365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Shirley and Pharaoh

12/16/19

Shirley and Pharaoh's reunion was interesting, to say the least - the crocodile reacted in a way that told them she remembered the cat even after all these years somehow, and she was quite enthusiastic in greeting him. Pharaoh was wary for all of thirty seconds before finally calming down and running around the other, seemingly un-bothered by the toothy smile Shirley gave off. Everyone that was watching the interaction got a laugh though when Pharaoh was brave enough to crawl up on top of Shirley's snout, seeming to have fun going up and down as she proceeded to snap her jaws a couple times.

"Haven't seen 'er that happy with someone besides Ruby in a while," Jim laughed, stealing some candy from a bowl on the table nearby - the candy Jack and Crow had bought was almost immediately fought over and poured into a couple bowls to be scattered around the area so they were easy access.

"This is a weird first introduction to crocodiles," Crow snorted from next to him, seemingly torn between amusement and disbelief. He'd clicked pretty fast with Jim, though Judai attributed that to their similar personalities. Both of them were quick to joke around and had that same aura of laid-back ease around them, with just a hint of seriousness hidden behind it.

"I relate to that statement far too much," Daichi said, having also gotten along with Crow pretty quickly. It was almost immediately obvious to Judai that the man had finally managed to relax over the years, even if he'd never lost that love for math and logic, which was definitely a nice thing to see. He assumed part of it was from marrying Rei - which by the way, she'd told him the story behind so his curiosity was satisfied for once.

Apparently when she reached her mid-twenties she was absolutely done with trying to date or do any of that sort of stuff (a stark difference from her childhood, but hey, Judai knew all about how much someone could change over even just a couple years), and by that point they'd become pretty good friends because they lived in the same city; Daichi was the same way, and they ended up marrying because it worked out for both of them and they got along well enough. They pooled their assets, had a person to share life with even if they didn't necessarily love each other romantically, and were plenty happy, so all the more power to them.

"Are we still sure that Shirley doesn't have some sort of magic in her?" Judai grinned, just joining them and cracking open a soda, "Could be like Pharaoh for all we know."

"...Judai, you have never mentioned anything about Pharaoh being magical before," Daichi said after a moment of silence, both him and Jim staring at him with similarly raised eyebrows, "Is this a new development or something?"

"Er... no?" Judai laughed sheepishly, Crow already snickering quietly in anticipation of their reactions, "Uh... let me put it this way, he didn't jump through time with me. He spent all his time in the spirit dimension up until a bit over half a year ago."

"And he's still alive? Perfectly healthy and energetic too... well, as much as Pharaoh usually is, at least," Jim whistled, turning back to look at the two animals again, "I think I can see where you got the idea from, then."

"Well, it's only partially because of the life-span thing. The other tell is that he actually has some amount of duel energy in him."

"Fascinating," Daichi mused, still looking rather flabbergasted but used to Judai's usual shenanigans like the rest of them at this point, "I wonder if it can be compared to the amount in smaller duel monsters."

"Well, if you want you can go over to what I'm dubbing the 'nerd corner' as of this moment," Judai smiled, gesturing towards the other room, "Yusei, Johan, and Phoenix went back into research mode the second they all met up again - last I checked Yusei was borderline ranting to them about his classes and some of the stuff he had to review."

"Good for him though, you could tell he wanted to do that with us these last few months but we just wouldn't get it the way those guys do," Crow added, looking at the trio through the doorway as well with a smile before perking up suddenly and moving his head to look at a different corner of the room, "Oh ho, Jack looks annoyed, I gotta go watch this!"

As he got up and left, the remaining three of them moved to look at that corner of the room as well to see what he was talking about, only to bite back snorts of laughter upon seeing Jack in a conversation with not just Thunder, but Rei as well. Asuka was off to the side looking greatly entertained by the... conversation, snacking on some of the food that Judai'd brought while she did so like it was popcorn. Sho was right beside her doing the same thing, and they were were having a conversation of their own solely through glances between themselves and the trio before them so that they didn't accidentally draw their attention.

Unfortunately, they were missing Kenzan as he was busy and couldn't make it, but he did say in his email reply that he'd be shipping out presents and cards to everyone. It was a shame, but then again, Judai wasn't entirely sure if this place could handle another person adding onto the currently talking trio because that is almost exactly what he'd be doing if he were here.

"I'm going to go join the science talk over there and try to shut out the others so I don't laugh to death in the middle of it," Daichi eventually said once they'd finished sharing a couple laughs over the sight.

"Yeah, I think I'll be avoiding that area for a little bit," Jim stated, popping another candy in his mouth and crunching it almost immediately, "I've got some pretty honed danger senses and that is setting off all of them."

"Same, I'm sticking out here where it's nice and calm for now," Judai agreed, pulling out his phone and waving it around towards the cat and crocodile with a grin, "Anyway, Jim, I believe we're missing out on a perfect photo opportunity right now!"