#puzzlespace

[kaibacorpintern]

Some Beast for the scene ask

HMM... the events that led to Mokuba's dismissal as a Ranger, originally conceived as simple accident but then re-tooled as the result of Kaiba's choices in response to his various pressures and fears (ch2), Kaiba in Puzzlespace meeting Yami for real, alternating between anger, panic, genuine terror, and determined resolve (ch5), Kaiba and Yuugi struggling to maintain Drift during their first kaiju battle (ch9), and several more scenes yet to come, which include reckless hook-ups, desperate crying, nihilism as war strategy, and Kaiba and Pegasus showing each other one (1) single ounce of respect.

#im most excited for desperate crying tbh #thanks!! #intern memo #writing notes #fanfiction #some beast

[pot-of-terv]

Disclaimer: This starts soft but very quickly goes to a place I did NOT expect it to go so, just, be prepared. I guess there were some things my muse just couldn’t leave untouched :_D There’s also an additional drawing in there somewhere among the text. The ending is kind of a cliffhanger (dun dun duuun... part three is coming!!) but it’s happy (hurt/comfort y’all, MY BRAND)!

Also I have to say- oh my goodness this ended up having over 2,000 words and I’ve never written a fic this long! This feels pretty amazing but also, very scary, because as you know I’m a Finn so English is not my first language and this far I’ve stuck to just writing itty bitty things. Writing a story with multiple parts is also new to me, so wow, actually, thank you PuzzleJune for making me challenge myself in fresh and exciting ways 🥺

tw: breakdown

PuzzleJune2021, Week Two: Space (Quiet)

It is mesmerising. Intoxicating, even, Atem muses as he reaches up to rub his own sleep-soft face, eyes never leaving the still sleeping figure beside him. He shifts to lay on his side, slowly, with deliberate movements, trying to not disturb the quiet of the early morning.

Watching him sleep like this... I can feel the bed move when he moves and his warmth whenever he's close enough. I never had that before, he thinks and his heart clenches. I have it now.

Yuugi snorts in his sleep and Atem can't help but smile. That boy... no, that young man, has been through so much, too much, and yet he still sleeps so soundly. It's nothing short of incredible and the pharaoh wonders if he's ever met anyone more deserving of respect and admiration. Their journey thus far has only lasted for a couple of years and during that short time, the former spirit of the Millenium Puzzle has had the first-row seat to witnessing Yuugi's strength, his growth - how he slowly but surely had begun to trust himself.

Atem turns his gaze away from Yuugi and mulls over that thought. It hurts him somewhere deep in his core to remember how little worth Yuugi had seen in himself during those first months after Atem's consciousness awakened. He touches his chest where his heart is and leaves his hand there, feeling the slow rhythm beating under his palm.

That feeling of self-doubt could as well be his own, for he did think he was Yuugi for a while back then. It's a troubling realisation and he frowns at the ceiling. Despite not having any memories, how many of those insecurities had been Atem's own that he subconsciously reflected towards Yuugi's heart and by doing so unknowingly meddled with Yuugi's self-image as a whole? Objectively he knows that his emergence helped Yuugi gain confidence even though he didn't remember those first few times Atem took his place, but subjectively...? Atem's brows knit tighter together and he balls the hand that rests on his chest into a fist.

To call these thoughts troubling is an understatement. Suddenly Atem feels uncomfortably restless, he can't keep still, he needs space, he has to move. But moving would mean leaving the warm blankets and the even warmer form next to him and risk waking him in the process.

His chest feels so tight and it aches in a way Atem hasn't felt in millennia and he squeezes his eyes shut, holds his breath and with one swift movement pushes the blankets off of himself, sits up and rolls to the side to plant his feet onto the floor. The wood is cool under the bare soles of his feet and that sudden feeling makes him pause for a moment. He releases the breath he was holding.

It's almost funny how he already feels better. He glances over his shoulder to see if he had woken Yuugi up but the other youth seems undisturbed, still fast asleep. Relieved, Atem stands up... and doesn't know what to do. It's still practically night time and the house is silent. Mama Mutou and Grandpa will be getting up in one to two hours and Yuugi much later than that if his previous findings are to be trusted. Normally he would happily snooze the morning away with Yuugi but he doesn't want to go back to bed, the restlessness still buzzing under his skin even though that unpleasant tightness in his chest has ebbed and is now just a nuisance instead of actual, painful anxiety.

He turns around to face the bed so he can take another look at Yuugi, properly. A glance wasn't enough. Will never be enough, he realises all of a sudden. I want to be looking at Yuugi, and only Yuugi, forever. How can his heart feel so big and full but so small at the same time?

Atem is overwhelmed, not yet used to the absolute link between his feelings and his physical senses, and he lifts his hand once more to his chest, almost desperately grasping his shirt and pressing his fist against his heart, to feel the beat of it, and the warmth of his body.

He has this body now and he should be so, so thankful for it, but at this moment he can only feel guilt. He loves Yuugi but has still put him through so much and he knows, oh how he knows, that the trip to Egypt broke him. Atem had felt Yuugi mourn him weeks beforehand, felt his grief he so valiantly tried to conceal - too bad their bond at that point was the strongest it had ever been and Atem knew. It took everything in him to keep on going, to keep on telling himself that this was the right thing to do, this was how he could repay Yuugi's kindness and let him go on with his life, let him be free. He had heard the modern phrase “if you love them let them go”, and wouldn't that have been so grand? To prove his love in such a poetic, profound way?

All that in spite of Yuugi's feelings screaming at him that to be separated was the last thing he wanted.

Atem chuckles, a bitter taste in his mouth. Despite having shared such an extraordinary bond, communication had never been their strongest point, duels usually excluded, and talking about their feelings was not an exception. Still isn’t. They both had just kept on doing what they thought was the best for the other and in the process ended up wounding each other in ways that Atem isn't sure he can ever truly understand. Yesterday he had come down to the kitchen to find Yuugi folding laundry, eyes puffy and red, yet when he talked he sounded so happy. Atem had left it at that because there's nothing he could do when confronted by that smile that can put even the Sun in shade.

Slowly he realises that he's been staring at his partner for such a long time that it must be bordering on creepy. How did he get here from that warmth he first woke up to, from that love he so deeply feels for Yuugi? Why hasn’t he thought about these things before? It's like all he has in his head are questions with no answers to calm his mind. It's only been a week since... since it all should've ended, but didn't, all because of Atem's selfishness. Selfishness... and love. His own heart had broken when his life points counted down to zero and he saw the utter hopelessness he felt surface in his heart reflected right back at him on Yuugi's face. The memory of it is still so strong that he has to grit his teeth together to keep his jaw from trembling.

He hadn’t been able to stand that expression, to stand the knowledge that he was the cause of it. He wasn’t good enough. He wasn’t good enough. The pride he had felt toward Yuugi's skill was completely overshadowed by the grief that hit him in waves, his legs feeling like lead as he slowly walked to Yuugi, his own voice distant to his ears as he offered words of consolation and praise. Empty words, they were, he knew it then and he knows it now. How could he ever leave this person who had gone through so much for him, because of him, who had loved him so fully, who had risked it all to be there for him in his quest to regain his memories even when knowing that the price for that would be too steep to consider if Yuugi ever stopped to do that?

Atem had never wanted to leave. He had learned to live again, to have friends, and grow as a person, no matter how minuscule that growth might have been. Yuugi had been him and then Yuugi had become his world. There's no other way to explain it. As much as Atem had longed for his memories, for those people he loved and lost all those thousands of years ago, he couldn't bear the thought of losing another family. Even when the prize would be to regain his first one. 

But he had to. He had thought he had to.

Yet when he was just about to take the last step, he had faltered. Had wondered - does it have to be this way? What if there's another choice he could make?

And the gods had answered him. He didn't have to beg, he didn't have to fight, he just had to ask.

Just ask.

It had been so simple, in the end, so effortless. Of course, Atem asked for that third choice - or didn't really even ask, he didn't dare, he wished for it, his heart on the verge of breaking a second time. He had been painfully aware of his friends behind him, holding their breaths, waiting for the end. Atem felt their feelings wrap around him like a cloak and he bore the weight of it, accepted it, as he couldn't quite believe that it would be that easy to stay. So he had wished.

And that wish had been granted.

And now he is here.

Standing in the middle of the floor in Yuugi's room while Yuugi sleeps, hands closed into fists, both grasping his shirt now, holding back tears that threaten to spill forth. Wondering why did he even put Yuugi through all that, when in the end, it was for nothing? Oh, he thinks, oh, how it hurts. His own shortcomings, his own pain, the pain that he had caused others. Especially the pain that he had caused Yuugi. He hadn’t deserved it, he never deserved something so cruel and insincere as Atem's decision to leave had been.

A sob wrangles itself up and out of his mouth, he's not able to stop it in time and that breaks his resolve. He sways on his feet as tears force their way out and streak his cheeks, fall into his shirt and seep into the fabric as he hiccups and tries half-heartedly to stop it. He shouldn't be crying, not after everything he’s done. He doesn’t deserve to feel so sorry for himself - he should be the one to take responsibility, to carry that burden without a hitch. But, the thing is… at this moment, he’s no longer the prince-then-pharaoh from 3000 years ago. He’s no longer the amnesiac spirit occupying the Puzzle. He’s not the King of Games.

At this moment, he’s just a 16-year-old boy who is desperately trying to deal with every responsibility he’s imagined are only his to bear and failing spectacularly. So he cries, and cries, and he can no longer see with how blurry his eyes have gone. He prays Yuugi won't wake up to it, he just has to suffer through it and he'll be fine. Crying is fine, actually. He would laugh at himself if he could - aren't tears an actual luxury, after all? He wasn't able to cry his own tears with his own body before, but now he can.

There's a hand on his shoulder and Atem's heart drops into his stomach - oh no, now he's woken up - then another on the other side, then a tug, and Atem follows blindly. He's guided back to the bed and coaxed to sit down where a warm body presses against him and he's enveloped in an embrace.

Atem finds that he can't talk, he tries to draw breath to get the words out but sobs are the only thing he can produce and finally, he hears a voice call his name. It's so soft and warm and loving that Atem somehow feels worse and buries his head into Yuugi’s shoulder, his chest heaving and he almost wails from the struggle of it.

“Shh, other me. Cry it out. It helps. I know.”

He listens to Yuugi and does just that. It’s not easy to give up the reins but with Yuugi by his side, he finds the will to allow himself to succumb. He clutches his partner's shirt, holds him and is held in return, and lets himself cry. Lets his tears come like he's never done before and faced with the force of them, he feels like there's no end to it.

But there is an end. After a period of time that feels like an eternity, his sobs subside, his tears slow down, and he feels like he can finally loosen his hold of Yuugi's shirt to let blood flow into his fingers again. His nose feels snotty and he's sure there's no dry spot left on his partner's clothes and somehow that thought makes him laugh.

“See? All better now,” Yuugi murmurs against his temple and presses his lips there. That sign of affection almost makes Atem's eyes well up but he squeezes them shut, refusing to start crying all over again. He feels drained and empty and he's pretty sure he should be ashamed. He had woken Yuugi up and made him comfort him without asking but all he can feel is gratitude. Gratitude and love and endless adoration.

“Aibou,” he sniffles, voice congested and raw. He means to thank him but his throat closes up, yet Yuugi seems to catch his meaning.

“No need,” the shorter of the two says and Atem can feel his smile against his skin, “it's okay. You're okay, we're okay, everything's okay.”

Atem wants to argue but finds no energy for it. And - as he thinks about it, he realises that Yuugi is right.

They're okay.

He wraps his arms properly around Yuugi and squeezes, sighing softly. His mind is comfortably quiet now and he presses his ear against Yuugi's chest, listening to the beat of his heart (his heart's heart?) and feeling his own fall smoothly into the same rhythm. It's natural, it's right.

“I think,” he manages to croak out, “that we need to talk.”

Yuugi holds him closer and nods before pressing his face into Atem’s hair.

“Yeah,” he replies, sounding relieved, “we sure do, other me.”

#ygo dm #yugioh #puzzleshipping #puzzlespace #puzzlejune2021 #puzzlejune #puzzlequiet #atem #yuugi #tervdraws #tervdrabbles #fanart #fanfic #this bad boy can fit so many headcanons and projection in it #i am in the possession of the crybaby beam and i'm not afraid to use it (for real though. my agenda is to Normalize Boys Crying) #(no i will not be taking criticism)

[akpamasempire]

#PuzzleSpace They're 12 in number... Fish them out!😂 https://www.instagram.com/p/B1xlmiEB2F9HD_rvxmmsNAYwkUH1HfKG_hAUAU0/?igshid=1n1vojtsmve1

#puzzlespace

[trajectoryinc]

"I believe art should be an integral part of life. I try to give my work an almost magical energy that makes the viewer feel good." - Stephen Huneck PuzzleSpace Lite is inspired by Stephen Huneck's Sally Series of eBooks follows Sally the iconic Labrador retriever throughout her many exciting adventures. Sally is a curious and fun-loving dog; she makes the acquaintance of many interesting characters and visits fascinating places along the way. Huneck's PuzzleSpace is presented with robust color illustration created directly from Huneck's exquisite woodcut prints. This lively, interactive puzzle will engage and inspire children and animal lovers of all ages. In addition, a fully enhanced version of PuzzleSpace is available for download.  Stephen Huneck (1948-2010) was an internationally acclaimed painter, sculptor, and printer, and the creator of the Dog Chapel in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where he lived. His hand-carved furniture, sculpture, and woodcut prints are included in the White House Collection of the Smithsonian Institution, the collections of the American Kennel Club Library, and the Museum of Folk Art.

#PuzzleSpace #Kindle Fire #Trajectory #trajectoryinc #Stephen Huneck #art #game #tablet #dog #dogs

[kaibacorpintern]

Some Beast, 💎🗝🎢 📣

some beast will find you by name, my healthiest child <3

💎: What was your favorite part?

Chapter 5 when Kaiba goes into Drift with Yuugi for the first time and ends up in Puzzlespace with Yami... I had SO much fun with the descriptions and his feelings and the weirdness of it all! Kaiba did NOT expect to find himself in a void and then a maze and he did NOT like it and every single part of it unnerved him but he took it like a champ. I also had a lot of fun introducing Yami more in depth here - terrifying and making threats, but also posturing because he sees Kaiba as a threat - and emphasizing Yuugi’s ability to get a very quick read on things and to strategize and implement on the fly (realizing Kaiba deeply wants out, but won’t let himself leave, and finding a way to give that to him.) I also love it as like a proof of concept... this is what happens when you mix the sci-fi neuroscience of Pacific Rim with the weirdo magic of Yugioh... Kaiba ends up wandering the labyrinth of the Puzzle trying extremely hard not to lose his nerve.

🗝: What were you thinking when you wrote it?

LOL YOU KNOW I AM THINKING ABOUT EVERYTHING WHEN I WRITE THIS!!! Mostly I’m thinking about what might be the best way to tell the story I want to tell, and what IS the story I want to tell - does this scene help that? Does this help me get there? Is this the right direction for the story to go? do I need to change my playlist? And that kind of thing. 

🎢: Were there any scenes you were nervous about? For audience reception or otherwise?

Probably when Yuugi and Kaiba get in a fight at the end of chapter 8... their feelings - their anxiety and their fears and their own separate flaws - really had to feel genuine and well-developed in order for that fight to make sense, so I re-worked that like a dozen times until it felt right. I wanted to make it feel like both of them were at fault here - Yuugi for withholding and Kaiba for mis-interpreting - but also that both of them had valid arguments and complaints - Yuugi’s anger over getting so blatantly insulted and Kaiba’s anger when he realized he was giving more than he was getting, so there was a lot of balancing going on. i was nervous about sticking the landing on all of that.

📣: What was the best piece of encouragement you got?

i think about this poster that @wmolecules made for me like every day i even sent it to my sister!!! also this by @heartoftheyugi like fkdsjf d it’s so cute i LOVE IT and this is encouraging to me because the idea that something i write can provoke the creative instinct in someone else makes me understand, more than anything else, that creativity is not just throwing your well-decorated feelings into a void

#dxmichelle #writing notes #some beast

[kaibacorpintern]

⭐ and ☀️ for Some Beast, please.

 ☀️: Was there symbolism/motifs you worked in?

It’s hard for me to say I intentionally work in symbolism and motifs BUT I do love writing about food and food as intimacy, so I like using sharing meals together as a way to benchmark the development of Kaiba’s relationship with Yuugi and Yami - from rejecting breakfast to avoiding Yuugi at mealtimes for a while to just kind of shoving his food at Yuugi (uneaten, untouched) to accepting Kit Kats to getting their chosen sandwiches up on the catwalk to eating breakfasts together and drinking together and probably more food stuff to come in future chapters. Food is friendship, food is love, you know how it is. 

Kaiba also does not like being compared to machines/Jaegers... he resents the implication of being likened to a well-designed, death-dealing blunt instrument...

⭐: What’s a scene/paragraph you’re proud of? 

I already talked about the Puzzlespace scene which is a top fave for me but I also have a special love for when Kaiba pulls Mokuba out of the wreckage at the end of chapter 2, because i am a SUCKER for scenes where someone cradles another, very injured person, and I also really love the scene in chapter 8 where Kaiba just lies awake in bed and thinks about feelings and how he feels alienated from love and dating and all of that nonsense, and he doesn’t really know what to do with his feelings for Yuugi & Yami (mentioned here). Like he’s a little smitten and that scares him!!

and this one in ch 9 because ROMANCE!!!!!

That was why Yami didn’t notice when Isis finally arrived. He was side by side with Seto, hip to hip, walking him through the steps of a basic salsa – right foot back, weight forward, right foot forward – their arms met and they folded together, like two halves of a book, keeping the story between them. But Pegasus and Anzu were not the only ones who’d noticed something. Everyone in the Shatterdome knew Seto, by sight, by name, by legend, and everyone in the warm, crowded little lounge, stealing hours back from their endless front, noticed him and Yami in the corner. Testing their footwork with the halting but resolute study of amateurs: mis-stepping, trying again, dignified in error, never once separating; smiling as they toed the edge of mastery, and finally slipping into the rhythm like otters into the river, with a fluid flourish of pleasure. Seto was Seto, yes, but he was also a Ranger, always one of two, and it felt intuitive – natural, even obvious – that even a Ranger as sullen and saturnine as theirs might reach for a hand, and pull himself into the orbit of some bright and laughing star.

#thanks i;ve been waffling over if i want to keep going on wywh or switch to some beast as planned #and earlier today i decided wywh #but i do love working on this monster #writing notes #some beast #nenya85