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grace0331 · 6 years ago

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Commission Info- Status: OPEN!

It’s a long list, so it’ll be under read more! Might update in the future.

Rules:

PayPal only, USD

Do not send me the money without me accepting the commission first!

After I have accepted the commission, I'll send you a base sketch(*) before starting to work on the rest. After said sketch, I need the full payment before I begin to line and color.

If I've started working on a piece but I'm not finished and you change your mind, you'll receive 50% as a refund. I'll show you the proof for it too. However, if the work is finished and you don't like/changed your mind about it, you will not get a refund.

You will also get a refund in case the commission is takes over a month (for whatever reason), unless you still want to go through with it.

Another case for refunds will be if by any means I'm unable to work on your commission.

(*)- This does not count if you're requesting a pixel icon OR a normal sketch.

What I CAN/WILL do:

Fanart(*)

Original Characters

Anime/Manga

Mild nudity

KPOP idols (prices will differ if semi-realistic or my style)

New designs (by description or just, fully new by me)

What I CAN'T/WON'T do:

Furries (Can’t draw animals so--)

Mecha

Explicit nudity/Hentai

Fetish

Gore

Animals

Full Realism

Detailed Backgrounds

Icons (max 1 character)/Bust (max 2 characters):

Full Color Price: $11 (+$8 per extra character)

Flat Color Price (No example yet): $9 (+$5 extra character)

- Simple colors, no shading, no lights

- For flat shading/cell shading it's +$1! (+$1 in case of extra character)

Line-art Price: $8 (+$4 extra character)

Sketch Price: $5 (+$3 extra character)

Half-body (Max 4 characters):

Full Color Price: $18 (+$12 per extra character)

Flat color Price (no example yet): $14 (+$9 per extra character)

- For flat shading/cell shading, it's +$2! (The extra +$1 goes for every extra character)

Line-art Price: $12 (+$8 per extra character)

Sketch Price: $9 (+$5 per extra character)

Full Body Price (Max 2 characters):

Full color price (No example yet): $27-$30 depending on the pose and difficulty (+$20 for the extra character)

Flat color price (No example yet): $23-$25 depending on the pose and difficulty (+$15 for the extra character)

Line-art price (No example yet): $18-$20 depending on the pose and difficulty (+$10 for the extra character)

Sketch price (No example yet): $12-$15 depending on the pose and difficulty (+8 for the extra character)

(*This category will be updated with pictures eventually)

Backgrounds:

Transparent: Free

Simple color or gradient: +$2

Patterns: +$4

Simple background: +$8

DanganRonpa Sprites:

Full color prices:

Hips/Waist Up: $15

Knee/Mid-thigh Up: $19

Full Body: Not available at the moment.

Flat color prices (+2$ for flat/cell shading for each category):

Hips/Waist Up (No example yet): 8$ Knee/Mid-Thigh Up: 11$

Full Body: Not available at the moment.

Line-art prices:

Hips/Waist Up: $6

Knee/Mid-Thigh Up: $9

Full body: Not available at the moment.

Sketch Prices:

Hips/Waist Up: $4 Knee/Mid-Thigh Up: $6 Full body: Not available at the moment. *The reason the sprites are cheaper than others is because they are based on existing official sprites. If you want an original sprite (new pose fitting the character) then $5 are added to the original price of the chosen category.

Expressions/Sprite set/Poses/Design:

Default expression

: Neutral, free of charge.

- You can also choose one of the other base emotions, being (Happy, Sad, Surprise, Fear, Anger) for free of charge.

- Any extra expression is $2 each.

*Deal of 5 extra expressions for $8. They Include the above-mentioned expressions, Neutral (default), Happy, Sad, Surprise, Fear, Anger.

Default pose:

Normal Standing pose

- You can also choose an existing sprite's pose. (DR, SDR2, NDRV3, DR:AE)

Like mentioned before, for a completely new pose, $5 is added to the price.

*For a batch of 5 poses (without counting the expressions), you get a deal of $50

Note: Each sprite gets the same treatment for the expressions, so say, if one of the poses is the character with their hand on their cheek, they can only have one expression unless you want that particular sprite to have more expressions.

For the design:

The character must have visual references for no extra payment. To help with that, you can use a character/avatar maker like rinmaru, kisekae or dreamselfy. Or anything else which you think might be helpful.

With characters that only have descriptions of their appearance, an extra $3 will be added to the price.

If you want me to design your character, an extra $5 will be added to the price.

Pixel Icons:

DeviantArt icon sized:

Non animated: $7

(Note: They take much more time to make than you might think)

Animated: $10 *Deal of 3 Animated pixel icons for $21

How to order:

DM me saying you want a commission.

After I give you my consent to continue, send the info for your order. - It should include the commission type (bust, icon, pixel icon, halfbody, sprite, etc..) - Details - Reference images

I am allowed to turn down an offer after I learn what it is if it makes me uncomfortable.

Once I accept, like mentioned before, I will send you a WIP sketch to show you progress.

You should give me your email address so I don't confuse you with another commissioner.

After that, unless you back out by that point, you should send me the FULL payment.

After said payment, you're allowed to ask me for work in progress till the work is finished, but they will ALWAYS be watermarked.

When the commission is finished, I will send you a watermarked version of it.

Note, this does not count for sketches, I need the payment immediately after accepting the commission in those cases.

Slots:

Empty

For any questions you might have, don't be afraid to ask! Also, preferred fandoms will be in the tags.

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ladynox · 3 years ago

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20 Questions - Writer’s Edition

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

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

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

#tag meme #apologies if you've already been tagged by someone else #or have already done this #it's sometimes hard for me to keep up with my dash

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higuchimon · 4 years ago

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[fanfic] First Steps To Flame

“Hurry up, Juudai!” Theodis shouted, looking over one shoulder as she waited for him to catch up. “You’re already late!”

“It’s not my fault!” Juudai pushed forward a little faster, catching up to his Healer Cat. “Blame the train!” That made perfect sense to him. It was the train’s fault for being late, after all.

Theodis sniffed, the tip of her tali twitching, her whiskers cocked in a way that Juudai knew meant she agreed, even if she wasn’t going to say so out loud. He paused just lost enough to get his breath, then pushed forward again, trying to remember as he ran if he needed to turn right or left when he got to the crossroads again.

He’d spent days studying the path from the train station to KaibaLand, but maps and reality looked so different from each other that if it weren’t for Theodis, he wasn’t sure if he could have even found his way this far.

“Juudai! Watch out!” Theodis’s shout came a few heartbeats too late as he slammed into someone who’d paused on their way somewhere. Balance thrown off, Juudai fell and stayed there for a second, blinking, until he realized his cards lay scattered.

Didn’t I close the deck case? He thought he had. Guess not. But now he quickly started to gather them all up, as Theodis approached the stranger.

“Sorry about that, sir,” she said, tilting her head politely. “We’re in a rush.”

“I noticed.”

That voice. Juudai thought he’d heard it somewhere before. He couldn’t place it, though. At first he was too focused on his cards to notice anything else, until he had them all back and stood back up on his feet, intent on a quick apology of his own before he left.

But as he turned and he looked at the person he’d bumped into, he saw spiky hair of red and gold and black, and large, warm violet eyes, and a face he’d seen on television more times than he could count.

He stared into the face of the greatest duelist in the world, and the First Healer of Japan, bonded to Kaiba Seto, First Flame of Japan.

“I see you’re a duelist,” Mutou Yuugi said, one hand dropping to his own deck case. Juudai nodded numbly, not at all certain if he could make words right now. He could feel his fires twitching and stirring as they always did around strong Healers and yanked them back under control as hard as he could.

He’d already made a bad impression once on Mutou-sama, just by bumping into him. He wasn’t going to do it again. Poaching would be a very quick way to end up a very small pile of ashes.

“That’s right,” he managed to squeak once Theodis nudged his leg. “I’m going to try out for Duel Academia.” Would Mutou-sama be there? Rumor had it that Kaiba-sama watched the tryouts, though no one ever saw him there.

Yuugi pulled a card from his case, glancing down at it, before he held it out to Juudai. “This card wants to be with you. I think it’ll be a lucky card for you.”

Juudai reached for it automatically, still struggling to keep his flames under control. If he let them slip just by the tiniest hair’s breadth, then he just knew Mutou-sama would take the card back. And to go into the tryouts with a card given to him by the First Healer of Japan? How could he not win with that in his hands?

“Thanks, Mutou-sama,” he murmured, glancing at the card for a brief second.

“You can call me Yuugi,” Yuugi said before he gestured. “Better get going, Juudai. You don’t want to be late.”

Juudai blinked as Theodis nudged him again. “Oh! Right!” He slipped the card into his deck case and started to run again, Theodis on his heels. In moments he’d passed out of sight, the glory of the encounter still holding warm and firm in his heart.

He didn’t wonder how Yuugi knew his name. He would wonder that another time.

So that was Juudai, before everything. Yuugi couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to change him over the next three years. He knew quite a bit would, he just had no idea of what that might be. They’d only spent a few hours together and there hadn’t been enough time to get each other’s full histories.

Yuugi decided he would keep his attention on the school this year. Seto always kept himself updated on what happened there. So far there hadn’t been anything unusual, save for the presence of the Mythic Demons. But no one had made any moves to take them, either.

That would likely change, sooner or later. But Yuugi had faith that Juudai would be able to deal with it.

He glanced back one more time, before he turned his steps towards the KaibaCorp building. This would set Juudai off on his journey, which would lead Juudai to the point where they met one day.

And perhaps even better, it would lead Juudai to meeting his Healer, and the greatest friends of his life.

Shou stared at Leghul as it rose before him, with three hundred attack points poised to bite into him no matter what his defenses were like. It wasn’t really the most menacing monster that he’d ever seen – he’d seen his big brother summon Cyber End Dragon, after all – but given that this faced him and he didn’t have anything available at the moment to defeat it, and how low his life points already were, any little bite wasn’t a bite that he wanted to deal with.

“Turn end,” the proctor declared, Leghul pulling back. He wasn’t at perfect life points either, but he had more than Shou did.

I’m going to do this. Shou didn’t look at the stands. He knew who would be looking back at him if he did. If he saw those cold eyes staring at him, he knew perfectly well what he’d do – and what he wouldn’t do. He wouldn’t win. He’d barely be able to move at all.

He focused on what he needed to do instead. This was his only chance; if he didn’t win the duel then he didn’t have any chance at all to get into Duel Academia. Even if he won, he might not. But he’d try regardless.

“I draw!” Shou hoped that he sounded brave, or at least not terrified. He glanced at his card and almost dropped it in surprise. I-I can win?

His attention darted over to his proctor. Only Leghul on the field and two cards in his hand, nothing set, either. Just two thousand life points left. He might be able to. Unless the proctor could discard from his hand to negate the damage…

I have to take the chance.

Shou swallowed. “I summon Steamroid!” Before him there appeared a steam train, marked with a face on one end, the first set of wheels held up ready to do battle. Shou squared his shoulders. “Steamroid, attack Leghul!”

With a blast of steam from the top, Steamroid blew forward to do as he was told. Shou’s stomach churned as he took the next step.

“Steamroid’s attack goes up by five hundred points when Steamroid battles!” And that would deliver two thousand points of damage, since Leghul was the only monster on the field.

The proctor’s life dropped down to zero. He closed his duel disc and nodded. “Well done, Marufuji-san.” A gesture told Shou to head back to the stands. He would hear later if he’d actually got into Duel Academia or not, but now he got to watch the rest of the tryouts.

They were worth watching, too. He wasn’t the only person there, and not all of them were trying to get into the school. Some were already in it – such as his brother. Shou kept his attention as far from the higher reaches of the stands as he could. He wanted to believe that his brother would be proud of him, but he refused to take the chance that he wasn’t.

What made sitting here even more nerve-racking was how many Firestarters lounged in the seats. Even if they didn’t wear the school’s collar tabs he could feel them – like that guy a few rows over, dressed in Obelisk Blue’s uniform, chatting with his friends. Not a sign on him that he was a Firestarter, but Shou could tell.

He stared down at the duels instead of trying to pick out the Firestarters and Healers. The Healers would make fun of him; the Firestarters would ignore him. He didn’t want to really see either of them.

The most impressive duelist right there wasn’t either one. He bore the plain gray tab that denoted one who held no unusual powers at all, though it was difficult to see the tab against his uniform coloring. Shou couldn’t pin it down as either light gray or a darkish white.

“Whoa – this is as awesome as I thought it would be!”

Shou almost jumped out of his skin at the unexpected words, jerking around to see a stranger there. Tingles spread all through him and he stumbled backward, heart beating rapidly.

Firestarter! Firestarter! How had he gotten so close and Shou hadn’t noticed anything? He scrambled into a seat a bit farther away.

“H-hi?” He murmured, fingers clenching together. “A-are you here for the tryouts?” He hadn’t seen this guy dueling, and he wasn’t wearing one of Duel Academia’s uniforms.

“Yup!” The stranger glanced towards him, then down to the field. “Whoa, that guy’s good!”

Shou looked to see that he was looking at the same one he had before: Misawa Daichi, the one who’d scored highest on the exams. He would definitely get into Ra Yellow.

“How did you do on your test?” Shou asked, more for the sake of making conversation and hoping that the newcomer wouldn’t want to than anything else.

But the stranger just waved one hand carelessly. “I haven’t taken the practical exam yet. That’s what I’m here for.” He leaned forward. “Wonder who I’m going to duel.”

“You haven’t yet?” Shou blurted out without thinking. “But – the really high scoring people are dueling now!” How high had this guy done on his written test to be able to wait so long?

A second voice spoke. “Juudai scored a hundred and nineteen. We should have been here sooner, but the train ended up being late.”

Shou’s gaze dropped down to see a sleek Healer Cat, head coming up to about his waist, standing there. A slender silver collar encircled her neck, a triangle of green jade attached to it. Shou waved, a little more relaxed. Firestarters who had Healer Cats weren’t usually in the market for a Healer.

Then what the Cat said clicked. “A hundred and nineteen? But the low-scorers have already dueled. You’re too late.” He’d been the last one of them.

The Cat turned towards Juudai, who hadn’t looked away from the duels, even though Misawa Daichi already finished his duel and started up into the stands. He settled down not that far from Shou, who tensed a little at such a good duelist being that close to him.

“You were really good out there!” Juudai addressed Misawa as if the two had known one another all their lives. “You might even be the second best duelist they’ve got here!”

Misawa and Shou both turned towards Juudai, near identical expressions of surprise on their faces. Before either of them could say a word, an announcement came over the speaker system.

“Would Yuuki Juudai come down for his duel? Yuuki Juudai, please.”

Juudai grinned at the sound of his name. “That’s me! Going to stay here, Theodis?”

“Yes.” The Cat settled down, tail twined around her front paws. “Do try not to blow up anything.”

Juudai pulled his features into a pout unlike any Shou had ever seen, especially not from a Firestarter. Firestarters didn’t seem at all the pouting type.

“I haven’t done that in ages!”

Still pouting, he started downwards. He hadn’t taken more than a pair of steps before Misawa interrupted.

“If I’m the second best duelist, then who would be the first?”

Juudai glanced back, his pout transforming into a confident grin, as if he could have commanded the ocean to part before him and it would have obeyed. “I am!”

Shou fidgeted a little, watching Juudai head down to the arena. He wondered which proctor would have the honor. Would it be the same one that he’d dueled?

He didn’t expect to see who stood there – Professor Chronos de Medici, the Head of Practical Dueling at the Academy. He’d seen the older man in the seats, observing the duels, but not taking part in any of them himself.

Big brother said that he’s an amazing duelist. He spent a couple of years in the pros before he started teaching. Shou shivered, wrapping his arms around himself.

“How good is he, really?” Misawa asked of the Healer Cat – Theodis, Shou recalled.

“Very good. He’s dueled ever since he was about six or seven.” Theodis watched Juudai, a fondness in her large green eyes. “So he has a great deal of experience.” Her head tilted to one side, the tip of her tail flicking back and forth.

Shou watched for a few moments, wondering which practice deck Professor Chronos intended to use. There were quite a few of them, though victory often depended on the skill of the duelist even more than the cards themselves.

He didn’t expect to see one of the largest monsters he’d ever seen unfold itself on the battlefield, nor to hear the name of it being spoken.

“Antique Gear Golem!”

Shou jerked his head up, twisting around to meet his elder brother’s gaze. Ryou gave him only a cursory look, the tiniest of nods, confirming what he saw. Shou shook his head.

There’s no way that guy can win now. Professor Chronos never loses if he summons that monster. He’d seen a few recordings of some of Professor Chronos’ duels and while the man wasn’t the greatest of duelists, he certainly outstripped an applicant, especially using his personal deck.

Juudai admired the card in his hands, still thrilled at what had just happened. He’d defeated the highest ranking teacher at Duel Academia, and it was all because of this guy: Hane Kuriboh.

And Yuugi gave it to me! Yuugi said I could call him Yuugi!

Juudai wanted to squeal so very much. He almost couldn’t believe that it had happened at all. For that matter, he almost couldn’t believe the faint whisper that he heard from somewhere. He wanted to say that it came from the card itself.

“Juudai?” Theodis nudged at his side. “Are you done?”

Juudai blinked, looking at her, then at where Professor Chronos was still getting to his feet. It probably wasn’t the best idea to stand around here, at least not until the Professor could get himself under control again.

“Yeah, sure. Let’s go!”

He darted toward the stands, where those two guys he’d met before came down to meet him.

“You definitely got in!” The shorter guy all but shouted as Juudai got closer. “You’re gonna be a Ra Yellow, I’d bet on it!”

Juudai grinned, rubbing the back of his head. “Guess we’ll find out. Are you guys going home?”

“I have half an hour until my train leaves,” Misawa said.

The other guy hesitated, glancing behind him for a heartbeat. Juudai followed his gaze to where a tall teenager – almost an adult – stood at the top of the stands. He was a Firestarter; Juudai didn’t need to be able to see his collar tab to tell that. Fire all but flowed off of him, invisible but there, especially to someone like Juudai.

“I have to go,” the short guy muttered. He turned back around to look at Juudai. “I’m Marufuji Shou.”

Had he gotten around to introducing himself? Juudai decided that he probably hadn’t. Well, time to fix that. He held out his hand to Shou.

“Yuuki Juudai. And this is my Healer Cat, Theodis.” He nodded down toward the Cat, who gave her own greeting.

“Misawa Daichi,” Misawa said, offering his own hand once Shou shook Juudai’s. “A pleasure to meet you.”

“Same here!”

If they all got into Duel Academia – and Juudai couldn’t see why they wouldn’t – then Juudai looked forward to the best year of his life.

Kagemaru always watched the entry duels. He knew there wasn’t time to choose any more of the Seven Stars from the new arrivals, but he liked to have an idea of who could be the ones that his Stars would have to fight against.

How interesting. His attention remained on the last duel that he’d seen – that of Yuuki Juudai against Professor de Medici. Talent like that wasn’t common, and he thought he detected a hint of the ability to hear spirits as well.

As if that weren’t enough, Yuuki Juudai clearly was a Firestarter of enormous power. He could possibly even outstrip the famous Kaiser, likely future first Flame.

More and more fascinating with each passing moment.

A quiet hand rested on his shoulder and he glanced to see the winged form there.

“You need to rest.”

Kagemaru turned away, focused once more on the display before him. “I make the decisions.”

“Of course you do.” She sounded far more amused than she had any right to be. But she always sounded like that when he insisted that he didn’t need someone nursemaiding him. “You want to be strong enough when the spring equinox comes, don’t you?”

Oh. Of course she’d bring that up. He tried not to breathe too hard as he pulled himself to his doddering feet.

“I don’t keep you around for this, Gotzon.”

The tips of her wings twitched in amusement. “I’m well aware of what you keep me around for, Kagemaru.” She folded her wings over herself, hiding her hands from view. When she unfolded them, she held a golden goblet, studded with chips of amber and jade, full to the brim with a deep, rich blue liquid.

An aroma wafted upward from the liquid, teasing at his nostrils, honeysuckle and vanilla mixed together. He’d often wondered exactly what went into the crafting of it, but Gotzon refused to tell him the secrets of the medicine.

“If you know,” she’d told him more than once, “then you won’t need me anymore.”

That didn’t stop Kagemaru from wanting to know, but he had far more important other matters to deal with for now. He held his hands out and Gotzon set the goblet in his hands. As always, the metal hummed warm against his skin, and he savored it for a few seconds before he lifted it to his lips and drained every drop of the medicine.

Gotzon took the goblet back when he’d finished with it. “Come on. Once you’re resting, I have an errand to attend to.”

Ah. An errand. That explained why she wanted him to rest. Her errands always took her to the worlds of spirits, and she’d never go if he were around causing trouble anywhere. She said it was because she wanted to watch and assist. He wasn’t certain if he should believe her.

But for now he rose up and carefully started to the room where his life support system awaited him. Gotzon assisted him with each step, murmuring reassurance with every move that he made.

She’d been very useful ever since they first met. Kagemaru couldn’t even remember how long ago that had been, only that when he’d first begun to put together the Seven Stars, Gotzon assisted him and didn’t need to give him the regular doses of medicine.

He hadn’t needed the life support system, either. He remembered being able to breathe easily on his own, walking easily, being able to do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted to.

So very long ago. He tried not to think of it very often. If he thought too often of his past and how he struggled to gain what he wanted so very much, then fury lit every part of his body. He didn’t have the strength to deal with that, not anymore.

“I won’t be gone very long. Expect me back tomorrow night at the latest,” Gotzon told him as he got into his support system. She hooked up various parts of it to him and he leaned back, relaxing. The liquid in here – if it could be considered liquid – reminded him greatly of the medicine that he took. He suspected there was a connection, since Gotzon helped with the creation of the system. Exactly what it did he wasn’t at all certain, except for one point: it kept him alive.

He nodded; he suspected he knew what her errand was. Five months remained until the spring equinox and they had only six of the seven acquired: Camula, the Black Scorpions, Abidos III, Taniya, Amnael, and Darkness. A seventh needed to be chosen as soon as possible. They’d searched far and wide and yet no humans they could get their hands on qualified for the position.

If only they’d been able to get their hands on the boy who’d become the Kaiser. Such a powerful Firestarter, such a powerful duelist He would have been perfect for the task. But Samejima protected him far too well and Kagemaru had to make other plans.

Gotzon sealed him into the support system and Kagemaru closed his eyes. It never took him long to sleep when he was in here. The longer he slept in here, the more he wanted to sleep as well. If it weren’t for his times out of the place, he might well have given up on trying to take control of the Mythic Demons and just let himself pass away.

No. Never. He wasn’t going to let that happen. He’d gone too far and done far too much to fail now. The Mythic Demons and all of that power would be his and there wouldn’t be anyone in all the worlds who could stop him.

Chronos de Medici refused to do what he really anted to do, which was scream and throw Yuuki Juudai’s application into the nearest garbage can, swear it had been lost in the mail, and pretend he’d never heard of him before. If it hadn’t been for the fact the application had digital copies in the school files already – all applications had those, the hard copies existed mainly for backups – then he might have thought about it. It wouldn’t have done any good. Too many people had seen the duel and like all the entry duels, it had been recorded and would remain in the school data-banks for the next fifty years or so. Perhaps even longer.

He tried to think about something else, staring out the window of the helicopter as it returned him to Duel Academia. He needed to consult with Principal Samejima about the new arrivals. For the most part the principal trusted his judgment, but there were always potential students who needed to be reviewed more carefully than others.

I will not allow that dropout boy into my school! But as much as he swore that to himself, he knew full well that Yuuki Juudai would enter Duel Academia. Samejima insisted that he be allowed to duel and Yuuki Juudai won the duel. That would bring him into the school.

He pressed his lips together. Very well. He wouldn’t even try to fight it, regardless of how much he wanted to. But there would be other things that he could do.

If he wants to attend my school, then he’s going to put effort in.

A dozen ideas flickered around in the back of his mind. He couldn’t pin most of them down right now, but that didn’t matter. He would decide later, when he saw how the boy handled himself in actual class. He didn’t have much more time to worry about it, as the helicopter landed on the school’s helipad and he made his way out of it towards Samejima’s office. He kept himself too occupied with marshaling his arguments for or against the various borderline students to really think of much else.

But the moment that he crossed into the office, he knew something wasn’t right. Samejima sat at his desk, bent forward, shoulders slumped, his eyes half closed. As soon as the door closed behind Chronos, Samejima sat up, most of the weariness falling away as if it had never been. Chronos didn’t forget what he’d seen, not even for a moment. He just wasn’t certain at all what he’d seen was.

Before he could speak a single word about the potential students, Samejima spoke.

“Please sit down, Professor. I have something to discuss with you.”

Chronos blinked, thrown off track, as Samejima gestured him to put the files down on one of the side tables. He obeyed, if only because he didn’t know what else to do, and pulled a chair around in front of the principal’s desk. “What is the problem, sir?”

A sudden cold sensation gripped his heart. Surely Principal Samejima watched the duels – Chronos knew for a fact that he did. That meant that he’d watched Yuuki Juudai’s duel against him. Was he going to be fired? To lose a duel against a student was the most horrible shame that he could think of. He swallowed, about to launch into an explanation of why he should be given another chance.

“This year is going to have a very difficult problem to deal with, starting approximately in March.”

Samejima’s words weren’t exactly what Chronos expected. He stuttered to a halt, blinking, trying to figure out what he meant.

“Sir?” “Beneath this school there is a prison set up for three extremely powerful demonic spirits, currently locked into the form of Duel Monster cards. In another time and another place they could – and have – take other forms, but at the moment they are Duel Monster cards. My Cyber Flame Dojo guarded them for quite some time but I moved them here for safer keeping.”

Chronos blinked a few times, not at all certain of what he was hearing. He managed a small nod, thinking perhaps the pressure of being in charge stressed Samejima out far too much.

“There is a group of duelists who seek the Mythic Demon cards. They’re called the Seven Stars. For a multitude of reasons, they can’t attack until the spring equinox. But they will attack and they will do all within their power to take those cards for themselves.” Samejima turned his full attention towards Chronos. “We cannot let that happen. If those cards fall into the hands of evil, then the world itself is doomed.”

Chronos’s mouth opened but nothing sensible came out of it. He closed his mouth and tried again. Still nothing came out. Finally he decided to nod. What Samejima said made little sense, but what else could he do right now? “There is a way to defend them, however. As you may have guessed, it is dueling.”

Samejima laid his hand on his desk and Chronos saw a deck there. He couldn’t tell if it were anyone’s deck in particular.

“We need to find seven duelists who will be able to stand against the Seven Stars. We have five months until we need them.”

Now Chronos found words. “You’re inviting pro duelists to the island?” He couldn’t imagine any other reason for all of this. Samejima would want him to find places where these visitors could stay, arrange for this to be hidden from the students, other such important matters. He started to draw himself up, quite pleased that he would be trusted with something so vital.

“No.” Samejima heaved a deep sigh. “Due to the interaction of the Mythic Demons and their prison, then whoever defends them must live near them, and have done so for months, at least, beforehand. Therefore, we must choose people from here. Students. Teachers.”

Once again Chronos’ jaw worked and yet no real words came out. Teachers? Students? Principal Samejima wanted his students to get involved in this?

“I wish that there could be another way. But this is why I brought the Mythic Demons here. If they’d remained underneath the Cyber Flame Dojo, then there wouldn’t have been enough people to defend them. The cards could be stolen with little effort.”

Chronos could not answer. His breath remained stuck in his throat as he tried to figure out what was going on here.

“Choose very carefully. We need the absolute best duelists that the island has to offer.” Samejima’s eyes were unnaturally sharp when he looked at Chronos now. “Consider Yuuki Juudai. I believe he is better than you thought he might be.”

Chronos opened his mouth and let the words fall out without thinking this time. “Yes, he is good! But he is also fifteen! You expect children to do this? At least the third years are closer to being of age. Kaiser Marufuji Ryou would be a fine choice, but who else?”

“That’s what I expect you to tell me in five more months. Perhaps Yuuki Juudai won’t be suitable. But do not turn it down because of his age. Skill and commitment to the cause is what is necessary. Remain aware of that at all times, Professor Chronos.”

Chronos wished he could think of something to say that would enable him to stop all of this. The sheer idea of children defending against the sort of duelists that Samejima implied would be coming sent chills down his spine.

If I don’t find anyone who is suitable, then he will have to find professionals who can manage this. There’s no other way. Chronos nodded, as if in complete agreement with everything the Principal had to say.

“As you wish, sir.” These were children. Some of them only had potential for dueling, instead of the kind of skills that would be needed to save the world. Some of them didn’t even have that.

But one and all, he would see to it that they remained safe.

The End

Notes: Technically the beginning. I won’t copy every single scene of the anime, of course. Often I will tell what other characters are doing while canon events are happening. I don’t have a set update schedule for this. Whenever I am in the mood I will write a new story for it. I will strive to keep them in order, though. Next time is some fun world-building for the Red dorm!

Also while there won’t be any serious ‘ships for a long time to come, endgame will be Yubel x Juudai. Maybe Yubel x Juudai x Johan but I haven’t made up my mind on that yet.

#fanfic #higuchimon writes #ygo gx #yuuki juudai #theodis (OC)#marufuji shou #misawa daichi #chronos de medici #au: healer firestarter #series: in darkness we find fire

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silver-colour · 4 years ago

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I was tagged by the amazing @saretton to list 10 of my niche interests, which was actually harder than I thought it would be... tumblr makes me forgot some things are niche bc there's always other people here who like the same niche things 💙 here we go!

1) the japanese all-female musical producing company called Takarazuka Revue! Which you just have noticed if you follow me for any amount of time XD I am deep deeep in that niche and I know most people who are there with me so its v cosy^^

2) going to put this on one point instead of multiple to avoid me listing a book series for every single point on this list: children's fantasy books, especially when they involve extensive worldbuilding, like the Bartimaeus series, the Chrestomanci series and- seriously I could go on for a very long time any Dutch people who remember de Griezelklas?

3) yosakoi! In a case on not quite niche but just very unknown: the japanese yosakoi dancing ♡ I was with the yosakoi team at my uni, and yosakoi is a pretty big deal in Japan but is barely known outside japan, so I wanted to list it here anyway (curious? Look up Yosakoi Soran Matsuri on yt, it's a yearly festival and competition and the teams are so cool)

4) Anything written by Brandon Sanderson , or perhaps I should say: everything written by him. Not niche per se, but being Dutch I have never met anyone who's read any books of his unless they borrowed my copies, so I thought it needed mentioning^^

5) embroidery, freehanded, this is a bit of an on again off again thing, bc I tend to do this more often in winter but, yeah, sometimes embroidery happens! Usually when I see a cool quote or a shitpost here on tunglr XD

6) ancient egypt/Egyptology, I mention this bc I studied it in uni and LET ME TELL YOU it's a tiny tiny field full of people who tend to be weird in the same (fun) ways, it's great

7) related to the egyptology thing, yu-gi-oh! Specifically, playing the card game more than watching the series, though I like the og series more than the newer series. It's also possibly the reason why I got interested in Egypt- or maybe I like ygo because of the egypt thing... chicken and egg, yknow

8) once again a case of: do I just follow everyone who's into this or is it not that niche: The Mechanisms, a band (of immortal space pirates roaming the galaxy etc. etc.) who make DAMN good music and tell EVEN BETTER stories (psa please listen to the Mechs they're the best thing ever I swear)

9) cosplay, although not recently^^" that is, not recently even before All That Stuff happened. I love the not-looking-like-yourself aspect of it, for the same reasons I love reading fantasy: it's like you're in a different world! A world where everyone looks different, and amazing, even if you don't know what they're cosplaying

10) feels worth mentioning: I've recently gotten into horror stories, after thinking it was Not My Thing for forever- turns out I just don't like seeing horror in movies or games. Worth mentioning? Yes, because I'm finding out that there is like... no? Horror? Being written in my country? Or most of it is for kids, for some reason. And I've NO idea why that happened, but seriously everything I find is translated from english or other languages- which means I'd rather read the original language if I can.

Woo that was harder than I thought actually? But a lot of fun to think about! I'm tagging @molten-rainbows @lost-in-the-land-of-stories @onestepatatime32 @yozoragumi and @veertjed if they feel like it 💙

#silver writes things #about me #tag meme #that was funnn #thanks for tagging me sar 💙#niche interests

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medea10 · 4 years ago

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My Review of Arte

How did I get into this anime? Well, I had a few slots open for the spring 2020 anime season! Let’s read what this anime is about.

A girl during the Renaissance era in Florence, Italy wants to be an artist…

*ADDS THIS IMMEDIATELY*

I really don’t want to be disappointed with this. I have a horrible habit of adding animes where the main concept has to do with the art world. And have it go wrong when the anime is too boring or not enough love is given to it. But maybe this will go well! The manga is already getting high marks and praise. And for being a history piece, it got picked up rather quickly from a big anime licensor in the west.

Arte comes from a noble family and her family has plans for their daughter. It’s just that Arte is heavily into…well…art. They’re fine as long as it’s only a hobby, but it’s getting a little out of hand for Arte’s mother. Arte wants to become an artist! BIG problem! This is Italy during the Renaissance era. No women artists! But Arte persisted by asking all around to become an apprentice.

The only man to even give her a chance was an artist named Leo. After testing her endurance, he allows her to become his apprentice. Arte’s life is officially changing as she throws away her nobility to draw and paint.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: FUNimation grabbed this anime. Surprisingly, they didn’t give Arte a simildub. Quite possibly because this was one of those newer animes that arrived during the COVID-19 nightmare! Or they didn’t want to fuck with Italian accents this time around! The sub had a nice mixture of veteran and newer seiyuus. Color me surprised when I heard Rie Tanaka’s voice again near the end of the series. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Arte is played by Mikako Komatsu (known for Mairin on Pokemon XY, Seishirou on Nisekoi, Susamaru on Demon Slayer, Wy on Hetalia, Eternal Feather on Soul Eater NOT, and Tori on YGO Zexal)

*Leo is played by Katsuyuki Konishi (known for Kamina on Gurren Lagann, America on Hetalia, Tsumugu on Kill la Kill, Laxus on Fairy Tail, Tanaka on Durarara, Fuegoleon on Black Clover, and Arima on Tokyo Ghoul)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: Arte! This girl wants to pursue a career in the arts and will do whatever it takes to do so. She defies her mother’s wishes, cuts her long hair, almost cuts off her breasts, did all the impossibly difficult tasks other apprentices could never do, and so much more. You have to admire this crazy, little lady.

SHIPPING: In episode 3, Arte started feeling that light and fuzzy feeling many of us feel when we “fall” for someone. And she started to feel funny whenever she was around Leo. This would be fine and dandy except for a few issues. For one thing, Leo is her boss and she’s his apprentice. Best to keep things professional! Secondly, during this period in time, Veronica does have a point. It’s best that if you want to achieve in your craft in a man’s world, it’s best to stow the romance bags to the side. After that bag of reality was dropped on Arte, she mostly focused on her art work and no romance was ever brought up again.

Although, I do have an inkling about Yuri having the hots for Arte! But I know my girl Arte here don’t have time for this boy’s bullshit!

LEO AND ANGELO: No, this isn’t a shipping debate. Actually, there are fans of the show speculating if these two characters are in fact the famous artists Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Come on now, this story is absolute fiction with a few true details here and there. Yes, we still don’t know the full name to Leo to prove that he could be the fictionalized version of the real-life artist and the anime never once put up an advisory at the beginning of every episode saying that any character that’s similar to real-life people is purely coincidental. But it’s possible that these two could very well be those very artists. Both da Vinci and Michelangelo were living Florence around the same time. I’ll chalk this up to you history buffs and conspiracy theorists out there. I choose to believe the creator of Arte just used the names of these artists and that’s that!

ENDING: During the 7th episode, Arte is given an opportunity to go to Venice to become a tutor for a handsome man’s niece and to paint a portrait of his sister-in-law. At the time, Venice was seen as a staple in the art world (despite Florence’s rich history that we know today) and this would be a perfect time for Arte to spread her wings. I mean, she won’t be an apprentice under Leo forever, right?! Yeah, Leo’s words to Arte before she left for Venice played around her head a lot during her stay in Venice. Saying that it’s okay if she chooses to stay there longer than six months or even stay permanently!

During this time, Arte was able to find ground with this difficult child (Catalina) that she must tutor as these two do share something in common. Both girls have a certain passion that they want to hone as their own, but can’t due to family forbiding it, status in the world, and even gender. Arte did so much to get where she is now including disobeying her mother by leaving home and try in a profession that’s mainly for men. Arte was unable to do much with her relationship with her family (especially after her father’s death), but she was able to help Catalina and her mother with theirs and even hope for a future where Catalina can see a boy she likes again.

As we near the end of this series, we find Arte still wondering about her future. She’s still seen as the rarity as being a woman of nobility entering the art world when that profession is usually done by people seen as lower than nobles and majorily male. Plus, what Leo said before setting for Venice keeps replaying in Arte’s mind. It’s true that this time Arte has spent in Venice with Sofia and Catalina was life-changing. And Yuri ended up asking Arte to stay with the family permanently. Meanwhile, Leo is noticing that maybe, just maybe, he’s missing Arte. That or he’s annoyed by all the people in Arte’s circle bugging him.

In the finale, Arte has reached a conclusion on where she’s going to go after finishing up Sofia’s portrait. She got some decent advice from one of the apprentices she met in Venice. That Arte should use her nobility and gender to her advantage in a male dominated profession. Okay, he didn’t exactly say that, but you get what I mean. There’s a certain softness to Arte’s work that’s not seen with many male artists. She should continue doing what she loves despite what others may say or think.

So in case you’re wondering, she turned down Yuri’s proposal of staying with Sofia and Catalina full-time. She’s going to head back to Florence and continue as Leo’s apprentice. Yeah, Catalina is pretty upset by Arte leaving after spending over six months with them. But they promised to keep in touch with letters. Upon Arte’s return to Florence, she learns about Leo doing a special mural for the Easter holiday. But Leo got ill and has been bed-ridden for days.

Arte steps in and takes over the mural so that it could be completed in time for Easter. With a little help from her friends like Darcia, Angelo, and Veronica, she was able to complete it. And just in time for Leo to emerge to give his critique on Arte’s work. As usual, he told her on what she should have done, but acknowledges that she has definitely grown as an artist during her time in Venice and is happy to see her again. Surprisingly, that wasn’t the only shocking moment of the finale.

Arte’s mother was there for the unveiling of the mural and actually praises her daughter. I guess she’s come a long way from the first episode where she burned all of Arte’s drawings. So yeah, girls can be more than just bargaining tools for marriage or becoming nuns. So Arte’s going to continue working under Leo and we end there.

I can already tell you that many people were not digging this anime, but I liked it. But again, painting is my thing. And being a female, I’m drawn to stories of girls trying to overcome prejudice just because of their gender. Even when studying art in school, most pieces that were covered in the curriculum were majority (if not, all) male. Well, unless I took a class with a supremely feminist teacher, we would not learn anything about female painters. And if we did, it would just be for like one day or one week out of the semester before we get to the well-known names like Van Gough, Pollock, and Monet.

By the looks of it, Arte doesn’t look like it’ll get any kind of continuation. I know that the manga is still in publication and maybe if that ends we might get something extra. But I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one. Even FUNimation didn’t bother giving this an English dub. Then again, this aired during the height of the COVID pandemic (in Japan) In fact; it was one of the very few animes in the spring season that never took a week off due to COVID. I would like to see what happens to Arte in the future. Like if she ends up with her own workshop or if she takes over Leo’s place when he retires. It’s fun to think of what happens and I might just one day pick up the manga to see if any of that actually happens. Due to my particular love of painting, I’m going to recommend this series regardless. And while you’re at it, check out some other series like Honey and Clover or Hidamari Sketch.

If you would like to watch this anime, FUNimation and Hulu have all 12 episodes available for streaming.

#anime review #arte #leo #angelo parker

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relatablepicturesofyuugi · 5 years ago

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yo, it’s reggie/modgoku/modreshef/etc i had too many aliases cause I was afraid of someone finding me from when i was a kid

I felt like now would be as good a time as any to give an explanation of sorts since I’m on break from classes for a lil bit.

I became a mod to help Megan out when I was 19 and barely been back in school, as well as my home town, after a year away from home. I was bright eyed but still dealing with the side effects of a deep depression and trauma from an experience when I was 18 that I wouldn’t realize had shaken me to my core until years later. Megan had been a friend to me since I was a wee teenager, and we’d bonded over ygo so it felt like a fun thing to do to help her out.

and it was fun at first. it was something to do when I wasn’t studying or when I should have been studying. It was a distraction during a lonely period where all I did was sit at the library so i didn’t have to go home.

I won’t go into details, but a lot happened during this period where if it hadn’t been for this distraction, I’m not sure I would’ve been able to make it. There were a couple times I was couch hopping or trying not to hurt myself. At least I had a dumb card game show from the 90′s to make me smile at the end of the day, ya know?

But it wasn’t always fun. It got progressively less a joke and started to feel like a chore going through the activity. It didn’t help that a lot of ygo fans ranged from actively reblogging from known child porn artists to getting way too angry if you didn’t think certain versions of ygo were better than others. I won’t say I’m innocent because there were times where I’d also make fun of pretty much every version of ygo, which can be annoying for people who do genuinely love ygo. Some of them were popular bloggers and it’s some kind of whiplash when someone who’s an adult with 17k followers is vagueposting you and your main gimmick is posting dumb pictures of ygo.

It got weird, too. A lot of people on here get really angry about...everything and aren’t good at giving anything the benefit of the doubt or trying to understand other perspectives. Which, ok, i can see where that’s ok in certain cases. But why do that with ygo?

It stopped being fun altogether at a certain point. It sucked because I do love ygo and I love making fun of ygo because I’m the kind of person who makes fun of the things I love. If I can’t laugh at the things around me or myself, then what’s the point?

I was getting closer to getting my degree, too, and the higher I went with school the more it pulled me out of what was a severe depression. I found myself and reasons to love who I am, and I took pride in the work I did. I was adopted by math and science professors everywhere I went, and it felt pretty good. I found out everyone in my field was a huge dork, so I felt at home. I could make fun of ygo with real people who laughed and didn’t take things so seriously.

So i threw myself into it, and I fell in love with my field. I came a long way from the scared 19 year old who felt like a failure at life and had pretty much given up hope on myself to becoming a leading figure for coordinating stem events and building up a community college’s tutoring center. I was doing something things that actually started to matter, and I didn’t need to escape from my feelings as much anymore. Ygo internet drama became apparently clear to be a unhealthy coping mechanism that I had out grown.

It was a fun ride, though, all things considered. There were a lot of cool people who I hope get to a better place like I did if they haven’t already.

I’d like to thank some people who I can’t say enough how much I appreciated them for being positive forces (or not necessarily positive forces but I liked what they said and even tho some of them might’ve hated my guts I still think they were p cool) even when I was really going through the ringer, @millenniumpedant, @celepom, @nolifepoints, @heathermason, @leonleonhart, @lesbianmaikujaku and @arcadecryptid, @tomatorunning, @cattys-curiosities, @beeforce, @zombiekaiba, @azhdarcho, and a whole ton of other folks who I hope know who they are (a lot of anons, y’all were fun when you didn’t make it weird).

Good luck and good bye!

...not to say that i wont be on the internet, if anyone really wants to keep in touch feel free to send an ask for my personal, but i figured i was liked as a dumb mod on a dumb blog, it’s probably best to think of me that way rather than getting to know me outside of it :p

#not ygo #:p :p :p

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kaluawoo · 5 years ago

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On one hand I wanna throw out random YGO GX Headcanons into the world

On the other hand, it probably makes more sense to wait until I’m through, so maybe I should watch it instead.

And in either case, I should be studying and/or working on projects.

#It's not even many headcanons but still #It's like... idk maybe 5 HCs total #But I only have like. 1 1/2 hours left to study today.#Less considering I gotta make dinner at some point #But at 7 I'll play DnD and it's currently 5:20PM #So... Not all that much time :(

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tastes-like-ciel · 6 years ago

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>By all accounts, he shouldn’t still care for his father the way he does, but that’s a topic for another time (and one I will happily go into, if anyone likes).

Sure!

Gonna put a warning message before my answer on this, though. Everyone be advised the topics I’m going to discuss are uncomfortable as the subject is about Ryoken’s relationship (or lack thereof) with his father, who abused not only other children but his own as well and before anyone says “Ryoken was never abused!”

Yes.

He was.

Just not in the same way as the other six.

Abuse takes different forms and just because something isn’t physical or doesn’t leave marks on someone’s body, doesn’t mean it’s not abuse.

But yes. Big warning ahead of my thoughts. Just in case someone would rather not read it. Also spoilers for the whole series. There’s some screenshots in here. Otherwise, carry on.

So Dr. Kogami is a horrible, awful person. We all know this. Not only did he kidnap and experiment on six, six-year-old children for six long months, but he allowed his only child to discover these experiments and showed no kind of remorse for his actions at any point in the series. There was only the one time, just before his death, where he admitted to not doing anything fatherly for Ryoken. Just that one hot second of maybe regret and considering how he immediately jumps into the “But the world needs you.” drivel, he’s only making excuses and I don’t believe he actually regrets how he treated Ryoken all that much.

And that’s it. A whole lot of nothing that only really enforced how much of a terrible person Dr. Kogami is. It wasn’t a redemption (even if perhaps Ryoken himself might have seen it as a sort of apology from a father to his son). It wasn’t even one of YGO’s handwaved or half-assed attempts at a villain redemption. He just was never redeemed and things are fine like that because honestly, I don’t believe there’s anything they could have done or could still do to redeem that man. VRAINS continually condemns Dr. Kogami for his actions in one form or another and goes through great pains to express that Ryoken is not at fault for anything his father has done. If anything, he’s a victim and this is YGO so it’s not going to go that deeply into it, but VRAINS has gone surprisingly deep into this subject as well as with the six kids considering it’s, at its core, a card game anime meant to promote cards. And honestly, the later time slot the show was given makes total sense because it’s not so much the graphic depictions of torn-off limbs or avatar corpses it shows, but the entire subject of abuse and learning to heal and overcome it. VRAINS’ theme is “taking a step forward” and it shines through in this sense because while it is a card game anime, it very much is a story about abuse survivors and characters with deep depression finding themselves and learning how to live despite their trauma.

The abuse of the six Lost Incident children is easy to see and understand, but there are other characters such as Ryoken, Aoi, Shoichi, etc. that are suffering through depression for various reasons. Ryoken grew up with essentially no one. All he had was his father. We don’t know what happened to his mother. It’s possible she died during childbirth or died before Ryoken was old enough to remember her and thus could be a catalyst to setting Dr. Kogami on the path to try manufacturing immortality. It’s also possible that Ryoken was a test tube baby and as much as I hate to think it, it’s also possible the mother just left. Unless the show tells us directly one day, we’ll never know. Regardless, Dr. Kogami was Ryoken’s only parent–his only role model–and a parent is God in the eyes of a child. His father was his whole world and he loved his father very dearly. He had no reason to believe, at such a young age, that his father was capable of physically hurting someone. That’s just not something children think about until it actually happens.

And then, of course, it does happen.

Ryoken brings home a friend one day. That friend is Yusaku. Dr. Kogami, I’m assuming, used Ryoken to lure Yusaku to him. Can’t say about the others because no one except Yusaku has given any indication that they remember meeting a tiny white marshmallow with a deck of Duel Monsters cards, but it’s possible. However, it’s odd that he would only choose to speak with Yusaku and no one else, so I’m thinking this was either a one-time case or he could only get in contact with Yusaku’s cell. But the fact is he and Yusaku meet and Ryoken takes him home. Maybe they played for a little while and I imagine they probably did. Dr. Kogami was after child duelists, specifically, since he believed dueling was the best way for the developing Ignis to understand human behaviour and a young child would still be in the development phase/easier to study, making his experiments have better results overall. So he’d probably want proof they knew how to duel first. What better way than to let his son have a playmate before taking them away? He could have witnessed the other kids dueling or, considering he had assistants to help him with this, they also could have helped in the kidnapping.

His father was so obsessed with the idea of creating humanity’s successors that he kidnapped and tortured six children for months and months and he used his only child to get at least one of them. His eight-year-old son, who didn’t understand what was going on. His eight-year-old son, who had no reason to believe his father could do evil. His eight-year-old-son, who he claimed to never want involved but did absolutely nothing to prevent Ryoken from finding–and hearing!! Ryoken heard them screaming!!–the experiments he was performing on those kids. He starved them, electrocuted them, left them in cold, lonely rooms where they slowly began to lose hope and inched closer and closer to death.

And those kids absolutely would have died had Ryoken not blown the whistle on the whole thing.

Think about it. Dr. Kogami kidnapped these children to use them for experiments. Test subjects gathered in such a way do not typically have happy endings. Dr. Kogami would not have let them go. He would have kept them in those rooms until they died, until they gave up. He couldn’t risk the kids going back and telling the authorities and having all his research taken away from him. They were only there for six months because Ryoken made it end. The only child that might have survived, in the end, would have probably been Spectre. Yusaku was giving up, Jin was being tortured with false hope by Lightning and withdrawing from everything, and can’t say about the others. Miyu kept thinking of Aoi and how much she wanted to see her again and that kept her going, but we don’t know how long she could have lasted. Maybe she would have survived alongside Spectre, though. So at the most, two of the six would have survived.

But the point is, Dr. Kogami is a bad person. Ryoken has every reason to not care for him. He was neglected, manipulated, used. And his father didn’t care. He kept doing it. He kept using him and manipulating him into thinking he had anything to do with this whole mess. Now Ryoken has done some bad things himself. He tried to nuke the entire network in a suicide mission, which was part following his father’s orders and part his guilt complex surfacing. His father was going to let this happen, too. He didn’t care if Ryoken lived or died so long as the Ignis were also dead in the process. Dr. Kogami is truly, truly an awful person.

But like I said before, a parent is a child’s whole world and Dr. Kogami was all Ryoken had. Even though he was manipulated and neglected and never even tried to deny these things when his father spoke of causing him to suffer, he still stayed by his side. He kept quiet and suffered in alone. He shouldn’t have had to deal with that. He could have chosen to leave his father and no one would blame him, but a point I want to make here is Ryoken choosing to stay with his father despite all he’s done is both him not wanting to abandon his only father out of guilt he’s being a bad son and a classic example of a victim defending their abuser. It’s even more complicated when that abuser is a parent. Ryoken was very young and wasn’t physically abused, but I think you already know where I’m going with this because I kept mentioning it. Neglect and manipulation and grooming to be a martyr for killing the Ignis. Ryoken was a means to an end for Dr. Kogami and Ryoken was willing to die for him if it meant his father was paying attention to him finally. Of course, even then, it was all about the Ignis. Nothing Ryoken ever did to please him made him be fatherly.

He says, in front of his own child. Who he has no qualms about letting die along with the Ignis with the Tower of Hanoi plan he hatched.

That must have hurt an awful lot. Ryoken didn’t deserve any of this. He was done very, very wrong by his father, who never gave a shit about him. Dr. Kogami doesn’t deserve to have him as a son, but I understand why Ryoken stuck with him. He wanted his attention, he wanted his love, he wanted to be important in his father’s life, and I’m sorry, Ryoken, honey, that you never got it.

#Kogami Ryoken #VRAINS #Sery writes a thing #breakdawn-avenue #I can't fault him for sticking with him #he just wanted to be a good son #Dr. Kogami doesn't deserve Ryoken #i hope the bastard stays dead #long post #honestly this was just be rambling and dragging Dr. Kogami through the mud idek if it makes sense oof

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fierycosmos · 6 years ago

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YGO: KaibaxReader - Conflicts and Coworkers

Everyone knew when they heard vicious echoes through the halls of heels to get out of the way. And because it was you everyone ran for the hills. Your anger wasn’t something to be messed with and today wasn’t any different. Except when you went to make your rounds of dropping off edited articles to your boss the one and only Seto Kaiba. You lightly tapped your knuckles on the door as usual and went to open the door without hearing a come in as it was common for him to be busy or on the phone. And sure enough he was busy, but not on any conference call. The newly hired secretary was sitting on the edge of his desk with her fingers tightly woven in Mr. Kaiba’s tie and leaving dark red lip stains all over his neck. You gasp and your eyes flicker to ice blue and you turn around before he could even blink and slam the door behind you. You were now storming through the hallowed halls of the busy multi-billion dollar company building and fuming as if there was no tomorrow. A harsh hand on your shoulder caught you off guard and you were about to bite the person’s hand off when thinking they could talk to you right now but you hold yourself back as ice-cold blue eyes stare at you again. There wasn’t anyone around you as you were headed towards your secluded office so you thought to freely speak your mind. “I didn’t see anything.” “Cut the crap.” He growled at you as his grip on your shoulder loosened to shove you slightly in annoyance. “I didn’t!” You almost roared but caught yourself as someone could hear you. You take a strong step forward and stick your chin up to challenge him. “All I saw was that whore on you desk.” Despite your ever stormy attitude, you were never one to insult someone, so calling someone a whore was way out of character for you. His eyes slightly widened at your statement and then he goes from glaring to studying you carefully. “You’re really mad about this.” He noted. “Of course I am!” You huff and cross your arms and turn slightly away from him. “Come on you have a reputation to uphold, if you wanted to hire something to distract yourself next time hire someone NOT in the work office.” You gritted your teeth that it almost hurt but you could barely contain your anger. “You think I intended this to happen?” He got angry again at her accusation. “I don’t know, you sure have the money to make it happen!” You waved your arms around at the building that he owned. “I thought you knew better.” He said darkly as his eyes iced over. “And I thought you knew better to rely on your brain and not your instincts.” You rolled your eyes, not threatened by his anger or his dark tones. “Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?” He tried mocking. “Not in this case!” You seethe as you get in his face again. “Think with the proper head.” “You think I would stoop so low to be attracted to something as desperate as her?” He asked as his posture showed that she was dangerously close to crossing the line. “Attraction doesn’t have to be involved.” You state as a matter of fact. “And you think you know someone who would be worth my time?” The question threw you off slightly and you take a moment to show the confusion on your face before you hesitate to answer. “Well…no, but—” “Then butt out.” He growled. “No! Not when it could’ve been Mokuba accidentally walking in on you.” You noted as you knew very well that Mokuba would stop by and visit his brother after he was done with school. She would know because Mokuba would come straight to her to see if he was on any calls or if he was in his office or in the technology division working on new material for his beloved Duel Monsters game. “It could’ve been me or him or even some big-time business associate.” “It wasn’t.” He retorted. “Well next time be a bit more considerate, or at least lock the door.” You look over your shoulder as you’re quite done with having this discussion with him and try to walk away but he grabs your wrist and turns you around. “She came onto me. I didn’t even touch her.” “Oh right, so your arm on her back wasn’t touching her, psst right.” You spat as you ripped you wrist of out his clutches. “So you did see.” He noted as he became more studious again as if he was looking over notes for a new dueling disk. “Not the point.” You groan as you are tired of talking to him and embarrassed slightly that you made a point to mention that you did see a lot in that quick glance. “Why do you care what I’m up to anyway, despite my integrity?” He asked more calmly as he crossed his arms this time. “Because you're my boss and you should have some respect for yourself and your coworkers." He still continued to study you like you were some new project and it made you forehead throb. ”Look, I'll make this simple." You state with utmost importance. ”If you don't fire her then I will get security to take care of the matter." "Already done." He stated as his appearance never faltered as he delivered the news. But you, on the other hand, were practically left speechless and with slightly whiplash as your neck snapped towards him instantly. "What?" You gape. "I fired her and told her to get out." He stated again. "You did?" When he didn’t make a jump to correct her or add on, she breathed and leaned up against the wall to the side of them and leaned her head back slightly. ”Oh thank goodness..." "You feeling better?" He quirked as he ridged an amused brow at you. "Actually yes." You pant slightly as you place the back of your hand to your forehead and smile slightly. "Now back to my question..." "Hm?" You muse but you quickly gasp as he moves your face back to his with just a finger and the close proximity causes you to hold your breath in shock. "Why were you so upset?" You simply stare as your brain is taking a while to catch up. "Any time..." "I...well you know...Because I know..." "Articulate." He whispered impatiently as you continued to stutter. You gulp and breath through your nose to collect yourself slightly. "..I was mad." You breathe out and suddenly a weight on your heart lifts slightly and you begin to catch your breath. "After seeing you and her, I thought it meant I didn't know you as well as I thought I did." He stayed silent and you managed to look down at your shoes. And his shoes. And how your toes were practically touching and you blushed at the reminder of how close you were. You could practically feel him radiating body heat and it made your fingers numb. "You're too emotional." He stated after a beat almost as if he was critiquing her like a contract. "Huh?" Your head snaps up and you almost gasp at how his eyes even when shadowed by his dark bangs shine in the dimly light hallway. "You shouldn't worry yourself with knowing me completely because it's impossible. There will always be something you don't know." He expressed, again leaving you speechless at how formal yet personal he was acting. "But one thing to clarify: I would never go for someone like her." He leaned down at her to deliver the message clearly and you swallowed down your fear to reply, "Well...good to know." You wanted to smack yourself for your lack of vocabulary. He ridges a brow at you and you blink at him, waiting for him to obviously say what's on his mind. "Aren't you going to ask who I would go for, seems like something right up your alley." His comment sent your heartbeat hammering through your skull. "I think I'm good for today." You state quickly and turn on your heel to head back to your desk when a hand catches your hip and you freeze. "I wouldn't have minded if that was you trying to pull something like that on me." He breathes huskily and sent shivers all over your skin you had to bite the inside of your cheek to stop from squirming. "Food for thought." He takes a stand of your hair that was over your shoulder and moves it, just allowing for enough room for the back of his knuckles to tickle your slight bare skin. You flinch slightly but not in fear and you bite your tongue to distract you. It wasn't working and he chuckled deep in his chest as he enjoyed your reaction and this time went to move more of your hair over your shoulder so he was able to see more of your exposed neck. Your breathing becomes quicker as you fear who could witness this just as you witnessed that woman makes the moves on Seto. When he feels you shift slightly forward in an attempt to leave, his hand that was still caressing your hip bone tugged and brought your back into contact with his warm chest. Even without feeling with your hands you can tell your boss was in impeccable shape and suddenly you wanted to spin around and rip his shirt off. You squeeze your eyes shut at the nasty thought and tightened your fists. "You're fighting it." His voice echoed through your head. "I have to." You answer almost immediately and without your mind processing. "Do you really?" He almost chuckled. "...Yes..." You struggle to breathe out as your fists are turning white and your eyes are sealed shut. He turns you around and despite your current state, you didn't have the energy or guts to fight him. Your chin is raised and your eyes open out of obvious curiosity. His ice-cold eyes strike you to the core and send another wave of shivers through your body. He gives the slightest hint of amusement as his other fingers just barely touch your neck to see the goosebumps continue to envelop your skin. However his eyes never left yours and you feel even more trapped and isolated from the world, suddenly making you less afraid of being caught. "Yes..." You mumble and your 's' is soon cut off by his lips capturing yours in almost a vice-like grip. The sensation made you crave to touch him and so you placed your hand on his hard chest and the other you wrapped around his back and gripped the fabric of his nice shirt in your hand. You lips submit to his movements and soon you feel his tongue licking your bottom lip and you don't hesitate to part your lips slightly and give him access. The kiss intensifies and so does the grip you both have on each other, however, you were gripping on for dear life as you felt your knees buckle and he soon presses you up against the wall slightly in order for you not to fall. He releases your lips in order to kiss along your jawline and close to your ear before trailing down your neck. He treated you softer than when kissing your lips and the sensitivity was driving you crazy as your fingers found their way into his hair. "Your new assignment is to come to my office for a debriefing.” He says in between kisses. He suddenly nips at the corner of your collar bone and you bite your lip to not moan but your throat betrays you. "Think you can manage?" He asks as he stops and looks at you dead on, your noses practically touching. "Stop asking questions." You shush him with a dead-on kiss as you hungrily press your body to his and for a moment he lets you have the moment before you decide to part. "Glad we reached an agreement." He said. "I didn't say anything." You breathe heavily as you feel like you've run a marathon, from the way your hearts beating through your chest. "You didn't have to." He growls in enjoyment as he cups your face again and your lips are fighting for dominance once more.

#yugioh #seto #seto kaiba #xreader #reader #writing #duel monsters #kaiba corp #comment

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