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“If you had the literacy required of a simple contract you would understand that we’re doing business, Jonouchi, which famously involves money, an incentive I’ve included for the guarantee of your services. You’ll be compensated. Generously. Likely more than you deserve.” Kaiba stopped to sneer at him. “But you won’t see a red eye or a red cent until I get what I need from you to fix this. So go on and sign and we can all marvel at how lucky we are that I have things worth working for since I’m not a beggar, like you.” Jonouchi snorted. “Only you’d have the stones to call me that while begging me to say yes to a bunch of shit you can’t even explain. It’s a total mindfuck. Like, do you hear yourself?” “Loud and clear. And since I’m now in the painstaking business of repeating myself, I’ll spell it out one last time: sign the fucking agreement so you can be back with this half-rate dragon, and whatever else I’ve said you’re entitled to to not be a fucking eyesore to me anymore. Please.” “Well would you look at that… I even got a please.” Jonouchi’s mockery made way for the smallest smirk once he repeated it– please– and Kaiba’s mouth flinched as if disgusted by its own memory of the word. Stuck up prick. But still: “Looks like you know how to ask nice after all.” Jonouchi finally allowed his index knuckle to scrawl the ungainly agreement of his surname across the screen. Fuck it. All in. If Kaiba felt relieved, it appeared no different than his typical glare. It was so that all else was concluded in pursuit of this uncanny business between them.
Instability Theory
Kaiba’s declining mental state is jeopordising KaibaCorp’s most ambitious project yet. Jonouchi hasn’t seen his dad for weeks now and is starting to worry. They can probably help each other out, if they can get their issues out of the way first. A violet fairytale. Sci-Fi; Hurt/Comfort.
Read Chapter Four on Archive of Our Own.
Pairings: Jonouchi Katsuya & Kaiba Seto
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: This story is a dark one, so please beware. Future chapters will revolve around distressing subject matter concerning child abuse and CSA. This chapter is tagged for neglect.
Status: Chapter 4/?; 41,831 words.
Tags: daddy issues, rampant paranoia, sad boy saviour complex, malfunctioning virtual reality, hallucinations, enemies to lovers, fairytale allegories, strange dream sequences, bizarre dissociative internal monologues, marathon sex (eventually), canon inspired, character study
Playlist
Indexed on Spotify!
For lovers of: dark folk, darkwave, dreampop, electronica, post-punk, shoegaze, synthwave.
“I will not let your lack of curiosity deter my charity. I sought you out to relieve you of your regret, for once in your miserable life.” Yes! Miserable! He was miserable! His life was miserable. And in that moment he felt like he would die, for the chance to make Kaiba miserable, too: maybe he could abandon himself to the fast-festering violence inside him, and inflict a hurt that was finally worthwhile. Kaiba smirked as though he could read his every thought. Go on, he seemed to dare. And then the words echoed from the day before: I know you don’t have it in you.
Instability Theory
Kaiba’s declining mental state is jeopordising KaibaCorp’s most ambitious project yet. Jonouchi hasn’t seen his dad for weeks now and is starting to worry. They can probably help each other out, if they can get their issues out of the way first. A violet fairytale. Sci-Fi; Hurt/Comfort.
Read Chapter Three on Archive of Our Own.
Pairings: Jonouchi Katsuya & Kaiba Seto
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: This story is a dark one, so please beware. Future chapters will revolve around distressing subject matter concerning child abuse and CSA. This chapter is tagged for neglect, alcoholism and physical abuse.
Status: Chapter 3/?; 33,032 words.
Tags: daddy issues, rampant paranoia, sad boy saviour complex, malfunctioning virtual reality, hallucinations, enemies to lovers, fairytale allegories, strange dream sequences, bizarre dissociative internal monologues, marathon sex (eventually), canon inspired, character study
Playlist
New mix! As is custom, this is DJ mixed as a continuous set on Soundcloud and runs 104 minutes. Also indexed on Spotify for easier listening or folks that prefer that platform!
For lovers of: dark folk, darkwave, dreampop, electronica, post-punk, shoegaze, synthwave.
Snippet 3
Business | Technology
KaibaCorp Dreams of Another World
May 28
“It’s not a question of what’s next. It’s what’s happening right now. Right in front of you.”
These are the words from the seventeen-year old visionary Seto Kaiba, known worldwide as the reigning Duel Monsters champion and CEO of KaibaCorp (TSE:KBA). His advice seems perfect for this moment: he is standing right in front of a gigantic dragon. It is screaming and ready to attack and he is fearless.
The creature in question is one of three in the world that belong to the young CEO: Blue Eyes White Dragon, a rare Duel Monsters card and the star of KaibaCorp’s impromptu demonstration of its latest project: Scheherazade.
Named after the fabled storyteller of “One Thousand and One Nights,” Scheherazade is as much a technological marvel as it is a philosophical leap forward. The platform creates immersive worlds drawn from both written stories and players’ own memories, merging fiction and reality into a seamless experience. A combination of machine learning, memory recall, and advanced simulation technology allows the system to respond and adapt for real-time, constant immersion. While virtual reality has been evolving steadily over the past decade, Scheherazade’s memory integration takes it to another level, with unprecedented possibilities for storytelling, education, and, of course, gaming.
Its most immediate application will be for duelists, offering fully interactive Duel Monsters matches in an arena where the creatures seem to step out of the cards and into life. Industry insiders speculate that this move could put KaibaCorp at the forefront of both gaming and virtual reality, potentially outpacing rivals like Industrial Illusions (NYSE:ILL) and Meta (NASDAQ: META).
This is the latest in the bold new direction forged under young Kaiba’s leadership, which transformed KaibaCorp from an arms contractor to a tech powerhouse, pioneering innovations at the intersection of telecommunications, augmented reality and entertainment. KaibaCorp’s origins date back to the post-World War II era when it rose to prominence as a leading arms manufacturer, standing just behind global defence giants like Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Northrop Grumman Corp (NYSE: NOC). The company’s previous success in the defence sector is often credited to the founding family’s deeply personal experience with war: Ryu Kaiba, KaibaCorp’s founder, served in Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour. The war also impacted his son, the late Gozaburo Kaiba, who was one of the 650,000 survivors of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
The latter half of the twentieth-century saw KaibaCorp as a bastion of military technology, supplying weapons to governments around the world. Yet the company was perpetually mired in controversy, and a frequent target of political outcry for its contributions to war and conflict. Protests frequently accompanied its business dealings, which placed it at the centre of public debate about the ethics of arms dealership. It is speculated that mounting pressure and dwindling public support factored into the shocking suicide of Gozaburo Kaiba, who jumped to his death from the KaibaCorp headquarters during a meeting with the company’s board of directors.
This tragedy would make it the third time Seto Kaiba had lost a parent. Gozaburo Kaiba adopted both the current KaibaCorp CEO and his younger brother, KaibaCorp’s Senior Manager of Technology Operations, Mokuba Kaiba, following the deaths of their parents. Their mother died of eclampsia while giving birth to Mokuba, and their father was killed in a car accident in the infamous Izumo Earthquake Disaster.
Seto Kaiba succeeded Gozaburo as CEO of KaibaCorp at fifteen, making him the youngest person to ever lead a billion-dollar company. His youth left him no shortage of ideas, and he set the company on course for a seismic shift in focus. He went on a buying spree, absorbing a staggering number of promising computer technology companies in his first quarter as CEO. He also terminated operations at KaibaCorp’s global weapons testing centres and completely divested the company from projects supporting armed conflict. These actions led KaibaCorp to several high-profile lawsuits for defaulting on its contracts and sales agreements. These disputes were settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
Between the payouts, acquisitions and lack of customers, KaibaCorp was teetering on financial ruin. The company was saved with Kaiba’s most notable innovation: SolidVision, the holographic projection technology that brought Duel Monsters to life. This was followed by the Duel Disk, a revolutionary p2p interface that allowed duelists to compete in real-time holographic battles, becoming a staple for competitive players across the world. These commercial successes catapulted KaibaCorp into global fame and made Duel Monsters a cultural phenomenon, while signalling KaibaCorp’s new mission: to create, not destroy.
This pursuit has now brought KaibaCorp to the verge of another groundbreaking moment. Scheherazade, set to roll out this summer, will first be available at stadiums and theme parks before making its way into homes through a specialised hardware release. Duelists and VR enthusiasts alike are eagerly awaiting the chance to immerse themselves in the fully realised worlds this technology promises to deliver.
In many ways, KaibaCorp’s evolution is as poetic as it is fascinating. What was once a company defined by its contribution to destruction is now positioned to offer the world a new way of seeing itself, through stories, memories, and duels.
“This is just the beginning. Scheherazade isn’t just a virtual space—it’s a new frontier for human imagination. It’s the bridge between what we can dream and what we can live.”
And in that, perhaps, lies Kaiba’s greatest victory: transforming a company of war into one that makes dreams reality.
______
The article featured two captioned pictures. Duel Monster Blue Eyes White Dragon, rendered in Scheherazade: a still of him pulled from the testing zone broadcast, looking up at Blue Eyes White Dragon. He was surprised at the lack of fear on his face– the light from the White Lightning Attack had washed every emotion into brightness. He was just vacant, ready, waiting. He was more expressive in the second photograph: Father and son. One of the last before Gozaburo’s death. The man had a hand on his shoulder and was sneering down at him. Kaiba, fifteen, slanted his face to return his contempt, the corner of his mouth barely lifted in a matching, cruel smirk.
Snippet
“I am also able to report on the status of the wagers. The two cards that have been entered into the betting pool are Blue Eyes White Dragon–” the Commissioner’s eyes swung to Kaiba, “–and Red Eyes Black Dragon–” and then to Jonouchi. “I certify that both cards meet the requirements for the wager.”
“Ey!” Jonouchi grinned, jabbing him with his elbow. “Matchy, matchy.”
“Don’t touch me,” Kaiba quipped.
“Both duelists are aware that a loss will result in the forfeit and ownership transfer of their wager. I would now like to invite Jonouchi Katsuya to call the coin toss. At your ready, sir.” And then the Commissioner stood still before them with a golden KaibaCorp token balanced atop his thumbnail: an embossed KC logo for heads and an engraved king chess piece as tails.
“Fuck, I’ve been nailing these toss calls all day,” Jonouchi said with a grin. “What do you think it’ll be this time, Commish?”
“Your decision, sir.”
Jonouchi threw back his head and laughed. “Alright, fair, I walked into that one.” His tongue darted over his lips for a moment before he worried his bottom lip in between his teeth. He squinted at the coin as though he was concentrating very hard, and then nodded.
The coin sailed upwards and flipped, gold and pretty, within the air. Jonouchi craned the long column of his neck so his face was upturned, open and hopeful under the coin’s countless rotations. He looked star-struck, mouth barely parted, eyes trailing the turns as gravity bore it down. And then he must have spied something– Jonouchi looked completely convinced of something, for just a split second– and his eyes narrowed in triumph and he smiled, turning his gaze to Kaiba. “Heads I go first.” And then his hand darted out to snatch the coin from the air.
Jonouchi hid the coin in his clenched fist, held between their faces. His dark eyes were daring him to something. Everything in Kaiba stirred as if to meet it, but then he tore his gaze away to give the Commissioner a questioning look. “Surely this is breaking some kind of rule.”
The Commissioner looked to Kaiba, and then Jonouchi. “No, this is unusual… but not in breach.” Jonouchi’s smile, wolfish now, only widened.
“Whaddaya say, Kaiba?” Kaiba’s eyes trailed over Jonouchi’s face as he continued taunting him. “Think I’ll win again?”
“I don’t care.”
Jonouchi gave him that lopsided grin again and made a fist with his other hand as well, drawing the skin on the back of the hand taught and flat. He rested the coin on it.
KC face-up, the king buried and resting against his skin, below.
Jonouchi’s eyebrows flashed. “I win.”
Kaiba’s eyes flicked again to Jonouchi’s vacant desk. He needed to get onto him urgently. Where was he? Jonouchi’s familiar words sprung in his mind, as if in response: There you are! I was looking for you. And then an image, clear as day: the school rooftop, bright under the late spring sun. Kaiba was never one to entertain visions as credible leads… but something about this drew his conviction. He looked at his watch– they were ten minutes from the bell. More than enough time to corner Jonouchi into his bidding, if the boy was idling around on the roof as he suspected. He stood. “Thank you,” he said to Yugi, and had almost departed on his search before he found himself delayed by Yugi’s response. “No worries, Kaiba-kun! And congratulations, on yesterday. It’s never easy to go up against Jonouchi. I can tell you really gave it your all!” Kaiba studied Yugi’s heartfelt expression for a moment. Wide-eyed, naive, believing. He returned the compliment with a cold smile. “If you say so.” And then he left for the roof. He wouldn’t waste his breath to remind them that he could keep Jonouchi beneath him without a thought.
Instability Theory
Kaiba’s declining mental state is jeopordising KaibaCorp’s most ambitious project yet. Jonouchi hasn’t seen his dad for weeks now and is starting to worry. They can probably help each other out, if they can get their issues out of the way first. A violet fairytale. Sci-Fi; Hurt/Comfort.
Read Chapter Two on Archive of Our Own.
Pairings: Jonouchi Katsuya & Kaiba Seto
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: This story is a dark one, so please beware. Future chapters will revolve around distressing subject matter concerning child abuse and CSA. This chapter is tagged for light self-harm, guns, mention of suicide and mention of animal deaths in the context of medical experiments.
Status: Chapter 2/?; 21,782 words.
Tags: daddy issues, rampant paranoia, sad boy saviour complex, malfunctioning virtual reality, hallucinations, enemies to lovers, fairytale allegories, strange dream sequences, bizarre dissociative internal monologues, marathon sex (eventually), canon inspired, character study
Playlist
This is DJ mixed as a continuous set on Soundcloud and runs 104 minutes. If that is (quite understandably) too much of a time commitment, the playlist has been curated for your ease on Spotify.
For lovers of: dark folk, darkwave, dreampop, electronica, post-punk, shoegaze, synthwave.
Got offered and accepted a new contract 🥰 I have a week or two to get the next chapter of IT together so that I can post before I get into another cycle of busywork! Realistically I only have a week if I’m also going to playing a show May 3 as I would like to practice…
Also should I get accepted for this writing fellowship it would begin in May so I also need to be structured about my time so that I can post before then. And figuring out how to stay structured about fic time while also embarking on this fellowship and keeping time for personal writing and all the class reading.
I’ve cracked about a quarter way into the chapter and there’s a tentpole moment drafted a bit deeper in that needs to be revised to better fit the logic and style of the story as it currently stands, and the current character motivations. It’s crazy that (1) when I first concepted this I thought it would be an 80k fic total LMAO and (b) the story once I finish this chapter will be like 40-45k and I will just be getting to like, the actual point and plot lmao.
I think a more mature and seasoned storyteller could tell this story really beautifully and compellingly in 80k words. I just somehow gave myself the 200k route (or that’s how I measure it shaping up now! No guarantees) but this is like, the story I’m using to discover myself as a writer so I guess I can try for more economic forms of prose in another story
I’m already so stoked for the next part (chapter 4 on) I have so many good books/manga/movies I’ve been keeping off to the side to use as inspo (Berserk, Excalibur, Sexing the Cherry, Lady Macbeth, The Name of the Wind, Mists of Avalon, finishing Kathy Acker’s Don Quixote. I might even rewatch Gantz and The Fall…)
Anyway this is just a little note to myself so that I can manage timing and keep my next block of inspo organized.
