#once I found out Heba didn’t mean game I was like I need a new name immediately

[lee-of-games]

So. Was in a server and talking about headcanon stuff, fic ideas, AUs, etc etc

And while discussing an AU with @pyarini , the idea of using Heba as a name for a reincarnation came up, to which I made some comment about how cute it would be for Atem to recognize it’s Yuugi, because they both mean game. To which she pointed out that it didn’t, and that Heba actually means “gift.”

Which made me think two things:

One: I seem to have been completely misled by the fandom to believe Heba meant game. (To be fair I had tried to look it up before, but could never find a concrete meaning, and figured I just missed something since everyone else was saying it did.)

And two: Oh…Why do we use that name in the first place?

I did some light digging and it seems there is nothing showing Heba means game, and within fandom, there’s nothing concrete showing where it originated from, though highly suspected to be a name someone liked and used in an RP for an Egyptian Yugi counterpart, which just got spread and used by the fandom. (The ONLY info I could find for it’s origins was Fandom Wiki, so if anyone knows any different please let me know!)

So here’s my thought process now: If it was randomly chosen by someone cuz they liked the name, I think I’ll just pick my own name for “Heba” and use that instead!

This was developed by Kanmani by saying “Maybe it should be Senet” To which I had the idea of using the name Sen, short for Senet.

Now, I know this seems silly as a name, but I think it’s fitting seeing how Yuugi literally just means “Game” in Japanese, and his Grandfather is named Sugoroku, after a form of Japanese Board Games. As a counterpart, to reflect it’s a version of Yugi just in a different time/place, I think it works well! (Plus Sen is a name already, with a few meanings, one of which is a thousand in Japanese, if people wanted to use it for a modern reincarnation as well!)

I’m not a newbie, but comparing my two years here to how long this fandom has been around, I know it would be silly to ask to completely change the name around or anything like that. I don’t wanna make it seem like I’m saying you shouldn’t or can’t use the name anymore! It’s a cute name, and I understand it’s got history in the fandom! I mainly wanna use this as my own nickname for a counterpart and explain where I got it from.

Buuuuut…I do invite anyone who likes the name idea to use it in your projects: whether it’s labeling art, comics, fics, etc!

I would love to see people joining in calling an AE Yuugi counterpart Senet/ Sen, and I know I’ll be using it myself for my projects :] ✨ It’s already been cemented in my mind, even if it doesn’t catch on haha.

[dxullinkz-blog]

                                   Heba Mutou | YGO DM OC

Basics

Name (& pronunciation): Heba (H/Eh/Ba) Mutou. Date of Birth (& age): June 4th, 22. Place of Birth: Domino, Japan. Gender: Male. Species/Racial Origin: Human, Egyptian/Japanese. Social Class/Community Status: Middle Class. Languages: Hieroglyphics, Arabic, Japanese & English. Family/Friends/Pets/Etc: Yugi Mutou (twin), Solomon Mutou (Grandfather). Duel Links ID: 738-665-651

Physical Description

Height: 5” (153cm) Weight: 100 pounds (45kg) Hair: Tri-colored (purple, black, blonde) Eyes: Purple. Limb Dexterity: He's actually fairly decently strong. Detailed Physical Description: Pretty lean in build Heba has stacked on a bit more muscle from walking around Egypt and being in places he shouldn't. Being on the more adventurous side he has pretty decent leg muscle and upper arm strength. Though he is still shorter than the average male (something he detests). Typical Clothing/Equipment: Heba's preferred style of clothing is a black shirt and a pair of form fitting jeans. Though in Egypt he cuts it back to tank tops and cargo pants. If it does happen to get colder he wears a wool cardigan. Shoe wise will always be some form of boot.

Personality/Attributes 

Personality: Heba is a very short tempered person with the mouth of a sailor. Not a word leaves his tongue that isn't some sort of insult or swear word. He can flip on the switch of a dime, go from having a nice polite conversation to a fireball of anger at something that was said. He doesn't have a lick of patience and only typically tolerates people rather than try to form close bonds. That isn't to say he isn't capable of doing that, quite the opposite. Heba makes a much better ally than he does enemy, fiery loyal to the end and would give his life in a second if he thought it would protect someone that he cared about. Though he isn't an overly affectionate person he makes up for that in being bluntly honest and protective of friends and family. He'll never say something he doesn't mean and words of affection, when given out, are rare and few in between. Skills/Talents: Heba can hunt with a bow and arrow, figure out rather difficult puzzles easily and can read and translate Hieroglyphics. Favourites/Likes: Tea, studying and learning new things,  Black Luster Soldier. Most Hated/Dislikes: Anything that requires patience, disgracing ancient tombs, people who he believes has the brain cells of a fish. Goals/Ambitions: His current goal in life is a little difficult to figure out. He's changed his college major a few times bouncing between what he wants to do. So far all he can figure out is that he wants to attend college, just isn't quite sure for what. Strengths: Art (fairly good at sketching), archery, history, deciphering old books, physical exertion. Weaknesses: Math, making choices (good choices), temper, doctors/hospitals/medical professionals, slight drug addiction. Fears: Medical Professionals, relationships (romantic or platonic), his grandmother, actually being diagnosed as crazy. Hobbies/Interests: Heba likes arts and crafts but specifically sketching, Ancient Egypt and Egypt's history, Duel Links. Regular Routine: He gets up in the morning, logs into Duel Links to clean out the standard duelists and keys while having a cup of tea and toast. After he heads off to school for his general education (as he hasn't decided his major) for a few hours of class. About two his lectures will end and he'll swing by the museum for a little piece and quiet. Around four he'll end up back and home for another hour of Duel Links until he makes dinner. Homework is stuffed in between eating, random google searches for entertainment and then after the dishes he'll end up logging back into Duel Links until it's time for bed. Between all of this his alarm on his phone will go off every six hours to take his medication. Philosophy of Life: Fuck it. Attitude Toward Death: At one point he craved it now he simply acknowledges it'll come eventually. Religion/Beliefs: None. Fetishes/Strange Behaviors: If his medication runs off and he doesn't take it he'll end up talking a bit to himself or something else that only he can see. He'll also switch languages a lot more frequently and stare off into space. Most Instructive/Painful/Memorable Experience: Growing up with his grandmother was an entire painful experience. The woman was only ever verbally abusive but the amount of doctors she dragged him to left a horrible impact. Sexual Preference/Experience/Values: Bisexual/had sex a few time. Education/Special Training: High School Diploma, Archery training (hunting wise), in college. Place/Type of Residence: Apartment in Japan near his college. Occupation: None. Place of Work: - Work-related Skills: - Past Occupations: Librarian after school in Egypt.

Biography:

Heba was born to the Mutou family in Domino Japan. He had one twin brother that he never got to know. As far as he is aware he was raised in the house until he was one before a custody battle was fought between his grandmother (their fathers mother) and Heba's own. The Game Shop at that point didn't bring in much money and their mother was a bit flaky in staying home. An old man raising two kids on such a small salary, according to Child Protective Services, wasn't the best home situation for what was going on. As a result they decided the best case scenario for the children was to split them. Yugi would stay in Japan with Solomon and Heba would be raised by the grandmother Amara in Egypt.

Perhaps, in some way, she did have the best interest of the children at heart but that didn't in any means make her an over caring woman. She was hard in the way she raised him, showed affection only when need be and lectured him constantly on the proper way he should be. Any child would look at her like she was the devil drilling him like a soldier but it only ever got worse when he started to have his little slips.

He was eight the first time it happened, Heba could barely even remember it now, but he started to hear this voice. It sounded amazingly like his own and yet different at the same time, the language was certainly one he wasn't familiar with though the similarity to Arabic was undeniable. From what he thought he had sat there for a while, just listening to it, but when he blinked his way back into reality he found himself in a completely different room with his grandmother staring at him like he was some sort of monster.

One event out of several more that happened.

Sometimes he'd find himself dreaming, thinking a little two hard on what he saw in his head. He'd lose himself in whatever it was and when he'd finally come back around he'd found he'd done something he probably shouldn't have. His grandmother said he'd scream sometimes, shout words that didn't make sense, even break things and that last one would always end him in incredible trouble—Amara either making him work to pay for it or forbidding him from leaving his room for anything.

It was hard to imagine what other people saw, or even to believe them, since it was apparently his own body doing it. He couldn't deny the lapses in memory, the odd little 'visions' and 'voices' he heard. Doing it in public at school apparently seemed to be the breaking point for it all though. At that point he had turned ten, scared an entire room of elementary students and was sent home with a clear order to find some sort of help for himself.

The amount of doctors between ten and sixteen and they finally put him on an experimental drug was intense... enough to even drive a person insane which ended up being the 'diagnoses' they came up with.

The first few doctors put him up anti-psychotics, another drugged him with psychosis pills, there was some liquid things thrown in there that made his skin feel like it was boiling from underneath. Being poked, prodded and drugged so many times lead to a fear so intense that his grandmother needed to have someone sedate him before they could do anything. He was sure it was mostly because he had stabbed a nurse with her own needle when she tried to inject something into him.

Heba, at sixteen, ended up in a medical ward where they started him on this experimental drug that didn't even have a name. His bottle was a series of letters and numbers that made no sense to him but whatever it was they drugged him with seemed to work. For an entire year he didn't have a lapse in memory, didn't have an outburst (aside from his usual ones) and didn't hear or see things.

They declared him cured and released him.

The pill bottle's recommended dosage was one every six hours but it also said to take as needed. As he focused on finishing school online he slowly started to find he was either developing a tolerance toward it or whatever was wrong with him was getting worse. So he slowly started taking more, and more, until it was one almost every three hours.

He found if he took them in close proximity he got a bit woozy and light headed so he tried to make it low. He wasn't addicted to them, he just didn't want Black Luster Soldier talking to him from the corner of the room again.

Never once did he tell his grandmother any of this though and when he turned eighteen he decided to head 'home' or what the home on his birth certificate said he was. Heba had long since learned of Yugi's existence, his grandmothers favorite insult was “maybe I should have left you with Solomon”, it didn't take a genius to look them up.

Yugi was impressive from what he noticed, a Duel Masters god according to the internet, and most of all sane. That last part was the most interesting one for him, apparently between twins sanity wasn't biological. Though he was curious he never reached out, never made a point to contact, he figured if Yugi wanted to know about him all he had to do was look at his own birth certificate and see the little check that wasn't single.

That didn't stop him from attending a college in Japan, from moving to Domino. Though he told himself he didn't care that was apparently far from the truth. But he wouldn't approach because that made a burden.

His college degree between eighteen and twenty-two changed from Teaching to Archaeologist to Egyptian Historian, to art until he finally just settled on getting a general education until he could decide. His grandmother had money, she didn't care so long as he took his meds and was a good boy.