Hi, call me Orchid. | She/Her | Adult | InkBlackOrchid on AO3 | I love yugioh 5ds | I follow from @muckrakers-and-orchids | Feel free to chat, the ask box is open! | Header image by @jackatlas, used with permission
Figured it was time to collect all my stuff nicely in one place again, and really all my stuff, this time. Fanfiction, character analyses, other meta posts, and theories, all gathered in one spot, for my own and everyone else's convenience.
Fanfiction:
All my fanfic, as it can be found on ao3 via the links provided here. Heavy focus on the female characters in the show.
The Aki series - Brimstone in my Garden, Roses set on Fire (in suggested reading order; also known as my attempt to give Aki a full character arc while trying not to upend canon entirely. Faithshipping ahoy.)
To Bloom or To Wilt (rated M, 64k words, 6/6 chapters, complete)
Summary: After the defeat of the dark signers, all the souls that were taken by the Earthbound Immortals have been returned. Among them is that of a man who is driven by nothing but anger and selfishness, eager to use and manipulate those around him at every turn. A man who has caused Aki Izayoi, in particular, tremendous amounts of grief and nearly moulded her into a weapon for his personal use. And a man who has, unfortunately, proven to be very good at avoiding law enforcement ever since his return to the land of the living. Or: Divine comes back to life for a second and final time, trying to scrape together what remains of the Arcadia Movement, take revenge on Yusei Fudo and make Aki's just barely peaceful life a nightmare in the process.
Chase the Sunlight (rated T, 26k words, 2/2 chapters, complete)
Summary: In the aftermath of her final, harrowing encounter with Divine, Aki feels unbalanced and afraid that she might become a danger to others again. Yusei notices, and as usual, tries to help--albeit in his own way.
You have a Mirror, but do You see Yourself (rated T, 40k words, 3/3 chapters, complete)
Summary: Several months after seeing Divine for the last time, Aki reflects on how she's spent that time trying to fully learn to control her powers--without him. Her judgement ends up not being in her favour, and now, with the start of the WRGP just a few days away, she worries something will go terribly wrong. As she ruminates on what to do, she encounters not one, but two unexpected, but familiar people who give her a lot to think about while she tries to prepare for the match against Team Unicorn.
Snapping Jaws and Piercing Horns (rated T, 49k words, 4/4 chapters, complete)
Summary: It's time for the WRGP and against her own expectations, Aki finds herself in the team lineup for the very first match, set to go up against the rather enigmatic duellists of Team Unicorn. To her dismay, performing well during the duel itself is far from the only thing she has to worry about, though, with her powers feeling too volatile for comfort and doubts in her duelling skills surfacing due to a recent loss. How is she supposed to keep a clear head in this international tournament when self-doubt seems to weigh on her like a ton of bricks? More importantly yet, how is she supposed to help her team win?
Be Careful what you Wish for (rated T, 71k words, 4/4 chapters, complete)
Summary: Leading up to the match against Team Catastrophe where she's supposed to be taking part, Aki has an accident that changes things. Changes them in a way she could have never assumed--and realises she's woefully unequipped to deal with. When a fateful encounter with an old acquaintance additionally shakes things up, she comes to the conclusion that perhaps, she's not quite as done dealing with her past as she thought she was.
The tainted Soil of the Fields of Arcadia (rated T, 174k words, 10/10 chapters, complete)
Summary: Following an eye-opening confrontation with Misty Tredwell, Aki decides she might have to face up to her past if she ever wants to be free of it. After approaching Mikage with a curious request, she ends up with the last remains of the Arcadia Movement--and starts digging.
Next work: Currently in the process of being written!
The Carly collection - I swallowed the Dice, I make my own Luck now (currently in its infancy, more planned, but: also known as me trying to let Carly retain more relevancy in the story instead of relegating her to Jack's harem. Occupies the same, adjusted canon as the Aki series.)
The Architect of one's own Fortune (rated T, 89k words, 8/8 chapters, complete)
Summary: After the bombastic defeat of the dark signers, Carly is left with a suspicious hole in her memory and the feeling that something isn't quite right. As disturbing memories resurface, she must grapple with a lot more than just an increasingly unsatisfying job and the fact that Jack is ghosting her. Overwhelmed by guilt, confusion, exhaustion from work and frustration due to her lacking social life, she's left asking herself who she really is, and, even more so, what she actually wants in life.
Next Work: To be written once I reach a certain point in the Aki series. (Sorry for the wait!)
5Ds meta posts:
All my extensive yelling about the show, both on an emotional and an analytical level. Sorted by topics. Careful, not a single one of these has a reasonable length.
Character-focussed posts:
Aki
An unhinged (slightly analytical) rant about Fortune Cup and Dark Signers Aki because I love her to death
A closer look at the amount of setup done for Aki from the pre-WRGP onward that was sadly never paid off
Why Aki losing her powers in canon bothers me beyond reasons of "her powers were badass tho"
Yusei
A rant about why Yusei's hangups regarding the Zero Reverse make me want to punch a wall (and why this means they're excellent character writing)
Crow
The Crow dissertation (also known as a deep dive into Crow's character writing and what happened to it), part one: the Dark Signers arc, or: why you should never let your characters hide in a fridge
The Crow dissertation, part two: the pre-WRGP arc and the Pearson Backstory, or: how NOT to introduce an extra signer dragon
The Crow dissertation, part three: the WRGP arc, or: what do you mean, the Team Catastrophe duel has good character writing??
The Crow dissertation, part four: the Ark Cradle arc, or: if you want two characters to have a meaningful argument, maybe you should let them interact before that.
Carly
A look at why the sudden, drastic change in Carly's character writing undermined not just herself, but someone else, too
Plotline-focussed posts:
The Meklord wordlbuilding and its many holes that give me headaches
I'll try to keep this masterpost updated as more fanfics/theories/meta posts come along! If you ever wanna hear me talk about something specific, feel free to ask, the ask box is open!
what are your thoughts on Krokonoko’s analysis on Aki’s relationship with Divine?
Ok real talk I’ve been trying to find the post (I assume this is about a post) that you’re talking about and could not for the life of me find anything. I know their blog and that they exist in a completely different ballpark to me ship-wise (which is fine) but I am not sure what analysis you’re talking about. If you or someone else could kindly point me towards it, I’d appreciate it!
Rules: Shuffle your "on repeat" playlist and post the first 10 songs, then tag 10 friends!
Tagged by: @sojourner-between-worlds!
(So. I had to cheat a bit here bc I don't use spotify or youtube music or whatever and my main means of listening to music is an old ipod the idea of whose eventual descent into non-functionality fills me with dread. Because that means I don't technically have an "on repeat" playlist, but found the idea sweet regardless, I decided to chuck my 100 most listened songs into one and shuffle that. Okay? Okay.)
Unlike Pluto — Everything Black (feat. Mike Taylor)
Måneskin — Morirò da re
David Holmes — Snake Eyes (yes this is music from a cheesy heist movie, yes I adore it.)
Måneskin — Zitti e buoni
CircusP — Copycat
Perturbator — Future Club (Arcade Version) (YES YES YESSS MY FAV SONG OF ALL TIME POPPED UP) (this is also hands down my most listened song lmao)
Joe Hisaishi — The House at Swamp Bottom (big contrast but I am weak for soundtracks in general and for Ghibli soundtracks especially)
Florence + the Machine — Dream Girl Evil (Florence. Florence my beloved.)
Digitalism — The Pulse
Archive — Kings of Speed (oh fuck yeah)
(Funnily enough, only two of my most listened to artists actually feature here. Huh! Still, not half bad as far as representing my music taste goes. Just missing my arguably most listened to artist and some of the harder/darker stuff.)
Tagging...? @akiizayoi4869, @team5ds, @femmeslash, @mathemagician93, @mbg159, @beastsman, @firefaerie81 (pleae don't feel obligated!) and anyone who feels like it ^^
So after looking for details way too many times on a set of cards that won’t come out for months, I thought of a question for you:
Do you have a system over what new cards you can or can’t use when new cards are released for your 5Ds characters? Obviously the final determination comes entirely on if you want to use a card or not, but I’m wondering if you had criteria you usually look at
Like, for Yusei you can’t really have him using Quasar any earlier than he does because Antinomy’s whole thing about needing to look beyond accel synchro falls flat if Yusei’s already done that
But the new decks also have Aki and Crow cards and I’m wondering if I could try for fun to predict if cards will appear or not
This is something I never had to consider since my Yugioh fics were all set post canon so I could do whatever I wanted without really caring too much but you are writing a long mid-canon series and I was curious how you dealt with that
Okay, first of all, obligatory apology. I am so sorry, this has been chilling in my drafts for literal weeks and I meant to get back to it much sooner but I have admittedly been struggling to stay on top of this blog recently (mostly due to time management issues). At any rate, I hope you're still interested in the answer, because I finally found the energy to finish typing it out.
So. New cards for old characters. The short answer is no. I don't have a system, per se. However, that doesn't mean there isn't a certain logic to it. Generally speaking, before everything else, the rule of Vibes™ prevails. Which is, to say, before I bother with logistics or anything else, I ask myself "would it be cool if this character had that card mid-canon already"? And if the answer is yes, pass go and start thinking about everything else.
Second point from there on out is usually what you mentioned—logistics. It's all nice and well if it would be super cool for a character to have a certain, newer card earlier, but can I get it to make sense in canon? Quasar is an excellent example because he is, I would argue, a card you cannot get to work without severely altering canon, because, as you said, it would make a great canon moment fall flat. Which means Quasar has to stay where he is in canon, and through that, his evolutions also aren't viable for any mid-canon fic that aims for the level of canon compliance that's my usual ballpark.
Adjacent to logistics, for me, are also thematic elements, and this applies especially to very fancy monsters (read: synchros in 5Ds) and upgrades. What I mean by this is that, as nice as it would be to let certain characters have certain cards, I feel like there are cards I can't just introduce without fanfare. Black Rose Moonlight Dragon, which I've included in my fics as an easter egg, is one such card to me. It's a synchro monster similar in strength and dramatics to Black Rose Dragon that very transparently reads as at least an alternate universe version, if not a pseudo-upgrade for BRD. Therefore, it would feel wrong to simply let Aki have it in a duel without explaining its presence. Now, you already know that I like to explain how, when, and sometimes where characters I write got their new cards in general, but anything that feels like a monster upgrade is in a league of its own, because as we see with Majestic Star Dragon, with Shooting Star Dragon, with Red Nova Dragon, etc. upgrades in 5Ds often get entire mini-arcs to themselves. This is also why I didn't simply give Aki Ruddy Rose Dragon, even though I think that card is cool as heck—she hasn't had a big, narrative moment to earn it yet! For the same reason, there are several cards I still keep in my back pocket that I want certain characters to have at some point. I just need a lot of preamble and dramatics to let them earn those cards first. Then, I'll happily let them have them.
Then, somewhere in the realm squat between logistics and thematic stuff, are cards that are hard to write around. Stuff that either has a really modern effect that feels weirdly constraining and overpowered at the same time in 5Ds era yugioh, or that works with a theme I'm not sure how to fit in. Rage Rose Witch, one of the new Aki cards, is a good example here. Aside from having a more modern effect that would take some getting used to, her design is very obviously based on Aki's former alter ego, the Black Rose Witch. Now, do I think that's sick as fuck? Oh yeah I do. But would Aki, at the point where I have her post Fields of Arcadia, want to use a card that reminds her of that alter ego? That's where it gets complicated. (And no, I'm not telling you whether Rage Rose Witch will ever make it into my works. That's something I'll leave you to guess yourself!)
These are basically all the factors I can think of that usually contribute to whether I let characters use certain cards or not. It's a bit of a juggling game with canon, logistics, themes, and vibes. And sometimes, those four don't play together nicely enough for me to feel like including some card or another would be a good call. That said, I am generally always excited when old characters get new cards and if they look cool, I will try to find ways to sneak them into my works in some way or another. Some cards just can't so much be snuck in as they need to enter the narrative with a drumroll, blaring horns, and a dramatic violin section—and then it's up to me to either find space for that, or concede that I can't include every cool card there is.
nothing brings me more joy than critically engaging with media that was clearly not designed with critical engagement in mind. it’s the media studies equivalent of like, idk, trying to skateboard up a flight of stairs.
fanfic writers will go "anyone gonna explore the kinda fucked up or emotionally impactful implications of this minor canon detail?" and then not wait for an answer.
THIS IS NOT REAL. If you get this comment, they’re just trying to get you to delete your fic.
1) I would have gotten some kind of email from Ao3 if this was true
2) this comment is formatted to be perfect to tack onto any fic they choose
3) ALSO why on earth would Ao3 get rid of entire fandoms off the site? Even if they WERE inactive? Who knows if others will be ‘late’ to the fandom and want some fic to read. Who knows if someone wants to come back to their 6 year old account only to find most of their fics deleted.
I’m lucky to be a reasonable adult who has seen tricks like these who also had a very kind person comment their own doubts.
I saw your recent reblog about how Aki’s switch from her dress to the sweater was a downgrade (and I agree), but your tags mentioned the shape language of her original outfit
And I’m not sure what that means but it sounds like it would be really interesting to learn more about Aki’s design
Is that something you could clarify?
Just for you, I have gone on a little adventure with MS Paint again in order to visualise what I mean when I talk about the shape language of Aki's original VS her finale outfit! Here come the results.
First things first, let's look at Aki's OG outfit, shall we?
I've pulled up both her official artwork and her duel links sprite here since they give the best view of the outfit itself. As you can see, I've also lovingly hand-traced elements that will be relevant later in blue. Now, I think it's no secret that I love Aki's original outfit to death, but in terms of design choices, I think it accomplishes two things: It stands out, for one (denoting her protagonist or at least co-protagonist status), and it plays into her witchy persona (choker plus vaguely cross-shaped necklace, black fingerless gloves, swishy pseudo-skirt), for two. It's a very feminine, but nonetheless unusual outfit that draws the eye in more ways than one, notably also by showing exposed skin in places through her very short underdress, her relatively deep neckline, and the stockings, which again draw attention to her thighs. The corset adds to this both by way of its association with lingerie and because it accentuates her waist. It's an outfit that reads as traditionally sexy. (Now whether or not it's "okay" for a creator to put a canonically 16 year-old female character into this kind of outfit is a discussion I don't want to start here since that would require me to infer what Takahashi was thinking when he designed this and the truth is just that I have no fucking clue and don't want to jump to unkind conclusions.) Also notable is that Aki's OG design is, for lack of a better word, spiky in places. Her hair is relatively short and sticks out to the sides, her hairpiece has pointy ends, and the pendant of her necklace also ends in several sharp points. Between the shapes and the colour palette (which of course references her roses) used, the design brings the quintessential witch to mind: A woman who is beautiful, but dangerous.
Now let's compare the finale sweater.
I pulled these images from my screenshot collection, and immediately, we get a completely different impression. The whole outfit covers more skin (because that's some kind of weird pair of trousers she's wearing right under the sweater, don't ask me how that works with the black below, I was unable to find a screenshot that shows her whole body), has a lighter colour palette, and draws less attention to Aki. She looks more "normal". Note also the hair, which is longer and sticks up less and the hairband that replaced her hair piece, and, in comparison to it, looks perfectly harmless. As you may notice by the blue markings, though, there are attempts to reference Aki's original silhouette here, namely through the pattern on the sweater. The upper portion of it curves the same way her neckline once did, the vertical stripes harken back to her long, red vest with the white stripes, and the pattern as a whole feels like a very loose imitation of the corset shape. Additionally, the black Something (stockings? Thigh-high boots? Colour change in her trousers?) also references her stockings, which used to end at a similar height on her thighs. So I think it's fair to say some thought went into this sweater insofar as that someone tried to reference Aki's previous outfit, at least. Still, the impression it leaves in comparison to Aki's original one is... muted, I would say. The hair and the earrings (as well as the lip gloss you can only see in close-up shots) are purely visual shorthand to make her look older, I think, but the outfit distinctly gives me the impression that was mentioned in the post I reblogged: Aki is wearing less revealing, less eye-catching clothes with less "risky" accessoires because she's doing better now, because she's "grown up" and is ready to be a more traditionally feminine, softer character. She's gotten rid of her accessories, of the stockings, of the corset, and her hairpiece and it feels like visual shorthand for her being a more "well adjusted" adult now. (Which, again, as someone who's into alt fashion, kindly fuck off.) This is also strengthened by the fact that Aki's colour palette is noticeably lighter and has less harsh contrasts.
I pulled these colours from the above images. On the left is the lightest colour (besides the off-white of her blouse and the vest stripes) from her og palette, which is to be found only on her corset and choker. By contrast, the colour in the middle makes up the majority of Aki's finale sweater, and the pink on the right is taken from her hairband, which is also noticeably lighter than the colour of her previous accessoires. The tones are also softer, in general. Same goes for the creamy yellow of her trousers. It's a very soft, inoffensive palette, far removed from the black and white contrasts and the dark reds of her original fit.
Long story short, the sweater Aki wears at the end of the show feels like a nod to her original aesthetic, at best, and as someone with very particular tastes (who was frequently told I would grow out of them and didn't), it honestly just feels lame.
Bonus: While digging through my screenshots, I actually found that Aki has a second (!) boringly inoffensive sweater she wears during the final episodes, specifically when she comes over to Yusei's for the barbecue:
You will note that this one, too, is very tame, very pastel, and extremely far removed from the original outfit. Why is this even here? Who knows. Certainly not something I'd have put into Aki's wardrobe, though.
Hi! Just got back into reading your fics and I wanted to ask, with the new support for Aki, Yusei and even Ruka, are you going to add any of their new cards into their decks? Also, how's Ember coming along? Hope it's coming along smoothly!
Hiya! Hope you're having fun with the stories!
As for the new support, that depends highly on how the duels I still have planned play out! The thing is, my upcoming fics are for the most part already fairly tightly planned and while some "simpler" cards (like say the new low-level monsters for Aki or a trap like Eternal Sunshine for Ruka) would be easy to introduce in a hand-wavey manner on the side, "bigger" ones like Ruka's dragon upgrade, Hate Rose Witch for Aki or the retrains of some of Yusei's well-known staples, which I've already let him use in duels, feel like they would need at least a small plot of their own to be introduced. I generally like the idea of special cards getting a special introduction (like Shooting Star and Red Nova in the anime), so it'd feel kind of lacklustre to just throw those cards in with little to no explanation, you know? So with that in mind, some of the new cards are simply hard to fit into what I currently have planned, partially because I already have a few special cards I still want to introduce later down the line and have held off on for a very long time, and partially because there's a lot of plot that, frankly, can't easily accommodate me making up entire side bits about the acquisition of fancy new cards. It's a bit of a pickle, because the new cards look amazing, but I kinda didn't think we'd be getting any of them anytime soon, so my fic plans don't include them, haha. I'll see whether I might still be able to sneak some stuff in regardless eventually. Plans can change and all that. It would be a shame to ignore them completely, I think.
As for Embers, the whole story is already at over 300k words over 12 chapters in the first draft, but tbh, chapter 12 was a slog to write because I was fighting with irl obligations, so it dragged over literal months which made me more than a little irritated and also kinda anxious because I do want to finish the story eventually. Worse yet, due to that, I'm now in a bit of a pickle: Embers has gotten long enough and taken long enough at this point that I'm starting to lose sight of what I already wrote. So a re-read of my own stuff is in order so I can continue writing chapter 13 with fresh juice and without the risk of repeating myself. It's a bit ridiculous but that's writing for you. As of writing this, I estimate the first draft will need about another 8 chapters or so before we're done. Three more duels to go, at any rate. I'll be honest, it's a bit hard keeping up with the fic atm, but I still have no intention of dropping it. I want to finish Aki's arc, damn it.
if you make that female character less goth as a sign of her ~healing~ or ~improving her life~ I will kill you
make her MORE gloriously dark and over-the-top. she's growing into herself. she's getting comfortable being who she wants to be. do you see the vision. I am crying and throwing things
