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angeat · 11 months

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@arcvmonth day 18

"an earnest unrequited love, wanting to make it bear a little happiness" reference

i have posted about my au a couple of times, it's not specific to arc v though it involves yuya and yuri so i shall take this chance to ramble

to introduce. an excerpt of a ramble about my au: "i have my focus sort of split between yuri and yuya's yanhomo weirdness pov v.s. bakura trying to not kill punch beat the shit out of worship marry johan while anzu takes an irritated drag from her cigarette pov" so it's a whole Every Yugioh Crossover and a part of the premise is everyone is at least mildly to severely out of character johan and mokuba are quite different for instance. there aren't relevant arc v characters aside from the aforementioned two but i can mention some. also little extra designs

yugo is yuya's older half brother on yoko's side (likes motorcycles per her influence), they don’t visit each other often but they do talk regularly, yugo tries supporting yuya and being a proper big brother as much as he can. yuto is yuri's estranged older brother but yuri has no memory of him because he was too young when they were separated and yuri was adopted by leo (yes reiji and reira are his siblings. the akabas continue to be the most dysfunctional family ever) yuzu and gongenzaka are yuya's best friends per usual. yuri ran away with yuya for their survival since it's no good to stay in the same spot with a billionaire ceo guy (seto kaiba) tracking them and a jail escapee (kyosuke kiryu) but also just because he wants to have yuya alone

(yuzu and gongenzaka look about the same so just the yu’s and yo)

i frame my au yuri with a lot of yandere shit just because i think it's fun and he does stalk yuya + sometimes treats him like something of a boyfriend but he isn't really in love with yuya? yuri loves and admires himself above all but he sees himself in yuya. literally physically because he thinks they have similar faces and yuri has always unconsciously wanted something of a normal life and family so seeing yuya have that meant projecting on yuya became his favorite hobby. and now because of their situation they're in he uses this new forced closeness with someone for the first time to act out everything he's never experienced (a friend, a parent, a lover)

despite how much yuya might be creeped out or uncomfortable, since yuri has been the real reason he's been able to survive, he feels like he doesn't really have the right to reject yuri in any sense, by all means he's dependent on him in this situation and he can't just leave and go to anyone else unless he wants to put them in danger. also helps that he's scared shitless of him both because yuri is armed, merciless, and he would hurt yuya himself if he wanted to as he only needs yuya alive beyond that yuri doesn't really care how he is physically or mentally. the arrangement is a bit of a nightmare though coming to understand the way he thinks and acts, yuya genuinely pities yuri for the way that he is so he wants to help him be more normal and genuinely befriend him in return for everything he's done to protect him and starts to treats this as something of an obligation but yuri makes it hard to do anything nice for him

(since yuri is a solider baby and views socialization through a power hierarchy he sees these attempts of being kind and friendly as yuya acting above yuri, which he obviously doesn't take very well since he refuses to be below anyone except for leo, his dad. the only reason yuri acts the familiar way he does with yuya is because he sees them on equal footing since in his perspective yuya is essentially an extension him but he still by default treats yuya as someone below him, so yuya can't reciprocate acts of familiarity without yuri being the one to initiate them)

also the au is a future diary au. forgot to mention. yuya and yuri are two of twelve people trying to kill each other and have diaries that tell the future. it follows nothing about future diary outside of that basic premise, yuya and yuri are not the main characters.

clothes concept + notes + etc because you know. i might as well while i’m at it i doubt i’m sharing these any other time

this is test thing of a noncanon scene i had in my head there's the rest of it in script because i could not be damned

#arcvmonth2023 #yuri arc v #yugo arc v #yoko sakaki #yuto arc v #yugioh #ygo #digital art #traditional art #fanart

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avo-kat · 2 years

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this is my diary btw so im gonna write whatever

me rambling abt music i listened to

i used to love the metal band wintersun. ive basically listened to the album wintersun thru grade 9 and 10. because back then mp3 players had little space and mine only fit that one album. i listened to it daily for hours. for two years. yeah lol

i liked venom too i guess...

oh my fav emo band was the used. love love love. it really got me thru my worst teenage depression. i just listened to the album up and down for hours singing along whenever i was alone. so much sad

i listened to green day too, just that american idiot album. i was broke af as a teen and only had a handful of albums. my moms boss actually burned me a copy of american idiot! i was sooo happy that she did that. my mom used to clean ppls homes and i went with her a few times to help her and this lady had a really nice place and a big music ...anlage (lol) station? and she had green day and stuff and i told my mom how surprised i was that a middle aged lady was so cool. my mom told her next time and she burned me some cds :D so cool

my parents were usually v dismissive of me being goth and listening to metal music so this really meant a lot

in fact, my dad once said i was a psychopath and crazy and not right in the head! haha. now im grown up and dont call him. suck it, loser. thats what u got for abusing ur kid.

anyway, what else did i listen to? i had a last.fm account and listened to a lot of music but now i can barely recall. some japanese rock artists def. some handpicked metal songs that were popular that i got from youtube.

wait does my lastfm acct still exist lol

oh indeed! found it. well one of them. i had like two or three idk. lets see. theres scrobbles from 2007, 2008 and 2014 lol

there we go!!!! lets see :D

wintersun - like i said. emilie autumn ooooh of course. still got her stuff on my phone. her songs were my main inspiration for my first ever OC.

then theres a few metal bands i remember liking but i wasnt like suuuper into them.

yes i like panic!at the disco. u may bully me.

some kpop. eisregen isnt that a racist? (i say, knowing full well a lot of metal band dudes were racist). only listened to like 3 songs of those.

kate nash, yeah, my girl! i think thats from later. all her songs are super, she first started with very tv britpop, but relatable. foundation is a perf song. and over time she released more songs but she did develop a lot musically, going a bit more rock at times. super awesome. i was at one of her concerts this year. amazing experience. i love her.

k.i.z. okay. yeah. thats a german hiphop band. their thing is satire, i guess. how should i explain it. meh. i dont listen to them anymore because i started feeling uncomfortable with how they do things. they do a lot of social commentary, but they also used a lot of slurs, in like, ironic ways. that was perf acceptable back then.

she!!!! my 8bit music era!!!! 8bit music is super cool. still have a lot of it on my phone but i dont listen to it much. it gets a bit boring over time

death cab for cutie... how could i forget. what sarah said is one of the bangers in my depression playlist.

janelle was a recent discovery.

theres some more kpop, some more metal down there. nirvana - of course. i binged them. i felt so much heartbreak when i "discovered" them and learned their background. i listened to them a lot lot.

theres daft punk, of course, some japanese artists, utada hikaru, dir en greys, mucc, gackt, malice mizer, ayumi hamasaki. all cool. yuna ito... whos that? ohh she was reira in nana. i listened to mika nakashima too!! that manga was really formative. oh she still makes music

oh damn instead of cleaning im sitting here talking abt myself

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lovelightdecadent · 2 years

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also quick nana thoughts n rambles b4 i go to sleep bc i really should be sleeping

• NOBU AND HACHI OMGGGGG.

• fkfkdisjjsj takumi go away plz :((, im interested to see how this develops bc i know he's gonna be sticking around for a while lol. BUT HACHI YOU'RE SO RIGHT, HIM OUTSIDE OF THE TRAPNEST FACADE IS JUST A JERK. go b with nobu, takumi does not deserve you!!!! even tho the "i want you all to myself now" is kinda hot 😌

• ok um, reira... whyyyyy. i liked you so much before this but you rly had to... yeah. i think we know what i'm talking about 🙂

• i really just wish i could give hachi a hug and lead her the right way

• i really do enjoy how ai yazawa's characters are multidimensional and feel like actual people. it's something i want to incorporate into my own storytelling. i feel like i'm always focused on that general feeling or vibe you could get from a strong archetype but she is able to balance some pretty great archetypes with this sort of fleshed out writing and IT JUST FEELS SO GOOD N REAL. like i really enjoy that the people in trapnest are just people behind all the idolisation bc that's how it really is. and even nana and hachi, strong character types but they're both so flawed and distinct and feel very fucking real. i love them <3. ai yazawa supremacy okay?

• NEW INTROOOO NEW INTRO!!!! i read that this is when a lot of stuff starts happening so i'm excited to see

• oh yeah i wonder how yasu is going to feel abt reira's recent actions 🙃. that is, if he finds out which he probably will. i hope he and shin will be allg.

• idk if i mentioned this but that scene when nobu lashes at takumi and then shin throws his drink on him 😌😌👌

#rambles

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reirakurenai · 4 years

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My mother loved The Witcher so much, she insisted we rewatch it immediately after we finished it.

#reira rambles #lol #i love my mother #the witcher #netflix

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blue-eyed-giant · 3 years

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i cant believe i cant FUCKING BELIEVE SHIN IS FORCED TO BE THE RESPONSIBLE ONE IN HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH REIRA I FUCKING HATE HOW HE IS FORCED TO BE AN ADULT FUCK-

#when i'm done with reading the manga i will write a piece about how shin is treated #by the characters by the fandom and by ai yazawa herself #i'm sorry friends i bore you with my nonsense nana ramblings #but none of my friends read the manga yet so i have to shout somewhere #giant reads nana #nana manga #shin okazaki #reira serizawa

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mbticomrades · 3 years

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impromptu thoughts/anaylsis on ren honjo

as nana week approaches, I'm slowly remembering and reminiscing over my personal favorite of Nana, the beloved Ren <3

from a functional/mbti view too, we see the highlighted differences between Ren and Nana themselves, Ren is a ti or se dom, while Nana is such a fi dom. I could ramble about how this shows their clear issues and misunderstanding of eachother but I shall focus alot more on them as individuals.

ANYWAY... you come to ren, he doesn't come to you. I think alot of how cool ren is comes from alot of the apathy presented within him. from the start, we see ren is a idealized figure. he seems so far away from others because he is a beloved and rather mysterious figure, the fricking guitarast of trapnest. and he certainly doesn't seem to care for the pressure as nearly much as reira and takumi do. This isn't to say he's not passionate or caring, he is and can be, but compare him to our king Yasu. ren just goes with the flow, he lets life and trapnest lead him, not otherwise. he certainly doesn't stir up what takumi does even with his impulsiveness. he radiates a sense of being untouchable and just so cool... but in a sense his image is so effortless too, like how it's presented.

he really does care though, but not in a yasu or nobu way either. ESPECIALLY from the manga scene between him and reira, he really does try his best, even in unorthodox ways. he's extremely strong, his childhood is a part of this too. he cares, but at the same time he's apathetic. he really does love nana, he just doesn't really understand what she feels and vice versa, and he really does try his best. Even if it isn't always helping others to avoid his problems like yasu, having a hero complex and being very sweet like nobu, ren just is ren in a lovely way.

"you come to ren, he doesn't come to you."

(also entp and xnfp mod add he is very pisces male lol <3. )

#nana #nana manga #ren honjo #nana week #nana anime #animanga #anaylsis #nana blast #trapnest #nana komatsu #manga #ren nana #nana osaki #hi

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skittymon · 7 years

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In regards to Reira and how being turned into a baby ‘made him lose all this character development’

This isn’t the same Reira. She’s almost an entirely different character.

Our Reira came full circle with his development and died a hero to save the dimension. This new Reira is our old Reiras reincarnation, and as seen with Yuu boys and bracelet girls: they’re not the same person as their previous self.

The only difference here is that the baby still keeps the name Reira, and looks the same because our Reira didn’t need to be divided into four because the four dimensions already exist.

Not only that this new Reira is a combination of people: Our Reira (reincarnation), Ray (Ray’s influence changes Reira’s gender), and Zarc (his soul now resides in Reira).

So no, Reiras character didn’t digress and he didn’t lose his development. He died a hero like his sister and new Reira is the aftermath of his efforts.

#yugioh arc v #arc v #reira akaba #i kept seeing this complaint and I don't think it's as black and white as people think #...does this make Reira technically Zarcray kid lol #skitty rambles

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crystalchimera · 7 years

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“Little Reira, little Reira; what do you see?”

“Why...I see the Devil’s after me.”

“ Little Reira, little Reira; what do you know?”

“Why, I know he’ll never catch me.”

“ Little Reira, little Reira; what do you wish?”

“Why I wish he’ll smile with me.”

(I have no flipping idea why or how I made this. Inspired by this post, somehow I made something serious from it.)

#Chimera Ramblings #arc-v spoilers #reira akaba #yuya sakaki #zarc #Does this count as a fanfic?#Flip it I'm sticking it in the tag #Runic Scrolls #arc v spoilers #arc v fanfic #fanfic #God is this a poem?#I really don't like poems #Why did I make this

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emetkoto · 6 years

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hey im gonna ramble about that ygo pirate au now bc im thinking about it and have some ideas,,,

before Yuzu was born Shuuzo was a part of Yuushou's crew and traveled around the world with him as his first mate. Once he met his (future) wife, he decided to retire and finally settle down. His wife died during childbirth so he was really protective over Yuzu her whole life and was kinda against her becoming a pirate but also HE was a pirate so he wasn't really in any place to stop her...all he could do was give her a lot of food and supplies and hug her and cry a lot as she and Yuuya set sail

the bracelets kinda exist here?? They take the form of four armbands known as the Northern Flower, the Western Wind, the Eastern Bird, and the Southern Moon and when they're all brought together they give off a special sort of magnetic field that will change the direction of the log pose and lead it towards one of the world's legendary treasures. Yuushou left the Northern Flower to Shuuzo as a parting gift and he went on to give it to Yuzu bc he had no idea what it really was so good job on that dad now she's got pirates constantly trying to kick her ass to steal it and she doesn't even know why

Selena stole hers from a Navy base (she was gonna sell it with all the other treasure she nabbed but then decided she liked it and kept it), Rin was given hers by Yuusei and Bruno (who'd found it washed up on the shore of Water Seven), and Ruri's was passed down to her by her mother who'd found it while she was a pirate in her youth

Zarc is the king of the underworld/black market...basically if it's shady dealings, he's involved in it somehow. He was born a Celestial Dragon but he was such a problem child that he was cast out of Mariejois by his own family when he was just a young boy. Yuushou found him and took him under his wing and even though he tried to raise him right Zarc ended up exactly how you'd expect him to and after a disagreement over their goals he took off and kinda destroyed a country and forced them to obey him whoops! Yuuri lived in that country and after Zarc finished rampaging he found him and decided to take him in as one of his underlings and raise him to be just the Worst Ever. He's also the captain of the Supreme King's Pirates and one of the Warlords...diet Doflamingo ok

Ray is also an Admiral and she's Reiji's older sister ofc! Leo is the Fleet Admiral and controls the whole Navy so that definitely helped his kids rise to their rank lmao...Reira is an orphan they found in a war-torn country and took in to raise as a Marine. They're still in training but they're already an amazing fighter with a lot of potential

Out of the four Yuu boys only Yuuri and Yuuya have Conquerer's Haki..ofc Zarc has it too and he trained Yuuri to use it once he realized he had it

Gongenzaka is a Samurai from Wano and that's all ive got on that so

Ryouga and Rio are Blue Shark fishmen (Rio is a mermaid but yknow) and Ryouga really cannot stand humans after some pirates came to Fishman Island and killed his parents so he's That Bitch. Ryota Kajiki is also a fishman and any other fish-themed characters you can suggest to me really i can't remember them all lol

Cathy is a member of the Mink tribe and she is...ofc....a cat Mink...and that's that on that for now

Here's some random ages ive decided on:

Reira: 14

Sora: 16

Yuuya, Yuzu, Selena, Ruri: 17

Yuugo, Rin: 18

Yuuri: 19

Yuuto: 20

Shun: 21

Reiji: 22

Ray, Zarc: 24

other ages will be decided as i think about them lol

no idea if ill incorporate the timeskip idea here but god it’d be fun to do designs for that so ill keep it on the backburner for now

sorry for this messy rambling i was just suddenly Overcome With Inspiration and im drawing pirate Yuzu as we speak

#pirate au #sorry to anyone on a platform where readmores dont work #words of mimi

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thesimtraveler · 5 months

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Okay, okay, so far so good...

...now, will my graphics setting be okay? Hmm.

#reira rambles #sims 2 #ts2 #got a new gpu #testing #i am scared #lol

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pendulum-sonata · 6 years

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Reira or...?

About a year ago, Michi already once made a great post about the most likely meaning inside of the kanji’s comforming Reira’s name and after some small discovery I wanted to share this possibility about the romanization of it

Layra, or much more possible: Layla (Because no, Layra as name does not exist and Layla does, also the endless discussion of the L and R in Japanese)

There’s not a huge deal to the meaning of the name which has Hebrew origins meaning simply “night”.

Oh, and also it’s the name of an angel.

Granted an angel that is only mentioned in later Jewish mythology and some interpretations of the Talmud, but Lailah (original spelling) has the particularity of being the only angel who regardless of later interpretations of other angels, has a distinctively feminine name (the –lah is feminine, rather than the usual –el for almost all other angels) and also given feminine attributes.

The duty of this angel had to do with Conception, guiding the seed of the human into the womb and then becoming a full person, is also mentioned that Lailah chooses an embryo where the soul should be deposited upon birth and become its guardian angel.

But most of all the thing that stuck to me was how there has been discussion that while the noun of the word is feminine, being Hebrew grammatical gender does not equal actual gender; and that there is some discussion that the word has a dualist nature that combines masculine with feminine character, where the feminine layla and masculine leyl make night: "to indicate the union which took place on that night between the Masculine and Feminine aspects in the Divine attributes."

· Reira was chosen and possessed by Ray (feminine) and then absorbed Zarc (masculine) inside of his body (Layla = night)

· Because of the En Cards, particularly the En Moon card, both times this happened it was during the night.

· Said happening led to the conception of a new body and new dimension (Pendulum Dimension) .

And that’s it, if you think this hold some water or just another one of my crazy old lady ramblings feel free to discuss it :P

#arc v #yugioh arc v #ygo arc v #arcv #reira akaba #meta post #arc v meta #this is a short one #whether you think this means #Reira true 'femenine' identity #was always there in front of us #it's up to you #again this is just me going nuts with analysis

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moshimichi · 7 years

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Day 6 – Wartime

Arc V Rare Pair Week: Day 6

Fandom: Arc V Pair: Sovereignshipping Rating: K-T Genre: General

AO3

Reiji goes down into the cells to offer their latest prisoner a deal.

–

Footsteps echoed down the long corridor, a steady staccato that ricocheted off the stone walls. Pace quick with a goal in mind, Reiji headed for the cell holding their biggest prisoner yet.

Ten years their kingdom had been fighting this war of blood and magic. Ten years since his father had run off and incited half the country into a large scale rebellion-turned-civil-war. The crazed king, they called him. The mad king. The king who sought to send his own people to the flames of death and ruin all because the crown princess had died from illness.

His lips tugged into a frown at the thought of his late sister. Ray had been nice enough, though the two royal siblings had never been close. But she hadn’t been all that remarkable. Not so remarkable that it justified how Leo’s sanity had snapped like a twig the moment she had passed. Then again, their father had always doted on Ray to an unreasonable level.

Reiji could only call Leo pathetic.

The prince finally came to a stop in front of the cell. Twisted bars of wrought iron enclosed the space, solid in their positions. Inside sat a single figure. The prisoner made no sign to recognize Reiji’s arrival. However, he did shift when the prince opened the door to the cell, shackles clinking as he shifted when Reiji stepped in.

Neither of them said anything, preferring to wait instead of breaking the silence. Reiji’s feet brought him forward until he stood in front of the other man, towering above him as he sat on the stone floor.

Yellow, cat-like eyes stared up at him with an unnatural glow, their brightness attributed to the magic overflowing from within his body. However, their glow was dimmer than usual.

Or at least he assumed, he mused, eyes trailing down to settle on a bare wrist. Red runes shone against pale skin. The symbols were painted on and yet they seemed to actually be a part of the man’s flesh, drawn in a way that they seemed to crawl and writhe with power. They sealed magic and also stole it, powering themselves with the drained energy.

Reira’s specialty.

Reiji felt a bit of pride well up. His younger brother had mastered runes in a short amount of time, a great accomplishment when the craft was both extremely difficult and complicated. And so soon after such a great accomplishment, he had achieved an even greater one by capturing the top soldier of his father’s army, the Demon Duelist Zarc.

“Y’know, Princey,” a voice rasped, breaking Reiji from his musings, “you could just take a picture. It’ll last longer, I promise you.”

Reiji looked up into tired eyes, though they seemed vaguely amused. He had heard Leo’s champion treated war and battle like games and entertainment, but to think that he would joke while he was in imprisonment…

“You’re surprisingly relaxed about this,” he observed. Zarc shrugged, causing the chains holding his wrists above his head to jangle.

“Not much else to do like this,” the man replied. “I can’t escape and feeling sorry for myself is just plain unproductive. Ah, but I’m still reeling a little from the shock that I was caught by that kiddy prince of yours. Cute kid, by the way. Merciless with magic though.”

One brow rose at Zarc’s rambling. It almost seemed like he was restless and lonely from being in the cell all by himself for so long.

“Zarc,” Reiji interrupted. Zarc’s voice cut off instantly and he peered up in curiosity.

“Yeah?”

“I have a proposition for you.” At the word ‘proposition,’ Zarc waggled his eyebrows and gave a toothy grin. All of which Reiji coolly ignored. “You will give us information on Akaba Leo’s military and tactics and we will spare you an execution.”

“And instead I’ll get a cushy life in this cold dungeon cell, right?” he drawled. He snorted and leaned back against the wall casually. “I don’t think so. Besides, you know I pretty much decimated a big part of their army. I’m not a part of them anymore.”

“Nonetheless, you have knowledge on their remaining forces,” Reiji countered firmly. “You know what kinds of strategies they would come up with. You have useful information despite your betrayal and we will get it out of you. Whether you cooperate or not may decide your sentencing.”

“Bite me, windbag.”

The prince didn’t react, still staring down at the prisoner. Still waiting for a proper reply. Zarc stared back, an almost thoughtful look on his face, before he rolled his eyes.

“Alright, fine. Come closer.” Reiji didn’t make a move except to raise his eyebrows skeptically. Did Zarc really think him to be that stupid? Zarc gave a loud huff and added, “The walls have ears like you wouldn’t believe and this is a really big secret, so come closer.”

Warily, Reiji lowered himself down to one knee. When Zarc opened his mouth, breath a bare whisper, the prince leaned in closer to hear better. Then, a sudden rush of air had him jerking back just in time for sharp teeth to barely miss his face.

The demon duelist had lunged forward, jaws snapping shut right where Reiji’s throat had been. The younger male landed on his rear, muscles frozen in shock. Wide eyes stared at Zarc. The prisoner grinned, Reiji’s red scarf now proudly clenched between his teeth. Strangely enough, in the dim lighting, the red color of the scarf made it look far too much like blood spilling from Zarc’s mouth. Had Reiji been any slower, it would have been his blood on his lips instead.

The cloth fell to the floor as Zarc let go, loud laughter echoing in his stone cage. Those yellow eyes shone with malicious glee and his grin was far more manic than was any good. The man licked his lips, a dangerous hunger on his face.

“You better be careful, my dear prince. Let down your guard and I will eat you alive.”

#arc v #sovereignshipping #arc v rare pair week #michi's fics #michi's stuff

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darkfromday · 7 years

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builder and the brain (21)

Prompt: Day 6 - Wartime

Pairing: Mechanicalshipping (Rin/Akaba Reiji)

We’ve done it. The last of the wartime prompt fills. The last of the times characters get used back-to-back. I’d take a nap, but there’s three more to go.

The closer one got to the makeshift Lancer command center, the louder the sounds of hissing, banging and scanning became. Any noise that indicated hard work was intoxicating to Akaba Reiji’s ears, but in this case it was especially so because of the mind behind all the commotion.

He walked in greeting her warmly: “Ah, Rin. How are your projects coming?”

A leafy-green head popped up from under the engine prototype she was working on, and lifted it up to eye level as she stood. Spots of oil dotted her pink-and-blue sleeves, along with a bit of her bangs--she must have been working with a real machine at some point. But despite the messy appearance, Rin looked as cheerful as he had ever seen her.

“Hey, Reiji. Don’t mind this old thing, it’s just a side project...” She nudged the engine with a mixture of exasperation and affection. “The work you wanted me to do with reverse-engineering those Academia carding machines is going well. I think it might be possible to reverse their effects because I’m starting to get a feel for what’s actually happening with them, how they work.”

How they work? He stepped further in at her invitation, sitting at one of the spotless counters. “Please tell me what you mean by this.”

“Sure.” But she bade him hold on a minute first, while she strode over to the touch screens that were lying dormant opposite the door. That changed once she put in her username and password--then, a schematic of those formidable duel disks came up, glowing red and spinning as she talked.

“This might get a little gross... but it’s definitely worth knowing. So you know about atoms and how they’re our infinitesimal building blocks, yeah? And you and your LDS R&D department definitely know your way around the ins and outs of matter transmission--that’s how you left your home dimension in the first place. Well, with this carding business, Academia just combined the two concepts.”

He frowned, though his mind was already attempting to fit together the pieces she'd laid out. "Elaborate."

"It's based off of what you overheard in the Professor's base," Rin said. As she laid it all out, she unfurled her blueprint of notes, connections and battle strategies. "His ramblings about the new dimension, Arc-V... that's the connecting piece. There's no matter transmitter in existence that can move every living person in every dimension to a new one simultaneously, not without... losing some people in the transfer. And by some I mean several hundred million people.

"You're smarter than your father, Reiji, so with time you might have been able to build a form of transmission that safely merged that many worlds and moved that many people. But Academia's only chance to subdue everyone else indefinitely for the transfer is to make sure everyone is compact enough to transfer. Are you following me yet?"

Her gold eyes pierced him, distracted him even--but Reiji moved past them to solve the mystery that suddenly didn't seem so mysterious. He thought of his lessons about physics, anatomy, and the molecular structure of the human body--and he blanched.

The cards are... no. He wouldn't go that far.

Father... surely you wouldn't.

"The only way to make people compact is to reduce them down to their simplest forms--DNA and atoms. Mostly atoms. That's what is happening--when Academia defeats one of us, or someone of another dimension, they use the tech on their arms to diminish the losers down to their atoms and seal their genetic information into those special cards. Then they hold on to our comrades until they can download 'em into Arc-V."

Reiji turned away, walking to a corner away from the holograms and the engines and his backup mind. The air in the room had grown thicker and warmer; he pinched his nose and closed his eyes, unable to not imagine to looks on the faces of his comrades who had already been carded in the fight. Hokuto, Chojiro, Sawatari, Tsukikage...

All gone. All of them were--were condensed, for reasons I still don't understand.

"...ji? Reiji? Hey, talk to me. I wouldn't have told you my theory if I thought it would upset you--"

"I'm not upset," he managed to say. "I'm... disappointed, disgusted, dispirited..."

"And upset." Rin closed the distance between them; he knew this because he felt her pat his shoulder soothingly. "Which is okay. It was easier to believe that they were trapped in another dimension, yeah? But since Arc-V doesn't exist, I knew there had to be another reason why the Professor is still capturing people, even when they don't duel."

"And I believe that you are correct," Reiji told her, noting how troubled she looked once he'd finally opened his eyes. "Do not fear my doubt, Rin--you have more than earned my trust."

He reached out a finger and gently took her bangs in one hand, using the handkerchief he pulled from his pocket with his other hand to try and wipe away the oil in her hair. He generally did his best not to touch her, even with her consent, since her previous life before her rescue wasn't filled with too much positive physical contact. But her blush this time, and the way her hand trailed down his arm and lingered in return, told him that he might be doing okay this time.

"What other progress have you made?" he asked her to break the moment.

It was like flipping a switch; vitality and cheer came back into Rin's demeanor and she moved back toward her prototype engine--and then passed it by, flopping down on one bike-shaped tarp of many in the far left corner.

"I've finished four of the six rides you'll need to get out of here and head to Fusion. Your D-Wheel still needs a few tweaks, but they're mostly for handling and acceleration."

"Excellent. May I...?"

"Oh, of course." She got back up and pulled off each of the tarps, allowing Reiji to witness her progress since his last visit: four sleek motorcycles, with differing colors and shapes and spoilers.

It was easy for him to pick out his and Reira's D-Wheel--Rin was sitting on it. He nodded approvingly at the silver shades, the lightness, the sidecar equipped with its own dueling equipment in case Reira didn't want to ride alone. The others looked just as painstakingly cared for. Pride for the work she'd put in surged in him, and didn't even diminish when he noticed some new blueprints to improve Yuugo's D-Wheel on the wall, a sight that would have had him burning with envy before.

"Thank you, Rin," he said, as kindly as he ever said anything.

"No problem, president." Her voice was breezy, confident in her own prowess. As she brushed off his praise she found a wrench and worked on tightening one of the screws of a nearby D-Wheel.

Reiji gave the command center's vehicles another look, then lifted one gray eyebrow. Something was missing. Either Rin hadn't gotten around to making it yet or she hadn't even thought of it.

"You mentioned six D-Wheels. Why not seven?"

Rin swung her wrench around, counting with each rotation. "You and your brother, Serena, Shun, Yuuya, and Gongenzaka. I'm not missing anyone."

"You are," Reiji insisted. "Yourself."

"Me?" Rin shook her head, laughing ruefully. "No, nah, not my role. My place is here, making sure all of your tech works right, and seeing what your big brain doesn't."

"Do you perhaps think that technology isn't portable? That you wouldn't be just as valuable to us by being with us, as opposed to behind us?"

"I...."

"Rin." He put both his hands on her shoulders. "You are just as brilliant as I am, and much more necessary to the war. I need your keen eye for detail and your skills in building and dueling. So I'm afraid I must refute you--your place is with the other Lancers, and with me."

She looked between him and the engine prototype rotating in the middle of their command center, the side project that was so clearly meant for her own future D-Wheel. She was not one to sit back and let others do things for her, and she never had been--he knew that even when he barely knew all he wanted to know about her.

Still, it took her such a long time to say anything that at first Reiji thought he would have to start persuading her again--but eventually she reached under the closest desk to slap down a completely different blueprint on the table.

New D-Wheel drawings.

"Well," Rin said with a cocky grin, "if you want me to come along and back you up that badly, who am I to refuse?"

#arc v rare pair week #Arc V #mechanicalshipping #YGO #Darkday writes fanfic #Reiji/Rin #I'm free...... free of the war.....#take my sage veterans advice: don't write characters back-to-back. I've done it four times and it SUCKS

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entamewitchlulu · 7 years

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The Handling of the Egao Philosophy

I saw some people complaining about the “egao ideology” in Arc V, and while I did agree with some of their points about how it was handled in the show, I did disagree with the conclusion. I'm not going to add to that post because I don't want to tell anyone how to feel, but I did want to share my own feelings about the ideology as a whole, because I think it does different things for different people.

The major points that the post made was that the show seemed to flip-flop on whether it was pro- or against the egao philosophy at the beginning before becoming aggressively pro- on it at the end without considering the consequences.

I don't really think that there was a flip-flop. I think at the beginning, they were showing that Yuya's approach to the method was fundamentally flawed and immature.

For example, some of the commonly cited instances is where Yuya forces himself to laugh against Sora when he feels like crying—clearly, yes, this isn't necessarily healthy, and it does show that Yuya has been clinging far too hard to his father's words as a flawed coping mechanism. Ignoring your feelings and the feelings of others in order to “force them to smile” is clearly not a good thing.

But the show does address this.

First off, let's look at the Crow/Yuya Food v. Smiles thing. This is an event that I honestly want to write about in more detail for another post, but for right now I want to address the Egao Philosophy as it's seen here. A lot of people (rightly) criticized Yuya for his privilege in this situation, by acting like “smiles” are more important than food. And yes, at the core, food is far more important than smiles and Yuya has never had to suffer through starvation the way that Crow and the others have. But the actual topic at hand was Reira. Yuya said he wanted to be able to make Reira smile, while Crow said the important thing was to feed him and smiles could come after.

Yuya and Crow were coming from two different places here. Crow is coming from a place where food is scarce and starvation is a real problem; you can't feel really happy if you're dying of hunger. Yuya is coming from a place of depression. It's clear that he's been suffering from some form of depression for years since his father disappeared, and when you're heavily depressed, what's the point of eating when you can't even feel anything? As someone who's gone through brief periods like this myself, I can understand why Yuya would emphasize smiling over food, because sometimes, you can't eat if you can't feel happy.

But why is this important to the egao philosophy? Because Yuya's not necessarily wrong here, and neither is Crow. They're both right for different situations—the difference is that Yuya is currently still immature. He is still filtering his desire to help Reira through his own personal lens of life, and he's not considering Reira's situation. He's projecting himself into Reira and deciding what he thinks is best for him through that lens. He does legitimately want to make Reira smile, but his vision is flawed and selfish.

Jack even calls him out on this during their first duel. Yuya wants to make people smile, but his dueling is currently “self-centered.” That doesn't mean that Yuya is obsessed with himself—it means that he's only seeing other people's problems through the lens of his own life, and he's not taking the time to consider what other people are seeing through their eyes. He hasn't grown as a person yet to understand that he has to meet people where they're at. Not everyone can take the exact same path that he does, but Yuya doesn't understand that yet. He struggles with the ideology of the City because it's so counter to his own; he wants to change their minds but he's doing it with his own mind as the lens.

And Yuya changes this. That's like, a major plot point of the Synchro arc. He has to take the time to learn about other people, to learn how to reach them in a way that's not the way that he wants to be reached. He has to learn that to make people smile, he has to understand them. He can't just say “no you're all wrong you have to do what I say because I know best,” no, he has to learn that not everyone else is the same and there are ways that he can reach them with his dueling, but he has to understand them through THEIR lens, and not his own.

Not only that, but more subtly, I think, Yuya learns something else important: in order to help other people be happy, he has to try to enjoy himself as well. Yuya's self-esteem and desperate desire to measure up to his father has really stunted his entertainment up to this point, and I think the first time we really see him shine as a legitimately entertaining duelist is his second duel with Jack. What's the difference between the first time and the second time? The first time, Yuya was heavily preoccupied with “I have to do my best. I have to make everyone smile. I have to I have to I have to.” Clearly, this is an unhealthy way of thinking because he's so focused that it's not only selfish, but it's hurting him, as well. What changes in his second duel? Yuya looks like he's having fun. He's learned to, at some level, let go of his obsession with smiles, to relax, and to just have fun—and from that relaxation comes results.

“Smile when you're sad” was an unhealthy coping mechanism before this point. But now, I think the fundamental essence of Yuya's mentality has changing. It's not “smile when you're sad.” It's now “relax, have fun, and you'll be okay.” He's not caught up completely in trying to measure up or trying desperately to be the person he thinks he needs to be anymore. He's relaxed, he's confident, and he's having fun. And results follow from that. When you try too hard to do something, sometimes it fails, and that was Yuya's problem. He was trying too hard to change people when what really needed to be changed was his own lens. And when he finally relaxed and realized that he didn't need to force it, results followed. And the show does address this.

In the XYZ arc we see him continue to put this new persona in action. I disagree that he's forcing people to smile in any of the duels we see. He's making himself smile. He's having fun. He's letting go of his own obsession in order to just relax and enjoy himself, and that's contagious. When you see someone legitimately enjoying themselves and having fun, it can affect you. Of course, Yuya's still “preaching” about smiles, but I personally never saw any of his duels forcing it on anyone. He was simply on his side of the field having fun with fireworks and sparkles and it ended up touching his opponents' hearts on their own.

And I think that's the big takeaway from Arc V. You don't have to force it. You don't have to “fix” people. Relax. Enjoy yourself. People are going to see that, they're going to see how much fun you're having and they're going to see you smile too, and, hopefully, it's going to reach them.

At this point, Yuya's mostly found himself. He's managed to calm down, realize that better results come when you don't force it. We're jumping a little ahead here, but when Zarc comes up in the final few episodes, they say what was subtly shown straight out—Zarc wanted to entertain everyone, including his opponents, and as Yuto says “if you're enjoying yourself, Yuya, everyone else will enjoy it too.” Yuya's been doing that since the final duel of Synchro arc. Once he let go of his need to make everyone smile and decided to have fun himself first, everyone was entertained and everyone's heart was reached! He was entertaining Jack, the Tyler sisters, and everyone who dueled with him or watched him duel. Because he was having fun, it was contagious. He didn't MAKE anyone smile. They just did because that's what you do when you're having fun. Yuya was inspiring them to have fun.

In perhaps a little too obvious of a way (but it is a kid's anime so), Yuya physically shows that he's willing to reach people where they're at in order to show them “hey, it's okay, you don't have to take this so seriously anymore.” During his second duel with Edo, he says, “well, you're from Fusion, so maybe I should be fighting Fusion monsters so that we're on the same page,” and he summons his own Fusion dragon. Yuya is showing what he's learned from Synchro that not only does he have to be having fun himself, but he has to be able to meet people where they're at.

I'm definitely rambling at this point, so let me finish off.

I'm not saying that the show never handles this poorly, because it does (the second Isao duel was an unnecessary victory imo). It's the risk you run with a long project with lots of sometimes separated people working on it at the same time. And I'm not saying that it seemed unrealistic at times the people that Yuya was able to reach, but this is Yu-Gi-Oh. Blinding optimism has always been the name of the game.

But I disagree that the show handled it poorly as a whole. It might not have blatantly said straight out what Yuya learned, and Yuya might have been a little annoying with his egao talk all the time, but his actions, I think, speak much louder than his words.

At the beginning, Yuya was obsessed with smiling and making others smile because he thought he had to. He thought that was the only thing that he had, the only thing connecting him to the father that disappeared. But he learned. He learned that you have to understand someone first, through their own lens and not through his. And he learned that the best way to make someone smile is to stop taking it so seriously; to let go of his obsession and just relax and have fun, others would follow.

And I think that's a really, really nice message to leave off with. You don't have to force it. You don't have to try so hard.

Just relax. Enjoy yourself.

Good things will follow. <3

#yuya sakaki #yugioh arc v #lulu talks #tbu

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