It’s hard to get a feel for what kind of person Atem actually was in life, since all we really see is a handful of flashbacks of him as a small child + a post-character development Yami trying to muddle his way through an rpg version of his past…but it’s lines like these (and the implication that Priest Seto genuinely thought this was something the pharaoh would be amused by) that make me suspect that Season 0 Yami didn’t just spring out of nowhere.
Pharaohs were also gods on earth and what he said was law so I still enjoy the idea of Atem originally being a terrible and cruel power. It best explains how he was when he arrived originally. Passing judgement how he best saw fit but given whoever a ‘fair trial’ playing out games he knew for a fact they would fail at.
But I also believed over time he learned to become kind and truly more just in his trials thanks to Yugi and his friends.
This has been a wild ride and I certainly hope there is more! The art style is great and the flow has been pretty smooth in my opinion and you have managed to make Tristan’s hair actually cool looking.
Marik liked to think himself a fairly simple feline. He enjoyed exploring the outside world, getting into fights, winning said fights, and occasionally snuggling up to an attractive white cat or two. These were all reasonable things to him.
What was unreasonable though was all the effort he put into attempting to charm one feline in particular. That was Bakura. A white fluffy mess that was virtually a perfect killing machine. Maybe not as perfect as himself as he loved to torture his meals before partaking but none the less, Bakura was a killer. The unfair part was that Bakura did not like him and he could not figure out why.
Marik sat near the balcony railings, tail flickering in thought. It was unusual for him to want to be indoors but down below was Bakura. His handsome Bakura… and that disgusting other cat whose name he hadn’t a clue. Enemy would have to do.
Enemy had stupid unruly mane with pointy fringe that only seemed to make his stupid purple eyes stand out more and a purple cape. Clearly he was trying to imitate Marik’s own fashion but did it so badly that it somehow looked okay if Bakura was with him. UGH!
Marik glared down over the edge at the seemingly happy couple with great disgust.
How did this happen?! He brought Bakura an offering! He even proved he was a fine specimen that any feline should be grateful to have around! When all that failed he tried to show his adoration by helping the other groom only to be clawed in the face. HIS FACE! His perfect face…
On the bright side he would have something to remind him of the other when he would lap at his water dish but it was alas bittersweet.
It was then that Enemy looked up as if sensing the hatred from the balcony that Marik realized he had been caught staring again. Bakura turning his head up to stare too at what had disturbed his pathetic choice in affection.
Instinctively the Ishtar hissed showing all his needly teeth. Bakura red eyes judging him. Looking at him as if /he/ were the scum of the earth and not /that/ revolting thing beside him wearing a ridiculous upside down pyramid! He hated that look. Oh how Marik loathed it. That another stole the attention he so desperately craved and needed.
Ears folded back he turned his head away unable to handle the rejection and keep on witnessing the love he wanted giving so freely to someone so undeserving.
Enemy had everything a cat could want. Everything and now more.
The growl in Marik’s throat faded as he padded away from the edge to curled up in a darkened corner by himself. Ears still folded down and tail now wrapped tightly around himself while his traitorous mind edged back to thinking about how happy his Bakura looked with Enemy. It was… Awful.
Yeah. He wanted Bakura to be happy but… why couldn’t he be happy with him? Why did he- why couldn’t he impress the one other that mattered most? If he was so much better than Enemy then… why did he feel like this? Like he was… Like he was nothing.
Hope it’s not too out of cat character and stuff. Just felt like writing weird shit i guess.
“They hate you, you know,” Yami spoke as he pulled himself up from the floor. Hands brushing away imaginary dirt from his slacks along the way, eyes to the floor. “You’re only here because of Yugi. He’s the only one willing to lie and think you have changed. The rest of us… well, we just know better.”
“What?” Marik too rose now if only on the defensive as he still had issues trusting the other he was left alone with. Old memories, feelings or events, well, they died hard.
“Don’t play dumb. There is only one way you will ever convince any of us that you are worth anything.” Yami feeling like he had a handle on things moved to collect the popcorn bowls now only filled with the remains of unpopped kernels.
“And what is that?” Marik had to bite. He wanted to be what Yugi claimed to see. That potential of good buried deep inside from the start of existence but it was difficult. No matter what he seemed to do it was just not enough and it felt weird. As if he were trying desperately to fit into a mold not designed to hold him. It hurt but instead of complaining he would just try to contort and find a new angle that might allow him to stay and not break. But it clearly was not working as well as he would have hoped.
“You need to change.”
“Change what?” Marik asked perhaps a little too eagerly. His facial features though showing more annoyance than that tiny spark of hope inside.
Yami moved the bowls more to his left arm and gestured with his now free right.
“This.”
“You just gestured to all of me.”
“Exactly! You need to not be… that.” Yami moved his hand up and down towards the other who was now baring his teeth in anger. “But you can’t change what you are, Marik. You are always going to be you and that is why you will never fit in.”
“…Yugi thinks I can,” was all the blonde could retort.
“Please,” Yami snorted. “Yugi sees the good in everyone. Even in people it never existed in. He’s like,” what was a good metaphor? “He is like a child looking up at the night sky. He can see all of us in a good light- but you… The poor boy is looking at a shooting star unable to notice that you are actually the black hole pulling it in. Nothing good can ever come from a thing like you.”
There was a moment of silence as the words seeped into Marik’s mind, echoing over themselves as he seemed to stare down at the floor. Fists clenching as old memories surfaced in mute silence. Hurt faces of his family and those who were in the room not long ago overlapping with one another.
Having expected immediate anger, Yami was surprised but not enough to care or even see what he had done. Instead he moved around the room to put soda cans into the stack of bowls to take downstairs and dispose of in one trip. Only when the other reached the door did Marik seem to come to and move again.
“So what are you saying? That I should just give up? Stop trying?” Violets watching the other closely now even as a smirk seemed to glide effortlessly onto the pharaoh’s face.
“I think you already know the answer the that.” The old king moving out of the room to leave Marik behind with his own thoughts. The room quiet as he stood in place dealing with the whirlwind of emotions inside that conflicted with his thoughts.
“Maybe…” Maybe he did know. He was still the villain in their eyes, wasn’t he? Maybe…. Maybe that was all he would ever be. Well… If that is what they really wanted then perhaps… That was what he should give them?
OH BOY! That took a while. This one I recommend viewing in another tab! Its definitely not perfect, but I am proud of it ovo
The details in this are so well done that I am having trouble finding words. His lower legs being wet with water from the spray cause by running, the water itself with the reflections, ripples, and spray, those beautiful flipping birds with the one more out of focus because it’s closer and not the main subject, the folds in fabric, that ridiculous hair made more real, all that time to spend on that horse alone to give it tone and depth and enough texture to look soft like one, the way the wind makes both their hair fly back along with the cape and the soft hues of the sky showing it clearly is a morning ride and not a nightfall one… Gods damn it- this whole thing is just masterful!
Remember when Yami created a Maze of Fire and laughed as the thugs trapped inside burned?
Because I do.
Okay, but just like, step over the fire. It’s not that bad, you weenies.
Okay… Sure… Step over it STRAIGHT INTO A PENALTY GAME! Because that is the kind thing Yami would do. He sets up games and when he catches you cheating, he either breaks you or you end up murdered. So running through it is their best option.
I am Terra 