#I want to start making games...I know the coding part...it's just the story and writing part :////

[vaadazen-codes]

How To Get Started Making Visual Novels

Wanna make a visual novel? Or maybe you've seen games like Our Life, Blooming Panic, Doki Doki Literature Club, etc. and wanna make something like that? Good news, here's a very basic beginners guide on how to get started in renpy and what you need to know going in! Before you start, I highly recommend looking at my last post about writing a script for renpy just to make it easier on you!

LONG POST AHEAD

Obviously, our first step is downloading it from their website

thankfully, its right on the home page of their site. Follow basica program installation steps and run the program. I highly recommend pinning it to your task bar to make it easier to access.

From there, you're met with the renpy app, it's a little daunting at first but let's talk about what all these buttons are for.

Projects

This part is simple, it just lists the current projects in the chosen directory. You probably won't have any in there of your own. You should still see Tutorial and The Question!

Both of those default projects are super helpful in their own ways, i highly recommend testing out the tutorial and playing around with it just to get comfortable with some of the basics.

Create New Project

The first step to actually making your game into a game!

You'll be met with a prompt letting you know that the project is being made in English and that you can change it. You can click Continue.

From here, you'll be asked to input a project name! Put in your games title, or even a placeholder title since this Information can be changed later! (this is also the title the folder will be in your file browser, be sure to name it something you won't overlook)

Now we get to choose our resolution!

If you have no idea what to choose, go for 1920x1080! This is the standard size for most computer monitors and laptops, but it will still display with moderately decent quality on 4k monitors too!

You can choose 3840x2160 as well. This is 2x the measurements of the default, with the same ration. These dimensions are considered 4k. Keep in mind, your image files will be bigger and can cause the game to have a larger size to download.

Now we get to choose our color scheme!

Renpy has some simple default options with the 'light mode' colors being the bottom two rows, and the 'dark mode' colors being the toop two rows.

You can pick anything here, but I like to choose something that matches my projects vibes/colors better. Mostly because depending on how in depth you go with the ui, it minimizes the amount of changes I need to make later.

Click continue and give it a minute. Note: If it says "not responding" wait a moment without clicking anything. It can sometimes freeze briefly during the process.

Now we should be back at our home screen, with our new project showing. Let's talk about allll that stuff on the right now.

Open Directory

This just opens that particular folder in your local file explorer!

game - is all the game files, so your folders for images, audio, saves, and your game files like your script, screens, and more.

base - this is the folder that the game folder is inside of. You can also find the errors and log txt files in here.

images - takes you to your main images folder. This is where you wanna put all of your NON gui images, like your sprites, backgrounds, and CGs. You can create folders inside of this and still call them in the script later. EX: a folder for backgrounds , a folder for sprites for character a, a seperate folder for spirtes for character b, etc.

audio - Takes you to the default audio folder. This is empty, but you can put all your music and sound effects here!

gui - brings up the folder containing all of the default renpy gui. It's a good place to start/ reference for sizes if you want to hand draw your UI pieces like your text box!

Edit File

Simple enough, this is just where you can open your code files in whatever text/code editor you have installed.

Script.rpy - where all of your story and characters live. This is the file you'll spend most of your time in at first

Options.rpy - Contains mostly simple information, like project name and version. There aren't a ton of things in here you need to look at. There is also some lines of code that help 'archive' certain files by file type so that they can't be seen by players digging in code however. Fun if you want to hide some images in there for later or if you just dont want someone seeing how messy your files are. We've all been there

Gui.rpy - where all of the easy customization happens. Here you can change font colors, hover colors, fonts, font sizes, and then the alignment and placement of all of your text! Like your dialogue and names, the height of text buttons, etc. It more or less sets the defaults for a lot of these unless you choose to change them later.

Screens.rpy - undeniably my favorite, this is where all of the UI is laid out for the different screens in your game, like the main menu, game menu, quick menu, choice menu, etc. You can add custom screens too if you want, but I always make my own seperate file for these.

Open Project - this just opens all of those files at once in the code editor. Super handy if you make extra files like I do for certain things.

Actions

last but not least, our actions.

Navigate Script - This feature is underrated in my honest opinion, it's super handy for help debugging! In renpy you can comment with # before a line. However, if you do #TODO and type something after it, it saves it as a note! You can view these TODO's here as well as easily navigate to when certain screens are called, where different labels are (super great if your game is long, and more. It saves some scrolling.

Check Script (Lint) - also super duper handy for debugging some basic things. It also tells you your word count! But its handy for letting you know about some errors that might throw up. I like using it to look for sprites I may or may not have mispelled, because they show up in there too.

Change/Update GUI - Nifty, though once you start customizing GUI on your own, it isn't as useful. You can reset the project at any point and regenerate the image files here. This updates all those defaults we talked about earlier.

Delete Persistent - this just helps you delete any persistent data between play throughs on your end. I like to use it when making a lot of changes while testing the game, so that I can reboot the game fresh.

Force Recompile - Full disclosure, as many games as I've made and as long as I've been using Renpy, i have never used this feature. I searched to see what it does and this is the general consesus: Normally renpy tries to be smart about compiling code (creating .rpyc files) and only compiles .rpy files with changes. This is to speed up the process since compiling takes time. Sometimes you can make changes that renpy don't pick up on and therefore won't recompile. In these cases you can run force recompile to force it. Another solution (if you know what file is affected) is to delete that specific. rpyc file.

The rest of your options on this right hand side are how you make executable builds for your game that people can download to extract and play later!

Sorry gang! that was a whole lot of text obviously the last button "Launch Project" launches an uncompiled version of the project for you to play and test as you go! Hang in tight because my next post is about how to utilize github for renpy, so you can collaborate easier!

[deerspherestudios]

Hiya! I know you get this a lot, but I wanted to start off by saying how much I ADORE your work and that I genuinely cannot WAIT for day 3 of Mushroom Oasis. Your artstyle is so pleasing on the eyes! ٩(^‿^)۶ You might have been asked this before, but I was just wondering what programs you used when programming/making your visual novels ^^’

I love writing stories/drawing and I had loads of ideas bustling about making visual novels but have no idea where to actually start…

MUCH LOVE 💗💗💗💗

I use Ren'Py! It's incredibly beginner friendly and truth be told, coding is not my forte. I mostly looked at how my friend did it for Lift Your Spirits and kinda just worked with what I understood at the time!

Most of the time this is me working in Ren'Py:

Dev ramble under cut:

I know the question didn't explicitly ask but just a teensy bit of unsolicited advice, I recommend starting with a script!

You can't make a visual novel without the novel part done first, and it helps to see if you really have something good enough for a finished game before investing the time and energy into artwork, coding, et cetera. You can even start writing before you figure out how to use Ren'Py, as the script can help motivate you to finish what you started! At least that's how it worked for me!

[marvelouslizzie]

"Not a study date"

Summary: You have the biggest crush on Bucky Barnes but despite all your efforts, he doesn’t seem to notice you. Can one study date change it all?

Pairing: College Bucky Barnes x Female Reader

Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI, idiots in love, study date, misunderstandings, jealousy, language, oral sex (male and female receiving), protected sex, praise, pet names, no mention of y/n

Word Count: 6.4K

A/N: I really wanted to write a College!Bucky Barnes story and this is it. It’s full of foolishness, miscommunication, and jealousy with a happy ending. This means it’s basically smut with a little bit of plot. I hope you enjoy it and if you do please give some kind of feedback. Every like, comment, and reblog is highly appreciated. Don’t hesitate to message me. Unless it’s hate. That’s never welcome.

All work is mine, please do not repost or translate without my permission.

Read more tag starts after the first paragraph of the story.

Nothing seems to change whenever you visit your best friend's ex-boyfriend Sam Wilson. That sounds weird every time you remember Michelle dated him but things are just fine between them since it was Michelle who just decided to change schools and they ended things on friendly terms. He’s a good friend and really fun to play games with since he’s a sore loser but most importantly he’s your only connection to Bucky Barnes. 

God, that sounds so wrong. Like you are only friends with him just to be closer to Bucky, that’s definitely not the case but you can’t deny Bucky is one of the reasons you are visiting him so often. You like that Bucky secretly watches you two while you are playing games and celebrates your every victory. You know he just loves to annoy Sam but it makes you so happy every time he joins your efforts to brag about winning but that’s mostly it. 

You tried really hard to find some common interests with Bucky so you two can chat. He likes games, he loves reading books and you have a couple of classes together. You have a lot of things in common but nothing sticks for long when you are trying to have a conversation with him. You are not sure if it’s because he’s totally uninterested in you or you are just horrible at flirting. This doesn’t stop you from trying though. 

That’s why you are at Sam and Bucky’s place. Once again you found a reason to stop by and maybe because he has had enough of you, Bucky makes a comment that you did not expect.

“I’m starting to think you have a crush on Sam.”

“What?” The shock you feel is so hard to explain. You how no idea how surprised you sound.

“Well, you are here nearly every day.” Bucky tries to explain his thought process, already sounding awkward because of your reaction.

“Eww, no.” 

“What do you mean eww no?” Sam sounds offended.

“You are my best friend’s ex-boyfriend.”

“And?”

“What do you mean and?” God, does Sam thinks that way, too? You thought you two had an understanding. “You dated my best friend. You are like a brother to me. Of course, I’m gonna say eww.”

“Oh, some kind of girl's code, huh?” Bucky somehow sounds relieved but you don’t notice it’s because of your response.

“Great answer, bub. I was testing you.” Sam’s offended tone instantly disappears.

“Were you?” Bucky questions him before you can. “You sounded really offended to me.”

“Part of my talent.”

The conversation quickly changes into something else but Bucky’s observation sticks with you. Bucky thinking you might have feelings for Sam leaves a sour taste in your mouth. You are here to see him, day after day, and all this time he thought you just came to see Sam. Either he’s blind or you are just not good at showing your intentions. And then there’s a third option that you don’t even wanna think about: He noticed exactly who you are here for and decided to ignore it so he doesn’t have to reject you. Either way, it hurts. 

You consider canceling your study session with Bucky. It’s just gonna be awkward to sit next to him and try to focus on the notes. Plus, you are sure studying alone will be more efficient. No distractions at all.

“About our studying session…” You start to speak before leaving with the intention to cancel your plans.

“Oh yeah, you are still coming, right?” Bucky’s whole face lights up. It’s hard not to see it. He seems excited. “I convinced Faye to share her notes with me. You know how great her notes are. It’s already guaranteed that we will get an amazing score.”

Oh, that’s why he’s excited. Because he used his charm and managed to convince Faye to share her notes. She doesn’t do that often, if ever. She knows how precious her notes are and he’s right. That is literally your golden ticket to get a great score. 

“I was gonna ask if you still want to study together.”

“Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I?” He sounds confused.

“I don’t know.” You sound unsure. “Maybe you are tired of me since I’m always around.”

“Oh, come on! I was just joking.” He quickly responds. “You always come here to spend time with Sam. We never hang out just the two of us.”

He’s right. He always stays away from you. Only making comments from far away. Maybe you should’ve taken that as a sign.

“This is not hanging out, either. It’s just studying together.” 

He shrugs and you miss the disappointed expression that passes his face.

“Just come, okay? I promise it will be worth it.”

“Ugh, I’m glad I won’t be here. You two are insufferable. It’s just a study date. No big deal.” Sam can’t help but comment on your conversation.

“It’s not a date.” You and Bucky say at the same time. You look at him, feeling disappointed but try to hide it as much as you can.

“Whatever you say,” Sam raises both of his hands in defense but doesn’t seem like he believed you.

*

This was definitely a bad idea. It’s been a while since you two started studying and you did not understand a word. Not because Faye’s notes are bad. Nope, they are perfect but you can’t seem to focus on the words. The only thing you can focus on is Bucky’s smell. You try really hard not to check him out and it’s relatively easier since he’s sitting close to you but his smell… God, that’s so distracting. You have no idea what exactly it is. It seems like a mix of his own smell, the perfume he uses, and a bit of a sweat. You should be disgusted by the thought of sweat but all you want to do is get closer to him.

You take a deep breath, trying to calm yourself down. This is just a silly crush, nothing more. You can just focus on the notes and learn something useful before the exam. You can do that, right? While you try to read the same sentence for the 19th time, Bucky takes his phone and starts to type something. The idea of him texting someone else while studying with you is so irritating but there’s nothing you can do about it. This is just a stupid study session for him. You push your chair to the back, thinking about getting a glass of water.

“I’m gonna get-” When you notice the awkward expression on Bucky’s face you stop talking. Before he can cover it, you notice the reason he’s looking so uncomfortable. His erection is impossible to hide in those gray shorts he’s wearing. 

“It’s not what you think.” He immediately responds while trying to hide his erection but there’s no way he can tuck it in while you are staring at him.

“Are you really sexting with someone while we are studying?” That’s the first thing that comes to your mind and you can’t keep that thought to yourself. 

“What? No!”

“I mean… it’s alright. You can see or talk to whoever you want but…” It’s so hard to collect your thoughts and turn them into meaningful sentences while your mind is running miles in seconds. It feels so humiliating and not because of the erection. The thought of him sexting someone right next to you… while you tried to get his attention all this time… It just stings.

“What the fuck?” He sounds completely shocked. “I’m not sexting anyone. Why would you even think that?”

“Why else would you get an erection in the middle of studying?” You really can’t think of any other possibilities. Plus he’s still holding his phone. “It’s fine.”

He says your name in a way he never did before. “I’m not seeing anyone. I’m not sexting with anyone. I texted Sam and then I was googling a word I saw in Faye’s notes because I have no idea what it means and I thought it would help me calm down.”

“Oh.” That’s completely unexpected. Then why did he get an erection out of the blue?

“I’m so sorry. I really didn’t want you to find out like this. God! It’s so embarrassing.” His words don’t make sense to you. What is he trying to say?

“Find out about what?” You try to understand him. “That you get erections?”

“What? No.” Then what did he mean? “I didn’t want you to find out… about my feelings… like this.” He sounds so nervous, even more nervous than you are feeling.

“For me?” The question comes instantly because there is no way that’s what he meant.

“Of course for you. Who else?” 

“Wait, wait, wait.” You finally put two and two together. “You just got an erection, because of me?”

“Ihm…” You can’t help but notice how awkward he sounds. “Yeah… I’m really sorry. I’m so ashamed.” He covers his face with both of his hands for a second. Then he continues. “I really didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable. I swear I’m not a creep. You just smell… so good.”

“You just got an erection because you have feelings for me?” You are sounding like a stuck record at this point but you can’t believe he really said that.

“Yeah. I was planning to ask you out, tonight. That’s why I was texting Sam but… instead… I made a fool of myself.” The panic in tone is so evident. Your eyes go back to his still-obvious erection. “I’m normally not like this. I don’t know what happened. Please forgive me.”

“Do you want me to help you with that?” You ask without taking your eyes off the outline of his erection.

“What?”

“Since you got hard because of me, I’m offering help.” You slowly close the distance between you two.

“That’s not… necessary.” He gulps. “It will go away in a few minutes.”

You have no idea where this wave of confidence comes from. Maybe because he just told you he wanted to ask you out or maybe because the smell of you gave him a hard-on. You just find yourself gently palming his erection over his shorts and he instantly takes a sharp breath.

“What if… I don’t want it to go away?”

“You’re not… you’re not offended?”

“You are not a random creep out in the street, Bucky. I know you. I like you. Why would I be offended?”

“Wait, you like me?” He sounds like he can’t believe what he’s hearing.

“Yeah.” You keep gently rubbing him. He doesn’t take a step back or try to stop you. His eyelashes flutter like he’s enjoying the sensation. “Why do you think I was visiting Sam so often?”

“Not because you have a crush on him?” He asks with a smile.

“Nope, because I have a crush on you.”

“You… have… a crush on me?” It feels like in the span of a couple of minutes, you two changed roles and it’s his turn to feel surprised by your words.

“Yeah. For a while.”

“I guess Sam was right.” 

“Was he?” You ask while you move your head closer. “About what?”

“He said you like me and I’m too blind to notice it.”

“Hmm… Even he noticed it, huh? I guess he is right.” Bucky looks at your lips while you are talking. You can see the idea of kissing you forming in his head.

“Can I…” He sounds like he isn’t sure, yet he tries one more time. “Can I kiss you?”

“My hand is on your hard cock, right now. What do you think?” Your response gives him a huge grin.

“I still wanna hear you say it.”

“Yes, you can kiss me, Bucky.”

He doesn’t need to be told twice. His lips instantly crush on yours, like a thirsty man who finally found a glass of cold water. His lips move fast against yours until you rub on his cock again. It makes him gasp in the middle of the kiss, and the rhythm is lost. You feel how painfully hard he is under your touch. You don’t know if it is your effect or it’s because it has been a while for him. You would like to know, but you don’t want to ask. Instead, your hands move to the waistband of his shorts. You look directly into his eyes, silently asking for permission. He just gulps and then blinks. 

You always thought he was just distant when it comes to you, but you finally realize it was actually Bucky’s shyness. He gets flushed under your touch, struggling to find the right words. He communicates through his body language, but you want to change that a little. You want him to be vocal if you are gonna have sex. That’s when the idea of sucking him off comes to you. Unexpectedly, you kneel and gently push his shorts and boxers down while he watches you with big eyes. There’s no fear or worry behind those eyes. You see how excited but reserved he is. You want to show him there’s nothing to worry about. While directly looking at him, you start to stroke him. His cock is so close to your face, but you don’t make a move, you only move your hand up and down on his shaft slowly. His breathing shutters under your touch, but he says nothing. He just watches you.

“Is this okay?” You ask, already knowing it is. You just want him to talk. You wanna hear his voice.

“Ye-yeah.” He sounds so breathy. You start to twist your wrist a little, just to change the sensation.

“What about this?” He takes a deep breath.

“So good.” 

Maybe he isn’t a talker during sex. That’s fine, but you don’t want to give up that quickly. So this time, you sit on your knees and take him inside your mouth without any warning.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” His reaction makes you want to smile so widely, but your mouth is full of him. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“Why? Don’t you like it?” You ask while pumping him with your hand.

“Just warn me, so I don’t embarrass myself.”

“Embarrass yourself how?” Your question catches him off guard. “I wanna hear those reactions. Don't hold back!” 

He just nods like a good boy, and that makes you smile. You don’t say anything, though. You just take him back into your mouth. This time, he lets out a moan. Your tongue moves around the head of his cock, swirling over and over again until he whines. He literally whines under your tongue and that makes you feel like you won a prize. It doesn’t take him long to grab your hair. He doesn’t try to control your movement or push you. It just feels like he’s trying to find something to hold on to.

You pace up a little, moving your head up and down on his cock while gently massaging his balls. That does it. First, you hear a loud moan that sounds like choking, then before he could even utter a word, the first shot of his come hits the back of your throat. You keep going until he empties himself. While you move away from him, you see his eyes are still closed. He takes a deep breath and opens them just in time to catch you swallowing.

“Oh my fucking god…” He sounds like he can’t believe what he is witnessing. You wonder if no one has ever done this in front of him before.

“How are you feeling now?” Your voice is much calmer than you expect. 

“So good. You have no idea.”

“I might have a little bit of an idea.” You smile while standing up. The hard floor tired your knees so you rub both of them.

“That was just amazing.” For some reason, he sounds younger and inexperienced at this moment. Like this was his first blowjob ever but you know that’s not the case. You heard a couple of stories from Sam, and you know this isn’t Bucky’s first rodeo. Yet, he sounds so affected by you. That directly goes to your ego.

You sit back down on your chair, not knowing what to do next, but it doesn’t take you long to realize Bucky does. He’s already getting on his knees while you give him a confused look.

“You know, that’s not necessary, right?”

“I know.”

“You don’t need to return the favor or anything. I did it because I wanted to.” You have no idea why you are discouraging him to do whatever he is planning on doing. You want to see what he wants, yet you don’t want him to feel obliged or anything.

“And now I am doing this because I want to.” 

He puts his hands on both of your legs, gently pushing them apart. You didn’t realize how turned on you are until this moment. Your focus was completely on him, wanting to make him feel good and you forgot about yourself. You didn’t even realize how wet you are. Carefully, he moves into the space between your legs and pushes your skirt up. His fingers graze over your covered pussy, and you are sure he can actually feel your wetness through the fabric.

“Can I take it off?” God, why does he sound so shy while asking that? And why does it turn you on even more?

“Are you gonna ask my permission for every single move?”

“Do you not want me to?”

“I like it, but you don’t have to ask everything. Not after coming inside my mouth.” You smile after finishing your sentence and you watch how flushed he gets, but you see that he understands what you mean. His hands reach for your underwear and take it off pretty quickly like he can’t wait any longer. He doesn’t touch your skirt, simply gets under it. That’s why you can’t see the first time he licks you. Immediately you move your skirt up to your waist and here he is, buried between your legs. He hungrily eats you out, his long licks sending shivers down your spine. 

“Oh my god!” 

Your reaction makes him look up for the first time. That flushed expression turned into pure hunger. His blue eyes watch every mimic you make while he starts to suck your clit. He definitely started strong, but you can’t complain, especially when you are this soaked. You didn’t even realize you pushed your legs together and trapped him between them until he gently pushed them apart.

“Oh, sorry.” You quickly say, but he doesn’t seem to care. He licks, he sucks, and does everything in his power to crumble under his touch. It’s so intense that you can’t think of anything other than the way he makes you feel. You don’t even notice how quickly your first orgasm hits you. It’s hard and fast. You can’t keep your voice down. No, you moan his name so loudly. If he didn’t come a couple of minutes ago, the way you said his name over and over again would get him hard again. Even with that in mind, he could feel the blood rushing to his dick, yet he keeps licking you until you push his head away.

“That’s… that’s enough.” It’s hard to breathe normally. You really didn’t expect to come this hard. The orgasm is still running through your whole body. 

“Sensitive?” His voice is low yet sweet.

“Yeah, a little.” You take a deep breath. “Just give me a second.”

He does that, but instead of moving away, he puts his head on your leg. After taking a couple of deep breaths, you look at him. He is so pretty like this, looking up to you with big blue eyes and a wet mouth. 

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah.” You smile. “I didn’t expect to come this hard.”

“Well…” You watch a big grin spreading on his lips. “Welcome to my world. I didn’t expect to come without a warning either.”

“That good?”

“Oh, yeah. That good.” He quickly agrees. “Sorry about that though.”

“Sorry about what?” You really have no idea what he means.

“Sorry about coming without warning.”

“Oh. That’s fine.” You stop for a second. “Sorry about giving you a hard-on.”

“The most embarrassing and the most amazing thing that ever happened to me.”

“Hmm… How so?” You fish for more.

“I don’t… You know… Go around getting hard-ons randomly.”

“Really? I thought that happened a lot to men.” 

“Not like this. Waking up with morning wood? Yeah. That happens, but getting an erection in the middle of studying? That’s a first.”

“Happy to have a first in your life.”

“I never came like this without a warning either.”

“Two firsts.” You don’t realize how smug you sound, but he does.

“What about you?”

“I don’t think I have ever come this hard without… you know… something inside me.”

“Is that so?” The way he smiles just makes you feel butterflies in your stomach. “You like to have something inside?”

“If they know… how to use it.”

“Let’s give it a try, shall we?” 

He moves his head away from your right leg, repositioning himself, and before you could say anything, his mouth is on you again. His tongue is gentle, testing the waters to see if you are still sensitive, but honestly, you are not. You just want him to move a little faster. You don’t say it though. You want to see what he is planning. He keeps on licking you for a while, making sure you are ready for his fingers and when he decides that you are, he slowly pushes his index finger inside. You moan in response.

“Does it feel good?” He takes his mouth off your clit for a second to ask.

“Yeah. It feels so good!” You can feel what he is trying to do. He’s building up your pleasure so slowly, you know it’s going to be explosive at the end. He keeps pumping his finger in and out of you while watching your expressions. 

“Do you want the second one or…” You don’t let him finish his question. 

“I want the second one.”

Your response makes him smile again. You are not sure what makes him happier: your eagerness or your openness. It does seem like he isn’t used to getting direct feedback, but he thrives on it. Quickly, he adds the second finger inside and you can’t help but notice how his thick fingers are filling you. It’s such a delicious feeling. You are so lost in it, you don’t realize how he leans back into your pussy. He nibbles your clit carefully while moving his finger at a steady pace. You can’t help but think he knows what he’s doing and he’s good at reading your reactions. He notices you react more when he licks instead of sucks, so he quickly switches back to it.

“Oh, fuck!” You love how his tongue feels against your skin. Your hands find his hair, pulling it gently just to ground yourself. You feel him moan against your clit when you tug on his hair. The idea of him enjoying it somehow turns you on even more. You decide to test it and pull his hair a little bit more when you feel like doing it. His loud moan vibrates on your swollen clit. It’s like he can’t get enough of it.

“Someone likes a bit of pain.” 

He pulls away from your pussy for a second. When he looks at you, you can see how turned on he is. The hunger is evident in his eyes. 

“Someone likes being full.”

“I’m not full, yet.” You aren’t trying to tease him, that’s the truth yet you can see that sounds like a promise to him. The promise of taking a lot more than just two fingers. He doesn’t say anything. He just goes back to licking and pumping his fingers. The only difference is he’s moving a lot faster than before and you aren’t sure how long you can take this before your orgasm comes back to crush you. It’s overwhelming yet not enough. You don’t realize how your body arches before you start to lose yourself in that pleasure.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Words come out involuntarily. “Don’t stop, Bucky. Please. So good. So fucking good.”

He keeps going, keeping that same pace. He wants to encourage you and talk to you, but his mouth is busy giving you pleasure. Hearing you moaning and begging is enough for now.

“Oh, god.” Your whole body starts to shake. It’s like your whole body is electrified. “Yes, yes, yes, Bucky. God, I love your mouth so much.”

He smiles against your clit but doesn’t break the contact. He didn’t think you would be this vocal, but he’s enjoying every second of it.

“Ahh, fuck, ahhh yes.” You moan out while shaking. You have no idea how long this orgasm lasts, but you feel so good. As your shaking starts to slow down, Bucky starts to move slower to match that.

“Mmm.” You knew sex with Bucky would be good but this is definitely how you imagined it. Finally, he moves his mouth away from you when he realizes your orgasm is done. You feel so boneless, so relieved.

“Are you okay?” His question brings you back to reality and you notice your eyes are closed. You open them back up and meet his gaze.

“Oh, yeah, I’m great.” He smiles so proudly.

“Glad to hear that.”

“You have no idea how tired yet relaxed I am feeling right now.”

“Not too tired I hope.” That surprises you.

“Why is that?”

“I thought you wanted to be full.” Then you see his erection. It’s actually impossible not to see how painfully hard he is even though he already came once.

“You want to…” You don’t know how to finish that sentence. You thought you would be done after this. You never had someone who wanted you like this before. The feeling settles into your chest. He wants you. He still wants you that bad after coming so hard. It makes you feel seen and desired.

“Unless you don’t want to…”

“Oh, I do.” Your response is instant. You really do. Even after two orgasms, you feel like you want more. You imagined riding his dick or him bending you over and fucking you hard so many times. You want to know how it really feels. 

“Good.” He stands up, and when his erection is on your eye level, you can’t help but stare. Not every dick is aesthetically pleasing. Some don’t even look like they would feel good, but Bucky… Bucky’s dick waters your mouth like you didn’t already give him a blowjob. You need it inside of you. While you are lost in thoughts, Bucky picks you up from your chair. You let out a small yelp while he offers you a warm smile.

“Just carrying you to the bedroom, doll.”

“Doll?” You never heard him use that nickname before.

“Yeah, you are a pretty little doll. So beautiful and so smart. Very eager and loud.”

You don’t know how to react. A lot of praises combined with stuff that makes you wanna question him more.

“Am I that loud?” You can’t help but ask.

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure my neighbors hate us right now.”

“Oh god.” You feel your cheeks getting red, but he doesn’t seem concerned.

“Don’t let that stop you. I wanna hear how good I make you feel, doll.” He gently puts you on top of the bed. 

“Doll.” You repeat, without an implied question mark. 

“If you don’t like it…”

“I do. I really do.” You want to be his pretty little doll and your reaction makes him smile again. “It’s just new. I never heard you say it.”

“Because it is only for you.” Those words cause different a kind of warmth to spread through your chest.

You watch him open the drawer and pull out a condom. He rips the package off impatiently and puts it on with haste. Seeing how impatient he is makes you giggle and that makes him look back at you.

“What’s so funny?”

“Someone is eager to be inside me.”

“Aren’t you eager to feel my cock inside you?” His words take you by surprise. What happened to that shy boy who couldn’t find the word to tell you what he wants? Your shocked look makes him worry a little. He’s afraid that he crossed some kind of line.

“Fuck, that was hot.�� Your words sweep away his fear.

“You like that?” He asks while closing the distance between you. “You like when I say dirty stuff like that?”

“Yeah. I love it.”

“You wanna hear how good you are for me?” You didn’t expect that question at all. He moves closer to you, forcing you to lie down. He positions himself between your legs. “Because you are so good for me.” His words make your pussy clench around nothing. You really need him inside you, and he doesn’t waste any time. He knows you are as impatient as he is. He slowly pushes his cock inside, taking his time and being gentle. He moves back and then forth until he’s balls deep inside you and you can’t hold back that loud moan. It just feels so good to be full.

“Shit.” You throw your head back. Your legs automatically wrap around his torso. He leans down and gives you a long kiss, taking his sweet time so you can get used to the feeling of him. Then he starts to move slowly while his mouth moves to your neck, gently sucking on your skin. It feels great, but somehow it’s not enough. So you start to move your hips with him, matching his rhythm but creating more friction.

“You want more already?” He doesn’t sound judgmental, more like he’s amused.

“Yeah. I need it harder.”

“Harder.” He repeats. “My doll needs it harder.”

Before you can say anything, he moves away from you. A loud whine leaves your lips. You don’t like that feeling of emptiness. You want to protest, but he grabs you by the ankles and pulls you to the edge of the bed. He pushes your legs up and repositions himself between your legs. Then without saying a word, he gets inside you again.

“Holy fuck.” Your reaction comes out instantly. It feels so different, even more full. Then he starts to move, a little harder than before. Even though he isn’t using much force, because of the angle, it feels much better.

“Is it hard enough for you?” He sounds cheeky. 

“Yes, for now.”

“For now.” He repeats your words. “For now is good because we are just starting.”

You would love to say something back, but it feels too good. The only thing you can do is moan. With every moan you let out, he moves a little bit faster, he grows a little bit more impatient. He pays attention to what makes you moan more, which movement makes you lose yourself, and tries to repeat them. The room is filled with the sounds of his skin slapping against yours and how wet you are. Combined with your moans, he starts to lose control and move faster than before. That triggers more moans out of you. It turns into a vicious cycle until you are panting and begging.

“Please, please, please…” You can already taste your orgasm. It’s that close.

“Please what? Tell me what you need.”

“More… I need more.”

“Be more specific, doll. More of what?” That nickname sends a jolt of electricity through your body. “Do you want me to rub your clit?”

“No, no.” That’s not what you need. “I need you to move faster.”

“If I move faster… I won’t be able to hold back.”

“Don’t hold back.” You say while taking deep breaths. “Let’s come together.”

“Are you sure? It won’t last that long.”

“Try to hold back until I say let go.” You really want to come at the same time.

“I’m not sure if that will work.”

“You can stop anytime if you feel like you are about to come before me. That’s okay.”

“But what about…” You don’t let him finish.

“We can build my orgasm back up. It’s there, I can feel it. Just move as fast as you can and try to hold back. You can let go when I start coming, okay?”

He nods, but you see he’s not fully convinced. He just doesn’t want to disappoint you.

“It’s okay if you come before me. Not the end of the world.”

“I don’t… I don’t wanna let you down.” The vulnerability is so evident in his voice.

“You can never let me down. I don’t care if you come early. I will take it as a compliment.”

Your words make him smile a little. His hesitation is still there, but the urge to please you outweighs his worries. He leans down and kisses you in response. Long and full of love. You realize how much your words mean to him just with that kiss. When he pulls back, he starts to move again. He returns to his previous pace and starts to go faster bit by bit. You can feel that familiar feeling of approaching orgasm again. It’s slowly building up, but when you look at Bucky’s face, you notice he’s closer than you are. You need to get there a little faster. That’s why your fingers quickly find your clit and start to rub. When he notices what you are doing, he groans. His hips start to move so fast, you can’t help but scream. Your fingers combined with his fast pace finally push you over that edge.

“I’m coming. I’m coming. I’m coming.” You repeat without thinking and he knows what that means. He can finally let go. His hands grab your waist, getting that support he needs to fuck you into the mattress. The way he moves makes you see the stars. 

“Fuck, doll, I’m coming too!” Your mouth opens for a silent scream while he starts to come. The way he moans and groans fills you with pleasure, knowing you are the reason behind all of that. “Oh, god.” He keeps moving even though he’s done. He wants you to enjoy your orgasm till the last drop and you do. You let yourself thrive on every last bit of that amazing feeling. 

He finally stops moving when he realizes you are done. He gently pulls himself out of you, making you whine a little, and lays right next to you. You turn to your side, facing him while still trying to calm your breathing down.

“You just ruined me,” he suddenly says.

“I ruined you? I think it’s the other way around, mister.” He’s the one who gave you three mind-blowing orgasms and he has the audacity to say this. 

“I don’t think you understand.” He sounds calm yet sure. “Sex never felt this amazing before.”

His words make you giggle a little but you are aware he’s right. It never felt this good before him and there’s no way you can go back.

“You are a thief.”

“Me? A thief?” Your words catch him off guard.

“Yep, you are stealing my thoughts and presenting them as yours.” 

“So it was that good for you too?”

“My mind is blown. You have no idea.” That gives him the biggest grin. 

“Does that mean you will let me take you on a date?”

“What date?” You play dumb. You know exactly what he means but you want him to actually ask. 

“You know what date.”

“Nope, I don’t. I haven’t been asked on a date for ages.”

He grabs your hand and looks directly into your eyes. “Will you go on a date with me, doll?”

“Of course, I will, with pleasure.” And that makes him laugh.

“Yep, a lot of pleasure.”

“Shit!” You suddenly jump.

“What?” He sounds so worried.

“Our exam!” You completely forgot about it. “We were supposed to study!”

“We still have time.” He tries to calm you down. “Just lie down a little until you catch your breath. We have Faye’s notes, remember? It’s gonna be a piece of cake.”

“Oh, yeah.” You remember Faye’s notes. It suddenly changes your mood.

“Are you okay?” He immediately notices. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. We are lucky we have her notes.” You try not to sound bitter but it doesn’t work. He sees right through it.

“Remind me to thank her tomorrow.” You feel the jealousy build up inside you because you know it doesn’t matter how much you beg, Faye never shares her notes, and Bucky managing to convince her could mean only one thing.

“Yeah, I should thank her too.”

“You definitely should.” He watches how your expression changes after his words and his smile grows.

“What are you smiling for?”

“Nothing. I just love seeing you get jealous for nothing.”

“I’m not jealous!”

“Sure, that’s why you look like you wanna stab her a couple of times.”

“No, I don’t.” You deny it at first, but you can see he doesn’t believe you. “I just… know that she doesn’t share her notes with anyone. She must have a crush on you. Which is understandable.”

“Is it?” He’s still smiling like a fool.

“Are you seriously enjoying this?” You are getting so angry that you try to move away from the bed but Bucky grabs your arm and pulls you closer to him. “Let me go!”

“There’s nothing to get jealous about, doll.” He sees you don’t believe him. “I only have eyes for you and that’s what I said to Faye to convince her to give me her notes.”

“What?”

“I told her I want to ask you out, but I wanna impress you with this study date first. She thought it was a great idea and shared her notes with me.”

“I thought this wasn’t a study date.” You remember him denying it was.

“Well, after everything that happened…” He gives you a look that screams sex. “I think we can finally call it a study date.” Those words give you the biggest grin.

“Can we have more study dates like this?”

“Anytime you want, doll. I’m at your service.”

[burntblueberrywaffles]

The Snowbaird fanfic rec list!

As usual, if anyone is interested in joining the snowbaird discord, just shoot me a dm for an invite!

Before we start, some notes:

As we all know Snowbaird is fucked up and toxic 😌😌 but there are;;; levels to it so for easy navigation I have color coded this fic rec! Blue is for fics that are less toxic (now that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s NO toxicity but it definitely stands on the sweeter side of the Snowbaird spectrum) whereas red stand for "god these fucked up bitches 😍😍" (though for me a big no no is loveless Snowbaird, so even the more toxic fics in this list they do love each other!) - Ive also added an orange category for the mid level fics/ones where I couldn’t quite decide where they would rank- still, do keep in mind that those rankings are based on my personal judgement (plus I’m going off memory for some of the fics) so they may not be fully accurate.

Im also adding a "heavy smut" mention to some of these fic - that means the smut takes center stage in the fic and is pretty much unavoidable to properly read the story, a lot of the other fics on this list will still contain smut, but to a lesser extent/in a way where it’s not an integral part of the plot - remember to read the tags and curate your reading experience!

Sadly several of these are incomplete - I have added a mention of when the last update was posted as of today (april 22, 2024)!

Anyways, now that all of that is out of the way, here are the recs!

Capitol AUs

Helpless, Tender, Open by perfectlystill

When his heartbeat stutters beneath her touch, when his mouth falls open, breathing heavy, Lucy Gray pops open her clutch. She’s the one pouring antidote down his throat.

Complete

if i'm dead to you, why are you at the wake? by eecwritess

It had been fifteen years since Lucy Gray Baird had escaped Coriolanus Snow at the cabin in District Twelve. But now, she had been captured. Brought back to the Capitol after all these years to be punished as a Rebel. But President Snow...well, he has offered to save her. Under one condition.

Heavy smut - complete

Songbirds, Snakes, and Wedding Rings by celestscrystal

“Even she can’t charm your way out of that predicament.” Dr. Gaul taunted. He was losing her. He could already see the disinterest in her eyes. Highbottom had been long gone, his plans at sabotage were shattered, now he was just waiting to leave. Coriolanus had to make this work. His Lucy Gray must be kept alive. He had one final idea to convince them. It was his most dangerous idea yet. “I could marry her.” In which Coriolanus was never sent to district 12 and instead got away with a slap on the wrist. However, Lucy Gray would not be granted the same fate. In order to save her, Coriolanus marries her. Clashes ensue in a tale of enemies, passion, and lovers. Updates every Saturday/Sunday!

Incomplete but is getting weekly updates! I really love this one :D

Burn by vvitchimage

Life in the wilderness is harsher than Lucy Gray Baird had imagined. Sick and almost dead, she's forced to return home to the only person capable of taking care of her.

vvitchimage is definitely one of my favourite Snowbaird authors so you will see more of her works down this list; the way she writes the toxicity is just chefs kiss 🤌 Heavy smut - complete

Safe and close at hand by framboise

In which Coriolanus Snow is handsomely rewarded for his tribute winning the Games and in turn handsomely rewards his prize, Lucy Gray, herself. He's gone solemn now in the afterglow, serious. He cares for his own, Snow, she sees that with his family, and now she is one of them. Not his family, but something he owns. His prize, his ward, his girl. Is she to be his mistress then? she thinks hazily as she slips towards sleep. Is that the future for her? To escape from the viper's den into the viper's mansion? She shivers and he drags her closer, one large hand tucked around her hip. Well, she can't escape now even if she wants to, she thinks, sinking into the softness of the plush mattress, burrowing back into the heat and warmth of her jailor.

complete

the girl and the prize by merkstave

In Lucy Gray’s defense, it was never supposed to go down like this anyway. She was just supposed to seduce him, to weasel herself into the snake pit that was Coriolanus’ bed so that he’d keep her around long enough for her to formulate an escape plan. She’d meet with Highbottom and he’d help her like he said he would after she was crowned victor and she’d be back to being a faceless girl amongst the cover of the districts. She just had to say the word and the dean of Heavensbee Academy would make her disappear. She’d be back to singing in bars in no time, back to her old life on the run. That had been nine months ago. And here she was, in her warden’s bed, naked and with his cum stuck to her inner thighs. +++ Lucy Gray is given to Coriolanus as his ward after the games. It's supposed to be a temporary arrangement, nothing more than means to an end. However, nothing is ever easy, especially at the hands of a Snow.

Sadly incomplete but the 4 chapters we did get are SO!!! Truly the delicious kind of toxicity 🤌🤌 (last updated: Jan 15, 2024)

All Of That Ultraviolence by ggs_29

He was well dressed in a suit that fit, hair combed back, still just as handsome as before, if not more so. A full pantry suited him well, helping him to fill out the spaces that were too thin on his figure, and building up the hard earned muscles of his peacekeeping stint. Today, he sits behind his desk in a fine dress shirt, a button undone on top, and his cuffs rolled up his muscular arms. Lucy remembers Barb Azure’s old tales, about a pagan creature from a time before Panem, a fallen angel; the most beautiful of them all, but so easy to succumb to the temptation of power and glory; “ You can leave us now, Heavensbee.” Coriolanus says, holding his gaze on her, and his eyes are dark, predatory. Fuck. “Of course Mr. President; Madame Snow.” Hilarius shoots her a look filled to the brim with trepidation, and suddenly, she is back there again, paralyzed with fear. A girl of six and ten whose name had just been reaped. They’d been found out.

heavy smut - complete

Peacekeeper Coryo AUs

This Little Life of Ours by voiceinthecrowd

"I'll sing for you soon," she promises, hand threading through blonde curls. “I’ll write you into all my songs." “Maybe even write a Ballad of Coriolanus Snow”, she whispers, gasping as her boy manages to pull her even closer. It isn't the immortality he's been looking for. It certainly isn't the marble presidential busts he tells her about when they both can't sleep; how their stony eyes would bore into the souls of passing Capitol children; a young, hungry boy in Academy rouge. But presidents die and statues crumble. Coryo might not know it yet, but it’s stories and songs that persist. His ancient heroes and her whispered poems. They’re all stories, and Lucy Gray is determined to give Coryo the greatest story of them all. He’ll understand, one day. She’ll make it up to him, the dreams he’s left behind for her. He hasn't lost everything in Twelve. Lucy Gray will prove it. In which Lucy Gray stays for Coriolanus, and Coriolanus stays for Lucy Gray.

foaming at the mouth over this fic. complete

i wouldn’t mind the hanging, but the laying in the grave so long by rainfrog

He’s a Peacekeeper since the beginning. And she’s still that Covey girl who falls in love.

SO GOOD; this fic is 2,4k words long and NOT ONE OF THEM IS WASTED truly so many excellent lines in there 💯💯 - complete

Deal with the Devil by vvitchimage

Lucy Gray had lived in the cabin for months after her falling out with Coriolanus Snow. When spring comes, he returns to take over Hoff's place in the Peacekeepers. The day she's found, Lucy Gray has to strike a deal with the devil.

Heavy smut - incomplete but is still being updated! (last update april 18, 2024)

persimmons and soup beans by kayladevitoo

Coriolanus Snow moved up in the Peacekeeper ranks in District 12, becoming an officer. He shares breakfast with Lucy Gray after a night shift — soup beans and a persimmon.

short and sweet - complete

Chaos and control by Anonymous

Her name was Lucy Gray Baird, and she and her group were called the Covey. Technically, they weren't from the Districts; as it turned out, they were a group of traveling musicians who got stuck in the Twelfth when inter-District travel was banned. This somehow reassured him – that she wasn't from the Districts, that he hadn't gone crazy falling for a girl from the Districts – she wasn't one of those responsible for the war. So he no longer felt guilty about his dreams, sometimes strange, sometimes blatantly indecent, in which she was always the main character. 18 years old Coriolanus Snow, an orphan, who lost his mother, his father and grandmother during the war now is a Cadet Peacekeeper in the District 12, preparing to become an officer. Here he meets the most beautiful girl in the world

This fic is not as Snowbaird centric as the rest of this list, but god is it fantastic. This Anonymous author is simply incredible 💯 - complete

Modern AUs

Free Ride by betts

“Does Lucy Gray like you back?” Tigris asked. Coriolanus hadn’t actually considered that. He’d just assumed she didn’t and never would. He’d grown up with anything he could ever want given to him instantly, but now everything he wanted was impossibly far out of reach. Lucy Gray was no exception. Or: Coriolanus is a full-time university student, restaurant server, administrative assistant, and on the weekends he cleans and presses gowns. Occasionally he sleeps. So he really doesn't have time to be giving the weird bartender a ride home every night. And he definitely doesn't have time to become obsessed with her.

having really enjoyed Betts' Anidala fic Lemon, I knew we were in for a treat when i recognized her in the Snowbaird tag AND I WAS RIGHT, such an amazing take on modern!coryo - complete

I'm yours to keep and I'm yours to lose by fkevin073

Their lips slide together, then their tongues curl and she moans, a light, heady thing, come alight with the realization that she is finally, finally home. It’s tender at first, but at the sound of her moan Coriolanus grabs her chin in between his fingers and plunders her mouth harshly. As if this is a punishment. You left me, every kiss he gives her, takes from her, breathes. You left me. And Lucy Gray— Well. For her this isn’t a punishment at all. Or: Lucy Gray and Coriolanus can't seem to let each other go.

THIS IS SO!!!!! see this is the kind of ploltline I might not love in other circumstances, but THE WRITING IS SO INCREDIBLE that it just hits - complete

when the sun goes down by astradeluna

small-town girl lucy gray baird moves from district twelve to the capitol to attend the university to study music. this is her first time leaving home and although the prospect of starting over is terrifying, she’s still excited to make the most out of the opportunity. that being said, after a shitty breakup with her shitty ex, the last thing she wants is to meet someone, but then she crosses paths with coriolanus snow, an arrogant but ambitious government major, who seems to get under her skin with ease and he brings out a part of herself that she never knew existed

incomplete and the story hadn’t gotten to much development in the relationship yet but GOD I still need to put this here bc THE WAY the dynamics were so perfectly transcribed to this modern setting were just chefs kiss. Forever hoping this fic will return from war and get an update 🙏🙏 (last updated: Dec 20, 2023)

Other

Your Selfish Ways by thpsyche

Ten years since her disappearance from District 12 Lucy Gray decides it’s time to return, finding a shelter and a silent life. All would be well if it weren’t for the mysterious encounters of a man cloaked in darkness. A deal is struck, twice a month she would give up to him in return for his silence of her existence. Only one condition: she’s to not ask or look at him. - For the snowbaird week 2024| Day 2 – Myth.

GOD THIS FUCKING FIC - IM FUCKING OBSESSED WITH IT;;; EROS AND PSYCHE INSPIRED AU MY BELOVED - I have reread many times;;; if you see a thumbs up crying cat pfp going insane in the comments that would be me;;;; I am not normal about this 🙈 - complete

doomsday is close at hand by fkevin073

But on the first train of her nineteenth year, as the snows settle on the ground and ice curls in their lungs, something new comes with the train to arrive in District 12. A man by the name of Coriolanus Snow. (But Lucy Gray doesn’t find that out until later, of course) - Or: Coriolanus Snow arrives in District 12, and finds his very own songbird, ready to break free.

incomplete but according to @fkevin073 's tumblr it is not abandoned and she has just been busy;;; truly such a good fic I love it sm (last updated feb 14, 2024)

When I'm Pure Like a Dove, When I've Learned How to Love by Realmermaid333

Lucy Gray and Coriolanus bask in sunlight by the edge of the lake, enjoying each other's presence and calming each other's fears.

Short and sweet - the kind of softness we need more of for Snowbaird 🥺🥺🥺 - Complete

Saving Each Other by flipflop_diva

Lucy Gray had already accepted that she was going to die here in the arena, that sometime in the next few days she would meet her end. But then something else happened — and now there were two of them to carry on the fight. (An AU in which Coriolanus goes to save Sejanus and doesn't escape the arena.)

complete

Silent songbird by KitKatKatherine

Coriolanus Snow thought he knew everything that had happened to him these last few months. Lucy left him, he got into the academy, and Gaul was overseeing his studies. It’s not until he wakes up in the hospital and experiences a rather concerning conversation that he questions everything he once thought to be solid, reason logic. Vowing to never once again help Gaul, and capital be damned, he turns his charms on his own people, and becomes their worst nightmare.

Now, this fic does get quite dark; the author gives trigger warning on specific chapters but if you would like to be warned before getting any investment in the fic, feel free to dm me for details ❤️ - that said, it’s a great fic, I thought the take on disability was lovely and the way it portrayed Coriolanus realizing how rotten the system is and redeeming himself was great; incomplete but worth a read (last updated: Jan 13, 2024)

This is Not a Love Song by FrostedGemstones22

Lucy Gray and Coriolanus never go to the cabin, so they never find the guns. They decide to travel together, but Lucy Gray isn't so easily fooled. Truth is; he needs her, and she needs him. Common ground has to be found somewhere. Speculation about if they traveled up to find District 13.

THIS FIC IS SO EXCELLENT and definetely the best take I have seen on a district 13 AU - incomplete but absolutely worth reading (last updated: Jan 22, 2024)

in the woods somewhere by OfPearlsAndSunsets

Sejanus. She must have figured out that Sejanus was the third person Coriolanus had killed. She wouldn’t have known the particulars, but surely she could have pieced it all together. Still, to think he’d kill her? After everything they’d been through? He looked down at the loaded gun in his hands. Maybe he should have left it in the shed. It's as if he was hunting her. He thought about the knife and how it paled in comparison to the weapon he was carrying. What are you doing, Coriolanus? Something inside of him asks, and then demands. Put it down. He does.

Complete

Monster by Lululemonee

Coriolanus Snow if given both a gift and a curse when he meets his tribute for the 10th Hunger Games. She changed his life in ways which he never could have imagined. She's a dream and a nightmare rolled into one. And she is keeping him with her for the ride. I am very bad at summaries. This was inspired but the music video for "Scars" by Hazey Eyes which stars Tom Blyth and is sooooo good.

Complete

Deep in the Meadow by vvitchimage

Lucy Gray's reunion with Coriolanus in the meadow ends with him protecting her from her jilted ex.

Heavy smut - complete

BONUS:

Two different tribute!Coryo AUs! Are they Snowbaird centered? Not at all, there’s only a few crumbs if you squint BUT they slap SO HARD I truly recommend! (both are complete)

for cassius, no one wept by marianara_sauce

"Why don't we start from the beginning?" "Where else would we start?" She grins at him, rouge cheeks almost glowing. "Stories can start in all kinds of places. They can go in any kind of order, too. Just like songs." He watches her carefully, this relentlessly bright girl no longer in her rainbow dress. His eyes glance down to the form, blank spaces taking over most of the page. Name. District. Age. Family. It's not necessarily chronological. But her dark eyes don't look away from him, even as her grin softens. "Alright," he says. He steeples his hands together, and the chains rattle. "I'm Coriolanus Snow. District 12." (Or, the world in which Snow is a tribute instead of a mentor.)

Hail Panem by Anonymous

"Hail Panem! Those marching to their death salute you!" AU where Coriolanus Snow is a tribute from District Twelve who takes part in the Hunger Games

And that is all! There are a lot of other lovely Snowbaird fics of course but I tried focusing on my absolute favourites ❤️

Do let me know if you liked the list and if you’re a fan of any of these fic feel free to come scream about it with me!

+ Once again noting that my DMs are wide open to anyone wanting to join the Snowbaird discord! It is genuinely an online space I love and I’m always happy to meet more shippers 🫶🫶

[thrill-seeker-vn]

Hello everyone. I have no idea how to start this post, but I want to start it as upfront as possible.

TLDR: My uncles shipped my sick grandmother to my home, and they called me to tell me only after she had already landed... when her visa was expiring very soon. And so obviously 1. My job was to keep her alive, and 2. I had to scrounge up money to send her to her home. It has been a very few stressful months. 

In between this, I hit a slump with writing, and felt very burnt out, as I had no time for it between work, trying to keep my grandmother alive, my own health, and my own business. I wish I could say I worked on Thrill Seeker in this time, but I simply couldn’t. I think a huge part of what was so daunting for me was only having myself to rely on and set the schedules, and in a way it came to be that there were lengths of time nothing could get done because there was simply no time in my life to do it. 

This is not meant to be an excuse as to why I was away from the blog for so long. It is simply what made me realize that I cannot continue alone on this project, as I would then be taunted by how much I would have to do that I would end up not being able to do anything at all. 

I was discussing this project with a friend of mine who has been beside me since I started this project, who I know shares my passion in making games, and who has rooted for me from the beginning. While I’m more interested in the storytelling, she’s incredibly fascinated with coding. During this time, we discussed perhaps making a game together-- but recently we got the opportunity to make that into a reality. 

Thrill Seeker is not ending, but rather, it will be changing format. I am so happy to say my incredible friend, Kismet (@kismet-dev), is going to be joining me to reform Thrill Seeker into a Visual Novel! She is one of my best friends and is the most organized person I know, so no more falling off the face of the Earth for me, because I’ve put a lot more planning into the game and now have someone to hold me to my schedules, too!

I understand that it could be disappointing to hear that I’m switching from an entirely text based format to a VN style. I apologize to anyone who is disappointed by this change. It’s been amazing the support I’ve gotten for this game and how many people have stuck to the project, even when I’ve been so flaky, and I want to thank you for sticking to the project when I haven’t been the most reliable developer. I am so grateful for your kindness to me, for all the people who have sent asks and been interested in my characters and story.

When I first created this project, it was just not a viable option for me to make a visual novel, as there would’ve been no chance I had the opportunity to create art, write, and code it. But creating the art for the game inspired me more than when I only had words to go off of, and many different concepts for the game that I had in mind were simply harder for me to make into reality on twine. Thanks to the absolute angel that is my friend Kismet, I will actually be able to create the vision for the game that I’ve seen in my head for the longest time. She’s an excellent programmer and such a wonderfully organized and hard worker, and I know that I wouldn’t have anyone else by my side as we begin to make games together. 

I will be making some changes to this blog as I make it more cohesive for the VN, but I will also use it as an opportunity to organize this blog for those who are interested in knowing more about the characters, settings, etc. It’s a little unorganized and hard to find certain questions, and I’ll do my best to fix that! Note that this will mean that changes are coming to the characters, and pretty major ones. I know that many of the asks I answered in the past will no longer apply to the story as I’ve changed it, so I will be reforming it quite a lot. However, what will not change is the characters themselves; they will still be gender selectable, and their personalities will still remain similar; but I feel like some of my characterization of them has been shallow, and I’m going to be fixing that. 

The launch of the game as a visual novel, with the first chapter, will be coming in August. Thank you so much for reading all this and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

[chrysanthemumgames]

I have a perhaps personal ask, and at the same time struggling with how to phrase it. I've been looking into making an interactive story myself, however, I... cannot code. For the life of me. I can tell one hell of a story, but coding it beyond my grasp, and the system I currently use, while it ought to be simple enough even someone like me could do so, isn't exactly working for how I want it to. Do you perhaps know anything anywhere that I might start looking for someone who would be willing to work with me? I am so sorry if this is a bothersome ask.

Hi anon!

I'm probably not the best person for advice on this, because I've never been in that situation before. I've put some thoughts under the cut, with the caveat that only a small portion of them actually address the question you've asked, with the majority being related but perhaps not helpful for you, depending.

So, I think where you'd go to find a coding person depends on what language you're using. If it's ChoiceScript, probably the forums. If it's Twine... I honestly don't know. Maybe the subreddit, though you'll want to double-check that such requests are not against the rules there.

I sincerely doubt you'll have an easy time finding someone, though. Most folks who code in the systems used for IF are IF authors who taught themselves the coding techniques in order to tell their own stories, not someone else's.

That said, and this is the part you can ignore, because you know yourself better than I do, but... I'm pretty sure you can learn to code. It's not easy, necessarily, and it doesn't come intuitively to everyone, but there are resources out there to help you. Again, this will depend on what system you're using, but the CS forums are very useful for figuring out CS (as is the wiki, once you know enough to parse it). For Twine, there are loads of archived posts on their forums and on the subreddit for specific questions, but for general ones, the documentation for your preferred program (e.g. SugarCube), the Twine Cookbook, and similar resources will break things down into smaller, more digestible chunks. I personally recommend the Twine Grimoire (volumes 1 and 2), for basic interface aesthetics, once you get to that point.

Here on tumblr, @/nyhelism, @/cerberus-writes, @/manonamora-if, @/idrellegames, and others have all answered questions about Twine coding or even in some cases made templates that take a lot of the work out of it. Most have a masterpost regarding things they've answered about Twine or made for others' use, but be sure to check that they're currently accepting coding questions before sending them any, of course.

Learning to code may be slow and incremental, and lots of people manage better if they start with a small project just to learn how to do the basic things in their language of choice. I'd really recommend figuring out what you need your game to be able to do, and learning those functions one by one—it's less overwhelming than trying to tackle everything at once while also writing a huge project.

If all else fails, my most esoteric suggestion is to familiarize yourself with the basic principles of symbolic logic. I took a class in it as part of my degree, and have since also taught that class, and I think understanding things like the logic of conditionals (if statements) as they're used in coding (rather than natural language) really gave me a leg up in learning to code. Not that I'm an expert, but I know enough to make a basic game, at least.

Most (all?) of these things should be findable with a google search; I know there are at least some Twine tutorials on youtube as well, though I'm unsure of CS or any of the languages I'm less familiar with, like Ink, etc.

I do apologize that the section where I encourage you to do the thing you don't think you can do is longer than the one where I answered your actual question, but that's the part I might actually have something useful to say about. If you're absolutely certain you can't do it, I'm sorry for banging on about it, but if you're not sure or on the fence, maybe give it another go before trying to find another person. I've seen a lot of writers looking for coders in the past, but maybe only once was a coder offering their services to writers (and that was a long time ago).

[whitenoisefanfiction]

Did I just write a Hannibal/Squid Game crossover reincarnation short fic? Yes, yes I did. Why? Because reasons.

I can't help it that the Front Man reminds me so much of Dr Lecter and Gi-hun is so Will Graham coded (even if I didn't get around to bringing Gi-hun into this story yet)

So this was written fast with absolutly no chill or spell and grammar check and is terribly OOC. Now I am posting it here because I cannot think of a title to post it on AO3. Fic titles are my mortal enemy.

Read if you dare.

-----

If asked, Hwang In-ho would tell anyone that he didn't believe in reincarnation. In fact, if asked later in his life if he believed, he would have probably had the one asking beaten, if not shot. As the Front Man in charge of the Games which had an international reach and money beyond anyone's wildest dreams, he needed to be practical, smart and could not be fooled by silly superstitions. But in private, it was a different matter.

In-ho did believe in reincarnation. In fact, he was sure he himself was the product of such a practice. 

It had happened suddenly, the realisation he had lived before. When the first dreams came, all the way back in 2015. 

They had started the very night he had received Oh Il-nam’s offer to rejoin the Games, not as a competitor this time, but as the Games Master. The one pulling the strings.

In-ho had initially been disgusted by the offer. Despite his loss, he had still been a man of principles and even though he now had blood on his hands, the blood of his fellow competitors from his own game, he still tried to cling to that one small shred of goodness he believed was within him. Tried to ignore the rush of power he had felt at the game's conclusion only a few short months prior, knowing he was the lone survivor and winner.

He had taken the offered business card, the armed guards at the old man's back the only reason he had maintained a polite composure and hadn't lashed out after being cornered. They had managed to locate him in the dark streets of Seoul while he had been walking aimlessly, his life a mess now that his one goal, to keep his wife alive, had failed. In-ho knew then, he hadn’t escaped. They knew where he was. He was still in hell. 

In-ho had tried not to hear the old man's subtle comments about his eyes being those of a killer, of being a man with a peculiar experience. Rejected the offer and ignored the way the old man laughed at the answer, stating that he would be allowed a few days to reconsider. 

“You have been here before.” The old man had said as a parting comment. “I am curious what you will do with your second chance.”

In-ho had ignored the statement at the time, brushing it off as similar to the unusual comments the man had made when they had first met during the games, back when he had appeared to be a frail older contestant, unlikely to survive the trials they faced. 

In-ho had taken some pity on him, back in the games, fooled by the mask. He hadn’t exactly been kind, snapping and pushing the old man when he realised danger was near but he had tried to protect the man at least a little. He couldn’t be a police officer if he had turned his back on someone asking for help.

And that seemed to have been his curse. The reason Il-nam seemed to favour him, enough to make such an offer. 

Head spinning from the confrontation, In-ho had made his way home, card shoved hurriedly into his pocket, only to be taken out again once he stumbled through the door so it could be thrown on the table. 

In-ho had pointedly ignored it. If he was being watched, he didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of seeing him contemplate their insane offer. 

Instead, he had curled up on his too large bed, ignoring his phone which rang constantly as his brother desperately called him and tried to think of anything except for the memory of the fearful eyes looking up at him, the other competitor who had tried so hard to kill him. Tried to think of anything except the strange feeling of pleasure as he felt his attacker's life slip away under his hands. Of the blood money in his bank account, untouched, tainted. 

The dream hadn't felt right either. Instead of slipping slowly into sleep, it had come on suddenly. One moment, In-ho was laying on the cold bed, wishing for everything to change and the next, he was slowly rising from a chair at the sound of footsteps. Standing, In-ho turned to look at his surroundings. A small, sparsely furnished room, more like a cell than a home. But the strange thing was the wall. One of them seemed to be made of glass. He was inside it, like he was on display. An animal, turning tricks for an audience.  

The footsteps drew near and then a man stepped out of the shadows and into view.

He was a westerner, so like the tourists who crowded the streets of Seoul. He was dressed in a shirt and jeans. Comfortable, yet cheap clothing. His dark curls hung limply over his face, partly hiding his eyes and yet, In-ho could feel them on him.

There was something about this man. Sometimes that made In-ho’s cheat ache but he didn't know why. Without thinking, In-ho stepped towards the glass which separated him from the man. 

He noticed how the man trembled slightly, like a frightened rabbit before he caught himself, tensing up and ready to fight. A prey animal suddenly turned predator. 

“Hello Will.” A voice said. 

In-ho heard the voice. He felt it slip from his own throat and yet, it was not his voice. Not his language.

In-ho knew only a little bit of English. He had picked it up over the years but he had never been even close to fluent and would never resort to it as a first language. So why had he said those words in English? Why had he addressed the westerner in that manner? 

The man didn't seem surprised by the greeting, unlike In-ho. Instead, his gaze finally met In-ho's, and In-ho found himself gazing at the most intense stare he had ever seen. 

A mixture of emotions rushed through his body, In-ho struggling to identify them all. Joy, longing, amusement, lust. All of them crashed down on him. And in the man's eyes, he recognised a similar storm. The man was just as caught up in his emotions. 

This man, whoever he was, was important. Important enough that In-ho knew he would kill for this man. Had killed for him. A measly human life was nothing if it meant having this man's gaze on him always.

The man hesitated for a moment before breaking his gaze. 

“Hannibal” He replied, also in English and the tone was music to In-ho's ears. And In-ho remembered the sharp feeling of hot blood on his hands. Of fresh meat between his teeth. A satisfaction of knowing a pig had been slaughtered and there was a game afoot.

In-ho woke with a gasp, his mind whirling.

What had that dream been?

In-ho didn't know, but rather than feel disgusted, he felt intrigued. Why was the feeling of blood, of death, suddenly so attractive? Why did he suddenly feel like he could gain the man's attention, if only he was creative enough?

In-ho didn't know what was happening to him but the ghost of those feelings clung to him like a second skin. The desire, not just to kill, but to impress. To show his true colours. 

In-ho caught himself? What was he thinking? He had just escaped hell and lost his beloved wife and child. He may have been dismissed from his employment but he was still a law abiding man, a former officer of the law. He had seen death close up and never felt anything but revulsion and pity. He had lived through hell, fighting his way out with his bare hands and never experienced a single moment of joy in it. Why now, did the idea of murder excite him? 

And why has that dream felt so real? So right? 

Had it even been a dream or had he seen something otherworldly?

In-ho knew something had shifted inside him. A small part had changed and was continuing to change, as if his soul had taken on something new.

The man with the intense gaze. In-ho wanted, no, needed to find him. To somehow speak to him and understand him. 

But how could he do that? He was a poor man in Korea. Yes, he had just won billions but he had no connections, no ability to find one westerner. He had no idea where these men had even been when this conversation took place. And more to the point, why was he suddenly assuming these men, who had been figments of a dream, were real?

How was he supposed to find out? 

And yet, he did have a contact available. Someone who had vast powers and could maybe give him answers. He wasn’t ignorant of that. But to do that was to possibly sell his soul to the devil. 

Glancing over at the table where he had dumped the card, he thought for a long time about what he could do. 

Days passed as he contemplated his next move, hidden away in his home. He ignored Jun-ho’s arrival, his little brother frantically knocking at the locked door and shouting his name until the brat was finally asked to leave by the landlord. He ignored the phone calls from his peers and friends, trying to find out if he was ok. Ignored his desire to eat or sleep as he replayed the dream in his mind, becoming more and more convinced it was more than a dream.

Finally, on the third day of his self imposed lockdown, he cracked. 

Rising to his feet, he grabbed the card and his phone, carefully dialing the number. 

He hadn’t managed to get any words out when the call was picked up, the voice on the other end stating a time and place before hanging up again. 

It should have been enough to make In-ho wary, but the fatigue of the last few days had left him mentally drained. Instead, he had gathered his coat and the card and left his apartment, making his way to the location. 

A limo had been waiting for him, the masked pink guards outside. One of them had nodded before opening the door to the vehicle for him, indicating for him to climb in. 

In-ho had done so without protest, slipping into the luxurious vehicle. 

As he had guessed, Il-nam had been seated in the vehicle already, looking calm and relaxed, compared to In-ho’s frazzled mind. The old man had smiled, a deceptively warm smile but In-ho wasn’t fooled. 

“What do you mean, I have been here before?” He asked, ignoring the slight to his elder by failing to wait for a proper greeting or address in honorifics. Il-nam hadn’t seemed offended, and even gave an amused smile at In-ho’s behaviour. 

“I mean what I said. You have been here before.”

“Of course I have. It’s Seoul. I grew up here.” In-ho snapped back. 

The old man chuckled, shaking his head slightly. 

“You deliberately mis-understand. I mean you have walked this earth before. A different face. A  different life but the same person.”

In-ho frowned. Although he wanted answers, he wanted them straight, not riddles for Il-nam’s amusement. 

“You are reborn. I saw it in the games. You were a husk then. An empty house waiting for its owner to move in and make it a home. But now, when I look at you…” The man stared deep into In-ho’s eyes. “Hello new friend. I hope you are enjoying your stay here.”

In-ho frowned. 

“You are insane.” He stated, reaching for the door. As much as he wanted answers, wanted help to find the westerner who had haunted his dreams, he was not going to put up with this, being made into a joke for the old man. He was no longer in the game and did not have to continue to amuse him. 

“If I am insane, then please answer this one last question before you decide to depart.” Il-nam said. 

In-ho growled under his breath before turning back to the man, feeling a sudden urge to kill him with his bare hands.

“Fine. And after, you will leave me alone. Never contact me again or ask me to work for you.” He replied, hand still resting on the handle of the door. 

Il-nam nodded. 

“I have been looking into you. Researching your history, even before you joined my games. You were born and raised in Korea, have never even left the country before. No real experiences of other cultures. So tell me, why have you been speaking fluent French to me this whole time?”

In-ho froze. Quickly, he replayed the conversation in his head. 

Il-nam hadn’t been lying. But how? In-ho have never learnt French. Never even had a desire to. And yet, somehow he knew it. Knew it well enough that he had been able to slip into it without trying. 

“I can imagine you are very confused, friend. The old part of you trying to understand this new person you are becoming. Two separate people merging into one.” Il-nam said, sliding forward on his seat to better gaze at the younger man. “I want to help you. All I ask is you help me in return. And maybe we can find out who you used to be.”

In-ho had been reluctant at first, unsure about joining forces with the man who had put him through hell but with no other options to get answers, he had finally agreed and entered a world which was both familiar, terrifying and thrilling. 

Il-nam had explained the concept. It had been something he had studied over his lifetime, and if he wasn’t lying, something he had been studying over multiple lifetimes. When someone died with unfinished business, they could take on a new body to continue their work. In-ho had been somewhat familiar with the concept. Reincarnation was a fairly common belief in some parts of the country, especially amongst the elderly. But he had always thought it required someone to be reborn into a new infant body. He was an adult, in his early 40s. How could he have gone so long and not known this until now? But Il-nam laughed when he had said as much, explaining that reincarnation required a compatible mind and body, not an age limit.

In-ho had reluctantly accepted the explanation as he continued to explore the idea in between his work, learning how to run the games as per their deal. And to his surprise, he found himself enjoying the work. Having the power of life and death over the lesser pigs. The dregs of society who delighted in harming and abusing each other for small gain. Not worth the title of humans.   

The dreams had continued, In-ho and his new mentor working to decipher the information and link it to reality in between planning the next games. And the more they learnt, the more In-ho found himself agreeing. He had been someone else once. 

The name the westerner had called him had been the first clue. 

‘Hannibal’ 

It was not a common name in the English speaking world, In-ho had learnt. But there were a few known namesakes. And it wasn’t enough for him to discover who Il-nam thought he was.

The next time a dream had happened, a few days after he had arrived in his new home, thanks to Il-nam’s instructions, In-ho was a little more prepared to take notice of his surroundings. Again, the westerners had been there, but this time they were in a vast, decorative office space. In-ho had gotten used to opulence in the short time he had been Il-nam’s protege but this room, although expensive, was more refined. He had found himself sitting in a comfortable chair, the seat opposite taken by the westerner with the sharp gaze. 

Leaning in the chair, In-ho found himself handing a notebook to the man. 

“I want you to draw me a clock.” He said in English. The other man, looking haggard, had complied before handing the paper back. The resulting mess on the page, a confusing jumble of squiggles. 

In-ho could feel himself smiling as he closed the book, hiding the page away. 

“What is your professional diagnosis, Doctor Lecter?” The other man asked. “Am I still fit for duty?”

“I already told Uncle Jack you were.” In-ho replied, crossing his leg over his knee. In his peripheries, he could see that he was wearing high quality and therefore, expensive trousers. Something he was still getting used to, back in the waking world. 

“When you rubber stamped me earlier?” The man asked, raising an eyebrow in question. There was a slight air of mockery in his voice, despite the fatigue. 

In-ho couldn’t stop his lips turning up in a small smirk. 

“I do not remember risking my profession for such an underhanded action.” He stated.

“Of course. Plausible deniability.” The man muttered. 

“Or maybe just helping a friend.” In-ho suggested. 

The man glanced in his general direction but didn’t meet his eyes. After a moment, he shook his head, as if dislodging a thought. 

Somewhere in the distance, an alarm sounded, breaking the silence.

In-ho couldn’t stop the sigh escaping his throat. 

“I am afraid we are out of time Will.” he said, reluctantly rising to his feet. 

The man followed the action, rising from his own seat and collecting his worn old jacket from the ground beside him. 

“Same time next week?” he asked, glancing in In-ho’s direction as he draped the coat over his arm. 

“If you wish. You know you are always welcome to come to my home for dinner or even just for a friendly talk off the record.” In-ho said. He stepped forward, casually moving close enough to be what he considered within the other man's personal space but not close enough that the other man could call him out without potentially causing offence. 

A sour scent reached his nose. A sickly smell. It was coming from the other man. 

“I don’t think that would be appropriate, Doctor Lecter.” The other man stated, standing stiffly, not moving away but his body language showing he was not entirely comfortable with the close presence. 

“Nevertheless, the offer is there. Unless Jack Crawford calls for me to assist you again at a scene, we won’t meet again until our next session.”

“Yeah, no offence but that would mean no one died and I happen to think that's a good thing.” The man bit back, a little bit of fire in his voice. It was surprisingly thrilling to hear. 

In-ho felt his lips press together to cover an amused smile. 

“Of course. I won’t keep you any longer. Until next time, stay safe Will.”

“Bye Hannibal.” The man said before striding out the door, not looking back as it closed behind him. 

In-ho stood still for a long moment, watching the door before he turned and grabbed the notebook off the chair where he had left it. He opened the page to the drawing and gazed at it for a moment before tearing the page out. 

Walking towards an elaborate desk, he opened a draw and pulled out a folder, slipping the paper inside to join a growing stack of similar images before returning the folder to the draw and locking it. He then glanced at the desk and a rolodex full of cards. 

Opening it, he pulled out a card from the collection and slipped it in his pocket before he turned and walked towards the door. 

In-ho awoke just as the door swung open, jolting upwards on the comfortable bed in the suite he had been provided by Il-nam. 

Immediately, he rose to his feet and made his way to the small office area in the corner where an expensive laptop was set up, trying to hang on to the memories. 

He had a name now. Something he could use to try and find out more. 

Opening up a search bar, he carefully typed on the unfamiliar keyboard. 

‘Doctor Lecter’

Pressing the enter key, he was almost immediately bombarded with hundreds of websites. 

He had been deep in research a few hours later when Il-nam had arrived at his door, the old man annoyed he had ignored the summons for dinner. 

The other man's annoyance had disappeared as soon as he had noticed the screen displaying a photograph and the pile of hurriedly handwritten notes.

“Oh, you found yourself.” He said, a hint of glee in his voice In-ho wasn’t sure he liked. 

“Maybe.” In-ho said reluctantly. He was struggling to find anything to discredit his theory. The information he had gathered on a Doctor Hannibal Lecter, which should have alarmed him, seemed far too familiar. 

In-ho had grown up with a younger brother and yet, reading up the Doctor’s history, he suddenly had memories of a sister he had never had. He remembered her murder, the terror of that night as a helpless child tried to survive. 

He had never been outside of Korea and yet, he remembered the snow covered forests of Lithuania. The beautiful architecture of Paris and the wild wooded areas of America. 

He remembered the deaths. The rude salesmen and solicitors, more pigs than humans. He remembers the artistry, the passion in the kill. And instead of feeling disgusted or sick, he felt pride in it. He remembered the rich, complex taste of the flesh, cooked to perfection and served to his favored guests. 

He remembered a man. Broken and twisted and so full of potential. A challenge turned into a fascination and then slowly twisting into a deep love. 

His research had corroborated all his feelings, as he read up on the man he now knew he had once been. 

Hannibal Lecter. An infamous cannibal serial killer to some. An artist to others. Declared dead in late 2015, after falling off a cliff while on the run. The very night In-ho had his first dream. 

And the other man.

In-ho had found that there was a name commonly connected to Lecters. An FBI agent who, according to several articles, had made a deal with the devil to catch other killers. 

William Graham. 

In-ho didn’t even need to click on the linked pictures the site offered to know this was his western man. The one with the fascinating stare. 

In-ho had immediately checked and felt his heart sink as he read of Will’s fate. 

Dead. The same day as Hannibal. 

The article he had read had painted it as a murder suicide. The FBI agent destroying two serial killers before throwing himself to his own death. 

Another article said that Will had been Hannibal's lover and they had thrown themselves off the cliff as some sort of final joining of souls. In-ho had felt something deep in his chest after reading that. Something almost like regret. 

So, the man of his dreams was dead. And he…

Who was he?

Was he Hwang In-ho, an indebted game maker and apprentice to a rich man or was he Hannibal Lecter, a notorious serial killer back from the dead?

Was he both? Neither? Or something in between?

Il-nam had watched him in silence and In-ho could guess, the man knew some of his confusion. The old man had mentioned his own struggles with a similar experience as a reincarnated soul. 

"Have you figured out your purpose? The reason you are back?" The other man finally asked. 

In-ho glanced at the screen once more and the image of Hannibal, of himself, on it. 

Will was dead by his own hand. The one person who had fascinated him enough to sacrifice his life for. There was no return unless Will had also been reincarnated and that seemed unlikely. If there was a god, which he doubted, they would never be so kind as to allow him to be rejoined with the other.

But there was a purpose. He had dedicated so much of his life previous to creating art through the punishment of those who offended society. 

The games may not have the personal touch of Lecter’s work but they were still a way to get the message across. Still a way to control and take out his anger on the world. For Misha, his little sister. For Will, his beloved. 

In-ho didn’t know what his purpose was, or how he would ever join these two separate pieces of himself together but until he figured it out, he could find a purpose. 

Being In-ho, the Front Man of the games seemed like as good a start as any.

----

Yes, I know I have a problem. It's called 'I can't stop writing every random thought that comes to my head' hence why I made this blog, so I can write random stuff that may or may not make it to my actual fic account.

[mission-light-if]

Mission Light - Update 08.01.2025

Hey, it’s me again after a long time. Happy New Year, by the way!

A lot has happened—uni started again and I had a writer’s block throughout November and part of December. I’m way behind where I wanted to be, but things finally getting better. I’m almost finished with the prologue now. I had planned to release the second part in October, but here we are. It took longer than I wanted, but oh well.

I plan to be more active here in 2025 and write more, even though it’s going to be a busy year for me.

I always plan too big and end up overwhelmed by my ideas and tasks, which causes me to freeze and do nothing. So, I cleaned up my ideas and to-do list for the story and cut some things. It would have been cool to include them but I’m just one person and the prologue is already way bigger than I expected—160,000 words (including code, with some repeated passages, so it’s not really 160,000, but that’s what Twine says).

I had to compromise. Maybe that’s why the prologue seems a bit messy to me right now, but I’m working on cleaning it up and improving it.

I’ve decided not to promise release dates anymore because I often can’t meet them. Chapters, updates and content will come when they’re ready. However, some of you might have noticed that I updated my Tumblr blog and the itch.io game site.

I’ve realized that I get frustrated or hit writer’s block when I don’t immediately feel a sense of success, probably due to my ADHD. Sometimes, I get so frustrated that I want to abandon the whole project. But each time, I get mad at myself because I want to prove that I can finish something—that I can finish this and stay consistent without changing my interests and projects every week.

To help with that, I’m considering weekly updates on my progress in 2025. It won’t be much—maybe a few hundred/thousand words per week—but it might help me staying motivated. I would still make bigger announcement posts when a chapter is complete, so that those who prefer to read completed/finished chapters can wait for that. But we’ll see how it goes.

I’ve also done more character art and CGs and I’ve updated my art style. I’ll be posting those in the future. I also plan to write some short stories or prompts. I know I haven’t been consistent in answering questions, but please send them if you have any—it really helps me stay motivated when people engage with my work.

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading, and thank you so much.

Take care,

Jakob (yes, I changed my name, haha)

[bananasfosterparent]

The difference in AA is his soul being irreversibly gone. That is the point and this is what Larians writers have been hinting at and this is what irks people about AA. The oversexualisation and erasure of his trauma, effectively erasing him as a person. I know we're talking about a fictional character, but if we're gonna go off on the topic, saying something "doesn't matter" is just a cop-out. Astarion didn't need to be "fixed" to the point of emotional lobotomy.

I don't think it's wrong to like or prefer him, but I think it's valid to have opinion on the matter, much like you have yours.

I started to apologize for the length of this, but honestly, since you sent the message, I'm going to respond to every part of it. I'm not sorry for the rambling lol

"The difference in AA is his soul being irreversibly gone."

Okay, show me the quote/scene/dialog in-game where this canonly is said and confirmed? Where does it say the ritual will ever touch his soul or any part of the game talks about his literal soul?

And if by soul you mean the "lose who you are inside" as a metaphor, that's still a matter of opinion and not actually canonly what happens. Astarion is still himself. The "changes" in his personality are shifts to simply adjust to the company he is around. He's essentially code switching.

That is the point and this is what Larians writers have been hinting at and this is what irks people about AA.

Got it. So the point of Astarion's romance is for Larian to write a singular story that has one ending you're "supposed" to enjoy with a "morally good" conclusion, and one ending that's fun and sexy, but "supposed" to be a cautionary warning of how things "shouldn't go". Because that makes sense for a "choose your own adventure" game and that's why the romance stops with AA as soon as you ascend him, and he enslaves and compels your character and you can't continue the romance with him--OH WAIT.

The oversexualisation and erasure of his trauma, effectively erasing him as a person

"The oversexualization".... So you know my Tav's personal motivations and why she chose to ascend him? And you're confident you know I made the roleplay decisions I made because you know it centers entirely and solely around it being to sexualize him?

Interesting.

Because that couldn't be further from the truth. My Tav has an entire story for why she chose to ascend him and it has nothing to do with how sexy it makes him. And it was a story I came up with well before I knew about any of this "sexualization" concept. And as a player, I didn't ascend him because I wanted a sexy vampire. I went into his romance blind and had no idea what would happen when I did it. I ascended him because it narratively made sense for my character and their relationship. But even then, if I wanted a sexy vampire, why is that a bad thing? He's not real.

And I find it so ironic that a lot of spawn fans who are anti-AA only enjoy AA for the sexual parts of that ending. Yet, we're the ones "oversexualizing" him lol

As for "erasure of his trauma"... where do I even start? What does that even mean? lol I'm not gonna lie. You sound young or unaware, but believe it or not, in real life there is more than one way to deal with trauma. And dealing with it in a way you don't agree with doesn't erase the trauma or mean the person is pretending it never happened. Ascended Astarion very much addresses his trauma and exercises a different form of healing.

In a fantasy world, you can actually explore those other options and have the outcome work FOR you, even if it wouldn't in real life. Accepting your fate and trying to align yourself with "morally good" choices is certainly not a bad thing and one way to go. In real life, that's what I agree with, as a Christian and believer in Christ. But Faerun doesn't have a Jesus. They don't have the same real world ideas of morals. They have their own gods, their own history, their own moral perspective outside of our world. Bringing in (your perspective of) our real world morals is a valid way to roleplay, but it's not the "only correct" way to roleplay.

There is the route of overthrowing what was meant to control and destroy you, and taking control of it yourself. Taking what was meant to be against you and making it work for you instead. For me, that's what Astarion's ascension means.

A smaller example of this is if you give Astarion Gandrel's crossbrow to use.

This weapon was designed to work against vampire spawn. It allows for its user to possibly inflict Turn Undead on enemies and gives them advantage in a fight against monster types. And yet, Astarion can wield it and use it effectively. He can take what was created to hurt and destroy him and use it to work for him.

Ascension can be the exact same thing. It's not a matter of which opinion of ascension is morally right. It's a matter of which decision on ascension is right for your Tav and their story with Astarion.

...saying something "doesn't matter" is just a cop-out.

Can you show me where I said "something" "doesn't matter"? Cause it wasn't in any of my recent posts. Are you referring to one of my older ones?

Not only do I not know what part of what post you're referring to, BUT I also don't know what I was talking about, if I even said "something" doesn't matter. I don't know what that "something" is.

Astarion didn't need to be "fixed" to the point of emotional lobotomy.

I'm glad we agree on something. I've seen people claim ascension is "fixing" him (because it eliminates the negative traits of vampirism) and therefore it's weird to call anti-AA spawn fans "fixers". But the difference is trying to change(fix) his morals and view of the world to reflect a "good" worldview (the spawn ending) VS trying to change (fix) his circumstances and lack of control (helping his ascend).

AA fans do not want to change his personality or his mental/emotional state. We want to change his circumstances so that he has a place to be able to make those decisions on his own. And for most of us, Ascension provides that perspective.

Spawn fans want the same thing. But the approach is more to convince him from the inside out that he can make those decisions without ascension. And that's also true. But not more valid or the only way.

But his personality does not change in either ending. In one (spawn ending), he is able to find freedom in just being free of Cazedor and exist the way he always has with a newfound confidence and peace.

In another, he is able to find freedom in taking the helm himself, and holding all the cards to be the one on top. He finds confidence in having the power and being able to wield it, without fear of anything he's had to fear with the negatives of vampirism.

But in both, he is still the same person. He still gets joy out of the same things (killing people, having/causing/observing bloodshed, and causing some chaos), he still has the same personality. The difference is in his circumstances and how he presents himself.

I don't think it's wrong to like or prefer him, but I think it's valid to have opinion on the matter, much like you have yours.

You don't mean that. Because if you did, you wouldn't have a reason to send this anon message in the first place. You wouldn't care enough. It wouldn't matter. You wouldn't have this opinion. You would be able to see value in both endings and respect the positive perspective of ascension even if you don't understand it, without arguing headcanon points like "his soul is irreversibly gone".

Your entire message is literally you trying to tell me it's wrong to like him and that the opinion I have of him is invalid and wrong. I already respect your opinion on both sides of him. Because it's your right to how you roleplay and see him. If you respect mine, you're doing a really awful job at showing it.

Regardless, if that is your intention or not. That's what sending this message says. If you really want to say you respect AA fans for enjoying AA, then stop sending AA fans messages like this and either completely avoid AA and the fans or refrain from trying to argue against it. We can discuss it and not agree while also respecting each other's roleplay choices.

This is not a wrong vs right conversation. It's a "what's your preference?" conversation. Spawn vs Ascended should be like "what's your favorite Pokemon type?"

The sooner that is realized, the better off this fandom will be.

[replicabetweenblogs]

FIRST POST-HIATUS WRITING UPDATE WOOHOOO. ALSO I NEED Y'ALLS HELP.

30.12.2024 // this is not a chapter update yet! As promised before, an update to reveal what I have been up to regarding RBU.

;-; catching up on age old asks that got thrown into my inbox while I was away on hiatus and. Yes- always made me smile reading those, but also made me quite sad for leaving the story at such a cliffhanger.

All the people hoping for a happy ending with the ROs do make me giggle- all those people pointing out all the angst make me feel quite evil for the stuff I have written down in chapter 9 already. ANYWAY!! the update!

A few lill snippets because why not.

over the past years of total and utter silence with this project gone through a never-ending hiatus, I have gotten alotta more confident(yay) yet no-where to put these skills of mine into, as my struggle in real life right now is the fact that I can’t find a proper game design job where I can flourish - I decided to try and keep said skills sharp and fresh by writing stories. so here we are again. I have been quite busy rewriting and re-defining the overarching story, and I cannot wait to have everyone see the eventual endings.

Kept it all hush hush not wanting to come back with nothing- hence the ask compilation above c:<

the chapter is going to be a BIG one. I am at 91k words, fully written out and basically done aside from one (1) path remaining. WOOHOOOO NEARLY THERE :D running towards the finish line, hence the teaser. Anyway --

FEEDBACK FORM, TEASER, REQUEST FOR EDITOR UNDER CUT!

***Feedback form! Help me reach the finish line!!***

I need your help c: for anyone who still has their saves or new players who have reached the end of chapter 8, I like to know what your stats are! I require this for proper balancing in chapter 9 as this is the chapter where the story gets split into many paths depending on some of those questions. Thank you in advance!!

what can you expect from the next update, coming up SOON?

91k wordcount so far (total, all branches, excluding code)

19k words for one single run

Romance lock-ins with Ash and Ha

consequences of your past major decisions/Character personality traits starting to finally catch up by taking the players onto whole different branches and locations altogether.

trigger warnings: implied mental and physical torture, determined character deaths

Some additional flashback sequences across chapters 6, 7 and 8 to some see things from companions' povs

The story of RBU is dark. this game has a dozen "bad" endings planned, only having one "good" ending for each individual Character/MC and main story in general. It's not for just the sake of drama and shock value, as I want this game to reach a very specific "lesson" which effect will be taken away if everything ended in a too-good-to-be-true way. Just a gentle warning!

main story lock-in!! Coded out some branches already for the next chapters. Chapter 10 will be the end of part 2, and part 3 will be more of a 2-chapter endgame with a chapter dedicated to an epilogue afterward. So we are really getting close to the end if I keep this up, and will stop updating the public link once reaching part 3. Will be making an announcement for private betas by then probably, but that'd be like... when I am on my deathbed at the age of 92, most likely.

I really hope you guys will be enjoying the absurdly long chapter. Did a few bold moves regarding the direction the story is going towards which I had been planning and iterating for since the very start of RBU regarding final revelations, hoping some puzzle pieces will be satisfyingly falling into place.

RBU is really about regret and acceptance regarding our decisions and mistakes, and how different types of people deal with it (badly).. so there are no "good" or "bad" endings or choices, really. BUT there is always a "worse" and "worst" so uh. Beware :')

Looking for a paid/voluntary editor!!

To help with the reconstruction of weird sentences, taking out grammar mistakes, eliminating the bad spelling, and bonking teenage-firefly on the head for her bad storytelling. plus points if you could help with the phasing even, perhaps like some kind of a beta reader- yet not too focused on it right now, as I'm just wanting to make the old chapters flow nicer.

shoot me a message if you are wanting to help out! Either on the forums, over here, or shoot me a DM! as I am @fireflyy on the official COG discord server.

For the sake of consistency, I am hoping to get help from one available editor for now. so please do let me know of your experiences if you are wanting to help out!!

You shall be credited within RBU's main screen

See you all soon <3 and a happy new year!!

[saturnine-saturneight]

Holoatypical: Dev Log 1

Number one in what's hopefully going to be a pretty long series of updates!

So, first things first: Godot rocks. I've been using it for two weeks now, having switched from GameMaker (and before that, Twine, and before that, Java and JavaScript), and Godot does so much of the heavy lifting for you. It genuinely feels like an engine that's designed for making games. Unlike GameMaker, which was like wading through molasses every step of the way, while some sort of molasses shark is biting at your ankles. And I've coded in JavaScript.

Second, let me show you what I've been up to!

As you can see, I'm working on a prototype to try out the merging mechanic. It's got some (ha) bugs, and dragging things could be smoother, but the critters do actually snap into the grid and merge now, and I'm very pleased with that.

This chamber you see here is going to be the lab. As it's planned right now, the player will have infinite initial building blocks (eggs, spores, seeds...), which merge into different critters depending on environmental variables (artificially set in the lab) and on which other specimens are currently in the chamber. The challenge is to figure out the right parameters. I have no idea how big the chamber needs to be for that, but that's not really an issue, because...

This isn't so much a prototype as I'm just straight up building the foundations for a game, which is why it's taking me so long. The grid you see here is controlled with a few variables, and everything is flexible enough that I can simply change the grid size during playtesting and it still works.

The tile grid is an array of arrays, filled with slot nodes that I instantiate at runtime. Is this the best way to learn a new program and language? Haha. Who knows.

Specimens have a sprite sheet with all their stages on it, and when a critter levels up, the part that's visible to the player just needs to be shifted 64 pixels to the right.

That's x starting point, which is the specimen stage/level times 64, then y starting point, width, and height. Fun! So easy!!

As to the sprite sheet, I'm going against common advice and making these big. The 1bit style is super fast to do, and in my opinion, a certain level of detail is important to make the sprites look like anything. I'm moreso playing with the look than really wanting to make a retro game.

This sheet only took me an evening! I'm enjoying it because it really forces you to abstract the shape and focus on what's most important about the critter. (This is a style test - I haven't decided yet how weird I want to go with these vs making them look more natural.)

Next up will be ironing out the kinks, making an egg dispenser and a specimen incinerator so the field can be filled up and emptied, coming up with a few more specimen, and then going into play testing.

But in the next dev log, you're probably going to hear way more about the story and the characters. I am eyeing a visual novel extension for Godot (dialogic), which, if it does what I think it does, is going to take a lot of work off my hands and only leaves me with writing the actual dialogue, which I've already started on.

@tragedycoded @badscientist @curiouscalembour @writingrosesonneptune @gioiaalbanoart @monstrify @cowboybrunch @tsunamiscale @marlowethelibrarian

Was this format interesting? Less code? More code? Anything you specifically want me to talk about in this process? Let me know!

[icarusdiesatdawn]

Hatchetfield + Magnus Archives

I'm sure this has been explored plenty, but I've not actually seen much of it around so I want to give my own two cents to this conversation. I've been thinking about the Lords in Black and the Fears since NPMD came out, but I've never properly shared my thoughts, so here goes

Basically;

Pokey is the Corruption 🪱

Blinky the Eye 👁️

Nibbly the Flesh 🥩

These are pretty much on the nose I reckon. Tinky and Wiggly are a little more interesting to me personally, so I'm going to elaborate a bit. This ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated - apperantly Ido have many thoughts and feelings on this crossover - so I'm putting a break here.

[Also a fair warning for TMA spoilers]

Wiggly clearly got to be the Slaughter🩸 (at first I thought he might be affiliated with the Hunt, maybe they bleed into each other a little bit)

What I find most interesting though is when you put Black Friday in the context of TMA. Because it is basically just Wiggly's most devoted avatar Wilbur Cross, trying to execute a ritual for Wiggog Y’Wrath, aka the Slaughter, so he can come through to our dimension and bring about the apocalypse in his vision.

Similarly TGWDLM would be Pokotho's apocalypse (apokolypse) if the Web pushes through in a ritual. The fact that the Hatchetfield musicals all seem to be parallel universes works so well with the way the Fears work with parallel universes in TMA lore. Obviously this doesn't add up completely since Pokey's meteor backstory doesn't align with the concept of rituals in TMA, - and of course the whole point was that the rituals would all fail anyway because you need all the Fears together for it to work. But in Hatchetverse the Lords can!

Now I like to imagine what the rituals for the other Lords might look like. This is really scratching an itch in my brain

Also the Black Book is a Leitner, we all know it

Now I still haven't talked about Tinky. This is actually my favourite thing to think about because he's not as obvious to me as the others when it comes to the Fears.

I am very sure that Tinky is the Spiral🌀

The way he seems to enjoy to just fuck with Ted people's lives and trapping them in his toy box - which feels a little reminiscent of trapping people in, say, certain hallways. Fucking about with time and space to make their victims lose sanity seems about right for the Spiral.

Another part of the Spiral is deceit, the It Is Lies, and while this might seem like a stretch - I do think this is just as if not more so important to Tinky's whole deal. It's kind of the main thing he uses to play with Ted. He makes him believe he has anctually chance with Jenny again, makes him believe he's in control and knows what he's doing, when in reality it's just Tinky having a bit of fun toying with his feelings. All of this rings closely to the Web as well, but there two aren't quite off from eachother anyway, since lies and deceits are just a way of manipulation at the end of the day.

We only have Time Bastard to assess Tinky's personality, but it would be super interesting if this story would be explored in a whole play or musical, just to see the length of Tinky's manipulation tactics. Especially knowing they can take form as humans if they want to, he could - like the Distortion does - pretend to be Ted's friend to play his mind games. ...I might actually want to write this now

Okay, but the Spiral is not all T'Noy Karaxis is about. Again, just based on Ted's story, it actually becomes quite clear that Tinky is also the Lonely ☁️

Seriously, Ted's story is lonely coded through and through. Starting with the reason why Tinky picked Ted in the first place. He's at Emma and Paul's wedding, unenvited, unwanted, and probably the most lonely he's ever felt because what could make you more aware of your own loneliness than a room full of happy people who don't want you to be there. He's reminiscing about the time he had with the only person he's had a genuine strong connection to, then Tinky chimes in like "He's perfect, I can work with that"

And it's really just so sad. Ted has to go through losing Jenny again, and then ending up being comppletely and utterly removed from society. He doesn't even get to keep his sense of identity. His life. He just becomes "Homeless Guy", watching the people he once knew pass him by in the streets, seeing his little brother, his younger self - as strangers he lost all connection to. And he can't do anything about it. He is truly alone. Absolutely bonkers insane, I am eating drywall

do you get me???

Also just the Spiral / Lonely combo aesthetically clashes so hard but is actually not far removed. It really shows that the Fears bleed into eachother. From the Web to the Spiral, the Spiral and the Stranger, the Stranger and the Lonely, it kinda drives me insane I love it

Anyway, knowing that Tinky's a fan favourite for many of you, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, so please let me know what you think!!!

EDIT: as some have pointed out, Pokey much better fits the corruption than the web, you are RIGHT I am an idiot

[deerspherestudios]

Hi! I played your game and really, really like it, I am a huge fan of slow burn - combined with Yandere too? That's kinda rare nowadays, haha. Thanks for making it and creating Mychael, I love his design. Two questions: How many days are planned to be playable in the full release?

And

Since in just one day Mychael feels very friendly towards us (according to a post you made with where his feelings are based on a meter) does that mean he's very clingy??? Like, in just one day he feels like our friend. What little effort and words will it take for him to go from crush, to love, to whatever yandere thing he might be??? Like, is he okay??? Should I be worried???

This guy? Clingy? Nahhh. Nothing to worry about, anon :-) 🍄❤️

As for the game, long (!!!) answer below cut: might be spoiler-y might be not.

For context, here's the post mentioned above.

I'm still not sure how many days it will be, but it's definitely ranging between 4-5 days. Granted it'll be a while before the game is finished finished but I think progress will pick up as I complete assets that will be reused. I'm writing Days 2, 3 and 4 simultaneously (anyone who writes can probably relate to wanting a specific thing to happen in the story but dread writing up to it, so I skip around in order to keep my motivation and interest up)

As for relationship progression, slow burn usually means a long time passes before anything develops. But this is a VN and I'm a solo part-time dev so the scope still has to be small 😔 That said!

Mychael, as a person, is quite solitary in nature; he likes being alone and you'll find out why. He does however desire company and he's only realized just how pleasant having someone around can be (hence his reaction for the Bad Endings in Day 1 if you wish to leave/run away)

Although I'm not a fan of the 'you do one (1) nice thing any decent person would do and yandere is already head-over-heels for you' trope, I do have to make use of it but, drip-feed style? You grow closer to Mychael as you hang out with him and do little things that he appreciates. (Honestly I just realized I'm describing the typical visual novel experience just without the yandere beginning-- go! figure!!! /lh)

Example: the first thing that boosts you to immediate friend status is your willingness to accept his physical looks, something that's never happened to him before. (I know my artstyle makes him a yassified pretty boy but imagine genuinely meeting a sentient creature in real life with patchy green skin, a dextrous tail and four blinking pitch black eyes, I think I'd freak too haha) Little things like that mean a lot to him and motivates him to prolong your stay.

In a way, the MC is written to be more kinder and open-minded (at least outside of Bad Ends) than the sweet/sour personalities that come in a VN, so (for narrative AND coding purposes) I can't really diversify it much. I hope that's okay ¯\_(; v ; )_/¯ If Mychael met a more grouchy/mean MC on Day 1 he'd probably not be as attached. He'd just save you, feed you and send you home when you ask hahaha. Of course this will change as he gets to know you better, at that stage he'll be willing to overlook your flaws like any upstanding yandere

Phew this was a lot to dump in an ask but I did wanna explain my vision for the game! I enjoy yandere VNs as an escape fantasy, but it's common they start out with the yan already being invested in you or fall for you too fast!!! if that makes sense. I'm interested in yanderes in the aspect of how love (romantic or otherwise) starts from innocent affection and spirals into dark obsession!!! It's also compelling as to why a character is so devoted to someone, in this situation the MC, and I wanna write the kind of person Mychael would fall for. And personally 'love-at-first-sight' as a reason just doesn't do it for me 💔

(Disclaimer!!! I'm not saying my game is any more original or better than the other wonderful yan VNs in the works, but hopefully with Mychael as a character I can deliver that 'slow-burn-and-yearn' storyline I'd like it to be. As my itchio profile says: I make games I thirst for in secret but are sadly lacking around the internet 💔 )

Thank you for the ask!! :-D

[onceuponapuffin]

Fanatic Intervention Part 21!!

AKA Newt and Adam Part II

Rushing to get this up before I need to leave for work, so no edit, no beta. We fall like...like something that falls.

Not ducks.

Okay, let's do this.

Beginning || Previous || Next

**************************************

Adam had been typing for a while.

He had a laptop set up on Aziraphale’s desk, and was alternating between typing and clicking with the usb mouse he’d brought along. Their first step had taken a day or two – setting up wireless internet in the bookshop. Honestly, Newt wasn’t entirely sure what Aziraphale would think of that when he returned, but Adam had insisted it would make things a lot easier, so Newt had done his part to help (arrange the line to be put in, and stay out of the way while the technician did his work). While Adam sat at the laptop, configuring settings and researching VPN services, Newt had been doing everything he could. He’d paced, started reading a few books, taken a walk, taken a second walk, explored Maggie’s shop, bought treats from Nina’s (Adam had been most appreciative of that), and made countless cups of tea, then popped out to the local co-op to replenish the tea bag supply.

All in all, it had been a long day of helping and Newt was beginning to find himself very tired by the effort.

It wasn’t until late that night when Adam finally set the laptop aside, and asked if they could get something exotic for takeaway. After a bit of debate and a game of paper-rock-scissors, they ended up ordering curry, which was about the most exotic thing that Newt’s British stomach was willing to handle after all the stress of the day. As Newt tidied the dishes afterward, he finally asked what had been on his mind all day.

“So do you think this will actually work?”

Adam shrugged from behind his phone screen. “’Bout as well as anything’s likely to, I reckon.”

Newt wasn’t thrilled with that answer. “Okay, but what do we do if it doesn’t?”

Adam set his phone down and raised an eyebrow at Newt, then sighed thoughtfully and let his eyes wander to the ceiling. “Well,” he began, “Then I just suppose we try something else.”

“Like what?”

“I dunno,” Adam said to the ceiling. He crossed his arms and frowned in consideration. Then he shrugged and sat back up. “I expect we’ll figure that out when we get to it.” He watched Newt’s frown deepen. “If we get to it,” Adam corrected.

“Right,” Newt said doubtfully, “So are we going to try it tonight then?”

“Nah,” Adam replied with a shake of his head, “Gotta let the script finish first.”

“Script? Are you telling me you wrote code? To hack into Heaven?”

“Well yeah,” Adam said, as if it was obvious, “We learn how to code in schools these days you know. I just...used it creatively.”

The sound Newt made conveyed how impressed he was better than any words could. “You,” he said after a moment, “Would be a menace to national security if you ever wanted to be.”

“Tried it already,” Adam said with a smirk, “Wasn’t my thing in the end.”

Newt couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, and thank goodness for that.” He shook his head and put away the last of the dishes before sitting back down at the table. “So are you doing your A Levels in Computer Science then?” He asked.

Adam shrugged. “Well, yeah sort of. Mum and Dad want me to go to Uni for it, but I have other ideas.”

“Like what?” Newt pressed.

“I want to be an author,” Adam said, a small blush crossing his cheeks, “I want to write stories. Lotta good a story can do in the world. An’ I figure that maybe I can inspire people to be better. Save the whales an’ all that.”

Newt smiled. Well if that wasn’t just the most charming thing he’d heard in a while. “I reckon you’d be rather good at that,” he said. Adam looked at him and smiled appreciatively in return.

“Yeah,” he said, “I hope so. Figure it’s worth tryin’ at least.”

And isn’t that just the truth for anything worthwhile in this world.

************************************

The next day they both got up late, but that didn’t stop Adam from rushing to the laptop to check on things while Newt went across the street to grab some sweet buns from Nina. When Newt returned, Adam looked up from the laptop with a satisfied smile.

“It’s ready,” he said. Newt sighed in relief. He’d been half worried that the script would have failed and Adam would have had to have another go at it, but he supposed that Adam probably worried a lot less about that sort of thing than most people.

He set down the box of sticky buns, and went to stand close – but not too close – to Adam. To his surprise, Adam got up from the chair and beckoned Newt to sit down. It took a moment for Newt to register what was happening, before he started stuttering and waving his hands in refusal.

“Oh, oh no Adam, no that’s not a good idea. I really shouldn’t...” Newt trailed off into a strand of mumbled syllables that were all nervousness and no sense.

“It’s okay,” Adam said, “I told it to behave itself.”

The teenage ex-antichrist ushered a very nervous Newt into the chair, and directed him to open the VPN. Newt took a deep breath, put his hand on the mouse, and slowly clicked the icon.

The application opened. Nothing shut down, the power didn’t go out, there were no sparks, there was no fire. It just...opened. It just...worked. Newton Pulsifer, life-long lover of computers who had utterly destroyed every piece of technology he ever touched, had just opened an application on a laptop. Tears sprang to his eyes, and he wiped at them with his sleeve. He couldn’t wait to tell Anathema.

“Sorry,” he sniffed, “It’s just...ah...nevermind, what’s next?” He pushed back against the emotion, he could deal with that later. They had work to do and he had a friend to find. Adam patted his shoulder, and Newt looked over to see Adam was smiling at him kindly.

“It’s alright,” he said, before turning his and Newt’s attention back towards the laptop screen. They spent the next 20 minutes or so going over how to open and use this very special VPN program that Adam had modified to hack past Heaven’s firewalls….or rather, Newt supposed, holy-water-walls? Was that a thing? He supposed it could be. Oh, who cares, he was using a computer successfully for the first time in his life! The world was his oyster, and Heaven too, apparently.

**********************

Muriel heard ringing. They weren’t entirely sure where it was coming from, but they could hear it clear as anything. The scrivener looked up from their work to see that an angel phone had manifested itself on the desk in front of them. Oh, well that hadn’t been there before.

Carefully, Muriel picked up the heavenly device, crystalline and perfect. This kind of device was usually exclusively for use by the archangels, not them, but it was in fact ringing and Muriel had the very specific feeling that it was for them. The angel only hesitated another moment before tapping the screen. The phone came to life, showing Newt and a young boy. Her friend Newt heaved a relieved sigh and smiled.

“Muriel!” he exclaimed, the relief evident in his voice as well, “It’s actually you! It worked!”

“Of course it did,” said the boy next to him, “You do know who you called, right?” Newt laughed in response. Muriel didn’t understand any of it, but they found themselves laughing too and, to their surprise, crying small tears.

“Hello Newt,” Muriel said into the phone, blinking away the tears, “How’ve you been? I’ve missed you all.”

“Muriel,” Newt began again, “Where are you?”

Well, that was odd. Muriel stammered a bit in surprise. “Well, I’m in Heaven of course! I thought Metatron told you!”

“The Metatron?!” replied Newt, “I knew it. Damn. Muriel, I am so sorry. I never should have insisted we leave the bookshop. This is all my fault.”

Muriel shook their head. “No, no it’s alright. Apparently I left Heaven in a proper state! I’ve been buried in paperwork ever since I got back.” They turned the phone around so that Newt could see the large stacks of files that never seemed to get any smaller.

“Um, hullo, Muriel is it?” came the voice of the boy, “My name is Adam, and honestly, I think the Metatron’s been lying to you.”

“What?” Muriel turned the phone screen back so the boy – Adam – could see the confusion on their face. “But...why would he do that? I mean, he’s an angel, I don’t think he can lie.”

“Oh, angels can lie,” Adam replied, “You can trust me on that one.”

“But...I don’t even know who you are,” Muriel said, squinting into the phone. They boy smirked mischievously.

“Honestly, I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you,” he hesitated before adding, “Or that you’d want to know for that matter. You’re rather the good sort.”

Muriel wasn’t sure what to think about that, but they did know that they were getting frustrated with all of these cryptic messages, the lying, the half-truths, everyone tip-toeing around them as if they were stupid. So, the Angel Muriel, Scrivener 37th Order, Inspector Constable of Earth, steeled their gaze and looked as straight at the boy as the phone would let them.

“Try me.”

****************************************

Getting Muriel to believe that the Metatron had lied was not all that difficult in the end. Newt had told them how worried everyone was. It was harder for them to understand that the ex-antichrist was helpful and kind. In the end, they decided that, now that Muriel was able to communicate, they would stay in Heaven and see if they could feed information to Newt through the VPN. That way, they would hopefully know what the Metatron was up to. But Newt made Muriel Pinky Promise that they would contact him if they were ever in actual danger. When Newt eventually ended the call and disconnected from the VPN, he felt as though an enormous weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

That is, until an idea struck him. One that sent a bolt of anxiety shooting through his body.

“Oh! Adam!” he said, turning to the teenager, “What do I do when you leave? I mean, you need to take your laptop with you.”

Adam shook his head. “Nah, see this is my old one. It’s yours now, you can keep it.” The boy glanced at the laptop on the desk. “And if it ever gives you any trouble, you just let me know.”

With the last of his worries answered, Newt felt tears in his eyes again, and this time he let them fall.

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ 🖤

Beginning || Previous || Next

[infamous-if]

Sorry, this one's a bit of a criticism, I think it's weird that punky, aggressive Seven chose to be in (what I chose to be) a folk band at the start, like I get that we're besties but this is very much not her aesthetic or performance style

Picking to be a folk band actually makes a lot of things a little weird through the game, like why is G, famous rockstar, invested in a band that's so wildly out of her genre? Why do we have a song with a sixty second drum solo? Why are we playing electric instruments?

Basically I think there are too many genre options at the start and they don't really make sense with how the rest of the game is written assuming you're a rock band of some stripe. Like, a hip-hop group, an EDM group or a synthpop group probably wouldn't have a guitarist or a live drummer at all.

I really enjoy the meat of the game and all the relationships and drama, but the like, knowledge in the back of my head that I picked to be a folk band makes a bunch of later context come off pretty strange and I think that streamlining the genre choices down to genres that would have electric guitarists, live drummers and drum solos would be a fix for this.

I mean, I get it! And I thought of that too while writing the initial demo, but honestly, it's just one of those things meant to be customization purposes and to add to the details of story. It's what people want out of their play through. I could've easily made MC's band a regular rock/punk band and called it a day, and I know other band IFs did that for the logical part of it, but I don't want to. I like seeing the different combinations and what people create. It's more for people to add in what they want and to imagine their story as is. Does it make sense? Not always, but it can easily be explained as a fusion or any other explanation people want to use.

I think the problem when you advertise a story as slice of life in general is that people expect 1000% realism in a way they don't with any other genre, but I don't really want to be limited to that. I mean, in reality, there are many things that would be different if I was going for complete realism, but I'm not. This is very much a dramatization haha

It's not much of a big deal, in the context of the actual story, and also, it would be pointless for me to really hone in on streamlining the genres because you can type in your genre anyway? I think if it does bother you, I would recommend doing a type in or just going the traditional rock/electric route. Or just type in the genre you think best reflects the story, that's why it's there!

Plus, I do like having a diverse selection of genres just to show that theres more genres out there than just rock when it comes to bands and band stories. It also helps build the MCs background in the eyes of readers (their choice). I know a few readers who have typed in their own genres and write lyrics in their native language, which I think is really cool.

I'm limited to how much I write and can code. Realistically, I could've added variables and changed the instruments/positions of the band members to correspond with the genre...and I'm almost unhinged enough to consider it...but nah lmao not now, at least.

Sorry that it ruined the experience a bit! But I'm likely not going to change that ^^

[chrysanthemumgames]

Could you share a little more about your writing process? Do you outline? I’m struggling with keeping the amount of choices down in my game but also keeping it customizable

I may not be the best person to ask about this, as I'm honestly still quite an amateur, but I'll share some of what I do, and maybe it'll help.

I do think some amount of outlining is pretty necessary for writing an interactive fiction. Flying by the seat of your pants (that is, just writing until you're done, then going back to rewrite everything into coherence) isn't really sustainable practice for a (long) choice game. You really want to know at least where all the major branches of your game are going, and where they can meet back up again.

Those meeting places are called chokepoints, and they're vital.

For example, in Chapter Four of FoA, the player has three different routes of investigation they can take. They can go talk to Lethe and try to help heal her, they can go into the city to see if the spirits know anything, or they can go to the riverbank to try and pinpoint the source and nature of whatever is ailing the river Lethe. This results in three distinct scenes, each with their own choices, and if I'd wanted to, all of them could have further branched in some big way that would affect the plot, and so on, and so forth.

The thing is, that's not really doable. There needs to be some place the branches meet up again so the story can continue, at least as early in the game as Chapter Four! In this example, it was literally a meeting where everyone talked about their findings, but of course it doesn't have to be. The point is, it brought the branches back together again and allowed the story to continue. You should probably at least have a sense of when the bigger branches are going to occur, and what's going to bring them together again. That alone will help you control the number of choices and branches you offer. If you know they all have to eventually get the player to the clock tower at midnight or something, then you know how to steer things within each branch.

My outlines tend to be a little more detailed than that. I start with a beat chart for the game (or, in the case of BotL, a beat chart for each subplot, because it's basically several subplots stacked together wearing a trenchcoat), and from there I put them in the right order and make a beat chart for the whole thing.

A 'beat chart' here is just a list of the big things that happen like 'PC meets Iasion' or 'Trial of Pirithous and Theseus.' Once you have a really general outline like that, you can stop outlining if you want. You have a roadmap, and if you're more of an improvisor, that should still be enough to help you steer yourself towards the necessary chokepoints. If you prefer to plan more, like me, you can break your outline into chunks and add levels of detail. I will do a chapter-by-chapter outline with a list of scenes for each, and then when I come to the specific chapter I will actually outline the scenes with code before writing my way through them. Sometimes all at once, sometimes in the form of outline, scene, outline, scene.

Finding the process that works for you is a big part of succeeding at finishing an IF, I think. Yours might not (probably won't) be the same as mine; the important thing is that it keeps you moving forward (and not just laterally, into more and more branches). Branches are great, but you have to prune them back sometimes for the healthiest plant. IF. You get what I mean, I hope.