#idk what Malik/Atem is sorry

[yuusaris]

For the character ask game, gimme that Bakura and that Otogi ✌

Under a Read-More

I will be referring to Yami Bakura for this one, for TKB, that'll cost y'all another ask - cuz I can't do for Yami B. I can't. I can write any Yami B ship if asked/prompted, for sure, I can chat and headcanon for it, but any ship he's in that's not tender is Not My Bag. I'm not proud of it. It feels shallow and mean and narrow-minded. But I can't.

I have said it before, I will say it again, he belongs to that boy Ryou. Ryou Bakura can date whoever he wants. Ryou Bakura can be shipped with almost anybody and it works and is good and I like it. Yami Bakura cannot. That's Ryou's bride. That's his boy girlfriend. That's Ryou's pet malewife. I can do the BROTP tho - I think the saddest part is Malik is the closest thing he would have to a friend, and I don't even think they'd be good friends. I think a tamed Yami B could probably get along with Yuugi (The Great Equalizer), and I think he would also... acknowledge. If not respect. Honda's guts. Like it, I dunno - but he'd mention it as a factor for Honda over Jou. That's what I can offer y'all. I'm sorry.

DUKE DEVLIN ON THE OTHER HAND-

My NOTP for them - OtogixJou. There's just no real spark there, it feels like kaijou with less steps. Also not a big fan of him with Serenity or Honda, the whole love triangle feels really dull for me in it's potential. Otogi in the manga has this really sincere and soft core wrapped in eyeliner and wit and Otogi in the anime is just not as engaging with Jou as Kaiba can be. I can see the sparks, it just doesn't have any kindling for me.

My BROTP for them - Yuugi or Atem or both. They have his respect, they have his back, and they both saw him through his low point (Manga and anime respectively). In general, it is very difficult to not like Yuugi - he's kind of Disgustingly Impossible To Hate when you're in a room with him for more than 30 minutes - Atem does have a very reassuring presence to him, and they both would love any game he made. Any game that's not Duel Monsters is a whole new world, it's the same kind of love they'd have with Ryou. It works. They're besties. Otogi would definitely hang out with Atem or Yuugi or both, either on their own or with friends, and if balls hit the wall, they'd be the first person he'd talk to. [But also, Otogi being friends with Malik and then Ishizu and Rishid becoming secondhand family as a result and suddenly, he has this very wise mother bird found family sister and a SUPER empathetic Rishid who understands the things Malik cannot, and this is not a Bromance anymore, is it?]

My OTP for them - MaixOtogi. They're flawless for each other. Give it about five years and it's perfect. Their issues perfectly balance with the others strengths, they've got similar values, and they challenge each other in ways that other people really don't. Not in a super intense way, but they're both good at the push-and-pull and on the same page about it. And that's hot shit.

My second choice pairing for them  - Might be MalikxOtogi, I think I talked myself into that just now egfsfdsf

My fluffy pairing for them - Honestly both the ones I mentioned, they're both cute as shit. [I actually wrote some lightly nsfw stuff for MaixOtogi, it's right here].

My angsty pairing for them - AtemxOtogi. Anything with Atem is angsty if only because he leaves, but also this is a boy raised entirely on the idea he was destined for the Puzzle. That's gotta be complicated.

My favorite poly ship for them - I very rarely polyship.... just because that's a three-way dynamic and those are harder ones to pull off. Don't have one here, sadly.

My weirdest pairing for them - Again I think... I think the two I mentioned are - well, they're not weird, just rarepairs. IDK if I'd call that weird tho.

[millennial-ring]

Can we get more info on 5-7?

             5. Dear God

So this one is ANCIENT (2012!!!) and idk why it’s still in my WIPs folder because I do clean it out/reorganize it every few years or so (which is why that unfinished powershipping christmas fic wasn’t on the list, cause I moved it to a different folder). Sadly the title makes it seem more interesting than it actually is - it’s just a few paragraphs and nothing really happens at all. 

Russet eyes were glazed over as they watched the rain pelt the ground, each drop making tiny indents in the dirt, puffs of the still-dry earth floating up with each splash before settling down again, the process repeating over...and over... Rain drummed against the body of a beaten up jeep, the only prominent sound within miles, save to the sound of the rain falling in the grass, and the dirt, and the leather jacket Bakura wore. 

The man blinked as water ran down his face, following the curve of his brow and rolling over the crease of his eyelid, flowing into his eye. The water pooled between his lids, blurring his vision for a few moments until he blinked again, and the water was squeezed out to mingle with the rest on his face, like a single, solitary tear. He inhaled slowly, then let the breath out in a quick huff, turning away from the long stretch of dirt road in front of him. Behind him, another long chunk of drivable desert. He growled under his breath and began to pace, wet sand squishing under his boots, gravel shifting with each step. 

How could be trapped here, in the middle of fucking nowhere, with a flat fucking tire and no spare? 

It was inspired by this Avenged Sevenfold song and I vaguely remember that it was going to be thiefshipping, about the various trials Bakura goes through to get back to Malik after a fight or something but... 🤷

              6. Domestic Disturbance

This one is also super short, more fleshed out in my mind than on paper, and I started writing it after we had to call the cops on our neighbors because they were having a very loud and long argument (like, over an hour of yelling). Inspiration comes from the dumbest places with me, haha, but this is another one of those “why is this still in my wips” documents because I don’t have any intention of finishing it. After writing what I did I kinda had a “maybe these kinds of situations shouldn’t be your inspiration for fanfics, weirdo” moment and I scrapped it. But anyway! 

The story goes that Bakura was playing some Wii game, lost grip on the controller, and accidentally chucked it and broke a vase because he wasn’t wearing the wrist strap. Malik hears the crash and comes around the corner, lecturing him about “how many times have i told you i s2g bakura why are you like this” even as Bakura’s already beginning to clean up the mess. Bakura gruffly tells him to chill out because nothing important was broken anyway, just “that ugly ass vase” and he holds up a piece for Malik to see. The tension thickens immediately and Malik speaks with measured anger instead of the usual screaming, so Bakura knows He Fucked Up. “That was a gift from my sister.” Bakura panics a bit on the inside, but outside he scoffs and he’s all like “even better, tell her she has awful tastes” because ykno. He’s like that. Doesn’t wanna admit he fucked up, doesn’t wanna take responsibility or acknowledge he hurt Malik’s feelings. At this point I’d stopped writing it, but still have the basic outline. The regular bickering becomes a super intense all out screaming match about basically anything and everything, all the tiny little things they’d been burying for as long as they’d lived together finally coming out, start demanding why they ever thought this would work and they’re just about to get to that great crescendo where they're about to break up (”Well then maybe you shouldn’t have brought me back!” “At this point I’m inclined to agree!” Bakura’s shocked. “Well...then is this going where I think it’s going?” “I think it is.” “Then say it.” “...” “Say you want to break up!” “I...Bakura, I...” when someone knocks on the door. Heyo, it’s two cops, saying someone called in a domestic disturbance. Malik snaps that they’re fine, still pissed from the fight, but obviously like no Malik that’s not gonna help. So one officer brings Bakura out into the hall to question him and the other stays with Malik. Cop asks if they’re together, how long, what the fight was about, etc etc, and then if the fight had been physical at all. Bakura recoils in shock and practically screams “No!” “You never hit Malik?” “I would never!” “And Malik wouldn’t hit you?” There’s a few things there, bc I wasn’t sure how I wanted Bakura to respond; make an “only if he asked wink wonk” joke that the cop rolls his eyes at, or stammer that “i mean he’s smacked my head once or twice but it never hurt and i was being super annoying at the time and it was more like playful slapping” but either way the cop asks for a more direct answer or for Bakura to elaborate and Bakura gets pissed, says Malik would cut off his own hand before he hit Bakura because obviously. Cop seems taken aback but nods, and then lectures Bakura a bit about volume, tells him maybe one of them should pack a bag and stay with friends or family for a few days. Their partner comes out soon after and the two cops leave. Bakura goes back inside, where Malik is standing with his arms crossed, looking shaken with red rimmed eyes. They look at each other, feeling awkward, but then they make tea, sit down, and have a calmer “are we really like that?” conversation. they admit a lot of their fights are pointless and stupid and they’re just fighting to fight because it’s Their Thing and aha, aren’t we so cute and quirky, arguing is our foreplay - which it is, but they admit they’ve taken it too far, gotten too used to snapping at each other when something happens, and some of their issues (like Bakura disrespecting Malik’s siblings, and Malik’s control freak attitude) really need to be sat down and talked out, not screamed out. They apologize, foreheads pressed together, and Malik thumbs a tear from Bakura’s cheek. Bakura strokes his fingers through Malik’s hair. Malik makes a “well you know the best part about fighting, right?” and Bakura laughs, and then it ends.

               7. But he came back

So if y’all didn’t know I recently commissioned a(n amazing) fic from @/sitabethel (not properly tagging cause i don’t wanna bother them). In it, Bakura promises Malik he’ll come back after his final showdown with Atem, but ten years pass and Malik gets engaged to Seto. It’s corporate theifshipping and obviously I recommend reading it - but it’s based on an RP I did with a friend of mine years ago. In the RP, Bakura was pissed Malik hadn’t waited for him and does the whole “why did I even bother coming back I literally only came back to be with you?????” and Malik being like “Sorry? But you took a long fucking time and I had to do something to stop the loneliness.” We never finished it, but when we dropped it Bakura was starting to heal and move on and we had plans to end it powershipping and tendershipping - and Bakura catching the bouquet at the wedding and Ryou immediately being like >:) but anyway. The concept stuck with me and I really liked the idea of Bakura coming back to that situation and more so rolling with it - maybe a touch bitter at first, but hey, he’s nothing if not adaptable, and he absolutely invites himself into the relationship in the clunkiest way possible. 

“But he came back” was the start of my own attempt to write something with that kind of plot. When I write a fic, I start with a vague collection of ideas or scenes I want to write, and then when I have enough to work with, I begin organizing them into an outline. This doc is just a very small collection of ideas and dialogue, mixing some things taken from the RP and my own ideas. It’s mostly things like how Malik and Kaiba get to the marriage point, starting with an impromptu kinda tipsy make out session hidden away in the kitchen during a party Yugi’s throwing, and how they navigate each other’s trauma and fumble their way into a genuine romance despite everything. I’ve never managed to sit down and work it out into an outline of any kind, and the way I wanted to explore Malik and Bakura’s relationship before the show down, Malik and Kaiba’s relationship building afterwards, and then the relationship building with all three of them meant 30 chapters, at least (the original rp is over 2,500 pages and again, we had only just started with Bakura wanting to ask Ryou out and going to Malik for advice adjklj, when we dropped it) and well. yall know i’m bad at writing multi fic chapters 

[sitabethel]

Don’t want to put a comment on ao3 for the fic since it’s not exactly positive, but still want to comment at the very least. The latest chapter started great, the amount of tension and having mai there was great, but that’s about it. The way it ended felt rushed with how quickly everyone accepted Amir...? I know it’s fanfiction and that’s the point, but with how the chapter was going I thought there’d be at least a little bit of consequences for the yugi tachi? Or at least Jounouchi.

I’m lol’ing at the concept of “the chapter that was 2x’s longer than most my other chapters was ‘rushed’“ because this chapter felt like it went on forever when I was writing and proofreading it. 

Well, since you felt the need to say why you thought the scene didn’t work, I think it’s only fair I give a literary defense to why I wrote it the way I did, yes? (it’s long so going under a cut)

I’m honestly amused by this comment in general because it’s no quicker than anything is ever forgiven in canon. Seto and Mokuba tried to kill everyone more than once (Idk if you read the manga or not, but even Mokuba challenged Yugi to the capsule shadow game, then did the poison food game, then helped with Death-T), and they were already showing Mokuba sympathy by the end of Death-T (Atem prevented Seto from giving Mokuba the equivalent to a penalty game, and they listened to Mokuba’s backstory). And later, Yugi was able to speak with Atem b/c of how badly he wanted to spare Seto on Pegasus’ Island. So this is precedented behavior for the friendship squad. 

I don’t even remember why they started listening to Shadi after the intro they had with him, and even Ryou in-fic brings up how quickly they forgave Malik. Battle City was what? One day? Two days tops? But they played a card game, and won, so now they get to be friends with Malik with no hard feelings what-so-ever. (Just like Jou and YM fought and won and became friends. It’s a very common troupe in anime, and I’d be lying if I said the homage was 100% unintentional- I love a lot of stupid fighting animes and how they all get beat up by the protag and follow him around for the rest of the series). 

Not to mention Ryou has always been very kind and supportive to the others. They don’t have the same intimacy with him as they do for each other, but even their coddling is done out of love for Ryou (and I’m sorry if the fic didn’t make that clear. Perhaps that’s where I should truly be getting critiqued if I didn’t bring that message across properly. Yugi and Co aren’t “bad” they’re “flawed” and need to develop their platonic relationship with Ryou if they want to remain his friend). So, when Ryou’s tackling Jou in the parking lot screaming that he’s not going to be friends with him any longer- that’s *very out of character from the Ryou they’re used to seeing* It’s a big deal to see Ryou- calm, intellectual, creepy but always nice and friendly Ryou- go full RAW on them. It puts things into perspective. Just as Amir decided not to hurt ppl b/c he knows it’ll make Ryou sad, the others reconsider forgiveness because clearly *this is more important to Ryou than they realized.* 

So yeah, I’m sorry if that seemed rushed b/c I didn’t hammer in the fact that Ryou’s outburst was more emotional than they’d ever seen him before in the years and years they’d been friends and therefore was enough to act as a catalyst to change within their own thoughts and behaviors. 

In conclusion, it feels like you’re holding me to higher standards than KT had for the original work. Especially for a drunk!prompt I got in 2015 and kept in my inbox for 3 years in order to write a 65k fic for. WHICH IS REALLY FLATTERING IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT! I mean, you must think I’m a pretty good writer if you expect me to produce better-than-canon product for every scene of every fic :D 

I mean, if this happened to be your prompt, then I’m extra sorry. That’s probably the only scenario where I would feel legitimate remorse for you not liking this chapter, but otherwise, please forgive me if I don’t beat myself up too bad for not giving Yugi and Jou whatever consequences you wanted them to have???

[the-cryptographer]

5 21 32?

5. Favorite opening/ending

AAAAH KAWITA SAKEBI! no contest!

no, actually it kind of completely falls apart for me if you listen to the full track instead of the clipped version they use for the s0 opening. i don’t know if this is a common phenomenon for other people who watch anime - but i often like the short version of the song, hmm?

ah, i’m not super familiar with the second series anime openings and endings, although i’ve seen at least six of them in the wild. i kind of tried to flip through them quickly now without much success. i kind of have a fondness for Ano Hi no Goro, possibly through overexposure(?) it’s kind of nice and soft, but mostly I like how it’s laid over pictures of Anzu dancing, and Honda with his bike, and Jounouchi and Seto with their siblings, and Mai being amazing, and the corny group picture Yuugi has on his wall. It’s just a lot of good feelings all around.ETA: except poor Ryou was excluded again >:’(  wtf?

In terms of other music from the series, I like Jounouchi Katsuya and God’s Anger from the sub, and Seto’s Hacking Theme from the dub. Which I guess also answers question 26(??) sorry.

21. Which Millennium Item would you want and why?

Um… none of them? I don’t need any haunted artifacts of mental illness lying around here, just sayin’.

Okay, honestly my first thought was the Ring? Because who doesn’t want a malevolent spirit taking over their body and using it for revenge and removing all agency from my own actions thus relieving me of the burden of any responsibility for anything I do and anything that ever happens to me ever? Haha. But then of course I realised that was fucked up so I moved on.

So then my second thought was the Rod? Because who doesn’t want to mind control people and make them do whatever you want? …And thus relieve them of all agency for their own actions, and thus taking on the responsibility for everything they do and everything that ever happens to them ever? And doesn’t the rod also exacerbate existing mental health foibles? I’m not here for that. But… isn’t that only because Malik’s not the person who is destined to have the Rod? Doesn’t it have different powers when Set uses it? What about when Mahaad had the Ring?

What do any of the other items actually do? So, like, I could choose something other than these obviously terrible Mil Items. But I would just be getting another terrible Mil Item that might kill me and also has unknown(??) powers and side effects? What is better - the poison you kind of know, or the poison you definitely don’t know at all?

I guess Millennium Scales final answer. I’m Anubit now.

32. Favorite voice actor

Oh noes. A difficult question. I’m not really good at paying attention to this kind of stuff.

I remember feeling kind of surprised I liked both Jounouchi’s s0 and DM voice actors, since he’s my favourite chara and thus the one whose portrayal I should be most critical of? But I feel like they both nailed him really well in a kind of unobtrusive way that I just kind of accept like, ‘yeah, that’s Jou’. Ah, that’s  Morikawa Toshiyuki and Takahashi Hiroki.

But I think in terms of people whose performances I’m actually impressed by as they are happening - I really like Kazama Shunsukeand Dan Green as Yuugi. heh, they kind of capture his hesitance and his firmness well - or, idk, it’s just how I think the character should sound?? I’m not really as fond of either as Atem, heh, but Dan Green especially hams Atem up to levels that are amusing if a little immersion breaking for me~

Ah, and I suppose if Little Kuriboh counts, he should get a mention here too. I’m rather fond of abridged.

Thanks emblematik and thanks everyone else who sent me questions! I really appreciate it!! I spend too long answering them tho so i’ll probably continue tomorrow, but it cheered me up just to get some silly asks so thank you. Thank you. Thank you :)

[mywaywardcupcake]

*pulls out all the ask meme posts from days ago* sorry if i'm too late but... passion fruit, blackberry, and 6, 10, 13 re: Jounouchi and Malik from the salty ask list~

I really had to scroll to find these!! (I should probably make a tag for memes)

Fruit Ask 

passion fruit: How would you describe your style?

Hmmmmm, idk actually. I’m either in all black, jeans and converses or I’m in leggings and a t-shirt……so slightly comfy and lazy? Thats really the best way to describe it I guess. I just dress in what I like to wear, I don’t really have a style.

blackberry: Is your life an action film, a comedy, a romantic comedy, or drama? 

A mixture of all of them? I mean there is drama, but I’m going to say comedy because I try to laugh things off all the time. 

Salty Ask 

6. Has the fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

Actually, yes! I used to not care for puzzleshipping (Gasp! I know! I feel like it’s a sin to not like that ship in this fandom). When I was A LOT younger I never understood it or why people paired them together (especially since I thought they were some form of the same person, don’t worry I learned). Interacting with the fandom, learning head canons of people, fanart, just all the damn love people had for that pair just made me fall in love with it. Now it’s in my top pairings! It’s amazing what can happen when people share their love for something, it can definitely open people up to it.

10. Most disliked arc? Why? 

The Grand prix/Grand Championship arc. I just, ok. So first off, the animation wasn’t great. But, the thing that killed me was the Zigfried guy. He wasn’t a great bad guy. It was like they were trying to mix every villain they ever had into one and then also make him somewhat like Kaiba. Then there was the whole Anzu, Rebecca, and Vivian fighting over Yugi. Plus, I just don’t like the way Jounouchi was portrayed in that arc either. It was definitely filler that didn’t need to be there. The best part of it was Leon and his deck. I absolutely loved the whole fairytale deck he had. 

13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character? (For both Jounouchi and Malik)

Oh boy, unpopular opinions about my gangster son. Ok let me think. Oh, I know of one that is unpopular (well I know of a certain someone who would disagree and I have a feeling they will probably tell me if they read this too.). One unpopular opinion is I believe Jounouchi could totally take Kaiba out no problem (at least in mangaverse). He isn’t weak, he can take Kaiba on without breaking a sweat. But, since I feel like that maybe more directed at Kaiba, let me think of another one. I’m really trying to come up with one. Oh I don’t know, I think he’s the best duelist out of all of the characters? At least the most interesting to watch? I’m really trying hard here, but I don’t know exactly whats unpopular or not with this child and I just see him in such a great light. Oh wait, the one and only bad light I can grasp on my sunshine boy is in animeverse only (because it was way different than mangaverse) he isn’t that great of a big brother. I mean he was protective and stuff……but I mean he kind of just let his sister be scared to death all night because he lost a card. I know he was upset, but damn boy it’ll be ok! Go to your damn sister! 

Now lets move on to a character thats easy and I’m not grasping straws to think of opinions on! So I’m doing this for Malik and not Dark Malik, because I think we can all agree that the dark Malik was a complete jerk. My unpopular opinion on him is that I don’t think he’s a good guy. I mean don’t get me wrong, I get him. I totally feel for everything that happened to him with his family and everything. But this little bastard was still the one who tried to murder Atem/Yugi/Jounouchi multiple times. I don’t think he just changed like that. And I honestly don’t think he just suddenly started treating Rishid and Isis better. He’s still an angry little boy. Yes he learned what he did was bad, but people don’t just suddenly change like that. Idk, I just don’t buy into season 5 Malik very much. 

[the-cryptographer]

Oh, right. I guess I still have these doujin caps on my desktop. Have a sassy Mokuba in a koala shirt.

This is from this doujinshi, which is a kind of weird JouKai doujinshi. I think what happens is Jou beats Atem in a duel, Kaiba flips the fuck out and invites Jou over and attach him to some weird machine with the purpose of teleporting him the fuck away. But then Jou flips out, interrupts the teleportation process and... maybe switches bodies with Kaiba is seems. The rest of the doujin is Jou making a mess of Kaiba’s life while Mokuba sasses him terribly and I’m not really sure what’s going on but it was amusing.

My other favourite doujin from this old batch was a pseudo-prideshipping one from the same circle - THIS. It features AI Atem and a Kaiba robot named Saibaa (which is a pun on ‘cyber’). It kind of replays early canon prideshipping dynamic, and then actual Kaiba cockblocks them at the end out of... being a bitter jerk.

He’s kind of disgusted with his robot self.

And then there’s a cut to post DSoD and actual Atem is all smiley and I felt better about life.

I also got this one with an adorable Mokuba. Another one I don’t really understand.

Kaiba wakes up acting weird one day, unusually nice, and Mokuba and Isono are very excited.

It’s a renaissance, they say.

But then Isis shows up to investigate.

And Atem is like >:/  And it turns out Kaiba has the Rod.

And then Isis kicks Seto in the face and steals it back, idk. That’s what happens.

And Kaiba wakes up his usual grumpy self, wondering what happened when he was under the Rod’s control?

And then there’s another section of the doujinshi where Malik is the worst and sexually harasses Mokuba and Isis, and Seto gets angry and punishes him for the former and is kind of haunted by the latter and also stares at Isis’s boobs.

That’s the doujin. I don’t know.

And then I got this old doujin by Paro-WEB, who is affiliated with Hobby-Hobby. It has Hanasaki on the back.

Anyhow, it explains why we never see Hanasaki again, it seems. And that’s because Jounouchi is a terrible jealous friend who wants Yuugi all to himself, lmao.

It’s a very Jou-centric doujin, like a lot of their work is.

Adorable thug baby.

With wishshipping.

And buddyshipping.

At some point Shizuka gives Honda a present.

And it’s a lame, girly character mug, but Jou is ANGER.

But then Shizuka has another present for Jou too. And, surprise, it’s another lame, girly character mug.

And then everyone was embarrassed together :’)

Also there’s a lot of vitally important goings on about Jounouchi and his misadventures with porn.

Like him having trouble getting the VCR and tape to work. So he oscillates between coddling the malfunctioning machine and then beating the crap out of it when it refuses to work with him.

So then he unravels the tape and looks at the individual shots of film.

And gives himself eye strain before giving the tape back to Yuugi. Perfect.

He also tries to nonchalantly buy a dirty mag at the bookstore.

Except then he doesn’t have enough money for it and the shopkeeper is embarrassed for him. And I’m sorry I have such a bizarre fascination with these children’s porn misadventures but it is hilarious and it is life.

Happy Monday, I guess.

[the-cryptographer]

Screw it, I'm asking Malik Ishtar for the meme thing! (Only if you want to, of course...)

THANK YOU :D

How I feel about this character:

My secret favourite!!! I think I tend to likecharacters that are all about BIG UGLY EMOTIONS, and Malik is a lot of those,lol. For me, he’s an effective villain – both really terrible and really understandably so. I think the way he gets so energetic about pursuing the God Cards and the Pharaoh, and then gets in over his head and has to abandon ship on his own revenge, and then continues to see through his role as tombkeeper because he’s just so worn out from trying to fight it – aaaaagh! It’s so upsettingly believable.

In terms of characterisation, he’s floating around brilliant but lazy territory for me. He’s intelligent, but also an idiot, andalso all he really wants to do is ride around on his bike and sleep alone inhis room and live comfortably. He’s capable, but not very ambitious. Not much of a visionary, lol.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Ryou. Yuugi. Shizuka.

…well that was a very short list for me. I can also enjoy theifshipping to a certain degree, although I’m not really very interestedin it as a postcanon or endgame ship. And the potential for Malik’s torture ofMai to be sexualised is something I think is both interesting and not that farfrom its canon presentation – so I guess that may count as shipping them insome kind of messed up way. And I guess I also I find myself conceptuallyinterested in Ishtar sibling incest, but I haven’t run into any that treats thesubject matter with the kind of tone I’d like.

More on the ships though: Malik doesn’t directly interact with Yuugi or Ryou much in canon, but both ships seem to have the ability to be about softness and healing to me. Since Ryou and Malik have both experiences a violent and upsetting possession of sorts, them coming to move past that together has the potential to be pretty sweet. And since Malik has a kind of troubled relationship with ‘the Pharaoh’, and how he feels his life has been shaped by these ancient politics, I think Yuugi’s kind of in a unique place to be able to understand both the past and Atem’s journey and his ownplace in the present to be able to help Malik contextualise that in a waythat’s meaningful to him.

And Malik & Shizuka is a nice ship if what you’re going for is exploring Shizuka’s massivedisillusionment. Leaving aside the way that a nice trip to visit yourestranged brother suddenly turned upsettingly full of ugly complicated feelings and murder, I think Malik tends towards a frankness that doesn’t sit well with Shizuka's ideals. This is a fun ship~

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Ishtar Siblings!!! Malik’s relationship with Rishid is at once so lovely and so heartbreakingly upsetting. I think they struggle to find the balance between how they see each other as siblings and how they see each other in this hierarchy of master and subordinate – the way they come through for each other at the end of the story is just so touching. And Malik and Isis aren’t as close, but I like that their conflicting values, and understanding of their responsibilities, don’t compromise their love and the desire to protect one another. Ishtar Siblings!!!

I also like Malik & Yuugi & Ryou as a BrOTP. And I have a strange interest in Malik & Jou broing out or coming to realise they can’t bro out because he murdered you and tortured your best lady friend postcanon.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

I’m not really sure what constitutes an unpopular opinion regarding Malik, but I have several that might count.

(1) The Millennium Rod only exacerbated problems hewas already having due to the effects of trauma and a shaky headspace. YamiMalik is the product of Dissociative Identity Disorder in relationship to Borderline Personality Disorder, and exists in a reactionary way to Malik rather than being a distinct person.

(2)  He’s about as culturally Egyptian as your standard Amish person can be considered culturally American. (Or, idk, I think the Hutterites are a more apt comparison in a number of ways, if I’m sticking to offshoots of Christianity. More research on different religions is needed but, in terms of daily living, you can take all sorts of cues about the tombkeepers from different isolationist religious “cults”.)

(3) He’s a deadly serious character really –cerebral and ponderous. His sense of humour is along the lines of dry andsarcastic, rather than laugh-out-loud.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

I ALSO WISH THE ISHTARS HAD BEEN IN DSOD THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

I think it would have made sense to mention them in relationship to what Seto was doing in Egypt at the very least. Seto was rooting around in Ancient Egyptian ruins that the tombkeepers had the right too, yeah? I feel like it might’ve been an interesting political/business deal he struck with the Ishtars. Maybe Isis needed money to help in the process of reintegrating the tombkeepers into above-ground society? I don’t know, but I feel like there’s a story there~

Also, it might be obvious from some of these other headcanons, but I wish the conclusion to Malik’s story had been more on the side of ‘the hate you’re feeling is valid if completely toxic’, which is why I like the idea of Yami Malik running amok in his head postcanon, even though I think the manga leaned heavily towards a canon interpretation where he was freed of Him.

my OTP:

Malik/Ryou edges out Malik/Yuugi by a little, but not by much.

my happy ending for them:

Not part of this meme, but you made me realise I wanted to write it all down~

Given my incredibly depressing diagnosis for Malik, I think managing his life will always be somewhat of a struggle. Yami Malik is probably here to stay. Malik will likely always have outbursts, and always have a cruel and violent streak. At his worst, the most I can say is that he and the people around him will be aware of the warning signs and be able to restrain him ahead of time instead of having to do so in the middle of an episode. At his best, I think Yami Malik might appear once every month or two, and just kind of storm around the house/apartment being sullen. I don’t think Yami Malik has the same kind of emotional range or needs as one would expect a completehuman to have – so he doesn’t need much more than to be acknowledged by the others and then left to his own devices. I don’t think he likes being touched, but he may someday accept a hug from Ryou or Yuugi or Isis and take a small comfort in the fact that he isn’t hated. Rishid is a lost cause, and will have to stay away during those times, because Yami Malik will without question react violently to him. I think, in a way, a direct reflection of Malik’s own desires– for his hatred and pain to be acknowledge and accepted by those around him, by all except Rishid, who Malik would most keenly like to be less hateful person for. Malik does not want Rishid to see Yami Malik, and so Yami Malik pushes Rishid away with a lot of force… potentially lethal force.

In terms of the more mundane things, I imagine Malik goes through a period where he wants to travel everywhere and see everything to kind of make up for the fact that he was confined to a dark hall his entire childhood. I think he’ll travel Africa and Europe and see more of Japan at thevery least, but who knows where his travels might take him~ But eventually Iimagine him settling down somewhere, since I don’t think his affinity fortravel is about travelling as much as its about taking in the world’s breadth.As long as he can enjoy bike rides and the wind and open sky and the company of those he likes, I think he’s fine being anywhere. He and Rishid are veryride-or-die so they’ll definitely stick together, I think. Him and Isis is moreiffy, but I’d like to see Isis and him also remain close and live close together.

In terms of a job, he’s really not into forty hour work weeks, lol. He wasn’t raised under the expectation he’d be part of a contemporary work force. And he’d additionally have trouble balancing that amount of stress with his mental healths. He’d take odd jobs here and there, or work part time in something pretty low pressure. Depending on how lucrative the limited amount of work he does is, he may or may not need to rely on his siblings or lover for support. In terms of what he does…? Tinker around a souvenir shop maybe? Or he runs errands for or does translations for the museum, through his connection with Isis?

And I don’t think he’d want kids, or make a verygood parent for that matter. He’s satisfied with being the weird uncle to his nieces and nephews.

my cross over ship:

I don’t have one, sorry~

a headcanon fact:

Hasn’t everything I’ve said thus far been me taking my own headcanons way too seriously?

Coptic, Arabic, French, Japanese. Rishid is the same, except he’s not as fluent in the last two, and also not as well studied in Ancient Egyptian scriptures. Isis is the only one of the Ishtar siblings that speaks English.

Oh, jeez, he is pretty much universally hated by his tombkeeper peers. Even when he was little he was a divisive character with how harsh and cruel he can be at times. And then he was shadily involved in the bloody murder of his father. When he left to form the Rare Hunters with Rishid, he bitterly alienated most of his extended tombkeeper family, but some of them followed him to join his crime syndicate. And then those who had followed him took poorly to the way Malik abandoned the Rare Hunters, and followed Isis back home with his tail between his legs. Literally everybody he grew up with except his siblings hates him and Malik spends the time from Battle City to the Ceremonial Duel hiding out in his room having Rishid bring him his meals because the tomb keepers are done with him and he’s done with them. And he’s technically their ‘leader’, but Isis made a bid for being de facto leader when he skipped out years earlier and, disappointed but resigned, she continues to carry the position when Malik’s returned. “She’s a great leader (even though she’s a woman),” everyone says. They all love her, lol.Rishid is more polarising, since he’s generally so mild and polite. Some of the tombkeepers see what he did as betrayal, but a lot of them view him with a sort of condescending pity and kindness - poor boy, led astray by his association with Master Malik. This makes Malik even more angry. ‘We are brothers and equals!!’ he yells. Even though he isn’t completely free of blame when it comes to treating Rishid as lesser.

Also, it’s totally canon that somewhere along the line he makes some big fuss and his criminal record from being involved with the Rare Hunters gets dragged out of the closet, and the Egyptian Government tells him to gtfo of our country… right?