#very figure skater esque :]

[todayisafridaynight]

Ok but now I can't stop thinking about Daigo in that puppy outfit from Ariana Grande's 7 Rings video.

bark bark yk

[jacksoldsideblog]

hello denizens of fight club tag. i am very curious. why are you here

like. what caused you to watch/read fight club. when. and what sparked you getting involved in some sense of fandom for it?

because it seems like there was an explosion (comparatively) in the past 1-2 years and i'm curious if we can figure out why

for example, for myself, i was bored on my new shiny longass commute and wanted to try reading actual books again so my friend offered me books i might like and i chose fight club because i heard it was bathhouse esque and i wanted to see how much (was not disappointed). then i wrote a fic meshing it with my figure skater coach guy, found it was fun to write about, read through most of the fight club tag on ao3 because i'm a very prolific reader, and became so full of thoughts that i had to create this blog as a desperate pressure relief valve. this occured in early october this year. i work fast.

so. hbu. make sure to include When

[wall-maria-around-ba-sing-se]

What sucks is that in isolation these figure skater-esque outfits are all very pretty- but then they throw 5 of them at you in a row and you just go “oh it’s the spring banner thing where they’re all wearing slight variations of the same outfit how boring”

[zenaidamacrouras1]

(enabling) ...could easily map a shrinkyclinks-esque au onto check please...

Oh there is one! It's so funny, I read it a long time ago and had no idea Check Please existed and then I read Check Please and was like, wait, this is just like a stucky fic? Or, I don't actually know if it's supposed to be similar to Check Please, because in the end it's quite different and very original, plot wise and character wise, to be clear, but it has a figure skater switching to hockey and falling in love, which was the part I was focused on here. It is excellent!

I don't know if I have another Sports AU in me right yet. I don't actually like sport that much, I just find competence incredibly sexy so I do find it sexy when people are good at sports but dear god, did I hate reading about American Football to write that damn football AU. I mean, I do admire the players and their incredible skill and drive, but the NFL and NCAA are really shitty entities.

Okay, here is a really great Hockey AU!

Howitzer

spacebuck

Summary:

Bucky Barnes, figure skating champion, is forced to switch his skates for hockey ones when he leaves for college. Problem is, he's never played hockey before, and now he has to be good enough to get the scholarship he needs. Enter Steve Rogers, Carter University Men's Hockey player, who's decided that he'd do anything to get this guy on his team. Cue five am runs, overwhelming classes, new friends, plenty of snow, and a sport that's fast becoming a way of life.

[safyresky]

Scrimbly Jacqueline 9/52: Jacquie's term as Jack Frost in the Santa Clauses.

Yeah, you heard me right! I am stepping my toes into the series with my beloved blorbos. ME! WHO HAS NOT STOPPED COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW BAD THE SERIES IS!

Lore/musings and pre-edited scrimbly under the cut!

RIGHT SO. YEAH! AFTER TWO SEASONS OF JUST THE WORST WRITING AND NONE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND BONES BUT NO MEAT, I HAVE FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW EXACTLY CS WOULD WORK IN A TSCS UNIVERSE bc, imo, there's no way these two are from the same universe. NO way.

Right, so here's what's going on with Jack and the Frosts in tscs, and why Jacquie is ROCKING this fit. I will try to be succinct:

Jack thaws, changes, reunites with the fam, blah blah blah. Santa's very untrusting and this does not change, and I think maybe the events of CS happen the same way but Santa is a HUGE DICK the ENTIRE TIME.

Blah, blah, Pyros happens, yadda yadda, things go on and Santa just keeps getting worse--refuses to see that Jack has changed, starts saying boomer-esque things in Council meetings, to the point where every Council member can't stand him--and Jack gets the brunt of it

He complains to the fam. Winter and Blaise are like, we do NOT fuck with this Santa guy. Jacqueline is ready to throw down the more Jack tells her about things he says/does at meetings

She's like "Jack. Jack. Please. Let me at him. PLEASE."

Jack's like "We'll file that away for later."

Finally Jack has HAD it, he is too cute and pretty and has worked far too hard for this ABUSE to be levelled at him at the hands of Santa Claus. He's worth it! He knows when to take care of HIMSELF. This is a TOXIC WORK ENVIRONMENT and he will NOT be having ANY MORE OF IT

He steps tf down, Jacqueline takes over, and she is FERAL. She's WORSE than Jack. She makes things a NIGHTMARE for Santa. I have a whole THING planned for how s2 goes with her in Jack's place >:3

And THAT is what's going on here! Jacqueline has stepped up and is ready to THROW DOWN WITH SANTA who is wholly, wholly unprepared

OUTFIT BACKGROUND TIME!

The vest IS JACK'S! She steals it from him! (Santa thinks the vest works the way the Santa jacket does. Jacqueline does not correct him. In fact, she spins a terrifying tall tale of how she killed her predecessor for the spot and took the vest off his slushy, dead, body. Jack thinks it's gd hilarious. Santa is fear.jpeg)

Her hair is still snowy but with more blue and is POOFIER. It is constantly tangled/windswept. POOF BABY.

Speaking of poof: apparently it is PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE for Jacqueline to NOT wear poofy sleeves. Idk why. SO! Poof sleeve dress shirt! I used to have one just like it and I MISS it, it was so elegant~

Skirt is FIT AND FLARE BABY! Or skater skirt style. She thought of bringing back the pencil skirt and went "fuck that", she needs to MOVE and GROOVE

BIKE SHORTS! I am so sorry everyone who has done Jacquie art for this lil fact I'm about to drop on you all: she wears BIKE SHORTS under her dresses and skirts ALL THE TIME. Stops chafing and if she does a flip she's not worried about flashing people, and they are way more comfy than LEGGINGS. Cold doesn't bug her, anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(She is also prone to overheating easily. Summer sprite blood, everyone expects; I think she's just got too much energy all the time and it keeps her warm)

I did not draw them BUT with this cool work casual ish fit, she still wears her worn grimy leather boots. She's truly the messiest icon.

GREAT friends with the rest of the Claus fam btw; but NOT Scott. And the more she hears from his fam, the angrier she gets lol

AH I am SO EXCITED to unleash this design on y'all. I have been thinking about tscs!cs NON STOP this month! NON STOP! Also, February appears to be the month of FASHION JACQUELINE scrimbles, lol

I tried a lil something different with the hair! Did the messy lines in a light blue then went over it with my very light blue almost white watercolour marker. I like it!

Jack's vest is SO low cut tbh, WILDIN. Very excited when I saw that I DID have a metallic silver prismacolour pencil crayon! It looks GREAT on the VEST and it SHOWED UP IN THE PHOTO! I DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD! :D

Very proud of her hands!! And the way the watercolours worked on her glowy magic hand was AMAZING. I cackled the entire time I coloured this post lining it >:)

Anyway that's all the ramblies for this scrimbly for now. I have a bunch of other silly doods for this lil au? ??? ??? of sorts??? I uh, I prepped for this scrimbly unintentionally. Just started doodling the scenes in my head from this version of cs, so there's some funny lil scrimbles coming your way, eh. Thursday? We'll see! I have one more I NEED to draw out then I will be at peace.

Or I'm a big ol' liar and I will 100% write this whole thing and wake up 100k words later very confused.

Anyway, take the non-edited scrimble! I have yet to find a bright enough place in my house OR at work to take a decent photo of art without shadow or fucky lighting. Ah well. Maybe one day ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[lestappenforever]

Hello! 💋 anon back with another fic idea <3 this one is much less “planned out” though. Its very vague. And shout out to whoever it was a while ago that came up with a similar idea but for horse riders lestappen, because that inspired me a bit.

Basically, it’s genderbent lestappen. They are figure skating rivals. Max is an extremely technical, jumping machine type of skater (think Sasha Trusova). Charles is a more artistic focused skater (think Yuna Kim). They are rivals, have been for years, and they also happen to be the two favorites for the Olympic gold this Olympic year.

Cue LOTS of drama. Maybe something like what happened at the previous Olympics where, since Max is supposed to be Sasha-esque, something similar that happened to her happens to him (or her.. since they’re genderbent?). She is being put second by her coach to another skater and as compensation, her coach promises Max the gold at the at the Olympics, but Max can see as the Olympics get closer that isn’t happening, and Max confides in Charles. OR maybe something inspired by all the doping scandals that’s come out in figure skating in the past year and a half, either Max or Charles gets accused of doping (obviously, for the fic sake it turns out to be false) and the other one surprisingly defends the one being accused in the media and they grow closer from that?

Also a fun little side plot could be a ship of two rival drivers from the older generation of your preference (I’m thinking Seb and Fernando or Lewis and Fernando?) being lestappen’s coaches and having their own little enemies to lovers plot line in the background HAHA.

Not me saying this was way less planned out than the last one and then proceeding to plan out the entire thing LMFAO I got carried away.

Love, 💋 anon

Good morning, 💋 anon! I've missed you. ❤️

Genderbending ships is not really my cup of tea, but I adore this idea! So if anyone who reads this and feels compelled to write something based on this lovely anon's wonderful suggestion, please feel free to do so, and please let me know if you do! Both myself and 💋 anon would love to read it.

Thank you so much for this ask, my darling! 💕

[einsteinsugly]

How I would overhaul That 90s Show, via my verse. Downstairs People (or The Kids are Alright, I haven't decided).

The Premise: 1998/99. Away from the city lights, it's either summer camp or spending a couple of weeks at their grandparents' abode for the Forman and Hyde kids. With lots of adventure, and lots of shenanigans. Just like the good 'ol days.

Here, there are really no clear parallels to the OG gang, other than Chelsea being an artsier Donna and Kate having main character syndrome like Eric. They're tweens (like they should be), figuring out themselves, with no filter. No Disney-esque facade, no superficial diversity. It's a deep dive, into what makes kids tick, as they interact with the world around them. Much like season 1 of That 70s Show, whereas Netflix's That 90s Show? Reeks of The Conners (so. much. retconning, to the point of it being an obvious AU), and Girl Meets World. A dumpster fire mixed with outright mediocrity.

Main:

Kate Forman: Eric and Donna's 12/13 year old daughter, and the central character of the series. In Chicago, she's the endearing popular girl with straight As. As a budding activist, and with a bohemian flair. Can she reinvent herself in Point Place, and can she ever relax and just be a typical kid, with typical adventures?

Becca Hyde: Jackie and Hyde's 12/13 year old daughter, who's struggling to come to grips with her budding bisexuality. She has a crush both on Leonardo DiCaprio and Lindsay Lohan. Her on-off boyfriend Danny, and her best friend Kate. And meeting Mel brings it all to light, slowly but surely.

Adrian Forman: Fez and Laurie's 13/14/15 year old son. Abandoned by his mother at a very young age, he has little to nothing in common with his flamboyant, bisexual father. He spends his summer with his grandparents every summer, because he identifies so much more with them. Red in particular. But as he goes through growing pains, and lovingly eyes the girl next door, he'll have to confront the fact that maybe, just maybe? He isn't as much like his grandfather as he thinks, as the generational divide becomes more and more apparent.

Chelsea O'Connor: The girl next door, and the granddaughter of Red's childhood best friend Arch. Quiet but rebellious, she's an artistic soul with a love of music. Her parents, Edie (Arch's daughter) and Elliot, are local music teachers with nightly "concerts" that drive Red crazy. Her parents might be...eccentric, but at least they helped bring Red and Arch back together again, after decades apart.

James Hyde: Jackie and Hyde's 10/11 year old son, and the "little brother" figure for Adrian. Well, and he's Becca's literal little brother, and he drives her insane. With his wild schemes, and entrepreneurial dreams.

Leah Forman: Eric and Donna's 8/9 year old daughter, who loves stirring the pot. Green Day is her soundtrack, and she's having the time of her life. With her best friend James by her side, and not those snotty girls at stupid camp.

*****

Recurring:

Kevin and Daniel "Danny" Acosta: Buddy Morgan's stepsons, and Leo's great-grandsons. They spend their weekends with their mother (and Leo's granddaughter) Maura. Kevin is Adrian's best friend, a STEM nerd to the max. And Danny is a reckless, rebellious skater boy, and Becca's on-off boyfriend. Who Hyde hates.

Melanie "Mel" Parker: Raquel's daughter, Colette's niece, and Becca's secret girlfriend. She drags a socially awkward Becca to many local hangouts, from Mt Hump to Grooves.

Arthur "Arch" Holland: Chelsea's grandfather, Edie's father, and Red's childhood best friend. Oh, and current best friend.

Eric: Aw, Dad has a best friend!

Red: Wipe that damn smirk off of your face!

They fell out after fighting over a girl in high school, and they firmly went their separate ways. With Red going the more conventional route, and with Arch floating around for awhile before starting a construction company. Ever since '80, when the O'Connors moved next door, they've been reconstructing their friendship. Step by step.

Hannah Kelso: Kelso and Brooke's 13/14 year old daughter. She loves the Backstreet Boys, all things Disney, and animals (including stuffed animals). In 1998, she chooses summer camp ("it was my last chance, to be a kid!"), and in 1999? She chooses to hang out with her boyfriend Tommy in Chicago, but Fez and Kelso still try to set her up with Adrian, with bad results.

Hannah: But Daddy, I have a boyfriend!

Kelso: C'mon, you guys would be like Red and Kitty!

Hannah: And Adrian has a girlfriend!

Fez (with a gasp): I didn't know that!

Kelso (patting Fez's shoulder): Now you do.

Hannah (loudly clearing her throat): That means you can stop trying to set us up...

Kelso (with a crazy laugh): Yeah, right...

Fez (interjecting): Rome wasn't built in a day.

[speakeasy8]

Mandatory I'm-still-alive greetings

'yo. Long time. Still following Hanyu's (I should probably start calling him Yuzuru now) activities even if I haven't actively been participating in fandom activities for a while now. Can't wait to see how his 'dome show will turn out. Pretty sure it'll be one for the history. As is usual for this guy. Lol.

Anyway, as this blog was established for me to post interesting stuff said or written by people I dig, without a singular focus as to whom, I figured this would be the place for me to post some of the stuff I've translated about a young Japanese musician whose incredible-sounding music (complete with simple but deep af lyrics) and stoner-esque charms (he's not actually a stoner, his default demeanor just happens to resemble that of a stoner's) have got me in a stranglehold.

Just a month-or-so plus since I've learned of him, I've purchased both his albums in physical format (and I very rarely ever do that), despite wallet-emptying shipping charges (that's the problem with the Japanese music industry smh) and listening to them over and over. Not even once was I compelled to skip a single track. I've never heard an artiste whose B-sides, while being B-sides, are so good they should be in a class of their own. Dude and his music, all of them, seriously have some insane groove and vibes.

I've never been much of an R&B or jazz listener (though I do have favorite tracks from these genres) but this guy mixes them in along with other genres so well, and in ways noone else inside or outside of Japan had thought of, without it sounding experimental in the least (that's the thing with jazz and why it's so hard for mainstream listeners to get into...it's interesting but there's just usually way too much going on in it), that it's, well, genius, pretty much.

His songs sound both old and new at the same time and have something in them for everyone. They're also imbued with so many interesting music things that whether it be a professional musician or a casual listener, it never gets boring even after multiple listens. They're also easy to sing along to if you're not particular about output quality but hella hard if you are. Oh and they all also sound so different from one another, you'd think you're listening to music composed by different people and not a single 25yo stoner-esque dude...

Don't even get me started on his lyrics. And his piano-playing. And his singing. This guy is just insane levels of talented. I seem to really admire this sort, especially if they come complete with good character and a nice personality. Like a certain professional figure skater.

So for those of you who already fans of him, and those of you who don't know of him but are interested to find out (not that there are so many of you here, this being Tumblr and all xD), stay tuned. ;)

(Speaking of which, y'all should do yourselves a favor and check out Suchmos' Stay Tune. It's a song that's a few years old now but dayum if it shouldn't have been a worldwide hit. That it isn't is a crime to humanity:(( They've got a Jamiroquai-esque feel to their music but their stuff sticks with me with better than any of 'quai's stuff ever did, lol. )

[desperatecheesecubes]

August Reading Wrap Up

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Dates Read: 6-10 Aug

Review: Going to be honest-this was largely not good. It was trying too hard to be a comedy book to be a memoir, but most of the time the comedy didn’t hit. Such is life I suppose. But why did they print this book on such HEAVY paper?? You could kill a man with this book.

Rating: 4 stars

Dates Read: 10-14 Aug

Review: Man you could tell how much overwhelming self hatred Abby had for herself when she wrote this. I hope very sincerely that life is better for her now. I read her wife’s memoir ‘Untamed’ a few years ago and enjoyed it, and it seems from that that Abby is doing better but who really knows? If she wrote another memoir I would read it.

Rating: 4 stars

Dates Read: 6-15 August

Review: I love Katie Ledecky. She’s so down to earth. I appreciate how she really is just here to have a good time swimming.

Rating: 3 stars

dates Read: 15-20 Aug

Review: this was published largely before Karen had made any major accomplishments in her career. (This is perhaps a bit rude. It’s just that American figure skaters are, largely, not overwhelmingly competitive on the international stage. I’m out here expecting gold medals at least before a memoir is written)

Rating: 4 stars

Dates Read: 20-21 Aug

Review: this was very good, and had a very raw look at war and what it does to children and the reality of being adopted out of a war torn country. That being said the ending interview included in the edition I read made me …. Suspicious I suppose about how much of this was Micheala’s own words and how much was her mother writing a good story. I suppose it’s not for me to know.

Rating: 3 stars

Dates Read: 16-26 Aug

Review: turns out I can’t stand Rapinoe lmao

Rating: 3 stars

Dates Read: 25-28 Aug

Review: My absolute sinful pleasure kind of novel. I’m never gonna curl up and be delighted by smut, but this??? The Uber rich throwing massive parties, making fools of themselves, somehow managing to have a terrible time? Oh I love this shot. Eat it right up. On it’s own merits this was actually quite a good Pride and Prejudice esque novel. I would genuinely love to make Jane Austen read this lmao

Rating: 4 stars

Dates Read: 22-29 Aug

Review: Very thought provoking and well researched. Do I think the author come in with just a TOUCH of a bitter and biased opinion because she couldn’t make it in ballet? Suuuuure. But that’s part of the exploration really.

Rating: 4 stars (reread, and an improvement from my last rating of 3 stars)

Review: I liked this a lot more upon a reread than I had the first go round. I was more able to appreciate Amalia’s character growth this time around and how the topic of indentured servitude was handled. I do in fact still want to reread the whole trilogy. I want to see my boy Kathe again. I also really want to read the Infernal Devices trilogy but I’m out here trying to read so many library books and new releases. Pray for me y’all.

Rating: 3 stars

Dates Read: 30 Aug

Review: really enjoying these one shot avatar comics. They’d make pretty good episodes. Every day I think about how I want to fight M. Night Shyamalan for his crimes

[rikeijo]

She makes it sound like a general statement '唯一の既婚者として', but it's 'the only skater-character in the show' that she means, I think!

it's very interesting, if I may add, because in YoI's world, it's either family or competitive skating, it seems. And the contrast even in these comments shows, how nicely they built the contrast between Nishigori and Yuuri - the two life outcomes.

Yuuri, also a man from Kyushu, had the same choice to make. He might have stayed on Kyushu and start a family, and become a Nishigori of sort. Mitsurou even drew very Nishigori-esque Yuuri - Yuuri that did not choose figure skating as his path in life (this is from original animator's reference materials I've bought online - animators sell those illegally quite often).

But Yuuri did not make the same choice as Nishigori, he didn't give up on his dream, and chose to keep on going to reach that 高嶺の花, unattainable goal - Nishigori didn't even have that in him to try that per Mitsurou's words, but as it turned out - Yuuri did it ✨

On the other hand, that Mitsurou suggests here that Yuuri did not go back home, because of Nishigori and Yuuko's, in context, I think she did mean 'relationship', shows that, as people often do, Yuuri might have some regrets? bitterness? unprocessed feelings? about his choice and how it all turned out, especially in the period when all the sacrifices that he made seemed to be for nothing.

Beautiful story telling through symmetry and anti-symmetry.

(I need to better start tagging things in general, because I can't find anything here 😂)

Yuri!!! on stage pamphlet, Kubo Mitsurou - Character comments

Katsuki Yuuri

The character of Katsuki Yuuri, previously still vague, solidified in the scene in episode 4 when he touches Victor's hair whorl. That scene is also one, where I managed to express an idea I've had in my head for a very long time - I wanted to show something like a moment not connected to the main story, when their relationship changes, but not in a logical way. The same thing can be said about the scene in the last episode when, even though Victor is crying, Yuuri pushes aside his fringe and says "So you cry too!" - Yuuri has this very primal (原始的) characteristic of putting his own curiosity first before feelings of the other person, that's a desire he can't suppress. I think it was our intention to use this characteristic to make the viewers expect that he is surely going to act in a way they cannot predict. Throughout the series, Yuuri's character was shaped by misleading the audience to think they know Yuuri's personality and then showing them in each episode that they were not right about him. That's why the character turned out to be much more complex that we thought he would be in the first episode and I think the viewers can sense that the creators had a lot of fun writing him. We sometimes say that the characters are acting on their own, but in this case I think we were writing the character while being bossed around by him.

Victor Nikiforov

Just as it was with Yuuri, I couldn't fully grasp Victor's personality in episode 1, and so his character also solidified over time as I was writing the show. Beginning with the scene in episode 4 when he told Yuuri "I'm not going to hold back" during their conversation on the beach, and then when he was "really hurt" after Yuuri touched his hair whorl, little by little the underlying kindness Victor possesses started to show up more, as even though he had no idea what Yuuri was really thinking, he wanted to get to know Yuuri better and Yuuri to get to know him better too. Actually, I also thought the fact that even staff members couldn't fully comprehend Victor's actions made him all the more charming. Because his actions were impossible to comprehend, the audience too has been watching the show without being able to form any strong assumptions about him and the sense of insecurity you've been getting while watching him was probably also a sign that you started to like the character... I've created Victor by trying my best to draw a cool and beautiful human being. I don't think however, that he could ever be mine. Yuuri also feels this way, but in Yuuri's case he was able to form a very strong connection with Victor thanks to skating. I was writing the show while thinking that I'd like the audience to enjoy the feeling that in every episode, together with Yuuri, they too get to meet Victor they've never seen before, as the relationship between Yuuri and Victor is forming - relationship that was only possible because Yuuri had skating as an excuse [免罪符, it means something like "get-out-of-jail-free card" - funny word choice, but Mitsurou really pushes here the idea that Victor was way out of Yuuri's league. ]

Yuri Plisetsky

In case of Yurio, his character as well as character design were very clear from the very beginning. He was very easy to write. He is my favorite type of character and based on my experience I was sure he's going to be popular. He is the type of a side character, who can outshine even the main character in terms of popularity, so I was careful not to make him "angsty" by e.g. giving him a tragic past or making him have a difficult family situation. With Yurio I didn't want his character to be someone who gets popular because people feel sorry for him, so I gave him family and coaches, as well as new friends, and wanted to show his strength by making him achieve even greater success while being in a relatively good place emotionally. I think I've managed to use the basic manga trope of writing about a strength of found family instead of real family without focusing on the tragic aspects of this trope.

Christophe Giacometti

Chris was born as an ultra sexy character, a character who is very aware of his "eros" and at the same time has the strength to not care when other people stare at him. I decided on the visual side of the character first - I gave him those curled and long, stunningly beautiful eyelashes because I wanted the audience to think: "How grateful we are that such a beautiful skater exists in this world at the same time as Victor!". I also wanted to show the gap between his super cute look with curly hair when he was a child and his present look and suggest that a lot of growing up happened there. While I was writing him, or I should say it was more thanks to the choreography and music we created, the charm that was radiating from him was neither masculine nor feminine, but simply Chris' charm. I personally wanted to make him a "skater who looks good naked" and was having great fun writing him.

Phichit Chulanont

With Phichit, I was aiming to create a pure and energetic person. I've actually heard Thai artists active abroad saying that they want to show everyone the new face of Thailand and also that there are certain aspects of Thailand they were only able to see after they went abroad. So, I felt that young Thai people right now are really making a lot of effort to reconstruct themselves, so I wanted to make Phichit a person who has the spirit to create new things. With the fashion he wears, I was aiming for something Harajuku-like.

Ji Guang-Hong

I've come up with this idea of a Chinese competitor, young but with good skills, as a counterbalance to the great number of overwhelmingly strong competitors who appear in the show. I wanted to make him a character who shows all the signs of becoming terribly good in the future if he continues to gain more self-confidence and experience. When it comes to his personality I was imagining him following the latest trends, like all the modern kids do, or maybe traveling to the USA off-season to train at the same rink with Leo, for example. I intentionally didn't make him really stand-out, because I think he is still at a stage before he can bring out his individual personality.

Jean-Jacques Leroy

Before we even started to think about the story, I effortlessly came up with lines like "JJ won't give up! He can't give up!", so JJ is the character who has already been well-defined even before he was created. We placed a very rough order for his song: a song which feels like it was written by somebody who could win a Grammy. The request we've made for the lyrics too wasn't all that specific but the finished lyrics were well... absolutely amazing! I wanted to make JJ into a character who would make the spectators sing that song while he skates his short program. He is too egoistic, so other competitors who can't get along well with him, simply can't get along well with him, period. He isn't the type who can become friends with everyone. However, he doesn't really care. I wouldn't say that he for sure isn't hurt at all by this though, if you look deep inside, but one of the incredible things about him is that he doesn't let it show on the outside.

Georgi Popovich

We aimed to express different kinds of love and here is the type of competitor who puts all the emotions he's experiencing after he broke up with his lover into his performance. I was thinking that maybe in a country like Russia nobody would have a problem with him doing something like that and so I gave him this kind of artistry, different than the artistry Victor has. And again, also compared to Leo, he's a different type of artist. Georgi is very serious about practice and listens to what his coach says too diligently. But I think he loves himself the most, more than anyone else. He is a narcissist, so he loves his lovers very much too, because they love him. I think that's why he reacts with this "I am the one who can protect you!" thing after he gets dumped. The ability to transform all these feelings into a performance is his strong point.

Nishigori Takeshi

Nishigori was created because I wanted to introduce a point of view of somebody who has gave up on skating. He is also a childhood friend of Yuuri and somebody, who has been watching him from a very close distance - so he's a character with a quite complex setting. He is the only married man [in the show] so I wanted him to be masculine and not somebody who fret over things a lot. I also was thinking that the reason why Yuuri didn't want to go back to his home town for such a very long time, is because of Nishigori and Yuuko. When it comes to Nishigori and Yuuko's relationship, I think Yuuko is the one who started it. She didn't confess her feelings directly but I think it was probably very clear that she likes Nishigori. Because men from Kyushu don't go after a girl who they know they don't have a chance with. They never try to reach a "flower that grows high on a mountain top [an idiom representing a unattainable goal] (laugh).

Leo de la Iglesia

Leo, who was looking up to Victor, is the only competitor who choreographs his programs by himself. He wants to leave no doubt that he is self-producing his programs - he wants to skate his own choreography to the songs he likes to truly bring out his own charm. When it comes to figure skating in the USA, there is a lot of strong competitors in different parts of the country and so there are also skaters of different races. I think there is that conviction that to be able to show your own strengths in these conditions, the most important thing is to express the "I'll be saved by the things I love" core part of you. Leo can't for example jump quadruple jumps yet, but instead he wants to find his other strong points and show them - I wanted him to be a strong person in this way.

Minami Kenjiro

A skater who just made his senior debut, Minami-kun, was created because, just like Yuuri looks up to Victor, I wanted other Japanese skater to look up to Yuuri and Yuuri to be aware that there is somebody who looks up to him. Yuuri had a very bad start at Nationals, so Minami has already won with him once, but I thought I wanted another active competitor to tell Yuuri that he wants Yuuri to continue skating. And so I gave him this pure personality, the kind that Yuuri doesn't possess, so he can yell "I will definitely win with you!". Because of that, he became a character like a classic shonen manga protagonist. And because he has the vibe of anime protagonist I also gave him a matching haircut. I created him feeling that "If Yuri!!! was a shonen manga Minami would definitely be the protagonist".

Otabek Altin

He is a stoic, rugged and serious skater. A type of man who doesn't go to gatherings with other skaters. He left his family and was moving from country to country throughout the course of his training, so he had to wait a long time for a breakthrough. While training, separately from skating, he was also making friends among local musicians, so he has a lot of companions, who are important to him not only in Kazakhstan. He is the type of person who you can trust. He doesn't talk much and doesn't use social media much. But somehow you feel that he can for sure make a lot of progress. He also has this idea to do things that other people don't do. That's why I think that [since he started till the moment we meet him in the show] he's been treating skating very seriously. Otabek is more of a warrior or a soldier than an artist. I see him as this kind of person, who respects competitors who aren't on a level playing field with him and he treats them like comrades-in-arms. That's why, after he met with Yurio at a summer camp and saw his strength, he decided to find his own style of fighting, other than ballet, and he never forgot Yurio, who also had a soldier-like dream.

Michele Crispino

I think Michele loves his sister too much and that's why he doesn't really want to change. He has the skills and skates very good. That's why he managed to get to the GPF and is a very strong competitor, but there's also something missing there and he can't really break through. I wanted to show that his love is of a different kind than the rest of the cast's. I think the kind of love he has for Sara is a little bit different than familial love, but well I think that in his mind Sara is the only person he can trust. But Sara herself thinks she needs to change. I wanted to highlight this change by making Michele a tough/traditionally masculine guy. I was thinking that I want him to use the emotions he has because of his sister to have the break through even if these emotions are not necessarily positive. It was fun writing him.

Lee Seung Gil

SeungGil says pretty harsh things and has the most athlete-like mind of all the skaters. The pressure he is under is huge so, as the real athlete he is, to protect himself from being influenced by this pressure, he doesn't do any fan-service. I think that he is simply a stoic competitor, but because during interviews he says things like: "Is it really necessary for me to answer questions like that?", people misunderstand him and tease him for being cold. The story that I was thinking about for him is that he competes with this stoic attitude, but he knows that if he doesn't become more expressive, he can't win, so he chose a song and costume with an element of surprise. I think this gap is where his charm is. I think he, in his everyday life, isn't interested in things other than skating and usually wears clothes his mum bought for him, or jersey.

Emil Nekola

There are a lot of characters who stand out, so I wanted to design one, who doesn't, and instead simply has a sunny disposition and is like a younger brother or the kid in a group. Skaters from Czech Republic are popular so I thought that it will be a good match to his personality if I make him Czech. The image I have for him is that he is friends with Michele and is the kindest person among European skaters. I was thinking to make him "a big guy who you can depend on". He is very good at physical activities, so I think if, in addition to skating, if he decided to do snowboarding or extreme sports he would be pretty good at them too. He himself isn't really fixated on skating and has a lot of other things he likes to do. But right know he is focusing on skating. That's why, unlike Michele who is like: "Skating is the only thing I have in my life", Emil has a very good way of dealing with the pressure - he is a clever guy.

Closing comments

The things to enjoy while binge watching all episodes

At the end of ep 10, it was revealed that Yuuri at the banquet actually asked Victor to be his coach. If you re-watch the show from ep 1, while having this in mind, the relationship between Yuuri and Victor will surely appear very different. In the beginning of ep 1, when Victor ask Yuuri "Do you want a commemorative photo?", to him Yuuri wasn't someone who really stood out from the crowd. But then, he watched the video of Yuuri skating a perfect copy of his "Stammi Vicino" program, while having some prior knowledge of Yuuri from the "be my coach accident" at the banquet. And as the story goes, because of that Victor's got certain ideas and decided to travel to Japan. If we look at the events from Victor's perspective, it must have been very weird for him, because Yuuri himself asked him to come, but after he came Yuuri met him with this "Why are you here…?" reaction. I think you should be able to enjoy the story even more, if you change the perceptive you watch the show from when you re-watch all 12 episodes at once.

To fans…

I think without both the fans who were supporting us and the staff members who participated in production, we wouldn't be here today. I can't thank you all in person, but we are thinking of doing something, so you can enjoy the world of Yuri!!! even more, as a thank-you gift. I'm looking forward to your continuous support of Yuri!!! on ice.

[kyberphilosopher]

Scorpion Headcanons

Headcanons for Hanzo Hasashi… the Scorpion. The first bridge expanding the Kyberverse to Mortal Kombat.

* ✭ ˚ ･ﾟ ✧ *･ﾟ * ✭˚･ﾟ ✧* ･  *

* ✭ ˚ ･ﾟ ✧ *･ﾟ * ✭˚･ﾟ ✧* ･  *

The most dedicated guy like… ever. He’s committed in almost everything. Adaptable, yes, but committed. He dates to marry, he is loyal after death. For fucks sake look at how long this man was vengeful for.

In kyberverse, scorpion’s face does not look how he does officially unmasked. It doesn’t really match up to me. So, this scorpion has thin eyebrows, sharp and angular features, a clean shaven face and jaw, and white and upturned eyes. He has a different nose shape and thin lips, he looks younger. His waterline and lashes are dark and thick. He is tanned from the heat but pale from death. He is striking.

Doesn’t understand modern slang, but he can infer in his head. Just not preferred.

Uses his weapons in more scorpion-esque ways. Not just throwing it. It’s an art form, a mastery. He physically moves, crawls, stings like a scorpion.

Might occasionally use temperature play during no pants time. Might be on accident, might not be.

Speaking of, scorpion sometimes sets things aflame when his emotions get too heated. Not to say he’s an emotional person. Well, he is, but overall he’s a thinker.

Hates hates Hates being told what to do. I feel like that’s obvious, but it runs deep for him. Suggestions are usually swept under the rug, if he can even keep his cool. Helpful or not.

Will always have some doubts about sun-zero. I even prefer when they’re not friends.

Hates eating cold foods.

Speaking of, he will occasionally eat the same prey a scorpion would. He will just randomly catch them in his fingers at the speed of light.

Also finds Frost more annoying than sub zero. Yikes.

Scorpion does kinda respect Nightwolf though. They just don’t see eye to eye.

If you want to flirt with Scorpion, you’ll be going at it a while. He might not realize it. If he does, he won’t be responding. The whole losing a family thing kinda puts a damper on that sort of thing. But if he’s in a relationship, he’ll want to be married immediately. He takes them serious right away.

Unlabeled in terms of sexuality. He likes who he likes, and he doesn’t think much about it. As long as he gets to be him.

Tiny flames will occasionally dance off his golden skin, if you pay attention close enough. 

As you can tell, I really prefer angry and vengeful Scorpion over wise old scorpion.

When he has a golden glow like fire, it sometimes looks like flaming tattoos in the right lighting.

Probably married his first wife young. Like ages 17-21. Real committed guy.

If his kid wanted to dye their hair, he would absolutely REFUSE to accept it. He’d keep saying no over and over again when asked for permission. Grumbling and griping.

Probably also gets upset when he sees people on his property, especially teenagers. He’s the original “GET OVER HERE! Get off my lawn!” guy.

Ironically a rather good figure skater.

Well regularly set himself on fire to show off his skeleton to scare people who piss him off. Happens frequently actually.

While yellow and gold I’d say are his colors, he looks absolutely stunning in red. I mean I’ve seen skins where he’s wearing red and it’s just like holy shit. Why aren’t you wearing this? Also looks godly in white.

Idk what the fuck kinda ooc scorpion y’all got going on in your heads but this man is not falling for the reader in one night. Scorpion takes time.

Don’t even think about addressing him as Hanzo if you’re not close to him. That’s a one way ticket to having your face burned off.

Ever since he came back to life, he’s been flexible. Like an acrobat. It helps with looking very scorpion like, but it’s freaky. He can bend his body back into the most intense arch you’ve ever seen and spin around. His bones will crack- it’ll look and sound like a horror movie. But he can do it.

His style of martial arts focuses more on his kicking then punching and throwing. He’s deadly on his feet.

Favorite color is probably white.

Can’t really picture him enjoying Italian food. Maybe some bread.

*These headcanons can be expanded on and added to over time. Headcanons can be left in comments to be added to the list. These headcanons will be used in kyber’s fanfictions for this character. All headcanons can be used to inspire a fanfiction request. All headcanons discussed in comments must be discussed politely and are welcomed. Return frequently for new headcanons. 

Edit: All Mortal Kombat headcanons WILL be expanded upon.

[donkey-hyuck]

word count- 5,521

genre- fluff | humor | roller-skater!au/figure-skater!au | uni!au

theme- romeo and juliet esque

characters/pairing- roller-skater!jaemin (he’s blonde in this okay) x figure-skater! gn!reader | dreamies + Xiaojun sorta lol

warnings- swearing | alcohol consumption | jealous jaem | dreamies being immature | storyline goes by super quick (I feel like the end is more rushed than the rest of the story but its okay)

introduction- ice skaters and roller skaters are sworn enemies, right? has anyone even heard of that? in your small town, the two biggest leagues are the dream team (a.k.a. the dreamies), a group containing roller skating performers, and the winter wonders (a.k.a. the WW), a group containing figure skating performers. the two teams never liked each other and always competed with their own wins, bragging about who won which competition and all. but what their teammates don’t know is that you and na jaemin had been crushing on each other since who knows when. but this all comes down to the last competition of the winter when a drunk jaemin spits out his huge crush on you at a mutual friends party. yeah, you both got into quite a lot of trouble after that.

a/n- a part of @aehyei​ ‘s ‘valentines gone wrong?’ collab. the idea of roller skater jaemin has been in my drafts for a while and now is the perfect chance to write about it. thank you, hye, for accepting me to participate in this collab! <3 (also omg literally zero angst who am I?)

p.s. i did my best to make the characters gn as well!

p.p.s. i know absolutely nothing about skating. don’t come for me

It was your group's last all-member competition before break. The Winter Wonders were the pride and joy of your little northeast town. It contained you, Bae Duri, Lee No-Eul, Min Siwoo, and Park Sunyoung. Normally, competitions would have you pair up with figure skaters of the opposite sex but this time, the judges allowed for the groups to perform together. It was the second-to-last competition of the season before finals week and they said ‘make it count.’ You never understood why the group competition wasn’t last, but you shrugged the thought off.

There was one major university near the outskirts of your town that students from the surrounding areas attended. The W.W. and the Dreamies, included.

The Dreamies. Roller-skating performers who also happened to be the pride and joy of your town. Also, your team's arch nemesis.

Lee Mark, team captain. Huang Renjun, prior ballerina. Lee Jeno, street dancer. Lee Haechan, the annoying one— so says your members. Zhong Chenle, the loud one. Park Jisung, the youngest in the league. And Na Jaemin, the one that actually has common sense. Also the cutest. And probably the nicest. But shh, you wouldn’t dare tell your members anything that goes on through your brain.

You two actually met in a psychology class. The reason why you took it, maybe it had to do with the feeling of love. That feeling of dopamine taking over the human body. The reason why Jaemin took it, he didn’t even know himself. One thing led to another, though, and that soon led you down another path: the dopamine running through your body when Na Jaemin even took a glance toward your direction. Whether he was looking at you or not, you were definitely fucked. He was a part of the Dreamies and you were supposed to not like them. They were your enemies and they will stay your enemies. But you couldn’t help the big fat crush you had on the blonde boy. The mixture of the serotonin and dopamine definitely did something to your body. But you wouldn’t dare tell your members about your true feelings.

“Y/n! Over here!” Shouted No-Eul from across the cafeteria. Speaking of, you had just gotten out of your psychology lecture and soon came Jaemin trailing right behind you to also join his friends for lunch. Of course, no one suspected a thing. You two hated each other and wanted nothing to do with each other…. Or so they thought.

“Y/n, thanks for the notes from last week. Mark wanted us to practice before our competition this past weekend and psychology was the only class I had left. Stole me right out of it,” he joked, putting his books back into his bag and looked up at you.

“Of course! If he comes and steals you again, I always gotchu. That is, if my members don’t steal me as well,” you took the notes that Jaemin had just returned.

The two of you didn’t care about the stupid feued that was going on between the ice skaters and roller-skaters. Frankly, you didn’t know what was going on half of the time. You were just too busy looking in those gorgeous eyes of his, or too busy listening to his melodic voice.

Jaemin admired you. He admired how head-strong you were as well as how you didn’t let anyone get to you, not even your members. Some would call it a spark and others would call it a crush. Whatever it was, Jaemin had a liking toward you, even before taking that damn psychology class. Talking about emotions and feelings and the human’s neurotransmitters sure did get to his brain, though. Was he falling in love with his supposed enemy?

“Hey babe,” greeted your friends as soon as you got to the table.

“You had a class so we went to go get some food for you. We ate ours already but hopefully yours is still warm,” said Sunyoung.

“Thank you! I’m so hungry. I woke up so late this morning and didn’t have time to eat breakfast,” you whined to the members as they all shook their heads and laughed at you.

You were almost done with your food and you were about to get up from your seat to throw it away when a banana peel landed atop the table. It was those Dreamies. Sure, you had a crush— a huge one, at that— on Jaemin, but the rest of his teammates weren’t that nice. Especially to your group.

Duri and No-Eul looked over to the table filled with the boys' obnoxious laughter as Siwoo got out of their seat and was about to beat the living shit out of them. Until Sunyoung grabbed their arm and forced them to sit back down.

“Fighting is not gonna resolve anything.” Siwoo mumbled something along the lines of ‘I’ll beat the fuck out of them’ under their breath before taking the banana peel to throw it in the garbage.

“Ha.Ha.Ha. Very funny. You guys are so mature. This is totally middle school,” Duri sarcastically said and rolled their eyes. God, if looks could kill.

The two of you silently watched as your friends feuded with each other. Looking over your shoulder, you are already met with the pair of eyes that belonged to none other than Jaemin.

“I’m sorry about them,” he mouthed, looking back at Chenle and Haechan making jokes before turning back to you.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” you mouthed back and stuffed the last chip in your mouth before throwing away your lunch. When was this all going to end? Someone should put a stop to this. You just don’t know how.

But maybe you did. And maybe Jaemin did too.

—

There were three weeks left until winter break and about four weeks left until the final (and best) performances of the year. Not to mention the finals competitions with your partner, Kang Yujin. It was hard to explain but the finals competitions led up to the final performances of the year. And only the best of the best were able to perform. You have been a part of the finals ever since you were eleven years old. There was no breaking the streak now. You were far too close to lose it.

But for right now, as you’re on the ice, your friends are all gathered around your coach, jotting out finalized ideas for your group performance this Saturday.

“For the end we can do side-by-side shotgun spins in, like, a pentagon,” suggested No-Eul, getting out of the circle and half-assing the move.

“That could work,” replied Siwoo.

“What about you Y/n? Should we keep the last move as it is or change it?” Asked your coach as your teammates anticipated your answer.

“I think we should keep it how it is now but we could add a spiral and top it off with a biellmann spin plus the end pose,” you got up to show them what you meant. And as expected, you looked as graceful as ever.

“Damn! Y/n always comin’ through with these bomb-ass ideas!” praised Duri and Siwoo. You playfully rolled your eyes and sat back down.

“Well, I guess practice is done for. You guys did really well today, and Y/n, that was a great idea. Just work on the whole routine and we’ll meet again on Wednesday and Thursday. Make sure to also contact your partners, the finals are coming up,” announced your coach as everyone got off the ice and greeted them goodnight.

Your car was parked on the opposite side of your friends, so you had to say goodnight to them early and walked your way to your car. You were going to sneak a large fry from Mcdonald’s in secret until you were met with Jaemin in the Mcdonald’s parking lot.

“Jaemin! What are you doing here?” You asked from your rolled down window.

“Ah! My friends just left Jeno and I here. We were in the bathroom and those idiots left. They’re just fucking around but…” he trailed off.

“Do you guys need a ride? I know we’re not supposed to talk and I’m not supposed to help but it’s really cold out.”

He smiled, endearingly, “Thank you, Y/n, but they’ll be back. They always come back,” he cursed below his breath as you laughed and drove into the drive-in speaker. You felt bad for just leaving them there though. Your thoughts soon came to a vault as you heard the contagious laughter coming from the group of seven boys. Knuckleheads. Minus Jaemin, of course.

—

The boys had also been at practice that day. They, too, were getting ready for the finals. The year was coming to an end and they had the finals in their grip. They’d been roller-skating winners for their first two years. Besides that one year when Jisung accidentally let his feet slip and knocked them down as if they were dominoes. It was not cute, but they improved the next year, and the next and the next. Hadn’t lost since.

Unfortunately (but maybe fortunately), your cousin was a huge fan of the Dreamies, and her being the youngest in the family (so far), meant that your family members would do anything for her. That included you. She was only twelve but she wanted to be a roller-skating performer ever since she could remember. It hurt your pride knowing that she wasn’t as big of a fan of ice skating than roller-skating. Whatever, at least you got to see how good the Dreamies actually were. And that soon led to your tiny crush on Na Jaemin.

You had gone to watch them perform every year— minus finals week— thanks to your cousin. And damn they were good. You had also heard that Jaemin got into your university because of a roller-skating scholarship. It sounded crazy but your town believed it to be true. Apparently he did speed skating and participated in a national competition when he was only nine years old. And damn did it pay off.

Jaemin has had his minor crush on you since sophomore year of high school. He stumbled upon the ice skating rink during one of his hormonal teenage outrages. He snuck into the rink and watched you practice and he had never seen anyone move as smoothly as you did on the ice. It was quite the story— how the two of you started falling for each other— but you wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was a weird way to fall for someone but it was interesting for sure.

Finally, it was the day of the group competition. And in the crowd you could see your enemies with their concession foods and drinks.

“Why the fuck are they even here? What the fuck do they want?” Duri stressed.

“Hey, Hey. Don’t worry about it. If those assholes wanna come to our territory then we can just show them what we got. It’s no big deal. We got the win in the bag, everything will be a’okay,” reassured Siwoo.

The Winter Wonders were one of the first groups to perform, and not to be biased but compared to the other groups, so far you guys were probably doing the best. The Dreamies didn’t think so but out of human decency, they kept quiet so as to not disturb the other people that actually enjoyed ice skating. Of which they couldn’t understand but hey, they were here too so they had no say.

After your group's two-minute performance, you sat on the sidelines and watched the rest of the groups perform. The competition consisted of ice skating performers in the surrounding counties and some even came internationally. It happened once in a blue moon but it still counts.

Once the competitions were over, all of the groups that performed that night had to stand out on the ice and be prepared for the winner to be announced.

“…. The Winter Wonders. Congratulations!” shouted the MC’s. Your competitors gave you all bittersweet smiles as they congratulated you, probably more ready to head home than ever.

The rink was almost completely empty, and only contained your team, some staff, the MC’s, and people that waited until the actual end of everything. The Dreamies being one of them. You know, for being your arch nemesis, they sure wanted to stay until closing.

“We won this time, you brats. Guess you lost your bets,” No-Eul sneered at them. The boys sarcastically chuckled and congratulated you as well. Though with no particular happiness.

“Congrats. Guess you’re making it to the finals,” Mark smirked.

“Guess we are. And guess who’ll still win? Us, of course. You immature boys could never,” Siwoo shot back.

“Tch. We’ll see,” said Renjun as the rest of the team walked to the exit.

“Those damn pricks. I swear when I get the chance I’m gonna break their stupid ankles so they can’t roller skate anymore.” Your members laughed at Sunyoung’s remark as you went to the locker rooms to get changed up and go home. It was already ten P.M.

When you finally reached home, you were able to call Yujin back. They called you about an hour ago but you were too busy practicing to even notice.

“Hey, sorry. Competition tonight,” you apologized.

The sound of a chuckle rang through your speakers, “Don’t worry about it. How’d it go?”

Kang Yujin had been your ice skating partner since you could remember. They might have been exceptionally better than you but you could and would never admit it. Cockiness got the best of people. But all jokes aside, Yujin was actually a good friend of yours. Family friends. It was only convenient that their parents signed them up for ice skating as well.

“So good. We won. As always,” you bragged.

“Eyy, you guys always win. Can't wait for the finals, though. Is it still Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday?”

You laughed, “We go through this every year. The answer never changes. But I gotta go shower and eat a little snack. I’ll call you tomorrow, probably, to discuss our routine for the first competition.”

“You got it. Night Y/n.”

“Night.”

—

You woke up the next morning to text messages from Na Jaemin himself. It was only nine in the morning and he had texted you at around midnight. You were long-gone in your deep sleep. You deserved it, especially after the competition.

JAEMIN >>> ‘y/n?’

JAEMIN >>> ’you're probably not up but i think you took my psych notebook by accident’

Without even having the proper time to wake up and gain consciousness, you grabbed your phone and texted him back.

Y/N <<< ‘omg lemme go check my bag.’

So, you hopped out of your warm and comfortable bed to check if you had Na Jaemin’s psychology notebook in your bag. You would only do this for Na Jaemin. Only Na Jaemin.

Y/N <<< ‘na jaemin: psychology notebook. wow so original lol’

JAEMIN >>> ‘hey don’t make fun of me >:(’

Y/N <<< ‘ahaha i’m sorry. i’ll return it next week? unless you need it sooner. but i don’t think our friends would like it if we were caught hanging out together. even for a split second’

JAEMIN >>> ‘i don’t think i need it this week but i’ll let you know. thanks y/n’

JAEMIN >>> ‘and congratulations on the win last night. you guys did great!’

Y/N <<< ‘i’ll see you next week then! and thank you so much! we worked pretty hard. our thighs were so sore the other day after practice’

JAEMIN >>> ‘lol make sure to stay hydrated!’

Y/N <<< ‘will do! thanks again :)’

God he was the sweetest human being alive. How could you not have a crush on him?

When you actually got up and got ready— that was about an hour and a half after you got up to find Jaemin’s notebook in your bag— your friends had texted you about a party that Xiaojun was hosting next weekend. and although you wanted to say no, another part of you really wanted to go. You remembered Jaemin mentioned something about a party during your psychology class. Then again, it could have been a completely different person that was hosting another party. Of course, you were too busy admiring him to really pay attention to what his sweet voice was saying. Yeah, you were definitely going to go to Xiaojun’s party.

You (as well as your members) didn’t have any Friday classes so they all asked if everyone wanted to go out and eat.

“My treat,” said Duri in the group chat, so you were not going to let that up.

They were all going to get picked up in Siwoo’s car, including you. Hey, you weren’t wasting gas and you weren’t treating. Not even ten minutes after they texted in the group chat, you were met with the honking of Siwoo’s car outside of your apartment.

The entire ride there was fun, as it usually was whenever you all hung out together (which was all of the time). But when you reached the restaurant your friends had chosen, it was filled with the laughter of the same rowdy boys that your friends could not stand. The laughter of those roller-skaters.

When the five of you walked into the restaurant and the door ding-ed, signifying someone’s entrance to the building, they all immediately looked over and laughed once more.

“Hey look! It’s a bunch of ice skaters,” they mocked you. Your members didn’t pay much attention to them, though. Vouching to give them the middle finger instead.

Luckily, the waitress gave you a table far from the group of roller-skaters and you were hopefully going to enjoy your meals.

After she took your orders, the five of you were talking about the upcoming competition, the finals, and plans for winter break. There was only a week now, before the finals competitions and your professors have been more lenient on work so there’s not much for you to do other than catch up and finally binge some TV shows that had been on your ‘watch later’ list. Everything had been going just as you planned.

Everything except your crush on Na Jaemin.

While zoning out of the conversation your friends were having, you happened to listen to the seven boys talking about a party. Just then, as you started to listen to them talk about the details, you received a text message from Jaemin.

JAEMIN >>> ‘are you going to Xiaojun’s party next weekend?’

Y/N <<< ‘my friends are planning to but i don’t know if they’ll go knowing that you guys will be there. i really want to go tho :(’

JAEMIN >>> ‘hey, it’s alright. i know my friends wouldn’t quite enjoy it either. but i don’t think they’ll start anything at Xiaojun’s party anyway’

Y/N <<< ‘hmm. let’s hope not. we really just want to relax’

JAEMIN >>> ‘i’m sorry about them. they’re not usually like this smh’

Y/N <<< ‘lol you’ve said it before. but it’s okay, my friends aren’t usually this rude to people either but it’s inevitable i guess’

JAEMIN >>> ‘lmao yeah. i’ll see you at the party then? on saturday?’

Y/N <<< ‘hopefully lol. but even if my friends don’t go i’ll sneak out and not tell them’

JAEMIN >>> ‘hahaha okay’

—

It was officially the night of the party. Your friends did decide to go and they still never let those boys get to their heads. Good for them, finally. Everyone let loose for however long they were going to stay at the party and for once it all felt nice.

You and Jaemin’s friends were getting along (getting along as well as they could) and enjoyed themselves, drowning in the alcohol and the beat of the music.

In a cliche game of truth or dare, the drunk group of people circle in the living room of Xiaojun’s ginormous house. Jaemin was sitting on the floor, a small smirk on his lips as he hid them behind the beer bottle that he held up to his lips.

“Na Jaemin, truth or dare,” said a cute girl who was totally Jaemin’s style. You think her name was Eunji. Maybe not. You couldn’t care though, you were too jealous and your tipsy self was not hiding it very well.

“Truth,” the crowd ‘oohed’ for a while until the girl spoke again, after her friend whispered a suggestion in her ear.

“Describe what your crush looks like.”

The crowd cheered. Na Jaemin was notorious for declining the people that went after them. And even so, he would turn them down in the nicest ways possible. It was probably one of the reasons why you had the biggest crush on him.

Once those words left her lips, he quickly quirked an eyebrow and glanced at you, taking another sip of the beer in his hands.

“Well, they’re at the party right now,” the crowd barked at his first sentence, they were all patiently waiting for him to continue the mystery person he had a crush on. No way it was you, right?

“Very charming and sharp yet soft features. Defined cupid’s bow and a tiny scar on their left cheek.” Okay, maybe he was talking about you.

“They’re wearing a sort of royal blue shirt and they are watching me say these things as the seconds go by.” Wow. He was definitely talking about you now.

Everyone in the crowd whips their heads around and soon their eyes are all laid upon you.

The crowd whoo-ed you as all the attention is off of Jaemin. They were all curious about who the Na Jaemin had a crush on.

“No way you like Y/n!” said Haechan coming from one of the halls located behind Jaemin.

“Oh yeah. I have the biggest crush on them,” he quietly said to himself although not so quietly since Haechan could still hear him.

Sluggishly you smiled at the blonde boy and said, “I have a crush on Na Jaemin too.”

“You WHAT?”

Oh boy.

There were only two days before the last final competitions and you and Yujin had been practicing nonstop. You two had made it this far and there Your members hadn’t really talked to you since Xiaojun’s party and you get why they didn’t. But they hadn’t talked to you for so long you started to think they were being a little selfish.

Neither had you or Jaemin talked to each other. Ever since the party, everyone had been off and on the low. Even the Dreamie members themselves have distanced themselves from Jaemin and you felt horrible.

Jaemin felt just as bad too. Most likely worse than you did. It was him who proclaimed his liking toward you anyway. You only admitted you liked him at the end of the conversation. And though you two had alcohol in your system, it always prompts you to share your true feelings.

Despite the fact that you two hadn’t really conversed with your team members and fellow friends, you two had kept in contact with each other. Still announcing how bad you felt for each other, for taking away your friends.

And as your performance with Yujin was coming to an end, you spotted Jaemin in the crowd. He came just to support you, in hopes you would make it to the final competition of the year. But watching you perform with Yujin made the tinge of jealousy spark his heart. He was pretty blunt about it too. It was easy to tell when he was jealous, and it made you laugh about how pouty he got whenever he saw you with Yujin.

The last performer of the finals competition, 2021 was Sunyoung and their partner Minsoo. Although you may have not talked to your members in almost two weeks, they all wished you good luck and so did you.

“And the two duo’s going on to perform at the last performance of the year goes to…” said the MC.

Sweat was covering the palms of your hands as Jaemin sat at the edge of his seat, manifesting the sun of your team.

“Duo four- Y/f/n and Kang Yujin. Duo nine- Sohn Hyunwoo and Song Minseo. Congratulations!”

The crowd went wild and Jaemin immediately jumped up from his seat.

When your performance was over, you met with Jaemin in the back room where you prepared your skates and checked your outfit last minute. He sneakily snaked an arm around your waist and placed a light smooch on your forehead, glancing at Yujin for a millisecond. Oh, your partner could not wait to tell him off once Jaemin was gone.

“Congratulations Y/n. You deserve it… Even if I don’t like your partner over there,” he whispered the last part which made you roll your eyes and laugh at him. He was an idiot.

It was bittersweet but your friends had watched the scene go down. They were upset that you didn’t tell them about your crush on Jaemin but at the same time they knew why you didn’t. It was just the force of alcohol that made you spit out the truth. But it wasn’t like they resented you for it. They just needed some time to think to themselves about what they were going to do. And to be honest, they did meet with those dreaded Dreamie boys to discuss the situation. Your friends were still your friends, and they soon realized they were all being jerks to the both of you.

Your friends had soon approached you and hugged you or patted you on the back.

“Congratulations, kid. We’re sorry we’ve been acting like this these past few weeks but the situation was just too shocking,” explained No-Eul. The rest of your friends shook their heads.

“And Jaemin. We’re sorry for acting the way we did. But we did end up doing the right thing and talked some stuff out with your friends. For the two of you, we— the Winter Wonders and the Dreamies— will try to sort our things out and try to get along. You two look great together,” they all nodded their heads and went into the changing room to wash up and go home.

“Thank you guys. We really appreciate it. I’ll talk to you later, yeah?” you said. to which they gave you a thumbs up and ‘okay’s,’ wishing you two a goodnight.

Tonight, Jaemin was spending the night with you. And he was planning to come back to the ice rink with you to watch you practice for the last competition.

—

Although he was giving you moral support and always shouting your name, Yujin was silently getting annoyed with Na Jaemin who decided to string along.

“Okay, Y/n. I think this is enough practice for today. We’ll have time tomorrow morning to practice before people start coming. Good luck, Y/n,” Yujin sighed to himself.

“Thank you. Good luck to you too. Rest up a lot tonight,” you respond back.

“Thanks.”

Yujin was now gone and Jaemin had approached you on the ice. It made you laugh. He should try to ice skate, surely it couldn’t be that different from roller skating.

Boy were you wrong. You grabbed an extra pair of ice skates that luckily fit him from the back of the rink and he was slipping and sliding everywhere. The scene made you fall to the ground with your arms around your stomach. He was so cute.

“How do you even do this? It’s so much more slippery on ice,” he exclaimed. Your cheeks had been hurting by how much you smiled.

“No way! Roller skating on a rink is so much harder!” You protested, holding Jaemin’s upper body to help him stabilize himself.

You grabbed onto each other as he watched you demonstrate how to progress on the ice as well as stop yourself. And by the end of the hour, he was practically a pro. He does roller skate after all.

—

You spent the following morning barely messaging Jaemin back. And although he understood why you were sorta being M.I.A. he just wanted to hear for himself that you were okay.

However, you did end up meeting Jaemin for a little late lunch (around 2:30 p.m.). But the moment you stepped foot onto the premises of the restaurant, you were bombarded with questions that came from a worried Jaemin.

“Hey! I’m okay!” you laughed at him and held his hand.

“Don’t worry about me Jaem. I’ve done this every year since I was, what, eleven? Twelve? I got it all in the park. You’ll just be there tonight to watch me win the competition,” you smirked at him as you felt him go a little less tense than he was before.

“Plus, you should be with your members or something. You know, practicing for tomorrow? You’ve been hanging around me a little too much,” you said.

“Eyy, we’ll be fine,” he reassured.

The roller-skating finalist competition was two day after yours. And the stakes were as high as they were for the ice skaters. Jaemin should be practicing as much as he can. Then again, he’s not a competitive person. But his members, on the other hand, were something else.

When you two finished your lunch Jaemin drove you back to your apartment to get ready and then head to the rink.

“You look so pretty,” he said with pure adoration in his eyes.

You smiled endearingly and you were about to say something until you were cut off by the MC’s.

“Welcome to the 2021 Figure Skating Finalist competitions! Our two finalists were Duo Four- Y/f/n and Kang Yujin and Duo Nine- Sohn Hyunwoo and Song Minseo. Please take your seats as the show starts in ten minutes. Good luck to our finalists and may the best duo win.”

Once the performances inched closer and closer, you had been biting your nails and playing with your hands while Jaemin sat in the crowd fidgeting in his seat.

You and Yujin were the first duo’s to go and your performance was a solid six and a half minutes long. The end pose was spectacular and the crowd only proved that with their cheers. Even if you two didn’t win tonight, you still loved being on the ice. Winning the end of the year competition (or even making it this far) was just a bonus. Sohn Hyunwoo and Song Minseo were the last performers of the night and, not to burst your ego, but they were pretty good.

And when the night was coming to an end, the two duo’s stayed on the ice with the lights flashing on them. In the crowd you could see (and hear) your members shouting for you, Jaemin, and believe it or not, the Dreamies.

“Before we announce our winners, we would like to congratulate everyone who participated in all of the finals competitions of 2021. It was an honor to watch all of you perform and we know how nerve-wracking it can be. Now, onto our finalists of the year,” the MC paused and received the envelope that contained the duo who won for the year.

“The medal goes to Duo…” pause, for dramatic effect. “Duo Four- Y/f/n of the Winter Wonders and Kang Yujin of The Blades. Congratulations!” Cheers.

—

It was now the day of the roller skating finals. Your members had joined you in watching the boys perform and all of you were sitting with clenched toes. They had to win this. They just had to.

You didn’t know much about roller skating but the Dreamies were damn good at what they did.

“Thank you to everyone who is here today, whether that’d be if you’re a performer or a loved one sitting in the crowd. Everyone loves you,” the MC joked. “And thank you to all who participated in the roller skating finals competitions. Unfortunately, only one group can win.” Just like the ice skating competition, the MC was given an envelope to read.

“Congratulations to the Dreamies! You may come up and collect your medal!”

This was the best you had felt in a long time. Because even though you’ve won these competitions for eleven years, it never felt as good as it did today. The serotonin of winning the 2021 competitions as well as having Jaemin— your long-time crush— by your side, made everything completely different. Completely perfect.

Na Jaemin felt as though nothing in the world mattered other than this moment. He’d been roller skating ever since he was a wee child and the roller skating finals of 2021 was the best one he had experienced yet. And it was all because of you.

For once, the group of roller-skaters and figure skaters spent their time together. Happy and cheerful. And it was all thanks to you and Jaemin who helped them realize that people had feelings, and dopamine was something that everyone expressed, even if it was to their own enemies.

[industriallyinsecure]

Miscellaneous La Squadra Headcanons

Risotto

desk drawers are filled with a bunch of knickknacks and other things. Only one drawer has actual files related to work

He keeps leftover metal instruments from Metallica in the top left drawer, along with regular ones (mostly because he doesn’t know which ones are which)

Keeps a Walkman at his desk with an assortment of metal CDs. Melone tried to teach him how to burn his own CD but it didn’t end very well. Poor boomer man can I get an F in the chat :,(

Still struggles with the mainland dialect(s), sometimes he just gives up and reverts to Sicilian

Nobody knows what he’s saying, but they just nod and act like they do

“...None of you understood a single word of that, did you?”

Ghiaccio

Figure skating prodigy

Started as a way to help his ADHD, but it came very naturally to him

Called “il Cigno” (the swan) because of his elegant skating

Knocked a skater out after a performance (clearly rigged), lost all hopes of a scholarship and sponsorship

The “stereotypical” Italian dialect (I believe Tuscan is the most common but there’s dialects depending on where you are in Tuscany). Doesn’t use slang

Formaggio intentionally makes his accent thicker to make him mad

Works every time

“If you slur that word one more fucking time I’ll crush you like a bug under my shoe!!”

Melone

Med school dropout

Wanted to be a pediatrician, but accidentally got struck with the stand arrow

No need to take care of kids when you can just make em amirite fellas

Unsurprisingly, very good at handling and taking care of kids

Gets pouty if some random baby giggles and coos at a teammate instead of him

Babysits as a side job when things are slow. Raving reviews and a good income. Plus he gets to look at all the cute kids and guess what the next little bun in the oven will look like

97% of the time, his predictions are correct

Sultry and breathy voice. Couple it with his Ligurian accent and it’s like silk and honey

Shockingly maternal (no, not paternal) to anyone that needs it. He’s the La Squadra Mom to Prosciutto’s La Squadra Dad

For the love of god don’t say that to him otherwise he’ll make a comment about you having a mommy/daddy kink or he’ll say something to Prosciutto. While the former is embarrassing, the latter will likely result with you in a nursing home

“Oh, do you need someone to take care of you? I’d gladly take up that burden, ahuhuhu~”

Prosciutto

hates menthol and only smokes Marlboro Lights. Gets a lot of shit from Formaggio for it but it doesn’t bother him

Extremely close to his Nonna. Epitome of a mammone but for his grandmother instead

Speaks French. No one knows how or why. Won’t elaborate if you ask

Secretly very petty. Like a PTA mom, he remembers the smallest slight and carries it with him until he can bring it up and shove it in your face

Affectionate when he first gets his nicotine fix. Expect pats on the back or ruffled hair if you’re within arms length

Very thick Florentine accent

Ghiaccio fights with him over who’s Tuscan dialect is better

“It’s better to sound like a native than like google translate, amico.”

Pesci

Tends to doze off easily. If the conditions are just right, he can fall asleep almost anywhere

Chubby.

Self conscious about his chub but no one (especially not Prosciutto) makes fun of it. Either they’re too scared to because of Prosciutto or they genuinely don’t care

Prosciutto beats the shit out of people that do

Wants his big bro to take him fishing but Prosciutto fusses over his appearance too much and doesn’t have fishing clothes. The one time they went out, he complained the whole time and lost one of his expensive watches. Pesci still hasn’t heard the end of it

Has a bit of a lisp in his Neapolitan accent. Very self conscious about it but no one notices it unless he makes a comment about it

“No, I’m not from Castile, why do you say that? We went to the same elementary school, Formaggio.”

Illuso

actively instigates fights when he feels things are too quiet. Formaggio is usually the one he picks on, but Ghiaccio is very easy to rile up as well

Starts shit and leaves. Likes to watch the fall out and giggle like a school girl in the safety of the mirror world

Conversely, hates it when he gets picked on.

Soft Venetian accent, it’s slowly faded since he’s lived in Napoli

“There’s an old American adage: big feet, big meat. What does that say about you and your stand, Maggi?”

Formaggio

also smokes cigarettes. Fights with Illuso over the regular Marlboro reds because they don’t want to use Prosciutto’s “old man smokes”

Habit of shrinking things. Not on purpose, he just forgets he doesn’t have to steal things all the time

Loves seafood, except for mussels. Ask why and you’ll get a Ghiaccio-esque retelling of how he found out he was allergic

Thickest accent besides Risotto. 100% Neapolitan born and bred

Cheers for Atlanta United along with La Nazionale

Makes Ghiaccio upset, so it’s more of a reason to do it

“Just because I like a team that isn’t Italian doesn’t mean anything, amico. Maybe if you weren’t so close minded you could appreciate non-Italian things too, heh heh.”

[cinnabun-faerie]

Favorite Characters Ranking!

A/N: So, before I may have said I was gonna make it weekly, and forgot about it 😅 so why not just do it every month or so. There always seems to be new developments. Also I would love to do more rankings on characters or series' or games

You can find the first ranking list here !

Warning: Potential spoilers (FFXIV especially). Most of this is just me simping and being in love with these characters.

Ranking Notes:

Haurchefant/Emet-Selch/Hythlodaeus will always be best boys in my heart

Danganronpa will not be included in the ranking this time as all my ranks for the characters remain the same

I'm adding Blush Blush/Crush Crush characters for fun

characters with go up or down on the chart by how much I hyper-focus on them or spend time thinking of them (interacting with them if they are in games)

if characters go down in rank, it doesn't mean I love them less or hate them. I have to put 'em somewhere

this is just for fun

#10 Erenville, Diavolo, Mina, Finn, Bonnibel

Honestly I just need more Erenville content at this point.

Dia has gone down one but he's not complete off the list. I really like some of the mini stories on devilgram in the game 👀

Mina 🥰🥰 She's amazing

I like Finn's story and he has such a cool design

Bonnibel 🥰🥰🥰🥰 She's the sweetest southern belle and honestly she was my favorite when I first played the game (as there was not many girls at the time)

#9 Aymeric, Luke, Tsuyu, William, Eva

Aymeric went from fourth to nine

I miss him, that's all I have to say.

LUKE IS MY SON and I love him.

Tsu is amazing. Big sister vibes from her for sure.

Will is an amazing dude and honestly he's quite the romantic character 👀

Eva is just so sweet and cute and honestly she's a badass cause she's a mecha pilot.

#8 Y'shtola, Thirteen, Jiro, Stirling, Charlotte

I don't think Thirteen even moved a spot. She stays mostly cause I haven't really gotten to any story with her. But when I do 😈 fellas beware as she will take the top spot.

Y'shtola & Jiro went down one 😭 I hope they get higher soon. Especially since Jiro is my favorite female in MHA

Stirling is very intriguing since he's a vampire and a figure skater

honestly he's mesmerizing

And Charlotte, I love that she's a goth girl. If I'm honest, in another world, I would love to have her style

#7 Emet-Selch, Belphie, Aizawa, Basil, Lake

Emet-Selch is a joy. I just love and appreciate him so much more after Endwalker. I want more of him honestly.

Bels may have went down one, but that's okay. I want to squish him and cuddle him.

I'm kinda sad that Aizawa dropped. But honestly so many of them kinda pushed past him. With the current season of mha that I'm on, I'm sure that he'll be back near the top. Also, I notice that I'm very much attracted to the dad/parent type characters.

Basil 😭 I'm telling you, I want to see him be a main boy. He's kind of a Sherlock-esque character. But I think his name is more in homage to the Great Mouse Detective? Even still, I LOVED his mini story. I just love him.

Lake has to be here after Sawyer! They come in a pair. Honestly I find her so interesting. She's a painter/artist so she has a lot of knowledge of famous artworks. Just overall, she's super cute.

#6 Haurchefant, Simeon, Hawks, Cashew, Sawyer

So Haurchefant may have dropped on my list, but he's the bestest boy anyone did see

Honestly no matter where he ranks, my heart stays with him

Okay so Simeon seemed to just have dropped cause the others told him to move out of their way *cough* Mammon/Satan *cough*

I need to focus more on him again 😤 I miss him 😔🥺

Hawks really crashed into me and cupid hit me with an arrow & I just love him. I like his personality and he's attractive 👀

Okay, so Cashew is super cute. He has been since he was a Phone Fling in the game. Now that's a main boy in the game 👀 with voice lines, I've fallen for his puns and him.

Sawyer is just amazing. She's sweet and she's got a bright personality. Honestly her chemistry with her best friend Lake (who's going to be added as a main girl next, I'm so excited) just adds to her likeness.

#5 G'raha Tia, Mammon, Tamaki, Cole, Lotus

It shocks me to see G'raha go from #1 to 5!

Everyone knows me well enough now to know that I'm a major G'raha Tia simp, so this is a surprise to us all

I love him still but some of the others have stolen away my attention

Mammon is not giving up his spot so easily, so he's at #5 once again

But I'm surprised he hasn't gone up. I'm been kinda focused on him too lately. But I guess not to the extent of those in ranks 1 to 4

I've finally made it through season 4 so I definately appreciate and love Tamaki so much more. I know a lot more about him now, which is great too.

Cole used to be my all time favorite Blush Blush character. Yes, he may be a little (a lot) on the Yandere side, but I still love him (It's the voice. Definately the voice).

I LOVE LOTUS. She is probably one of the few ladies that I loved since the day they were added to the game. I love that they keep giving her little story stuff. I would really love to see her join the other main girls.

#4 Estinein, Solomon, Denki, Cole, Ruri

Estinien moves from fifth to fourth!

Honestly Estinien is amazing. I love his so much. The fact that he has beaten three of my best contenders is wild. I'm just waiting for him to break the iron grip of Urianger and take the #2 spot. Honestly I need more of him in upcoming FFXIV stuff. The new adventure stuff with him? Amazing.

Solomon has been plaguing my mind as of late. I guess I haven't given him much attention. Not to mention his song is coming out soon I think. I am awaiting that excitedly.

Denki is just so cute and energetic whenever I see him in the anime. I just wanna kiss his cheeks and tell him how much I appreciate him. Honestly I need a little bit of sunshine like him in my life.

Hehe, Volks. I just adore him. What more can I say. He's the sweetest tsundere 💕

Ruri has been in the top of my favorites since they released her into the game. She's just so cool and I enjoy her dialogue.

Honestly I've been saying for a while that she's my ideal girl in that game

#3 Hermes, Levi, Izuku, Scale, Sirina

I adore Hermes. I have since I've seen him. And just rewatching the cutscenes again, only seemed to fuel that love and adoration for him

So Levi moved from fourth place to third place due to me just having more of an attachment to him lately. That and I can relate to him a lot too. And I just wanna cuddle him and give him so much love. He deserves it.

Izuku also moved from fourth place to third! Same reason as Levi really. I've appreciated and loved him so much more as of late.

And it could also be the fact that I have a cute body pillow of him too 🥺🥰

Scale was actually my favorite boy for a time, and I'm kinda sad that he's third place now. Honestly he's just so adorable.

Also, he was a dragon boy previously, so that was actually kinda cool. It would be good to know that he's a ninja that likes to do the Naruto run.

Sirina seemed to be my favorite next to to Peanut. Honestly it's a tie but I don't wanna do a double-ranking so she landed in third.

#2 Urianger, Barbatos, Kirishima, Poe, Peanut

Urianger & Barbatos remain at spot #2 !

Let's be honest here and admit that I've just been too deprieved of Urianger lately and that's why he's here

maybe he's got an iron grip on me or something

Barbatos is my love so he stays

And Kiri was pushed out of his top spot by Kitkat (Bakugou) 😔 I still love him lots though

Poe has been on my radar since they added him to Blush Blush 👀 and just replaying his little storyline again, I just found so much more love for him

Peanut was my all time favorite but as you can plainly see, she has been bested by Mallory

#1 Fandaniel, Satan, Bakugou, Seth, Mallory

Fandaniel has been ruining my life lately

also this is the first time he's made it in my top 10!

Naturally, Tannie reigns supreme as the only one in the ranking that remained the same

Kitkat (Bakugou) is also ruining my life wtf

I don't want to admit it, but I am emotionally attached to him

not to mention I can barely sleep at night, but whenever I listen to Bakugou sleep asmr, I can sleep easily

he might just be my main comfort character as this very moment

🥺 they just released Seth as a main boy and I'm just so in love with him

🥰 Mallory 🥰 she deserves the whole world and more

[cha-melodius]

What if your Napoleons and Illyas from different AUs + the canon ones all met? Kind of like Loki variants in the void, I guess.

Ohhhh man, this would be so much fun. I had to look through and list who all of my Napoleon and Illya variants were:

60s chess grandmasters

60s lifestyle column author & former soldier/spy

Modern art student & fashion designer

Modern figure skaters

Modern classics professors

Modern canon-esque spies

60s canon spies (we won't count all the different ones from each canon story because WHEW)

There's also the question of where in their stories they're all meeting each other. Are all of the couples together? Or are they all pre-relationship? Maybe a mix? The mix is probably the most fun, tbh. OH how about canon Napoleon and Illya, who are NOT together and are still in denial, encounter all of these versions of themselves who are together, that would be excellent! The realization that you want what they have, but you still can't quite admit it? *chef's kiss*

I kinda like to think that they'd get along pretty well, because ultimately they're pretty similar. Napoleon is frequently an artist in some way (explicitly in 2, 3 & 4, at least), and Illya is usually a chess nut (... all of them, I think? lol). I would think the non-spies would be kinda overwhelmed by the spy versions of themselves, and several of the Napoleons might be a bit scandalized by canon Napoleon's art thieving past. Particularly art student!Napoleon, who also works as an art restorer, I would think. I feel like the professors and the chess grandmasters would get along really well, and the art student/fashion designer pair would immediately become besties with the figure skaters.

Probably the most interesting interactions would be by those who are particularly close in background, like canon!Illya with the Illya from Makings of a Perfect Christmastime, who left the USSR as a child and grew up in the US, but otherwise is very similar. Man, I'd like to hear their political debate. Or, like the canon versions with their canon-but-modern-setting counterparts. If we're talking they're all established couples at this point, the 60s versions would probably be jealous of the modern versions' ability to be out, both personally and with their relationship (and maybe also somewhat dismayed by the issues that still remain 60 years in the future).

I like to think they wouldn't descend into chaos fighting each other like the Lokis, but who knows, lol. I'm guessing if anyone is going to fight each other it would be the various spies. I'd kinda like to see Illya vs. Illya, tbh.

Fun fact, I kinda sorta already had them meet another version of themselves in one fic: in The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret, modern-day-spies Napoleon and Illya meet a pair of "professors from Chicago who said they’d been married for fifteen years and finished each other’s sentences." And that absolutely was an easter egg reference to Amor Magnus Doctor Est and their professor selves.

Thanks for sending this ask! It was super fun to think about, not to mention an excellent nostalgia trip through my writing, lol.

[deripmaver]

y’all read that tor.com article right??? the one that was just another “yaoi/omegaverse/whatever is just putting mlm couples into cishet roles”??? this one here. well maybe not but im bored and its annoying me so im gonna make a long post on it

nice ratio did ur MOM pick it out for u??? jk ok

the biggest flaw in this article is, imo, assuming that this is a new, untapped topic of discussion, and not a debate that’s existed since time immemorial - or at least as long as fandom has been a thing. every point the author brings up has been hashed out and rehashed to absolute death, and it brings absolutely nothing new to the table beyond the same bland platitudes and critiques i’ve heard dozens of times. 

this article doesn’t even bring up the boogeyman of the “cishet white girl fetishizing mlm” it’s about queer people writing fanfic, which imo makes it all the more egregious. 

how?????????????? is this not queer???????????????? a lot of this makes me think of the discussion about how gay marriage was less important than other forms of queer liberation bc it just allowed queer folks to assimilate into a cisheteronormative lifestyle. 

the article then goes into how people change the physical attributes of the two men to have them better fit into a “male” and “female” esque role. i think the above sentence was meant more as a lead in to how the two men will be shoehorned into roles based on their physical attributes, which is them being shoehorned into a male/female dynamic, but still. two men In Love is very much queer. actually, lol, tangent but there’s this song “two men in love” that latvian figure skater deniss vasiljevs skated to as an exhibition, and tv channels kept censoring its name, so....

as folks will point out, the Large Top/Small Bottom dynamic is one that actually does exist among some irl queer men. i’m very firmly of the opinion that the only thing queer folks can do to to express cishet norms is by actively working to undermine queer rights and gay lib, anything else a queer couple does is outside cishet norms by virtue of the couple being queer. a queer couple wants a white picket fence suburban life and 2.5 kids??? still queer.

there are two points about this: changing the physical characteristics of two male characters to get them to fit into a large/small top/bottom dynamic is annoying. it’s bad characterization. i still am not 100% sure i’d say it’s forcing mlm couples into cishet norms, bc of what i mentioned earlier. 

i also don’t know if this is something i’ve seen much of recently? maybe i’m just more discerning in what fanfic i choose to read now, and i’m much more likely to go based on recs and not just pick a fanfic and start reading it. the “yaoi hands” debate was old by the time i got online (just about 20 years ago now lmao). 

i think that omegaverse existed to codify a lot of the trashy fandom tropes that existed prior to its inception into one universe. mpreg, self lubricating buttholes (lol), sex pollen, found family/pack dynamics... it started out as a dubcon-y porn trope. idk also queer people wanting babies isn’t cis heteronormative.

not the first person to point this out but this is a significant double standard. why is this an example of positive queer representation but alpha/omega with men is imposing cishet norms on queer relationships? is it just that m/m is more represented in fanfiction while f/f is still relatively rare?  

ok lol i got bored part way through that’s enough of that

i think discussions of representation, as well as just changing attitudes, have meant people try hard to avoid tropes like making all the women screaming banshees, or shoehorning male characters into top/bottom roles, or having the relationship start out.... kind of rapey lol. but individual queer people writing fanfic arent corporations, queer ppl don’t exist to perform activism 24/7, and queer people by definition cannot be cishet

ok thats it