to me your Kristoph looks more like Kristoph than Capcom's Kristoph. I can't explain the Why of it, it's simply the truth. he's like- 120% more Kristoph than he actually is in the games. even prettier and menacing and even more civil looking and even more likely to hit you over the head with a grape juice bottle and he delights me every time he comes across my dash
you and other ppl saying stuff like this made me want to do this meme and Yeppp . that’s Literally what he looks like lol (<- still delusional)
original template
but hey thank you so much that makes me happy !!! for the most part i try to exaggerate things i feel are indicative of his personality (i.e. flowy lines + softer facial features + warmer colours for gentleness, added accessories & “natural” makeup for sense of beauty and opulence, expressions in general, etc etc) so i'm really glad to hear that’s coming through, i appreciate it a lot and im glad you like him !! 🥹🥹🌸
Okay one last (hopefully) thing I need to scream at least a little about before i pass out is. Yugi going ‘it’s fine it doesn’t even hurt that bad and anyways I could learn to like this’ And then immediately goes ‘and anyways stop worrying about me. I’m much more worried about you. I’m sorry. (This is going to hurt.)’
LIKE OKAY SURE I GUESS GO ‘OH YEAH I’D NOT JUST TOLERATE THIS BUT LEARN TO GENUINELY ENJOY THIS FOR YOU BUT ALSO IM SORRY YOU’D HAVE TO ENDURE THE PAIN’
Like- okay. Fuck. Fuck. Sure I guess. Aughhhhh. Yugi you self sacrificing foolllllllll
(Just the. The fucking. The double standards of it all are killing me)
YEAHHHH. YEAH.
the amount of pain that he is willing to endure for yami astounds me. i can’t pull a direct quote but i’m pretty sure he pulls a very similar “don’t worry about me worry about the game” shtick in the vs yami malik duel (which at least was reasonable bc the game was important. and it’s not like they could have gotten out of it. but he still just fucking took it. having his goddamn soul torn apart as a sacrifice. what the fuck). and then of course there’s the fire. and never mind the emotional damage of everything. AUGH.
also i don’t think i could have written this fic from yugi’s pov bc he also knows way too much. idk if it reads like this outside my head but he’d mostly figured out what was happening by the moment he takes yami’s wrist. (in a way i guess he was in a very similar mindset of “this is unavoidable i can endure this pain for you we have to go forward” as the yami malik duel but yami didn’t know what the fuck was happening so he didn’t have anything else to do but worry here.) but like. he knows yami is going to know how much it hurts. there’s an element of guilt in deceiving him but also an element of like…proving? that he can take it?
(he can learn to like it. who knows how many more times he’ll have to endure this kind of pain? wouldn’t that make it more bearable? wouldn’t that let him give him more?)
For the ask game: curious about Mirage and Yami no Buckshot
OH god Mirage.
Mirage is the AU I sloppily lore-dumped on you a while back in DMs but for the UNINITIATED:
The premise is that Yuugi doesn't get the Puzzle till he's 15, and doesn't solve it till he's 23ish. Instead of wishing for friends, Yuugi's undercurrent want is to 'never be lonely'
It's a series re-write canon divergence that blends a lot of the rules in s0 with the cast and setting of DM.
Changes include: Yuugi's only friends are basically Anzu and Joey, and Joey and him didn't really hit it off till graduation.
Anzu leaves Japan only to return under mysterious circumstances in her career
Honda and Miho are more distant acquaintances and both are highly suspicious of the Cursed Amulet
Kaiba owns the eye and it's haunted by Kisara and both are very interested in collecting the rest of the items for... reasons
Otogi owns the Key and is very cavalier with it's power (three guesses as to who got that for him and why)
Marik has the rod and Malik is less an alter and more a VERY FUCKING ANGRY ghost who was the first tombkeeper
Ishizu is here, she's got the necklace and is haunted by Isis who very much wants to correct some mistakes of the past
Ryou has the ring, which has TKB, unzorked, but also VERY interested in maybe doing a strangle to Yami when they're within reaching distance.
All the items have very specific rules to them and Shadow-games are a little more complicated when the soul has both a host and resident, ie, the host takes damage that the resident gets during combat, the opposite to the real world
Yuugi's life is a wreck and his whole world is tilted upside down with the introduction of Yami, and the complications both moral and physical about having a huge crush on your skull-mate, plus there's something about the Reckoning of Human Kind Kisara keeps muttering about.
The biggest crux is that there's basically a 4 way power struggle between Yuugi, Seto, Ishizu and Bakura concerning the Millennium Items and that goes about as well as you'd imagine :D
Keep Your Heart, Red Seed Road + Red Phase Star, and piece 7? (Feel free to yap about as many or as few as you’d like)
Alrighty, from the top:
Keep Your Heart is just. Yugi slowly realizing exactly how rough Jonouchi's life is, and desperately trying to help him. Runs from just after chapter 12 to a little after Duelist's Kingdom. Despite this being mostly from Yugi's perspective, the one bit that's the most polished is a bit at the end from Jonouchi's perspective, and involves Yami:
“Jonouchi?”
Jonouchi snapped out of his thoughts, and turned to see Yami sitting up in bed, rubbing at his eyes.
They looked the same, but it wasn’t hard to tell the difference between him and Yugi, once you know what to look for. Yugi slouched and fidgeted, his voice soft. Yami stood taller, his voice deeper and more sure. Yami was more stoic, Yugi more lively. The switch was usually instant, like a light being turned on or off.
But as they sat up, the switch was more soft – their voice sliding from Yugi’s higher register to Yami’s baritone as he woke. The way the decrescendo softened Jonouchi’s name made his stomach do a weird little flutter.
“Hey,” Jonouchi said. “Sorry if I woke you.”
“It’s fine,” Yami said, with a yawn. “Don’t like sleeping anyway.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve slept enough.”
Part of Jonouchi wanted to ask what the hell he meant by that, but something about the way Yami said it made him shiver.
Red Seed Road + Red Phase Star are a pair of horror/sci-fi stories that are kind of AUs of each other? Both about disability and eugenics, both real fuckin bummers lmao. Same MCs, with different names and slightly different disabilities.
Red Seed Road centers around Avery and Liam - childhood friends that reconnect and go on a road trip that is almost certainly a bad idea. They're both infected by a supernatural illness that slowly, painfully turns its victims into bright red trees. Avery has the chronic version of the disease (his left leg below the knee is entirely made of living wood that is slowly sapping the life out of him), while Liam has the acute version (the infection started in his arm and will kill him very, very soon).
I started writing Red Seed Road in... 2019. Maybe six months before covid hit the states. The intervening years have made this story way more cynical than it started out. Still kind of too sore to touch, but I've been thinking about it lately...
Red Phase Star centers around Jun Ho and Lou - two workers at a newly built terraforming facility on a distant planet. Because of their disabilities (Jun Ho's amputation and asthma, Lou's epilepsy), neither of them were able to get decent jobs on Earth, but they both got lucky and got a chance at a fresh start. The company they work for claims to turn any planet into a habitable paradise within a year. Neat! Of course, the company doesn't disclose how that process works, even to the colonists responsible for that process. But that's probably fine, right? ...Right?
This one is a mashup between Doom and Event Horizon, to give you an idea of how that's going to go.
as for piece number 7:
this is supposed to be an illustration for SCP-3125. buuuut this ended up being a bit too ambitious for me - the composition was fighting me, and I was still pretty deep in burnout. I might try again? and also redraw that shadow, it does not fit the description of 3125 at all lmao
I dunno if I’m doing this remotely right (I largely lurk online ;-;) but I just want to say that I stumbled upon your account a while back and your art style is genuinely hands down one of my favorite. I love how you stylize characters and I think your use of color is incredible and it’s been an inspiration in my own art recently (:
WAITT 😳🥹🥹🥹 ahh thank you so much, that makes me so darn happy to know <33
hmmmmm..... for your ask game:
syzygy (the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (such as the sun, moon, and earth during a solar or lunar eclipse) in a gravitational system -Merriam Webster)
(the only other fun word I have off rip is pyritization but the door fic in my heart and soul was already doing that so... it's here as an alternative)
you gave me two words and i kind of (maybe? probably? i think? very abstractly?) hit both so i guess that means you get double the word count!
not entirely sure how i got here.
(warnings: body horror, suggestive content)
The Millennium Puzzle glitters sharply in the moonlight, as if Yuugi’s sweaty palms have left a gloss over its golden surface in the haze of his nightmare-fueled desperation. It’s never been affected by such things in the past, even before he’d completed it. The thing has stayed dry as the desert wind through all eight years he’s had it.
But it glitters now.
Yuugi can’t remember anything about the nightmare that had woken him. That hardly seems to matter to his body, though—his other self sits up in bed, settled into their trembling muscles and rattling bones, absentmindedly stroking the Millennium Puzzle’s sharp edges in an effort to calm them. He watches Yuugi silently, unfazed by the physical reaction that still plagues him.
At some point his other self had thrown off his shirt, deeming it far too sweaty to be wearing in the middle of a panic attack. So it isn’t as if he wasn’t sweating enough to get on the Puzzle. But it’s…
Sweat isn’t wet. Not like this.
Yuugi leans in and peers closer at it. Whatever is on it is clear like water, but it’s more viscous than water could ever be. It reminds him of an egg white, or some other amniotic fluid. Something sourced from a body, no doubt.
His other self tilts the Millennium Puzzle, angling the eye to face upward at Yuugi. The reflection of moonlight shifts, and the Puzzle’s eye winks.
It’s a living thing, some quiet corner of his heart comments. A creature with a shell of gold. Perhaps it sweats itself. Or perhaps it’s an ovum, ready to be fertilized—or maybe it already was, and he missed it.
“Are you alright?” his other self asks, far away.
Yuugi bends forward and presses his lips to that winking eye. He runs his tongue along the inner groove, and the sensation maps onto his own body, hot and wet on the inside of his left eyelid, zipping down through the roots of his wisdom teeth, and tickling along his collarbone. His other self’s hands tense around the Puzzle. The feeling of his fingertips digging in tightens across Yuugi’s skin, squeezing around his organs, and the subtle friction of the pieces pushing together pinches a nerve in Yuugi’s lower back. Heat shoots down his thigh, all tingly and singing. His other self’s leg spasms.
As he pulls back, Yuugi notes that whatever it is on the Puzzle leaves a thick, rich coating in Yuugi’s throat, but otherwise it has no taste. He licks his lips, intrigued.
His other self swallows down a groan. “I take it…that means you aren’t quite all back yet?” he says, voice trembling.
Yuugi hums. “It’s leaking,” he whispers, and leans back in.
His lips close around the eye again, and he lets the suction of the kiss linger for a moment around the iris. The skin of his back blooms under the gentle touch, rippling and pulling up and unfolding. His tongue flicks out to graze the pupil, and pins and needles burst around his heart. That rich feeling builds in the back of his mouth, almost choking him, but Yuugi pays it no mind, too caught up in sensation.
His other self’s breath hitches. “Aibou, what are you…?”
Yuugi licks a long, slow line up from the bottom corner of the Puzzle. It’s like knives along his bones, scraping them clean, letting the marrow show through. Perhaps the fluid is the Millennium Puzzle’s own marrow, dripping across its beautiful surface, clean of the red stain of blood. Or perhaps it is a teat, nurturing him with its crystalline milk. He closes his lips around the corner and suckles. The luscious liquid leaks out onto his tongue. Hot lines race through his arteries, tracing downward, upward, scraping, opening a path toward his heart—but something’s missing. Yuugi closes his teeth around the corner piece, yearning.
Abruptly, the Puzzle is yanked out of his mouth. Yuugi blinks, disoriented. Slowly, as he regains his bearings, he focuses back on his other self.
His other self holds the Millennium Puzzle tight to his chest, and his face and neck are flushed a brilliant red. A muscle under his ribs jumps. He swallows, relaxing just a fraction under Yuugi’s attention.
“I’m sorry, Aibou,” his other self says. His voice is hoarse, and he has to clear his throat before speaking again. “But this…You do realize this is doing the opposite of calming our body down, right?”
“Oh. Right. Sorry.” Yuugi licks his lips, eyes drifting back to the Millennium Puzzle. The reflection of moonlight winks at him again. That strange, leaking liquid drips down his other self’s forearms, caressing him adoringly.
Perhaps it’s plasma—serous fluid draining from a healing wound. Is the Puzzle healing? Healing from what? Why is there so much of it?
Perhaps the Puzzle isn’t its own creature at all—perhaps it’s an organ, gouged out and left to flounder on its own when it should be held in the cradle of a body.
Finally, it clicks. That’s what the Puzzle needs. Then all will be right, and it will stop leaking, and he can go back to sleep.
Slow and deliberate, Yuugi reaches for the Puzzle. His other self watches him, wary, but he doesn’t stop Yuugi when he takes it and places it between them.
“It belongs here,” Yuugi says, and presses the Millennium Puzzle into his other self’s chest.
It slides through his other self’s skin with no resistance. He gasps, spine going ramrod straight. Yuugi hums absentmindedly, taken by the way his other self’s skin consumes the Puzzle, swallowing the gold away into the space behind his ribs. Their body is a ravenous thing, and his soul is starved, willing to take anything it can get between its teeth. Yuugi’s fingers follow the Puzzle into his chest, passing through skin effortlessly, unimpeded by the illusion of physicality. He guides it rightward, where it comes to stop, eclipsing his heart.
Their body jerks. His other self lets out a strangled moan. Yuugi glances up and is met with bright, wild eyes staring back at him. The other Yuugi’s chest rises and falls in a quick, sporadic rhythm.
“How are you doing that?” he croaks out. A bead of sweat runs down his neck, reflecting the first sliver of sunlight peeking in from across the horizon. Yuugi swipes it up with his tongue. His other self shudders, curling around Yuugi and the Puzzle enveloping his heart. “Aibou…”
Yuugi leans in, closer than he usually would—or usually could, stopped by the false perception of a barrier between them—and lets his torso overlap with his other self’s. His skin feels oddly liquid. Cold. Goopy. Viscous. His heart brushes through the Puzzle and grazes its double.
At only that short touch, a fire lights in Yuugi’s lungs and clogs his sinuses with smoke. His other self slaps a hand over his mouth, and a strange gurgling noise comes out of the back of his throat. Yuugi’s lips twitch upward at the sound. It’s cute. He wants to hear more of it. Shifting himself so he’s properly aligned, Yuugi slides his heart into place for the Millennium Puzzle and his other self’s soul to claim.
Sensation bursts through Yuugi’s veins, moving outward, hot and hungry, like the growth of a new nervous system—and perhaps it is. The Puzzle needs to reintegrate, after all. Now that it’s back where it belongs, it’s able to heal properly. It only makes sense.
His other self throws his head back, hyperventilating, and muscles twitching uncontrollably. Within their heart, panic and pleasure crash against Yuugi’s more mellow emotions, failing to mix the way they want to.
Yuugi frowns. That isn’t right. Why is his other self panicking? They shouldn’t be panicking, should they? Wasn’t his other self trying to stop that?
“Mou hitori no boku?” Yuugi asks.
His other self wheezes. Yuugi looks over at him with rising concern as he coughs and clears his throat. “Sorry,” he gasps. “Give me a second, Aibou.”
The world slams back into focus. Yuugi’s eyes widen, and he blinks rapidly, trying to ground himself. “Oh. Oh! I’m sorry!” His face burns. He tries to pull away. “I don’t know why—”
His other self wraps an arm around Yuugi’s back and keeps him close. “Don’t go. It’s okay.”
Yuugi goes still. He looks at his other self, suddenly feeling shier than he’s been around him in months. New nerves branch up his spine and into his brain, stinging and itching and prickling, and he isn’t sure if he wants to crawl out of his skin or scream in ecstasy.
Probably the latter. He’s already out of his body, and it’s not like anyone but his other self would hear him if he screamed, anyway.
His other self’s head lolls forward. He hugs himself—or Yuugi, maybe—and sighs. “Could you always do that?”
Yuugi furrows his brow and tries to focus on the question. His head still feels too fuzzy. “With the Millennium Puzzle?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know.” He bites his lip. “I don’t even know what I did.”
His other self turns his head and buries his face against Yuugi’s neck—or the air it seems to fill—and his breath fills the hollow of Yuugi’s throat. Soft, short huffs, overwhelmed, but steady. Then a single breath, sharp and quick—a laugh. “You’re incredible, Aibou. Really.”
Yuugi flushes deeper. “I didn’t mean to…”
“But you did.” He leans back and smiles at Yuugi, which quickly turns into a grin at the pink that must be creeping up Yuugi’s cheeks. “I’m sorry. I think this is about as calm as I can get you. I doubt I’ll be able to do much about the tremors like this.”
“It’s alright. Thank you for trying.” Yuugi’s lips twitch, trying to smile back. “I’m sorry I wasn’t any help.”
His other self laughs, full and proper with his chest. It makes his lungs graze the Puzzle, and the fire in his nerves and veins burns bright and suffocating. His other self coughs at the feeling, and Yuugi winces. But he shoots Yuugi a reassuring smile, like nothing is wrong—like everything is good, even—before offering Yuugi his body once again.
He’s gone by the time Yuugi settles back in. For a moment, Yuugi allows himself to sit there, basking in the odd sensation of the Millennium Puzzle cradling his heart and holding it in place. He wonders if his veins have grown through its grooves, if his blood is pumping through little golden holes and filling with flesh as he and his treasure and his other self’s soul fuse inextricably.
But that could only be if all of this was real—and, sitting here, without his other self at his side, Yuugi can’t get himself to believe it.
The sun climbs on the horizon, reflecting golden light in Yuugi’s eyes. Yuugi blinks at it and waits for this blessed dream to end.
The reason why the oyster imagery stuck in your brain may at least partially be because is in part rooted in the way Atem eats in HDF. Prying minds open and pulling out [????] (hopes and dreams and fears) gets booed off stage
Though- granted it isn’t quite?? Oyster textured? More like raw egg maybe. Or rotted fruit. Oyster’s just- a little more intended to be eaten this way. And it’s easier to pick and choose what to eat/what to feed to your host when you have a host who will feed you (when you have a host)
(You always were a ███ parasite)
(Reality bleeding Tyrian purple, like mollusks, like their eyes, like a cape you do/don’t recall cherishing was largely a consequence of the color living rent free in my head as like- one of the top funky fucked up to produce colors of the ancient world that just. Also happened to be on theme with the oysters)
OHHH y’know sometimes i forget the things i’ve written. yeah that’s probably part of it or at least from the same emotional source fhsjhfjd. love me a good cracking something open to feast on what’s inside.
also i’ve said it before and i’m sure i’ll say it again but it’s just so fun feeding yugi things. especially things he shouldn’t be eating. and something about the imagery of cracking him open and feeding him like that is just very visceral. like seeding a pearl but with violence.
also something about the intimacy of nourishment there? choosing what is allowed to build and sustain his body—is it what’s supposed to? or something entirely foreign to human consumption? how does that change in maintaining a body? and with yami or the puzzle it also still manages to wrap around to their affect on yugi’s body, just more indirectly. it’s more about what impact their presence/influence has i guess.
also somehow i didn’t connect the tyrian purple shells to the oysters and mollusks…they’re all shells…that’s so good…
Yugi and Yami get to make croc o dile noises. As a treat. It’s the puzzle’s fault. He’s fine though! He’s not even getting any fucked up dentition… probably. I think.
May have to get back to you on that.
OH…YES I ENDORSE THIS…
mildly concerned the puzzle chose croc noises out of everything just because of the symbolism but tbh who am i to complain or question. they should get insatiably hungry. as a treat.
i also endorse fucked up dentition but I feel like that’s not surprising fhkdhdkhdk. double that tooth count asap!!!!!
