So Of Course Talking To @stammiviktor About Her Tags Gave Me A Lot Of Feelings About These Two.

I could speak endlessly about the things that make Victor and Yuuri an amazing couple, but this one really stood out to me: their insecurities.

(some of this is kinda headcanon, but it’s based on what is implied in canon)

It’s evident from the beginning that Yuuri sees himself as not enough. He doesn’t think he’s good enough, attractive enough, sexy enough, or talented enough to be Victor’s student. These fears introduce his struggle with anxiety long before he enters his first Grand Prix competition. He doesn’t think he’s good enough to deserve Victor’s attention, he doesn’t think he’s talented enough to beat Yurio, he doesn’t think he can keep Victor in Hasetsu with him when the world wants him back in Russia, competing.

And although his confidence grows throughout the series, his self-doubt is still very evident in their argument in episode 11. Yuuri doesn’t think his career is worth more than Victor’s career. Yuuri doesn’t even consider the romantic value of their relationship, only comparing the success of their careers, because even with all the validation he receives from Victor, he doesn’t know just how much his love means to Victor, and he’s scared of overestimating it. Yuuri’s ongoing fear is not being enough.

Victor, on the other hand, is an enigma. Throughout the show, Yuuri’s unreliable narration makes it difficult to know exactly how Victor feels. Victor is scared of being too much. When he arrived in Hasetsu, he was expecting a very different welcome— something akin to the sensual, sexy, confident dancer he encountered at the banquet— and is instead greeted by a shy, unconfident skater, who can’t grasp why Victor would be there to coach him of all people.

Though Victor initially tried to coax Yuuri out of his shell by being extremely forward, he realized that he needs to give Yuuri his space, and meet him in the middle— not force Yuuri to let him in when he’s not ready. Yuuri challenges Victor in episode 4 by telling Victor to be himself. For so long, Victor had been performing in every aspect of his life; every season wiping the slate clean and beginning again, constructing a new persona for himself. He was seen as a force of nature, a whirlwind, a god. Nobody has ever asked him to be himself before. He’s afraid he’s too messy, too impulsive, too Victor to be what Yuuri wants, which is why he asks Yuuri to give him a role in the first place.

Although Victor’s extra-ness is far from lacking in the following episodes, he’s significantly toned down how direct he is, and instead motivates and challenges Yuuri through his small touches and words. When Yuuri is crying in the parking garage in episode 7, Victor doesn’t know how to react, and slips back into a suave bachelor persona— “Should I just kiss you or something?”— in order to keep his messy self hidden; the kind that doesn’t know how to handle when people cry, the kind that acts impulsively, the kind that really doesn’t know what he’s doing. And Yuuri challenges him again. He doesn’t want Victor to be fake, to hide his true self behind a mask. He just wants Victor to stand by him, as himself. This could be another reason why Victor was so angry when Yuuri wanted to end things for the sake of Victor’s career. Victor had given himself, all of his whole, messy, impulsive, imperfect, balding self to Yuuri, who wanted to give it up for the sake of Victor’s suffocating career, his persona as The World’s Most Eligible Bachelor, God of Figure Skating, Victor Nikiforov. It felt like a rejection of his true self, the one that was shown to Yuuri after he painfully tore down all the walls he had to protect his fragile heart. Victor is afraid that his true self is too much.

But together, they fit together like a puzzle piece. When Victor is afraid he’s too much, Yuuri embraces all of it— all of the messiness, all of the tears, shattering those masks one by one and letting them pick up the pieces together. When Yuuri is afraid he’s not enough, Victor helps him build himself back up, showing him that he is strong and deserving of everything he has.

They are perfect for each other.

tskym fic recs because i have a lot of free time and it shows (all of them are oneshots)

because @mallgothyamaguchi asked for recs and i am always ready to deliver them

Pre-slash Summer, 1997: sort of an AU? but it still feels very canon tskym to me. freaking creative. WE HAVE AKITERU AND KEI BONDING IN THIS ONE. and tsukihina friendship. check ohmymai's works, they are freaking talented and underrated.

The Choice: discussing where to go for high school. it's sweet.

Canon timeline:

Telephone Lines: it's one of the tskym fics that have really stuck with me. it's just really beautiful. childhood tskym intertwined with current tskym.

i wanna make you mine (but that's hard to say): it's hilarious. like, honestly hilarious. tsukki is so real in this one.

Hum Along: kinda long, plot is freaking creative and beautiful. both of them are characterized incredibly. i can't recommend this one enough.

Feeling like I go too slowly: i put it in this category though it does stretch to tskym's childhood, but it too covers their stay in karasuno. REALLY CUTE AND FUN (tho you have to be a registered user to read this one. anyway, i really recommend you to be a registered user. you'd be missing jewels like this one if not)

Behind Your Back: do not read this one if you haven't read the manga. no timeskip spoilers, but spoilers in the outcome of nationals. if you have read the manga or do not mind some spoilers, definitely read this one. it changed my life.

levels of investment: this too changed my life, but because of how freaking funny it was. really, we need more karasuno centric fics. MORE KARASUNO PRATICE MATCHES CENTRIC FICS.

Post-canon:

Fridgespace: if Hum Along is hilarious, this one is straight up hysterical. kind of a crackfic. love crackfics.

ice adolescence and russia

1 - Russia in today's world

okay look. I see you when you talk about how the political climate today means that iceado was doomed. I see you when you talk about the many many many doping scandals of Russian athletes, we saw it when the athletes didn't compete under the banner of Russia but as OAR or ROC, which I absolutely support. I see you when you rightfully mention Russia invading Ukraine. This is genuinely horrible, it's horrifying, it's inhuman, and the fact that many Russian athletes (including figure skaters) openly, unapologetically support their government's actions is disgusting.

2 - yuri on ice was just meant to be fun

now, let's also recognize that the core of yuri on ice to be silly and queer and accepting, to talk about anxiety and depression, about burnout and competition, about rediscovering your passion for your work and falling in love along the way. I see this, and these are some the reasons why I adore yuri on ice.

3 - yoi and russia

I would love to say that yoi is about escapism so we should ignore all real life events. But I'm not really that type of person, tbh.

We could all close our eyes and ignore thousands of people dying, ignore the doping scandals, ignore every bad thing Russia had done in modern history. But what about the people directly affected by this? do they deserve to see us comfortably having fun about a figure skating show ignoring the doping, and showing our main characters living and training in Russia, comfortably? with no mention of the inhumane actions of Russia, be they about the war or queer rights? really? is that something they deserve to see?

I see the people saying that maybe we can ignore the war, the way we ignored homophobia and eating disorders and bribing, but for the reasons above I really think we shouldn't.

I wish Russia had not done any of this, most of all because of all the deaths and destruction, but yes also bacause maybe that would have meant that maybe we could have had ice adolescence. However, we don't live in that world. And that still doesn't mean iceado had to be canceled.

4 - do not forgive or forget about MAPPA

I am not excusing mappa, okay? there is no way I will excuse or forgive mappa for ice adolescence. if they wanted to, they could have fixed this.

I've been thinking about this for maybe 20 minutes and I already have a solution, okay? and if I have a vague plan for how to handle this, then I am dead certain that a whole room full of people working for mappa could have figured it out. this is on the mappa execs, not the people doing the creative process. don't be fooled, the execs are probably just unwilling to try, if Russia's actions (and the actions of its athletes) are part of their reasoning.

5 - iceado could still exist even with everything russia has done

i think that the situation is rightfully delicate. but I also think that if a book like red white & royal blue (an openly gay book) could openly condemn US right wing politics and also portray the oppressive heteronormativity of the british royal family, without outright mentioning any real persons, then yoi s2 or ice ado could potray the figure skating scene in russia negatively and could have the characters leave the country.

they could show yakov as that one different coach in russian figure skating or maybe they could prove that he's your typical russian coach, which played a role in viktor's mental health getting worse and worse.

post-s1 scenes could be about viktor changing his mind and leaving russia, as a result of the doping scandal, or rising tensions internationally about Russia. the fact that we saw him and yuuri and yuri in st. petersburg didn't mean that decision was final. the pressures of a toxic environment could have made viktuuri leave, and whether or not yakov (or anyone) would follow them, or viktor would find another coach is something up for debate, yes, but there can be a debate. There can be a debate about yuri plisetsky about georgi and mila, about what this could mean for them.

iceado could condemn russian politics and the doping, the toxic community, and everything else really. in my opinion, the fact that this didn't happen speaks to mappa's unwillingness to try. im not educated in japan-russia relationships, to be frank, so I'm not sure how much backlash the show could possible face from the Japanese government for a decision like this one. Of course, this would insinuate that Japan is fine with the Ukraine invasion which is, well, not very good press to say the least (and naturally a violation of all sorts of human rights). I do however find it odd that we would never hear anything about talks debating this taking place, which means that once again mappa didn't try. And also, truthfully, just how plausible is it that Japan would go "no don't make more of that very lucrative anime because we don't want to condemn Russia's war / we don't want to condemn Russia's doping"? Because it doesn't sound that plausible to me.

6 - political yoi?

yes, this means that yoi would have become political, but when politics is about the right to live in your home without fear of death or invasion, why exactly shouldn't it get political?

and let's not forget that a world with no homophobia is already unfortunately political. because queer rights are not globally recognized, being pro or against queer rights (of which there are many so some are pro-same sex marriage but against trans rights which complicates things even more) is still a vital part of many many political parties' campaigns in a lot of countries.

yoi was already political in the sense that it showed a world of acceptance, because that's not a given.

what iceado had to do was show that acceptance does not mean ignoring inhumane, unethical actions.

this doesn't need to be the centric idea of iceado or yoi s2, either, by the way. simply showing something bad but realistic is enough. i wouldn't have needed 2 hours depicting the horrors of Russia ft. yuri on ice, but I would have loved to see 2 hours of teenage viktor trying to make it in this cutthroat world, with sporadic evidence of toxicity and too-much pressure, which are almost canon anyways. and any scenes taking place post-s1 could easily just show viktor make a number of realizations and choices that could lead to him leaving russia (to find a new coach or with yakov, with any of the russian skaters in yoi, or just with makkachin and yuuri, etc), which would show that yes they're not just ignoring russia's wrongdoings.

for being released in 2016-17, yoi was delightfully progressive in its queerness. but in 2024, asking the show to condemn doping and war on its way to show us viktor nikiforov's past is apparently too much to ask.

please give me your thoughts on this, yoi fandom, I'd love to see what everyone else thinks!

Once a frozen heart

A short story about Viktor's life♡

Growing up Viktor always wanted to skate, at the age of 4 he was already starting lessons although his parents couldn't really afford it they wanted to do everything they could to make their son happy.

When Viktor turned 10 he was already entering competition after competition. Everyone had thought he would someday become big and that he did he grew up to be the most successful figure skater.

When he was 17 he had met this boy named Nikoláy at one of his competitions he was in the crowd rooting him on and luck was on his side because beside Nikoláy was Viktor's mom and she offered to introduce them to each other. When they had met they instantly hit it off with each other.

Everyday they would hang out with each other they were like two peas in a pod. Suddenly one day Nikoláy had kissed Viktor and he had kissed him back and they started dating not to long after that. Viktor was scared to see how his parents would react to him coming out to them he had only had came out to Nikoláy after a couple months of being friends

(Authors note to be continued i hope yall like this part!!! This is my take on what Ice adolescence could have been :,) )

Viktor Nikiforov, genderfluidity, and the gendered conventions of Russian language

I've always headcanon-ed that Viktor identifies as genderfluid, and playing around with this concept has been one of my favorite parts of my post-canon, married Viktuuri series, "Gold's On The Inside, Elevated My Feet", which you can read here if you'd like to immerse yourself in a very long (currently 191K) WIP/larger series. I'm currently working on a multichapter story (probably will be anywhere from 1-3 chapters) that focuses on his decision to come out publicly, and it's made me think about the inherently gendered way that Russian language works.

One thing that I like to have fun with in my writing is deliberately having Yuuri and Viktor say 'fuck that' to grammar conventions in Russian and just use whatever pet names/endearments they want, regardless of if they are 'male' or 'female' gendered. As an aside, I find it convenient that 'zolotsye' (meaning 'my gold') is gender-neutral. It's sent me down a rabbit hole of research around what options are available to genderfluid folks who speak/use Russian. As one might guess, they are limited :(

Anyways, just wanted to post this to ask if folks have any favorite Viktor/gender non-conformity stories they can recommend? I would love to see more of it in the fandom (hence, my excitement to post my work when it's done).

babygirl doing all the heavy lifting for that honour

Varigo core.

who and where? — let's talk KCD3

disclaimer: this post is a continuation of my previous KCD3 posts on speculation of the events and lore that i'd like to see explored in the next installment(s) of the KCD story. these are only speculations born of my own biased narrative and hopeful bastardizations of real events. this is not representative of ALL the real historical persons and events as there is either info missing on them, they were altered by WH for the sake of the game or i'm plain wrong. PS: i am not a historian. i just like history.

PART: 1 2 3 4 5 _____________________

the part i've been looking forward to the most!

in this post, i'll be going over the most likely locations that will appear in KCD3 according to the real historical timeline and i'll be supporting these speculations with things that were hinted at in KCD2. and we'll be using some real historical maps!

the who:

the main antagonists i believe we will be seeing in KCD3 are the following:

Heinrich III von Rosenberg

Sigismund of Luxembourg (again)

Albrecht IV of Austria (?)

Erik

the new allies we might meet are the following:

Jan Sokol of Lamberg

Matěj Vůdce (Matthew the Leader)

King Wenceslaus IV

the where

the main locations i believe were most hinted at in KCD2 were the following:

Podiebrad

Kolin

Znojmo (Znojmo castle)

Prague (partial?)

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so let's start with the who!

so far in the story, king Wenceslaus IV has merely been a name without a face, unlike Sigismund who not only got screen time in KCD1 & KCD2, but also a significant role in the main quest (and in the credits). meanwhile, Wenceslaus has been pushed off screen as we fight for the very same king. which, i guess, was an authentic experience for the people of Bohemia at the time as well.

however, it was in november of 1403. that king Wenceslaus was freed from Vienna with help from none other than our John II of Liechtenstein. i believe that this might be a cutscene we will be seeing likely in the prologue of KCD3 rather than a playable quest due to the fact that Vienna is so far. i believe that if they choose to make this a non-playable cutscene then it would allow the game to advance onto 1404. and its relevant events.

now, i fully believe that we will be seeing Dry Devil, aka Hynek of Kunštát again if the game will indeed be playable in 1404. the reason for that is that there is a relevant event that occurs in the town of Znojmo, or more precisely, Znojmo castle. in 1404. king Sigismund along with Albrecht IV of Austria lead a siege against Hynek and Jan Sokol of Lamberg in Znojmo castle, during which Albrecht was allegedly poisoned and died of dysentery which spread throughout the camp, and even Sigismund was apparently at the death's door.

anyone else see a perfect chance for the involvement of our professional bastard meddler? not only that, but the geography of the area looks very fun. i also believe this would be a convenient event to cover in the game as it's historically pretty vague which would allow WH to have more liberty while writing it.

the next person on our list is Heinrich III von Rosenberg. yes, those Rosenbergs. that name has been present ever since KCD1, if you remember the knight Ulrich of Passau sent to investigate the forging of silver coins in Sasau monastery on behalf of the Rosenbergs.

in the next installment, in KCD2 Rosenbergs get mentioned again. they were the most powerful members of the League of Lords (and one of the founders) and the biggest opposition to then king Wenceslaus IV.

in fact, i believe we saw Heinrich III von Rosenberg himself in one of the KCD2 trailers, seen with Erik and Markvart Von Aulitz in what i presume is Malešov, but he is not there during Henry's infiltration into Malešov in the game.

i believe the Rosenberg crest is etched into the inner elbow of Heinrich's couters. (trailer)

so why is he so important to the sequel(s)?

besides the fact that he was one of king Wenceslaus' biggest enemies, we can also see his banner flying among Sigismund's army during the sacking of Skalitz.

i very kindly circled the banners for you. source: KCD1

you'd honestly think Henry would have a bigger incentive to go after this guy rather than Von Bergow.

there is also an unconfirmed but still very interesting theory that Jan Žižka served Rosenbergs under a false name during a brief period, which makes his efforts of destroying Rosenberg assets starting in 1406.* very funny. i say 1406. only because that was the first time he started appearing in the Rosenberg's black book (acta negra maleficorum) of the Rosenberg estate as an accused bandit. this means his hostilities against Rosenbergs could have started as early as 1404. for the sake of the narrative convenience (wink wink nudge nudge WH?). jokes aside, the lands surrounding Trocnov, Žižka's home, were often under pressure from Rosenberg estates, so i could see his incentives against Rosenbergs easily starting before 1406. because of that regardless of the convenience of the narrative.

whew!

and if you recall the scene where Istvan Toth is sending Erik on his merry way to Malešov, you can hear him mentioning Senitz (Senice).

source: KCD2

i was briefly debating which Senitz/Senice he was talking about, but i took the liberty of visualizing the route from Trosky to Malešov for your viewing pleasure and found one Senice along the route.

(note: this is a modern route using modern roads as per google maps info because i do not have access to a more detailed map of 1400s central Bohemia. it is only an approximate of Erik's route at the time but i think it still gives you a good sense of his path. 90km/56mi.)

so that was another Rosenberg mention. i think it's safe to say that we will be encountering Heinrich III von Rosenberg in the next game.

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and now the allies!

i believe Dry Devil and John II of Liechstenstein will be making an appearance again, and alongside them most likely Jan Sokol of Lamberg.

there hasn't been much proof that suggests we will be seeing him in a sequel, but i don't believe his KCD codex entry mentioning Znojmo in 1404. is a coincidence.

and again, there is the mention of Rosenbergs. i believe that KCD3 will either include the events of 1404. OR it will contain the events of 1404. and timeskip into 1409. because that was when Jan Sokol of Lamberg, Matěj Vůdce and Racek Kobyla waged a guerilla campaign against the Rosenberg family on behalf of king Wenceslaus IV. two pretty relevant periods, i'd say.

as for Matěj Vůdce, aka Matthew the Leader; people have been speculating that the Matthew we encounter as Henry while recruiting Dry Devil's old band is the Matthew. or just another Matthew. i couldn't find the exact year when Jan Žižka met Matthew before the more commonly cited 1409. so i can't say for sure. (however, i'd like to think that a figure that important wouldn't be an easily killable NPC.)

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and now let's go into the where's!

i promise this section will be shorter and more illustrated than the previous one. reminder of the locations i listed;

Podiebrad

Kolín

Znojmo (Znojmo castle)

Prague (partial?) (Wenceslaus event only Prague map?)

i obviously listed Podiebrad (Poděbrady) as that is the location mentioned multiple times in KCD2. Rosa Ruthard mentions her and her family (Ruthards) travelling there at the end of KCD2, and i believe this is where Hans Capon's wedding will be held as well considering Podiebrad was an estate given to the Kunstadts (by Charles IV, Wenceslaus' father), and considering the fact that Botschek and of course Jitka are of Kunstadt, it makes sense.

i also believe Kolín will be there, probably less important but as a potential place where we will be able to meet Samuel again. historically, Sigismund did indeed order an attack on Jews of Kuttenberg and they did settle in Kolin.

the distance between Podiebrad and Kolin is also quite short.

as for Znojmo, it is located some 170km (105mi) away from Rattay which might seem like too far, but here's a reminder on how far Trosky is from Rattay in comparison!

the distance between Rattay and Trosky is 103km (64 mi)

and finally, here is the distance between Rattay and Podiebrad + Kolin.

when you compare it to Trosky and its surrounding area, Podiebrad and Kolin are a lot closer in comparison. i even speculate that Hans' wedding might happen on his way back from Trosky to Rattay, hence why Hanush was so insistent on hurrying Hans up and why Hans was so insistent on staying in the Devil's Den longer with Henry.

and lastly; Prague.

i am still very much on the fence about Prague, mainly because trying to recreate a city of that size in-game would be a Herculean task. not impossible, but very hard. i mention Prague because after stopping in Kuttenberg, that is where king Wenceslaus IV returns to once he escapes Vienna in 1403.

and there could be a lot said about Kuttenberg and that arc in itself (like Hans, Henry and co. meeting the king in Kuttenberg while they're still chilling in the Devil's Den) but i thought i'd rather talk about Prague.

Prague, even in 1403./1404. was already approx. 5-6 times bigger than Kutternberg. which is a Lot. I've already linked this map in a previous post, but here's a reminder on what a reconstructed map of Prague in 1419. looks like;

my frankenprague map. source from this lovely website!

on the other hand it's an insane project that would be lauded for decades if executed successfully because who the hell wouldn't want a walkable map of 1419. Prague ?!

thus i believe that Prague might also become only a cutscene or only a very small part of it would be playable for reasons yet unknown to me.

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okay, that's all for now. i had to cut this post down in size, can you believe it. but i really wanted to make a sort of an Everything post for the possible directions KCD3 might take because i was seeing way, way too many people guessing that the next KCD game will be set in 1419. my brothers and sisters in christ, there are so many important events to cover just from 1404. to 1416., i cannot imagine going straight into the Hussite wars without establishing Henry as a radical on the side of the people through various banditry related events and addressing the collective harem of Bohemian revolutionaries accumulated throughout both of the game's story first. i know a lot of us are here for the tragedy of Hansry in 1419., but i promise you there are many happy years between now and then in the meantime. enjoy them! (and learn more about 15th century Bohemia!)

Art Help

I redid this list because broken links 💀

General Tips

Stretch your fingers and hands

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Resources: coloring things a different color

Gold

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Dark Skin in pastel art

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POSE REFERENCES

Eyes: pupil shape, direction

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CLOTHING REFERENCE

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Animals

Horse -> Dragon

Snouts: dogs, cats, wolves, fox

Foot, paw, hoof

Plants

Blossoms: cherry, plum, apricot, etc

Plants/flowers: North America, Hawaii, Patagonia

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Inspiration: Lights

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