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On Domestication Of Masters Chapter 21

A Master/submissive willbreaking fic with dollification and maid play elements written by myself and @once-a-singlet-nevemore

Frida confronts Ophidia.

Then everything comes crashing down.

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hiii i love that this account exists, i love hdg and wanna discover more beautiful fics!!! do you happen to know of any good fics featuring use of class Os? :3

I'm glad to hear my recs are appreciated. :)

When it comes to Class-Os, there are a few that come to mind.

Self Care by RocketMermaid One Last Meal by FriendShapedObject I Touched Oblivion by Fluxom Cracked Eyes by Sheepwave

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Love Doesn't Ask For Permission by violet_moonvine

(Guest review by @slylittleprincess)

Published: May 2025

36k words; complete

A rebel sailor wakes up after her cruiser is captured, and struggles to adjust to her new life, the loss of her freedom, and the feelings toward her captor she never asked for. A meditation on loving the person you hate (or hating the person you love).

Run, don’t walk, to read Love Doesn’t Ask For Permission if you haven’t already. Calling it good doesn’t begin to capture the experience.

Over the course of six narratively tight chapters, Aimee undergoes the iconic feral to docile pet transformation. The core simmering that is the embarrassment and humiliation of being kidnapped and turned from a person into a pet is sung with a full throat from start to finish. Evoking the original story while incorporating narrative influences from stories like All You Need, Love Doesn’t Ask For Permission elevates the foundations for HDG into a blisteringly hot, masterfully refined story.

It’s everything that makes HDG unique, polished to a golden shine. Fans of gesture feeding will adore the way that this story uses it as an incredibly hot throughline that also boldly dares to use the surrender of allowing someone else to feed you in deeply meaningful ways. The iconic bathing and toothbrushing tropes are also evoked to brilliant effect. Our lead affini, Calyx Saccharum, Ninth Bloom, likewise elevates the classic archetype of a condescending yet loving mommy figure into an absolute art form.

Wrapped up in that package is a profoundly beautiful statement on what it even means to be a sophont at all. What makes you, you? How do you reconcile the ugliness that defines you with the all powerful force that loves you without regard for your consent?

It features levels on top of levels, layers on top of layers that finally crescendo in a spectacular two part finale that still has me vibrating in my seat as I type this. I refuse to spoil or even hint at how it all concludes. It is so fun, so devious, so hot, so everything.

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Hey gang?

Go read From Pawn To Princess. Do not wait. Do not "put it on the list". This story is one of the best stories in the history of HDG, and this chapter might just be the single best chapter in the entire setting.

Let me say that again, and put my whole chest into it, because I fucking mean it.

THIS MIGHT JUST BE THE SINGLE BEST CHAPTER IN THE ENTIRE SETTING.

...To the point where I struggle to even find adequate points of comparison. Independence is Easy 14? Divaricated 35? Dancing to Her Rhythms 34? No Gods No Masters 22? Yes, I understand how insane making a statement like "the best" is in regards to this setting, but these are among the only points of comparison I can come up with. We're in that kind of territory - "Permanently alters my brain chemistry" kind of shit. It's absolutely stunning.

What Sheepwave and SlyLittlePrincess have done here is truly something special. Do not miss this one.

From Pawn To Princess Chapter 43: The Tower

Main (pansexual) and Boyremoved (F/f and NB)

(This chapter has three arts, literally none of them are postable to tumblr unedited, so go read the chapter if you wanna see the spice.)

The arcana The Tower is commonly interpreted as symbolizing chaos, upheaval, revelation, and awakening. It is associated with sudden, unforeseen change.

Lynn finally gets knotted by her girlfriend, and some other stuff happens too.

A hurt/comfort romance princessification and dragon affini collab between @slylittleprincess and myself about disability, chess, and needing a pair of monsters to treat you like royalty.

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Walk Between Worlds by Dame Harmony (Glire)

Released: July 2025

98k words, complete

In worlds that take nothing to chance, what is a roll of the dice?

So part of the reason this blog has slowed down a bit is because I've been reading less lately. I took a little mental break from HDG more generally, and somehow, in doing so, completely missed one of my favorite authors dropping AN ENTIRE FUCKING NOVEL. A sequel to To Seek What They Sought, no less, which I consider a strong contender for the single best piece of literature in this setting.

No, I have not read it yet. I literally found out it exists five minutes ago, and have spent the intervening time writing this post and fuming that I somehow missed it. Instead, I'm going to give the exact same blind recommendation I gave for To Seek What They Sought. If you like HDG, read this. In fact, if you like HDG, DO THIS:

Because otherwise you might just miss one of the best authors in the setting dropping a fucking novel. Just. FUCK. HARMONY. I AM TOO BUSY TO READ HDG RIGHT NOW, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO APPROPRIATELY LOSE MY FUCKING SHIT OVER THIS ONE?!

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dumb question. what hdg fics would you recommend to someone who knows next to nothing about it and only found out about it thru random tumblr posts?

For people totally new to the setting, there are three fics I cannot recommend highly enough.

Abscission. This is considered one of the foundational works of the setting, and rightly so - so much of what HDG is was defined in this story. And also: it's an amazing character drama, sexy as all hell, and may permanently rewrite your brain chemistry.

No Gods No Masters. I recently reviewed this one; it is, broadly speaking, the philosophical heart of HDG, and, like Abscission, is both a foundational work and absolutely incredible.

From Pawn To Princess. This is an ongoing attempt by two of the best authors currently active in the space to craft a story intended as an on-ramp to the setting. It just finished its second act, the end of which is very much a treatise on what the Compact is and what it's for.

Like, if you're brand new to the setting, I'd put at least two of those three at the top of your list.

Oh, and once you're done with that, consider:

4. The Place Where We Can Stop Running. It and all of its sequels are absolutely incredible, but not ideal as a first read for a few different reasons. Harmony does not miss.

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IT'S SO PEAK

Have you heard of the critically acclaimed HDG story Independent Establishment by the talented author Lagnia available for free on Archive of Our Own with a very hot affini and an incredible first arc including up to Chapter 10 and the newly released Chapter 11?

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Home Remedy by Slylittleprincess

Released: July 2025

4k words

Noteworthy tags: ...where the fuck do I even start?

Poor Amy is feeling under the weather ever since her Owner started testing her sinuses with that sap coated tendril. Thankfully the cure is knotting and her special playmates are here to help.

Home Remedy is disgusting in all the best possible ways. A sequel to "That" Floret, it's a beautiful continuation as this wonderful little floret just gets passed around the polycule. First Pyxx decided to murder Sheepwave with Anastatias, then Sheepwave responded by getting nasty, and now SlyLittlePrincess has taken that ball and run with it.

And like most SlyLittlePrincess one-shots... It's fucking peak. Folks, I had to stop and scream at the author roughly every single paragraph. I mean, LOOK AT THIS SHIT!

I don’t remember when Averie got here, or how long she’s been going for, but that’s okay because I don’t remember a lot of stuff. I don’t really need to remember anything, other than how to say the important things like “yes”, “green”, and “I volunteered for this”.

Mild spoilers for Anastatias, but uh, SHE DID NOT VOLUNTEER FOR THIS.

My cheeks burn bright red but I’m not sure why. Last week she made sure to chemically reinforce that it’s good for puppies to have a mouth that tastes like their playmates parts and ever since then I’ve always loved worshipping balls as long as I can remember.

The structure of this sentence is so heinous. So utterly heinous. I love it.

Even still, it’s difficult being sick and also getting my throat fucked and pissed down. My nose is so full of sap and pollen I can’t breathe like this, so I don’t. If I need air someone will make sure I have it.

"If I need air someone will make sure I have it".

Fucking hell.

And the funny thing is, these are barely even excerpts. Every fucking paragraph is like this. It's just slap after slap after slap in the face of the unbelievably hot, degrading, dehumanizing smut, and I, for one, cannot wait to see what happens to Amy next. Whatever it is, it's bound to be fucking disgusting. And involve piss. AND I WOULDN'T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY.

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Freedom's Ember by Kanagen (and also the whole Tillsandia Trilogy, because why not)

Released: March 2025

115k words; complete

Noteworthy Tags: Philosophy, What even is Freedom?

Trish survived Solstice. She survived the prison, the revolution, the long winter, and most important of all, she survived the Affini. So many others were taken, domesticated, made into nothing more than pets for humanity's new overlords, but Trish escaped that fate. Entrusted with a plan to keep the last embers of humanity's freedom alive, she labored for decades to make those plans a reality — but now the past is catching up with her, in more ways than one. Haven did not choose to be a scion of the hyper-wealthy elite, nor did she choose a father obsessed with his own progeny, and she certainly didn't choose to inherit his genetic legacy. Cast adrift on the tides of time by her father's cryogenic Hail-Mary attempt to evade the Affini, she awakens in a future dominated and defined by the Compact, where the only humans left who remember how things used to be are her now-elderly peers. Having spent her entire life wishing she had the courage to end everything, now she's faced with a new beginning, whether she wants it or not.

So I had a lot of spare time with no internet access today, and decided on a whim to start on Freedom's Ember. I then proceeded to devour the entire story, word by word, over the following 6 hours. IT'S A GOOD ONE.

Look, have I spoken at any length about the Tillsandia trilogy? I don't remember, which means it's definitely been long enough since doing so that it's worth spending a moment recapping.

(Incredible art by @hdgprom )

No Gods No Masters is broadly considered the philosophical heart of Human Domestication Guide, one of the most beloved and influential works within the entire setting. It examines how leftist and anarchist thought would handle the affini, it explores and elaborates on the imperialism of the Affini Compact, it features a monster dinosaur 'fini chasing a jeep up a cliff. It fuckin' slaps. I am not aware of anyone who enjoys any part of HDG as a setting and doesn't love this story, to the point that it felt redundant to even bring it up here. But I just finished Freedom's Ember and feel like gushing. Absolutely a foundational work in creating what Human Domestication Guide is, years later.

If you haven't read No Gods No Masters, fix that.

Then read The Floret in the Mirror.

The Floret in the Mirror is Kanagen's treatise on digital life in the Compact, and its influence on what life as a digitized sophont could look like is unmistakably stamped on the setting in no small part because it's goddamn fucking incredible. It's blisteringly hot, pushing the concept of eroticism into entirely new realms. Nearly everyone who's read The Floret in the Mirror, myself included, has come away from it thinking "I didn't know it was possible to be horny about that!". Like, this line will probably mean nothing to you without context, but uh... It goes so fucking hard.

J-355 was a good form.

It's one of those truly iconic snippets, up there with "Please Tell Me That's My Skin" and "You're A Pet, Not A Person", and when you read this story, you will understand why. I also think it's directly to blame for the rise of knolling in the HDG fandom, and for that I must salute it.

So we come to Freedom's Ember. What can I even say about Freedom's Ember?

Well, for one thing, it's a very sharp story. One of the defining traits of one of our main characters is constant intrusive suicidal thoughts; our second main character is about as feral as it's possible to be after so many years in the compact. It's also beautiful, in that very typical way of Kanagen's stories. Every single affini who asserts that they care proves it. They go so far to prove it. The story deals with themes of freedom, of loss of self, of learning to love oneself after life has convinced you you'd be better off dead, and just... stars. We also get to see how all our friends from No Gods, No Masters are getting on 60 years later, and that's also wonderful.

It's hard to even know where to start, mere hours after reading it. It is a powerful and frank exploration as to what freedom means within the context of the setting, a gorgeous demonstration of just how much the affini care, and to what lengths they'll go, and... I can't even hint at some of the incredible shit that happens here, but I will say that it features possibly the cruelest thing an affini has ever done to a xenosophont.

Oh oh oh the best part? GRANNY'S STILL FUCKIN' THAT DINOSAUR! 50 FILTHY YEARS, LET'S GO!

The Tillsandia trilogy is a full-blown masterpiece on every conceivable level. Freedom's Ember is incredible.

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Simulacrum by Smolcasm

Released: July 2025

2k words, one-shot

Noteworthy tags: Crack Treated Seriously, Breaking The Fourth Wall

Jane Wilding, independent sophont, learns she's the protagonist of an HDG fic. "So much for my wardship," she thinks, grimacing at the constrained feeling of existing in this concise summary.

I'm a sucker for a good crackfic (as you'd know, if you read my review of Domestication is Magic!). I'm doubly so a sucker for a good crackfic who then proceeds to take the intentionally stupid premise and make something beautiful out of it.

Simulacrum was a delightful little surprise this morning, soft, sweet, and extremely funny while messing with what being in an HDG fic means, and what that fourth wall break might mean in context. It's romantic, sweet, surprisingly earnest, and just generally a lot of fun.

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Independent Establishment by Lagnia

Released: May 2025

40k words, 7 chapters, ongoing

Notable tags: people please, comptop, holy fucking shit

May Morrison is the proud capable owner of an Independent Establishment called The Crossroads, living the dream under the Affini Compact, hoping against hope that she can sway the opinion of her independent neighbors to fall gracefully under its folds. But what happens when a happy independent who has everything shes ever wanted has it torn away from her by the system she trusts for no fault of her own, and instead she's shown everything she's ever needed?

You may have guessed that the sophont running this blog is a trans woman. you may have also guessed that, like many trans women, she has suffered from some very extreme comptop.

Folks, chapter 7 of Independent Establishment spent several paragraphs ripping that shit to shreds and setting it on fire. May is an incredible protagonist, strong-willed, dominant, generally has her shit together, and I see so much of myself in her. Mullberry is an incredible affini that lands firmly on the "eldritch" side of things. Their double-act is kind of incredible. Like, look at this!

That's fan art that Garbagewitchy made for the chapter, and dear god does it do the writing justice. Lagnia has this habit of writing absolutely incredible hungry affini - Perilla from Pride of Her Garden, Miss Vatia from She Wants You, and now Mullberry from Independent Establishment. She just captures that aspect, that barely restrained hunger, so well. It's incredible.

Chapter 3 blew me away, chapter 7 blew me away, and it's truly rare to see a story so casually approach Class-Js, class-Ls, and even class-O drugs, and...

...hey. What's that endnote in Chapter 7?

Hey Lagnia. What do you mean by "About to"? Lagnia?

WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN LAGNIA

...So yeah, needless to say, read this shit. Read it yesterday.

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Let's Check In On Sheepwave!

One could quite accurately accuse me of being a Sheepwave "fan". In fact, one could quite reasonably claim that Sheepwave has a hand in most of the best things coming out lately. I've spoken at length in the past about Good Sensory, On Domestication of Masters, and From Pawn to Princess; all three of those continue to be incredible and very much worth your time. But, because that apparently wasn't enough, we've got more.

To wit:

The Princess and The Predator by sheepwave, Slylittleprincess

Released: May 2025; Ongoing; part of the HDG Princessification Writing Jam

18k words; 5 chapters released

Significant Tags: AU, Vampirism, Forced Age Regression

Lynn Walsh is a thermal management engineer fighting for her life after her ship crashed on an icy forest planet. Tamai Armetisia, Ninth Bloom is a huntress affini looking to do a rescue mission. When Lynn’s ship is finally found, the two are fated to meet, and maybe they're exactly what the other needs most.

The premise here is pretty simple: what if Tamai Armetisia of Cat and Mouse was the affini who found Lynn Walsh? The result is a dark mirror of From Pawn to Princess. Slylittleprincess and Sheepwave working together isn't just for powerful, traumatic, deadass affini, it's also for blood-drinking "Mommies" who really wants to molest their little girls.

Y'all... Tamai is fucked up. It's great. There's so much blood! Mind the tags on this one, it's a spicy meatball. However, having just read the fifth chapter, I can confirm that it's also incredibly funny. Like, these two are having fun with this, and it really shows. If you liked Cat and Mouse, you'll love this.

And speaking of fucked up...

Hazing at the Floret Party by4WheelSword, sheepwave, and Slylittleprincess

Released: May 2025

26k words; 7 chapters; ongoing

Noteworthy tags: sorority/frat house sex basement

Abby is a nineteen year old independent college student surrounded by floret friends. her focus on her studies has put her in the target of a wellness check. she doesn't want to risk being domesticated, so she decides to go to a floret party. All she has to do is make an appearance, stay sober, and avoid pushy affini, and she can go back to studying for her finals. what's the worst that could happen?

Hey. You. You know that feeling? That feeling when your friend drags you to a party you didn't really want to go to? And someone hands you a drink, and you realize it tastes kinda funny, and then things start to get completely fucking out of hand?

Y'wanna kink off that feeling in a dark comedy where nothing truly awful can actually happen (well, nothing worse than getting taken as a pet by a benevolent mind control alien, anyways)?

NOW HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT PISS?!

I can say from interaction with their work that 4WheelSword, Slylittleprincess, and yes, Sheepwave, are all extremely normal about both piss (noun) and piss (verb). I would like to briefly quote from chapter 4:

“I know how much you like the catheter, my love. Treat yourself.”

And I swear to god, this is the authors speaking directly to each other. Now, I've long ago given up any pretense of pretending I don't have at least a piss (verb) kink. And if you haven't... this one might get to you. I will also add that there's a running gag in every chapter and with every single chapter it gets funnier and funnier. You'll see what I mean.

SPEAKING OF OUTPUT...

Good Sensory (Omegaverse) by sheepwave

For Slylittleprincess.

Released: June 2025

81k words (???!?), 18 chapters (!?!?!)

Notable Tags: Not HDG, Omegaverse

An autistic kinky romance story about learning to unmask and be loved as the person you actually are, rather than the one you think you're supposed to be. Sally Fable is a 22 year old transgender omega who doesn't click with most people. she is easily overwhelmed. bad textures, bad sensations, all of it. she also has a lot of experience being made fun of for how passionate she can get. Marsha Lywick is an alpha in her late forties who wasn't born as one, who wants to break Sally's masking habits and turn her into the cutest little bonded companion imaginable.

You've read Good Sensory, right? The kinky, fun romance story? With an affini who stalks the main character, drugs her nonconsensually, and otherwise acts like a dangerous predator, but it's genuinely fluffy and nice? Like, in chapter 2 of Good Sensory, Marsha figures out what's good sensory for Sally, then remodels her home and her own body to match it, and that's kinda crazy but also kinda neat and believable for an affini?

I want you to imagine for a moment what it might look like for this story to be transposed into the real world. Where Marsha is not an affini bound by benevolence, but a human. Where her power is enabled not by the compact, but by other means. What might that look like? What might Poppy Versiona look like?

The answer is. Um.

Woaw.

Let me tell you, without the context of HDG and the compact, the scenes where Marsha drugs Sally sure do pick up some new connotations!

So one major difference is that they're all humans. Another change is that they fuck. Like, rather a lot. It's a rather central point at this moment. This story is disgustingly filthy, pulls no punches, and somehow takes every horrifying yandere thing about the original Good Sensory and cranks it up to 11. I will confess, I am only a third of the way through it, as I've been savoring it to read to a partner, but the things it's setting up, the things it's doing... This story is goddamn incredible.

(It has been presented to me that the latest hot gossip on the street is that Sheepwave and Slylittleprincess might be more than just coauthors. I take no position on these allegations, beyond "Okay, yay!" It would certainly explain this output!)

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It is hard to moan and run at the same time.

That is the key lesson that I hope to impart upon you today little one.

Yes, I know, you’re such a big strong soldier with a scary scowl who’s never once thought about sitting still and letting Miss dress you in something beautiful.

Yes, I know, you had lofty goals and elaborate plans with a rebellion that you were so desperate to see through. There is an obvious word in your language to describe this moment.

Anger.

“This is wrong!” You cry out, “I don’t want to be a pet. I want freedom. This is wrong.”

It makes my injectors start to dribble just hearing you. Because I know a fundamental truth about an adorable thing like you.

It is hard to moan and run at the same time.

My tendril moves across the space so effortlessly it makes you wonder if I deliberately let you go. I take great joy in selecting a spot where the skin looks softest and neediest to plunge into. It’s a feeling you’ll come to crave soon. The lazy drag of the thorn, the perfect choice, the heat of it under your flesh, the way it makes everything you touch feel so incredible. The dusting of pollen on the pinprick.

Perhaps I did let you go, because every moment that you spend hoisted off the ground and wrapped in my vines as I take you back to the bed seems to erode your fight more.

Angry tears and writhing limbs fighting against indescribable pleasure in a war of cognitive dissonance.

The fact that I have made you love the way I feel only makes you hate me more. For now. You are in the early stages.

Denial.

This is a particularly cute place for you to find yourself. I adore denial. Gasping, shouting through a vibrating tone. You continue with your old shtick for as long as possible as I effortlessly grip your wrists and ankles. I press your body into the soft material of the most comfortable bed you have ever felt.

I coo, and administer light petting to you, the animal in front of me. It comforts you on a primal level. Still you shout about your escape plans, how you want to kill me, what a monster I am.

Bargaining.

You finally admit that I’ve done something to you, but you refuse to identify the exact sensation you are experiencing.

You know what it is. I know what it is. Yet, we pretend. I believe Terrans refer to this as flirting. I ask you what’s wrong petal, and you spit in my face. You say that I know exactly what I’ve done, and yet you still refuse to use the exact word as I start to pull at the seams of your standard issue jumpsuit. Little pulls at thread that match the way I’m tugging at your resilience. With every opening I slide another vine deeper, running across your arms, your thighs. You whimper as I finally shatter the illusion you have constructed.

Docility.

You realize now the inescapable reality of your bliss, but you are not ready to appreciate it yet. All at once your limbs go slack as the fight leaves you. The cortisol drains and drops out, quickly replaced by the endorphins and euphoriants I have ensured are reaching optimal levels. It is my preference to work through this stage as efficiently as possible.

The pet inside you is winning. She needs encouragement to properly take root. I finish removing your clothes and maximize the surface area available for my molestation. Ropes of my body bind you tighter, hold you closer.

Vines that live the closest to my core with fibrous textures tease at your skin. Oh, how you’ll crave them in time as their rougher material becomes associated in your mind at a neurochemical level with the addling and addictive comfort of my most intimate cuddles.

I run a grafted feeler across your scalp in a massage that makes you drool and gasp. Your dilated eyes roll back into your skull as I hum a warm and loving song into your grey matter.

Smaller tendrils run between your toes, across your neck, into the folds of your ears and eyes and nose. They brush your lips and they part so easily, but I do not enter. This is still the beginning of our courtship and I wish the explore the moist cavity of your throat at a later time when it can be fully appreciated.

You leak from every place a pet can leak.

I produce a flower bud and rock it lazily back and forth in front of your bleary eyes.

You watch as the soft petals of the bulb retract, revealing the dripping thorn within.

You break into a million little pieces as the pet within you wins the battle.

My sweet little thing begs for more.

How can I possibly resist.

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Hydrofracture by 4WheelSword

Released: June 2025

4.4k words; 2/4 chapters currently published

Notable tags: Homosexual Awakening (Forced)

Castor Nicostratus, an independent artist and notable homosexual, tortures himself with a weekly brunch with his best friend. Myron Hadley, an effeminate intellectual and Castor's best friend, is entirely unaware of the man's overwhelming attraction to him. The affini have allowed this to go on for some time, until one particularly reptilian type amongst their number decides to intervene for the good of all three.

Let's check in on what 4WheelSword has been up to lately!

I was, of course, deeply, madly, passionately in love with him. He was, of course, straight.

Oh Section. Never fucking change. 🥰 I just love how she writes messy gays! And this? This is delightfully messy. I can only share so much, but... this is gonna be real good.

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There's Always A Choice by Xanderhall

Released: June 2025

1.1k words; incomplete; get in now.

Vivian's getting along just fine. She's got friends, a comfortable life, and no real worries. So why does the Compact insist on barging into her life?

This is the first chapter release of a story that's been cooking in the HDG discord beta reading channel.

I understand it doesn't look like much right now. But I've been following it in beta reading, where it's got a solid 11 chapters, and... basically I've been waiting for the author's Ao3 account to clear before recommending it, and that was difficult. Calling it "good" feels like an injustice.

Vivian is a masterclass in understated characterization, and Thistle's take on affini benevolence and the thorny problem of losing one's identity as a floret is wildly creative. It almost feels like it's written in response to common critiques of the setting, which would often be a knock against a work, but my god it's just so good. It's just chock-full of really intense and powerful feelings and concepts.

Look, if you trust my word as a curator, read this story. Subscribe to it. Keep up on updates. This is probably the best freshman effort I've seen in HDG since, like, Because You Tried To Run. It's really good.

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Unlearning - A Short Saga by 4WheelSword, Moonfloret (LucisLibari), Slylittleprincess

Released: April 2025

13k words; complete

Noteworthy tags: CGL, age regression

Brook bubbles with anxiety, an independent orphan travelling the stars hopping between Affini vessels. Everything changes when Brook meets Kaze Serrulata, Eighth Bloom, on a little ship full of little sprouts. For those who prefer oops! all girls or oops! all boys- the F/F and the M/M

Let's get one thing out of the way. If you are a regular HDG reader and the names at the byline of this fic don't immediately make you think "immediate must-read", you clearly aren't a regular reader of this blog. All three of these authors are fucking incredible in their own right, and working together, they created this. Much like any piece with SlyLittlePrincess's name attached, Unlearning is full of powerful emotions and incredible character moments. Much like any piece with 4WheelSword involved, the descriptive prose is stunning. And much like everything else with Mercury's name on it, there is nothing else quite like it.

...Oh, the actual story itself? Well, for one thing, it's an interestingly understated piece of work. There are no massive reveals, no dramatic unexpected drug trips, just the slow drip drip drip of understanding carving its way into someone, inch by inch. It is beautiful in its subtlety; for such a short piece, Brook is wonderfully well-realized, and it makes the decisions she makes that much more powerful, because... well.. she could be you or me.

If you aren't super into CGL or Little Sprout stuff, I'd honestly still recommend giving this fic a look, because it provides a very powerful and not often stated perspective on CGL and age regression that may help parts of it make sense in ways they didn't before.

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I just realized that my last post here was a while ago and very sad, so let me just let y'all know: I'm alive, I'm genuinely well, I just kinda ran dry on story recs after a hundred or so, because I just don't read that much right now.

That said - keep an eye out for "There's Always A Choice", currently in beta reading and waiting on an AO3 account, because that shit blew me the fuck away. It's so good.