#uri rtb

[norbezjones]

Saw all of the Miiverse "Yeah" art going around (since Twitter disabled public likes), and decided to do some versions with the Romance The Backrooms characters!

Which one is your favorite? Let me know!

[norbezjones]

70th day of the 365 Days Of Character Development writing game!  Basically how it works is that each day, we use (with permission, of course) a question from my friend's book on character development to get our creative juices flowing!  If you like this game, I recommend buying the book to support an independent creator!

Also, I apologize for not posting prompts consistently—it’s been difficult for me to post a prompt every day.  I can’t promise daily prompts, but I will try to do at least 1 per week from now on.  I hope that’s understandable.

Here's today's question:

I'll be answering for the main characters of my liminal space otome game Romance The Backrooms.  I’d love to hear the answer to the prompt for your characters—reply, reblog, and/or make your own post (and give me the link, because I’d love to see it!).

Carla (the main character) bursts into tears and sobs.  She isolates herself from others, not answering calls or texts from people concerned about her.  She spends most of her time in the “depression” phase of grief.

Kalcal becomes angry and sad.  He laughs in response to intense emotions, including sadness, so he’ll laugh a lot and go looking for ways to relieve his stress and let out his energy.  Once his energy is drained, he’ll curl up into a ball and cry.  Poor guy. . . He spends most of his time in the “anger” & “depression” phases of grief.

Glarence buries his feelings and tries to move forward as normal.  Unfortunately, this results in him releasing those emotions when he doesn’t mean to, lashing out towards people he cares about.  It’s very rare for him to cry in front of people—not many have seen him do so.  He spends the most time in the “anger” phase of grief.

Uri feels numb & sad, and blames himself.  Even if he logically knows nothing he could’ve done would’ve changed things, emotionally, he feels at fault and like he should have done more.  He spends the most time in the “depression” phase of grief.

Zenobos becomes in denial, then tries to figure out a way to undo what’s happened, find a way to fix it.  Once it becomes clear it can’t be fixed, he breaks down.  He spends the most time in the “denial” & “bargaining” phases of grief.

Adiel becomes sad, but knows that death is to be expected in the backrooms—it was bound to happen eventually.  He spends most of his time in the “acceptance” phase of grief, but that doesn’t mean he’s not mad, sad, or depressed.

[norbezjones]

I'm making a dating sim that takes place in the backrooms!

The demo comes out next month for the Otome Jam, and I'm so excited to share this passion project of mine with the world. I've been hyperfixated on it since October of last year lol.

You play as this lovely lady right here:

More on Carla

And here's more information on the 5 love interests!

More on Kalcal

More on Glarence

More on Uri

More on Zenobos

More on Adiel

I tag everything related to the game with #romancethebackrooms , and I've made a few posts on Twitter if you want to check that out! Most recently, our talented voice cast was announced--I'm so humbled to be working with such talented people!

Lmk your thoughts on this idea. I'll be uploading more stuff about the game on this blog!

Thanks for reading!

[norbezjones]

June Of Doom Day 25: "I Should Have Listened To You." (Romance The Backrooms)

Time for @juneofdoom ! Just a short piece. This is Day 25: "I should have listened to you." I incorporated the keywords “guilt” & “failure”. 

Takes place: WAY before Romance The Backrooms occurs 

Other things to know: this story takes place in the backrooms. It is from Uri’s point of view.  

___________ 

He opened his eyes, unsure of where he was. He tried to remember who he was, but his memory was blank. Even so, he felt guilt in his heart, like he had failed something, or someone. 

He could feel power surging through his body—but then, he felt it fading, as if it was being drained out of him! He gasped in horror, reached out a hand as if he could physically grab the strength surging through his veins. But before he knew it, it was gone. 

In the back of his mind, these words echoed: 

“I should have listened to you. . .” 

[norbezjones]

24 Days of Gift-Giving: Ten Titles

(This is December 10th’s prompt!  Posting yesterday’s & today’s later!)

Happy December, everyone!

So, @creativepromptsforwriting is doing a writing thing called “24 Days of Gift-Giving” where each day of December has a prompt, so I figured it would be fun to write something up for each prompt!  Feel free to participate too, if you’d like!  It could be a fun writing game!

Like usual, I will be doing these for the characters of my story Romance The Backrooms, a liminal space otome with 5 main love interests. 

Today’s Prompt: Ten Titles (… creative titles for your next story); Burying our memories

Characters: Uri & Manorial

Other Info: URI ANGST URI ANGST URI ANGST!  If you don’t know about Uri & Manorial, here’s the basic gist: Manorial is an entity known as a Memory Collector, who attaches to people and trades near-unlimited power in exchange for memories. 

__________

When possible, Uri tried to sacrifice insignificant memories.  What he ate for breakfast the other day.  Things he thought about when he was bored.  Stuff like that.

But sometimes, Manorial wanted more.  “Sorry, idle thoughts like that aren’t going to cut it for me, Uri,” the cat would purr with a laugh.  “If you want my help, I need something more . . . substantial.”

So, he would give memories that were more significant, trying to keep the others informed on what memory he was sacrificing.  If he was lucky, it was something one of the others in the group was there for, and they could fill him in on what had happened later.  Bring back the memory through their own experiences.

But other times, Manorial would ask for a memory only he & Uri was there for.  Something nobody else had witnessed, and therefore, nobody else could bring back for him. 

And Uri would give the memory.  What choice did he have?  Burying a memory in exchange for power—surely, it had to be worth it.

Right?

@creativepromptfills

[norbezjones]

24 Days of Gift-Giving: Eight Vacations

(This is yesterday’s prompt!  Posting today’s later tonight!)

Happy December, everyone!

So, @creativepromptsforwriting is doing a writing thing called “24 Days of Gift-Giving” where each day of December has a prompt, so I figured it would be fun to write something up for each prompt!  Feel free to participate too, if you’d like!  It could be a fun writing game!

Like usual, I will be doing these for the characters of my story Romance The Backrooms, a liminal space otome with 5 main love interests. 

Today’s Prompt: Eight Vacations, “An adventure vacation was definitely not his idea of a fun time.”

Characters: Uri & Carla (the main character)

Other Info: Post-RtB, a timeline where Uri has parted ways with Manorial (the entity that lives inside him and can bend reality in exchange for his memories).

__________

Uri wasn’t the type of guy who wanted adventure.  It was the kind of thing that kept unfortunately coming to him, because that was what life in the backrooms was like, and he wanted peace & quiet more than anything.  So when Carla suggested going on an adventure vacation, Uri was confused more than anything.

“Why would we do that?” he asked her.

“Well, I’ve noticed that you’ve lost a lot of confidence since Manorial left you,” she explained with a sympathetic expression.  “I think it would be nice to have a fun getaway, and give you a chance to see how capable you are.”

“Come on, I’m not capable. . .” Uri mumbled.

“Yes you are,” Carla insisted, taking his hand.  “Uri, you survived the backrooms—that makes you more capable than most people I know.  And it wasn’t just Manorial’s skills that helped you survive—it was yours, too.  And more than anything, I want you to see that.”

Uri nodded, taking this in.  He looked into Carla’s eyes, and saw so much love & passion in her gaze—he could see how much she cared about him, and he smiled.

“Ok,” he agreed.  “I suppose we can give it a try.” Carla grinned.  “Great!  You won’t regret it."

@creativepromptfills

[norbezjones]

Whumptober Day 6: Not Realizing They’re Injured (Romance The Backrooms)

(Posting this a day late again because of my late shift.)

Look, in case you couldn’t figure it out from June Of Doom & Whumptember, I like whump.  So I’ll be participating in Whumptober when I have the time/energy to.  I may use all of the day’s prompts, or I may use some of them.  We’ll see what happens.

Like usual, I will be doing these for the characters of my story Romance The Backrooms, a liminal space otome with 5 main love interests.  This is an original work, not fanfiction.

Enjoy!

(I also included the fictober-event prompt today!)

Today’s Prompts: Not Realizing They’re Injured, “I’m not giving up”

Characters: Uri, Glarence, Manorial

Other Info: More Uri x Glarence content, hooray!  Haven’t done this in a while, here’s a link to the last story of this type: Tumblr, Pillowfort.  It’s also from a whump event, funny enough, though that was June Of Doom.

_________

“You’re hurt!” Glarence remarked as he approached Uri.

Uri frowned.  “I am?”

“Yeah, stupid!” Glarence exclaimed, pointing at Uri’s shoulder.  Uri glanced down, and saw a gaping wound there, running all the way up to his neck.

“. . .Huh,” Uri muttered.  “Guess I didn’t notice.”

“I did,” Manorial teased, chuckling.  “Goodness, Uri, you have to be more careful.  If you don’t take care of yourself, how am I going to keep collecting your memories, hmm?”

“Shut up, stupid cat; you’re not helping!” Glarence shouted.  He came next to Uri and said, ““Come on, lean on me.  I’m pretty sure Adiel has one of those healing salves from Leon still left.  He can fix you up; we’re not giving up on you that easily.”

“Alright,” Uri agreed.  “Thanks.”

And so, the two of them went together to find Adiel.

[norbezjones]

I found out that creativepromptsforwriting is doing another prompt week and it’s Valentine’s Day themed and HOW DID I MISS THIS???  Regardless, now I gotta write something for the prompts! C:

As usual, the stories are for the characters in my game Romance The Backrooms, a liminal space otome with 5 main love interests.

There were too many good prompts to choose from, so I ended up writing multiple stories.  They are split into 2 parts; here’s link to Part 1.  Enjoy!

These may or may not be canon.

Today’s Overall Prompt: Accidental Love Confessions

__________

Story 3’s Prompts: While comforting the other one, who is saying that they are unloved, the other protests that they are definitely not

Characters: Glarence & Uri

Other Info: My mad-sad boys, I love them so much. T_T

“I’m worthless,” Uri sobbed. 

"No you’re not," Glarence said, trying to sound gentle.  That was something he wasn’t used to.

“Yes I am,” Uri insisted.  He hugged his knees to his chest.  “I’m worthless, and terrible, and nobody loves me. . .”

“That’s not true!” Glarence exclaimed.  “I love you, damn it!”

The two exchanged a surprise look—Uri hadn’t been expecting to hear that, and Glarence hadn’t expected to say it.  “You love me?” Uri said, his voice so soft he was nearly whispering.

Glarence swallowed hard, then nodded.  “Yes,” he said, taking Uri’s hands.  “I love you, Uri.”

_____

Story 4’s Prompts: Exhausted, they are half asleep while saying good night, and an "I love you" slips out

Characters: Carla (the main character) & Adiel

Other Info: Basically, the idea of this story is that Adiel & Carla have been separated from the group, and they’re trying to find their way back to the others.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find out way back to them,” Adiel assured Carla.  “Get some sleep.  I don’t need sleep, so I’ll be on watch.”

“Ok,” Carla agreed.  She laid down on the ground, curling up.  “Goodnight.

“Goodnight.  Love you,” Adiel replied.

Then he realized what he said, and slapped a hand over his mouth.  “Sorry.  Um. . . Goodnight.  Is what I meant to say.  To you.”

He didn’t get a reply back, and let out a sigh of relief.  Carla must have already fallen asleep—phew!

Meanwhile, Carla was not asleep, and her face was bright red.  She wanted to ask Adiel if he really meant what he said, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear the answer. So she closed her eyes and drifted off.  Tomorrow would be a new day.

@creativepromptfills

[norbezjones]

So, my friend Alexis introduced me to The Amazing Digital Circus the other day, and I fell in love with it.  It inspired me to ask the question, “What if my Romance The Backrooms characters were in The Amazing Digital Circus?  What would their designs be like?” So, I drew it!

I’m very happy with how this turned out, and it made me feel more positive about my art overall, which is nice.  If you want to read more information about the designs and how I came up with them, check that out below!

From left to right:

Adiel’s design is very simple—he’s a shadow creature, after all.  I think I was subconsciously inspired by Gamecrazed from The Terrain Of Magical Expertise?  I watched that show before it was revealed that Chris Niosi, the creator, is a terrible person.

Kalcal’s design was inspired by a popular backrooms entity—can you guess which one?  I didn’t want to bring over all of his hair, so I kept that one hair loop that goes from his left side to his right side.  I think it turned out pretty cute!

Zenobos’s head was inspired by soot sprites, sea urchins, & dandelions, and his body was inspired by stick figures.

Uri’s design was very fun!  It was inspired by biblically accurate angels with a hint of Zooble’s design influencing it as well.  His body is supposed to be a keyboard, with the flat/sharp keys each 1 of the colors of the stitches around his neck.

Carla looks the most human out of all of them.  I don’t know if she’s actually a doll or not.  I wanted to give her clothes that incorporated themes from her normal outfit, hence the ducks on the shirt and stars on the pants.

Glarence being a jack-in-the-box was Alexis’s idea, and I knew I HAD to do it, because Glarence would HATE being a jack-in-the-box.  The specific jack-in-the-box his design is based on is a “Schylling Jester Jack In Box”.  Look at my grumpy guy!

[norbezjones]

15th day of the 365 Days Of Character Development writing game!  Basically how it works is that each day, we use (with permission, of course) a question from my friend's book on character development to get our creative juices flowing!  If you like this game, I recommend buying the book to support an independent creator!

Here's today's question:

Who is your character’s favorite mentor or teacher? Why do they like them so much?

I'll be answering for the main characters of my game Romance The Backrooms.  I’d love to hear the answer to the prompt for your characters—reply, reblog, and/or make your own post (and give me the link, because I’d love to see it!).

Carla’s (the main character) favorite mentor/teacher was her grandmother, before she passed away.  Her grandmother was a fundamental figure in Carla’s life when she was young.

Kalcal‘s favorite mentor/teacher is Adiel!  He really looks up to Adiel, and thinks he’s a very wise person.

Glarence‘s favorite mentor/teacher is [REDACTED].

Uri‘s favorite mentor/teacher is [REDACTED].

Zenobos‘s favorite mentor/teacher would be the many humans who taught him what he knows, and Kalcal, who he learned a lot from.  He respects them all as people who helped him survive.

Adiel‘s favorite mentor/teacher is . . . well, he hasn’t really had one, because he had to learn to survive on his own for a long time.  But he has learned a lot from his friends, who he loves very much.

[norbezjones]

14th day of the 365 Days Of Character Development writing game!  Basically how it works is that each day, we use (with permission, of course) a question from my friend's book on character development to get our creative juices flowing!  If you like this game, I recommend buying the book to support an independent creator!

Here's today's question:

How does your character feel about the inevitability of their own death?

I'll be answering for the main characters of my gameRomance The Backrooms.  I’d love to hear the answer to the prompt for your characters—reply, reblog, and/or make your own post (and give me the link, because I’d love to see it!).

Since this can be a triggering topic, I will hide my answers under the cut.  CW for discussion of death (of course), mental health issues, and suicidal ideations.

Carla (the main character) feels anxious about the inevitability of death, but she tries to push forward and not think about it too much.  She’s had anxiety attacks as a result of overthinking it in the past.

Kalcal feels nothing in particular.  To him, death is just going to be a new adventure, so there’s nothing to be afraid of!  He’ll get to it when he gets to it.

Glarence feels anxious about his own death, but he tries not to show it and disguise his nervousness with a stoic attitude.  He sees death as a terrifying thing, an unknown horror that will rip him away from everything he knows and all of the people he cares about.

Uri feels sad about the inevitability of his own death, but also angry that he hasn’t died yet.  He is suicidal, and thinks that if anyone deserves to die, it’s him, so why is he still here?!

Zenobos feels anxious about the inevitability of his own death, but is also comforted by it.  Because when he dies, he’ll get to meet all of the humans he bonded with who have passed away, people he spent a lot of time grieving.  And he would like to see them again.

Adiel feels . . . conflicted.  On one hand, he knows death is a reality, and has seen many people die.  On the other hand, he doesn’t have the needs that other people do, like food, water, or sleep, and has survived things that would kill most other people.  So as a result, he wonders if he can die at all.  And if the others can die but he can’t, is he trapped in the living realm, while everybody leaves him?  He doesn’t know.

[norbezjones]

24 Days of Gift-Giving: Seventeen Snow Days

Happy December, everyone!

So, @creativepromptsforwriting is doing a writing thing called “24 Days of Gift-Giving” where each day of December has a prompt, so I figured it would be fun to write something up for each prompt!  Feel free to participate too, if you’d like!  It could be a fun writing game!

Like usual, I will be doing these for the characters of my story Romance The Backrooms, a liminal space otome with 5 main love interests. 

Today’s Prompt: Seventeen Snow Days; drinking hot chocolate; watching the snow fall from the window.

Characters: Uri & Kalcal 

Other Info: A Uri & Kalcal story?  That’s very rare!  How exciting! C: Also, Kalcal is AuDHD, so I had to include him stimming at some point.  He’s just like me for real.

__________ 

“Zenobos said it’s called ‘hot chocolate’,” Kalcal said to Uri, tearing open the packet of brown powder.  He poured it into the pot of boiling water that Zenobos had set up above the fire.  “Apparently it’s sweeter than almond water, and has . . . how did he describe it?  A ‘rich’ flavor?”

Uri nodded, watching Kalcal stir the powder in with a stick.  Kalcal then took the pot off of the stove and was about to take a sip of the contents, but Uri stopped him with a, “Wait, don’t!  It’s very hot. . .”

Kalcal blinked and looked down at the pot.  “Oh yeah, right!” he said with a laugh.  “I guess we have to wait for a bit, huh?”  He put the pot down on the ground and turned to Uri, stimming excitedly with his hands, which waved excitedly at his sides.  “You wanna chat while the hot chocolate cools down?”

“Um, sure,” Uri agreed.  “What do you want to talk about?”

Kalcal was now rocking back & forth.  “Well, I’ve always wanted to know how you met Adiel & Glarence!” he exclaimed with a grin.  “After all, Zenobos & I were the last to join the group—you knew Adiel & Glarence way before we did!  So, how’s ya meet them?”

Uri turned away, running a hand anxiously through his white hair.  “Honestly, I’d rather not say,” he said quietly.  “I was a different person back then, a lost person. . . It’s difficult for me to remember that time.”

Kalcal stopped rocking, and for a moment, the cheerful, manic entity actually looked somber.  He nodded, then went over to Uri and gave him a big hug.

Uri hadn’t been expecting that, and he sniffled, holding back tears as he leaned into Kalcal’s embrace.  “It’s ok, buddy,” Kalcal said. “You’re a better person than you were then, with us, right?” “Yeah,” Uri agreed.  He let out a happy sigh.  “I am.”

Then, he cleared his throat, and gently pushed Kalcal’s arms off of him.  “Um, do you want to check on that hot chocolate?” Uri asked.  “Hopefully it should be cooler now. . .”

“Oh yeah!” Kalcal exclaimed, a goofy, excited grin on his face.  He picked up the pot, held it up to his lips, and took a cautious sip.  His eyes went wide, and Uri cringed.  “Too hot?” Uri asked.

Kalcal shook his head and held the pot out to Uri.  “No, it’s not that hot—it’s just that I’ve never tasted something quite like that before!” Kalcal exclaimed.  “It’s so sweet and good. . .”

Uri took the pot from him and hesitantly sipped the contents.  He immediately saw what Kalcal was talking about: the flavor was creamy, smooth, and (yes) rich.  He let out a happy sigh.  “That’s really good.”

“Isn’t it?!” Kalcal exclaimed, hands flapping excitedly.  “I can’t wait for Zenobos to come back and try this!”

A small smile came on Uri’s face.  “Yeah, me too.”

@creativepromptfills

[norbezjones]

24th day of the 365 Days Of Character Development writing game!  Basically how it works is that each day, we use (with permission, of course) a question from my friend's book on character development to get our creative juices flowing!  If you like this game, I recommend buying the book to support an independent creator!

Here's today's question:

If your character was forced to eat one thing for the rest of their life what would it be, and why?

I'll be answering for the main characters of my game Romance The Backrooms.  I’d love to hear the answer to the prompt for your characters—reply, reblog, and/or make your own post (and give me the link, because I’d love to see it!).

Carla (the main character) would probably choose quesadillas, because you can make them in so many ways and still have them taste different!

Kalcal would probably choose popcorn, one of his favorite treats.

Glarence would choose almond water, out of pure practicality.

Uri would choose the ice cream that The Ice Cream Man gives out, because it makes him feel nostalgic for some reason.  It makes him feel like he can actually remember the past, even when it so often feels out of reach.

Zenobos would choose beef jerky—a human gave him to him once and he loved it!

Adiel doesn’t need to eat to survive, so he probably wouldn’t choose anything.

[norbezjones]

22nd day of the 365 Days Of Character Development writing game!  Basically how it works is that each day, we use (with permission, of course) a question from my friend's book on character development to get our creative juices flowing!  If you like this game, I recommend buying the book to support an independent creator!

Here's today's question:

If your character could kill someone without consequences, who would it be and why?

I'll be answering for the main characters of my game Romance The Backrooms.  I’d love to hear the answer to the prompt for your characters—reply, reblog, and/or make your own post (and give me the link, because I’d love to see it!).

CW: discussion of suicide in Uri’s answer.  Also sorry for all of the redacted answers, just trying not to go into spoiler territory!

Carla (the main character) probably wouldn’t kill anybody—that’s too much power for one person to have!  If she really thought about it, perhaps her parent, if they weren’t already dead.

Kalcal would kill [REDACTED] again, no question.  He would bring [REDACTED] back to life, just to slaughter him once more.

Glarence would kill [REDACTED].

Uri would kill himself.  Poor guy is very suicidal.

Zenobos wouldn’t kill anybody—he’s with Carla, that’s too much power!

Adiel would kill whoever sent him to the backrooms in the first place.

[norbezjones]

12th day of the 365 Days Of Character Development writing game!  Basically how it works is that each day, we use (with permission, of course) a question from my friend's book on character development to get our creative juices flowing!  If you like this game, I recommend buying the book to support an independent creator!

Here's today's question:

What does freedom mean to your character? Do they consider themselves free? Why or why not? In what ways?

I'll be answering for the main characters of my upcoming game Romance The Backrooms.  I’d love to hear the answer to the prompt for your characters—reply, reblog, and/or make your own post (and give me the link, because I’d love to see it!).

Carla (the main character) sees freedom as “marginalized people being able to live as themselves without scrutiny or discrimination”.  And while we’re not there yet, she is happy of the progress being made.  She considers herself free, for the most part.

Kalcal sees freedom as “being able to go wherever I want and do whatever I want”, and he does that, so he considers himself free!  In his past, he wasn’t able to do this, so he tries to take advantage of his freedom now.

Glarence sees freedom as “being able to act on one’s own to get what they need”, so by his definition, he is free!  That said, what he thinks is needed doesn’t always align with everyone else’s definition. . .

Uri sees freedom as “being able to live with friends in peace and destroy any threats to that peace”.  And so far, that definition is fulfilled.  He doesn’t care if he has to sacrifice his memories for the sake of that freedom, because he doesn’t see himself as very important, for the most part.  But when it comes to sacrificing a core memory—a key part of who he is—that is very scary to him.

Zenobos sees freedom as “having self-autonomy”, so by his definition, he is free!  That said, there are parts of himself he doesn’t like, such as his inability to fight, and his perpetual anxiety.

Adiel sees freedom as “able to travel to the frontrooms”, so by his definition, he is not free, but trapped in the backrooms.

[norbezjones]

"Oh dear... I don't want you to be upset.  Come here."

Uri tells Carla that things are going to be ok. <3

A scene from Romance The Backrooms, which gets its voice acting update October 23rd!

Uri = Sam Hodges. Carla/The Protagonist = Alexis Boone

Play Romance The Backrooms here: https://norbez.itch.io/romance-the-backrooms

And check out Uri’s intro & behind-the-scenes blog post: https://www.tumblr.com/norbezjones/751941059056189440/sketch-sheet-of-the-3rd-love-interest-of-romance?source=share