting to feel sore and bruised instantly. Her int? What did, oh! “Oh that’s right! My Intention!” Tsukasa struggled as hard as he could. “The lesson I wanted to teach you is that people’s lives matter more than Duel Monsters Tsukasa!” He glared down at her. “Really, that’s all I wanted to tell you.”

Yuna felt frustration crawl into her eyes, “I’m scared of people like you Tsukasa. You’re so sure of yourself and you’re a great duelist, but a person’s life matters so much more.” Yuna slammed her fist against the monster aura continuing to crush Tsukasa again. “I just thought I’d be like a Duel King myself and try to help you.” Tsukasa grit his teeth, his eyes closing, the monster hand not paying any attention to her words. What could she do? Yuna jumped when someone touched her back, she turned to see Fortune Lady Earth was still there.

The monster gave a playful laugh and guided Yuna away from the hand. With a flourishing gesture, the monster hit the strange hand and it disappeared, Tsukasa dropping in the quick to move Duel Monster’s arms. The Duel Monster gave Tsukasa a playful kiss and laid him to the ground, waving to Yuna as she faded. Yuna dropped to the ground in front of the passed out young man, the arena disappearing around the two and suddenly she felt an immense amount of pain course all across her body. Yuna couldn’t stop herself from falling on the ground next to Tsukasa, the last thought she could comprehend was every spot that hurt was where an eye was.

[blindrapture]

an old Andrew Hussie quote (and then a ramble in the tags)

(In response to “are you aware of all the people wishing Act 5′s hiatuses weren’t so prominent”)

I don't know. I hardly ever read more than half way down the first page of questions. Too many, too repetitive, etc.

But through various channels, I detect certain flavors of reaction, ranging from disappointment to frustration to something faintly resembling outrage, not just at the lack of an incendiary production to mark year 2, but also the flagging rate of output in recent weeks.

These reactions are far from universal, but they exist, and to address them I think an education on why MSPA exists at all is in order. If you see a creator who begins to languish in production of what presumably accounts for his day job, the impression may be that he is falling down on the job and failing to live up to his professional commitment. So maybe this is the source of indignation, re: entitlement, that some may feel when my output falters. The problem is, MSPA is not a day job for me. It is an all consuming lifestyle. Hence, the mirage that is the apparent ease of output for what is at times ludicrous volumes of material is highly sensitive to even slight perturbations in my life situation.

Let me put it this way. You may work a full time job. It may be that something happens in your life that makes your job more difficult, because you are preoccupied. Your work may suffer to some extent, but you can still approximately match what's expected of you, because there is a partition between your job and your home life. You may nevertheless feel your full time job seems to dominate your existence, saps your energy, and leaves your weekend respites feeling all too short. This is not an experience I share, because MSPA is not a full time job. If you have such a job, then I would have to RADICALLY REDUCE my workload to match your level of day to day preoccupation.

The actual quantities involved have always been nebulous and I never made a point of keeping track, but 12 hours per day seems like a pretty reasonable average, since that is just shy of all waking hours. Time spent writing, drawing, animating, or just spacing out at my monitor while contemplating all the moving parts. This is what I did every day, including weekends and holidays, for two years, and to some extent another year prior to that with Problem Sleuth. Only a few weekends were missed due to conventions, and there was a single week off immediately following the infamous "robo smooch", and that's it. (Most of that week was spent wondering why the hell I wasn't updating...) There are other gaps in the archive, spanning days or a week, when I was animating. Those spans involved the usual work schedule, while simply omitting sleep!

Not only is this an unreasonable workload to expect of anyone, it's practically impossible to pull it off. Maybe you can expect some committed guy out there to really buckle down and duplicate that effort for a month or two. But years? Too much can crop up in the white noise of normal life to destabilize it. Momentum is absolutely crucial for maintaining that kind of pace. I find that if I only do an hour of work in a day, I get ten minutes of work done. If I do 12 hours of work, I seem to get 24 hours of work done. This is especially true of animation. Such projects notoriously take a very long time. I feel like because of the crazy head of steam I've built up from years of nonstop effort, I can knock out in days something that might take another animator a week. Or in a week what might take a month. Without that momentum, it's not possible. Starting up Flash cold is excruciating. Getting your head back into the stride of a story wastes energy you wouldn't use if you never broke stride. Without the momentum, the pace reverts to ordinary. Getting distracted by life destroys the momentum.

I've been pretty zealous about deflecting the distractions, even when I move, as I often do. A notable example was last year when I came back from the Emerald City con in Seattle, and found my apartment flooded. The con was already enough of a time sink, so I didn't have much of an appetite for going into personal crisis mode. I just kind of shrugged, picked my computer off the lone, miraculously dry part of the floor, dropped it in a temporary residence, and kept drawing. I think the flood mess occupied about a day of my attention, whereas something like that could easily take up weeks of your time and energy if you're living that "normal life". You know how it is, you come home and find water up to your ankles and go aw fuck, what's ruined, what needs replacing, gotta call whoever and deal with the fuckin landlord about stuff and auuuugh. I just didn't bother with any of that, because it just didn't seem to matter, and I preferred to keep working and not give a crap about all my soggy bullshit. And in retrospect, I guess it really didn't matter.

All of my moves have been similarly characterized by the unceremonious transportation of a computer and a few boxes to a new room, in which I'd continue working as if no change took place, with no service paid to the life that would be lived there, except as a workspace. I moved again recently, prompted by decidedly less dramatic and less soggy reasons than after Emerald City. This time, for whatever reason, I did it differently. I moved the normal way, the way I imagine normal people doing when I close my eyes, whereby more than a car trunk full of utilitarian belongings are imported into the household, placed on the floor, and never unpacked until the next moving day. I am not necessarily PROHIBITIVELY busy, but like I said above, any dent in the momentum, whether its a few trips to Home Depot or Target here and there or somehow waking up to discover I'd absconded from a shelter with two particularly energetic young cats, is something that precludes a pace of output that is insane and often bordering on miraculous.

What I'm trying to convey here is this isn't necessarily any sort of break, or a grand announcement of a big slowdown for MSPA. I'm trying to give you a sense of the reality which made MSPA heretofore possible, and that if for a period of time I descend from an altitude far exceeding the hours of a full time job, into "merely" those of a full time job, IT DOESN'T ACTUALLY COUNT AS A BREAK! And certainly not as any sort of violation in a pact with the readership. Different from what you're used to? Sure. But you should never find yourself in a position where you come to expect, let alone demand, that degree of effort from anyone, even me. If my output "sputters" from 10 pages a day to 1 or 2 or 3, IDEALLY (re: unrealistically) this should not even cause you to voice an internal observation on the matter! And if one is voiced, instead of "oops, looks like Andrew's slipping," it should be "oops, looks like Andrew's being a regular dude for a while."

Not that detecting a pace change is some terrible wrongdoing, since clearly I've done everything in my power to establish these absurd precedents, and people have naturally associated this with The Brand. I'd just like to suggest it would be beneficial to the reader to disentangle enjoyment of the content from the torrid pace its been commonly delivered. Who can say how fast or slow it'll come in year three? Would my assurances even be reliable? Maybe it'll stay at the current pace for a good long while. Maybe it'll soon hasten back to something more typical. Maybe it'll come back FASTER THAN EVER. Who cares??? Do you really NEED this site to be the fastest comic on the block to enjoy it? Are you prepared to contend with the backlash to your psyche that is risked by so fervently relishing that particular property of the comic? What if it's taken away? Don't go boasting to your neighbors that your slave can pick cotton ten times faster than theirs. It's unbecoming. Just enjoy the fluffy yield of his furious hands, while you wait and pray for Abe Lincoln to gently stroke his beard and relieve you of your bigotry.

[twinklecupcake]

Got tagged by @bunnikkila​!

Zodiac sign: Aries (April 12)

Height: 4′11.5″.

Hogwarts House: I think it was Hufflepuff?

Last thing I googled: "homemade cinnamon rolls easy quick"

Song stuck in my head: "Show Yourself"

Fav musicians: Peabo Bryce, James Ingram, Anita Baker. I used to listen to them a LOT when I was younger.

Following: 922. Not sure how many are still active, though.

Followers: 1334

Do you get asks: Sometimes! Usually it's for memes or someone asking about an OC/AU I just posted about.

Amount of sleep: Usually around 7 or 8. His month it's been closer to 9 on weekends, with how much overtime I'm doing.

Lucky number: I always kinda liked the number 4...

What are you wearing: Ice-cream pajama bottoms, graphic tee, bathrobe.

Dream job: I'd love to be able to work in game art, or for visual novels! And I really want to work a job I can sit down for; I’ve done retail my whole life and working at a desk or drawing station sounds like heaven.

Dream trip: Vegas, Japan, or England.

Instruments you play: I tried the flute once in fifth grade, but that didn't pan out. I don't play any instruments.

Languages you speak: Just English. I used to know some Spanish but there was nobody to practice with and it all faded out.

Fav song: AUUUUGH WHY ASK ME THIS I HAVE SO MANY Okay, lately I've been listening to Celine Dion/Peabo Bryce's "Beauty and the Beast," Dream Ami's "NEXT", and GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE's "Brand New Story."

...wow, I listen to a lot of movie themes. NEXT was the Japanese theme for Next Gen and Brand New Story is the theme for the (soon-to-be-released in US) Ride Your Wave.

Random fact: One time I fell out a second-story window and got away with just bruises on my knees.

Cats or dogs: Cats! I like dogs, too, but kitties are my favorite.

Aesthetic: Pastels, skies at sunrise/sunset/twilight, cities at night, lights on wet asphalt, sunshine and rain at the same time, picturesque villages, misty snowy mornings, pink coffee shops.

[fuckawah]

“Please put me down it’s just a sprained ankle" STARCO pls

RIDICULOUS sentence prompts, feat. echocreeks

pairing: starco, obvi, or else who am iwords: 756

He hits the mat with a squelch and a thud. The modest audience of karate-parents share an in-drawn hissas they watch Marco skitter to a halt, his hands clamped around his ankle as ifhe fears losing it.

“Point Birnbaum!”

Jeremy (ugh, Jeremy) towers over Marco at a positively menacing four-foot-six.Even through his agony, Marco has the strength to glower. “Sorry, Marco. Did I hurt you? I’ll tell you what…” Jeremy prodsMarco with his tiny, sweaty feet. “I’ll give you the chance to bow out now, andspare yourself the embarrassment of another pounding.”

Marco, bless his soul, is havingprecisely none of this. “Out of myface, Jeremauuuugh!” As it turns out,Marco’s ankle is having just as little of it. In hindsight, trying to swipeJeremy’s feet out from under him was a tad aggressive, and Marco is now forcedto reflect on this decision with one leg out of order. He rolls onto his side,testing his weight on his wrists. “I can still take you.”

Jeremy’s loading another retortwhen the humor is quite literally blasted off his face: a pink bunny-ridden beamwhisks him up and holds him in midair. Star Butterfly, like a gosh-darn Valkyrie,bounds out of the bleachers to kneel by Marco.

“You wiped out! Are you okay?!”She’s etched with concern, and preoccupied with shouldering all of Marco’s weight.

He looks up at her, a littledizzy. “I’m good, it’s good, it’s awesome –” Um, no it’s not, Marco. Hisankle is swollen and veiny, and he’s leaning on Star a little more than hethinks he should.

“Should I, ah…” Star twirls herwand between her fingers; gnaws anxiously on its little wing. “You want me tofix that for ya?”

“No!” Almost everyone inthe room is very adamant about this.Marco takes her wand hand in hers and eases it away. “No offence, Star, but thelast time you tried to fix one of my limbs…”

Star grimaces as she chews on alock of hair. Point taken. “You can’t fightlike this, Marco! Jeremy’s just gonna smack you down, again and again and again and…”

“Thanks.”

“Not doubting you! No doubt.” Which he knows; Star’s kind of Marco’snumber one fan. She knows he’s betterthan some third-grader who bought the entire vending machine last week just toreplace the chips with pictures of him eatingthe chips. They’re a team, are Marcoand Star. She refuses to leave a manbehind on the battlefield.

Idea!

Little lightbulbs, blooming tolife on her cheeks. Star scoops Marco up into her arms (it’s a bit of a struggle, but she doesn’t joust for nothing), andfumbles with his weight distribution as she rises to her feet.

“Star! What are you doing?”

“Tag-teaming! Get on my back.”

What? Marco clings to her sleeve,her hair; elbows her in the ribs, he’s pretty sure, as Star jostles him in herarms. “Star, seriously. Please put me down, it’s just a sprained ankle!”

“And I’ve got two perfectly good ankles! My legs, yourmanly karate arms – we’re unstoppable.”She has succeeded in getting Marco into… can we call this fighting form? Itlooks pretty redonkulous. Marco has his legs grappled around her waist, andStar’s wearing Marco like a backpack. He huffs a bit of her hair out of hisface.

“This is nice and all, but Ireally don’t need you to fight my battles for me.”

“You’re still fighting, Marco. Butyou’re fightin’ Butterfly-style. Getup, Birnbaum! You and us, let’s go!”

Star drops Jeremy out of the air.He lands on his back, glaring at them both imperiously. “No fair! She’s got amagic wand!”

Marco scoffs, resting his arms onStar’s shoulders. “You’ve got gold barsstrapped to your ankles, man.”

“Sensei?”

Sensei Brantley is probably theleast authoritative when it comes to Jeremy-bending. He dismisses the appealwith a wave of his hand. “I’ll allow it.”

Star and Marco share a triumphantcatcall, and a decidedly awkward high-five. Sweet, sweet fear floods Jeremy’s eyes as Star readies her wand. Marco leansover her shoulder, his fists poised for striking. “Tell you what, Jeremy. We’llgive you the chance to bow out now, and spare yourself the embarrassment of a double beating.”

It’s not the most efficientbattle strategy, sure, but Marco doesn’t mind bringing the alpha-couple thinginto the dojo. He thinks he could get used to being head, shoulders, and kneesabove his competition when Star is his support.

[squirenonny]

Okay, so I just finished Voltron Season 2 and: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Short, spoiler-free version: I have a few things to take issue with, but as a whole I absolutely LOVED this season. *screeching* !!!

Long, spoilery version under the cut

Starting with my three big complaints before this devolves into excited screaming:

1. They’re still going with the Hunk food jokes. Like. Please. The mall cop episode (which was fantastic, by the way) did Chef Hunk right--he’s competent, he knows what he’s doing, he’s cooking in a way that obviously a large number of people like, AND he actually taught Sal how to cook?? Like oh my god, Hunk is the best space Gordon Ramsey, yes! A lot of the other episodes, though, are more of the same old tired fat jokes. Hunk’s always hungry. He’s always talking about food. He’s always making shallow food metaphors. We get it. I’m really hoping the writers cut it out in season 3, or at the very least continue to shift the focus toward other aspects of his personality.

2. I’m more than a little salty that we didn’t see half the team’s reactions to Keith being Galra. Like... I didn’t need a “reveal scene” (we got that with Shiro, and I loved that it was a shock that immediately turned into a non-issue.) What I wanted was the kind of thing we got with Hunk--the aftermath, and the other paladins figuring out how they feel. Hunk’s stuff was great, tbh, and Allura’s was pretty good (a little disappointing that she was so harsh with Keith, but I get it. She’s lost a lot to the Galra and all very recently.) I just wanted...something. Something with Pidge and Lance, at least. Some interaction that wasn’t in the middle of a battle anytime after the reveal. Maybe that was supposed to be because they were all so rushed trying to put their plan into action, they didn’t have time to process. Maybe we’ll get Lance, Pidge, and Coran’s responses in season 3 (god I hope we do). I just wanted more emotional fallout from the reveal (or support. Support would be good too. Somebody give my son a hug.)

3. Everything else can basically be summed up with, “Why isn’t season three here yet??” I wanted more of a lot of things, and I get that you can only fit so much into thirteen episodes, especially when the plot was so BIG. Holy shit you guys, so much happened in this season. So, yeah, I really wanted more Lance development (more Hunk, too). Klance? Shallura or Shatt development?? Keith and Pidge??????? The team was split up for so much of the season, and fighting battles the rest of the time, that a lot of relationships got shafted. I’m not overly bitter about that, but I am hoping we get that relationship development in season three.

Okay. There’s my salt, now time for the screaming: (Sorry, intermittent caps lock because I couldn’t control myself.)

AAAAHHHHHH OH MY GOD GALRA KEITH!!!! I have never been so alive! Fuck. I’m so happy (lack of fallout with Lance and Pidge aside. Dark Voltron season 3, give me an episode specifically dedicated to Pidge’s reaction to Keith being from the same race that took her family.) I’m choosing to imagine that Pidge has bottled up any reaction she may have had, and that it won’t come out till things have calmed down (or she’s stuck alone with Keith) and that Lance considers it such a non-issue that he had no reaction, and for him to be surprised when Keith is wary around him after that last battle.

ALSO????? I’m so happy that Keith’s mom is apparently the Galra??? I jsut?? YES??????

MATT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my GOD Matt! Matt’s out! Matt’s with rebels! REBEL MATT HOLT HOLY FUCK! I need season three like yesterday, and it had better have Matt Holt, Rebel soldier/spy/hacker/medic/literally anything. I’m so freaking happy Pidge actually got a chance to search for her family--and FOUND SOMETHING! Ahhhh!!!

HAGGAR’S ALTEAN! HAGGAR’S ALTEAN!! HAGGAR’S CANONICALLY ALTEAN!!!!! I so called this, and I could not be happier!! Augh!! I screamed! I screamed so much holy fuck

DRUID ALLURA????????? What???? I need more of this. What happened? Is she using magic or just redirecting it?? How?? Why???? Is she going to learn more???? Allura being badass with that staff was awesome, but imagine Allura charging into battle with her staff a deadly blur and a lightning storm swelling around her oh my GOD MY QUEEN!

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO SHIRO????? I’m so scared for him, oh my god?? But, like, in the best possible way. He’s not dead (I hope????? Don’t kill Space Dad, Dreamworks, PLEEEEEASE!) But we can still have Black Paladin Allura in season 3?? And maybe even Matt Holt, Rebel (TM) saving his boyfriend???

SHIRO AND KEITH OH MY QUIZNAK! “You’re like a brother” haaaaa Okay, I’m dead. “My live would have turned out a lot different without you” *screeches* I still want more (mentor at the Garrison? Foster brother?? How??? do you know each other?????) ((Presumably not forever, because Shiro didn’t know anything about Keith having a knife, but still???????))

ALLURA CALLING CORAN A SECOND FATHER AUUUUGH JUST KILL MY NOW MY HEART x.x

The heITH in that one episode?? Or like... at all??? Keith joking? Hunk making Galra Keith jokes? THem workibng togethera and thanking eachother and Hunk standing up for Keith when Allura’s tyring to ingore him???????? AUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH

Klance Emperor’s New Groove AU???? Oh. My god. Like. We didn’t get much Klance this season, but we got them cliMBING UP AN ELEVATOR SHAFT like pros?? I die.

KEITH’S FRIEND FROM THE TEASER? Who are you?? Are you Matt? Are you WITH Matt’s rebels?? What did you need the Weblum secretion whatever for?? Why aren’t you talking??? Are you mute?? Are you a lady rebel?? Please be a lady rebel! (Mute or nonverbal lady rebel, y/y?????) *whispers* season threeeeee

Space spore snowball fight!!!! I’m so happy!!!! Lookit my son Shiro being a kid!!!!!!! Lookit Keith and Lance flirting with glowy space goop. :)

Pidge/Tech continues to be my otp

Shiro? Getting pushed past his limit by what’s his name. Slav? W/e. I died. Even Space Dad’s patience isn’t infinite.

When Keith was asking Coran about whether Galra have ever been to earth and Lance is RIGHT THERE? LIke??? You’re in the middle of your facial regimen, Lance, what happened? Did you hear Keith’s voice and  immediately sprint to the door??

Pidge having a gay squish on Alan Turing??

Ryner??? Is??????? So great?????? My biologist daughter????????? Also she came so close to the “we’re all made of star stuff” quote and I just? Die??? hONESTLY, season three needs to bring back her, Shay, and Nyma and let them be badasses.

FORM BLAZING SWORD!!!!!

asdfghjkl;

There’s tons more I’m sure, but my brain is on complete overload right now and I just. I can’t. Frick.

EDIT: I cannot believe I forgot: Pidge is SO NOT CIS!! Like! Frick! The bathrooms! Which were conveniently color-coded in a way that’s consistent with Earth bathrooms. In a way that Keith didn’t even stop to think about. But Pidge??? Is at the very least much more aware than Keith that the gender binary is a social construct--and you could very easily make the argument that she was debating whether aliens have the same biases as humans. Should she risk using the girl’s bathroom? Does she pass by alien standards? What even ARE alien standards for gender conformity? All this to the point that she’d rather just hold it.

(On that same note: trans Hunk? y/y)

((On a closely related note, rewatching the mall episode: Keith pulling Hunk onto the cow is weirdly adorable?? This season is gonna make me ship Heith more than ever, frick.))

I think I need to rewatch this for character/ship tags now, kthanx. Feel free to yell at me about anything!