#im guessing most of you are from ygo though

[cephalomon]

idk if thisll take off but im curious so im gonna try it

[cyberdragoninfinity]

How would you rank the barians from least favorite to most favorite

OK SO. IVE BEEN SITTING ON THIS ASK FOR WEEKS CUZ I WAS WAITING UNTIL I HAD ACTUALLY SEEN ALL SEVEN BARIAN EMPERORS IN ACTION. and now well im done watching the series SO!! im glad I waited because over the course of the back chunk of zexal ii my opinions on all the emperors got jostled around so much AND I ENDED UP LIKING ALL OF THEM A LOT. so i guess caveat for this list: love all 7 of these guys so much, definitely one of my favorite "factions" of yugioh characters. my fuckign kids

anyway, from 'least' to most favorite

7. Girag: THIS FEELS SO MEAN. SORRY GIRAG like I said i love 'em all but I guess he's the one I like the least, if only because his design is.... unfortunate. And his backstory is......................... unfortunate. They really said "this black character didn't actually do any of his supposed achievements; a literal tanuki did them for him" and called it a day huh HHFDGSDFG Yugioh Not Fantastic Moments but what can ya do. He's still fun. I love his dub voice I genuinely do wonder if it being a bit of a Rocky Balboa impression was a deliberate choice (since he's buddies with Alito Boxer Kiddo Extraordinare).

6. Dumon: AGAIN. A LITTLE MEAN. SORRY DUMON FDHGSG he's grown on me a BUNCH since I started z2 mostly because i lesbianpilled him in my brain but he's gotta be #6 because his Barian form is probably my LEAST favorite of the bunch. I'm not big on his very flat eyes but I do love the idea that they're because He Cant Fucking See. His human form is so fucking funny they really librarypilled this guy so hard. He's low on the list but still dear to me. Definite Zexal Real One.

5. Marin: GOD. RIOMARINMERAG. I LOVE HER. I REALLY DO. her Barian form's color palette is just gorgeous and she has an awesome ice motif and she's a COOL SPORTY JOCK and she LOVES HER BROTHER but my GOD she suffers from Girl in a Yugioh Series SO BAD. THIS POOR GIRL IS FRIDGED FOR LITERALLY OVER HALF THE SHOW!!!! she does 1-3 cool things and They Shred Like Hell but there's just barely enough of her in the show for her to really blossom into one of my top favs :( don't worry sweetheart im coming

4. Mizar: ok so now we're getting into the territory of where I Just Really Like These Guys. I didn't give a SHIT about MizarMizael until the Moon Duel, and then I proceeded to give SO many shits about him. What can I say.... sad kiddo YGO character backstory gets me every time. I love that he pulled an Aporia and face-turned and tried to take on the Big Bad but fumbled so fucking hard he died in one turn. His Barian form is ROUGH, THOUGH. HIS SHADES OF YELLOW ARE TOO FUCKING CLOSE TO EACH OTHER PUT SOME MORE GREEN AND RED IN THERE. Anyway. Been cooking a trans woman Mizar headcanon for a little while now. estrogen and hooves could have saved her.

3. Nasch: I. really like Shark. I'm still sorting out favorites in my mind but Shark is definitely in my Top Five and I like him as Nasch by extension. Definitely one of the coolest Yugioh Rivals by absolute far. His slow growth as Shark from Mean Bully to Guy Who Cares So Much About His Friends just GUTS me!! This is what ygo's all about babeyyy!!! And the sheer amount of AWFUL SHIT that happens to this kid, MY GOD. He loses his sister over and over again and ends up with SO MANY LIVES ON THE LINE it's a fucking wonder he didnt have a turbo emotional breakdown and collapse. Also I love when characters have species identity crisis and claim to throw their humanity away<3 I know that one <333 ALSO his color palette is really good, I wish his pants were dark though.

2. Alito: ALITOOOOOOOO ALITO MY BI ITALIAN REP. he is latino to me. as well. anyway Alito is also one of my Absolute Top Favorite Zexal Characters I fucking love him. I love Tough Guy Who Kids Love. I love his Battlin Boxers. I love his narrative parallels to Nistro (also one of my fav characters). I love both his forms!! His Barian color palette rocks. ALL OF HIS DUELS GO SO DAMN HARD ESPECIALLY THE MYTHIRIAN NUMBER ONE AND HIS 'CONTROLLED BY DON THOUSAN' DUEL. He's just so good!!! His dynamic with Yuma makes my brain spin around. I need to draw him for real so bad. I hope they put him in Duel Links soon I will whoop and cheer and clap.

cmon. gotta be basic here but you know it's VECTOR!!!!!!!!!!! God he might be. My most favorite Zexal character. He is certainly the one making me the Most insane. I feel like a version of me from a different dimension made this character in a lab just to psychologically torment me. He's BONKERS, he's FUNNY, he's SO OBSCENELY EXPRESSIVE IT'S INSANE, he LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE MY BESTIE'S BLORBO, he LOOKS LIKE MY ART STYLE. Absolute Dana Monster Perfect Storm thats destroyed my house and my brain. And then they had to go and make him SAD!!! JUST TAKE ME TO THE VET AND PUT ME DOWN, MAN!!! s-tier yugioh character. top tier favorites hall of famer. i love him to bits. half my screenshot folder looks like this now

[pwnyta]

Apologies for my mistakes in advance.

Ok, so, I have a question for you.

Some time ago (honestly, it might have been kind of a long time ago) you’ve been talking about Genshin and how you prefer when the mc is not the point of view character but just someone who spectates from afar while other characters living their lives/stories. Tbh I’m not entirely sure that it was the exact thing that you said, but at the very least, that’s how I’ve remembered it xD

(Not trying to put words in your mouth btw, again, that’s just how I’ve remembered it)

So, my question is: do you not like MCs, like, in general? Like I know that it’s a strange question and that mc from Genshin feels more like a self-insert (I think they get better as the time goes on, maybe they’ll be their own characters by the end of the game lol), so it’s strange to question whether or not you like MCs just based on this one answer, but I was wondering about it so I decided to ask.

I’m not gonna lie, I am (kind of) a main character truther, they usually end up being my favorite characters, and if I don’t like mc, then I usually drop the work as a whole (because I don’t want to consume something that’s going to anger/annoy me, and bc MCs are usually a huge part of the story, I would rather just not interact with the story as a whole. Kind of unrelated, but my hatred for Bak*go forced me to drop mha bc he started to gain more and more screen time, and even though he is not THE main character, I still think that’s a good example).

Like. I hope you don’t think that I’m looking for troubles or anything, but as a person who likes MCs and as someone who would rather drop the work if I can’t emphasize with them/don’t like them/feel like they are NOT treated or behave like main characters, I’m just interested in the perspective of someone who doesn’t care for those characters/don’t like them in general.

Sorry if my message was confusing, I hope you got my point.

Well honestly I do tend to find MCs significantly less interesting than other characters. MCs tend to be the most generic character so that people can relate to them… thats just not how I read stories so it does nothing for me.

Like Naruto (& honestly the rest of his team) I found him (them) largely annoying and was always more interested in the stories of other characters with weirder powers (like Shino) & because I like more minor characters I Guess Im just more tolerable of their absence so long as the story is fun (Shino was probably THE most neglected of class but I stuck through Naruto until it wasnt fun anymore.)

But yeah especially in something like Genshin where Aether/Lumine are both the MC… and nothing really changes based on the character you pick... they arent a real character and what they do doesnt really matter because its just a stand in.

Like if you made QIQI the main character things would inherently change because she is her own character and the world would have to change based on what she might do. Her options to choose would be SO much different since shes a child and a zombie and w/e the world couldnt possibly be the same…. or CYNO would be interesting because hes got such a different temperament and also struggles with discrimination from being a desert dweller so there would even be more resistance... Hes basically got 2 personalities the quiet professional who keeps his head down and the goofy little meme boy who likes puns and YGO thats closer to who he really is and only shows to his friends (who hate it… OMG WINDBLUME IM STILL DEVASTATED LEARNING CYNO IS QUITE WHILE WORKING BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE RACIST AND HE ONLY JOKES WITH HIS FRIENDS BUT HIS FRIENDS ARE ACTIVELY ANNOYED BY IT AND DONT WANT TO HEAR IT…. IM SICK. …anyway.)

You can interchange Lumine and Aether and nothing changes because theyre not a real characters with their own personality so I just cant give a shit about them. The only thing that makes them tolerable is that its pretty clear Aether is supposed to be the main character canonically.

That said I wouldnt completely dismiss an MC just for being an MC…. some are interesting or serviceable enough to be somewhat likable. I love Luffy from One Piece, I like Tsuna from KHR and I did like Deku from MHA at first though recently he just feels like he doesnt matter at all (which normally I wouldnt mind since I usually prefer side characters stories but cutting screen time of Deku and focusing on characters who genuinely dont fucking matter or are terribly written like Endeavor or the side villains whos stories are forced and/or dont fucking MEAN anything… its frustrating. As much as I cant STAND Bakugo I actually wouldnt mind him having more screen time because he IS important to the story (or should be)… same with Todoroki but Bakugo is just a FLACCID and stagnant character and Todo was fucking wasted as Hori somehow thought itd be a better idea to build his abusive POS father without him present… DONT UNZIP ME NONNY. IM SO MAD…).

UM…. yeah. I didnt take offense or anything to the question… I actually love having an excuse to bitch about silly shit like this. Fandom discourse used to be one of my favorite pastimes before people started pretending it was serious business because theyre too lazy to do any actual social justice.

[sexhaver]

You are literally my sole connection to MTG and I always wonder what the in-game uses of cards you post are. I grew up playing YGO and pokemon, wherein the cards have their rules explicitly written on them. For example- what are the properties of Ms. Bird Maiden and why would you play it? I see no mechanical information spelled out on the card

the properties of Bird Maiden are that she's a red creature named Bird Maiden with 1 power and 2 toughness, flying (more on this later), and a mana cost of 2R (2 generic mana + 1 red mana). her creature type (the line under her art but before the rules text box) is Human Bird, not Bird Maiden, because this card was printed back before creature types were standardized and every creature printed before that had its type retroactively corrected on Oracle, MTG's official and definitive encyclopedia of cards (rulings, legality, errata, etc). also Oracle sucks dick, use Scryfall instead, it has the exact same info but has actually had its website updated since the first Obama administration.

the word "flying" in the rules text is pulling a lot of weight here - the stuff in italics is flavor text with 0 game relevance, so "flying" is literally the only word on this card. a creature with flying can only be blocked by another creature with flying, or one with reach (an ability that lets you block as though you had flying but not attack with it). this is kind of confusing at first, but makes intuitive sense: birds fly. flying stuff flies over stuff that can't fly, so you need another flying creature or a very very tall one to successfully block it. if this was yugioh, all of that would be written out explicitly on the card; in MTG, they can just say "flying" and refer you to the Comprehensive Rules for further elaboration

as for WHY you'd play this: you wouldn't, if your aim is to win. this card is from 1995, when the game had just come out and the designers were still figuring out how to balance stuff. this period of the game is notable for having creatures/monsters that suck donkey dick right alongside spells that also mostly suck donkey dick. occasionally they fucked up and printed an obscenely powerful spell that still sees Vintage play today, like the Power 9, but for the most part cards from this era are worth more as nostalgic collectors items than actual playable cards. in this card's case, 3 mana for a 1/2 with flying is a comically bad deal, even in red (which doesn't usually get small fliers). for context, white gets this same card for 1/3rd the cost and an extra ability:

(yes i know there's been power creep between 1995 and 2021, that's the point im making)

the main draw of the card and the reason i reblogged it was the Kaja Foglio art. the other hallmark of cards from this era is that the art direction wasn't nearly as standarized as it is now. artists with extremely distinct styles were given room to flourish and show off, and Foglio is one of the most memorable

side note, while looking for other examples of Foglio's work, i just now realized that she illustrated both of these cards, one of which was banned for, quote, "not meeting Magic community standards" and "perpetuating racism". guess which!

edit: these last two are actually illustrated by Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio's husband who she runs an art studio with

[ygio]

Just for contrast, tell us about a piece of media where a beloved main character did in fact die that you wouldn't change for the world?

oH MAN hey there anon thanks for enabling me imma rant some more (obvious spoilers ahead)

so since my last rant was about ygo the first example of the opposite that i need to name has to be hikaru no go - i actually got recommended this manga after i read yugioh, by a friend who went 'hey you know what else has a mc who gets haunted by a ghost and plays games together with him, that will destroy emotionally?'

and obviously the ghost moves on eventually, and mc is devastated by it. but i loved it.

and listen i love sai so much. he was my blorbo and i was so sad to see him go, especially like that, out of the blue. (i keep thinking how thats the way death usually happens irl. its not big, its not dramatic. it just happens, and most of the time you dont even get to say goodbye.) but it absolutely had to happen and i cant imagine the story without it if i try.

it was handled really well, too. hikaru is allowed to grieve, and theres no attempt to make it look pretty, the story doesnt try and make the reader believe that we should be happy about what happened (even though later on hikaru became even stronger, and sai was allowed to rest after getting his wish; parting did benefit both of them)

i really like to give hikago as an example of kind of a contrast to ygo because everything ive seen people say about yuugi and atem, that i strongly disagree with - that atem was yuugis mentor, that he was older and more experienced and there to teach yuugi how to play until yuugi surpassed him, that a part of him wanted to stay but that he was ultimately fine with moving on - it all applies to sai and hikaru. the ghost in this story really was this older figure showing the other mc how good he was/ could be, and he knew that he would eventually have to go but was okay with it. he wanted to stay and play even more the way a person wishes for the fun days to never end, but when the moment came for him to go he was at peace.

(some other examples include nanami from the second danganronpa - shes one of the 3 'mainest' characters so i guess it counts, and shes also the only member of the cast that died permanently. this girl is one of my definite favs, and her death made so much sense and was a great twist. even if i dont think ill ever be over how fucking bittersweet the whole thing was, her making promises about seeing the world when they get out, knowing that this was impossible for her in the first place. this game, man)

i also need to say that im extremely bad with character death. i need to be warned about it in advance most of the time lmao im a wuss. but sometimes it happens and i get it, it had to.

then some other times, it happens and i want the canon to meet me in the pit lmao then end up feeding myself (read my fixit pspsps)

[kaibacorpstocksplit]

Yeah death-t is unironically one of the worst arcs in the manga (only being topped by mem world imo) but people continue to fixate on it because there's a lot of potential for something better there... it's honestly kind of frustrating how badly kt blew it LMAO

i'll have to read on before i rank anything but i agree it was a good concept that felt like it fell apart in the end. i did hear that death-t is pretty... contentious haha, and i guess i can see it too with how fanworks mix and match canon.

i think it did put up a lot of good pieces in play. i LOVE kaiba coming back worse from his penalty game. i liked when they started interweaving his backstory (even if im not as big a fan as the exposition dump at the end, but to be fair we see before that mokuba isn't very good at keeping things on the down low aha), and you could see the way it also influenced his actions. i love when characters have messy and bad ways of dealing with things, it's why i love villains so much because theyre allowed more room to do that. it's cathartic! it's fun! burn things!

it's just, man. i keep thinking back to how the series kicks off with jou being redeemed, and the way that mercy isnt extended again after the puzzle's done (i have a hard time seeing a coma as merciful), and that we arent gonna think too hard about that. the way we dive a little deeper into kaiba's motivations at the beginning... and then wave that off in favor of the other backstory at the end, so the protagonist doesnt look bad. kaiba's constantly referring to the penalty games, he specifically modeled so much of death-t after both the shadow games and penalty games (side note: god is it tragic that the solid vision tech staple of kaibacorp also comes from his penalty game trauma) and then there's no real meaningful challenge or questions about the shadow games from him doing that.

the biggest problem with death-t i think lies with yugi/atem, and the narrative backing down on the challenge in favor of yugi embracing his dark side with the support of his friends, which is a sweet moment except your "other me" kills and tortures people? but- wait, theyre criminals, not people, so it's ok :) not really a ygo-specific problem though, like off the top of my head it reminds me of the way marvel movies utilize their "sympathetic villains" lol.

but yeah i do think there's a lot of good stuff in death-t too. i didnt hate the arc, i enjoyed most of it. i liked the horror nods, i love a good downward spiral revenge plot, kaiba stan for life i love more material to psychoanalyze this fictional character with, but the morals stay too protag-centric and that really kills the vibes.

[sanchoyoscribbles]

Yu-gi-oh! SR! (short for sidereal)

I’ve been talking about wanting to make a ygo fan series for a while on my main and I finally did 🤟 here’s the protagonist and her rival! I’m putting their profiles and the info about the series under the cut because it’s kinda long, even tho I tried to stick to just the basics 💀

⏳ Yunori Aokawa ⏳

⏳Age 22

⏳Deck theme: Wind attributes, lots of winged beasts. Her ace is ‘grand meridian quaver’, an angelic looking monster with a scythe and eight wings. (At some point I’ll come back and design these girls ace monsters for real…)

⏳ Our protagonist! She’s wanted to be a horologist forever and is deeply interested in history; in the future she’s from, a horologist isn’t just someone who studies time, but is someone who directly can observe set points on the timelines.

⏳They do this at a company called ChronoCorp (which is lowkey kinda shady…Yunori doesn’t work there long enough to notice…there’s 20 miles of contracts and NDAs, and you have to pass several hard tests to even be considered to be a new hire, so needless to say, Yunori studied Very Hard) it’s basically just people assigned historical events that were poorly documented to go and transcribe what actually happened, using tech that lets them watch it on hologram screens and pause it (basically a fancy TV…) they aren’t supposed to be able to interact with the events in any way and time travel is not a (publicly) known thing…

⏳On her first week on the job she finds a mysterious ring on her desk with a note with her name on it and assumes it’s a company gift, and while observing, she gets so into watching the duel she leans forward to the screen…and falls in! the ring seems to give her this ability and to have a lot of mystery around it, including it’s origin, and it has a recharge time, so once she’s in a certain time, she’s stuck for a while (not to mention, at the start she has no idea how it works or how to control it…) it’s called the sidereal ring! Yes this is a time travel plot. It’s very self indulgent of me.

⏳I’m not including stuff from arc v, vrains or sevens because I haven’t watched them, so they’re non canon here I guess for now? The series is a 200-300 yrs after zexal!

⏳ Yunori is a very cautious, nervous girl at the start of her adventure, determined she shouldn’t be interfering with history. She’s genre savvy and is convinced she’ll mess up the timeline if she does anything major, but over the course of the series becomes more confident and realizes she’s meant to be at the places she arrives at. She’s a huge history nerd and geeks out over famous duelists also despite having stage fright herself, she loves to see other people duel and loves to duel herself!

🎃Majo Kuromiya 🎃

🎃Age 24

🎃Deck theme: Halloween! Her ace card is a jack-o-lantern dragon called ‘boosilisk the hallowyvern’

🎃The rival character! She started entering duel tournaments in middle school to help her family because they were impoverished at the time, and by high school she was touring on professional duel circuits and had serious money. She very carefully developed and maintained her persona of being a spooky queen who puts on a show of being creepy while dueling, though she does earnestly love creepy cute things!

🎃She used her winnings to start her own company, Hallowed-Evolution. It’s the largest duel monsters costume and cosplay retailer! She’s pretty calculating because she’s been managing the company since she turned 18 to further support her family and handles a lot of PR herself. Although she threw herself into it so wholeheartedly that she never had time to make friends, which her family worries about. She’s so used to putting her persona up that it’s hard for her to make friends because she’s always got her mask up.

🎃Her and Yunori meet because Yunori lands in her time (sometime between 5Ds and zexal?) first, and because she owns her costume company and works with fabrics, she’s like What Is Your Outfit Made of. That’s not a fabric ive seen!!! (It’s Future Fabric™️) and Yunori is miserable at lying. Majo then let’s her stay at her estate trying to pry out details about the future (honestly, her first motives are to get details about the future to try and use that to grow her company…)

🎃 Yunori is a kind of awkward girl thought of as a history otaku back home so she didn’t have friends, and Majo doesn’t have any friends either, so they make a fun duo of Weird Girls and eventually grow together as people and have a full group of friends by the end. But at the start they’re both the same kind of too-focused on work types and learn to relax together 😌

🎃They butt heads a lot because Majo believes if Yunori is here, it means she was meant to be and shouldn’t be so afraid to mess up the timelines. (Majo is right, and smug about it later) Majo is also fascinated by superstitions and the occult and will casually say super morbid things which freaks Yunori out. Also, Majo is desperate to duel Yunori and beat her, because if she can beat someone who has the advantage of future cards and has studied duels as much as Yunori has, she’s convinced that’s the best victory that could be had. She also wants it to be a big showy match, but Yunori is like NO I HAVE TO STAY A SECRET IM NOT EVEN BORN IN THIS TIME YET!!! (They duel several times and yes, eventually on a big stage! Majo helps Yunori get over her stage-fright!)

🎃Majo also supplies Yunori with time-accurate outfits to help her blend in even though she doesn’t think Yunori actually needs to, and comes with her for pretty much all the adventures (Yunori accidentally brings her at first and while Majo is kind of excited to be involved, she’s more worried about her family and who will run her company, but when she gets back she realizes she doesn’t have to do everything alone because her family was reliably running it in her absence!) Her family includes her mother, her grandfather and two younger brothers (one 14 and one 10) and her mother was the one helping run the company for the most part.

If u read all of that thank you 🥺💗 I’m going to try and come back to these girls and develop more of a Plot and some VILLAINS and stuff, along with their ace monster designs…:3c I just thought it’d be fun to have a series that could go from filling in gaps of plot between the already established series, and being historical dramas the next ‘episode’ pfft. Also since vampires were established As Canon in GX I want to include them somehow. Scream Queen Majo VS A Real Vampire. I just wanted to add that 😌

[huntertherapyeras]

1, 6, 19, 25 for the writing ask game :)

hiiii cay :) fair warning these might be out of order since im using my phone's clipboard!

Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

so i have a few! mostly fanfics.

there's the body electric, which i haven't written for since maybe 2018 ? but i think about it a Lot. its a danny phantom fic featuring trans danny! was originally a rewrite of the show but im not sure what im doing with it now! it's probably my best work, very experimental bc i wrote it in second person, very personal because it talks about being a trans kid with trauma, and very important to me because of that. it also got an amazing reception, which im super proud of! gosh i gotta keep writing for that. my writing isnt nearly as good as it used to be bc im rusty and have cognitive issues but i really want to get back into it!

and then there's your past so present you can feel your baby teeth. its a catradora college au where catra and adora are cult survivors. i really want to do the subject justice, but i think im gonna rewrite the last few chapters i have published bc i feel like one scene is not sensitively written enough so i gotta go back and fix that. i have a lot of plans for this one! i just kinda am having trouble with motivation now ever since noelle made that racist joke awhile back. really hurt me and turned me off of the fandom lol, im sensitive. slavery jokes arent funny my friends.

im also working on in bloom. its a fic about autistic amity learning to unmask and heal from trauma surrounding ableism around her. very important to me. luz is such a light for amity and i really wanted to convey that!!!! i love luz so much!!

the most recent multichapter fic ive been working on is a post amphibia fic called just like an amnesiac (tryna get my senses back). its about marcy healing from the events of amphibia. mostly just kinda sad rn, but things will be looking up for her soon 💜 only two chapters in so far!

i have multiple one shot prompts sitting in my ask box and i really want to write for them and have ideas, i just have a really hard time getting started. and i had some original story ideas a long time ago too, but memory problems washed most of the concepts away so i guess im starting from scratch! i don't mind tho 💜

oh and theres one original short story i never finished from a few years ago but i cant remember the title rn... still tryna figure out how i want to end it but its nearly done lol

What character do you have the most fun writing?

ah jeez, i write for so many different fandoms at this point its kind of hard to pick just one! i like characters that i find easier to relate to. so danny fenton, marcy wu, amity blight, catra AND adora. i find luz fairly easy to write too, though im a little nervous to write from her perspective for some reason! i did a lot of writing from kurama's (from yyh) and ryou bakura's (from ygo) perspectives as well back in the day when i was still working on the ygo/yyh/hp crossover that ive long since abandoned. that was my longest fic at about 30k words when i abandoned it and like 70 pages! they were pretty easy to write about too i think!

What part of writing is the most fun?

honestly? projecting onto characters. i just think its neat :)

Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)

nightmare sequences are a fave. something about being comforted after a nightmare or panic attack is so good to me... i think its bc i Want That lol

thanks for asking!!!!

[ladynox]

20 Questions - Writer’s Edition

Tagged by @kaydeefalls & @im-the-punk-who

How many works do you have on AO3? 15. I use to be a pretty profilic writer when I was a teenager (before AO3 thank fuck 😂) but I lost interest. Picked it up again somewhere in my 20s, only to lose interest or the drive or something again. Roswell's the first fandom I've written for in almost decade. Hopefully this time I'll be able to stick too it. Id' forgotten how much I enjoy writing. What’s your total AO3 word count? 233292. Most of that is from just the last year alone! Crazy! How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? Currently posted to AO3? Just three. Yu-Gi-Oh!, Captain America and Roswell New Mexico. If we're counting the stuff lost to long dead Yahoo groups or forgotten notebooks, or the stuff still on the internet because I can't remember my password but I will never own up to? Probably 8? With the addition of Gundam Wing, Sailor Moon, Digimon and Final Fantasy 7. There might have been more but I can't remember anymore. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? The 1-3 and 5 were co-written with @beautifulcheat 1. The Great New Mexico Fake-Off (Roswell, malexa, complete) Michael takes up baking after watching The Great British Bake Off and starts gifting his bakes to the people he loves. Mostly fluff and pining. 2. Milestones (Roswell, malexa, WIP) based after the series, in that nebulous well adjusted future we dream of for our favorite idiots. 😂 Maria, who has been living in a v poly relationship with Michael and Alex for years, realizes she's pregnant. Michael is ecstatic. Alex is conflicted, which dampers some of Maria's joy. Still a pretty fluffy and very domestic fic. This one's on hold because we're both busy with work, school and certification exams. So we only really have time for one, which is the following monster of a fic:

3. The Truth is Right Here (Roswell, malexa, WIP) X-Files/White Collar fusion where Michael is both Scully and Neal, and Maria and Alex are both Mulder and Peter. Yes you heard right. The alien is the skeptic. But the agents don't know he's an alien yet. hahah 4. Testing the Bonds (Captain America, Steve & Bucky) Bucky comes out to Steve during the war. 5. Petit Fours (Roswell, malexa, complete). Companion piece to Fake-Off. An assorted collection of text fics or short fics. Mostly about everyone else's reaction to how bad Michael is at keeping the secret that he's the one baking the cake. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? Hmmm looking over these fics, I realize that I don't really write angsty endings. I tend to like my angst with a happy ending, or a hopeful one. Whatever that might look like given the subject matter of the fic. So I guess the closet would be The Message (YGO, puppyshipping, complete). The fic starts after an incident of domestic violence. Jou is basically working through the horror/guilt he feels at what he's done. It's not a happy ending, but there's hope different decisions will be made. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? A New Year, A New Hope (Roswell, malex, complete) is entirely made up of marshmallows from start to finish, so likely that one. Fake-Off's also tooth rottingly sweet. Surprising no one I'm sure hahaha. I love happy endings so I write a lot of fics with those. Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written? Yes I do! I'm counting fusion fics as crossovers too. I *love* AUs in general. They're super fun. As for craziest.... well I've already mentioned Truth above, which is likely the craziest because of how ambitious it is. I both love and regret ever starting this monster. Have you ever received hate on a fic? Oh yeah definitely. hahaha One day people will figure out the back button. Do you write smut? If so what kind? Yeah but not a lot. I want to write more smut honestly but I have a hard time writing it. I don't have a problem with action scenes so it's all mental. Just start thinking it's gonna suck or it doesn't make sense or it's boring. Dumb brain, cockblocking me. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of? Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope. Have you ever co-written a fic before? All the time. It's the best. Everything Kat and I write is just to amuse the other, makes writing so much fun. Also, she and I have opposite writing strengths and weakness so it really works out well. What’s your all time favorite ship? Er? I gotta choose just one? Seems kind of pointless to pit different fandoms against each other. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? I mean I have every intention of going back and finishing it but probably Six. A malex The Last of Us AU that I had a lot of grand ideas for but have lost all drive to finish. I do think that what's written can largely stand on its own as a 1 shot. One of these I'll go back edit it, give it a good "in conclusion" so to speak. XD What are your writing strengths? Hmm? Character voices/studies, I think. I like doing stream of consciousness a lot. What are your writing weaknesses? Everything. Kidding. Kidding. Probably smut and dialogue. Though I think I'm getting better at dialogue. Lately I've been getting the dialogue on paper before the descriptions. That use to not be the case! Yay! Improvement! What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? Use it sparingly and carefully. Most of your readers are probably not going to be able to read that language. The last thing you want is to confuse or annoy your readers. What was the first fandom you wrote for? Gundam Wing 🤣 All of those fics are lost to time and I'm totally ok with that. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? I am proud of everything I've posted to AO3. Um... @beautifulcheat, @maeglinthebold @jocarthage, @tasyfa and anyone else who wants to do it.

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Alright, Period Cramps just set in and Im looking for songs anyway so Im gonna be listening to every RWBY Song (V1-V7) in chronological order and rank them, starting with the worst. Lets go!

Caffeine: Thank god the team with the Nazi-based leader has the shittiest song so far.

Celebrate: Why tf is this here

Shine: Ehhhh. I dont really know why but the vibes were all off, somehow. The fact that really dislike Jaune (and as an extension, Arkos) doesn't help either.

Forever Fall: This song was 5 minutes long and it felt like 20

Brand New Day: I barely even registered that

Fear: not the worst

Lets Get Real: Either Im too tired or the songs are getting worse

War: Im ranking this one higher because it wasnt over 4 minutes

Bmblb: All the love songs are so generic

Dream Come True: Im listening to all these songs in the form of Lyric Videos and the art used in this one made me think 'Oh, a Jaune Song... Great. Well, maybe we'll get Jaune pining after Phyrrah now! Yknow, to balance it out. A cute lil song of him pining for a nice girl might me like him a bit more!' and guess what. It wasnt that. It was another Arkos Song from Phyrrahs perspective. AND this one had unnecessary Girl-Hate towards Weiss! For no reason! The only reason its above Shine is because they atleast got the vibes right this time.

Not Fall In Love With You: I think Im just not a big fan of the love songs.

Boop: It was pretty cute but nothing to write home about

Until The End: slow piano

Touch The Sky: Its not that bad, its just that Im tired and this song is too goddamn long

This Time (From Shadows II): A just fine song for a shitty arc

I Burn: I liked fine, until they started rapping.

Like Morning Follows Night: I thought this was gonna be one of the better love songs, then he started rapping.

Smile: All this does is make me question how Ilia was in the wrong even more. Sounded alright though.

The Triumph: Eh, pretty unremarkable opening for an unremarkable volume

This Will Be The Day: A very promising start! There's honestly not much to say here

From Shadows: It was fine. I liked the overall sound but the lyrics and the singing are just a bit too edgy for me.

Bad Luck Charm: Someone in the comments under the lyrics video said "looks like someone found his middleschool poetry" and honestly, yeah.

I May Fall: Hey, yknow how the FoB was apparently meant to happen in Volume 1? Yeah. Overall, I thought it was pretty alright. (You can probably already tell that Im not too big of a fan of the louder, more energetic songs so far.....

Trust Love: This is by no means a problem I have with only this song, but I hate how theyre all like "oh this isnt some FaIrYtAlE kid, this is real n dark n shit" as if RWBY isnt the least dark and least subversive story Ive seen in recent time

Rising: Alright but unremarkable

Miracle: Another alright but unremarkable one. At this point I feel like listening to these songs is frying my brain

Ignite: I was just gonna say its an alright Yang Song but that rap...

Big Metal Shoe: I can appreciate some fairy tale references

Gold: The chorus got a bit repetitive but I thought it was pretty cute

Home: Another cute lil family song! This one was kinda long though

Lionized: I really appreciate the vibe of this song

All Our Days: Adorable! I didnt really expect a Taiyang Song but this was pretty nice

Sacrifice: Not really much go say about this one, I thought it was fine

Neon: I feel like I just got aggressively flexed on in the nicest, yet most condescending way possible

Lusus Naturae: Very edgy, but in a way that I can appreciate more

Red Like Roses I: I really like the sound of this one! I kinda wish we had more lyrics, but this was the song used in the Red Trailer so Im assuming it was made to compliment the action more than anything. At the start and end there was this series of notes, that Im assuming is gonna be the Leitmotiv? Either way, Im curious how theyll use it

All Things Must Die: I feel like this song is definitely at its best during the slower bits

Lets Just Live: First of all, I cant believe they live-laugh-loved us. They kept mentioning like, stories and how 'this isnt your TYPICAL fairytale', I could practically feel the writers being like "Huh, huuuuuuuh? Arent we CLEVER? Yes we are, yes we are!" But other than it was mostly fine. A bit long, maybe.

Armed And Ready: Pretty alright Yang Song, I felt like it was just a bit too long

It's My Turn: Not much to say, I thought it was a fine Weiss Song

Nevermore: I think its good

Wings: I really enjoyed this song! Caseys voice is lovely and I think its a very good Blake Song

Indomitable: I liked this one, but I feel like its mainly because the line "the spirit is indomitable" reminds of Flame from VRAINS

When It Falls: This song is trying very hard to convince you that RWBY is Dark Now. And given that Im pretty sure this is V3s opening, I guess it fits. Oh well, it still sounded pretty nice.

One Thing: A real slappin song thats going straight to my YGO-playlist as well

All That Matters: Very neat song about Yang's conflicting feelings on Blake's return. Shame theyre literally not conveyed at all in the show.

Die: Very agressive title, but okay. I also enjoyed this one, who wouldve guessed. I love this whole vibe of Desperate Heroism In A World In Ruin, yknow? Its there in Time To Say Goodbye and Red Like Roses II (two of my favourite songs so far) too. Though it is quite dissapointing that the show never really matched it.

Hero: I dont get how people can look at this and go "yeah, Ironwood was clearly always a tyrant who never even remotely cared for others". Also Caleb Hyles my beloved

Time To Say Goodbye: Another very nice song! I also think the foreshadowing in the third verse (yknow the slow one) was quite well done. The only real issue is, that the plot point its foreshadowing is stupid as hell

The Path To Isolation: Why is Weiss a better character in her songs?

Divide: This song is trying very hard to convince you that RWBY is Dark Now pt 2. It is a banger though, so its fine.

Mirror Mirror: Funfact: This was technically the first RWBY-Thing Ive ever consumed! A Youtuber named Strawbelly made a german cover of this song (and the songs from the other trailers, I believe) and it was one of my favourites for a while. Ive also already listened to some of Weiss' other songs and I remember enjoying them too. I can definitely already tell that I prefer Caseys voice in the slower songs, so I really hope this keeps up

This Life Is Mine: Yoooooooooo, Caseys voice was amazing in this one(especially at the very start)! This is one of the Weiss Songs I listened to before I even watched RWBY and what can I say, I loved it back then and I love it now

I'm The One: Oh, this was absolutely lovely. For the first few seconds I thought I wouldnt like this one, but its a banger! I love the lyrics too, theyre very clever I think

Red Like Roses II: DUDE, I adored this! I did not expect there to be lyrics for Summer at all and I was so pleasently surprised! Sandra's voice was lovely, and I really hope I'll get to hear her again. But on a slightly more negative note, I feel like this is really where the whole 'RWBYs Songs Characterize The Protagonists In A More Compelling Way Than The Show Does'-Problem starts.

I originally wanted to write some kind of conclusion but Im tired and wanna read angst fics. Have a good night!

[kohakuhime]

The Reluctant Guardian, ch. 20

*gross sobbing*

Needless to say, this is not a fun chapter by any stretch of the imagination. Once again, buckle up. Also, a special thanks to @mpuzzlegirl for help with this chapter.

Disclaimer: this takes place post canon, and this refers to events that take place in an alternate verse. Michael belongs to @mpuzzlegirl; Rowen, Sylvie, and the twins belong to me; and YGO and its associated characters belong to Kazuki Takahashi.

Never in a million years did Michael expect to find himself in a situation such as this.

It had been bad enough separating from Rowen in that building, fearing that he would lose his cousin. It had been bad enough fleeing through the strange complex, using every single skill he had learned from his father about evasion and redirection. It had been even worse returning and facing not just the twins, but a frantic Sylvie who had woken up to find her brother gone and in danger.

Then Dartz had appeared from literally nowhere, whisked past them all as a maelstrom of fury and magic, and then disappeared through the front door. Michael had thought then that the situation was astronomically worse, because Dartz had been palpably furious.

When Rowen had come back, Michael had initially been so relieved to see his older cousin safely home that he had not taken full stock of his cousin’s shell-shocked and dazed expression until Dartz had started yelling at him. It was uncalled for and he had stepped in to defend his cousin. When Rowen had not made a move to defend himself, though, he had taken stock of the older boy. That was when he had noticed the pale features, his lips thinning and brown eyes darkening until Michael did not recognize Rowen.

When Rowen spoke, his voice was soft. "You knew."

He only said two words, but it was as if he had yelled. The twins flinched and Sylvie moved behind Michael, her eyes wide. Michael instinctively wrapped an arm around her shoulder, watching Rowen with wariness for the first time he could ever remember.

Rowen had only used that tone of voice once before. Once, in all the fourteen years Michael had known him, and if he was using it now then something was wrong.

"You. Knew." Rowen repeated, and Michael frowned. Knew what? He held up a hand to quiet the twins when they started to ask, a strong sense of foreboding twisting his stomach uncomfortably.

There was a long pause, in which Dartz seemed to weigh his response very carefully. Then his shoulders slumped and the man softly inhaled. "…I did.”

At this point the twins looked to Michael and both mouthed what are they talking about? He was aware of Sylvie’s eyes on him as well, since her older brother was not looking at her. Michael could not explain anything yet and so kept his focus on Rowen.

"Why?” Rowen asked at last. There was an angry tremor in his voice. “You watched us for almost two weeks, Dartz. You knew we were grieving, you watched us mourn and cry for what we lost, and you knew the whole time we mourned for nothing."

The foreboding grew stronger and Michael felt something in his chest clench. He couldn’t be talking about…it was not possible…

Was it?

Rowen’s voice rose into a snarl. "They need your help! You've known, and yet you've done nothing to help them!”

Michael had been frozen by the sudden realization—the full significance—behind Rowen’s sudden anger. Rowen was so hard to rile up and to make angry, and the only reason Rowen would ever be so furious was if it was directly related to his family or those he loved.

Michael’s knees shook and he paled, the room starting to spin. The twins were stiffening in place, Claire’s hand rising slowly to cover her mouth. The older children, in one moment of horrifying clarity, realized who Rowen was talking about.

“HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN OUR PARENTS WERE ALIVE?!”

Rowen’s roar echoed the one that thundered in Michael’s thoughts.

                                       ++++++++++++++

Rowen felt as if he was coming apart, legs trembling and eyes burning. He wanted to yell, he wanted to throw things, he wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, he wanted to punch Dartz, he wanted to do something, anything, that would stop him from hurting so badly.

“Our…our parents are alive?” It was Claire who had spoken, her voice thin and fragile. The amount of hope in her voice, however, made Rowen’s heart break. “Rowen, they’re alive?”

“Are they okay?” Michael asked, his voice matching Claire’s and holding just as much hope and disbelief as hers. “Did you see them? Are they safe?”

Rowen did not get the opportunity to answer. Dartz had quietly sighed and in a moment his focus was back on the other man. The anger, which had cooled at the sound of his cousin’s voices, blazed back into life.

“I’ve known for some time.” Dartz’s voice was cool, neutral. His eyes were blank, nothing reflecting his thoughts in any lines of his features. “I have not known for months at a time, but I have known longer than you that your parents lived.”

“Some time,” Rowen repeated. He did not even realize it was his voice that had spoken—he did not recognize the cold derision in his own voice. “How long is some time?”

“This is not something I want to discuss with you being this distraught, so I want you to—”

“NO.”

Rowen’s voice was a snarl. Outside, there was one final clap of thunder before the heavens opened up and the rain started slashing against the house. This was Rowen’s storm, and it had begun to unleash its full fury.

He waved to his cousins and sister, jaw clenching. “We have waited long enough. That was my father, Dartz. My. Father. He is back there, in some generic office building, being held hostage to play teacher to a bunch of demented lunatics and doing so with a damn bomb strapped to his neck. I. Want. ANSWERS.”

“A WHAT?” Sora’s eyes widened, while Claire swore sharply. Sylvie looked ready to cry. “Uncle Raph has a bomb on ‘im?”

Rowen could have kicked himself—great, now he had scared his cousins even further. He could not make himself look at them at that moment. If he did he knew he would lose what little control he had left over his emotions. Still, his heart twisted as he heard the start of a whimpered sob bubble from his little sister.

“You’re in shock, Rowen,” Dartz said quietly, bringing him back to the conversation.

An unsteady laugh rose out of his throat. “Oh really? That tends to happen when someone comes face to face with their dead father.”

“You need to calm yourself. I am doing what I can for your parents.”

“Like what?” Rowen challenged suddenly, his own eyes flashing. “Tell me how you’re helping them. For that matter, how is your progress with stopping a dead magic from reviving, hm? You don’t seem to be any closer to solving this problem!”

Rowen had come dangerously close to saying the Orichalcos out loud, and even in his anger Rowen knew better than to say that out loud. Still, he knew he would have to deal with the mention of magic with his cousins later. It was only a distant realization, however—his current focus was on the long-haired man in front of him.

“I have already told you I am doing what I can,” Dartz said. He sounded as if he was struggling to reign in his temper. “I need you to trust me.”

“Trust you?” Rowen’s laugh was bitter. “I’ve been doing just that! I’ve tried! In spite of what I heard about you, in spite of everything you’ve done, I trusted you. You asked me to give you a chance, so I did. And yet, you reward that by telling us half-truths or not telling us anything! And look how that panned out!”

“Rowen—“

“You know what I think? I think the reason you won’t tell us anything is because you don’t want to admit that you haven’t made any kind of progress whatsoever! You’re too proud and mighty for that, aren’t you?”

Rowen had expected a rebuttal or a redirection, or even Dartz ending the conversation following that remark. It had come from nowhere, and really had no founding or bearing on their current topic. But it had been a thought that had been hanging around for days, unspoken but ever present.

Instead, he got silence. Dartz said nothing, a muscle twitching in his clenched jaw, but his eyes…

“You…you have been making some form of progress, right?” Rowen asked slowly. “You had to have, given how much time has passed since we got here. You’re keeping it to yourself because you don’t want us involved, aren’t you…?”

He trailed off, understanding traveling through his thoughts like wildfire. Dartz did not want them to know the truth, because the truth of the matter was—

“You haven’t gotten any closer, have you.” His voice was matter of fact, knowing. Accusing.

The continuing silence was answer enough.

“Oh that’s just perfect!” he said bitterly, throwing his hands up. He felt wrung out and fragile, but his anger still burned strong. “So what have you been doing, then?”

“I have been doing what I can.”

“Would it be too much to ask if I begged you to give us a straight answer—for once?”

“I’ve already told you, this does not concern you now. The only thing you need to immediately worry about is your family.”

“Hey, uh, genius. Guess what? My family includes my parents!” Rowen snarled viciously.

“You can do nothing for them in this moment, Rowen,” Dartz replied. His voice was stern, his expression still impossibly neutral. “The family who needs you most is here. Your sister, your cousins…they need still need you. Don’t lose control now.”

Rowen’s laugh this time sounded distinctly unhinged. He saw Sylvie flinch, and it took a considerable effort not to start yelling again. Even as angry and distraught as he was, in that moment he remembered his younger cousins and sister. Hold your temper for their sake. Try, Rowen.

“I have been, Dartz,” he said, and his voice cracked and his vision blurred. “I’ve been keeping control for two months. I’ve been keeping control so I wouldn’t break down in front of my baby sister. So I wouldn’t let down my grandparents when they needed me most. So I could be there for Sora and Claire, and for Michael, while our worlds fell apart and we tried to figure out how to move forward. I kept control even when I didn’t want to do anything more than sit down and cry.

“I don’t think it unreasonable to ask for answers. I don’t think it’s losing control to want to save my parents, and since you haven’t been very clear on what you’ve been doing I can only guess you’ve done nothing for them. I shouldn’t be so surprised at your inaction—when have you ever done anything for their benefit?”

A small part of Rowen’s mind protested. He was pushing the limits, he was being unfair, he was speaking out of anger—Dartz surely had a reason, he would not have done this on a whim. The remainder of his mind, the part that was exhausted, at the end of its limit, and burning with protective fury and betrayal, cut over it.

When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse and shaking, strained from the shouting. “Well then, Lord Dartz, forgive me for speaking out of turn. Clearly I don’t understand your wise and powerful logic in this situation—after all, I’m directly affected by your decisions, what would I know? You’re only toying with my family and their lives. No big deal, right? You’ve done it before. So long as you don’t get hurt, that’s what matters.”

Dartz flinched, the first sign that Rowen’s words had hit their mark.

“We are not our fathers! We are not your Swordsmen, Dartz!” he said, his voice trembling with anger. “We will never be your Swordsmen, so quit treating us as if you expect us to blindly follow you and not question you!”

A ringing silence fell, Rowen suddenly and horrifyingly aware of what he had just said. Swordsmen. He had just revealed the word in front of his sister and the twins. He could already see something shift in Sora’s and Claire’s faces, Sylvie’s tears momentarily stopping their silent trek down her face. No…no, not this. He couldn’t do this on top of everything else. Don’t make me shatter their faith in their father.

“Come on.” It was Michael who spoke, his voice soft. He was not speaking to Rowen or even Dartz, but to the younger members of his family. He lifted Sylvie up into his arms, moving past the twins and nudging them toward the stairs. “We can’t stay.”

“But they’re discussing our parents!” Sora snapped, eyes flashing. “We have a right to—“

“Twins. Go.” There was no room for argument in Michael’s voice. “We can trust Rowen to tell us what’s happening later.”

The word trust was bitten out, Michael’s gold eyes flashing furiously at Dartz. It was obvious Michael’s shock had subsided, his own anger growing. But he, like Rowen, was suddenly and painfully aware of the twins and Sylvie. They couldn’t discuss their father’s pasts and Dartz around them, and Rowen could not back down to get them out of the room.

Rowen’s breathing was unsteady, shaky, his eyes burning and his heart pounding. Still, he held his tongue until he heard the door upstairs close. He was uncertain of where the conversation would go from here, the momentary lull making him feel off-balance.

He had never felt more lost in his entire life.

                                             +++++++++++++++

The moment the word Swordsmen had entered the conversation Michael had jolted out of the dazed shock. Rowen’s anger had burned and filled the air around them, powerful and paralyzing. Rowen was so very rarely this furious, and it had frozen them all. The one word had been enough, however, and Michael had snapped out of it. His eyes went to Sylvie, who was silently sobbing beside him, and then to his other cousins; Sora and Claire were bundles of nervous energy, fidgeting in place and looking very much as if they were in the fight or flight stage.

He had acted out of instinct, picking Sylvie up into his arms and moving her upstairs after rounding up the twins. Sylvie did not need to see this. She did not need to see Rowen so angry and hurt and betrayed, and neither did Sora and Claire. Rowen was also limited in what he could ask, since any mention of the Orichalcos would draw unnecessary attention to their fathers and their former jobs.

He ushered them all into the room Rowen and Sylvie shared, as it was the furthest away from the family room. The moment the door closed behind them he set Sylvie down on her bed, kneeling before her. “Hey, little fey—“

“Is it true, Michael?” she sobbed, her small hands rubbing her eyes as tears continued to fall. “What Rowen said about Papan, is it true? Is he really alive? Is Mama okay too?”

His words died on his tongue, Michael unsure of how to answer. The most he knew was that Rowen had seen his father—there had been no indication of the other parents in his explanation. He felt the eyes of the twins on him as well.

He nodded, his voice a whisper. “…Yes.”

“Why was he taken? Who took him? Why did he take them? Why won’t he let Mama and Papan come home, why didn’t Mister Dartz help them—!”

“Sylvie, shhh…” Michael pulled her into a hug, Sylvie’s arms latching around him in a desperate hug. “It’s complicated…very complicated…whoever is behind this is after us too, little lamb.”

“Ro’s really mad.” Sora’s voice was small, uncertain. “I’ve never seen him so angry.”

“He’s got a right to be, if what he said is true!” Claire said, and her own voice was fierce. “This git was sittin’ on that information while we cried for them in front of him. He knew Ma and Dad were alive! And just what did Ro mean by Swordsmen? What, is this bloke that’s got them turning them into his henchmen or something?!”

Michael flinched. Of all the conversations to have, this was not one he wanted to start especially with emotions running high. He fished for the words to say, trying to think of how to either avoid the topic or how to explain to his family the terrible truth of their father’s past.

“I’m scared.”

Sylvie’s voice was so soft that Michael nearly missed it. He looked down to find Sylvie watching him. “I’m scared,” she repeated, tears welling again in her blue eyes. “Rowen…”

Michael felt something in his chest squeeze, the air leaving his lungs. In the face of Rowen’s anger, would Sylvie fear him now? That would be a terrifying blow to both of the siblings if that was the case. Rowen would never forgive himself if he had frightened his little sister to the point of forever fearing him. “Oh, Sylvie,” he breathed. “Rowen’s not mad at you. He wasn’t yelling at you.”

“I’m not afraid of him…I’m scared for him.” Sylvie’s voice held a wobble. “He’s hurting so much and he’s scared. He tried pretending he wasn’t, but I know him, Michael. Isn’t there something we can do?”

The three older children collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Sylvie had read between the lines and had seen the fear and pain beneath the anger. The relationship between the siblings was safe.

However…

Michael had worried about Rowen for a long time, even before this situation had happened. He had known that a breakdown had been inevitable. Rowen had been bottling everything up for so long, only rarely allowing himself to grieve or to show weakness; he had not addressed his own needs, rather those of his family first in these long months. It was uncharacteristic for his cousin, and obviously a huge strain on the normally easy-going Rowen.

Now, however, Rowen had been pushed past his limit and once the anger burned out…Michael was genuinely worried as to what would be left over.

“I don’t know,” Michael said softly. He was not addressing just the little girl in his arms, but his cousins too. “I just…I don’t know. All we can do is be there for him.”

                                              +++++++++++++

Downstairs, neither of the two remaining occupants in the room had spoken since the younger children had left. It was a standoff, each side waiting to see who would break the silence first.

Rowen did not feel the conversation was over, and he was not backing down. Not this time. Not until he had answers. He had calmed in the lull of the conversation, enough for the edge of his anger to dull, but it had not dulled the need for an explanation.

“I do not need more Swordsmen, Rowen. That was never my intention.” Dartz was the one who had broken the silence first. His voice was soft, something old and tired in his voice. “I do not intend to have any more child soldiers. That was why I kept you in the dark. To tell you meant involving you.”

“Yeah?” Rowen’s voice was bitter. “Well thank you so much for lying. That was clearly the best decision you made.”

“And is what you’re doing any different?” Dartz asked. His voice held an edge now. “You won’t tell your younger sister, or Sora and Claire, the truth about me. Even in the middle of a heated discussion you still won’t allow them in the room to hear about my involvement in your family history.”

“Don’t you even dare compare that to what you did!” Rowen snarled, eyes flashing. His anger roared to life once again, and outside the storm intensified. “You know that keeping quiet about our fathers stealing souls is not the same thing as outright lying about our parents being dead.”

“Oh, well forgive me then for failing to make that distinction. After all, lying to avoid hurting anyone is clearly a sin.” Dartz’s voice was cold. “You are not in a position to where you can help anyone, Rowen, least of all your parents.”

“I know that! I didn’t live like Dad did, I know I don’t have experience here. But if you’re not thinking we can help, then you should tell someone!” Rowen burst out. “You didn’t even have to tell us! You could have told Uncle Noa, or Aunt Isabel, or Mister Mutou—Kaiba—Uncle Joey, someone, anyone! Tell someone what’s happening! Reach out for help! Swallow your pride and ask for some help, before it costs my family their lives!”

“I am trying to tell you, Rowen, that I cannot involve them without—“

“Find a way, Dartz!” Rowen snapped. “I know, I know that you don’t want anyone else involved because this enemy seems to be all powerful and makes everyone disappear! But if you can sit there and arrange for my father and uncles to be your Swordsmen, if you can live for ten thousand years, could take over Kaiba Corporation, and if you could threaten the balance of the world so much, then why can’t you find a way to help them now? I don’t understand, Dartz! Help me understand!”

There was a plea, a desperate cry in his voice. Rowen was not even angry any more, just upset and sick and tired and stretched too thin. All he wanted was just a reason. Just a reason, some insight, some answers. Why hadn’t Dartz helped his father in all this time? Why was Dartz so afraid of this new threat? Why had he not accomplished anything to stop this person from targeting them? Why couldn’t Dartz simply let people help them?

“I do not have to answer to you, Rowen,” Dartz said, his voice cool. “You are not in charge here. I am, and what I say goes. I do not want you involved, and I do not want anyone else involved in this predicament. This is my responsibility and I will handle this on my own.”

“But—!”

“This conversation is over, Rowen.”

It was a dismissal and a shut down, and Rowen felt something within him break.

“Then I hope you enjoy being responsible for my parent’s deaths, Dartz,” he said, and he could not tell if there was anger or tears in his voice. Maybe both. “I really hope your pride is worth their lives.”

“…Fine.”

It was a complete departure from the conversation, one word that left Rowen frozen and brought his emotions to a screeching halt. Dartz’s voice was cold, eyes flat, lips a thin slash in a suddenly pale face.

“You wish for action to be taken? Fine. Then I will, as you so articulately put it, do something. Why? Because Rowen, congratulations—you have very likely triggered this enemy into speeding up his plans. In all likelihood that was the last time you will ever see your father alive, and if so it will be because of your actions earlier today.”

Dartz turned away, moving for the front door. The man pulled it open with a wrenching motion, and when it slammed closed sparks flew from the doors and the windows cracked.

A ringing silence followed, Dartz’s parting words echoing in his thoughts.

That was the last you will see your father alive, and if so it will be because of your actions today.

Rowen felt his knees buckle, cold waves washing over him as he hit the floor. He stared at the wooden floor, ears starting to ring again, vision blurring to the point where he could not see. Dartz’s parting words echoed in his mind, relentless and cruel and crushing him in every passing second. He had been so angry and betrayed, pushed past his limits, but now he just felt sick to his stomach and far too brittle.  

Had he signed his father’s death warrant? What if by going through the door he had killed his father? How could he have known? If he had known, he wouldn’t have gone…but if he had stayed, he would not have seen his father face to face or even learned as much as he had about the situation.

He was not sure how long he sat there. Seconds, minutes, hours, he didn’t know. But then there was a hand on his shoulder, a small and hesitant one. “Rowen?”

He looked up mutely, his eyes on his little sister. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, and a wave of guilt washed over him. He had made Sylvie cry on top of everything else that had happened—a cardinal sin in Rowen’s book.

“Hey, lamb,” he said gently, his gaze softening. He reached over to ruffle her hair, relieved beyond measure that he did not see her stiffen or flinch away from him. “I’m sorry for scaring you.”

“Ro?” Now it was Sora and Claire, followed by Michael. All three of them were watching him, concern and uncertainty lining their features as they moved in front of them. They all looked uncertain, and his heart clenched with guilt once again. “Ro, are you okay?”

Rowen nearly tried to lie before he shook his head. He was too tired to pretend he was fine.

“Sora, Claire. Michael. I’m so sorry. I didn’t see Uncle Valon, Aunt Serenity, Aunt Carmon, or Uncle Alister. I didn’t even see Mama, just Papan.” His voice was hollow, empty, dull. “I don’t know if they’re alive. Papan just said that they were alive two months ago, before they were split up.”

A pause. He didn’t have to look up to see the dejected slump in the shoulders of his cousins. It only compounded the sudden guilt he had, because here he had failed them again. He had already blown up at Dartz, he had likely killed his father with his actions, and now he could not even tell Sora, Claire, and Michael if their parents lived.

“He said he loved us.” Rowen’s voice was so soft and gentle, something terribly fragile in his voice. “He said he didn’t want us forgetting that, no matter what. Last words,” he said, finally putting the thoughts into the open. “That was the last thing he said before he left to help me get out, and I may have…he…Dartz said that by going into that building I ki…”

Rowen couldn’t put it into words. He didn’t dare, not when he had upset his sister and his cousins so much already by his anger. He did not even know what to do or what to say. The lump in his throat had returned, almost choking him. He kept his gaze fixed to the floor, not daring to look at his family.

It was Sylvie who moved first, sitting down in front her older brother. She did not say anything, her arms wrapping around Rowen’s neck to hug him silently. It was not just to seek comfort this time, but to give it.

And that was all it took.

The tears had been threatening for almost an hour. From the moment his father had left him in that office to this moment, the tears had been building; if he was being honest, they had been building for the entirety of the two months since his parents had been taken. Rowen had not allowed himself to grieve properly, had pushed his own emotions aside because Sylvie and his family had needed him and looked to him to for answers. They had needed him to be the strong one.

Now, however…Sylvie’s quiet hug had been the final straw.

The sobs bubbled out of him before he could stop them, his own arms circling his little sister and holding her tightly. He couldn’t stop, he tried because the instinct to stay strong, don’t cry, they need you was flaring to life, but he could not hold them back anymore.  

He was babbling, unaware of what he was saying until his own voice reached him. It was a keening wail, fragile and broken and desperate. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to cry, I couldn’t do anything to help—I can’t stop, I shouldn’t have yelled, I shouldn’t be crying, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry—!”

And then there were the sounds of footsteps, arms wrapping around him and Sylvie from three different directions. Then whispered reassurances, voices filled with tears and hands that rubbed his back and shoulders soothingly.

Rowen sagged into the embrace of his family and he finally allowed himself to fall apart.

Previous | Master Post | Next

[thetimelordbatgirl]

2, 5, 20, 22, 26

Salty Asks:

2: Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BROTP?*

Hmm….that’s a tough one- but probably….Dipper and Pacifica from Gravity Falls- I don’t know really why I don’t ship them, the idea of them just never made sense to me outside of it being “She was a girl, he was a boy” and one hug in one episode- they just seem so far good friends and probably would bond over ghosthunting and shit and Dipper helping Pacifica slowly escape her parents.

5: Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?*

Ugh, I wanted to like the pairing of Starco despite it being among the girl x boy being friends then lovers scenrios I hated- but the fandom just over-hyped it and acted like any other ship including the pair with different people was bad- and the shippers just kept dragging Jackie in favour of Starco and literally acted like Jackie was evil just for being in love with Marco and wanting a honest relationship with him- plus, if you disliked their ship, it was like world war 3….so really, I guess I can see the ship now and then- but the fandom honestly ruined Star and Marco for me.

20: What is the purest ship in the fandom?

Shinigami and Karai from TMNT 2012- I mean…..just look at these two! There is literally nothing wrong with these two as a pair! I mean, they received so much hate as a pair cause wah wah, they gotta be with guys despite one of them being pretty much a incest ship- but Karai and Shini have all the gay moments going for them, would pretty much kill someone if one of them was hurt and were always there for each other- though again….hate against this ship often happens…..mostly homophobic themed hate…..

22: Popular Character you hate?

Bill. Fucking. Cipher.

Oh this fucking character I love to despise till the end of time- and its all cause of the fandom. Not only is his crimes just fucking bounced off him by fans and put onto his victims such as Ford and Mabel and even Dipper- but hes fandom local white boy at this point. Now, you ask me: hes a Dorito, how is he white? Simple: Humanized!Bill- who is always drawn as friggin white, skinny and with a eye path- avoid Human Bill art at your risk. People ship him with his victims of his abuse cause ‘he can change!’, sure, but ever considered Dippers, Fords, Mabels and Stanley’s feelings in this ship or just Bills?

The fandom literally would hate Mabel more then this demon! That’s right: a 12-13 year old is hated more then the actual 1000s year old villain of the show- they never acknowledge his crimes cause hes their poor baby and would rather turn a blind eye to the fucking torturous scene of electrobolts sent by Bill at a chained Ford- and if I have to see ANOTHE BILL REDEMTPION ARC FIC SOON, IM GONNA SCREAM- JUST LET HIM BE THE VILLAIN HE ENJOYS BEING AND KEEP HIM FAR AWAY FROM THE PINES.

26: Most shippable character?

Hmm….that’s a tough one…..but maybe Yugi from Yugioh? Like, you can literally ship him with anyone and somehow try and make it work…..never has a fandom impressed me with how they make certain ships then the YGO fandom at this point….

[ashethehedgehog]

OKAY U GUYS LMAO TY FOR THE ASKS <33333 I’ll do ygo for all the letters here! It’s long so I’ll put it under a read more! So dive on in for some talk about my writing and puzzleshipping fics! (Also some snippets I posted below so wink wink)

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

Not like directly, but I definitely put some of my influences into them. Like Yugi wanting to be a knight in The Beast Within was 100% because I used to want to be a knight lmao. 

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Ohhh off the top of my head? Gosh mmmm. Okay so off the top of my head there’s this one scene in an AU I’m probably going to abandon actually, so it’s kinda ehhh to show it now and tease u all like this lmao, but I did really enjoy writing the interactions between Yugi and Atem in them, so I’m going to put one of those for this! I just like the way they butted heads and Atem refused to relent, but then so did Yugi so they just tip toed around each other looking for the weak spot while referring to ‘the pharaoh’ as if it’s someone else and not Atem lmao. For context, it’s from an AU where everyone is an anthro animal, felines are considered the high ranking ones, spotted cats (Yugi’s species) is endangered and highly revered, Atem is a lion.

“You’re under the protection of the pharaoh, and as such are to remain in the palace where said effect can be carried out.” Atem answered as dully as he could manage. It seemed to work, as Yugi’s expression dropped.

“That order can be extended and revoked by the pharaoh himself should he wish. Do you think the pharaoh realises that? I wonder…” Yugi clicked his tongue, a thoughtful hand tapping his chin.

“I believe the pharaoh wishes for the spotted cat to remain within the palace walls, where he would be safest. I wonder if he realises that he could have servants fetch anything he needed from the city.”

“He wants to go look at what the city has to offer. With his own eyes, not those of servants not belonging to him.”

“You have your own staff I have assigned to you.”

“They’re not loyal to me.”

Atem paused, finally giving his full attention to Yugi. So that’s the kind of game Yugi was playing today. It seemed he had slipped up, however, and Atem wasn’t beneath taking advantage of this blunder.

“You question the good intentions of the pharaoh, who has given you his place as residence while asking nothing of you?” Atem tsked, turning back to his scroll, attention slipping from Yugi. He knew that would irritate the little cat, and sure enough, Yugi gave a soft growl in warning.

“I do not question the pharaoh, only wonder if he remembers whether or not he will honour his agreement.”

“What agreement?” Atem rolled his eyes.

Yugi pushed off the desk, slamming a hand down on the table, tail lashing angrily behind him. “You cannot keep me locked up here, pharaoh. Protective rules or not, if I leave, you cannot stop me.”

“No, I can’t,” Atem responded calmly, adjusting the scroll in his paws. “But you lose my protection if you venture into the city. You go alone.”

"I will be going into the city, pharaoh. And you will provide me with the necessary guards."

G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

I tend to write random scenes around as I get inspiration for them, but mostly I write it chapter by chapter to keep it consistent! But if I’m in a slump, I write scenes that I had the motivation to work on, even if it’s for like three chapters ahead. I did this a little with my Big Bang fic because I had a deadline and needed to be working on it lmao. Fun fact tho, The Living Daylights I started off with the opening scene from chapter nine! Yeah nine chapters in right crazy ahaha, but that was what inspired the AU! xD

H: How would you describe your style?

I dunno? Semi-decent descriptions enough to understand locations and a fuckton of travelling montage work and fighting scenes. I couldn’t tell u dude I dunno my own style lmao.

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

Sure, why not! So my list of fics I’m currently writing are:

Prince and King on AO3

Dragontaur AU/ Opportunities in Unexpected Places on AO3

The Demon Prince Yugi and Knight Atem AU, which will be my next multi chap fic after PaK is done.

A naga!Yugi and vampire!Yugi AU that I’m writing, buuuuut they’re both for my smut blog, where I post them exclusively, and I’m not going to move them to AO3 either soz (anyone is welcome to IM me for the link to the blog, but it’s on private so access is message only lmao).

Magic AU, which u can find some snippets of here! I don’t plan to take this further than a longshot, even with the potential for more there, I just don’t have the time for another fantasy AU world to build rn lmao. But I hope to have something of this to share soon!

Lion Atem, which I gave the snippet of above, where they’re all anthros. I never wrote much for this, and although I liked the concept, I don’t think I’ll work on it anymore. Maybe I’ll post the 6K I wrote just as a ‘read if u want but don’t expect more pls’ kind of thing. But yeah, at this stage this one is p much discontinued because I don’t have the time to work on it. 

And that leaves Elf King Yugi, something that has definitely been on the back burner for MONTHS now (ever since Trial and Error, so u do the maths lmao) which I have written a fair amount for, but need to do some serious plot work before I consider doing more. Since there is a chance I’ll continue to work on this one tho, I’ll post a snippet here!

"You know the council isn't going to like this Yugi. You're in for a long and dangerous fight with this one."

"I know Anzu- you don't need to treat me like a kid." Yugi scolded her with a quick frown.

"I'm just warning you. Be prepared to argue into the night."

"I am- believe me." Yugi groaned, a hand rubbing his forehead as if to still a headache.

Yami tittered at the edge of the room near the door, unsure if he should interrupt what looked like a conversation (or argument) between friends.

Luck wasn't (or was) on his side though it seemed, as Yugi took that moment to crane his neck to where Yami was standing, his eyes lighting up. Yami suppressed a groan as he waved him over. Yami stepped lightly, his steps hesitant as he approached the two.

"Oh wow Yugi is this him? Your narcissism is showing with this one." The girl’s eyes gleamed with something predatory, like she was sizing up how long Yami would last in... Something.

"Would you please stop saying 'this one?' It implies I do this frequently- which I don't." Yugi said, shooting Yami an apologetic look. "This is Anzu- she works at the castle here-"

"You forgot to mention I'm your best friend." Anzu said in a sing song voice. Yugi shot her a look this time.

"Yes, and you're my annoying best friend." He turned back to Yami. "She's going to give you your tour, alright?"

Yami nodded. "Where are you going?"

"I have to go to court today. We'll see each other later, my dear Yami." Yugi smiled at him, reaching out to pat his shoulder as he passed him, disappearing out of the room.

Yami turned back around to immediately jump in surprise.

Standing way too close for comfort in front of him was Anzu. She had a wild grin on her face, like she knew a secret Yami didn't.

"Well well Yami. Looks like it’s just the two of us for the rest of the day." She practically purred.

"Uh... Okay... Should I be worried?" Yami frowned, not liking the glint in her eyes. It's like a maze of demons here, Yami observed. You turn away from one only to find another.

"Not at all," Anzu hummed, patting Yami's shoulder. "We're all friends here I assure you. Yugi wants me to take extra good care with you. And I must say- I can see why. You're a keeper."

"A keeper?" Yami's frown deepened, and he suppressed a sigh of exhaustion. Just what have I gotten myself into here? He was beginning to seriously regret his decision to break the elves' border seal now.

"Never mind." Anzu waved him off, trotting over to the door only to swing back around, her hand on the handle. "You coming? Yugi wants you to see the castle."

"Oh, right, of course." Yami muttered, following Anzu as she made her way out into the hallway.

"Alright, first things first- unless Yugi gives you public permission to travel around, don't go anywhere without an escort, okay?"

"Why? I'm not a kid." Yami scoffed.

"Mmm, technically you are to a lot of these folk. Most of the population in the kingdom are elves, and they tend to be a lot older than they appear."

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

LMAO YEAH REALLY WISH I DIDN’T HAVE TO WRITE THE REST OF PRINCE AND KING BUT WELP IT’S MY FIC AND I’VE COME THIS FAR SO I GOTTA FINISH IT RIP. I just reaaaaaally crave the day I can slap a COMPLETED on it :’’’’D

O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?

The plot! Mainly because fanfic so the chars already exist lmao. I usually start with one thing that catches my interest, and work out from there. Sometimes my AUs start from dreams, like Demon Prince started because I had a dream Yugi was a demon in jail trying to seduce Atem to come work for him so lmao there u go. 

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

I’m much more of an architect, because without a decent plot written out in front of my, in like a chapter by chapter format, I will easily lose motivation and focus because I won’t have a ‘oh yeah that’s what’s happening next!’ sort of thing. It helps with building up foreshadowing and stuff too for me. The stories I try to ‘gardener’ for I guess are the ones that often don’t see tumblr or AO3 lmao. AKA u will never hear of them because I have a few lmao.

Q: How do you feel about collaborations?

Interesting question! I suppose it depends what kind! I like collaboration ideas, in fact my first multi chapter fic The Living Daylights was a collaboration in ideas between me and my pal Ren! But I still wrote the entire thing lmao. I guess I like to have control over the writing for style consistency, but I think tackling the entire concept with another writer would be fun! I’ve never tried to write something with someone else so I dunno how that would go!

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

[kinda nsfw] INNOCENT PURE YUGI MUTOU WHO MUST ALWAYS BOTTOM FOR ATEM BECAUSE ATEM IS SEX GOD AND YUGI IS VIRGIN WHO KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT SEX. Listen nothing rustles my JIMMIES more than that that troupe which is EVERYWHERE in puzzleshipping. I don’t understand why it’s so popular??? Like, this isn’t to say Yugi 100% CANNOT bottom because he totes can! But of ALL the puzzleshipping I’ve ever read that involved smut, especially in multi chapter fics, Yugi topped like... once, maybe??? ???? That’s SO MANY fics where Atem almost NEEDED to top. It kind of feels like people were too scared to write it at times? Like some stories I could totally see it either way, but it was ALWAYS with Atem topping, always. I don’t really understand why people are so against Yugi topping in puzzle but auuuugh I just wish there was more of it u know? Like if I want top Atem material shit man I got hundreds of fics for that, but top Yugi? Man, I can list them on my fingers...

Long story short ppl shouldn’t be afraid to let Yugi top pls. I’m not saying he ALWAYS HAS TO TOP, but more of that than Atem always topping would be real nice? A nice mix instead of everything seemingly so bias would be cool? Sometimes I want top!Atem, and sometimes I want top!Yugi, isn’t that the same for everyone lmao. Like they’d totes switch it up all the time so why is there so little for top!Yugi? The mystery of my life lmao. Let Yugi Top 2k17.

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

Probably Atem, sorry to the kid but he’s the one who ends up suffering the most in my fics opps. I think there’s like ONE fic where Yugi suffers more maybe? The rest is all like nope lmao soz bro but ur the punching bag ahaha.

W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones?

(this is the one I picked myself lmao) I like really specific ones! I like to know exactly what I’m writing, and unless I get a burning idea in my head I’d rather do (not often) I’d prefer prompts that give me more to work with, or at least more detail than like a one line simple prompt lmao. 

[starryburglar-archive]

Send 🎰 for me to put our muses into a random list generator then post the first five as potential ships!

@soulsbetrayed asked: 🎰 // okay I'm curious to see what we get

1. Jim Hawkins + Crow Hogan (YGO 5ds)

i’ll start by saying that im not familiar with 5ds (and arc-v since it pops up later in the ask) outside of who the main character is. i did watch that movie where yusei, jaden and yugi team up to save the universe/time paradox, that was neat. so i don’t personally know crow hogan... his design is cool, though. im all up for plotting stuff and talk about it, i want more stuff going on for jimmy.

2. NyoGermany || Louise Beilschmidt + Yusuke Kitaguwa

not gonna lie, im having a hard time imagining any scenario with them. outside of the fact that my character is an immortal being (which can be avoided by just using her regular-ass modern verse) i can't... seem to see them interacting for too long, as both are reserved in their own way (ok yusuke maybe not that much but you get what i mean)

3. Gigi Duck + Blanc (Pokemon Black&White)

im not super familiar with the characters from black and white so i can’t say what could i  do to adapt myself for blanc other than... making a pokemon verse, which i guess i could do. what amuses me the most from this is the fact that you got my only descendants character (canon or oc). something could work from this if we talk about it.

4. Miyako Gōtokuji + Yuuto (YGO Arc-V)

like i said before, im not familiar with arc-v. unlike with 5ds, i don’t know anything about this version of yugioh, like, at all. that being said, you got a magical girl from my end, maybe something can come up from this?

5. Ghost-Spider || Gwen Stacy + Shikuma (Devil Survivor)

again i don’t know anything about devil survivor other than... it’s a thing that exists. then again, gwen is already used to end in strange places and other dimensions (cofcofitsvcofcof) so maybe somehting cna come up form this by just going crazy.

[transtrendhumanity]

hello, time for another roll call. i’m not even going to look at how late we are this time, we’re terrible at staying in habits like this tbh.

front today feels like callon and also nero, with elster backseat driving. elster picked up a new kintype (leon) and is now even more gay than before. i can appreciate that

ok sooooo

up in the treehouse, kitt has slowly been picking up the rules of ygo despite never playing a match in is life. yacinthe & vite have been playing all the time, i humour them too sometimes. i mean they play fucking mario kart with me so its fair. kayden plays both games as well and also fucking sucks at them. kei is a bit standoffish most of the time but like they have their own issues so thats fine.

oh yeah and casey’s up here with us too. she’s like freakishly good at games, it’s kind of unfair. she can’t consistently beat vite at dueling yet but considering she only just recently picked up the game it’s ridiculous how well she does. sometimes ceren comes up here but a lot of the time fae is being gay over at azdien’s mansion.

you shoulda seen the other day, some song nitexx likes came on the radio and ze managed to drag ceren on stage at our treehouse, along with kayden, and the three of them put on a show together, it was incredible. basically everyone turned up, except i guess callon, who was too busy with fire emblem to give us the time of day.

i feel like i should be talkin about what people are up to now instead of what they been up to but idk how connected we are so ill just keep dishing gossip until people feel like showing themselves.

ceren and azdien are like ridiculously horny, which i guess is fine. ceren is probably starting to surpass kayden in that regard, and yall know thats saying something.

corian is almost definitely kin of yellow diamond, even if callon’s been reluctant to kinfirm, partly because ey’s like “oh we need to do a reading every time we kinfirm, reading it 3+ times wasnt enough” and partly because ey gets embarrassed about having too many from the same canon.

likewise, haze is just about definitely kin of cinnabar, which sucks but not as much as callon would have you believe. ey just doesn’t like them, which i guess is understandable but like, get over it. anyway haze has some theories about hnk endgame that are not too pleasant but i guess we’ll see what happens.

who was the other one, cilla? cilla and callon’s relationship isn’t unlike gq and cairn’s, even if its a bit inversed. with callon being the main fronter and cilla taking over when things get rough. theyre really close in a way that i think is specific to headmates. its good for them. cilla is still very much in the form of an espeon so i think it’s a minor kintype for her, but it’s probably there.

ethan is mia like most of the time. i wouldn’t say theyve left system but theyre just so different from the rest of us its hard to keep track of them.

ok so. uhhhh actually time to go on a tour. yacinthe and casey are dueling while kitt watches, it seems like casey is winning. kei is picking their nails with a fucking knife in the corner. vite’s playing some video game. idk where kayden is, maybe he’s visiting the main house today.

in corian’s cabin, elster totally looks like leon right now, but i’d imagine ze’ll settle on a blended form eventually. ze’s drinking tea, served by corian, and corian’s listening to hir boy troubles. nine’s in there as well but not particularly interested in the conversation. who else. nika i think. nika’s downstairs for once, even though sie kind of hates corian’s taste in decor.

i think i can see ethan upstairs in nika’s space, but it’s kind of hard to tell.

in azdien’s mansion... or? yeah, in the mansion, in the little greenhouse corner of the library, kestrel and tobias are playing chess. they’re pretty into it. ailecent is on the roof of corian’s cabin if anyone was wondering, taking a nap in the afternoon sun like a cat.

xykiel’s aura has been floating around a lot lately, idk what’s up with caer but maybe one of these days cae will manifest fully again. speaking of lurkers, cyrren’s ship is still visible on the horizon, through i can’t imagine what ae’d gain by coming back.

also by the coastline, raliel is out by the cliffs again, staring wistfully out to sea like wav does like half the time. i’ve half a mind to push wav in but i guess that would be rude.

uhhhh

nessie is.. hang on. ok nessie was talking to elster a while ago but now she’s in riley’s bedroom again, talking to riley and nitexx about how basically all boy problems can be solved with murder. im really not convinced that applies to elster’s situation, but i guess thats what shes passionate about. nitexx seems to be agreeing mostly, but i think ze just likes murder, as a concept. riley has given up on being the voice of reason and is now only half listening.

further upstairs, ceren is in the attic practicing ballet. fae gets a bit upset when fae notices im there but like im sure fae will relax about it eventually.

haze is in er room, Brooding, like e does.

remm is also in vir room, doing vir makeup like ve’s going downtown.

kayden is downstairs after all, like i thought. he’s sitting backwards on ethan’s chair talking excitedly about something, but im not too sure what. amelia and floret are kind of listening but mostly cuddling. perien is actually paying attention.

im not sure if echo is here and hiding or if her and casey have finally fused. wait no, she doesn’t like me saying that so she’s around here somewhere. even though her spot on the chair is free, cilla is still loafed on the floor beneath it.

gabbi is kneeling by the aquarium chatting with rayn. rayn seems a little down, fsr, but idk whats up.

iiiin the next room over. vex seems dead tired but like brought back from the dead by the need to produce. jace is trying to get eir to go to sleep, to little effect.

uhhh venic. venic is actually at the mansion today. kye’s in micah’s room, they’re talking about something sinister probably. i don’t feel like checking on drohen but i assume theyre the same as always.

azdien is like weirdly soft and gay lately and tbh its a bit disappointing. like vae’s still very firmly in charge around here but. idk

thats not really everyone but i dont feel like wandering around in here any more so. bye

[shionuzukis]

❤, 💀, ♂♀, ☯, ☒, 💑, 🍁, 🐍, 👍 👊 💋 🌟 ♞ 💬 💞 📺 🎮 ♬ 🎵 🎶 ✍ 🍊 🐧 🌼 ☁ 👏 🔃 👯 :D

youre a gem, pal!!! bless u.

❤: judai is quite literally the only option. jounouchi is a pretty close second, though!

💀: either yami bakura or vector. both are just pre hysterical to watch. the animation on vector in particular is soooo good. they manage to have him emote so strongly even as a barian and the whole not having a mouth thing!!!

♂♀: excluding judai or jou, my fave boy would have to be manjoume or jack. best girl is yuzu, though. asuka, anzu, and aki are all real close to my heart, too. and oh god, carly, too!! and rio, too. i love like all the ygo gals a real lot.

☯: kenzan bc i also have DINO DNA. jk but really pegasus bc he i also like to drink juice out of wine glasses while i watch cartoons on my private island that i bought with card game money.

☒: ahh, i feel bad, but probably most of yuma’s friend group that isn’t plot relevant. like cathy and tokunosuke. the show did incredibly little with them, and honestly they could get kind of annoying. its pretty disappointing how much i tend to like the little protagonist friend groups. : (

💑: manjoume/judai otp, man. but, also, yugi/jounouchi is super cute, and i love anzu/mai. pretty much any combination of team 5ds is also so good in my book, especially if you throw carly into the mix. it’s really tough to just give brotps, too, since i also ship pretty much any combination i can think of lmao.

🍁: the cute ones lmao. 

🐍: hmm, that’s tough...maybe black rose dragon?

👍: aki’s!!! 

👊: the only decks i own are a couple my sibling bought me based off of yugi’s in dm. i like his battle city one a lot!! id really like to have one based around xyz though!!

💋: pretty much any bit of dialogue from gx’s more goofy moments. stuff like when that ridiculous rich submarine guy dueled judai and was like boy, i want to open an underwater card game school!!! or judai trying to un-brainwash manjoume and throwing his flithy-ass coat at him and being like i’VE SEEN YOU WIPE SOY SAUCE ON IT. just silly stuff like that. its the best.

🌟: johan being all im gonna summon that rainbow dragon but lol nah he doesn’t actually have it. its absolutely ridiculous and basically when i decided i love johan. also anytime vector ja-jyans.

♞: AKI’S FIRST DUEL IN THE FORTUNE CUP IS LIKE MY LIFE. but also ceremonial duel, judai vs. yubel, and yuma and astral’s last duel are sooo good. vector vs. yuma in sargasso is great, too. MISAWA VS. THE TIGER LADY IN GX’S FIRST SEASON ALSO GIVES ME LIFE BC misawa is just so damn into that and im so happy they get to meet again in the third season. ;___;

💬: subbed all the way. i never really watched ygo when it was airing on american tv as a kid, so i don’t have any nostalgia for it. dm is mostly watchable from i’ve heard, but the severe alterations made to gx and 5ds is more than enough to keep me away. also, so many of the name changes are just so unnecessary?? and confusing??? 

💞: gx is my absolute favorite, then zexal, and then dm, 5ds, and arc v all nice and cozy together in third. i love them all so so much, though.

📺: i still havent seen any of the movies!! i was holding off on bbt until my sibling and i finished 5ds, but we’re slooow. and i just never got around to pyramid of light.

🎮: ive only ever played a little of one the gx tag force games, so uhh...

♬: BRAVING!!!!! BRAVING IS THE ONLY YGO OPENING THAT MATTERS!!! i like setsubou no freesia from zexal quite a bit too in terms of endings.

🎵: ;___; ive never really listened to ygo osts. theres a few songs i know i really like from 5ds, though. idk their names, but i think i started hearing them around the dark signers arc.

🎶: never really watched any!

✍: ahhh, i have like weird standards, so i havent read a lot of ygo fic, but there was one fubuki/ryo one i read on ao3 that was quite cute!

🍊: i havent really read any ygo doujin either lmao.

🐧: i find the abridged stuff to be a bit frustrating in how it bleeds over into just regular ygo, but ngl, i have a fondness for like the duelist kingdom arc in it.

🌼: i collect ygo keychains.....so i have a lot of those.........forty-two of them to be exact...... i have a really ugly atem figure and a dark magician one that my sibling got me for christmas! and i have the atem figma, and the kotobukiya jounouchi. i have the yami bakura and pharaoh atem ones on pre-order too lmao.

☁: SOMEHOW I HAVENT RLY HAD CARD GAME DREAMS. its weird.

👏: one time i played with my best friend and sibling. we were all really bad, but it was fun! ngl, tho, id love to get deeper into it.... 

🔃: i actually cant think of anyone tbh! once i love a ygo, i always love a ygo. i guess i got more frustrated with kotori as zexal went on? but that was less her character itself and more the narrative...

👯: ahh, not really! i do rly enjoy getting to talk ygo tho lmao. watching 5ds with my sibling is a lot of fun, too!!