scissorears-if

[scissorears-if]

so excited for this new project of yours!! also would like to thank you for having ros with acne, it is really refreshing to see <3

Thanks!! It just seemed very logical to me. O is a hormonal teenager, aka just a little guy. Acne is part of that package.

[scissorears-if]

Please note that I've transferred Press Play to cogdemos.ink! I've updated the link in the intro post, too. Let me know if anything doesn't work. Love y'all <3

CoGDemos

demo (prologue + ch.1 & 2, 118k words)

please mind the content warnings! asks are open, but please note that I am currently not accepting/answering RO scenario requests and questions concerning RO details, i.e. ROs' favorite color, height, etc. All relevant info regarding ROs can be taken from this post or the game itself.

cog forum post

You are one of the most famous yet mysterious characters of the 21st century rock scene. 

It all started when you discovered your love for singing during an extended stay at a psychiatric hospital as a teen. Music became your motivator, and from then on, you knew the stage was where you belonged. You and your friends formed a band, and after years of practice in a garage and cheap gigs at dingy bars, your journey to the top begins abruptly when you team up with a skilled manager.

It’s a meteoric rise— until it isn’t. 

And now, a decade after your band has disappeared from the public eye, you’ve accepted an interview by the acclaimed Groove Magazine. You and your former band members have agreed to give them the truth, the whole truth; as ugly as that might be. 

Follow the story of your band’s rise to fame (and eventual fall from grace)

Play as a pop-rock vocalist

Name your band and customize your music, lyrics and image

Handle the media, interactions with pushy fans and your own repressed thoughts and fears 

Romance your coolgirl-bassist, the childhood friend you cut out of your life, your absolutely insane guitarist, or your biggest fan/possibly stalker

Give one hell of an interview

Inspiration: Daisy Jones and The Six, Fleetwood Mac… and all sorts of music-related drama.

TW: themes of mental illness, unhealthy relationships, substance abuse, death, mentions of suicide, suicidal ideation, self-harm, SA-related trauma

ROs:

Stevie McLaughlin, bassist (f) — “I suppose I was the sanest one in that bunch.”

She’s one of your oldest friends, and if you follow the clanking chain of cause and effect all the way back to the beginning, it is her you have to thank for your entire career. The band was her idea, after all. She’s level-headed, composed, and always there to talk you down when you need her. Sometimes, she acts more as your retainer than anything else…

Stevie is tall and skinny with light brown skin and extremely long, curly black hair which she always wears in a wet look. She has big, dark brown eyes and a soft face.

Paul/Paulette Zima, lead singer & saxophonist (f/m selectable, trans) — “Trying to figure out where you know me from?”

Your band’s brand-new, second lead singer. Your manager says they’re going to give your music the kick it needs, that they’re the one missing ingredient to your success. You’re not entirely sure if you agree. Worse yet, you happen to know this person, and your time together didn’t end on a favorable note. They’re part of a past you would much rather forget.

Paul is very tall, broad-backed and thickly muscled with light skin, shoulder-length slicked back brown hair and bottle green eyes.

Paulette is of average height with an hourglass/slim thick figure. She has dark brown hair with parted bangs and light blonde strands dyed into it. Her eyes are bottle green.

Angel Monsanto, guitarist (m) — “I was always going to make it big, with or without those guys. Only, I… I really wanted it to be with them.”

Your crazy but good-hearted guitarist. His passion for music borders on obsession, and he will stop at nothing to make a name for your band. Sadly, he’s very much of the conviction that all publicity is good publicity, which has encouraged him to pull some very questionable stunts in the past. 

Angel is of average height and build with a warm beige complexion and long black hair. He has a square jaw with an occasional five o’clock shadow and brown eyes. 

Lincoln Saunders, groupie?? (f/m selectable) — “What can I say, I loved them.”

Calling Lincoln a fan would be an understatement. Fanatic is more like it. You remember seeing them at your very first show, and you’ve continued to spot them at every venue you’ve played at since. You don’t know anything about them, and perhaps changing that would be a very bad idea. But maybe you still want to.

Lincoln (m) is short and lean, with an angular face and wavy blond hair. His eyes are cobalt blue. 

Lincoln (f) is petite and tan, with a youthful, round face and chin-length blond beach waves. Her eyes are cobalt blue.

Others:

Maddox Wells (m), drummer

Another one of your oldest friends. You don’t much like to talk about what happened with him.

Fatima Shah (f), drummer — “I’m pretty sure they used to try to make me disappear with their fog machine.”

After things didn’t work out with your original drummer, Fatima saved the day. She’s a sweetheart to you, but from what you’ve heard, she can be kind of a terrible person. Maybe it’s best to stay a little wary of her.

Kalena Graham (f), manager — “The first time I saw them… well, they kind of sucked. But I knew, I just knew, that they had what it takes to suck on an international level.”

Your band’s manager. You can’t believe how lucky you were to have caught her attention. She’s experienced, driven, well-regarded in the industry and… kind of mean, to be honest.

Simon Young (m), reporter — “Start at the beginning. And then, don’t stop.”

The guy conducting the interview for Groove Magazine. He’s nice enough, if a little starstruck. It seems he has been waiting a long time for this.

Addendum: NSFW alphabet masterlist

Zima pt. 1 and pt. 2

Stevie

Lincoln

Angel

Dividers by @thecutestgrotto

Please consider reblogging <3

[scissorears-if]

I feel really shallow for asking this, but how is the MC in terms of looks? Are they considered attractive? Average? Plain? Or is it going to be customizable (as much as it seems pointless to add such a feature on a small game, it also serves as practice with Twine, so I don't know if you'll think about including it)?

I ask for two reasons:

1. I was wondering if MC's appearance, within the possible reasons MC is not bullied while O is, may be the cause for the difference in treatment. They are still an outcast, regardless. But a conventionally attractive outcast, an intimidating one or a plain one are quite different in the way they are seen. Maybe MC could be attractive, yet uncanny in some sort of way.

2. I have the flaw of imagining and wanting my MCs to be attractive. And it would make sense given how O has not communicated their crush. Of course I don't know O's personality yet, so it may be not out of insecurity (at least when it comes to looks), but rather about maintaining the friendship alive without risking it for a romance. Or maybe there is another motivation entirely.

I think it could be interesting, however, if the appearance reception was customizable. Doesn't Press Play have something like that? You can be either ethereal or down to earth. Maybe here it could be something a bit more expansive. In the sense that maybe MC could have an ethereal beauty, down to earth beauty, or be plain and forgettable, or have an intimidating aura, or just be so uncanny most people don't like to look at them.

Then again, that's a lot of work for a small IF. And I understand if you go with a more fixed MC instead (which is the natural thing to do). Although, my doubt stands.

Regardless, I'm quite intrigued and excited by this project. I haven't read much horror from you except for SHC (I'll miss Flo forever), but I did like the horror sections of that IF. And I like horror, so I'll always welcome another horror story.

Anyhow, have a nice day! And good luck with Twine. I have tried to write my own IF there and the coding can be a bit (a lot) of a headache. But I believe in you! I'm sure you can do it! And Twine has its advantages compared to choicescript, of many sorts.

Hey nonnie! Oh I love long asks! Thank you kindly for your encouragement, I'm very glad someone still likes me as a horror writer too :D

I will someday use Flo in another IF, of this I'm fairly certain. He means a lot to me, given he was my first openly autistic character and many other reasons.

As for your question: Yes, the Scissor Ears MC is, in fact, attractive. It's a case quite similar to a certain version of the Press Play MC, where the character looks beautiful and fascinating in a strange, unusual way. The Press Play MC can look ethereal, and so does Scissor Ears, but they are also perceived as slightly creepy and intimidating by their peers. They have very peculiar eyes that often make people very squeamish to look into. People can't really get a read on them, and they can seem a tad threatening, which is why bullies prefer to leave them alone. Even though there is, of course, lots of mean-spirited gossip going around about them.

O doesn't communicate their crush for both of the reasons you mentioned. Scissor Ears MC is very much out of their league, looks-wise, although that feels very mean to say. But O is also very insecure and afraid. Who wouldn't be, if they got mistreated by their peers everyday. :(

[scissorears-if]

Scissor Ears: Oliver/Olivia Harding

Every morning, you take the bus to school. Every morning, O Harding waits at the stop beside you. Sometimes, when they're feeling brave, they try to talk to you.

O is your classmate, and the only other teenager who lives just as far out in the sticks, in a small, decrepit house near your father's farm. Like you, they are seventeen years old.

O is thin, worryingly so. No square inch of their pale face is unmarred by acne. They wear the same baggy denim shirt and vest, day in and day out. Their bleach-blond hair is long, greasy at the roots and frizzy at the bottom. They don't bother to hide their self-neglect anymore.

They're technically an outcast, too, but their loneliness, unlike yours, is born of rejection. They get bullied severely, but doggedly continue their studies, hoping for a better future.

Their hope is in vain.

Due to popular demand in my inbox, I wrote an intro to the pseudo-romancable character. O Harding is perhaps the only truly kind person in this story, and they don't deserve the bad shit happening to them. They have a pretty noticeable crush on the main character, though of course they've never acted on it.

[scissorears-if]

Scissor ears, uh? More like, Hare on the side of caution. ψ(｀∇´)ψ

to quote you directly: "Is that a pun in my inbox or are you just happy to see me?"

[scissorears-if]

A Game from the same author of Press Play with Zima and SHC? Shut up an take my money 😭💵

I love that the full title according to you is "Press Play with Zima" hehe, they're a defining party of your experience XD

But yes, yes indeed. I will not take your money, but I welcome all praise, adoration and general encouragement.

[scissorears-if]

So there is no ro?

Well no, there is. But it's not a full-fledged romance, and certainly not in the way any of you are expecting. This is just a tiny game I'm making to practice twine, and it's mainly grimdark horror. Don't go into this for the little dash of romance I threw in. You'd be disappointed.

[scissorears-if]

The ros is the stalker and can we get some facts about them?

No, the stalker isn't an RO. The RO (though I struggle to call them that) is a classmate of the MC. Their name is Oliver/Olivia Harding. Most of the bullying mentioned in the story happens to them. MC is also an outcast, but moreso by choice, and does not get picked on...

[scissorears-if]

it is! hello world:)

The world says hello nonnie :)

[scissorears-if]

Shame on me indeed. The ask box is wide open now tho!

At least I think it is.

It SHOULD be

I tried to send and ask but the function is not aviable.

Aslo is not a romance since they are kids? But they are gonna to end up together in future?

AHHH nonnie I'm so sorry! Shame on me. I totally forgot. It should work now.

Nope, that's not the reason :D

And there might not be much of a future.

[scissorears-if]

This is why I made this blog! It's very much open to asks ;)

HOW IS THAT ROMANCE A PSEUDO! I need awnsers (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

ayyy send Scissor Ears ask to the Scissor Ears blog! I'm lonely over there I need the traffic lol

And I don't want to spoil but... ye I won't call it a genuine romance.

[scissorears-if]

January 1985.

You are a high schooler, taking your final steps towards adulthood. Your peers generously attribute your strangeness to you being raised on a farm in the sticks and not being around people a lot. Your only remote acquaintance is the kid you take the bus to town with each morning.

Yet, despite your reclusiveness, you appear to have acquired a stalker.

Scissor Ears is a short, 18+ horror interactive fiction made in Twine. The finished game will be around 30k words long and most likely be released in full once it's complete.

play as a male or female teenager in the 80s

evade your stalker and investigate their motivations

keep the kid who's crushing on you at arm's length

survive

Note that this IF has only one optional (pseudo-)romance route. As the RO and PC are minors, there will be no explicit scenes between them. Also note that this is the author's trial project to get into working with Twine, hence the short length.

Trigger Warnings: Mentions and depictions of extreme bullying, drug/alcohol abuse, domestic abuse, child neglect, graphic violence and gore.

If you're interested, consider reblogging! It helps immensely.

dividers found on @saradika-graphics <3

main project: @pressplay-if