(GIF by the enormously talented and incredibly generous Nutty McNut as a gift specifically for the Nine Lives Anniversary. Thanks El!)

Hey Caryl fans! What a crazy, wonderful couple of weeks we have had here on Nine Lives! We turned 2 with a serious bang. Thank you to everyone who participated in both of our anniversary events or shared your thoughts with us about NL turning 2. You are all magnificent, wonderful, shimmering balls of sunshine!

To see the full list of submissions for Challenge #2: Best of the Best, click here.

Now it’s time to honor the valiant participants of Challenge #1: Pic-spiration! You will recall they had a selection of photos to choose from for their inspiration. You can find the photos here. Now, we present to you the master list of our Pic-spiration stories:

• Weeping Statue by Evilangel

• Something Called Home by Saedhriel

• Serpentine Fire by SOA Loving Mom

• Entwined by lovesdaryl

• Envoy by serpetinefire

• Arctic Chill by silversundown

• Jacked Up by krissyg927

• Broken Cherokee Rose by Darluvscaryl

• Snap by Haitus80

• Grasping for Love by Darluvscaryl (McReedus)

• you are the sun gone down by lilabut

• Life Imitates Art Imitates Life by bedlinens

• Collision by Sira (McReedus)

• Chasing Cars byghostofzanarkand

Thank you challenge participants for sharing your stories with us!

NOTE: There are still 4-5 other stories from authors who were granted extensions, so check back, as the list will change throughout the day.

This, my darling ones, brings our official anniversary celebration to a close. FM is still working on her “thank you” present for all of you (not even her co-admins know what she’s doing, mwahaha), but that won’t be revealed for a little while yet.

Really, the only thing we can say is what we said in our official Nine Lives Anniversary post:

Thank you - yes, YOU, reading this right now. Thank you for choosing to be here and be part of this unbelievable fandom experience.

Happy reading and Caryl on!