#And with all the training and equipment she gets because of Kaiba she's very much able to protect herself

[sugarsweetvirgo]

Eve: Physically, yes, I could fight a bird, but emotionally? Imagine the toll!

This is so unintentionally funny because Eve can theoretically take down a whole person with the self defense tools Kaiba supplies her

But no matter what, she'll be an emotional wreck afterwards. Doesn't matter the context, she'll feel awful either way.

[tcheschirewrites]

Hhhhhh and because I am In A Good Place right now, let’s have a little bonus short. You want to know what Justin and Jen have been up to, those two wiliest of snakes, while RC and Dick have been in Japane? Well, let’s find out!

(Considering the length - I accidentally 1.7k - and technically it’s plot-advancing, I guess we can consider this chapter 20.5? lol)

The dim lighting of so many of the gastropubs in the city gave him a headache. Like, sure. He understood the ambiance, along with the pulsing music at just a few decibels shy of a migraine, and yes, all right, he had spent his fair share of time in joints with far lower lighting and beats with far deeper bass, but in his regular day to day, the need to hobknob frustrated him.

Justin adjusted his tie, tugging it further away from his Adam’s apple.

From her seat across the table, texting Richard or checking her emails or scrolling Instagram or whatever it was she was doing when she was pretending she wasn’t paying attention, Jennifer scowled at him. She reached over to him, fussing lightly with his lapels, the creases of his shirt against his slouched posture.

“Stop doing that,” she chided, sliding the knot of the tie back to its position against his throat. “Can you seriously not keep still for two hours? You’re incredible.”

“This is what happens when I don’t have you to take care of me Jen,” he groused, discreetly loosening his tie just slightly when she looked away for half a moment.

“Can it,” she replied, sipping neatly from her water. “I think I see him coming.”

Out of reflex, Justin tightened his tie, running a hand over his hair. “You’re sure we’ve got everything we need this time?”

Jen glanced back at him over her shoulder, her eyes aglow in the low lighting of the restaurant, reminding him so very much of the Jennifer he had met during university, and his chest ached. “Oh yeah,” she said, and her tone was so self-assured he allowed himself a glimmer of a real smile.

His father strode up to the table, seating himself without waiting for a greeting. “I’ve spoken with Mr. Kaiba. His terms are outstanding. I hope you’ve decided as one that this acquisition is well within business interests?”

Justin was practiced at swallowing the dark bile of his father’s reptilian cruelty – Jen less so, though her tenure as a legal counselor had left her well equipped to don the proper mask for the situation. “You know, pops, we have. We’ve spoken with Dick Grant and our Chief Marketing Officer, and we all agreed that a total sale at these terms was an offer we couldn’t refuse.”

“Justin, you know I don’t abide movie references.”

Raising his hands in a gesture of surrender, mostly to field Jennifer leaping across the table to strangle his father, Justin allowed himself a chuckle. “I know, old man, but I think you’ll find it’s appropriate, considering the situation. We nailed that Japanese bastard hook, line, and sinker.”

“That’s wonderful news. I’ve read the proposal, and the extra numbers packet you provided me earlier. Third Star stands to make quite a bit of money from the sale of the market shares.”

“Fuck yeah, they do.” Justin’s lips curled into a grin at the furrow in his father’s brow. He knew exactly what was going through the scaly fucker’s mind – Justin had never been so crass in his presence before, never stooped so low as to be anything but formal in front of James. “As my C Suite are majority shareholders, I’m real happy for the decision they made. Gonna net them a shitload of a nest egg. And you know what? They earned it.”

There was an intense silence, obstructed only briefly by the server swinging by the table to gather a drink order from James only to be met with a brusque wave of his hand; he did not take his eyes off of his son’s face.

The silence lasted a beat longer, then; “You mean you earned it. Second-person plural. As CEO of the company, you’ve invested in the largest amount of shares – “

“Ahhh, yeah,” Justin cut him off smoothly, leaning back against the booth and threading his fingers to a basket behind his head. “About that.”

Jennifer stepped in here, digging into her bag for a brief moment before retrieving a manila folder. “I’m sorry to say, Mr. Carriger, sir, but Justin is actually no longer eligible to his rights as a shareholder in the event of a buyout.”

James did not take his eyes from Justin’s face. “You don’t say.”

“Mm.” She flicked open the folder expertly, spreading a couple of key documents over the table before situating herself back into her chair, taking another dainty sip of her water. “In the company bylaws, section thirteen article D, in the event of a buyout, any shareholder who has brought direct hard to an employee must forfeit the market value of those shares.”

The disgust in James’ eyes was palpable, and here he finally turned away from his son with a curl of his lip, rounding his attention to Jennifer. “I think you must be forgetting section sixteen, article B, that any executive who has lost their shares in the event of an accident will cede the market value of those shares to their next of kin.”

“Accident?” Jennifer batted her lashes at him, playing coy, playing dumb in a way that Justin knew she had learned in her years at law school and had only heard about second-hand. “Which accident are we talking about, sir?”

Verging on the edge of his patience, James replied, “The train accident – now, Justin is not directly responsible for the accident on the KaibaCorporation bullet train, but it can be acknowledged that his decisions as Chief Executive Officer are what led to your fiancé and that poor woman’s injuries. It’s my understanding they did not seek extraordinary compensation, and their dedication to the company is to be acknowledged, but – “

Jennifer let out a cooing laugh, grating and pretty and eminently false. “Oh, no, sir. To my understanding, neither party involved in the train accident in Domino were seeking punitive damages for their injuries. But that has absolutely no bearing on the sexual assault your son was involved in earlier this week with his subordinate, the Chief Marketing Officer of Third Star Gaming.”

Justin had to hand it to her: he had never seen his father so speechless, and even from his position as an observer, he had to crack a smile.

“He what.”

The smile plastered on Jennifer’s face widened, all glimmering teeth and threatening promise. “Oh yes, sir. It was reported to me only hours after it occurred, and I confirmed it with the victim shortly thereafter. Her statement is here, if you care to read it. I had it transcribed this afternoon for your convenience.”

From the mutinous look on James’ usually cool face, he did not care to read it. His cheeks began to spot with red, and Justin thought he saw his father’s pulse jump in his neck.

He retained his composure, though, turning back to his son, who raised his brows and shoulders in a gesture of feigned helplessness. “I find it difficult to believe that you would be so careless as to let your libido get the better of you, Justin. At such a critical juncture.”

The accusation was plain, and Justin said nothing, nodding briefly at Jen.

“Now, as you are aware, sir, pursuant to article 13 section D is the following addendum – “ She cleared her throat before continuing; “’If any executive person or persons from party A – that is, Third Star, as specified in line two of the company bylaws – bring egregious bodily harm or otherwise inflict considerable pain and suffering, then during the event of a complete corporate acquisition those shares would not transfer to next of kin (see: article ten, section K et al), but would instead be split amongst the remaining executives of party A.”

Jennifer smiled prettily at his father, and Justin had to admire the irony of the picture. “Now, I’m sure you’d agree that a confessed sexual assault falls into the category of both bodily harm and pain and suffering, but – “ She paused here to dig into her purse for another manila folder, this time much thicker, and slapped it onto the table in front of James with such force that the silverware rattled. “Even if you don’t agree, it’s all right, because we’ve checked with insurance and HR.”

James did not move, instead staring at the thick folder before him with such intensity that Justin thought it might catch fire. Finally, he raised his sharp blue eyes to his son’s face, and Justin had to wonder at the electricity in those eyes – eyes he had so long been spellbound by, locked into place by some wretched sense of duty.

“You son of a bitch.”

Under any other circumstances, Justin would have seized the other man by his collar, throttled him, laid him out with a cold cock to the nose – but considering the situation, he could only laugh. “Hey, now, I don’t think it’s right to speak that way about the dead. I dunno about Irish culture, but I know for sure mom’s people wouldn’t like you talking about her that way.”

“I’m not talking about her, you raving buffoon. I’m talking about you. You absolutely incompetent monkey. What on earth were you thinking?”

What was he thinking? He’d had a primer on the bylaws when his father had installed him as CEO of this venture, but after the train accident in the spring, Jennifer had sat him down and gone over them with him in depth, and he realized how stupid everything was. How so little was dictated by fate, and how if he wanted to have any say, he would have to seize control of what little he had. There was no evidence to support his deepest of thoughts, of course, the suspicions and conspiracies he’d concocted in the middle of the night when only his bottle of cheap tequila was there to keep him company.

But he’d had a gut feeling like this before.

And this time, he would not allow someone he loved to die for it.

“What can I say dad?” he finally said, spreading his hands wide into a shrug, his grin turning sharp. “I never was good with your money.”

[evexe-n]

i'm now curious of everyone's workout routines (if they have any) in stepping stones. like does set do anything besides yoga? does atem do anything besides joining set? what does kaiba do exactly to be fit? and mahad? pls share some of your very merry thoughts abt this

*cracks knuckles*

ok here we go (its long af)

Disclaimer: this is basically how I headcanon-ed it according to DSOD bc they just had to make Kaiba ripped, thanks for that   //sarcasm (I mean im not complaining but now I have to explain this shit)

Tho keep in mind that I know pretty much nothing about working out ‘n stuff aside from things I learned secondhand thank you, cousin gym instructor and irl this probably still wouldn’t be enough to give you a six-pack like that, but we can’t have Kaiba in the gym for four to six hours in a single day either so I work with what I can.

Kaiba: Has the most muscle-buidling focused routine. Probably takes additional protein too, though he’s picky af and won’t settle for cheap alternatives of the good stuff. His work-out routine is also the most varied, hence all the gym equipment he owns. He pays most attention to the upper arm area and core muscles but thankfully he doesn’t skip leg day either.

Usually tends to work out roughly two hours at a time (counting the warm-up/cool-down, and with breaks in between sets of course), tho knowing Kaiba, he sometimes overdoes it/pushes himself too much. He used to plan it in the evening, but switched to early mornings because it had less chance of being cancelled bc of over-time work or meetings that way.

Stretching is something he also does as just a normal part of waking up and getting ready, not per se before training. Work-out days are 3 days in a row, a day of rest, 3 days, rest, rinse and repeat, though of course there can be exceptions (business trips are interesting to think about w all of this. He probably just books a hotel w a decent gym).

He’s not on a diet per se, but he does take care in eating enough calories etc to sustain his training habits, after he passed out that one time and worried Mokuba. He doesn’t like being yelled at and/or ignored over something he can prevent. Mokuba does still need to call him at work/drag him out of the office for meals sometimes though. Lil bro also leaves those energy snack bars lying around the house / in Seto’s desk at work because the idiot refuses to eat more often (so Mokuba just insists he eat bigger meals when they eat together). Seriously, healthy food, when working out regularly, does not mean a weight-loss diet of salad. It means chicken and rice and steamed vegetables and lord knows what else, but it better be a lot.

As you can tell, Mokuba’s the most involved here, because he had to learn with trial and error how much Seto could take during those months pre-dsod, so he got used to keeping track of his big bro’s schedule, for work as well as working out.

tl;dr: he takes things too seriously as usual and Mokuba does damage control.

Set: Just tries to stay limber and fit, really, mostly focussed on cardio. Aside from yoga, he probably likes running on the treadmill and whatever that bike-thing is called in English gdi me. Which is funny because none of the Egyptians have been taught how to ride an actual bike yet. Set would probably be the first to figure it out though.

Though he doesn’t do heavy work-outs, he does like sports and outdoor activities, mostly archery (he has surprisingly good aim/sharp sight, unlike Mr.Seto stare-at-computer-screens-all-day-until-everything-goes-blurry Kaiba) and self-defence sports (think along the lines of judo, once he figures out what that is). Probably stems from that obligated combat training from the good ol’ days in Egypt.

Again, this is hilarious because Kaiba does regular work-outs, not fight sports. So Set would have to take it up with either Mahad or Mana if he wants to practice the latter. Good luck with that, buddy.

tl;dr: he just likes moving for the energy release it gives and it’s habit by now.

Atem: Doesn’t really care about working out, just moves a lot out of habit. Probably joins Mahad on his morning runs around the grounds whenever he manages to stumble out of bed early enough. And there’s the yoga with Set. Pulling pranks with Mana is a sport all on its own, really, he’s become incredibly fast for someone his height. Kaiba’s jealous, how does the guy manage to maintain muscles that well-defined without regular training?? ? ?

He does join the ‘combat practice’ group every once in a while, so he’s halfway decent at it.

tl;dr: tho it looks like he would work out, he just moves a lot and eats healthy, if you don’t count all the snacks during game/movie marathons.

Mahad: Most likely to continue whatever routine he had during his first life. Doesn’t like using the machines, but opts for running outside/push-ups/sit-ups/etc instead. He saw the use in weightlifting eventually though, so you can spot him in the gym for that sometimes.

Took an interest in martial arts and hasn’t looked back since. Started taking classes the first chance he got, and passes on the things he finds useful to Mana and Atem when they join him, and to Set in a lesser degree. I’m not saying it’s an excuse to kick his ass, but it’s totally an excuse to kick his ass. They get along better than in the past, but the pent-up frustration runs deep.

tl;dr: his hobbies include swinging a staff around and beating up Set.

Mana: High-energy as she may be, she channels most of it into pranks and getting in trouble in the modern world, rather than sports. She does still take ‘combat training’ and likes swinging a staff around almost as much as Mahad, but doesn’t feel the need to do it often anymore. She likes swimming a lot though, she’s the one that spends the most time in the pool during summer.

tl;dr: Mischief is all the training you’ll need, and swimming’s cool too.

Kisara: Hasn’t trained a day in her life, still somehow manages to lift Mahad. Everyone’s afraid to ask how that’s possible. It’s probably a dragon thing.

Mokuba: He runs interference and damage control for Seto a lot, he feels like this probably counts as exercise. Helping with Mana’s pranks also provides some variety.