#zero cycle

[evilgustofwind]

And now he has to look again. Urgently. Compulsively. So he picks the phone back up from the sticky bartop, the screen already dark from inactivity, and unlocks it with fingers that suddenly feel weirdly clumsy against the display. The picture is still there at the bottom of the chat. Slightly blurry. Clearly rushed. But devastatingly, undeniably, tangibly real. It’s the McLaren jersey – his McLaren jersey, bright papaya orange and stamped with the number four across the chest – except the problem is that the body underneath it is objectively far too broad and muscular for a shirt that hangs comfortably loose on Lando himself. The fabric stretches across Oscar’s shoulders obscenely well.

ZERO CYCLE, CHAPTER 2: Training/Bastion – fanart by elmocracy

[redandblack1832]

Crazy cool video https://youtu.be/UKDQOE0ki5Y

[evilgustofwind]

quick summary of chapter 2

I SWEAR TO YOU, THIS WAS THE INSPIRATION!! I am not even joking.

The whole thing took me out so bad HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[evilgustofwind]

Hi, omg highkey my first time sending an ask in all my time lurking on tumblr, so sorry if this is incoherent or unconventionally long(I am probably going to regret the way I worded things after the fact, but I had to put this out there not just under anon cuz idk im insane and lowkey want this to be tied back to me lmao):

zero cycle has taken over the past 48hrs and counting of my life. Again, minecraft and landoscar is such a niche corner that I fit right into that I’m actually going insane over how in all the streamer!AUs I’ve both read and thought about, Minecraft never crossed my mind before this… it’s so perfect i have no words

I was just gonna come and ask to pick your brain for extra thoughts or side stories or snippets of both your ideas of this au and stuff to hopefully make it easier to not claw at my confines and instead patiently wait for the next updates, BUT THEN! I find out you also wrote bad bad news and I had to come and gush in your inbox about the absolute insane way you write landoscar and how precious it is to me instead. (Hopefully this doesn’t burden you cuz I’m about to just ramble/gen) I genuinely can’t even begin to put words to how emotionally invested I get about whatever situation you’ve thrown landoscar into because you characterize them so vividly and to me they just pop out of the page and come alive. I get shy with them, get second-hand embarrassment because these two idiots are oblivious and silly, feel their anger and frustration, etc. it’s all so good and it you are for sure on my top landoscar writers list (which I’ve lowkey just started now because you deserve to be on it)

Anyways, hi, tldr: you’re insane /pos and I love your writing and how you depict landoscar and im probably going to reread zero cycle an unhealthy amount of times from now on both waiting for it to update/complete and after that. (And i would still be open to any intermittent crumbs you’re willing to spill to the masses about your ideas for this AU in general) <33333

Hiii, omg!! Thank you sooo much for sending me such a sweet ask, aaaah.

Every time I hear that someone discovered two of my fics independently of one another, I get so, so giddy!! I'm genuinely so happy that you enjoyed both of my depictions of Landoscar - both the (half-)AU version and the more canon-adjacent one.

Writing Landoscar is such an immense joy for me that I genuinely struggle to put it into words. So hearing that you enjoy their characterisation, their dynamic, and all of the shenanigans they get themselves into makes me feel like the luckiest person in the world.

HMMM. Is there any little crumb I can spoil? In the next chapter we're, of course, going to be deep in tournament mode, which means a lot more Oscar coaching Lando through everything - and that gets surprisingly emotionally intense. We're also going to celebrate Christmas, and Oscar is going to reveal a little bit more about himself.

Especially because he has a very insistent sister in the background who keeps telling him to shoot his shot. Though, unfortunately, ZC!Oscar is anything but forward, hahaha.

Thank you sooo much for your ask. It genuinely made me so happy to hear that you love my Landoscar this much. <3

[evilgustofwind]

Absolutely obsessed with zero cycle it is such a good concept and so well written i cannot WAIT for the next two chapters!!

Also i made the connection between it and heatwaves whilst reading it for the first time and now I cant shake it hahahaha

(I mean this entirely positively btw! mcyt was absolutely A Time but that fic was undeniably great and I am assuming given both your knowledge of speedrunning and the unfortunate mcyt>f1 fan pipeline you read it at some point or another? Idk i just wanted to share and see if you had taken any inspiration from heatwaves un/intentionally!)

Thank you so, so much!! I’m so glad you’re enjoying Zero Cycle!!

Oh, 100%. Heat Waves will forever be my favourite fanfic, without a doubt. It genuinely showed me what fanfiction is capable of, and I hold it so, so dearly in my heart.

I was a massive DNFer as well, so the MCYT-to-F1 pipeline has been especially real for me - although there was always a fair amount of overlap, since I’ve been an F1 fan since 2011, briefly disappeared into an MCYT phase, and then eventually returned to F1 full-time.

I still miss and mourn Heat Waves and Helium on a regular basis. Truly the best of times, following those fics as they were coming out, hahaha.

[evilgustofwind]

How do you find the inspiration and motivation to write your fics?

I’ve been trying to start writing for so long but i never know where to start.

Also just wanna say I’m absolutely obsessed with the concept of Zero Cycle, it’s so good and i love the subtle links to DSMP. It’s been so long since i felt the thrill of following a faceless streamer ;)

I’m absolutely obsessed with OP and Lando, they live rent free in my head!

Thank you sooo much for your kind words about Zero Cycle!!

I was incredibly deep in the whole MCYT scene for years, but never actually wrote fic for it, so I suppose it's only fair that it has come back to haunt me now that I've already moved on to F1, hahaha.

The thrill of being obsessed with a faceless streamer is genuinely one of the most exhilarating things I've ever experienced online, and I think that's also why it's so much fun for me to write. Because I can actually relate to Lando and the way he is absolutely agonising over what Oscar looks like. I have sooo been there, hahaha.

And to your other question: where do I find inspiration and motivation for my fics? That's such an excellent question.

I think inspiration and motivation come from two very different places for me.

Inspiration is something that strikes all at once, usually with the subtlety of a fucking freight train, and suddenly gives me an idea that I absolutely have to pursue. Like when I was ill and watching that Midoffs video on Couriway's channel, and I became completely obsessed with the impressively calm way he coached Jumper. I immediately went: "Okay, but what if this was Osc and Lando?"

And motivation is something entirely different. Motivation is something I have to actively work for.

For me, writing is honestly 90% struggle. It's being demotivated, confused, overwhelmed, convinced the entire fic is terrible, and then showing up anyway. One of the biggest lessons I had to learn was that inspiration isn't what carries you through the writing of a story, but it just gets you started.

What carries you through is discipline, showing up every day, holding yourself accountable, and keeping your eyes on the finish line, even when you're sick of the story and want to abandon it entirely, hahaha.

That's really the best answer I can give. In my experience, a lot of writing is just hard work and deciding to keep going even when every instinct is telling you to just give up and find a normal hobby.

I hope that made sense!! <333

[evilgustofwind]

I’ve already made a post about it but listen I cannot stop thinking about Zero Cycle. Like in my corporate ass cubical thinking about Lando and Oscar and Minecraft speed running. It’s actually my favorite Landoscar fic and I’ve read A LOT at this point. I probably refresh every morning waiting for the next chap. Your writing and characterization is just unbelievable 😭😭😭

HFJKDHFDSJF OH MY GOD, thank you, thank you, thank you, AHHHH 😭

Never in a million years did I think people would end up enjoying this story so much. And the fact that you're thinking about it throughout your day AHHHH. I genuinely think that's one of the most precious things anyone can tell me as a writer. It makes me feel so incredibly loved.

I will do my absolute best to update as quickly as possible!! It might take a little while because these chapters are absolute monsters and I'm really trying to take my time with them, but I promise the next one is coming.

Thank you so, so much. 😭

[evilgustofwind]

i just finally read chapter 2 of zero cycle and oh. my. god.

first of all, the thirst trap at the beginning, i laughed out loud. the moment and lando not even realizing is something so simple but it reveals so much about his true feelings and the way his relationships with max and magui work. it’s honestly a stroke of characterization genius. and then oscar’s falling asleep moment, when he reveals the truth, “i imagined i was you.” when i tell you i had to stand up and take a walk after that line, it required a five minute recovery, that was how hard it hit me. and i feel like living your dreams vicariously through someone else is such a universal experience and such an amazing element to bring into a fic. then oscar immediately ending his call with lily the moment lando texted, god he is so down bad. lastly, the shirt!! don’t even talk to me. one of the most attractive parts of oscar (to me) is his broad shoulders and the way i could SEE him in that jersey was insane and i guarantee i felt exactly how lando did.

so, just know i’m absolutely adoring this fic and like lando, i have not played minecraft in like 10 years but this fic awakened that little part of me from when i was a kid and watching mcsr and trying to get better, which is something i never would’ve expected to feel. also, recently i’ve kinda been steering away from landoscar fics, but i love your works and now i am so glad i decided to open this one because it has honestly made me so happy to read. thank you for writing and sharing your work with the world!!

I feel like Lando’s subconscious comes through a lot in this chapter - and Magui, my wonderful, beloved mouthpiece, immediately points him in that direction, which then becomes something of a running theme throughout the chapter as well.

I love writing characters in denial, and I think I touched upon this in another ask already, but Zero Cycle Lando is a very, very physical person. Attraction, for him, has always started with the physical. Part of that comes from the fact that he’s incredibly clingy, and also because his mind immediately jumps to sex whenever Max starts suggesting that he should get a boyfriend because he’s becoming unbearable.

Though I hope we as readers can see throughout this entire chapter that Lando is already incredibly attracted to Oscar. He’s attracted to his personality, his skill in the game, even his secrecy to a certain extent. But, and this is the important part, Lando doesn’t recognise any of it as attraction because the physical component is entirely absent from the equation.

At least until the fourth split of the chapter, when Oscar sends him that picture of his arms, and for the first time Lando is forced to recognise him as a physical person.

And so far, physicality has always been the framework through which Lando understands attraction. Which is why Oscar has remained such an anomaly for the first two chapters. He’s a voice, a personality, but he's not someone tangible. (Apart from the hands on the handcam, which, notably, also make Lando stop in his tracks the first time he sees them.)

I wanted to coincide the moment Lando first sees Oscar’s arms, the moment Oscar becomes physically real to him, with the moment he’s intimate with another man, just to mess with his head a little bit, haha. He definitely hasn’t figured it out yet, but it’s going to give him something to stew on.

And let’s not even talk about how catastrophically down bad Oscar is, hahaha. Lando calls and he comes running immediately. They are both so deeply pathetic. AHHHH.

And genuinely, I’m so, so happy you decided to give my Landoscar fic a chance and that you’re enjoying it, especially if you’ve drifted away from the ship a little lately. That honestly makes me smile so much.

Thank you for your lovely ask!! <3