#there's gonna be jayvik in this au if i write more of it but this was a fun starting alliance

[kitty-cutie-zack]

Jayvik agere fic idea

This is ,, More of a Plan for a fic, but m too tired to fully write it so!!! I'll post it still. uhm ya. Au where everyone is happy bc i wanna have fun

Viktor giggled as he chased after Jinx around the backyard, trying his best to go as quick as possible while clutching his stuffed animal. He was in a diaper, an adorable pair of shortalls and a pink shirt, as well as a froggy hat, with velcro shoes.

According to Jayce, playing “pop goes the weasel (with real bombs!)” with Jinx was too dangerous, and Viktor was “much too young”. So they settled with red light, green light, and other similar games. They had also played pretend with the house, and the little swing & slide set they pretended was a castle. It was really fun when Vi and Ekko had joined in too, pretending to be ferocious dragons. 

Eventually, Jayce had come out because it was lunch time! Viktor had excitedly run over to Jayce, hugging him tightly. The man chuckled and picked up the little one, ushering Jinx inside as they went back inside the house.

Jayce gently set Viktor on his high chair, cutting up his sandwich in 3, with bite sized cucumber slices, as well as chips. Viktor happily ate, as everyone else discussed at the table, Jinx settled on Silco’s lap as she ate, messy as ever.

After they had finished eating & cleaned uo, Viktor whined, making grabby hands at Jayce. A few chuckled in endearment at the action, Jayce quickly picking Viktor up.

“Now dear, i know you were having fun with Jinx, but i’m gonna have to change you, then it’s nap time, ok?”

He softly told Viktor, as he made his way to the nursery. Viktor whined in protest, pouting and wiggling.

“Shh shshsh.. I know dear, but it won’t be long, you’ll be able to play with Jinx when you do, yea? And you’ll feel much more energized.”

Jayce gently said, as he laid Viktor on the changing table and began undoing his overalls, and began doing his business.

“B-bu.. ‘M not seepy..”

Viktor declared through yawns, while Jayce powdered his bottom and quickly taped on a fresh diaper. He instinctively patted it with smile.

“Sure, honeypot..”

He replies fondly, as he changed Viktor into his jammies. He picks Viktor back up.

“Well, i think someone needs his milkies before he takes his nappy nap~”

Jayce lovingly says, taking out a baby bottle full of milk. Viktor softly gasps in excitement, making grabby hands again.

“Mwik!”

He says, and began drinking. Jayce smiled and began humming as Viktor drinked up his milk. Eventually Viktor finished his bottle, a little drowsy and hiccupy. Jayce chuckled, and put Viktor over his shoulder to pat his back. 

After he burped, Jayce headed towards his crib, gently tucking him into bed, with lots of stuffed animals. Jayce gave Viktor his pacifier, and kissed his forehead.

“Have a nice nap, little one.”

Jayce softly said, as he closed the lights (leaving the nightlight that projected starts on, that played a soft lullaby), and gently half-closed the door.

[caspercryptid]

Death game au

Did I really need another AU? no. Did the idea for this grab me by the neck and refuse to let go?

....yes.

CW: You know death games. you know the things that happen in the hunger games and squid game and mirai nikki. Yes.

___

Jayce is nearly certain that he’s going to die.

Nearly in this case is 99.9% percent odds. There’s a .1 because he’s hoping for a miracle. It’s a pretty shitty chance, and dropping, rapidly, had been dropping since his mother’s plea for mercy had landed him... here. A slow death instead of a fast one. So, great. He’d had a choice. He’d had a choice between banishment, which was death anyway, and the trials. He’d picked the trials. That was almost certainly a mistake. Three phases. Alpha, Beta, Execution. It’s Alpha. He’s going to die in Alpha. He’s going to die in phase A, a footnote, a name on a screen, a blooper for the highlights real if he managed to die in a way that was funny enough to justify broadcasting. He’d made it through the first maze fast enough to be sure no one else was going to catch up with him— he knows that Phase A is supposed to be before anyone really starts killing each other since the environments do it for you.

He also knows that people usually use it to pick competitors while they’re distracted with the obstacles.

Which is... where he’s found himself.

He’d been stupidly relieved to hear the theme this year was Smoke and Mirrors. Insanely, stupidly relieved. In previous years ice had featured, and anything was better than another storm. He’d had to stay out of public spaces to avoid seeing the big screens broadcasting the blizzards in the arena they’d set.

It’s significantly less reassuring in the house of mirrors.

Jayce’s head is spinning, and he knows that this is... not a place in which he’s going to be able to outclass other people. Memorization’s been more difficult since the accident. He can’t see where he’s going. The last maze had puzzles, and his time on those had meant that his tendency to get lost hadn’t cost him. Thus far, he hasn’t seen puzzles. Just mirrors. Endless, endless mirrors. And he’s going to die, he’s going to die, he’s going to—

The floor gives out.

Jayce has a moment of crystal-sharp clarity: He assumes this is the part where people would normally insert their lives flashing before their eyes, and instead he wastes it tabbing up his mistakes, his footing, he’d been looking up to try to find edges to the walls of mirrors, any way to find openings, he’d taken his eyes off the floor, hadn’t paid attention beyond noting some floors were mirrored and some weren’t, that was so unbelievably stupid—

And then he’s falling, and he snaps his arms up to grab the edge of the platform and hisses as the pain jolts up his arms like electricity. There’s no point, he’s not going to be able to hold on, but he struggles anyway, managing to get his other hand up too— I can’t die, I can’t, not now—

He has his eyes closed, trying to focus all his strength on getting enough of a grip to pull himself back up, and then a shadow falls over his eyelids, pronounced in the harsh white from between the mirrors.

Jayce opens his eyes.

It’s—

He swallows.

“Hi.” He manages.

The crime lord of the undercity, Piltover’s biggest arrest, the most dangerous opponent in the games, and really, Jayce’s personal nightmare, is standing over him. He raises his eyebrows.

“Hi?” he asks, sounding a little amused. Like is that the best you can do. Unfortunately, it is.

“Would you prefer hello? Jayce asks, voice strained. Greetings? Salutations? Hail and well met? Traditional piltover running into a zaunite greeting of a slightly judgmental stare?”

His fingers are slipping. Surely Silco’s just gonna wait and lord it over him, Jayce didn’t think the trap would close again until after he fell. Maybe he’s calculating a way over it. “There’s probably a dead end past this.” Jayce manages. “The mirrors look— oddly. Uniform. That’s what I was paying attention to instead of the floor.”

Silco’s eyebrows stay up. “Why are you telling me that?” he asks, musing.

Jayce squints at him. “So only one of us has to die today?”

“And why do you care about my wellbeing?”

“—Because you’re a person?” Jayce manages. This is stupid. This is a stupid conversation. This is the stupidest possible conversation to be his last conversation. Silco’s just staring at him, assessing.

“If you’re gonna kick me, can you do it fast? The futility is really—”

Jayce cuts off, because Silco is kneeling down, reaching for him, grabs the back of his shirt and pulls, and it’s not much— it’s really not much, but instinct takes over and Jayce pulls too,using the extra traction to get one arm up, and then another, letting Silco help him. It’s still a fight, and too much of one to manage the words until he’s on the ground again, panting, and Silco looks winded too, but is dragging himself up.

“—what—” Jayce starts, and Silco just offers him a hand again.

“Come on.” He says. “We’ve got a maze to finish.”

“—we?” Jayce asks, but he takes the hand.

“You owe me, don’t you?” Silco says, pulls Jayce to his feet and doesn’t wait for an answer, heading off.

Jayce realizes several things in sequence.

Silco is right

His odds for survival just increased

He owes a life debt to the most dangerous man in piltover’s history.

He swallows, breathes, and follows him anyway.

[heralds-of-tomorrow]

𝐅𝐢𝐜 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍: hello and welcome to all of my arcane/league of legends fics! all the shit ive written and the stuff thats in the works, in one convenient place. speaking of in the works, please feel very free to ask about any of the stuff in the wips category! im not exactly gonna be updating it every time i think of a new one but ill probably make sure its up to date every now and then, and regardless itll always have plenty in it because i am a chronic wip starter. you can ask about any of the stuff thats already done, too! 

𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔: - fics ive posted on archive - tumblr drabbles, short fics not worth posting on archive - ask reqs ive filled - bullet point au/concept outlines - wips (by far the longest)

- 🌊  𝑹𝒆𝒒 𝑰𝒏𝒇𝒐 -- ☄️ 𝑻𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 -- 💙 𝑨𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒆 -- 💎 𝑭𝒊𝒄 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 -- 💧 𝑷𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 -

𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐒: all the (again, arcane/league) fics i have posted to my archive!  - 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: breathing easy, breathing smoke [bebs] 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩: 18.2k words, 7 chapters 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴: incomplete, struggling to write chapter 8 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤: jayvik, sfw 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤: The first time Jayce sees Viktor actually in the undercity is the first time he sees Viktor comfortable. It's an enthralling sight, even amidst the confusion of a fast-paced errand run in Zaun. - 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: do the damn dishes, love 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩: 1.1k words, 1 chapter 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴: complete 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤: jayvik, nsfw 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤:  A lazy morning in the household of two great scientists, so in love and obsessed with each other that they can barely keep their hands of one another, even to get normal chores done. Though, that could also just be because Jayce doesn't want to do them, even if he does have quite delicious vices to indulge in. - 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: four geniuses walk into a bar... [4 geniuses] 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩: 5.2k words, 1 chapter 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴: incomplete, low-priority 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤: gen/touch of jayvik, machine-herald centric, sfw (violent) 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤:  Singed kidnaps the most prominent minds in Piltover and Zaun, for an unknown but likely malicious experiment. Jayce, Ekko, and Jinx are treated to a front row seat of just how much of a monster Viktor has turned himself into. - 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: bitter water 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩: 1.6k words, 1 chapter 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴: complete 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤: meljayvik, sfw 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤:  Viktor plays the music, Jayce sings the lyrics he wrote, and Mel paints Jayce where he lay, providing Viktor a lap to rest on all the while. They get distracted with each other, as they tend to do.

𝐓𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐑 𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐒: mostly when i refer to ‘drabbles’ i mean things under 1k words, but in this case it varies and is just stuff i didnt consider worth posting on archive (for reasons listed here) and was not produced in an ask req - 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: untitled 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩: 1.2k words 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯: too sad and venty 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤: jayce-centric, angst, sfw 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤: Jayce is falling out of love and dissociating about it, which I use second person to convey. Can you tell I planted my writing roots in Homestuck. - 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: untitled 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩: 420 words, drabble 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯: too sad and venty again 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤: jayvik angst, jayce-centric, sfw 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤: Jayce is finding it hard to continue reaching out to Viktor when Viktor refuses to reach back and let him help.

𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐒𝐊 𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐒: none currently but im certainly excited to start! - 

𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒: i love doing this kind of thing and i really wanna start doing it more! these’ll be outlines for bigger aus or concepts/plots i know i wont have the energy to write fully, and all of the ideas i currently have for them. if you see a concept in these you really like and think you’d like to collab on, feel free to hit me up about it! you can also ask me to elaborate on any of them if wanted none yet! - 

𝐖𝐈𝐏𝐒: all my wips.. ough. there are many, and again you can ask after any of them! whether it be for more details or for a snippet, idm! its a big help in sparking some motivation lol. also, you may be thinking “why would you list all of your wips like this even if you Do want people to ask about them, thats a Lot”, and the answer is that it helps me! keeps them organized in my head and reminds me what they’re about without having to go read them again, plus im less likely to forget any of them exist now, lol 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔: 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: the title of the google document the wip is on, not a set in stone title at all 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: how likely i actually am to begin working on it and finish it 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: the basic concept behind the wip - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦:  we take the backstories and we shuffle them 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: feel pretty good about this one, it’s likely ill finish it  𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: simple zaun!jayce x piltover!viktor au, which is always one of my favorites. not super elaborate, just their meeting right now, though ive got a few ideas about the expanded implications of the swap -  𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: youve devastated me, baby, im drenched 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: i feel alright abt this one! i may or may not finish it depending on my emotional health at any given time  𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: angsty, divorce era jayvik. will be nsfw, will be very emotional.  - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: promiscuous girl 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: i want very badly to finish this one but the spark of inspiration has waned heavily for it. might post it as the 69 follower reward? idk 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: nsfw, viktor is a bit (maybe more than a bit) promiscuous, and jayce finds out in a 5+1 format that goes “5 times jayce found out how lively viktor’s night life is, and one time he stops watching and starts acting” - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: that wet on your skin, it shimmers 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: meh! might finish it, might not.  𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: you know how old shimmer was something you rubbed on your skin that made it shine different colors (i think it was mood based?)? well, divorce era jayvik get a big ass vat of it poured on them and also its an aphrodisiac. VERY nsfw lol - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: update your fucking fic 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: sigh. im going to finish it. eventually. but im not feeling good abt it rn 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: bebs ch.8 :/  - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: kill it. 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: pretty okay? i forget this one exists a lot lol 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: simply lil domestic jayvik - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: tomorrow must come 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: ehh. might just be a tumblr exclusive drabble thing 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: introspective jayce that is, as typical for me, pretty venty and existential - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: obsession 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: ill probably come back to it eventually, i really like this one! 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: a fic dedicated to a version of jayce and viktor that are crazy obsessed with each other, outlining that obsession - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: Vindication (only one with a capital letter... weird) 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: not great it sparks absolutely 0 inspiration in me currently 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: kind of the same version of viktor i have in four geniuses, that exists after he gets the fire in his veins and goes to become the machine herald, but before he calms down a bit and starts thinking (as much as he can) rationally and morally again like in league. just a sort of viginette of him feeling vindicated in his hatred - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: bonding time 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: good!! ill get to it again (maybe soon!!) :] 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: this the doc four geniuses is on! ive got a concept for the rest of it, some stuff i wanna touch on, but no outline or writing begun yet. its p low priority for me so who knows when itll get updated - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: becoming piltovers finest 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: good! i enjoy this one a lot 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: caitlyn finds out she’s been appointed as sheriff and goes to excitedly tell vi! dunno if ill write them celebrating or anything, its p much just a page or two of concept - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: the sun and the moon run circles around one another 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: uhhh eh! i like it, i want to finish it, but the spark of inspriation is very small, so we will see 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: some melvik, watching them slowly appraise and warm up to one another as they go from clashing to working together. plus lots of “oh my god youre not just smart youre clever. and mean. this fascinates me, i must know more” which i love - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: monkey bomb begone 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: OUGH. this is a GIANT fic concept, and i dont know if ill ever be able to pull it off alone. currently in bullet point outline format on google, and a valuable enough idea to me that i wont share it here or with any strangers, so the prospects arent ggreeeeaaat. but i do want to write and expand it, but itll likely have to be a collaborative effort  𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: ekko goes back in time and makes some minor changes to kick off the plot, and that version of ekko isnt in the fic any further (unless i decide to old-man-mentor-ify him late on in the fic as a surprise). the changes are basically that he destroys the monkey bomb before it can go off and he makes sure hextech is banned by the council. ive outlined all the consequences of this and how each characters personal storylines are affected, plus some more, and when i say it is BIG lol -  𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: where the fuck is this going 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: pretty good actually! this ones intruiguing to me. gets the ol brain gears goin 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: ‘alternate meeting au’ is the only way i can think to describe it! jayce’s hextech project (maybe the bombs never got set off or something, i dont know) has been reviewed by a bunch of piltover officials and no one thinks it can be done or will support it, so jayce turns to some zaunite college of techmaturgy folks, and though they also dont think it will work, they do think having a piltovan scientist (backed by house kirammen no less) indebted to them would be useful. so, instead of turning him away, they pawn him off on a professor they’d be perfectly able to cut ties with if it goes disastrously wrong, aka viktor, who does not work under heimerdinger in this au. i love the concept for this personally, but i just have absolutely no idea where i want to take it! - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: an outside perspective of jayvik 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: eh. first fic i ever drummed up for arcane, and not one i like much anymore 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: like it says on the tin! just some rando npcs observing jayce and viktor’s relationship 

𝐓𝐎 𝐄𝐍𝐃: alright, there it is! the full list of all the writing ive currently started or completed, with hope it will grow soon! i hope its easy enough to navigate, but please let me know if there are any difficulties!

[caspercryptid]

hiiiii I really adore how you write jayvik 🥺👉👈 if you are so inclined, what about Viktor meeting Jayce’s mom for the first time over the holidays/new years? Jayvik can either be established or “““good friends””” or whatever you like!!! Your characterization is a blessing. ❤️

I'm going to softly admit that i've never written Ximena before (all of the fic bits with her in them in Cowboy For Christmas were my beloved partner's doing) so I hope this passes muster! Just gonna do a modern AU to save myself the headache, and since I usually write Viktor as jewish, lets go new years.

Thanks for the request, as always. I think this is another part 1. woops!

--

Viktor isn't worried.

After all, why would he be? what reason does he possibly have to be worried. He's heard plenty about Ximena- Jayce talked about his mother all the time, she cooked for them and forced Jayce to bring him food, he was sure, given how much Jayce talked, that she'd heard just as much about him, if not more.

So why would he be worried?

He's still repeating the question to himself as Jayce parks in front of the house. It's a very nice house. Viktor can't convince his legs to move.

Jayce notices, because of course he notices, damn him, and looks over. "V?" he prompts, soft.

We're just friends, Viktor reminds himself. This isn't like meeting in-laws, because they're just friends. It doesn't mean anything. You're his lab partner. There's nothing to be afraid of. What does it matter if she doesn't like you?

"Viktor." Jayce prompts again, sounding more worried, and ah. He'd forgotten to run the generic placation subroutine.

"I'm fine." Viktor says. "I think the cold has locked my knee up a bit. Do you have one of the hot pads we can put on it for a minute before I climb out?"

Jayce lunges for the console to get a hot-pad so fast that Viktor almost feels guilty. At least it was only a half-lie. He shakes it out and presses it to Viktor's leg, and Viktor lets out a breath, soothed just as much by Jayce's proximity as the warmth. "I hope your mother's not minding us idling the car out front." He says, dryly. "She might assume we're canoodling."

He's rewarded with a little flush from Jayce.

"Don't say canoodling." he counters, even still looking a little flustered. "Are you eighty?"

"Only spiritually. And perhaps by my joints's measure. That's enough, I think, come give me a hand down."

Now or never.

Jayce is quick to get out of the car and come around to offer Viktor a hand- Viktor has a certain appreciation for Jayce's truck, he really does, it's saved them carrying equipment countless times- but the massive step down is not something he enjoys.

Well, maybe a bit, because when he can't quite get his leg down properly Jayce leans in to offer his shoulders as a support, and Viktor can wrap an arm around Jayce's neck and let Jayce help him down, and he doesn't mind that, not even a bit.

He does slightly mind the fact that his arms are still around Jayce when his mother opens the door.

She raises her eyebrows. "Jayce." She calls, putting her hands on her hips. "Introductions first, Mijo-"

"I was just--" Jayce sighs, giving up, and lets go of Viktor, who pulls loose and comes over to shake Ximena's hand. "Viktor." He says. "It's a pleasure, i've heard all about you."

She smiles, and Viktor instantly relaxes. All of the feigned disapproval is gone immediately, and she clasps his hand in both of hers as she shakes it.

"It's wonderful to meet the boy my son spends all his time with." She says, and ah. Viktor can hear the note in that, but she hasn't said it outright, so he can't deny it. He just smiles.

"Your son is the best partner I could ask for."

He realizes, when there's the sound behind him of Jayce slipping on a patch of ice in the driveway, that he forgot to add the lab part. He doesn't have any particular regrets- or at least, not once he looks back and makes sure Jayce hasn't hurt himself, and he hasn't, he's just clutching the car door frame for dear life. "Jayce." he calls, tone innocent. "Are you alright?"

"Fine!"

Hm.

Viktor's had quite a bit of time to wonder if Jayce felt the same way. He never quite had a definitive answer- little blushes, reactions. He glances sideways at Ximena, who seems completely unsuprised.

Well.

This should be an interesting holiday.

"Watch your footing, dear." Viktor calls, tone innocent, and Jayce almost falls again.

Yeah, Viktor's got a plan.

[caspercryptid]

Little mini author update because there’s not enough to report to warrant a full newsletter (I’m sorry, no snippets! I also wish there were snippets.)

To the person who just single-handedly met my last ko-fi funding goal: Hello. I love you. I love you most ardently. I want you to know that you’re the reason I managed to get out of bed today! In my hazy oversleeping haze I pulled up my phone and saw my notifications and went “What the everloving fuck” I owe you my life. Semi-literally.

Seriously in general to everyone who’s given on ko-fi though: Every little bit truly does count and even if you just tossed a dollar or two in the proverbial tipjar it counts and I love you and you’re the reason I can afford to make health purchases without losing my mind that i’m going to cut into savings I need to get out of my shitty living situation. it means an immeasurable amount to me. May you all be blessed. Seriously. I love you. 

Now, in payback, some updates. 

Fake Dating Game: Three more to go! One of them’s singerdinger. But casper, you ask, surely you don’t mean-- yes. yes I do. singed is gonna date that yordle. I think one of the other two is gonna be Melco and the last one’s a toss-up but we’ll see! probably gonna land on jayvik.

Looking Forward: The next prompt-spam game is going to be Sickfic! at some point in the next week at a random time I am going to open my inbox for about 15 minutes and do as many sickfics as I receive requests for. ((After that, other options might be epistolary au and disguises au))

But casper what about all those other requests in your inbox?

I go where there is serotonin. One of the good things about the spam game is that once I get in the groove I churn those out FAST and with the extra serotonin I can write the stuff that’s a little higher effort. 

But casper what about your longfics?

All in due time. I am going to do a re-read of “this ain’t a scene” to get back in the groove but honestly the answer as to why that one’s taking so long isn’t at all that I've lost interest in it: I absolutely have not. I’ve just been having a little bit too rough a patch to be funny. but things have sort of stabilized a little, still not Good but at least on less uncertain ground, so i’m optimistic about being able to get back on the horse soon.

NSB is in edits and is waiting for me to be able to read, and HtF is in my poor poor overworked partner’s lap because I have only ever written one decent sex-scene in my life and that’s what’s on the docket. I am too depressed for Blood. Stars is at a weird formatting section. Anyway. Soon! soon. 

As always, much love, thanks for your patience and for the the asks. My one bit of solid good news is that i’m planning on re-watching arcane soon! as soon as my migraines actually let up. so there should be some meta incoming. 

[caspercryptid]

thanks for sharing your collaborative writing process for HtF & NSB! Would you mind talking about your individual writing process as well for your non-collaborative works? (if you take a different approach)

Oh I do, and I'd be happy to! This is gonna be a little different from the collaborate answer because the main obstacle when working on my own is motivation, not editing or story structure. So my process is much more focused around jumping that hoop.

As I've been fairly open about, I'm pretty seriously disabled. I have ADHD, chronic pain, migraines, and chronic fatigue, and I'm what's sort of cutely referred to as a spoonie, which goes hand in hand with those things. So my process is pretty tailored to being gentle with myself.

Neil Gaiman once said something great on here in a post that I don't have the spoons to look up that went roughly along the lines of "Everything that isn't writing is writing too", as in all of the stuff you do that isn't writing when you're supposed to be writing is an important part of your process. You need rest, you need downtime, you need to listen to music and do stupid bullshit. What I do when I'm working on my own is consider where I'm at in a story and let it sit in my head until I get the right spark to keep going. What that looks like kind of depends on the project. Another great thing Neil Gaiman said is that you never learn to write a book, you only ever learn to write the book you're writing.

I've sort of let a couple of my projects sit for a bit because I've been juggling the collaboration and requests but just as a practical example, what's written between the stars, my conspiracy theory Jayvik au, actually requires some research. That is something I super have to Want to do to get it done. So for that one before I start a chapter I ask myself— what do I need to write the next chapter? What information do I have to have before I start? What usually happens is that I tell myself I don't need to write the chapter, I just need to answer those questions. But usually, by the time I've answered those questions, I'm in a much better mindset to write the chapter.

Another set of questions I ask myself that applies more to other fics is "what's stopping me from writing this chapter?" If I have no energy, that's a non-starter. For other people who aren't chronically ill the answer to that might be that you need to drink some coffee and you're Gucci, but if I don't have the energy to write, I need to go lie down. Full stop, non negotiable. It has been a major relief to stop trying to force my output on that. If it's not happening it's just not happening.

Another important answer is "I don't want to" to which the follow up is "why?" This is sometimes harder than you'd think. This Ain't A Scene experiences delays sometimes because the answer is "I don't think I can be funny right now" which there's also not really anything for! If I have to be in a certain brainstate to write, than either I listen to the fic playlist till I get there, or I wait it out. Sometimes the answer is "I don't know what happens next" and the answer to that is just... To think about it, or to ask someone else. Usually when I'm working on my own I have a big picture idea of where the fic is going in my head and then I put it on the tracks and push. I've run tabletop campaigns for a while so my other big rule is that everything is a chevkov's gun. I re-read my own writing to remember what I'm doing, pick up dropped threads, and stay on track. I play yes-and with myself. Instead of editing things out of chapters that don't fit, I ask myself why they got there and make that fit within the story framework. This sometimes takes the form of the macguffin, like the void box in HtF. When/if other elements of the story stall, I ask myself: what do I have in my bag of tricks? What have I set up? What can I deliver on? And rustle around until something clicks.

For short fics, it's all waiting for something to click. The last question I ask myself is "what do I want to write right now", and then I go looking through my inbox and turn things over until something sparks and I have an idea of what to do with it, and then I grab it and bang it out.

My actual writing process is much less helpful than the editing guide, unfortunately! I am mildly dyslexic, I usually do not edit much beyond running spell check. Once I've managed to nurture the right spark I sit down and I write until I run out of steam, and if it's not a complete chapter or a full prompt fill, that's fine! I put it down and go work on something else. On more style heavy stuff like Blood In Your Mouth, the project I'm working on where Viktor dies and Jayce is trying to necromancy him, I edit more than I do something like Scene. Sometimes serious emotional stuff requires tweaking because I want to make sure I use the right words. Most of my editing is re-reading the chapter before I post it and changing things that don’t quite work. 

On prompt fills, I usually try to come up with a really banger first line or paragraph, and then the rest kind of writes itself! The key for me is establishing a vibe and then keeping to that vibe unless a hard heel turn is required. This is also greatly aided by rereads of similar stuff, or from reading my own first line 12 times. The key to writer's block for me is always breaking ground. I type one sentence and if nothing else works, I close the document and do something else. Later, when I come back to that document, I've got a place to start!

Okay, I wrote this with a migraine, so I hope it was enlightening and not too rambling. I'm gonna sign it off with saying that anyone who finds my output intimidating should keep in mind that I've been in academics for like seven years. Once you reach a point where you have to write the damn thing or fail the class, having your pick of fanfiction in your inbox is a blessing. And ultimately— I've just had a shitton of practice! Writing every day has made me a very fast and much more effective writer, as has reading a lot of other people's work. Sometimes when I'm stuck I read Richard Siken's Crush (I actually own a copy and I highly recommend it but y'know, we can't all own books) and listen to music. I need input to have output! I think everybody does.

Thanks for the question, anon! This was a good think. Feel free to ask whatever if anything in here was confusing or not detailed enough.