life & love, and gay figure skating

Lover of figure skating and Yuri!!! On Ice. Fanfiction writer and canon analyst. Middle-aged ace lesbian. Too old for fandom drama. Pronouns: She, they. Bluesky, AO3, Wordpress blog

[dancingontheblades]

***New pinned post**

Since my last pinned post is no longer up-to-date and I've got a bunch of new followers, it's time for a re-introduction!

I’m a queer figure skating fan from Germany. You can call me Cat as in the nerd cat, I go by the pronouns she and they. Skating has fascinated me since my childhood and since I seem to be cursed with developing an interest in things when the hype dies down, the timing couldn't have been worse. Kathi Witt retired and skating went out of fashion in my country, opportunities to watch competitions became rare (it was before the age of livestreams). For the next two decades, my brain fixated on other interests - again long after the hype was over - until one of those interests (read: a certain figure skating anime) motivated me to find out where I could watch competitions "for research" and turned me into an avid fan, and since then I've been in a love-and-hate-relationship with the sport (maybe some of you can relate). I'm the fan who scares the cats off their lap and who weirds out the neighbours with their yelling when the adrenaline is high and the menning is at its most chaotic - sometimes even at night. If skating would be more accessible in my area, I would love to take lessons, and I'm very proud of the two skating skills I've taught myself: clockwise and counter-clockwise forward crossovers. - So much to my fs fan origin story.

I'm not gonna even start listing my favourite skaters because there are way too many and my dislikes seem to be fandom-wide dislikes (plus a few who are not my cup of tea, but you won't ever notice).

I'm looking forward to meeting other fs fans on here!

When I’m not agonising over my favourite sport, I’m a fanfiction writer. For the last four years my obsession has been Yuri!!! On Ice. I have written quite a number of fanworks that combine my two passions fs and YOI. Besides figure skating stuff, I post writing updates, excerpts, and the occasional reblog of fanart.

Yuri!!! On Ice Fanfictions - overview

“A dream too large to bear alone” (main series) - continues the story of Yuuri and Viktor while staying faithful to canon. Brace yourself for figure skating (with and without drama), domestic slice-of-life, husbands turning to rivals, and tons of kinky smut. Part 1 From St. Petersburg with Love (post-canon, ongoing), Part 2 In Love and War (in revision), Part 3 "mystery title" (in planning)

Prequels and one-shots complementary to this series: - “Thousand Spotlights” : depressed Vitya, set between the Sochi GPF and Viktor moving to Japan - “Can You Hear My Heartbeat1” : ***special-extended*** novelisation, complete) - a collection of all works belonging to my canonverse extension, including several one-shots “There is war between Heaven and Earth” : How would Yuuri and Viktor have dealt with the Beijing Olympics and the events of February/March 2022?

Because the Hydrangeas weren’t yet in Bloom (YOI Secret Santa 2023)

A Song of Fiery Birds and Endless Winter (YOI Daydreamer Big Bang 2023) Canon divergence – alternate first meetings: What if Yuuri and Viktor met at the Winter Olympics in Sochi?

Conquered (ficwip5k 2025) Time travel / canon divergence: What would happen if Yuuri could go back in time and reverse his result at the Sochi GPF?

Check out the complete overview over my fanworks on AO3!

My fanfics are for you if you... ⛸ want more YOI ⛸ appreciate canonical accuracy ⛸ value depictions of figure skating and cultures that aim to be realistic and authentic

I’m currently in the middle of editing In Love and War and I have a fully edited draft of a Young Vitya backstory on my computer. If you’re interested in beta-reading either or if you're an artist interested in a collaboration, just hit me up anytime!

Fanart of my works is always welcome!

I used to write quite a lot of YOI meta and recently I moved them to my website to make them accessible for a broader audience. There I will also post new meta analyses whenever the mood strikes me. Old versions of my past metas you can also find under this hashtag.

If you're interested in engaging in discussions about YOI canon, my fanfics or writing in general, feel free to DM me or send me an ask!

Other pop culture media you will find traces of here:

Anime Attack on Titan Banana Fish Cherry Magic Given Revolutionary Girl Utena Sasaki & Miyano X/1999

Currently watching: Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Danmei Mo Dao Zu Shi Tian Guan Ci Fu

Looking forward to reading Priest and Thousand Autumns.

Movies Everything from Ghibli Lord of the Rings

TV series The X-Files Star Trek TOS Star Trek Voyager

Further interests include Japanese and Chinese culture, mythology, ballet, literature, queer stuff, and science. I’m a sucker for literary analysis and I’m learning Japanese.

Follow me on Bluesky.

One last thing: queerphobes (especially acephoes and TERFs), racists, haters of animation studios, zionists, antisemites, islamophobes, and other flavours of bigots are not welcome on this blog. I'm too old and too busy for petty fandom drama and toxic discourse, I block fast and without batting an eye.

[cobbbvanth]

star wars, but it’s just the memes pt. 2

HAPPY REVENGE OF THE FIFTH

[dancingontheblades]

Yuri On Ice has 12 episodes of which 8 end with the beautiful ending theme You Only Live Once. The other 4 show additional scenes. But what at first glance looks like there just wasn't enough time to squeeze them into the episodes, follows a pattern:

These 4 endings show the milestones of Yuuri and Viktor's relationship.

And each of them brings them closer to the fulfillment of the show overarching theme "Stay by my side and never leave".

1. How it started

Yuuri and Viktor have met in competition multiple times, but Yuuri has always been too intimidated by Viktor to talk to him, even turned down Viktor's offer to take a commemorative photo together right after the free skating. The banquet that closes the Grand Prix Final isn't Yuuri and Viktor's first meeting, but it is THE meeting that sets things into motion: Yuuri asks Viktor to be his coach, and Viktor falls for Yuuri hopelessly.

2. The love confession (kokuhaku)

Dating culture as depicted in many anime starts with one character confessing his love. A positive response from their crush initiates a romantic relationship. Yuuri finally confessing his love to Viktor after 5 episodes means that he and Viktor can start dating. He is ready to form a close bond with someone else for the first time in his life because he now knows what love is, and this special someone is no one else but Viktor. And while Viktor's response shown, we see the results in episodes 6ff. As if there was any doubt how he would respond after he had been waiting for months!

3. The proposal

Be it accidental or not—Yuuri proposes to Viktor at the airport reunion. And Viktor says yes! While they were dating and weathered through the highs and lows of competition, their relationship has deepened and evloved to the point where they both can voice to each other their desire to stay by each other's side.

4. The happy ever after

They're engaged, they exchanged rings, and they will continue to compete against each other. Since the day when Viktor became Yuuri's coach, they have become more and more inseparable. They've gone through several crises that only cemented how much they belong together. So what would be a more fitting happy ending than them skating together to Stammi Vicino?

[bumbled-bees]

Happy International Asexuality Day!

To "celebrate", here's a clip from one of Lily's "Squadcast" episodes in which her wife Mikaila pours her heart out about the very common feeling among asexuals feeling like they're "broken" due to it...

Only for Lily to immediately swerve in with "Well, you enjoy sex with me, so..."

This clip infuriates me personally being asexual myself because even though yes asexuality is a spectrum and plenty of us do still enjoy sex with our partners, this is not what you say when your partner tells you they're asexual.

Don't think she caught this implication but she is implying here that if her partner consents to sex with her, the trauma is irrelevant and the asexuality is overridden by her sheer prowess.

And a lot of people think this way about us sex-favorable aces, by the way. Just because we are capable of enjoying ourselves, they think that we're faking it or that they can "cure" us of it. A sex-favorable asexual person might consent to intimacy out of love for their partner, or just flat-out enjoyment.

Asexuality is, in simplest terms, never thinking "yeah I'd hit that" when you look at someone. It is a lack of sexual attraction to other people. You can still experience romantic love, you can still enjoy sex in the right circumstances, but generally speaking, you just don't really look at someone and think "man I really wanna sleep with them so bad"

Happy International Asexuality Day to my fellow aces 🖤🩶🤍💜

[dancingontheblades]

New YOI fanfic: A rare recipe of Katsudon

Summary:

Two weeks before the Cup of China, Yuuri still hasn’t found his eros. All he knows is that impersonating katsudon or a seductress won’t cut it. Viktor thus takes his coaching to the next level: helping Yuuri find out what turns him on, which results in an awkward conversation that reveals fundamental differences between new fresh couple—and a hint at a possible common ground that could lead Yuuri to achieving a new personal best in Beijing.

Excerpt:

“Have you ever considered that skating a clean short programme is not about stamina?”

Yuuri paused. “What do you mean by that, Viktor?”

“Since the Regionals, you’ve been working hard on weeding out the mistakes in your routines. You have more stamina than any other skater I know. I bet you would still mess up your short if we tripled all your quads.”

“What are you saying?”

Viktor watched those strong eyebrows furrow. They were dating. How come he still had no clue?

“Well, it’s obvious that not an imagined lack of stamina is the problem but your eros. You still haven’t found it, right?”

“Um…”

Smirking, Viktor leaned in. He knew the familiar freeze-up from when he had caught Yuuri faking his way through when he tried to save face. But Viktor could not let him get away with that—not when it concerned Yuuri’s career. “You can tell me. I’m your coach, am I not?”

A breeze rustled through the trees, swirling up golden leaves. Black-tailed seagulls cried in the air.

With a sigh, Yuuri dropped on the bench next to him. He reached for his towel and patted his face. “I thought I had. But I’m no longer sure. Sorry.”

*~*~*~*

I wrote this oneshot for anyone who wants to read about or educate themselves on asexual identities and for all the stans of ace!Yuuri.

Happy International Asexuality Day, everyone! 🖤🩶🤍💜

Read here.

[zabka-s-fletnou]

Thank you so much for this amazing work. I'm about as allo as Victor and it's so much FUN to read about an experience so different from my own.

[dancingontheblades]

I'm no longer on tumblr a lot and I didn't expect this post to get any traction at all. So seeing your appreciative post deeply warms my heart. Thank you!

[dancingontheblades]

New YOI fanfic: A rare recipe of Katsudon

Summary:

Two weeks before the Cup of China, Yuuri still hasn’t found his eros. All he knows is that impersonating katsudon or a seductress won’t cut it. Viktor thus takes his coaching to the next level: helping Yuuri find out what turns him on, which results in an awkward conversation that reveals fundamental differences between new fresh couple—and a hint at a possible common ground that could lead Yuuri to achieving a new personal best in Beijing.

Excerpt:

“Have you ever considered that skating a clean short programme is not about stamina?”

Yuuri paused. “What do you mean by that, Viktor?”

“Since the Regionals, you’ve been working hard on weeding out the mistakes in your routines. You have more stamina than any other skater I know. I bet you would still mess up your short if we tripled all your quads.”

“What are you saying?”

Viktor watched those strong eyebrows furrow. They were dating. How come he still had no clue?

“Well, it’s obvious that not an imagined lack of stamina is the problem but your eros. You still haven’t found it, right?”

“Um…”

Smirking, Viktor leaned in. He knew the familiar freeze-up from when he had caught Yuuri faking his way through when he tried to save face. But Viktor could not let him get away with that—not when it concerned Yuuri’s career. “You can tell me. I’m your coach, am I not?”

A breeze rustled through the trees, swirling up golden leaves. Black-tailed seagulls cried in the air.

With a sigh, Yuuri dropped on the bench next to him. He reached for his towel and patted his face. “I thought I had. But I’m no longer sure. Sorry.”

*~*~*~*

I wrote this oneshot for anyone who wants to read about or educate themselves on asexual identities and for all the stans of ace!Yuuri.

Happy International Asexuality Day, everyone! 🖤🩶🤍💜

Read here.

[dancingontheblades]

An inconvenient truth for many people in fandom spaces is that unlike other kinds of queerphobia, aphobia is a special case due to the widespread belief “asexual == no sex” that turns ace-coded characters into boring and, more importantly, unshippable entities in the eyes of some fans. If you catch yourself thinking this, let me tell you that you’re missing out on so much of awesome asexual representation.

Being sex-repulsed is only a part of the very diverse asexual experience because asexuality is, in fact, a spectrum. And it doesn’t make a person boring or less of a human. People are more than their sex life or the lack thereof and intercourse is not the pinnacle of the human experience. Reproduction aside, sex is only one of the various ways humans may choose to experience pleasure alongside good food, rollercoasters, beautiful music, or an exciting book, just to name some. I’m writing these words as a sex-favourable ace lesbian who has had her fair share of sexual experiences. But I digress.

Thanks to this misconception “asexual == no sex” a subset of very vocal allosexual fans rejects the idea that a character could be ace, no matter whether their asexuality is canon-confirmed or the aspec coding is glaringly obvious. It’s where acceptance hits a wall because we live in a society that puts sex and romance on a pedestal as if they are superior to other kinds of love.

One might think that in a community in which making characters ooc is common practice, ace-coded characters shouldn’t be an issue at all, no matter where on the asexual spectrum they may exist—believe it or not: some of us enjoy sex and are kinky as fuck and I'm the last person to talk anyone out of writing sex scenes with an aspec character if they take our experience into account. It’s widely accepted to change a character’s personality, background, or sexuality to explore ideas or project yourself into them to live out your fantasies. Fandom provides a safe space for that. However, if a character is ace-coded, certain fans prefer to attack the idea and shoot the messenger: the aspec fans because it’s us who point out the ace-coding and spread awareness, starting from accusation of infantilising a character to downright bullying.

We, as a community, are supportive of queer identities, but very often that support ends when asexuality is involved. And that concerns harassers as much as silent bystanders whose inaction as well as their continued interaction with the aphobic fandom bullies signal to us that they’re absolutely fine with that.

Aphobia and aphobic microaggressions, like any other kind of queerpobia, have no place in fandom, least of all in a fandom of a piece of media that celebrates queerness and that has a mostly queer demographic. Acting aphobic or condoning aphobia makes fandom a less safe space—not only for asexuals, but for everyone.

Support your asexual fandom peers. If you don't want to get involved in drama (which is fine), block haters, share our posts, or reach out in private.

[dancingontheblades]

I'm a creator and tumblr's newest update is the last straw.

Originally, I made this account to share my writing and my meta. Neither has ever been going well for me here in my 4 years of tumblr, I never had a huge audience. While my meta analyses sometimes gained a decent reception, more often than they were not the kind of meta people wanted to read because they contained too many facts, and in a fandom that values fanon over canon such think pieces are not welcome.

Meanwhile, anything I ever posted about my writing (progress updates, new chapter announcement or snippets) was basically me shouting into the void with one or two people reblogging them (thank you from the bottom of my heart!), but that's where the chain usually ends.

Now, while this new enshittification won't give me a larger range, it will give me less control over the range that I have and make it impossible for me to know if anyone dunks on me whereas so far I could remove their reblog and block this user. In the rare case that my thoughts spark a discussion, I would be cut from that, and I don't want that either.

This new feature is not an improvement, it's a downgrade.

And it makes my tumblr experience feel less safe.

So how to proceed from here?

I haven't been motivated to invest time into this platform for a long time now and every update had made me less inclinded to do so. Social media and fandom should be fun, not a piece of work. I briefly thought about deleting my tumblr, but that wouldn't delete the copies of my posts that someone else has already reblogged.

I created an external blog for meta analyses when I realised that I needed to make them available to a wider audience because the majority of people who enjoy them and draw something valuable from them usually don't frequent tumblr anyway. I'm glad I undertook that step because my desire to post them here has been on the decline for years and after this update I'm even less inclined to ever post such a piece on tumblr again. I share new articles on Bluesky, which I've made my home over the last 2 years. Since my writing is getting better receptions there as well, I'm going to limit all updates on that to there as well for the time being (read: until tumblr staffs rolls back this enshittification) and turn my tumblr into a reblog blog.

You're welcome to follow me over there.

[dancingontheblades]

While tumblr seems to have rolled back its new feature for now, that will change little about the decisions I have made regarding my activity here because I have been contemplating these for a long time. Safety is important on the internet, but it's also a question of audience and community. Writing up a post or carefully selecting an excerpt from my one of my WIPs for two likes and a reblog is, frankly speaking, not worth my time and energy.

[tumblr]

Reblogs in a chain now get their own notes

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!

[tumblr]

Let's talk about reblog notes.

We rolled out a significant change to how notes work on reblogs, and the reaction has been strong. We're not going to pretend otherwise. 

First things first: We're reversing the change. Your feedback in comments, emails, and especially reblogs, made clear that the rollout created problems we need to address before moving forward. We also should have communicated this differently from the start, and we didn't.

We still believe there's a better version of how reblogs can work. One that gives every voice in a chain the credit it deserves. But we want to get there with you.

In the coming days we'll share more on how we plan to do that,  including ways to work directly with some of you on this and future changes before they ship.

Keep an eye on @staff for updates to come soon. 

[fuchsea]

btw i want to say that the entire tumblr community banding together is what got these changes reversed so i hope u all realise the power of a reblog and start reblogging posts instead of just liking them this is the reblog website so hit that button right now

[mrkestis]

I am a weak weak woman

[cocotamarindo]

Ladies and gentlemen: Captain Levi Ackerman

[chestharrington]

PSA: For fan works, reblog and like from OP

Tumblr is rolling out a new reblog/notes system that completely disregards creators. In their new system, they're taking a twitter-style approach where reblogs will have their own notes that DO NOT contribute to the original post's notes.

Because of this, creators will no longer be able to see an accurate display of likes/reblogs/etc. This is completely altering the way feedback and responses to works are going to be received on this website.

If you come across a fan work that you enjoy, please take the extra step to go to OPs original post, and leave your comment/like/reblog there. Or go one step further and send an ask to OP directly to tell them what you liked!

I really hope Tumblr staff reverses course and reverts to the original reblog system for the sake of the large base of creators who use this site to share their works, but until then, please be considerate and make sure the creators here see/feel the love.

[bebx]

in case you want to know how bad the new tumblr update is. look at the notes. these are from the same post. screenshotted at the same time. the first one is a screenshot from tumblr app where the new update hasn’t been implemented yet. the second one is a screenshot from web browser where the new update has already been implemented.

here let me make it clearer.

app 👇🏻

browser 👇🏻

again. same post. screenshotted at the same time.

basically, op will only get notes if people like or reblog directly from them. if people like or reblog the original post they made from other people’s reblogs — and if those reblogs have comments or tags left by the rebloggers — op will not get any notes or credits. because apparently when people reblog the original posts you made and add their own tags or comments in those reblogs, it now counts as new posts and these “new posts” belongs to the reposters. not you as the op.

imagine being an artist on tumblr and getting the least notes on your own art while your reposters get hundreds or thousands of notes from your hard works, because they reblog the art you spent weeks or months making and add “very cool op 👍🏻” as a comment or a tag.

but not only will you not receive those notes, you as the op cannot see what comments people leave on your own original posts that you created either, unless it’s a direct reblog from you.

not to mention the harassment against op this new update will undoubtedly unfortunately allow.

@tumblr @staff @changes @support with all due respect, this new update is both terrible and harmful

[wordswithoutaworld]

At the Paralympics in Milan, organizers confiscated Ukrainian national symbols from the family of a Ukrainian champion who had come to support him

This was reported on television by the President of the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine, Valerii Sushkevych.

“The family of a Ukrainian champion came from Ternopil. They bought tickets and entered the stadium with a Ukrainian flag, wearing Ukrainian clothing. They were stopped, the flag was taken away, and the champion’s mother had a scarf with a Ukrainian ornament confiscated. And only after they were, excuse me, stripped of these things were they allowed onto the stadium grounds,” Sushkevych said.

He did not name the family involved in the incident and said that the Ukrainian side is preparing an official statement.

“There will be our statement on this today. The whole family came from Ternopil at their own expense — the children, the father, the mother. That same night there was bombing from Russia. This is an absolutely cynical act toward the Ukrainian team. We continue our struggle, and the pressure on us continues,” the president of Ukraine’s Paralympic Committee added.

Meanwhile, at the Olympics earlier this year, even when Russia competed as a “neutral” country, Russian flags and other symbols still appeared several times without anyone interfering. No one stopped them, and Russian spectators were treated quite gently.

At the Paralympics, Russia is competing under its national symbols, so it seems that this time it is Ukrainians who are not allowed to appear with theirs at the same event.

First, Ukraine was told it could not display the map of the country on its uniforms. Then an athlete was told to remove earrings saying “Stop War.” And now even showing in a few simple ways that you are from Ukraine apparently goes too far.

[dancingontheblades]

I'm a creator and tumblr's newest update is the last straw.

Originally, I made this account to share my writing and my meta. Neither has ever been going well for me here in my 4 years of tumblr, I never had a huge audience. While my meta analyses sometimes gained a decent reception, more often than they were not the kind of meta people wanted to read because they contained too many facts, and in a fandom that values fanon over canon such think pieces are not welcome.

Meanwhile, anything I ever posted about my writing (progress updates, new chapter announcement or snippets) was basically me shouting into the void with one or two people reblogging them (thank you from the bottom of my heart!), but that's where the chain usually ends.

Now, while this new enshittification won't give me a larger range, it will give me less control over the range that I have and make it impossible for me to know if anyone dunks on me whereas so far I could remove their reblog and block this user. In the rare case that my thoughts spark a discussion, I would be cut from that, and I don't want that either.

This new feature is not an improvement, it's a downgrade.

And it makes my tumblr experience feel less safe.

So how to proceed from here?

I haven't been motivated to invest time into this platform for a long time now and every update had made me less inclinded to do so. Social media and fandom should be fun, not a piece of work. I briefly thought about deleting my tumblr, but that wouldn't delete the copies of my posts that someone else has already reblogged.

I created an external blog for meta analyses when I realised that I needed to make them available to a wider audience because the majority of people who enjoy them and draw something valuable from them usually don't frequent tumblr anyway. I'm glad I undertook that step because my desire to post them here has been on the decline for years and after this update I'm even less inclined to ever post such a piece on tumblr again. I share new articles on Bluesky, which I've made my home over the last 2 years. Since my writing is getting better receptions there as well, I'm going to limit all updates on that to there as well for the time being (read: until tumblr staffs rolls back this enshittification) and turn my tumblr into a reblog blog.

You're welcome to follow me over there.

[wittonzie]

That was awesome