#I'm using twine to organize and write it

[dirigibleplumbing]

well, I hope y'all like choose your own adventure stories...

[jayrockin]

Hey!

I'm enjoying your comic 😃 Talita is so cute and awkward 😊 If you don't mind me asking... What is your process like for making a webcomic? I have a graphic novel brewing in my head but I'm not sure how to go about making it!

Thank you! 😃

I talked a little about my process for drawing pages over here, but that doesn't go into writing. For writing I usually start with an idea of the broad overarching plot, and a collection of scenes I definitely want to happen in it. Then I organize those scenes (just written as single sentence descriptions) flowchart style, and add connective tissue scenes where the major ones need connection.

I had been using the Twine program to organize my book scenes, completely ignoring its intended function of game creation to arrange a bunch of connected digital post-its in space. Then I learned about Scapple, which is a program actually intended for that function. So I use that now.

Once I know what I need to write I start doing thumbnails and rough pages and scribbled scripts for them in no particular order. My script documents are kind of typed after the fact for the benefit of editors, I really prefer to do my writing while I draw characters and layouts. I also really prefer having all of the rough pages done before I commit to drawing finished pages. Like I already have a "finished" version of book 1 RttS with horrible art, I just have to make it look nice now. My workflow has been extremely all over the place except for that hard rule.

[evertidings]

Hello! I'm thinking of starting an IF story later this year, and am completely new to coding and how to organise a chose-your-own-adventure. I was wondering whether you could share how you organise each route/the story of WTS, please. Love your work!

hi!! if you're overwhelmed by formatting and you're writing in twine, i'd actually recommend writing directly in the twine app. it has a great mind-map aesthetic that can help you visualize things.

but if you're curious as to how i write, i've attached some screenshots below. i believe i've talked about this before, but i'll go over it again because why not?

example #1: sections

one of the most important steps for me when organizing a document is having headers. it allows me to jump from section to section, rather than scrolling through for ages trying to find something. it also helps me break the chapter into smaller sections, which makes things less overwhelming for me.

example #2: choices.

in terms of the document itself, i make sure to differentiate texts with various colours to make things easier on the eyes. i also make sure they are visually different. for example, in chapter ten, i wrote my choices in a purple colour and indented them slightly. i also write each line with bullet points, just so i know the text that follows is part of that choice and not general text.

example #3: if statements.

similar to my choices, i colour my "if statements" in a different colour than the general text. i also indent them further than the choices and change the bullet point that it's written on, just so i can further differentiate the two. for those who don't know, if statements act like flavour text, which show up only if you've completed or met a certain requirement prior to the scene. in the picture below, the flavour text reveals itself if you've been rude to Blane seven times or more. otherwise, you get the general text.

overall: aside from those two formatting decisions, my word document is really standard. luckily, i'm able to keep track of a my branches in my head, so this system works for me, but it goes without saying that it won't be for everyone. as i said at the beginning of the post, if you're more visual, twine (or some sort of mindmap tool) might be useful. hopefully this is (slightly) helpful. if anyone has more questions on this, please let me know! i'm always happy to answer them :)))

p.s. if anyone is confused about all the "<" and ">" symbols, that's just part of my twine coding. i usually copy and paste what i write in word into my code, so this just saves me from typing it.

[strawberryshortcake0413]

Angry man

Re2 leon x f!reader

You were raised by an angry man. Now you are the angry man. How would it change the relationship of you and Leon?

Full of yapping

Word count:1375

Working in the police station as a people pleaser was never your plan. Being the eldest daughter of your parents, a sister, and someone for your younger siblings to look up to you pressured you to become a cop.

After all, taking care of your siblings alongside your religious mother and strict father who was rapidly aging was your responsibility. A responsibility that you meant to carry, even if you didn't want to.

A decade ago, your 14-year-old self wanted to be a baker. Unfortunately for you, the man in the house you lived in threatened to kick you out if you became an useless part of society that served people.

With your fear of the man you call your father, the judgment from your mother, and the clueless endless demands of your siblings, you surprisingly did well in high school and managed to get into the academy.

Having a few close friends, and no partner in the academy was maybe the key to your success in the profession you didn't want. An achievement that mattered almost nothing to you. Except for the fancy uniform and nice coworkers (except Jack), your life is boring.

Who wants to spend their 20s sitting behind a desk, writing reports for your bosses all day, every day? Well, at least not you.

Today seemed to be pretty "normal" like every other day, till Jack walked up to your desk with a smug smirk on his face. The man was in his late 20's, with red hair and grey eyes with not so bad face. But all those traits are wasted on his asshole personality. Ever since you started working here a few years ago, being peaceful without his sexist, snarky comments was impossible. The two of you always managed to argue in a way most parents would cover their kids' ears if they passed by.

"Well well well... Y/n, look at you. Sitting behind your desk like a good girl you are. Even getting the rare chance to have a puppy following you around the station.." he signed heavily, failing to hide his smirk.

"What do you want Terrance??" You snapped at him.

"Woah woah. Calm down, grandma. Chief is calling you. You have a newbie to train" Jack said grabbing your name tag. As you stood up to the left, you managed to hit his hand.

Jack Terrance was another reason why you should quit. The ashhole of the station targeted you like he could target his gun properly.

Standing in front of the chief, you found a blonde guy standing behind you. Observing his body language, it was clear he was nervous. Maybe a little clumsy.

"Sir, I heard you called me in," you said in an emotionless tone, the one you always used at work. It's not like you have any other tone anyway.

"Y/L/N, as a young inspiring lady who knows what you are doing, I'm hoping you could introduce the station and help the new officer we have," the chief said smiling, pointing his arm to the guy in the corner, who swallowed and took a few steps to grab your hand.

"I'm Leon. Leon S Kennedy" the guy said shaking your hand as you nodded slowly.

Great. You have tons of work and now you even have double work? Just your luck. At least he was cute.

You gave him a cold glare, eyeing him up and down as you left the chief's office with him following behind you.

"So how-" he starts before you shut him up. "Organize these files in order by the date" You handed him towers of paper that sat on your desk for 2 days. The guy immediately sat down and started his work while you typed an email to a witness.

This went on for about 3 weeks. You come to work, and Leon greets you energetically (how does he do that??) every day before you give him something to waste his time on. But for the last few days, he grew more distant, almost snapping when you snap at him. Twining. Luckily Leon didn't like Jack that much too. During the lunch break, he managed to spill his opinion on how annoying Jack was to you.

"What the hell Kennedy?? I trusted you one time to properly do something and you messed it up?? How old are you?? Eight?? How can you not write a report?? You were there with me. I even explained to you"

The poor guy stared at the floor and nodded softly before standing up to rewrite the report. After work, you saw something you were not supposed to see. The poor guy was crying in the bathroom (he forgot to lock it).

Driving home you thought about your childhood when your father yelled at you for making simple mistakes as any child does. Accidentally breaking a cheap cup, and spilling water on the dining table. "When you had an angry man in your house, you always have one" seemed to be your situation.

When did you start yelling and insulting people? Instead of helping them like you did in middle school math class?

Maybe you were too harsh on him. Maybe it was the way your dad treated you. Maybe it was the way to be a perfect girl like your mom insisted. Maybe it's just you. Maybe you're just a horrible person.

Thinking about the way Leon looked at you before switching to the floor and seeing him crying in the bathroom because of you.

Maybe you are the worst person on earth. He was just a guy who didn't know better because you didn't explain him properly.

Maybe tomorrow you should try to apologize if you have the nerve. What were you going to say?? "I'm sorry Leon. I didn't mean to yell at you for being dumb. I felt bad now. So.. sorry"

You couldn't help but be embarrassed about pleading with someone. No one in your family apologized for the things they did. You didn't know how to say sorry.

Throwing your phone after realizing what you did was quite impressive. You managed to get his address. You are going to say sorry. Not tomorrow. Not tomorrow's tomorrow. Right now, In his apartment, alone.

Pressing the bell gave your ears tingle. Wow. You are so stupid. What made you think this was okay? Anyway, there's no going back since you pressed the damn bell already.

Suddenly the door swung open to reveal the blondish dude. Damn. He was only wearing sweatpants.

"Um.. hello... Kennedy" you choked out awkwardly. Leon on the other side raised his eyebrow and let you in hesitantly. He was still angry or sad? You didn't know. You were never good with emotion. The last time you cried was in middle school after your "friend" spilled your secrets to everyone.

"Listen.. about today... I want to... apologize to you. It.. it was never your fault. I should have worded things better."

Wow. You did it. Leon started at you for a few seconds before nodding a bit. "..okay.. I'll try harder to do well too" he muttered.

His eyes flickered back and forth as if he was thinking about something. After a good few seconds, he rasped a line out. "I like you, you know?"

It was almost a whisper but you heard it.

"What?" You asked, shocked. 24 years old. Still had no boyfriend, girlfriend, or anyone before. It was the first time someone said it to you.

"I liked you the moment I saw you my first day. And... I forgive you for yelling.. please.. try not to do that again... I- I felt like I was a failure" he muttered.

Who knew talking would have been this awkward? What were you going to say? Unfortunately, before you thought about anything, your body closed the distance between you by kissing his lips.

Woah. Just as you realized what had happened and were about to pull away, he grabbed your waist and brought you closer.

Well, at least today you didn't have such a bad day. Like the one where Jack spilled coffee on your white shirt (it was 100 dollars) and everyone can see your bra. (Another story)

[veryace-ficrecs]

could you do some heart pirate centric fics?

of course!! []~(￣▽￣)~*

Heart Pirates Centric Fic Recs

it takes every organ by Anonymous - Rated T

It really is hilarious that any pirate crew would use a submarine, rather than a ship. Who would want to go down, instead of having room to go up? Who would rather be below water, with nowhere to stretch one's wings, than be close to the skies? Law thinks about the twines of thorns on his back, the scaled feathers on Penguin's and Shachi's. None of them can even fly anyway, so fuck it. If they can't go up, they'll just go down instead. (Or: Law, the flightless pirate captain of a flightless pirate crew in a world where most everybody has wings, through the eyes of all those who matter.)

Reliving a Nightmare by PumpkinPieTimb - Rated T

Grand Line is where the infamous Devil Fruits come from. Fruits that can grant its eater a unique ability that can either be so stupid it would make you question why it even exists, or so overpowered that you'd think the user is a god. Speaking of Devil Fruit users with overpowered abilities, did you know that some can alter time? Or, in this case, a person's age? Because Penguin sure as hell didn't. It was wild, like any other thing in the Grand Line. It was unpredictable. Unknown. Unheard of. Hence, the lack of proper response. "This can't be happening," Shachi muttered in disbelief beside him. "This-- this is a dream. I'm dreaming, right? Someone pinch me-- fuck, punch me." He laughed hysterically.

Bioluminescent Hearts by Harmonica_Smile (Rescue_Remedy) - Rated T

"No bodies?" Blackbeard fumed. Doc Q and Stronger had bounced across rocky Winner Island when that bear had gone all Sulong and knocked them out. Van Augur's range for warping wasn't that great, and was tricky over open water. He could sharpshoot the skin of a hangnail, but the bear was fast. If he'd managed to get a shot in, they could've finished the Mink off, and pulled the shitty doctor from the water, taken his heart and returned triumphant. Once the horse had woken up. *contains spoilers for chapter 1081*

Visiting Home by Nehszriah - Rated M

Law wants to go back to Flevance to run some tests on the remaining Amber Lead, though the excursion turns into another sort of thing entirely.

on grandma's baking and also grand larceny by Chockyyyy - Rated T

Law always felt most in control standing at the head of a table, a map sprawled before him to guide each person into their place. He thrived on well-oiled machines and plans that ran bump-free. These kinds of things were good stress relievers for him and carrying them out was a good stress reliever for his crew. Simple logic. Thus: here he was. “The information we need is held inside a trapped and guarded office, but there's a massive banquet occurring that night that will give us a better shot with the lowered security. Several of you will be infiltrating the party, keeping an ear out, and if needed, providing distractions. What we’re after is classified to hell and back; as long as we get out, there's no way those nobles will admit it was stolen if that means they had it in the first place.” “Dibs on the dress!” Shachi called in the silence after Law’s spiel.

Forty-Two Superior Teeth by Harmonica_Smile (Rescue_Remedy) - Rated T

Law, Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin: Kids growing into their dreams on Swallow Island.

echo by MuffinsInSummer - Rated G

the clock strikes midnight - it's October 7th, Law is drunk, he doesn't plan on celebrating his birthday until he sees the treasure chest that has the fruit he's been searching for so long. The Nagi Nagi no Mi. "Hey sorry it took so long. Just in time too." "This is..." (or in which I forget Law's birthday minutes after it hits midnight AGAIN in my country and I write this to make up for it. Sorry Law.)

[idrellegames]

hi there! sorry if you've gotten a similar ask before. do you write wayfarer directly into twine or do you keep it in a separate doc? do you just have really clearly labeled sections in a word doc or something or is there a specific program you use to keep track of every story path? basically, with something as expansive and w/ as many routes as wayfarer, how do you keep all your writing organized?

I have answered this before, but I can't seem to find my posts on the subject (you may want to peruse my coding in twine tag, the masterpost has a bunch of different resources for this kind of thing!).

But in short, no, I do not write Wayfarer directly into Twine. This could functionally work for a very small game, but I would still advise against it as Twine doesn't really work as a word processor. You can't proof-read in it.

My process has three main steps:

Outlining

Writing

Coding

Compiling

Outside of my big beat chart (which spans the whole game), I break each episode down into their own outlines, and then break the routes of each episode down into their own outlines. Sometimes specific sections end up with their own outlines too. My system probably doesn't make much sense to anyone other than me, but as long as I know what the divisions are, then it's all good.

I write in MS Word. Each episode has its own folder (sometimes with subfolders) and every section of the game gets its own document.

Here's the main folders, each episode goes into its own thing.

This is an subfolder for Episode 1, specifically Route B.

Within my word documents themselves, I use a colour-coding system for separating out branches and sections. This is extremely useful for writing dialogue loops, like this:

I also add in any coding notes (variables, true/false states, stat checks) while I am writing so I know what I need to do when I sit down to code 4+ months later. I usually throw a X or XX on choices after I have written them as a note to myself that I have finished it (this is just personal shorthand - X means I've done the pass version of a check, XX means I've done the pass and fail states).

I use about 8-10 colours in my documents; I have a set of MS Word macros set up so I can easily switch between them.

I share my word documents with my editor via OneDrive, which makes it easy for her to got through and proofread.

I use MS Word because I've been using it to write since the 2000s and it's what I prefer to use. I have also been writing professionally for over a decade now, so I have systems and strategies in place that work for me that I've developed for myself over time. But if you're new to writing and you're looking for a word processor that can also help you with outlining and keeping your story straight, something like Scrivener may be helpful.

One the text is ready to be coded, it's a lot of copy/pasting from Word into Twine. When I'm coding I will typically be running multiple programs at once:

MS Word

MS Excel (for my variable sheets)

Twine

Notepad++ (which has some regularly used code stored in it; I also use it to edit CSS and Javascript, as well as any really code-heavy sections since it's easier to do that in Notepad++ than it is in the Twine editor)

Notepad (just the regular version - I use it for writing notes to myself while I'm coding)

a web browser to launch tests in as I code

Once I am done coding and I have tested things, it's time to compile. The Twine editor can only handle so many passages and text in one file (around 500-700 passages before you hit massive lag), so I break Wayfarer into multiple story files. Having multiple story files also makes it really easy for me to cross-reference events (if I need to grab a passage title to reference it later) because I don't have to look through one big file. If I know the event happens in Episode 2's first scene, then I know I need to open Chapter_2.1.

My Twine library looks like this at the moment:

I am using an old version of the editor (with an up-to-date version of SugarCube) since I didn't like the new one. I don't necessarily recommend using the Twine editor when you can easily make your game with Twee extensions in Visual Studio Code and have better support and functionality, but this is what I like and it really comes down to personal preference.

But because everything is in separate files, I have to merge them altogether. I have Tweego installed on my PC; it's run through the command prompt and outputs multiple story files into one HTML file. I've talked about this process here and here.

And that's basically it! I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all solution to keeping track of your IF. You need to figure out what works for you, based on your writing and outlining habits, how big your story is, and how much you intend to keep track of.

Hope this helps!

[northern-passage]

Hi! I'm sorry if you've answered this before, but what do you use for your IF writing and how do you organize it? (I might ask a few other writers I admire this so don't mind it if you see this question floating around 🙈)

hi! i pretty much solely use obsidian now, which is a markdown editor.

i used to use visual studio code when i wrote in choicescript, and some people do still use vsc in twine as well (along with tweego) but i have a system now where i write and code in obsidian and then port it all into twine manually once i'm ready, rather than bothering with tweego.

obsidian allows you to have vaults, so i have a vault for each separate project (blood choke, tnp, my novel, etc) then within those vaults i have folders where i separate everything. here's a peek inside the blood choke and tnp vaults:

i use. a LOT of folders, especially for tnp, it allows me to break up scenes and variations easily so i can find what i'm looking for. bc is much smaller so you can see i really only have one main folder for each chapter.

i have a variable file for both (i just had to crop out tnp's cus the vault has too many files lmfao) and i also use a spreadsheet on googledocs to keep track of them, both for how many possible points one can have in any numerical variables, as well as what each variable is used for:

for tnp i actually have a separate google doc for each chapter because there's so many. again, it makes it easier for me to find stuff rather than scrolling thru one big massive spreadsheet.

and that's about it. i keep everything pretty contained within obsidian now. i do keep notes on my phone too but it's very messy (i don't really write on my phone in general like some other people do) and i tend to just send any of that to myself through a private discord server and then i put it into my random notes files for later.

[larkingame]

For those of us who are new to twine/find it daunting. What would be the easiest way to set side character genders? I know if statements will likely come into play I just find it so daunting. Any information would be helpful.

hi friend! apologies this took me several months to answer--askbox was on lockdown for a little bit, hope you're still curious.

i'm actually in the process of writing/scripting a couple new videos that I'm going to post next week (because a year later I don't really like how the old video looks) so--if it's easier, I'll cover it in video form for visual/audio learners there--but for now--this is what I'll say.

the best way to set genders for any character is to use variables, this is true across all different languages of twine, but i'm most familiar with sugarcube twine.

for example, in my game, larkin, i have two characters Ace and Hollis that the player can select the gender/pronouns of in the beginning of the game.

setting their genders is something as simple as creating links with <<set>> macros in them. you can do that a couple of ways. my favorite way is the bracket method, but I know there is like, annoying discourse in the coding community (because what other kind of coding discourse is there, if not annoying) over which method is better--so I'll show you both.

say I wanted to set Ace's gender at the beginning of the game. I'm going to first go into my StoryInit passage in twine--you won't have this when you first open your twine game, so you'll have to create it--by simply creating a new passage and labeling it 'StoryInit' exactly as written there, with the capital 'S' and the capital 'I' no spaces.

from there you're going to create a gender variable to keep track of your character's gender throughout the game. because ace's name starts with an 'a' i'm going to simply call my variable '$agender' it is important that a '$' or a dollar sign proceeds the title of your variable--in order for the game to keep track of the variables value throughout the game.

so basically, in StoryInit I'm going to create a set statement--this is done by typing out the following:

<<set $agender to "male">>

right now, i've set ace's gender to male. this doesn't really mean anything--I'm just using male as a default for right now--you can make it anything you want really, female, non-binary, or even just 'null' for the moment. but know that whatever you set their gender to now, if you type out $agender for it to print in the text of your game, it's going to say "male" or whatever else you've set their gender to.

this isn't really a necessary step but I've found that giving my variables some sort of value before I really set them has always helped me keep organized, and allow the game to run a little smoother.

now onto setting their genders.

if I want to give the player an option to select their gender choosing from the options male/female/non-binary, I'm going to set up my links either like this:

[[set ace's gender to male | 2.0][$agender to "male"]] [[set ace's gender to female | 2.0][$agender to "female"]] [[set ace's gender to non-binary | 2.0][$agender to "non-binary"]]

or like this:

<<link "set ace's gender to male" "2.0">><<set $agender to "male">><</link>> <<link "set ace's gender to female" "2.0">><<set $agender to "female">><</link>> <<link "set ace's gender to non-binary" "2.0">><<set $agender to "non-binary">><</link>>

both of these essentially accomplish the same thing: they create three links, all that lead to a passage entitled '2.0' and depending on the link selected, they set the gender of Ace to either male, female or non-binary.

To go a little deeper into explanation:

[[set ace's gender to male | 2.0][$agender to "male"]] &lt;<;link "set ace's gender to male" "2.0">><<set $agender to "male">><</link>

the pink text is what the player will see in the text of the game, the blue text is the destination to which the passage is taking you, and the yellow text is the value that's being set. the purple, for context is just coding language that's necessary for the links in that format to function.

with that, you could have a sentence structured like this in the passage labeled '2.0' to demonstrate which gender you've selected for ace's character.

'Ace identifies as $agender'

$agender in this case will print with whatever you've selected for their gender.

as for pronouns, that's a simple as setting multiple variables in one link. in this case, I do find the <<link>> method much easier, as it's a lot less complicated to set multiple variables with this one--((to be strictly honest with you, i haven't found a good way to do that with the bracket method))

say you want a male identifiying ace to go by he/him pronouns and a non-binary Ace to go by they/them--all you have to do is make links that look like this:

<<link "set ace gender to male" "2.0">><<set $agender to "male">><<set $a_he to "he">><<set $a_him to "him">><</link>> <<link "set ace gender to non-binary" "2.0">><<set $agender to "non-binary">><<set $a_he to "they">><<set $a_him to "them">><</link>>

in this example I've got variables for each time I'd use the subject and possessive adjective pronouns for ace--again, he/him in the variable name are just because it's the simplest convention for me to remember--you can name your variables whatever you like. you can also add more variables for the different types of pronouns (ex. he/him/himself/his)

you can do a lot more with this, of course, setting multiple pronouns for the characters, for example would be something as simple as creating a variable like $secondarya_he so that your character could sometimes go by "he" and sometimes by "they" -- it's really up to what you want to do with your characters. also i should note, you could also create like separate links for pronouns and gender ((as gender doesn't automatically define your pronouns in the Real World))

as for how they present in the game, it's as simple as typing out the variable and including it in your text.

for example if I have this in my text, and Ace's gender is set to nonbinary it'd look like this on my end:

Ace was over there, $a_he sat at $a_his desk.

would come out looking like this in game:

Ace was over there, they sat at their desk.

now of course, this can sometimes be tricky with grammar, because there's going to be different cases in english where you'd use one word to proceed or follow he or she but a different word to proceed/follow they--this is a simple fix too--just use if statements.

if I wanted to say 'he was doing something' for the male version of ace, but I wanted to say, 'they were doing something' for the non-binary version--I'd simply set it up like this:

$a_he <<if $a_he is "he" or $a_he is "she">>was<<elseif $a_he is "they">>were<</if>> doing something.

and my text would be fixed according to the different pronouns!

all that said, I hope this helped--and if you or anyone else has any coding questions feel free to send them here--plus look out for the video component of this lesson coming next week.

[uroboros-if]

hello, if its okay with you, could you explain how you achieved the following in twine: when you select an eye color, having the text change according to your choice. It seems simple but I can't seem to figure out. Any help would be appreciated!

You probably mean you want to do it in the same passage. I would be ecstatic to help!! I'll be putting it into a read-more because of pictures!

Also note, this tutorial assumes you're using SugarCube. I have very little knowledge of other Twine languages.

First of all, credit to HiEv because I got the base code from them! I just can't find what thread I found it in.

Code?

First—I've uploaded the EXACT passage for eye colors from the IF (even the writing is included...) to itch.io. I've made it restricted to avoid it clogging up my list of projects + notifying all my followers. However, you can play + download it there!

Link / Password: edelle008

Feel free to copy the code exactly, but in this post, I'll be explaining every single thing if you're still confused looking at the code.

Your Passage

Make a passage for where you want the radio buttons to appear. On that passage, have this code:

Red - Make sure to have a ((silently)) macro to not create unnecessary white space. I recommend to end ((silently)) immediately before your writing.

Orange - copy the code exactly (again, I highly recommend downloading the code off itch.io if you just want to copy and paste it!)

Yellow (no yellow on mobile editor...) - This is jQuery. It detects for any "changes" in a ((radiobutton)) macro in that passage. Make sure you don't have multiple radiobutton macros in the same passage.

Green - Replace #summary with the ID you're going to enclose your radio buttons in. If you don't know what I mean, this'll make more sense later.

Blue - When jQuery detects a change in the radio buttons in the passage, it's going to execute this widget called ((eye_color)), which I made solely to check and display different text for eye_color depending on what radio button is selected. Again, if this doesn't make sense, it will later.

So this where the actual radio buttons come. Please disregard the black strikethroughs, that's the code I used to organize the radio buttons into side by side columns.

I'm not covering how you do that here because the way I do it is incredibly scuffed, and only supports three radio buttons side by side. It also only looks good if the number of choices are the same on both sides. I don't want to teach you whatever won't work flexibly.

Above the red line, make a div and assign it an ID. I called my ID #summary, which is why in the previous screenshot, I made it so that the code updates whatever is inside a (span) or (div) with an ID of #summary. Hence, please change #summary into whatever you'd like!

Now you can also style any text within the (div) to anything you want in your Stylesheet.

Inside the div, I put the widget ((eye_color)). You can change this into any text you want to display initially, and it will be updated/written over once someone selects a radio button. The reason I let this stay as ((eye_color)) is so that it first shows the text for the first option, brown eye color (I do this by initializing $eye_color to "brown" in StoryInit, or else it might not show anything when you first look at it.)

Red - Below the red line, please add your radio buttons as normal. Again, disregard the black strikethroughs.

Widget

The reason I made a widget is so that it automatically checks and updates the text depending on the $eye_color variable, or any variable your radiobutton is changing. A widget is essentially a custom macro you make.

Make a separate passage (I called mine "eye_color" for consistency), tag it with "widget". You may copy the code below exactly as base (available for download on itch.io):

Here I made a widget called eye_color. You will enclose all the code inside this passage within the ((widget)) macro.

Yellow - I would use ((nobr)) macro from the beginning of the widget to the end to avoid unnecessary whitespace. This will put everything in one line unless you use (br) to force a line break.

Orange - I made a div for the entire text. The style="(code for transition)" is how there's going to be that transition between texts so it doesn't change it immediately, but gives it that slight fade in effect as it changes. Feel free to change the transition if you know how to. I assign it an ID of #text1 because I'm uncreative, but remember what ID you assign it.

Also, maybe you could test using (span) instead of (div). I don't know why I didn't, and haven't tried it.

Pink - In between the pink dashes, you will write your if statements. This is straightforward -- write an if statement for all the eye colors you want. The (div) for Orange ends when you use your closing ((if)).

Brown - The Orange makes the text have 0 opacity. What this does is make it have 1 opacity. In English, this means the text is originally invisible and this turns it visible.

Purple - Enclose Brown in a ((timed 0s))((/timed)). Usually, Orange and Brown are executed almost simultaneously; that leaves your text invisible. What Purple does is make Orange execute before Brown, so that Brown is able to make the text visible.

Test it

I hope it works for you! Let me know if you still have any questions.

[gaast]

I need to pick a "project" to work on and to focus on it. So I need some help picking what to do.

You are my friends, so please help me.

Here are my current ideas:

that idea I had about the VN where klutzy slimeboys get themselves into horny situations. if you pick this one help me figure out whether to do it in Twine (which I know how to use) or something I'm unfamiliar with: RenPy, Ink, or Narrat

I wanna write rules for solo RPGs. I have one big idea I'm kicking around. It wouldn't be fun, probably, but it'd be about having a giant robot.

I wanna write about a species of alien that harvests alien organs to sell. Definitely inspired by Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator. My current idea is to try to code a text-adventure game from scratch in Python. This is more of a Python-learning project than a fully-baked idea.

Learn about LLMs and AI, so I can make my own artistic shit with AI. Not that the AI produces the content. Rather, the AI itself is the art.

Your own idea here. It can be a funny thing, but the suggestion has to be serious. For example, I joked about writing Taylor Swift/Steven Lim/Mr Beast RPF; you can suggest that. I just want it to be something creative, something I can actually execute on, and, ideally, something I need to learn more about or use more of something I'm interested. Specifically, if it deals with Python; a Raspberry Pi; simple Steam game modding; engines like Twine, RenPy, Narrat, or Ink; or anything else in that vein, I'm interested.

[silversiren1101]

💎💎💎 (I know you've already done one the last time these went around but if you were inspired to do it another! If not no worries)

"Did Ms. Twait get caught trying to sneak in again?"

Minovae's tail swishes, a wary look in her eye.

[Perception check passed] You notice a light dusting of pink taking to the skin beneath her scales on her cheeks. Her eyes subtlety darted about the room. She seems on the cusp of fluster.

"I've told her before it's dangerous to poke around a Hellknight citadel, even with me having informed the men she's just to be removed from the premises. She's not a spy or anythi--"

She pauses, and corrects. "Well, I guess she is a spy, technically. Just for her... her..."

Her fluster is more obvious.

"Her novels." She says it like handling an explosive. Decisively and carefully.

An awkward stretch of silence passes. Horror blatantly passes into her expression as she realizes. "Oh, oh no. You're here to ask me about that damned book, aren't you? That's why you've brought up her name!"

Her horror is obvious nervousness now. She laughs anxiously, tail fully swishing. Her hands twine together and she works her fingers and knuckles together.

[Perception check passed] Her eyes dart to her desk. To a drawer.

"She's a menace to society!", she blurts out. "Those books she writes - she can say it's not meant to be anyone in particular but she knows full well what she's doing and so do all of her readers! She can file down the proper names off of people and places and fudge descriptions but it's obvious! Do you know how embarrassing it is to have a sordid excuse for a novel out there that's obviously about you and your husband?"

She groans and takes a steadying breath, clearly worked up.

[Perception check passed] She casts another quick look at the drawer and looks back at you.

"Ever since Anevia said that the people would eat us up after painting my whole self-destructive blow up and his death as some great romantic tragedy, I thought it'd just be Drezen. Ms. Twait has made us an Absalom Times best-fucking seller though and now I can't go anywhere without people assuming the stuff she wrote is actual fact! Now apparently she's looking to write a sequel, given she's been found snooping around the Citadel walls and trying to sneak in several times now. She's more of a plague than Jubilost Narthropple, I swear. At least he is upfront about requesting an interview. I offered Ophenia one just to get it over with and try and have some stake in the narrative and she rattled off something about it 'interfering with the creative process' and 'organic observations.'"

She snorts. "And have you even read her works? It's--", she's blushing aggressively, "--trash! Nothing but the raunchiest, dirtiest smut! And generic, hackneyed plot only meant to get you to the smut!" Her cheeks are nearly pure red beneath her seafoam scales. "Half of it is physically impossible!"

You ask her how she knows that.

[Perception check passed] She pauses for just a split second. Her eyes again flick to the desk before she shakes her head.

"Well of course I read it! I had to see just what people were getting into their heads about us. And then I promptly threw the book into a river", she nods perhaps a bit too brusquely. "I'm just happy I didn't buy it in the first place. Daeran bought it for me as a gag."

You ask what she keeps looking at, and gesture at the desk drawer.

She halts. Her breath catches. She stares at you with the wide eyes of a soldier before a cavalry charge. "What? Nothing! Just... I have a meeting coming up soon. You need to go. Now."

She practically shoves you out of the door. It slams behind you.

[eight-years-revolution]

Do you have any advice or reasources about writing the plot part of interactive fiction? Like how to write and manage the different options and paths the plot might follow?

Hi! Sorry for the delay, I've been trying to stay a bit more offline so to speak, lately.

I'm flattered that you would go to me for advice, but I feel a bit ill-equipped to answer you. Especially since I'm a notorious pantser lol. I don't plan out my plot very extensively. Anything I have planned is vague at best and always subject to change depending on how the writing goes.

I don't do a whole lot to keep track of the different choices and branches in my stories since Twine, in my opinion, is already helpful with that. Seeing the tree of passages in the Twine interface is enough to get an overview of the story's structure for me.

Now if you're coding with something else or don't like to use the Twine interface, you can plan out your branches through another app. I've been using Figma with a friend to organize ideas for a project and that might be helpful to plan things out for you. There's plenty of other options, so I don't know if it's the best for planning IF specifically but I think it would work.

What I do keep track of is numerical stats. For example, there is a stat for your companion's affection and I write down which is the minimal amount of affection and the maximal amount of affection a player can have in each chapter for each character. It helps me balance out any test I might need to make at a given moment.

But ultimately it's going to be up to you how you want to handle things. I've learned through trial and error and I think there's as many ways to plan out an IF as there are authors.

I don't know if this was helpful at all, but I can redirect you to other blogs that might have more answers for you.

@hpowellsmith often talks about their process so I would give them a follow if I were you! @idrellegames also has a bunch of tutorial and advice you can browse, so definitely check her blog out!

[rosanna-writer]

Right There Beside Him All Summer Long - ACOTAR Writing Circle - Part 1

Summary: After months of bitter cold, Illyrian summers just hit different. When the other Solstice rolls around, Rhys brings Feyre there, a chance to indulge in a little nostalgia and show her around his old stomping grounds. Pairing: Feysand Warnings: None Chapter Word Count: ~2.5k

Thank you to @azrielshadowssing for organizing! After living Up North in a freezing cold climate for a while, it's been a headcanon of mine that Illyria is super beautiful in the summer, so when I saw the prompt, I knew I wanted to explore that a bit and send Feysand on a little mountain getaway! This is a canon-compliant fic set between ACOFAS and ACOSF.

You can read it here on AO3 or below the cut.

A warm spell at the end of spring had Feyre wishing she could curl up and sleep like a cat in the afternoon sun. Instead, she was in a meeting room in the House of Wind with Rhys and the Inner Circle, discussing the usual business of running the Night Court, and the only thing curling up was her hair in the heavy humidity. Their last day off had been the Winter Solstice—nearly six months ago now—and Feyre was tired.

When Rhys finally ended their business for the day with a quick "meeting adjourned," she didn't bother to hide her relief. The change in the air was palpable as the six of them made the mental switch from "work mode" to "off-duty." As Feyre stood up and stretched, Rhys twined an arm around her waist. Just to her, he said, "By the way, I've made plans for Summer Solstice."

"Summer Solstice?" Feyre said, wrinkling her nose. "Why would we celebrate the shortest night of the year in the Night Court?"

Cassian grinned. "Because in Illyria, summer is the only time you can go outside without freezing your balls off," he said.

There were few places colder and harsher than an Illyrian camp. Picturing the winged warriors relaxing was difficult enough. But celebrating? That was impossible.

The disbelief must have shown on Feyre's face because Mor said, "I know, right? It's fun, though. Bonfires, drinking, ridiculous athletic competitions for bragging rights, that sort of thing. I'm going."

Before Feyre had a chance to ask about those ridiculous athletic competitions for bragging rights, Rhys smirked and said, "Cassian, Azriel, and I still hold the record for the fastest time climbing as a team to the top of a greased pole." He sent Feyre an image of him as a young male standing on Cassian's shoulders, one arm wrapped around a pole covered in lard and the other outstretched to haul Az up. A flag at the top of the pole flapped in the breeze.

"That always gets the most spectators, but there's also archery, javelin throwing, stone put, all the classics," Cassian said.

"The drinking comes after the events involving weapons," Azriel said. "Usually."

Feyre's brows lifted in surprise. "You're going?" she said.

"And miss having peace and quiet without all of you in Velaris? Of course not," Az said, though there was a bit of a strained quality to his humor. He didn't have the same nostalgia for Illyrian traditions as his brothers did.

"We can't leave Velaris without one of us there to defend it. Azriel volunteered. Since you and Rhysand will be away, I'll be visiting the Court of Nightmares as your Second," Amren said with a vicious smile. "Do you think they've missed me?"

Down the bond, Rhys said, When we get back, she's vacationing in Summer with Varian. And I've already bullied Azriel into taking time off a different week because he refuses to come with us.

Reassured no one was feeling left out, Feyre said, "I'm in."

Because even on holidays, Illyrians woke up early, Rhys, Feyre, Mor, and Cassian flew to Illyria the night before the Solstice, planning to stay the night in Rhys's mother's old house. Feyre's wings were getting stronger every day, but she still wasn't quite ready to make a full long-haul flight from Velaris to Illyria. So for the first time in a long while, she found herself nestled in Rhys's arms, high above the ground. They could have winnowed, but there was no reason to pass up an opportunity to fly on a beautiful day.

Rhys had been quiet since they'd shot into the air in Velaris. Not that Feyre minded—the day was far too warm for a coat, so she could hear Rhys's heartbeat through his shirt when she rested her head against his chest. Plus, the setting sun bathed him in golden light, and she was perfectly content to stare at her mate a bit and think about how to best capture the view on canvas.

But still, this was Rhysand, the male who had a smug comment for nearly every occasion. She should probably check in if he was being so quiet. "A thought for a thought?" Feyre said.

"I'm thinking it's been too long since I've gone to Illyria for anything other than business. I hadn't realized how much I missed it," Rhys said, a little wistful. "It really is beautiful in the summer, and I can't wait to show you."

Feyre went silent, turning that over in her mind. She didn't know what it was like, she realized, to miss the place you grew up. There was nothing left for her in the mortal lands, and certainly nothing about it she loved enough to share with Rhys.

"I can't wait to see it," she said, smiling. Rhys leaned in and kissed her softly. When he pulled away, Feyre let her head fall against his chest again. "I'm thinking I'm in the most comfortable place in the world right now."

Rhys leaned in and kissed her again, a little more deeply this time. Cassian said something Feyre couldn't quite hear, but from his tone of voice, it was obviously a complaint about them being overly affectionate in front of other people. Without breaking the kiss, Feyre raised one hand in a vulgar gesture. Rhys laughed against her lips.

It wasn't much longer before they approached the Illyrian mountains. Unlike when Feyre had been here last, they were carpeted in lush, green grass dotted with wildflowers. The lakes and streams between them had been frozen solid then, but now they were clear blue, the still water reflecting mirror images of the mountains above. There was still a harshness to the landscape—even in the summer, the tall, jagged peaks were topped with snow. The Summer Court might be beautiful, all eternal warmth, but here in Illyria, summer was sweeter, something to be earned after merciless winters. Feyre considered how best to capture that feeling on a canvas, and her fingers twitched for a paintbrush again.

They arrived at the old stone house a few minutes later, the wind whipping Feyre's hair in all directions as they gained speed on the descent. Rhys brought them to the ground in one smooth motion and set Feyre down.

Mor, however, had already winnowed herself out of Cassian's arms and to the ground as the other Illyrian landed next to them. "Five hundred years," she said, "And you still can't manage a gentle landing."

"Five hundred years, and you're still scared of a little free fall," Cassian shot back.

Mor stuck her tongue out at him, but Feyre didn't notice. She was too distracted by the sight of Rhys pulling his shirt off and using it to wipe away the sweat that had beaded on his forehead after the exertion of a long flight on a warm day.

Mor made a small noise of disgust. "Ugh, you haven't even been in Illyria a full minute and you're already regressing," she said.

"Regressing?" Feyre said, not taking her eyes off Rhys's muscled chest and swirling tattoos. Gods, her mate was just so beautiful. Rhys answered her stare with a cocky grin and flared his wings out wide behind him.

"Once Rhys put on some muscle as a teenager, it took a few decades before it wasn't a battle to get him to put on a shirt around pretty females," Mor said. Cassian started to say something, but she whirled around and pointed a finger at him. "And don't say anything because you know you were just as bad, if not worse."

Cassian shrugged. "It worked. We were sleeping with a lot of pretty females back then," he said matter-of-factly.

Feyre could see it, the arrogant young warriors they'd been, fresh from winning the Blood Rite and before they'd gone to war and everything changed. And Rhys, devastatingly handsome and a Carynthian and a High Lord's heir, must have had legions of females falling at his feet in particular.

Rhys reached for Feyre's hand, tugging her closer, and she leaned back against his warm, bare chest. "Now there's only one female for me, and 'pretty' doesn't do her justice," he said.

"Cad," Feyre said, elbowing him in the ribs.

Mor and Cassian both shook their heads and went inside the house. Rhys and Feyre didn't move. The sun was dipping low over the mountains in the distance, and he kissed her temple as the first few stars came out. "And because I know you were worried," he said, his breath grazing the shell of her ear, "I'll tell you now that I haven't forgotten tomorrow is your half-birthday."

Feyre groaned. "Don't tell me now I have two days a year to hope you forget."

"And miss out on an excuse, no matter how flimsy, to celebrate my favorite High Lady? Never," Rhys said, nipping at her earlobe.

Feyre stepped away from him, towards the house, but didn't drop his hand. "Let's go inside before Cass and Mor send a search party."

Cassian and Mor had just finished starting a fire in the small yard behind the house, and Rhys and Feyre found them sitting near it and bickering about whether the sports team Amren was such an obsessive supporter of had any chance at making the playoffs this year. As Feyre spread out another blanket to sit on, they didn't stop their argument, even as she and Rhys sat next to them.

"I brought something for us to share," Rhys said, which quieted them both down. He grinned and added, "Because Feyre darling hasn't tried it yet."

Three sets of eyes watched with curiosity as Rhys reached into the pocket dimension and pulled out a bottle of very, very pink wine. At the sight of it, Mor and Cassian both broke into smiles, but Feyre's brow just furrowed in confusion.

"Gods, Rhys, I didn't even know they still made that swill," Cassian said.

Rhys snapped his fingers and the earthenware mugs in the house's kitchen appeared in their hands. He twisted open the cap on the wine—there was no cork—and started to pour.

"When we were younger and stayed in this house, Rhys was in charge of smuggling in the booze," Mor said, catching the look on Feyre's face. "This is the only kind he ever brought."

"No one cares if the cheap stuff goes missing, and if they did, they wouldn't believe the three greatest Illyrian warriors in history would ever deign to drink something this pink. It was the perfect crime," Rhys said, smirking like a cat at the memory.

Something warm bloomed in Feyre's chest at the thought of the male Rhys had once been, always sly, scheming, and smug, even back then. She sent a pulse of affection down the bond, and Rhys returned it with a soft look as he filled her mug.

To the stars who listen, she said mind-to-mind.

And the dreams that are answered, he said, lifting his own cup and clinking it against hers with a wink.

Feyre took a tentative sip of the wine. It wasn't nearly as bad as she feared, just overwhelmingly, cloyingly sweet. She swallowed it and managed not to make a face.

Between the wine and being back at the house where they'd spent so much time when they were young, it was only natural that the conversation turned to things that had happened centuries ago. The war with Hybern and working around the clock on rebuilding efforts had left them with precious little time for one of Prythian's most sacred traditions: telling your friend's mate every single embarrassing story from before they met.

To his credit, Rhys—ever the stoic Illyrian warrior—endured the ribbing admirably, even all the way through a story about a time he'd been caught quite literally with his pants down and Azriel's subsequent dry comment about his lack of operations security had followed him for months.

There was no one in Feyre's family who would ever call their younger days idyllic. But in Illyria, there were occasional cracks in the misery of it all, chances for Rhys, Mor, and his brothers to get in a little trouble and make a little mischief. Snowball fights and drinking games and sneaking out after curfew.

There was nothing Feyre loved more than Rhysand and the Night Court. Tonight, though, after hearing more about the person he'd been and what this corner of their territory meant to him, she understood both a bit better. And she loved them even more deeply for it.

The four of them went to bed not long after emptying the bottle of wine and snuffing out the fire. Feyre climbed the stairs with Rhys's hand in hers. Last time she'd been here, she'd shared with Mor, too afraid to cross the hall to Rhys's room. Now Mor had a room to herself (they'd offered to get Cassian something more comfortable, but he'd insisted this was Illyria and a bedroll on the living room floor was fine), and Feyre wouldn't dream of sleeping apart from Rhys.

By the Cauldron, so much had changed in the past few months.

Feyre fell into bed with Rhys, letting their limbs tangle together. With the temperatures rising in Velaris, the last few nights had been warm enough that they couldn't do this comfortably, at least not without kicking off the blankets in the middle of the night. But Illyria was just just cool enough to be comfortable.

She lay on her side, and Rhys's arms around her chest and lips on her neck and the slight chill in the air brought memories from a freezing inn rushing back. Rhys's hand dipped lower—he must have thought the same.

"Keep that up, and the smell will let everyone know exactly what we're up to," Feyre whispered. In a house this small, the scent wouldn't have to travel far to reach Mor and Cassian.

Extra careful to be sure they weren't overheard, Rhys let his voice float into her mind. Then I know somewhere else we can go.

Feyre rolled over to find Rhys smirking yet again, his eyes glinting like stars in the darkness. Do you now?

Rhys slipped a hand under her nightgown, skimming it up her side. At the touch, Feyre arched into him and pressed closer.

You know, for all of Cassian's talk of pretty females, no one ever figured out where I used to take them to get a little privacy. Would you indulge me and let me bring my mate there?

Feyre hooked a leg around Rhys's hip, which was answer enough. But she still replied, You know I'd follow you anywhere.

Rhys took a moment to kiss her one more time, then winnowed them both away.

[findusinaweek]

Annotated Alexidas playlist, as inspired by @aeide and @ainulindaelynn. I don't organize or layout when writing or making art most of the time, but I do make playlists to keep myself on track. Beneath cut is explanations, headcanons, justifications. I finally got it to work.

Run Boy Run - Woodkid. Alexios leaving Sparta as a child, running for his life. 

Show Him The Ground - Iron and Wine. Boys learning to fight. Rethinking whether learning to fight makes you a strong individual: “Would it make you feel much better to show him the ground?”

Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome - The Mountain Goats. My inner mantra while writing Alexios.

Korinth - The Flight. Because Korinth is lifechanging for them. 

Ancient Kithera - Kalia Lyraki, Assasins Creed. I like to imagine things playing in the background while they go about their daily lives.

A Spartan Fight - The Flight, Assasin's Creed, Mike Georgiades. Just seems right. I am sure it is not what plays when they meet, but I cannot remember and title wise it makes sense in this order.

Blood Royal - The Mountain Goats. "I remembered you/ I remembered where you come from". Brasidas recognizing who Alexios is, as a Myrinne's son.

How I Get myself Killed - Indigo De Souza. "I need to be kicked/maybe fucked/maybe told I'm in the way./ This is probably how I get myself killed". Brasidas on meeting Alexios. He isn’t wrong. 

Braid - Perfume Genius. "Secret is braided/ In between". What made me write Braid. I wanted to explore the intimacy I heard in this song.

Brasidas - The Flight, Assasin's Creed, Mike Georgiades. Ya know. I just picture him smiling at Alexios. 

Ancient Celebration - Kalia Lyraki, Assasins Creed. More background music. I think they should drink together while this plays, share soft smiles at each other. 

Epitrotos & Iambos - Petros Tabouris, Panos Stefos. More background music.

cherubim - serpentwithfeet. I like to think of love and devotion, how they can twine together to make something so strong that it is a bit off-putting (the song being in a minor key). "I get to devote my life to him/I get to sing like the cherubim./ Boy every time I worship you/ My mouth is full of honey". Sure, there is innuendo, I wanted that. But the song is tense, while the lyrics are full of longing and praise. I think that is how Alexios feels about Brasidas.Not me listening on repeat and learning to draw dick for Alexidas. 

Procession of the Olympians - Michael Levy. Background music.

An Angry Blade - Iron & Wine. "Who left you so?" and "You're an angry blade and you're brave but you are alone". Brasidas understands what it is to be a soldier, but he sees something in Alexios that he does not often see in other fighting men. He wants Alexios to let it go. It reminds him of Deimos.

A Happy Family - The Flight, Assasins Creed, Mike Georgiades. This is my favorite song on the ost! I wrote about it before, but I love the shift at 2:51. It's like Myrinne's theme, but...wrong? I like to read it as Alexios being unsure if a happy family is possible (I do not play him as forgiving his father, and if I can stand to continue after Amphipolis, he will not spare his sister. I need to play that at least once. Catharsis?). Can also be read as hopeful, determined to make a happy family possible. But I like drama and being sad.

Die 4 You -Perfume Genius. Alexios' devotion, love as something that pushes you offbalance. This a song apparently about erotic asphyxiation , so sure, maybe it's that too. I don't know.

Safe with Me - Soap&Skin. "No love can be safe with me". Alexios worries about whether it is possible to be good for a partner in a relationship. Whether he, with his job as a mistios and the cult at his back, can be safe for Brasidas. If he had a therapist, he’d probably worry about being too traumatized or something of the sort. But unfortunately, he only has Barnabas (who tries his best).

My Boy (Twin Fantasy) - Car Seat Headrest. "My boy/we don't see each other that much/ It'll take some time/ But sometime down the line/ We won't be alone". Alexidas pining. You know. When you are gay and long distance. As one does. 

Valley of the Two Kings - The Flight. Sparta stuff.

Alan - Perfume Genius. GUYS. GUYS. GUYS. This is it. THIS is what I think a good relationship looks like. This is everything I love about being in love. "Did you notice/ We sleep though the night./ Did you notice babe?/ Everything's all right". The joy and surprise of being queer and safe with someone you love. The utter shock at everything being ok. Feeling comfortable in your own skin. (Also I SAW Perfume Genius live and SAW Alan and hooo boy he has nice piano hands, good finger posture. I was entranced. I stared throught he strobe light at his fingers. It freaked out my ex. I do not have good finger posture. I get it, Mike Hadras. Your boyfriend is amazing. )

bless ur heart -serpentwithfeet. Arguably my favorite love song. Having a love that inspires others, that gives each other strength. Knowing you can be safe in that love? Alexios and Brasidas for each other. "Boy, whoever reads about how much I adore you/ I hope my words bring them something new". Being open about your love, having it become something that is passed on. Yeah. That’s some good shit. 

Something to Cry About - Daniel Rogers, Ensemble de Organographia. Background music, somewhat unsettling. As Herodotos tells you constantly: There is much to do, and many unknowns on the horizon.

Two Men In Love - The Irrepressibles. "Will you lay down your armor/ and be with me forever?". Well? Is that something they can ask of each other? Is love stronger than duty? Can you put both together? 

Forget About - Sibyelle Baiar. "You make me forget about/Past and pain". I think they are an island to each other. I think they are healing for each other. “You do me good”. 

Sparta- The Flight. Background music again. Good stuff. 

Wood Boy- serpentwithfeet. Alexios' thinking about bottoming. That’s it. 

Coast - Shannon Lay. OH wow, I have many thoughts about this song. I listen to this and picture Alexios thinking about how Deimos fought Brasidas at Pylos. "She came for you/ But now you're gone and I'm afraid for you, my friend". Alexios (and I) get weird about the sea: "Darling I am telling you I belong by the sea" for some reason (this is a reoccurring theme in my headcanons). He did not belong by the sea, he belonged by Brasidas side, but here we are. We are stuck at the coast. 

Bounty - Tiny Ruins. "Hey, I'm on the run/ Didn't I say I go where I want?" First verse is Alexios as a mistios. "Yeah, You're a wanted man/There's a bounty that keeps us/hand in hand". AU where Brasidas lives and also becomes a mistios.

Heal - Soap&Skin. I don't know, they talk out their traumas and get better together? "Do we heal?" And then they do get better! “Fear used to be near here/ But won’t be anymore/ I have no fear”. 

Lost in the Dark Forest of Questioning- Michael Levy. Background music that makes me think they get lost in thought together. Laying with his head in his lap, playing with each other’s hair, eating together. 

Age of Kings - The Mountain Goats. "Held you in my arms for the first time that day/ felt like god's anointed when you didn't push me away./Gold light shining on so many things/in the age of kings". Brasidas thinking of the first time he sleeps with Alexios. I think it means a lot to be mutually liked, to not have to portray Spartan ideals with a lover. Also Sparta has two kings, so...age of kings.

Historiography - The Mountain Goats. Loving despite everything going on. Cherishing time together. Not remembering all the details because you are together and you are in love and the world melts down into just the two of you.

The Woods - Daughter. Brasidas thinking about Alexios and his sister.

The Shores of Megaris- The Flight. Yup. Game music.

[springsaladgaming]

a better-late-than-never check-in

Hey all! Long time no speak!

I know it's been a minute. Work was busy, and then it wasn't but I was on vacation, and then the Doom in my brain was pretty bad, and when that was a little better, the covid finally got me after managing to avoid it since the start. It was also the first time I'd been sick in five years, so that kind of sucked. I still have a cough from it, and unfortunately I don't think that's going away any time soon.

(Honestly, the worst part is that I like to sing in my car, but my voice is still shot since the cough has stuck around, so I can't really do that right now.)

I'm still working on the updated Chapter 3. I was fretting over how to stitch in the new additions to the opening of the chapter, thinking that was going to be the hard part. But no, it turns out the hardest part so far has been the variables!

I forgot exactly how many variations I put in the original version of the chapter, and because of the changes to the personality variables in the Twine version of the game, I'm having to completely restructure all those variations right down to how the numbers are measured. In the CScript version, I used the fairmath system and so I was able to code if statements by way of percentages. Additionally, the personality stats were opposing pairs, so timid and assertive, for example, were measured by the same variable with different percentages. But I've been using flat numbers in the Twine version and none of the original variables share numbers with any of the others (though some of the new ones do).

To make matters worse, I had a document to keep track of the total number of points possible in each stat (for the Twine version) so that I had a better idea about how to decide on conditional thresholds, but I can't find that document at the moment, so I have to go back through the Twine document and make note of those again.

All this is to say, if I were a more organized person, I probably would be having fewer problems, but it also doesn't help that I'm traveling around town so frequently that I have to switch between computers a lot, so some vital documents might not be saved on both. I've been slowly trying to fix that problem by backing stuff up to a drive, but sometimes I don't know that I need a thing until it comes up, and then I just don't have it with me. (Also, sometimes I write stuff down on paper with the intention to type it up later and then I forget because my brain cannot be trusted.)

But it's coming along! I'm back to a point where I feel like I can work again without it feeling like an impossible hurdle, so that's nice. I'll keep you posted on the progress as I move along. Because of how big the updated version of the chapter is going to be compared to the original, I don't think I can get all of it done before the end of the year, but I hope to have at least the first half ready by the end of December or sooner if it's ready before then. Keep your eyes peeled!

Hope everyone is doing well!

[blackbird0blog]

Avatar Fanfic Rec

In which the rumour mill is thriving, Zuko is ready to give up, and Toph won’t stop laughing.

Also, the citizens of Caldera City might be a bit concerned about how quickly their Fire Lord is apparently going through partners.

A snippet from my favourite chapter, chapter 4:

It's funny, Zuko thinks, how a single letter can ruin your whole day.

In this case, the letter is a piece of unassuming yellow paper, with the words To Fire Lord Zuko written on it in a neat, formal script. It looks like something a noble would write, except it's not tied with silk ribbon or sealed with wax—it's tied with simple brown twine. And the hawk definitely isn't Fire Nation; it's a mottled brown-and-black, with darker eyes than the hawks Zuko's used to.

He opens the letter and immediately chokes.

Dude. 

Did you fuck a dragon? 

xoxo your favourite bounty hunter 

p.s when you send a reply, send it to the blue moon inn in Garsai. It's where I'll be staying for the next few weeks. 

What. The fuck.

How—?

He glances down at the baby dragon snoozing in his lap. Out of all the unexpected things that have happened to him, and there have been a lot, Druk might be the most unexpected. Zuko kind of wishes he could go back and tell thirteen-year-old Zuko that, in twelve years' time, he'd be Fire Lord with a baby dragon at his side, because apparently the baby dragon had imprinted on him when he grabbed its egg by mistake.

That...is what happened, right? Like, Druk's just imprinted? He's not Zuko's biological kid?

Oh, spirits, now Zuko's starting to doubt himself. He didn't sleep with Ran and Shaw, did he? That whole day is kind of a blur. Do dragons have the power to hypnotise people? Do they have the power to erase certain memories?

"Hey." Aang nudges him in the side, startling him out of his unwanted reverie. "Are you okay? Was the letter bad?"

Oh, right. He's at a dinner. With his friends. 'Friends' includes Aang, who was at the temple with him and knows what happened.

"Aang," he says, mentally steeling himself for the onslaught of teasing, "you know that day, when we went to visit the dragons? I didn't, um. I didn't fuck them, did I?"

All conversation dies, immediately.

Aang stares at him, his eyes so wide Zuko can see a full ring of white around the grey pupil. "What."

Zuko closes his eyes. "Please tell me I didn't sleep with one of the dragons. Or both of them. I don't know how dragons work."

"I—why would you—?!"

"So I didn't do it, right?"

"No!"

"Oh, thank Agni." He lets his head fall forward into his hands.

"Dude," Sokka says, "you've got issues."

"Zuko fucked a dragon?" Toph asks, sounding entirely too gleeful about it, that little shit. "Is that why he has Druk?"

"I didn't fuck a dragon," Zuko snaps. "I think we've just established that."

"You shouldn't have to establish that!" Katara looks more than a little disturbed. "Why would you even think you did it in the first place?"

Zuko waves June's letter. "It's from June. She asked me if I fucked a dragon."

Toph snatches it out of his hands. "What's it say?" Sokka asks, leaning over the table.

"How many times do I have to say it, Snoozles? I'm blind."

"Oh, right." Sokka takes the scroll from her and clears his throat.

"The letter says, 'Dude, did you fuck a dragon'," he declares. "And...that's it." He looks at Zuko. "That's it? That's all it took for you to start wondering if you fucked a dragon?"

"I don't know!" Zuko defends. "Maybe I did fuck a dragon and I just don't remember it!"

"How do you not remember fucking a dragon?"

"Dragons have been almost extinct for a hundred years, Sokka. For all we know, dragons have the ability to erase memories."

"I think we're all ignoring the big question here," Suki pipes up. "Which is: why does June think you fucked a dragon?"

Zuko points at her, inadvertently jostling Druk. "Yes! Thank you! That's what I—"

He doesn't get to finish his sentence, because Druk does not like being woken up before sunrise. He makes this very, very clear, by climbing Zuko like a goddamn tree and tearing his outer robe to shreds.

"Hot," Suki says, as the tattered remains drift to the floor. "You should show off more, Zuko. You've got a sexy bod."

"Fuck you all," Zuko announces. Druk curls up on top of his head.

Toph grins and leans back in her chair. "Nah. That job's reserved for the dragons."