#little yuugi in the back was my friend’s idea

[kooriphantom]

The awaited KaiJou fanart! (from like 2 months ago 😂)

Currently I’m probably just going to post like one-two pieces of fan art per day :3

[verybadatcardgames]

Let's go Pegasus and Yuugi-boy for 002!

Yuugi

How I feel about this character: This card game nerd deserves all the good things to happen to him. He needs a break. Seriously.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: I ship him with the Dark Magician and I 1000% blame @yearslateforyugiohshippings for this. I also think Yuugi/Jounouchi is cute and I sometimes I read Rivalship fics.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Anzu, to be honest. I personally don’t like the idea of Yuugi being the “fallback” plan for her, and I just see them more as friends as adults rather than romantic partners.

My unpopular opinion about this character: I don’t think I have any unpopular thoughts? Because I don’t think about Yuugi enough to have unpopular thoughts I’m sorry 😔

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish we could have seen more of him in GX. What with him being the canonical King of Games and all, he should have had more involvement in the Dueling Academy. Then again, that could be because he was busy designing games by this point, or Seto was just super salty and never invited him. Probably the latter.

my OTP: Alliumshipping. Again, I blame @kampfkewob.

my cross over ship: He would totally have a crush on Zatanna. You know it’s true

a headcanon fact: He never returned that naughty VHS Jounouchi lent him in high school, and it was lying somewhere on a shelf, forgotten, in a closet, until his mother found it when he was a grown adult with a career abroad. Cue embarrassment when his mother sends him a care package with various belongings, VHS tape included. Yuugi sends the VHS tape back to Jounouchi as a birthday present. Jounouchi opens the birthday present in front of Mai and Shizuka. Mai laughs at the label. Shizuka secretly steals the VHS tape after the party. There is immense disappointment upon realizing everything in the video is censored.

---

Pegasus

How I feel about this character: He is a lanky pompous pasty elitist jerkface pretty boy with Peter-Pan syndrome who has never had to do a day’s honest work in his life, and instead of accepting the fact that life can be cruel and unfair, he broke down and retreated into occultism, cartoons, and alcoholism. 10/10 absolute favorite disasterpiece of a man I love him

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Romantically? Cyndia, Isis, and I wager Siegfried has a huge parasocial crush on him

My non-romantic OTP for this character: I do like Toonshipping as a non-romantic ship. I can see Pegasus feeling legitimately bad about everything he’s done to the Kaibas and trying to make up for it over the course of several years in little favors and grandiose gestures. While Seto had his own villain arc and can empathize on some level about motivations, I cannot imagine him ever forgiving Pegasus for what he did or having romantic feelings for him, nor do I think Seto should forgive him at all (because, as much as I do like Pegasus, I don’t think he deserves forgiveness from Seto and he isn’t owed forgiveness just because he expresses remorse). Going to bed out of anger and resentment is totally on the table tho

My unpopular opinion about this character: More headcanon than opinion, but I don't think Pegasus really knew Cyndia that well as a person. I don't doubt he loved her. What I doubt is his own memory in regards to Cyndia's own wants and needs.

He takes the time to write in his journal about his dreams and aspirations, yet despite her being the love of his life, he doesn’t write a single sentence about Cyndia’s? We don’t get anything about her hobbies, her dreams, her aspirations, her life, or even her own dialogue?

The Doylist reasoning can come down to: Takahashi and the series writers didn’t make up a backstory for Cyndia beyond her being a motivation tool for Pegasus. However, I propose the Watsonian reasoning in that Pegasus was self-centered and oblivious to what Cyndia wanted to do because he was more invested in the vision of her being his wife, instead of being invested in listening to her and paying attention to her needs as an individual.

That said, I’m still a Roseshipper and I do love this tragic ship. :’D

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: It did happen in canon, I’m just mad we didn’t get a whole episode dedicated to it: His duel with Doma-era Mai. I would have totally loved to see her talk smack and absolutely rip him a new one during their duel right before she took his soul. Listen, I love Pegasus, but after all the fuckery in Duelist Kingdom, he had it coming.

my OTP: Pegasus/Mister Crocketts.

What? Oh. Oh, I see. Just because Isis is my all time fave and I've written fanfic and drawn fanart and have several WIP folders of headcanons and theories about Sightshipping, y'all think it's my OTP.

But let’s all be real with each other: Mister Crocketts was serving Pegasus tea in bed long before he met Isis in a hotel room in Egypt. I’m just saying

my cross over ship: Not a ship, but a crossover: I feel like Pete White from The Venture Bros is a distant cousin and Pegasus calls him whenever he needs a deejay for a party.

The family resemblance is uncanny

a headcanon fact: His mother is a fiery Cajun woman who is the premiere wedding planner in all of Las Vegas, and he went to Catholic school.

[lady-of-the-spirit]

Please tell me more about your Tolkien-verse OCs????

HAPPILY!!!

I've got Athalia, who's for The Hobbit trilogy, and Kiana and Annunel, both for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. They all exist in the same timeline, with Athalia's story meant to be a prequel to Kiana/Annunel's.

Athalia was originally written as the daughter of one of Bilbo's friends/neighbours and ended up raised by Bilbo after her parent's death. I scrapped that idea a few years ago, though, and made her his childhood friend instead, partly because her staying his niece didn't feel right to me anymore and partly so I could write them being snarky best friends.

Athalia's Not Like Other Hobbits. you know how the fandom characterizes Bilbo's mom as being an adventuring hobbit lady? Athalia is very much the same. She wants adventure in the great wide somewhere and - scandalously - actually goes off on a journey to see all of Middle Earth some 8 years before the start of the story. She comes back from her journey, reuniting with her best friend Bilbo, claiming she wants to settle down again, just in time for Gandalf to show up asking Bilbo to go on his own adventure. Athalia is immediately on board and claims that "surely two bandits is better than one!" And gets Bilbo on board (despite his many many reservations about the whole thing).

She has a lot of information on what she's seen of the world and is very eager to share and learn more, always, always jotting down notes in her journals (she has many) and collecting little trinkets when she can. Her enthusiasm, cheerfulness, and seemingly endless knowledge and opinions successfully seduces Fili after maybe a week on their journey.

Not everything is all sunshine, though. The background of her fic, most important, is that I was watching the Hobbit movies (for the first time) at the same time I was rereading Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden, in which the main character 1) uses a spear as a weapon and 2 (spoilers) ends up getting tuberculosis. I was so compelled by this character and the tragic nature of prequels that it ended up factoring into Athalia's story a lot. I created my own little plague that affects only the hobbit community and is very rare, but has no cure, and Athalia is slowly dying over the course of the story. She's known since before she returned to Bag End - it's the reason she returned, wanting to see her oldest friend before she died. But she doesn't want a peaceful, quiet death, withering away to nothing. So Gandalf's quest is a way for her to have both some time with Bilbo and doing what she loves, seeing the world, and making her last little bit of time on this beautiful earth matter. She's accepted her death.

Until she falls in love with Fili, and worse, finds out he loves her back, which makes everything so much harder. because now she wants to live.

So yeah this fic and her character were VERY tragic in nature, as prequels often are. I never could decide on an ending - killing both her and fili, just killing her (through various means), or in an alternate ending AFTER the tragic one was posted, saving them both.

I totally meant to start writing this fic, but then covid hit, and it just seemed inappropriate to do so after that.

Now onto the happier ocs- Kiana and Annunel! Originally, Kiana and Annunel were supposed to be two separate stories. But then I went well why not put them together? And they ended up together, same story. And together as in they're in lesbians together 💖 because why not???

Kiana is unrelated to the rest of the main cast, princess and heir to the throne of a foreign kingdom in the south. I think canonically it's Umbar but I didn't know that when I made her and chose a random place on the map, and I've just stuck with that. Her kingdom was inspired by ancient Persia. Smth fun about her is that in her country's language their term for "King" is a completely gender neutral term so she's gonna be a woman king. she's very emotional but hides it behind her royal persona and only lets it slip the longer she's with the fellowship. She's also besties with Boromir because their countries are friends with each other and I was fucking sick of all the ocs hating on Boromir, my beloved.

Annunel is the twin of Aragorn. They used to be much closer when they were younger but as they got older they drifted apart. (They're both rangers though. Her nickname with the rangers is "West" which is a little reference to her name which means "west/sunset" in Sindarin. Or says the website I found years ago which I can't find now.) She gets herself tangled into the fellowship before Frodo gets himself stabbed, when she finds them in the woods - Gandalf called her. It's the first time she's seen her brother in years. It's weird. but hey. she's here. (and then she sticks with him when Frodo takes the ring because she's invested now.)

There's a little onesided beef on Kiana's part with Annunel because she and Boromir are both of the opinion Aragorn/Annunel abandoned Gondor and that's a big no-no in her book. But they get past that over time.

(Eowyn gets a little crush on Kiana and Annunel is jealous that's important to me.)

[mutogamingco]

I hope this makes you giggle as much as it made me, but I’ve been thinking a lot about feral Yugi. Like he’s usually so sweet and he has that big round face with the squishable cheeks. The first time his friends hear him threaten someone or curse them out would genuinely shock them.

I also love the idea of him acting a lot more insane when he’s around his friends. Away from Joey and Tristan he’s a normal person and when they’re all hanging out they’ve managed to convince him to help them stick rhinestones to Duke’s face ‘so the inside matches the outside’. I want him to be stupid and do Jenna Marbles level insane activities for giggles.

You know what? I can't get enough of feral Yuugi in my life and I haven't gotten many chances to write it on this blog, but I have been doing a lot of it in private with @nevertem and hopefully I can get some of it out there because it's a lot of fun. There's just something really funny about how Atem gets his humanity and his softness back, while Yuugi is the one that becomes wild. I love it and I need it.

When he is with his friends, people who truly love him and he can let go and be himself, he really surprises them. Grandpa got up to all kinds of things in his lifetime and Yuugi grew up hearing his stories, when his other self brought that vodka to the table in the manga and Toei anime that knowledge was definitely in Yuugi's mind, not the pharaoh that had just recently awakened! I can easily see certain topics coming up in conversation and Yuugi being strangely knowledgeable about things that are unexpected when you first meet him. I did get a giggle out of that whole scenario with bedazzling Duke's face, thank you! I also can see that since the Toei anime established he's good and trick shots, it makes Joey and Tristan think twice about some of the little competitions they tend to have while horsing around. You just never know.

[stargatenerd]

Hello all, this is ostensibly my writing blog, though most of what you’ll find is things I’ve reblogged to use as references for writing or interesting ideas or pictures that I liked the vibes of. Things I post (both random thoughts as well as random snippets) will be tagged with “words from the nerd”, and posts regarding my various fics will be tagged with both the fic title and its abbreviation if it has one.

Feel free to ask me questions about my stories, but be polite.

List of things I’m working on under the cut, stories linked are to the versions of them on AO3 so you will need to be signed in to read them as I have them locked to registered users. Please read the tags as some of these are fairly mature.

Current projects:

Shrinking Violets — MHA, Shinzawa-centric, omegaverse, underage arranged marriage (but nothing happens between them for a while) - feel free to ask me worldbuilding questions about this for my worldbuilding doc :3

Venus Conjunct Pluto in Scorpio — Hannibal/MHA fusion; ShinzawaMic with Hizashi as Hannibal, Shouta as Will, and Hitoshi as Abigail for a lovely little Murder Family <3 Very slow burn and does not stick to Hannibal canon except for some spots where it does. Can be read with little to no knowledge of Hannibal as a whole.

Color Seeping Through My Cracks — MHA, Yakuza soulmate AU, ShinzawaMic. Yakuza duo ShinMic find their soulmate in barista/waiter Aizawa and take in him and his totally legally adopted daughter.

Turning Tables — MHA, Shinzawa, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat. Seriously. Read the tags. Teen serial killer Shinsou gets kidnapped by more experienced (in every way) Aizawa.

In the drafting stage:

Parallelism — OC-centric, my Stargate OCs from SG-13 (Muki, Tyler, and Kira) get reincarnated in MHA and make friends. Worldbuilding abounds.

A sequel to Three Sheets to the Wind (in a bed for two) — MHA, genderbent Shinzawa, the morning after.

On the back burner (projects I intend to get to once I finish at least one of my current fics):

Schismatic — DCMK, originally KaiShin, now KaiShinHei. Set after Movie 13, my first attempt at writing dark!fic. A member of the Black Org finds out Conan is Shinichi and tries to protect him in dubious ways. Gotta figure out where I was going with the end of the plot (bc I have the middle plotted out) and write that.

Shadow Bride — RotG, BlackIce with genderbent Jack. AU where she and Pitch meet a couple hundred years ago and become friends, then eventually a couple. Finishing up the last few chapters.

A Wonderful World (of Magic) — Hetalia/HP, England becomes the History of Magic teacher during Harry’s sixth year, not HBP compliant. No longer write for either of these fandoms due to various reasons, but I have a rough outline of plot points and how it was going to end so I’m going to flesh that out for basically a summary draft of how the story ends.

SG-13 proper — Stargate SG-1/Atlantis, my OC team and their hijinks, mostly set during/on Atlantis. Might possibly rewrite it as a whole, might just write the parts that are vaguely referenced in Parallelism bc it’s changed plots so many times over the years with so many fandom crossovers and now I’ve swung back around to it being fully Stargate focused and all three of my characters have gone through a lot of development and I want to share that with everyone <3

On the counter, off to the side (who knows when this will happen):

The Universe of the Four Tanteis — DCMK/Fushigi Yuugi, members of the Fushigi Yuugi cast get reincarnated as DCMK characters. Gotta slap together a rough outline of where I remember the story going so I can post that and be done lol

In the Arms of Death — DCMK, veeery vaguely remember the plot I was going for with this one, I want to slap together an outline for readers and in case anyone wants to adopt it bc I think it’s a cool concept.

Hope’s Child — RotG/HP crossover, Bunnymund adopts Harry, JackBunny. I don’t write HP anymore but I have a sort of vague idea where everything was going for this fic so I might put together an outline for readers or just put it up for adoption ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Houseguest — RotG, pre-movie Tooth finds an injured Jack and takes him in. Apparently I started drafting a second chapter for this? Might finish it.

Stop Poking Logic-Shaped Holes in my School! — DCMK/HP, was pending a rewrite but since I no longer write HP I’m waffling on what to do with this. Pending decision.

A Beautiful Relationship — DCMK, KaiShin and HakuHei, a continuation years later from my oneshot A Beautiful Friendship. Might continue this, might post an outline; haven’t decided.

Love in G Major — Hetalia, USUK, PruCan, Giripan and a host of other ships, Nyotalia human high school AU. Had a vague idea of some plot points so might post that in case someone wants to adopt it.

Cardgate — YGO/Stargate crossover, I know I have like half a chapter in a notebook somewhere that I never posted, so I think I’ll finish that chapter and then post an outline lol

Relics of the Tau’ri — Hetalia/Stargate crossover, might post an outline of where the story was headed.

Magical Cicadas — Higurashi/HP crossover, Higurashi characters get reborn as HP characters. I have a chapter or two of this in a notebook somewhere that I’ll post once I find it.

[kaibacorpintern]

(if you're still taking them, no big deal if no!) Rivalshipping + college roommates AU?

[AU PROMPTS ARE CLOSED]

omg okay. Kaiba is double majoring in economics (boring as hell, Gozaburo is making him do it) and probably math, physics, electrical engineering, or computer science, whatever you think is sexier (that's what he studies for the passion) and he's the rich kid who doesn't get student housing but immediately gets a luxurious off-campus apartment WITH a balcony AND a parking spot in the garage. he lives there alone, of course, and the silence is both nice and existentially terrifying. After a while, the solitude drives him a little crazy, so Mokuba's like "why not get a roommate for your spare bedroom?" and Kaiba's like UGGGH.... fine.

Meanwhile Yuugi, studying game design, is in student housing on campus. In a total temperamental mismatch, he got matched with Ushio as a roommate, and it's a nightmare. After like six weeks of asking Ushio not to be loud when he comes back hammered from thirsty Thursdays at 3 AM and being either bullied or ignored, Yuugi is like "UGH forget this I'm gonna look for housing elsewhere!!!" because there's no way he can squeeze into Honda and Jounouchi's room with them and his twin brother Atem is at a totally different college (they're apart from each other for the first time in their lives and figuring out who they are without each other. ANGST?!)

He answers a somewhat tyrannical but deeply conscientious roommate ad on the student housing forum. The ad has been up for like four months (because Kaiba has turned down literally everyone who's applied so far) but Yuugi's like, "yeah, I can wash my dishes within 30 minutes of using them. No I don't fall asleep with my TV on. Whatever the fuck draconic decor is, it's already better than finding Ushio's dirty swamp-ass boxers in my sheets. Maybe we can even be... friends?"

At the roommate interview Kaiba's like "we're not going to be friends. We are purely going to exist around each other. Get that straight" and Yuugi's like "....are you okay with existing around a weekly game night? It's hard to do it in the dorms and you're more than welcome to join us" and Kaiba's ears perk up. He was already going to give the spot to this affable, quiet guy with the sunny smile, but game night is a cherry on top. Yuugi's just like "you know what, he's just intense. i can totally live with that AND the dragon faucets in the bathroom."

So he moves in. He does his best not to step on his roommate's toes, because Kaiba is very clearly in it to win it and spends all of his time studying. He's pleasantly surprised that Kaiba's super interested in his coursework and is actually a great sounding board for different ideas and projects. Jounouchi's like "how's your weird roommate who lives in a cave" and Yuugi's like 😤 he's really nice he's just awkward with strong opinions!! 😤 (No one has ever called Kaiba nice in his life.)

Meanwhile Kaiba is fuming with pining for his new roommate, who leaves notes in his coffee mugs for him to find that say "GOOD LUCK ON YOUR FINAL YOU'LL CRUSH IT :)" and has turned out to be extremely good at games and is possessed by a zesty little sense of justice. To his delight!! More than once Yuugi has heard muffled arguments between Kaiba and Gozaburo on the phone through closed bedroom doors and he knows Kaiba's not coming out until tomorrow morning, and more than once Kaiba has woken up from a miserable night to a surprise breakfast burrito. he doesn't hate it. He feels a little seen, in fact.

The night they actually make dinner together and watch a movie on the couch, Yuugi's like "aw we're finally hanging out like friends :) this is nice :)" and Kaiba's BURNING up with furious crushing. Someone help him!

[ladyyatexel]

"Strange Shapes" - YuGiOh Offering

In gratitude for donations and commissions, here is one of many pieces of content I'm offering as emotional sacrifice to my benefactors.

Malik Ishtar drifting a bit post-canon and trying to figure out Ryou Bakura.

Most common descriptors from others who have seen it in the rabbit holes I dig myself on Discord to share it with 2.5 people are 'sweet, sad, strange, soft'. Primarily talking, no warnings or such.

This is very much raw snippets with pieces held back as I'm actively working on this currently and want to post the whole thing properly. It's, uh, 17K in the document right now? So this is a preview I offer on the altar of angstshipping and not getting kicked out of my apartment. Between snips is filled in with [...].

It's not the full thing, @sturionic, and you've seen what's here, I'm sure, but you did tell me to tag you once!

I hope it's enough to enjoy and get a feel for what's happening!

Malik makes his way as casually as possible out to the edge of the friend group where Bakura - the real one, the only one who was supposed to be there - is watching with a small, but real, smile.

"Can I talk to you?" Malik touches his arm slightly, just to try to indicate this conversation should be even further from the others.

"Me?" Bakura blinks, confused.

"Yeah. The real you."

"Ah, yes." The smile becomes a bit awkward and he rubs his arm where Malik had just brushed it. A sick feeling flashes through him as he realizes the spot is also where Bakura had been slashed in the midst of Malik's deals with the Bakura from the Millennium Ring. He tries not to wince too much and presses on.

"I don't want to bother you. Just a few minutes."

Bakura shakes his head, awkward seemingly gone. "It's okay. I don't mind."

Malik suggests a seat along the wall. No way for someone to sneak up to interrupt, still visible, hopefully feels safe.

Even with just this little, Bakura is already different. He moves differently, smiles differently. His voice is technically the same, just like his features, his hands, and the color of his hair, yet it's all completely someone else.

"I've done a lot I can't undo," Malik says when they're comfortably seated out of easy earshot. "But I at least want to apologize to people who give me the chance to. Especially to you. About everything, not just your arm."

"It wasn't you that did that, was it?"

"No, it wasn't even my idea, but - I was with him, I gave him the motivation, I guess. I thought I could use him for what I thought I wanted. I went along with it."

"Mmm." He nods. "I see."

"Didn't you know?"

"Oh, I could guess," Bakura says. "I even assumed. It's happened before, see?" He holds out his left hand, unprompted, and shows off a healed but still present scar in his palm and one between two bones on the other side. "But I didn't know. He kept me in the dark a lot. And when he didn't, I think my subconscious did. There are a lot of blank spaces in my memory, so there are things I’m just used to not being sure of." He smiles. It's kind, and polite, and pretty, and feels just as completely wrong as it does appropriate.

"I'm sorry," Malik says. "About that, about you getting hurt, about using the Rod to manipulate you, your friends… all of it."

"I understand." Not an 'okay' or anything about forgiveness or forgetting, but understanding.

“I hope we can be okay?”

Bakura shrugs and retains his sweet polite smile. “Sure.”

The response is so casual it throws Malik a little off balance. Bakura looks and sounds like Malik cut him off in traffic at worst.

Admittedly, many of his apologies to Yuugi’s friends have been similar. Yuugi himself had needed nothing beyond their last meeting when Malik completed his family’s purpose. Malik had said he hoped they could be friends while trying to hold onto some sense of dignity and that had evidently been enough for Yuugi.

Yuugi's group hadn’t brought the blonde woman, Mai, with them. Malik is still considering sending Yuugi back with an apology for her that includes a message that he is having nightmares about her, too. There are many people he hurt who want him to suffer as payment. Mai might be one of them.

Bakura, though, seemingly isn’t.

"How has it been for you since… everything?" This might be invasive or taking more time and consideration than he's owed, but if the quiet Bakura wearing scars he didn't earn was willing to talk, Malik wanted to hear what he said.

"Don't worry,” Bakura says. “I'm not going to hurt anyone."

"That's not - I didn't mean that. I just wanted to know how you felt."

Bakura pauses and the smile shifts. Maybe it's more genuine, or maybe it's a specially constructed layer for just this question.

"No one's really asked me that."

"Really?"

"I think they might be a little afraid to mention it." He looks almost like he's on the verge of laughing about it. "It's okay. I don't blame them. It's nice to still have friends."

"... and how you feel? What about that?"

He looks away from the others and properly at Malik for the first time since sitting down with him. "I don't know. I think I have feelings that aren't supposed to exist at the same time."

Bakura does understand.

"I think I have the same thing."

"I thought you might."

"Is it always like this? You away from everyone?" Malik wouldn't have to worry about this himself if he simply went home, stayed close to his siblings, replaced everyone he'd ever known with someone new and just avoided a few countries all together. But the connection right here, with the only other people who'd had something like his own experience? It scared him to lose it while it was still acceptable to touch.

"Not always."

"Are you lonely?"

Bakura laughs, though it is quiet and soft. "Not always."

"I'm sorry."

"You understand it too, don't you?" He looked at Malik wearing a tired resigned smile. “You wonder about the space between being told you’re someone’s friend and whether they actually trust you. It's why you're talking to me, isn't it?"

The longer he sits with the real Bakura, the more what he thought he’d find before meeting him gets hazy, but whatever that was, Malik is pretty sure this wasn’t it.

“It's not - I just wanted to apologize,” Malik says, though he doesn’t even sound convincing to himself.

“We’re the ones sitting out here, though.” Bakura tilts his head toward the rest of the group, engrossed in their game.

“They’ve all known each other a long time. They’re close.” It's an excuse. On several levels.

Bakura looks off at the group, almost through them. “I read somewhere once that you can’t get closer to someone than you do by killing them.”

More Malik wasn’t ready for.

“...I think I once employed a guy who said the same thing.”

“It’s okay. I told you; I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“I don’t think I thought you wanted to. I was just surprised.”

“I just meant maybe being close and being friends is different sometimes. Or maybe being close comes in strange shapes. Something like that."

Malik has spent less than an hour talking to Bakura, but already a link he hadn't totally expected tugs at things inside him he hadn't planned on being reachable.

“Strange shapes sounds right.”

[...]

“What do you do now?” Bakura asks. “Now that you can just have a life if you want it?”

‘If you want it’ rings strangely in Malik’s head.

“Mostly, we talk to a lot of researchers. Rishid and Isis too. After everything, I thought -- well, I wasn’t eager to tell people or get weighed down with officials and government, but it looked like the way to do the most good with...” He tries to motion over his shoulder to indicate his back as a stand in for everything.

“What are they researching?”

“What aren’t they? Us existing just detonated a giant bomb in the entire Egyptology field. I guess people out here have been trying to figure out how to pronounce the language we all learned as babies for a few hundred years, so we’ve been seeing a lot of linguists. But archaeologists want to talk to us, psychologists, general historians, people yelling things about aliens… I don’t understand some of it, to be honest.”

He wouldn’t normally have admitted that last part, but Bakura feels like someone he can trust with it.

“I haven’t heard about any of this.” It’s not a challenge, more an expression of wonder.

“They aren’t releasing most of the information to public channels, yet. It’s too big, too drastic. They want to make sure we’re real first.”

“Did they find you after the tournament?”

Malik twitches at just the thought of the experience. “Yeah. Several people did. I probably owe being able to live normally to being scientifically significant. Otherwise, I don’t know, I’d be …” He shakes his head. “Locked up? Being hunted for sport somewhere? I don’t know. In the end, it’s probably because of my sister or Kaiba that I’m not constantly in danger of being arrested.”

“Are people afraid?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” He pauses, considers everything that happened as it plays out in flashes in his head. “Probably.”

“Hmm.”

Bakura stays quiet but for the small thoughtful sound.

“Are you afraid of me?” Malik asks.

Bakura laughs. It’s cute and soft and almost insulting. “No. But don’t you think my answer would be the same either way?”

“I was kind of hoping we were being honest, given the circumstances.”

“I am.” He smiles serenely, like he’s meditating or enjoying a breeze. “You’ll just have to trust me when I say that.”

“I can do that.”

“Good.” Bakura looks at him as though they’ve finalized a contract. “I’m not afraid of you. And I’m glad you’re just a scientific curiosity, and not in prison.”

He had to laugh, even at his own weird traumatic situation. Bakura laughed with him, proving either a true lack of fear or a surprisingly iron resolve. Either one made him fascinating.

[...]

"Would it be okay if we kept talking after this?" Malik takes his phone (admittedly still one he didn't obtain through the cleanest of channels) out of his pocket.

"Oh, yes! Here!" Bakura enthusiastically takes the phone and immediately begins entering information. "I'll give you my number." He smiles so much he nearly sparkles as he saves the number and hits the call button, which sets off a soft tone near his hip. "Now I have yours, too."

It is just the number to a definitely, totally, in no way illegally obtained cell phone, but the eagerness Bakura shows to have it is more comforting than any words Malik has heard from anyone else in a long time.

[...]

“Well? What did you think?”

“Um, I had my eyes closed the whole time,” Bakura admits.

“Oh, come on.”

“Sorry! Maybe I’ll do better next time.”

“‘Next time’?” He sounds hopeful and he’s not sure he meant to. When would there realistically be a next time? The next time Bakura casually takes a quick vacation halfway across the world to say goodbye to a supernatural member of his friend group?

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to assume anything!”

“No, no, it’s okay! You can come with me anytime!”

"Wow, thank you! I'd love to!"

This feels unreal and kind of like being adrift. Are they both just pretending they live across the plaza from each other and can visit whenever they want?

"What are you all doing tomorrow?"

"Oh, the museum! Aren't you coming with us?"

"No, I wasn't invited. I don't want -"

"Then I'm inviting you!"

"I - Okay?"

"I'll find out when we're leaving and let you know." His cheerfulness waned somewhat. "Sorry. Unless you don't want to go; I'm sure you've seen it all more than enough."

"No, no, I really want to! I might have a different perspective on them now." He might. Bakura may be providing that perspective. Malik may mostly be interested in spending more time talking, whether it takes place in a cesspool of tourists on a backdrop of his childhood or not.

"Then I'm looking forward to having you with us again. Sorry I kept you so late."

"You really didn't. It was me too." He grabs his helmet to try to force himself to not stay even later. "Do you know you apologize a lot?"

"I do, don't I?" Bakura smiles, his eyes almost squeezing shut. This is either sincerely a little self mockery or a dodge of some kind, but Bakura's arsenal of smiles is so large that one night has not been enough for Malik to learn them all.

The only right response seems to be laughing, an impulse Bakura seems to share.

Malik gets on his bike with a lingering feeling that he’s been snagged on something.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“Yes!”

Bakura smiles. It looks sweet, happy, and genuine. Or maybe Malik just hopes it does.

[... ...]

“You didn’t have to come with us.”

“What?” Malik startles when he hears Bakura’s voice so close.

“You just look uncomfortable,” Bakura says.

Malik shakes his head and refocuses on reality. “I’m okay.”

“Good. I’m glad you came.” This isn’t the same smile Bakura used on Jonouchi. “Do you want to go to the next room with me?”

Truthfully, he doesn't particularly want to go into any of the rooms, he just wants to figure out more of Bakura, but the answer is still the same.

“Sure.”

The next room rounds a bit of a corner and a colossal broken head of a pharaoh sits against a center column to welcome them to the next display. Bakura looks as closely as he can at the polished stone, as though he’s being pulled in.

“How do you feel?”

At first, Malik thinks he’s asking the stone, but then there’s a pause and Bakura turns to him, head tilted. “Oh,” Malik says, “you mean me.”

“Of course you.”

“I don’t know, you felt kind of like the type to talk to statues.”

“Were you just going to stand there and let me?”

“What would I have said? We’ve both seen weirder things, right?”

Bakura smiles brightly and nearly laughs. “True.”

The smile is different even from just in the other room. He’s still joking and still cute, just like he was with Jounouchi, but joking about being a guy who talks to rocks seems to make Bakura’s smile more sincere than the manufacture of mummies.

“So?” Bakura prompts.

“Oh, yeah. How I feel.”

“Unless you want to wait for him to answer.” Bakura points at the giant stone face.

“I feel... “

Veneration of a world he was raised to serve covers every surface around him. There’s not a single room that isn’t about it. If he thinks about how much there is and how it’s wrapped around him in every direction, whatever emotion the thoughts conjure tries to compress his lungs. He might as well be buried in it.

He lets out a long breath to make sure he's still able to.

“I feel a little overwhelmed, I think.”

[dustyro0m]

That Flower Over There

((Title doesn’t really make sense, I’m aware.))

Part two

Gojou Satoru x reader (Reader is a student at Jujutsu Tech, and is said to be older than Yuugi, Megumi and Nobara, and is not a minor. This is one of my older drafts, I’m glad to say that my writings evolved from this :)) ) 

Please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors. It is proofread, but I do miss things sometimes. Enjoy!

                                                     • • • • • • •

Maybe this was a bad idea.

Maybe training to be a jujutsu sorcerer this late in life was going to be a bad decision. 

I mean...it wasn't too late for you to go back to college. Right? I mean, it's either risking your life, and potentially shortening it to fight monsters, or you could study and work in a dead end job you would end up hating. 

You know you should trust the blindfolded man who took you in. Even though he was flippant about the job and its requirements, he seemed like a trustworthy person. And your gut has never left you astray. He was just a little blunt at times, and a little bit childish. 

But when you trained with him, it felt safe. I mean, as safe as the training permitted you to be, but he never seemed to let you get too hurt.  

Maybe your reservations were childish. Maybe you should just suppress them and help people, like the little voice in your head wants you to do.

But maybe the doubts were real, and you shouldn't push away the voice that told you to run away from this life. 

Training is hard. It never got easier, but maybe that was because whenever Gojou saw a little bit of improvement, he immediately made the training harder. You didn't even train with the other students, but maybe that was a good thing because they were younger and so much better than you. You envied what they had. The camaraderie. You lost touch with your friends when you started college and there wasn't really any point trying to get back in touch with them. So you’re stuck here, in between two worlds, watching Gojou pester the three first years.

It was hard not to notice him. Something about him demands everyone's attention. He had this level of cockiness and what was irritating is that it is well deserved. There's no one you know who can combat him, or outsmart him, or get under his skin.

He is perfect, and it was enthralling. It was mesmerising. At least to you. Whenever he speaks, as childish as it may, butterflies float around in your stomach. When he talks, your attention is on him. When you’re hurt, he's the first person you go to, even if Shoko is in the room. 

Maybe the infatuation was childish. Not maybe, it is childish. 

But it was so hard to stop. 

It wasn’t fair. 

You stand up, and walk away from your seat on the stairs. Your training was over, but training for the first and second years were yet to begin. Gojou sat on a bench overlooking the training students. You tried to walk away to your dorm without disturbing him, but he still calls out loudly for you. You turn around to see him waving you over to him to join him. You stand idly for a minute before suppressing your fear {and the butterflies} down and join him. 

He slings his arm around you casually. You hate how you tense at the simple motion. You hate the space between the two of you. You hate his voice and his absurd unique-ness. Hate it yet crave it. 

“So Y/N. hows the jujutsu life suiting you.” he says looking completely ahead. Deservedly so. Yuuji is sneaking up to Megumi as he’s brooding. That would never go well. 

“Its okay.” you say, managing to keep your voice steady. You don't want to tell him your doubts, and your fears.

Maybe it would be okay to tell him. 

He would understand right? Or at least empathise,,,

No. that's a bad idea. 

You hate how he can read you, without even looking at you.

“Liar.” he says. 

“W-what?”

“Liar. you’re lying about it being ‘okay’’

“I’m fine. I swear.” you say, trying to make your voice more firm. He looks at you for a second, and his stare bores into you for a good couple of seconds, until he turns around and looks back at his students. 

“Its getting late.” he says. 

“You're right. I should get going.” 

“Let me come with you.” he says, standing up, pulling you with him. A small part of you wants to argue with him, tell him you’re fine on your own, but it would be worthless. He seems to have his head set on walking you to your dorms. Yuuji gives you a wave, and you return it for a second before he gets distracted by Panda. 

Walking alongside Gojou is hard, since his legs are so long. He doesn’t seem to notice you lagging behind him, but you certainly notice your limbs crying out in pain from the training before.

“Shouldn't you be there for your students' training?” you ask once you match pace with him.

“They can survive for a few minutes without me.”

You don’t reply to that. 

The trees surrounding the dorms are beautifully green. Nothing like where your college was in some broken down area in Roppongi. It was the best education that your limited budget could get you. You pause at the entrance to the building and face Gojou. He’s invested in something on his phone. You wonder what his eyes look like behind the black blindfold. You know why he wears it, but you’ve never seen his eyes.

Maybe you could ask him to show you? 

No, that's pathetic and weird. 

You hardly know him. But he knows a lot of you. That's how he found you. That's how you got sucked into this life so late in your life. He showed up one day, told you of the hidden world, and you, not knowing any better, said yes. 

Maybe the feeling you felt right now as you think of your past life was regret.

Maybe telling your teacher/mentor would help. 

Maybe it would. 

“Gojou?” you ask. You’ve stopped calling him sensei ages ago. 

“Yes my dear Y/N chan?”

“Maybe i'm making a mistake with this. I'm not strong enough to actually do this.” you say. You can’t meet his eyes. {or where his eyes would be} 

“A mistake?”

“With...this lifestyle.”

He pauses for a second. 

“That’s dumb” 

“What?”

“‘You making a mistake being here’. You ‘not being strong ‘enough’. Even without a cursed technique you are the strongest person here. You work five times harder than everybody here because you were late to enter this life. Anybody who tells you otherwise is wrong.”

You falter. 

“But-I can’t keep up with Megumi. Or Yuuji. Or anyone here! They’re undoubtedly more talented than I am.”

“Your worth and potential is not measured by how you keep up with the others around you.” he stops to look you dead in the eyes. “You have one of the most intelligent minds I've seen in combat. Results will not happen in a day, a week or maybe even a month. Give yourself time y/n. You’ll get yourself at the level you want to be soon enough.” he turns around suddenly, and points to a flower growing in the distance. 

“You see that flower? Over there?”

You nod in affirmation.

“You think it would grow into something beautiful if someone kept tramping it?” he cocks his head, waiting for your response. As soon as you open your mouth to say something, he continues. “That flower has lived through all the seasons, harsh rains, cold snows, crisp mornings and harsh summers. Yet it adapts. But it can only adapt with time, and patience. When it learns to adapt though the harsh conditions, then will it become beautiful and strong. Then relate that to your training. You have the potential in you to be like the flower, you just have to wait and train. Then when it is all over, you will stand strong.”

You stop for a second to process that. It doesn’t make complete sense just yet, but you get the gist of it.

You watch as he walks over to the flower. Bending down, he wraps his fingers around the stem of the flower. In a swift motion, he plucks the flower out, roots and all and saunters to you. Your eyes are wide in disbelief. This man. 

He strides over back to where you are. The butterflies in your stomach flutter restlessly as he tucks the flower behind in your ear. 

“Don’t be too hard on yourself loves.. You’ve got this in you. I know it. I hand picked you for a reason.” his hand stays in your face area, softly leaning against your cheek. 

And then he turns around and leaves you to stand by yourself, feeling like a teenager in love. 

Some part of you finds some disappointment in him leaving you, but then again, he seems way out of your league. Just as you start heading back to your dorm, he turns back and calls out to you. 

“y/n chan?! I forgot to ask…are you free tomorrow night by any chance?”

“I…I am? Why do you ask?”

“Oh there’s this new cafe near here I wanted to try out. I’ll pick you up at five?”

You try to ignore your face burning up. Is he asking you out?

“Ah-okay then!”

“It’s a date then! See you then!” 

And he runs off. 

A date? So he is into you!

After the talk, and finding something to look forward to makes you think that even though this lifestyle may be tough, there will be some light at the end of the tunnel.

                                                       • • • • • • •

[norealgoodbyes]

Been trying to think about the news today and it still really doesn’t feel real. Or at least the meaning hasn’t really hit me yet. I’m not sure if or when it will. If I were an artist maybe I get some of what I’m feeling out of my system that way, but I’m not. I’m not much of a writer either, but I’ve seen a few people talk about what Yu-Gi-Oh! meant to them personally and I figure maybe I could try that.

One of the clearest memories of my childhood is of watching the precipice duel- I’d think I’d been casually watching the show for a while up till then, but that’s when it totally changed to me. My parents had routinely been getting me into various sports and extracurriculars that I did not want to be in and that Saturday morning I had a softball game to get to. My dad basically had to drag me out of the house to get me there and I missed the last half of the episode. I remember seeing the rotting BEWD melt around Mokuba in Kaiba’s hallucination and it stuck with me through the entire drizzly game. It had to have been the first time I think I really cared about characters in a piece of media to that extent. And I didn’t have anyone to talk about it with. 

I had friends as a kid, but kids can be cruel. I’d learned a few years prior that Pokemon was no longer a safe thing to talk about at school if I wanted to enjoy my recess. It was clear from the get go that Yu-Gi-Oh would fall into the same category. It’s not like I was getting beaten up, but I was a dumb, sensitive kid who was painfully honest. Kindof an easy target. I didn’t have the kinds of friends who would stick up for me for liking something “uncool”. I wished I had Yuugi and his friends. Instead I learned to lie about my interests at school and hoard manga and cards in a cabinet in my room. I’m not sure it was a happy time, but I wouldn’t have given up on Yu-Gi-Oh for the world. It meant so much to me. I loved the characters, the drama, the card game, the lore, the mystery of the millennium items. All of it. 

I remember when I started getting access to the internet and learning about how different the show I’d been watching was from its Japanese counterpart. It was so exciting! It was like ‘here’s this thing that I already love, but there’s an entirely different version out there with swears, violence,’ -blackjack, and hookers, you get the idea. It was absolutely tantalizing to a slightly edgy tween. I remember there was a fansite that hosted episode summaries and a forum; I think it also had scans of the GX manga, which had just started coming out in Japan? If anyone knows what it was called, please let me know. I don’t remember the name, just that it had a white, sortof silvery layout. It also had a modest little fanfiction section which I poured over religiously. I hadn’t written any myself, but I had so many ideas. Something about a sprawling mess of a story involving magic and other worlds I think? I don’t remember the details, but it kept my mind occupied through a lot of middle school.

I managed to push my love for the series away for a long time after that. Bits and pieces of it would filter over into my life from time to time and I’d pretend it was meaningless, or ridicule it as that ‘dumb card game show’. I’d push it down and try to forget. It wasn’t till I was at a con back in 2016 walking around with my best friend that I confessed that I’d earnestly loved it. I knew he wouldn’t mock me for it, but god. His quiet affirmation that that was ok, cool even, almost brought me to tears while walking through the dealers hall. I don’t talk with that friend very much these days for complicated reasons, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget that. 

I started this blog the following year, in 2017. Since then, it has been an absolutely incredible time to see the amazing outpouring of fanart, comics, fanfiction, meta essays, and love for a series that I had thought I was years late to joining. Even if I’d only vaguely known that there were other people out there who were as deeply affected by this series as I was, I would’ve been happy. To experience what I have since starting this tumblr goes way beyond that. Every day I get to see someone else who's fallen in love with some aspect of the series that I’d never considered, a character examined from a new angle, a piece of art capturing something new about it. It’s so beautiful to me and makes me love the series even more. And it’s so wonderful to not feel alone in that. There is such an incredible community here that I am so glad to be a part of it, even in my own small way.. 

I’ve since gotten better about being more transparent in my love for the series in real life too and the support I’ve gotten from my friends still takes my breath away. I’ve gotten bold enough to hang a print in my room! My boyfriend got me Pot of Greed earrings for my birthday! I don’t feel like I’m hiding my love in cabinets anymore and I’m not wishing I had some else’s friends. A lot of that has to do with who I am and how I’ve grown up, but I think a lot has to do with you all too- and of course, Kazuki Takashi. I’m so glad to be here with you and I know I wouldn’t have any of that if it weren’t for him. 

Thank you so much, Takahashi-sensei, for the gift you have given us and the friends we’ve made through it.

[empressofthesunwriter]

The Queens Gambit: The Story

The most powerful piece in chess is the queen.

When this piece joins the game of Duel Monsters anything will change.

With two dragon sisters, a magician and her descendant, the queen will take her rightful place.

As it should have been.

8th Millenniums Items

Reborn!Kisara

Reborn!Mana

Queen!OC

QueenReborn!Oc

RedEyesBlackDragon!OC

Pairings:

Atem/Yami YuugiXOC

Yuugi MutoXOC

Seto KaibaXReborn!Kisara

Anzu MazakiXReborn!Mana

Author Note: Big thank you to my friend Light guardine35 from Quotev and AO3 who helped me when I got stuck. You rock my world, cupcake. :D Do me a favor and read her stories, all right? Now, I know people are reading this story, but I don’t get enough reviews for it as it should be, so please, please, please give me a review. I’m open to criticism I’m not afraid, I just want some feedback. T^T Okay, I’m done whining. Enjoythe chapter!

Chapter 5: Off to Duelist Kingdom! Part II

Redone 29/08/24

All right, maybe staying hiding outside on the cruise ship wasn't the best idea.

Anzu had a problem now.

A really urgent now!

"I'm at my breaking point!", she whined and stood up.

"If we don't hide, we'll get in trouble!". reminded Honda.

"But I can't hold it. Where's the bathroom."

Honda seriously stood up and pointed proudly over the railing.

"Relive yourself over there!"

"You fool! I'm not a noy!", shouted Anzy angrily.

"Hey, guys keep it down!", hissed Maja, who had a sleeping Sadiye in her arms. "Some of us try to sleep over her and you don't want to wake up this little dragon, trust me!"

Before anyone could say something more a door opened.

They saw Ryou Bakura walk out of it and lean on the railing.

“Bakura-Kun? Is that Bakura?”, Anzu whisper-shouted to Honda.

Maja also looked curious over.

“I'm not Ba-sure-a.”, joked Honda.

Maja and Anzu sweatdropped in disbelief.

"What a lame joke.", grumbled Anzu.

"Totally.", agreed Maja, before she asked: “Is this Bakura a friend of yours?”,

“A school friend, yes.”, answerd Anzu.

Maja eyed him up and down and then grinned.

“He reminds me of a fluffy kitty…adorable!”

Now Anzu and Honda sweatdropped.

/*/

“I’m sooooo full.”, whined Sehrazat holding her belly.

It had been a stupid idea to eat all this food!

Kihana had to fight a burp. She was a bit green in the face.

“That’s the first and last time we do this.”, proclaimed Kihana. “My stomach hurts so much.”

Sehrazat could only agree.

The two best friends were out of their room in search of Yugi and Jonouchi. They together with Afya agreed that they needed to win the boy’s trust first before they could tell them all about Afya and Yugi’s lodger in the Millennium Puzzle.

If he didn’t know about the pharaoh already.

They would wing it as they go, was decided.

Kihana opened a door that would lead them to the exterior of the ship since they hadn’t found them inside.

Luck was on their side it seemed.

They did find the boys.

Yugi was sitting at one of the tables, while Joey was standing beside him.

“Hello again, Yugi and Joey.”, greeted Kihana for them as they walked up to the boys.

“Oh, hey, girls, how’s going?”, greeted Joey smiling back.

Yuugi and Sehrazat looked shyly at each other, he turned red, while she was bashful.

“Aren’t you two just adorable?”, cooed Afya in their minds.

“Shut up, Gran-Gran!”

The ancient queen laughed just.

“All good, with you guys?”, asked Kihana. Joey said the same, so she asked another thing: “So what were you up to?”

“Nothing much, just enjoying the cruise, and you ladies?”

“We were actually looking for you guys. Sehra wants to know all about your Duel against Kaiba, Yugi.”, told them Kihana.

Not only the boys blinked, also Sehrazat. That wasn’t really the reason, they searched for them, not that Sehrazat would mind hearing about it.

Sehrazat gave Kihana a look, but her best friend gripped just her shoulder and Yugi ones and pushed them nearly to the rail.

“Why don’t you two talk there and I will tell Joey about our adventure in the Europe Championship.”

“You really will?”

“Of course, Joey!”

The blond boy blushed and couldn’t help to celebrate internally. A pretty girl who was also a duelist wanted to talk with him and share her experience with him.

It was awesome!

Meanwhile, our two short duelists were clearly shy with each other. Sehrazat played with her fingers and Yugi rubbed his neck nervously.

“For the love of Hathor, child, Kihana gave you a chance to talk to your crush.”, explained Afya in their minds. “Take it! Ask the boy about his duel and form a connection.”

The blue-haired girl didn’t know what to say and gulped nervously. After what happened with…HIM…she was insecure about boys. Yet, she didn’t think Yuugi was like that…and if even Kihana played wingman for her…maybe she should give it a try.

So she took a big gulp of air and smiled at Yugi. The boy blushed seeing her pretty smile, wondering how a girl like her could have any interest in him. He may be taller than her, but he was short for a male and his baby face didn’t make girls swoon over him.

“Would you like to tell me about your duel with Kaiba, Yugi-Kun? I would like to hear it from you.”, she said, batting her long eyelashes at him.

Yugi just turned redder, nonetheless nodded rabidly. His heart was nearly leaping out from his chest.

He would do anything she asked if she kept looking at him like he was someone special to her.

Kihana and Joey grinned seeing how Yugi started to tell Sehrazat in all the details about this duel with Kaiba and how she seemed to swoon harder after every sentence. Sehrazat asked him then to elaborate something more and Yuugi felt in heaven.

No girl he knew was that interested and knows so much about Duel Monsters, that he could talk so freely with her like that.

After a few minutes the two of them stood really close to each other, looking unafraid into the eyes of each other, laughing and talking about Duel Monsters’ strategies and cards.

Both felt a connection forming, an understanding, that they had always longed for.

“Nice going, Hana-Chan.”, complimented Joey. “These two would have never talked with each other if not for you.”

“Why thank you Jonouchi-Kun.”, grinned Kihana.

Already the designer in her image what Sehrazat’s wedding dress should look like and what colors for his tuxedo would fit Yuugi best.

“Hi Yugi.”, said suddenly, someone.

They turned and saw-

“Haga-Kun.”, said Yugi.

Kihana and Afya both felt annoyed that the boy showed up.

It was going so well with Yugi and Sehrazat!

Sehrazat herself was a bit sad that her conversation with Yugi stopped, hopeful they could talk more after Haga left.

“I see you found some new friends. Even famous ones.”, continues the Insect-Duelist. “A shame you couldn’t participate at the world championships because of a technicality Faizan-San.”

Sehrazat waved her hand.

“Well, at least Kihana and I could join the Duelist Kingdom. This is more important than the world championship.”

Haga nodded.

 “The night breeze feels nice. Did you trade for any good cards?”, he turned to the tri-colored-haired boy.

“No. I'll duel using the cards that I brought.”, answered Yugi.

“I figured as much. Your deck contains the Exodia cards that you used to defeat Kaiba, right?”

“You know about that?”

“Can you let me see those legendary cards?”

“If the secret is out, I don't need to hide them. I'm in trouble since you know my strategy.”

Yugi moved back to the table to get his cards, Haga following. Sehrazat crossed her arms and joined them.

She mouths a thank you to Kihana for giving her a chance to talk with Yugi and her best friend winks at her.

Yugi rummages through the golden box which holds once upon a time the pieces of the Millenium Puzzle.

 “Here!”

With a smile, he hands Haga his five Exodia cards.

That’s the moment Sehrazat feels a tingle in her connection with Afya.

“What’s up, Gran-Gran?”

“The Insect-Boy gives me some weird, as you call, vibes! Be careful!”

And Afya should have the right feeling.

After admiring the Exodia cards and admitting that he couldn’t find a strategy till now to defeat them, Haga throws the card overboard.

“I fucking knew it!”

Yuugi, Joey, Kihana and Sehrazat look shocked at how the cards fall into the ocean below.

“No!”, screams Yuugi, trying desperately to reach them.

Haga just laughs and walks away with the words: “Now there's no one who can challenge me.”

“You Punk!”, shouts Joey.

“What a cockroach!”, hisses Kihana.

“My cards!”, cries Yuugi. “Grandpa gave me those precious cards!”

“Damn it!”

With this Joey jumps over the railing and into the ocean.

The three others are shocked.

“Joey! It's no use!”, calls Yugi.

“Are you nuts?!”, adds Kihana.

“Yeah, you can’t do it alone!”, say’s Sehrazat.

Before Yuugi can ask what she means and Kihana can grip her, already Sehrazat jumps overboard to help Joey with the cards.

“That was heroic and dumb at the same time.”, lectures her Afya, as Sehrazat shivers because of the cold ocean water.

“I know, but these cards are important to Yugi! What else could I have done?”

“You here to help Sehra?”, asks Joey and swims over to her.

She nods determinedly.

“I promise you, We'll get them, Yuugi!”, shouts Joey up to the ship.

“Joey, Sehrazat, they're not worth drowning over!”, cries Yuugi shocked.

He can’t believe that his best friend and his new friend have really done this.

But why? He doesn’t understand.

Kihana seems ready to jump herself down, as she screams at them: “Sehrazat Nefertiti Faizan and Katsuya Jonouchi, you both came this instant back onboard or so help you Ra, I will get you myself and it won’t be pretty!”

“Not till we have all of Exodia!”, contradicts Sehrazat and plucks a card from the ocean’s surface. “I got one, Joey!”

“Me too!”

“Joey, Sehrazat swim back to the ship!”, pleads Yugi.

The two ignore him and pluck each other another one. Joey thinks about how he can help finally someone he cares about and Sehrazat how she is glad that she can give Yugi back Exodia.

“That’s the last one.”, she yells cheerily.

She has three and Joey has two. Those are all pieces of Exodia!

“Now come back up, before I kick your ass!”, growls Kihana angrily.

Sehrazat and Joey would like to do that, but that’s when a strong current drags them both underwater

Yuugi and Kihana yell the name of their respective best friend and jump now into the ocean too. They each grab them.

“You are both crazy, you know that?!”, yells Kihana.

Suddenly they hear voices calling out for them.

“Big sister, Sehrazat!”

“Yugi, Jounouchi!”

Kihana thinks she is dreaming. On the ship is her little sister with Maja and an unknown boy and girl.

“Anzu!”, calls Yuugi to the girl.

The unknown boy unrolls a ladder down to the water.

“Are you okay?”

“Grab ahold!”, tells them this Anzu.

“Hurry!”

“Anzu, Honda.”, says Yuugi in disbelief.

After they swim back up to the ship and climb the ladder our four who took a dive have to catch their breath. Anzu, Honda, Maja, and Sadiye stand worried around them.

“You saved us.”, shudders Yuugi. “But why did you sneak on board?”

“We were worried.”, adminds Anzu.

“Because you'd be alone”, adds Honda.

“Thanks, everyone.”

“Sadiye Kisara Schariq and Maja Sayuri Maamoun, what in the name of Isis and Osiris are you doing here?!”, questions Kihana, and seems ready to explode.

“The same as our new friends, Anzu and Honda.”, answers her sister Nochchanlety. “We were worried and want to support you.”

“You will get so grounded when we get back home, Sadiye and I will not be sorry for you!”

“Big sister!”

“Why did you take the swan dive anyway, we just saw how one after the other jumped into the water.”, ask Maja wondering.

Sehrazat holds her three cards up and Joey follows her example with his two.

“Because of the Exodia-Cards!”, she says.

“We got them all, Yugi!”, tells Joey happy.

“You guys are crazy. Totally crazy. But thank you so much.”

Yugi takes the cards back from them. It is then that Joey turns sad and shakes his head.

“You should thank Sehra more, she found most of the cards. Alone I wouldn’t have found them all.”, gritted Joey his teeth in frustration.

“That’s not true, Joey!”, argues Sehrazat back.

The blond boy just shakes his head.

“It's always this way with me. I'm never able to help anybody. Not even my own sister, Shizuka.”

This shocks Honda, Anzu, and Yuugi, while our four girls just look confused.

“Shizuka?”, repeats Yuugi.

“Really? You have a sister, Joey?”, ask Anzu to be sure she heard right.

“You guys didn’t know?”, wonders Maja.

They shake their heads.

“That sounds straight out of a drama series.”, mumbles Sehrazat and wrings her hair out.

“Our parents divorced years ago when we were kids.”, explains Joey. “She lives far away with my mother. My sister's had really bad eyes since she was born. Eventually, she'll go blind.”

Yuugi gives him an empathic look.

“I'm sorry.”

“Thanks, Yug'. She sent me a message. The doctors told her that the time had come. Soon her eyes will be impossible to repair, even with surgery. But there are specialists in Germany who could perform an operation now before it's too late. They could save her eyesight. But... there's no way I can pay for the operation. I have to win. For her! Winning in the Duelist Kingdom, and getting the prize money, is the only way I can help Shizuka!”

“We'll both do our best, Joey!”, promises Yuugi. “You, for your sister. And me, for my grandpa.”

“It seems we all here are fighting for someone precious.”, musses Sehrazat with a sad look and grips her Millenium Item.

“Did Pegasus take someone from you too, Sehrazat?”, asks Yuugi carefully.

He knows this look. It’s the same when he thinks about how his grandfather lost his soul to Pegasus.

It’s Kihana who answers him.

“Pegasus wants all the Millenium Items it seems. With his, he took Sehrazat's mother’s soul and we both are here to get it back. That’s why we searched for you two in the first place. We had a feeling you would be in the same situation and become our allies. All because of your Millenium Puzzle.”

The Puzzle and the Fragment seem to glint at the same moment.

“Allies, I think we should be friends.”, says Anzu passionately. “We all are here to fight against Pegasus. With friends on our sides, it will be better.”

“Nice said, Anzu.”, praises Honda.

The four girls look at each other and then nod.

“Then how about we go to my and Kihana’s cabin? We need to dry and you guys need a place to sleep.”

Jonouchi's You Have Your Own Cabin could be heard from kilometres.

/*/

Afya had a small smile as she looked around the cabin.

Sehrazat, Kihana, and Sadiye were sleeping peacefully in one bed, while Maja and this new girl Anzu shared the other. Jounouchi and Honda had each taken one of the couches for themselves and were having a snoring contest it seems and little Yugi was curled up in the armchair.

It looked like “her kids” and the new ones felt comfortable with each other. She was happy that they made friends fast.

Softly humming she stroked Sehrazat’s blue locks.

Maybe with their new friends, they would have even more of a chance not only to get Amira’s soul back but also little Yuugi’s grandfather’s soul and the price money Jounouchi needed for his little sister’s operation.

That’s when she felt how the air was humming with energy.

With old ancient magic.

The kind she used herself.

She closed her eyes, yet didn’t stop her humming.

The once queen of all Egypt had wondered when the spirit of the Millenium Puzzle would talk to her.

They both had sensed each other when Yugi and Sehrazat first met.

“So you decide finally to show yourself?”, she couldn’t help but use a huffy tone. She had tried early to talk to him, but he had refused to answer her. How rude! “I wondered for a second if you would stay in the puzzle for all the journey.”

The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle or as he called himself Yami admitted he did feel a bit bad that he hadn’t talked to his follow spirit earlier. He was just so surprised to encounter another soul like him, that he needed to think for a while. It didn’t help that the presence of the spirit of the Millenium Fragment was so…so familiar to him, even if it didn’t make any sense!

He had needed time for himself.

Yami had his hands in his pant pockets and looked at how the female spirit seemed to check on the new friends of Yugi and Yugi and his friends too.

She seemed like a mother, looking after her flesh and blood to make sure they were all right.

Something deep in him twisted painfully, and a feeling of bittersweetness washed over him.

He wonders why?

That’s when his fellow spirit turned to him, fixing him with a regal expression, fitting for a great queen and orange eyes so sharp, that he had a feeling she could look right through him.

She was really beautiful.

Her long dark blue hair reminds him of the night sky and her unique orange eyes were not from this world. She had more womanly curves than her young partner, yet he could make out the muscles she had.

This was someone who could fight physically with any man and he had a feeling she would end up victorious.

Meanwhile, Afya had similar thoughts running through her head.

Little Yuugi’s darker half, was taller than him, his hair a bit wilder, and his eyes the colour of the most beautiful amethyst. His face was serious, sharper, but oh so handsome.

Like the gods had sculpted it.

If she were a young girl she would have probably swooned, but she was an ancient spirit, a queen nonetheless, she swooned because of no one!

Even if such a fine specimen was before her.

“I apologize.”, he addressed her with a sinful-sounding voice, which made her shiver lightly. Since Sehrazat awoke her soul from her deep slumber, no one had gotten such a reaction out of her. What was happening? “I should have talked to you before, but I admit. I was quite in shock meeting someone in the same situation I’m in.”

Afya put a hand on her hip, fully aware of how the other spirit seemed to check her shapely body up thanks to her movement as she had intended.

Was she flirting?

Yes.

She couldn’t resist.

“You mean trapped in a Millenium Item, bonded to a young teenager and with no memory?”, she nearly purred.

Yami balled the hands in his pockets into fists. Her honeyed voice got to him and was it his imagination or was the room filled with energy?

Sinful, erotic, energy.

Well, he wouldn’t complain.

You didn’t meet such a beautiful woman any day.

“So you are just like me, what is your name?”, he asked her, making his voice drop more, delightful in seeing her shiver a bit and batting her long eyelashes at him.

“Afya was the name my descendant gave me. You may call me so…?”

“Yami.”

“Yami.”, she repeated purring like a cat and now he had to control his shivers.

By Afya triumphed glint in her topaz eyes, he failed miserably.

Well, two could play this game.

He gave her a smirk, which clearly affected Afya, and asked: “Descendant? Do you mean the young girl who wears the Millennium Fragment? I thought you don’t remember anything.”

“Apparently I was once a powerful queen of Egpyt.”, she started to explain, playing with a lock of her hair. Yami got the desire to run his finger into these dark blue locks. “Before I died, my soul was put into my Millenium Item and one of my daughters became its keeper. For thousands of years, her bloodline kept it safe, till it was Sehrazat’s turn. When she put it on, my soul awoke and here I am now.”

“I slept for such as long too.”, Yami’s eyes wander over the sleeping Yugi, and a little smile forms. “When Yugi solved the puzzle, it was like a was reborn into this world. I know my roots lay in Egypt too. Probably all Millenium Items are from there.”

He heard how Afya hummed, and then the other spirit walked closer to him.

Now they stood before each other.

She cocked her head in a flirty fashion, showing him her long elegant neck, and reached with one hand out to him.

Afya rubbed his shoulder and then slid with her hand his arm up and down.

If he was a weaker man, he would have gulped and turned red, but he wasn’t so he raised an eyebrow at her and wrapped one lock of her hair around his finger.

It was really soft and smooth.

“I have a feeling you want to make a point, beautiful Afya.”, know he was the one purring and Afya felt her knees going weak.

She licked her lips and had to keep a winning smile from her face as she saw how Yami followed hungrily this motion with his eyes.

“Mmh, we both are from Egypt, I was a queen once and we both feel the connection that the Puzzle and Fragment have with each other.”

“If you are pointing out the obvious that I was the pharaoh to your queen, my dear, then you don’t need to waste your breath. I already suspected it, when you told me your story.”

Afya narrowed her eyes at him and stopped rubbing his arm. She came really close to his face, their nose barely touching.

“Then why didn’t you say so before and play dumb?”, she hissed offended. Was he only playing with her? “We may have been married once, but I am no one’s plaything.”

“I didn’t think that and for making you feel this way I am sorry.”, he apologized sincerely and put a bit of hair behind her ear. “I admit, this is new and exciting. I thought we would keep on flirting. I greatly enjoyed our banter.”

Yami had to fight the smirk at her bashful expression.

His queen was tough, he felt it in his bones, yet she was with him like a freshly fallen-in-love girl.

Mmh, his queen…

He indeed liked the sound of it.

Before she could answer him, they both heard a sleepy voice calling for her.

It was her young host and descendant…which meant she was also his? Did he and Afya have children? He needed to ask her the next time they were alone.

“Gran-Gran? What are you doing?”

Seems like Sehrazat, that was her name if Yami remembered right, couldn’t see him.

Afya gave him such a hot look, that he felt his knees go weak. That look promised more than delightful banter…he couldn’t wait.

“Nothing, child of mine. Do you want me to sing you a lullaby to fall back asleep?”, Afya asked her.

Something like a yes came from Sehrazat.

Afya squeezed his hand, till she walked and sat then down beside her Hikari, to sing her to sleep.

Yami decides to go back into his puzzle.

He wouldn’t disturb the two ladies with his presence.

Also, he had a lot to think about.

Next

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh Season Zero: The Yo-yo Crimes of Jounouchi Pt 2

OK, last we left off, we were in a different Youtube video. This one I grabbed off of 2 different videos (you’ll see their watermark in the corner change) and it makes me appreciate the quality that our other episodes have been, honestly. A little bit of compression going on in these, just to give you even more of that nostalgic feel of watching a bootleg anime from the 90′s your brother got from his weird high school friend’s Napster account.

Because this is done with subtitles on, it takes more caps to cover it. Part of why I rewrite the dialogue in these recaps is to help abridge stuff, and so consider yourself warned...there’s a lot of caps in this one. For most of you, that’s probably not much of a problem. But I’m just letting you know because...I sure wasn’t expecting it to be over 40 caps for half an episode, and I’ll probably just type less to make up for that. (Tumblr keeps Erasing All My Words anyway, so this is for the best, but that’s a tech issue I already went into in another post.)

(read more under the cut)

So, to start off, Yugioh and co. walk up to a bar like a really weird version of a bar joke and are like “do you know where we can find the yo-yo gang?” And, much like a video game npc, the bartender was like “I know EXACTLY what you’re talking about, and I heard every part of their intimate conversation. Let me give you all the details, children.”

Hey, PS, there’s an entire Wikipedia entry about the bar joke. And that is wild. Apparently the first bar joke was from Ancient Sumeria, and Wikipedia was like “Here is the Sumerian joke, but we Do Not Get it. Please don’t try to get it.”

The joke being: "A dog walked into a tavern and said, 'I can't see a thing. I'll open this one'."

Damn. I can’t believe the Sumerians were onto meme humor before we ever invented memes. They were in the Galaxy brain over there in the land before time, holy crap. Depositing their memes knowing that 7,000 years later mankind would look at the world’s first joke and be like “I don’t get it!” while all the millennials and zoomers with our MB of nonsense memes on our phones are like “No. I get it.” Good on you Sumerians, that is freakin the best joke ever made. 7000 years to get to the punch line of confusing the hell out of all us. Bless.

They promptly tell Miho that everything was resolved and that she should go to bed and she was like “Cool!” and exited stage left. Bye, I guess. Anzu also went home, but she didn’t have to be tricked into doing it, she just went the hell to bed.

(PS, I just realized that if I want to write less...I should probably not look up Wikipedia articles about the world’s first ever bar joke. But y’all, habits die so freakin hard, and I just feel like it’s very pertinent to this Yugioh recap, although I know it’s really not.)

Yuugi and Honda decide to visit the warehouse and harass Jounouchi. In the context of the show, they’re going out of their way to pull their best friend out of society’s systemic downward pull of a life of crime and most likely turning into exactly like his Father. But, the way that it’s storyboarded makes it look a lot like these kids just show up out of the corner and this gang was like “Damn it, again? OMG small children, please leave us alone!”

Honda hands over the symbolism sash, to which Jounouchi symbolically says “Nyeh.”

And Honda didn’t take it very well.

After tending to his kidneys for a little while, Honda decided to go back at it again at the Krispy Cream and do some sort of insane parkour over this completely ordinary fence.

Ah, the very first instance of real duel law where you duel over a relationship. In later seasons duel law is invoked for things like Mai’s marriage and the right to date Tea (and then just kind of forgetting you ever won the right to date Tea twice). But to think the very first time was Honda dueling for the right of Jounouchi to be part of nerd gang because Jounouchi had fallen to the dark side yo-yo gang across the street run by some 40 year old man with blue hair.

How many times is Honda gonna fight with a broom? Like are they just magnetized to his location? where are they even coming from?

Freakin janitor powers over here, put him in a Final Fantasy style RPG. I want to see what his limit break would be.

Not like it matters, because Hirotani very quickly explains why these yo-yo’s are at all a threat.

Which honestly shouldn’t be...so lethal? Seems like the weight is all you need, not really the spikes. But it’s at least stronger than Honda’s janitor stuff.

Unfortunate for Honda that he just destroyed an antique.

So with lightning reflexes, Yuugi does what he does most:

The death yo-yo ricochets back and does this little itty bitty scrape to this guy’s face and he’s real bothered by it. Although it’s like...well dude, you’re a 50 year old high schooler, I don’t think people will notice the scrape compared to everything else falling apart in your life.

And so then the Yugioh Season Zero team was like “oh shoot is it time to torture Yuugi???” and they got hella excited.

Like I thought it was just Yuugi’s class that were a bunch of disturbing criminal disasters, but I guess it’s the whole city. Like...was Yuugi’s class the good school?

I mean, it can’t be, there’s no way...

but like...is there a good school in this universe? How does anyone survive till graduation? If you so much as disgrace a yo-yo, you will get the torture treatment that I sure did expect in Yakuza games, but not so much in Yugioh, tbh.

Just a reminder: This is the third time we’ve beat up Yuugi this episode. Within the first meeting of Yuugi and Hirotani, he beat the tar out of Yuugi within eye shot of Jounouchi. So like...Jounouchi was reallllllllllllllllly lax on that deal, right? Like...he took his toot sweet time to realize “yeah this just ain’t ever gonna happen.”

And then the yo-yo wars begin.

Just like Solid Snake crawling through the radiation chamber.

Hirotani throws his Fyper-yoyo, Jounouchi intercepts with his Eireboy, and Hirotani’s completely terrible yo-yo just flies off the string again because Hirotani should have just sticked to using his fists. No wonder they wanted to recruit Jounouchi so badly, their yo-yo game is so off.

We never get a door to darkness in this episode, dipping our enemies into mind horrors. Instead, we get home-alone style traps. But, this makes sense. Not only do the show makers have to make Yuugi avoid solving problems with magic in front of Jounouchi, they also have to make it Jounouchi’s choice to leave Hirotani behind. If Yuugi did it for him in like...some sort of duel law situation...then that sort of leaves out Jounouchi’s choice in the equation.

Not like this ever really comes up in later seasons, since who even follows through with duel law and marries Mai? But like, it does feel like Season Zero calls out the later Seasons a bit in this regard. Honda got beat up because he tried to win Jounouchi back by force (or game, I guess.) That was just another form of coercion on the heels of Hirotani’s. What Jounouchi actually needed was to make his own decision to leave.

...most other anime I’d be like “I’m sure that’s just a translation error” but not this one.

So Yuugi runs to the roof where Jounouchi will never see this.

My audible sigh reading this line about fight club roof.

These stupid gang members went into Yuugi’s native territory, not just a fight club roof, but on a warehouse? They were dead before they arrived.

This was like maybe 3 frames of animation in just rapid succession, it was pretty silly and good.

Reminder that like 4 minutes ago, Yuugi was about to get like executed on a meat hook.

Speaking of getting executed on a meathook:

Hope you like the idea of glass in your eyes, because this anime’s got it.

They chase Yuugi around, in a sequence that was done mostly to conserve frames, so you rarely saw the ground until this shot:

Lots of falling down this episode, but unlike Tea, who fell from a warehouse ceiling once and just kind of rubbed her ass after and was like “ah damn it.” these guys won’t come out of it virtually unscathed.

Also, Honda is here now:

Jumping off of his symbolic sash trapeze, he decides to do in Hirotani for good.

Hey so like...walk the dog is a fairly gentle walk that a yo-yo does slowly on the ground right?

Just pointing out how sensitive Hirotani’s fingies are.

And he...didn’t appear to be dead, so I don’t have to add to the bodycount...but it’s gonna be a real long road for recovery.

And now, with the gang back together Jounouchi is back at school knee deep in make up assignments he’ll probably completely ignore since we know that in a years time, these fools are going to be trapped on Pegasus’ island, and at that point school will be just that place you talk about when you try to remember why you’re friends with Bakura.

---hey aren’t those chairs attached to the desks?

Because...holy crap, Anzu.

Honestly this is what you see before you die, but I guess Jounouchi died off screen after the episode ended, so I don’t have to add him to the deathcount (again). RIP.

Alright! That took like...8 tries to get Tumblr to save this one, but it managed! (well...I guess “managed” isn’t the word you’d use for a typing program that takes 8 tries to save)

Next time, we’ll be back to S5, for an arc I’ve heard is kind of boring. We’ll see. If it truly is, I can condense episodes into fewer posts. Or maybe it’s a secret gem? I guess we shall see.

And if you just got here this is a link to read all the Season Zero recaps from the start:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yuugi-muto/chrono

(there’s also a link to read all the Yugioh posts we wrote from the start in chrono order but straight up, this file won’t freakin save, and I just can’t even will myself to look up that link again. It’s on the home page of this blog on the right.)

[sennenpharaoh]

Same anon as before here. Let me explain... I have DID. I don't find it offensive, I was just curious if that's the path you were heading down or attempting to portray.

Obviously there are a lot of stereotypes that come along with this disorder (the good and the evil alter, for example), but it seems pretty clear that you're not writing this in an attempt to be malicious or harmful. Yugioh already portrays this through Marik/Yami Marik, Ryou/Bakura, etc. It's a stereotype that's quite literally everywhere. With that in mind, it's not really anything new to see things like this, and it would be unfair of me to say "this isn't okay, but what Yugioh does is fine!" 😂

I also am a huge DOMA fan and personally I love all the angst. I was hoping this wasn't leading into a "multiple personalities with the evil alter" kinda thing. I was worried at first, because if you had said something like "yep! Atem has DID and it's him and his evil side!" I would've been a little upset. 😅 But very clearly this isn't the case and is not your intent to do.

Now obviously I can't speak for everyone, but in my personal opinion as someone who suffers from the actual disorder, I think you're fine. Once again I do apologize for upsetting you! Keep being you and keep bringing the feels!

Like I said, it's a hard question for me to answer because... I don't know if it is or not.

The idea behind it, as I explored with a Yuugi prior, Yami is pretty much the embodiment of Atem "inner regrets" from coming back from the afterlife. Deep down there's a small feeling - it's not much but it's there - he hates and regrets the choices he made. He hates that he's humaized himself now that he's no longer Pharaoh, now that he no longer has the same magic he used to have. The problem is, Atem refuses to admit that those feelings exist because then that would mean that he himself, even a little, hates that he chose this new life, that he wishes he was back in Aaru, that he wishes he was the Atem that everyone remembered back when he shared a body with Yuugi. That would mean that all of his friends' efforts to show him this new life, that he is allowed to enjoy it and have no regrets, were for nothing, and he hates admitting that most of all. That even though his friends have moved on and became better... he hasn't, even though he tells everyone and tries to show them that he has. It's a lie, one that he believes wholeheartedly but one he's unconsciously telling to himself.

How it applies to the thread with Rafael, yes Atek still harbors disdain for the things Rafael did to him. Giving him the card, coaxing him into playing it, defeating him. Obviously on the surface he blames himself but deep down there's a hidden anger towards Rafael, and unfortunately due to all of the events with the stones and now Rafael with the card in his hand... it came out.

Like I said, I don't know if that means that it's a personality or not. But I'm glad that you guys love the shit I write because at the end of the day we're all writing about Children's Card Games.

[yandereyugioh]

Hmmm. First list one word prompt Realization for platonic Yandere Dark Magician with Yuugi please? (Ngl I feel like there’s not a lot of fics centered around Dark Magician and Yuugi)

Same, I haven’t found much for the two of them. For the sake of this fic, don’t ask me where Yami is lmao. Logic says he should have popped out long before Dark Magician did askskjjs

_________________________________________

Yuugi really liked Dark Magician. He was his favorite card and he made sure to include him in his deck every time he remade it. Sometimes, he carried the card alone in his pocket. It was comforting to him. Having the card soothed him and made him feel better, even on the days that didn’t go so well. None of his friends knew though. He didn’t want them to think he was weirder than they already thought or scold him for not keeping his card in a better place with the rest of his deck.

But today they found out. 

It wasn’t by choice. A kid in one of the other classes stole Yuugi’s jacket and emptied his pockets. Once the card came tumbling out, the kid mocked him and almost tore the card up. Anytime Jonouchi or Honda or Anzu made a move towards the bully, he lightly twisted the card. It was a very good way to stop them from lunging at him. While they didn’t know that Dark Magician specially made Yuugi feel better, they knew that Yuugi loved his cards and would be extremely upset if his favorite one was torn up. 

“You’re all pathetic,” The kid sneered. “You’re really that hung up over this stupid card, huh Yuugi?” He lightly twisted it again, making Yuugi’s heart race.

“Please, just give it back!” Yuugi begged. “It’s special to me.” 

The kid laughed. He was distracted and Yuugi was closer to him than the others. So he took the chance and lunged at him, clawing at his hands to get his card back. 

“Ow! You little shit that hurts!” 

The kid backhanded Yuugi and shoved him away, causing him to hit one of the desks hard. “You know what, I think I-” 

Light engulfed the room and it was then that the kid realized that he had made a mistake today. Against all logic, Dark Magician was no longer a card. He was a thing of flesh and blood and was towering over the kid with fury burning in his eyes. 

“Wh-What? How is this possible?!” The kid scrambled back, eyes wide and his body was trembling. 

“You are a mark on this world,” Dark Magician growled. “You hurt my master and I cannot let you get away.” 

Yuugi, Jonouchi, Anzu, and Honda watched, in shock, as Dark Magician raised his staff and chanted. A moment later, the kid was gone. 

He turned to pick Yuugi up and helped him put his jacket on. He smiled at him and disappeared, once again a card in Yuugi’s pocket. 

“What just happened?” Anzu said, breaking the silence. 

“I have no idea,” Yuugi whispered. The card was in his hand and Dark Magician’s art was smiling at him.

[keyofjetwolf]

Bonus Question Answers! (anime heat 1)

I asked a silly question! You gave me incredible answers. SO VERY MANY INCREDIBLE ANSWERS. Now, I present my favourites! 

If your answer is listed below, you’ve earned an entry in a random draw to win a GIFTENING liveblog OF YOUR CHOICE

—

Q: If you could drop any of the Senshi into another anime, who would you put where, and what happens next?

*  Just dropping Minako into Literally Any Anime and watch her try to fuck the hottest character(s) as chaotically as possible is always my idea of a good time. -- @commas-and-ampersands [Honestly, isn’t it a good time for all of us? Especially Minako.]

*  Probably any of them (but most likely Minako or Michiru) into Revolutionary Girl Utena for SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER and SPOILER SPOILER Doc SPOILER SPOILER reasons -- @dancinginredshoes  [FANTASTIC ANSWER THE DETAIL WAS DIVINE]

*  Mako would do very well as a character in Sweetness and Lightning. Befriend Kotori and Tsumugi and help them cook but sometimes having to suddenly jump out for 'half hour tops, be back soon, keep the heat down, don't let it burn' and leave our heroes alone to cook. They'd manage and receive another victory in cooking and then Mako would join them again and praise them on how they did such a good job. Inuzuka-sensei would be convinced that her 'stepping out' is a tactic to let them gain confidence in cooking. Little does he know she's a genuine Magic Girl. If Tsumugi accidentally found out she'd be over the moon but easily bribed to keep quiet on this most important secret of a Magic Girl.-- Daphne of the Lustrous Waters [Mako in Sweetness & Lightning was a popular -- and very correct -- choice, but your attention to detail set this above and beyond. Too good, too pure.]

*  I would absolutely put Haruka into the Ouran High School Host Club anime, and I will try to elaborate without undue spoilers. I would LOVE to see Haruka take those rich boys down a peg. As a gender nonconforming woman with a working class background who can A) navigate rich people nonsense via exposure through Michiru and B) take any of them in a fight (and I do mean ANY of them, Ouran fans, don't @me), Haruka would be a delightful addition. Watching Michiru or Rei would be a great second choice -- @goosebytrade  [The sum total of my knowledge of this anime is the opening theme by PGSM Naru, and something about smashing a vase. Still, I found that I, too, wanted all of these things, thank you.]

* Hotaru is my baby and she deserves a better life, I want to scoop her up and put her somewhere that she can make FRIENDS HER OWN AGE who won't mind that she's a baby goth. I will send her to magic school in Little Witch Academia, where she will become a quiet girl with huge amounts of power that she doesn't like to use for anything other than healing (her absolute weakest attack knocks down walls, it gets worse from there) and everyone wants to be teammates with. The other option is shipping her off to Princess Tutu land, but while having Ahiru's friends dragging her around with them would make her less lonely, I'm not sure it would make her life *better*! She'd probably make a good ballerina though, if she didn't get magically turned into a luna moth.  -- idleflower  [A better life for Hotaru! I also want this for her. Also, Hotaru being a tiny ballet luna moth is inspired.]

*  Jetty I love you and your bonus questions, but if I'm not mistaken you have not watched many anime which makes thinking of an answer to this that you will also fully understand a bit harder then you might think, that being said if Haruka was in Utena it would be very interesting. Haruka would very much like to be a prince like Utena, but I think she would have zero patience with Touga and his bulshit. With any of the men in the student concil's bulshit really  -- Lott  [I love all this, but laughed INTENSELY at your callout.]

*  Haruka in Fushigi Yuugi. I desperately want to read more of that. -- @madegeeky​  [CORRECT AND ACCURATE WE ALL WANT AND DESERVE MORE OF THIS]

*  I would love to see Rei in any generic popular shonen and see her wreck shit --Omni  [nodding, tears in eyes]

*  Haruka in Yuri on Ice. I just like the idea of her looking amazing and Right in a mens figure skating costume and then taking one step onto the ice and....well.  --Skirto  [Wonderful setup to the perfect conclusion, full marks.]

*  I reach for the Senshi Displacer 3000, knobs winking in tandem with the soft purr of machinery. There are a hundred knobs, a thousand, a hundred thousand, there are knobs spilling out across the floor as I am momentarily overcome by the infinite amount of Senshi on a limitless plane of existence. I shake my head. No. I know who my pick is. She deserves this. The knobs retreat, leaving behind only one. Or was there ever only one? This universe is fickle like that; I don't think about it for too long. I reach for the softly glowing dark red button, but my hand is stopped with a gentle but firm chop from a gloved hand. Pluto looks at me sternly and shakes her head. She still feels duty-bound to the door, I get that, but still I plead. "Are you sure, Setsuna? Don't you want like, a tiny break? To hang out with a tiny adorable kitten?" She wavers a little. After all, Chi IS an adorable kitten looking for a Sweet Home. Eventually she shakes her head. She already knows one Cutest Kitten in the World, and she has her sacred duty to the kingdom. I sigh in understanding, defeated. Maybe I'll see how well that Gundam anime does with Rei at the helm... -- @rhiorhino  [Glorious, start to finish. Loved the story, can’t wait for the sequel.]

—

I’ll be drawing for the bonus liveblog around the start of THE GIFTENING 2020 (currently looking to be Monday, 11 January 2021). Each bonus question is another chance to earn an entry, so keep those answers coming! I CAN ABSOLUTELY AND SHAMELESSLY BE BOUGHT.

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Comparing RWBY and YGO DM: The Handling and Evolution of Themes

Hey! Its been a hot minute since I last posted anything RWBY-related but Im laying in my bed right now and Im sick and bored so I guess we're doing this. Today I will do my best to analyze what I percieve to be the main themes and messages of both of these shows, or more specifically, how theyre handled narratively. Im mostly focusing on that part because, while these series do have similar themes and messaging, they are still a few things in which they are wildly different. And with that, lets start with this essay-post-thing!

1. Theres something we need to adress first

Okay so, before we can really talk about this, theres something I feel the need to clarify here: Neither of these stories was "planned from the beginning".

Now, I dont think a story being planned from the beginning or not nesscessarily makes the story any better or worse by default, however, it is still important to acknowledge because the way the story is planned is going to affect every facet of it. Things are not going to be foreshadowed properly, things are gonna be set up only for nothing to come of it, the story might drastically change directions, characters might act differently, etc, etc.

And, this is bit off-topic but, it's much better to just admit that the story was not planned than trying to pretend that it was. Like, there are a lot of reasons why I tend to be so forgiving towards YGO even though its not very good, but one of them is definitely the fact that, as far as Im aware atleast, the guy who wrote it isnt pretending to have had this big master plan all along and neither is the fandom. With RWBY on the other hand... yeaaaah, its kinda the opposite. From what Ive seen of RWBYs fandom, there seems to be this pretty popular narrative that everything was planned even though it clearly wasnt. Thats pretty bad and honestly lowers my opinion of the writers so much more than if they would just admit to not having a proper plan.

Like, I initially consumed YGO like this: Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh (aka Season 0), like, a quarter of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga (I still havent finished it)

In all three of these we have the character of Yami Yuugi, or just Yami. Broadly speaking, he is an ancient egyptian gamer spirit who lives in a magical puzzle that has not been solved for 3000 years until this highschooler named Yuugi Mutou comes along and solves it, thus setting him free and allowing him to possess Yuugi and have access to the vague magical powers of the puzzle.

In Duel Monsters he's perfectly fine most of time, morally speaking. There is an instance of him almost murdering a guy and its a bit unclear what exactly happens to those he mindcrushes but overall he's very much a pretty good guy. In Season 0 most of what he does is set up these games for bad people, where they will go insane no matter what they do. From how I understand this whole Shadow Game, Penalty Game stuff, if you lose a Shadow Game, you get violent and intense hallucinations and you will always cuz yknow, gamer spirit. But if you try to cheat, which most of the bad people do in this show, you get violent and intense hallucinations as a punishment.

Since the two anime are generally considered two different continuities, its perfectly fine that Yamis characterization is wildly different in both of them. But in the manga both of these characterizations appear, basically one after the other with no real arc or consequences, for that matter. Why is that? Simply put, someone thought it was a good idea to try to turn an episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror manga into a more traditional, more plot-driven battle shounen. From what Ive heard, it was apparently largely because of network interference or something, but the point is, it changed directions incredibly drastically with little planning and everyone knows this and I can understand that for the most part.

In RWBY we have the character of Blake Belladonna, who, in the first 3 volumes/seasons atleast, was this aloof, more toned down loner-type character with a pretty strong sense of justice. She's an in-universe marginilized racial minority and she clearly cares about racial injustice. The way its initially framed makes it seem like she had a very hard life and no stable support system, which is what eventually pushed her to join a Civil Rights group/Terrorist organization (good god, the Faunus subplot is so awful, I could write a whole essay about it but Im already de-railing rn so I'll just save that for later).

Then, in volumes 4-5 it turns out her father is actually like, the mayor or chief of this island-place called Menagerie and she grew up in this big mansion with multiple guards/servants. Oh and also, apparently "space is a commodity" on there, so theres that. She still retains large parts of her personality but she's kinda like, worse somehow I think. I cant really describe it in a meaningful way but I hope you get what Im saying anyway. Then in Volume 6 she confronted her emotional abuser Adam (sorry for not mentioning him sooner but yeah, he was like, her abusive boyfriend, which is something that a lot of people disagree with but I wont really say anything about it either way because I dont really feel any specific way) with her friend, Yang, and ended up killing him.

After all that, she pretty much lost the rest of her personality, as well as her arc about all the Faunus stuff. She just kinda became the meek, generically nice, recovering abuse victim. Why? Well, the actual reason is that they didnt plan out shit and are just kinda flying by the seat of their oversized clown-pants and if they and the fandom just admitted it, I would have less of an issue. I still wouldnt be as forgiving towards RWBY as I am towards YGO because the crux of the issue, for me, is just that I dont particulary like RWBY but also like. Do you really expect me to take MKEK seriously as writers after admitting to not have a timeline because iT wOuLd CaUsE pLoThOlEs?

However, since they want us to believe that everything was planned out from the beginning, the explaination would be.... Idk, they deliberately butchered one of their main characters?? Because.. they hate her?? Maybe????

So yeah, that was quite a detour however, I would like you to keep this mind going forward.

2. Themes of the Early Series'

First, what do mean by 'Early Series' for both of these shows respectively? Well, for YGO that would have to be Season 0 or if youre reading the manga, everything pre-Duelist Kingdom. Basically, the part of the series thats a episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror series.

For RWBY that would be the first three Volumes, also known as the Poser-Era. Back then it was just kinda an action series that took place at Anime Warrior Academy (also known as Beacon) with some pretty bare minimum worldbuilding, character-driven plots and developments but now its more of an epic high-fantasy story with more of an emphasis on plot as opposed to just action.

The themes and messages in Early YGO are kinda vague, very confusing to me and if you were to follow any of it literally that would be pretty bad. For now Im just gonna say the main themes are Friendship and Identity and mostly focus on the Identity aspect.

Now, it took me a little while to figure out RWBYs deal but I think the main themes for Volumes 1-3 are also Friendship and Heroism. Once again, I'll mostly focus on Heroism and touch on Friendship more briefly later.

I dont have much more to add to YGOs themes right now, so I'll briefly go over Heroism in RWBY.

In RWBYs setting there are these man-eating monsters called Grimm that have basically infected the planet. In order to deal with that, they have people called huntsmen and huntresses that kill them and protect people. Theyre trained at special academies like Beacon and go on missions there and stuff like that. Our four main characters, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, are training to become huntresses and one day they go on this mission to clean up a grimm infested city block with one of their teachers. Obviously, that takes a long time so they have to camp out in one of the empty houses. Weiss, Blake and Yang cant sleep because theyve been thinking about this question that their teacher asked them when they were fighting grimm: "Why do you want to become a huntress?"

They have a heart to heart and we find out about their motivations; Weiss wants to bring honour back to her family, Blake want to distance herself from the White Fang (that terrorist organization I mentioned earlier) and as an extension from Adam, Yang wants to have a life of adventure. They also talk about why Ruby wants to be a huntress and it turns out that she judt wants to help people. Unlike the others, she has no motivation besides that. We're meant to listen to that and look at her as a sort-of personification of Heroism: kind, but not naive, strong and most of all, selfless. The others on her team are not portayed as bad for not being like Ruby by any means but we are clearly meant to admire her the most out of all of them.

Okay, now comes the part Ive been looking forward to the most:

3. How did these themes evolve in the Modern Series'?

Alright, before we can really delve into the way they evolved in YGO I'll have to give you a brief summary of the character progression. At the start of DM, during the Duelist Kingdom arc, Yami Yuugi is just that; A darker Yuugi. Hes more confident, bolder, his voice is deeper, hes somehow taller, more ruthless, all that good stuff. Notably, he doesnt actually seem more skilled than Yuugi even at the start of this story, but he's still dependent on Yami. Yami on the other hand, has no identity of his own or even hints at one at this point. He's just The Other Yuugi.

Then during the Battle City arc, they find out that Yami was actually a pharao prior to being sealed in the puzzle, he just didnt know because of amnesia, I guess. So now they need to find out his real name and then send him to the afterlife because hes meant to be dead, but not before saving the world from being swallowed by darkness, which is also a thing they have to do now.

Then we finally get to the Memory World arc, where Yami, Yuugi and the rest of the gang astralproject to ancient egypt via puzzle magic. Yami is trying to figure out what the hell is going on and who all these familiar people are, while Yuugi & Co are trying their best to help him. Then some weird shit happens and it turns out that all of that is not just Yamis sealed away memories, but also a giant D&D Shadow Game that will destroy the world if Yami loses. So now theres Pharao!Yami who is still clueless on the metaphorical and literal playing field and Player!Yami, who is kinda controlling himself now? I guess?? Yamis opponent, The Spirit of The Ring, has something similar to that going on where hes both controlling and properly participating in the game. So Player!Yami is now fighting against Player!TSoTR, Pharao!Yami is now fighting against Thief King Bakura (who is like, the human, ancient egyptian version of the Ring Spirit) and Yuugi is now fighting against Yami Bakura (who is like, the human, modern japanese version of the Ring Spirit). Yuugi gets Yamis real name, he and the gang go over to Pharao!Yami and tell him his name, meanwhile Player!Yami is also somehow helping as well and they defeat the Ring Spirit, thus saving the world. Then they travel to modern Egypt, the Ceremonial Duel happens and Yuugi wins, sending Yami to the Afterlife where he can finally rest and that was the series!

I originally wanted to recount the stuff that was going on with the Ring Spirit and his host as well because they parallel eachother, but this summary is already far too long and I think youll get the point without me needing to explain any more.

My point here is, that the story went from being vaguely about Identity, maybe? to being very clearly about Self-Discovery and Learning to Be Independent. I think this is a very good way to evolve the messaging of your story. How does RWBY track on that?

Well, uh... its not great. I will acknowledge that they have tried to introduce new themes and ideas since, even though I wont really be talking about them in this post. But yeah, the whole Heroism thing really regressed.

Like, I didnt explicitly say it when I was explaining grimm earlier, but theyre not going away. The grimm have always been there and people who sign up to become huntsmen and huntresses are effectively signing up for a job that will never truly be done, no matter what they do. Characters like Ruby and even more minor ones like Phyrrah have shown us that that doesnt matter when youre a hero. No life isnt worth saving, no grimm isnt worth killing, no criminal isnt worth arresting. Then, in volume 6 they find out about Salem. Salem is the Big Bad of the show, shes immortal, controls the grimm and is supposed to be very powerful.

What do our heroes do? They give up. Sike! They were just mindcontrolled by monsters or some shit, of course they didnt give up their mission (which is to bring an Important Macguffin to a city called Atlas, sorry I didnt mention it)!

But then they arrive in Atlas (which is llike, a city thats floating over another city called Mantle) and yknow, they do some plot stuff thats not really important right now until the city gets invaded by Salem and this big grimm army she has.

What do our heroes do? Well, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and some side characters are chilling, drinking tea in a mansion and Yang and the B Team were actually trying to do something, but even those efforts seem incredibly minimal.

Oh wait, I also forgot to mention that Ironwood (a fairly minor, vaguely antagonistic character up until now) wanted to lift Atlas even higher to save Atleasian civilians from danger while leaving Mantle vulnerable to Salems invasion.

What would be the most heroic thing to do?

A) Let Ironwood lift Atlas, get as much support as they can down to Mantle and save as many Mantle civilians as they can from the invasion

B) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas but then split up in order to protect both Atlas and Mantle civilians

C) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas and then dont do anything else

Congrats! If you choose C, you think exactly like the writers!

And I just

This is so mindboggling to me, I feel like I shouldnt even have explain how this is bad. And like, it wouldve been so easy to actually make them seem herokc through their actions, to make it seem like they did try but no.

I have never seen a central theme be this botched, how in the world did they do that? Why did they think it was a good idea for Ruby "The Embodiment of Heroism" Rose to sit in a mansion doing nothing, no planning, no organizing just ..... God, how are they this bad? Like, this doesnt even have anything to do with it being planned in any way, this is just straight up incompetence

4. Very briefly touching on friendship

The friendship is awful and its not solely because they all have the same opinions. They barely interact with eachother outside their designated pairs which leads to it all feeling incredibly hollow. Theyre also practically indistingushable from one another now, which is a shame because it wasnt always like that. Like, I dont think the characters were that well-developed in earlier volumes but they were very well-characterized. But now we've gotten to a point where you can literally copy and paste one characters dialogue onto another and literally nothing changes, it really sucks.

5. Some closing words

Damn, this took way longer than I thought it would and now Im pretty exhausted. I have no idea how yall always write these but props to you! I feel like this ended up a bit rambly but overall, Im pretty proud.

Please let me know what you think of the points I brought up! Id also really appreciate some tips on how to get better at these longer posts because I am planning on writing more in the future (not the near future, probably but yknow).

Thats all I have to say for now, thanks for reading!

[kaibacorpintern]

the wound

word count: ~2500

summary: kaiba has some pointed thoughts about yuugi’s recent cooking injury. platonic rivalshipping. post-DSOD

a/n: a woman has too many unfinished one-shots in her google drive so i’m making time to finish them instead of overthinking them (and never finishing them.) yes this is about cooking and yuugi and kaiba and depression. yes i have already written about this. whatever man. enjoy.

++++

Same time as usual. Two in the afternoon, on Saturdays. Same place as usual. The picnic table under the massive oak in the park, two blocks away from the Kame Game Shop and twenty minutes by subway from the station under the Kaiba Corp tower. Seto took the subway mostly out of scientific interest, taking a professional curiosity in the world Atem had wanted to live in, and because Atem had told him to enjoy it. What had he seen here, in the faded orange seats and bright pastel advertisements and the quiet scattering of human-not-Puzzle bodies? What had he felt, as the subway swayed around the curve in the tunnel, unseen in the darkness and known only by its momentum, making everyone sway with it? Hands curled around handrails and books. Fingers on phones. The train burst into daylight. The side of that girl’s head against the glass, watching Domino slide by with an equally glassy look in her eyes. Two layers between her and the city. Missing someone? Or just bored of life? 

He slunk off the subway, unnoticed and unknown, in an immaculate white hoodie and aviators, stainless steel water bottle dangling from one hand. Yuugi was waiting for him at the park entrance, as usual, wearing some kind of fashionable belted dark purple romper, with the usual tote bag full of games hanging from one hand. On the other hand, something unusual: his fingers stuck out from a half-formed mitten of gauze, giving his slender hand a clumsy, snub-nosed silhouette. He was having trouble holding his iced tea, thumb and fingers alligator-clamped around the lid. Someone had drawn a pair of flowers in pink marker across the back of the mitten, a bumper sticker of cheerful admonition: 🌺 BE CAREFUL! 🌺 Not Yuugi’s handwriting. 

“Hey,” Yuugi said. “How’re you doing? You sleeping better?”

Seto pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head, over his bangs, crown-like. 

“On and off,” he said, which was true. His nights were now vast, tossing oceans of insomnia between shores of just good-enough sleep. Last night he’d simply given up trying to swim and instead, for the first time in years, read a book for amusement instead of education. Some sci-fi novel Yuugi had mentioned and Seto bought on a lark from the bookstore in the subway station. Most of his amusement came from correcting the bad science in the margins, until he woke up at dawn with his glasses bent and his bed linens blotted like calico cats with black ink. “What happened to your hand?”

“Oh, this?” Yuugi said, lifting his mitten-hand. “So, I was making a ceviche yesterday…”

He told the story as they walked through the park to the oak tree: the protagonist was a ripe avocado, its tough, disingenuous alligator hide concealing a soft, buttery-green flesh. The arc of the conflict: avocado against knife, a natural antagonist. The climax: the knife, ignorant of its own bluntness and made arrogant by the shine of its own steel, slid off its trajectory like a failing rocket and plunged at speed through plant skin and plant flesh straight into human skin and human flesh. The resolution: two identical cuts, a half-opened avocado and a half-opened hand. Man versus fruit. 

"There was so much blood Otogi almost fainted," Yuugi said, thumping the tote bag onto the wooden table and straddling the bench sideways. "So we went to the ER and they stitched me up, and then when we got back home I finished making the ceviche. What game? You pick."

"Hive," Seto said. He couldn’t stop looking at his bandaged hand. It drew his attention like a glitch on a screen, an inescapable aberration. “Does it bother you?”

“I mean, it hurts, but whatever, you know?” Yuugi said, digging into his tote bag for the drawstring bag of wooden tokens. He spilled them onto the table in a clattering cascade of wood against wood. They rapidly sorted them out. “It’s not my first cooking accident.”

Seto raised his eyebrows. It was a testament to the amount of time they’d been spending together lately - every Saturday afternoon for a handful of hours, until he made some excuse to leave, and Yuugi accepted it not because he was gullible but because he knew Seto had a battery and it ran low - that he didn’t even need to ask a question, and Yuugi simply provided an answer, with examples.

“So, here, I was frying onion rings for Jounouchi, and I splattered hot oil all over my arm,” Yuugi said, lifting his hand and pointing out a haphazard constellation of white scars over his forearm. “Then here - I was baking cookies for Shizuka’s birthday and touched the tray fresh out of the oven with my bare hand, like a moron, I dueled Jounouchi after and drawing my cards was like, ow - ” he waggled his fingertips - “and this one is another burn - ” a long white ink-stroke across his wrist - “from when I was making ramen for Anzu, ‘cause she was home from New York. And this one - ”

More interesting than how and what were who. This burn for Honda’s birthday barbecue, that cut for Otogi’s game night. A violent kiss between blade and fingers behind a frothy veil of soapy water, cleaning up after a movie night. Another spray of oil splatters, frying tempura for his mother. A lot of meals for her, his grandfather, Jounouchi. Every scar Yuugi showed him had a name attached, almost all of them below the elbows, as though collected there for easy reference. Seto frowned as Yuugi's fingers flew over this map of friendships and family, their routes landmarked by midnight breakfasts, lazy brunches, beautifully-wrapped bento boxes. Something about it tasted sour to him, his tongue held tight and bitten between his teeth. All of his own scars had only one name.

“You probably think I’m a klutz,” Yuugi said, with a sheepish smile, sliding one of the wooden tokens into place around their hive. 

“I told you to stop doing that,” Seto said briskly. “I’m not some dumpster for all your insecurities. You think you’re a klutz. You have no idea what I think.”

“I - ” Yuugi started, and huffed, with another smile, his chosen defense against causing offense. “Sorry, force of habit - ”

“Forget it. You don’t ever cook for yourself?”

“Duh. Of course I do. And I eat what I make with everyone else. It’s not like I make a pizza for all my friends and just sit there watching them while they eat it,” Yuugi said. “But I like cooking for people. I love... nourishing them. Knowing they’re not going to go to bed hungry or anything, and I can make something for them that makes them feel good.”

Seto tapped a wooden token on the table, under the guise of thinking about the game but really thinking about the kind of friends Yuugi made, and how he made them. Jounouchi. Honda. Atem. Himself.

“Did you ever cook for Atem?” he said, because he couldn’t help it, and braced against the soft look that came his way, with a default smile, a pre-emptive look, I'm fine. this didn’t hurt me smile.

“Yeah,” Yuugi said. “I did.”

Like what? Did he like it? Did he help cook or did he just watch? Just the two of you or with everyone else? Tell me. What did you nourish him with? What do you think he’s eating now? I ate pomegranates when I was there. Bread and honey and figs and garlic and beer. Nothing I ate makes me spend six months with the living and six months with the dead so instead I trade off day and night. Sometimes I leave for a few minutes, mid-afternoon, and I can hear my own name clattering through me as Mokuba calls me back. Seto kept all these comments to himself. There was only so greedy he could get with Yuugi’s grief; only so much he could share of his own.

He slid his wooden token into place around the honeycomb of pieces. Yuugi swiftly countered. Seto lapsed back into thought.

Yuugi took a quiet slurp of his iced tea, gave it a shake, rattling the ice until it settled, and took another, watching ducks paddle into the reeds at the edge of the pond and paddle out, a portrait of calm patience. It had taken him some time to get comfortable with Seto’s long silences. In concession, Seto made the effort to shorten them.

It was the kind of day where stepping into the shade made a difference. The air was darker and cooler under the trees and the flowering bushes that lined the park paths, while the rest of the earth baked in a cloudless dry heat. Seto made his move and pushed the sleeves of his sweatshirt up to his elbows.

“How about I cook for you sometime?” Yuugi said brightly, nudging another wooden token against the others with a single fingertip. 

Seto scowled, not at the suggestion but at the way his thoughts splintered apart, like two halves of a wooden log split by an axe. He had no doubt Yuugi would pull out the stops for him, slave and sweat for hours over some seventeen-course feast of modern art finger foods. Or maybe something cozy that made him feel like he was just nineteen instead of nineteen and exhausted. Whatever it was, Yuugi would put in the effort. But.

“No,” he said, and made sure to clarify this refusal before the clouds finished gathering over Yuugi’s face in a dejected overcast grey: “I don’t need one of your scars named after me.”

“I - what?” Yuugi said, flashing him an uneven, sideways smile, and Seto felt a flicker of irritation. Atem would’ve understood immediately. But, in fairness to Yuugi, he was being a little obtuse.

“You have a way of suffering for your friends,” he explained. “And I think part of you likes it.”

Yuugi straightened up in his seat, suddenly electric. 

“What the hell? It’s just cooking,” he said, with a stormy flash of lightning in his violet eyes. “You’re reading into this way too much. I cook because it’s fun and artistic and I like feeding people, not because I like… self-flagellating or something. Seriously, you can’t just spout off - ”

“You misunderstand me,” Seto countered. “There’s no reason to… hurt yourself on my behalf. If you want to eat together, I’d rather go to that kitschy little ice cream place down the block and get a fucking waffle cone. I don’t want you unable to duel because you burned your hand trying to pan-fry a steak for me.”

Yuugi opened his mouth, brows furrowing together… and scoffed, a surprisingly affectionate sound.  He rolled his eyes around the park, his gaze swinging across the sunlit grass, and looked back at Seto. 

“Okay. First of all, I've mastered the art of the pan-fried steak, and you should try it,” he said. “Second of all, what makes you think you’re not someone worth suffering for?”

Seto snorted, masking his inwards flinch. Mokuba already suffered enough, thank you. And for what? A ghost of a brother. A black hole, a perpetual collapsing. Things went in and they crossed the event horizon and the pressure squeezed them for eternity without ever letting them reach the center and nothing ever came back out, as much as it wanted to. The scientific term for such distortion of effort, stretched to an immeasurable length without breaking, was spaghettification. Even a black hole needs to eat! 

He slid one of his tokens back and forth with his fingertip, short, scraping jerks of wood against wood, thinking. 

“Direct attack on my life points,” he muttered.

“Yeah, you also got me pretty good,” Yuugi chuffed. “Let’s call it even. But relax. It’s just cooking. I love the process, and I love the result, and I love doing stuff for my friends. It’s not some big… metaphorical… symbol of something. This - " he lifted his mittened hand - "doesn't mean anything except I mishandled a knife. It’s not like… you and Duel Disks.”

But Seto also loved the process and the result and more than once he'd injured himself, machining parts or fiddling with wires that, like all wild living things, bit back in fear of his touch. He splayed his hand over the table, watching blood drip onto his work station, knowing he should get up, clean it, bandage it. But it was only two in the morning and there was work to do.

“The Duel Disk is a symbol of Kaiba Corp’s future,” he said, closing his hand into a fist. "I know what you've done for your friends. I’ve seen it. Doesn't that merit the same... mythology?"

Yuugi gave him a funny look, half skeptical, half knowing.

"That’s nice of you, thank you," he said, and an uncomfortable blush crawled up Seto’s neck. Sometimes he did understand. “Are you sure you don't want me to cook for you?”

Seto opened his mouth, closed it, folded his arms on the table. He felt like he was trying to explain the feeling of the color blue, or the arguments for why numbers do or don’t exist, or what it was like to dream. Well, you see, the last time I saw Atem, he told me - correction: the last time as in the most recent link in a chain of time, not the last time as in the end of the line, because he also told me we’d see each other again - he told me to enjoy this, and you know me, I never do what I’m told. And I can’t do what he told me to do because he was my friend, and if friendship is just getting caught in a great sticky web of small cuts and large cuts and burns and bruises and tears and suffering because they’re here and suffering because they’re not, then just go ahead and let the spider drink me up and dump what’s left of me in the dirt. I am so sick and tired of pain. Mine. Yours. Ours.

But he did enjoy these afternoons. He was enjoying the process of making this: he had more with Yuugi now than he ever had before. He reached across the table and took Yuugi’s bandaged hand between his own hands, running his thumb carefully over the inked warning. Yuugi's hand relaxed in his. Yes, Yuugi was wrong. It was the same as Duel Disks. In any act of creation there was pain, there was power, and there was glory. What difference was there between a hologram of a dragon and a steaming bowl of soup? Both nourished something. Both were an answer to hunger. Discovering an emptiness and filling it.

“Okay,” he said, releasing Yuugi’s hand. “Alright. Cook for me.”

“Yeah?!” Yuugi said, with rising excitement, beaming. “What should I make? What do you like?”

“Make me a steak,” Seto said, smiling. It felt good to see Yuugi smile. His hypothesis neatly undermined. See? It’s not all damage. “No. Surprise me.”