#now i have to draw yuuri too

[arom-antix]

I finally have a second to draw so here's a sketch of Viktor in drag like i promised @blended-ice

Finished work here

[thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai]

We need to talk about this

because Yuuri's reaction here is a result of his anxiety disorder and his tendency to self-deprecation and having depressive thoughts. That he ends up here is being carefully foreshadowed throughout the series:

First, Viktor said a couple of things that made Yuuri believe that Viktor only wants to coach him until the GPF:

This

and this

is enough to convince and anxious person like Yuuri that Viktor has no intention to coach him beyond the GPF. Note that Viktor never explicitly states that he will coach Yuuri only for the first half of the season - it's the natural conclusion an anxious brain will draw. And that's neither Viktor's nor Yuuri's fault.

And then this, while Yuuri is within hearing distance:

I'm getting a queasy feeling in my stomach just from watching this scene because I relate to Yuuri so much. If I had eavesdropped on this interview, I would have freaked out internally. Like what does that even mean? Is he talking about his career or is this a carefully crafted answer to convince the press to leave him and Yuuri alone for the next couple of weeks? This secret is probably between Viktor and the YOI creators alone (I have theories, but I'm not going to discuss them here because this post is about Yuuri).

Second, although he becomes more confident throughout the show, the self-deprecating part of Yuuri has a low opinion about his own skating. From his perspective, his contribution to the sport seems less valuable than Viktor's, even when he starts to understand that he's far more than a dime-a-dozen skater. The realisation that he is as least as talented as Viktor, only drives home the moment he breaks Viktor's world record.

Because Yuuri has such a low opinion of himself, he doesn't understand how much Viktor enjoys watching him skate, which is another aspect factoring into his decision.

Third, Yuuri genuinely believes that Viktor wants to return to the ice and would rejoice when Yuuri retires. Having seen Viktor watch the other skaters at the GPF cements the decision he made at the Rostelecom Cup. The fact that basically everyone has told him throughout the last 11 episodes that he's keeping Viktor from skating gives more weight to the idea.

Yes, you got that right. Yuuri deided to retire, before he proposed to Viktor and before he bought two matching rings and put one of them on Viktor's finger. However, now Yuuri knows that Viktor would coach him for as long as Yuuri wants to keep skating, which forces him to release Viktor from his duties at the point he believes Viktor wanted to stop coaching him initially.

"Let's end this" is not about breaking up. Yuuri is releasing Viktor as his coach. He is sacrificing his career so that Viktor can keep pursuing his own career which Viktor once sacrificed for him.

Of course he's surprised that Viktor bursts out in tears.

Yuuri has the right to retire whenever he wants. He doesn't need to consult Viktor. If he thinks (for whichever stupid reason) it's time, he can make this decision on his own.

Is it selfish?

Lol no. Only Viktor thinks it is because he's conflating the coach and the partner and takes it personally. He's hurt and feels rejected because he doesn't understand that Yuuri did it for him and that causes a drama Yuuri was not prepared for.

Is it stupid?

Absolutely. But poor communication skills, Yuuri is too caught up in his mental issues to even think of having a discussion that would lead them to a solution with which both would be happy (both training in St. Petersburg *wink* *wink*). It's not malice, insensitivity, or shitty behaviour that drives Yuuri to this point. It's all about his mental issues. And love.

[triptychgrip]

Viktor and Yuuri Answer The Web's Most Searched Questions

“I’m Viktor Katsuki-Nikiforov!”

“And I’m Yuuri Katsuki Nikiforov!”

They turn to look at each other and grin, attempting to speak in unison.

“And this is the WIRED Autocomplete Interview.”

They’re a little off on the wording, but what is simultaneous is the way they break out into giggles right after saying ‘interview’. It’s only been a few seconds since the cameras have begun rolling, and Viktor is already feeling charmed by the pink tint staining his husband’s cheeks.

“Aww, and we even practiced that a few times!” Yuuri says, now donning a cute little pout.

“It was my fault,” Viktor automatically pipes up, before letting his heart-shaped smile take over his face. “I started speaking a half-beat too late because I was too busy admiring your pretty eyes, love.”

Giggles and hushed whispers immediately break out on the WIRED filming set, but Viktor only has eyes for the way Yuuri’s lips instantly morph, curving into a pleased, albeit shy smile. 

“You’re sweet, Vitya,” he murmurs, before reaching over to hold his hand. 

There’s not much space between them to begin with on the bench they’re seated on, but Yuuri closes that miniscule gap so that their thighs are pressed right up against each other. Viktor hopes the audience is grateful; the slight tension his love is now holding in his leg will give the cameras a nice view of his immaculate, muscular thighs, outfitted in the sleek trackpants that Mizuno specifically designed for him. (After some sleuthing, Phichit had informed the two of them that Kenjirou had gone ahead and bought four different pairs.)

Nyala – the WIRED production assistant in charge of this episode taping – then hands them the show’s distinctive looking question tableau. On it, are Google’s top ten most searched questions containing their names. They’re partially covered, which adds to the fun: they’ll be taking turns reading them aloud, while unpeeling the adhesive covering to reveal each query.

As they’d agreed earlier, he will read and answer the first question, so Yuuri holds the board steady.

“What did Yuuri and Viktor…”

Viktor pauses to draw out the suspense, and then whips off the adhesive in one rapid motion, his enthusiasm almost causing Yuuri to topple over.

“Oops! Sorry, Yuranya!” he exclaims, feeling a bit flustered as he helps his spouse right himself and presses a kiss to his temple. 

Nyala’s eyes are glittering with amusement, so he aims a sheepish smile at her before facing forwards.

“What did Yuuri and Viktor do before they met?” he reads off, feeling quite pleased with this clear opportunity to extol Yuuri’s praises (and, additionally, to lambast certain International Skating Union officials for not recognizing how talented he was prior to that silver medal win at the Barcelona Grand Prix Final).

“Well, the short answer is that we were both competitive figure skaters, but the long answer is more interesting! Let’s start with my Yuuri, because my side of things is boring, not to mention quite sad,” he chirps, not even batting an eye when his husband begins to splutter in protest next to him (“Vitya! Five gold medals at World’s is not sad!”)

But Viktor feigns an inability to hear Yuuri’s counter, and whips his phone out. 

One of the first things he’d done after they’d met at the banquet was to look up as many of Yuuri’s Senior division competitions as he could, hungry to expand his personal archives with any video or photos he could get his hands on. By now, his love is aware of his meticulous culling efforts, because he wears a pained expression as Viktor begins to talk and flip through his photo gallery.

“Where to even begin?” he says, allowing his voice to slide into that grandiose tone that Yurio claims “makes you seem even more punchable than normal”.

“Since we only have an hour for this taping, I will unfortunately have to limit myself to the year of Yuuri’s skating career before he and I met,” he continues on, making sure his annoyance is plain. “And, for those that don’t know, we met in December 2015 at the Sochi Grand Prix Final.”

It’s a testament to their many years of being together, because Yuuri doesn’t even tense at the mention of Sochi. He knows Viktor would never try to embarrass him by contextualizing the event in a way that makes him uncomfortable, and, besides, his spouse now shares the opinion that pole-dancing into your soulmate’s life is a pretty badass meet-cute. Even so, it had taken awhile to convince Yuuri’s anxiety of this, and Viktor owes a lot to their couples’ therapist for that mindset change. 

“Look at this picture of my beautiful Yuuri on the podium at Four Continents’ in February 2015!” he exclaims in triumph, holding his phone up so that the camera operator gets a perfect view. 

Taken in Seoul’s Mokdong Ice Rink is a photo of an adorable, 22-year-old Katsuki Yuuri, wearing a shy smile and holding a bronze medal. Next to him is an obviously ecstatic Celestino Cialdini.

“Now, no offense to anyone, but take it from me: my husband was severely underscored at that competition and should have been standing higher on that podium. Well before he ever broke my World’s winning streak, Yuuri was commanding audiences the world over with his stunning artistry. Particularly, his dazzling interpretation skills,” Viktor states declaratively, his tone brooking no argument.

Well, almost no argument. 

Yuuri makes a barely perceptible noise of disagreement, but it’s enough to make him turn and bestow his most unimpressed expression onto him, as if daring him to issue a rebuttal. 

“Something to say, Yusha?” Viktor prompts, a bit goadingly. “Do you wish to argue with “Living Legend” Viktor Katsuki-Nikiforov, who, I daresay, might know a little something or two about judging politics and biased scoring?”

His love gives him a light smack on the bicep, and when he replies, his tone is prim.

“If you want biased scoring to be the focus of this question, then I’ll have to bring up your European Championships score from 2013, where you were unfairly beat out for gold by our good friend, Christophe Giacometti.”

An “oooohing” sort of taunting sound ripples around the set, but far from flustering Yuuri, he just raises a brow and sets his jaw. (Viktor feels quite turned on at the look, as well as his protective instincts.)

“I know how the internet loves to spin things but there’s nothing to spin,” Yuuri continues, dryly. “Christophe, himself, made a big stir at the post-skate press conference about judging bias, and he still regularly tweets at the officials from that competition…so much so, that two of them have blocked him on Twitter.”

Viktor gasps with delight at the memory of this juicy event and his spouse’s answering smirk is all the permission he needs.

“Ok, let me set the scene for you all!” he eagerly volunteers, sitting up straighter on the bench. 

He makes a big show of clearing his throat and Nyala – who, evidently, has the patience of a saint – hides her smile behind her hand. It’s a wonder that she hasn’t redirected their attention back to the question list, yet.

“January 2013: Zagreb, Croatia,” he continues on, in the grave “I’m narrating a documentary” tone that he knows will make Yuuri laugh. “Twenty-three-year old Viktor Nikiforov takes his starting position on the ice of Dom Sportova arena. Unlike present-day, his hair is much more lustrous, and he has not yet needed to start using thickening oil as part of his nightly primping regimen.”

Yuuri smacks his bicep a second time.

—

Hope you enjoyed this ficlet! I adore writing post-canon interview/game content featuring sappy/extra married Viktuuri, so if I get the energy (and need the distraction from my WIPS *nervous laughter*) I may expand this into a proper fic.

If you’re also a fan of this type of thing, you may like my story on ao3 featuring their joint appearance on Vanity Fair’s Lie Detector Game series. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever written :)  

[jewishvitya]

Who's your favourite character from Yuri on ice?? (Sorry if you've been asked this) ><

Don't be, I love getting asks sfjgdjdhsfd please always feel free to talk to me about Yuri on Ice

Honestly it depends on my mood, but it's always either Viktor or Yuuri. I made a joke at some point about how Viktor would love hearing "Yuuri is my favorite" and Yuuri would love hearing "Viktor is my favorite."

Viktor is the chatacter I like playing with when something hurts, or when I need a character to be comforted. When I want to think about depression and burnout.

Yuuri is the character I like playing with when I want to dig into insecurities and anxieties and the ways they can contrast with reality. The way they feel real even without good evidence.

Viktor when I want to think about jumping into things and changing course, Yuuri when I want to think about diligence and consistent work. They both have aspects of both, it's just where the characters meet me emotionally.

I lean into the depression aspect a lot, because that's been my main struggle for several years now, and I know it gives the impression that I prefer Viktor. But Yuuri is my go-to comfort to draw when I need something that feels good.

For example, this. Look at him. I love him.

I added a Viktor version later, but here I was grieving a family member and I started sketching and here's Yuuri.

It's so easy to draw him pretty too. I struggle a bit to make Viktor appear on the page the way I imagine him.

But Yuuri? Comes naturally to me.

The first character I made art of after 5 years of not drawing. And that kinda thing stays with you.

[oddeyesarcpendulumdragon]

another late @arcvmonth prompt fill but I have decided to be nice to myself and just do things at my own pace

Anyway this is for Day 5, role swap, and I decided to dabble a bit in the Fusion-XYZ swap that used to be popular back in the day

Main art is of Sora and Shun's swap since they're the most prominent roles. Shun's outfit is semi-based off of Kaito's, as in XYZ instead of Obelisk Force, they would have the Number Hunters. The actual Number Hunters would wear an outfit pretty identical to Kaito's white coat design, but Shun's is a little different (the way Sora's is different from Obelisk Force) because he's trying to be a spy and all lol. I kept his signature colors/palette, I just wanted to make him look a little sleeker since he's not coming out of a civilian life where he got fucked up by a military invasion.

For Sora, I decided that since Academia is no longer a military school, their uniforms would end up being pretty much the same as they were in GX. I wanted to alter Sora's design a bit to show that this was a different universe, so I changed his jacket to be more like an actual GX jacket (still Obelisk Blue because come on he's still a good duelist lol), and his shorts are based off of Rei's uniform in GX, cause idk boy just looks good in shorts. Added a cloak because he had to be sort of incognito at first, like Shun and Yuto with their masks, and because even in canon all the Fusion kids are always wearing cool cloaks haha.

I have more thoughts under the cut but I don't want this post to get too long:

So basically, the swap's premise is that Leo goes to XYZ first and starts his child soldier grooming program there instead. This means that Academia is a normal duel school, while Heartland becomes essentially one big child soldier factory. Leo spreads his influence to multiple Heartland schools and connects them into one interdimensional army network.

Shun and Ruri are still siblings. They grew up together, and when Leo came along and started militarizing the schools, they just kind of got swept up in it. Leo located Ruri rather quickly, but since she already had some family ties, he couldn't isolate her as easily. So he rolled both Shun and Ruri into some of his more elite training squads.

Ruri is still kept in Heartland, but now she has not only Leo, but Shun also telling her to stay put and that she shouldn't participate in the invasion.

Shun is still very young when Leo gets ahold of him, so he swallows the whole "we have to destroy this other dimension for the sake of universal peace" pretty easily, and gets very gungho about it, because he wants to protect the world for his sister. Ruri also swallows the story, and wants to be a hero like her brother by fighting the "bad guys."

Meanwhile, Academia is just an ordinary school with ordinary kids doing ordinary stuff. Sora is just another student. He's super smart and good at dueling, but doesn't have a lot of drive to impress anyone and is considered a problem child. This gets him to butt heads with the star student of the school, Selena, who is annoyed that Sora is always lazing about, while Sora is annoyed that Selena is always nagging him.

You may ask, where are the dragon boys in this scenario? I'm glad you asked!

Yuto is still friends with Shun and Ruri, however, Leo has been taking steps to isolate him from them by sending him on lots of missions of his own. I didn't draw yuto cause I didn't want to try and design an outfit for him, but he plays a similar role to Yuuri: his job is to go and find girls that look like Ruri. Leo tells him that Ruri is special and there are girls like her who need to be found and taken into protective custody. Unlike Yuuri, who was very sadistic in his own way, Yuto is very genuine. He truly believes he's doing the right thing, and that in and of itself is terrifying. When he faces an opponent, he's always trying to comfort them, like "it's okay, being carded doesn't hurt, it's going to be all right." Which is scary! To most people!

Yuuri is another smart student at Academia who sees no need to prove himself to anyone, like Sora, so the pair of them tend to get along. He's one of those annoying kids who never studies but gets an A++ on everything he does and he has a big head about it. Yuuri's a bit of a prankster and a tease, so he also annoys Sora just as much as Selena does - but he annoys Selena far more.

Anyway, the invasion hits them HARD like it did the other way around in canon. Some of the elite students of the Academia barricade themselves in the school and defend with siege tactics as a last-ditch rebellion. Yuto is sent in to collect Selena, but Sora encounters him first. Sora challenges him and loses. But Selena arrives in time and threatens to make Yuto's job hell trying to chase her down if he cards Sora, but that if he lets Sora go, she'll go with him quietly. Sora blames himself for Selena's kidnapping, and the guilt drives him to find a way to get her back.

Unlike Sora, who in canon didn't have anything to do with the invasion, Shun actually is sent to Fusion as part of a strike force where he really racks up the card count and is considered a super powerful soldier. So Leo entrusts him then with the mission to head to Standard to keep an eye on Reiji.

Things go sideways for him though when 1) he notices Pendulum summoning and 2) he meets a girl who looks just like his sister.

So Shun goes to You Show instead, deciding this is a more effective use of his spying. While there, Yuzu ends up asking him to teach her XYZ summoning, which he agrees on account of her reminding him of Ruri.

So at this point, you can kind of guess where things go. Sora and Shun clash, Ruri runs away from Heartland to see if she can help her brother, and she meets Yuzu, who tells her to get the whole story.

Ruri arrives just in time to see her older brother throwing Sora down a flight of stairs after beating him in a duel, and she's horrified. How could her loving older brother do something like this? Shun is also horrified, because Ruri turns on him. He has no choice but to end up retreating back to Heartland, and Ruri stays behind.

Shun starts to switch sides a little faster than Sora did in canon, because now it's personal. At first he thinks that Ruri's been brainwashed or coerced by Reiji, so he's furious and desperate to take revenge, but once he has a chance to think about it, he starts to consider how Weird his childhood is and how much Leo was always trying to separate him and Ruri. So he starts to investigate what's actually happening - plus, he thinks Yuzu was kidnapped, and he feels guilty for getting her involved.

As another swap, Dennis and Sayaka switch places. Dennis is back in Academia trying his damndest to support the rebellion, but he's terrified and hates himself for his cowardice. Meanwhile, Sayaka was groomed into becoming a spy. She didn't end up becoming friends with Ruri in this continuity, so Ruri doesn't recognize her when she joins the Lancers - but Sayaka did still meet Yushou and was enamored with his dueling style, like Dennis was. She's quiet and sweet and wracked with guilt for everything she's done, but is too afraid to stand up to Leo and the Number Hunters.

anyway this is getting long! You can probably extrapolate some stuff from there :) maybe i'll do more scribbles about this au again sometime.

[sunbeamah]

Thank you so much for this JJK fics recs. As a new JJK fan (yes, just started the anime and manga last year), I was confused of what fic to read, but when I found your post, I was so happy. One of my fav is that time-travel fic of Yuji and Choso with teens Gojo/Geto pairing.

https://www.tumblr.com/dnana-2809-blog/746189842162089984/any-recs-for-some-jjk-fics-something-preferably?source=share

Can I ask your fav JJK ships and JJK Brotp?

And maybe your top 5 (or top 7) fav ships (canon or non canon) from all media (manga/anime, tv series, books, cartoon, etc)? Do you have a certain criteria for a couple to be your otps?

Sorry if my ask is kinda long @sunbeamah .....

No problem!!! I'm so sorry for how long it took me to respond to this ask-- I thought about it a lot, made a list, and then got distracted looking into my old favourite medias TT -- this ask made me go back and relive my Fairy Tail days haha, so thank you very much!!!

And also, please don't apologise!!! I appreciate this ask so much-- and again I'm so sorry it took me so long to reply!!!!!

I'm also so glad you liked the list hehe, I loved that fic too!!!

JJK Ships:

Fushiita

Nobamaki

Chosoyuki

Satosugu

Inuita

JJK BrOTP: Nobara and Yuuji!

Non-JJK top 5:

Liutana (Mortal Kombat)

Zolu (One Piece)

Sasunaru (Naruto)

Kagehina (Haikyuu!!!)

Togachako/Ochatoga (My Hero Academia)

Viktuuri (Yuuri!!! On Ice)

Obamitsu (Demon Slayer)

Below the cut is explanations, with JJK manga panels, SO PLEASE BEWARE OF MANGA SPOILERS BELOW!!! (Specifically, the front page of chapter 205 of jjk manga, and a page from chapter 200 as well I'll lyk where it is below the cut!)

Ah and minor Haikyuu manga spoilers! Just down where it says Kagehina

Jjk chapter 205 is under the chosoyuki (number 3) point; chapter 200 is the second image under fushiita, both appear in the first list below.

JJK Ships!!

Fushiita

This probably isn't surprising at all, but I love Fushiita!!! Something about stoic guys melting and being affectionate with bright, kind, mischievous boyfriends just tickles me yk

2. Nobamaki

A strong upperclassman who watches her cheeky, abrasive underclassman with fondness and interest-- there's more to their relationship that I like of course, their connection as 'the girls' that draws them closer, Nobara's instant respect and softness in regards to Maki, and how protective she becomes of her at the exchange event. I like to think Maki is protective towards her in a different but no less meaningful way. Protectiveness is one of my favourite tropes-- ik it's cheesy but it is!!!

3. Chosoyuki

Now, these two man... These two... I just love how she's so confident and outspoken, and how she saw Choso and went 'yeah. That one.' -- I loved their little date, even if he cried ((LOVE a good pathetic man)), and how she made him think differently about himself and his situation.

4. Satosugu

The soulmatery of these 2... The homosexuality of these 2..... They're unmated. A real Sasunaru descendant.

5. InuIta

I wasn't that into them, to be honest, but my friends and I quote that 'Inumaki-senpai! Shake!' scene in s2 all of the time. Eventually, I started to think of them as kind of cute, and then I tried writing them and found Inumaki is a really fun character to write! I love his mischievousness and dedication to protecting his friends (relegated to a life of speaking solely in onigiri ingredients... nah that's probably one of the perks for him).

JJK BrOTP

It's GOTTA be Nobara and Yuuji. The friendship between these two is awesome, I love how she started out thinking of him as an idiot, and then got to know him and realised that yeah he's an idiot, but he's also a little bit fun to have around sometimes. Nah jk, I love how they're 2 peas in a pod, both crazy, both from the countryside, both just as silly as each other. I really love watching them hang out in the few eps we get of that, and the juju strolls they're both in-- they're just awesome!

Top 5 In Any Media (Excluding JJK)

I had to consult my ao3 bookmarks AND pinterest for this. There are a bunch there of ships I don't read anymore but keep 'for the memories' and some ships I am ashamed of! So I didn't include those hehe.

I'll only put 1 per fandom to keep things fair! Cause there is 1 particular fandom where... My ships will fill up all 7 of the spots...

Also, no particular order! Some of these go up and down based on the day, scenario, fic, art, and heaps more factors!

Liutana My first ship! (Excluding my total drama island childhood... gwen x trent u will always be famous. I don't condone s2) I loved them so much, when MK1 came out and I heard about the kiss??? I damn near cried.

Zolu 1 thing about Zolu is that from the first ep I've shipped them 100%. Every episode that they're in is a fun episode to watch, their dynamic is so SDJHVFSBJNE and I really enjoy it! But also... Any time someone appreciates Luffy I kinda... Side-eye a little...... I'm a bit disloyal in that sense...........

Sasunaru Gaanaru is constantly fighting for this spot tho... I am disloyal. I like nejinaru, shikanaru, hinanaru, sainaru, I even wrote an allnaru fic back in the day. It never saw the light of day but man... Also Shikatema is peak love those 2.

Kagehina Height difference, moody x cheerful, sunrise x shadow mountain-- names with symbolism but also it's the sunrise that puts the shadow on the mountain and I say all that^^ but the second Atsumu appeared on screen...... IM A DISLOYAL PERSON!!! And the reunion?? "Tobio-chan!! Don't talk to my spiker like that :)" WHEN I TELL YOU I ALMOST CHOKED ON MY SCREAM...

Togachako/Ochatoga Just getting back into bnha and man.. these 2 GRABBED ME... Allmomo is FANTASTIC too btw-- and I do mean all girls x Momo but I suppose Kaminari can stay, as Jirou's boyfriend.. and Kurotoko (is that still their ship name?!), Fumirumi, Bakukiri let me stop myself before I erupt,

Obamitsu THEM <33 I'm a bigger, 'stronger' (I'm not as strong as her she's something else) girl too so Mitsuri and this ship is just everything to me... Also love Gentan and Muitan!

Viktuuri The comfort ship I always come back to.

Honourable mentions!

Sophie x Agatha, The School for Good and Evil (BABY'S THIRD EVER SHIP!!!)

Kiyoyachi, Haikyuu (I WANTED U ON THE LIST BABY I REALLY DID)

Sidlink, Legend of Zelda (don't look at me like that... I know...)

Kyokao, Ouran High School Host Club (Yes I watched this. I was 10 and it changed my life)

Rennora, RWBY

Gajevy, Alljuvia, Stingue and Fraxus, Fairy Tail

Cleuce, Allclawdeen, Monster High (by all I mean all the girls -- same for Juvia up there!)

Dickkory, DC

[souslesetoilesavectoi]

Magician!Yuuri's Design~ For @siphoklansan's Circus AU

(I demand you check out her post now~!!! XD)

Notes:

In this AU, Yuuri is extremely morbid, like talking about corpses, death, and plagues just completely casually (enjoys the topics really) a key thing is that she often calls to her ‘spirits’— whether they’re actually there or not. She credits them for her magic tricks, and sometimes spooks the audience a bit. Her behaviour is rarely questioned because of her occupation. I’ve done much more thinking about this than I’m typing but…

Anyways I love this AU so much~~!!!! Ringmaster!Siphok is so intriguing, I’d love to learn more about her~ (I wanna draw her so bad too—)

I honestly have so many ideas for how Yuuri and Ringmaster!Siphok would interact in my brain but I digress—

Bonus:

[calamari-inari]

Playing this game (without the likes) 🫶

1. enemies to lovers, best friends to lovers, lord and their knight ❤️

2. Not sure if these are tropes, but yandere lover (just not a very big fan of yandere), obsessive love (treating their partner as a possession), misogynistic attitudes or abusive power in a relationship (basically a partner defining what their partner, whether it be a woman or man, should do or behave, and the victimized partner finds it hot???)

3. Gradual mutual understanding for one another! I also learn more about the characters' personalities this way!

4. One or both partners experience withdrawal when they're being separated from each other lol. True feelings often emerge from such situations and it's adorable...

5. Multiship! So far, the only ships I really think about now are from FE3H and a few from Engage and TGAA. Here's a list of several multiships I enjoy!

FE3H (Apparently Dimitri is very shippable to me LOL)

Hubert x Ferdinand

Hubert x Edelgard

Sylvain x Felix

Sylvain x Ferdinand

Dimitri x Ferdinand

Dimitri x Felix

Dimitri x Dedue

Dimitri x Claude

Byleth x any lord

Engage

Alear x Alfred

Alear x Diamant

Diamant x Ivy

TGAA

Kazuma x Ryuunosuke

Barok x Kazuma

Barok x Herlock

6. I like both rarepairs and mainstream! Most of the rarepairs I like don't have any canon interaction, so I like to explore the "what could've been" situations.

7. Monogamy. Not much to explain here. It's just my preference lol

8. Using my favorite pair ferdibert, they are reversible, but I have a really strong preference for dom Hubert and sub Ferdinand. However!! I'm not a big fan of where Ferdinand is written or drawn very femininely. This applies to any MxM pair. I'm not against the concept of femininity in males, but when used in a stereotypical fashion, it rubs me the wrong way. Just a subtle depiction of their relationship dynamic is perfect to me! I'm alright with seeing SFW artwork of the reverse and reading said fics, but NSFW is where I draw the line

9. Thinking about the games I've played, I can think of at least one pair I like to see romantically, so yes 😂

10. Not at all important! After all, my favorite is romantic fluff 🥺 Depending on the intensity of my liking for a ship, the NSFW aspect becomes more bareable since I'm still personally embarrassed consuming such content lol. I am vanilla. Ferdibert is highkey the only one I consume NSFW for

11. A lot of my MxF and FxF pairs are platonic to me! This is likely due to my aegosexuality, which is the closest explanation I can identify with. Not everything needs to be romantic. I find close friendships very heartwarming too 🥺

12. My top favorites right now are ferdibert 🖤🧡, sylvix ❤️💙, and diminand 💙🧡!

13. My favorite pairs from fandoms that I'm not really engaging in now are:

Madeleine Cookie x Espresso Cookie (Cookie Run Kingdom)

Victor x Yuuri (Yuri on Ice)

Link x Zelda (Skyward Sword version)

Reyn x Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles 1)

Chrom x M!Robin (Fire Emblem Awakening)

14. Domestic fluff is really cute, but the official legal bonding of two partners isn't on my "must have" list for any romantic pairing. I really love seeing creations of my favorite pairs marrying though! Gives me the tingles every time and I just feel so happy 😍

15. As someone that made OC fan kids in the past, yes that is totally fine and I love seeing other people's interpretations for the same pair (if they don't have canon children). I've even made some for ferdibert before but I never fully flushed them out lol

[rikeijo]

Today's translation #526

Yuri!!! on Life official guidebook, Toshiharu Mizutani (Art Director) interview

Part 3.

-- For sure, there is a lot of small things in the designs.

M: When I look at just the line arts, I always think that they are drawn in a very loose way, and a lot of those small things are skillfully drawn in a simplified way/omitted. It's something that only somebody with a lot of practice can do. Even newcomers can draw precisely, if they look at a drawing and try to copy it, but the most important thing is not to draw something that is not necessary. If you have to later erase something that you drew, then you give yourself twice the amount of work, but only people with a lot of skill can simply not draw too much to begin with.

-- Then it must have been a good opportunity to learn for the younger staff members, I'd guess?

M: They were all very desperate [to get the job done] and working while on the brink of death.

-- The ice in the skating scenes is very realistic, too. Was it a request from the Director?

M: Yeah. Since the first PV. Even I have watched some figure skating on DVD, so it was something that was on my mind, too. In case of ice shows, the lights are very elaborate, and your eyes are really drawn to the ice, cut with blades of skaters' shoes. Because of how it sparkles. I was wondering if it would be possible to try to achieve this effect, but I thought that if I touched this subject, we all were going to suffer, so I kept quiet. But then I decided that I want to have those cuts in the ice, after all. All were drawn on the same layer, but then split into multiple layers. We put at least three such layers on the surface of the ice.

[Notes: Long time no rant, so...

((Just in case, newer readers may not be aware, that I'm a "fujo-hater" 😂 But fret not, I'm not against seeing relationship between Yuuri and Victor as romantic or against people reading BL, but I'm very much against fujos, who as it was in the case of YoI, try to "teach"/press the creators/other staff members to make the canon bend to their doujinshi tropes.))

The talk about staff members on the brink of death reminded me about that huge controversy about MAPPA that happened last year 💀 It's not a secret that Sayo was overworking animators during YoI and there are still screenshots of animators calling her names on twitter and say condolences to each other, bc of being involved with YoI. So, YoI fandom now hating MAPPA, bc "bad MAPPA, bad working conditions, poor animators...", while demanding that they should stop producing shonens, bc they should make YoI instead is well... an example of how spending time in an echo chamber and just following the crowd can make you a huge hypocrite.

It should also be said that it's not that those shonens are "just for boys" or anything like that if we talk about this topic, btw. GoYuu from JJK (Gojo x Yuuji) is so popular with fujos that it has now more views in total on pixiv than VicYuu, and gets more views in 10-30 min than VicYuu gets in 24 hours (a huge credit for that should ofc go to YoI's IP holders, as they've been trying to starve the fandom to death since 2018, basically...) It's really ironic that it's YoI fans who are so much against MAPPA making those popular shonens, bc so many Jp VicYuu fujos moved to GoYuu (it's basically the same trope "the most awesome, strong and cool man in the world the seme" x "fujoshi avatar the main character in the center of the universe the uke") - one of the reasons, why Jp fans don't attack MAPPA - they very much enjoy those shonens. (Another is that they can read and it's very easy to check who owns the IP.)

To sum up, as always, it's very unfair for YoI fans to call Otsuka CEO the greedy homophobic liar, while absolutely refusing to see the bigger picture.]

[dervampireprince]

"i wonder if when people see the artwork thumbnails they think the drawings are of fandom characters? and so they don't click because they don't recognise what fandom it is?"

For me personally, I'd never heard of several of the existing fandoms you've done audios for, and have been introduced to them that way, but I'd listened to quite a few of your OCs prior to that. (Maybe that's just me, though? I'll often listen to whatever piques my curiosity at a given moment.) I can say I found your channel while searching for Sebastian ASMRs, and liked yours so much, I looked at what else you had and quickly saw Erik (I've been into PotO for almost 30 years now, so that was something I jumped at), which I played next. However, Dmitri was an immediate third, then Ambrose, then Arden. So I guess the subjects appeal to me more, but maybe I'm weird? Regardless, I hope more people will listen to the OCs with art, as they will not be disappointed in the least! 💜 /pos

I don't think it's weird.

When I first started listening to audio roleplays I can think of a couple instances where I did listen to characters I didn't know. I really liked, and still like, KinkRadio's audios and back when he was first voicing Guzma from Pokemon I didn't know who Guzma was but got into those audios, and I listen to his Witcher audios despite never having watched the show (yes I know I've made audios of Jaskier, I've only ever watched one episode, I like the characters but I overall didn't like the show and didn't want to watch the rest, if my Jaskier is in character it's because of episode 1, fanfics, and K's audios).

However nowadays I wouldn't listen to an audio unless I knew the character. I don't do it so I wouldn't have expected other people too.

I do listen to other people's OCs though so I don't know. Maybe they don't think it's a fandom character but instead just don't like my artstyle or... Well...

Most art in ASMR audios on Youtube is stolen art. Most don't credit the artist who's work they've taken, some credit Pintrest reposts, and even if they do credit the artist properly it doesn't matter because you can't use someone's art (especially their own original characters and use that as a design for your own OC) in your own audios without their permission. Even more so when the video is monetised and you're making money off someone else's art without paying them. And this includes Picrews. Picrews are still someone's art. Some Picrews are public domain / creative commons 0 meaning you can use them, but those that aren't? Don't. Not without the artists permission.

My point of bringing that up is I notice the videos with art that get the most views... tent do be stolen lewd or cropped explicit art. And I have no interest in drawing my own lewd art for my thumbnails because that's not really allowed? But they get the views.

Of course that's not to say all VAs on Youtube do this. And it's not to say that no VAs with artwork do well. People who's OCs I like and either make their own art or commission artists to make their art are: KinkRadio, Dark and Twisted Whisper, YuuriVoice. Though with Yuuri and Dark they both have only artwork in their thumbnails not lots of text so idk if that doesnt better? I'm not too bothered. Maybe one day I'll try and cosplay my own OCs just to take photos for their thumbnails and see if they do better than the artwork ones as an experiment.

Wow sorry I didn't meant to ramble here. I have no current plans to change up my thumbnails but it would be interesting to do eg a Satin audio with a photo and see how that does compared to the artwork ones just as a little test.

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers LOST EDEN ー Yuma Dark [Epilogue]

Monologue

I still vividly remember,

the tanks drawing closer with a roaring sound.

ーー As well as how my precious compared,

were ripped away from me,

by the onslaught of bullets fired from those machines.

It was Lucks, who told me to look up at the sky.

The soldiers working for the state army, killing us,

as well as we, being massacred by them.

we all live underneath the sky.

Underneath that sky, we’re all equal.

Those were...his final words.

ー Yuma wakes up in his room

Yuma: ...

*Rustle*

Yuma: ...A dream, huh? 

( I wonder why I still had a dream of back then...? )

Yui: ...Nn...

Yuma: ( ...Right. I guess we did talk ‘bout my leader and the others yesterday. )

Yui: Zz...Zz...

Yuma: Hah, look at that sloppy expression. I wonder what she’s dreamin’ ‘bout...?

ー Yuma looks outside the window at the sky

Yuma: ( ーー On that day when my friends passed away. I lost many things dear to me. )

( For better or worse, I was the sole suvivor as I was taken to an orphanage afterwards...Which is where I met Ruki and the others. )

( I looked death in the eyes once more, but was saved by Karlheinz-sama...Which ultimately led to meetin’ Yui. )

( There were times where I wished I would have met my end alongside my comrades, but now I no longer feel that way. )

( ...However, to this day, there’s a part of me which still wants to give them the final send-off they deserve. )

( I just think it’s no fair that they had to rot there by the side of road, never given a proper place to rest. )

( They might have been mere street rats, they did everythin’ they could to survive. )

ー The scene shifts to the entrance hall of the Sakamaki manor

Reiji: ...Look what the cat dragged in. 

ー Shuu walks up to him

Reiji: Shuu...So you have returned home. ...Excuse me, why do you look like that? Do you have no shame?

Shuu: Leave me alone. 

Reiji: Haah...Do as you want, but please do not cause us trouble. You are our King after all.

Shuu: ...

Reiji: ...? Is something the matter?

Shuu: Do you also...want to be the heir?

Reiji: Hah? Why are you asking that all of a sudden? Did you hit your head somewhere, perhaps?

Shuu: Don’t dodge the question. I’m being serious here.

Reiji: ...What a strange guy you are.

For one, your question is incorrectly phrased. This is not an issue of ‘wanting’ or ‘not wanting’ something.

What truly matters is whether you are suitable or not. It is the former heir who gets to decide, and Father chose to pass his powers down to you.

I would be lying if I said that I do not feel at least the slightest bit ashamed that he did not deem me most fit, but there is no point in being upset about that now.

In most cases, you will find that simply wanting something is often not enough to also be qualified for it.

Shuu: ...I see.

ー Shuu walks away

Reiji: By the way, Shuu. Where have you been this whole tiーーShuu!

...Good grief. What is that deadbeat’s problem?

Laito: Maybe something is actually weighing heavy on his mind for once?

Reiji: Laito...You were watching?

Laito: I guess it’d be more correct I was eavesdropping? Well, I guess Shuu finally came to the realization as well.

That there are people out there who want the thing which he wishes to get rid of. 

Reiji: ...I wonder.

ー The scene shifts to Kino’s manor

Kino: Haahー ...I guess I messed up.

Yuuri: What are you talking about?

Kino: About Shuu. I wanted to stir up some trouble, you see. 

I decided to mess with him in hopes of causing a rift between those two.

But don’t you think that I might have actually brought the Sakamakis and the Mukamis closer together instead? 

Yuuri: That’s not how I perceived it.

Kino: Not on the rooftop. But you heard their conversation afterwards, didn’t you?

After seeing those tears and hearing all those things, don’t you think he’ll most likely change his mind?

Yuuri: ...

Kino: Yuuri? Hey, are you listening?

Yuuri: I am.

Even if you are correct, that is not an issue. We still have our trump card after all.

And even without it, I believe that it will not be all too difficult to sway the Sakamaki’s heir’s heart a certain way.

Kino: Haha, you’re right. That guy seems emotionally frail. 

I mean, that’s exactly why I am very much looking forward to breaking him...Fufu.

 ー The scene shifts back to Yuma’s room

Yui: ...Nn...

*Rustle rustle* 

Yui: Yuma-kun, good morning...

( ...Huh? He’s not here...I suppose I’ll go take a look at his garden. )

...Hm?

( What’s this scent? It smells kind of burnt... )

...! Could it be a fire!?

ー Yui sprints to the kitchen

Yuma: ...Why did it burn?

Yui: Yuma-kun!!

Yuma: Oh, ya woke up! Breakfast is almost ready to be served!

Yui: Now’s not the time for that! There’s a fire somewheーー Wait, breakfast...?

Yuma: I was aimin’ for a soft-boiled egg but I ended up burnin’ it instead. Oh well, I’ll eat this one.

Yui: Breakfast...You made it?

Yuma: Didn’t I just say that?

Yui: ( So that’s where the burnt smell was coming from? It wasn’t a fire... )

A-Are you alright?

Yuma: I’m no master chef like Ruki, but I’m perfectly capable of cookin’ breakfast. Come on, ya go take a seat.

Yui: ( W-Will he actually be okay...? )

ー The scene shifts to the living room

Yuma: How’s it? Good?

Yui: Yes, it’s delicious. It looks...very bombastic though.

Yuma: This is how a real man cooks! Ruki’s the odd one out. Come on, have some more. I made plenty.

We might not be able to sit down and have a meal like this once we get back to Eden.

Yui: We’re going back already?

Yuma: Yeah. No point in stayin’ here any longer, is there?

Yui: ( I guess he gave up on Shuu-san after all then... )

Yuma: ...I know what ya wanna say.

Yui: Eh? 

Yuma: It’s written all over yer face. Ya want to ask me what I’ll do ‘bout Shuu, right?

Let’s just...forget ‘bout him.

We don’t have the time until he finally decides to change his mind. We just gotta fix it ourselves somehow.

Yui: ...Yeah.

*Ding・dong*

Yui: Ah...A visitor?

Yuma: This early? ...Smells fishy.

Yui, ya stay here. I’ll go open the door.

...That bein’ said, I guess it’s dangerous to leave ya behind. Come with me after all.

It’d suck if somebody were to snatch ya away the second I take my eyes off ya.

That Kino seems like the type of guy who’d rely on cheap tricks like that.

*Ding・dong*

Yuma: Oh shut up, I’ll be right there! ...Come on, let’s go. Don’t leave my side.

Yui: Okay.

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

[papillon82fluttersby]

Thanks @real-life-senshi for tagging me! I rarely do these kinds of 'get-to-know-you' posts but why not?

The Rules: Tag (9) people you want to know better and/or catch up with, then answer the following:

Four Ships:

Victuuri (Victor Nikiforov x Yuuri Katsuki, Yuri!!! On Ice): I got pulled into the YOI fandom when someone I was following started posting what I thought at the time was an annoyingly excessive number of YOI-related memes and gifs. I ended up watching the series out of curiosity to know what the hype was all about and enjoyed it a lot, which led me to find other people equally interested and talking about it around here, and ultimately led me to the wider world of AO3 where I found many talented writers both in this fandom and others. So I would like to take this opportunity to formally thank the aforementioned YOI-meme poster who unwittingly introduced me to the fandom: @rosepetalrevolution please receive my most heartfelt thanks and this metaphorical gift basket 🎁

Judiki (Julian x Dick Kirrin, Famous Five): If you've been around my blog lately, you know I've been introduced to this pairing by the lovely and talented @sweetsorcery and @majormcnerdy-geekinfantry-blog. This pairing was an unexpected and delightful find that is now living rent free in my head.

Zeus x Ganymede (Greek mythology): @littlesparklight is solely responsible for my discovery and enjoyment of this ship! This prolific writer has also produced many different works around various Greek myths, both shippy and non-shippy, and I can only urge you to visit her AO3 page.

Writers x Readers x Artists: I love collabs. I love when a reader makes a comment that sparks a future idea for a writer. I love when an artist surprises a writer with art for their fics, or when a writer makes a snippet based on a piece of art. Just keep that virtuous circle going!

(I just realised that the 3 ships I listed are all MM but that's not exclusively representative to my tastes. I equally enjoy MF or FF or any other combinations!)

Last Song: The Eurovision 2023 playlist that I listened on repeat for my ratings. I don't really listen to a lot of music on my own; I find it too distracting when I'm reading or looking stuff up on my computer. I listened to music a lot more when I used to draw, though; I always had music as a background then.

Currently Reading: Bill Bryson's The Body: A Guide for Occupants (non fiction) ... as well as a lot of ongoing fics on AO3 -- mostly original works but some fanfics too.

Last Movie: That would be Alexandre Astier's Kaamelott (Premier Volet), based on the legend of King Arthur. It started as a short-format humoristic TV series made of 3-minute episodes, then evolved into 50-minute episodes as the plot got more involved and explored deeper concepts, and the conclusion should now be in the form of a movie trilogy, the first one of which was released a couple of years ago. For a long time, my awareness of the franchise was mainly about the earlier 3-minute humoristic episodes, as they benefit from regular (but out of sequence) reruns on TV. Only recently did I watch the full 6 seasons in the order they were meant to be watched, which greatly enhances the experience. I hope they can get the final two movies made!

Craving: TIME. Seriously. Give me time to read the growing pile of books sitting on my 'to-read' shelf. Give me time to re-read books I've enjoyed in the past and see if I have the same outlook now as I did then. Give me time to read and re-read and comment on AO3 fics. Give me time to resume drawing and learn how to properly use digital art tools. Give me time to practice the piano again. Give me time to exercise so I can feel fitter and stronger in my body. GIVE ME TIME.

Tagging: Absolutely no pressure doing this! Just tagging some of my mutuals and people whose posts and contents always brighten up my dash :) @moonwhing @proantagonista (whom I have not mentioned above but whose YOI fic "Winter Song" was one of the earliest I read and convinced me there was really good stuff to be found in fanfic) @sweetsorcery @majormcnerdy-geekinfantry-blog @littlesparklight @rosepetalrevolution @happyheidi @somethingyoirelated @sheepskeleton-art

[thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai]

On Yuuri's "top-secret" love life

Edit: Due to turning this post into a thread for the dead-bird site, I gave it a complete overhaul because some parts were wordy and confusing.

I took a deeper look into the information YOI gives us about Yuuri’s history with love and the implactions for his character arc.

Let’s start with when Viktor introduces the two Yuris to their new short programmes:

A first examination of the subject of love usually happens in puberty when the average person experiences their first crush. However, 23-year-old Yuuri just cluelessly shakes his head when Viktor asks whether he’s ever thought about love.

Since Yuuri has an evasive nature when feeling pushed or embarrassed, we can assume that he’s not hiding things here. Also interesting in this context, is his interpretation of Agape:

Yuuri is projecting his own experiences with love into his interpretation of On Love: Agape and Eros and his answers reflect where he’s currently at in his journey of exploring love. (for further discussion please check this meta).

Japanese language distinguishes general love 愛 (“ai”) from romantic/passionate love 恋 (“koi”). These terms roughly approximate the Greek concepts of agape and eros as they are utilised in YOI. However, YOI doesn't draw the distinction between 愛 and 恋 but uses 愛 (“ai”) as the overarching concept that includes other forms or love, e.g. せいてきな愛 (“sexual love”).

Until Viktor introduces the two Yuris into On Love: Agape and Eros, Yuuri has never wasted a thought on love. Which means:

Until the end of episode 2, Yuuri has never had romantic feelings for another person.

Why can we be so sure of that?

Even a first crush inevitably inspires an examination of love to some extent regardless of whether you’re happy in love, whether your feelings aren’t reciprocated or whether you decide not to act upon them.

If Yuuri had experienced such feelings before episode 2/3, he would know. And we would know, too, because it would impact his views on love, how he tackles his season’s theme, and how he goes about his relationship with Viktor. It would notably impact his character journey.

Instead, YOI introduces us to the extent of Yuuri’s parasocial obsession with Viktor that despite the gay-coding is too abstract to qualify as an actual crush. The Japanese term for “idol” that YOI uses for the people Yuuri idolises is the neutral 憧れの人 = “someone to look up to/admire”.

For the story of YOI to work as it does, Yuuri never having had romantic feelings is crucial.

Yuuri has one-track-mind that makes Viktor the fulcrum of his existence since he discovered Viktor at the onset of puberty (aka when young people start experiencing attraction for the first time). He has every poster of Viktor at least twice, he copied his programmes and he even named his poodle Katsuki Viktor (yes, that’s canon). In his endeavour to face Viktor as an equal on the ice, he move abroad to train with different coach. The show portrays Yuuri as being more interested in skating [to pursue Viktor] than in spending time with his friends, not that he'd be great at forming relationships in the first place because he's super awkward. Doesn’t sound like someone who even has the mind to notice potential partners around them, does it?

Now let’s move on to the press conference at the end of episode 5 that comprises Yuuri’s journey of exploring love and gives us some more insight into his views on love.

Since the subs are low-key confusing, I’m not quoting them, but you can check this translation to educate yourself on all the nuances that the official translation misses. Particularly interesting is this part:

My love. It’s not [general] love or romantic love that is easy to understand, but my bond with Victor, and the lukewarm way I feel about my family and my local community.

Note that this is the only time the anime uses 恋 ("koi"), probably because he's speaking to a Japanese audience.

Note that this is the only time the anime uses 恋 (“koi”), probably because he’s speaking to a Japanese audience.

This line give us clear idea on how Yuuri feels about the people in his life that are not Viktor, confirming what we’ve could already guess from context: that his relationships so far never reached a level that is intimate enough to enforce an examination of the subject of love. We tend to take our friends and family for granted, but crushes and falling in love are feelings that take over our lives.

Yuuri’s speech about love as a whole showcases that he has come a long way from utter cluelessness to the matured and nuanced idea of love that he now explaines to his audience. He was able to arrive at this point because his time with Viktor sparked the examination of the subject. Yuuri draws a clear distinction between his feelings for his family and friends and his feelings for Viktor, which aren’t lukewarm at all.

A more accurate translation of that line is: “The first person I want to tie myself to and never let go is Viktor” ( 初めて自分から繋ぎとめたいと思った人、それがヴィクトルです) because 繋ぎとめたい means wanting to tie someone / something to you and never let it go (see this translation error masterpost).

After months of getting to know Viktor intimately, Yuuri has fallen in love with Viktor at last. This feeling is bigger than any emotion he has experienced before because it’s greater than 恋 and 愛 and because of that:

This feeling doesn't have a name, but I decided to dare to call it "love".

Yuuri is awkward and anxious, but he’s determined to pursue a goal he committed himself to. For half his life that goal was Viktor, first as an abstract concept and as an ideal to strive for, later as a romantic interest, and he makes sure the world knows.

If Yuuri had had romantic feelings for someone else, he would have pursued this person or ruled out the idea because Viktor was more important and it would have impacted his views on love either way.

Or in other words:

Viktor is Yuuri's first love.

I will discuss the gay-coding of how Yuuri idolises people that inspire him in another post because this seems to be one of the lesser known facts.

For this analysis I've reviewed the entire context of Yuuri's history with love and ruled out everything that doesn't withstand scrutiny or makes no sense in the grand scheme of things (aka the canon of YOI as a whole). You are free to headcanon Yuuri as having had crushes or relationships before Viktor, but keep in mind that this would alter the plot of YOI.

Friendly reminder: friendship, admiration, and aesthetic attraction are often misconstrued as romantic attraction due to allonormative/amatonormative paradigms. When interpreting fictional characters, the entire context must be reviewed to check whether there is more to that.

[gabapple]

Speaking of bad ex-boyfriends, I would love to know the process that, for example, you had in NLA to write the character of Niko, I would like to know because I always wondered the perspective that people could have with him or people like him in the real world, like vitya I think there were things that were not so simple to identify (when things are good and then are bad, but in a toxic way) if you are a young person or with little experience in love or what love is. How did you decide to give him those characteristics as a character and why, what things did you want to emphasize to make it known that Niko was not a good boyfriend and that was not love either. And what is the difference that he had with Yuuri, and how was the whole process to make that difference when you decided to include the theme of healthy relationships in the fic.

I think a lot of people can identify with it and be in a relationship that they don't realize it's not good for them or love them like they deserve to be loved :(. And the impact it had on Viktor, for example, when he realized that with Yuuri he felt more comfortable with his body, even in the sexual way, that it meant more and he was looking for it more. The confusion that was for him not knowing that was "normal" in a relationship

I'm really curious about that process and how you decided to handle it, gosh forgive me now for the huge text.

I hope I made myself understood, be patient with me english is not my first language shsjsjys💖 🍵 so I apologize if I didn't, please let me know and THANK YOU :')

Your question is great and I understood you perfectly! No worries at all.

I suppose Niko is where I should have started with the question, as he's probably the best example of processing trauma/navigating through life with writing that I have.

(For those who aren't aware, in the Yuri!!! on Ice fic Never Look Away, we give young Viktor a boyfriend named Niko-- and in case it wasn't obvious, he was NOT a good one.)

I knew early on in the outline-drafting phase of NLA that we wanted to give Viktor someone in his life that would leave a lasting, negative impact. We toyed with a few ideas, but long before the end of the series, we knew that his "first lover" was the perfect candidate. Since my job was writing Viktor, I created Niko to fill the role, and boy-howdy was there a lot in my own life to draw on.

I won't name names or be too specific, but Niko is based on the common traits that I saw in my own ex boyfriends (and ex friends, etc), as well as those I saw in my friends' lives. Some of them were easier to get over than others, but all had a huge impact on my life. It would have been easy to create this horrible, nasty villain and call it a day, but that wouldn't have served justice for the story OR for Vitya, so I had to go a step deeper.

A truly believable character, even one you're supposed to hate, is one that feels real. So I had to find reasons to love him, myself. I gave Niko the name he has because it's one of my most favorite names. I had to recall what it was like to be a touch-starved teenager, longing for acceptance and attention, and what I might look for in a love interest. Now as an adult, I know SO much more than I did, and it's easier to contextualize, but like you said, the inexperienced don't have that luxury.

It was the same for me and the exes (of varying kinds). None of the relationships really started out toxic. Most of them were young, too, after all... and still trying to figure out who they were/how to navigate in their own lives. I wanted to give Niko the benefit of the doubt at first, and so did Vitya. He wasn't always a terrible person, but it was his choices and the way he interacted with others that really cemented his being a bad guy.

That is to say, no one is all good or all bad. If I were going to write him properly, I had to understand his own motivations, hopes, desires, and dreams. That helped me to look at my exes that way, too. A lot of the fights we had boiled down to miscommunication and pride on both sides. Vitya was young and impulsive. Niko was fighting his own insecurities and feeling pressured. Did they love each other? Sure, at some point or another, but they were ultimately incompatible, and that can only last so long before something had to give.

I think that's where we come to the other part of your ask-- Niko vs Yuuri. Something I really love in NLA was we got to do a LOT of comparison/contrast between the different character dynamics and relationships, which is what the series also excels at.

Where Niko refused to give in and made Vitya lead in all things, Yuuri was all about being expected to take charge and meet in the middle. They're both extremely stubborn, but Yuuri wanted to do the work and thinks of Viktor's well-being, while Niko is only worried about himself and how things impacted him.

It's like the fine line between being possessive and being protective. Niko wanted to keep Viktor like a prize; Yuuri wanted to earn his place by Viktor's side.

Several of the scenes in the fic (both NLA and Vitya Diaries) are based on things that happened to me with the folks I based Niko off of. It has taken me a long time to get through it, and I still struggle from the past abuse, but thankfully I have good people supporting me now, and that helps. It's a long process to come from feeling worthless and put down, to taking a stand for yourself, to then realizing you're worthwhile, just as you are. But like we say in NLA, and I hope it comes through, love is real and patient love is healing.

I'm very grateful that I had the opportunity to not only experience that myself, but to explore it in writing for others, as well.

I hope that answers your question. Feel free to send more if needed. I'm happy to help in any way I can. :)

[capsensislagamoprh]

"What the hell?! Why did you wait?!" Yuri barked at Victor.

Christophe stared at his long time friend with a studious gaze. "Yes, why?"

"I... it doesn't take long to get a car detailed? I thought it would be here on time?"

"Victor, min vän." Christophe said no more as one hand rested just under his chin, the other on his hip. He'd done his utmost to make sure that everything was prepared for the bachelors party tonight. Phichit was in the other room with Yuuri, getting ready to take him out. They were meant to be partying, without a care for anything but hangover cures in the morning. Now they had to deal with this.

Victor pouted, arms crossed, head turned defiantly away from the other two in both frustration and a touch of guilt. If his Yuuri found out he'd messed up, his delectable little piggy would stress very badly and that would ruin his beloved's night as well as his own. "They said it would be ready on time," he offered by way of explanation.

"Otabek told you to take it in two days ago in case something like this happens! He told you that it's better to have a window of, like... fucking fixing shit or something. In case they fuck it up! Whatever." Yuri blew air to puff his bangs off his eyes. "No, not whatever! Chris said, take it in. Phichit reminded you. Hell, I told your balding ass to get it done!" Yuri fumed. "This is proof that love kills brain cells, not that you had many to begin with!"

Both men gasped. "Yurio! How can you say such things!"

"Amore is no enemy of mine!"

"It's such a wondrous -"

"Magical!"

"- glorious thing!"

Yuri did not look convinced. The two men exchanged looks of deep, unspoken conversation. Yuri thought he smelt their last two brain cells smoking. "Right, well, what are you going to do about it," he hissed.

"Someone will have to go get it," Christophe sighed. "We can get a cab, then drive it back ourselves."

"Or," Victor said, drawing out the word.

"Or?"

"We could," his plastic smile in place, Victor turned towards Yuri.

"Could what, old man?" Yuri felt his hackles raise. "Don't even think of sending me. I can't drive."

"No, but a certain someone you know can."

Christophe's brows rose to his hairline, eyes twinkling. "That is true."

"Oh My God! How does this shit always fall on me!"

"What falls on you?" came the calming tones of Otabek.

"Listen to this!" Yuri growled. "Baldy here didn't listen, as usual, and now his stupid classic car he paid way too much for just to have it for the wedding is stuck at the detailers because he stupidly didn't listen to everyone when they said two days was not enough of a window for delivery! Because he's stupid!"

"I don't think he's stupid Yuri. I think he's got a lot to keep track of. Even with help, weddings are laborious. This is a very stressful event. Something was bound to fall through the cracks."

Victor clasped his hands, leaning on his best friend, a look of utter delight on his face. Not only was Yuri - despite the sour look - accepting his friend's words as truth, the man thought he wasn't stupid. Could he trade Yuri in for Otabek? No. His Yuuri would be upset. Just a little.  Shame. Christophe felt the air around Victor vibrate with mischief. He had his own thoughts on the matter.

"Why is it not ready?" Otabek turned his preinstalled poker face towards the two men. The gaze was unsettling. It felt intense, like he was staring into your soul. Or through your skull.

Suppressing a shudder, Christophe had a momentary flash of using that stare in Monte Carlo. Blinking away the image, he focused on the Kazakh. "You can drive internationally, right?"

"Yes."

"Mind doing us a favor?"

"Depends."

Victor's smile wavered as Yuri's teeth grinding seemed to be calling him out. "The car needs to be picked up," he offered forlornly.

"The detailer can't get someone to drive it because there's no one to take him back," Christophe offered.

"I can take him back," Otabek offered.

"They already said they sent everyone who could drive it here home," Victor sighed. "We'll have to go get it ourselves. They said they'd stay open for another hour and after that they won't be open again until Monday."

Otabek settled his gaze on Victor. "Your wedding is on Sunday."

"I know!" Victor wailed. "My Yuuri will be so disappointed!"

For a long moment no one said anything. Then Otabek disappeared down the hall.

"HA! That's what you get for putting things off, Baldy!" Yuri crowed.

Christophe put a comforting hand on Victor's shoulder, "Don't be mean, Yurio. He's already feeling bad about this."

"Not bad enough. He could just admit he fucked up, without the dramatics."

While Yuri did have a point, Christophe refused to give him the advantage. He would just have to show up to the party fashionably late, that was all. Fortunately he was spared being tardy to the event of the year when Otabek came back, pulling on a familiar leather jacket. "Do you have the paperwork for the car?" he asked as he tucked into his boots.

Yuri gapped. "You're just gonna do it?"

"Why not?"

Yuri sputtered, trying to come up with some reasoning that didn't boil down to 'I wanted to order junk food, watch movies, and play video games with you all night because no one would be sober enough to tell me when my bed time is like I'm a fucking child', but couldn't. Fortunately he was saved from any response at all as Victor flicked his gaze between Otabek and Yuri. 

Deciding Yuri was the safer bet, he grappled the blond, twirling him. "Ah, Yurio! Isn't it wonderful! Your Otabek is so helpful. You know," he drawled, nudging the blond in the ribs, "You could learn a thing or two from him, yes?" It was the lascivious wink that made Yuri break free, cheeks pink.

"I don't need to learn shit."

"Don't you ? What don't you need to learn? Tell me, Yurio." Victor smiled, his tone deceptively soft. He'd noted the lack of correction on a particular word. Mischief vibrating in his skin, he readied a delightfully pointed retort to whatever venom this feral ice child decided to spew next.

Perhaps sensing the ammo Victor was loading into his smile, Yuri backed up. "You know what, I'm not explaining shit. Fuck you." Turning, he muttered to his friend, "Beka, I'm coming with you." Christophe shared a smile with Victor. Hiroko shuffled in, her tiny steps causing her to glide. 

"Oh! There you are. The caterer called. The cake is ready. They want to know if they can store it here, assemble, and put on finishing touches on the day. I told them yes. I need to clean some space in the refrigerator for it. It's quite large." The pronouncement caused Victor to beam. "Can I ask someone to pick it up?"

Both Victor and Christoph turned towards Yuri. Otabek stood up, boots in place. "We can do that," he said calmly.

"How are we going to get it back on your bike?" Yuri asked skeptically.

"Pick it up in the car. Drive it here. Put the cake away. Go get the bike," Otabek rattled off the logical order of events.

Hiroko nodded with a smile. "I will make you katsudon tonight to thank you for your help."

Yuri raised a brow. Katsudon made by Hiroko? "Fine. Come on, Beka. We'd better get this done." Yuri marched to the bike. Otabek gathered the claim tickets and anything else he needed before quietly heading out.

Victor and Christoph shared a conspiratorial smile before they took themselves off to get ready for a hell of a party.

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10

[souslesetoilesavectoi]

SOU CAN YUURI AND CINDER HAVE A CUP OF TEA TOGETHER- MAYBE WATCHING THE RAIN

“Hey, hey~ Do you like your tea with cream? Do you like sugar? Or both~? Do you like the rain? Do you like cats? Do you—”

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

ASDKDJSF I'M SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG~!!!!!!!!! I was too tired to draw them both together so they’re now very simple chibis—

I hope you like my drawing of Cinder!!! He was super fun to draw~~~ He's literally so interesting by the way, I love himmm~~!!!

Thank you so much for participating Ruru!!!!!!! ♡♡ (*⁰▿⁰*)