#Yami knows how to do everything because he spent a good amount of time just traveling

[toomanythought]

Julius sends the captains on team-building retreats you heard it here first folks.

[stillness-in-green]

The MLA(/PLF) Headcanon Post (1/2)

In response to this nice ask about whether I have any headcanon or thoughts about the current members of the MLA/PLF, I spent two weeks blithering 16.5K words of exactly that into a Word file, because when it comes to underappreciated characters I love, I do not understand restraint.  This post and its follow-up will cover all ranked ex-MLA members of the PLF, as well as Original Flavor Destro and Curious, since I wasn't going to leave them out of a project like this even if they aren't "current."

The ask only mentioned having previously read The Lore Post, the last exercise in ridiculousness that I wrote at the tail end of MLA Week, so I wrote this to summarize everything that doesn't appear there—which is to say that a lot of the material in these two posts will look familiar to anyone who's read my fanfic about the MLA cast.  There’s still plenty of new material to go around too, though!

So, I don't have much in the vein of askblog-style headcanons where I can randomly tell you stray trivia about a character’s favorite foods or their love languages or what have you; that stuff either comes up when I'm writing fanfic or it doesn't.  That said, below, please find a mix of thoughts I keep in mind when writing characters, facts that have only turned up in my fanfic/notes so far and not the Lore Post meta, and a selection of lightning round headcanon provided by cross-referencing a random number generator with some old questionnaires I keep around for OCs and tabletop characters.

In this post: Destro, Re-Destro and his advisors, and Geten.

Destro— 

General Thoughts The whole "revolutionary leader" thing came very naturally to him. He was committed, charismatic, very willing to risk his life and safety for the cause, and he cared about his people. All that said, he absolutely had a pompous, prideful streak, especially where it came to his justification for terrorism.  You only have to read his own words to see that.  Still, he was in large part reacting to the world he lived in, one of greater violence and danger than the current day. 

I like to think that—because he was genuine in wanting freedom for all—he would not approve of what became of his Army.  He'd be able to see how they got there, and he would probably have made much the same choices if he'd been there with them, but while he would have agreed that his role should be remembered—that's just Due Credit—he would never have wanted to become the nigh-on religious figure his followers turned him into. Continuing to fight the good fight for his ideals is one thing, but secret salutes and isolated villages and being raised from infancy to know your life has only as much worth as it can contribute to Liberation…  Well, it's just not what he would have wanted for his people, much less his descendants. 

Family Situation Chikara was only around 7 when his mother was killed, the event that would shape the rest of his life.  He wasn't hiding in the closet from the mob, either; he was kicking and punching and biting, his motivation to save her overflowing—but he was still only 7, and eventually overwhelmed.  His own life might well have ended there with hers, but for a group of neighborhood vigilante types (at least one of whom probably went on to a career as a hero, after legalization).

He went most of his adolescence without getting involved with anything more sinister than student newspapers, founding a secret meta-rights "club," and attending the odd larger protest, but when the government started talking about passing laws restricting the use of meta-abilities, he started getting very radical very quickly, and when some absolute snake started to use his martyred mother's words to bang the drum for banning quirk use outside the home outright, he went off the deep end.

Lightning Round (Randomly Selected Headcanons)

Favorite book genre?  Memoirs and biographies—he wouldn't have written his own if he didn't appreciate their value.  The intimacy of the personal juxtaposed against the broad scope of history appeals to both his regard for individuality and his revolutionary mindset.

Most prized possession?  Thoughts on material possessions in general?   He doesn’t generally prize material possessions—in fact, he’s something of a skinflint.  His most prized possession is an old pair of gloves that belonged to his mother, which he'd been wearing at the time of her murder.  He didn't come from money to begin with, but his mother’s story made enough of a splash that his financial situation was improved by well-meaning sorts sending along donations and contributions and the like, as well as government officials knowing they needed to be sure that he wound up somewhere at least semi-reasonable lest they court further outrage by mishandling the son of a martyred woman.  The money all went towards school and living expenses, though, leaving him quite experienced at balancing a budget, which would come in handy for that whole ‘leading a violent uprising against the state’ thing later on.

Academic Background: Got all the way through college!  Was involved in student groups as far back as middle school, and only got moreso the further in school he got.  Majored in Human Development; he was intending to go into the public health and policy sphere before the appropriation of his mother's language pissed him off so much he got into terrorism instead.

THE MODERN MLA

Re-Destro—

General Thoughts A huge amount of the way I write him is influenced by one single thing—his characterization as described in the second data book.  His personality is summed up there as "sokoshirenai yami"—bottomless darkness, or, as a friend translated it for me, "unfathomable gloominess."  That really, really stuck with me, because on the one hand, it's so opposed to virtually all of what we see of him on the page, where he's being cheerful or scornful or sycophantic; the closest he ever gets are his brief tears for Miyashita, Curious, and his other followers.

On the other hand, it makes so much sense that the man we see—the man who talks about the heavy burdens of his legacy, who was handed that legacy when he couldn't possibly have been any older than 6 or so, who willingly straps on a self-designed torture device to wring out more power, who all but worships the ground Shigaraki walks on even though Shigaraki is the reason Re-Destro no longer has legs to walk that same ground with—should be "unfathomably gloomy."  Of course he's gloomy!  He was never allowed to be his own person!  He has never in his life known true freedom, only existed as a vessel to bring that freedom to others!  And he can't really even talk to his closest friends about it, because his closest friends are still his followers, and he wouldn't want to weigh them down!

With that context, it makes all the sense in the world that he'd be so devoted to the man who relieved him of that burden.

Family Situation He loved his mother Yukie a great deal, despite knowing from early on that he was carrying the weight of the title because she believed she couldn’t.  (Perhaps growing up hearing about the martyrdom of Destro’s mother left him wanting to ensure the happiness of his own, for her happiness was very rare.)  He was 10 when she was killed in a Villain attack; she’d been on a daytrip over to a neighboring city to visit some of her erstwhile school friends.  The requisite mourning period was 49 days, and as the only surviving family member, quite a lot fell to him even before considerations of his role as Re-Destro.  it was perceived as better—for both the Army’s morale and for his own stability—for him to be involved with as much of the work of transition as possible, but obviously he couldn’t do it completely alone, nor should he.  Thus, for two months after Yukie’s death, the previous generation's Sanctum[i] stayed with him in his family home. Afterward, he moved in with Anchor (one of his grandfather's advisors), where he would spend the rest of his young adulthood until moving away for college.

Claustrophobia The name of that literal-iron-maiden deathtrap he brings to bear against Shigaraki is no coincidence: Rikiya developed claustrophobia over the course of a stint of abusive training when he was thirteen. He generally has a pretty good handle on disguising it, thanks to a combination of people being unwilling to ask him questions they don’t actually want the answers to and the fact that he had to learn how to operate through it in order to complete the training at all. He has never told anyone, largely because he’s never been able to recognize that it was abuse, and so his abuser remains a figure of some influence.

Education He was largely taught by private tutors, in his home and in theirs, rather than attending school, but I think he probably wasn't completely home-schooled.  Particularly once he'd decided that he did want to attend university—and not just some little local technical program, but a major school in a proper city—he probably attended classes a few times a week at his local high school just to get a feel for being around other people his own age. He'd been friends with Koku for several years by that point, otherwise he probably would have been pretty hopeless, but he was still a pretty odd duck by the time he got to university.

This, incidentally, is why he never pushed Geten too hard about school—his own experience of it was so weird and piecemeal that he mostly thinks of school as relevant only for the education it provides, and less so the crash course in social dynamics.  Since Geten doesn't care about getting an education (nor, indeed, about learning how not to be a rude little troll), and has a strong enough quirk that he'll never lack for a position in the Army even without a formal education, Rikiya is perfectly happy to let Geten have his way and just be minimally learnèd.

Stress His powers operate by infusing his body with the characteristic black matter of his manifested stress; he can increase his size with this (his so-called Liberated Form isn't just armored up; he becomes physically taller and bulkier), as well as throw handfuls of the materialized power.  A side effect of this is that his stress can also infuse itself into his bodily fluids. The stress matter is a highly dense particulate, so if Rikiya is not in proper control of himself, his proverbial blood, sweat and tears can be literally heavy with the weight of his power.

The Value of Life He cares very much about the lives of his followers, but those genuine feelings are filtered through both the mental compartmentalization required by an emotion-based quirk, and an upbringing that taught him to care about his underlings in the same way one would rare goods.  Valuable goods, certainly, goods worth being proud of, goods to be maintained with care, but still, ultimately, things that can be sold or traded or bartered off as necessary to further one's goals.  Even his own life, while "objectively" the most valuable of them all, isn't an exception to that policy—the Great Cause is more important than any individual life, up to and including his own.

On a Personal Note He’s something of an obvious weirdo to outsiders—his enthusiasm comes off as strident, his smiles overly polished—but despite that, he's bizarrely hard to dislike once they start spending real time with him.  He's not anywhere near as prideful about himself as he is the legacy of the MLA, for a start; he's actually pretty self-deprecating when he's not performing the whole Heir of Destro's Great Bloodline routine at people.  He's also happy to go along with other people sharing their hobbies (because he doesn't have any of his own).  The more you get to know him, the more obvious it becomes that he's a total basket case, but “total basket case” is still an improvement over “self-absorbed 1%-er CEO” that people like Spinner come in expecting.

What Are Boundaries? He has very little understanding of how to enforce boundaries around his private life, or, indeed, of why such boundaries might ever be necessary.  Oh, he can do the double life thing, keep the CEO of Detnerat separate from the Grand Commander of the Metahuman Liberation Army, but when it comes to the MLA itself, he's so groomed to devote himself to the cause that he doesn't really distinguish between the responsibilities of Re-Destro and the needs of Yotsubashi Rikiya.  Rather than being the egomaniac you might expect of a man with the absolute power over others he has, he instead struggles to assert himself as his own person at all.

Issues with boundaries are not uncommon with the MLA—they're all raised to see themselves as warriors to advance the cause before they are, like, “human beings”—but Rikiya’s are particularly exacerbated because he was raised by adults who were getting pretty paranoid about his bloodline's tendency to die young, and thus were always checking in on how he was doing, dictating his schedule, weighing in on his plans, and so on.  He just wasn’t raised with reasonable expectations for privacy.  Even as an adult, he'll give his apartment door code to pretty much anyone in the MLA who has even a semi-plausible reason to want it—certainly quite a few of the elders know it!  And it isn’t only the elders, either; Rikiya's phone and several of his accessories carry tracking chips courtesy of Skeptic, which Rikiya knows about and doesn't think is at all untoward.

While his experience dating Koku definitely taught him some hard lessons about how much he could allow himself to ask of people who would obey him without question (they broke up over Rikiya’s realization that Koku would never deny him anything, thanks to a cracked rib Koku didn’t see fit to tell Rikiya about until Rikiya hugged him a little too hard), he never learned how to value his own autonomy in turn.  Oh, he's the Grand Commander, and everyone around him has been raised to venerate his bloodline, so most of them would never even think about trying to take advantage of him as such, but it's absolutely the case that people who are bold or familiar enough to try can basically run right over him with minimal efforts made at obscuring the fact.  His life is full of people who do and have done exactly that, some to a net positive effect, and some—well.  See again the entry about his claustrophobia.

The abjectly terrible state of his sense of self-worth is also the reason the Claustro exists.  While he was relatively capable of trying to work around his phobia when he was younger, the older he got, the more it started to feel like leaving doors cracked behind him or only working in offices with big spacious floor plans and oversized windows was, in some way, Letting Down The Cause by allowing his fear to control him, rather than embracing it so he could properly stockpile it for later use.  A dinnertime chat with Curious about turning one’s trauma into a weapon for the good of others catalyzed this, leading to the development of the “burden-enhancing steel pressure mechanism,” Claustro. 

(It also means the clone of him made by Twice to handle Detnerat after Deika is bizarrely okay with its circumstances, which I will almost certainly write more about one of these days, but I’m still kind of reeling from that reveal, so more on that another time.)

Lightning Round

Religion?   He doesn't identify as being of a religious faith, but he was brought up in the same peaceful marriage of Shinto and Buddhism that the majority of Japanese people are, and like many, he adheres to a number of traditional practices more out of habit than devout faith.  There are two celebrations that demand significant emotional investment from him.  First comes the New Year's celebrations, important because the MLA prides itself on looking to a brighter, freer future, and it's a period when he can let himself think that maybe he'll be just that little bit closer to Liberation by the end of the year than he was at the start.  Second is Obon, a summer festival for honoring one's departed ancestors. Since his authority and his life's work derive entirely from his bloodline, he's obligated to care about this one, though in practice, he tends to shy away from thinking much about Destro (who he has very twisted-up feelings about indeed) in favor of less emotionally fraught waters.

What did he dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?   He never really had a significant period where he thought about being e.g. an astronaut or a doctor or a hero; in fact, it came as something of a surprise to him the first time Koku asked him what he was planning to do when he grew up.  He always just had the nebulous expectation of, "Be the Grand Commander," and the elders were happy to leave it at that until he brought it up on his own.[ii]  

How does he behave around children? He likes kids!  He’s wistful about the freedom enjoyed by happy children while also being sympathetic to ones that seem overly burdened.  He’s not the most natural person in the world with them, but most of them can tell that the awkwardness comes from a well-intentioned place, and will treat him as a funny-looking man who’ll let them bother him at length without getting mean.  It turns out he’s actually pretty good with them, then, if only by virtue of being easily bullied.  (This, notably, goes for non-MLA-affiliated children.  Everything’s much more formal within the cult, though it didn’t Geten long to suss out the “easily-bullied” part, either.)

Trumpet—

General Thoughts The largest factor in how I write Koku is, of course, the headcanon that he and Rikiya are ex-lovers, and neither of them is 100% over it even all these years later.  Beyond that, though, Koku is the most temperate of the group, the one with the most easy charisma (MLA members are more swayed by Re-Destro, but Koku does better with outsiders who aren't predisposed to hanging on Rikiya's every word).  He strives to come off as The Sensible One, and given the extremes the rest of the inner circle are capable of, it's not hard for him to maintain that title.  He's as messed up as any of them, though, second only to Rikiya in levels of childhood grooming.  He thinks of himself as a practical man, but he is deeply indoctrinated, the boundaries of his expectations very much defined by his upbringing, so he never really sees it coming when he gets clobbered by something from out of left field.

Family Situation: Koku has the largest family of the identified members.  Aside from his grandfather (called Old Man Hanabata, the founder of the Hearts & Minds Party, and passed away by the canon era), Koku has cousins, nieces, nephews and more, courtesy of his uncle, his older sister and her husband, and other extended family.

He’s also the member most accustomed to wealth, power and influence.  He's from a rural area, certainly, but being in a family of hereditary politicians (and with that family not suffering a string of untimely deaths and disappearances like Rikiya's did), he was raised from the start with ready access to money and nice things.  Still, for all his family's sway in a major branch of the MLA's operations, they're not First Families, and thus don't have any elders in their ranks, making them still somewhat subordinate to said elders when it comes to orders about the Great Cause.  (He’s working on it.)

Meeting Re-Destro Koku and Rikiya met at 12 and 10 respectively, when Koku tagged along with Old Man Hanabata for a meeting RD was likewise accompanying Anchor for.  It had been the better part of a year since Rikiya's mother passed away, but he was still strikingly melancholy for a boy that age, which—along with all the weight given to the importance of the meeting—left quite an impression on Koku.  Koku thus became Rikiya's first real friend in his own age group, a friendship heartily encouraged by everyone around them.  Koku was well-behaved, intelligent, a little older but not too much so, and set to become influential without a danger of becoming too influential; he was seen as a good choice for a friend.[iii]

The Break-Up Painful as it was at the time, there was a silver lining to his and RD's post-college break-up: it got Koku out of the elders' pocket.  He’s been groomed for one thing or another all his life, but after he became friends with Rikiya, he was always getting leaned on to report back to the First Families about how Re-Destro was doing, and to try to influence him towards actions the First Families approved of.  In a very real sense, Koku was part of the apparatus keeping Rikiya from any real freedom.  Their break-up and subsequent estrangement meant that the elders had far less to breathe down Koku's neck about, and by the time they reconciled, Trumpet had gotten his feet under him, as had Re-Destro, and they were both better able to fend off such background meddling.

This doesn't mean Trumpet's not still carrying a torch, however.  He thought he was handling his long-banked feelings pretty well—being Professional, being the advisor Re-Destro needed and as much a friend as Rikiya would allow—right up until Rikiya scared the life out of him by nearly dying in Deika.  He's all but glued himself to Rikiya since, as much as he can get away with given their respective responsibilities.

As an Advisor Other than leading the HMP, he does some work with internal politics and reputation. It's not, strictly speaking, his actual job as advisor—Re-Destro or the elders would probably be sought for more formal or critical mediations—but he and the people who report directly to him do enough travelling around to see constituents that they're often in a position to field those tensions before they get big enough to require attention from higher up.  Koku's happy to do so, in fact—not because he just loves handling petty arguments about resources, but because the HMP is a faction of the MLA in and of itself, and mediating is a boost to that faction's standing and autonomy.  (Also, it's that much less on Rikiya's ever-overburdened plate.)

Lightning Round

What would he do if he needed to make dinner but the kitchen was busy?Ahahahahaha, “make dinner but the kitchen was busy,” please.  Any time there could feasibly be someone else occupying a kitchen he has any business being in himself, it would be a housekeeper, and s/he would be making food for him/his family.  It’s not as though Trumpet has never cooked—he did live alone for some years after school—but outside of a scant few years in university, there’s never really been a time that kitchen use overlap would have been a problem for him. 

Favorite indulgence and feelings surrounding indulging. Probably gourmet cuisine, especially imported stuff. He’s had tailored clothes all his life; they’re just part of the job.  Expensive alcohol also doesn’t wow him; it wouldn’t be strange to find some sake maker whose family has been doing it for sixteen generations in the village he grew up in.  It’s a lot harder to cultivate a true gourmand’s palate out in the sticks, though, no matter how rich your family is.  Living in actual civilization affords a great deal more variety—and anyway, nice dinners are one of the few things he can reliably tempt Rikiya into accepting.  As to his feelings about indulging in general, he’s broadly For It.  He works very hard, he seldom gets real time off, and it doesn’t help the Great Cause for him to deny himself nice things, unlike some people.  (He’s maybe a bit bitter.)

Does he like to be the center of attention all of the time? Not especially.  Oh, he’s very good at it, certainly, and he doesn’t dislike it, but being the center of attention is practically always going to be tied up in The Great Work, so he desperately needs to get out of the spotlight from time to time, if only to be able to turn off the persona.

Curious—

General Thoughts There are two main factors in how I write Chitose: her practicality and her rapaciousness.  I write her as having an appreciation for good moral character in other people, especially when it makes a good story, but not considering herself particularly bound by conventional morality: her moral compass is Liberation, and she follows it unswervingly.  I also write her as predatory, lusty about a lot of things, often to the point of overstepping.  It doesn't hurt anyone that she likes hearty foods and strong alcohol, but she also doesn't have much regard for peoples' boundaries, and even less so when she thinks they have something to offer the Great Cause.

While that trait isn't without its benefits, it can get pretty ugly, too, as we see in how she treats, and talks to, Toga.  Even with Rikiya, the only person she thinks of as 'above' her in any meaningful sense, she's not at all above manipulation.  She's respectful of him, but knows him too well to always take him at his word.  He plainly can't always see what's best for him, but what's best for him is best for Liberation, and therefore, as a Liberation warrior, it's her responsibility to sometimes make decisions for him.  He'll appreciate it in the long run—he always does.  (Skeptic and Geten have similar views—Rikiya makes it easy.)

Family Situation She probably has the best actual relationship with her family of the group—her mothers are removed enough from the heart of MLA politics that her relationship with Rikiya doesn't color her family life the way Koku's does his, and she's much more sociable than Skeptic or Geten.  She doesn't get home much—just the major holidays, work permitting—but she's in frequent enough communication for a grown woman, and chats with her younger sister more often than that.

Meeting Re-Destro She met Rikiya properly when they were 21 and 27 respectively.  They were living in the same city at the time (him running Detnerat, her in university), so of course she'd seen him at the odd MLA event he turned up at, but when she landed an internship in her junior year, she cheekily turned up one day in her reporter capacity to interview him as “a local rising star of industry.”  It was the first chance they'd had to talk one-on-one, and would not be the last, as she frankly elbowed her way into his life and gradually sussed out that here was a man with Problems.  He and Koku were still in a distant patch at the time; she is largely responsible for getting them back on friendly terms as a way of showing her Pure Intentions.

The fact that her Pure Intentions both land her a square position as one of RD's advisors herself and get Rikiya to a better place emotionally is calculated, but not, therefore, untrue.  Ironically, while she was concerned about looking like a gold-digger, the MLA elders were probably thrilled and relieved to hear rumors that Rikiya was getting romantically involved again.  And with a lovely young MLA woman!  They wouldn't even need to worry about surrogacy arrangements!  (Not having grown up around the Yotsubashis, Chitose is unaware of exactly how pointed an interest the elders take in the matter of securing that bloodline.)

Feelings Today She loves Rikiya dearly, and prizes his regard more highly than anything in her life, but has not devoted much thought to the idea of being in love with him. She's married to her work, as they say, but she's also keenly aware that Rikiya would, for a great many reasons, be a lot of work to be in love with.  She's decided it's generally better for his mental well-being, and therefore also better for the Great Cause (she’s much more capable of reading that relationship reciprocally than Rikiya is), to make sure he's eating at least one good meal a week and getting some proper socialization in outside of MLA meet-and-greets.

As an Advisor She handles external politics and reputation--it's her job to prime Japan culturally for the Liberation agenda in ways more wide-reaching than Trumpet (he's head of a political party, and that's not nothing, but that party is still a small minority on the floor of the Diet).  She pulls attention to stories that benefit the MLA, and diverts attention from stories that don't.  This is far broader than just publishing Destro's memoir; it also means poking holes in the broader Hero Society narrative.  She does this by providing as broad a platform possible for stories about the tragedies of excessive regulation, the evils of quirk-related bias, the abuses of power heroes are capable of, and so on.

Lightning Round

Does she remember names or faces easier? She’s quite good with both, actually, but I’d give names the advantage because she works primarily with written rather than visual mediums.  (Also, BNHA names being the ridiculous puns that they are, you can probably tell more about a person in HeroAca Land by analyzing their name than their face anyway.) 

Is she more concerned with defending her honor, or protecting her status? Her status, absolutely.  Impugning her honor hurts no one but her; she can laugh that off because honor is a silly social construct anyway.  Threatening her status is a much more dangerous prospect—her status is long-cultivated to enable the advancement of Liberation ideology; it lets her keep an eye on Re-Destro, who needs as many people looking out for him as he can get; it’s what she’s worked for all her life. Curious will fuck you up if you threaten her status.

In what situation was she the most afraid she’d ever been? The time she got in trouble for nearly exploding some dude’s face off for stealing her purse.  She was 17, had spent very little time in non-Liberated territory before, and was not raised to wait on heroes to solve her problems.  She wasn’t afraid of the thief or the hero, really, but she was completely terrified that she might have just blown over half a century of secrecy by not performing Helpless Civilian well enough. The terror was pretty convincing to the police interviewing her about it, anyway.  On the whole, it was a very valuable learning experience!  

Skeptic—

General Thoughts Tomoyasu is a character I haven't written extensively yet, but what I think is most interesting about him so far is the contrast of his hyper-modern methods with the bone-deep zealotry for the cause.  See, Rikiya, Koku and Chitose all grew up in the sticks; Rikiya and Koku had money from a young age, but it was old money, tied up in trusts.  (Geten didn't have any of those, but Geten's a different story for other reasons.)  Tomoyasu grew up in a major city from the start; he was a technological prodigy from practically as soon as he could hold a tablet.  He has very little respect for the old ways of doing things when he knows there are newer, better ways of advancing the Cause. However, none of that makes him more likely to break from the MLA's ranks—if anything, his idiosyncratic approach just causes him to approach Liberation in really weird ways, ways no one else would ever come up with.

Pressganging Bubaigawara Jin based on a plan to clone Re-Destro?  Who else would that ever even occur to, much less such that it became the basis for an elaborate psychological assault?  But that's Skeptic in a nutshell—respect the old for what it did at the time, but don't think that means you have to use the same methods they did forever as you pick up the torch to carry it forward.

Family Situation He has an amicable but not intimate relationship with his family.  His parents are very proud of what he's done for the cause and how he won the confidence of Re-Destro, but they don't make much claim to understand how his mind works.  In turn, he recognizes the value of their support over the years—he certainly made a lot of waves with his unabashed venom for the MLA leadership's hidebound traditionalism, and his parents' staunch backing meant a lot for him being able to take the stands he did—but is not very emotionally close with them.  Might find himself with an older brother, if I ever occasion to write about his family situation in more depth.

Education He graduated a four-year university program for getting his computer science degree in two very intense years, during which he did virtually nothing for the Great Cause, his intention being to better position himself for maximum ability to advance Liberation afterward.  See above re: battles his parents fought for him while he was busy modernizing.

Meeting Re-Destro He met Re-Destro via Curious.  He was 22, just a year out of university and already climbing the chain of command at a young telecommunications company.  Rikiya was 33, working on the Claustro, and needed proprietary comms built to a higher standard of security than Detnerat was focused on.  Curious, who was always better positioned to be keeping up with the local personalities, introduced them.

Tomoyasu attempted to keep a civil tongue in his head the first few times he and RD met, but he'd been running on bile and energy drinks for years by that point and was hard-pressed to stop just because he was meeting his Grand Commander.  If anything, finding out that Rikiya was okay with his direction and his mouth eventually helped him chill the fuck out, marginally.

On that note, Skeptic is absolutely the advisor most willing to backtalk Rikiya right to his face.  (Rikiya loves him for it.)  Oh, he'll still accede to Rikiya's wishes, and Re-Destro's orders are his highest priority, but that doesn't mean he feels obligated to be diffident about it.  Like Curious, he has a highly developed sense of, "It's fine if it's for the greater good," which will and has led to him taking things into his own hands when he thinks he knows best (which is always).  He's not going to explicitly disobey orders, but he will creatively interpret them if he feels strongly about them, and he will try to "anticipate" orders before anyone has time to give him specific ones, the better to tailor his efforts towards proving his methods and goals correct rather than being stuck with orders he hates.

On Names I’ve definitely evolved some in my approach on this since I started writing the MLA cast, but at current, Skeptic and Geten are the only ones I consistently write as using and thinking mainly in terms of code names rather than given names.  Trumpet is too familiar with the public/private divide, and has too much intimate history with Rikya-the-person, to default to Re-Destro; Curious is too trained to look for The Human Heart of the Story.  Re-Destro himself, ever since breaking up with Koku, has always tried to use code names for people (himself excluded, because he has enormous self-confidence issues about measuring himself up to the original Destro), but can slip into given names when he’s vulnerable.  To Skeptic and Geten, though, the code name is the real name, for all intents and purposes.  The cover identity is a fake; the whole point of the code name is that you’re proving yourself worthy of taking up your proper place in the Army.  Of course the name you win for yourself is the name that counts.

Lightning Round

Given a blank piece of paper, a pencil, and nothing to do, what would happen? You’d pretty much have to lock him in a room with nothing but paper and pencil in it for that to be his first resort rather than whatever item of personal electronics he’d otherwise have on his person.  But assuming some actual plausible scenario—couldn’t bring his electronics into a government building, let’s say—he would find trying to do something productive on paper and pencil rather beneath him, and he’s an inveterate fidgeter.  I mostly see him folding that ludicrously tall frame of his into a chair and setting to using the pencil to poke about three hundred holes in the sheet of paper, meticulous and orderly, while muttering complaints to himself the whole time until something annoys him a bit too much and he jabs the whole pencil through the page. 

Who does he see as his best friend?  His worst enemy? I headcanon him having a very reasonable, functional, productive relationship with his No. 1 advisor, Red, and being reasonable, functional, and productive probably goes a lot farther on making you Skeptic’s “friend” than any amount of emotional intimacy.  But “best friend” is not really the kind of language Skeptic uses for his relationships; if you were to ask him who his best friend is, he’d probably tell you, “Iced coffee.”  As to his worst enemy, that’s just whoever is annoying him most on any given day, from difficult clients, to people annoying Re-Destro, stodgy elders, that hero grinning like a tool, that couple walking too slow in front of him on the sidewalk, etc. And Skeptic is pretty proactive about dealing with enemies, as much as he can be.

Has he ever been bitten by an animal? How was he affected (or unaffected)? lol he is a city boy and always has been.  He probably tried to pet a stray cat once out of curiosity, and because it seemed like the sort of thing people did, and then has never forgiven Animals In General when it bit him and then ran off. 

Geten—

General Thoughts Another one I haven’t written a great deal about yet, particularly in the present day, though I’m looking for that to change soonish.  One thing I’d like to explore is Geten when he’s not seething with rage and shame because he failed to bring Re-Destro a victory in Deika. The fandom tends to write Geten as an always-angry attack dog barely contained beneath a chilly veneer, and that’s fair—ever since we got the face reveal, ever since the MLA’s defeat at Shigaraki’s hands, Geten has been an always-angry attack dog barely contained beneath a chilly veneer.

But if you look at Geten from before we knew what was under the hood, you find a different story.  “Chilly and angry all the time” is not at all how he acted when he was fighting Dabi!  At that point, he was talkative, even chatty.  He engaged in a lot of snide smack-talk; he was obviously confident in himself and he spoke very proudly of the MLA as a collective.

He was still quiet at the dinner he attended with Rikiya and his advisors, yes, so I don’t think Geten’s done some kind of full 180 on characterization.  I do, however, think that Geten has a sense of humor in there, has a sense of camaraderie with the MLA rooted in more than just his relationship with Re-Destro, even if Re-Destro is obviously his most important person.  I don’t know if we’ll ever see that in the manga proper, given everything that’s happened, but it’s worth remembering in terms of what Geten is like when he’s solely among allies.

Family Situation Orphaned at a young age, and a problem child from then on.  He passed through a series of foster parents and state facilities before eventually crossing paths with the leader of the local MLA branch in Kesseru, Beacon (more on him next time).  This encounter would lead to him being sent to a group home with a reputation for being good with such difficult cases, giving them Structure and Companionship and Meaningful Work.  (Spoilers: It’s Liberation.)

Despite evening out considerably after a significant meeting with Re-Destro when he was 7[iv], Geten never got particularly close to his adopted family/the other kids at the group home.  He's very favored by the Grand Commander, for one thing, and he has the strongest quirk in the home for another—and since he learned the quirk supremacist stuff from them, that’s a pretty significant part of the dynamic!  Both of these factors mean there's some distance between him and the rest. Still, he's not on bad terms with them—indeed, his foster parents are quite proud of him—and he would probably tear out someone's throat with his teeth for threatening them, if only as a matter of pride.  

There are 4-6 other kids there at any given time; for the bulk of his young adulthood, there were two older than him, the others younger.  He doesn't have much time for Big Brother Pastimes, but is not completely immune to them, either, particularly where the youngest kids are concerned.  His tolerance for Little Brother Antics, however, is nonexistent—if the older kids think they can ruffle his hair and treat him like a kid, they can square the fuck up; he is Number One around here and don’t forget it.

Education Geten never went to school, but he's not completely uneducated.  He had some tutoring in the group home, some more from Re-Destro personally, and has a pile of books he keeps at his bedside, mostly strategic in nature.  He finds them vexing at times, but is slowly reading through them anyway because Re-Destro asked him to.  He’s been a bit more diligent about it since he was made a regiment leader, because lord knows Dabi isn't contributing much.

On Re-Destro Re-Destro became fond of Geten for the same reason he became fond of Skeptic and Curious—Geten was willing to push back.  He really did make some attempts early on to keep Geten at a proper distance, mindful of anything that would look too much like favoritism.  And Geten knew, in the hard-headed way of a child, that Re-Destro was being a grown-up about things, trying to be mature, trying to be impartial.  Geten just didn’t care about any of those things.  Every time, he would listen very seriously to the things Rikiya told him, nod attentively, repeat back what he’d been told, and then go on about doing his own thing anyway.  And his own thing was, typically, to keep coming back.

Of course, if there’s anything we can tell about Re-Destro from the way he treats Shigaraki, it’s that Re-Destro loves people who take the choice away from him.

Eventually, of course, Geten grew up (mostly; I peg him at 19 now), joined the MLA officially, and had to settle into the structure of the Army.  It began to lead to trouble for Re-Destro, when Geten blatantly disobeyed him; it stopped being cute.  Still, the sense that he Knows What’s Best lingers, so Geten works himself very, very hard to be everything Re-Destro needs him to be and more, so that maybe Re-Destro’s burden will be just that little bit lighter.

On Quirk Supremacy (and Re-Destro, still) Here’s the thing about Geten and the whole, “A life without a strong meta-ability has no value,” line, and this continues to drive me mad because of how people getting it wrong influences the bad takes on the MLA in this fandom: Geten is not a reliable witness.  He is not one of the leaders of the MLA, nor does he speak for its rank and file. Even if you assume the absolute worst about his implications there, far worse than is justified by the text, Geten’s very name, Apocrypha, means that he cannot be presumed to be aligned with MLA orthodoxy.

The only one of the people close to Re-Destro who wasn't born and raised MLA, he still manages to come off, in some ways, as the most zealous of the lot of them.  But really, it’s very noticeable that Geten—unlike Re-Destro himself, and unlike even Re-Destro’s close cohort—never talks about the original Destro, never even mentions him.  When he thinks about his leader, he only ever thinks about Rikiya.  Geten doesn’t follow Re-Destro because of his bloodline, because of the tenets; he follows Re-Destro because of personal loyalty.[v]

So how best to do that?  Well, think about it: Geten is not terribly intelligent, nor wealthy, nor well-connected. He and Trumpet are the ones most influenced by the quirk supremacist line of thought, Trumpet because his relatively weak quirk comes off as exponentially stronger the more he can surround himself in people it works on, and Geten because his strong quirk lets him mentally justify Re-Destro's investment in him despite his other insufficiencies.

Compare this with Re-Destro, who only ever talks about quirks in terms of freedom. Even more prominently, look at Skeptic and Curious, who are not at all defined by their quirks and how strong or weak said quirks may be.  Indeed, those two devote scarcely a thought to the matter because they contribute to the cause in much more important ways and seem to be perfectly comfortable with where that leaves them.

Geten may not be very smart or influential, but he’s very capable of looking at what strengths he does have and focusing hard on those.  That, I think, is what really lead to his embracing quirk supremacy, even in the face of evidence that he doesn’t have the whole picture: the search for a way to measure himself up to the movers and shakers Rikiya is otherwise surrounded with, and not come up drastically wanting.  

“Apocrypha” Geten has been Geten for a long time, since long before the MLA types usually take up their code names. He’s also an outlier in the MLA for having a name in Japanese instead of in English—the only one who does!  My headcanon, unless and until we get some other members with Japanese code names, is that he got the name directly from Re-Destro—possibly even in the conversation that lead to him imprinting so hard on the man when he was 7—and insisted on keeping it before any other code name that was suggested to him in later years.

But yes, he does have a normal Japanese name on file at the group home, which he’s obligated to answer to on the rare occasions that someone from Child Services is checking in or he and Re-Destro are out in public.  I don’t plan to bother coming up with it unless I need to, as I expect we’ll get it in a character profile one of these days.

His Quirk While a lot of people like the vibe of Geten and Dabi being somewhat equivalently vulnerable to their own quirks, and I agree it makes for good fanart, in truth, Geten is only as vulnerable to his ice as Endeavor is his flames.  Which is to say, he isn't immune, but he's certainly more resistant to it than the average person would be!  There’s already plenty of good material to contrast Dabi and Geten without pretending their quirks are more mirrored than is actually the case.

Lightning Round

How does he treat people in service jobs? He doesn’t, because he’s never in a position to interact with people in service jobs.  There have been times he’s gone out with Re-Destro, but in those cases he’s mostly let Re-Destro handle the human interaction.

What does he dislike in other people? Laziness; the lack of a higher purpose of some kind.  (It’s possible he’d thaw out on his disdain for Dabi considerably if he knew more about Dabi’s plans to undermine the whole of the Hero System than Dabi is inclined to tell him.)

Is he always there for a friend in need? Sure, as long as by “friend” you mean “fellow Liberation warrior” and by “need” you mean “in need of an icicle punched through one of someone else’s desperately fleshy body parts.”

Footnotes

[i]  Sanctum II's tastes being what they are, this probably means Rikiya is the MLA member most likely to be able to perform traditional Japanese tea ceremony.

[ii]  And there were elders who would have been happy to leave it at that permanently, I'm sure.  There are always going to be those regents who have trouble relinquishing power back to the boy prince when he grows up and becomes king, you know?

[iii]  And, when it eventually got out that they were dating, a relatively solid match, give or take the surrogacy arrangements that would eventually need to be made.

[iv]  I’m hoping canon gives us some details on this eventually, so I’m not planning to iron out more headcanon on the matter unless I absolutely have to.

[v]  This, incidentally, is a large part of why Rikiya does keep him around—it’s soothing to have someone around who never brings up his ancestor.  Anyway, after Geten evolved his quirk, people stopped complaining so much, even though RD never did get around to, like, giving Geten any formal responsibilities.  Geten, who knows very well that Re-Destro’s real advisors have real jobs, mostly took this as reason to be all the stronger, in hopes that he’d eventually be given one.

[theblogthatdoesanimethings]

Black Clover! Scenario:

Prompt: As Parents 

Asta: Asta would be the fun parent and would be the one that his child confides in. I consider him to be emotionally stable to some degree and his child would find comfort in that. Due to his experience at the orphanage, he would know how to take care of a child and knows exactly what children like. He’s the type of person that his partner could rely on when it comes to their child. The level of responsibility would be equal and he’d do as much work as his partner does, making it a very balanced relationship. If his child has magic, it would make him really happy because he knows that they won’t face the same discrimination he faced during his time as a magic knight. If his child isn’t born with magic, then he’d train with them and ensure that they know that being born without magic doesn’t mean you’re automatically weak. Asta has a strong sense of morals and would pass them down to his child, ultimately raising his child to be a good person who aids those in need of help. Lastly, Asta is an energetic individual and is filled with passion for everything he does. As a result, there is a high chance of his child being just as loud and energetic as he is.

Yuno: Yuno, similar to Asta, has a large amount of experience with children because of his time spent at the orphanage. Therefore, I think he’d do a great job when raising his child because he understands how the basics work (physical needs) and knows how to entertain a child (toys, social stuff, etc.). However, and you can see parts of this with Asta and the other children from the orphanage, he isn’t the best with affection because he comes off as physically distant. His way of showing affection would be through his words and subtle physical gestures (bumping fists, ruffling of hair, etc.). I think his relationship would be equal with his partner when raising their child. It doesn’t matter to him whether or not his child has magic or doesn’t (though they most likely will). Regardless of his child’s magical status, he’d treat them the same and would help them train for their future goals. He’s a surprisingly attentive parent and he makes sure that his child has everything they need (might stem from not getting a lot of things as a child). Overall, he’s a good parent and his child would have a good head on their shoulders 

Luck: Luck isn’t the greatest as a parent, but it isn’t something you can blame him for. His sense of parental affection is a bit twisted because of how his mother treated him and this sort of need for dependency she forced upon him. However, by talking it out with his partner before hand, and by watching how his partner acts, he would figure it out eventually. He’s not great with responsibility and raising a child physically, so his partner would have to deal with the harder things. Despite that, later on he’s not a bad parent. He’s good at playing with his child and keeping them entertained (it’s hard to not see his child laughing and having fun when he’s nearby). He has to be watched sometimes to make sure he doesn’t do anything dangerous because there’s a high chance he might accidentally put his child in danger. Other than that, he’s protective of his child (as all of them are, but he’s on another level). It wouldn’t matter to him if his child has magic or not because he’d teach them how to fight regardless. Their fights are a bonding moment for the both of them and it helps them grow stronger. He’s physically affectionate and he loves giving his child hugs and peppering them with affection when they’re at a younger age (he lays off as they get older). His child would grow up to be quite energetic and someone who enjoys life quite a bit 

Yami: He’s already a dad to the Black Bulls so you can see how he’d be as a parent through observing his interactions with them. The one key difference is that he’d be more responsible with his own child (though he would be far from being the most responsible dad). When his child is younger, he’d be good at playing with them and keeping them entertained. He’s the fun parent, despite his appearance (and his child might inherent his sarcastic behaviour). He’s not very physically affectionate and he shows his love through subtle gestures (ruffling of hair is one example). He’s attentive to the needs of his child and he keeps watch over them. When his child needs something he’s there to help out (however, this only happens when the child is still young). He’s big on allowing his child to be independent at a young age and manages to persuade his partner to let his child to be free to pursue their own interests. One of his key phrases is “surpass your limits” and he would apply that to his child. In the end, his child grows up well (might be a bit lazy, but that’s fine), and have a strong sense of morals. 

Vangeance: Vangeance would base his parenting methods off of the way Julius treated him (after all he’s the only proper parental figure he had). As a result, he’d be one of the best parents. He’s a responsible person (if you excuse that one thing) and he learns quickly how to care for a child physically and emotionally. He might rely on his partner a bit in the beginning, but he gets the basics fast. He’s a kind person and he’s supportive of his child, regardless of their appearance or magical status. He adores his child and treats them with nothing but respect and he likes to teach them things (speaking, reading, etc.). He might struggle with physical affection in the beginning, but gradually he would become less distant and more affectionate. He would try to give his child everything they want because he was never treated properly as a child, but he wouldn’t spoil them to the extent that it becomes a problem. When his child is of age, he teaches them how to fight and use their magic (if they have any), and he enjoys those moments shared between them. He made the mistake of inviting Yami to spend some time with his child, and his child had to listen to Yami talk about when he was the Captain of the Golden Dawn and any funny stories he can remember of Vangeance. His child would grow up to be a strong and responsible person. 

Julius: There is no question that Julius would be the best parent. He’s the parent that is physically and emotionally available and is always there for his child when they need his help. He’s supportive of his child regardless of what they do and he’s filled with pride constantly. He might be a bit oblivious about things in the beginning, but he figures out everything within the first week (he might have also done some extra research before the baby was born). He gives his child whatever they want, but similar to Vangeance, he doesn’t spoil them to the point where it becomes a problem. His child, whenever they need to talk about something, goes to him because he’s the parent/person that everyone goes to when they need someone too confide in. If his child doesn’t have magic, it doesn’t bother him at all (it might fascinate him honestly). If his child does have magic, he’d help them learn how to fight (and might internally freak out about how cool his child’s magic is, because there’s a high chance his child has unique magic). He’s essentially a child, and therefore he knows how to have fun and ensure that his child is having a good time too. Despite his childish nature at times, he is a responsible individual, and therefore his child would be responsible too (plus all those morals he has would be passed down too). In the end, his child grows up well and is a kind person 

-theloveproductofhetalia

[atsukashii]

Can I get Alex x Tokoyami + they/them pronouns + 🌙 + Black for the event?

i just wanna be happier am I being too greedy?

✘ how do you get over heartbreak if you keep seeing the reason for your shredded heart in everything you do?

✘ GENRE: angst

✘ WARNINGS: aged up characters, death sorry thats like the only angst i can write.

✘ WORD COUNT: 1.4k

There’s not a set of guidelines that help someone get over a heartbreak. You know this, because you’ve scoured the darkest depths of the internet praying to find something that will help this. You’d tried the dating apps, the copious amounts of cheap wine which you then regretted when your head was hung over the toilet the following morning. You’d even decided that letting your friends set you up on a blind date was a good idea.

Whether it is actually a good idea or not, you’re not sure yet. As you sit at the table at a fancy restaurant across town from your messy apartment, you can’t help but look around in a soft kind of wander. You’d never gone to places like this with your ex, not because he didn’t want to treat you to places like this, but the fact that you both preferred the low-key, hole in the wall restaurants that only sit ten people that he always used to manage to discover.

Mentally slapping yourself, you try to shove all memories of him from your mind. Just for one night, you promise. Just let me have one night.

“Alex?” A voice calls from your side, startling you enough that your knee hits the table. The stranger smiles softly at you as you bite back a groan at the sharp pain radiating from your leg.

“I’m Sen Kaibara,” He explains, holding his hand out towards you as an offering. Gently you raise your own, hoping he doesn’t comment on your slightly sweaty palms.

“Ashido has told me a lot about you,” Sen continues with a sweet smile as he sits in the chair opposite you. He seems nice enough of a guy, and you truly try in the hour that follows to give him your undivided attention, slipping into easy conversation around eating your meal. He’s easy to talk to, and you mentally thank Mina for not setting you up with a complete nut-job. It’s not until he’s explaining what he does for a living does your mind begin to play tricks on you.

At first, it's just a flash of black in your peripheral vision. The next, you swear lights glint off a set of ruby eyes that has your body turning so fast that you shake the table. Your eyes frantically search over the space where you saw it, but come up empty as there’s no sight of those familiar eyes anywhere outside the restaurant.

“Alex?” Turning back to Sen, you try to offer him a weak smile, but the adrenaline that’s causing your heart to race has you panting for breath. It looked like him, but it was a trick of the light. He’d left you. This time, you place your shaking hands on the table and offer a weak excuse of needing to get home because of work early the next day, and luckily for you, Sen doesn’t make a fuss. Only offering you a knowing smile in return before waving down the waiter for the bill.

The second time this happens, it's when you’re on your way home from work. You’re walking down the sidewalk, arms full of bags from your previous stop to grab some groceries - the stack of ramen in your cupboard no longer cutting it. You’d been on the other side of the road, focusing on fishing your keys from your coat pocket when you’d seen him. Knelt down against the concrete, scratching a filthy cat as it nuzzled his ankles. Your heart jumps into your throat, and you attempt to swallow down your emotion as you move forwards almost in a haze. His name almost falls from your lips before a loud beep cuts it off.

There’s a hand at your elbow, and suddenly you’re flying backwards, and headlights fly by in front of you, however you manage to catch your reflection in the windows of the car.

“Are you alright?” Comes the voice of the stranger who had pulled you away from being cleaned up by a car. Blinking slowly, body settled in shock, you’re not sure what had just happened. Your eyes lock onto the spot underneath the blinking neon sign of the store across the street, and there lays the filthy tabby, curled in a ball - but no other person in sight. The reality scares you, and ignoring the strangers question, you quickly gather the bag you hadn’t realised you’d dropped before you scurry home.

The third time it happens, you’re sitting on the front steps of your apartment complex watching the rainfall mere inches from you. Sticking your hand out, droplets accumulate in the palm of your hand before quickly over spilling. Some stick closely to your skin and trail down your arm, wetting the plain black hooded sweater that dwarfs your figure. After Tokoyami had left, you hadn’t known what to do with it, so at first, you’d take it and the remainder of his things that you’d had on hand to a donation bin. You’d stood in front of it for what felt like hours, your body not physically letting you drop it in. Eventually, you had just thrown the bag into the back of your car and driven home.

You know he wouldn’t have cared if you had tossed his things, he was laid back like that. But you cared. Was it so bad that you still weren’t ready to get over him?

You’d been together for only a year and a half, but that time felt like an eternity. You knew every part of that man, and he understood every aspect of you, even better than you did yourself. People can’t expect you to get over him in less than a few months. Not when you’d lived with him, surrounded by his presence, not when you’d spent every waking moment with him, not when you’d loved him.

With stinging eyes, you eventually stand up from your seat, the biting cold finally urging you to your feet. You don’t get the chance to turn around though, because right before the steps as if he’d stepped out of the shadows was Tokoyami.

He wore the same clothes as the last time you’d seen him slipping out your front door with a small wave over his shoulder. He looked as perfect in this moment as he had back then. But unlike back then, he didn’t look at you with happiness in his eyes, leaking from his very being. Now, only pain swirled in those ruby eyes.

“I’m sorry I didn’t make it to our dinner.” His deep voice rumbles between you, the sound so familiar it causes the welled tears to slip down your cheeks. You had been so mad that day, sitting at the restaurant he’d found for you both, sitting at the booth waiting for an hour for him to show up. You’d never felt more ashamed and humiliated as you had when the server came over with a pitying look, asking if you wanted to order yet. Instead, you’d shaken your head, thanking the man, before walking out of the store and towards your friend's house, not wanting to return home that night. Tears of frustration had covered your face the whole trek to Mina’s apartment that night, but now, its tears full of anguish that slip down your cheeks with no sign of stopping. You’d been so mad, but not now. Now, you missed him.

“‘Yami, it’s okay,” you say over the rumbling sky as you step into the pouring rain, not caring as the bitter water soaks you to the bone.

“You need to let me go,” He says again, and your body begins to shake from the cold. His eyes plead at you but you just shake your head. How can he ask you that? He’d only left you months ago, how could he demand that of you. You didn’t know how to function without him, you weren’t ready to let him go.

“I can’t,” The words slipping from your mouth in a broken whisper. “I don’t know how to do this without you.” You sob, wanting so badly to reach out and touch him, to feel the familiarity of his skin on yours, the warmth. But as you stand there under the rain, Tokoyami stands in front of you, the spitting image of the man you’d remembered, he utters the brutal truth of your life and the reason that you’ve been slowly trying to create some semblance of your old self in the past few months.

“But I'm already dead Alex.”

✘ a/n: this actually hurt me to write even though i don't read tokoyami fics, but I hope you liked it none the less anon

✘ EVENT STATUS : CLOSED ✘

[ladyyatexel]

I Finished A Manga

And watched a movie. Once again tucked under a read more for your comfort and convenience and existing likely only for the entertainment of myself and @anthropwashere

what the fuck

My impression of the final arc of the manga is that the author had to find a way to best wrap every dumb thing he'd ever come up with in several layers of plastic wrap in order to appear as though it was one whole. Since it's plastic wrap, eventually you can't tell what it's holding together anymore, how many pieces there are, etc, but if you start unravelling, you are left with Holy Fuck What On Earth Was That. This is weirdly also not a criticism, I guess. If I had to retcon everything I'd done for ten years with the knowledge that the old stuff was already public and printed in thousands of books, I'd have to make a saran wrapped pretzel with an ankh on it too.

I dislike Kaiba even more now! This arc did not help my feelings about him in the slightest, especially since he was basically a cop.

also gonna go with a hard No on the Blue Eyes White Dragon Plot Device Woman, no no no yikes, what the Fuck

I think if even One Person had said, 'wow the monsters in our souls look like nothing from our world' then how mismatched they were from the trappings of Allegedly Egypt would not have been so jarring for me

Egyptian names filtered through Japanese filtered through English, hooboy

Appreciated actually being able to read the Pharaoh's name before he yelled it out.

"The mummy is playing the game with us." I'm sorry, w hat

Playing card game as the NPCs in table top RPG of a dead king's memories on top of a diorama made by Satan's landlord body because he likes making models and his dad owns a museum while an ancient pendant hangs like a disco ball designed to project realistic versions of ancient mythology soul fighting Satan in a trenchcoat and changing but also not changing the fabric of reality maybe????

Everyone's father has the same goatee, and I think 80% of the fathers we know about get murdered (by their own children!), so now I'm left with wonderings about the author's father as well as his shoe collection.

I don't. I don't think we needed Zorc, or really any of the extra souls in the Ring? I feel like the rage of the sole survivor of a concentrated slaughter/genocide could have been enough and more interesting.

Got the eerie feeling I was supposed to be sympathizing with or relating to the Pharaoh and his Priests, but I was firmly on the side of 'revenge on society for melting the bodies of everyone I've ever known down into magical jewelry' man. I mean, he's part of the Bakura Cinematic Universe, so of course I'm biased, I guess, but I was sitting there like, "Why are you booing him? He's right!" the whole time. I guess dragging the king's father's corpse across the floor was a dick move and is probably why we needed to extra manhunt for this dude, but I feel like I could have been spared like a dozen pages of indecipherable monster explosions if someone had just been like 'fuck, hold the ancient egyptian phone, we maybe owe this dude some airing of grievances, the mass murder was bad form'

speaking of the phone, Ancient Egyptian Bound Book was what made me put it down for several minutes. After everything else I endured, that it was not a fucking scroll of papyrus just shattered what will power I had to continue pretending it was Egypt. Not the dragons, or the stupid hair, or 'why are we all trying to murder the war orphan who is justifiably pissed as fuck', the Book.

Walk Walk Fashion Baby. Everyone wearing cute fucking slippers and excessive amounts of rad ankle bracelets and pinkie rings. Yeah, I'll take that, you all look cute as hell at least from the knees down.

Pharaoh trying to get out of a bad situation by appealing to Yami Bakura's commitment to staying in character while RPing, thank you, what a good. Movie stuff , that is, the Dark Side of What The Fuck Is Happening Movie:

I'm glad Yugi grew up, look at him go! He got taller to fit all his new confidence in himself. Also, Fashion. We love a choker and black shirt.

Many people got to Fashion! Love alternate wardrobe options.

Kaiba continues to Get Worse??????? I understand that he's a fan favorite, I just think whatever makes him appealing to everyone else makes me want to see him get punched in the throat. So every time I felt like the narrative and the visuals wanted me to think he'd gotten more badass, I was yelling "WHY" at the screen. He just seems like a tyrant dictator with too much money. That is everyone else's speed just like mine is homicidal revenge and dead things, I guess.

I suffered from not understanding who or why the fuck until like the last ten minutes, despite the thoroughness of my immersion in this weirdly specific hell for two weeks. Also, despite saying it was a manga continuation, it clearly was banking on you knowing more shit about the anime/real life card game than I ever knew, so I spent a long time either confused about what the fucking stakes were with Aigami/Diva (...why did he even need two names???? what purpose did that serve???) or bored as hell (Kaibaaaaaa).

Yay, Bakura for like five minutes, though. Even though the narrative and everyone in it only cares about him as plot vessel. He comes back from another dimension in the middle of a fucking stadium and no one is like 'shit, dude, what happened over there?' We are focused on the card game. The last thing he was doing was breaking the fuck down over things he'd blacked out, but Yugi is playing a cardgame while Kaiba insults him at the presentation of the new iPhone, so fuck off I guess. His voice actress getting some time to do Evil Laugh is always appreciated, though.

Bakura didn't even get to express a generic post gradation goal like everyone else, why do you guys even hang out with him or take him anywhere then

I feel like vinegar about this.

Mokuba being voiced by a 77 year old lady is just fantastic news to me. Also, his haircut and suit, yes, good for him. Cute.

why was it a movie about another new rando though, just make a movie developing the cast you already have, why do we keep adding more tragic orphans

just to kill them, usually

Yu-Gi-Oh: where orphans and fathers with goatees go to die.

[steve0discusses]

S4 Ep 39: Pharaoh Can Fly (Selectively)

Guys, they’re back

Best storyboarder is back, and the visual difference between last episode and this episode is like when your art teacher picks up your charcoal and just fixes everything wrong with your gesture drawings. It’s like...I mean look at this:

I just really love and appreciate how illustrative this storyboarder is. And I say just storyboarder because this had about the same budget as the last episode--there wasn’t that much actual animation as per usual. But, all of the scenes were drawn so well, like panels out of a good manga. They just...they always nail it when they’re at the helm and I don’t know why they’re on Yugioh, but bless this storyboarder.

Plot wise, everyone got pulled into the dragon by gooey tentacles that came out of it’s stomach, don’t think about it.

Meanwhile, all of the minibosses could communicate with them and beg for help, yes, even the same miniboss who may have dressed up like Pegasus and catfished Seto Kaiba.

(keep reading under the cut)

The whole process of getting absorbed into the Orichalcos demon was a whole lot of symbolism and it was...kinda gross. Also kinda sketch. Also, for Kaiba it is a neat little nod to S1 when he had a vision that his brother was absorbed into a dragon mass.

I don’t think that the makers of the show remember S1, but either they just really like goopy dragons, or it’s a coincidence or I dunno, on purpose? Probably a coincidence.

And like I made this joke and realized...what if they actually meant to make that parallel though? This is the America crossover season, and they have referenced America’s love of trickster rabbits before with Pegasus but do they know about Br’er rabbit in Japan? Do they know? It’s a pretty Americana Deep-cut, and I have no idea how common this folktale is outside of the states.

I see anime busting out absorbing goopy masses all the time so I’m gonna assume that there might be a Japanese folklore I don’t know about which uses a similar structure (although I’m also assuming it has an extremely different history and association ((which I won’t be going into because I don’t feel like putting a trigger warning on this recap)).)

And looking at Wikipedia, there’s people that think the original reference to moist, absorbing creatures could have even come from as far as India. Which is...fascinating to how it also developed in Africa, and then the Cherokee also made the same story independently and then it fused together here in the States to make it what was eventually made into a Disney movie that will never be released again--this is just a really old ass story, all in all, possibly like over a thousand years old.

And a FASCINATING google deep dive I won’t go into for obvious reasons but knock yourself out.

Also, lets get distracted for a sec and see how well this storyboarder drew a fitted jacket at that angle. Dear Lord, did they get reference for that or did their brain just already know that those folds would be there? You can even tell that Pharaoh has just a little bit of padding at his shoulders. Ugh. Guys this storyboarder is so freakin good at these little fitted jackets.

So, once Yugi and his friends are absorbed into the mass, where they should have died...and maybe some of them did, but I don’t know if I should add that to the Death Count because like...they could have held their breath in the amount of time they were stuck in there...maybe...Anyway, they are saved by being tossed into the figurative briar patch--by the souls all hanging out in the Leviathan’s stomach--which again makes me wonder...did they pull a folklore on us? Again, I have no idea.

Like a lot of the people in this dragon have been thorns in their side this entire season, they’ve all tried to kill them at one point--all the minibosses, Mai, Pegasus--but now they have decided to team up with Pharaoh (along with the rest of the human race) and offer whatever they can to free them from the grip of the gross dragon mass.

And like, the ending of the folk tale is that the thorny ass briar patch is also where the rabbit lives usually. It hurts everyone else, but the rabbit--the rabbit can deal with it. And likewise, Pharaoh is freakin dead. He’s at home here. He’s surrounded by spirit power, his friends and their friendship power, this is like his zone, and now he’s crazy powerful for it and will be for the rest of the episode.

And like Yami is a very trickster God (especially Season Zero Yami) so like...it does make sense that he would mirror a folk tale based on trickster Gods, even if it is by complete accident.

So Pharaoh imagines everyone’s tears as individual drops in a glass or something--it’s not a literal glass or anything--it’s just there because the only thing actually happening on screen was his hand hanging out of this dragon’s weird puss skin.

And he’s now a fully charged Sonic the Hedgehog and no longer needs Kaiba or Joey at all. Just gonna grab his God card demons and take charge of everything else from here on out.

By first exploding his buddies right the hell out of this lizard and across hundreds of feet of open ocean.

Joey decides to remind Kaiba that he lost the Battle City tournament.

Seto’s roast was actually in the show, PS. He is not super excited to be reminded that Yugi owns every card that he spent 2 seasons failing to get.

And then Pharaoh did something really, really...

...just really really wild.

OH OK.

YEAH JUST TAKE OFF.

GO AHEAD THERE’S NO REASON THIS WOULD BOTHER ME.

I mean he IS super powered right now but like...

Like...WTF?

4 SEASONS. 4 SEASONS I thought this guy was glued to Yugi like Peter Pan’s Shadow and apparently--he can bounce.

Can Pharaoh do this every time Yugi asks Tea out on a date and tries to instead make the ghost in his head do all the work now? Can Pharaoh just be like “NOPE” and then phase out of the house, leaving Yugi to actually do the hard stuff?

It really adds a level of complexity to their relationship if Yugi can get a room.

(If not a room for romance, but at the very least a room to poop in.)

OR has he been able to allow Yugi to wicked poop in peace this whole time, but the show just never felt like telling us because they felt like it wasn’t important (although it is crazy important)?

Either way I am just...floored at this character development.

Yami just let Yugi out of his sight for like...I want to say 8 full minutes. Just incredible amount of trust on Yami’s part. Incredible. Knowing Yugi’s track record, he should have died in those 8 minutes but...he was being babysat by both Kaiba and Joey.

So Yami summons the Gods and they shoot lasers--you kinda expect this sort of thing.

And this is...probably...the real reason why Dartz didn’t bother trying to attack Pharaoh 5,000 years ago.

I can still think it’s because of Bakura but like...this is probably the real reason. It felt pretty chump to just shoot a laser at the bastard. Pharaoh just had to be reminded that this is a thing he can just do. If he felt like it.

Which he never feels like doing, because he’s too busy watching Yugi’s every move, and getting distracted by High School shenanigans.

After this happens, the giant snake falls to the ocean, splitting into just sooooooo many ghosts.

Over 7.8 billion ghosts, if we’re to assume that this is most of the population on Earth.

(thinking the weird-o in the hat is probably a Duel Monsters card? The duel monsters were throwing themselves into the Leviathan at one point so this is probably like a dark magician boy or something...I just don’t get very attached to the monster cards so it was like...whatever. The cards die like constantly so who cares?)

It is a pretty set dressing. Like Christmas lights but...dead people.

We also find out that the lost family of our minibosses Alister and Raphael, have indeed spent the last many years inside the Leviathan stomach, which is pretty tragic. We get a bitter sweet conclusion to Alister and Raphael’s story--although it’s not a full on ending for either character. Their life still hella sucks, they are in therapy for basically forever.

Where is Gurimo?

I don’t know what sort of job or life these two are qualified to have now, but youknow...Marik’s boat probably has jobs available.

Hold up. Can we talk about the windows?

I know absolutely none of you care about this, but I do, not to be picky or condescending to an overworked art team, but because I just want to know what they were trying to aim for.

There’s an iron stained glass style windowpane thing going on and that’s what’s really getting me. Like...I know these guys were technologically advanced, but why did you use this WW2 background? What happened to Ancient Greece that you were doing before?

Like doing a super past with future tech is so cool to me--I love that sort of concept art. That’s going into like Black Panther stuff where you’re referencing the earliest stuff in Africa and then blending it with stuff beyond our science. But Atlantis is a real big shrug and a “listen we ran out of time and had to press print,” and it’s such a shame. It feels less cohesive than even when this show does Egypt.

And yo this show and how it draws ancient Egypt--I feel like I’ve already talked about that. I have a feeling I’m going to talk a lot more about it next season. I’ll get to it when we get to it. I’m hoping that they have more time and budget to actually DO Egypt for once. (I say knowing they won’t)

Like it’s one of those things where this isn’t a history show, like at all, and it’s very much a fantasy. I’m not going to be like those sewing people on youtube that get annoyed because their TV show doesn’t have handsewn stitching in their Victorian bodices they rented from the costume department from an LA discount warehouse. Because, yo, it’s TV, and I can stretch my own imagination because it’s acting. (although I confess, I watch every single one of those videos).

But...the potential, y’all...the potential.

Anyway, Dartz isn’t dead. He was just taking his toot sweet time getting down the steps of his Gazebo.

This is where things get very anime. I get this problem a lot with anime, I really do--and maybe it’s just me. But like...sometimes it feels like anime changes the rules during the boss fight.

That happens a lot, right? Where suddenly the final boss reveals something that like...should have been addressed way earlier? And he’s alive but you don’t get why?

Anyway, Pharaoh reacts by getting maybe way too attached to his newfound independence.

Which like...I can understand Tea forgetting that Yugi is one people that is two people all the time, but the writers as well?

And what’s kind of great about this scene is that Dartz does see Yugi as two people here. He doesn’t look at Yugi, he looks at both. When Pharaoh is like “Leave me, Yugi!” Dartz heard all of that.

Just kind of a neat thing that we finally have a dude that can just...see Pharaoh for what he is, but it probably won’t matter because there’s like only one more episode left of this season.

Anyway, Pharaoh and Dartz have a chat about where evil comes from...and like...it’s some Yugioh lore, all right.

So before the show decides to give us the Genesis on Yugioh and reveal where the evil of the Orichalcos comes from, or if all evil was created by Orichalcos itself (which is IMPLYING stuff about Orichalcos) the snake shuts him the hell up.

As it should. Leave that Pandora’s box freakin closed. That’s going into extended universe of Star Wars books territory (RIP.)

As an aside--pretty sure that Yugi is standing outside that tornado. Maybe it was just the editing of the episode but like...

Yo I’m pretty sure Yugi is just standing there. For the first time, it’s not his nuts getting roasted. Wow. Tables have turned so much since he was dead.

Anyway, here’s the link for new people so you can read these in order

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

There’s only one left! We can do it! We can finish this season in 2020! And actually get back to recapping Full Metal Alchemist! ~~Woooo~~

Oh man that movie better still be on Netflix or I’ll have to buy it lolol.

[one-leaf-grimoire]

Catfish (2/3)

Welcome back to another chapter of this BS! Enjoy!! Our poor reader goes on a date and gets to know this mysterious “James” a little better. Anyway sorry for having no self control!

Warnings: fluff, major catfish, they kiss ew, suggestive language

“Good morning, Captain!”

“Ughhh good morning.” Yami yawned, wishing he was back in bed, before sitting down at the head of the table. His gaze swept across his squad, who were already chowing down on breakfast. Charmy was always on top of every meal, churning out good food for everyone to enjoy. “Hey, you, why are you awake? Today’s your day off.”

“Oh! I just wanted to get an early start,” you piped up in response to his questions.

Vanessa giggled as she sipped from her first wine of the day, not quite drunk yet. “I’m surprised you can get up so early when you stay up so late writing those letters~”

Yami frowned as everyone but you started to snicker at the comment. “Letters? Who’re you writing to?”

Today, you were the one with the bright red ears as you glared around at everyone. “N-No one!”

“It’s that guy from the mixer, right?” Finral asked. “Tell us more!!” 

You shook your head. “I don’t know what you guys are talking about-”

Right as you said that, a small portal opened up and a letter dropped down onto the table, right in front of Yami. He picked it up, and couldn’t help but snort with laughter. “It’s for you, Casanova.”

Everyone at the table burst into gales of laughter as you turned a shade more befitting a tomato than a magic knight. “Yami! Give me that!” 

Yami examined the letter momentarily, noticing that there was no return address. That’s a bit strange... His eyes narrowed as he spotted something curious. This symbol on the seal... it seems really familiar...

“Here.” He tossed the letter to you, and you quickly put it in your pocket before anyone else could snatch it away. “Who is this guy, anyway? He’s not the type to break your heart, is he?”

“No, no, he’s sweet,” you assured him, finally feeling your face start to cool down. “Finral’s right... we’ve been corresponding ever since the mixer. I was going to go see him today, actually.”

“Well, have fun.” Yami picked up the newspaper and flipped it open with a flourish. “Just make sure he uses a condom.”

“YAMI!!”

Ever since the mixer, you and James had been writing letters back and forth. His were always filled with questions and demands for interesting stories, as if he didn’t have enough of those in the library where he worked. You spent a lot of time detailing everything for him because you knew he wanted all the details, no matter how dull. He always responded enthusiastically, but failed to give much information about himself, claiming that he would tell you plenty in person. 

Well, today was that day. You hitched a ride with Magna to the Capitol before making your way to the Royal Library. It was located on the outskirts of the castle, a gigantic, intimidating building that towered above the rest of the city. The King was in there, and so was the Wizard King. You’d never meet the King, but you met the Wizard King a few times when you tagged along with Yami. This was the first time you came here alone, and to say you were nervous was an understatement. 

“You’re here!” A familiar, cheery voice greeted you as soon as you entered the musty building. The library was kept dark and cozy, only lit by a few hanging fixtures. But here was James... he looked exactly like he did last time, but now he was wearing a royal staff cloak over his regular clothes. One side of this glasses had a smudge on it, but you could still make out his lavender eyes. “I’m so glad to see you again.”

“Me too, James,” you replied happily, giving him a bright smile. You couldn’t help but blush as he automatically took your hand and kissed it, just like he did at the end of the mixer. It was a simple, almost chaste gesture, but somehow it sent you reeling.

Jesus... I never expected to get a crush on a guy like this! You didn’t really consider yourself as having a “type.” You liked each person differently. However, James wasn’t the usual guy you would fall for. He was geeky, scrawny, bubbly, and almost erratic. But there was something about the way he moved, the way his eyes saw the world, that made you want to stick around. “So, what are we doing today?”

“I have a whole plan, don’t worry!” he told you happily, letting his hand stay in yours. “Ready to go?”

“Oh, we aren’t staying here?”

“Nope! Don’t worry, it’s still going to be nice.” With that, he lead you out into the hall and towards the exit of the castle. His brown curls bounced with each step. Cute... he seems to be really excited, you thought, averting your eyes. I’m looking forward to learning more about him-

Suddenly, there was a sound of stomping feet from somewhere behind you. Both you and James turned to the sound, seeing that it was approaching from around the corner. Soon, a voice suddenly rang through the corridor.

“I swear!!! If you’re running off again to cause problems, I’ll have your hide! The King will, too!”

James’s grip on your hand tightened. “Uh oh... um, follow me!” You yelped a bit as he suddenly started running, right towards the window. He reached up and pushed it open, then spared no time in climbing up onto the windowsill. Before you had a chance to ask what the Hell he was doing, he help out his hand, a gentle smile on his face.

“Do you trust me?”

You hesitated only for a moment before reaching out and taking his hand once more.

With one sharp tug, James pulled you out, pushing off the window. You screamed as you realized that he had probably just doomed you both, since you were a few stories above the ground. “James!! What the-”

You didn’t have time to finish your sentence, because in the next moment you were flying, faster than you thought was possible. You screamed again, almost slipping out of his hands. James pulled you up and wrapped an arm around your waist securely. “Hold on!”

“It’s not like I have a choice!”

A couple seconds later, you slowed down and skidded to a stop. You immediately pushed him away and staggered back. “What the Hell!? Are you trying to kill me?”

“No! Why would I do that?” He looked genuinely hurt for a moment. “I’m sorry, but that guy back there is... uh... pretty strict.”

You narrowed your eyes. “I thought you said you had the day off?”

“Ah! I do! I do!” James’s insistence was suspicious. “But if he saw me hanging out with a girl on my day off, he would probably make me go back to work anyway. You know? ANYWAY-” He grabbed your hand again before you could question him further. “There’s a good spot nearby, follow me!”

You looked around for the first time and realized that you were standing by the side of a dirt road out in the countryside. In the distance, you could see the capitol, but you had to be miles away by now! “James, was that flight magic?” you asked as you followed alongside him, glancing back at the landscape frequently. “It was incredible...”

“Yes, yes, flight magic. That’s my magic,” James answered awkwardly. “And I’m glad you think so...” He laughed a little for some reason. “Thank you for coming out here with me, by the way.”

“My pleasure! I think it’ll be fun,” you told him, causing his smile to widen.

“Good! To tell you the truth... it’s been a while since I’ve been on a date. A real date, you know? In fact, I wasn’t really planning on it at the mixer, either. But hey, the best things in life are unexpected, right? So I hope you can forgive me if it seems like I’m improvising this!”

To be fair, he seems to be improvising every word he says, you thought to yourself, but you nodded happily anyway. “Of course! I love the unexpected.”

Eventually the two of you reached a small hill by the side of the road, with a few trees adorning the top. James told me that he likes the spot because you can frequently see travelers moving along the road to the capitol. “Especially on Exam day, it’s fun to see what types of people are coming to try out for the Magic Knights,” he explains as we reach the top. 

“Did you ever try out to be a magic knight? Your magic seems pretty powerful,” you asked, sinking down to sit in the cool grass.

James shrugged. “Not... really. No. It’s not for me.”

“Oh? Why not?”

He stared down at you for a moment curiously before breaking into a little smirk. “Well, why do you like it?”

You shrugged, but the answer came to you surprisingly easily. “Well, I guess I like feeling like I’m doing something important. Captain Yami trusted me with a spot on his squad, and I’m more than happy to prove that he made the right choice.” James cocked his head slightly, intrigued as you kept talking. “And if I can make even a little difference in the world... then it’ll be worth it.”

“... that’s admirable.” You looked up at James as he sat down heavily next to you, that smile still on his face. “People like you should be magic knights. I’ve seen plenty of people that should probably find other avenues of employment. But, I don’t want to wait anymore, let’s eat!” He produced a picnic basket out of nowhere and set in in front of you. “I hope you’ll like what I picked out for lunch!”

“J-James, you brought all this?” Your eyes widen as he opens it up and starts pulling out a startlingly large amount of food. “You didn’t have to-”

“Oh, I did, though. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t treat my date right?” He punctuated his phrase with a wink, obviously proud of himself as you went red for what had to be the hundredth time that day. You didn’t say another word, and started to eat. Some of this stuff is pretty fancy... I hope he didn’t spend too much money. Is he a noble? You were curious, and kept glancing over at him as you ate. “You know, I would have never expected you were like this,” you told him. “Like, uh...” He blinked slowly as you tried to express your sentiment. “You’re pretty good at making a girl blush, that’s for sure.”

“Am I? Oops!” He laughed it off. “But, you know what they say about librarians~”

“... huh?”

“... never mind.”

You changed the subject before the awkwardness set in again. “So, what kind of family are you from? You seem like nobility.”

James swallowed his food before answering. “Yeah, my parents are from a long line of nobles. Lot’s of expectations, and everything! Sometimes I’m afraid I’ve disappointed them. Even now that I’m...” His voice trails off before he finishes his sentence. “But yeah. I assume you’re not?”

“No, not at all. My parents weren’t really important at all. We lived on a farm, actually.” You smiled a little sadly at the memory. “It wasn’t easy, but we were comfortable... until...”

James’s hand suddenly came up to rest on your shoulder, and you looked up to see him gazing at you. “It’s okay, you don’t have to go on.”

“...thank you.”

After the food is gone, you did the promised magic demonstration. James’s eyes sparkled as bright as the gems you conjured up for his. “And then...” You flicked your hand, sending a volley of the green emeralds shooting into the ground, cutting right through the grass. “I call that spell Emerald Splash!” 

“Such quick and flashy magic!!” James exclaimed, jumping up to go examine the damage. “How much control do you have over them?”

Without warning, four more gems appear and shoot right at him. However, before they hit him, each one deflects around him. It caught James off-guard and he flinched heavily. For a moment, you thought you felt a sudden surge of mana come off of him, as if he were about to deflect it. However, he relaxes once he realizes that he wasn’t in any real danger. “You can control each individual one?”

“Only a couple at a time, but yeah.” You smiled proudly as James came bounding back to you like a golden retriever. “Amazing! Maybe gem magic really is my favorite.”

“...” For some reason, his words struck some chord in you that made you start to feel sad. “James, you don’t have to say things that aren’t true, just to-”

“But, they are.” Before you knew it, he had grabbed your hand again, gazing right into your eyes. You were a bit taken aback, especially when you realized how... close your faces were together. “You... you are amazing.”

“I’m... ordinary.”

“That’s what makes you amazing.”

Oh boy. It takes everything you have to keep your jaw from dropping. Your heart quickened as you noticed his eyes drift down to look at your lips, then slowly moved back to meet your gaze once again.

“...Ja-”

Your words are instantly swallowed by his lips as he leaned in all at once to give you a shallow kiss. The gesture shocked you to your core, and you couldn’t even react. James realized this and quickly pulled back. “AH! I-I didn’t mean to do that so suddenly, I-” 

This time, you were the one to cut him off, closing your eyes and leaning in blindly. Somehow, your lips connected again, and this time James didn’t pull back. You felt his arms wrap around you, pulling you into a tight hug against his chest. 

You remembered reading about first kisses in books. “Sparks flew, “the stars aligned,” “the chemistry was explosive,” and other corny phrases were all used, but this was the first kiss where every single one of them was true.

Neither of you wanted to pull back, so you didn’t. James moved for air just once before diving back in. Wow, James... maybe your ‘fun fact’ at the mixer should have been that you’re a good kisser, you thought to yourself as you felt his hand stroke through your hair, causing you to shiver from head to toe. Maybe I should stop ignoring nerdy guys! 

The two of you laid in the grass for a long time, tongues, teeth, and lips battling it out. But eventually, things cooled off, and you finally opened your eyes to look at the boy who held you in his arms.

His glasses had slid off during the session, and you sucked in a breath at the sight of his eyes. That deep purple color was almost hypnotizing, something about it so intoxicating and beautiful, yet...

sad.

James’s eyes were tired, stretched thin over a longer time than should have been possible. They were heavy with some emotion you couldn’t quite place, as well, but an emotion that was familiar to you somehow. But above all...

These eyes... they don’t belong in this face.

“Are you okay?” You were a bit startled when you realized that he was talking to you. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, it-”

“NO! No,- I mean,” You couldn’t help but giggled as he looked relieved. “It was good... I liked that. A lot.”

“Ah... good. Me too.” James smiled and rolled off of you to lay down, his hand still entwined with yours. You rolled onto your side to rest your head on his chest, still wondering what it all meant. Everything seemed to add up about him, yet... nothing did. You were sure there was something he wasn’t telling you, but the desire to dig it up was quickly fading.

I like James just like this... I don’t need to know anything else.

“Maybe this is a selfish thing to think...” James’s voice was deeper than usual and he mumbled to you. “But you might be just what I need...”

Warmth blossomed in your chest at the admission.

“Well... then I’ll be more than happy to stick around.”

“Thank you.”

He kissed your forehead before the two of you drifted off for a short nap.

(later)

“So, how was the date?”

You looked over at Yami as you arrived back at the base. He was still reading a newspaper, but this time in the living room. Old habits die hard. “It was great, actually.”

“Good for you.” Yami turned the page. “What’s this guy’s name, again?”

“James! He works in the Royal Library.”

Yami let out a chuckle. “A librarian, huh? You know what they say about librarians~”

Huh?! That’s the second time I’ve heard that today! “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, you know,” Yami said with difficulty as he started laughing harder. “Librarians are so straight-laced and all... but then you get to know them, and find out they’re secretly kinky in bed!”

You felt the blood drain from your face as Yami kept laughing at you. “AH! I-I didn’t need to know that!”

“You asked, though.”

“... whatever.”

However, nothing Yami could say could ruin today. You grinned to yourself as you headed up to your room, knowing for sure that you would be dreaming of James, and maybe he would be dreaming of you.

Is it just me or is this chapter so much more better written than the last one? IDK. Anyway send me a comment if you enjoyed it!! The next chapter will be... interesting. I’m still trying to decide if I want to include some ~spicy~ elements so let me know what I should do 0.0

[blackcloverdatabase]

English Translation of Novel 3: Chapter 1 – Gold & Black - (Part 2 of 2)

Here’s the second half of Chapter 1 from Book of Yuno. Again, I don’t have another picture to use as a header for this chapter, but at least there’s still plenty of Golden Dawn and Black Bull action. This half focuses much more on Yuno and his relationship with Asta, both in the present and how they were in the past, but Yami also gets to show off a bit, too.

If you missed Part 1 of this chapter, you can read that here

--- Gold & Black: Part 2 ---

“Any luck, Yuno!? Did you find him!?”

“No…… I guess you didn’t find him either.”

As they were sprinting across the garden, Yuno met up with Asta. After deciding that they needed to find Yami, Klaus and Mimosa searched the North and South gardens, Yuno and Asta searched the East and West gardens, and Bell searched for Yami from above. Yuno and Asta just finished searching the West garden, so they were about to search the East. Asta cursed upon meeting Yuno,

“Dammit, these gardens are too big! Add them all together and you’d have a village!”

“It’s not that big. It just feels that way to you because your limbs are so short.”

“Not that again, you handsome jerk! Even if my limbs are short, I make up for it with my physical strength!”

After saying this, Asta laughed, and said with a huge grin on his face,

“Anyway, it’s been a real long time since we’ve been together this long, hasn’t it?”

“What’s with you all of sudden……? Well, you’re right. When we were in Hage Village, we spent a depressingly long amount of time together.”

“Hage Village…… When I think about how things were back then, it’s almost unbelievable how we’re now in the Magic Knights, performing missions every day as if it were only natural.”

Maybe it was because he was with his old friend, but Asta’s thoughts were very out-of-character for him. However, Yuno replied,

“……No, maybe that’s the case for you, but I was extremely capable even when I was at Hage, and I could use magic very well, so I don’t feel very strongly about this at all. It felt only natural that I would be in the Magic Knights.”

“I definitely don’t want to hear that from you! I mean, you were a total crybaby when you were little! Compared to how you were then, who you are right now is totally unbelievable!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t even remember crying when I was born.”

“Nobody would remember that! Look, I’m begging you, so work with me a little here! I wanted to feel nostalgic together!”

Yuno was lying earlier. Of course he remembered. When he was little, he was a crybaby who always clung behind Asta. He found the world frightening. Always scared, he could never take a step forward. The one who gave him the courage to take that first step was none other than Asta. The Yuno that exists today is here because of that day when they decided to share the same dream, because of that moment when they decided to compete over who would become the Wizard King. Instead of following behind him, he wanted to see the same scenery as Asta. In other words, the reason he has been able to do his best all this time is all because of Asta.

“…… Stupid Asta. We’re in the middle of a mission. Now’s not the time to start acting so nostalgic.”

Of course, he had no intention to ever say all that. It would be too embarrassing. He was sure that, even in the future, he’ll continue to dodge the issue by joking around like this. Besides, the best way to thank Asta is through his actions, not words.

“I don’t intend to lose to guy like that…… I’ll be the one who becomes the Wizard King.”

Recognizing Asta as his rival, he intends to continue competing ruthlessly with him. This is the form that Yuno’s gratitude takes.

Of course, that’s not the only reason he has been working so hard. It may have been Asta who gave him his dream to become the Wizard King, but now, Yuno wants to fulfill that dream through his own will. Well, it’s also a fact that showing the results of their efforts to each other has been a good way to motivate each other’s growth. Besides, he can inspire Asta more by making jabs at him rather than by giving him a simple “thank you”.

Just as Yuno expected, Asta looked dazed for just a moment before smiling belligerently,

“Hah!? It’s obvious that I’m the one who’s going to become the Wizard King!”

“No, it’ll be me. You should become the Nostalgia King.”

“The Nostalgia King!?”

“Ah, there he is! Yuno, I found Yami!”

Bell descended from the sky, circling about through the air as if she were in a great hurry.

“He’s really close by, but something really terrible is happening, so hurry it up!”

“…..Something terrible?”

Bell repeatedly nodded her head up-and-down in response to Yuno’s question.

“I don’t know what happened, but Zable and Yami are already face-to-face!”

 “They’re over there, right beyond those thickets!”

Yuno and Asta sprinted at top speed to Yami as Bell directed them to his location. Asta said with a pale face,

“H-hey, Yuno? Just making sure, but if Zable has this magical tool……... this ‘Original Sin’, then aggravating him would be real bad news, right?”

“Yeah. We don’t know what could trigger a rampage.”

In other words, they were currently in a state of emergency. If Yami, the man known as the God of Destruction, has made contact with a man as arrogant as Zable, there’s no way something won’t happen. This time, it was Yuno who asked Asta,

“Still, even Captain Yami wouldn’t suddenly get violent with someone he just met…. right?”

“…… I don’t know, but about six seconds after I met him, I got iron clawed.”

“………Let’s hurry.”

“Yeah!”

The two surpassed their limits as they ran, crossing through the thicket. Upon doing so, they found themselves in front of a wide court-like field, similar to those maintained for sporting events.  In the middle of that field stood……

“C-captain Yami……. And Zable!”

They were quite far away, so they weren’t clearly visible, but they could tell that the two were in some kind of confrontation. There were countless broken wooden puppets strewn around them, but Zable, at least, looked fine.

…...Or, at least, that’s what they thought.

*THUD*

Zable fell to his knees before collapsing to the ground. His sanity still appeared to be intact, but his face was swollen, and his clothes were torn.

“…………”

And, with his collapse, his wooden doll had crashed into his entourage, causing them to fall to the ground as well. Beaten up, shivering, and shaking, they mumbled things like, “I don’t want to die…. I don’t want to die…,” and, “I’m sorry… I’m just a bug, a worm…”.

Before Yuno and Asta was a picture of Hell, one that far exceeded even their worst fears.

“……….”

The person who created this misery, Yami, casually waved his hand at Asta, Yuno, and Bell, who all stood utterly speechless.

“Oh, it’s you guys. Hey.”

“Don’t just say ‘hey’…… C-captain Yami, this is……”

“Hm, oh, these guys?”

Yami answered Asta’s question while lightly kicking Zable with the tip of his shoe.

“While I was taking a nap, these guys suddenly woke me up, smashed my wine bottle, and, as an added bonus, they even kicked me…... I’ve told ya before. Naps are good. They increase your productivity in the afternoon… I was thinkin’ I should let them experience some of that productivity personally,”

Then, he drew his sword, seemingly out of nowhere, and pointed it toward Zable as he continued,

“And give these guys a nap they’ll never wake up from.”

“That’s called ‘death’, you know!!? Wait, seriously, please stop! We have to ask them some questions!

Asta rushed to Yami in desperation while Yuno dragged Zable’s body away from him. Glancing at Asta, who was now caught in Yami’s iron claw, Yuno called out to Zable,

“Hey, you. Are you okay? I can use a magic tool for healing and… hm?”

Yuno noticed something peeking through the gaps in Zable’s torn clothes. There was nothing written on its cover, and it wasn’t even colored. It was a pure white grimoire. However, Zable already had what looked like his own grimoire in his book pouch. In other words, this was……

“Aah……AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

Seeing this, Yami picked up Zable’s followers by the armful and said,

“Hey Goldy, get away from him. Kid, come with me and help me carry away his lackeys to safety…... actually, just throw ‘em as far as you can.”

As instructed, Yuno quickly separated himself from Zable while Asta threw his lackeys as far as he possibly could. Right after doing so,

“AAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!”

From Zable’s body… no, from the white grimoire sprouted a series of white torrents made of mana. They were like large tentacles wriggling about. The tentacles spread radially with Zable at the center and began to indiscriminately attack everything in the garden, gouging the ground and smashing what was left of the wooden dolls into dust. If Yami’s instructions came just one second later, Zable’s followers would have been caught up in the destruction. Seeing Zable clad in a seemingly infinite number of white tentacles, Yami once again said as if this was all someone else’s problem,

“So, it was him after all.  He had that magical tool… what was it called again… that ‘Original Sin’.”

When Yami said this, Asta, who had taken out a large sword from his grimoire, turned his head toward him in disbelief.

“Woah! Captain, you knew!?”

“Yeah. I could tell by reading his Ki.”

“Then why did you beat him up so bad!?”

“Why? Because I was pissed that he woke me from my…. No, I did that because we need to know exactly what happens when the ‘Original Sin’ goes berserk. Also, because I was pissed that he woke me from my nap.”

“That’s the real reason, isn’t it!?”

“Shut up! Anyway, this is just what I planned, so it’s all good!”

The tentacles wriggled about before beginning its attack against Yami and the others.

“…Though, this rampage is just a bit more showy than what I was expecting.”

While slicing through the tentacles that fired toward him, Yami ran straight for the mansion.

“I’ll go evacuate the people at the mansion, so, in the meantime, I’m leavin’ the tentacles to you.”

“Huh!? Ah, yes sir!”

Asta yelled in bewilderment as he swung his sword, cutting down tentacle after tentacle. In contrast, Yuno couldn’t help but think his usual, “You can’t be serious……”. Yuno figured that the reason Asta could react immediately to such unreasonably unclear instructions was that those instructions were part of his everyday work environment. Talk about depressing.

That aside……

“……Asta. There was a white grimoire in Zable’s chest. That was probably the ‘Original Sin’. Our first goal should be to break that grimoire.”

“Got it!”

After hearing Asta’s reply, Yuno opened up his own grimoire. Despite the rapid development of the situation, Asta was Yuno’s rival, and all that effort he had put in as his rival showed.

‘I can’t let Asta be the only one looking good here,’ Yuno thought.

“Let’s go, Bell. Full power.”

“Understood!”

A violent gale blew with Yuno and Bell at the center.

“Uoooooooooooh!!”

Asta rushed toward Zable while dodging, no, mowing down the tentacles that attacked him.

“Wind Creation Magic: Wind Blades Shower”

Blades of wind materialized above Yuno’s head, slicing the tentacles that were approaching Asta from behind and overhead. The tentacles regenerated instantly, but there was a slight delay before it could attack again. Asta pierced through that gap, narrowing the distance between him and Zable. As Asta used his mobility to get closer, Yuno used his magic to support him. Using this strategy, they were able to steadily reduce the distance between them and Zable.

They never planned this out before. This was simply the result of them being together for over a decade. They could understand each other’s thoughts without exchanging words and then anticipate each other’s moves accordingly. For them, cooperating in battle was as natural as breathing.

“AAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!”

Taking Asta’s presence as a threat, nearly all of Zable’s tentacles were sent toward him, surrounding his body in the shape of a dome.

“Yuno!”

Asta turned around and called out to Yuno, but this was not a call for help. Yuno nodded and used another one of his spells.

“Wind Creation Magic: Heavenly Wind Ark”

An ark created by wind took Yuno’s body and flew into the sky, passing over Asta, who was being attacked by the tentacles. His goal was Zable himself. Yuno had dedicated himself to providing back up for Asta when Asta was taking on the tentacles, but now Yuno aimed for the currently defenseless Zable. The two understood each other’s strategy right away, and they began acting on it in an instant. It took a moment later for Bell to understand what they were planning, which made her purse her lips in displeasure.

“Let me in on this, too! I’m a girl with both great comprehension skills and broadmindedness, you know!”

“Bell, you’re too noisy. Also, you don’t really give that impression. We’re going to establish contact with Zable.”

While dodging the number of tentacles that went after him, Yuno made a nosedive for Zable and cast a spell,

“Wind Magic: Crescent Kamaitachi”

A blade shaped like a crescent moon crashed near Zable’s feet, kicking up a large cloud of dust. It’s not that Yuno missed. If that attack had hit Zable directly, his body would’ve been sliced in two. Yuno’s goal was simply to blind him. Taking advantage of the dust cloud he had created, Yuno jumped off his ark of wind and landed right before Zable’s eyes. He quickly reached out his hand for the white grimoire in his chest, the ‘Original Sin’. However……

“Ah…… Gah…… S-stop! Stop it! Don’t…. touch that!!”

Zable clutched the grimoire in his arms as his tentacles began to focus their attacks on Yuno. Without even using his wind magic, Yuno grabbed the ‘Original Sin’. Upon doing so, Zable tightened his grip around it.

“Aah…… Please…… This…… Just this…… Don’t take this away….. please!”

“……..Zable, you were still conscious?”

“…….If I don’t have this….. Aah……. I’ll be……. weak again!”

Ignoring Yuno’s question, Zable only continued to scream unintelligibly. It seems that his consciousness was still intact, but it was terribly clouded. All that remained was his determination not to hand over the ‘Original Sin’.

“I……Ah…… obtained this…… Guh…… and change….d.”

Blood poured out from his eyes and mouth, and even the way he was suffering seemed to change. Yuno didn’t fully understand what was going on, but he could tell that it was a dangerous omen.

“Hey, you’re going to die. Let go of that grimoire.”

“No…… way…… Guh…… I don’t…. want to go back……. to being powerless……”

He may end up severely injuring Zable, but Yuno felt that he had no choice but to use his wind magic. Preparing himself for the worst, Yuno built up his magic, but then,

“…….This world…… is scary…… You can’t survive…… without power……”

Yuno saw that a light of consciousness remained ever so faintly in Zable’s eyes. Those eyes looked as if they would cry at any moment. They were weak, sorrowful eyes. Yuno remembered a person whose eyes and words were like Zable’s. They reminded him of his younger self.

Yuno was able to change because of Asta. However, there was probably nobody by Zable’s side. That’s why he got involved with taboo magical tools, like the ‘Original Sin’. Thanks to that tool, Zable changed. In other words, the ‘Original Sin’ is to Zable what Asta is to Yuno. Because of this, for just a moment, Yuno was a little hesitant to steal the ‘Original Sin’ away from him. That moment of hesitation proved to be a fatal mistake.

“….GAH!”

A single tentacle passed through the gap in his wind magic, landing a crushing blow on Yuno’s side. The impact broke his posture, leaving him vulnerable. Targeting his weakened state, a countless number of tentacles shot toward Yuno.

‘This is bad. I won’t be able to block them in time!’

But, just when Yuno braced himself for the attack, a gust of wind blew past him.

“UOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAH!!”

Asta flew by with astounding speed, striking Zable with the flat end of his sword and launching Zable’s large body into the air. Then, with the edge of his sword, Asta sliced the ‘Original Sin’ that fell from Zable’s chest in two. With that, the ‘Original Sin’ turned to dust and dissipated into the air. At the same time, the tentacles also faded away.

“Hey, are you all right, Yuno!?”

After confirming that all the tentacles had completely disappeared, Asta ran toward where Yuno sat, having fallen from exhaustion. It seems that, during the battle, Asta was able to hack his way through the tentacles to make his way to Yuno.

“Yeah…… Sorry.”

“Don’t give me that! You totally spaced out when you saw the enemy’s eyes! That’s not like you at all!”

Though Yuno had only hesitated for a brief instant, Asta had seen right through him.

“……Jeez. Here, can you stand?”

Asta said with a smile as he held his hand out to Yuno.

“………”

Yuno smiled wryly to himself. ‘Asta was to Yuno what the ‘Original Sin’ was to Zable’. Even if it was just for a moment, Yuno berated himself for thinking something so foolish. The ‘Original Sin’ was nothing more than a tool. Moreover, it was a dangerous tool which gifted the user power without effort, a tool that could easily be used for the wrong reasons. The existence beside Yuno is a person who made him stronger by working hard and by competing with each other. When one of them does something wrong, the other can scold him. When one of them can’t stand, the other holds out his hand so that they can walk together again. For Yuno, Asta is……

“Get a hold of yourself, Yuno! You’re my rival after all!”

“……Yeah.”

Yuno took Asta’s hand and stood up, and with a small smile said,

“………You saved me. Thanks.”

Yuno then looked at the fallen Zable. If Zable had someone like Asta beside him, then this probably wouldn’t have happened to him. Conversely, if Yuno didn’t have Asta beside him, then maybe he would have been like Zable, too……

“……..Ughh……..Ugh”

Hearing Zable’s groans, Yuno and Asta raised their guard. However, they didn’t feel any evil mana from him, and it didn’t look like he was going to start moving. He was simply moaning out of pain.

“……Bell, Asta, you two should go look for Mimosa. I’ll keep an eye on him.”

Bell and Asta nodded energetically before heading for the mansion. Noticing Yuno’s presence, Zable spoke as if it were difficult for him to even talk,

“……I-It looks like I…… caused a lot of trouble for you…… I’m sorry……!”

‘So that’s what his real personality is like?’ Yuno thought.

Dealing with the aftermath of their mission went quite smoothly overall. First, Mimosa treated the injuries of Zable and his followers. While she did that, Yami and Klaus explained what happened to the guests and the sponsor of the party. In addition, they enacted a gag order on everyone present, elaborated on the dangers of the ‘Original Sin’, and emphasized that it was a tool that nobody should dabble in.

“……I see. You obtained it at the black market…… That means it will be difficult to identify its source.”

After Yuno, Bell, and Asta contacted the Magic Knights Headquarters and requested transportation for Zable, they all stood guard as they waited for the Knights to arrive, but……

“Perhaps. Moreover, this was over a month ago. The store I bought this from might not even be around anymore, and even the store owner said that the details of the ‘Original Sin’ were unknown. I’m sorry that I can’t be more helpful……”

In complete contrast to how he was before, Zable answered Yuno’s questions humbly as he bowed his head in shame. Once he was released from the curse of the ‘Original Sin’, it was clear that he was an extremely gentlemanly young man. He obediently accepted his crimes, testifying how he had obtained the ‘Original Sin’. Bell and Asta were ready to give him a lecture, so seeing him like this was a bit of a letdown. After experiencing such a surprising change (well, Zable simply reverted back to normal), Zable continued to speak with unease in his voice,

“However, the store owner did say... the ‘Original Sin’ raises its owner’s magic power during battle, but when not in battle, it sucks away its owner’s magic and stores it, little by little. Also, once it accumulates a certain amount of magic, it self-proliferates by creating ‘manuscripts’. That means that my copy is probably not the only one on the market.”

“……Well, you’re probably right about that. Your copy also wasn’t the only one that store was selling, wasn’t it?”

“That’s right. Of course, the degree that it changes its owner’s personality and the amount of power it gives and takes is probably different for each manuscript, but……”

‘This looks like it’s going to be trouble…...,’ Yuno thought to himself as he clicked his tongue. Even Zable, a gentle person with very weak mana, transformed into that just by obtaining the ‘Original Sin’. If an evil person with strong mana were to obtain the ‘Original Sin’, then they would be even more troublesome. Reaching the end of his patience, Asta interjected,

“I’ve been thinking this since you started talking, but, you kinda seem… like a real nice guy! Why did you get involved with such a dangerous tool!?”

“A ‘nice guy’, huh? Ku ku, it makes me happy to hear that, but……  you can’t survive in the world of nobles with kindness alone.”

“I was blessed with being born into a powerful family, but I have weak mana and a timid personality…… Nobody ever said anything bad about me to my face, but behind my back, they were anxious about appointing me as the next head of the family, and they even started to question if I would be able to get married and leave an heir.”

Not expecting his problems run so deep, Asta’s mouth hung open, making Zable laugh at himself derisively as he continued,

“I guess I was rushing. I wanted… magical power, at least, so I ended up depending on such a dubious tool, resulting in this mess…. I’m truly sorry for being such a bother.”

As he finished, Zable bowed his head toward them.

“And, thank you for stopping me. I’ll be sure to reward you handsomely after I’ve paid for my sins.”

“Huh? N-no, you don’t need to do that! You’re such a nice guy that…... I kind of feel bad for arresting you.”

“If a time comes when even a pathetic guy like me can start over again, I’ll be sure to work hard and obtain real strength. Instead of relying on tools, I’ll change myself with my own strength!”

“Jeez, you’ve left nothing for me to lecture you about! H-hey Yuno, can’t we get this guy pardoned or something!? He just got possessed by some bad mana for a bit! I’m begging ya, let’s just look the other way this time!”

Asta misguidedly begged Yuno with tears in his eyes. Yuno ignored him and said to Zable,

“As a goal, ‘I want to change’ is far too vague. It’s better to set that as a long-term goal while setting short-term goals as well. That will give you a roadmap that’s easier to follow.”

“Huh? Y-yeah……”

Zable replied vaguely. Yuno’s advice was so abrupt that Zable didn’t realize it was directed toward his earlier decision.

Yuno averted his eyes a bit before continuing,

“Long ago, I knew a person who would say the same things you’re saying now, but…… I think if that person had been given this type of advice back then, things would have gone more smoothly for him. It’s no big deal, but…… try it if you can.”

It was too embarrassing for him to say out loud, but that person was, of course, himself from the past. However, there was a time when he recklessly trained with his magic, and he wondered if he would’ve been able to train more efficiently if someone had given him that advice. Because of this, Yuno wanted to meddle just a bit.

“……Thanks to his efforts, he was able to join the Magic Knights.”

And while he was at it, he decided to try meddling even more.

“You sort of resemble that person, so I’m sure you’ll be fine…... Do your best.”

“…………!”

Zable looked taken aback before looking down with a small smile on his face.

“’You’ll be fine’ and ‘Do your best’…… huh? Ku ku…… Nobody has ever said that to me before…… I see. So, being told such words makes one this happy…….”

He continued to smile as he said this, but as he continued, his eyes became clouded with tears. Yuno didn’t feel that he said anything important to him, but he hoped that his words would prove to be at least a little bit useful to Zable, a man who resembled his former self so highly. If his words do prove useful, he’ll be very happy. Such was the heartfelt atmosphere Yuno and Zable established before Asta destroyed it by saying,

“H-hey…… what are you talking about, Yuno!? We’ve been together since forever, and I don’t remember anybody like that! This is scary! Tell me straight, what the heck did you see!?”

“Are you stupid? Nevermind. I already know the answer to that.”  

“……Ah, I know! You’re talking about your past self! Ha ha~, but since you were embarrassed about it, you said it was someone you knew! I’m right, aren’t I!?”

“You’re so tactless. Well, I already knew that.”

“Ah, there they are! Everyone! Over here!”

At that moment, a voice came from the mansion, followed by the sound of multiple footsteps.

“……Ah, that girl, it’s her, isn’t it!? That girl who was making eyes at Yuno, Dina!”

Before this, Bell was sitting bored on Yuno’s shoulder, fidgeting about. However, hearing Dina’s voice made her hiss like a cat. Just as she suspected, Dina was coming toward them from the mansion, with the girls that were with her earlier behind her…… no.

“That boy is Yuno-kun!? Oh gosh, he’s a total hottie!”

“I saw your battle earlier~. You were suuuuuuuper cool~!”

“Hey, that Asta kid is pretty cute too once you get a close look at him!”

Dina brought along several dozens of girls with her, who were all frantically running towards them. Asta shouted as he gazed at the sight in wonderment,

“H-hey! What’s with those girls!?”

“These girls said they all wanted to talk to you two after watching you fight! Of course, I feel the same way!”

‘For a selfish reason like that……,’ Yuno was already sick of that kind of stuff. Bell inflated her cheeks more and more as she protested,

“You obviously shouldn’t! Anyway, Dina was already like this, but what about the rest of you!? You all were acting coldly toward Yuno and the others earlier, and yet now you’re trying to act all chummy with them!”

“Now, now, don’t say that, little spirit with a freakin’ huge forehead. The organizer of this party also wants to thank us.”

Yami entered the conversation as he approached from behind the gaggle of girls.

“He says he’ll set us up with all the booze we want for free…. Heck, he’s even willin’ to setup an afterparty for us. He’s doin’ all this for us, so it’d be rude to refuse him, right? Plus, it’s free booze.”

As usual, he made no attempt to hide his real intentions. Klaus, who stood beside him, coughed once before speaking,

“Moreover, there are people who want to share a drink with Mimosa, Captain Yami, and myself now that they know we are Magic Knights. They collaborated with our investigation, so we cannot simply turn them down.”

What he was saying certainly sounded plausible, but it sounded forced as he said it, and it looked as if he was checking Yami’s expression the entire time. Apparently, this middle manager was a victim of the God of Destruction’s harassment once again today. Beside him, Mimosa was shivering with tears in her eyes as she said to Asta and Yuno,

“Y-Yuno-san, Asta-san…… Don’t tell me… you guys aren’t coming? You guys won’t leave me behind at a…… at a matchmaking party, will you?”  

In response to her supplications, Asta scratched his cheek.

“I don’t really get what you’re talking about, but this means I’ll get to eat more tasty food like earlier, right? Then, I’ll definitely go! Now that you mention it, this has been bothering me for a while now, but what’s a ‘matchmaking party’?”

Asta said absentmindedly as he headed toward the mansion. Watching Asta’s back, Yuno had one thing to say as he sighed with a blank expression on his face,

“……You can’t be serious.”

 After that, they handed Zable over to the Magic Knights who arrived at the mansion, thoroughly conveying his extenuating circumstances. They also described the entire battle to the Magic Appraisal Division, reporting that the ‘Original Sin’ disappeared once it was destroyed. Once that was finally done, they returned to the party. What was waiting for them was a flood of nobles, who rushed toward Yuno and the others with hearts aflutter, but…

“Hey, you! You’re wearing too much perfume! You’re trying to leave your scent on Yuno, aren’t you! And you over there! You’ve been holding that small glass with both of your hands for a while now!  You’re trying too hard to look cute! Women like you aren’t qualified to talk to Yuno!”

Bell floated above Yuno’s head, dissing all the young women who were flocking to him,

“When it comes to weight training, you might have the impression that you’re supposed to train all your muscles at once, right? But, that’s not true. It’s important to concentrate on training one portion of your body at a time. My recommendation is…...”

Asta was talking about weight training,

“P-personally, I think that a healthy relationship between a man and a woman should start by exchanging a diary with each other! I-I also think that this should be done for a two-year time period!”

Klaus transformed into the incarnation of straight-lacedness,

“O-oh dear! Your breath smells really bad! Does anybody have any magic to fix this man’s breath!? I’m begging you, please save me!”

Mimosa was mowing down any man who attempted to woo her with her natural airheadedness,

“Huh? My annual income? Dunno. Now that I think about it, I’ve never bothered to count, cuz’ I’m usually broke by the time payday comes, anyway. You’re askin’ me what I spend it on? Gambling. Also, alcohol and smokes.”

With lifeless eyes, Yami took swigs of his drink as he blithely talked about his risky lifestyle. As they became unable to endure another second of this matchmaking party from hell, the nobles left the venue one by one. By the time an hour had passed, no one remained except for the Magic Knights of Gold and Black.

And, on the following day,

“This is the written report by Klaus’s group concerning their contact with the ‘Original Sin’ a few days ago.”  

Vangeance was sitting in his office at the Golden Dawn’s headquarters. The man who presented this report to him was his close aide, Alecdora Sandler. Vangeance thanked him as he took it, reading it over carefully and silently.

“……I see. As we thought, when the ‘Original Sin’ goes out of control, it manifests its tentacle magic. This report is consistent with the others we have received.”

“Yes. We are still unsure of what causes it to run wild and whether tentacle magic is the only type of magic it can manifest… there are still many things we do not know, but, slowly but surely, we’re gathering information.”

“Right…… Thank you for the report. You may leave now.”

Vangeance said before returning to reading the report in silence. Sandler made a short reply and a three-leaf salute before leaving.

“……. I see. So, it amplifies its owner’s magic……”

Shortly after reading the report, he stared out into empty space. And, though there was nobody else in the office, he spoke as if there was someone with him.

“……It really is just as you said… Patry.”

He said to himself as a cryptic smile floated to his lips.

--- Gold and Black: The End ---

Sometimes, it may seem like I’m taking liberties with the translation by adding slang, but it’s really there in the Japanese text. Case in point, the light novel literally uses the word “Diss” when describing how Bell was “dissing all the young women”. For some reason, I can’t help but crack up when I see slang like that written in a Japanese novel.

Zable turned out to be a lot different than what I was expecting. I love how Asta’s reaction to being flirted with is to talk about bodybuilding. And gosh, Mimosa can be savage when she panics.

For obvious reasons, Patry isn’t mentioned at all in the other two light novels, but I’m glad his existence (and Mereoleona’s!) finally gets acknowledged now that we’re all the way in novel 3. He even gets to make an appearance… all the way in chapter 4 of Book of Yuno, which is what I plan to work on next!

[voltagesmutter]

Jealous Rivals - Yamato/Saeki [P1]

“Will you stop it!” You whined as you stood up quickly, pushing yourself from leaning over the bar counter. 

“We're only teasing hunny, it’s just such a nice view,” Saeki said with a smile as he leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs. You turned around and slapped him playfully with the towel you had just been using. 

“Guys, pack it in, she’s baby my niece,” Kunhi said with a blush across his cheeks, even though you weren't technically related, you classed him as family. You were helping him out by cleaning the Long Island bar he owned, even though it was the same people who were always in there. The only people missing were Yamato and Takao, they were the only pair with real working hour jobs, the others spent most of their time lingering at the bar. You had been leaning over the front of the bar, clearly not realising how far your skirt was rising up your thighs until Saeki made a lewd comment about wanting to get up behind you and pushing your skirt higher.

Regardless of his charming personality and your closeness, he was a utter sex pest, like it surprised you he was not the actual author of ‘50 Shades of Grey’. You loved him very dearly and he always held a special place in your heart, not long after you had moved here, you had gotten drunk at the bar and he looked after you, not making a move or suggestions, he stayed with you the whole night talking and since then he only grew in your heart. 

Since moving here, you lived in Kunhi’s spare bedroom and was currently looking for jobs but since you hadn’t found one yet, Kunhi had taken you on, much to Saeki’s delight and spent an incredibly large amount of time here. Ignoring the comments coming from Saeki about you being a grown woman, you watched as Yamato entered into the building and gave him a sweet smile. He was the other important man in your life, you had always got on extremely well with him and felt most comfortable around him. Regardless of his sarcasm and often relentless teasing you had learned how to manage Yamato, if you threw a curveball of innocence or sexualness to him it completely threw him off track and made him blush. Something you enjoyed seeing. 

“Heya pouty, guys,” Yamato said, before placing himself at the bar. He had insisted on the nickname due to your ‘squishy cheeks’ obviously meaning your face but Saeki often referred to it meaning somewhere else. Throwing off your apron that was around your waist you pulled up a chair nearby to him.

“So… how did it go tell me!” You whispered with a hint of excitement. Yamato tapped his finger against the bar before taking a deep breath.

“I got it,”.

“Oh yami! I’m so happy,” You squealed with delight and hugged the school teacher whose cheeks flushed thoroughly. He had been in line for a promotion at work, he actually came to you one night for help to prepare, making you swear to tell no-one else. 

“Hey! Hands off my honey,” Saeki pouted, turning to see you and sulked over to you.

“Not now Saeki,” Yamato murmured under his breath.

“No, we’re going to celebrate!” You said with glee before going behind the bar and grabbing a bottle. 

“(Y/N)? What are you doing?” Kunhi asked, raising an eyebrow to you. 

“We’re celebrating Yamato’s promotion!” You replied, just as Takao walked into the bar, greeting everyone. The whole gang was here.

“Promotion? What promotion”.

“Yeah tell us Yamato!”.

Yamato scowled a little at you, you knew he hated being the centre of attention and explained to the others, trying to not make a big deal out of it. You popped the bottle open, the build up of fizz gushed out the top and soaked your white blouse which now clung to you, revealing your white bra underneath. All the men in the room stopped and stared at you, your face flushing and you bolted upstairs, undoing your shirt muttering curse words. In all honesty it was probably best to get changed if there was going to be drinking, Saeki had a habit of being touchy after a glass or two. You undressed and threw on your silk pyjama top and matching shorts, even though it was only 4 pm, but who cares. You skipped back downstairs, ready to celebrate with your boys, you had come to love them all with their individual quirks and personalities. 

“Ren, wake up,” You giggled, the bubbles had gone to your head and you were currently poking the passed out Ren on the sofa in the bar. That man could sleep through an earthquake. Yuta was currently trying to show you his material for his new show but kept forgetting and ended up just giggling to himself. Takao was enjoying his struggling performance. Your phone started to ring and you picked it up.

“Hello? Oh Annie hey!”. You stood up, holding your hand out to keep balance. 

“Yes! Yeah, no I tried to ring you earlier, you’ll never guess what!”.

“No, girl guess,” You giggled, you made your way past the men who were deeply interested in your conversation, before standing behind the bar. You turned your back to the men.

“Remember the guy, you know the guy from the bakery… Annie come on the ‘sweet as this cake guy’,”. You started to lower your voice.

“Well, yeah he asked me out, we have a date tomorrow!”. You felt an intense gaze on you and you turned, both Saeki and Yamato had turned their heads instantly at the words ‘sweet as this cake’ to eavesdrop. Both their faces were laced with anger. 

“Um...Annie no, I’ll call you back,” You whispered before ending the call. Maybe it was the drink but you felt like a wave of jealousy had come over the pair.

“A date? Hunny your breaking my heart,” Saeki pouted and you giggled slightly.

“Yes a date, I’m a woman, I have needs, I’ve been single for so long now,”.

“I have needs as well,” Yamato pouted quietly. He always became needy when he had too much to drink whereas Saeki became more bold. 

“I could easily fill them needs,” Saeki smirked to you.

“I have toys for that,” You replied rolling your eyes, drinking made you feel more carefree and in all honesty you got a kick out of their stunned reactions. They began to question you about every little detail about him. 

“Whats his name?”

“Rikki”

“Where did you meet him?”

“At a bakery,”

“What does he look like?” “What does he do?”

“Is he more handsome than me?”

“Yeah, is he more good looking than the both of us?”

The list went on and you joined them at their table sighing in defeat. 

“Look this is my first time I’ve been asked out in years, I’m already nervous, I don’t need you two adding to this!” You cried, taking a sip of your drink.

“I’ve asked you out loads!” Saeki protested, his face pouting.

“Saeki this is serious,”.

“I was serious,”. His reply left you a little stunned. 

“Stop making moves on my pouty!” Yamato finally added, his eyes had a dark hint to them.

“Boys-“.

“Shut up Yamato, you’ve never asked her out!”.

“Yeah because I’m a gentleman, I’ve been waiting for the right moment, I don’t just throw myself at her with sex filled comments like you do!”.

“I’m romantic! At least I can say more sarcastic comments and start blushing when she actually talks to me”.

“Fine!” Yamato yells before turning to you, you was sat there blinking in shock at the childish argument in front of you.

“Pouty, as a thank you for helping me get my promotion please let me take you on a date tomorrow,” Yamato said, reaching for you hand and gazing into your eyes. It was broke as your other hand was taken and you watched as Saeki presses a small kiss to your hand.

“Honey, let me show you a real night, let me take you on a date instead,” He seductively whispers to you, stroking his fingers over your wrist. 

“I-” Was all you could respond as your face became flustered. This was a joke surely? 

On one hand you had Yamato who’s attitude did wind you up at times but you shared such sweet moments together, you both supported each other and he trusted you with everything. 

On the other you had Saeki, the flirtatious novelist, who was sometimes too much with his lustrous comments but then had this sweet emotional side to him that you both connected on. 

You couldn’t deny, you felt something for them both on a emotional and physical scale.

“I- I pick…” 

[rebeccathewinterqueen]

Awakening: Furious Battle pt 3

Title: Awakening (The Samaya Court Book 1)

Fandoms: Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon

Characters: Yuugi Mutou, Yami Yuugi, Ushio, Katsuya Jounouchi

A/N: Hello from the new house! Spent all of yesterday moving in, so that’s why I didn’t post until now. Note on the chapter: This is a little experimental. Yami doesn’t have a name yet, so it felt inconsistent and weird to use it here. It’ll be a while before a) Yuugi even knows he exists and b) gives him a name. I tried to make it as clear as possible but I’m not sure how well it turned out, so feedback on it is very very welcome!

Read Chapter 2: Furious Battle pt 2 here

As soon as the final piece was slotted into place, the whole Puzzle began to glow. Yuugi gasped as his forehead burned white-hot. He tried to scream but it caught in his throat.

Shadowy blobs shot out of the eye in the center of the Puzzle and disappeared. The light filled his whole room, blinding him. It was all he could see. He couldn’t even cover his eyes because he was paralyzed, his hands locked around the Puzzle.

Then something hot and electric raced up his arms, and he blacked out.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

He had only ever known the darkness for so long, he couldn’t remember anything else. A world of reds and purples and blues so deep they were almost indistinguishable from the greys and black. A world where time was indistinguishable, where he only ever had the Shadows and his own thoughts for company, where gravity didn’t pull you to the ground but to whatever surface you happened to be nearest. Or, if he concentrated hard enough, whatever surface he wanted.

He remembered having friends, once. A whole team dedicated to…he wasn’t sure. Sometimes the shadows shifted and he could smell blood and smoke. But he could never remember his friends’ names, or what they looked like, or why someone was bleeding, or what caused the fire.

And then, for the first time since he entered this hell, he saw light.

He remembered light.

Light didn’t exist here.

His breath caught and he reached for it. With nothing in this world to use to gauge distance, it was only then he realized it was too far away. He ran toward it, trying to catch it. The light, the warmth, he hadn’t realized how much he needed it until then. The Shadows shot forward, wrapping around it, smothering it—no! He wouldn’t lose it!

His fingers finally brushed it, and it was like touching a star.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Once the burning sensation faded, he was able to open his eyes again.

And then he had to shut them again, because the light was too bright. He grimaced and squinted, waiting for his eyes to adjust. Once they had he was able to get a look around.

It was so…colorful. From the sea foam rug on the wooden floor, to the sky color of the desk, to the dark blue of the bedspread (but not as dark a blue as where he had been before) that was covered in soft-looking toys. Where was he? Why did everything look so different? He tried to remember how things had looked before, but all he could remember was the dark.

He knew he hadn’t always been in that dark place. He tried to cast back further, to before, and was met with a blank wall.

“Vee?”

He looked down. There was a small brown fluffy thing staring up at him with wide, innocent eyes. He felt like he should remember what it was, but it took so much effort to bring the word up.

“Eevee,” he finally whispered hoarsely. “That’s…what you are…”

It jumped onto the desk, butting its head imperiously against his hand until he released the Puzzle to pet it. He had been holding it so tightly it almost hurt when he let it go, but he was glad he did; the small creature was warm, soft. Living.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt anything like it. Before the Dark Place, he knew. When was that? He couldn’t remember.

He looked down at himself. His body felt so familiar, but also so very strange. His clothes felt strange, looked strange, like he had been subconsciously expecting to see something else there.

Something squirmed, an odd sensation that seemed settled in his chest. Next to his soul. Why…? His eyes widened.

The Dark Place. He had been in the Dark Place, until he saw the light. There had been no one else with him then.

There was another soul with him, connected to his. He drew on the Shadows, his only companions in the Dark Place, still nearby and willing to do whatever he wished, and closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he was inside a different room—his soul room, he knew, though he couldn’t remember how or when he came across that information. Dark, except for the sickly glow of an eye on a door in front of him. He opened it and stepped into a hallway, better lit and made of rough stone blocks. The footing was uneven, but he managed not to trip as he followed it.

There was only one other door, wood like the one in the room he had been sitting in earlier. If that other room was his soul room, then this door would lead to whoever he was sharing space with. He needed to know, but the idea of just waltzing in made him cringe. The door was already partially open, thankfully, enough to see a bit of what was inside.

He could see enough of the room to realize it was almost a carbon copy of the room he had woken up in. There were more toys, the rug seemed a little fluffier, and it was definitely brighter and warmer. Very few shadows seemed to be in there. Paintings covered the walls, mostly of a boy who looked almost like him with an older man and a pretty middle-aged woman. Or, he thought they were paintings—they looked so realistic he almost thought they would move.

And there was the boy from the pictures, lying on the bed. The boy looked so similar to him they could have been brothers. And yet that idea felt wrong…

Something growled, and the boy shivered. He found his eyes drawn to the unnaturally dark space under the bed, where a pair of sickly green reptilian eyes peered. A worry or fear, he thought.

“Ushio-san…”

He started, wondering if he had woken the boy’s soul, but he was still asleep. The monster under the bed growled more deeply.

So, it’s name was Ushio. Not a name he recognized.

He backed out of the room and concentrated on waking up. If he was right, and he thought he was, this wasn’t his body, but the boy’s. Somehow he had ended up there.

The boy had rescued him from the Dark Place.

Maybe he could return the favor.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

The sky was cloudy, hiding the moon and stars and casting the place he had chosen in shadow. Not Shadows, not like the Dark Place, but enough that he felt almost at home.

Once he had realized it wasn’t his body, he had used the Shadows to find the boy’s last thoughts. They had been terror-filled and riddled with anxiety, all centered on this character, Ushio.

His lips lifted into a smirk. Ushio had demanded a ridiculous amount of money from his hikari, the boy who had rescued him—Yuugi, he had found out, while viewing the last few memories before his awakening. He had found it in his hikari’s school bag when he had gone to call the beast for their meeting, and while he knew it hadn’t been there before thanks to those memories, it gave him an idea.

If Ushio wanted the money, he would give the beast a chance at it. Hell, he would double it. He fanned the money out, using a touch of Shadow to duplicate it. It wasn’t a perfect illusion—it didn’t feel quite right and the colors were slightly off, but in the dark it was close enough.

The beast arrived at their meeting—he had chosen Yuugi’s school because it was close enough to get to quickly, far enough not to disturb his hikari’s family, and abandoned for the night, giving them privacy. He watched Ushio approach from his perch on some of the gym equipment that had been left out—being higher up felt natural—and then decided to draw his attention.

“Ushio.”

The beast’s eyes snapped to him, startled for a minute. His smirk deepened, and the Shadows crowed.

“Yuugi.” Well, apparently he still looked enough like his hikari to pass. Good. “You have some balls on you, don’t you? Calling me out here like this.” The DC president spread his hands. “Well, I’m here. You brought the money, didn’t you?”

He held it up. “I did.”

Ushio smirked and held a hand out. “Good boy. Now, give it here.”

The Shadows hissed their fury, but Ushio couldn’t hear them. He didn’t let his irritation show on his face. The beast would be dealt with shortly.

“But that’s so boring,” he sighed. He leaned back slightly, hooking his feet into the equipment to keep his balance, and held the money up. “Why don’t we play a game for it? I even brought double.”

“D-double?” Ushio was practically panting after it, and he was unable to contain his smirk at the predictable response.

“Double,” he repeated lightly. “Of course,” he said casually, “it’s not just any game. It would be a Shadow Game. If you win, you get the money, of course. If you lose, I keep the money. And if you cheat…” His face darkened. “If you cheat, you get a Penalty.”

“Sounds interesting. Alright, I accept.” Ushio smiled, an ugly look in his eyes. “I’ve never lost a game before.”

“Then let’s play. We just need one thing to begin.” He smirked back. “That knife of yours, Ushio.”

“Wha—?”

He waved his hand impatiently. “Your knife. I know you have it with you. We need it for the game, or we can’t play.”

Ushio eyed him warily, but pulled the knife from his jacket pocket anyway. “Alright, here it is. What are the rules?”

“So glad you asked.” He dropped to the ground, sitting next to a short platform used for—he squinted, Yuugi’s memories weren’t clear, something about jumping? It would work for a table, anyway. He placed the stack in the center. “We each take a stack of the bills and set it on the backs of one of our hands.” He demonstrated, then gestured for the knife. Ushio handed it to him. “Then you stab the bills with the knife to lift some off. However many you stab is how much of the money you keep, and whoever collects the most wins. We keep going until there are no more bills left.” He smiled slightly. “Of course, you must be careful not to stab your own hand. If you stab yourself, you lose. And the only rule to how many you can stab is that it must be more than one.”

“Dangerous. I like it.” Ushio sat with a grin. “You’re gutsier than I expected, Yuugi. If you acted like this more often, maybe you wouldn’t be bullied so much.”

He filed that information away for another time. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Game start.”

The Shadows crawled eagerly around their feet, though Ushio didn’t notice them at all. The beast was too busy watching him place the bills.

“I’ll go first,” he said mildly, picking up the knife. He bit his lip and pressed the point carefully against the bills, concentrating on not picking up too many and very aware of Ushio’s eyes on his face. One…two…three…that should be enough. He pulled the knife away, revealing the three bills he had speared.

“Harder than I thought it would be,” he said, plucking the paper from the knife. Really, why use paper money when metal was so much more durable? Too easy to destroy, he thought as he set the remaining money on the pile. Exactly how long had he been in the Dark Place?

“Ha! That’s all? Give me the knife.” Ushio snatched the blade away. “I’ll show you how a real man plays this game.”

“Do remember to be careful,” he reminded Ushio. “You don’t want to accidentally stab yourself.”

“Shut up,” Ushio snapped. He set a thick stack on the back of his hand and placed the tip against it. The beast pressed down, and the blade slid forward, gathering a much thicker stack of bills than his had been. Then Ushio picked up the knife triumphantly. “Ten! This isn’t a very hard game at all, you wimp.”

One of the Shadows scraped against the beast’s ankle. Ushio twitched, but otherwise didn’t seem to notice.

And so the game continued. After a while, he looked at the table. He had amassed a small stack of money, and the pile between them was almost gone. Most of it resided in Ushio’s stack.

Ushio laughed triumphantly. “I’m going to win!” He picked up the last of the money and placed it on the back of his hand, bringing the knife to bear. “I’ve already got almost all of it.”

He hummed noncommittally.

“Aw, don’t be like that,” Ushio mocked. “You should be happy! I’m in such a good mood I won’t even beat you up for calling me out here at midnight.”

“How…kind.”

Ushio smirked and pressed the knife down. He knew all the beast had to do was leave at least one bill. The stack was small and wouldn’t require much pressure. But, to his delight, Ushio seemed to be having trouble.

“What’s the matter, Ushio?” he asked innocently. The beast’s arm was trembling, and Ushio seemed to be panicking, eyes wide, chest starting to heave. Only he could see the Shadow wrapped around the beast’s arm, a new green-tinted Shadow that had sprung from Ushio’s heart.

“Shut…up…” Ushio grunted. Sweating dripped down the side of his face.

“It seems,” he said, leaning forward thoughtfully, “that your head is at war with your heart.” Ushio glanced at him, then returned to glaring at his hand. “The point of this game is to master your greed, and you know that here,” he said, tapping his temple, “but here,” he tapped his heart, “you want the money too much.”

“I said SHUT UP!” Ushio pulled the knife away and swung it at his face. He dodged and fell back, landing in a less-than-graceful heap (a voice chided him, “Get up, you can do better than that…”). Ushio’s face twisted into an ugly snarl. “I’ll kill you,” the beast promised him, “and then all of it will be mine.”

He leaped up and snarled back. The Shadows rose, twisting around the beast like snakes, keeping him still. “If money is all you desire,” he hissed, “then money is all you shall see! Illusion of Avarice!”

A green-tinted Shadow rose and pressed against the beast’s eyes, momentarily hiding them from view. Ushio yelled, trying to free himself and unable to. Then he was still, and the Shadow finished crawling into him. For a moment afterward there was a “Y” with two lines through the bottom imprinted over his eyes. Then that, too, faded, and the Shadows let him go. Ushio fell face-first into the dirt.

He gathered the money, tucked it into a pocket, and waited for the beast to stir again before turning to leave. He didn’t look at the results, just listened to the yelp—“Money!”—and the crunch of a body hitting one of the leaf piles next to the track.

“I guess this counts for a happy ending for you after all,” he murmured, smirking. Then he sauntered home, the Shadows fading away.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Most of the trip was a blur. He vaguely remembered walking, placing the envelope of money back under the till for Yuugi’s grandfather to find later, and stumbling up the stairs, somehow avoiding waking everyone up in the process. He didn’t exactly have the wherewithal to be quiet.

He was panting by the time he made it to Yuugi’s room, shutting the door as quietly as he could behind himself and sliding to the floor, head and heart pounding.

That had taken more out of him than he expected.

“Eevee?” The small brown creature crawled into his lap, placed its front paws on his chest, and licked his cheek. He flinched slightly, still not used to real sensation, but he was more awake now.

“I’m…alright,” he tried to assure it. It looked at him doubtfully. “Just tired.” He wrapped his arms around it securely and stood. He needed to rest, but he refused to leave his hikari on the floor. He turned off the light, stumbled to the bed, and all but fell into it, letting the Eevee go and settling so he was on his back.

He almost didn’t want to sleep. What if he woke up in the Dark Place again?

His hikari had covered the ceiling with green glowing stars. It was soothing, especially when there was so little light coming from the window, reminding him he wasn’t in the Dark Place any more.

The Eevee snuggled against his side, a quiet living reminder. He wasn’t there anymore. His hikari had saved him. He would never return there again.

His eyes drifted shut.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Yuugi woke up with his alarm and stretched with a tremendous yawn. He felt like he hardly slept at all!

Something next to him wriggled and whined sleepily. He looked down. There was a brown ball of fluff curled into a tight ball next to his side, happily radiating heat. A toy? No, he decided numbly, watching it expand and contract. Toys didn’t breathe.

“Wha—?”

The fluff picked its head up, ears springing upright, and looked at him with deep brown eyes. “Vee?”

“Ah!” His yell startled the little creature, and they jumped away from each other. “What the hell?!”

It gave him a sad look. “Vee,” it whined piteously.

“You’re an Eevee!” It gave him an insulted look. “Eevees aren’t real!” They only existed in the Pokemon game! It was one of his favorite cards, he would recognize it anywhere, but it couldn’t be here in his room!

“Yuugi, is that you?” His doorknob turned.

He froze, then threw his blanket over the tiny creature, muffling its shocked cry. “I’m up, Kaa-san!”

His door opened. “On time today, I see,” she said approvingly. “Well, hurry and get ready, I’ll make breakfast.”

“Of course,” he said, grinning brightly, angling himself so he could block her view of the wriggling blanket. He breathed a sigh of relief when she left, then lifted the blanket. The Eevee stared at him balefully. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, “but Kaa-san can’t see you, she would have a fit. How…how are you here?”

He crouched down to pet it—her, he corrected himself absently. She stood on her back paws and batted at his chest.

No, he realized, not his chest. The Millennium Puzzle. He frowned. He remembered solving it last night and passing out at his desk. Why was it around his neck? Where had he even gotten the cord from?

But most importantly, there hadn’t been an Eevee in his room then, either. Did that mean she had come from the Puzzle?

He remembered those shadows…

He scratched her behind one ear, listening to her purr. “I’ll figure out what’s going on,” he promised. “But I have to go to school first. I can’t bring you with me…” He bit his lip. “Will you stay here?”

The Eevee seemed to pout for a minute, then nodded.

“Alright…I’ll bring you breakfast before I leave. Hide if Kaa-san comes in, okay?”

Then he got ready for the day.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

He arrived school to see a crowd of students. Yuugi wandered over, curious in spite of himself—whatever it was would be a welcome distraction right now. He still had no idea what to do about Ushio except try to avoid him as much as possible—

—except it was Ushio everyone was staring at.

The older student was rolling in a pile of leaves and trash, laughing. “Money! Look at all this money!” he caroled. He tossed a handful of leaves in the air. “Mine! All mine!”

Ushio had cracked, Yuugi thought numbly. Students whispered around him.

“He thinks it’s money?”

“Ew, there’s trash in the leaves!”

“Gross…”

One of the Disciplinary Committee members crept forward, face unsure. “Ushio-san?”

Ushio pulled his knife and swiped at the other boy. “Get away from me! It’s mine, all mine!”

The student leapt back, and the crowd gasped. Yuugi flinched away, and one of the girls screamed.

“Someone call the police!”

“Ushio’s insane—!”

“—what the hell—”

“What’s going on out here?” a teacher demanded, pushing his way through the crowd. “Everyone get to class, we’ll handle this.”

Yuugi followed the others inside. What had happened to Ushio? He was completely delusional, but how could something like that happen overnight?

But something inside him still couldn’t help but relax. He didn’t have to worry about coming up with the money, or worry about Ushio knifing him behind the school. He just wished it wasn’t because of something like this.

“Yuugi.” He looked up. Jounouchi-kun was standing against a wall, his face covered in band-aids.

“Jounouchi-kun! Are you alright?” Yuugi asked.

The blond smiled at him. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. I’ve had worse. I…” He looked embarrassed for a moment, then took a breath. “I decided I would bring my treasure to school today, too. Wanna see?” Yuugi nodded, and Jounouchi grinned, all teeth. “Sorry, but you can’t. It’s…something you can show, but you can’t really see it.”

A riddle! Yuugi frowned thoughtfully, but he couldn’t think of an answer. He really should get more sleep…“I give,” he finally said, his lips quirking into a grin. “What is it?”

“Friendship,” Jounouchi said simply. He shrugged and looked away. “Friendship is something you show through your actions, but you can’t physically see it. And…” He looked up, his eyes showing a hint of something unknown, serious. “I hope we’re friends.”

“Of course we are, Jounouchi-kun,” Yuugi said seriously. He held up his Puzzle. “You brought the final piece. I couldn’t have finished this without you.”

Jounouchi looked relieved for a second, then flushed. “Gods, I can’t believe I said something so cheesy,” he muttered. “I…have to go, bye!”

Yuugi blinked as his new friend took off down the hallway, until something fell in front of him. He picked it up and dashed after him.

“Jounouchi-kun, your shoe!”

[apricot-kingdom]

Yami Bakura’s Cafe Au

Bakura (Yami Bakura) is a fantastic cook, he actually fed Ryou a lot whilst sharing a body. He cooked things and put them in the fridge for Ryou to find and eat, it reminds him of when he cooked with his mother. He loves to learn new things about cooking, recipes, new inventions, everything. In Au’s more so, he owns a bakery or cafe and loves baking cakes and such, drinking his coffee its peaceful but he loves it

Bakura’s cafe is in a quieter part of town, he opened it and started it up as soon as he could. Renovations took a while to get it up and running but with others help its as done and it gave him time to hire staff, and start practicing more and more recipes and pastries to sell

Bakura loves to learn as many new recipes as possible and has a lot of books from all over, he plans to travel and learn more all over the globe. Plus he just wants to travel in general

He’s definitely the best cook among the gang and often pokes at Ryou because he really needs to learn how to cook a bit better. Ryou’s just too lazy he’ll eat anything mostly what others make him so he doesn’t bother physically learning himself past a few very basics that Bakura basically forced him into learning

if he’s short staffed sometimes one of his friends will come in if their free, mostly for taking orders and stuff

he has large open windows at the front so you can easily look outside and outside has a wall for regular customers and you can put your handprint up on it so you stay apart of the ‘family’ Also. No one dares graffiti on his property, anyone whose tried has regretted it. Everyone damn well knows not to mess with him

It's a warm homely shop

Between the lot of them (other characters eg, Yuugi, Ryou, Tau and such) no one allows Bakura to work holidays they always make sure he has plans or company. Even if they don’t celebrate the holiday or he doesn’t they make sure he has company and plans holiday or not holiday related one

Bakura makes them all new year dishes and watch fireworks together on his roof or at the park close to his cafe, sometimes during the day others come in and try to help on the dishes but it's mostly just keeping Bakura company as he cooks

Bakura bakes a lot of testing dishes at home and sometimes can get carried away so he’ll throw ‘surprise’ get togethers with Ryou, Malik, Yuugi’s gang everyone in his contact list basically to come eat all the food and they usually make a games, movie night or something similar out of it

Not that he’ll admit to it any more but at the beginning he did cringe at the thought of cooking, he seriously couldn’t have cared in the slightest. He just wasn’t bothered, it wasn’t until he actually just started to do it. Either from lack of other things to do or just because. In a lot of AU’s I have, where he’s Ryou’s younger twin. He starts it up more so when he starts getting suspensions from school, so he cooks with their mother on his ‘days off’. And they spent hours together just cooking different recipes, he kept them all and treasure they deeply. He misses her a lot but he loves seeing what he can make and likes to think she’d be proud of what he’s able to create now

his clothes often smell of things he’s cooked or coffee

He use to cook a lot of stews before he found his passion for pastries and cakes Other character related scenarios below the cut:

All these are sorta stand alone scenarios since some of the information may over lap. None of these are romantic, they’re just how different characters would interact with Yami Bakura and his cafe in this au Xp

Bakura and Mako Interaction in this au If Bakura owns a cafe, he’s the cook and Mako’s on smoothies and coffees he’s great with drinks anything to do with liquids and he’s the king. They work together, in a pun harmony. Most customers know they’ll probably get a pun with these two working. On quieter days they’ll have lunch out back together Mako makes drinks and Bakura the food. Mako teases Bakura a fair bit too loosen up and if food can talk, it’ll talk if he has a say. Bakura seriously just can’t take it seriously when he’s trying to be grumpy about something petty, and Mako’s using a fish to fight the argument or patterned oven mitts. Mako also is really good at helping Bakura to ensure he gets the freshest ingredients possible and on weekends they often go to food markets together. And Mako’s taken Bakura fishing his fair amount of times, Bakura’s helpless at fishing, but he’ll cook up anything and everything Mako catches. They kiss and release the rest. They both ensure to kiss every single one they’re releasing. Kiss it for luck.

Bakura and Malik Interaction in this au Malik’s one of his most common customers to get coffee before he headed off to the garage to start work and often comes in later covered in grease, towel often hanging off his hip hair tied back into a pigtail or sometimes he’ll have a late afternoon shower and wash his hair then come just before closing. Bakura usually has a coffee with him and maybe a muffin if they have any left over and it’s not too busy still. And if something’s broken, Malik can quite often come to help repair it in his spare time. He’s pretty good with most machines and only requests a vegan friendly cake to take home after his done. Plus Bakura doesn’t mind watching him work like when he helped fix the oven or when he took apart the toaster then decided he needed to take it home to put back together

Bakura and Ryou Interaction in this au Ryou often sits in his cafe writing his stories with a tea or hot chocolate, his tables always littered with papers of all his notes and he’s got at least five notebooks if not more and three of them are usually different sizes, typing and researching on his laptop, other research books with him too and Bakura sighs as he takes up his seats with his books, careful to not put the drinks on the papers. He puts Ryou’s things behind the counter if they roll off the table or he forgets them. And he always saves something sweet if possible at the end for Ryou and Ryou happily accepts

Bakura and Yuugi Interaction in this au Yuugi set up the unofficial games corner in his cafe and people come to play games with him, from cards to checkers and so on. Whilst ordering food and drink from Bakura and on his breaks Bakura will join in the games. Yuugi will often ‘forget’ his things that conveniently all have the sticker if found call me. Sometimes Bakura will get one of his other employees to call just to mess with Yuugi and Yuugi often pouts and thanks them politely. And Yuugi understands what it’s like to be really passionate over something so sometimes they’ll meet up and do a puzzle and chat about each other’s passions, Yuugi games and puzzles and Bakura cooking, they’ll show each other magazines books and whatever else and even if they don’t always understand what the heck the other is going on about they listen very intently and ask questions now and again

Bakura and Kaiba Interaction in this au Kaiba gives huge tips, and ensures nothing shuts down the cafe, he often sends in a customer to give an ‘anonymous’ tip to Bakura. And when it’s quieter he’ll come in himself and say he’s just doing some work or Mokuba said he needed to get out, he just really enjoys Bakura’s cooking and often buys out their stock since he’ll come later, then he takes it home to Mokuba. In saying that when Bakura and Kaiba get talking they can easily talk about business owning and Bakura’s more then interested in Kaiba’s less than friendly ways of business. Such as always ensuring you own 51% of all stock. Because then you have majority, they usually play chess or checkers during these chats. Bakura didn’t know chess but he picked it up pretty fast and he researched it at home so now they actually can get into quiet competitive games together

Bakura and Yami Marik (Tau) Interaction in this au Bakura has some of Tau’s art around his cafe and he actually helped design the cafe, he painted all the walls and any of the pictures painted on the physical walls was done by him. Tau sits in the window with a muffin and his sketch pad all day, he won’t admit to it or show him, but he has a lot of sketches of Bakura working around the cafe. Between him and Bakura they both forget pens behind their ears way too often they’d beat the world record, it’s only when they head home and stare in the mirror they notice they’d left one there and sometimes they’ve spent over an hour looking around the cafe for it after closing.

Bakura and Yami Yugi (Yami) Interaction in this au Yami kinda just shows up now and again, he doesn’t explain himself, but he always comes when its quiet he orders two of everything. He never asks but Bakura often does sit with him they don’t talk about it but they know what’s up. Sometimes they argue and bicker, others they have heated discussions, sometimes they sit in silence, or they have a casual conversation. They understand, its kinda just an unspoken understanding these days

Bakura and Ishizu Interaction in this au She comes in and gets her lunch during the working day, she doesn’t often actually stay but she always does leave little comments like I see the bright future of this cafe. Her and Bakura still don’t always see eye to eye and a lot of teasing can be involved, he literally went out of his way to make her fortune cookies just to see how she’d react. She gracefully accepted and ensured to tell him every fortune he’d written her in the first place, at first it was kinda just you know to tease but now he makes them if he wants to tell her something or invite her places, and it's kinda like an inside joke. He’ll just casually slip it in with her lunch to find when she goes back to her office at the museum. In a way he sees her as an odd older sister

Bakura, Mana and Mahado (Ian)  Interaction in this au Mana and Mahado perform magic shows outside the cafe a lot and Bakura grins watching them through his window he eventually caved and put a small stage area for singers and such. But really he just wanted a better view of their magic acts. Honestly Ian doesn’t fully trust Bakura but he’s always happy to perform and the look he gets tells him Bakura truly enjoys it. Despite it all, simple street magic was kinda special in its own way. And Bakura always ensures they have fresh drinks ready and waiting to cool them down after a show. Bakura set up a talent night and held the cafe open and got, Yuugi, Ryou and Malik to judge a little contest. The winner got a cake. Mana won with her Magic act, he tries to hold a similar one yearly. Ian’s won a few since

Bakura Jonouchi Interaction in this au Despite we all know how spooked Jou can get, he always comes in around Halloween with Ryou and they all set up halloween decorations, or as Bakura likes to think. He’s a perfect tester to ensure Ryou doesn’t go over board and freak his customers all away, if Jou can handle it. Its safe to keep if not. Back to where ever Ryou scrounged it from. Otherwise Jou actually isn’t that bad of a cook himself having to be somewhat dependant from a young age he knows how to look after himself and helps back in the kitchen sometimes though Bakura will bonk him on the head if he tries to ‘taste test’  too many of their ingredients. But often follows suit regardless

Bakura and Mai Interaction in this au Mai’s like another older sister, and she’s really good at helping with Bakura’s people skills. Because honestly, he loves his cafe, he loves cooking, loves the smell, general chatter around him. But if he has to personally speak to customers he doesn’t really know, that can be an issue, they tend to irritate him easily especially if they ask him too  what he considers personal questions. And he has been known to scare one or two off. So Mai coaches him in customer service, he’s amazed by how popular she gets so easy. Though he always makes her tie back her hair. So before the day begins they sit out back doing each others hair whilst she gives tips and they chat

Bakura Ryuji Interaction in this au Owning a game shop as well, Ryuji comes quite in handy doing stock take, and checking over all the new stock. Together they are able to easily and swiftly look  through everything and figure out if they need to send any of it back, Bakura will help  at his game shop occasionally but in return Ryuji helps him at his cafe with it. And Ryuji almost weekly on the dot comes in with a new set of dice which Bakura displays along the cash register, sometimes they have a game first depending on the role. Bakura might have to give a discount, or even give Ryuji free food for that day or in return he might get double the original price. So it's definitely a game of chance

Bakura and Pegasus Interaction in this au Pegasus always makes a dramatic entry to the shop, so now when ever he enters Bakura almost instantly gives him a broom and dustpan to clean up any and all the glitter and or confetti he used to make it dramatic. In saying that Pegasus always manages to get the entire shops attention and he often admires everything Bakura does and if he catches Bakura on break he shows him mock designs of pastry monster cards and such. Bakura snickers and makes up ridiculous abilities for them. And for April fools every year he makes a weird concoction, doesn’t care what’s inside as long as its red and drinkable. Then pours it into a wine glass for Pegasus to have so finally when he comes asking for it he’ll get something. Close enough to what he wants. Pegasus also helped design the uniforms with Tau and Bakura.

Bakura and Thief king Bakura (Thief) Interaction in this au Thief is kinda bouncy like a little kid and Bakura can’t really stop him from bringing his own crayons and trying to draw on his menus. He made them all easy to clean now, even though saying that. Thief is a really good cleaner and perfect for when a health inspectors coming he’ll be able to make the place pass with flying colours. Sometimes he’ll just clean regardless. Other then that him and Bakura kinda ensure their separate. But at the same time they do share a few hobbies in which once they get started on they both look crazy insane people but there’s no stopping them from spending hours babbling on, most times Bakura tries to wait til works over and they do clean up together and talk the entire time

Bakura and Hiroto Interaction in this au Hiroto helped with the security cameras in the shop, and setting up some monitory screens in Bakura’s office. Sometimes they both grab a croissant or sometime and sit back there watching. Kinda of like a real tv show, and they joke and give personalities to different customers and backstories and such. And if anyone rubs them the wrong way, by either ‘abusing’ Bakura’s employees verbally or otherwise they’ll go out and scare the life out of them and usually bump fists in sweet victory afterwards. He’s also good muscle if they have a large shipment of food coming in

Bakura and Rishid Interaction in this au Bakura and Rishid actually have a surprising large amount of respect for one another despite all that's happened. Through Malik, Rishid knows to appreciate watching a person grow and change themselves for the better, he still knows Bakura isn’t perfect and he steals things on odd occasions or gets on the wrong side of the law. But he does respect how far he’s come in life. And his passion for his cafe. And Bakura respects Rishid’s strength that’s held him together all these years, through everything he’s never given up, and Bakura looks to that, because even if one person truly believes in you you can thrive. When he comes into the shop he orders the same thing every time and they barely speak but do often give a slight knowing head nod to one another and a smirk or smile

Bakura and Kieth Interaction in this au No offence but together these two can be terrible, when it comes to scamming these two joining forces. Whelp your screwed. They often either get into quiet deep discussions that concern anyone who over hear, they make owning a cafe sound evil. And whilst Bakura and Kieth get in heated arguments over Kieth trying to scam him. At the same time he’s more than happy to let the other help try scamming anyone else, such as electricity, any repair costs, together they can always get the best deal possible and save a lot of money. If Keith stays late at the cafe sometimes they go home and play poker together with a few others

Bakura and Anzu Interaction in this au She helps with serving occasionally, Bakura’s always amazed no matter how many times he sees it. How effortlessly she’s able to move around the room like the dancer she is. Never dropping a thing or spilling anything, sure occasionally when Yuugi and such came in she could be a little over the top but honestly he just found it amusing and after a mini heart attack they did too. He could use a few less friendship speeches but all in all she’s very inclusive and will not hesitate to argue her point with him to protect her friends or stop him from trying to exclude himself from that category. He’s her friend whether he likes it or not

Bakura and Shizuka Interaction in this au Shizuka’s really good at making coffees too and can help if he’s really busy, but also she knows the best and cheapest places for the coffee beans to ensure quality and taste and happily shares her secrets about it with Bakura in return for some cooking lessons together. She loves the cafe because of the large open window, she loves looking out into life and Bakura doesn’t mind listening to her rambling on about what she’s seen recently and where she’s been as he works, truthfully as much as he enjoyed his shops music just listening to someone speak was a nice change of pace, and her chirpy output helps him stay on task and working

Bakura and Miho Interaction in this au Miho’s actually quiet determined, and is great at getting the word out about his cafe. Bakura’s not great with computers really so she basically made his website with Malik and Hiroto. The three of them helped set him up one and she’s also really popular online so saying this is my favourite cafe will get people from different parts of the world coming in. She’s a bit cheerful for his liking sometimes, but if anyone on the street says something bad about the cafe, he can trust her to change their mind or inform him so he can show them wrong. She also helps design the place for Valentines Day and helps judge designs for valentine day specials

Bakura and Mokuba Interaction in this au Mokuba whilst already having a job at Kaiba corp, he still finds it to be an important learning curve having another job. Like normal people whose older brothers have owned a million dollar company since they were a teen. So he’s actually a part time employee on the cash register, Bakura during Mokuba’s fluffy hair stages had a lot of fun in the beginning trying to figure out how to tie it back, pigtails it was still too fluffy, buns were too heavy on his head and fell out, he ended up plating the others hair. And Mokuba can help with any basic legal issues Bakura gets, they discuss them over coffee/hot chocolate and marshmallows

Bakura and Atemu Interaction in this au Like Yami they don’t speak a lot, they don’t overly talk about the past, but they sit at the window with their coffees and cakes when the suns setting sometimes and just sit there. Its surprisingly more peaceful then Bakura would often think in his own mind, and whilst Atemu almost has this urge to help people somewhat. He knows that there’s not really much he can do and Bakura doesn’t need fixing. Right now he’s doing well. And while they may never be friends or anything similar they can kinda just sit comfortably at each others sides now. And Atemu will often leave with a comment on Bakura’s food. Sometimes it’s just something nice and others its constructive criticism, either way Bakura doesn’t mind he almost always improves it by the next time he comes by anyway

Bakura and Rebecca Interaction in this au She may be young, but she’s still a genius. And goes to college already, so she often brings her study group into the cafe and they sit in the corner ordering cakes and drinks and usually when closing gets closer they order some to go and they take them home to have whilst studying. Sometimes if she comes alone and brings her teddy, he’ll set up a little thing for it too. A bit like that build a bear cafe in New York if that’s still going. He gives it an empty cup and puts her food on the table to share. She doesn’t have to ask but he can tell she’s pleased when he does it. Plus this look of disappointment always flashes on her face when he doesn’t

Bakura and Solomon -Grandpa Interaction in this au Solomon kinda reminds Bakura of a grandfather he never really had, and whilst the old man can be forgetful at times he often smirks at his adventurous stories he tells and the way he calls him grandson. And will always have a plate ready if he wanted to come visit for dinner, Bakura drives Solomon to his cafe for lunch sometimes and they just sit and chat its never serious sometimes he grins as Solomon tells him off for doing  something stupid again like getting in trouble at the park and just sprinting off. And Bakura leaves him dinners in the fridge some times too just to ensure he’s eating properly

Bakura and Aigami Interaction in this au Aigami owns the fruit shop that Bakura orders from, so that’s their main interaction. But sometimes when making the order they get a little carried away chatting and have to make the order again. Aigami didn’t at first but eventually he started to bring the fruit himself when possible. And he’d come a little early so Bakura could give him some freshly baked goods in return and they’d ‘test’ the baked goods and put away the fruit whilst chatting

Bakura and Bonz Interaction in this au Whenever Bakura screws up on a pastry, cake or otherwise he’ll take a picture and text it to Bonz. Usually a few minutes later, he’ll have taken the image and drawn a face on it, creating a new zombie pastry. So Bakura takes more pictures of his new ‘zombified pastry’ and him, it supposedly ‘attacking’ him. And Bonz will edit those ones too. This only stops when one of them just can’t take it seriously any more and they usually both end up just laughing. However in saying that, if Bonz ever actually tried cooking something he managed to always make it was more horrific than anything Bakura had ever made, screw up or otherwise. Though, Bonz’s attempts were almost never edible but it was still fun to turn them into zombies too

Bakura and Amane Interaction in this au Amane doesn’t really come to the shop, not really. But sometimes he can feel her spirit around, through the wind and often leaves her a flower inside and the windows open, he writes to her often and burns the letters in his kitchen hoping to make the letter smell of the food he’d made that day, obviously she never responds to him but he’s certain she gets them. He writes one at least every month, if not more and he puts a lot of time and effort into it, updating her on the cafe and life and recipes and just things. Sometimes writing to her is actually when he gets some of his best idea for the cafe and he likes to think she’s trying to help him in her own way alongside his family and everyone he’s ever lost

[asagimeta]

In Defense Of Seto Kaiba..... From Someone Who Used To Hate Seto Kaiba

@youfancymemaddearie said she'd hear me out on why Kaiba isn't The Actual Worst, so for this I'm mostly only going to be using the material I'm personally familiar with because things like context and translations and stuff could get warped otherwise, wich means roughly the first half of the dubbed anime, but I might pull other things here and there that I feel like I know well enough to have a grasp on via things like wikipedia and other meta (it's a long story as to why I never finished the anime so I won't bother getting into it here)

The manga, being a separate canon, is going to be pretty much ignored for this, except for one breif instance where I feel it's necessary to compare something from it to how the anime did it

So, the thing is, for most of my life as a YGO fan (15+ years as of 2018), I bordered between a really weird love and hate of Seto Kaiba, I loved him the way that I love a good villain, the way I love Hannibal Lecter let's say, he's entertaining and I always liked having him on the screen but as a person I really hated him, because.. why wouldn't I? He's an absolute dick to everyone around him with the exception of Mokuba, and even Mokuba doesn't exactly get the cuddly treatment most of the time, he spends the beginning of the series toeing the line between outright villain and anti-hero, and the amount of low-blows he hits and lack of care he has for people who are trying to help him- or people in general- is pretty terrible, atleast... that's how he's presented on the surface and that's how I felt for close to fifteen years

And then I started writing him and the little bastard forced me to change my opinion

Firstly, it's established from the beginning that Seto's actions in stealing Grandpa Muto's card and tearing it up (not to mention giving him a heartattack) aren't entirely his own, Seto had an evil possessing him at the time that, wile manifested from his own feelings, was no less a different entity, it took him over, just like Marik's dark self took him over, it's well-established in YGO that you can be so overcome with pain and anger and negativity that an entirely different spirit manifests and takes over your mind, a process that- wile reversible if caught early enough- is really something that can only be reversed by magic, like a shadow game or a mind crush

Since this is the thing that Atem removed from Seto's mind in episode one....

The actions he took prior to being mind-wiped can't be held entirely against him, as he was not consciously in control of what he was doing at the time, much like the actions of Yami Marik can't be held entirely against Hikari Marik, you can sure as hell blame Marik himself for alot of the things he did during Battle City, but things like the duels against Mai, Joey, and Atem, wherein it was blatantly clear that it was his evil half in control and his good half didn't have access to the controls (made even more obvious by the Yami Duel wherein both spirits had to sacrifice parts of their lighter selves/hosts for losing life points) are impossible to hold entirely against him

We also see that everything is Not Ok after the mind-crush, given that Seto passes up the chance to do his all-time favorite things (dueling, winning, and showing off) on the grandest scale yet when he decides to skip Duelist Kingdom, he claims it's because he doesn't know how to handle being defeated, and wile that may be partly true, it's pretty canonical that it was because of the mind crush (why else would they bring that hideous glob of evil around to duel Yugi/Atem once more?)

And, here's where the manga reference comes in, when you take into account that in the manga, he was in a six-month long coma after the mind-crush- and, mind you (ha), Duelist Kingdom is the turning point where the manga's canon starts to get closer to the anime's- it's really hard to believe that Seto's existential crisis is based on losing and not based on having evil forcefully removed from his soul by an ancient Egyptian spirit who's out to have a good time and was really feeling attacked at the moment

There's really no convenient place to inject backstory, so I'll do it here in the hopes of flowing more easily into the rest of Duelist Kingdom

Seto has been taking care of Mokuba since they were extremely young, he's essentially more like a father to him than a brother, and he had to learn early on to defend him - and that meant getting rougher, getting tougher, getting meaner, and when it came to Gozaburo- who's just about as abusive as one can get and really puts the word "pressure" to good use- that meanness has to amplify, it's made clear that Gozaburo wouldn't tolerate anything less than perfection and ruthlessness and if that was how Seto had to survive, that was how he had to survive, he spent most of his formative years under that kind of hand so naturally he was forced to form that way....

But as someone pointed out in another post somewhere, we can see by how well adapted Mokuba is just how much Seto has taken on in protecting him from that kind of corruption and evil, Gozaburo never really wanted Mokuba around so the pressure he put on him compared to Seto was definitely minimal... but that doesn't mean he wasn't just as abusive, and the fact that Mokuba spent the majority of his life with no parents of any kind and has relied pretty much solely on Seto as a parental figure- both in the way of necessities like food and shelter, as well as for emotional health- and yet has come out of it as a generally upbeat, positive, gentle person, really shows that Seto has to be doing something right, otherwise, it doesn't make alot of sense for Mokuba to have no shreds of bitterness, resentment, or negativity in him (again, going by the anime only) And further, to show the outstandingly deep devotion he does for Seto- utterly unwavering and full of not only loyalty, but genuine love and affection- proves that Seto has done something right somewhere, Mokuba never shows a single ounce of fear or hesitation towards him and never gives a second thought to hugging him, following him around, or getting involved in his personal affairs, if Seto had ever given him reason to be afraid of him (IE: abusing him or simply not stepping up to protect him when Gozaburo was abusing him) I find it really hard to believe that Mokuba would act so completely care-free with doing things that Seto may find unpleasant

Mokuba is Seto's entire world, he flat out tells Yugi that Mokuba is "everything to him", not money or power or success- Mokuba, wich is already something that speaks volumes about who he is as a person, and the extremes he goes to in order to protect Mokuba are .... pretty fucking extreme

When I was a kid, I thought that the "attack my Blue Eyes and you might just kill me" stunt he pulls on the rooftop at Pegasus' castle was a really filthy trick and was probably my primary reason for hating him as much as I did- and let's be honest, it IS a filthy option to resort to.... but as an adult, I understand it now, and can't place blame on him for feeling so completely backed into a corner, he wasn't trying to trick Atem, he was being sincere, I mean.... filthy and sincere... but still sincere

He would rather die than lose his brother, he was so desperate that he was ready to let someone kill him/commit suicide because he was out of options, and in that perspective, it's alot easier to understand why he did what he did, I don't excuse it, but I do understand it, and really, when it really boils down to things, can anyone say that they'd sooner let the only person in the entire world that they love die, for someone who they don't even like? The true crime of this entire thing isn't really that Seto was desperate enough to resort to suicide and emotional manipulation to win.... it's that he and Atem were both so stubborn and downright stupid that neither of them thought to actually communicate about why Seto needed to win in the first place, despite him saying repeatedly that he needed to save his brother and Atem saying repeatedly that he needed to save "his" grandfather, neither of them paused long enough to say "... We have a common goal, let's work together, or at the very least, come to a compromise" before resorting to such desperation, no one on this planet can seriously tell me that Atem wouldn't have jumped at the offer to save Mokuba if Seto had presented it to him, though, to be fair, I'll never understand why he didn't just offer to save Mokuba along with Grandpa in the first place (plot convenience really)

Although communication is an enormous problem with Seto and is one of the main reasons why he's always such a complete prick, he has a tendency to talk in code and to cover up what he means with what words he chooses to use, most likely because he A. Wasn't exposed to other children between the ages of 8-14 and before that most of his exposure was negative, and B. Was taught brutally that even the tiniest sign of compassion or understanding is weakness, and even the tiniest weakness is going to get you severely punished, he was already closed off to people during his stay at the orphanage, this just cemented that experience further

(And as a quick note, he acquired a company at 14-years-old, he was still a baby and running this God foresaken thing by himself, had no parental figure, still raising his brother ALONE, and let's also talk about how this 14-year-old BABY turned a weapons manufacturing company into a gaming company in less than two years, as he was sixteen during episode one of Duel Monsters)

To mention also: When faced with the fact that his company, that he had worked so extremely hard for, and that means so much to him, was being sold to Pegasus and he was being kicked out, where was his focus? Still on Mokuba, his brother was ALWAYS the absolute forefront of his focus during the entire Duelist Kingdom arc and his company played a very small second fiddle in comparison, I'm not sure if he even brought up the company more than once or twice during the entire arc, that's ... a little shocking all things considered

Additionally, despite how cold, untrusting, egotistical, and downright mean he can be, he outright thanks Yugi for rescuing Mokuba- twice- within the first season, once after Duelist Kingdom and once after Legendary Heros, that's kind of an enormous thing as Seto doesn't hand out gratitude easily.... though, speaking of gratitude we definitely have to confront the Joey-shaped elephant in the room

The way he treats Joey early on IS deplorable, he doesn't exactly treat any member of the Nerd Herd well, but things are especially prickly with Joey, and I'm unclear of the reasons for that- I don't think canon ever gives one- but I think of all of Seto Kaiba's ill moments, the way he treats Joey all the way up to late Battle City is without a doubt what I cringe at the most, he early on drives Joey so low into the ground that it gives him NIGHTMARES and is so ruthlessly horrible to him during that first encounter at Duelist Kingdom that I think, to date, it's the Kaiba thing I cringe at the most, I definitely don't excuse that behavior, and it burns me up like a firey demon when he refuses to thank Joey for being the one who ACTUALLY saved Mokuba, yet turns around and thanks Yugi instead, I'm also not exactly pleased with the fact that he tried to keep Joey out of his tournament but I really chalk that up mostly to Joey not having anything Seto wants and not being a duelist he respects vs outright cruelty, remember that for Seto, Battle City is ALL about getting the god cards and drawing out rare hunters, Red Eyes is Joey's rarest card but Seto never seems particularly impressed by it, and that coupled with him not respecting Joey's skills- as he believes he rode Yugi's coat tails through Duelist Kingdom- makes some sense as to why he wouldn't want him participating (outside of just disliking him) it would be counterproductive

The thing is, Seto DOES slowly shift out of "I legitimately hate your guts and am going to make sure you know it" and into "I'm going to pick on you because it's fun when you fight back and it's just how we communicate now", Battle City is a big turning point in my personal opinion, the second time Joey and Seto duel is still full of terribly mean words but the vibe is very different, from where I'm sitting, it feels alot more like an "I'm pulling your hair because I like you" type of thing and alot less like outright bullying for the sake of bullying, the fact that Joey doesn't take any of it to heart and just fights mean quip with mean quip the entire time is solid proof to me that the relationship is just mutual antagonism now and not so much outright bullying

Speaking of Battle City... there's alot of growth for Seto there, he works with Yugi and Atem frequently, at times by force (to save Mokuba) but at times because he wants to, he agreed to help Atem find the rest of the nerd herd before getting any word that Mokuba was taken because he wanted a duel for Atem's Slyfer card... even though all logic dictates that they probably would have faced eachother during the finals anyway and there is was literally no reason for Seto to follow him around begging for a duel like a five-year-old except for A. Impatience (not untrue) and/or B. Just .... wanting to, he could have so easily said "Find your own freinds, I'll get that Slyfer in the finals either from you or whoever beats you" but instead he spends his valuable time and energy tracking down Joey via his duel disk, and after all is said and done and Mokuba is safe...... he still helps Atem, he claims it's because he doesn't like owing people but that's never prompted him to go out of his way for Yugi and the others before (post Duelist Kingdom and Legendary Heros, Mokuba is the one who lets Yugi use the arena at Kaiba Land for his duel with Rebecca, here Seto has built up two favors that he owes and yet never says a word or makes an attempt to return them, so why does "owing" someone push him to keep helping Atem in Battle City when it didn't before? Either his "I don't like owing people" philosophy is new- wich is still charector growth- or he just wanted a reasonable excuse to keep helping Atem because he knew it was the right thing to do) Speaking of the right thing to do, when they DO track down Joey and Tea`, Seto is... surprisingly inactive during the duel, he has plenty of perfect opportunities to stop the duel somehow, and, if he was REALLY feeling cruel, to just outright steal Slyfer (wich Atem tossed aside when he started the duel) and get rid of both Atem and Joey by interrupting and making the anchor sink, yet he carefully keeps his distance until the timing is right for him to save Tea` because he doesn't want ANY of them to get hurt, not the rival he can't defeat, not the "third rate duelist" he supposedly hates, and not even someone (Tea`) who he barely knows

This is the same guy who gave an old man a heart-attack and used it as blackmail in episode one

Additionally, Seto immediately leaves after saving the day, that all-important duel that Atem owed him that he had FINALLY won? It didn't happen, Seto was still nagging him about it even after saving Mokuba, yet when it came time for Atem to FINALLY pay up he just..... walked off and said "nah see ya' in the finals", maybe he knew how exhausted Atem was and didn't want to duel him at half-power, maybe he was personally too tired to bother with it (although dueling to Seto seems to work the same way twenty-five cups of coffee does to a normal person so I doubt this) or maybe he just didn't feel like making Atem come through on his deal anymore, it doesn't really matter, it's all growth

And let me also point out that Atem wouldn't even have Slyfer if Seto hadn't given him a freaking pep talk in order to win it, Seto could have just as easily waited for Atem to lose and then dueled the mime for Slyfer- and that probably would have been smarter honestly, since Atem is the only one who has a history of defeating him- and yet.... he chooses to put energy into helping Atem instead

I feel like it's kind of understated that in the Battle City finals, Seto actually has a doctor and an infirmary on board the blimp, he claims that anyone who can't handle dueling at high altitudes and with raging winds isn't worth his time so what is the doctor and full medical bay doing there then? If he was that worried about Mokuba alone he would have had a much easier time just telling him not to go above deck, and if it was about law suits I tend to believe he wouldn't have people dueling on top of a freaking blimp in the first place, so he either anticipated Marik's shadowy shenanigans coming up (wich is a POOL of charector development on alot of different levels) or he anticipated accidents, people getting air sick, issues with the high altitude and what not, and figured that he'd better be completely prepared even for things like that wich are relatively small and not really needing of the tricked out medical bay (he had atleast one LIFE SUPPORT machine in there so obviously it went above and beyond just a first aid kit) Also, I know I said I was using the dub for this, but it's come to my attention that in the sub Seto is alot less of a jerk than he is in the dub about landing the blimp- originally, the ONLY problem is that the controls are screwy from the Noah incident (wich, by the way, is an enormous Thing all on it's own about Seto all on it's own, it's basically a showcase of Wow Was His Childhood Fucked Up, Let's Rub It In, and it's made clear just how impacted he was by his father and his father's company throughout, from the importance of his duel with Lecter being weapons-themed to his final duel with Guzaburo and saying "I won't be burried by you Guzaburo", giving up his chance to defeat Noah because he refused to hurt Mokuba, and the gem of telling Mokuba that everything he's done has been for him and a better future for them) and speaking of moments where the dub fucked up, I find another important gem during mid-Battle City when Tea` mentions that Seto actually lowered the price of duel disks "so everyone can play", that sounds alot less like a strict businessman and alot more like someone who just wants to offer kids the same escapism that he had when he was their age to me, a similar motivation I'm sure to why he opens up Kaiba Land

This is sadly where my "I'm greatly familiar with this material" knowledge comes to an end, as I only saw roughly half of the Orichalicos arc and that was too long ago for me to remember most of the small details in (plus I tend to kind of ... try to wipe that arc off the books considering that I find it to be a butchery of.. alot of things..)

Seto Kaiba is a complicated charector, he's very prickly and definitely an asshole- that's not in question- but I think he's really a very soft person when you peel back the initial layer, he's very good-hearted at his core, he just has an incredibly hard time expressing that- and for VERY understandable reasons, for all of his selfishness and egotism, he pours absolutely everything about himself into protecting his brother and gives alot of himself to trying to make things better for people (turning a weapons company into a gaming company may have been his dream but it was also an outlandishly hard task to accomplish and one that ultimately was better for the world, for example) there are moments where this all shines through but he tapes masks of coldness and insults and dueling metaphors over top of it because he just sincerely doesn't know how else to handle things, he IS, after all, still a 16-year-old child when the series begins, and I think he's only 18-19 at most when it ends, in the grand scheme of life, he's still practically a baby and has been thrust into so much adulthood that most 40-year-olds would have jumped ship already, he takes on the responsibility of his brother and his company and being a half-ass decent person (in so far as, you know, not blowing up the world or anything) without ever once complaining about it or trying to shrug it off or giving it ANYTHING but his all, and when you earn his trust and respect (as Atem and Yugi do) you get alot of loyalty and trust back- the shenanigans he goes through that he doesn't explicitly have to are good showings of this, and all of the ruthlessness his shows are purely survival instincts at their highest, he's had his company nearly taken away from him FOUR. TIMES. between Duelist Kingdom and the Orichalicos arc, FOUR. SEPERATE. TIMES. and I have an outstandingly difficult time believing that those were the first or last times that some crusty old men thought that a teenage C.E.O. would be easy prey to steal a multi-billion dollar company from, he's probably been white-knuckling that company since the day he took it over and I don't see that ending any time in the near future

[pharaohsparklefists]

Darkside of Dimensions Review

Since I’ve seen it twice now and gotten a few asks, I figured I’d share my thoughts on the new Yu-Gi-Oh! movie with ye.

Spoiler-free summary: I really enjoyed this movie, especially Kaiba’s and Yugi’s characterisation, but the duels dragged. The antagonist was an interesting person but an uninteresting duelist so the big duels against him were repetitive and lacking flair. The animation was mostly gorgeous but did suffer from “eh that character is in the background in this shot, it’s fine if they’re just a misshapen blob” syndrome. The plot made as much sense as YGO ever does: it’s supposed to be in manga canon but there are still inconsistencies and the plot could have used more structure. It’s definitely only welcoming to people who already like YGO, I can’t imagine getting much out of it if you’re not a YGO fan! But if you are, it’s excellent fun!

Now for details!

So the plot, if you haven’t seen it but are interested, is as follows: Kaiba is so upset that the Pharaoh / Atem / Other Yugi is gone that he’s trying everything to bring him back, including creating a near-flawless holographic replica to duel, excavating the pit the Millennium Items fell into to find the Puzzle, and, for some reason, building a space station that is reached by SPACE ELEVATOR which is literally the most ridiculous thing he’s ever done and this is Seto fuckin Kaiba we’re talking about here. However, a group of magical teleporting children have been granted the power to reshape the world into a peaceful Utopia, via a magic cube. This power will be lost if the Pharaoh should happen to be resurrected by any grief-stricken, obsessive teenage billionaires, so they’re keeping a close watch. Meanwhile, their leader, Diva, wants to take revenge on Ryou Bakura because he blames Ryou for the death of their mentor, who turns out to have been Shaadi, of all people. Calling himself Aigami, he inserts himself into Domino High, but has to take time away from his plot to confront Kaiba, who has found the Millennium Puzzle, in pieces. Diva/Aigami fails to prevent him from taking the Puzzle, but does manage to steal back two pieces, one of which he entrusts to his younger sister who immediately gives it to Yugi. Kaiba challenges both Diva and Yugi to a DUEL MONSTERS DUEL SHOWCASE TOURNAMENT, ostensibly to launch his BRAND NEW DUEL DISK SYSTEM but actually to get the pieces of the Puzzle back so he can resurrect the Pharaoh. Yugi tries to explain that the Pharaoh has moved on but Kaiba point-blank refuses to listen. Meanwhile, Diva has evaporated Ryou with his magic cube. Yugi duels Diva and wins, rescuing Ryou from ... wherever it was that he went, and banishing Diva to some kind of sand dimension. Then Kaiba and Yugi duel, but at the last moment, their duel is interrupted and they have to team up to take down ... Diva again, but like, now he’s a lizard and possibly Yami Bakura is possessing him?? Kaiba sacrifices himself for Yugi to have a chance to continue the duel, but Yugi is at the point of passing out, when Atem launches himself back into reality to help Yugi draw and play his last card, winning the duel. Atem and Yugi silently say goodbye one more time, then Atem leaves. Yugi et al graduate from high school, while a delighted Kaiba takes Diva’s magic cube and uses it to visit Atem in whatever dimension Atem exists in now, thereby proving wrong everyone who tried to tell Kaiba to maybe have some chill.

The more I think about the plot, the less sense it makes. It suffers from a typical Late Addition To A Series problem, in that, the if this shit is so important, why didn’t it ever come up during the series? If Shaadi was so invested in his cult of adorable children, why didn’t he ever visit them as a ghost or mention them to the Pharaoh? If the Pharaoh’s existence is so tied to this all-powerful world-altering magic, why didn’t he know about it? If Ishizu and Marik held the secrets of the ancient tablet, why didn’t they mention that shortly after the fated duel between Atem and Yugi, some earnest orphans would be teleporting around to literally destroy everything and remake the world into a Utopia? The Shaadi part especially doesn’t seem to make sense. Especially because the Eye is already missing. 

But anyway. The real story is Kaiba’s obsessive need to duel the Pharaoh one more time, and I really enjoyed how his character was handled. I was worried that this angry, upset Kaiba would have walked back his character growth, but he hasn’t. He’s newly angry and upset, and he’s being a dick, but it’s definitely a post-Battle-City Kaiba on screen, one who’s learned from his relationship with Atem. Despite how raw and angry he is, he listens to Yugi, treats Yugi with respect, and is not only willing to cooperate against a dangerous foe, he’s actually the one who suggests it! 

He’s pretty obviously experiencing grief and not really knowing how to deal with it, since he never explicitly named what Atem was to him; he can only admit that Atem was a rival, so he’s channelled all his energy into the idea that if he could just duel him one more time, he could feel better. But his language is all over the place. He’s obviously angry at Atem for leaving: having repeatedly said that Atem was his worthy rival, he now spits at the hologram!Atem that he was never worthy. Sure Kaiba, he’s so unworthy of you that you spend every waking minute and an unimaginable amount of money trying to see him again. He tells himself he bears painful scars of defeat, but then says that if he could duel him one more time, the pain could be made easier to bear. Surely if the pain is just from losing, then winning would erase the pain? But if the pain is from losing someone you care about, then getting to say goodbye wouldn’t erase the pain, it would just make it easier to bear. When he speaks to Yugi, he identifies them as feeling the same way: he tries to get Yugi to admit “you want to see him too”. As the movie goes on, it becomes more and more obvious that this is about more than a duel, this is about Kaiba feeling loss and grief and needing closure. His feelings and Yugi’s feelings are compared repeatedly. Yugi said goodbye and got closure, he misses Atem “all the time”, but he’s able to move on, he talks about his hopes for the future with his friends. Kaiba didn’t, and isn’t, he has abandoned all his trademark talk of the future and replaced it with grandstanding about how he, Seto Kaiba, can do ANYTHING, because that’s what he needs to believe. He needs to believe he can do the impossible because he needs to do it to see Atem again.

Aside from the fact that he risks everything at the end of the movie to transcend dimensions and the veil of death itself to go and see Atem, he also willingly lays down his life in the final duel, and when Yugi asks why, he says “For him. The Pharaoh.” I mean T______T holy gay subtext, Batman

Also apparently he spent a long time recreating Atem’s “perfectly coiffed hair”, which, let me tell you, Atem’s hair is many things, but you definitely have to be madly in love with him to describe it in flattering terms.

But you know, the thing that made me really hopeful for Kaiba was that, near the end, after Atem had said goodbye to Yugi and left after his brief visit, Kaiba came up and I expected him to freak out: he spent the WHOLE MOVIE trying to see Atem and here Atem had visited but not stuck around to say hi to Kaiba or give him the duel he so vociferously claims he needs, and I thought Kaiba would be furious ... but instead, after a whole movie of snapping and bragging and firing people and being ruthlessly sarcastic, he was finally cheerful. He was smiling. He said “I told you so” but really happily. He wished Yugi and his friends well! The confirmation that Atem was out there somewhere, waiting for Kaiba to find him, was all Kaiba needed to cheer up.

And when Kaiba did show up in Atem’s throne room, Atem’s smile was so warm and sweet! I wonder how much he knew of what was going on - enough to know he needed to show up, obviously. He’s obviously very fond of Kaiba, I’d love to see more of how he felt about leaving without getting to say goodbye. Judging by how pleased he was that Kaiba showed up, he must have been sad. But probably coped better with it. Still, it’s hard to rag on Kaiba’s outrageously unhealthy coping mechanisms when he actually fucking did the thing and somehow wrestled a happy ending for himself from the universe out of sheer stubbornness.

Incidentally, I think the dimension-hopping pod and suit and all was all just for show. It seems the cube works based on willpower - I think Kaiba just needed the tech in place to make himself feel better about using magic. Like, now there’s a spaceship involved it’s clearly Science and not magic. But actually it would have worked just as well if he’d just willed it.

Really, my only major problem with this movie is that the duels against Diva were AWFUL. Especially because Kaiba seems to have given up on everything except dragons in his deck. hologram!Yami vs Kaiba was good fun, and so was Yugi vs Kaiba, but Kaiba vs Diva was hell.

Kaiba: SAY HELLO TO MY BLUE EYES MAXIMUM AWESOME DRAGON

Diva: I SUMMON VJAM, AND THEN ANOTHER VJAM, AND THEN THEY COMBINE INTO GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY KING GLORBINFLORBIN AND THEN UN-COMBINE (that’s a word) BACK INTO THREE VJAMS

Kaiba: yeah well, I SUMMON  BLUER EYES EVEN MORE DRAGON, PLUS TWO B-LIST DRAGONS

Diva: MY VJAMS COMBINE INTO EYELORD CUBEMEISTER THE FOURTH THEN ATTACK 27 TIMES THEN I SUMMON ANOTHER VJAM AND THEN ANOTHER VJAM AND THEN THEY ALL ATTACK AND THEN I PLAY THREE MORE CARDS AND END WITH THREE VJAMS ON THE FIELD LIKE ALWAYS NO I’M NOT CHEATING

Kaiba: COME FORTH BLUEST EYES YETANOTHER DRAGON!!!1!

me: kill me

But aside from that and the travesty of a wasted opportunity to combine two hot anime men (srsly who looks at Diva and Yami Bakura and decides that a mixture of them should be a lizard in a cheap wig?), it was an extremely enjoyable movie. I can’t wait to get a DVD so I can recap it! I’m not sure if I want to recap as soon as I get it, or wait til I reach a natural break-point... I guess I’ll see where I am when the DVD is released!

[one-leaf-grimoire]

“triad”

Chapter 20: the downward spiral

Hi!!!! Here's the chapter you've all been waiting for... Lisa has gathered as much power as she possibly can through sometimes shady means, but now it's time for her to fight the Dark Triad ajfdskl. Enjoy!!!!

AO3 LINK

“FUCK! God-”

With one last movement, I slammed my toe back into the base of the tree, harder than the last time or the time before that. The unsatisfying thud rang up the wood along with my final exclamation.

“DAMN IT!”

Finally, I stepped back, my chest still heaving and my eyes still blurred. The tree was unharmed, save for a tiny shred of fiber that my kicks managed to displace. But it still stood there, as strong and sure as ever. Placed by nature itself, its roots were much deeper than I could ever hope to destroy. Some things like that were constant… no matter how time changed the rest of the world, this tree would still be standing there.

Or so I thought.

Even the strongest get swept away by their fate.

Including me.

With a sigh, I sunk down into the grass, my legs folded up underneath me haphazardly. The dew soaked through my tights and chilled my legs, but I didn’t really care.

I’m useless… I’m weak. 

I held up one of my hands, concentrating mana in my palm. It started to glow blue, just a little orb of magic. Numerals orbited the center, a familiar yet infuriating sight. This was the biggest time globe I could manage right now, the fruit of nearly 6 months of intense training. But it didn’t matter how much Julius trained me, or how many hours I spent out here by myself, I couldn’t manage anything more. 

Even after everything I’ve done, I can’t get stronger…

I let the globe disappear, and clenched my fist.

Will this magic ever become my own?

Maybe I didn’t believe it back then, but the answer was yes. To be a Dyad is to become someone else, and the person I was meant to become would wield both fire and time. I would need years before mastering this new element, but master it I did. Frustration and pain came along with it, but in the end it became my own magic.

That is the power of Simulcians. To assimilate, and to change. Yet, change has exhausted me beyond all other things.

I’m so tired. So… fucking tired.

Being pulled back and forth, between light and dark, between pain and pleasure, between hope and fear, between good and evil.

There is joy in death. But there is joy in life as well.

And yet, I want to live. I want to keep living. I want to love everyone, I want to let them love me.

Back then, Chrono Anastasis became my biggest frustration. I was unable to do it on my own, the only way I could get it to activate was to injure myself badly. Then, the shard of Julius’s soul within me would rewind the harm, returning me to normal. But now, after the potent dose of elvish mana, I was able to cast it on my own. 

From there, my power started to compound. Until it was enough to sap away my very own life energy.

Maybe, at this point, I’ve lost all hope of returning home to Adeline, Marx, and Joy. But they have each other- I know that they will survive. 

Yami, William… 

I level my sword, and lunge forward at last.

Live on in my place.

The tip of the sword solidifies, fire and light sharpening into a deadly point. 

Dante’s mouth opened, his pointed teeth glinting in that light as he let out an unhinged laugh. Vanica’s face was the same, holding no fear or apprehension, just pure joy. Because, in the end, neither of them thought they would get to face this particular opponent. Not while they were this strong.

But Zenon didn’t share in their joy; because when I lunged, my blade was leveled right at his head. He didn’t smile, he didn’t laugh. His face showed no emotion, a blank, empty slate, but underneath it, one thought dominated his mind.

Unlike his siblings, it wasn’t Fight her.

It was kill her.

Zenon spread his boney wing just in time to stop himself in the air. Without a sound, he sidestepped the thrust of my blade, not a moment too early. He could feel its heat from where he hovered, and could hear the crackle of mana within it. She condensed so much into such a thin area- she- He was cut off as the blade suddenly moved towards him in a quick swipe, still moving forward with the force of my lunge. Remaining calm, Zenon summoned his bone magic, which shot up in time to block the attack. For a moment, he held his breath, not entirely sure that his magic was enough to stop mine.

But, as he hoped, the blade shattered along the bone, shards of light careening off in every direction. There- now- Zenon ducked down and continued to shoot towards me, behind his siblings now. Don’t do anything stupid-

Vanica and Dante may have been reckless and battle-hungry, but they were far from doing anything stupid. Less than a moment later, skimming by the deadly-bright blade, Vanica was the first to reach me.

Most of her clothes had been burned away by some unearthly means, but she was entirely covered by blood and a dark, devilish substance. Her teeth were sharp, and a ghostly red rune orbited above her right eye. There wasn’t any fear in her gaze, and for a moment, my heart leapt.

Vanica… I can see now. You and your siblings...

She cackled, raising her clawed hand. “BLOOD MAGIC: RED BEAST, 100%!!!”

It doesn’t matter whether I live or die… because-

A horrible mass of writhing blood formed above her, baring its sticky teeth before descending on me.

I’ll get to fight someone like you before I die.

I release Judgement Day, bringing both of my hands together to point up at the Beast making its way towards me.

“SOLAR BOLT!”

Fire magic, accelerated tenfold, shoots out of my hand. I’m not prepared for the power it gives off, and the recoil sends me shooting backwards. My spell hits Vanica’s splattering through the blood and slowing it down. With a roar, it snaps its teeth shut, just short of where I just was. Sheesh! She’s really powerful- I’m glad for the recoil now, and quickly regain my bearings in time for her next attack. The woman is stick laughing, her bloody claws reaching towards me with a mighty grasp. That being said, it won’t be fun if I die too quickly. I have to at least ensure our victory first. I fall out of her rang again, my mana reaching out and mingling with what’s hanging in the air. It solidifies under my foot, and I spring to the left; But just then I realize that I’m heading right for Zenon.

She’s completely in sync with the mana around her- Zenon thought, our eyes meeting for the first time. His face is still unreadable, and I have no idea what his next move is. Do I use Mana Domination? If I do, it could hurt Vanica and Dante. But if I concentrate- 

As soon as I realize where I’m headed, I hold up my hand, blue magic appearing. Can I capture him? Will I be able to keep up Chrono Stasis while fighting the other too? 

Zenon’s eyes widen when he sees the spell, recognizing it. Chrono stasis? Alright then, I have no choice- He looked over at Dante and Vanica, both above me. You guys… hold on.

“Spatial Magic: Mana Domination.”

Instantly, Zenon’s power spread around us in the air, a huge cube that trapped us all inside. With a grunt, Zenon clenched his teeth. One hundred percent… should be enough- 

And it was. The cube condensed, until it only trapped me. My eyes widened as the magic in my hand fizzled, and I felt the mana inside me start to drain. What? He can do that? So precise-

I look up to see both Vanica and Dante jumping down, grins on their faces and magic burning in their hands. Shit! This isn’t good- I don’t let my apprehension show on my face, I just close my eyes and focus past the mana controlled by Zenon, past the massive amounts of magic hurtling towards me.

Everything in this world has mana. Even Time. I didn’t want to use this so early… but-

I open my eyes again, and now they glow bright blue. Mana runes burst to life, spiralling around my head like a double halo.

So be it. I’ll burn away my life with this technique if that’s what it takes!

“True Time Magic: Domain of Thanatos!”

Mana flares around my head, and there’s a horrible, shrieking creak as the entire world goes to sleep. I suck in a breath, hovering, completely still, and watch as Zenon, Vanica, and Dante hang suspended in space and time, in the moment before their attacks struck true.

That was close- I slowly let out the breath, being sure to keep my movements at a minimum. I taste blood in my mouth, my entire body fighting every passing moment to stay in this state. Even with the forbidden sealing spell holding my soul together, this spell is so powerful that it could snap at any moment. I grit my teeth. Carefully, I step forward, finding purchase in the mana under my boot. As I move, Zenon and the others do as well, but in slow motion. Within this domain, time flows at the rate I set, and my own body dictates that.

But it’s enough; A few steps, and I manage to escape Zenon’s spatial cube. I strain a little as I leave it, since its effect is still weakening me slightly, but within my domain it’s basically useless. Okay… I slowly turn and watch as the magic attacks finally reach where I was a few seconds ago. ...release-

Time bursts back into motion. Zenon’s eyes widen a moment later, as Vanica and Dante’s spells inexplicably miss. What?! He thinks, stopping himself in midair. He blinks, and the realization hits him.

She- She’s gone-

Vanica looks up, and her smile drops.

“ZENON!”

Zenon peeked around the corner. Dante and Morris were still in the lab, talking quietly together in front of the projected magical screen. A scene played again and again, repeated indefinitely. A woman, in the center of several magical attacks. And a moment later, without any discernible movement, the spells were all defeated, and her enemies fell at her feet.

She just used that power now, right?

Zenon didn’t have time to feel scared, he didn’t even have time to turn around. He could feel the mana there, but it was too late to react.

I leveled my hand at his head from behind.

“Chrono Sta-”

“PRESENCE OF THE DEMON KING, 100%!!!”

Dante’s voice cuts me off right before I fire. I look up to see him above me, still a good ways away. What was that?! Is he going to shoot a spell at me? Or-

I get my answer a moment later when the world crashes down at me. Or, rather, up at me. All the mana under my feet gives way, broken by the sheer force above me, and I fall to earth like a heavy stone. I let out a strangled cry that gets left in the atmosphere above as I plummet. Gravity! This is Dante’s gravity magic- shit- 

“Domain of Thanatos!”

With a jerk, time stops, but it’s no use. Even within that domain, gravity permeates, and I keep falling at the same rate, so the others move freely as well. Ah! I quickly release the spell and manage to turn around and look up. The three of them- no- two of them are above me, falling slightly slower. My heart skips a beat. Wait?! Where’s Dante-”

Just as the thought crosses my mind, an unseen force tugs me violently to the left. I spin in the air, disoriented, before a voice meets my ear.

“You might be fast… but there’s no escaping my pull! Not now!”

I look up towards the source, paling. Dante is there, falling with me, but his magic is pulling me towards him at an upsetting speed. He grins evilly, winding up his fists. “Let’s see if you can survive this, Wizard King!”

I already know that there’s nothing I can do to release myself from his grip. His gravity slows my time magic, so much that it would be useless right now. The light magic would have come in handy if I used it to get out of his range, but now it’s just going to be warped by him as well.

It’s inevitable… I’m heading straight for him. 

I clench my fist, and let my smile widen just a little bit.

So… I’ll make him regret it!

Zenon’s eyes widened as he watched from above. Without a second thought and without a word, he let himself speed up, freefalling towards his brother.

Dante’s smile didn’t falter, his hands still clenched in front of him as he prepared to give me a beating of a lifetime. I cross my arms in front of me, bracing myself while summoning my fire magic, condensing it inside of me until it burned as bright as daylight.

“Fire magic… Solar BLITZ!”

Just in time, Zenon hit his brother, grabbing Dante around the middle and knocking him further down and out of the way. Not a moment too soon; The mana inside me explodes, sending a flurry of fiery bolts in every direction. With a grunt, Zenon glanced back, moving between the bolts as they spread out away from the epicenter. 

“Gah! Zenon-” Dante was still a little shocked, not sure what just happened. He and Zenon spun four times before Zenon let go. They were still in a freefall, even though Dante’s gravity spell had released. With the wind whipping through his hair, Zenon turned his gaze skyward again to see Vanica above them. Her composure had wavered slightly, but it returned as she gave her brother a nod. She reached down, tendrils of blood shooting out. They quickly grabbed her brothers and stopped their fall, and soon she was next to them. 

“Where did she go?” Dante looks around, shrugging off Zenon’s hold. Zenon stayed silent, looking around as well. She’s gone- but she can’t be far, she was in the middle of that explosion-

“It doesn’t matter, we’ll find her!” Vanica let out an excited giggle, adrenaline still filling her body. “There’s three of us, and she hasn’t managed to put a scratch on any of us!”

“On the contrary-”

The voice came from directly above. The three’s gazes snapped up to see me floating above them, silent until now. Despite being thrown around by Dante’s magic, I’m still smiling, my hands steady as I hold them up, emerging from under the robe that flows around me, white trim tickling the sides of my neck. 

“There’s three of you… and you haven’t managed to put a scratch on me.”

Blue fire bursts to life in both of my palms, and mana crackles around my body as my hold on the battlefield strengthens.

Zenon let go of Dante, letting himself fall back. His heart pounded in his throat as he felt the mana around him start to condense.

This… is unexpected.

I wasn’t even supposed to be here. According to Morris and the spies, I was pregnant and dying. But here I was, decidedly not pregnant and stronger than the Dark Triad could have imagined. 

But something wasn’t right.

My smile, my voice, the black mark upon my forehead… but more than anything, the instinctual chill Zenon got when he looked into my eyes.

You…

Zenon’s Devil was silent as usual.

Why do you know this feeling?

But despite it all, Zenon saw a spark of hope.

The nature of her magic is one that dominates the area around her. She’s spewing out time magic like it’s nothing. It’s constantly around her, speeding and dilating the pace of battle. That’s how she can dodge us with such agility; she’s using this plane to predict our movements. Her magic is permeating everything around her…

He recalled how the Tree of Qliphoth reacted to her arrival, the sudden burst of energy within it, like fertilizer had been added to its soil.

I get it… I know what I have to do.

I finally swing my arms down, crossing in front of me as I release my attack.

“Mana Zone: Solar Blitz, OVERDRIVE!”

Each spot in the air around the Dark Triad lights up, a flurry of Solar Blitzes that surround them completely. Bolts fire out from all around, and the three instantly split up and shoot out of the way in an attempt to dodge. 

“Ah!” Dante hissed as one shot right through him. He was knocked away, but the pain was momentary. He quickly patched up the wound with his own flesh, contorting grossly around the spot. The lights were blinding, and it was all he could do to avoid major damage from the storm. But it was over quickly, and he blinked to dispel the shock, and saw Vanica close to him, all in one piece thankfully. But-

Where’s Zenon?! Dante started to look around for his brother, but then saw that they were moments from hitting the ground. Shit! He started to cast a spell to break his fall, but a voice stopped him. “Not so fast!”

Huh?! He looked up just in time to see me hurtle down towards him, laughing to myself happily.

“You wanted a closer look, right? Well, here I am!”

On the last word, my fist swings forward, and hits him squarely in the middle of his face. Dante lets out a pained yell, reaching up to grab me. But it’s too late- a moment later, we both hit the ground with a mighty CRASH.

“Dante!” Vanica yells, quickly landing in the rubble of the part of the fortress that we hit. There was dust and carnage everywhere, and the thinner branches of the Tree had begun to twine through the area. 

“Over here!” Dante grunted, wincing as his magic started to put his body back together. I let her surprise me… and I fell hard because of that. All mirth was gone from his eyes as he stood up, his strength returning with the help of Lucifero around him. Even with 100%, I was powerful enough to do this to him… but I shouldn’t be. Before this, I thought it would be fun to keep her alive… to conquer the Wizard King on and off the battlefield… it would be my greatest desire. But now- Dante wiped off his face, his gaze finally falling on the standing silhouette among the dust. I know. The three of us are done playing around. He let his grin return, but now it was like a predator baring their fangs. She will die today.

While the dust clears, in the one moment of peace that I have, I let myself take in a deep breath. The last few seconds are a blur, spinning around and around in my head. It all happened so fast- My hands are shaking at how close a few of those attacks came to killing me. My own life is crumbling, but it’s not time to stop yet. Yami and William are in here somewhere, probably at the center of where the Tree is growing. I can’t stop now… I can’t show any mercy. I’m only strong enough to fight them because of the powers I’ve stolen… I have to atone for those crimes before I die!

The dust finally settles, and I see both Vanica and Dante standing in front of me. Something about them has changed; the reckless abandon they attacked me with before is gone, and now all that remains is cold, cruel purpose.

“Oh… so, you’re finally going to get serious?” 

I narrow my eyes, steadying my hands as I reach up. With one simple movement, my heavy robe slips from my shoulders and pools at the ground at my feet. I take one step forward, flame starting to glow at the tip of my finger, illuminating the area around us in a deadly blue glow.

“Then… you’ve left me no choice but to get serious as wel-”

Before I can finish my sentence, I detect mana behind me from the ruined hall. I whip around, but it’s too late. Something flies out of the darkness and hits me.

For a few moments, it’s like I’m at the center of the world; it rolls and tilts under my feet, threatening to send me tumbling to the ground in a pathetic pile. I open my mouth, letting out a gasp of surprise before stumbling back. One step. Then two. Then three. Before I go too far and lose my balance, I catch myself, freezing like ice has grown around my feet.

I can’t taste it, but I know that warm liquid bubbling up in my throat is blood. Slowly, my hand slides up to touch the spot where I was hit. My fingertips hit the unmistakable texture of bone. 

That’s it, then… he got me-

No.

I finally look down, afraid of what I’m going to see. There’s blood, yes, a lot of it, splattered up my shirt and up the shaft of the bone, but somehow it doesn’t hurt. My Time Magic already began to work as soon as the foreign object appeared, and its blue glow is already fading. 

The wound is healed, almost impossibly fast.

“Oh… well…”

With just a little bit of trouble, my body now weighed down on my right side by the bone skewered through it, I start to straighten up, my gaze rising to the foes who stand before me. Zenon has appeared, mostly unscathed from my prior attack. I thought I blasted him away, but it looks like he got the jump on me for a moment. He’s back now, readying himself beside his siblings, but shock is slowly registering on his face as he realizes what just happened.

Vanica and Dante realize it too. All at once, the determination in their eyes deepens, and the devilish mana around them thickens.

Maybe this is three against one- no, it’s six against one. Maybe this is six against one… but I can’t help but smile.

“Did you really think… that would do anything at all, Zenon?”

FDJKL YIKES! DW lisa was having a blast this chapter but next chapter she's going to have a bad time. "boned" if you will. jfkdsl anyway NEXT TIME: the futile purpose. Lisa continues to fight the Dark Triad, but Zenon has a plan that she doesn't expect; and the entire world comes tumbling down.