#narrative post

[blueeyesking]

Pegasus Returns?! Duel, Kaiba-Boy! Pt. 1

[Seto and Mokuba fly over the island Maximillion Pegasus calls home, Duelist Kingdom, in the Blue-Eyes Jet. Seto is piloting.

"I can't believe we're visiting Duelist Kingdom again," Seto mutters, with clear disdain.

"Yeah," Mokuba adds, "It's got nothing but bad memories..."

"I'll make this quick, so that we don't have to be here very long." Seto assures Mokuba. They land shortly thereafter.

The Kaibas are silent as they approach the darkened entrance hall. It's eerily empty.

"Do you think anyone even still works here...? I mean, Pegasus is supposed to be dead!" Mokuba remarks. "If it really is him, we'll put him in the ground for good this time!"

Seto nods, but doesn't verbally reply.

It's not long until they come to a large room, too high up to see its floor in the dim, with their walkway suddenly cut off with a drop into the pit. Seto has to grab Mokuba's arm to keep the younger boy from walking right off the edge, as he's preoccupied looking around the room; Mokuba's fear of that near-death experience has him clinging to Seto.

"PEGASUS! Enough fooling around; show yourself!"

On the other side of the room, across the gap, Maximillion Pegasus appears from the darkened hallway, laughing to himself. He's just as the boys remember him.

"Just as annoying as always," Seto mutters.

"Oh, Kaiba-boy, where's the love? We've been through so much together! Aren't you happy to see me, after so long~?"

Seto grimaces, mirroring Mokuba's expression beside him. The younger is the first to respond.

"Shut up, Pegasus! We're not here to catch up with a low-life like you!! My bro is here to duel you, so you leave us alone for good!"

"Ohhh~? And what have I done to earn so much ire from you, boys~?"

The Kaibas grit their teeth. Seto responds this time.

"It's a long list. But you know why we're here now: you've been buying up my company's shares like cheap candy." Seto points dramatically at Pegasus.

"Not to mention- you're the only other person who could possibly have scared the world with those monster holograms."

"Is that so~? You boys know that my little arenas aren't nearly as advanced as your Solid Vision... are you sure you aren't just blaming me to hide your own responsibility for it? Maybe you're just scared about those monsters being real, hmm~?" Pegasus chuckles to himself, raising his arms in a caricature of a shrug and shaking his head. It really pisses Seto off.

"AS IF! Everything has an explanation, and monsters being real is impossible!"

Mokuba, however, picks up on something else in Pegasus's response.

"What do you mean, our responsibility for all of this?? We already told everyone KC's instruments had nothing to do with it!"

Pegasus continues to chuckle, lowering his arms. As always, he's condescending to his opponents.

"I'll tell you if your big brother can beat me in a Duel, Mokuba-boy~. But don't forget what happened last time you dueled me... and how you lost your souls~!"

Seto growls, clenching his fist, then takes a breath to steady himself.

"I don't want to hear it- you're just reminding us of old humiliations to try and rile me up before the Duel, so that I'll make mistakes. It won't work."

"That's old news, Pegasus- like you should be!" Seto brandishes his Duel Disk, and it activates, pieces swiftly moving into its Duel-ready position.

Pegasus gives them a hearty laugh, then spreads his arms in front of him. "You're right- it's time for the rematch of the century!"]

#arc: what the doma?! #narrative post

[coralcalypso]

> Not too long ago.

@therealslimstrider

#narrative post

[manorpunk]

(part three)

Tucked away in a sleepy corner of central Michigan, an abandoned mall had been transformed into the town of Webersberg. The crumbling ceiling above the concourses had been stripped, making a cluster of closely-packed buildings, and the expansive walkways exposed to the elements were now lined with trees and raised gardens. The empty boutiques had been repurposed into dormitories, offices, a clinic, a school, and a few simple stores. There was something humbling about it, like a medieval village sheltered beneath the ruins of a Roman basilica. One might wonder if the mall was happier now in its new incarnation, if it preferred to be filled with life rather than than gold.

Liam did not wonder. He lived there, and he found it stultifying. He hated living in a fishbowl, always going to the same places with the same people, few of whom cared to give him the time of day. He hated knowing that there was a whole world out there and he was stuck out in the manors[1]. He hated the maudlin isolation of being the only queer kid who hadn’t gotten the hell out of Webersberg, and most of all he hated knowing that he could get out too if he wasn’t a coward.

He had this conversation with himself every morning, and he knew that if he stayed in bed he’d just keep moping. He got up from his creaky mattress and turned toward the plywood dresser next to his bed. He took the small mirror that was sitting on top and looked at himself. He was on the pale side of white, with thin shoulders and scruffy black hair.[2] After a failed attempt to smooth down his bed-head, he set the mirror down and pulled out the top drawer of the dresser.

Tucked in the corner of the drawer behind neatly-folded socks and underwear, there was a small bottle of black nail polish that he had picked up from a GLN dole[3] a few months ago. Women usually snatched up all the cosmetics, so he was excited to get something for himself. He had daydreamed about putting it on, but there it sat, unopened and gathering dust.

There was a knock at the door. It was his father, Roy. “Liam! You decent?”

“Gimme a minute,” Liam called back. He grabbed some clothes - jeans and a plain t-shirt, clothing as neutral as water - and threw them on.

“Alright, what’s up?”

His father opened the door, grinning wide. “You good to work at the diner today?”

“It’s Thursday, isn’t it?”

“It sure is, and there’s gonna be a road-and-rail crew[4] stopping by for the day. You know what that means.”

To his dad, it meant money. His dad managed the local Denny’s, which meant that he had tricked himself into believing he was a pillar of the community, and not just another petty grinder.

“It means I’ll get harassed by drunk shitheads all day. Great. Fun,” Liam groaned. He looked at his dad, hoping for something, something like ‘I understand you don’t like it but I need the extra help,’ or ‘sorry to impose on you.’ Liam was only twenty years old and still naive like that.

“So you good to go?” his dad said.

Liam rubbed his forehead. In truth, he really didn’t have much else to do, and didn’t have any friends to hang out with. At least he wouldn’t be alone all day if he was at work. Plus, he kind of liked wearing the apron.

“Fine, whatever,” he said, feeling like he had lost a battle against himself.

The place wasn’t exactly bustling when he got there. It was still morning, and the only people there were a few old couples having breakfast, along with Kieth, the already-high line cook, nursing a cup of coffee.

“Hey dude. You alright?” Kieth asked, following Liam as he went into the kitchen.

“What gave it away?” Liam sighed.

Kieth shook his head. “I just felt your vibes. You’ve got the sads all around you. Anyway, I got some news I think’ll cheer you up. Guess who’s coming to town?”

Liam tried, but couldn’t even think of a good guess. “Who?”

“Fuckin JMR, dude.”

Liam’s sleepy eyes snapped wide open. He was suddenly breathless with excitement, so excited that his voice got higher and thinner. “Seriously?”

Keith nodded. Liam let out an excited squeak, then heard his father clear his throat behind him. He whirled around, already guessing what was coming, and his beaming smile twisted down into a rebellious frown.

“Now, son. You know how your mom feels about that man.”

“My mom thinks I’ll stop being a fag if I don’t meet other fags,” Liam spat. The words seem to burst out of him, he didn’t say them so much as he failed to keep them bottled up.

“Whoa, that’s heavy,” Kieth said.

“Kieth, shut up. Liam, listen. It’s not like that. It’s for your own protection. That man is a creep and a pervert, he-“

“God, spare me,” Liam huffed. He had finally run out of patience. His body trembled with adrenaline and pent-up anger, and it felt intoxicatingly good. “It’s all about ‘toughening me up’ and ‘making me a man’ until there’s another gay person around and then suddenly I need to be ‘protected.’ Just be honest and say you wish I wasn’t a queer.”

Kieth discreetly sipped his coffee. Roy pursed his lips and took deep, silent breaths. As far as Liam was concerned, it was an admission of guilt.

“Well? Anything to say for yourself?” Liam said.

“Hark!” A voice suddenly boomed from the dining area. It was a deep, smooth, commanding voice, the type of voice fit for a starship captain.

A man had just entered the Denny’s, a man with tan skin and dirty blond hair dressed in deliriously fancy clothing. He wore an aristocratic embroidered blue jacket with epaulets, tall black boots with stiletto heels, and form-fitting white riding pants of the style sometimes known as jodhpurs. His hair, soft and well-cared for even from a distance, was pulled back in a simple ponytail, and a short and neatly trimmed beard lined his face. Hitched to his belt, an ornate saber rested in its scabbard. He looked like an old cavalry officer or Prussian aristocrat who had somehow stumbled into the year 206X, and his name was Jacob Martin Rider - JMR for short.

○○○○○

[1] ‘The manors’ is a slang term for rural areas which are generally too distant and sparsely-populated to be under the full purview of the central state authority; places where heaven is high and the emperor is far away, cf. The sticks, the boonies, the peasants, etc.

[2] You didn’t hear it from us but he looks a little like the doomer boy wojak.

[3] The ‘GLN dole’ refers to the Global Logistics Network’s practice of buying up unwanted consumer goods from distributors and distributing it amongst the manors. This effectively acts as a subsidy for (GLN-owned) distributors and lets them pretend that they’re still serious about wealth redistribution. Everyone involved wins and the GLN is duly thanked for its beneficence.

[4] Road-and-rail crews are itinerant laborers sent off to the middle of nowhere to dig up disused highways and lay down new railroad lines, hence the name. The work is physically demanding and socially isolating, but well-compensated. They have the typical reputation one would expect of itinerant laborers, i.e. drunken trouble-making shitkickers.

#manorpunk #jacob martin rider #narrative post

[communitycatboy]

Burnout

the campaign at Paglth'an may have been a success, but for G'ohak, who had been assisting with triage, the endless supply of injuries to heal was exhausting having used so much of his own aether to be extremely faint, his legs could barely even support him. Thankfully someone strong offered to carry him to his bed, but will the miqo'te be able to repay that kindness?

#ffxiv #ffxiv oc #ffxiv screenshots #gposers #ffxiv screenies #ffxiv gpose #ffxiv miqo'te #gpose #g'ohak tia #amalj'aa #narrative post #ffxivsnaps

[mag200]

one thing about orpheus and eurydice is you guys are all like “i’m different i wouldnt turn to look at her” because you are all familiar with the story of orpheus and eurydice. but orpheus wasnt familiar with the story because he was in it lol.

#anyway. its only really good bc its a tragedy. doomed by the narrative etc. he has to turn around theres no other end. #greek mythology #sorry. this ones in post jail now.

[talaricula]

Things I've seen tumblr memeing about James Somerton doing à la "How did no one see how bigoted he was!" as if those things haven't been a significant part of tumblr culture for over a decade :

Presenting untrue and bordering on conspiratorial versions of (queer or otherwise marginalised) history without any sources

Completely disregarding and disrespecting any expertise on socio-cultural topics/humanities and distrusting academics and historians (incl. acting as if no academics or historians could be queer or marginalised)

Downplaying the role misogyny played in the historical oppression of queer women and concluding that queer men must have been more oppressed than queer women

Bi women are, at best, not as queer as "real" queer ppl, and at worst, simply equivalent to straight women

Despite nominal trans inclusivity, transmasculine ppl are functionally women when convenient (combined with the above, bi transmascs are functionally straight women)

Despite nominal trans inclusivity (bis), shamelessly attacking, threatening and actively endangering any trans woman who questions them or smth they find important (often by unfairly presenting her as violent or as a threat)

Having absolutely fucking wild and reductive takes about ace ppl, the oppression they face and their place in the queer community

Stating that marriage equality is an assimilationist fight while completely ignoring its direct roots in the horrifying consequences of the AIDS crisis for partners of ppl who died of AIDS

Praising western media creators from the past for queer coding even under censure and in the same breath condemning current non western media creators for being homophobic bc their representation isn't explicit enough

Blaming China for all existing homophobic censoring in western media

Assuming all queer media would be better told by western creators and by western standards

Only out queer ppl get to tell queer stories

Heavily criticising almost all queer media created by women or ppl they see as such (see above points about trans ppl) or involving/starring a significant amount of women for any perceived or real amount of "problematicness", but fawning over and praising and negating criticism of queer media created by and starring mostly or even functionally exclusively men (even when it could be argued that, you know, not involving/seriously sidelining women is a pretty clear example of misogyny which should probably be considered "problematic")

And I'm probably forgetting stuff or there's stuff I have internalised myself and don't recognise as an issue

Like idk but I feel like the takeaway from Hbomberguy and Toddintheshadow's videos should maybe be "be aware of such patterns in your communities bc they definitely exist" and not "this guy is uniquely awful" and I feel like a lot of the discussion I've seen surrounding this has been severely failing at that. Most ppl who've spent any significant amount of time on tumblr prob either have internalised at least one of those thought patterns, have had to de-internalise them, or have had to be extremely vigilant to not internalise them (which is done by, you know, seeking out other sources, which also seemed like an important takeaway from the videos)

#Also I'm saying this as someone who actually watched quite a few of Somerton's videos #And noticed those patterns and stopped watching bc I recognised them from here #and had already learned to unlearn them after being so exposed to them here #And tbh I think anyone who hasn't had the luck or made the conscious choice to seek out ppl who pushed against those narratives #Would absolutely have fallen for this man's bullshit. Like let's not kid ourselves we see takes like this every day on this hellsite #2014 me would have. For sure. #This is next to the plagiarism issue which as Harris points out is an Internet wide issue and this includes tumblr #James Somerton #hbomberguy #todd in the shadows #This brought to you by a conversation with my wife yesterday #So many ppl on here don't deserve to meme or be this self absolvingly critical of this man #The call is coming from inside the house #The man has a tumblr it would legit not surprise me if some of the things he supposedly made up himself he did actually get from somewhere #And that somewhere was a tumblr post

[inkskinned]

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

#writeblr #warm up #this is longer than i wanted i really considered removing that part about myself and what i went thru #but i think it really fucking bothers me that EVERY time i talk about being an artist #ppl assume i just like. had the skill and ability to drop everything and pay for grad school. #like sir i grew up poor. my house wasn't a safe space. i gave up a FREE RIDE TO LAW SCHOOL. for THIS. bc i chose it. #was it fucking hard? was i choosing the hard thing?? yes. #but we need to stop seeing artists as lazy layabouts that can ''afford'' to just ''sit around and create'' #when MANY - if not MOST - of us are NOT like that. we have to work our fucking ASSES off. hard work. long and hard work #part of valuing artists is recognizing the amount we sacrifice to make our art. bc it doesn't just #like HAPPEN to us. also btw it rarely has anything to do with true talent. #speaking as someone with a chronic condition i hate when ppl are like u have it easy. like actively as i'm writing this my hands r #ACTIVELY hurting me. i haven't been posting bc my left hand was curled in a claw for the last week #this isn't fucking luck. after a certain point it's not even TALENT. it's dedication & sacrifice. #''u get to flounce around and do nothing with ur life'' is a narrative that is a direct result of capitalism #imagine if we said that about literally any other profession. #''oh so u give up 10 yrs of ur life to be a doctor? u sacrifice having a social life and u get SUPER in debt? #u need to work countless hours and it will often be thankless? well i wish i was that lucky'' #we should be applying that logic to landlords ONLY #''oh ur mom and dad gave u the money to buy a house? and all u did was paint it white and rent it? huh.''

[ministarfruit]

day 15: haunting ♡

(femslashfeb prompt list)

#HALFWAY THROUGH??! #minifemslashfeb2024 #ace attorney #lanamia #lana skye #mia fey #rotating them in my head #what if ghost mia DIDN'T agree with lana #I should add that my original concept for this was #that ghost mia is just a projection and lana is just imagining her spite post-mortem #as one does when they are not in a good state of mind #but I also think if mia genuinely disapproved of her actions... that would be so interesting #either way I think it should haunt lana #I just think that would be interesting #like what if mia asked about it when she was alive and investigating corruption #and lana deliberately lied to her #those kinds of regrets... #I love ghost stories... #me wanting mia to actually haunt the narrative...

[greelin]

very proud of myself for being able to drive but the second people start naming highways and roads and shit i’m out. “did you take 69 south? Come in at pissy shitty parkway?” brother i put it in maps and it took me here. You are speaking another language to me right now. one i am not even remotely fluent in.

#everyone taking this post immensely seriously: do u want one of my xanax. i think u may need it #constructing a whole narrative in your mind over one guy on the internet exaggerating for comedy. Get help

[agentravensong]

thinking about how the extra area added on to a pacifist run of undertale, the true lab, is about alphys's past mistakes. how it ends with the story reaffirming that, despite the pain she's caused, the thing that matters is that she has now made the choice to do the right thing. she's still worthy of her friends' love.

thinking about how undertale doesn't expect the player to get a pacifist ending for the first time. how it's more likely than not that the player will kill toriel the first time they battle her, how lots of players don't initially figure out how to end undyne's fight without killing her, etc. what it expects — not even expects, really, but hopes — is that the player, if they care enough, will use their canonically acknowledged power over time to make up for those mistakes.

no matter how many neutral runs a player has done before committing to the pacifist run, the thing that matters to the characters, to the story, is that you've chosen, now, to do the right thing.

compared to alphys, the player honestly gets off lightly, in that you're the only one (other than flowey) who really remembers any harm you might have caused. and any direct guilting the game could have done about it is long past at this point. instead, as undertale often does, it makes its point via parallels: alphys caused harm, and she knows it. she has committed to being better. in doing so, she has unlocked for herself a better ending to her story. and she deserves it. she's forgiven.

those structural narrative parallels are all over undertale, if you know where to look. and that's one of the things that makes it so fuckin' good.

#undertale #alphys #true lab #this inspired by a mutual's alphys posting #and a discord convo i had a couple weeks back about ut's stance on ''punishing'' the player vs the monsters for their actions #and thoughts i've had generally post a certain fangame with a color in its name about just how well ut is structured as a narrative #everyone rightfully praises toby fox's character writing but stuff like this i think flies under the radar a bit by comparison #and it deserves to be appreciated #there's obvious Lore reasons why the true lab is only visited in a pacifist run (what's revealed about chara and flowey) #but this is the other half of it: the message of alphys's story hits hardest on a paci route post neutral runs #toby fox is a good writer more often than not

[unusualshrimp]

sam: hmm a response team form. maybe i should fill it?

"Chester", breaking down the door: HERE'S A STATEMENT ABOUT A GUY WHO WENT THROUGH THE HORRORS AFTER HE SUBMITTED A RANDOM FORM!!!!

#imagine if it's jon #kinda sad ngl. guy who was doomed by his narrative tries to protect another guy also doomed by the narrative. surely it will go well! 😀. #tmagp #the magnus protocol #worst posts

[blueeyesking]

Not a Rematch- a Duel for Revenge! Alister Revealed Pt. 2

[After Seto accused the person Dueling him of not being Pegasus- "Even [he] wouldn't be stupid enough to copy our first duel to the letter!"- the Musketeer of Doma, Alister, removed his disguise and began using his real deck. For his first draw, Alister sealed himself and Seto inside of the Seal of Orichalcos, a field spell that would take the "soul" of whoever lost. It terrified Mokuba, who was left outside of its radius of effect.

After demonstrating the effect of the Seal and his new monster, Alister launches into a long explanation of his story, why he's chosen to attack Seto and his company: when KaibaCorp was still controlled by Gouzaburo, their weapons of war destroyed Alister's home... and killed his little brother. Since that day, Alister has wanted nothing but revenge.

Mokuba countered that Seto took the company to redeem it, to help people, orphan children like them most of all! But Alister wouldn't hear it. Seto Kaiba, or whoever lead the Kaiba Corporation, had to die; it was the money of the company that fueled the war that killed his brother, and the Kaibas are its heirs.

And so the Duel continued.

Alister activated a trap that disabled all other Traps while it was on the field, crippling Seto's strategy, and forced Seto to end his turn with only Pitch-Dark Dragon in Defense Mode and a useless Crush Card Virus on his field.

Alister's turn. He drew, then attacked the Pitch-Dark Dragon with Gorlag, his ace monster, using its effect to resurrect the Dragon and bring it to his side of the field in his end phase; and, without any defenses, attacked Seto with his own resurrected Versago the Destroyer. Seto's LP fell to 400.

Seto was in a bad position. He needed just one card in his deck to eke out the win...

And he drew it. Seto smirked.

Seto plays Card of Demise in order to draw three cards (bringing his hand to five), and draws a combo that should work. Using White Dragon Ritual, Seto discards a Blue-Eyes in order to directly summon Paladin of White Dragon- then plays Monster Reborn to bring that Blue-Eyes back onto his field. A much better position.

Paladin of White Dragon attacks the stolen Pitch-Dark Dragon (now in Attack Mode due to Gorlag's effect), causing Gorlag to become weak enough to be destroyed with Blue-Eyes White Dragon. When the dust settles, Alister is left defenseless, now, with only 1200 LP.

But Seto isn't done! Paladin of White Dragon can be sacrificed in order to Special Summon a Blue-Eyes White Dragon from his hand or deck! Seto crosses his arms in front of his chest as he is flanked by his Blue-Eyes.

"You told me before that I couldn't win- how do those words taste, knowing the worst is yet to come?"

Alister's turn. He huffs at Seto, "You're so predictable," and uses Pot of Greed to draw two cards.

Then, Alister activates the spell card Aetonyx Flame, destroying all monsters that don't have the FIRE-Attribute: both Blue-Eyes White Dragons! And, it resurrects Gorlag in Attack Mode. But Alister has another trick: Fire Whip! Fire Whip returns all monsters destroyed this turn to Alister's side of the field, as FIRE-Attribute monsters (which buff Gorlag by 500ATK each). Seto now faces down his own Blue-Eyes, infused with dark power from the Seal, and a monster just as strong.

Seto is incredulous, panicking a little, and shouts in betrayal, "NO! Those Blue-Eyes are mine, how dare you use them against me?!" Memories of his fateful duel with Yugi, where the same thing happened, flash behind his eyes.

Alister is now the one in the smug posture, smirking. "It's the perfect revenge, isn't it? Soon, I'll use your own favorite monsters to take you down and feed your soul to our God."

Because Alister can't attack the turn he activated Aetonyx Flame. Seto still has a chance. Alister sets a card, and adds, "When you lose this, you'll suffer just like I did at the hands of your father. This will be your last draw!"]

#arc: what the doma?! #narrative post #ask to tag #some context for Mokuba's liveblogging and also a cliffhanger :]

[coralcalypso]

> You never want to do that again.

#narrative post

[headspace-hotel]

"Disaster Taxon," poem assembled using text from Wikipedia articles

#wikipedia poem #wikipedia poetry #climate grief #grief #environmental grief #resilience #climate change #gilgamesh #flood narrative #post apocalyptic #poetry #my writing #wikipedia poems #weeds #plantarchy #mass extinction #dandelion #utnapishtim

[braxiatel]

I love you tragedy I love you corruption arcs I love you doomed relationships I love you character succumbing to their fatal flaw I love you codependency I love you characters doomed to die from the start I love you road to hell paved with good intentions

#going feral over Characters #eta: this was actually in my queue but I'm posting it now on this the day of me being very on my bullshit about tragic narratives #the void collection

[squidwithelbows]

we're so back, aftg nation, let's gooo

#aftg #tsc #the sunshine court #jean moreau #never anticipated i'd be reviving my tumblr after 3 years #for this side character doomed by the narrative #but now i'm ready to eat fiberglass for my son #i'm also earnestly loving how many of my old mutuals #are posting are again for the new book lol #had to contribute #booksss #arrrt #'mine'