365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Castle Entrance

8/22/19

They passed through the towns closest to the castle in a loop, only spending about thirty minutes to an hour in each one. They were rather small, though they spent more time at them in the beginning due to the morning markets being open, which made for quite a few interesting buys. For instance, Yusei managed to find a gear-battery hybrid thing that seemed to store duel energy; he wasn't entirely sure how or why it was in this place, considering it definitely didn't have much modern technology, but he'd gotten it regardless and planned on showing it to his duel spirits the next time he went to Starlight Junktion. They'd probably have a field day figuring out how it worked and what they could apply it to and build.

After they finished, it was around the time for a late lunch so they finally made their way to the castle, which continued to awe Yusei even now - he'd had hours to get used to it being on the horizon, but it had so much more detail as they flew closer that he couldn't help but stare at it.

"It used to look a lot more like a jagged mountain," Judai stated - he must've noticed his stare, "But it turned out that was just a... defensive measure, I guess. Magically induced to protect the actual castle walls from attacks, and you can probably see why."

And he could - the walls were sturdy, but most importantly, they held lots of little, decorative metal pieces and sculptures, which would break far too easily from even just a light attack on the walls.

"It's amazing," Yusei smiled, watching for a few seconds longer before chuckling when he heard his stomach growl, "Guess I'm ready for lunch, huh?"

"Don't worry, I'm the same way," Judai said, laughing a bit as well, "We'll be there in another minute or two if I speed up, so... hold on tight, dear!"

The second Yusei tightened his grip and buried his head into his chest Judai burst forward, and he was suddenly very glad he'd brought not just a jacket, but a wind-breaker jacket. His hands were freezing enough as is, alongside his face, but at least he couldn't feel the lash of the wind anywhere else.

With one last, powerful push of air, Judai landed gracefully on the drawbridge. Yusei felt him kiss forehead to tell him that he'd be letting him down, so he moved his grip to be on the arm holding his back up before letting his feet swing under him; it'd gotten a lot easier after having to do this every time they'd landed in a town so far, plus they established that little bit of a routine they'd fallen into for landing, which helped.

"Thanks," Yusei mumbled, stretching a little and flinching when a light poke hit his side, "Oi."

"You know I can't resist when I see the opportunity," Judai grinned happily, holding his hand and walking with him towards the the door to the castle, "Anyway... ready to see something cool? Watch."

When they were only a few feet away, the doors suddenly started opening with a loud creak, revealing a large entryway that had a spiraling staircase and looked to be well-kept.

"See? It automatically opens for me!" Judai chirped, making Yusei laugh at his enthusiasm, "Anyway, to the kitchen! Let's go!"

Yusei let Judai drag him along so that he could spend the walk looking around instead. The ceilings were high, at least on this floor, and every once in a while they'd pass a huge floor height window that had some very pretty, royal purple curtains hanging from the very top of them. The natural light passing through the windows lit the castle up beautifully, and once again, Yusei had to wonder what it was to actually live in a place like this.

"Here we are!" Judai exclaimed, turning to him and pecking his cheek before gesturing behind him to the huge counters and pantries of the kitchen, "It's insane how big it is, isn't it? But I like this 'cause it means I can mess up a recipe and have empty space to move to to start over."

"I'd like to see you somehow use up all the space in here cooking," Yusei teased, earning himself chiming laughter and a hug that he was quick to return, considering he was still a bit cold from the flight there, "Well, what're we making for lunch? Any ideas?"

"Yup! Tea party!"

"A... tea party?"

"Eh... well, kinda, I mean I have all the stuff for it and I figured that since we're pretty hungry, we can make sandwiches and those are tea party foods too if you cut 'em small. And I wanted to try some of the tea leaves that we apparently grow in the garden here, who'd have known?" Judai replied, rubbing the back of his head lightly with a bright grin, "There's a section of the garden that's set up for it, too."

"Ah, so that's why," Yusei hummed, knowing Judai would've seen such a thing (he assumed it was as well-kept as the castle seemed to be) and been instantly in love with the idea - his Kuriboh was such a sappy romantic at heart and he loved it, "You sap. Tea sounds wonderful."