Story Preview: Magic/Dark Academia AU In Which Skating, Linguistics, And Time Travel Intersect

Story Preview: Magic/Dark Academia AU in which skating, linguistics, and time travel intersect

Professor Baranovskaya loudly cleared her throat and placed a hand on Yuuri’s trembling shoulder.

“Everyone, please take a moment to welcome your newest classmate,” she airily announced, to a rather stilted round of clapping. “If you didn’t get a chance to meet him at the Prospective Students Banquet last December– ” (to Viktor’s chagrin, even louder giggling erupted, making him want to throttle Isabella Yang) “ – or over the last few weeks, allow me to introduce first year student Katsuki Yuuri, hailing from the town of Hasetsu, Japan. I’m told by Professor Cialdini that Yuuri’s grasp of Reverberatory Theory could rival a faculty member’s, so I’m sure you’ll find him to be a valuable resource.”

Curious whispers filled the room at this last sentence. Aside from Viktor and just two other students – 4th years Sasha Samokhina and Kostya Kozhennikov – no one else had actually managed to grasp the intricacies of Reverberation, particularly when it came to its grammatical rules.

“That being said, do try not to resent his prowess too much,” Professor Baranovskaya firmly finished. 

Their eyes met and Viktor felt a bit insulted by her lingering gaze. Resent Yuuri?

Him?!?

Once again, Viktor reflected on how misunderstood he was at Pax. If he tried to befriend promising students like Sasha or his fellow dual major classmate Nao Yasutani, it was automatically regarded with skepticism, as if the Institute's top Reverberator couldn’t possibly want companionship without having ulterior motives.

It made him want to scream.

Had Professor Baranovskaya forgotten how he’d begged Drs. Piseev and Leroy to accompany them on the scouting trip to Japan, back in April? Had she conveniently forgotten that it was Viktor who had so zealously insisted on Yuuri’s recruitment to Pax in the first place, well before that wondrous video had been uploaded to the internet?

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The above excerpt is a preview of a new 'Alternate First Meeting' Yuri!!! on Ice WIP/series I'm working on: a friends-to-lovers, magical dark academia AU that I was inspired to write after finishing the books Vita Nostra (by Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko), and Babel (by RF Kuang). Both are so gripping and imaginative, and I couldn't stop thinking about how my favorite characters might intersect with the rich settings/magic systems in either.

Below is a tentative summary; if this sounds interesting, I hope you'll give me a follow!

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The first known instance of Reverberation – the phenomenon in which a skater produces language and energy with their body, universally felt and understood by all in proximity – occurred in 1952, when Dick Button performed the first triple jump. Over 50 years later, Viktor Nikiforov is skating’s most prolific Reverberator and star student at the University of Chicago’s Pax Institute: the world’s premier research center dedicated to the training of Reverberators for global diplomacy.

When Katsuki Yuuri finds himself being aggressively recruited by his idol to enroll at Pax, he has no idea that the two of them will eventually become best friends. Or, that they will one day co-lead a student uprising once they uncover the true, sinister aim of their education: to master the art of stationary Reverberation that transfers language onto blank pages and creates enough energy to rip through time