inlovewithifsvns

[inlovewithifsvns]

If a soul is born without resonance, what does it echo instead?

✦ Rating: 18+ (Mature Themes, addiction - substance use, Strong Language, Emotional Abuse, torture, violence, sexual assault, explicit sex)

✦ In Thalwood, the trees don't just whisper, They sing. And when they fall silent, we hold our breath.

It has been many centuries since you made the mistake of stepping out of line. Before this room, and before the horrors inflicted upon your body and soul you were someone – something.

Anger. Rage. Wrath.

Though, those titles were much prettier when first bestowed upon you like an act of love. Now the only acts of love given to you are the cuts of a blade and the painful tugging of a cleaning cloth.

After years, and years of pleading to be forgiven and begging for your sins to be released, you are dismissed from the celestial realm to continue your divine punishment. As if centuries of pain weren’t enough. You find yourself vulnerable in a world you’ve dreamt of exploring before.

Altheria.

Unfortunately, your newfound freedom is fleeting.

Just as you awaken on the moss-covered ground, you’re struck with the bubbling frustration of a man standing no more than ten meters in front of you. His sloppily managed magic shackling you once again. Not by a God this time, but by pale, shaking, mortal hands.

✦ In this interactive fiction you will be able to

‣ Customise your character’s appearance, gender (male, female, non-binary), personality, and sexuality.

‣ Meet and romance (or don’t romance), antagonise, or befriend some interesting human companions. - Please note that being in a romantic relationship does not mean you have to persue sex or physical intimacy.

‣ live as familiar and experience whatever that entails.

‣ Explore the town of Thalwood and learn about the Ethereal Harmonics.

‣ Find about about Thalwood's history and solve some of it's mysteries.

‣ Escape from the chains binding you to your abusive creator and their flock of angels and enact revenge.

✦ Nyneve Minowa (he/him) RO

Age: 25

A 5’11, pale, slender man covered in black clothing. He has silky, black hair that cascades down his back. His blue eyes seem to look past your skin and right into your mind sometimes. Though, you suppose that’s because you’re his familiar.

A scholar in Ethereal harmonics, he holds the ability to gain power from the Angel he worships – rage. Which happens to be you.

Currently, he spends all his time with you. However, he used to primarily spend time studying the Ethereal Harmonics.

Tropes: Worshipper/worshipped, stuck together, forced proximity, secretly pining.

Green flags: smart, protective, observant, dependable, curious, loyal.

Ethereal Harmony - Emotant

Red flags: Possessive, emotionally constipated, prone to anger, cynical, confrontational.

✦ Nami Lovecroft (she/her) RO

Age: 26

A 5’6, chubby girl with deep, cool tone brown skin and a flat nose. She’s covered from head to toe in modest clothing. Her black hair is natural in a small Afro. She carries on her a beautiful rosary and you can help but notice how her dark brown eyes light up when she looks at it, a stark contrast to the uncomfortable grimace she pulls when she speaks to you.

Often seen volunteering in the church, maybe she can give you a mortal perspective on Altheria, your creator and the angels.

Tropes: apprehensive friends to lovers, deconstructing harmful religious beliefs (together), forbidden love.

Green flags: Kind, generous, Passionate, Merciful, gentle.

Red flags: initially hostile, heavily (toxic) religious, very guarded, insecure, Naive,

Ethereal Harmony - Virtuant

✦ Crew Ledger He/him (RO)

Age: 40

A 6’4, stocky man with tanned skin with a roman nose. Usually wearing his ‘comfortable inn-keeping clothes’ for the inn Harmon’s Rest. His curly brown hair reaches just past his ears and his cheeks are flushed. His sleeves are rolled up and his arms are covered with hair. His green eyes seem to almost sparkle as he talks about his seven-year-old daughter Laverne.  On his right wrist he has the names Liren and Laverne tattooed in cursive.

He spends most of his time with Laverne or manning Harmon’s Rest.

Ethereal Harmony - Virtuant

Tropes: Single parent, big secret.

Green flags: Eager, nice, affectionate, good parent, animal lover.

Red flags: Cagey about past, stubborn, addiction.

✦ Ahri Magnolia (she/they) RO

Age: 29

A 5’4, plump person with tanned skin and a flat nose. They wear elegant, ‘sharp’ looking clothes that drape her in a cloak of mystery. Black and dark red, straight hair that reaches her shoulder blades tied in a half-up half-down hairstyle, with a sharp jewelled hairpin that dangles when she walks. their hazel eyes are as sharp as their voice and her confidence radiates into any room she walks into.

She spends most of her time solving disputes in Thalwood.

Ethereal Harmony – Desirant

Tropes: Messing around first, shameless flirt, sworn off relationships.

Green flags: Empathetic, charming, observant, strong willed, capable.

Red flags: emotionally unavailable, non-committal (no cheating), closed off, mildly manipulative.

✦ Cazine (they/them) RO

Age: 23

A 5’6, lithe person with brown skin and a hooked nose. They wear androgenous clothes and heavy jewellery. Their wavy hair is black and is short in the morning and long at night, however they aren’t open to explaining why.  Their left eye is black, and their right is covered with an eyepatch. They don’t seem to very invested in anyone, however they are uniquely interested in you.

They lead a hunting and foraging squad in Thalwood. It's said they get their keen aim and steady hand from hours of painting.

Ethereal Harmony - Emotant

Tropes: Found family, traumatic past, gender identity issues.

Green flags: resolute, resourceful, independent, flexible, open-minded, preceptive.

Red flags: Avoidant, careless (to self), quick tempered, stubborn, sarcastic, impatient, impulsive.

✦ Aquine (They/She/He/it)

Your creator, and the creator of all things living. Though she was once brimming with ambition, emotion and desires all you’ve seen the last few centuries is their blank excuse soul. You’ve felt her warmth and devotion and now you feel her icy hot bite and the ripping of your wings.

Soon, you will get revenge.

✦ Envy (he/him)

The second angel ever created by Aquine. Always watching and always wanting more of you. He was your dearest friend, but recently you’ve realised he’s nothing but the knife that stabs into your back. Now, you’re sure he would have torn the wings from your back himself, just to see your face as he did so - if Aquine would have allowed it. Yet, he settled on exposing your expedition to Altheria. And in the end, he got what he wanted, he got to drink you up and spit you out for good.

✦ The Angels

Woven from Aquine’s heart are her beloved Angels. As a testament to his love and affection towards the first living beings they’ve ever created, they forfeited their emotions, desires and virtues. Thus, the first Angel dubbed ‘the Prototype Angel’ was given her hatred. A boon for her future creations to share – the gift of never feeling hated.

✦ The Ethereal Harmonies

Not a person, rather a thing given to human-kind. Given to the people to connect divinity and mortals. Through the Ethereal Harmonies humans may request boons for power from an angel through the devotion of desire, emotions, or virtue.

✦ Demo - TBA ✦ Spotify Playlist - Cazine, The Prototype ✦ Pinterest - TBA ✦ Character arts - TBA (when I have some money I want to commission some artists!)

✦ Severe content warnings for the following: Self harm, suicidal ideation, torture,transphobia, child death(mentioned), addictiom, abuse, sexual assault and abuse, flashbacks, recovery from trauma, disordered eating, power imbalances, re-traumatisation, animal death through hunting for food, Sex and suggestive themes, death.

(The sexual abuse, assault, abuse, and torture happen to MC. These scenes will be skippable however they will still happen.)

This list may be subject to change while the interactive fiction novel is in development, please keep a regular eye on the contents warning list on this page as the chapters update.

✦ Additional disclaimers and information

I am a novice writer and am doing this as a passion project for fun. I will try to be as quick as possible but I have zero coding experience. I will give as many updates on this blog as i can though.

(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶) .ᐟ.ᐟ

Character asks & POV are okay, nsfw is okay, if I don't want to answer something due to being uncomfortable I won't! I appreciate YOU if you have read this far into my little post.. I'm quite nervous but really proud of this idea!

[inlovewithifsvns]

If it's okay to ask, how did you learn to code your IFs? They really spark out of motivation from me!^^

Blood, sweat, tears, a couple of sacrificial goats and my first born. He doesn’t yet know his soul is no longer his own, so nobody tell him! 🤫

Lol, no but really, a lot of YouTube videos and online resources. I used Twine Chapbook for my first IF, Viatica, which I highly recommend for beginners. It’s an out-of-the-box solution, and requires no previous html or css knowledge. You literally do not have to even touch java script or the style sheet; it’s all there by default. Really, the only thing you need is to understand the way to code variables and conditional statements for the text itself, and there is a handy guide that spells all that out.

But Chapbook does have some limitations; for example, it doesn’t offer a way to make a codex or multiple save slots. But after using Chapbook, I better understand the nature of coding IFs. My new IF is built in Twine Sugarcube, which is a lot more complex. The good side is that Sugarcube is older and much more common, and there’s a plethora of resources and templates out there for it. I find it easier to start with a template and dig into the code from there—breaking it and studying it, as opposed to building from scratch.

The author of the Arcadie IFs, @sofia-d-asb has this master post if you’re looking for a place to start. This was a great help to me!

[inlovewithifsvns]

Randomly found the Our Life games on itch.io last week. I have been unable to get much work done due to the fact I have been playing N&F’s demo and B&A + all the DLC instead.

I really wanted to make some heartfelt fanart but this was the first thing that came to me instead. I’ll… get around to that later on. Lol

In all honesty I ended up really liking these games, far more than I thought I would because VNs aren’t really my thing. And as a queer man I don’t really find these kind of games really suited to me. But I genuinely enjoyed just how fun and real it all felt, from the nostalgic feels, the relationships between the characters and just the introspection of what growing up feels like. I’m still not done, I’ve got the rest of Derek and Baxter’s DLCs to go.

Man I wish I found these games sooner. I would’ve happily backed both of their kickstarters. Oh well haha, super excited for Now and Forever in the meantime. ❤️

[inlovewithifsvns]

Fallen Hero: Sidestep Character Template .PSD.

DOWNLOAD

Hey! I did a thing. Detailed character template for all your amazing Sidesteps. This .psd is layer-heavy one, but it’s organized and should be easy to navigate. The fonts used here: Clemente Font Family (you’ll need only Pdam and Pdag, but I recommend to install all of them; they are just neat). You are welcome to edit this template as you’d like, but please don’t claim it as your own. Credit is appreciated but not necessary. If you run into any problems, feel free to send me a message and I’ll do my best to help you. Have fun!

@fallenhero-rebirth

[inlovewithifsvns]

Can you tell us which jobs give us the most time with ROs?

The roommates will always have a lot of time obviously, but you spend even more time with A as a musician and bartender (on their own). You see the roommates more as a bartender (as a group). You'll have nicer and more flavor text with Cal as a teacher. You'll have more additional scenes with L as an artist.

M will always have the same amount of time as they are always your co-worker.

You'll have more scenes with G as an editor and kindergarten teacher.

You'll have an additional plot line with Rainn as a news anchor.

That's really it. All the other routes will have their own unique circumstances and their own flavor texts but yeah :) I will always work to make each route satisfying with each RO so this may change or the other routes may gain some new plot lines. Who knows!

[inlovewithifsvns]

Omg.....how about "they were staring at you" for A?

Some love triangle action right here...lol

"Thank you!"

You bow your head to the crowd of people who filter out of the bar, throwing out thanks and farewells as you grip your guitar tightly in your hand. You're still riding the high from your last performance, dressed in your best attire and sweating from the hot stage lights that warmed your skin. This is why you do what you do. The magic of it all. The magic of performing and sharing your voice with the crowd. You haven't been here long, but you know that this performance is going down in the books. You were in your element. It was everything you ever wanted.

"Good job...I guess." M's voice leaks through the crowd of people and you quirk a brow. "You were passable."

You roll your eyes. "Please."

M smirks, and then they glance at you with a mocking glint in your eye. You catch them turn, look at something, and then look back at you. "I think A wants to talk to you." That makes you perk up, and you glance behind M's shoulder to see A in the corner, arms crossed and hair down in front of their face, glowering at the people who leave the bar and skitter to give them a wide berth. A loves scaring people away, and you wonder if it's intentional. "They've been standing here for twenty minutes."

What?

M doesn't wait for your reaction. They simply saunter out of the exit, leaving you alone with A backstage. Suddenly, after a night of noise, the silence is overwhelming, and you're frozen in your spot when A pushes themself off the wall and shoves their hands in their pockets, moving to you with their ever neutral expression.

"Good job up there," they sat flatly, their eyes looking over your outfit. You wish you could read their mind, but all they give you is that same blank expression. "You did well."

"So did you," you manage, clearing your throat.

"Not like you," they say, teetering on the heels of their shoes. "You know...M...." A makes an uncomfortable face, breaking their gaze on you to look away. "They were staring at you."

You open your mouth to speak, your eyes widening. "Oh..."

A's expression is twisted and they look both irritated and resigned. "Is that..." They clear their throat, brows knitting. "A good thing?"

The question doesn't register at first. A good thing?

"I don't know," you answer honestly.

A nods slowly. For the first time, you can read what's on their face: disappointment. "Do you want it to be a good thing?" you try, feeling your heart race so fiercely you swear A can hear it too.

They look back at you, something like fear shines on their face. And then they shake their head, rubbing their eye. "I'm tired. I'll wait outside and get us a cab."

Spinning on their heel, A breezes out of the room without another word, leaving you alone and confused.

[inlovewithifsvns]

Hello everyone!

Welcom to the release of Episode 3 (AKA Chapter 5) of When Stars Collide (teaser above) - with over 60,000 words of new content and 6 new CGs to unlock. No bonus scenes this time as the chapter was already getting a bit chunky on its own.

In addition to the new story content, you will find other additions such as new status bars up next to the affinity metres to help better visualise the compatibility status with the love interests.

And remember! This is the route lock-in chapter. By the end of it you will be in a love interest's specific path or you will have managed to dodge all romance and put yourself on the no-romance path which ends in Chapter 10 at the latest (with some endings as early as Chapter 8).

There is not a direct selection option for the routes and there are multiple ways to unlock them in this chapter based on things like your overall affinity with them. It's a little more organic this time as I am a glutton for punishment.

You can find the game over on Itch at the link below!

https://steamberry.itch.io/wsc

[inlovewithifsvns]

How the LIs would react if they lost a bet to MC and the loser would have to do anything the winner said and the MC asked them to kiss them? Of course while still crushing because ✨drama✨

Reed would be livid. It's like his confession 2.0 bc it'd look to him as though MC was making fun of him, so yikes.

Laurent... you know 'games' like spin the bottle, strip poker etc are super common at the Training Center (where the future agents are educated). So the whole idea of it wouldn't be a surprise to him, but since he never willingly participated, and he's kinda sorta into MC, so he'd be like:

Jewel: kinda same as Laurent in that she's been there, done that. She's also sneaky tho, so she'd give MC a kiss on the cheek bc 'you never said where 😌' while inwardly going '👁️ 👄👁️'

Flavio... it'd be the most pathetic attempt at laughing the situation off. MC's probably realize straight away that Flavio's a gone man. Dude's so obvious, that's why his go-to is avoiding confrontation😅

Nino, Alan: would kiss MC 🤣¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[inlovewithifsvns]

So when Reed gets together with the mc again after they’re both out of academy there was for sure a moment where he realized they’ve been eating gushers for dinner the whole time he was gone right?

Asadsdad how to give Reed a stroke 101

[inlovewithifsvns]

How would the RO's react to getting home super late and being greeted by a very sleepy MC hugging them and saying "I missed you"?

End Flavio's life using this one simple step. He'd never be over this, my dude

Tired who, sleepy who?? Not Jewel for sure. She'd feel so giddy all of a sudden she'd be able to little more than smother MC with kisses 🥰

Lol stroke Reed's ego, why don't you Jokes aside, it'd quickly turn into a competition of 'who missed whom more', and ofc he'd have to win 🙄

🥺 Laurent would turn into mush, and they'd end up cuddling on the damn floor right then and there (Laurent would initiate actually), fck his expensive suit, am I right?

Alan'd, super casually, say that he missed them too, then also very casually would stick to them extra close for the duration of the night. Next day at work ppl 'd be left wondering who tf just died to make their boss look like he won a lottery...

Nino and her 'wtf, why is my chest hurting, did I drink too many energy drinks again or what 🤔'

[inlovewithifsvns]

I have an ask about what would ROs do if someone was bullying the MC, just saying nasty stuff to them, and before the ROs can step in to MC's defense, the MC retorts back at the bully with something that's just absolutely outright cruel, just WAY over the line. Do ROs take MC's side on this, or do they point out that MC crossed the line?

Jewel'd wait for when they're in private to say anything. She'd be more reproachful if what MC did/say was not provoked by anything though.

In the demo you could see how Reed reacts to MC making the bouncer fall sleep, or them KO-ing Marco, so basically I don't think there's anything MC could say/do to someone else that'd make Reed shift sides. That aside, he enjoys MC being mean. 😂

Laurent'd think what he generally thinks about any heated argument, namely that it shouldn't have happened in the first place but if it did then the fault lies on the person who instigated it. In this case, the person who 'started it' wasn't MC, MC just ended the altercation by any means necessary and this is basically aligns what a)his father used to say to him and b) what he'a learned at the Training Center, so MC's reaction would only surprise him if MC was generally a kind, soft-spoken person.

Nino has like a handful of people she cares about, and what happens to the rest is of no concern to her. She takes MC's side and that's that. Especially if they were bullied. Talk shit get hit twice as hard, the law of the jungle. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Flavio'd be, kinda like Jewel, more torn if MC's was the one to start the 'fight'. Like yeah he thinks it was cruel, but he'd only ever make a big deal out of it, if MC was cruel out of the blue/for no reason. He's also used to Nino and Willy, so there's not much he hadn't heard.

Alan's the third RO with skewed morals. He wouldn't bat an eye if MC went for someone's throat unprovoked, so if it was 'justified' then that'd just feel fair to him? Any eye for an eye is defo a principle he follows.

[inlovewithifsvns]

how would the RO’s react to an MC who made innuendos pre and post-relationship? 😏👀💕

Alan, pre- and post-:

Jewel, pre- and post-:

Laurent, pre- and post-:

Now the other ROs pre-:

Reed:

Nino:

Flavio:

And post-:

Reed:

Nino:

Flavio:

[inlovewithifsvns]

“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn’t it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life…You give them a piece of you. They didn’t ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn’t your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like ‘maybe we should be just friends’ turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It’s a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.”

— Neil Gaiman, The Sandman

[inlovewithifsvns]

How do ROs respond if during pinning stage, MC says "I'm so jealous of whoever is going to marry you"? 😭

Jewel: "Then marry me yourself? JK HAHA! 🙃"

Reed (I love these types of asks bc Reed's reaction to MC hinting at being interested in him is always the same since he's 100% sure that not only they are not actually interested in him but also they know he's in love with them so it feels like they're making fun of him asdadada):

Laurent: What he means: "I am not going to marry anyone else because I am in love with you." What he says: "😐 I am not going to marry."

Nino: "But not enough to marry me yourself??"

Flavio:

Alan: "You're jealous of yourself? That's a new one."

[inlovewithifsvns]

the RO's are out somewhere that's relatively crowded with mc; how do they react if mc asks when they can go home, and admits that they want to feel their hands on them?

Jewel: everyone in 5 miles radius knows she has less than pure thoughts right now coz she looks at MC like:

Reed: 😳😳😳 as casually as he can (which is not at all) Reed points at his car like 👁️ 👄👁️

Laurent:

Flavio: stammers, tries to make a joke, says smth stupid instead 🤡

Nino/Alan: "…and we need to go home for that why? 😏"

[inlovewithifsvns]

I get the sense MC1 is still friends/friendly with the other ROs when not on their route, which is great bc no matter which one you pick, the other two are gonna be like, "Them? Really??" If I'm reading that correcting, what are all the RO's "shovel talks" like?

Yes and yes!

So basically Jewel and Laurent are chill-ish with each other, the only problematic one is the brat who has beef with both of them, and vice versa ofc.

Reed trusts like 5 ppl and that's that. He thinks Laurent is the worst candidate bc uh he (and his job) 'stole' Flavio from him in a very roundabout way + Laurent's occupation + 'his face is just ugly, you could do so much better'. Now, Laurent thinks Reed fcked Flavio over BADLY, and is sure he'll do the same to MC (Laurent's a very helicopter-parent towards MC, it's the combo of him liking them and them being a civilian). Plus at the beginning, he thinks that the rumors about Reed are true.

Now, Jewel and Reed mix like oil and water, they just can't stand each other. Jewel doesn't trust new people either because she's worried about her family, but for Reed, her being secretive just screams 'danger' (pot kettle much huh). He thinks she'd ditch MC or get them into trouble somehow, and Jewel - like uh most people - believes that every rumor about Reed is 100% true, and that he's only using MC.

So for the "shovel talks" it's mostly glaring from Laurent @ Reed, and Reed yapping @ MC about their choice of a lover for like a week straight, while Jewels is just shaking her head in the background.

[inlovewithifsvns]

RO reactions to MC who gets flustered easily?

Ohhhhh

Jewel, Flavio:

Reed: would be soooo annoying about it, teasing MC 24/7, getting drunk on their reactions really. A shy/-ish MC makes Reed's brain go brrr

Laurent: just two dumbasses getting flustered by each other asdsadas clown to clown communication

Nino, Alan: uh congratulations, you've enabled their sadistic tendencies (jk, but they would tease MC, only way more sparingly than Reed for maximum effect)