I carried the votes from the last chapter over, so there is more of a chance for your favorite characters to participate. I also eliminated the already interviewed characters. In addition, there will only be double interviews with ties. I've racked my brain all night for a workable system but, being me, logic isn't one of my best subject matters.
Sorry…
Votes:
Jou- 8
Malik- 5
Ryou- 5
Yugi- 4
Anzu (Tea)- 3
Pegasus- 2
Yami Malik- 1
Bandit Keith- 1
Honda (Tristan)- 1
Mai- 1
Shizuka (Serenity)- 1
*Lamely stating the oblivious* Well Jounouchi's the new guest! It looks like I might have a tie between Ryou, Malik and Yugi…
Please don't be offended if I don't answer your reviews, in this and possible other chapters. It's just; there are so many people (which is a good thing ^_^;) but it takes away from the fic if the a/n is longer than the actual chapter. But I thank you very much for the positive feedback! Wow, so many too, I serious never thought I'd get this many! Thank you all, you've totally made my day!
Sorry for the lateness of this chap. But I did post is exactly on the 20th so give me some credit. As for the voting, sorry I couldn't keep my word but I need this process to be as easy as I can get it.
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Under The Wraps
Entry 03: Jounouchi Katsuya
(Another day, another interview… Hello and welcome to "Under The Wraps"! Today we'll meet Jounouchi Katsuya ((commonly known as Joseph "Joey" Wheeler in the Americanized version)). )
(We find ourselves in Domino, walking down another crowded street, clumsily avoiding being stampeded by herds of miscellaneous characters with the sole purpose of filling in the city streets. Sad really. To be created with no name, personality, or even mind, yet simply exist to support a world for "puppets … forced into situations and influenced by the thoughts of" authors. But we have strayed our topic – being Jounouchi Katsuya, of course.)
(A car along the street suddenly screeches to a haul. The distraught driver begins to shout profanities out of his window as a blonde teen rushed past the car, banging the hood.)
J (Jou): Watch it, ya jerk!
Q: I see you've decided to join me, Jounouchi.
(The blonde grins mischievously and begins to catch up, pushing his way through the crowd.)
J: You did that on purpose didn't you?
(He motions behind him, toward the car and its profane driver.)
Q: I'll admit it, bit I thought your entrance needed some dramatics.
J: That ain't dramatic, 'specially if you hang here in 'dis… place.
Q: Hm, I suppose. Anyway, down to business.
J: Shoot.
Q: Okay, how do you feel about this place? Would you leave if you could?
J: Hell yeah! 'Course I'd have to take my sis, and maybe my ma'. I mean this place is cool and all but it's like slavery, ya know? We hav'ta do what them authors write, even if we don't wanna.
Q: What bothers you the most?
J: I dunno. I guess the idea of someone fuckin' my sister. She's all I got right now, and someone up there, an author, 's making her do stuff.
Q: With who?
J: Kaiba, Pegasus… I'm just glad it ain't me. I mean c'mon peoples she only, what, thirteen?
Q: I'm sure you and Kaiba can relate a bit on that subject. Do you talk often when the authors are taking a break?
J: It ain't like a movie, where all 'da cast all sits and talks when the director's gone. We go our separate ways… I mean one of us has another fic to so or something, I like ta hang with Yug' before another fic starts up. But Kaiba, he leaves and goes to work in his company on somthin'. Kaiba's taking this pretty hard, but I can't blame him. He keeps talking about 'rising up' and 'leaving this place'. I think these fics are makin' him a little nutty.
(He makes a swirling motion around his ear, after the last statement.)
Q: So Kaiba is taking this hard, huh? Do your "relationships" bother you?
J: Naw, I try not to let them. After all they ain't real. *It's like knowing you live in this world that's supposed to be free, but it ain't. There are bigger powers controlling everything that happens. You can't stop the powers and you can't change 'em; so all you can do is live with 'em and try to do your best, even if their there.
Q: So you don't mind the yaoi and/or shounen-ai fics?
J: I never said that. I try not to let 'em get to me, or else I'd be as crazy as Kaiba. But I could do without them.
Q: Why do you think the authors set you up with Kaiba? I mean you don't like each other in the actual series.
J: People take things differently. When Kaiba's insulting me one person could see him hitting on me and the other sees him wanting to tear my throat out. It's just the way people take things, ya know, like when I was little I'd pull girls hair. I did it 'cause I liked 'em, but the girls thought the oposite.
Q: If there was one thing you could ask the authors to improve on in their writing, what would it be?
J: … I'm not so good at writing myself, but I think I'd want them to stop making these fics where a canon sees another character (canon or not) and then suddenly falls in love with them for no reason, even after they been in the exact same, town, school, or whatever, for years. It's annoying.
Q: So you don't like those instant love stories.
J: Yeah, I ain't one to be preaching about love, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't go: see each other, fuck, then get married and live happily for ever after. Real life ain't like that. Life ain't "happily ever after".
Q: You seem to be leading up to another questing I've been wanting to ask. There are so many fic where you're abuse by your father, what do you ting of them? And what is your actually relationship with him?
J: Well, a lotta people think just 'cause my ma' left with my sister my dad's an ass, but they could be wrong. I can't tell you what my dad's like cause it don't tell in the show and comics [1] and I don't really know. All we know about ourselves is what our original creator has put into the series, manga, whatever.
It's kinda confusing, cause I don't know him, and then I do… I got are the author's projections of him. Like there was this one fic, I really remember is 'cause Pegasus was my dad…
(Jou laughs to himself.)
J: You should have seen Peggy's face. Can you say "priceless"?
Q: You seem to enjoy your place here, compared to the other I've interviewed.
J: After the Duelist Kingdom arc, I kind of gained –what do you call it?- self confidence, I guess. I figured almost anything was possible, I mean I've beaten a bunch 'a international champions. What ticks me off is most of 'em were cheaters, I makes my feel kind of… cheated [2]. But, like I said almost anything's possible here, and even if Kaiba won't believe, we're going to exist here for a long time, I might as well get used to it.
Q: Its nice to see someone so optimistic, what role did you enjoy the most?
J: Besides the Pegasus one, I was turned into a ghost – more than once, actually- and had to haunt Kaiba or something, but when to author was doing some long angsty scene with techno-boy I snuck off and "visited" Mai…!
Q: Um… it's quite hard to respond to that, but glad to see you're happy here. I think it's about time for me to go. Thanks for your time, Jounouchi.
J: Right. Smell ya later tots!
(Joey jogs off toward the Turtle Game Shop, which is just visible above the heads of the passing people. It seems nice to know that someone in this nonexistent, yet existent city is happy.)
(As an author once said, "*No less than any living creature whose life is guided by some unseen hand. For are not our lives but a story, a small part written and entwined in the volumes of a Greater Tale, one that we follow and yet cannot hope to fully understand?" We all, fictional or not, have stories in the pages of a "Greater Tale". We can't stop it nor change it, but we must live with it, even if we don't accept it.)
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* Relating to corporate America.
* A line from Key's fic "Trapped as a Mary Sue". A very good LotR fic, I must add, check it out! (It actually sort of inspired my to do this fic.)
[1] I'm not quite sure, but I don't really think Jou's dad is ever seen or mentioned in the US version, as for the Japanese one… he might have been in the first series (not Duelist Kingdom). Please correct me, I I've messed up somehow.
[2] Chris Lysse brought this up in the last review. Is Jou purposely targeted by cheaters or something? I mean "Bandit" Keith, Weevil, Roba, and Mai… I guess the perfume thing counts… But you get the point.
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Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
Here ends the third chapter, sorry for the lateness. I do have a life outside of fanfiction and I'm trying to balance the two. Well school is over, thankfully, and I have a lot of free time. ('Cause my social life is six feet under and dropping. -_-;)
I also go a scanner! Yes, I got a scanner for my grad present. I can post my work on line now… just one problem, where to post? I don't really want my own web site (even though I'm trying to run one) and deviantART.com doesn't take AOL users… *dramatic sigh* If anyone knows a place like deviantART, Eflwood (which I don't like flat out), or Side 7 (which is down for now) please tell me!
Tell me and VOTE! Yes, please vote! All you have to do is click the friendly purple button and type. Please? For me? ^_^?