#Tristan the dragon boy.

[toryhis]

Whew!

Very happy to have finished on time!

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🌵I want to introduce you to the wallpaper with Tristan in his dragon costume!

I want to thank you for this idea @lobstermankingdom !😌

It really helped me out!🌵

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Like I said, you can use it as wallpaper or for your other needs.

BUT NOT FOR SALE!

🌵 Please enjoy! 🌵

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P.S.: A version without the noise!😌

[capillaryspice]

Holy Fire

Actually pretty proud of this one, think I nailed what Tristan actually looks like in my head for like the first time.

[gaychocolatehomicide]

tell me about your messy inky i’m curious 👀 (if you want, idk if you haven’t talked about your ocs out of shyness or if it’s a Decision™️ but if it’s the former. I Am Giving You Permission)

HI OKAY SO sorry about the wait I had a really busy week (or three) at work but I wasn't ignoring you I prommy

So I have a ton of Inquisitors but specifically the one I was thinking of is Tristan Trevelyan, my terrible terrible boy from the Wrong Answers Only playthrough. The general concept for that worldstate is "what if I just make the objectively wrongest choice in every instance" and I will almost certainly never actually play it (can't bring myself to do some of the choices x.x) but it's a delightful thought experiment, particularly in the "what kind of person would you have to be to act like that in this situation" department. Just to give you an idea: the Warden in that run DOESN'T rescue the dog from Ostagar. It's that bad.

So Tristan! A nobleborn artificer rogue (really he should be a Champion if we were allowed to cross-class spec, but of the rogue options artificer makes the most sense. He's a tricksy bastard and besides, tempest is too messy and assassin is a little too denial-of-the-self-y.), Tristan is at the conclave because his mage cousin was going with the delegation from Ostwick and he wanted to travel. He learned most of his rogue skills sneaking out of the family home to go get into trouble in town, and he is primarily concerned with his own personal comfort and advancement. Mostly, at least before the conclave, he's content to wait. His father is a pretty powerful noble and he's the oldest son so as long as he doesn't do anything TOO heinous, he'll inherit and then he can do whatever he wants. He's twenty six and unmarried, though he's been kinda lazily courting one of the daughters of a noble out of Starkhaven. He's starting to think his father is taking too long to die/retire and should maybe hurry up, and maybe he needs some help... But only if there's no way for it to trace back to Tristan, obviously.

Then he gets caught up in the explosion and survives, and suddenly everyone's calling him the Herald of Andraste, and he really doesn't need his father's estate if he's in charge of the greatest military force on the continent, now does he? Basically the Inquisition offers him power beyond his wildest dreams and he 100% leans into that shit. He is the gaslight gatekeep girlboss king, and he makes every choice directly dependent on growing the Inquisition's power and thus, his own. He goes "yes actually I WAS sent by the Maker in your time of greatest need, I'm here to rescue you from everything. All you have to do is exactly what I say~"

The issue with him is that he's way too smart for his own good, so he always pushes just far enough to get what he wants and no farther. He's incredibly deft at keeping himself out of trouble by not being held accountable for the shit he absolutely did. Did the envy demon at Therinfall get him? No, he's just like that, actually the demon was a little freaked out by his ambition and ruthlessness. Also, he's unfairly attractive. Appearance-wise I like to think of him as one of those ethereally beautiful people that can sometimes happen when one parent is Chinese and the other one is from like central Africa? I'm thinking specifically of a guy I knew in college who could literally knock me out by smiling in my direction. Anyways.

He's a hanging judge except for when the person in question could maybe help him, in which case he takes their stuff and/or throws them in prison. He loves the skyhold prison, it's huge. The only people in that whole place he gets along with are Varric (zero morals but very loyal, exactly Tristan's kind of guy), Leliana (further hardened), Cassandra (cop), and Vivienne (pro-establishment free marcher who sees a lot of herself in Tristan). Solas and Sera both hate his guts, Iron Bull doesn't trust him as far as he can see him (not as far as he can throw him because he could probably yeet Tristan quite a ways, and his suspicions turn out to be confirmed uhhhh rip the Chargers), and Blackwall clocks him as the type of guy that Ranier used to be (but turned up to 11) in about 30 seconds flat. Cole really doesn't understand him at all, and after a few botched attempts to get in his head (Tristan reacts REALLY badly to that kind of thing after the demon at Therinfall, and Cole was there for that so really all the sweet baby is doing is giving Tristan flashbacks while he tries to help) he just decides to drift around helping other people. Dorian... Ok he definitely sleeps with Dorian but he also says homophobic slurs. Which is not ideal for anyone. Bull tries to kinda protect Dorian from that nonsense at the beginning but after the Chargers, well... It's not good. Josephine is briefly delighted by having someone else competent at crowd control, then she gets to know him and treats him much like people treat the Du Launcets in DA2. Cullen isn't really in a place to have much of an opinion, Tristan is way too much like a smoother version of the worst commanders Cullen has had in the past for him to do a lot other than paperwork and panic attack.

So I feel like @the-chantry-sucks-ass's boy Aeryn would meet Tristan one time and be like "ah yes this is a Prophet of God" and Tristan would clock that in an instant, and especially since Aeryn's best skill seems to be killing the shit out of whatever happens to be in front of him. Tristan would take one look at an incredibly dedicated, very capable, very stabby man and go "perfect, mine now." (And from what I understand Aeryn would be pretty into that...)

Images of the terrible boy are forthcoming, I need to make him in the CC and get some screenshots. For posterity.

[goodqueenaly]

How much do the Golden Company know about Aegon? There is reference to Illyrio's ever-changing plans, and there seems to have been a deal in place for a long time, given that it was Myles Toyne that had guaranteed Golden Company support. And yet, for all Illyrio's talk of contracts writ in blood, it would be stupid for him to let anyone at the Golden Company know Aegon isn't Rhaegar's son.

It certainly appears that the (for now theorized) truth of Aegon's Blackfyre heritage, with all the accompanying strategizing, has not trickled down to, say, the Tristan Rivers level:

"Which plan?" said Tristan Rivers. "The fat man's plan? The one that changes every time the moon turns? First Viserys Targaryen was to join us with fifty thousand Dothraki screamers at his back. Then the Beggar King was dead, and it was to be the sister, a pliable young child queen who was on her way to Pentos with three new-hatched dragons. Instead the girl turns up on Slaver's Bay and leaves a string of burning cities in her wake, and the fat man decides we should meet her by Volantis. Now that plan is in ruins as well.["]

That said, there was at least one member of the Golden Company who seems to have known the truth - Myles Toyne. Harry Strickland refers to Toyne entering into a "secret pact", a reference which aligns closely with Illyrio's teasing allusion to contracts writ in blood and Jon Connington's thought that "[t]he plans that he [i.e. Varys] and Illyrio had made with Blackheart had been known to them alone". Myles Toyne, scion of a family with a long history of resentment toward House Targaryen, himself perhaps having served in the Golden Company under the last of the Blackfyres, may well have figured a Blackfyre restoration would best serve him, his band of exiled Westerosi, and the spirit of the Golden Company; there was, at least, some personal motivation Myles appears to have had to agree to the Aegon plot with Illyrio. (Alas for Jon Connington, who therefore never suspected that his much-loved Myles was likely fighting to restore not his dead love Rhaegar's son but a descendant of the Black Dragon.)

Do I think Harry Strickland probably knows about Aegon being a Blackfyre? Yes. Strickland's knowledge of the existence of Toyne's "secret pact", coupled with Strickland's own longstanding familial loyalty to the Blackfyre cause and his position as the Golden Company's commander, all suggest to me that Harry is best positioned of anyone within the Golden Company to be entrusted with the knowledge that Aegon is, in whatever manner, descended from Daemon Blackfyre. If Illyrio needed the military support of the Golden Company, he may well have figured it was a necessity, if not a particular desire, to bring Strickland into the conspiracy. (Again, the secrecy emphasized by Varys to Jon Connington might have worked both ways here, keeping the Rhaegar-loyal Jon as much out of the Blackfyre loop as Jon himself thinks the Golden Company's men might have been toward Aegon-as-Rhaegar's-son; if Jon didn't need to know, Strickland certainly wasn't about to disillusion him.)

Do I think anyone else within the Golden Company necessarily knows? Eh, too little to say. The officer corps of the Golden Company certainly knew, before Jon Connington introduced the boy anyway, about our Aegon's cover story as Aegon Targaryen, son of Rhaegar and Elia, but whether they understand this only to be a cover story is still unclear. There are any number in that officer corps who don't appear to have any ancestral connections to the Blackfyre cause (e.g. Lysono Maar, Black Balaq, or Gorys Edoryen), and still others who, while Westerosi, may or may not know or care about restoring the Blackfyres. I'm not saying any of these could or could not have been let in on the secret, only that there's too little, I think, to say right now.

[bubybubsters]

Three Shadow Boys

a/n: good day. Meh. I’m skipping homework for this. Sorry I’ll update something at one point.

masterlist

wc: 1450

summary: just 3 shadow boys hanging out! Ruhn, Azriel, and Xaden.

*****

Crescent City- Ruhn

Ruhn grinned at his new found friends as he lead them around the city. They’d already been to see Bryce and his sister had flirted shamelessly. After an hour of Hunt, Xaden, and Azriel having a pissing contest, Bryce kicked them out to make it up to her boyfriend. So he gave the idiots a tour of the city and naturally, they insulted and laughed at everything that was Ruhn’s. Like how his headphones were navy blue instead of black because apparently ‘we’re the shadow boys, you’ve got to get black.’

When he introduced them to Tristan and Flynn they got along perfectly! Not even a pissing contest over Flynn’s hot girlfriend! They were currently playing poker and Azriel was winning with a giant stack of chips triple everyone elses.

“I swear, he’s cheating,” Xaden’s complaint was met with much agreement.

“I would never! I’m an honorable shadow boy!”

Ruhn grinned, “let’s see how ‘honorable’ you are when we start drinking.” They all laughed and continued their loss of money.

“I quit! Ruhn show us to those guns, please, before I jump that cheating ass.”

“I’m not cheating!”

Ruhn just shook his head and dealt out the cards once again.

By the end of the next round, Xaden had reached his limit and leapt across the table to see Azriel’s cards.

“He’s not cheating! That’s impossible.”

Ruhn joined him and they both stared at down at the smug shadowsinger with a look of pure disbelief.

“Ruhn! Stop giving him all the good cards! I should start dealing!”

Ruhn gaped at Xaden. “You’re blaming this on me!? I can’t control what cards I give who!

“Just cheat!”

“You know what, guns sound great right now. At least I’m the best at that because you idiots can’t shoot.”

***

“What happened to ‘you idiots can’t shoot?’” Azriel grinned at Ruhn as he hit bullseye after bullseye.

Xaden groaned. “I can’t shoot!”

“Why is Az good at everything, it’s not fair.” Ruhn growled in frustration as he missed the bullseye by half a millimeter.

“You can’t be groaning! At least you can hit the damned target.” Both Az and Ruhn laughed as Xaden’s shot went wide and hit the deer head decorating the space 50 feet above the targets.

“Not my fault you won’t accept my help. I’ve told you a million times! You’re holding the gun wrong!”

“I am not! I’m not that stupid.” Rhun raises his brows as Xaden proceeds to hold the gun by the barrel instead of the grip where it’s quite obvious a hand should go.

And he hits the ceiling.

“You want that help now?”

“Fuck you.”

*****

Velaris- Azriel

The biweekly Friday family dinners Rhys had organized came with few rules. One: attendance was mandatory. Two: you could bring up to three friends. Three: if you brought friends, everyone else had a right to be busybodies.

It just so happened to be that Friday in which Mor was back from Vallahan and Elain and Lucien were visiting from the Day Court. Everyone was there to interrogate Xaden and Ruhn. The poor shadow babies had no idea what they’d be facing.

“What do I wear? I’ve got to impress your family.” Ruhn was scanning Azriel’s closet in a desperate attempt of last minute dressing.

“You’ll be fine, they really don’t care.”

“Yeah man. Just bring your own clothes next time.” Xaden was dressed in the flight clothes that came from his fancy-dragon world.

“Azriel said I wouldn’t need anything!”

“And since when has Azriel been right?”

“Hey! That’s rude.” Az put a hand over his heart in mock hurt. He grabbed a black shirt, black dress pants and a belt from his closet. “Just where this, it’s better than that pink Crescent City t-shirt.”

Ruhn glared. “This was fifty dollars! It’s a good shirt!”

“If you say so.” Azriel and Xaden shared a smirk as Ruhn put on the clothes given to him.

They descended the stairs to the dining room and found everyone else already there.

Xaden elbowed Ruhn. “You made us late.”

“Did not.”

“Did so.”

“Nuh uh.”

“Yes you did!”

Azriel watched with a healthy dose of amusement and embarrassment as the room fell quiet to look at the two arguing. Finally after letting the two get embarrassed he poked Xaden in the shoulder.

Xaden looked up. “Shit.” Raising his voice he said to Rhysand. “My apologies, it was merely that this idiot next to me took an hour deciding what to wear instead of a sparkly, pink shirt.”

That got his family laughing.

***

A while later as they were sitting on the couches, drinking wine and exchanging embarrassing stories the interrogation finally started.

Cassian leaned in. “So Ruhn, we have a few questions for you to get to know you better. If you don’t know the answer you may say “no” and we’ll just assume you’re an idiot.”

“Who’s your father?”

“What’s your job?”

“Favorite color?”

“Best friend?”

The questions started innocently enough and Ruhn answered them each with a joke and easy grin. But Azriel knew he’d be saying a lot more “no”s.

The question came from Mor. “Sooo, Ruhn. Who was the best person you’ve ever bedded?”

Ruhn gawked at her and Azriel and Xaden burst out laughing. Mor shot a look at Xaden, “You’re next man. The questions will just get more detailed.”

Xaden grimaced. “I’m really tired today, all that traveling is rubbing off on me. I think I’ll go sleep.”

“Nuh uh uh.” Feyre wagged a finger at him. “Describe, in detail, your first time of having sex with your girlfriend.”

*****

Aretia- Xaden

Xaden smiled proudly as Sgeayl landed on the field. His smirk grew as both Azriel and Ruhn paled and backed away nervously.

Scare them please.

With pleasure.

Sgeayl blew fire at the ground barely ten feet away from his friends. Their eyes widened as the heat hit them full on.

“Uh Xaden. Can we go back to meetin your girlfriend? She was a little less scary.” Azriel pleaded, adding his puppy eyes.

Sgeayl sniffed indignantly and blew a puff of steam.

“Nah. I think you guys could spend some time together, ya know bond with my dragon. Make sure she doesn’t hate you or burn you to dust?”

“Uhh… Think we’ll pass thanks.” Ruhn was slightly less afraid than Azriel and was staring at Sgeayls blue scales as if trying to memorize them.

Xaden sighed, giving in and leading his friends away to see the sparring ring.

Go hunt sheep with Andarna.

You know you don’t give me orders, puny human.

Xaden grinned back at Sgeayl and she sniffed at him before flying away, likely to hang out with Tairn.

***

Thirty minutes later Xaden was watching Azriel beat up Ruhn on the sparring mats. He eyed the shadowsingers stance, it mainly relied on centering his feet. He took notice that Azriel was fluent with both sides but his right side was just slightly stronger. That’d be a good thing to look out for when Az challenged him.

And only a few minutes later, Azriel challenged him.

“Don’t you want some rest before I beat you up shadowsinger?”

“You won’t beat me up, I can beat you in my sleep.”

“Really??”

“Just fight already, pricks.” Ruhn turned out to be a very sore loser as proven but the poker and sparring.

The two circled eachother and Xaden made sure to not give away a single weakness that could potentially be use against him. Azriel launched, going for a simple one-two combination but Xaden was ready for him. He shifted left a bit and let Azriel’s punches hit his right shoulder at an angle that caused the least damage. He swept out his right leg and knocked Az off his feet before jumping on top of him in a way that made it hard for Azriel to switch their positions. He kneed the Illyrian in the crotch and traced a finger lightly against the tip of Azriel’s wing until Az groaned and yielded.

Xaden got off him and was met with a clap on the back from Ruhn, who had somehow managed to find popcorn.

“How’d you know my wings were so sensitive?” Azriel was frowning at him.

“At your family dinner, Nesta kept brushing the tip of Cassian’s wing with a featherlight touch and he kept jerking away while simultaneously leaning into her touch.”

Az groaned. “Damn Cassian. I had a plan to win as well! I was about to flip you over when you touched my wing and all my thoughts went straight out the window.”

Xaden grinned. “Fair fight I say.”

“No fucking way, I want a rematch.”

*****

a/n: not my worst.

taglist:

@thelov3lybookworm @profound-imagination

[queer-ragnelle]

Hi! Your flowchart is amazing, and I'm so excited by the literature list you made. However, I was wondering if you know which book is best to start reading more about Arthurian legend? I have only collected knowledge through osmosis, so I have no clue where or how to start learning more. Thank you for your time and have a nice day!

hello!

thank you, i'm glad they're helpful for you! i did answer a similar ask about what medieval texts to begin with here and link to free resources, but the formatting is hard on the eyes, and now that my own collection is available, i'll reiterate. all suggested translations are available on my blog.

le morte d'arthur by sir thomas malory: you'll get the most mileage out of this book as malory sourced a broad spectrum of stories to incorporate them into a single text, which includes arthur's conception, pulling the sword from the stone, receiving excalibur from the lady of the lake, marrying to guinevere, young gawain's knighting and first quest, tristan and isolde's romance, the grail quest, final battle at camlann etc. plus malory himself invented some of the most iconic stories, such as gareth's time as the kitchen boy, beaumains. with this book alone, the majority of retellings will make sense to you. but be warned it can be extremely dry (and confusing timeline wise, calogrenant dies twice bc malory couldn't keep his own story straight!), i recommend the keith baines translation as it's rewritten into prose like a novel.

the vulgate cycle: it's 10 books. i know it's 10 books. but it's simply the best. the truncated nature of malory's le morte d'arthur leaves the majority of characters reduced to singular traits (orkney bros the mindless killers, priggish grail knights etc.) which has negatively influenced many retellings since imo. this is not an issue with the vulgate where everyone has a little more nuance and depth, even the bad guys, but especially the characters we're supposed to root for like lancelot and gawain. many fun characters who were cut from le morte d'arthur are fully developed here like half-giant galehaut and gawain's baby mama the lady of lys. i'm putting it high on the list bc i simply think more people should try it. i recommend the translation edited by norris j. lacy. he's incredible and i love all of his translation work. footnotes right in the margin will remind the reader of past references and explain language subtleties lost in translation (like puns) or indicate what was changed for ease of understanding (sometimes the scribes made mistakes and named the wrong character, which lacy will fix and then note he fixed). so if one can get past the sheer volume of text, it's a wonderful read, and i even have specific stories within it i could recommend. but i digress...

sir gawain and the green knight: it goes without saying this poem is iconic. the pearl poet (as the anonymous author is called) wrote beautifully and the version of gawain here is a much kinder portrayal than what he appears in the post vulgate, which was a major source for malory's le morte d'arthur. the beheading exchange/game is the focus here, although this motif will appear in many other texts, such as perlesvaus, and the sgatgk story appears in the majority of retellings that include gawain, so it's a must read. i recommend the j. r. r. tolkien translation (the audiobook version of this translation is phenomenal, like music).

four arthurian romances + the story of the grail by chrétien de troyes: except you can skip cligés bc its mediocre at best. really what you'll need from this is knight of the cart (the first ever story in which lancelot appears and he's very pathetic and weepy and insane and lovable haters dni), knight with the lion (gawain's cousin yvain gets a pet lion, fights a dragon, gets married, gets divorced, goes mad, recovers, gets married again...), erec and enide (worst husband in the universe), and the story of the grail (perceval and gawain adventures). a version of these stories were adapted into le morte d'arthur and the vulgate (except for yvain's lion which is a bummer!). i recommend the nigel bryant translation of perceval and william kibler translations for the rest. when you reach the end of the story of the grail and it cuts mid-sentence...well, sadly we don't know what happened to poor chrétien that kept him from completing his story. but there are four continuations written by other people, plus the german parzival is great as well (and has one of my favorite of gawain's wives, the haughty maiden of logres, orgeluse).

the mabinogion: some of the same stories as chrétien but of welsh origin plus extras. haters will try to pit two bad bitches against each other, but these texts go hand in hand. i like the whimsical vibes of this version and the magical powers given to the characters, such as kay's ability to grow to the size of a tree and set things on fire with his hands or bedwyr's ability to strike faster than all other knights despite having only one hand. it also gives owain (welsh version of yvain) an army of ravens that kill people in addition to his lion, arthur has an invisibility mantle (also referenced in the welsh triads), and the whole gang fights the demon boar twrch trwyth to steal the golden comb off his head. good stuff. i recommend the translation by lady charlotte guest.

the wedding of sir gawain and dame ragnelle: obviously this has to be included. i'm biased but at the same time, it is supposed that sir thomas malory actually wrote this poem! which i think is pretty neat. additionally, 99% of retellings include ragnelle as gawain's wife. in fact, excluding the ones in which he doesn't have a partner at all, i can only think of one in which he marries someone else. dame ragnelle is the people's darling, all of us arthurian authors agreed that in spite of our differing opinions about everything else in the stories, she is the wife of all time. and we're right. a thing of beauty. this text does not have a translation, it's just in middle english, which can be challenging to read. this version edited by thomas hahn has footnotes to help or otherwise i recommend the version retold by selina hastings and illustrated by juan wijngaard, it's gorgeous, and includes all the fun supporting cast like kay and guinevere.

this was a long list with probably more explanation than necessary but it can be difficult to narrow down a single place to begin with arthuriana as each story builds on the literary tradition that came before. everyone is sharing and influencing one another so stories and motifs are repeated, each author writes for their time, slightly altering the technology and culture to reflect their own lived experience, so the narrative evolved as the centuries passed into what we have today. thanks for this ask and hope you enjoy reading!

[steve0discusses]

Ep 45 Part 2: I, Again, Did Not Expect Ryou

The revolving door of characters wandering into this boss arena continues, and this time it’s Pharaoh who is trying to catch up to the plot with the dead woman on the ground, the giant tablet to the side, and Seto who is cackling to himself in a corner.

And Seto does a big ol laugh and it’s been a while since we got a villainous laugh out of Seto. Been a LONG TIME. Probably felt great for this voice actor to go back to his roots.

(read more under the cut)

Y’all.

It’s been a while I’ve been doing this blog, right? And I take it slow, especially right now with chronic fatigue stuff, but MAN I really thought we’d be dueling SETO. Not Aknadin in a Seto Bean! That’s a different guy!

Yugioh! That’s a completely different guy!

And there’s time for the big showdown between Pharaoh and Seto to actually happen. But trying to write it so we no longer develop this rivalry between Seto and Pharaoh feels like...they had to do that because Seto became a friend maybe kind of unintentionally.

It still works, they haven’t lied to us, I just...I have mixed feelings about it.

Mimicking Blue Eyes in Season 1 and Season Zero, this dragon will not work for you if you are not Seto Kaiba. Or Yugi. She’ll sometimes allow Yugi to play her in his deck. But definately not Seto Imposters. And like that, Aknadin is dead by his own hubris.

Hubris be killing a lot of billionaires lately, amiright? Yugioh just leaning into my love of killing billionaire gentry with hubris.

This romantic moment somewhat ruined by the animation team refusing to draw fingers and always keeping everyone’s hands clenched like they’re gonna furiously poop.

Yami watches as Seto recreates the vision that Kaiba had seen several years prior on the blimp. And Yami I’m sure felt entirely 3rd wheel. But he’s used that. He lives in Yugi’s bean. He probably thinks 3rd wheel is normal and how everyone feels all the time.

And then THIS HAPPENS.

Seto decides he’s had enough of watching behind a pillar, and now that everyone is dead and sobbing he should go out and harass Yugi. Youknow, at this funeral. The funeral of his beloved from like a previous life or whatever. Seto is kind over it and for once he is the one that needs a ride home.

And he’s like “hey so...I noticed that guy looks like me”

And then, when you think “well I guess Seto joins the party?” they just start screaming at eachother, within earshot of Seto, within earshot of the dead dragon card, within the earshot of like the entire world.

Remember that no one can actually see Seto but Pharaoh, which makes it even more funny.

Bakura segue’s us back to Yugi and his cursed friends, where he’s trying his best to explain the logic of cursing your classmates with dark magic so you can go on playdates.

The idea that you go through all the trouble to curse people into liking you, but the puzzle itself is made of dark magic, so it finds the most terrifying people to make your friend, is funny to me although it is completely my headcanon.

Anyway, get ready for the still my computer caught for this next one.

(it’s “surprise” but eh I don’t feel like fixing it at this point.)

It DOES look like Tristan is doing a weird cross punch, he’s actually tossing both of them and his hands over extended to the other side, which is a thing we do in animation, we go past the point you intend to go so it looks more fluid--but it does make the tweens funny.

The floor gives way and creates scales made out of the eyes.

Will Yugi leap from his scale and send his friends to purple doom, or will he find Pharaoh’s name and save the world?

which like, wouldn’t be a good episode of Yugioh unless multiple people were asking to die, and Joey nailed it in the most Brooklyn way this Japanese boy knows how.

And so Bakura was like “never mind.” which I guess was an option in the footnotes that only he could read.

Not shown is a hard to cap animation where Yugi leapt from his edge of the scales and just clung to Joey’s waist and Joey was like “gotta hang on to your friends, right Yuge?” And Yugi was like “Does that mean you forgive me already? Or are you being sarcastic right now?”

Inside of the room is this.

I LOVE the outline tool in photoshop. Good stuff. I LOVE it. and so does this animation team. Outlined the HELL out of those birds.

They leave the name zone room, with no idea at all how to say Pharaoh’s name. Where, they ran straight into Tristan and decided enough was enough, it’s time to have a chat. Because no, they haven’t figured it out.

You may be asking “so where did Tristan go?”

I DON’T KNOW.

He’s probably not fine. But um. No idea where Tristan went.

Also, guess who we haven’t seen in like 20 episodes since Seto stepped over his prone body on the steps?

Ryou! Little Ryou is back!

This guy who we...thought was a good guy? Anyway he’s off to literally kill Yugi, just like he’s want to do.

Straight up...I can’t fully predict Ryou, mostly because we rarely ever see the kid, but damn, he sure did wake up just ready to do a murder today, didn’t he?

And yes, this does mean that Ryou was pretending to be Bakura pretending to be Tristan, just so we the audience could get a fun triple reveal in this episode.

For some damn reason Ryou brought a duel disk to ancient Egypt. So we WILL get actual proper cards. And by proper cards, I mean Yugioh TV show cards, which line up not at all with the actual card game. Can’t wait to spell FINAL and then die.

Anyway, here’s the link to read these in chrono order.

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

We are quickly running out of people in this season to kill, but we still got a few of Pharoah’s ancient friends left, and as for who dies next episode? My bet is on...Isis. Sorry Isis, I know you got a cool hat and you’re the token girl but, she’s super dead next right?

[thefarminggoblin]

Yugioh pet names

I’ve been on a rewatch of YGO while I embroider because it requires a lot of my attention. Dear lord does it need the Dragon Ball Kai treatment…

Also, I feel recently there’s been a resurgence of the fandom for some reason. Soooo here’s some dumb headcanons that refused to leave my brain about the boys who play children’s card games.

🃏 Yugi: cutie, baby, honey, sweetheart, my love, bunny. This man is a ray of sunshine and will use them often. A total sucker for pet names. Will blush with the more serious ones, giving and receiving, but always says them with a smile.

👑 Yami/Atem: my love, my dearest, darling. Takes it very seriously, won’t do it unless he has your full attention. Often accompanied by a gentle caress of your cheek.

🐉 Seto: Princess (derogatory), babe (derogatory), moron (affectionate), brat (affectionate). Honestly I can see him using two pet names seriously: darling and your first name. Uses darling extremely sparingly. But call him darling he will become a flustered mess.

🐶 Joey: Doll, cupcake, Princess, babe, sweet cheeks, darlin’ - this man is BIG on pet names, teasing or not. Unlike Seto he overdoes it to annoy you. Throw them back at him and enjoy the cringe contest! Winner gets a kiss~

☀️ Tristan: baby, hun, pretty lady, gorgeous. He’s a simple man with simple tastes, but he says them from the heart.

🇬🇧 Ryou: sweetheart, my love, beautiful, dear heart. Can see him as a romantic, will always blush when he says it, even if you’re in a long term relationship.

🎲 Duke: babe, Princess, gorgeous, sunshine. Always with the flirty inflection, a wink and a smile. Possibly a kiss on the back of your hand if he’s feeling particularly cheeky.

🥩 Bakura: idiot (affectionate), my beloved, my dear. Surprisingly uses them often, and even more surprisingly is he’s serious about it. If he calls you by your actual name it would probably shock you.

🏍️ Marik: habibi, my love, my dear. Yes I know habibi is very basic, but hey, I see him as someone who keeps it simple but also takes it very seriously. Will probably blush like mad when he does it. Until he finds his confidence.

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

In the Footsteps of a Saint

FAITH TODAY：MAY 2011

Catholic actor Charlie Cox is making waves across the Atlantic – and he’s about to hit the cinemas in his native UK playing a saint in a new movie.

FAITH TODAY went to meet him.

How does it feel to be a saint?  That’s something no-one alive can ever really know, since sainthood is only acknowledged after death: but up-and-coming actor Charlie Cox knows more about it than most. Cox, 28, is the star of There Be Dragons, a new movie about the early life of St Josemaria Escriva, the Spaniard who founded Opus Dei.  So – given that he’s a Catholic himself - how did it feel to Cox to walk in a saint’s shoes, and to portray his holiness on screen?

What struck him most, says Cox, is that ‘there seemed to have been no single moment when Josemaria was saintly... instead, what people who knew him spoke about and wrote about was a lifetime of consistently good decisions and a dedication of his entire life to God’.  So in fact, he explains, portraying him meant being very human – and yet aware that decisions often had to be made that weren’t directed at other people, but were directed at God. Playing Josemaria is the latest step on a path that’s fast feeling like the road to the big-time: Cox first appeared on the showbiz radar in 2007 when he got the role of Tristan Thorne in the movie Stardust, and he went on to play the Duke of Crowborough in the ITV drama Downton Abbey.  And just a fortnight before we meet, he’s filmed his first episode of HBO’s prohibition drama Boardwalk Empire, the flagship programme of the new Sky Atlantic channel, in which he plays an immigrant from Northern Ireland with ties to the IRA.  Cox says he’s loving the part: Steve Buscemi, who recently won a Gold Globe award for his portrayal of Enoch ‘Nucky’ Thompson in the series, is one of his all-time heroes, and he can hardly believe his luck in being cast with him.

’Working with Steve feels amazing, I can’t believe how lucky I’ve been,’ he says, as we chat over coffee at a Madrid hotel on the morning of the premiere of There Be Dragons.  He jetted in this morning from New York – he’ll be there filming Boardwalk Empire through the summer and, he says, he can’t imagine a better way of spending the next few months. ‘They’re the nicest bunch of people – and everyone is so confident about how good the series is, so there’s a great buzz about it.’

Working on Boardwalk Empire has taken him a long way from his Sussex roots.  He grew up in Hearst Green, the son of publisher parents – and he was raised a Catholic, like his father, although he was educated at a non-Catholic independent school, Sherborne School in Dorset.  ‘Only about 70 out of 700 boys were Catholics. We had to get up early on a Sunday to go to Mass at a local girls’ school... it would have been easy to skive off it, but actually we never did.  I’ve always loved churches – even now, in a strange city, I’ll often wander around looking at churches.’ There was no history of acting in the family – bar a grandmother who had been at RADA before the second world war – but even as a youngster, Cox was smitten with the idea.  ‘My mum and dad had a fantastic attitude to it,’ he says.  ‘The school wanted me to go to university, play it in safe mode, have a back-up plan.  But my parents came to see me act, and afterwards my dad sat me down and he said: ‘I think you’d be a fool not to pursue this’.  And I don’t know whether I’d be here now if it hadn’t been for that one comment...’ Despite living in the US at the moment, and the fact that his parents spend most of their time these days in France, Cox says Britain will always be home – and he’s very close to his family.  He has a brother, and three half siblings from his father’s first marriage, and his parents have flown to see him in Madrid while he’s over for the premiere of There Be Dragons. After school, he spent a gap year working for a photographer – and even before he could take up a place at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, he’d landed the role of Theo in the movie Dot the i.  ‘An agent took a punt on me and put me up for the part,’ he says.  ‘I’ve been incredibly lucky, and that was just one of my lucky breaks.’

But it’s not just luck – Cox is immensely likeable, and he’s obviously genuinely passionate about acting.  He’s also been smart enough to realise that he can learn a huge amount from more seasoned actors – so he saw acting alongside Robert de Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer in Stardust, for example, as a fantastic opportunity to soak up knowledge.  And he’s learnt lots more, too, from Roland Joffe, director of There Be Dragons, who was also the film-maker behind The Mission (about the early Jesuits in south America) and The Killing Fields (about the murderous Pol Pot regime in Cambodia), both of which were Oscar nominees.

‘I didn’t think twice about taking the part of Josemaria, and that was down to Roland,’ he says.  ‘He’s such a great director – he really understands the processes that actors have to go through to give their best.  I learnt so much from working with him.’

Given the subject-matter of There Be Dragons, Cox also spent time in the run-up to filming learning about Opus Dei, which has the status of a ‘personal prelature’ within the Catholic Church.  ‘I visited several Opus Dei houses, and I went on a retreat and had a lot of help from an Opus Dei priest, Fr John Wauck.’

Before he made the film, he admits, he’d never heard of Josemaria – and all he knew about Opus Dei was what he’d read in Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code.  But researching Josemaria, he says, what struck him most was the saint’s humanity – and his ability, examined in the film, to forgive.  ‘It was an example I had to put into practice, because one day when we were filming I returned to my trailer to find someone had broken in and cleaned the place out completely,’ he says.  ‘They’d even taken my computer, and the charger, and even my clothes.’ ‘The following day I was due to film one of the big scenes in which Josemaria shows how he can forgive, and I remember thinking: this is really interesting.  And the thing is that I did manage to forgive the guy who nicked my stuff.’ ‘And what I realised, through that incident, was that – though we think of forgiveness as something very moral and impressive, it’s actually something that works totally in your own favour.  Because if you don’t forgive then you’re angry inside – and that anger doesn’t hurt the other person, but it really hurts you.’ Since filming finished for There Be Dragons, Cox has been working on another movie – Moby Dick, due to be released later this year – and now Boardwalk Empire.  It all suggests, I tell him, that fame – which he’s told previous interviewers frightens him – could be beckoning. ‘It’s tricky,’ he says, candidly.  ‘I’ve got friends who have gone on to extraordinary fame, and what I’ve realised through them is that it’s never quite as appealing as it promised to be. ‘On the other hand, like everyone else I want recognition.  I like people to think I’m good at what I do. That’s human nature, isn’t it?’

~*~

[rosalind-hawkins]

My YGO Hetero Ships: Part 1

Wanted to make a little post about my Yugioh hetero ships because I feel like I don't talk about them much. And then the post wasn't little, oh well. Mostly Trustshipping and Polarshipping rants.

Peachshipping is a bit of a foregone conclusion for me. It's intuitive and I think they work so well together and are good for each other. I use it as a world-filling background ship a lot because it's just so... obvious to me? And wholesome, don't forget wholesome. It's sweet, it's positive, it's healthy. I don't have a strong grasp on either character which is why I haven't written it, and I don't feel passionately about it, but I do support it.

Blueshipping was the very first ship I ever wrote in my very first fanfic ever, and while I do support the ship, I haven't written it since then. There is implied past Mizushipping in Rock Bottom, but Kisara still dies like canon, so tragic ending and Seth is rekt. Like Peachshipping, this one is a no-brainer for me, it just only exists when Kisara gets to live/come back, because otherwise it's pure angst and tragedy.

Trustshipping is in the future for a current unfinished fic but I haven't actually written it otherwise. Currently working on a one-shot wip with my husband for it though. This is one that I do feel quite passionately about because I think Ishizu is one of the few people that even has a chance at getting close to Kaiba, in terms of purely canonical characterizations. And in terms of non-pure canonical characterizations (aka the fun stuff), there's even more potential for passion and romance. I think they've both had to grow up too fast, take care of their little brothers, deal with abusive fathers, make difficult decisions, and be forced into a role that they didn't ask for/weren't ready for. There will be understanding, patience, and compassion there, mostly just from Ishizu but you get the idea. The dragon doesn't want to be tamed but gradually realizes the benefits of the arrangement. She's strong-spirited in a quiet way and she won't let Kaiba treat her poorly. People might think she's Kaiba's trophy wife at first, being exotic and beautiful, but I think she can absolutely hold her own with poise, class, and wit. Whenever she has to go to a snobby social event with him, people will gradually realize that he didn't tame her, she tamed him. Ishizu the dragon-tamer. He is her dragon, she is his queen. She's not a trophy wife, she's not a gold-digger. Neither of them are a prize to be won. This is a partnership, and if you ever disrespect one of them in front of the other, you will be flayed with their words. She will also absolutely have her own career in Egyptology/Archaeology which helps to discourage the conception that she married him for any reason besides her love for him.

Polarshipping is another one that I think I've only written once, and it was in the context of Ettushipping, but I stan it quite hard. I won't shut up about it anytime Mai and Joey are in a scene together when I watch Yugioh with my husband. ("Omg look at the way he smiles at her! And look at the way she looks at him! And OMG he would die for her, this boy is too pure!!") I think I've used it as a background ship before a couple times maybe? But I love their canon storyline together and their dynamic (and I can even appreciate what happens for them in Season Four, even though that season kinda ruins Mai and does her all kinds of dirty, Joey's determination to help her despite her turning on them, despite Tristan saying "you're better off letting her go because I don't want to see you get hurt again", is one of the sweetest things and Joey is such a puppy and once they finally get together, I hope Mai understands what a Good Boy she has and absolutely spoils him). I do feel strongly about them and I want to write them at least one-shot at some point.

[butterflyintochains]

Finding Out

Sequel to 'Those Small Details' - except this time the team finds out about Kris and Erik. Hilarity and chaos ensues, because it's them, of course it does.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Intuition - Jake, Jarry, Rusty

Training is odd today, especially where the four musketeers are concerned. As if there's some grand secret the four of them are sitting on. Jake watches Kris and Erik skate laps around the rink, two streaks of white with raven black hair flying behind them both. They stop at the blue line and talk about something. ''Oh, hey, Erik, wanna recreate Raleigh?'' Kris says.

Erik projectile spits his energy drink out, looking flustered. ''Kris, are you...''

Kris smiles, and rolls his eyes. ''Oh, no, no, not with the kids around. The other thing from Raleigh, with Duncan Keith?'' Erik smirks, and downs his bottle. ''You're on.'' Rusty watches as they set up a race, Jarry notices the electric gaze they share. They take off, skating backwards in a lap around the rink, Kris just barely beats Erik out. Erik doffs his helmet, Kris says. ''Still got it.'' Erik nudges his hip, and says. ''Never lost it, Legend.''

Jake blinks first, looking to his two best friends. Rusty and Tristan both nod, there's something there, there has to be something there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Languages - POJ, Rakell, and Dragon

Pierre-Olivier, Ricky, and Marcus are in a rather unique hockey position. Serving as common tongue confidants to two absolute legends of the sport. PO being Tanger's sounding board in French, Raks and Dragon being the same in Swedish for Erik. The trio have kinda bonded over this, and learned from their leadership core along the way. That doesn't mean they're particularly prepared for everything. As they learn twice in one day. The boys are getting ready for a big game against Vancouver, Erik looks over to Kris. ''Ready, hjartat?'' Marcus and Ricky have to contain their shock. PO almost spits his mouth guard out when Kris responds. ''Let's do this, amour.'' Okay, okay... what the fuck?

The game ends with a 6-5 loss in a dramatic shootout, with Sam Lafferty of all people ending it with a ripper. Kris, like he always does, blames the loss on himself. Erik kneels in front of him, comforting him in near perfect french. ''Kris, regardez moi, sil vous plait. Je t'aime, mon coeur.'' PO sends Sid a slack jawed look, Sid is misty eyed. Kris asks, in near perfect swedish. ''Lova mig, alskad?'' Erik nods, and says. ''Oui, je vous prometre.''

This is when Marcus nearly faints, because Kris says, eyes shining with something older than his little Frans. ''Jag alskar dag ocksa, Erik.'' Ricky looks to Geno - who was closest to Horny back in the day. Geno just smiles, and shrugs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sleep - Gravy, Ned

The team are about an hour and a half out from a game against Minnesota, and are all assembled for roll call in the lobby. Except for the two most important defencemen on the team. Sully sends Gravy and Ned to wrangle them down for the bus to XCel, they first try Erik's room. Ned knocks on the door. ''Hey, Karl, game day, remember?'' Nothing, he tries again. ''Erik, we kinda need you up for the game, dude.'' A friendly hotel maid, Kayla, Ned remembers from this morning, says. ''Mr Nedeljkovic, Mr Karlsson isn't in that room.'' Gravy asks, feeling Sully's frustration three floors up. ''Where is he, then, Kayla?''

Kayla smiles and says. ''Room 15, Mr Graves.'' She goes back to her work, Gravy quickly realizes. ''That's Tanger's room.'' They go down the hall, Ryan looks in the peephole, seeing the duo in Kris' bed, arms wrapped around each other tight. ''Oh... my God, Ned, look.'' Alex takes a look, they look so peaceful, and on any other day he'd hate to disturb them. But, it's a work day. So, he knocks. ''Kris, game day, we're all waiting for you.''

Kris says, sounding half asleep. ''Okay, I'll be right down.'' The duo head down, and inform Sully of status. A few moments later, both Erik and Kris appear in the lobby, suited and booted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jealousy - Flower

It's become tradition by now, ever since 2017, for Flower to hang out with his three brothers after games against each other. Erik, for all his novelty, has slotted in nicely to that tradition. Erik knows Kris and Flower used to be partners in crime, and loves seeing his partner with his old best friend. But, that primal part of him still thinks they're sitting way too close together. God dammit, Kris is his. So, Erik slides up next to Kris, who instinctively wraps an arm around him, allowing Erik to lace their fingers together. ''You jealous, amour?''

Erik says, free hand placed on Kris' thigh. ''No idea what you're talking about, hjartat.'' Flower looks perplexed, fluent in two languages, and competent in two more. He knew they were a thing once upon a time, but that was ages ago... wasn't it? ''Uhm, so... what the hell? I thought you two were broken up!''

Kris nods, and kisses Erik's temple. ''We were, we've been back together since 2019, we live together now.''

Flower turns to his old leaders. ''So, uhh, did you two know about this or...''

Sid nods, looking bashful, any other season Flower would no doubt have known well before anyone else. ''Yeah, we've known for a while.'' Geno adds. ''We were like this too, Flower.'' Erik grins like the fucking cheshire cat when he jokes. ''No sniffing around my man, Fleury, cool?''

Flower smirks, already planning his family initiation prank, maybe asking Tags to put 'Lovebirds' on their jerseys. ''Got ya, Karlsson.''

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kiss - Everyone Else

Team lunch after a long training session is brotherly as always. The older guys on the team sit and eat together, talking about other games and potential strategies against their rivals. Kris dumps his lunch dishes, when his phone pings - PA zoom meeting. ''Alright, boys, the PA needs me. I'll be in the media room for the next hour or so.'' Kris zips his team hoodie up, adjusts his hat, and - as if they're at home and not in front of the whole team - leans down to kiss Erik on the lips. They come up for air to stunned silence. ''Uhh, Kris, I think the cat's outta the bag, hjartat.'' Fuck, right, they're not at home, but he's the conscience of this team, so fuck it. ''I think it's been out of the bag for a while, amour.'' He kisses Erik again, and says. ''I'll see you at home, have fun on powerplay drills.''

Erik smiles as Kris strides away to his meeting. ''You're cooking tonight!'' Kris, pleased as punch with himself, spins around to say to his partner. ''You love me, don't deny it.''

Erik nods. ''Damn right I do. You love me too.'' Kris finally admits it in public, after all these years of secrecy. ''Oh, fuck yeah I do.'' He goes off for his meeting. Carts looks to him for some kind of explanation, so do Eller, Nieto, and Acciari. ''Well, when did this all happen?'' Noel asks. Erik just vaguely says, finishing his lunch. ''Raleigh 2011.'' Because neither of them feel like rehashing their story, it's time for writing its new chapters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just a quick ficlet, it's twin felt unfinished, so I just had to have the rest find out - including Flower, because there's no way he wouldn't. And, these two are just utterly shameless when everyone does find out.

[serpentoflolth]

Aqua Regia

New chap: The Pale Rose

Plot: In Menzoberranzan love seems not to exist, almost as if it were an unknown feeling, or hidden behind the rock walls of the buildings, the veils that adorn the rooms, behind blood-stained screens. There seems to be only obedience to Lolth, the Mother of Destiny, and to her priestesses, to the Matron Mothers who compete for power, ruling from their houses: a war that wears out but amuses the Spider Queen. But what happens if love blossoms between two young drow, belonging to two different houses who have the common goal of overthrowing the Baenre and conquering their power? Unaware of their respective Matron Mother's thirst for power, the two just want to be together and give in to lust and passion. Yet, something lurks in the shadows, someone who spies on them and holds a grudge, to the point of having the possibility of destroying everything they desire. Will they be able to have a happy ending, there, in that city governed by Lolth? Or will they have to run away? Series: The intrigue of the Spider Chap. 1: Melodious Symphony Rating: Mature Ship: Original drow Character & original drow character Characters: Franceska Qilin, Elamszar Barrison Del'Armgo, Tristan Dilyrr (my ocs and others who'll appear in the next chapters), Mez'Barris Armgo, Uthengentel Armgo, Taayrul Armgo. That's an original work based on the Dungeons & Dragons universe.

Excerpt:

«I see» Franceska commented. «You summoned these women to forge alliances.» She turned to Mez'Barris. «So, am I of any value to your little boy, or does he also deserve better because of my scar?» How was she not afraid of the beast? Of course, she hadn't grown up with her, she didn't know her character and what she was capable of doing. However, her frankness might have irritated the Matron Mother of Barrison Del'Armgo House, but Mez'Barris surprised me by laughing and patting the young woman on the shoulder. What was happening? What power did Franceska have to make my grandmother react that way? Perhaps, because she was behaving as she was made and Mez'Barris wanted to see this, to taste her essence, to know what a Qilin woman was capable of doing. Not only was she fascinated by the scar and by a part of the story that revolved around it, but she was quite enraptured by her way of behaving and acting. Franceska knew that, as a woman, she had to choose her patron based on her needs, even the carnal ones. Instead, the situation was leading two Matrons to choose whether she was the right one for their children or grandchildren. She was intelligent not only beautiful and this made her extremely desirable.

Read the rest on AO3

[capillaryspice]

He angey

[void-botanist]

WIP intro: Nicea

status // planning

tag // wip: nicea

genre // space opera, queer, romance

super quick synopsis // A small starship crew attempts to rescue their old captain, long believed dead, without collectively falling apart.

Setting

A galaxy liberally sprinkled with earthlike planets populated by humanoids. A small fraction of those humanoids are witches, those born with magical gifts that neither scientists nor magicians—those who learn to use magic through study—have been able to replicate. Travel between star systems is accomplished with warp magic, sometimes through the direct intervention of a warp witch on a starship, but more often through permanent stabilized warp tunnels. Some systems are completely warp-isolated, for any number of reasons. Even in connected systems, many people never leave their home planet or system. The Nicea’s home system is Antarac.

Proper Synopsis

Ten years ago, Cady, the Nicea’s first captain, never came back from warp racing with his friend Bo. The logical conclusion was that they had both died after accidentally falling out of their warp tunnel at high speed—that was just the risk of racing. The Nicea’s crew was devastated, especially Cady’s husband, Declan, and Bo’s best friend, Tristan. When Nicea Shipping resumed business a few years later, things were different. Declan, not wanting to interact with customers who knew Cady, became the shadow captain of the ship, assigning the public-facing roles to the charismatic load specialist, Isabel. Her brother Rodney, originally little more than a cabin boy trying to escape planetside worries, became Declan’s assistant and right-hand man. Tristan stayed on as pilot while wishing she’d never introduced Cady to warp racing. And Spinder continued maintaining the Nicea, fixing it in ways he couldn’t fix his crew as they tried to move past mourning his nephew. So life went on.

Until one spring afternoon when the Nicea has just returned planetside only to receive a message from Cady and Bo: they didn’t die. Instead, they’re stuck in an isolated system several hundred light years away with no way to warp out. Bo could eventually get them back if they had a warp-rated ship, but the initial fall totaled their racer and getting a warp ship is impossible in a system that has no reason to build them.

Suddenly, a two-month break on the ground becomes two weeks, just long enough to figure out how the Nicea can make it that far. But even with warps, it’s the longest trip the crew has ever taken together, and soon the cracks begin to show. They’re a crew—they’re a family—but Cady and Bo’s return might be enough to tear them apart.

Main Characters

Cassidy “Cady” Thilta

he/him, 40, human, trans

position // previous captain of the Nicea; pilot

system of origin // Antarac

In order of difficulty, his three dreams were to marry Declan, make it through pilot school with a warp certification, and start a business in space. He managed all three with a lot of work and more than a little charisma. But as the once-thrilling became the happily mundane, the allure of space drew him in further and he turned to warp racing as his new source of challenge and adrenaline. A decade apart from almost everyone and everything he knew has changed him, though maybe not for the better.

Rannebo “Bo” Aveldan

they/he, 61, dragon person

position // warp witch

system of origin // Hybres

Though they were never a part of the Nicea’s crew, they used to show up at most of the crew’s social events. Contrary to most dragon person stereotypes, they are quiet and unassuming—but that doesn’t stop them from being intensely competitive about anything they have skill with, even if they’re only competing against themself. When they came to Cady and Tristan’s pilot academy for warp training, they dethroned Tristan as the champion of bar billiards and quickly became her closest friend.

Declan Ruse

he/him, 40, human

position // de facto captain of the Nicea

system of origin // Antarac

mildly ruined break plans // participating in anti-terraforming protests and making an obligatory yearly visit to Cady’s immediate family. He actually really likes them until someone gets drunk and melancholy.

At first glance he seems like Cady’s polar opposite: grounded, laconic, and just as much a planetsider as a spaceman, if not more. But underneath that, they share the same punk philosophy that has helped Declan not wallow in his grief even as Cady’s absence became a permanent presence for him. More than anyone, he thinks of the Nicea’s crew as his family, not least because he has no blood family of his own. Still, he would do almost anything to bring Cady back, even if that means pushing himself and his crew to the breaking point.

Isabel Hendriss

she/her, 36, human, trans

position // registered captain of the Nicea, load specialist

system of origin // Gevorad

mildly ruined break plans // test running her potential music career through a contract at the local pub, succeeding, then figuring out how to break it to Spinder that she (and possibly Rodney too) are leaving the crew.

As her parents’ heinous divorce in Gevorad system drew to a close, she transferred into Spinder’s high school and found that he was the one person in her class who knew anything about Gevorad system and messy family politics. By the time he recruited her onto the Nicea, they’d been best friends (with benefits) for years. She’s good at solving other people’s problems, including how to pack way too many shipments into one cargo bay, and she likes being the captain without having any of the real responsibilities of leadership. Though she’s been called a less-chaotic Cady, she doesn’t have the same craving for space that he does, and she’s ready to stay planetside again for a while.

Rodney Hendriss

he/him, 33, human, trans

position // the Nicea’s computer system admin, Declan’s assistant

system of origin // Gevorad

mildly ruined break plans // two words: spa resort. And a break from Declan, though he only has himself to blame for being such an intensely devoted assistant. If he can convince Isabel to go too, a trip across the world to see their mother.

When his father decided to prove how trans-positive he’d become since the divorce, Rodney got a heavy-handed, non-optional “invitation” to become the new son in Hendriss & Son Co. He immediately asked Isabel to get him a contract on the Nicea, even if that meant he’d just be scrubbing starship toilets—which was more or less what happened until Cady disappeared six months later. Then his emotional lightning-rod qualities and his need to be needed (and to stay employed by someone other than his father) led him to become Declan’s support. [Note: there’s nothing romantic or sexual between Declan and Rodney. They’re just two emotionally entangled gays]

Spinder Callawel

he/him, 35, human

position // the Nicea’s mechanic

system of origin // Antarac

mildly ruined break plans // extended visits with his extensive family ft. Declan, breaking off his not-quite-friends-with-benefits arrangement with his ex-boyfriend, managing to tell Isabel how he feels about her.

By far the youngest of the five Callawel siblings, Spinder grew up in his second-youngest sister’s home with her kids, who were his actual age peers. When he was fifteen, he made a pact with Cady, his nephew, to become the mechanic on Cady’s future starship, and went straight into trade school after high school. But as much as he’s focused on getting Cady back, he’s more bothered by his suspicion that something is up with Isabel that she hasn’t mentioned to him. And his own inability to tell her he’s in love with her out of fear that they’ll be just as incompatible as romantic partners and housemates as him and his ex-boyfriend.

Tristan Scherie

she/her, 47, human

position // the Nicea’s pilot

system of origin // Antarac

mildly ruined break plans // staying in a mountain cabin with her cousins, hiking, swimming—the good shit you can only really do planetside.

After becoming Cady’s thrill-seeking partner-in-crime at the pilot academy, she was recruited onto the Nicea as a secondary pilot and extra pair of hands alongside Cady, Declan, and Spinder. She warp raced with Bo until a system malfunction almost led to a tunnel breach, and the threat of sudden, unavoidable loss to the void shook her to the point that she quit. When Nicea Shipping resumed operations without Cady, its home base moved to the outskirts of her hometown, which has made it easier for her to stay connected with her community and integrate her crew into it. Her community has always been her first priority, and she refuses to take any shit about that—or anything—from anyone.

Note

If you read this far you get a bonus: over on my character vibes blog (which is really just for me) I've been slowly building out a (sassy and horny) tag called things that Rodney would think to himself that Isabel would say out loud.

[maspers]

The struggle is real for Yugioh fans who read the Manga before watching the anime.

"Joey Wheeler" wtfrick its Jonouchi why is he BLOND? 

If they were trying to localize the names to sound more familiar to English speakers then I'm sorry Tea sounds just as weird as Anzu I've never met a Tea in my LIFE

Bakura is British? British!? You literally kept his original Japanese name why is he British? 

No you can NOT drive to California you live in JAPAN AKA AN ISLAND ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE OCEAN

Honestly I don't know if Rishid or Odion is a better name so like whatever

*Looks at Rebecca, Dartz, and everyone from the Grand Prix* W H O M S T

Also on the subject of Rebecca WHY IS THE SMALL GIRL SHIPPED WITH YUGI she's like half a decade younger she's literally MOKUBA'S age for crying out loud ship them instead

And on the subject of Mokuba he deserves more respect and it seems like they were trying to give him that and failed

Honestly Duke/Otogi is fine he's cool and deserves more presence good on ya anime

WHERE ARE THE SHADOW GAMES I WANT THE EXPLODING TABLE HOCKEY

Shadi my boy literally none of what you do makes sense anymore please explain

Okay seriously Kaiba I can KINDA get you not believing in magic in the Manga it's a stretch but I can see it. But in the anime you straight up PSYCHIC BOND WITH A DRAGON AND FIGHT THE RULER OF ATLANTIS AND ARE PRESENT FOR THE FREAKING FINAL DUEL ARE YOU BLIND

Why the heck do you call the Pharoah "Yami" where did that come from

Wait where did the movies come from why and how are they canon

HONDA'S/TRISTAN'S VOICE GOODNESS

Mai why is your last name a pun now

PEGASUS WHY IS YOUR NAME DIFFERENT YOU LITERALLY ALREADY ARE AMERICAN THE DUB DIDN'T NEED TO CHANGE ANYTHING

Noah was cool too though gave the Kaiba boys more depth I'm down. 

Wait so YUGI gets to keep his name but his equally Japanese Grandfather *doesn't*??? 

What the heck did they do to Ryuzaki like Haga's a scumbag so Weevil's role in the anime fit perfectly but Ryuzaki actually seemed kinda cool why is Rex so stupid? 

I still kinda want to slap Ishizu for being so fatalistic so they got that part right at least.

[doubleddenden]

I'm back into Yugioh for a bit for who knows how long. I want the following:

A Stardust themed structure deck that's not a billion dollars and also features the 4000 atk dragons.

A Zombie Horde deck simply for Red Eyes Zombie Dragon Lord for less than a bazillion dollars

6 animes animated by the Dark Side Dimensions staff, not gutted by Konami's rebranded kid friendly staff, featuring the following:

Joey Wheeler as the protagonist

One day he gets a splotch of paint in his hair (fulfilling 2 hair tone protagonist minimum) and Yugi gets kidnapped. Kaiba is off being gay/dueling the pharaoh in the afterlife or something and these duelists are top tier, so Joey has to step up as a protagonist with a tricked up deck with added modern Synchro and Xyz mechanics, and a larger focus on Red Eyes (he has it again just let him). Tristan and Duke are his wingmen, Serenity and Mai are back, Joey's got his own Kaiba rival, and he proves why he was 3rd best in the world at some point.

Jesse Anderson as the protagonist

I have no deep lore for this. I just like his design and deck. Fuck it, Jaiden goes missing in North America, and he's gotta find him. He gets some paint in his hair too I guess.

5D's sequel

Yeah just. Gimme Yusei again I miss him he was the COOLEST yu boy. Also let Aki be badass and let! Them! Kiss! Dammit! Yusei could get trapped in a virtual reality racing thing where the monsters are real, and he eventually fights an accurate Yami AI in a duel.

Duel Monsters, re animated

Sort of a Kai and FMAB situation. Re animated in DSD style, following the manga plot from the beginning VERY closely (yes even the messy deaths and more fucked Kaiba and Bakura), including Yugioh R plot, including Waking the Dragons plot because that was pretty fun actually, the staring and filler are basically trimmed down.

GX and 5ds animes redubbed, uncut, unedited, and completed, with some better voice acting and less catch phrases.

That's it really that's all I want.