thesecrimsonstrings-if

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

DEMO TBA | my substack (for free, non-IF writing), KOFI 🎈🎠 Circus : Eyes of God is a horror interactive fiction story with dark fantastical elements. It is written with an 18+ audience in mind due to heavy themes and topics such as body horror, non consensual use of drugs, swearing, violence, sexual content etc.

The Circus doesn’t come in town often. Never, really. Only when it needs to be fed.

On the outskirts of a decaying town, a mysterious circus arrives overnight. It seductively whispers of never-seen-before acts, and ardently promises healing for those that are desperate enough to bind themselves to the circus as performers.

That sounds right up your alley, doesn’t it? Well, They know what happened to you as a child, why you keep your face hidden from the world. You remember too, don’t you? The darkness, the shadows, a voice as old as time asking you to follow it, and clawing at your face when you refused.

They think that you have kept your sweet face hidden under those veils for long enough. They will heal you, they will heal your scars. They will let you take the veils off. But They won’t do it out of the kindness of Their heart, no. You must give Them something in return. They want to know—what are you willing to sacrifice for it, for taking your veils off? For healing? For beauty?

You just need to whisper it, and They will give it to you. They will know. Because the Eyes of God are always watching.

Customizable MC (including name, gender, pronouns, sexuality, physical appearance, personality etc).

Create relationships with one of three eclectic characters : one male, one female, one … fish? mermaid? siren? oh, come on!

Hone your contortionist skills to perfection. Remember, you have to put on a good show! Otherwise, They will have to pay you a visit.

Lots of uncanny masks and always-smiling faces, too many mirrors, and … wait, is that guy juggling with an eyeball?

Discover the secret of the Circus and the secret of your childhood incident. Could they be connected?

H̸̬̖͔̮̻͉̪̲̾̌̋̽̿̾̿̕͘E̴̯̥͕̓A̸̡̺̳̮̫̬͊̀̉̑́̈ͅL̷̡̡̛̺̄̈́̽̈́̎̀̋ ̶̢͎̪̘̹̱͊̔́͜Ḫ̷̩̼͚̤͂Ḗ̸̙̰̭̲͖̯̪̝̬̯̉̎̈́A̷̖͙͎̘̱̣͇̱̒̄̅̅͘L̸͔̟̮̣͘ ̸̛̫͎͇͚͚̪͇̞̋͌̆͠͝ͅH̴̛͚́̔̀̕Ẹ̶̣͙̪̖̀͆̅̍̉̋͆̃̚͠A̶̱̙̽̂͐͑̑͜L̴̛̖͌̀̆̈́̓̏̉

THE RINGLEADER — Pharo's face is the first one you see as you step inside the Circus, lit by bright and colorful lights. He doesn't need all that, though. His skin dark, his teeth sharp — it's all gleaming on its own, glitching, barely holding Pharo at the seams. He sees all, he knows all. And his smile gets wider and wider with each secret he learns.

THE BURLESQUE DANCER - Odessa's red lips, with a cigarette between them always, ache with demands every time she opens her mouth. Yet no one is able to keep their eyes off of her when she is on stage, moving like water on land and between thin and hanging fabrics. Odessa doesn't seem keen on talking about anything before the Circus, but she will make sure to get you talking about it soon enough.

THE ATTRACTION - Vesper is the newest addition to the Circus, one that has never been seen before. Or you haven't seen anything like it, at least. Vesper is quiet, almost unnervingly so. The tail and gills and twisted arms with sickly green-grey skin are to make a profitable attraction for sure. Just ... don't ever lift up its tank's lid.

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

MADE A BACK-UP ACCOUNT/BLOG!

since tumblr won’t stop shadowbanning me, i’ve made a back-up blog so y’all don’t miss out on the updates! the account is @if-childrenofcain and the intro post is up now.

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

DEMO: 𝕾𝖊𝖕 2024

Wealth. Power. Death.

The Ballad of the Young Gods is a dark academia interactive fiction story, with dark fantasy and psychological thriller themes. Some of the romances also contain tropes and storylines which may be disturbing to some readers.

It is rated 18+ for depictions of swearing, sexual themes, gore, violence, and death.

Getting into an Ivy League school is a dream that thousands of American students nurse from a young age. Luckily for you, that dream is your reality. Four years of continuous hard work and pressure have made you a proud freshman at Yale University. And as if that wasn’t enough, you have been handpicked to attend Rathore College, whose selection process is revered across all the nation’s top educational institutions. But you should’ve known this stroke of luck came with a catch.

Yale is a crucible of power, where secret societies wield arcane magic and the dead are far from silent. The illustrious House of Styx wants you and this is a situation that not even your money can get you out of.

They are powerful, elite, and most of all, controlling beyond recognition. They are also the heart of the eight secret societies that attach themselves to Yale. From the White House to Hollywood’s most acclaimed stars, their influence reaches farther than anyone can dare to imagine.

A sinister conspiracy brews under Styx’s watchful gaze, one that threatens to unravel the fragile balance between the living and the dead. But in a graveyard of secrets, you and your accomplices are the ones with the shovels. You’re now in a world where the past is never truly dead, and the lines between life and death blur with each passing day.

But some secrets are better left buried, and some prophecies are destined to drag you to hell.

Cédric Armand Lacroix / Céline Armelle Lacroix (M/F)

Vindictive. Conniving. Ruthless.

As the heir to the Lacroix fortune, C is every bit as arrogant as their bloodline demands them to be. Even after the messy divorce of their parents which further led to their disownment by their father, Alain Lacroix, they refuse to give up on their dignity. They've vowed to destroy him one day and claim their rightful place as the heir apparent. The world bent to C's whims, what money couldn't buy them, those pale green eyes probably did.

There is nothing that they can't have, especially if they set their mind to that. That is until you came along and stayed one step ahead of them every time in everything that mattered. It wasn't just the fortune or the legacy at stake; it was the bruising of their pride, the constant reminder that someone—anyone—could outmaneuver them. But beneath the layers of resentment and anger, there's something more—something darker, even more dangerous.

An obsession takes root, one that blurs the line between hatred and fascination. And they vow to spend their whole life despising you for everything.

Romance trope: Enemies / Academic Rivals to Lovers.

Vance Kasper Næsholm / Vanessa Karina Næsholm (M/F)

Pious. Haunted. Disillusioned.

Raised under the oppressive influence of a rigid, fire-and-brimstone faith in a Danish Catholic orphanage, they were taught to see demons in every shadow and sin in every touch. Forever haunted by the visions provided by a wrathful God they can neither fully grasp their mind around nor escape from, their only reprieve came on the day they got adopted at the age of six and diagnosed with schizophrenia. But the truth of their ‘psychosis’ may be far more sinister than any medical diagnosis could account for.

As the tides become even stormier and their medications become ineffective when they arrive at Yale, all V can do is hold on to the last threads of control over their lives. Your first meeting almost makes them teeter over the edge.

Now that they’re your roommate, they’re bound to you by fate or folly, but whether they’ll be a stable ally remains to be seen.

Romance trope: Roommate Romance.

Wilhelm Johann Ostendorf / Wilhelmine Johanna Ostendorf (M/F)

Exhausted. Abandoned. Lost.

What does the world think of you when you’re a product of brilliance and neglect at the same time? With an Oscar-winning filmmaker for a father and a mother ensconced on the American board of directors at the Louvre, their pedigree is undeniable, yet it is a legacy more hollow than it appears. While their parents sculpted their careers into masterpieces and amassed accolades, they left W to be raised by their paternal aunt and uncle. A sizeable trust fund and periodic checks served as their parents’ only gestures of care, a shallow substitute for the love and attention their only child so desperately craved.

The only times they had felt more than someone who was deeply unlovable were the summers you spent on rusty swingsets and fast bicycles with training wheels. But the swingsets have long been dismantled, and the bicycles have been traded for cars.

The only questions remain—are you the same kid who saw them, really saw them, beyond the reality of being unwanted and the suffocating looks filled with pity that came with their name? Or will this reunion only serve to confirm their deepest fear—that they are, and always have been, truly alone?

Romance trope: Forgotten Childhood Friends to Lovers.

Dumitru Constantin Diaconu / Dumitra Constantina Diaconu (M/F)

Charismatic. Reckless. Guarded.

D’s name is the one that comes up in almost every conversation about Yale’s wildest parties. A natural-born rockstar charmer with a magnetic presence, they effortlessly draw people into their orbit, collecting hearts and bodies with the ease of someone who’s always been in the center of the gold rush. Despite the countless admirers and the trail of broken hearts left in their wake, you’ll always find them with a Marlboro between their lips and a new person in their arms to warm their bed at night. Their smile is a promise, and their laughter a siren call. In the haze of flashing lights and the thrum of bass that pulses through the walls, they are a heartbreaker in every sense of the word.

Feelings are a complication they don’t allow, a line they never cross. They’ve perfected the art of detachment, of keeping their connections strictly no-strings, because to let someone in would be to risk the vulnerability they’ve long since sworn off.

Will you be the only person they'd let peel back the barbed wire surrounding their heart? Or will you be left with nothing but the faint scent of cinnamon and a tale that wasn't meant to be?

Romance trope: Friends with Benefits / Sex First, Feelings Later. [You will only be able to unlock their romance route through a hookup.]

Maxwell Edmund Whitlock-Singh / Maxine Edythe Whitlock-Singh (M/F)

Duty-bound. Noble. Untouchable.

Politeness and decorum are second nature to M. They are the embodiment of manners, a living testament to the art of subtlety in a world where spectacle often trumps substance. They are the sort of person who commands attention without seeking it, a product of both royal blood and rigorous self-discipline. Dubbed the “Paragon of Styx,” M is a modern Plato, someone who finds as much solace in philosophical debates as in the classical texts they’ve devoured in multiple languages. As the second-born child of the Crown Princess of Wales, they have always understood that their life would be one of service with every action scrutinized, and every word weighed.

Their intellect is vast, but it is their passion for the esoteric that sets them apart. For all their convictions, there is a restlessness within M that even they cannot fully articulate. It is the paradox of their existence—a life of privilege that feels at times like a gilded cage, a role that demands both reverence and obedience. Indeed, heavy is the head that wears the crown.

Will you make them realize that life is more than duties and expectations? Or will you become yet another figure in the background, another reminder of the golden cage they were born into?

Romance trope: Forbidden Royal Romance / Secret Relationship.

Step into the shadows as the wealthy heir apparent to a billion-dollar industry who is just starting at Yale University as a freshman.

Be a part of Yale’s most enigmatic secret society, the House of Styx.

Fully customize your character including: pronouns, gender, physical appearance, personality, sexuality, and more.

Romance 1 out of 5 love interests (all of them are gender-selectable). Or not. Platonic relationships are valid too.

Study forbidden knowledge, practice dark magic, and try not to fail at your actual coursework.

Test your mind, body, and soul in rituals that blur the line between reality and nightmare.

Learn about the secrets that your mother took to her grave. Is she really the same woman you remember so fondly from your childhood?

Will you rise to navigate the sinister plans brewing under the nose of the House? Or will your actions drag you and your companions to the fiery depths of Hell.

W̶̗͖̝͆h̷͕̲̑̎̓̍̄̎͠͝a̵̢̛̫̾̓͗t̴̙̫͛̐͆̾̀̓̔̊͝ ̴̪́́̈́͛̂̉̀͒̊́ạ̸̗̯̲̘̬͗̀ͅr̸̢̪̜̭̼̠̟̜͚̂̈́͋͋̅͑̉́̎͝e̸̩̯͉̿̊̔͛̃̎͝ͅ ̵̢̹̜̤͍͙̩̬̰̜̏̃͝͠y̷̢̨͇̘͍̌́͐̍̆̓̑̐ǫ̶̢̧̡̛̥̤͉͎̟̃̏̍̓̒ͅu̷̓̂̾̇̇͜͝,̸͎̖̮̲̳̻̱̬̎̒͑͝ ̸̡̛̰̌͐c̶̛̪̗̰̻̜̲̘̺͗͊h̴̡͔̦̘̤̖͊̿̓̇i̵͉̘͙̥͍̼̜̐̐̄̅͝͝ĺ̶̡̧̧̼̦̦̗̰̝̼̓̊̀d̸̡͎͔͔̰̖̿̐̈́̓͊̌̃̓͜?̷̩̗̲̫̮͕̍̈́́̽͜͝͝

DEMO (Sep ‘24)

SPOTIFY (for RO playlists, click on their names in the cast section)

PINTEREST

WRITTEN BY: axel (he/him)

CODED BY: @albywritesfiction (they/them)

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

Author author you're back! Any chance of dropping in on WLB too?

it’s good to be back, dear bonnie. i had a really good support system to fall back into after the whole doxxing arc, and now i think it’s high time i slowly start being active again. i’m currently working with three very talented individuals to work on projects so needless to say the whole break was pretty productive.

idk about dropping in on the WLB blog as it seems to have attracted the most trolls but i’ll look into clearing that up sometime later. let’s hope things go better this time around 🤞🏻

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

🎵 sidelines by phoebe bridgers

when you meet your star-crossed soulmate again underneath dazzling flashes of lights and despite the ache of every one of your heart strings, you can’t let yourself be wanted by them...

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

DEMO UPDATE

AAAHHH!!! chapter 2 is out!!!! finally!!!! i know i took my sweet time with it and made you guys wait A WHILE for it, but if any of you are still here after all this time i hope you'll enjoy the new chapter :D

big big thanks to @kamanok (fim, they/them) for coding everything (and super fast too!!). i really appreciate all the help, i can always count on them to do a great job🫶🏻

this update includes:

- chapter 2

- plaguing nightmares of ... eyes?

- your old life is haunting you!!! you can't escape it no matter what you do!!!

- a very serious talk with Caerus about what happened at the Revel.

- Zale being stressful. or sweet. depends on if you like him or not 🫣

CHAPTER 2

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

Hi, what happened to the Percy Jackson IF? I can't find it in your itch.io profile

i decided to do a complete rewrite since some people have informed me that it’ll infringe on copyright laws. even with proper credits and disclaimers, it will be liable for legal repercussions since it technically counts as me distributing the source material out for free (with or without monetisation). and because i have no wish to tussle with disney’s lawyers, i’m going to do a rewrite more along the lines of differing from what rick riordan has already wrote.

the storyline will be the same, but the overall wordings will be different. i don’t think the updates will take too long and i’m open to any suggestions you guys might have (discord: @fall3ngods) as this is largely a fan-made project.

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

this has been my wattpad baby for a long time and now i’ve given it an interactive makeover. @albywritesfiction and i have been working on coding it and after a lot of trial and error, we finally made a decent demo out of it!

i won’t be making any blog for this as it’s just a fun interactive fanfiction project which we’ll be updating on the side, but it may change in the future, who knows. for all the percy jackson fans, i guess this will be a bonus on top of the new PJO show.

this was first released on wattpad back in 2014 (yes, i was like 12 back then) and since then, i’ve converted it into something in which readers can actually play as the protagonist. although my old wattpad account was deleted (rip kissmylefttoe), i’m happy to say that i had my old cringey drafts to recover and edit 😭

huge thanks to alby for actually making a coherent product out of all the messy ass codes which she had to sort through 😭 without her, this project wouldn’t have seen the light of the day at all. i love working with her and this collaboration has been overall stellar!

explore the world through new lenses as you tackle fighting Greek monsters and gods who want you dead.

customize your name, gender, pronouns, sexuality, and your godly parent out of the Big Three.

zeus, of the sky, thunder, lightning, kingship, honor, and justice.

poseidon, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes, droughts, floods, and horses.

hades, god of the Underworld, dead, and riches.

get expelled for the ninth time in a row.

unravel dangerous prophecies and find out why the Fates should stick to playing bingo in a retirement home.

make some friends and some very dangerous enemies.

visit a casino, fight Medusa, and a chihuahua.

destroy a national monument.

take a trip to atlantis, hell, and heaven (sort of).

prevent another civil war from happening before the summer solstice.

lace-up your shoes, grab your pen and shield, and embark on a quest to retrieve zeus’s master bolt before he gets very, very angry.

sounds like a party you’d be interested in? play it here

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

Imagine if the Ro’s were to see a flashback of their past selves slow dancing with MC in the dark.

I keep imagining Sugiwara with their long hair shining under the moonlight and MC just completely enchanted by them which is truly ironic considering how the one with superpowers here is them.

what if i told you it was possible in the game 🤭 i will say that some ROs will not be very happy to know that MC loved a version of them which they’d met earlier, even tho logically and spiritually, both the versions are the same person at the end of the day. it’d get pretty angsty but there will be a whole reassurance scene dedicated to that it’ll only strengthen their relationship

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

My MC's hobby is playing 'true or false' with James. It's when MC says something that happened somewhere in history and makes James guess if it actually happened or not. Of course, James will never know if he was lying or telling the truth when he said something was 'true' :))

james’s knowledge of history, while better than most historians, is not even close to the same level as MCs. mostly because compared to the MC, james is essentially a baby 💀 i imagine it’d make him so annoyed that MC will ask him to guess if particular events in history actually happened and he’ll get it wrong because some of them are too outrageous to have been real 😭

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

Are the ROs onboard with getting married to the MC, both the versions of them. What about having children?

lawrence/ronan: definitely on-board with marriage and children. laurie will be a bit more reluctant than ronan on the children’s part because of the circumstances of his family, but once he’s reassured about you wanting a family with him, you’ll need to get ready though cause he’s not only going to settle for just one or two 💀

juliette/célia: célia? 100% okay with marriage, and although she’ll need some convincing on the children part, she’ll eventually come around. juliette is tricky because of the whole situation with viscount phillipe. but in the end, she’ll wholeheartedly agree to both as she does want to get married and have a family to her one true love.

A/S: S had a wedding outfit and names of your possible future children ready after your first date. as for A, it’ll be harder for you to convince them about both marriage and children as they strongly fear that it’ll cause their career to decline. unexpectedly angsty, i know, but give them time to come around to the idea and they will.

sugiwara/tachibana: sugiwara and their reincarnation have opposite stances on marriage: first one believes marriage is a lovely way to further connect two souls, while the other thinks it’s all pretty unnecessary but would eventually warm up to the idea. as for kids, they both aren’t too thrilled to have kids in a world like this (makes sense tbh) but reassurance and understanding will make them less likely to completely reject the notion.

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

What happened to the Hunting Season IF ): I was looking forward to it

hunting season was a project my boyfriend (@thesecrimsonstrings-if) and i worked on together. however, we wanted to do so many things with it and had so many ideas, we kind of underestimated the size of it and the time we'd need to put into it.

we're both busy students with our own personal lives, so we decided to scratch that project for the time being!! we apologise to anyone that was looking forward to it, but we hope that we'll be able to get back to it later on when we have both the time and motivation to go through with it!!

and we hope that anyone that was interested in hunting season will still be here for when it comes back!! thank you!! <33

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

I can't tell which route will be the most angsty but I am eyeing Juliette/Celia because I've never came across any route like her before. We're gonna live our cottagecore farm life in the french countryside without her soon-to-be ex-husband bothering us

juliette tends to the flowers diligently, almost as if they’re her own children. the thought makes you smile and you remember her joking about how you’ve both become parents within a couple months of knowing each other. of course, you knew she was referring to her small garden filled with flowers of various kinds and the two stray kittens you rescued from the alleys of the sunday market. but you take your role as a ‘parent’ very seriously, and so does your beloved.

“what are you thinking of?” she asks with a smile as she walks towards you, your adopted kittens following after her.

“about how happy i am,“ you reply with earnestness, making juliette’s smile wider.

“and would you care to share what has got you so happy, mon rayon de lune?” she inquires playfully, sitting beside you on a spare chair.

you smile at her and shake your head. “you’d find it laughable, darling.”

“mon amour, i’d never laugh at your honesty.”

but still, you do nothing but merely gaze at her with love-filled eyes, and wordlessly she understands the reason for your happiness.

juliette’s kiss singes like hot amber, and the feeling is not unpleasant. it consumes you irrevocably and irreparably.

you want time to be frozen right now, right this instant where everything was perfect and she was warm and alive against you. you wish to be frozen with her for centuries on end.

the philosophers were wrong. the world began and ended with her.

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

Wait so have to have had a relationship with Juliette? Or is it optional

célia is juliette’s reincarnation so yeah, you’ll have to romance her to romance célia. the same goes for the other ROs, romance lawrence for ronan, A for S, and R for tachibana.

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

Does MC knew Juliette was married before they started pursuing her? I don't like the cheating trope but so I'm hopefully curious about how you're planning to go along with it

ah bonnie, cheating is an automatic ‘no’ for me irl but in fiction, it’s more of a grey area. i won’t sit here and tell you that it’s 100% a-okay, but context does matter and that here is that juliette’s marriage to viscount phillipe is built on nothing but monetary ties and the boost of their respective patriarch’s status in the french society.

MC will be made aware of juliette’s marriage and also that there wasn’t, and has never been, any love between her and the man she’s married to; viscount phillipe doesn’t even know what juliette’s favourite flowers are and expects her to shut up after he sends his servants to pick out random ones and throws them at her face as a gesture of ‘care’. he himself says that he likes visiting brothels more than he likes spending time with his wife.

trust me, the only reason he even cared that juliette was having an affair in the first place was because it made him look like an idiot in front of everyone. the people working in his estate highly prefer juliette over him, which is saying something since he’s the one paying them 💀

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

Francesca by Hozier really fits all the ROs my god 😭 It's your fault for creating such a good IF with such compelling characters that now whenever I hear any kind of love song it makes me think of this story.

thank you so much 🥹 i personally have a list of the songs which would be playing in every chapters, but they’re a subject to change since who knows what will fit the vibe more as i get into writing. hozier songs are definitely gonna be on the list tho because he literally has the soul of an immortality god trapped in an irish man’s body who’s in his 30s 💀

[thesecrimsonstrings-if]

Marina Tsvetaeva, excerpt from Poem of the End, Selected Poems (trans. Elaine Feinstein, with Angela Livingstone)