#First Wave Roundup

[thankyoudanielfest]

Thank you, Daniel! Fest – First wave roundup post.

Here's the second wave roundup post.

Did you feel that outpouring of love yesterday? That was all the creativity unleashed within the first reveal wave of our fest! As promised, here's the roundup post so you don't miss out on anything!

Fics:

The Designated Alternate Universe Driver (DAUD) by @fiveredlights

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 483 words (chapter 1/2)

Daniel doesn't pass out when he finds out who the 2025 DAUD is. Benjamin wishes he did. There was a whole bet going. 

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In The Eye of a Hurricane (there is quiet) by @shineon3

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 5,1k words (complete)

Max is the one who gets the call. He steps outside to take it, surprise and shock bleeding through his body language. Daniel watches over him until he comes back inside the small coffee shop, flashing him a small smile. “Good news?” “Great news,” Max’s grin widens. Or: Love, healing, and all the ugly in-between.

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Putting Cares To Rest by @sillystappen

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 2,8k words (complete)

Daniel has changed the way his room looks quite a bit this year. OR f you want 100 words(ish): The 2024 season has not been kind to Daniel, in fact he doesn't know if Formula 1 ever was. The narrative seems to have doomed him from the start. Part of him wants to beg, to scream, to cry that his time is not over, that he can still be one of the greats. But he's being realistic, and despite the hurt he knows that it's all good and done. He's going to let it all go, change his point of view, and move forward. What else can he do?

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Late night pick-up by @sequinsandfins

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 4.7k words (chapter 1/2)

Ricky Bob Motors is a full service garage. Daniel likes hot guys and hot cars, and luckily for him, he is not in short supply of either. When he finds a hot guy who likes to be fucked over the hood of his own car, even better.

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Worth Everything by @beth1814

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 2,4k words (complete)

After Singapore, Daniel went home to Australia, Max shows up after Abu Dhabi saying he is retired. Does Daniel risk everything and admit his feelings to Max?

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a star in the face of the sky by @champagneshoey

girl!Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 4,8k words (ongoing)

Always the media’s darling, endless articles get published in the wake of her departure. She doesn’t need to read them all. She knows they draw the same conclusion: The future of women in Formula 1 does not include Danielle Ricciardo.

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Get It Right Back by @overtake

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 6,6k words, (chapter 1/4)

Daniel grips cold porcelain between his fingers and watches the veins in his hand push against the skin with the effort. He takes one long, deep breath and takes stock of himself. His hair is freshly cut. His suit is tailored perfectly. When he smiles at his reflection, he can see a brief glimpse of the guy who once had a C over his chest and skated more naturally than he walked. Toronto is going to be different, he promises himself. If this is his last chance at a Stanley Cup, he isn't leaving without a fight.

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formless shape by anonymous

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 3,3k words (complete)

One week after he comes home for real (for good, maybe), Daniel makes himself text Max, even though thinking about anything and anybody related to F1 feels like raking himself over hot coals. It wasn’t Max’s fault, even if, in the end, Max wasn’t enough to save him. Or: a story about an alternate Daniel who isn't living his best life after he gets kicked out of F1 and needs a little help getting there.

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growing sideways by @thewindowatkirkland

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 20,8k words (complete)

“We’re in Monaco,” Max says, “and you haven’t lived in either of those places for a very long time, Daniel. Since 2013.” It must be fucking amnesia, Daniel reasons, because when he went to bed last night it was July 2012. And here a grown up Max Verstappen is, telling him 2013 was a very long time ago. OR: daniel wakes up in a bed he doesn’t recognise, next to a man he doesn’t know.

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tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow – podfic by @tkaptains, fic by whimsicule

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 1.5 hours (chapter 1/3)

But before Max leaves them all in the dust, it’s Daniel’s turn. It has to be. Christian doesn’t get to decide that it isn’t. Because Daniel has given his all to this team, and he has waded through shit for this team, and this – retirement after fucking retirement – cannot be the end of the road. He deserves – no. He has earned it; to be there when this shitbox of a car finally improves and the gap to Mercedes closes. So despite a voice in the back of his mind saying, get out while you still can, dipshit – Daniel is staying at Red Bull.

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Edits and creations:

Daniel and the shoey by @overtake

Daniel themed necklace by @alasarys

All good, All Ways embroidery by @pitforwets

Music video by @notthehardtyres

Please show some love to everyone who participated! All of the people above have done an incredible job and we applaud them.

There is of course more to come but all in due time ❤️ See you on 24th of December for the second reveal wave!

[greencreekwolf]

tagged by @butchdiaz and @capseycartwright to do a 2024 fic roundup, muah! thanks <3

apparently i wrote 10 fics and a total of 383,612 words what the fuck asdfghjkl my brain is so rotted

January

baby it's okay if we both end up afraid - 28k, mature, buddie & bathena, cruise ship disaster spec

Buck hadn’t forgotten how cold the ocean is. He hadn’t forgotten the bite of it or how the crest of a wave can feel like the edge of a knife or how the water stings and cuts and carves and settles in the bottom of your lungs and the pit of your stomach like a handful of broken glass. But he had forgotten the water’s weight. He had forgotten how heavy it is as it clings to you and refuses to let go, something he supposes he has in common with this powerful, almost undefeatable force of nature. Letting go has never been something he is good at, in any capacity, in any situation, always clinging clinging clinging like his very life depends on how well he can hold on to all the things that want him to release them. or, buck and bobby battle their past traumas in the middle of a shipwreck. eddie pines in the aftermath. and somehow, for all of them, love endures and overcomes.

February

you fill my head with you - 22k, mature, buddie, drunk confessions

And then everything winded down, their friends decided to turn in and head home. Him and Eddie were the last to leave, and he– He stumbled out of the bar right beside Eddie. He–Oh god, he threw himself all over Eddie. He flirted. He–he told Eddie that– Buck’s hand stills, the toothbrush lying on his tongue with dead weight, uncomfortable and somewhat annoying, but Buck can’t even think about that because he fucking told Eddie that he dreams about them kissing. What the fuck? What the actual, horrible, unholy fuck? Buck has to leave. He needs to find a deep, dark hole to climb inside. Bury himself so that he can never come out. He can never see Eddie again for as long as he lives and that’s such a terrifying, heartbreaking, impossible thought, but that’s the way it has to be. He told Eddie he dreams about them kissing. or, a night of drinking leads to buck confessing his feelings to eddie and they are both very stupid about it

April

the mouth is the thing that craves - 11k, explicit, buddie, cockwarming

Buck’s free hand comes up to Eddie’s face, fingertips brushing over Eddie’s mouth which is hanging open. Eddie isn’t sure when it started doing that but it is and his tongue twitches involuntarily when Buck slips the tips of his first three fingers past the row of Eddie’s bottom teeth. “Oh,” Buck murmurs, like he’s confirmed something to himself. “Yeah. Okay.” There’s no room in Eddie for anything that’s not grateful or warm or good, his heart spreading out wide in his chest, full and fat and working overtime as Buck smiles to himself, all small and lopsided and boyishly charming, and says, “You need something in your mouth, sweetheart? Need to hold me close, don’t you?”

or, eddie loves buck and he really loves buck's cock

June

except everything - 26k, explicit, buddie, fwb/getting high

Like most things with Eddie are, the regular sex is good. Fun. A fucking delight to be honest. Buck may be a bit lovesick and forced to hide needy whines like he is some dog trying not to be too cumbersome so his owner lets him stay, but he’s also more relaxed than he’s ever been, no matter the tension of his heavy love that only grows and grows and grows. It’s fine. Eddie bends Buck over the kitchen table and fucks him until he’s screaming, and it’s fine. Buck rides Eddie until he’s a babbling mess and his fingernails cut into Buck’s hip bones leaving marks Buck will trace later with a wretched wistfulness, and it’s fine. Eddie kisses Buck sweetly, finely, softly, as if that alone is enough, and it’s fine. Buck fingers Eddie until he comes all over himself, the sensation of his heartbeat basically in the palm of Buck’s hand, and it’s fine. It’s all so very fine. Buck is fine. or, buck and eddie become friends with benefits, get high, and confess their love in the stupidest and most endearing way possible.

August

i'm here with the door wide open - 24k, teen & up, buddie, post s6

Eddie eats and showers and puts on clothes. He goes to work, does his job, acts as fine as he can around his friends, attends therapy twice a week, and goes back home. Day after day after day. And it’s so fucking quiet. or, eddie copes with the absence of chris but also the presence of buck

cursed romantics//fataliatic collison - 16k, explicit, andrew blur/sam halse, post ending smut

Andrew just wants. He was afraid he wouldn’t remember how to without Eddie. All of Andrew’s wanting was always so intrinsically tied up in the pathways of Eddie’s veins, seemingly born and cradled in Eddie’s blood, held within him so tightly, Andrew thought it would die right along with him. It didn’t. Oh, how it didn’t. It burns brightly in him for Sam Halse, his want. It flows through him easier than anything, more intoxicating than any drug. or, after the ending of summer sons andrew and sam figure some things out and fuck nasty about it

October

sweet sunbursts of flesh pink magic - 5k, explicit, buddie, magic!buck

Buck’s magic has always been a bit volatile. Jittery. Fluctuating. A touch reckless. Messy and bright and loud. Maddie says that a person’s magic is supposed to match the person themselves, that the form it takes isn’t happenstance or random, that it’s a reflection of your purest self, an extension of your soul that you can manipulate. Safe to say, Buck’s never cared for that assessment. or, buck has magic and eddie gets doused with sex pollen

still the bone remembers, still it wants - 148k, explicit, buddie, s5 eddie & therapy

The thing is, wanting has always been easy. The thing is, wanting has always been so hard. or, eddie goes to therapy and learns how to want. buck helps.

November

death wish love - 15k, explicit, buddie, post 8x06

Eddie opening the door, casual and filled with a type of swagger Buck didn’t understand. Pantsless. Thighs on display. Flushed and sweaty in his thin button up. Buck isn’t sure why the memory of that image makes his throat go tight. It didn’t faze him all that much at the time because he had other things on his mind and was sad enough that a true act of divinity probably wouldn’t have gotten a reaction out of him. But now– Well, now Buck looks at Eddie. Bare legs and a hint of his thighs. That dark mark on the back of his right leg peeking out from the hem of his shorts. Hair mussed and a little damp, curling behind his ears. The image of the Eddie in front of him now and the Eddie in front of him last night flicker back and forth on top of each other like some kind of montage or old movie reel. And Buck feels…pink. Caught. Stomach all fizzy and turning. or, after getting dumped by tommy and going to eddie's, buck wakes up the next morning only to be pummeled by his hangover and his attraction to eddie

December

a ghost in my lungs, a ghost in my mouth - 84k, explicit, buddie, eddie and buck can see ghosts

Buck is soaked to the bone. Skin puffy. Neck and chest lacerated by the cruel touch of lightning, as if it’s still contained within him and not eager to let him go. His curls are matted. Eyes charged but also vacant, like he is looking through two planes of reality and can’t focus. Awful. Beautiful. Eddie wants him to go away. Eddie wants him to stay. Eddie wants to shout at him until he wakes up. Eddie wants to forget this horrifying, pale version of his best friend, the man he loves. Eddie wants to touch him, make him real and whole. Buck takes a single step forward and Eddie’s breath collapses in his chest. He thinks Maddie is saying something, his name maybe, but it’s so muffled and distorted, and it doesn’t matter, not when Buck with his sad sad eyes is opening his mouth and saying, “I’m trying.” or, in the aftermath of the lightning strike eddie is haunted by buck's ghost

tagging @spaceprincessem @shitouttabuck @try-set-me-on-fire @lemonzestywrites @chronicowboy @colonoscopys @devirnis @sibylsleaves @absolutelybifurious @spotsandsocks @queerdiazs @shyaudacity @elvensorceress @lonelychicago @bi-buckrights @bigfootsmom @honestlydarkprincess @hippolotamus and whoever else wants to do this!

[hivemuthur]

What was that? - Ch. 15.

viktorxfemale!OFC explicit!

friends to lovers, co-workers, sexual tension up to the wazoo, pinning and banter that got me frustrated when I was writing it, attempt at humour, some angst and a slow burn with a happy ending and a classic Viktor for once

Ch.1. | Ch.2. | Ch.3. | Ch.4. | Ch.5. | Ch.6. | Ch.7. | Ch.8. | Ch.9. | Ch.10. | Ch.11. | Ch.12. | Ch.13. | Ch.14.

word count: 9,1K

tag: #what was that

author’s note: @rennethen as beta reader and co-author of nsfw and aftercare scenes. I won't say anything other than this is the second final chapter I am publishing this weekend and I feel oddly emotional.

Cross-posted on AO3

—

Renly was squeezing Jayce’s hand so hard he could feel his pulse, her pulse—but not his fingers. Taking the trolley to the Undercity was easy. Getting off it without drawing attention? Not so easy. Especially since Jayce kept stopping every few minutes to stare at some graffiti or a piece of artisan metalwork that had seen better days, exclaiming a quiet, “Wow!”

The streets were swarming with enforcers. So much so that Renly had already altered their route at least ten times and nearly got them lost. Twice, they had to duck into a random alleyway that led nowhere, forcing them to wait out a wave of roundups in the area. Once, they managed to sneak through the back of a gift shop. Zaun was very clearly under some sort of silent siege—many locations looked like they had been abandoned in a hurry—and the sight unsettled them both.

They were standing in front of a deserted tattoo parlour, calculating their next move, when Renly spotted an officer approaching them at a brisk pace. She immediately dropped her head, covered her face, and fumbled with the bag to make them look less suspicious—which, of course, had the opposite effect. Panic tightening her throat, she whisper-shouted, “Someone’s coming. I don’t know what to do—they’re coming from behind you, we have to… we have to do something, Jay—”

She didn’t get to finish before Jayce’s lips landed on hers. And they just… landed. He pressed himself against her in an awkward attempt to dissolve suspicion, mumbling an exaggerated, “Hmm, you taste so good, don’t be shy, girl,” as he walked them into the empty shop.

The officer paused by the door, peering through the crack. Jayce shot Renly a do something look, and in blind panic, she blurted out, “Oh yes, mister, you are so… big,” immediately cringing at herself.

They remained like that—clumsily pressed together, hands cupping each other’s faces, mouths making fake obscene sounds—until the officer gave up and moved on with a chuckle.

Jayce immediately jumped back and blurted an awkward, “Sorry, I had to… improvise.” He scratched the back of his neck, growing increasingly stressed by Renly’s stunned expression.

And then she laughed. So loud that Jayce had to shush her. “By the gods, Jayce—” she wheezed, wiping tears from her cheeks. “What a diversion. You taste so good, girl’” She mocked him mercilessly before bursting into another round of snorts and cackles.

Jayce let out a shuddery exhale before paying for mockery with mockery. “Mister, you are so big? What are you, eighty?” he howled, clutching his chest. Giggling and sniffling, he propped himself against the dusty counter and asked, “You’re going to tell Viktor about this, aren’t you?”

“Honestly, I might wait until he’s a bit better, because he could suffocate on his own cackle when he hears about it,” she barely choked through her laughter. “But seriously—very good diversion. You made me laugh for the first time today,” she said breathily, pressing a hand to her forehead.

Jayce spread his arms, grinning. "You can laugh, but it worked. Maybe this is how we should walk through the Undercity—pretending we’re a couple. It’d be easy to hide the bags between us."

Renly hummed, tilting her head. "You might be onto something." They could pass as a couple, definitely. And maybe seeing a girl walking hand in hand with a big mister would in fact, discourage the enforces from bothering them.

They fumbled with the bags, shoving them under their coats, pressed between them where they were barely visible. It took some awkward repositioning—Renly nearly dropped hers twice, and Jayce got an elbow to the ribs—but eventually, they managed to secure them. With a shared nod, they wrapped an arm around each other’s waists and stepped out onto the street.

Jayce exhaled dramatically. "And here I thought we’d never get to go out on a date."

Renly shot him a sideways glance, caught off guard. "You thought about us going on a date?"

Jayce shrugged, smiling like he hadn’t just casually dropped that into conversation. "Yeah. Briefly. Before Viktor called dibs on you."

Renly stopped in her tracks, staring at him. "Jayce Tallis, I will never—ever—believe that Viktor called dibs on anyone."

Jayce burst into laughter, rubbing the back of his neck. "Okay, maybe not exactly dibs, but I caught him saying that you were quite comely. And these are his words. It was kind of terrifying, so it burned into my memory."

Renly snorted. "Quite comely? Alright,” she relented, shaking her head. „That does sound like Viktor. And when was this?" Renly asked, trying to sound innocent and unbothered, but her voice quipped quite high at the end of the question.

Jayce made a show of calculating, tapping his chin. "Hmm… about three years ago, I think?"

Renly did her best to chase away the blush creeping into her cheeks at the thought of Viktor actually making that comment. He had done absolutely nothing about it all this time. So all those blushes were real. All those stolen glances were real. All the little flustered moments they shared—completely real. She hadn’t imagined any of it.

Finally, she chuckled, clasping a hand to her forehead to hide her embarrassment. "The resolve of this man will end me one day."

Jayce only smiled knowingly, the remark that her stubbornness would most likely end Viktor first hanging from the tip of his tongue. Instead, he just hugged her tighter and laughed.

They kept walking, the streets growing tighter, darker, more uncertain. The closer they got to the Lanes, the more enforcers loomed—clusters of them stationed at corners, patrolling in pairs, their presence thick and suffocating. Renly grew fidgety, shoulders tensing as her eyes darted across the alleys, tracking movement.

Jayce gave her side a reassuring squeeze, murmuring, "Almost there."

When they finally stepped through the door of The Last Drop, the air inside was eerily still. The place was nearly empty, save for Vander and a couple of men hunched over a quiet conversation. The second they entered, the talking ceased. Vander’s eyes flicked up, sharp and assessing.

"We’re closed," he barked.

Renly stepped further in, lowering her hood. "Vander, it’s me." She lifted the bag slightly. "I’ve brought something."

Vander shushed the group with a raise of his hand. He stood up, his eyes widening slightly before narrowing again at the sight of Jayce. He gave him a suspicious look before striding toward Renly. Placing his large hands on her shoulders, his voice dropped into something close to disbelief.

"You weren’t supposed to be here, darlin’."

She laughed sheepishly, pushing the bag into his chest. "Well, how long have you known me for? Sending me a note to tell me what not to do, Vander—" she tsked a few times, shaking her head.

"You’re just like my kids," he grumbled, taking the bag with one hand and pulling her into a one-armed hug with the other. His grip was firm but warm, the kind that said you are family. Then, his gaze slid back to Jayce, eyes raking over him in quick assessment. "I have to say, you do have a rather… eclectic taste in men."

Jayce, who had been standing awkwardly to the side, smiled and waved stiffly. "Uh… hi."

"Oh, he’s just a friend," Renly quipped, scratching the back of her head. "He’s helping me."

"Other one was a friend as well, as far as I remember," Vander mused, wiggling his eyebrows with a ridiculous smirk.

Renly blushed, lowering her gaze. "Well, the other one actually got promoted recently," she mumbled, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

Vander let out a low chuckle, voice dropping just for her. "I’m glad. I like the other one better."

She gasped, smacking his chest lightly, but a giggle slipped out despite herself.

Vander's teasing softened, replaced by something more serious as he lifted the bag slightly. "I’d offer you guys a drink, but it’s not very friendly around here. And if you insist on doing this…" he sighed, eyeing the bag under his arm. "I’ll arrange drop points with Ekko, so you don’t have to travel this far."

Renly opened her mouth to protest, but Vander squeezed her shoulder firmly.

"Don’t," he said, voice quieter now, but firm. "We can’t afford to lose you, Ren. This… this could change a lot of lives. Thank you."

Her throat tightened, but she swallowed it down and nodded. "O-okay. Um…" She shifted on her feet, suddenly hyperaware of the silent stares from the men in the room. "There are masks in the bag. And some medical supplies. And notes—notes with dosage instructions, and—"

"We’ll be alright, kid," Vander interrupted gently. "Go. Do you have masks for yourself?"

"No, I wanted to save them for you. We’re fine, I took a safe route."

"Renly," Vander said, his tone carrying a quiet warning, "take the masks."

"No, no, it’s really fine!" She gave him a quick hug and raised her hands in defence, stepping backward toward Jayce. "I promise we’ll be alright. It’s just a trip back—easy peasy."

Vander’s brow furrowed, but he relented—they did need every bit the could get. "Let me know when you get home. And… say hi to Viktor."

Jayce and Renly pulled their hoods back up, shrouding themselves once more in the quiet anonymity of the streets. Jayce shot the group at the table a stiff, awkward wave before following Renly out. The moment they stepped back into the cold air, Renly exhaled, shaking out her shoulders.

"Well, that went better than expected," she murmured, adjusting the bag beneath her coat.

Jayce chuckled. "Yeah. No fists were thrown, no drinks upended. I’d call that a win."

They set off at a steady pace, side by side, the tension in their steps easing as they left the Lanes behind. The streets were still lined with enforcers, but they kept their heads down, talking in low voices. The conversation drifted easily between them—Jayce making a joke about Vander’s approval ratings, Renly rolling her eyes but unable to hide her smirk.

They grew less mindful of the twists and turns they took, no longer focused on the careful, calculated route they had planned. That was their mistake.

It hit them in an instant. A shift in the air. The telltale fog curling through the dim light, thick as mist.

Renly was the first to react. She inhaled sharply, then choked—her lungs seizing, knees buckling. A violent cough wracked her chest as she stumbled forward, disoriented.

"Renly?" Jayce’s voice turned alarmed, his hand flying to her arm. Viktor was going to have his head for this. "Shit—hey, hey, stay with me—"

She barely heard him. The world wavered, distant, as her vision blurred at the edges. Her body felt like it was folding in on itself, unsteady, her breath strangled in her throat. The Grey curled around them, clinging, suffocating.

Jayce didn’t hesitate. He hooked an arm around her waist, pulling her close as she sagged against him.

"Help! We need help!" His voice boomed through the street as he spotted a pair of enforcers nearby. He strode toward them, half-carrying Renly as she fought to stay conscious. He fumbled in his coat, yanking out his academy identification card and shoving it in front of them.

"I’m Jayce Tallis—Piltover Academy, Hextech research! She needs medical attention—now!"

The enforcers exchanged glances, hesitation flickering between them.

***

Hours passed before Viktor finally got a general sense of what Renly was doing. And it wasn’t because her work was disorganised—on the contrary, her notes were kept with such care and diligence that it made him vaguely embarrassed about the state of his own journaling and documentation. No, the difficulty lay in the simple fact that he was not a chemist. But he was smart enough.

Smart enough to follow her instructions and calculations, to set a new batch of the cure to brew while Renly and Jayce were off gods knew where, doing gods knew what. And that uncertainty did influence Viktor’s focus, if only slightly—he found himself zoning out, wondering if everything was alright.

Step by step, he grew more aware of the elegance in Renly’s methods—practical, precise, and entirely her. Simple on the surface, yet intricate beneath, where time and patience had to be given to yield results beyond human jurisdiction.

With time to kill, he wandered from blueprint to blueprint. A sad sigh escaped him as his fingers traced the white lines of an old hextech project—something that now felt like a distant dream, an abandoned path. Moving through Renly’s notebooks to ensure nothing had been overlooked, he stumbled upon the very thing that had first made him realise she was braver than she let on—her strange device, the one Jayce had dismissed so hastily.

Oh, sweet irony.

Viktor tapped the end of his pencil against his chin, eyes flicking between Renly’s sketches and the notes she had scrawled in the margins. The device was a bold idea—with a potential for a small revolution—but it still had flaws. He could see where the design would struggle under pressure, where efficiency could be improved.

He exhaled, rolling his shoulders back. If he was going to be stuck waiting, he might as well make himself useful.

Pulling out a fresh sheet of paper, he began drafting his own modifications. The dispersal mechanism needed to be more precise—Renly’s design allowed for widespread coverage, but it lacked a controlled release. If too much of the cure was expelled at once, there was a risk of wastage. He sketched a new valve system, one that could regulate output based on environmental factors, ensuring the mist spread evenly without oversaturating any one area.

His mind raced ahead of his hand, refining, adjusting. A reinforced casing to withstand Zaun’s harsh conditions. A pressure gauge to monitor release. A failsafe mechanism to prevent clogging. The more he worked, the more the device took shape—not just as a concept, but as something tangible, something that could work.

And perhaps most importantly, something that could distribute the cure efficiently, safely.

His fingers hovered over the page, hesitating. A device like this—its potential extended beyond Renly’s intentions. In the wrong hands, Jayce wasn’t wrong, it could be weaponised. But in the right ones… in the hands of someone from Zaun?

Viktor let out a breath, shaking his head as if to dispel the thought. No use spiralling. Not yet.

Instead, he scribbled a few final notes in the margins, refining his calculations. Then, satisfied with his progress, he set his pencil down and leaned back in his chair. He would show Renly when she returned. If she returned soon.

Inevitably, he ran out of things to do. Glancing at the clock, he winced—both at how long it had been since the two people he cared about most had left the lab and at how much of that time he had spent working instead of resting, as he’d been told to.

With a resigned sigh, Viktor packed up the blueprints, set the correct temperatures and timers on the cure incubation chambers, and gathered his things to head home.

The walk home was dreadful. Without the distraction of work to occupy his mind, his thoughts caught up with him—spiralling, relentless. Worry gnawed at his ribs, carving space for possibilities he did not want to entertain. He pulled his coat tighter around himself, but it did nothing to ward off the creeping unease.

By the time he reached his apartment, exhaustion clung to him like damp clothes. He fumbled with the key, stepping inside with a sharp breath. The air was still, unwelcoming. He barely made it to the kitchen before slumping heavily into a chair, his cane clattering against the floor as he let go of it.

One minute. That was all he was granted to sit in the weight of his worry, hands clasped together, fingers gripping too tightly. One minute for doubt to settle, for worst-case scenarios to take root.

Then came the knock. Firm. Urgent.

“Viktor?” Jayce’s voice cut through the silence, muffled by the door but unmistakably there.

He jolted upright, pulse stuttering. Reaching for his cane, he pushed himself up on unsteady legs. If he could, he would have run to the door.

The door swung open, revealing Jayce—sweaty and panting—Renly with a breathing mask clasped to her face, and a stone-faced enforcer. Oh.

“What happened?” Viktor asked, already knowing the answer. Worry overshadowed his anger, and before he knew it, his hands were reaching for Renly, cradling her against his chest as he cupped her cheek.

“You should be more careful next time. Though I do hope you two will find a more suitable environment for a date than Zaun,” the officer deadpanned, not even bothering to look at Viktor. His expression betrayed utter confusion at the strange dynamics between the three of them.

Jayce scoffed, embarrassed. “Thank you,” he muttered before Renly could spit out a sharp, “Fuck off.”

Everything happened so fast that Viktor barely registered slamming the door shut, pulling the mask from Renly’s face, and patting Jayce on the shoulder—all at once. His eyes burned with silent questions as he cupped Renly’s face, his brows furrowed, tethering between anger and concern.

“Don’t look at me like that. You didn’t keep your promise either,” she said weakly, her gaze flicking over him. His dishevelled clothes, loosened tie, and the way his hair stuck up from where he had clearly run a hand through it while hunched over his desk for hours—almost caught in the act.

Viktor ignored her entirely. His head snapped up. “Jayce?”

“Ah, just a small mishap on the way out. All is fine, though, I promise.” Jayce placed a shaky hand on Viktor’s shoulder, offering reassurance he barely believed himself. He didn’t want to worry him further—even if, for a terrifying ten minutes, it had looked far worse than he’d ever admit.

He barely breathed as Renly slipped from his hands. And he held his breath while she lost hers, momentarily. He only allowed himself a gasp of Zaun’s tainted air once her eyes fluttered open and her mouth moved in an inaudible, “Jayce?”

Viktor’s gaze snapped to Jayce, catching the flicker of emotions that crossed his face—relief, guilt, something heavier that lingered in the creases of his brow. He swallowed hard, his lips parting as if to speak, but no words came. Then, with a sharp blink, he pulled himself together, offering Viktor a tired smile.

“I promise, it’s all good now,” Jayce said, his voice steady but edged with exhaustion. “Let’s talk later. I’ll leave you two to have some time alone.”

Gratitude surged through Viktor, chased swiftly by a chilling realization—had he gone with Renly, he might not have been able to hold it all together. The thought unsettled him more than he cared to admit. So, instead of speaking, he reached out and pulled Jayce into a half-hug, Renly squeezed between them. Jayce huffed a breath of something like laughter, then pressed a brief kiss to her forehead before stepping back.

“Take care of her,” he murmured, then strolled off, no doubt to curl up beside Mel and sleep off whatever hell they’d just endured.

In the quiet corridor, Renly and Viktor remained, her weight leaning ever so slightly into him. She exhaled, then rasped out, “When will the hearing start?” A half-hearted joke, her tone wry, but laced with exhaustion.

His serious expression didn’t waver at first. But then his eyes softened, and with a slow exhale, he pulled her closer.

Or rather, he pulled the stench of Zaun’s pollution into his arms, the acrid tang of smoke and chemicals clinging to her clothes, her hair. It should have made him recoil. He didn’t. Instead, his knuckles whitened where they gripped her shoulders, then the back of her head, holding her there as if she might disappear again.

“Later,” he murmured, voice quieter now. “For now, you get the asylum.”

Renly hugged him back with equal need, sinking her face into the crook of his neck, her fingers closing around his vest, crumpling it further. "I don't deserve you," she whispered, letting out a long breath as the full capacity of her lungs finally returned to her.

Viktor pulled away to look at her and whispered back, "You do. You also deserve a bath. Or rather, I deserve you not smelling like this." And he was no longer able to hold back the disgusted twist on his face.

Renly huffed a quiet laugh against his skin, the warmth of her breath sending a shiver down his spine. She didn’t let go, though, and neither did he.

“Fair,” she murmured, voice still raw. “But if I let go now, I might fall over. And you’re hardly in a state to catch me.”

Viktor smirked, though his grip on her didn’t waver. “Then I suppose we are at an impasse.”

For a few beats, they just stood there, suspended in exhaustion and relief, until Viktor finally exhaled and loosened his hold just enough to guide her toward the bathroom. He pressed a kiss to her temple before stepping back completely, already missing her warmth but refusing to let it show.

“Go,” he said, waving a hand. “Before I am forced to open a window.”

Renly rolled her eyes but obeyed, shuffling off with all the energy of a corpse reanimated purely out of spite.

Viktor lingered in the corridor a moment longer, rubbing a tired hand over his face before heading to bedroom to retrieve some clean towels and clothes for her. He would wait. He would let his mind settle. And then, when she was clean and warm and back in his arms, they would talk.

Viktor stepped into the bathroom, taking a moment to look at Renly as she stepped into the shower. He turned the dial, adjusting the temperature before nodding at her to get under the water. A familiar, peaceful silence settled between them as the steam began to swirl around the room.

He offered her a small, tender kiss on her forehead as he switched out the towel from her shoulders for something cleaner, the motion slow, almost reverent. There was a soft hum of contentment between them as Viktor wrapped her hair up in the towel, his hands lingering on her shoulders for just a moment longer than necessary. Something in the ordinary act—so domestic, so unspoken—made his stomach flutter in a way he couldn’t explain. He found himself standing under the stream of water a moment later, still dumbfounded by the strange warmth pooling in his chest, imagining her leaving the bathroom in his clothes.

By the time he emerged, she was already settled in bed, curled on her side. Without a second thought, he crawled toward her, needing to be close. His hands reached for her thighs, pulling her flush against him, a quiet shiver of closeness filling him. “You smell like me,” he murmured, breathless against her skin.

Renly let out a quiet laugh, tugging at his hair playfully. “So… what have you been up to?” she asked, her voice warm with the softness of their moment. Viktor smiled into her neck as he kissed her there, continuing their slow, intimate dance.

“Ah, you know,” he said softly, his lips brushing her skin, “I found solace in work, as usual.”

“Work on what?” Renly asked wearily, her voice quiet but sharp with the knowledge of what was likely to come. The Hexcore was locked away, and Viktor hadn’t let go of it yet. Either he was still fiddling with it, or he’d already begun something entirely new. She knew which one was more probable.

“Well,” Viktor murmured, his lips teasing along her collarbone, “as you took every last drop with you, I’ve set a new batch of your genius cure to brew. I must say, I was very impressed with your note-keeping.” His voice was soft, appreciative, as though musing on how she could manage to keep everything so meticulously organized.

Renly froze, her eyes wide with disbelief, her heart swelling with affection for this man of hers. How could he make even the mundane feel so thoughtful, so... beautiful? She reached up, brushing a stray strand of hair from his forehead, unable to hide the wonder in her voice. “You... are incredible.”

Viktor paused, pulling back enough to look at her, his hands still caressing her. “I had to keep myself busy with something, so I might’ve just taken up something useful,” he said, his words soft but carrying an air of quiet satisfaction.

Renly was stunned. She couldn't find words, only the small, affectionate pull she felt in her chest at how Viktor was constantly doing the unexpected. He shifted, brushing his lips over her shoulder and down her neck, easing the tension in both of them.

“I might’ve thought of a certain compromise while you were away,” he added after a moment, his voice low. The word caught in her chest, and her brow furrowed, the undertaste of it sinking in. Viktor didn’t like the idea of her risking her health. She couldn’t blame him for it, but the thought of him compromising...

He sucked in a breath, and she held her own, waiting. “Your notes and research are readable,” he continued, his voice steady. “Simple enough that manufacturing could be handled by someone in Zaun. Alongside the blueprints for your device, which—well, I may have tweaked a little.” He leaned in, pressing a kiss to her lips, his hands continuing their reassuring journey along her skin.

Renly froze again, processing the depth of what he was saying. Zaun? The device she’d created, tweaked? Her mind was spinning as she tried to keep up with his words, her heart stuttering. “Someone smart,” Viktor continued, his voice reassuring. “Someone driven. Like... say, a young gentleman who seems hellbent on keeping Zaun safe.”

She pulled back slightly, her gaze searching his face, her voice quieter now. “Viktor, are you telling me that you’ve already arranged—?”

His smile softened. “Oh, no, I wouldn’t, not without your blessing. But I thought that would make things simpler. And I believe you know who I’m talking about.”

Renly's heart skipped. The weight of what Viktor was suggesting hit her. The idea that he’d already thought of this, already figured out a way forward without her needing to lift another finger, was overwhelming.

For a moment, there was silence. She pressed herself against him again, her arms around him now, the tension in her body easing as she let the weight of everything sink into their shared space. In his arms, everything felt like it was finally in its place.

Viktor's voice was softer now, the words just for her. "I have to admit. I thought of another thing too. I would like to know your opinion."

Renly raised an eyebrow, her mind still processing everything they’d already discussed. "Is there more? Have you moved into a pocket dimension while I was away?"

Viktor’s lips twitched into a faint smile, his eyes narrowing slightly as he carefully chose his words. "Eh, something like that." He paused, running a hand through his hair in a gesture that almost seemed absent.

In reality, the thought had plagued him ever since Renly had left. His brain had to work overtime to keep the rush of anxiety at bay, and yet he still found himself filled with something strange—a quiet hope—when he spoke about it. "Looking at your aperture, I thought… it could be used as a base design for a general filtration system for Zaun. Making The Grey, well, obsolete. Maybe it’s a solution upon which new problems will arise, but—"

Renly blinked, her expression softening with disbelief as she absorbed his words. "You really think it possible? Don’t joke with me like that."

Viktor looked away for a moment, his hands rubbing together in a slight nervous gesture, before turning his eyes back to her. "I know it’s entirely possible." The certainty in his tone was quiet but unwavering, as though he’d already come to terms with it himself. There was a spark of hope behind his words, like he truly believed it could work—could change everything.

"But…" Renly's mind raced, the idea still a bit too large to fully grasp. She shook her head slightly, furrowing her brow as her voice softened with genuine confusion. "I am no engineer. I’m a chemist, a biologist, I have no idea—"

Viktor’s eyes lingered on her face, his voice careful, yet edged with something that might have been excitement or perhaps the vulnerability of laying himself bare. "Well, if you only had an engineer that was willing to help you." The words left his lips almost too quickly, as though he couldn’t quite keep the hopefulness out of his tone.

Renly blinked, once, twice, her mind struggling to process what he had just said. She stared at him, her voice faltering with surprise. "You… want to work… with me?"

Viktor's lips twitched again, a soft smirk on his face, though there was an unmistakable warmth in his eyes—something he rarely allowed anyone to see. "Am I not worthy?" he teased lightly, the question laced with the faintest trace of his own insecurity, despite the hope that lingered in his voice. He wasn’t sure how this would go, or how she would react, but the weight of what he was suggesting seemed to hold a quiet promise in the air between them.

“Viktor. If anything, I am not worthy. Is this truly what you want?” She kept asking, giving him a way out, hoping that he wouldn’t take it. Working with Viktor, really working with him, was beyond anything she could have hoped for. And now that the opportunity presented itself, she felt an unbearable pang of expectation surging through her. It made her fingers clutch onto his shirt, her eyes wide.

“Renly, I—” Viktor started and then bit his lip.

“I see no future without you in it. I want everything to do with you. I—” Here, Viktor didn’t know if this was something he had thought about before or not. But it just bubbled out of him with an unstoppable force, not dissimilar to the first time he told her that he loved her. Before fear could grip him, he heard himself saying, “Marry me.”

Renly froze. And just… stared at him, blinking. Frankly, it was terrifying, and Viktor almost said, “I’m joking,” when he saw a single tear escaping through her eyelashes. And then, her mouth was on his. And her hands were in his hair. And her legs were wrapping around him. And then, she mumbled, “Forgive me, but I will not ask if you are sure about this. Yes, a thousand times yes and you don’t get to back out,” between kisses.

Viktor, barely able to get a second where his lips weren’t occupied managed to muffle out, “I would nev—“, the rest eaten by Renly’s greedy mouth. He could feel the tension fleeting his body. Silly thing really, but a split second fear of rejection did linger somewhere underneath his abrupt question, until it got exchanged for something completely different as his mouth started moving hungrily under Renly’s.

“Wait,” he murmured breathlessly, placing a finger on her lips. She pouted, took his finger in her mouth and Viktor rolled his eyes at this display of impatience and at something else entirely. He pulled himself up to have his neck rested against the pillows, while Renly’s fingers dug into the buttons of his pyjamas shirt, reverently undoing each one, her fingers ghosting the dense skin of his chest.

Her eyes never left his, and Viktor found it difficult to draw breaths under the weight of that gaze. She took him in under her lashes as his torso hugged by the brace became exposed and her hand travelled up across the leather, still faintly damp after the shower, across the prickling skin of his chest, to run up his long neck and cup his face. A gentle stroke across his cheekbones, before her lips graced his forehead with a soft kiss. Then, her lips came to his mole, a soft peck left there, burning under his eye, before the touch ghosted the bridge of his nose to finally land above his upper lip. And then on his lip, a chaste kiss.

Before he knew it, her hands guided him up, her lips distracting him as she sucked on the petal of his ear and her fingers slid the shirt off his back. He was barely able to let out a breath when her weight left him momentarily and with the corner of his eye Viktor saw her hand snatch the wrench from his bedside table. The mattress dipped behind him and her fingers begun their gentle work of loosening the contraption of his chest, bolt after bolt, strap after strap, every patch of revealed skin granted a gentle rub.

Her mouth followed and Viktor felt little parts of him melting away under the soft skin of her lips. Then, her chin filled the crook of his neck and when he looked down he could see her fingers working the front of the brace, before it was finally pulled off him and air wrapped itself around his ribs. He spent two seconds alone on the bed, while Renly stood to place his armour on the dresser.

The mattress dipped once again, as she knelt between his legs and halted her fingers at the waist of his pants, a silent plea for permission painting her face. And Viktor did three things at once—nodded eagerly, muttered a quiet yes while lifting his hips for her. He watched doing all of this—holding his ankles as she slid him out of his trousers, propping his knee while the leg brace clicked away from his muscles, and she kissed the indentations it left on his skin.

“I want you all,” she whispered, cradling his leg, and it had meant so much more than just “I want both your good leg and your bad leg,” but Viktor was unable to fit it in his heart. Instead, he whispered, “I’m yours. Use me,” with his cheeks flushed red and his voice barely there.

So much love in her eyes, his heart almost popped out of his chest when Renly propped his bum leg up on her shoulder and kissed his ankle. Then, her lips travelled up his calf and the inner side of his knee. She spent a long time on his thigh, just kissing and humming into his tired muscle. Then, hot mouth continued its journey up, up his leg to lick across the crease where the hip turns into navel and Viktor’s neck flexed his head deep into the pillow at the wet glide on his lower belly, so close he could feel the heat of her cheek on his cock.

But it passed him, needy and leaking, as Renly moved to the other side to suck on the sharp edge of his hip, a faint bruise blooming under her mouth. Only when he was marked she finally, finally pressed her mouth to the base of his cock and his body jerked, smearing the pearly precum on his stomach. A trail of slick open mouth kisses led all the way up to the tip, when her fingers wrapped around him, and she spread his slick all over her cheek.

And when Viktor thought he cannot possibly become more worked up and the muscles of his stomach cannot clench further, she licked a stripe across his slit with the tip of her tongue, causing him to squirm embarrassingly. He clasped a hand to his forehead and his hips jolted upwards, meeting her mouth as she took him in, her tongue rolling across his head, as if tying a cherry stem into a knot.

Fingers wrapped around what she couldn’t fit, she kept a steady pace with both her hand and mouth, milking him slowly, her drool mixing with precum. Viktor tried to will his hips not to move, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes, listening to the sounds of his hoarse breathing and her hot mouth bleeding into one, undoubtedly his favourite kind of noise.

And she knew he was close, once his moans grew unrestrained and his legs begun to shake around her, so she gave him a long, thorough suck and pulled the orgasm out of him. He spilled into her mouth and Renly swallowed it all, saving every last drop to herself.

One glance of her eyes to his blissfully fucked-out face, red and panting, coated in a thin layer of glistening sweat, before she released him and continued her journey up, kissing his sensitive stomach, dragging her mouth across his sternum, leaving a loving bite above his left nipple before taking it between her lips. Another bite, greedy, on his collar bone, when Viktor threw his head back to gift her his neck. And her lips travelled there, sucking into it mercilessly, marking every inch with red hickeys.

Before his lips got to completely dry out through all the heavy breathing, Renly closed her mouth around them and licked across the seam. His hands found her ass, kneading her flesh, when one palm travelled up to grip the back of her neck and keep her pinned against him for a second longer. Their mouths parted by an inch and Viktor breathed out a soft, grateful, “I love you.”

“And I love you,” she whispered back, pressing her forehead to his, as Viktor’s hand slid down to play with the hem of her shirt.

“I think it’s hardly fair that I’m naked and you are not,” he murmured against her lips. “Lift your arms, please,” Viktor said tugging at the material and before he could complain further, she obeyed, giggling when a button got tangled in her hair.

He took a moment to ogle her shamelessly—this was his, potentially forever. And now forever seemed not that far from possible.

He pressed his face to her chest and just breathed in, through mouth and nose. Then, placed a reverent kiss on her breast, another on her collar bone, another on her sternum. He could feel her heart beating under his lips.

She hummed at his touch, tugging on the short hair at the base of his skull, while Viktor’s mouth closed around her nipple. His hand brushed against her other breast, rolling the bud of tender skin in his calloused fingers.

At that, a moan escaped Renly’s mouth, her fingers tightened the grip on his hair and Viktor groaned into a smile. His teeth grazed gently, before he switched sides and lost the tenderness on the way. A bite on her other nipple caused her to coil inside and clench her thighs on Viktor’s lap, while he was licking over the love mark blooming on her chest.

“Those need to go too,” he breathed into her heart, hands already sliding down her waist and grabbing handfuls of her ass. She nodded, propped herself on her arms, lifted her hips, and pressed her breasts back into Viktor’s face, while his thumbs blindly pulled down on her waistband.

Once her pants, well, Viktor’s pants, got tossed onto the floor, his hand travelled between her legs to palm her sex and Viktor sighed at the state of it. “Already so wet for me,” he whispered with awe, and she couldn’t fight the heat of a blush creeping up her neck. His fingers brushed her hole, before taking a shallow dip inside and pulling her slick all the way up to her clit.

Renly gasped when Viktor retreated his hand to examine the webs of her arousal coating his fingers. He stretched them apart and pulled them back together, playing with it in front of her eyes and she just watched, transfixed, feeling herself getting more and more drenched. Her eyes went wide once Viktor put his fingers into his mouth and sucked himself clean, humming loudly, his lips curving into a smirk.

He spat on the heel of his palm, before snaking his hand back to her cunt, the meat of it pressed against her clit, while his fingers teased the entrance. His free arm wrapped around her, pressing flat against the small of her back, and Renly hugged his neck.

Slowly, fingers pushed inside as Viktor begun to pump her lazily, grinding his palm against her core. The pace punishingly unhurried as Renly wiggled her hips, patience wearing thin, and she whined, “Please, can you go a little faster?”

Viktor snorted and said only, “Maybe,” a shit-eating grin blooming on his mouth. Before she could sigh in exasperation, he picked up the pace, snapping his fingers in and out, finding the spot that made her toes curl, and a complaint died in her throat, reborn as a breathy moan.

Her head dropped onto his shoulder and legs began to shake. When he felt her walls clenching down and breathing getting heavier, Viktor nudged her with his chin to face him. He clashed his lips against hers, kissing her roughly through her orgasm. She bit on his lip and whined into his throat, rocking her hips on his hand throughout the release.

Drawing raspy breaths against each other, they sat together through her aftermath, foreheads touching. Renly placed a flat palm on Viktor’s heart and just held it for a moment, feeling the flutter under her skin. Then, with a smirk, she gave him a firm push, making his back meet the mattress and his head fall onto the pillow, having him splayed flat beneath her.

This time it was Viktor’s eyes that went wide at the sight of her lifting her hips and aligning his cock at her entrance. She sank onto him slowly, everything so tight as she took him in inch by inch and Viktor watched, mesmerised as his length disappeared between her folds. His mouth fell open, and a hand travelled to rest against her sternum, feeling her heartbeat. And it fluttered beautifully once he filled her up.

Her hips began to rock back and forth, and Viktor felt himself hugged from all sides. He bit his lip, watching her move and whispered absent mindedly, “You are so beautiful.”

She blushed, gods know which time today and her walls clenched further. He could see himself bulge out in her lower abdomen and run his fingers through the hill poking out through her skin, eyes wide with wonder.

“Lásko, I want you closer,” he breathed, propping himself on elbows and bending his knees to rest against her back. She giggled stupidly, asking, “Closer to what?”

Viktor huffed a laugh and shook his head, nudged her with his thigh as his hands came to rest against her hips. He added a gentle rock to his pelvis, meeting her in the middle, and Renly’s back went to rest against his legs, her head falling back with a moan. Her lips parted, eyes rolled in her skull as Viktor’s cock filled her up so sweetly her hands began to search for his. She entwined their fingers to pull herself back up and rasped, “Now I want you closer.”

And to his luck, Viktor said nothing. He said nothing, just looked at her like she hung the moon, because he would grant her every wish. This was his wife. Soon, hopefully. A completely soul-crushing feeling surged through him as he used her arms to pull himself up and bring her close to his chest. “I always want you close.”

His mouth fell onto breasts, kissing and licking, hand travelled between her shoulder blades and Renly brought her arms around his neck, fingers tugging at his hair. Viktor groaned at the tightness around his cock as his hips jutted upwards. She kept meeting his thrusts with downward push of her hips and felt him twitching inside her, his breath coming in hot pants.

And when she was close, unbearably so, she moved her face against his to moan straight into his mouth, wrapping herself around him, arms around his neck, legs pressing into his hips, walls quivering around his cock, and brought him with her to the peak as Viktor spilled into her tightening cunt and curled around her with a strangled groan. His stomach flexed, eyebrows knitted together, and nose pressed into Renly’s cheek. She creamed all over him with a few more spasms of her core and Viktor muttered a quiet curse against her skin.

With a couple of steadying breaths, she let out a laugh—blissful and honest—as she brushed damp hair away from his forehead and looked into his eyes. “You really mean it, don’t you?” she asked, the answer written all over his face.

“I meant each of those two words. Marry me. Be close to me, always,” he whispered, breathing into her neck, kissing, licking, not knowing what to do to truly convey everything he was feeling. The only word coming to mind: whole. He felt whole.

Stumbling back onto the mattress, tangled together, they simply stayed like that for a little while, basking in each other’s warmth. A series of deep breaths passed between them, muscles relaxing, skin cooling. With a faint sound of protest from Viktor, Renly untangled herself from between his legs. His softening cock slipped out, seed spilling down her thighs. She kissed his forehead and shook her head when he tried to pull her back in.

As she waddled to the bathroom on unsteady legs, Viktor couldn’t help but giggle at the sight—part of him amused, part still disbelieving. How odd. How utterly and crushingly strange to feel so complete when so much of him was still imperfect.

“Do you ever use your bathtub, Viktor?” came Renly’s voice from the bathroom, the sound of running water humming in the background.

“Eh, not really,” he called back, splaying himself out on the bed like a starfish. “I, uh… am not very good at getting out of it, if you catch my meaning.”

Her head peeked out from behind the door, her face surprised as she asked, “Never? Like, never ever? Not even once?”

“Well, it would be an eternal bath then, until someone finds my dissolved body,” Viktor sang toward the ceiling, smiling, not minding the admission in front of her at all.

The mattress dipped next to him, and he felt a warm cloth sweeping across his chest, wiping away the sheen of sweat. “What if I make sure that doesn’t happen?” she asked, combing her fingers through his hair.

“Anything you want, my love. My wife,” Viktor murmured, seizing her hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles.

Her eyes dropped to the marks she’d left on him, and she whispered absentmindedly, “I got you good this time.”

“Good. I might consider loosening my cravat rules—just so everyone can see,” he teased, propping himself up and wrapping his arms around her. He buried his face in her hair as she rested her forehead against his shoulder.

“Come on, let’s give this a try,” she murmured into his skin, taking his hands in hers and helping him up. They walked slowly, Viktor draped around her like a sleepy child, humming and pressing lazy kisses to her neck. Once inside, she sat him in the chair and poured bath liquid under the running water. Viktor simply watched her from under hooded eyelids, a tired smile playing on his lips. He was so blissfully spent he could only breathe in the scent of juniper and sage twirling in the steam.

Renly got in first, dipping her hair back and stretching her limbs. “Come on, then,” she urged. Viktor stood lazily, yawning and flexing his arms above his head. Her hands hovered near him as he lowered himself into the tub, arms wrapping around her waist, a leg hooking over hers, his face nuzzling into her throat. A long sigh escaped his lips as Renly poured warm water over his hair.

She worked the tension from his muscles with a gentle touch, rubbing out the knots in his shoulders, neck, and back. Then, she took his palm in her hand and pressed into the heel of it, making him sigh and drift off.

“I love you so much,” Viktor slurred, his body close to dissolving—in a good way this time. Renly tilted her chin down to place a kiss on his brow.

“I love you too. Sleep. I’ll wake you before you drown,” she whispered into his hair. Viktor chuckled, the sound fading into a hum.

As the water lapped gently against the sides of the tub, the world outside their small, warm haven felt distant—insignificant. Viktor's breaths had slowed, his body heavy against hers, lulled into a rare, quiet peace. Renly traced lazy patterns over his back, her touch featherlight, as if grounding herself in the reality of him. He was here. They were here. Against every force that had tried to pull them apart, they had found their way to each other. And now, there was nothing left to run from, nothing left to prove. Just the steady rhythm of their heartbeats, the promise of tomorrow, and the certainty that whatever came next, they would face it together.

***

EPILOGUE

“Please tell me this is the last box,” Jayce huffed, wiping sweat from his forehead. His cheeks were flushed, hair dishevelled, and dark patches of sweat clung to his armpits, neck, and the small of his back through his shirt. “Viktor, how did you accumulate so much junk in such a small apartment?”

“It’s not junk, Jayce, it’s just… things. Important things,” Viktor replied distractedly, giving one last proper look at his emptying flat. How odd, he thought. A space that had once felt so cozy, so his, now gutted of everything that made it a home. A fresh start lay ahead of him.

“I can’t believe that, between the two of you, Renly had less stuff to move,” Jayce grumbled under his breath, lifting what appeared to be the final box.

“I think the key difference here is that my junk is small, while Viktor’s junk is big,” Renly quipped, utterly pleased with herself.

Jayce groaned, shaking his head. “You’re disgusting.”

Viktor only stifled his cackle behind his palm before stepping toward Renly, gently taking her hand in his. His fingers traced over her ring—his soul buried within it. He had never thought himself capable of crafting something so delicate, yet once he began, it had practically made itself into existence.

Viktor’s thumb ghosted over the ring, feeling the cool metal against his skin. It was not gold, nor silver—those were too soft, too ordinary. Instead, he had chosen something stronger, something that could endure: darkened titanium, polished just enough to gleam under the light. Set into the band was a stone unlike any other—a raw-cut sapphire, its surface uneven, its depths swirling with fragments of darker blue and violet. Imperfect yet undeniably beautiful, just like him. Just like them. The design was unconventional, unrefined in a way that made it wholly unique. A piece of his mind, his hands, his devotion, shaped into something she would wear always.

She picked up his hand and pressed a kiss to his knuckles before asking, “Scared?”

“Out of my mind,” Viktor huffed a laugh. “But in a good way.”

“Me too.” She smiled, threading her fingers into his hair. “Also in a good way.”

“Well, I am just deeply wounded,” Jayce announced, appearing back in the doorway, panting heavily. “Viktor never gave me a ring, and I’ve known him the longest!”

“Back off, Talis. This one is mine.” Renly rolled her eyes and smacked Jayce’s chest. He doubled over in mock agony, groaning as if the light hit had finished him completely.

“Alright. I think we’re done here,” Viktor said solemnly, wrapping one arm around Renly’s waist while resting the other on Jayce’s shoulder. His gaze swept over the empty flat, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Jayce, you reek.”

“Oh, do I?” Jayce caught on quickly, and in an instant, he yanked Viktor into a tight embrace, grinning wickedly. “This is what love smells like, Viktor. And I love you enough to haul your junk from one end of Piltover to the other.”

This wasn’t entirely true, of course, as Viktor and Renly were only moving to the border between Zaun and Piltover—right next to the bridge on Zaun’s side—settling them equally close to both the Academy and the Undercity. A compromise between old and new.

“Alright, I surrender,” Viktor said, waving his hands weakly as he tried to weasel out of Jayce’s embrace.

Jayce and Renly picked up the last loose items clattering around the space and went ahead to pack it all up into the transport. As Viktor turned back one last time, he let his gaze linger on the empty space that had once been his. The walls, stripped bare, held no trace of the life he had built within them. Just echoes now—of late nights spent scribbling equations, of the soft hum of Renly’s voice filling the silence, of solitude turned into something else.

For a second, he wondered—what was that? That thing which had held him back from pursuing joy for so long. That weight, that vice grip of doubt, convincing him he was never enough. And yet, somewhere along the way, Renly had chased it away with her kind hands and infuriating persistence. How she had done it, he did not know. Where it had gone, he did not care.

All that mattered was that it was gone. That his lungs were better. His heart felt lighter and fuller at the same time. A new dream was unravelling itself before him. And he was finally free.

With a quiet breath, he stepped forward, placed the key on the counter, and let his fingers rest on it for just a moment longer than necessary. Then, with no ceremony, he turned on his heel and pulled the door shut behind him.

From ahead, Jayce’s voice rang out. “What was that? Sentimental? Viktor, are you getting soft on me?”

Renly snorted, lugging the last of their things down the stairs. “Oh, he’s been soft for a while now. You’re just late to notice.”

Viktor exhaled a laugh, shaking his head as he descended after them. “Let’s go home.”

[exeggcute]

interesting links roundup #8

>>> permalink <<<

reading

Abbey’s Road: Ecoterror in fiction and film

Against the dark forest

As if Times Weren’t Unsettling Enough, Saturn Is Losing Its Rings

The California Job-Killer That Wasn’t

Could Unionizing Protect Contestants From The Reality Of Reality TV?

The Depths of Wikipedians

Did a Best-Selling Romantasy Novelist Steal Another Writer’s Story?

Do You Even Maxx, Bro?

The Final Boss of Our Medical Misery

The first thing the baby did wrong... (short fiction by Donald Barthelme)

How the Far Right Reports on the Border

In search of the mysterious "Lucky Luciano," who "had to do it to em"

Inside the Federal Bureau Of Way Too Many Guns

Labor’s Prodigal Son Returns

The Long-Lost Tarzan Atari Game, Preserved

Los Angeles Fire Season Is Beginning Again. And It Will Never End. [2019]

The New Business of Breakups

A Panphonic Poem for Mission: Impossible 3

Phase behavior of Cacio and Pepe sauce

Planet Puppet

Software Bugs That Cause Real-World Harm

The Theory That Volcanoes Killed the Dinosaurs Is Officially Extinct

The TikTok electorate

Was This Half-Billion-Year-Old Wrinkled Sack With No Anus, Previously Believed To Be Our Earliest Ancestor, Actually A Baby Penis Worm?

2024 Shkreli Awards

tools/reference

The Creator's Guide to Comics Devices

Granny Knot Info

Mixbox Painter

Real-time ISS stats

Scale Sequencer

other

DOOM: The Gallery Experience

IMG_0001

Leaving and Waving

Panic World: Did Tumblr turn kids trans? (With Vera Drew)

Science 4 for Christian Schools

[mrsreinhart]

This eight-episode series from Cooper Raiff feels like a natural progression for the writer-director, who made waves at Sundance 2022 with Cha Cha Real Smooth and continues to establish himself as a thoughtful, grounded, and very funny creator — but this sibling tale offers one notable difference: The story spans multiple decades as we weave through the lives of Hal (played by Raiff), Harper (an excellent Lili Reinhart), their unreliable father (Mark Ruffalo), and his girlfriend Kate (Betty Gilpin). But even in flashback, when we revisit Hal and Harper in respectively the first and third grades, they are still played by Raiff and Reinhart; the idea of children forced to grow up too fast is made literal here.

At first, the effect is a bit disorienting, but the commitment to the big swing pays off, with Raiff's charm and Reinhart's commitment both central to any of this working. A strong cast of supporting players round out the narrative, with Havana Rose Liu and Sex Lives of College Girls' Alyah Chanelle Scott both blending seamlessly into the world Raiff has so painstakingly designed. The show focuses on the ripple effects of grief, and does so with an honest but empathetic hand, looking frankly at some of the darker shockwaves that have left this family somewhat fragmented. From the editing to the strong performances and great needledrops, Hal & Harper is a Sundance success. — M. Siroky

Grade: A-

[grantmentis]

Women’s hockey roundup: 10/31-12/9

As per usual, this covers the PWHL but also all professional women’s hockey and some international news with some added focus on international leagues. It does not cover college due to time constraints but happy to point to any resources if needed. 100% confirmed news only

Also did something a bit different this month and tried to order points from what I think is most newsworthy at the top but it’s not a super strict order

PWHL (USA/Canada):

I covered a lot in my primer in terms of rule changes and broadcasting and neutral site games, so this will focus on everything else for the most part:

Official rosters are in. All rosters available here (toggle drop down menu to change teams)

The Sirens signed Kayla Vespa and Olivia Knowles after initial roster announcements

Maggie Flaherty (Minnesota Frost) was suspended two games for her hit on Alina Müller

Taylor House signs a SPA with the Ottawa Charge

Current players on injured reserve: Jill Saulnier (NY), Ella Shelton (NY), Dominika Lásková (MTL), Kennedy Marchand (MTL), Hadley Hartmetz (BOS), Natalie Spooner (TOR), Megan Carter (TOR.), Alexa Vasko (Ottawa Charge)

The PWHL is testing out other streaming platforms in the United States, including Twitch. If you are having trouble finding a PWHL stream outside of Canada, make sure to check the PWHL social media for updates!

SDHL (Sweden)

SDHL leading point leader Elisa Holopainen extends her contract with Frölunda. She joins Linnéa Pettersson Dove who extended for two seasons and Sofie Lundin (who’s sixth in the SDHL in points) and Ella Hellman who extended for one season. This waves of signings comes off of Frölundas two year rise since their inception and demonstration of significant financial investment to individual players and the team

Haruka Toko, team Japan star and last years top scorer for Linköping, has season ending surgery due to a cruciate ligament injury

Peter Elander, prominent former Swedish hockey player, former Swedens women’s national team coach, and most recently an assistant coach for Ohio states women’s hockey program, has accepted a job as coach for SDE

Emma Nordin (Luleå) became the all time points leader in the SDHL, surpassing Denise Altmann's record from 2020. Congratulations to Emma, who has 566 points in 461 games

Sarah Bujold, who played with Montreal victoire last year, signed with luleå

Alexa Gruschow, who played with the New York sirens last year, signed with MoDo hockey

Savannah Norcross, who played with the New York sirens last year, signed with luleå

Maude Poulin labelle, who played with the Toronto sceptres last year, signed with Brynäs

Audrey-Anne Veillette, who was with the Ottawa Charge last year but did not play due to injury, joins HV71

Sanni Vanhanen of Brynäs and the Finnish national team committed to play with Ohio state university next season

Czech goaltender Blanka Skodova joined Skellefteå

Standings updates: Frölunda sits in first place, but Luleå and MoDo are extremly close behind. HV71 and Leksands are in the relegation spots right now, with Linköping pretty comfortably ahead of them

Top Players/Players i want to highlight: -Stephanie Neatby (Fröluda), Frida Axell (Luleå), and Kassidy Sauvé (SDE) are all neck and neck for best goaltending stats -Elisa Holopainen (Frölunda) continues to lead in scoring with 31 points, with Petra Nieminen (Luleå) and Hanna Olson (Frölunda) close behind at 25 -Lovisa Engström (MoDo) has been the most impactful U18 player, scoring 8 goals thus far in her age 17 season and rookie year

AuroraLiiga (Finland)

Ella Välikangas rejoins HPK. She played there last season and had 23 points in 32 games played

Czech forward Anna Kalová of RoKi is out for the season.

Mentioned in my last roundup, but Saija Tarkki officially had her jersey! Congratulations to Saija on this incredible accomplishment

Six teams have clinched a playoff spot: Kiekko-Espoo, HPK, HIFK, Team Kuortane, Ilves, and Karpa. TPS, Kärpät, and Roki are left to battle out the remaining spots and avoid relegation. Kiekko-Espoo has a comfortable first place lead

RoKi got their first win of the season!

Top players: - After a bit of a down year last year, Salla Sivula (KalPa) has a .944 save percentage while facing the highest workload of any goalie in the league, and has four shutouts on the year. Sivula has been in the league since 2018-2019 and is currently on pace to set career highs on her new team - 21 year old Lisette Täks continues to make her case for the national team after playing at an elite level in auroraliiga the past two years. She has 46 points in 24 games at Kiekko-Espoo -18 year old Czech forward Barbora Juříčková is having a breakout year with HPK, already doubling her point total from last year. in 23 games this year, she has 40 points -Emma Nuutinen, a league veteran, is your current points leader with 49 points in 22 games for Kiekko-Espoo

SWHL A/ Postfinance Women's League (Switzerland)

The league is showing a wonderful increase in attendance, with a new record attendance set in a game between EV Zug and HC Davos Ladies on November 17th: 2,163 !

ALL WOMEN'S LEAGUES GAMES ARE ONCE AGAIN FREE TO STREAM FOR ALL HERE: https://www.red.sport/en-ch/page/womens-league this includes full replays, highlights, and interviews!!!

New playoff format: the 1st and 2nd placed tams will get a by to the semi-finals. The 3rd to 6th placed teams will play in best of three series to determine who goes on to the semi-finals. The bottom two teams in the table will have a best-of-five playoff series to determine relegation. The semi-finals and the final will be best of five, and there will be a one game bronze medal match.

Coach Johanna Ikonen of HC Davos Ladies signs an extension through 2026/2027. The former Finnish National Team Player is in her first year coaching the HC Davos Ladies, but has a wealth of experience coaching women's pro teams. HC Davos Ladies are currently in second place, a major improvement from last year when they were in fifth place with a negative goal differential.

Swiss hockey hall of famer Evelina Raselli, who captained Team Switzerland, won five swhl championships, and won an Isobel Cup with the Boston Pride, accepted a assistant coaching role for HC Davos starting in January

Ivana Wey (EVZ), a up and coming star for the Swiss national team, committed to Northeastern University

Naemi Herzig (EVZ) has committed to College of the Holy Cross

New Injuries: Annika Fazokas (EVZ) it out with a concussion

SC Bern Frauen is in first with HC Davos right behind. EVZ Women's Team could also make a run for one of the first two spots and have a game in hand. SC Langenthal Damen and Neuchâtel Hockey Academy Dames will almost certainly be relegated

Current top performers: - Elizabeth Lang (HC Davos Ladies) rookie out of University of Calgary with a league leading 37 points in 18 games -Estelle Duvin (SC Bern Fraun), who's been one of the MVP's of the SWHL the past few years, has 34 points in 18 games -Michaela Pejzlová (HC Ambrì-Piotta), a czech national team player in her first SWHL season after many years as a MVP caliber player in Auroraliiga, has 31 goals in 17 games

EWHL (Central/Eastern Europe)

Aisulu Almaty, HK PSRZ Bratislava, SKN Sabres St.Pölten are all extremely close in points in the top three spots. EV Bozen Eagles and KSV Neuberg Highlanders sit close behind them. Anyone in the top five spots could finish first.

Top players -Kristin Della Rovere (EV Bozen Eagles) is your top scorer with 33 points in 14 games -Latvian goaltender Kristiana Apsite for DEC Salzburg Eagles has been the most impressive goaltender to me. While goalies like Seeley have better numbers, Apsite's workload has been insane. Despite being on the worst team and facing the second most shots in the league (about 38 shots a game) she is putting up respectable numbers with a .911 save percentage -Slovak forward Ema Tothova is still the best u18 player, just as she was last year. The 17 year old has 18 points in 13 games. She is also playing in a boy's-majority u18 league at the same time

International news:

The 6-Nations event in Tampere begins December 11 to 15th, with Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Sweden, USA, and Canada. The tournament rosters are made up primarily of the younger talent and ncaa players in each national teams pipelines. Most pro leagues are on break as a result

The u18 tournaments will be coming up in January! I will post more about them later, but if you would like to read more about them check out the IIHF page

[kaythefloppa]

More rambling about Wild Kratts Game Lore bc I can

On today's episode of "shit about the flash games that I am probably the only person alive to care to notice," let's look at a certain pattern in the tutorials that, whilst it may seem minor, may actually reflect something about the overall website (and if you have no clue what the f*ck I'm talking about, feel free to stay, it's so much funnier that way)

Ok so let's look at the first wave of flash games made by Chocolate Liberation Font (the dev-team behind them). In the tutorials of these games, (i.e. Cheetah Racer, Ride on Remora, Caracal Leap, Draco Glide, Kickboxing Kangaroo, ect), one of the Kratt Brothers would introduce the animal and objective before activating their Creature Powers. When they do so, we see a close-up of their shirt (oddly enough without the suit or gloves??), and we see the buttons on the Creature Power Suit with the Creature Disc insignia in the same color as the suit itself.

Some image examples as Exhibit A.

You get the picture.

Now let's move on to the games that were added to the website in 2012 by Pixelpusher; Flower Flier, (R.I.P.) Croc Hatch, Frogfish Feast, Aardvark Town, and Web-tastic!; The Wild Kratts Creature Math Suite that collectively made up a quintilogy game, Creature Roundup. These games features new animals and new Creature Powers, 3/5 of which were featured in Season 2 of Wild Kratts which had recently premiered on PBS Kids at the time. Like before, the Kratt Brothers introduce the creature, the objective and Activate Creature Powers. However, here is one difference;

When the screen zooms in on the Creature Power Suit post-activation, we can see the physical Creature Power Disc itself over where the PowerSuit button/creature insignia would be. Regardless of the disc's color, it would show up. As shown below in Exhibit B.

Quite the difference eh?

But wait, it gets even more fun.

In 2013, two games, Dolphin Dive, and Slither Run, also done by Pixelpusher, are released. They're not affiliated with the Math Suite, but are in the same league as them. In the tutorials where the brothers activate their Creature Power Suits, you realize that, just like in the games developed by Chocolate Liberation Font, the close-ups of the buttons don't have any overlays of the disc (using Slither Run here because Dolphin Dive wasn't a good enough example)

Put a pin in this, because this becomes relevant later.

Let's redirect ourselves to the habitats. You probably remember exploring the habitats, finding and learning about different animals, unlocking photos, and adventuring with the Creature Powers earned from the games. The site was updated to include some new habitats and Creature Powers, but let's exactly look into the details of that, shall we?

Here are the available Creature Powers to use in the habitats to unlock the photos for your adventure journal in the character creator page, Your Room. Rattlesnake Power, Draco Lizard Power, Cheetah Power, Kangaroo Power, Caracal Power, Squirrel Power, Firefly Power, Dolphin Power, and Remora Power.

Now, you may notice that the Creature Power Suits from the Math Suites (Hummingbird Power, Crocodile Power, Frogfish Power, Aardvark Power, and Spider Power) are missing here. In fact, they're not in any way able to use in the habitats. They (along with Dolphin Power and Rattlesnake Power) are also absent amonst the assortment of Creature Powers to use in the supergame, Habitat Rescue Game.

This is where I pull stuff out of my ass cause I'm fcking crazy everything comes together.

Notice how the only Creature Powers that aren't available to use in the habitats are Creature Powers that the brothers use in the games where the physical discs are displayed on the buttons. The only ones available to play are ones where the button is visible when the brothers activate that particular Creature Power.

Conversely, none of the Creature Power Suits from games developed by Chocolate Liberation Font have PowerSuit photos that the user can take with a camera once they complete Level 5. Only the games added by Pixelpusher (this includes the Math Suite, Dolphin Dive, and Slither Run) are, and 5/7 of those games are where the physical disc is placed over the button. Slither Run and Dolphin Dive are anomalies from this pattern, but the majority rules (especially since they were added in post after the Math Suite).

But wait. It gets even deeper.

You know how I said in the assortment of games where the physical discs are present in the tutorials, Dolphin Dive, and Slither Run are anomalies in terms of games that had unlockable photos in levels? You know what pattern they aren't anomalies of?

Yeah, the Habitat Rescue Game at the beginning of this post wasn't just bc the game is fucking peak (based on a show that's fucking peak). None of the 7 Creature Powers from Pixelpusher's update to the website appear in the supergame Habitat Rescue. Not a single. One. And none of the Creature Powers available in Habitat Rescue are from games where you can unlock a photo in the site from directly finishing Level 5.

In case this has been way too complex, let me break it down *Activates Lawe's Parotia Power*

Creature Power Discs earned from games where the physical disc is not shown on the Power Suits after the activation in the tutorial are available in Your Room and the habitats.

Creature Power Discs earned from games in which the physical disc is visible over the Power Suit button in the tutorials are available in Your Room, but NOT in the habitats or Habitat Rescue Game.

Creature Power Discs earned from games in which you must complete Level 5 to earn the PowerSuit Photo and Badge, regardless if they physically appear on the Creature Power Suit in the tutorial, do not appear in the supergame.

None of the games that show the physical button of the suit have collectible photos from directly playing Level 5, BUT all of them that do are available to access in Your Room, the habitats, and Habitat Rescue Game.

CONCLUSION: Whilst there are many anomalies and errors in the structures or patterns of the original flash version of the online Wild Kratts website (I'm sure many of you noticed the duplicate Martins in the Aardvark Town tutorial Jesus Christ), some of these inconsistencies have consistencies in their inconsistencies, even if it wasn't the developers' intention. With this, you could logistify several appearances or absences of certain Power Discs in certain games or pages. And to those of you, who like me, grew up with the flash games and were confused as to why you couldn't access all 14 Creature Powers in the habitats or in Habitat Rescue, hopefully this observation could provide good enough answers and closer after a decade.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

[allwaswell16]

All the One Direction fics I read and enjoyed in May 2024. You can listen to my podcast to hear me talk about each of these fics as well as an overview of what was posted on ao3 including the fics on this month’s fic roundup [ @1dmonthlyficroundup ] which you can find here! Please let the writers know if you liked the fics by leaving kudos and comments! Happy reading!

Fanfictional Podcast #62 |  ko-fi | fic recs

- Louis/Harry -

🍃 Ocean Wave Blues by babyhoneyhslt / @babyhoneyheslt

(M, 49k, pirates) After the gruesome death of his Alpha, Harry takes over as the Captain of the Rose Arrow. Trying his best to uphold her reputation as being the most dreadful pirate ship to sail the Seven Seas.

🍃 and so I have to say (before I go) by we_are_the_same / @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed

(M, 27k, mystery) Sometimes falling in love is taking a leap of faith, jumping into the unknown with your eyes closed, hoping someone will be there to catch you. Sometimes falling in love is seeing the person in front of you, all their flaws and imperfections, and taking that leap nonetheless.

🍃 Room For One More Troubled Soul by patdkitten / @babyarcanacasey

(M, 25k, supernatural elements) Louis Tomlinson is the chief medical examiner of the Centre for the Law Enforcement of Supernatural Beings - more commonly referred to as simply "The Centre".

🍃 High heels on, 'm feeling alive by thebreadvan / @thebreadvansstuff

(M, 14k, uni) Harry damages a car when drunkenly stumbling home after a fun night out with his friends. Feeling horribly guilty, he tries to find the owner and make it up to him.

🍃 oh so familiar by @insightfulinsomniac

(E, 13k, witch Harry/vampire Louis) A story of misguided enemies to lovers brought together by a stubborn orange tabby.

🍃 I Dig Your Cinema by @silverstuff50

(E, 12k, exes) It wasn’t that Louis didn’t want to see Harry’s latest film; it was a tragically pathetic fact that Louis had watched every single show and film, every interview, every red carpet that Harry had done since his ex-boyfriend had decided to leave Uni in the second year and pursue an acting career.

🍃 Haze on the horizon by @lunarheslwt

(E, 6k, established relationship) Louis finds himself unexpectedly going into soft heat. Which would’ve been fine, except he is hundreds of miles away from his alpha, Harry, and he needs him. They make it work.

🍃 You're Already Home by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup

(G, 5k, magical realism) It's Christmas Eve and Harry's life is normal. Then he finds someone's barred the door to his favourite hiding spot -- the old groundskeeper's cottage -- and suddenly Harry's life isn't normal anymore.

🍃 just a couple of my cravings by YesIsAWorld / @louandhazaf

(G, 3k, crush) Summer's just around the corner and Louis' battling his addictions... Cigarettes and Harry Styles.

🍃 I'm not that other guy by @jaerie

(E, 3k, omegaverse) Harry has just come back from maternity leave when he unexpectedly goes into heat. He runs into a coworker on his way out.

🍃 Change of Plans by @haztobegood

(G, 2k, omegaverse) Harry and Louis plan to visit their families over Christmas. Sometimes, plans don't work out.

🍃 Into the Woods by @kingsofeverything

(E, 2k, tree adjacent porn lol) Whenever he hikes, Harry keeps an eye out for trees with knots and scars that resemble buttholes. What started as fodder for his silly little Instagram account has become his favorite way to masturbate.

🍃 Lights Are So Bright by QuickedWeen / @becomeawendybird

(G, 2k, famous/famous) Newly first-string quarterback Louis Tomlinson mentions enough times in interviews that he's a fan of mega-famous popstar Harry Styles that people start to notice. At least one person does...

🍃 mosquito bites and cheap beer by @juliusschmidt

(M, 2k, exes-ish) Harry’s careful not to look at Louis as he plays. At least, he starts out that way. Part 2 of Cabin on the Bluff

🍃 Different Than You Do by galactic_larry / @galacticlarry

(T, 2k, love confession) Louis and Harry have been friends for a little over four years. Louis has been in love with Harry for most of those years, even if he didn’t want to admit it at first. What happens when he impulsively decides to tell him?

🍃 On Love's Doorstep by @hellolovers13

(T, 1k, neighbors) Harry Styles: a day in the life...Stuck in a dress, Abandoned by his best friend, Date with hot neighbour. All in all, not the worst day ever

🍃 My heart's in overdrive, and you're behind the steering wheel  by @louisthiccsexyglitteryass

(E, 1k, uni) Being late to class means Harry and Louis have to pose together for figure drawings. That being said, the hate each other, but maybe they don't?

🍃 Expresso by @reallynotmemoi

(NR, 880 words, uni) Louis falls in love at first sight with a boy from his Tuesday lectures, and proceeds to make a fool out of himself in front of said boy. But maybe not all is lost…

- Rare Pairs -

🍃 better latte than never by @disgruntledkittenface

(M, 1k, Zayn/Harry) Harry was looking forward to the coffee cart at work. Until the subject of the previous night's fantasies lined up next to him.

🍃 No Constraints by @lululawrence

(NR, 863 words, Louis/Greg James) Louis is really not understanding this particular section of his Vector Calculus course, and his tutor doesn't seem to get what Louis is having a hard time with. Until he does.

[landofchaosandbloom]

2024 fic roundup

these are all the fics i posted/updated in 2024! all davekat lol. thanks to everyone who left comments on these this year <3

i did the maths and i posted about 56k of fic this year and ive also got another 120k in wips and deleted scenes and unfinished shit that ill probably never post but it was good writing practice lol. i am four fics away from having 69 posted on this account manifesting i can reach that next year

links are under the read more!

lol pick up your stuff on time and nobody needs to touch it dude

laundry room AU I wrote for @chthonicarcher's birthday

chapters 12-20 of Pure Effervescent Enrichment

a.k.a. my dovekat Tumblr AU i miss writing this one tbh it was my favorite lol

chapter 4 of In Which a Red-Eyed Idiot Is Saved From Meeting His Watery Demise

a.k.a. "sharkarkat"/merkat AU lol this was my yearly update on karkats wriggling day. maybe i will finish this someday!

If you say you watch the movie you're a couple of liars my fill for this year's @davekatfanswap, written for @chthonicarcher :) first date drive-in theater shenanigans

chapters 6-8 of why do they call it cabin when you cab in the woods of out eat hot the troll

a.k.a. cabin fic, @chthonicarcher's and my collab fic that we are writing for @biouxp, with illustrations by @karkatbug

i really wish it was only me and you

a.k.a. five times karkat met dave while on a date with someone else. posted during @davekatweek and written in a fucking frenzy because its based on a dream i had lol

I will shield you from the waves

sickfic written for @themystiquedreamer's birthday <3

[thankyoudanielfest]

Thank you, Daniel! Fest – Second wave roundup post.

Here is the first wave roundup post.

With this, we'd like to wrap up Thank you, Daniel! Fest. As promised, a roundup of more incredible works made by even more incredible people!

Fics:

Google Translate What Does This Mean? by @ararararo

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 1,5k words (chapter 1/2)

Google Translate couldn't possibly be lying to him but Max couldn't possibly be lying to him either. There's no way his younger teammate has been teaching him to how to say 'Impregnate Me' and 'Cum in Me' in Dutch, made him repeat it every time they were together under false pretence that they were confidence boosting sentences. It must be Google Translate that's lying to him, because his Maxy could never... right?

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

The Final Part in the Unlimited Kiss Coupon Universe by @saapphicx

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 1.7k words (complete)

The season is over and Daniel is home for Christmas. But he’s not alone. Max has made good on the offer Daniel gave him, and has packed himself up to the farm for the winter break. Maybe it’s time for Daniel to finally get what he’s wanted since the first day he received that coupon. Maybe it’s time for him to be brave.

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Feeling like I'm on a Hook by @naanima

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 12k words (complete)

He knew he should talk this out with Blake, contact his lawyers, and make sure the rest of his team wasn't asking questions they shouldn't. But he couldn't, because the first thing you learned as a rookie on a F1 team was that you don't fucking ever talk about the free use clause with anyone that wasn't your team principal, the head of HR of your team, and the two FIA representatives - the medical specialist and the monitor who inspected both drivers after each “incident” on FIA premise. And of course the other party involved in the free use clause. Agents were viewed with disdain. (The free use clause is activated in Daniel's contract post Singapore).

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Ain’t That Kind of Movie by @annebd

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 2k words (chapter 1/2)

Daniel is the two-time World Drivers' Champion, and at the FIA Awards ceremony, he meets Max, who is charming and funny and gorgeous. And an escort.

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surrender my heart by @f1thememp3

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 1.9k words (chapter 1/4)

There weren’t any subs in formula 1. not for a long time, and at least not publicly. Statistically speaking there were likely quite a few somewhere along the line, but the general perception that subs were far too fragile to handle the demands of the sport kept them fully in the dark. You either fit the mold or got out of the car.

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Last by @flawlessassholes

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 3.8k words (complete)

Ten years after Max's first time is Daniel's last.

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Love Blind by @mvlionheart

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 3,2k words (chapter 1/12)

“What are we going to do?” Danny ventures asking, voice a thinly veiled attempt at composure. This was their moment, it was all coming together. The years of hard work, the pay-out just around the corner. He couldn’t stomach thinking about letting everything slip through their fingers. “Open auditions?” Noah replies. OR When Danny's band Enchanté loses their drummer right before a big show, they have to find a last-minute replacement. It's a good thing the bass player's sister knows a guy. It's a bad thing, for Danny at least, that the guy is a hot, young, drum prodigy who really knows how to work his sticks.

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Stranded by @mvpanda1

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 5,8k words (complete)

Daniel is having the time of his life. Shining sun, clear calm waters, a yacht full of the best friends a guy could ask for, and the love of his life. Max. It’s hard to believe they are here together now. Out in the open. No longer sneaking into empty rooms or dark corners. They have been inseparable the entire trip—two becoming one in every way possible. His friends don’t care, they’re just happy Daniel finally feels comfortable enough to be himself. OR Daniel is having the time of his life until he isn't.

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Edits and creations:

enjoy the butterflies by @thebirdsareafterme

Daniel and butterflies piece by @avida-heidia-5

Cute Daniel edit by @mango-yoyo

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Please show some love to everyone who participated! All of the people above have done an incredible job. This wouldn't be possible without each and every one of you who participated and we cannot thank you enough for dedicating time to show some love towards Daniel.

Right now, we're giving you all a big, warm hug... but do keep an eye out for something perhaps coming in January ;)

with love, mods <3

[emyn-arnens]

2024 Fic Roundup

Thanks for tagging me @hobbitwrangler! 💛 2024 is over, but I spent the past week in Galadriel fic lockdown, so I'm doing this now.

Total Words Published at end of year: 73,559 (including a handful of fic from other fandoms)

Fandoms: Mostly LOTR and Silm with some brief forays into Narnia, the Sevenwaters series, and Timeless.

Highest Everything (raw kudos, hits, comments): Keeping this to Tolkien fics:

Kudos: Like a Wave That Should Engulf the World (G, Faramir/Éowyn, 0.7k)

Hits: Across So Wide a Sea (G, Galadriel, Finrod, Celeborn, Celebrían, and more, 33.1k)

Comments: Across So Wide a Sea again

New Things I Tried: Quite a bit! I dug deeper into writing horror; wrote a number of characters and relationships I'd never written before; wrote my first all-OC fic; wrote my first epistolary fic; and wrote about the Second Age and early Third Age, which I had previously avoided because they're time periods I wasn't as familiar with. And, best of all, I finished a long fic for the first time! 🎉

Fic I Spent the Most Time On: Across So Wide a Sea, by far. I spent about three quarters of the year on it, between researching and writing. I hadn't initially planned on the fic covering such a sprawling length of time (end of the First Age to end of the Third Age), so I had to give myself some crash courses on parts of the Second Age and early Third Age that I wasn't as familiar with.

Writing it also brought up a lot of questions about things I had previously taken for granted and not thought much about, including things like "did the Elves try to figure out what happened to the Ring after Isildur's death and its subsequent vanishing from history? If they didn't, why, and if they did, how did they do so? And didn't they wonder why the Istari showed up in what was largely a time of peace (about one hundred years before Sauron took over Dol Guldur for the first time)?" And so on and so on. I spent a lot of time working out what Galadriel would have plausibly known and how she would have reacted to some of Tolkien's less-described events.

Fic I Spent the Least Time On: Any of my ficlets for the Three Sentence Ficathon, really, but probably either As Watchful As Any Living Thing (G, anthropomorphic Nargothrond, 0.1k) or As Thunder Echoing in the Deep Hills (G, Oromë, 0.1k).

Favourite Thing I Wrote: Not to keep going on about Across So Wide a Sea, but Across So Wide a Sea. I spent a lot of time digging into Galadriel's mind this year, and I'm proud of what I created. She's a hard character to capture (and I'd avoided writing her for a long time just because of that), but I feel like I truly understand her now. Who knew first person POV could be just the thing for getting into the heads of characters who intimidate you!

Favourite Thing(s) I Read:

the plain sight of our destiny is the cruellest thing of all by @hobbitwrangler (T, OCs, 4.3k): A fascinating, horrifying look at Umbar during Sauron's takeover, with a rich cast of characters and perfectly claustrophobic horror.

The Manner of His Return by @thelordofgifs (G, Faramir & Denethor, 1.6k): An aching depiction of Faramir's complicated relationship with Denethor.

call it peace by simaetha (G, Celebrimbor & Galadriel, Celebrimbor & Sauron, 3.6k): A hard-hitting timeloop fic about Celebrimbor's attempts to undo what he's started.

One day, but not today by @hobbitwrangler (G, Elros/Elros' wife, 3k): Do you want a thousand feelings about Elros and his unnamed wife and the inevitability of death? If so, read this.

with every seed you sow, let is wash away, wash away by @rarepairnation (G, Faramir & Éowyn & Legolas, 4k): The Faramir, Éowyn, and Legolas in Ithilien fic everyone needs, with a delicious chaser of the specter of Denethor and Minas Tirith hanging over Faramir.

Chrysalis by @cuarthol (G, Andreth & Bregor, 1.3k): The sweetest, tenderest depiction of Andreth and Bregor's relationship.

The Spinner by @searchingforserendipity25 (G, Galadriel, 1k): A proud, ambitious Galadriel who is just so determined to stick it to Fëanor. What more could you want.

A Sea Change by @sallysavestheday (G, Curufin & Finrod, 0.7k): A beautiful depiction of Curufin and Finrod's relationship, post-reembodiment, lyrical and full of forgiveness.

Writing Goals for 2025:

Finish some of the WIPs that have been wallowing in my WIPs folder for two or three years or more.

Really, just kick some WIPs out of the WIPs folder. Any WIPs.

Tagging everyone previously mentioned as well as @dreamingthroughthenoise @thescrapwitch @camille-lachenille if you're interested in doing this!

[goodbysunball]

Their legacy shall die

One last gasp before the year-end roundup. All hardcore this time, in various flavors from satisfyingly straight to exhilaratingly destructive. You oughta hear what's comin' outta Budapest. Onward:::

Balta, Mindenki Mindig Minden Ellen 7" (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Second 7" from this two-piece out of Budapest, delivering more pummeling, noisy hardcore across nine tracks. This isn't quite the blown out "noise not music" ethos of other bands; the vocals fight through the waves of distortion blasted out of the guitar's amps, and the drums are reasonably clear, if not caked in the mud being kicked up. There's even a bit of a breathing room on the heaving "Patkány Élet," but for the most part the vocals, guitars and drums are all competing to outpace the others. Makes for an exhausting, thrilling ride, because there are killer riffs and expert fills buried underneath the caustic vapor. Irreverent hardcore, setting fire to hardcore, hardcore for change.

Berosszulás, Az Öl​é​sr​ö​l 7" (Stoned to Death)

Another one from Budapest, and from what I can glean, Berosszulás have been around a while, so it's likely they've had an influence in the burgeoning hardcore scene there. The six tracks here have the structure and feel of Die Kreuzen's self-titled LP, albeit wrapped in a lo-fi recording that serves as the source of noise hovering throughout. Sounds almost like a live recording to me, but the energy is well-captured, or at least the vocal performance is strong enough to push it all over the top. The last track's my pick, the final scream of anguish sharp enough to tear flesh. Best hardcore scene of 2024.

Brain Tourniquet / Deliriant Nerve split 7" (Iron Lung)

Allegedly a challenge from one band to the other to "[strip] everything down to its most primal form," this is a healthy serving of D.C. powerviolence served two ways. The Brain Tourniquet side is my pick, the band ripping through ten short, potent bursts not unlike those found on their first two 7"s. "Unclouded by Conscious" and "Retch" do the grinding speed-into-heaving breakdown bit better than most anyone, and tracks like "Cost of Life" and "Eyes Shut Blind" rip through their sub-30 second runtimes with teeth gnashing. Deliriant Nerve has more of a thrash/death metal influence to their sound, which is done well enough. The distorted guitars and vocals drown out the drums (except the cymbals), and lacking the clarity of the Brain Tourniquet side, all the tracks tend to wash together. Still, worth it alone for the BT side, which is strong enough to be one of my favorite 7"s of the year.

Cicada, Wicked Dream 7" (Unlawful Assembly)

Killer debut 7" from Richmond's Cicada following a 3-song flexi on Total Peace, and they've apparently got a new demo cassette making the rounds now, too. Hardcore played fast, vaguely metallic, with distorted, raspy and buried vocals that ride the chopping, frenetic waves of riffage from the band. Sometimes the vocals seem unaware of the music being played, spilling out across the scorched earth the band leaves behind, which makes for a very intense, almost nerve-wracking listen. The parts when the band slow things down give off a slight whiff of black metal, but the artwork and lyrics betray a sense of humor (as does the clapping locked groove at the end), though it's anyone's guess if they're laughing along with you. Truly demented hardcore, the kind that still feels very volatile and dangerous without succumbing to gimmickry. Heavy duty, right down to the packaging; highly recommended.

Desist, Demo 2024 (625/Thrash Tapes)

Always have my ear to the ground for more west coast powerviolence, so this Desist demo was a no-brainer. Ignorant, "delinquent" (so says the label) lyrics collide with grinding tempos, knuckle-dragging riffs across these nine tracks, along with a fair amount of movie samples and substance abuse. "Greened Out" and "Opportunistic MFer" are the tracks I can recall off top, but the thing's only like six minutes so let it roll over a few times for full satisfaction. I see you, Sacramento. Rips hard, delivers the goods, leaves 'em wanting more.

Gen Gap, Hanging Out With Gen Gap 7" (MF Records)

Nabbed this without hearing a note, as it had the MF Records stamp of approval. Turns out it's not quite the furious hardcore of Delco MF's, but instead a more clean, sorta glammy 'n hammy take on the genre, easy to digest but without much flavor. I didn't find a whole lot to grab onto here; you've probably heard other bands do the same thing better.

Heaven, 4-Track EP 7" (Iron Lung)

Pretty good second 7" from this Texas D-beat unit, dutifully checking all the boxes you'd expect with a few moderate twists. I like how the riff on "S.C.U.M." sounds like it gets caught in a locked groove, and the closing track "Peace Lies" serves as a fittingly rowdy end. No real surprises here; what you see is what you get, and for some, that's good enough. Kudos for prominently including a "Free Palestine" banner on the cover.

Norms, 100% Hazaarulas 12" (11PM/Total Peace)

Yet another wild, noisy hardcore record from Budapest, and probably the best of the three featured here. Norms have been around a while, releasing a demo back in 2013, but their discordant, feverishly alive brand of 'core is new to me. The band plays with tempos that are often uncomfortably fast, the drumming unbelievably tight and right on the edge of spilling out of control, but the band's always able to pivot and set things up for another assault. No idea how they keep it all together on a track like "Valóság 9.0" or "Fogyasztó, termelóand," their many movements packed into less than two minutes, every one of 'em careening straight toward Valhalla. Feels like a meeting of Void and Masayuki Takanayagi's loudest works, and has more than whiff of Rusted Shut or Harry Pussy in the mix, too. Not a second too long, burning bright and out in about 15 minutes. Even though I want neither more nor less when it's over, 100% Hazaarulas is the most vibrant, blistering, gleefully destructive music that's passed through here in ages.

Problems, Beg For Release 7" (Adult Crash)

A welcome recommendation via @fearofgod, and one that I've not seen written about or mentioned elsewhere. Problems are from Oslo, a fact which may or may not hurt their exposure, and Beg For Release appears to be only their fourth recording in 15 years of existence, and their first in eight years. Here they've located the perfect midpoint between burly and bouncy when it comes to hardcore, every song seemingly more pit-ready than the last, bolstered by a crisp, clear recording. Almost every song opens up to a slower riff at some point, something that'd be an issue with less confident or capable musicians, but the band is airtight on this record. The yelled, intelligible vocals are the cherry on top: as angry as they need to be, all clenched teeth and lips split by mic contact, but aware of what each song calls for, always flung headfirst into the slower parts. Real hardcore heads may not like how easy the band makes this sound, but for the rest of us, it's a gift.

Suffocating Madness, Unrelenting Forced Psychosis 12" (Toxic State)

Unpopular pick for best Toxic State release this year! Really dug the slept-on first 7" from Suffocating Madness, and was stoked to see they remained an active concern with this LP released in October. Discharge is an obvious influence, but on this recording, I'm reminded over and over again of Bastard's classic Wind of Pain, from the nuanced-but-apparent thrash metal influence to the lyrical content, which meshes the sociopolitical with the personal. From the jump, the record's as advertised, a blistering assault augmented by searing solos and the occasional bone-crunching slowdown. Tracks like "Slaughter" and "Wankers" are a blitz on apathy, "Shove Yer Cross Up My Ass" is a nice upending of the usual punk rhetoric, and the call-and-response vocals on "Pressure" ramp up the intensity tenfold. Gotta shout out "Their Legacy Will Die" as an oddly comforting idea to tie things together, and like the majority of Unrelenting Forced Psychosis, the band refuses to accept the feeling of having no control in an increasingly aggressive late-capitalist society. In the end the record feels like a real on-ramp to action, a caustic cleanse with a galvanized finish.

[miracrownnews]

Mira Crown Pinnacle Roundup V.1.4 First Half

Here's the new Pinnacle Roundup for 1.4 first half. This is not an extensive guide, just a general summary of what the current Pinnacle needs that focuses on F2P clears.

Let's talk about this Pinnacle specifically:

+15% bonus score to glowed up items is a bit painful for newcomers. You only get access to the glow up feature at Mira level 31. Though new players should expect to clear up to R6 reasonably, R7 and R8 it's expected that you have completed the Interlude in order to pass without any issues. That said, this is a great bonus for older players as most of us already has quite a few glowed up outfits so it'll be a breeze.

R5: Very easy, just select whatever outfit you already have leveled up, then select Sweet and Romance in the in-game filter and choose any three accessories (you can also look them up at Infinity Nikki Library). So long as your other pieces are leveled up, it's very likely you'll be able to complete this without having to level up any accessory that matches the 3rd star requirement. Hometown Breeze is, as always, a great pick here.

R6: Very easy, select Rebirth Wish, profit! Shoutout to Scarlet Dream for being a quick and easy outfit to craft and glow up for this as well. If you start this Pinnacle late and you want to rush it, Scarlet Dream will probably be your best option.

R7: Your outfit MUST be glowed up (level 11) and it MUST be a complete outfit. Misty Waves is pretty much a requirement here, so I hope you farmed it during the previous Eureka double drop event from the last patch. If you only have Heart Kiss then you'll most likely need flat styling nodes. Starwish Echoes works flawlessly, as expected. Kilo outfits stay winning as always. 💅

R8: Your outfit MUST be glowed up (level 11) and it MUST be a complete outfit. It is with great sadness that I announce that Wind of Purity unfortunately cannot clear this, even with all flats. After carrying us for 5 or 6 Pinnacles back to back, she is allowed to take a vacation for now (jk, you can still use WoP in R5 🔥). There's very little difficulty here. Most people already have Wishful Aurosa glowed up so it's very easy. Dream in Glimpses can clear without any flat nodes as well. Wind of Purity and Endless Longing are the only 4-star outfits that cannot clear this in any way, shape or form. Every other 4-star Elegant outfit can clear but they may need flat nodes.

Overall this is a very easy Pinnacle. R7 and R8 specifically need glowed up outfits to clear and having enough resources for glowing them up will be a bit of a bottleneck, particularly for new players but that’s to be expected as Pinnacle is part of the endgame content.

Hope this helps you clear the Pinnacle more easily and as usual, if you have any questions please feel free to ask them in the #strategy-help channel of the Official IN Discord.

See you on the next Pinnacle reset!

[ratwavekayla]

I'm changing how I approach my newsletter this year to make it a little less of a diary of what I've been up to. I'm moving to starting off with a roundup of links to things I've done and then devoting the rest of the post to a blog post.

I'm also trying to cross post the blog bits on my website.

I've kicked off this change with a project announcement that tries to go a bit more into depth than what that usually looks like. I'm talking about my space noir game, what inspired it, a bit about how it will work and what the intention is there, and the moods and emotions I'm trying to create. There's also a real title reveal.

In the proper newsletter I point to some things I'm thinking of writing more blogs on; experiments in minimizing second person address, what noir is going into the mix, how I'm figuring out setting detail, big thoughts about women in noir, bringing in exercises to a game text, a film-informed approach to design and why I hate how the term cinematic is used in tabletop.

[chuckeroo777]

Isekai Roundup

Been reading a few Isekai-type mangas lately, so here's my brief review of three that I've enjoyed.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime- 9/10

This one is a lot of fun. With a focus on political maneuvering and large scale stakes, Rimuru is determined to make the world a better place for everyone.

After awakening as a slime, Rumuru saves a tribe of goblins from wolf monsters, and ends up uniting the two races under his leadership. From there, he continues to gain followers to build a city of monsters, uniting all the monsters of the great forest.

Rimuru is hilariously overpowered, but the main focus is on the strength of the alliances and friends he secures with his kindness and charisma.

Plus he's a cute femboy, so that's a big plus.

This is Screwed Up, But I was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World!- 9/10

Don't let the erotica tag fool you. While it isn't obvious at first, this is first and foremost a cooking manga. Seriously, there isn't any sex, just occasional mannequin-level nudity, and a lot of off-screen masturbating.

Upon reincarnating, Ren discovers her exceptional powers of crafting and creation, and seeks to live the quiet life of a hermit, alone in the woods, using her modern knowledge of science to create wonders for her personal use.

Throughout the story, she works to improve her skills and find new and better materials and ingredients, while doing her best to maintain a low profile. Unfortunately for her, she ends up making quite a few friends, and she can't resist making their lives better, even if it risks exposing her.

But yeah, if you enjoy seeing characters exploit their abilities to create all sorts of wacky stuff, this is the manga for you.

A Transmigrated Vampire Would Like to Take a Nap- 8/10

If Rimuru was determined to go to any length to make the world a better place, and Ren was determined to make as few waves as possible, then Argento just doesn't give a single shit.

Argento just wants three meals a day and the ability to sleep for the rest. But between a need for blood, and powers far beyond any normal vampire, the world isn't gonna let this lazy vampire girl stay idle for long.

Overall, while I'm unsure if this was the best sampling, I can certainly see why the genre is so popular.

Now if only these manga sites would add a "Female Lead" tag, I wouldn't have to rely so much on "Yuri" and "Genderswap" to find adventures about cool ladies.

[lucigoo]

Weekly Roundup: 29th April - 5th May

Whoop its Sunday, that went fast ... So, I have writte 12,456 words this week with only 2 uploaded, but I have a suprise at the bottom.

So, as always, recs first my good peeps <3 Water Whispers - Morg47 - Multifandom (Bagginshield, this whole serious is cute and clever, what if different valar created hobits, Morg47 has written the answer) Summary: It is a myth that hobbits cannot swim. It’s a falsehood that started when a group of men saw a hobbit slip into a river and sink straight to the bottom. They did not see the young girl come back out. They assumed she drowned.

That, as stated above, is blatantly false. Hobbits can swim just fine, thank you. They can also breathe water, effortlessly switching from water to air as they switch environments. They spend the first years of their life almost always completely submerged. They could never drown.

For hobbits were created by the Valar, Ulmo, the Sea-King, the Lord of Waters, the Commander of Rains. All water comes from Ulmo and all water leads to Ulmo. The hobbits understand this intrinsically. They really can’t fathom why the rest of Middle Earth is confused about this.

Ulmo loves his little sprites. He loves their large feet, perfect for paddling through his waves. He loves their dainty size and voracious appetites made flawlessly to mimic the element he commands. Water is always hungry; even the smallest amount can make a large difference in the world.

He created them and thus welcomes each new life into the world within his realm.

All but one. Smials & Eyries - Morg47 - The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien Bagginshield but mostly gen, another from Morg47's different valar creating hobbits series) Summary: The eagles and the hobbits have a pretty tight relationship. They should, they both serve the King of the Valar. When the hobbits are in need, the eagles help. When the eagles are in need, the hobbits help. It has always been this way and always will be, even if some hobbits claim to be angry with them for being a little late sometimes.

the bones, picked clean - galehautstomb - The Hobbit - All Media Types (Bagginshield, courting misunderstandings and lots of pining, so Bagginshield staples!) Summary:

“It’s not a merry mountain Bilbo,” Dís tells him, with all the sincerity of a general prepping their troops for war. “It’s hard-won and hard-fought and it’s spent centuries picking the bones of my family clean. You, you need to go break some bones of your own.”

(Or Thorin is betrothed, and it’s not to Bilbo, but the hobbit won’t go down that easy.) A Gift of Daisies - issaro - The Hobbit - All Media Types (Bagginshield, a clever and unique Soulmate fic) Summary: Every Hobbit was gifted a soulmate, a promise from the Green Lady that they’d never be alone. Sometimes though, the gift is a bit less straightforward than a Hobbit might wish. again and again and again - marzipan_menthol - The Hobbit - All Media Types (Bagginshield, BAMF Bilbo, he is also imortal so that helps) Summary:

As a fauntling, not even double digits, Bilbo Baggins falls from a tree and splits his skull neatly in two. He had been exploring alone, and so is left unbothered as he lays dead in the grass. He is still unbothered half an hour later when he sits up, stares curiously at the bloodstained earth, and scampers back home. He stands in the kitchen, happily munching a cranberry-orange scone and oblivious to Belladonna’s tears as she runs her fingers frantically through his blood matted hair.

or

Bilbo can't die, and the company finds out much sooner than he had planned (implying he had been meaning to tell them at all, but, well, Bilbo would be a fool to believe anything would go as planned on this confounded journey). the world is sleeping (my world is you) - katheneverwrites (mandolinearts) - The Hobbit (Bagginshield, the Hades/Persphone Bagginshield fic I never knew I needed until I DID!) Summary:

I asked Persephone, “How could you grow to love him? He took you from flowers to a kingdom where not a single living thing can grow.” Persephone smiled, “My darling, every flower on your earth withers. What Hades gave me was a crown made for the immortal flowers in my bones.” - Nikita Gill ---

“What do you mean, my friend?” There is a line of thought that surfaces in Gandalf’s mind, but he drowns it before it can take root. Surely not.

But Bilbo’s chuckle sets him on edge. The small, gentle god of harvest, nature, and flowers sits up straighter, and in his crown of flowers there is a wire of strong metal, his cloak is suddenly not colorful anymore but the deepest black and he is terrifying, horrific, powerful - “I married Thorin Oakenshield, King Under the World.” I hope theres at least on fic someone will like. All BAgginshield this week <3

Now for my fics, as I said there are only too, but still here they are. A Home, A Pack, A Place of Love - Chapter 5 -Chap 5 of the Corgi Bilbo/Wolfdog Thorin fic for your enjoyment I Loved Him First - Harry/Geroge, its bittersweet ive been reliably informed lol Summary:

It's Harry and George's wedding day. Everyone they love is here, at least those alive. But there are still so many empty seats.

Imagine thier suprise when they get unexpected guests from beyond the veil of life and death. As for the suprise, A Pasture Too Small for A Bovine’s World so Large has embedded fan art that I created for it, go and check it out cause Highland Cow Bilbo is the cutest imo. Anyway, I hope you all have a good week <3