#I have so many Yuri on ice drawings and I want to post them!!

[princeofdecay]

❄️Winter and Spring🌸

[marigoldbaker]

actually yeah i think i am going to make a little post of new years' resolutions/current long-term goals to circle back to next year, maybe, and see how i did!

(very cheerful and hopeful chatter under the cut <3)

i would like to accrue a bit more romantic experience. already kind of starting to glance at the dating apps again like yes actually i would enjoy continuing to explore that, potentially.

i'd like to become closer with the friends i've acquired this year and the friends i have in general! i value quality over quantity and while i would not say no to more friends in my irl area, i have some really lovely people in my life who i'd like to make sure i stay in touch with (as there are so so many of them. which is insane.)

creatively speaking, i'd like to do more drawing this year, hopefully more bookmaking, maybe invest in a sewing machine? the sewing machine is sorta dependent on me actually binding some books.

i would like to actually know what's going on in both of the classes i'm taking instead of just one please god

i'd like to stay on top of work stuff! i feel like i manage my work stuff confusingly. i want to be working in a way that feels up to my standards and satisfaction -- the job tasks i have i either finish too slow or too fast and i want to figure out a balance for that.

i want to continue experiencing new media! i made a super concentrated effort to do that this year and it's been wonderfully fruitful.

i want to learn more about video games, and play a whole bunch of them :)

i want to actually start cooking again and meal prepping consistently. that would be so cool.

i want to go swimming over the summer and also actually figure out ice skating. like girl you literally live right by an ice rink? please try the skates. maybe even invest in some ice skates. that could be so fun. you could have so much fun. you could be living your yuri on ice dreams.

side note i just checked and i found out the ice rink is open YEAR ROUND?????? and actually also contains a FITNESS STUDIO? how have i not been going to the fitness classes right by my house. is this possibly another thing i should add to my list of resolutions. i literally love living here so much it's insane i love it i legally can never leave

i want to spend this summer properly exploring the city! i spent last summer kind of decompressing and getting used to my situation, and i wasn't yet comfortable enough in my own neighborhood to feel adventurous -- just existing here was adventurous lol. but there's so much cool stuff in the city and i do actually legitimately have quite a few people i can drag places now, if i have a destination in mind :) or they can drag me places idk!

i want my 24th birthday to KICK ASS. i have absolutely no idea how i'm supposed to top my 23rd birthday, which was a cozy and wonderfully solitary affair, but i have like five months to think of something.

this one is a little harder to properly measure, just a hope -- i hope very ardently that those in my life right now know how thoroughly they've contributed to this year being a really good one. even if we've only talked like one time this year it meant a lot to me. and i hope that i continue to be a positive part of people's lives! that's important to me too.

[browngurl99]

I think the biggest reason they tried to make Buddy Daddies as less Homo as possible is definitely because they wanted more people to watch this series. As the VAs said in an interview that "Men should watch this". They probably wanted to attract a larger audience, especially men. If they made Kazuki and Rei's relationship even a bit gay, they would lose so many watchers.

A large audience of Anime in general consists of Cis Heterosexual Men. These men won't watch anything that's even remotely gay. Why do you hear all these anime youtubers people never talk about Yuri on ice or Banana Fish? Both of these anime series are pretty popular. But they don't talk about it cuz they don't watch it. They know it's canonically queer and hence, they are never gonna watch it. They refuse that Ymir and Historia were in love. They hate on people who harmlessly ship characters of same gender. They say gay shippers ruin the fandom. Of course, they won't watch Buddy Daddies if it's even a little Homoerotic.

The fact that it's about two men raising a child is already a reason for many people to draw back from watching it. So, if it actually turned out to be a gay, so many of them will refuse to watch it. And that's why Rei and Kazuki acted like "just friends" in the timeskip even after all that happened when they were at The Suwa mansion. It's like that meme where a man uses tape to a fix a hole in a filled water tank. They love each other. They really do. But the creators had to prove that it's purely platonic. But on the other hand one of the producers keeps liking all the KazuRei shipping posts on twitter. Remember the rumor in Haikyuu fandom that one of the ships was going to become canon but due to homophobia, they weren't allowed to make it canon. That might be actually apply to buddy daddies in reality.

So, basically my point is: Miri commenting about Kazuki slipping out to go drinking with a girl and Rei n Kazuki being a little awkard at first when Miri was taking a family picture ; It was nothing more than a marketing strategy. They did it on purpose so the homophobic audience (or audience that just don't want to watch gay content) will still watch the show. They did it to assure that audience that it's not gay. They did it to relieve those "Thank God Buddy Daddies is not gay" kind of people.

Now, What they did was right or wrong, that's subjective. I personally kinda understand why they did this this. And Honestly, us as a fandom shouldn't just let a couple of scenes ruin KazuRei for us. I was actually kinda scared when I came across a time-skip spoiler before watching the episode. I was scared if they will show Kazuki and Rei having wives or something. But THIS is a lot better than that. And gay shippers have had worse than this. But that does not stop us from making all this amazing content about our favorite fictional pairing, does it? So, let's just not overthink it.

They look very happy in the picture. It's clear that they are comfortable with each other.

[ivan-draws555]

Hello! My name is Ivan, I am a 22-year-old trans man that has recently started art school to understand the principles of design and color theory better so that I can make the art I’d really like to make. I’ve been drawing traditionally for around 10 years, and I occasionally try my hand at digital art, though I’m not the best at it. But since I started drawing, I’ve always wanted to share my art and make something out of it. Specifically, I’d like to design characters and give them meaningful stories that people relate to. I want my art to mean something, I want it to live and breathe in the way that only an audience on the internet can make it do. I’d like to create a safe, close nit community that fosters creativity in every way. I have a lot of oc designs, some are for different shows that I enjoy, but most of them are just people that aren’t connected to anything, and I’d like to share their stories, but deciding on a set backstory and name for each one can be difficult sometimes. But for now, I think I’ll just post the designs and see what other people think of them. 

A couple more things about me: I love to cook, it’s one thing that has been a part of my life and personality since I was little. I mostly watch anime and listen to podcasts in my free time, though I do also play a few games, but not many. So expect some fan art from time to time from any of the following. I will also be posting this on my instagram @/ivandraws55

Anime: I started watching anime around the same time I started drawing, the first anime I watched that I recognized as anime was Blue Exorcist, and my favorite anime I’ve ever watched is Soul Eater. Though I did know about Naruto and had a Super Smash Bros style game for it as a kid. Some other anime that I have seen and enjoyed are: Ouran High School Host Club, Your Lie in April, Horimiya, Fruits Basket, Sk8 the Infinity, Haikyuu!!, Yuri!!! On Ice, Given, Spy x Family, Erased, Tokyo Revengers, The Orbital Children, No. 6, Jujustu Kaisen, Demon Slayer, Full Metal Alchemist, Attack On Titan, Black Clover, Fire Force, Bleach, and One Piece. 

Podcast: I was introduced to Welcome to Nigh Vale when I was in high school, and instantly fell in love with it and the media format. Once I had caught up with it at the time, I started looking for others like it and fell into a rabbit hole of weird and interesting podcast that I couldn’t get enough of, some of these are: The Magnus Archives, Archive 81, The Storage Papers, The Penumbra Podcast, I Am In Eskew, Alice Isn’t Dead, The Milkman of St. Gaffs, The Town Whispers, EOS 10, Darkest Night, 36 Questions, The Bright Sessions, and Wolf 359. 

Games: I’ve been playing Zelda games since I was a kid playing on a GameCube, my first one was Twilight Princess, so it will always be one of my favorite games, though I do have a variety of Zelda games. Another game that I started playing when it came out is Genshin Impact. My favorite character is and always has been Xinyan, she was one of my first characters and has had a mostly permanent spot on most of my team comps. 

[harocat]

I hope this doesn't come across as rude or anything, as I'm bi myself, but based on some posts from confused danmei fans I've found on the TTEOTM tag, I'm afraid that Tantai Jin or the drama are not gay enough for Tumblr to lose it over him, like they did over MDZS 😢

I'm a lesbian and I'm not offended lol. I think for things to draw the tumblr audience, it's not so much that they have to be gay as they have to be potentially gay.

And by that I mean potentially gay and about men, specifically, because fandom is frankly like 75% less interested in stories about women and it's still rare for a women-centered series and an f/f ship to break out and be super popular.

So something like TTEOTM doesn't really have a lot of m/m shipping potential. There's a bit of a spark between Xiao Lin and TTJ near the beginning, but it sort of pitters out. Nian Baiyu and TTJ are close, but they just don't really have that vibe that makes them feel super shippable. There's no getting around that the most compelling relationship TTJ has in the series is with a woman (though you all, the enemies to lovers vibes you all love are here and they are so good). I've been trying to get all my fellow queer friends to watch Love Between Fairy and Devil because I'm like 'IT'S REALLY GOOD I PROMISE' and I have succeeded with several of them, but the m/m shipping potential is definitely minimal so it probably won't ever catch fire in fandom at large.

Add in that, and this is more important than anything else in this specific case, it's a Chinese drama, which is not something widely popular on tumblr EXCEPT for The Untamed and Word of Honor, both of which are based on canon bl novels, and there's just no hope of drawing people in.

I don't want to insinuate that things are just popular because they're gay or potentially gay, because I do think there's generally a level of quality that they need to have to get people actually into them. And many of these shows have SO MUCH more going for them than just 'they're canon gay' so it's a bit of an insult to insinuate that's the only reason they're popular. I feel like there should be a balance in discussion where you can go 'hey a lot of people may have tried this out because it's canon gay, but the reason it sustained a large following is because it's legitimately a really excellent story with great characters, in addition to the gay.' I always get super defensive when people say Yuri on Ice is only popular because it’s gay.

There's after all plenty of gay or just really slashy shows no one cares about on this site because they're not good. There are exceptions to this (I mean is SPN good? No), but I do think fandom on the whole has gotten choosier in recent years, which is not a bad thing. People are definitely less tolerant of stuff that strings queer viewers along like BBC Sherlock.

MDZS is very good. Wei Wuxian is probably my second favorite fictional character ever. I have issues with the actual narrative of Word of Honor (it's just kind of shoddily written at times), but the characters themselves are very good, and that's what matters most in fandom.

I can never fault people on tumblr for checking into canonically gay media because it is gay, because hey, almost all of us are queer here and we want to see stories about ourselves. But I guess I do get frustrated when over and over the biggest fandoms on here are things that aren't gay, but are just about men that people find shippable. And TBH I think people miss out on so many great stories and characters when they just kind of go purely from big slash fandom to big slash fandom, whatever is popular at the moment.

I also think that, and this is maybe my most salient point of all, people in fandom should try just... not watching everything with a fandom mindset. Like here's a great show, but there's not really a popular ship in it with a lot of fanworks, so people don't watch it. But why not? Not everything needs to be a fandom for you. Sometimes you can just enjoy media, and who knows, maybe something will surprise you and you WILL feel fandom-y about it.

[dk-wren]

Week 4ish - 30 Days of Buddy Daddies

Welcome to the final round of my responses to the 30 Day's of Buddy Daddies tag! Thank you for all your support on these posts and @yuraamar for creating all these fun prompts. Let's do this one more time!

Day 22: Favorite Drawing from Miri's Diary

I love how this diary entry either suggests Miri woke up later in the night and got to properly celebrate Papa Rei's birthday or this is what she had planned (before she got too tired to wait for Rei).

While it might be more an expression of surprise, I also kinda love how Miri drew Rei with a big smile.

Day 23: Which Actor/Actress Would You Have Liked to Voice the Characters

In all honesty, I don't know.

Yes, I really enjoyed all the voice actors' performances and couldn't imagine anyone else voicing these characters. But also, Buddy Daddies was I think my 5th or 6th anime, so I have yet to really identify and/or follow any particular VAs to say I would have liked them to voice this character.

Just for a further Yuri on Ice reunion, maybe Junichi Suwabe as Kyuutaro(?), but again idk.

Day 24: Crossover

Not so much a crossover, but rather, something I hope exists in the Buddy Daddies universe is Animal Crossing. (There's Mario Kart/Morio Kart in the Buddy Daddies world, so I think it's possible) This just feels like a game the whole family would love and could somewhat play together.

I can totally see Miri loving to talk with the villagers, decorating her house, and catching bugs/fishes. Rei enjoys doing these things too, but I can also see him grind for hours just to make sure Miri has all the bells/supplies she needs when she plays to buy whatever she wants (perhaps this is how Rei spoils Miri?) or make any furniture she wants. I could even see Kazuki casually playing Animal Crossing. He may not be a gamer, but I think even he could learn the basics and not be too overwhelmed.

Just something about Miri, Rei, and Kazuki playing Animal Crossing together seems like a really cute idea.

Day 25: Things You Would Like to See in Future Projects

Something I would like to see in future projects is Kazuki, Rei, and Miri actually finding the place that became the Dining Nest. Did Kyu or someone else find the place for them, did they hunt for this place on their own, and when/why exactly did they choose to open a diner rather than like a shop or some other business? I'd also love to know if the first time they entered the space, if there was an immediate feeling of "this is our home" or did it take some time for them to adjust to the place and make it feel like truly their own space.

As many people have said before, I fully want a beach day story too. The art Lily recently posted of Rei and Miri finally bringing home a cat also makes me want to see this storyline further fleshed out. Gosh, there's probably a bunch of other things I would like to see, but honestly, I just want to see more peaks into Kazuki, Rei, and Miri's daily life as Miri grows up and as Kazuki and Rei fully(?) leave the organization behind them

Day 26: Playlist

I would like to start by apologizing for my music taste because it unfortunately (for you probably) means that this playlist is basically show tunes. Either way, hope you enjoy the songs and my very brief explanations.

Kazurei Vibes:

Rei Vibes: (Trust me on this one, pls)

Final confrontation vibe (Rei singing, but replace "man" with like "dad"):

Day 27: What Made You Watch the Anime

The first anime I really got into was Spy x Family. Because there were a lot of initial comparisons between the two series, that grabbed my attention. I thought to myself, well I quickly fell in love with Spy x Family, so why not give Buddy Daddies a try since it seems similar.

The two animes I had previously gotten into and watched in the fall (SxF and Chainsaw Man) finished their seasons right before Buddy Daddies began airing. This was another reason I watched since I no longer had a weekly anime/show to watch and to help me keep my sanity because of school.

Funnily enough, I really do think it was because Buddy Daddies kept coming up in the SxF tag here that I watched this anime. Like I legitimately do not remember watching the trailer for Buddy Daddies until way after I got into the series.

Day 28: What Would You Change About the Story

Maybe not change, but I really wished more of Kazuki's past with Yuzuko could have been explored or touched on.

For reasons made clear throughout the series, her death, as well as the death of their unborn child, clearly left an impact on Kazuki for a long time. The circumstances alone are tragic, but to have even a little more information about Yuzuko I feel could have made her death even more emotional and tough for the audience. We really only know Yuzuko as Kazuki's ex-wife, so I kinda have to agree with those who have discussed her death really just being a plot device.

Given Kazuki's sorta self-deprecating humor/behavior and past, he definitely seems like someone who does not view himself as highly as he should. And this behavior is likely not a new development after Yuzuko's death, but a habit he’s had for most of his life. So, to see him be open with Yuzuko would be really sweet because she seems to love him as he is and not what he could be. Also, just to see Kazuki be open/vulnerable for the first time in his life, which we see happen again with Rei and Miri, would add to the parallels and give the audience more information about what make Kazuki feel safe.

Day 29: What Message Would You Leave to the Creators and All the Anime Staff?

Thank you thank you thank you!

This series was such a fun watch. I fully went into this show thinking it was a comedy, but loved the emotional and serious moments. The blending of the two tones was really well done and almost felt complementary. Like it's talked about in the show, light and dark walk together and coexist with each other.

Maybe it's just my nature, but I fully and easily fell in love with Rei, Kazuki, and Miri. The development each character went through, especially Rei, in 12 episodes was really incredible. With Rei and Kazuki, their growth felt earned and natural. I also appreciate how their growth is not linear. They learn and make mistakes and keep trying to figure out what it means to be their individual self and a papa.

And going off of that, the central idea of change and if people can change was just so well done. I feel that "can people change?" is a question many ask and you all did such a great job of illustrating yes, you can change, but again, it's not going to be over-night or easily earned.

If it's not been made clear yet, my love for this show is just so big and it’s really got a firm grip on my mind/thoughts. Like literally, this show was life altering since it caused me to develop another interest that I have just so much love for and am deeply obsessed with.

I hope you all return to this story in the future and add on to it. But if not, I appreciate all the work and love you put into these 12 episodes. Truly incredible stuff.

Thank you again for bringing this series and these characters into my life! - Dakota Wren

Day 30: Incorrect Quotes (Free Day)

I've been collecting a bunch of random "incorrect quotes" for a dnd campaign I'm currently in and had a bunch of fun pairing them with those characters. So, now just gonna bring a few of them over here to further create some Buddy Daddies madness.

Kyu, knocking on the door: Kazuki, open up. Kazuki: It all started when I was a kid. Kyu: That’s not what I- Rei: Let him finish!

Rei: Surgeons just stab people to life Kazuki: Please never become a surgeon...

Kazuki: Bold of me to constantly use the phrase 'no worries!' when I am, in fact, constantly full of many worries.

Kazuki: How did none of you hear what I just said?! Rei: I've been zoned out for the past two and a half hours. Miri: I got distracted halfway through. Kyu: Ignoring you was a conscious decision.

Kazuki: Why is Miri crying? Rei: She saw a leaf on the sidewalk and- Miri: IT LOOKED SO CRUNCHY! Kazuki: Please don’t say what I think you’re going say- Miri: AND WHEN I STEPPED ON IT THERE WAS NO CRUNCH! Kazuki: NO, NOT THAT!

Day 31: Episode I Wish I Could Rewatch Again for the First Time (2nd Free Day)

If I could rewatch any Buddy Daddies episode again for the first time, it would be the finale.

The first time I watched the episode was while I was working (yes, I was that impatient I couldn’t wait until after my shift ended), so I had to split my attention between doing my actual job and watching the episode. I would love to just sit and watch the episode again for the first time with my undivided attention. Not being at work would’ve also meant I could’ve fully lost my cool throughout the episode because there were several moments throughout that I was fully screaming in my head.

Not only that, but to just relive so many of the moments again. Rei and Kazuki driving up to the Suwa Manor like maniacs, bursting through the front door together, the kitchen scene?! And also seeing Miri be so indescribably happy to see her Papas wall into her concert. I’m not sure if I ever talked about it, but during my first watch through, I fully thought the episode was going to end with Miss Anna taking the family’s picture, which is followed by the title card. So my shock to see a grown up Miri was through the roof. I didn’t ever want to see how much of the episode was left because I just wanted to enjoy it. It made me so unbelievably happy that the epilogue kept going to show more glimpses into the lives of Miri, Rei, and Kazuki several years into the future. To watch the epilogue again, with that same feeling of oh my gosh there’s more?! would be amazing.

And that’s a wrap for me on the 30 31 Days of Buddy Daddies tag! I had so much fun and loved that this allowed me to continue to show my love for this anime. Can’t wait to see what’s hopefully next for this family, but like I said above, if we’ve already seen the end of their story, then I’m happy with that being so too.

Thank you again for coming along with me on this tag! It truly means a lot to me!

-Dakota Wren

[zinder-fox]

Heyheyhey my fox friend 👋 Happy holidays!! I bring some questions 🎨 What's favorite drawing you made in 2024? 👀 What's favorite drawing you saw in 2024? :book: What's favorite fanfic you read in 2024? 📝 What's favorite fanfic you've written in 2024? ✍ Favorite quote from your fanfic? 💖 Planning anything special for next year? You can answer any questions you want, all of them or none at all! I would love to see stuff you enjoyed or proud of! ✨

Heyyyy! Happy Holidays 💖💖💖

Favorite drawing of mine... is probably one I can't really say much of anything about just yet nor has it been posted, so I'll skip that one for now. It'll get posted sometime in January. But, I'm also pretty proud of this one, if only because drawing people is my biggest weakness in drawing.

I don't think I can narrow down to even a top 5 favorite drawings I saw this year, so I think I'll have to skip that one. Far too many to choose from even just among fanart I've been sent. 🥹

Favorite fic I've read this year... I don't think I could pick just one if my life depended on it. So, here's... a top 5 from assorted fandoms:

Solo Leveling: It's Time For Another Good Idea, Bad Idea by Haurvatat (Ship: Sung Jin-Woo/Woo Jin-Chul) [Readable if you've only seen season 1 of the anime, but I'm assuming it has copious spoilers. Loved it anyway and just got done re-reading it for a second time today.]

Bungou Stray Dogs: Dazai and the Moving Detective Agency by forest_raccoon (Ship: Soukoku) [Not complete yet, but an astoundingly detailed AU that manages to worldbuild very well in the same vibe of the movie.]

Yuri on Ice x Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: Trust Me, I'm an Alchemist by metisket (Background-ish Ship: Victuuri) [A crossover I never expected, but absolutely loved.]

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Salvage by MuffinLance (No Ship) [A fic I don't think I would've read if not for the outpouring of love in the comments below seeing a most-gorgeous bind of the fic.]

My Hero Academia: Complicated Creation by Elemental (Background Ship: EraserMic) [A fic I absolutely loved reading and wish I had found sooner.]

Favorite fic I've written would have to be 'open my eyes to everything (there must be something more)' - the behemoth dazatsu WIP that feels like the one that started everything. (First fic for the ship, first truly long fic, the one that most people found me from)

I also really enjoyed writing 'gotta survive (can't do this on my own)' - the dazatsu fairytale AU that grew legs of its own and managed to exceed 31k words.

I'm sure I have a whole host of favorite quotes I've written somewhere, but the instant I tried to think of any, almost every one vanished from my memory. So here's the only one that I'd call a favorite that I can still remember!

[Dazai talking] "But you are my prince, Atsushi. I could never forget such a special person coming into my life, turning my world upside down—" "That's because I tackled you!" "—and leaving just as quickly as he came." ~ gotta survive (can't do this on my own)

As for next year... my current plan is to finally (finally) wrap up 'open my eyes' and get around to writing some of my backburner ideas (including some body swap/ability swap fics, probably in the 10k-30k range, and probably the idea that lost the coin toss to 'open my eyes' last year). When 'open my eyes' finally gets to the end, I have a bit of a fun surprise planned, so readers will have to wait for that one.

(You know what I mean there, though.) 😉

[werchezdeeno]

https://www.threads.net/@chezdeeno

hhh:

Want to view posts by hhh? Click here! | reblogs | edits | art

https://archiveofourown.org/users/hh_h

Jade:

Want to see posts by Jade? Click here!

(I tag most of my reblogs with 'jadetheshinigami')

https://archiveofourown.org/users/jade_amethyst

ABOUT US

hhh:

she/her - ENFJ - gemini

I might post my art on here, might not... My posts won' t be long (normally). I also recently got into photo editing, so expect more of that! My posts will be tagged hhh and not jade.

I fangirl over random things, be it a character, animation, writing, etc. I'm the more frequent poster.

I'm in so many fandoms, so expect a variety of things. But currently im biggest in Hirano to Kagiura, project sekai, shining nikki, honkai star rail, link click, I'm in love with the villainess

Want to view posts by hhh? Click here.

Jade:

she/her - ENFJ

Hey there, I'm Jade (the saner of the two of us)! I'm not really good at describing myself, but I'll give this a try. I'm an amateur writer, who, admittedly, isn't that good at writing. I still enjoy writing, but I produce strange trash, which is why I don't post too much of my works. hhh and I do make a pretty great team, however. She rocks at creating dialogue and character interactions, and I add depth to those scenes with my descriptions. Despite not being at great writing, I do think I have a good grasp of the "technical" aspects of writing, and apply that knowledge with my strange habit of over analyzing shows and movies.

I'm an aspiring artist. I used to draw a lot, but I took a three year break from drawing and now I'm basically skilless. I'm currently on my journey trying to re-learn all of the stuff I used to know how to do.

I am in...a whole lost of fandoms. If I post about them, expect to see: Tangled, RWBY, Yuri!!! on ICE, Demon Slayer, and Percy Jackson. I still will post in other fandoms, but probably not as much as the ones I listed. I'm also a multi-shipper!

I don't post that much here, but when I do, I try to make decent posts. My post, at least compared to hhh's tend to be longer, so if that's what your looking for--I'm your girl! You won't see me around a lot, but I'm always lurking, so don't be afraid to talk to me--I don't bite!

I realize that I am rambling now, so I'll just close this off here.

(I tag most of my reblogs with 'jadetheshinigami')

[acioo]

anybody who knows anything about me will be able to tell you i spend a bunch of my time ice skating & i’ve never seen a guide on how to write a character that figure skates , so i thought i’d compile some tips & explain things , because my whole childhood i was travelling across the country to spin on ice with nothing on but a leotard & some tights , and now i have nothing but a bunch of tacky costumes and this post to show for it . this is pretty in-depth , about 2.5k words , but if you have any questions about specific aspects or want me to clarify anything , feel free to shoot me an ask . oh & a like  or reblog if you found this helpful would be sweet ! tw : injury, mental illness, eating disorders

most people that wind up as figure skaters started ridiculously young. i was probably six, but at my rink, we train kids as young as four and five. if your character has competed professionally at a state-wide level or up, they most likely started super young and have been professionally trained. figure skating is not a sport that you can do casually, most of the time. ice skating, casually, however, totally different thing. but competitive figure skating, being on a figure skating team, and the like, it’s a lot of effort, time, and discipline. in a lot of families, it’s a tradition to teach your kids to ice skate. at my rink, there’s a lot of people who come from slavic families whose parents signed them up - or athlete parents in gen. so, if your character is SUPER GOOD, they’ve put hundreds of hours of work into it, and have years of practice. it is not something you can pick up in a day, and i’d even say you have to be at it for at least two years before you get good good, and it takes a while to even become comfortable on the ice before you can start to do any kind of trick - THAT is why they start young, so by the time we’re pre-teens, we’re really, really good. the problem happens, famously, at puberty, because your balance gets knocked off, your bones are growing, and you have to basically relearn everything you know.

there are so many different types of figure skating. i specialize in singles, but i’ve done showcase and solo dance ( but both of those skills are more for me to be a well-rounded skater, not for competing ), and would sometimes be put into pairs to help learn skills and work together. you NEED to be in one of these categories for competition because they are what all comps are based upon. singles is, as you think, one single ice skater individually doing their routine. singles will do various dances, jumps, spins, etc. i won't lie, it’s hard, and really, really competitive. singles is the most competitive of all these categories. it’s usually a short program ( jumping, spinning, steps - the easier portion of competition because it’s really just a routine that you need to get down pat so you can boost your score. you will learn to do it in your sleep. ) and then a free skate ( longer than the other, it’s more complicated and difficult ). pair skating is really, really difficult, tbh, and you need a good relationship with whoever you are doing it with because there’s a lot of trust involved. it’s hard to break into pair skating because you need a partner that you’re equal to in skill and you like as a person. you guys spend a lot of time together and you need to get along. you guys need to be equally proficient at ice skating. most pairs get put together when they’re still very young. it’s very difficult to from singles to becoming a pair skater. it’s two skaters and they skate around each other, they lift each other, and move in synchronized patterns. it’s highly technical, like all figure skating, but it is more difficult because you have to keep in mind both your own feet and someone else’s. you do NOT want to bump skates with someone. at best, that is very uncomfortable. at usual/worse, you’re both about to eat shit on ice. in pair skating the partner that lifts needs SO much strength. like, so much. i’ve tried to lift fellow skaters, who are the same weight as me, and it’s near fucking impossible for me. ice skates are HEAVY and skaters have a lot of lower body muscle. we are not light people. for example, once time my team and i were out of practice and just skating around and we started playing around and i did a cartwheel on ice and i fell very hard. wiped tf out. and that’s me, trying to handle my own weight. like singles, it’s a free skate and a short program. pair skating is typically male + female ( what a sad world, i know ), but i encourage every writer to take some suspending of reality. ice dance is, basically, dancing. it’s a lot more performative than other types of skating. it’s done in pairs, but can be performed alone, in a different category called solo dance. in the nicest way possible, singles/pair skaters usually look down a bit on ice dancers because it’s a bit less technical, and doesn’t have any jumps of lifts. but ! that doesn’t mean it’s easy because it’s not. it’s rooted in ballroom dancing and they have two parts of competition: rhythm dance and free dance. fun fact: pair ice dancers scott moir and tessa virtue, who are famous to be suspected dating, are the reason we had a no dating rule at the rink. showcase ice skating is usually for some kind of platform, or in front of a large crowd. i’ve done showcase for investors for our rink. there’s usually costumes involved ( there are costumes for all competitions, but their costumes are more, like, theatre - y ), and props, and acting. it’s actually very fun to watch, but you need acting skill. theatre on ice, however, is just what it sounds like. theatre on ice is popular with children and good for ways to show off an entire team of skaters, because you can have eight to thirty skaters on the ice. they can also compete and they can go international, but they aren’t in the olympics and there aren’t many competitions for them. it’s usually just a fun way to get together with your teammates, bond, and then show off what you did.

so, competitions. super complicated, and as a writer, i suggest really glossing over them, because it’s difficult to get it down completely right. there are nonqualifying and qualifying comps. the difference is that in qualifying competitions, you’re looking to start moving up, basically, so if you qualify in the first one, you go onto the next one, then state eventually, then national, and so on. you start with regionals ( singles ) /  sectionals ( pairs and ice dancers ). then, if you succeed, you go to sectional singles / pairs + ice dance finals. the goal is to get on the national team ( i’ve watched ameatur skaters tell other rinkmates they want to compete in the olympics - it was NOT pretty ), basically. which, let me say this. it is nowhere. near. easy. like, just go into youtube and search “ yuzuru hanyu “ ( gold medal in pyeongchang olympics for mens singles ) and watch ANY of his performances. now he’s the gold medalist, right. he started at four years old. so let’s go smaller. google elsa cheng and watch one of her routines. she’s a member of the us national figure skating team. she’s fifteen. YEAH. not an easy sport. nonqualifying is more laid back and for fun, or trophies. nonqualifying is also a way to practice before you enter into qualifying. competitions are really nerve-racking. it’ll cause stress between you and your rinkmates, because more often than not you’re going against one another. you and your coach will usually spend all the prep season creating your two programs, which you will almost always repeat in every single competition you attend. i have about 20 different routines stored in the back of my head. sometimes my coach would give us exercises of coming up with a routine during a time restraint. my friend junior learned a routine that was on yuri on ice. 

for competitions you arrive, you get ready. you’re almost always wearing some kind of elaborate costume/dress leotard thingy. this is a time to start getting mentally ready, talk to your friends, and do each other’s hair and makeup. costumes are bought way ahead of time, and are usually related to the theme of your routine. you do NOT want a wardrobe malfunction. it’ll mess you up & you’ll lose precious points. your hair will most likely always be back and, more often than not, braided or in a bun. the comp will begin and you have a practice session so that you can get warmed up and ready. it’s not long. you will get the music for your program played one by one, and you rehearse - this is usually to check to make sure your music is right & to get acclimated to the ice then you get off the ice and another group will warm up. your coach can’t be on the ice whatsoever, and has to stay outside the rink. usually, competition order is done by a random draw. one by one, you will do your routine. no one but you can be on the ice. then you go off to the “ kiss and cry “ ( because you’re either about to celebrate or get your ear chewed off by an adult in a tracksuit ) where your score gets announced. then, competition continues. your warmup + when you start is not based on how you placed in the last part of the comp ( usually started with lowest ) and you perform the second routine. then, and this is usually determined by like how serious the competition you're going to, but there are trophies handed out, a podium ceremony is held, or medals or flowers are given out. my coach would always make the team pose together after competitions and go out to eat - lots of coaches hold bonding exercises esp after comps. if we did well, we could skip our 9 am practice. if we did poorly, the team meets up at a local park and runs the three-mile trail, and then they do technical corrections at the rink. after your medal/etc ceremony, you’re done. sometimes the top people will perform, but by that time you’re usually exhausted and want to sleep for a billion years ( or, if you did really well, you want to go eat 15 ihop pancakes and conquer the world ). the competition season is from august to april. this is a BASE of what happens. it’s different at different kinds of competitions and for different categories of skating, but it’s almost always something like this. offseason is for practice, rest, and fun, basically, but if you're a serious skater, by the time you’re hitting july, you’re spending more time at the rink than at home. the most well-known and the hardest competitions to qualify for are the grand prix, europeans ( european championships ), worlds ( world championships ), and the, of course, olympics.

another aspect of almost any professional sport is injury. think about any ice skating routine you’ve seen. there is no protection. you’re wearing a thin sheer leotard. you have basically knives on your feet. it’s VERY easy to get yourself beat up by ice. the ice is very hard and not very forgiving. meaning, if you hit, you hit hard. you usually are putting a lot of force into it, too, because you’re falling. don’t even get me started on the BRUISING. you will look like you have gone thru something, all the time. ice skates, which have to sharpened routinely, are, as you imagine, SHARP AS FUCK. knife shoes. i’ve been recreationally skating, because i work at a rink, and just monitoring the skaters and usually messing around with my rinkmates, and i fell, and i sliced open my thigh. i didn’t need stitches, or anything, but there was blood everywhere. very gross. ( ask abt this answered here ! ) and i wasn’t even doing anything particularly hard. and this has happened before. they WILL cut you. ankle injuries are super common. i’ve seen someone break their ankle feet away from me. i’ve twisted my left ankle five times. as for dislocations, they also happen a lot. when i was twelve, i was at the top of my figure skating career. i was qualifying to competition after competition. during a regular, normal practice, i was doing a jump i had usually aced, and i landed the wrong way and i dislocated my knee and blacked out. it’s a very disgusting injury and extremely, extremely painful. like, a good 50k in hospital bills for the surgery to fix it. i was very good and it was my favorite activity on the planet, but it was so awful that i quit. when i was fourteen, i started skating again, joined my team, etc, etc, but it was very difficult to recover from. and that’s a very common story. most people get injured and they have to stop. i know a girl who got a bunch of concussions, and wasn’t able to skate. i’ve been concussed on the ice. people tear their acls or their hip. we have a sports medic at all figure skating practices and comps. and a lot of injuries, once you hurt something, you will hurt it again because you made it weak. we are all very flexible but overuse will make your bones brittle. there’s also stress fractures and different things you can get from just overworking your muscles. shin splints, tendonitis, jumpers knee, etc. you name an overuse injury, and i’ve had it. i was one so exhausted after practice that i laid down on the ice and cried until my coach ( who i love very dearly ) gave me a bag of skittles and told me to suck it up. that’s not saying my coach is a bitch ( john mulaney vc my coach is a bitch and i like her so much ), that’s to say there is no break, no stopping. you get better, and move on, or you quit.

as-is with basically any competitive sport, if you get serious, you will probably go onto some sort of diet along with it. you want to be eating a lot of nutritional stuff ( granola bars are HOARDED in my locker room & to this day i gag at the sight of protein shakes ), anything with a lot of calcium ( because we do be breaking bones ! ), and iron. i used to eat pasta before comps ( like wayyy before not an hr or anything ) because it gives you ~energy~. you need to be eating a lot because you’re exercising a lot. gatorade is banned by my coach because it's so much sugar. you need to drink so. much. water. we all take a bunch of vitamins. usually will eat chicken / meat in general. but keep in mind, like any sport in which you are cutting things from your diet / eating specific things / etc, it can easily lead to an unhealthy relationship with food. there’s a lot of shitty mindsets you will encounter with coaches and fellow competitors about what weight a figure skater should be, and it's even worse in pair skating ( because of lifts ). when i was eleven, one of my old coaches told me that she hoped i never hit puberty because it’d fuck up my balance & when i did i cried. a fellow competitor once told me she wished she had my “ figure skater “ body ( and at this point of my life, i had very unhealthy eating habits ). another time a group of older kids made fun of how gangly i was while i was in earshot. the amt of times my coach has SCREAMED at ice skaters for making fun of / putting down fellow ice skaters is astronomical. it’s rough. a lot of figure skaters have opened up about how figure skating caused / contributed to their mental illness. it’s very easy to fall into because of how “ perfect “ you need to be. you can look up various figure skaters stories on this: adam rippon, gracie gold, and yulia vyacheslavovna - a very famous one as it was part of the reason her career ended & she was the youngest ever skating gold medalist. and i will say, personally, my unhealthy relationship with food ( that would eventually lead to lots o problems & i still feel the impact of today ) began when i was figure skating. there are other risk factors for mental illness as well because there’s so much focus on winning / losing. more than once, competitions would give me panic attacks because of the great stress.

another thing is MONEY. as fucked up as it is, you need money, or a grant, if you want to get good. you need expensive skates, costumes, travel fees, and more. my pro figure skates, not my casual ones, cost upwards of 300, and that’s low balling it. when i was ten, my parents spent upwards of 10k on figure skating. there are rink fees, there are competition fees, there are coaching fees. it adds up extremely quickly. i know a lot of skaters who stopped competing because it was just too expensive. i work for my rink by teaching classes and monitoring open skates and additional things, but if i added up every single dollar i ever made, it would be nowhere near enough to pay for everything. but the thing is, if you get really good, you can make money off of competitions, but getting there is the hard part. at one point in my life, my parents were paying $100 an hour for my private coach who i was seeing multiple days a week. figure skaters also oftentimes will take additional classes to help. my coach made the entire junior team take ballet one year. i took a ton of gymnastic classes as well to help with skating.

so, who are the kind of people that ARE figure skaters ? what do we act like ? there’s a lot of stereotypes that figure skaters are cold people. that’s not necessarily true. i would say that we are extremely competitive people. i’ve seen rinkmates get into full-blown fights during competitions. one of my best friends, who i met at my rink once i returned from my hiatus, HATED me because she knew i was competition. we are on-edge.  stakes are high and the pressure is on. a lot of us are very perfectionistic because you sort of got to be to get to our level. we can have control issues and we can become easily frustrated if we flop jumps or keep stuttering coming out of a spin. the other stereotype is that we are super delicate little flowers. probably because of the way we have to move. realistically, we’re a tactile bunch of people who would probably wind up hurting someone if we played hockey. ( another stereotype : figure skaters and hockey kids. the closest i’ve gotten to a hockey player is the one time i threatened to quick him in the nads because they came early and insisted we get off the rink. ) we all love skating and have a lot of fun while doing it. it’s dangerous, and that’s part of the thrill. speeding around the rink at extremely high speeds is, honestly, exhilirating. we love our sport and, though we can get on each other's nerves, love our rinkmates. it’s not easy, but it’s our favorite thing to do.

[zelkam]

Getting to Know You

tagged by @lanyuan - thank you so much for tagging me! ✨

why did you choose your url?

so this is actually super dumb, but it’s a name I came up with when I was still in elementary school and it’s actually a gummy bear reference bc it’s “żelka” in Polish and it was my favorite type of candy 😅; actually I’ve been kinda thinking that I should change it because some minecraft streamer started using the same name and got somewhat popular, making finding my stuff way harder; but at this point I got too used to it since people know me by this name and often call me “Zel” and also I'm too tired to do something about it at this point 🙄 also I’m stubborn

any side-blogs? if you have them, name them and why you have them.

two actually! I have an art blog @zelkams-art to - obviously - post my art + a tiny studyblr @anetastudies for some aesthetic pictures of coffee and stationery and study/research tips and resources that I wanna save! 

how long have you been on tumblr?

uhhh since like 2011/2012 I think? not sure when exactly and I can’t check because I had to remake in 2014 [long story short I accidentally deleted my main instead of a sideblog *honk honk*]

do you have a queue tag?

I don’t use queue - if you see me posting then it’s me clicking that little reblog button, so what if it’s 5am

why did you start your blog in the first place?

....to find Naruto and Bleach fanart

why did you choose your icon/pfp?

it’s Hanguang-june babey 

why did you choose your header?

I wanted something CQL-related, so I went with this wangxian art of mine because it’s my fave thing I’ve draw from the series so far + I edited it to match the black-red-white color combo

what’s your post with the most notes?

uhhh it would be this Yuri on Ice pic that I drew after the Ice Adolescence trailer was released, since it got on the tumblr radar and kinda skyrocketed after that

how many people do you follow?

1131, but that’s reduced from over 1800 not so long ago; but I’d say that like 80% of them are other artists and not blogs that post daily

have you ever made a shitpost?

nothing spectacular but I’ve made a few dumb posts along the way

how often do you use tumblr each day?

too much, especially lately 😬

did you have a fight/argument with a blog once?

I absolutely bolt at any sight of drama, sometimes before it even starts, so nope

how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this post’?

*scrolls down faster*

do you like tag games?

yeah! though I sometimes don’t know who to tag next or I’m too shy with some people, even if we’re mutuals 😅

do you like ask games?

yes! though for quite a long time I didn’t post them because I felt like no one would ask and it would be awkward, but it looks like you guys actually do send me stuff :0 (idk I’ve been trying ot be a bit more social on here lately)

which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

what even is tumblr famous lmao; I mean there are some Very Cool People, but I’d also say that it’s more fandom-specific, not actually in relation to the whole website? 

do you have a crush on a mutual?

as much as I like you guys, the answers is nah, we’re all just little icons

I’m gonna tag @still-snowing, @glorfindels, @mjsakurea, @faelise and @everdoeswriting! (ofc if you haven’t done this before and only if you want to!)

[nika1882]

Tagged by @yumingyesfairy. Thank you and out of curiosity, how do you pronounce your name?

Rules: answer 30 questions and tag however many blogs you want!

Name: Shaniqua (pronounced as sha-nee-ka. People usually address me by the most common pronunciation, which is sha-nee-kwa. Even though it is a headache to correct people about it, I've had to learn to do so because at my old job, my old supervisors and bosses started misspelling my name as "Shanique" on the work roster and addressing me as such. I had to be persistent in making a fuss about it until they finally got it right. That sh!t is disrespectful). Fun fact: when I was born my mother wanted to name me Nicole, but my father decided to give the name I have now and Nicole ended up being my middle name.

Gender: Female

Star sign: Scorpio

Height: 5'7" (or 170.18cm)

Time: 7:14 am

Birthday: 18th November

Favourite bands: If we're going by actual bands, Fleetwood Mac, Evanescence, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Journey, Toto and Foreigner. If singing groups (active and disbanded) are included, then it's Boyz II Men, New Edition, Destiny's Child (DC4 and DC3), N*Sync, Backstreet Boys, TLC and 2NE1.

Favourite solo artists: Brandy, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Fantasia and Jazmine Sullivan.

Last movie: Rush Hour 2

Last show: I don't watch TV often, but the last show I did watch was "Forged in Fire".

When did I create this blog: Around 2015 I think.

What I post: I rarely post, I just mainly reblog. What I reblog is anything I find interesting. It can be funny, creative, nostalgic, or serious so I don't really have a theme for this blog.

Last thing I Googled: "Schadenfreude" definition. I had an idea what it meant, but I still double checked to make sure my idea of the definition of the word was correct.

Other blogs: I don't have any. I may make a side blog in the future. Still not 100% certain on that idea yet.

Do I get asks: Nope and I'm actually glad about that because I do tend to go MIA when life happens.

Why I chose my url: "Nika" is my nickname and 1882 is the combo of my birth date and birth year.

Following: 101

Followers: 212. I'm surprised I actually have that many to be honest, but I'm grateful for them...especially since they're not porn bot blogs (my block game is strong with those).

Instruments: Piano (rudimentary level) and my voice (I really miss being in a choir right now)

What I'm wearing: A nightgown

Dream job: I used to want to be a teacher, but as I got older, I realized my level of patience wasn't what it once was so I gave up on pursuing that. I do however love baking pastries and I am working towards making a business out of that. Oh and once upon a time, I wanted to be a comic book writer and illustrator because I used to write comics in high school (those comics unfortunately got lost to time because I can't tell you what happened to those books). I still do make OCs (but they're fandom based OCs now). I just need to get out of my funk and actually draw them!

Dream trip: Japan, South Korea, Nigeria and New Zealand (the jury's still out for Australia).

Favourite foods: Junk food (sweet and savoury), pastries, pork dumplings, sushi rolls (most likely the western kinds because I can't really say I've tried authentic Japanese sushi rolls)

Nationality: Bahamian

Favourite song: Too many to list (I'm serious...too many to list)

Last book I read (currently reading in my case anyway): Haitian Creole Dictionary and Phrase Book by Charmant Theodore. I'm trying to refresh my Creole speaking skills because I forgot a lot of it since I took up a course in college. I'm also trying to learn Japanese. This is one of the ways I try to keep my mind sharp.

Top 3 fictional universes: Yuri on Ice verse, Wuxia verse and Naruto verse.

I tag: @gaypanicblog, @smylealong, @keepitmovinshawty and @50-shades-of-otp

[multsicorn]

fandoms for a reason for a season for a lifetime

It’s funny how even spiralling into a new obsession I can tell - this isn’t one of the big ones, probably. Not unless it pulls out a whole lot more ~something~ in the last seven eps I have left.

Because when I look back at the fandoms I’ve been in here on tumblr over the last decade, there seems to be a sharp dichotomy.

[this got way too long? have a cut.]

There’s fandoms I think back on as ‘damn I love/d that. For so many reasons. Even if, for other reasons, good reasons, I am not in the fandom anymore - or not currently.’ Glee, Hamilton, Check, Please!, (where I never liked the canon much at all! but I loved my corner of fandom so much, I kept coming back to it for years.)

The Untamed. (Which I hope I may still come back to? In some form, if it’s still going, like, next year? I never quite managed to find myself a cozy corner, and wore myself out trying and failing, but I also never managed to really exorcise the feelings I wanted to there, so, I’m still like - I love it? I love a lot of things about it. But I cannot currently ~engage.)

Nirvana in Fire, which I am fully planning to watch for the third time, and hoping to create content for this next time round, … whenever I get tired of Word of Honor, probably in a few months from now.

And then there’s the fandoms where I just kinda needed - a fandom. To be in. Which does not mean I didn’t love them at the time! Hockey RPF (where I pretty much only read fic - and also wrote in my head a good handful of fic. based on fic. but I never cared much for the ‘canon’, lol.) Yuri!!! on Ice; Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812; Good Omens. There are things I remember with fondness about all those canons (… rpf fic, the way I look at it, is the canon) - but - like. They’re not *so* much, to me. Obviously, to other people, some of these fandoms are their very favorites!

There’s more or less stuff that I love in each fandom. Or, maybe, more accurately, if I think about the things that draw me to each - they mean more to me, or less.

I was fully immersed in Glee fandom for … almost four years. I’ve never had another experience like that, because for almost all of that time Glee was actively, um, happening to us ;). I joined in the middle of season three, I left the fall after season six ended - in part because I fell head over heels for Hamilton, but mostly just because. I’d spent almost four years reacting to the unfolding story (and spoilers for it etc.), writing fic and meta and so forth, having my enthusiasm refreshed every few months (at least) by injections of new canon. Of course half the time I was reacting against new canon info instead of in favor of it, lol, but in any case - I was kept interested! And so by five or six months after canon ended… I felt like I’d chewed it over enough. I still loved Glee, and I will always love Glee, but I’d had most of the thoughts I’ll ever have about it. I was ready to find something else to have new thoughts and fresh feelings about.

(I was in Hamilton fandom for about a year and my experience there ended because of the aftermath of a pile of pan-fandom-famous wank. Fuck Israa, I say, from the bottom of my heart. Although what got me to leave ultimately wasn’t the flames or dogpilers, but the fact that so much of the fandom at least passively agreed with and supported them, meaning that I never knew which of my fellow shippers I could try to befriend or interact with.) (And then, after Trump was elected, I became far less interested in writing any fic about any Founding Fathers than I was in 2015. Which was after I left the fandom, but not irrelevant to why I never went back.) (seriously tho, I will remember ‘i would hope that it is clear who i do and do not associate with’ 4ever.)

And then! I was obsessed with a fandom built out of a few strips out of a webcomic that I don’t even really like… on and off over four years!? Goddamn. When I needed something else cause I was frustrated with Hamilton, I fell into Check, Please! and Jack/Parse (<3 <3 <3), and, because (that segment of the) fandom was tiny, and (relevant to my interests) canon updates virtually nonexistent… I ran out of interest/excitement/engagement repeatedly, and took up - one after another - Hockey RPF, Yuri on Ice, Great Comet, and Good Omens - each for just two to six months, iirc. And then I boomeranged back to Jack/Parse.

(at some point I will finish the post in my drafts about why Jack/Parse had such a hold on me, ‘living in the wreckage of what you thought your life was going to be.’ But that is not this post.)

And THEN I fell in love the with The Untamed, (thanks, stulti! For turning me on to *two* of my all-time favorite fandoms), and it was just, like, amazing, for a while. I hadn’t loved a canon that much since Hamilton, which had been five or six years ago? Even though I’d been in a number of fandoms between the two. It was so nice to love something so very much!!! And I ended up kind of overdosing, I think, cause I was eating from the fandom buffet more-or-less indiscriminately… there were so many riches in that fandom! And so many that weren’t quite to my taste, lol, because there was (and is) SO MUCH STUFF in that canon for its fans to love. (there’s another post in my mental drafts about that.)

Anyway. My point is. I guess. That I hope to come back to The Untamed, sometime. I fully expect to come back to Nirvana In Fire. (It is, actually, so good? As a canon as well as a fandom.)

I don’t expect to come back to Check, Please! ever again, because, weirdly, I don’t think I need to. Of course my understanding of what it means to ~reconcile with one’s past~ etc. has changed in the last mumble-years, but more than that… I have Nirvana in Fire, now, to deal with almost the same issues. I don’t think I fully got the Extent of Mei Changsu’s (Lin Shu) identity issues until the end of the show? But in retrospect - now that I have -

Nirvana in Fire is a pretty perfect fandom/canon for coming back to with gaps between, lol. It’s small enough that I can read through all of my favorite AO3 tags and be left wanting more; it has enough of a strong but slowly-spreading appeal that new people do come and go between say, last summer when I consumed the canon for the first time, and this spring when I watched it again.

And maybe I won’t need to come back and back! Maybe a third watch will be enough for me to say the things in that I want to say. I certainly cannot guess ahead of time!

But - yeah. There are those fandoms I love ~forever,~ some of which I may not be done with…

And then there’s Word of Honor. Which I love right now. Even if it’s not as deep, or ~intense, or… whatever… as some of my other fandom loves; I still love it! Even if I can see ahead to six months from now when I bet I won’t, anymore. I still can’t believe that I spent the past hour-plus writing this post rather than dashing on to watch episode 30, which is what I was intending to do when I sat down.

It’s just - funny. That sort of double vision. How I know this fandom is Mx. Right Now, but that doesn’t make me squee any less.

[generallypo]

move over maschenny, we’ve got a hotter and cooler Khun princess in the tower now.

introducing Khun Aguero Jahad, the one and only princess that Jahad actually, sincerely hopes never wins the competition.

excessive rambling under the cut + a short fic under that. all my warnings are dead and void as of now. cheers!

-- -- -- -- -- --

i sat on my salt for a couple of days -- and then finally, finally decided to do something about it. my previous TOG post kinda went ham on that. yeehaw.

i imagine jahadprincess!khun is a little more snakey than the original (is that possible?). having climbed the tower at a blistering pace following her selection, she’s also a more competent fighter, though it additionally means she needs to use her brain less. though she plays more by her family’s and Jahad’s rules, she’s not particularly ruled by her bloodlust in the way Maschenny is, or utter complacency like Repellista. her outfit is shamelessly ripped off of Yuri’s and the casual officewear aesthetic khun sports in s1.

anyways, i did The Big Write. it has been 3 years since i have attempted such a thing. the process was complicated and stressful, i drank milk tea to compensate. i wanted to depict the moment of a big decision in which a characteristically selfish person does something shockingly altruistic, as well as the bystander who questions her motives. it’s not quite khunbam, more like an intense, one-sided dedication and some sorely needed soul searching. 

played fast and loose with characterization, timelines, general TOG canon while banging out this beast. like every middle child, i’m not super proud of it, but it gets the job done. i had a great time with it! really!

-- -- -- -- -- -- 

Unsurprisingly, it’s Yuri who finds her first. 

Her heels, lustrous and scarlet, click faintly on the rooftop tiles, and their mild echo belies nothing of the thunder on her face, or the sibilant presence of the Black March at her side. Aguero turns to meet her, inclines her head in response. 

“Why, princess Yuri. It’s a pleasure, as always.”

“Cut the crap, Aguero,” she snaps. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Aguero raises her hands. From one of them, Manbarondenna dangles innocently, unclasped buckles gleaming under fake starlight. 

“Waiting for my ride. I’m not expecting a plus one, though.” She smiles pleasantly, eyes narrowed. “Run along now. This is a single-passenger trip.”

Yuri growls. “Seriously?” She steps forward with intent, and Aguero momentarily tenses, fingers flying to her bag — but just barely, Yuri’s features soften, and she stops. Dramatically, she cocks her head, ponytail bobbing with vigor.

“You,” she points emphatically. “You’re actually going to do this. You’re not worried about the consequences.”

She states it like an accusation, but the palest shade of concern colors her voice. Are you sure of what you’re doing? Leaving this place -- leaving all of us? A complicated expression crosses her features, and she scowls. 

“This won’t just affect you, Aguero.” Firmly, her hand rests on the Black March’s handle. Do you want me to stop you?

“… I’m aware.” A pause, and oh, ugh, Aguero’s doing it again — that nasty, calculating look on her face, the one that reminds onlookers, in no uncertain terms, exactly how the princess had come by her position. Yuri balks uncharacteristically, and steps away. 

It’s not like she doesn’t think she can take Aguero in a fight… but it’s not what she had come here for in the first place. After knowing each other this long, the least she can do is offer her support, not another enemy. Aguero has no problems with making — and gleefully crushing — the latter.

She looks at the woman before her. Khun Aguero Jahad, formerly surnamed Agnis. Not so long ago, a nameless little nobody — somebody’s second, second-choice, second-rate daughter, born in a family with too many offspring to invest attention into a daughter lacking outstanding martial prowess or an especially fetching face. A forgotten girl, wholly incongruent to the imposing figure Yuri knows her as now. 

The air around them vibrates with tension, laced with an inexorable chill -- it’s not a trick of the light, Yuri notices, that her breath seems a little more visible than normal, that the sweat on her forehead feels almost solid to her skin. Aguero is watching her, face bright and predatory, and it’s a stark reminder that even beautiful things can be cold and unforgiving.

The crown jewel of the Khun family sneers, and Yuri braces herself for impact.

— — — 

Khun Aguero Agnis had almost always been a slippery, unremarkable thing, with willow branches for arms and a sullen, snarky mien. On her placid, faintly superior face sat two intelligent, gem-blue eyes — pretty enough, but also afflicted with an attitude chilly enough to wither even the most persistent suitor’s desire. To her family, and an equally hostile Tower, she was both undesirable and unsupported — and consequently, insignificant. 

Yuri had met her before, once. It had been an event much, much longer ago, during a nameless, perfectly ordinary mission to deliver some sealed goods. A loaded favor of sorts, from one family to another. Bright and on the cusp of princesshood, hair still bound in youthful twin tails, she had been greeted at the door of one of the numerous Khun establishments by a slim joke of a girl. 

Thanks for your work, the girl had said, eyes blue and sleepless and unreadable. I’ve been expecting you. With mechanical efficiency, the girl received, inspected, and stowed the package away, vanishing from the gate within seconds. 

Baffled, Yuri withdrew, scratching her head. She’d been given a verification stamp to use at the end, but the package had made it to the correct address regardless. 

I’ve been expecting you, the Khun girl had said. That counted as a mission complete, didn’t it?

If not for the silvery-blue shock of her hair, no one would have guessed the girl a child of one of the great ten families. Favored Khuns, after all, were generally not disposed towards handling petty messenger duties. The observation had barely registered for Yuri, and not much later a more exciting adventure came along to wipe the encounter from her mind. Favored or not, there were more interesting, deadly things in the Tower to focus on.

A couple hundred years ago, though… things had changed, and drastically so. Yuri doesn’t know or exactly care for the inner politics or delicate power balances among the characters of Jahad’s court, but the truth of the matter is this: 

Khun Aguero Jahad might have only been recently crowned — but she has always been a threat. 

Since the dawn of the ten families, the Khun staples of education had remained true to three essential subjects: warfare, politics, and assassination. The children learn young, or not at all. A daughter true to her heritage, Khun Aguero Agnis had bared her fangs only at the most opportune moment, sinking them firmly in the throats of her blood sister, a rival from a nearby branch family, and a number of prominent, up-and-coming girls vying for the princess candidacy. 

It had been, without a doubt — a flawless victory, the perfect display of brains and cruel strength. And of course, with those eyes, a blue as deep and pitiless as the sea: beauty, and the arrogance to wield it.

It had taken the entire upper floors by complete surprise, propelled Aguero’s name to the top of the gossip columns, and whispered unrest among the current princesses in a way that hadn’t been felt in at least half a millennium. All it had taken was a hundred years’ worth of waiting, a lighthouse, a well-placed knife, and some dead girls.

As expected, a mere three months after her candidacy was announced, Khun Aguero Agnis became Khun Aguero Jahad, and not a single voice spoke out to disagree.

— — — 

“Are you going to stop me?” Aguero’s voice is low and cool. Like magic, a small blade glimmers in her hand, and while Yuri can’t predict what kinds of weapons her sister carries on her person, she knows better than to think this is her only, or most lethal one.

“... No,” she admits ruefully. “I don’t think I’d be able to, anyway.” Deftly, she stows the Black March in her inventory, and spins around to sit cross-legged by the princess’s side. It’s always a gamble, relying on Aguero’s temper, but it’s more likely than not that the other girl isn’t actually looking for a fight. She can’t afford the attention a real one would draw, or the physical exhaustion it would inflict.

Aguero lets her, and she grins with satisfaction. “I’ll wait with you until your ride is here!” The and buy you time, if necessary, goes unsaid. Yuri yawns, and then stretches, eyes crinkling with cheeky fondness. It won’t take long for her to get bored. What better way to kill time than with invasive questioning?

“Is he really worth it, Aguero? That boy?” Yuri pouts, eyebrows raised. “This better not just be because he’s cute.” Her words have the subtlety of a berserk Shinheuh, but she’s genuinely curious, and Aguero will understand.

A quiet huff of laughter has her squinting in surprise. Dawn hasn’t quite made it to their corner of the rooftop, but she can make out the faint, yet unmistakable curve of a real smile. 

Huh, thinks Yuri, wide-eyed. It’s not a bad look on her. It’s not that Aguero has never smiled, per se, but the intrinsic softness of it all is a wholly foreign creature to her, and she likes to think Aguero does consider her a friend. Or at least as close to one as a Khun is allowed to call a person.

“Oh, he’s cute all right. Like… a puppy, I guess. Big, gold eyes, really nice voice, listens to everything I say.” Aguero snorts, fiddles with her hair. “… For the most part, at least. There was a girl that he came here chasing after — ” and here she pauses briefly, expression hard like ice chips — “but she’s, ah, not a problem anymore.” 

Yuri blinks. By her feet, frost gleams in elegant, spiraling patterns. For a moment, curiosity steals across her thoughts— what kind of girl could that have been, to catch the eye of Aguero’s sweetheart? To make even the pride of the Khuns lose her famously unshakable cool? And what the hell had even happened? But instinct cautions her otherwise, and it’s yet to lead her astray. 

Yuri shakes her head. Best not to pry into those matters. 

“Okay, then. And what are you going to do after you go?” she presses. “You know you can’t come back.”

At first, there’s no response. The seconds slide uneasily by, thick like a finger swirled through honey. The other girl’s face is thoughtful as she slowly replies: “I’m gonna help him climb the Tower.” 

Aguero shifts slightly, and meets Yuri’s gaze. “To be fair, I wasn’t sure about that either at first. He… he’s really weak, you know.”

Yuri cackles, just to fill the silence. “That bad?”

“That bad.” Aguero exhales. “But he’s a monster, too. He has these… moments, when he gets a certain look in his eyes, and it’s almost terrifying. It’s funny, because he’s the gentlest thing I’ve ever met. But he’s going to be amazing in the future. I know it.” 

“... Like Jahad? Or better?” Is it the boy’s power you’re after? His life? It’s not like Yuri can’t understand. But in the Tower, the asking price of violence and overwhelming force comes laughably cheap, and for something as easy as that Aguero would never be so reckless. The conditions of their status are admittedly stifling, but few things are truly unreachable for a Jahad princess.

Or is it something else?

“They’re nothing alike,” Aguero says flatly. “And I don’t want him to be.”

Frustratedly, she runs a hand through her hair, gesturing vaguely. “It’s hard to explain, but he…he’s good, Yuri. He’s good. All those years stuck in a cave, all the trials the Tower ran him through, all that death and backstabbing and grieving that they make the Regulars practically eat and breathe  —  he fought through it purely by his own merit, and still, nothing's broken him of it. I can’t understand it myself.” 

Aguero murmurs to no one in particular, looking bewildered herself. “… It’s dazzling, honestly.” It only lasts a heartbeat, but there’s a heat to her entire bearing, an unexpected intensity, and it looks a lot like hope.

“He’s going to flip this Tower on its goddamned head, just you wait. He’ll need someone to watch his back when he does.” She smiles again, sharp and secretive — and it leaves Yuri reeling from the whiplash, this girl — who suddenly looks more like sunlight on new snow, like devotion underneath domed ceilings and glass sculptures praising unshakable belief, than the glacial stoicism of her bloodline. “The Regulars are supposed to form teams, right? I intend to be his light-bearer.”

“A-aha…I see it now. You’re crazy,” offers Yuri, more weakly than she would prefer. She thinks she can see the bigger picture now. She isn’t sure whether she likes it or not.

… So it’s his love you’re after. Do you think it’ll make you happy?

“I’ve got it all planned out, of course. I had a quick chat with Headon about starting fresh as well, so the Ranker rules shouldn’t apply to me.” It shouldn’t be possible to make throwing away your life so easy, so fulfilling, but Khun Aguero does it somehow, conviction radiating firmly from her entirety. She laughs, bright and determined. “We’re gonna give the floors so much hell, Yuri.”

“As for being a princess,” she continues, “I have a couple of ideas as to making sure no one looks too closely. That’s a secret, though.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” Aguero shoots her a mild look, and it’s the end of that discussion. She flicks her fingers with impatience. But one last question still burns a hole in Yuri’s chest, the one that hadn’t actually been answered, and she can’t let the other girl leave without a proper response. If she does, there won’t be a second chance.

The first hints of day yawn loomingly across the horizon. Shades of carnation and marigold, thin and pale, send tendrils of light across the sky. In just a few more minutes, the stars will disappear, eclipsed by their vibrance. And Aguero will be gone, gone, another name to be struck from the records. 

After all their years of friendship, this is where the line gets drawn. It’s a little lonely, if she thinks about it. Yuri steels herself. A younger, less jaded girl might have asked Aguero to reconsider. But regardless of whatever answer she would have been given, it’s not the one she needs to know right now.

No regrets now, Aguero.

Princess Yuri Jahad looks the defector in the eye, feeling fully well the pride and colossal pressure of her status. Bending the rules has never, ever seemed so daunting before. Maybe the weight thudding cold in her chest is her grief. Maybe, she thinks sheepishly, it’s her jealousy. She wouldn’t be surprised if it were all of the above, and more than just her own fair share of the bitterness. 

Believe it or not, she has been a princess for a very, very long time. The other girls would want to know the same.

It’s with hushed longing that she opens her mouth again, one last piece of idle gossip. With resentment, for countless eras spent in solitude and misplaced spite; loneliness, for every generation of lost, loveless young women. Every missed opportunity, every broken dream, every petty, contrived falling-out. She’s old enough to remember most of the worst. Aguero is escaping their shiny little showcase of a birdcage, at the price of losing everything else.

Please, she thinks desperately. Let her be right, this time. This is one of their sisters, after all. They must not have another Anaak Jahad.

“...Aguero. He’s worth it?” she repeats. 

Khun Aguero Agnis steeples her fingers against her chin, staring forward. The sun rises ahead of them, unrelenting and pure, and the light catches on her face and draws it all out in ferocious streaks of gold.

“Yes,” she answers. “He is.”

[birdy-bat-writes]

Just....Hi?

I love you all, my precious followers. I just wanted to check in and say that I have returned from my hiatus of agony and exhaustion. Dear mushrooms, I missed tumblr so much. So I’m knocking out requests now and I would LOVE for you guys to keep sending more! I’m LIVING for the ones I’ve been getting. You guys are so creative. Quickly going to throw it out there, I am a huge nerd, geek, and a weeb so I have a lot of fandoms (Marvel, endless DC, Naruto, Yuri On Ice, so much anime, ATLA, so many more omg) that I could write about if I get a request. I draw too. If you wanna know if I write (or draw) for a certain fandom, just shoot me a request or message me :) I’m open to suggestions and I like hearing from you guys. Plus, I write for male readers, gender-neautral, female and like pretty much anything. Hit me up and don’t be shy to request something! You all make me so happy. I promise I’m working on writing more and posting more. Thanks to advice from @anothertimdrakestan , I’lll start posting incorrect quotes and shorts. Once I have a few up, I’ll put them on a tag.

[joeys-piano]

23 and 37? :D

23. If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why?

I don’t know if you heard that, but it’s the sound of my soul leaving my body and finding some semblance of peace. There’s a lot of stories I want to revise.

For instance: the mafia fics/series I made for Yuri on Ice, the regency!omegaverse I did for the same fandom, a reincarnation/time-travel I wrote when YoI was a fledgling fandom but I eventually pulled from AO3 because I didn’t know how to continue it, the physics teacher!Connor and android!Gavin fic I did for Detroit: Become Human, a lot of WIPs in my folder right now for BSD because I’ve been worldbuilding and fleshing out those stories but unsure how to execute them quite yet and….there’s a lot.One of the biggest reasons I want to revise those old works because with each new WIP, I grow and learn something new as a writer and I would like to pass on my experience and see how I would approach old ideas with a new perspective. But obviously, there are too many WIPs to choose from and I don’t know which one I would want to revise.The one I would want to do-over was a WIP I never posted onto AO3 and it was the feudal historical story, featuring kitsune and other youkai. That was a terrific WIP to write for and it strengthened me as a worldbuilder. I would like to return to it and re-conceptualize the plot and write the wandering story between a kitsune and a guy who can foresee tragedy through smoke.

37. Talk about your current wips.

One of my WIPs is called the “Spaghetti Fic” because it’s a story told through second person, where a character is making dinner to celebrate his anniversary with his husband and is reminiscing all the highs and lows they’ve been through as friends and as a couple. I did the second person approach because I wanted to write the first half of the story as a recipe before I transition into a traditional narrative format. Something a little unique and something new for me to write for.

My second WIP is a greek mythology!AU for Bungou Stray Dogs, featuring the classic myth of Hades & Persephone + a murder-esque mystery where our main characters learned that a seasonal hora by the name of Winter used to exist before she was wiped from history and from the natural order. Alongside the mystery, I think one of my favorite parts about this WIP is figuring out which deity each BSD character would be and that’s been a lot of fun.

Dazai makes for an inquisitive, slightly sadistic and worrisome Persephone and Oda is the “chill as a cucumber, but sweating bullets” Hades that tends to a large library in the underworld, stocked full of history about humanity and the gods. You got Ranpo as the fiery Hermes and self-proclaimed “Olympian Hawk”, you have Agatha Christie as the cunning and dangerous Athena whose loyalties aren’t as you’d expect, you have Chuuya as Apollo and the sharpshooter for the sun. You have Haruno, Mark Twain, and Yamagiwa as the seasonal horai that mark the transition of Spring, Summer, and Autumn. You have Hirotsu as the ferryman for the dead, you have H.G. Wells as the goddess of fate/destiny and how her prophecies play a huge impact over the story, You’ve got Fyodor as the deceptive god, Dolos, and how he uses temptation to draw the worst or best out of the gods and among other things.

I liken this story to a soap opera because it’s so character-driven.

Curious Asks for Fic Writers

[bouncyirwin]

How to navigate bouncyirwin’s blog

Hi guys, for those of you who are new to tumblr or aren’t aware or this, I tag my posts religiously.

What does that mean for you? I’ll give you an example. I’m a multisaku shipper, I have reblogged all kinds of Sakura ships but suppose you only want to view the NaruSaku content on my blog? You can search the tag within my blog and that’s the only content you’ll view.

Ship names aside, find below potentially interesting tags I use:

Akatsuki!Kakashi - I have the same tag for other Naruto characters who aren’t canonically in Akatsuki, have fun finding them all ;) (this is a recent tag, more content coming!)

*Canon Akatsuki characters can be found under the tag ‘Akatsuki’.*

Anbu!Sakura - this is a relatively new tag, but I’m finding content for it ;)

Genderbend - this is majorly for naruto characters, if you’re interested in this kind of thing!

Age swap - I’m still sorting though my old posts and appointing this tag accordingly but you’ll find some content there!

Same age au - you’ll find a LOT of Naruto here, especially KakaSaku

Team 7 / Team 8 / Team 10 / Team Gai / Team Minato - mostly for non-shippy posts with wholesome team activities (but you might find OT3 content!)

OT3 - for random OT3 naruto ships!

Fic rec - for lots and lots of fic recommendations

[[MORE]]

Smut - smutty one-shots and fan fiction!

Asdfghjkl - yes you read that right. Posts that pretty much made me keyboard smash (neatly and in order lol)

YOI - Yuri on ice content (I also have Otayuri and Victuuri tags)

MCU - for marvel related content (I also have all kinds of MCU related ship tags such as Ironstrange and Pepperony)

Bouncyirwin writes - you can find my writings here, even things I have never bothered to post on AO3 and FFnet

Bouncyirwin draws - and all my art here! The good, the bad and the ugly ay

Harry Potter - for Harry Potter related content

Signal Boost - for supporting content creators, causes and people in need. Also, sometimes my own posts.

Crossover - where fandoms collide. You’ll mostly find Naruto x Harry Potter stuff here

Art ref - I have reblogged many art refs in my years here on tumblr, you can probably find whatever you need here

Writing ref - for writing tips

Writing Prompts - I have reblogged and posted many writing prompts on tumblr if you’re in the mood to write something!

Hokage Sakura - unfortunately the lack of ! In between the words has mingled other content in there but still, you’ll find Hokage Sakura posts in there ;) // you’ll find other characters with this tag, such as Hokage!Itachi / Hokage Itachi

Nsfw - for the goodies but Tumblr’s new policy has blocked and deleted lots of those posts. However, you’ll still find many goodies there.

Wow - pretty much things that made me go whoa! xD

I tag any character in a post by their full name, for example: Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka, Maito Gai, Rock Lee, Naruto Uzumaki.

Not only am I a multisaku shipper, I’m a multi anything shipper so in all likelihood any ship you search in my blog has some content. Extremely rare ships are probably tagged like this: Shino x Samui (for example).

All Naruto content is tagged under ‘Naruto’.

All Marvel content is tagged under ‘MCU’.

All Yuri on Ice content is tagged under ‘YOI’.

All Mystic Messenger content is tagged under ‘Mystic Messenger’.

All Detective Conan content is tagged under ‘Detective Conan’ and all Magic Kaito content is tagged under ‘DCMK’.

All Harry Potter content is tagged under ‘Harry Potter’.

If you have any questions just inbox of PM me! ❤️