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[viktorymaker]

PLAYER
YOUR NAME: Ankari
18+?: Yes!
CONTACT: ankari
CHARACTERS IN GAME: N/A
RESERVATION LINK: yee

CHARACTER: CANON SECTION
NAME: Viktor Nikiforov
AGE: 28
CANON: Yuri!!! on ICE

CANON HISTORY: Wiki link, and also a brief summary of each episode on Wikipedia
CANON PERSONALITY: Being impulsive comes naturally to Viktor Nikiforov, and so he comes off as unpredictable to the public. He takes pride in this, striving to always impress people in new ways, and his career as a figure skater has been defined by his efforts to reinvent himself for his audience. At a certain point, he found himself struggling because nothing he did as a skater seemed to surprise people anymore, and this caused him to feel constrained and fall into a bit of a personal slump. Still, showcasing the different sides of his personality and doing the unexpected isn't just a professional decision for him. He mentioned it as something he enjoyed doing in an interview he gave when he was 15 years old, and it's second nature to him even now; he consistently acts this way in canon, and this was also the reason he gave for kissing Yuuri Katsuki in episode 7.

Besides wanting to surprise people, Viktor also has a soft spot for those who can surprise him. Whenever he is faced with new and potentially positive developments that he couldn't anticipate, he is ecstatic (see: every time Yuuri does something he likes and didn’t expect). He also enjoys challenges, and has openly expressed his appreciation for bets and unforeseen competitions with some sort of prize on the line (when Yuri Plisetsky, hereafter "Yurio," suggests that he and Yuuri compete and the winner gets Viktor to do what they say, and also when Yuuri convinces Viktor that taking a chance and changing one of his jumps to a quad flip in his short program is a good idea, etc).

From the way he tackles his interpretation of his skating programs (“it’s a feeling”) to how quick he is to change his mood and to adapt in general, it can be inferred that Viktor has a flexible mindset. But on the flip side, he can be unreliable in a number of ways. His coach, Yakov, has stated that Viktor never does as he’s told, and Viktor himself has admitted that making promises and forgetting all about them is a common occurrence for him. This tendency to disregard obligation, coupled with his sometimes overwhelming confidence and his habit to act before thinking things through, usually results in Viktor making some bad judgement calls and operating on assumptions that he often manages to turn into a reality afterwards because he's Viktor Nikiforov. His bold statements about Yuuri's skating on TV, as well as his less-than-stellar ways to handle Yuuri's mental “weakness," would be notable examples of this. In general, Viktor is known to favor speaking and acting decisively on impulse and feeling, rather than carefully considering pros and cons.

However, regardless of his impulsive behavior, he is extremely hard-working. Viktor's personal life revolved around his priorities as a competitive figure skater until he got to know Yuuri and gained a different perspective on life (and love); in episode 10, he said he’d been neglecting both for twenty years, and we see this reflected in every one of Viktor’s flashbacks, as they are all about skating in one way or another. He didn't seem to give himself time off, either-- before moving to Hasetsu to become Yuuri's coach, Viktor had already started working on not one, but two different choices for short programs even though the last season had just finished. And when he was coaching Yuuri in Hasetsu, he is rarely seen off the ice. He doesn't seem to have lost his condition in the months he was on hiatus either. So even while he struggled with himself and his growing inability to shock and innovate as a competitive figure skater, he never felt the need to take time off the ice. This speaks of a love for figure skating, but also of a love for hard work, and arguably that his skating and his sense of self are connected. After all, skating is who he was and what he gave his full time and attention for the longest time.

When he skates, Viktor’s stamina is not his strongest point, but he makes up for it with his charisma, grace, technical prowess and artistry. And as a coach and choreographer, he demands a lot from those he works with, pushing their limits, but also making the most of their personal strengths, which he can easily recognize as a world-class skater. For example, Yurio repeatedly commented on how hard it was to skate the short program Viktor choreographed for him (and the first time we see Viktor, he is nagging Yurio about his technique). Another example would be the modifications Viktor himself suggested for Yuuri’s program composition as the story progressed, which were based on Yuuri’s capabilities at different moments in time.

It can be said that Viktor’s motivations are selfish. His very impulsiveness and his whole attitude towards life are mostly self-centered, and the difficulties he ended up facing as a professional skater were also related to that. In his flashbacks, we get to see that his absolute priority was his career, and he felt that he needed to find the strength to be innovative in himself alone. This sort of thinking may also have reinforced his tendency to focus on himself. As a skater, Viktor himself was the best and only tool he could use to entertain and enthrall the public. But in order to give the best possible performances for his audience, he became receptive to their wants and needs, and put them above everything else (including his own). Viktor became the world’s greatest figure skater and a "Living Legend" because he gave it everything he had, and everything he was. Of course, this means that his ability to stay relevant as a performer was deeply related to his idea of his personal worth as a skater, and therefore as a person, which is one possible way to explain some of Viktor’s struggles in canon.

When he made the life-changing decision to become Yuuri's coach, he was also accused of acting selfishly as per usual by Yakov, but the significance of this change was a lot deeper than Yakov may have realized. Doubtlessly, moving to Hasetsu ended up benefitting Yuuri, but Viktor acted on Yuuri's invitation because he needed change, and because he thought he had something (unspecified!) to gain from it. He took a chance, and in the end, Viktor was the one who was surprised as the story progressed. Both by Yuuri's developments and by his own feelings. And as Viktor delved into new areas, such as choreographing for other skaters and coaching, he was able to surprise the world in unexpected ways once more, found the motivation to go back to his own skating career, and helped a promising skater realize some of his competitive potential. All of these were sources of pride for him, and they reinvigorated his own life and his career. Finding motivation in others and inspiring them in turn is one of the main themes in Yuri on Ice, and Viktor found his answer thanks to Yuuri.

Although he usually assessed people’s expectations correctly, when it came to Yuuri, Viktor’s fixation with becoming a good coach routinely got in the way of his ability to understand Yuuri’s actual needs and wants up until the last episode. The fact that he's not subtle himself may also have to do with his difficulty to interpret subtle cues and behaviors that are too different to his own. Viktor had such a hard time with Yuuri's mixed signals that he flat out asked him what he wanted Viktor to be for him (a father figure? a friend? a lover?) in episode 4. And even after he received an honest reply (basically, “be yourself”), he had trouble doing that. Possibly because that was new to him, or because when he moved and embraced the idea of being a coach, he assumed that role and the expectations that came with it. Viktor Nikiforov is not someone who is used to failure of any sort.

As for how Viktor presents himself to the world, he is a celebrity who looks and acts the part. He uses expensive lip balm, has a designer's chair in his apartment in St. Petersburg, wears brand sunglasses, doesn’t fly economy… His public persona is outgoing, confident and flirty. He is said to be a playboy and the world’s most eligible bachelor, a man with immense charisma who can have anyone he wants and has the world at his feet.

However, as the story progresses, we see that he was always more private than that, appearances aside. Sure, Viktor is extremely confident. He is aware of his looks and his appeal, and he's never reluctant to play them up. But that reflects just one part of his personality. When he’s worried, Viktor is silent and thoughtful, and rather than exteriorizing that, he’s been known to brood. When he’s serious about something, he is determined and even stubborn. But all in all, Viktor is used to showing only the best parts of him to the world, and he prefers to deal with his more complicated feelings privately; he puts them on hold and keeps them to himself, even though they may show in his expressions (and in his need for hugs). It's only when Viktor feels comfortable around other people that he is truly casual, genuine and silly. When he feels that he can, he enjoys being open about his feelings, pouting and sulking easily, or flashing the most adorable versions of his heart-shaped smile.

Viktor is honest, but he cares so little about being tactful in general that his bluntness can be inadvertently insulting. He can be passive-aggressive (when he comments that "only Aeroflot" had made him wait as long as Yuuri had) and petty (when he steps away from a hug because he was frustrated and Yuuri had a nosebleed). But he is also capable of giving backhanded compliments (when he asks Yuuri why he hasn't won gold yet when Viktor himself has so many gold medals) and shameless flirting of the dorkiest kind (when he says he won't kiss a silver medal and then teases Yuuri, hinting at them kissing instead). The tone of his comments may annoy people, but their nature makes Viktor impossible to hate. After all, what he says, blunt or not, is always sincere, and it comes from a constructive place. Viktor’s brand of truth may offend, but he doesn’t lie. And when he teases, he does so without malice.

SKILLS/ABILITIES:

• Skating. He is a world-famous figure skater who boasts four different types of quad jumps in his repertory. As of the end of this season, he is technically still the best in the world, as his combined score record has not been broken yet
  
• Choreography. He choreographs his own skating programs, and he also choreographed two world record-breaking programs for other skaters
  
• Coaching. Well. His coaching skills may be debatable, but he would want them listed I'm morally obligated to mention them here because that's what he did for the whole season. Also, he looks great in a suit
  
• Languages. He speaks fluent Russian, English and French
  
• Dancing. He has a solid ballet basis and he can do ballroom dancing and pasodoble, at the very least!

CHARACTER: AU SECTION
AU NAME: Viktor Nikiforov
AU AGE: 27
PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES: He has silver hair in canon! So if this is not an option, I’d go with platinum/ash blond hair. Also, his build is a dancer's, not a skater's. This is important, okay.

AU HISTORY: OK, quite a few things have changed and have been fleshed out since the workshop! Most of this won’t even be relevant, but since I wrote it anyway, here it is. Part of this backstory was planned and threaded out together with Yuuri’s player! The bit that mentions Yurio was also plotted with Yurio's player in the workshop post.

Young age!

• He was born to an upper-class family and had good education. He also started learning ballet when he was around 3 years old
  
• He was extremely talented at it and won international ballet competitions as a child and a teenager
  
• When he was 16 years old, he abandoned classical Russian ballet and left the competitive circuit to join the commercial ranks. He felt that competition wasn’t artistic enough, and that ballet was too restricting; he liked many dance styles, he wanted to learn them all, be more creative, and be able to explore other facets of his personality in his dancing
  
• His parents let him quit, if only to avoid losing face (Viktor didn’t really ask before he’d already acted on it)
  
• His instructors didn’t approve because he was really good, but they secretly agreed that he didn’t have the right personality for a career in ballet
  
• He started working as a backup dancer for European pop acts and eventually crossed over to South Korean idol bands in his late teens, appearing in music PVs, etc.
  
• Viktor moved out as soon as he had a steady-ish income. He continued having a distant, if polite, relationship with his family
  
• He loved being busy. While still working as a backup dancer, he developed an interest in choreography. Eventually, his demo reel as a choreographer made its way to the right hands. He ended up choreographing stuff for low-tier K-pop groups during this time
  
• One of those groups had their big break thanks to his choreography of their comeback single, so he began getting more work from that entertainment company, now for higher profile groups, positioning himself in the K-pop industry
  
• By the time he turned 21, he was starting to make it big as a choreographer in South Korea
  
• As a dancer, he was still touring, this time with a famous American act for their world tour
  
• His work as a choreographer was also starting to be acknowledged internationally as well, and he had the opportunity to work with yet another international pop idol, which was very exciting for him because he could afford to experiment more in depth with dance styles he didn't normally get to include in his choreographies for K-pop groups
  
• At this point, he was also in his first serious relationship with an important person in the South Korean entertainment business, and very much into it. They didn’t see each other a lot but that was fine by him, as both of them were busy and they enjoyed their time together as much as they could
  
• Thanks to an up-and-coming management agency that approached him with a very convenient management deal, he was able to delegate a lot of things and focus on what he truly enjoyed doing-- dance and choreography
  
• He still took a lot of different dance lessons, and he was always trying to learn new things to enrich his choreographies and his dancing
  
• The entertainment business was brutal and the commercial dance world was more about positioning, politics and survival of the fittest than about art and expression after all. But Viktor learned, and adapted, and managed to be true to himself while not giving up on his personal pursuits

The spy saga
I really doubt he’ll ever talk about any of this in detail (not even to Yuuri), so I’ll gloss over this part (more or less)

• Basically, his manager, while being good at her job, was also a case officer/recruitment agent investigating his lover. Viktor didn’t find out about this until much later
  
• After a series of unfortunate events, Viktor found himself unwittingly providing blackmail material to her, and concentrating mainly on his South Korean work while he put most everything else on hold
  
• His lover was, in fact, involved in some pretty shady dealings, and he also wasn’t serious about him. Viktor was angry, and hurt, and lots of tears were shed in private when he found out. But he also wanted to see things through now that he knew something was off, so he pressed on regardless of how he felt
  
• He ended up learning a lot more about pretending than he ever wanted... This, coming from someone in the entertainment business who dealt with dancers and idols while being extremely young and having to earn his respect more often than not
  
• By the time he realized that he was, in fact, doing a shady job himself, he was 22 and it was too late to walk away or pretend that he hadn't. His lover was arrested partly thanks to Viktor
  
• He found himself wondering if he’d done the right thing. He had mixed feelings about everything, and he couldn't take anything back. As someone impulsive, passionate and self-assured who’d had it relatively easy until now and who never doubted himself and his choices, this shook him on a personal level
  
• Plus, it was hard to keep working mainly out of South Korea and not think of his ex-lover
  
• No one found out about this crisis, though. At this point, no one knew him well enough for that, and he was always private about his thoughts and feelings when it mattered
  
• This was when he was “invited” to continue working as a spy (with a different phrasing) for this private intelligence & investigation agency because he’d actually been quite good at that, and he had potentially useful connections
  
• He wasn’t in the best emotional state to make decisions at that point, and he welcomed something intense like that to focus on. He also liked the unexpected, and this was all about that. So he agreed, and plunged into it with all he had, because he was never the kind of person who did things halfheartedly
  
• (Viktor has made an effort not to look into any information about his ex-lover ever since)

Life with a double career

• When he was recruited, they had him undergo training as a spy (let’s just keep using that word). This also gave him a reason to go on hiatus and be out of South Korea, and at this point, Viktor needed an excuse to give himself
  
• He became proficient in most stereotypical spy-related skills. They were something new he’d never considered learning and most things came easily to him
  
• In fact, he was so good at his first few jobs as part of the agency that he was advised to change careers so he could be dispatched as an undercover agent as well, useful connections or not. But that was never on the table for Viktor. As months passed, he found himself missing his job as a dancer and choreographer, and wanting to continue
  
• However, his training (and his consequent assignments) required his full availability. And this meant that he couldn’t commit to touring with established acts as a dancer anymore
  
• This came as a bit of an unwelcome surprise, as he never thought he’d have to give up working as a dancer so soon. But he did it, and he carried it in public as if this was his plan all along
  
• From then on, he focused on his career as a choreographer instead, citing his relative fame and his potential to get even better connections for his spy work as his excuse when people in the agency questioned him about it
  
• After a while, the agency caught on and was onboard with this. He only needed a little push to be positioned well enough to be really useful, and they gave it to him. With the help of the management agency front, they helped him land more than a few showy gigs as a choreographer in several countries, giving talks, choreographing musical cover numbers for a certain musical TV series, and also as a Reality TV show judge, among other things. Needless to say, he did an excellent job in all of them
  
• Most of these coincided with intelligence gathering work in different countries, of course. His preparation and talent for it allowed for the agency to place him in a variety of settings. He was even sent out on “vacation” at times for other jobs, which of course he didn’t mind as he enjoyed traveling and visiting new places. Everyone benefitted from this arrangement, and no complaints were voiced
  
• Viktor was always naturally dramatic, so he just amplified that and used his position and skills as his main assets. His very identity, reputation and well-known quirks were his last line of defense, and they let him get away with a lot of eccentricities, occasional blunders, honeytrap antics, etc.
  
• He occasionally had to do undercover work, but it was never his forte
  
• By the time he was 24, he was struggling a bit with both careers, but his results continued to be excellent in both areas
  
• He kept in touch with his family over email
  
• At one point, before attending a workshop as a guest instructor, he was told about a distant cousin (twice removed? second cousin? If asked, he wouldn’t know) who was also into dancing and would be taking part there. He agreed to keep an eye on him and say hello. This was how he first met and took notice of Yuri Plisetsky (hereafter "Yura," because that's what he'll be calling him in this AU)
  
• Viktor and Yura never mentioned being family. Viktor didn’t think that was important. What was important was that Yura was a really good dancer. So he gave him some useful (if difficult to understand) advice. He also took him seriously and made him work extra hard during his time there. After all, he could clearly take it
  
• Viktor and Yura wouldn’t meet again until much later
  
• In general, Viktor never told anyone about his work as a spy. He also made a point of not getting involved with anyone too closely. Nothing good had come out of that for him
  
• Eventually, his unresolved issues caught up with him and started affecting his spy work
  
• He also didn’t feel like he was innovating anything in dance anymore, which was frustrating and demotivating. His choreographies continued to be good, more polished than before even, but he felt like he’d run into a stone wall
  
• At one point, when he was 25, it was said that he was compromised as an agent during a mission gone wrong. He never confirmed whether he was or not (he was), but the rumor mill didn’t work on his favor and measures needed to be taken
  
• Viktor found himself calmly considering retirement. But he didn’t want to lose the backing of his agency when that could mean more trouble for himself than he could handle on his own
  
• His "manager" caught on. She was looking into an opportunity to open a private investigation branch of the agency in Recollé, and she suggested he ask for his transfer. This way he’d be out of danger (allegedly), still be part of the organization, work out whatever was wrong with him. She could use his skills regardless of his growing apathy
  
• Viktor decided to accept. He welcomed the support, and he recognized that needed a change

In Recollé

• His manager (now technically his boss) decided to buy an established but failing dance studio in Recollé, rebrand, and have him take over that while working off that place as their office for their private investigation (and occasional spy) work
  
• However, remodeling and establishing the new branch took time. Months, as it turned out
  
• Viktor decided to take a vacation from everything while they waited, but that turned out backfiring. During his first months in Recollé, he fell into the first slump he had no choice but to acknowledge to himself
  
• He turned away every job he could, spending most of the day with his dog and most nights out
  
• After a month or so, even drinking had gotten old
  
• He went back to studying dance privately, and he spent some time reading, but that was the extent of his dedication
  
• He did a private investigation job or two during this time, and his work was impeccable, but his heart wasn’t in it
  
• He still didn’t want to go back to choreography. This bothered him
  
• And THEN, one night, some three months after being in Recollé, he met Yuuri in a club, drunk and taking on dance battle requests. This was unexpected in a new way, because Yuuri was an excellent dancer, but also because he wasn’t easy to profile, even for Viktor (never mind that he'd never been particularly good at profiling and always followed his instinct instead, he was surprised anyway)
  
• Viktor was intrigued, amused, impressed and entertained. And he hadn’t felt any of that in a long time, so he approached Yuuri
  
• They ended up dancing all night long, in public and then in private. And he was able to keep up with Viktor, even challenged him to dance his best, and was overall fascinating
  
• As they flirted and talked, their chemistry hit him hard. He loved the way Yuuri made him feel (even though nothing really happened between them)
  
• Additionally, Yuuri identified himself as a fan of Viktor’s, but didn’t recognize him because Viktor hadn’t been in the public eye for a while, and he wasn't exactly looking his best either
  
• Yuuri eventually passed out, and Viktor left Yuuri a note with his number in their hotel room. Yuuri had seemed to be into him as well, and they’d had a great time... Yuuri was a new type of person in Viktor’s vicinity. He’d found something (someone) that finally roused his interest, and his own work situation made dating a realistic option for the first time in years. He found himself looking forward to going out again when Yuuri wasn’t that drunk
  
• ...But Yuuri didn’t call
  
• Viktor resumed using his social media accounts and took a few choreography jobs in America, fully expecting Yuuri, who had said he’d just graduated and was his fan, to recognize him from his selfies and call him, or to show up for the auditions for a chance to work with him
  
• He did not :(
  
• A few months later, the dance studio was finally ready to open for business, and Viktor had to start working there. There was an open call for teachers, and he was a bit (okay, more than a bit) cranky because most applicants weren’t great dancers themselves (look, no one ever said he had any idea how to do this)
  
• That’s where Yuuri showed up
  
• Viktor was happy to have someone who met his standards there at last, but he wasn’t happy to see him there. Why wasn’t he dancing instead of teaching?
  
• Regardless, he hired him
  
• Yuuri recognized him as Viktor The Choreographer, but Viktor decided not to play the star for Yuuri. He had a genuine (if rooted in curiosity) interest in getting to know Yuuri by now, and Yuuri hadn't shown up when he'd played his celebrity cards. He'd shown up by chance. Viktor decided to try being himself with him, just like that night, and see where that got him
  
• A couple of months passed, and they settled into a comfortable routine at the dance studio
  
• By then, Viktor had realized that Yuuri didn’t remember the night they first met and danced for hours to all sorts of genres (including salsa, pasodoble and lambada), but he'd also learned that Yuuri was single, and had been for a while. So he hadn't been avoiding him because he was in a relationship. Small victories!
  
• And that was why, one night, Viktor asked Yuuri out for dinner after work. But then he had to go back to the studio to pick up something he'd forgotten, and Yuuri came with him even though it was really late. He got distracted at a bad time, there was a break-in, and they found themselves in a potentially fatal situation related to Viktor's mess-up all those months ago
  
• It was largely thanks to Yuuri that Viktor was able to bluff their way out of it, but Yuuri found out about some of Viktor’s skills that really couldn’t be explained
  
• After this, Viktor’s boss found out and invited Yuuri to join the private investigation agency. Viktor tried to talk Yuuri out of it, but somehow that backfired, and Yuuri ended up becoming involved. Viktor didn't want Yuuri to be in danger, and he wanted him to focus on his dancing, but he also welcomed the idea of not having to pretend for once, and having a partner he liked. Once more, Viktor had mixed feelings about this
  
• However, once he saw that Yuuri wanted to go through with it for real, he decided to train Yuuri to the best of his knowledge and ignore his misgivings
  
• (And make sure he didn’t slack off on his dancing while he was at it)
  
• After a while, he did have to carry out some spy work with Yuuri, even though Viktor wanted him to stick to private investigation exclusively. His relationship with his boss and former manager soured because of this, but he couldn't make Yuuri's choices for him and didn't want to. All he could do was his best, and so he did
  
• At this point, Viktor had realized that he seriously liked Yuuri, and he didn’t want to start another superficial relationship like every single one he’d had until now. He wanted… something else, and he didn't want to ruin it. So he decided that Yuuri should be the one to initiate things, and that he'd only suggest them
  
• Subtlety was never his thing, though
  
• And teasing someone he liked turned out to be more fun than he ever thought it could be

And then 6 months passed, the renewed dance studio caught, and great business decisions were made by their mysterious boss. Business is more or less thriving, and here we are!

AU PERSONALITY:

All the differences between his AU personality and his canon personality have to do with his backstory! His nature is basically the same.

The reason why Viktor left Russia in this AU is not because Yuuri asked; it's because he acknowledged a need and was offered an opportunity (by someone other than Yuuri). In this sense, his attitude towards Yuuri differs from Viktor’s attitude in canon, as Yuuri never asked anything from him here, and Viktor also comes from a different emotional place. In that sense, his feelings for Yuuri are something new that he treasures immensely, and something he doesn’t intend to push too hard for Yuuri to acknowledge. If Yuuri thinks he's just fooling around when he flirts with him, that's fine. For now.

In canon, Viktor wants to meet what he thinks are Yuuri's expectations of him as a coach, and he has to be told to stop and be himself. But in this AU, he is tired of meeting expectations in general, so he's the one who wants to be himself around Yuuri. After all, Yuuri doesn’t seem to have a clear goal as far as Viktor knows, and he’s never asked anything from him like he did in canon, so Viktor doesn’t know what he can do for him anyway.

As a result of being exposed to so many people and having to adapt to them, some of Viktor's natural innocence is a bit warped. He's arguably better at manipulating others, because that's what he had to do more often than not. Where he would have been honestly surprised in canon, he may choose to show that reaction (or not), then jump to fronting or teasing instead. Where he’d honestly be confused, he might react less transparently, perhaps more openly mocking even with strangers. Where he’d put on a charming celebrity smile in canon, he might cut conversations short instead.

At the same time, AU!Viktor is slightly better at handling delicate emotional situations than his canon counterpart. This doesn’t mean this comes to him naturally-- he tries, and most of the time he’s not being 100% truthful, just saying what he knows will work. But he probably won’t put his foot in his mouth as often, and rarely when it matters (to him).

This Viktor is self-assured, but his job has depended on him second-guessing himself and others way too often. So he's more wary of himself and of others than in canon. Still, the less careful he has to be around someone, the more comfortable and honest he is. Be that around friends, or enemies. In canon, it doesn’t look like he enjoys conflict, or even interaction, with people he doesn’t particularly like, but he gets something from it in this AU. He learned to. He’s also more used to exteriorizing anger and other negative feelings, as a result of having to assert himself before other people on a regular basis. He doesn't do it often, most people will never see it, but it's not unheard of.

As far as I know, there’s no canon information on whether Makkachin is male or female, but I had to go with something. So Makkachin is male in this AU!

SAMPLE
Thread with Yuuri! (and its corresponding starter)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (SUBMITTED)

The Agency

Viktor works for a private intelligence agency, and it’s private in the sense that it operates strictly in the private sector-- it charges exhorbitant fees and deals mostly in high-level corporate espionage (and occasional sabotage). As the founder of this agency was a former Russian spy and that's where all his connections were, this agency is based in Russia. Nowadays, it deals strictly with reputed clients, and it has positioned itself as the most exclusive and internationally relevant choice for those who can, and would, employ their services.

If I had to compare this agency to something, I’d say in some ways it’s similar to this agency before it was ousted to the public eye after a scandal. In the case of Viktor’s agency, only those who are in a position to contract their services know it exists, and it does, in fact, walk the line between potentially criminal activity and lawful practice (if only because they’re careful enough never to be tied to those who get caught). They have a public face, of course, a nondescript company that is registered as a private investigation and intelligence agency. Our nameless fictional agency operates mostly out of its web of front companies (unofficial “branches” of the agency). All of these are fully functional companies based in different parts of the world, with their own hierarchy and structure, where only a handful of those who work there double as spies, recruitment agents, etc, and all the others have no idea their company is part of such a network because why would they. The agency uses the positioning of those who work out of their “branches” as a way to keep tabs on certain industries and their movements, having an easy way to spot potential informants, easily trade influences, move their people where they need them to be with a handy cover, etc. Viktor’s (former) management agency, for example, is one of these companies.

Of course, in theory (because this is Recollé and DOES THE WORLD OUTSIDE RECOLLÉ REALLY EXIST? But I digress), the Russian government is aware of what they do, but this agency is allowed to carry on with their activities as long as they don’t interfere with governmental business. This is not a problem because they operate in other countries most of the time, and they check with the government whenever they get potentially problematic requests. They sometimes get business from foreign governments as well, which they don’t always accept. But when they get requests from their own government, they can’t possibly say no. Their saving grace here is that they have a niche, and they don’t touch anything outside that, so they’re rarely involved in anything directly political. This is a specialized private agency, and their plants, informants, spies, etc are well-placed and/or notable in their fields. They’re never assigned to assist in sensitive governmental investigations because that could lead to a breach in National Security due to the international nature of this private intelligence agency.

(We haven’t thought of a name for the agency because honestly... Viktor probably won't ever say it out loud, and Yuuri doesn't know it. But we can think of one if it's ever relevant!)

Viktor and Yuuri’s involvement

In general, those who learn too much about The Agency tend to be recruited. It is extremely secretive, and putting the pieces together is looked on as something of a rite of passage. Other times, however, those who learn too much may just disappear, or find themselves implicated in some sort of crime and arrested... It all depends. This is at the discretion of those who oversee their involvement and assess their capabilities, their loyalties, their psychological state, how much information they have, who was to blame, and so on. It's very unusual that they have to go that far, but this agency works for the most powerful corporations and people in the world and must protect their secrets at all costs.

Although the agency is based in Russia, which makes it easier for them to vet Russian nationals for recruitment and therefore favors them, those who work in this agency are citizens from all over the world. Besides working with specialized spies, they also have standard spies who can infiltrate companies undercover and take on new identities for each assignment they get-- those are considered to be its most capable and trusted agents. Retirement is possible for everyone, of course, but it comes with a long period of voluntary surveillance, and virtually no protection besides that which they can provide for themselves. In fact, for those who were compromised or are said to be compromised like Viktor, this is a terrible idea.

As for how this came to fruition, in Viktor’s case, he’d been spotted as a potential informant. He was approached with an offer from an artist management agency that was part of The Agency’s network, and he accepted because it was a very convenient deal for him at that point in his career. His manager was what is sometimes referred to as a recruitment or access agent. She engaged Viktor as his manager, got to know him, established a good work relationship based on good results and professional trust, and then proceeded to develop that, manipulating their relationship subtly until Viktor was convinced that he was the one who, in fact, wanted to know more about his lover than what he was told, and he would confide in her because she was his ally in this.

Regardless of the specific reason why Viktor was approached (which was that the agency was asked to investigate Viktor’s lover, who was particularly sly, and Viktor was the closest person to him that they could access with relative ease), he had a number of skills and qualities that made him a great choice for long-term recruitment as a spy for the agency. He was Russian but he was also well-traveled and familiar with other cultures, he had specialized knowledge they could potentially exploit, useful connections, good education, spoke three languages, had no attachments, was confident but centered, proved to be a quick thinker, improvised and adapted easily, picked up on new things fast, enjoyed challenges, was handsome and flirty… The list goes on. The reasons why Viktor was offered a job at the Agency had to do with all of that, and also with his manager’s assessment of his personality, his motivations, and the weaknesses they could exploit in case he turned them down to keep his mouth shut. That wasn’t necessary in the end, but it was considered, because at this point, it was clear that Viktor had figured out that something was up with his management agency.

Viktor’s skills include some “standard spy” skills, including handling weapons, defensive and offensive maneuvers, threat neutralization, surveillance tactics, bugging telephones and rooms, lock-picking, and so on. And in general, what he usually did in practice was related to finding out incriminating information, trade secret theft, producing or uncovering blackmail material, planting incriminating evidence/malware/etc (this was rare and he hated doing it), etc.

As mentioned in the app, Viktor’s former manager suggested that Viktor ask for his transfer to Recollé because of his situation in the agency at that moment in time, and because she could use him there. This came to be only because the higher-ups had noticed Recollé as an increasingly relevant city. Since they had at least one front company in every important metropolis, Recollé came up as a place where they’d like to have a trained set of eyes planted for any sensitive job that could come up. Viktor's manager, who had recently been promoted in the agency, fell in love with the idea and pushed it forward as her personal project. However, establishing the dance studio was not a priority for the agency-- it was a move that would be relevant for them only in the far future, and therefore, they were unwilling to transfer anyone that could be key to other investigations. That was why they approved Viktor's transfer. At this point, Viktor was seen more as a liability than an asset, and the top people in the agency were wondering what to do about him. If his manager, who was also his original recruitment agent, was willing to vouch for him and involve him in her pet project, they wouldn’t have to lose anyone they could actually use to the Recollé branch. And if it crashed and burned, well, they’d have nothing to do with it.

Yuuri was technically a walk-in, which is usually taken as a danger sign, but their boss (Viktor's former manager) ruled that out quickly because she’d already investigated him by the time Viktor made his blunder and failed to recognize the signs of a break-in. In fact, she’d been surveying Yuuri from the moment she hired him. This wasn’t gratuitous; Viktor had been clearly (and suspiciously) partial to Yuuri from the way he came into her office after watching Yuuri’s pointless dance audition and told her to hire this man who had literally no work experience (not even as a dancer). That made her pay very close attention to Yuuri. She investigated him thoroughly and also kept tabs on him. And thanks to the cameras in all rooms of the dance studio (“for security“), she clearly saw that he was, in fact, emotionally invested in Viktor. In fact, they both were invested in each other, judging from the patterns she'd learned to recognize in Viktor back when she'd first used him as an informant. Coupled with her knowledge of Viktor as a person, his mental state, the possibility of engaging him again in his second career, and her own (but very quiet) sense of responsibility for having chosen to recruit him in the first place, she made the decision to recruit Yuuri as well. And from what she saw from Yuuri in the recording of their run-in with the people who’d broken in, he could handle it. After all, he’d faced an armed man who was ready to kill, put himself between the gun and Viktor, and played along with Viktor’s bluff, changing his demeanor and successfully getting the other person to put his gun on the floor and leave. And then Viktor had been the one to break down! If someone without proper training could act that way when faced with a situation like that, maybe that person shouldn’t just be a dance instructor for kids, teenagers and the occasional adult.

At this point, she had little to no doubt that Yuuri would agree to join if she played the Viktor card, and it would tie Viktor more closely to the agency now that his dedication was wavering. But more importantly, since the Recollé branch was a new branch and they wouldn't have too many spy assignments in a while, she was granted very limited resources, and she was frustrated with the lack of help she got from the main branch. Yuuri certainly showed promise; he seemed to be a quick and flexible thinker like Viktor, but he had a better understanding of others, he spoke two languages, he was familiar with Recollé culture and also with Japanese culture in a city that had many Japanese immigrants, had few attachments himself, he was private, observant, more careful and more of an analytical type than Viktor… She needed someone else to work with, and he had qualities Viktor didn’t have. And they wouldn’t be getting a lot of spy work while they still had to establish their fronts, so this would give Viktor time to train him as a private investigator first. Which he would want to do, because Yuuri's preparation and well-being would depend on his training, and Viktor wasn't stupid. Yuuri could be extremely useful if things went right, he was motivated properly and he took to it... And he’d be more of a liability to her, and more of a waste of time and resources, if turned away preemptively.

In short, she could afford to take a gamble, and she did. (Viktor didn't know this at first. However, when he found out she'd spoken to Yuuri about that night at all, years' worth of resentment had their say as she accused him of being unprofessional and compromising Yuuri's safety. tl;dr they had A Shouting Match.)

Business in Recollé

Viktor and Yuuri are working out of a branch of The Agency posing as a private investigation agency posing as a dance studio, set up to look as if the private investigation agency and the dance studio are unrelated (and The Agency doesn't exist). Because the Agency owes its relevance to its secretive ways, any spying assignments they get are dressed up as standard private investigation practice. And that’s why, in order to cover themselves in case they’re noticed acting strange, they need to take actual private investigation work openly, to be able to hide more delicate work in plain sight when it comes up.

In theory, Viktor’s then-manager now-boss is the owner of the dance studio, and Viktor is the director of sorts. To make it up for his currently less-than-ideal status as a spy, the private investigation agency is supposed to be Viktor’s personal side project, and his boss is supposed to be unaware of it even as he works off the dance studio. His boss travels a lot anyway, so this would not be unthinkable. This was a measure they took to make it seem like Viktor was really retired; after all, who would employ a potentially compromised agent? For those who knew him from before, this could come off as a way to keep cashing on his spy skills after being "laid off," and to people who know him as a dancer and then find out he has a side job as a private investigator, he’d just say this is his hobby and his long-time passion. And anyone who knows Viktor even tangentially knows him to be a person who acts on whims and has unusual tastes and hobbies (not really) (but he certainly won't deny it if people assume!).

That is why, whenever they are approached with investigative jobs, silly or not, they tend to take them. The more of these they have, the easier it is to do actual spy work in a city where people know them and could spot them acting funny at any time. This is also why Viktor is so open about being interested in Yuuri, too... If people who don't know about their private investigation agency (dance students, for example) see them together and think they're dating, perfect! Fake dating, go! He doesn't think of it as fake, though. Help him.

Yuuri doesn't know all of this, of course. He's involved in practice, but he's not technically part of The Agency (yet), and Viktor believes that the less he knows, the safer he is. Therefore, he is operating on incomplete information.

As for how The Agency would function in Recollé, it's not supposed to be noticed, and it's new to the city. Its presence doesn't have to be acknowledged by anyone, since the only ones who could know about it in the first place (and not necessarily) are other intelligence agents and potential clients. Characters played by others could be part of this agency as well, depending on backstory, potential future plotting and mod approval, but we currently don't have any plans for it.

"Viktor's" private investigation agency, however, is public, and therefore open to everyone! There are ads on newspapers and on internet sites, with an email address and a mobile phone number that is never picked up but instructs those who call to "leave your message and contact information" so Viktor can contact them himself. Through this and other means such as word of mouth, Viktor and Yuuri are available as private investigators. We plan to have them carry out random private investigations that may be assigned by anyone. Other people could potentially join this agency as well.