You've Been Ice Skating As Long As You Can Remember.

DEMO

FORUM POST | PINTEREST | CHARACTER INTROS

(3/12/2023: chapter two updated.)

genre(s): small-town, romance, action, sci-fi, mystery

He leans forward, growing serious and looking at you right in the eyes. "I have a place. A place where you can serve your sentence without being stuck in a maximum security cell in some lab. Because where they will take you, it won't be an ordinary prison. Not for people of your caliber."

You sit backwards, a churning heat settling in the pit of your gut. Everything comes crashing down, falling over you at once. This man is proposing you live with him and other possible criminals. Criminals with powers like...you.

How the hell did you end up here?

Emberwood is a small-town romantic interactive fiction WIP described as X-Men meets Ms. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

When you get into an unexplainable accident that results in severe casualties, you're forced to relocate to the small town of Emberwood to serve your sentence in Dufner House, owned by a reclusive scientist who also happens to be the town's pariah.

It's either that or jail.

That's where you find out you're not the only one born with a unique ability that shouldn’t be possible. In fact, the eccentric Dr. Dufner is the caretaker of six other people with equally mysterious circumstances as you. And they are now your roommates—or more accurately, fellow inmates—for the foreseeable future.

But when oddities around town start cropping up and signs of a powerful threat lurk in the shadows, the truth of your past comes into question, and you begin to wonder how exactly you and everyone else in Dufner House got these powers.

Seems like your stay in Emberwood is going to get a lot more complicated.

— features.

Customize your characters appearance and sexuality and mold their personality as you see fit. The text and your character’s actions/reactions change based on your stats.

Romance and/or befriend seven characters with different personalities and backstories, six of which are gender selectable.

Have an option of 3 different abilities your character can possess (with the high likelihood of more being added later)

Get to know the town of Emberwood and the secrets of your past. This town is hiding many layers, will you care enough to find out? Or will you remain blissfully indifferent until your time is served?

Work on controlling and strengthening your power (or don’t) and discover all the things you can do.

Take down a looming threat that’s come to Emberwood.

…And maybe listen to a badly told Dad joke or two

— the characters.

Perry Dufner [M] — the dutiful son of Dr. Dufner, Perry is the makeshift leader in place of his chronically lazy father. Perry is kind and described as approachable both by appearance and personality, there’s not one unlikeable bone in his body. As the oldest in Dufner House, Perry tends to be the leader in most situations, especially due to his knack for charming the pants out of everyone. But still, people this good have to be hiding something, right?

Kind - Complacent - Responsible | Character Post

Finn/Fera [gender select.] — If there’s one thing F is, it’s the life of the party. With a penchant for flirting and a knack for getting into the biggest trouble, there’s never a dull moment with F. They’re aware of their own greatness and will make sure everyone knows it too. Still, their outgoing personality may be charming to some, while horribly obnoxious to others. In other words, F is an…acquired taste.

Energetic - Flirtatious - Outgoing | Character Post

Alexander/Alexandra “Alex” [gender select.] — Alex has probably spent more time napping than existing. Rivaling Dr. Dufner as the most lazy in the house, you can likely find Alex trying to catch some Z’s as much as possible. With a monotone voice and a preference for indifference, Alex has become accustomed to watching from afar, finding pleasure in mischief and gossip. They observe rather than engage, but don’t let their nonchalance fool you; Alex doesn’t mind a little chaos.

Lazy - Mischevious - Indifferent | Character Post

Kade/Kiera [gender select.] — The second oldest in the house, K isn’t much for fun and games. They spend most of their time in the library, avoiding the rest of the more energetic ones of the group (F). With a calm exterior and sharp wit, K is a good palette cleanser after a day of chaos from the rest of the house. Still, it can be hard to get along with them due to their lack of filter and sometimes brutal honesty. You can never really know what they’re thinking, and you get the sense they prefer it that way.

Studious - Reserved - Honest | Character Post

Daniel/Danielle ‘Dani’ [gender select.] — Dani is one word: angry, and they’re not shy about letting you know. You sense they don’t like you, but it seems like they don’t like anyone. Stoic and serious, befriending D seems like the most impossible outcome out of this whole thing. It’s quite obvious D has a lot of baggage, and their resentment comes from a dark past. Maybe, with enough effort, you can make a crack in the coldly harsh exterior of theirs….maybe.

Stoic - Intimidating - Loyal | Character Post

Noah/Nora [gender select.] — N is the last one you meet, and the most distant. Quiet and reserved, they don’t talk much…or almost at all. You can’t tell whether they actually like Dufner House or would rather murder everyone, but it’s not like you’ll get an answer either way. It doesn’t seem like N has any opinions of you; you’re just another face living in a house they want to be free from. Maybe you can change that.

Quiet - Melancholy - Uneasy | Character Post

Detective Eva/Everett Morales [gender select.] — E Morales is the detective of Emberwood and the main face of the town, right behind the mayor. They’re deeply embedded into the workings of the place and ever so curious of what goes on in mysterious Dufner House. You’ll be lying to them, and that’ll only make them more determined. Maybe a good thing? Or maybe not.

Determined - Suspicious - Respected | Character Post

Emberwood is my first IF and my first foray into Choicescript and interactive fiction telling. As usual, if there are any errors or typos, please let me know and I'll be sure to fix them. Thank you and hope you enjoy <3

two crows return to visit the place where, together, they learned what it means to fly

(originally for @/hqnationalszine on twitter! i need the version of me that drew this to return from whatever plane of existence they went to lmao)

Agent 180. One of the finest field agents the International Intelligence Agency ever produced; a force of nature who could stroll into danger and get out without spilling a drop of your cocktail. At least, that's the person you used to be. Are you still? Your skills and your loyalties have been tested recently. Maybe you're still looking for a chance to prove yourself... maybe you're looking for other options.

DIABLO. Your greatest foe. The spider at the center of the web; a criminal organization with influence throughout the world. But power like that is hard to keep. Rumor has it that the organization's leader keeps power through a collection of blackmail material, a treasure trove of secrets that could rock the world.

Rumor has it that the leader is dead, and the collection is up for grabs.

A prize many would kill for - and when you are drawn into a war for the underworld, you must decide: who will you trust? And who will you betray?

DEMO | FORUM (tba) | SPOTIFY | KO-FI

Continue your adventure from The Aegis Project, or start afresh.

Customise your version of superspy Agent 180. Choose your gender, backstory, motivations, and of course, favorite cocktail.

Pick sides in a conflict between rival crime lords.

Take in the sights in a variety of farflung foreign locations, when people there aren't trying to kill you.

Explore complex relationships with the main cast beyond a simple friendship meter - are you and they kindred spirits? friendly rivals? enemies with benefits?

Fight your enemies' henchmen - or try to befriend them.

Have a drink with a supervillain.

Watch out for sharks.

ANGEL | 25 | m/f/nb [Romanceable by all]

A DIABLO operative. You've met before, and they certainly made an impression. With their striking looks and flirtatious charm, Angel's good at making impressions, but you've seen the menace that lurks beneath their easy smiles. Their interest in you is something you could exploit - if it's real, and if you can keep yourself from getting too close...

AGENT 313 | 30ish | m/f [Romanceable by MCs of the same gender]

An agent working in the mission control and analysis department; 313 is a technical genius with a strong moral centre - which is not the best thing to have, in your line of work. When 313 dives deeper into the shadows, will they emerge unscathed? And will you be there to watch their back, or clash over your plans?

AGENT 100 | 53 | m [Romanceable by all]

100's legendary charm, daring, and sheer luck have seen him become the IIA's most successful agent. Now he's supposed to be retiring - but he's never been good at resisting the lure of action. The only thing longer than his list of triumphs is his list of enemies, but can you keep him from being his own worst enemy?

SINCLAIR | late 20s | m/f/nb [Romanceable by all]

A cat burglar whose wit is as quick as their hands, Sinclair is a blast from your past who has re-emerged just in time to get themself in trouble. You always knew them as someone primarily motivated by self-interest - has anything changed?

AGENT 196 | mid 30s | f | [Non-romanceable... unless...?]

The severe, cynical field agent who you've been partnered with. She doesn't seem to be your biggest fan, but is there something more to it than a clash of personalities?

SERAPH | 40? | m | [Non-romanceable]

DIABLO's top assassin, a grim shadow whose mission clashes with your own. But there is more to him than meets the eye - will you be able to settle things peacefully, or will it all end in bloodshed?

AZAZEL

You know next to nothing about this enigmatic evil genius - but Azazel has a plan, and you might just end up as part of it.

BEELZEBUB

This ruthless crimelord sees himself as the natural choice for DIABLO leader. Others disagree, but he's more than willing to go to any extremes for victory.

Reblog if you honestly have NEVER sent anon hate.

It pains me that only 14,000 people can honestly reblog this

Very Brief Guide to [tumblr], for Reddit refugees

Shit You Must Do Right Fucking Now:

Change your profile picture, blog header, and title to something other than the defaults. Do it right now. You will be mistaken for a bot otherwise, and blocked.

Go into Settings -> Dashboard, scroll down to Preferences, and turn off the options in the picture. This will get rid of most of the algorithmic stuff.

Turn off Tumblr Live. You have to snooze it once every 7 days for some stupid reason. It's hosted through another company and will steal your data if you use it.

Go to your blog settings (under the little person menu) and turn off these two settings:

Turn off infinite scroll (lags the site) and turn on timestamps on posts, in the same menu as Preferences.

Basic Features of the Site:

Reblogs drive the entire site. If you'd upvote something on Reddit, you'd reblog it on Tumblr. You can add text, images, or tags to a reblog, but you're not required to.

The dashboard is the equivalent to your Reddit feed, and contains the posts of all the people you follow, with the newest at the top

You can send an ask to someone, and it'll appear in their askbox for them to answer. You can receive them too, or turn off the settings if you don't want.

Tags aren't actually used for finding stuff (search function is dogshit), but are more for categorizing. People also talk in tags. Because Tumblr is weird, you can't use quotation marks (") or commas in them without fucking it up

You can filter both tags and phrases under Account Settings; doing this will put a filter over a post that contains them, which you'll have to click through to see the post itself. Useful for avoiding hate speech or blocking out annoying stuff

You can make polls in posts. Here's one now.

Likes are useless. They literally do fuck-all except send a notification to the OP.

Stuff Tumblr Does That Other Sites Don't:

Very old posts (I'm talking from like 2012) often circulate on this site. There's no such thing as a post being "too old" to reblog

Blocking is highly encouraged; you can block someone for any reason. Even for just being annoying.

If you and someone else are following each other, you are mutuals. Mutuals are fucking awesome and are treasured like friends. Mutuals are a thing on other sites but Tumblr treats em differently.

You can screenshot someone's tags if you like them and add them to a reblog. This is called "peer review"

Sometimes someone will find a blog and go through it and like/reblog a bunch of posts. This is totally fine and not "creepy" like it is seen as on other sites.

Tumblr jokes often rely on Continuing The Bit and a "yes, and?" attitude. Goncharov is probably the best example of this.

We are fucking infested with bots. They will either have totally blank profiles or be filled with porn. Block and report on sight.

Censorship is pretty lax here. I can say "I want to brutally stab Elon Musk to death and watch him bleed out in front of a crowd" and nobody gives a shit.

General Etiquette:

Don't try to do epic clapbacks here, you'll probably just get laughed at or blocked. If someone is bugging you or spouting bigoted bullshit, block them.

Reblog art!!! Artists often struggle to gain traction on here; reblogging will give them a boost.

Not every reblog needs a comment or tag in it

You can go all out with tagging your stuff to organize it, or you can just leave it all blank. Someone might ask "hey, can you tag these posts as [x]?" and you can decide if you want to do that or not. It's generally polite to oblige, but "no" is still reasonable.

Avoid discourse like the plague. Filter it, block people who start it, scroll past it when you see it. Just don't get involved in it. Ever.

Don't put fandom tags or jokes on someone's posts about serious matters or personal shit

You're responsible for curating your own dashboard; if you complain about constantly seeing stuff you don't like, that's probably on you. Don't be afraid to unfollow.

Follower count doesn't matter much here and you don't have to make yours known if you don't want to.

Reblog, don't repost. Reblogging keeps the credit and doesn't "steal" engagement like Twitter retweets.

If someone likes something a LOT, they might reblog it like 30 times in a row. This is normal

Having a post blow up is actually kinda a bad thing, since it floods your notifications. There's a sort of in-joke about how having a big post is awful and people jokingly try to stop their own posts from blowing up, often in vain.

Tips:

Get XKit Rewritten if you're on desktop, it's a really helpful extension

In the little drop-down menu next to the 'Post now' button you can either save a draft, schedule a post, or add it to your queue. The queue lets you post things in order at a certain interval, which you can change. It's good for spreading stuff out over time.

You can use Shift+R to quickly reblog stuff and Shift+Q to queue!

Filter your notifications under Activity - you can also see some neat graphs

Find each other! If you want your old Reddit communities to stick together, seek out other refugees and follow them.

Have fun on [tumblr], everyone!

DEMO ☯︎ FAQ ☮︎ DIRECTORY ♪

Nate Nicks has disappeared.

Why should you care? Do you?

You probably should, considering he's the face and host of your extremely popular radio show and you've just landed one of the biggest contracts of your careers.

You are a sound tech engineer and a damn good one at that, while Nate was the face you were the sound, usually your work is strictly behind the scenes, except for the odd occasion when you were needed on air. So when Nate goes missing and you're tasked with filling in his shoes you're practically thrown in at the deep end.

It only gets worse after a missing persons case becomes a murder case and the cast and crew of Radio Kathryn and FloNote Ent become the suspect pool...

RADIO KATHRYN is rated 18+ for explicit language, explicit sexual scenes and references, themes of death and blood, use of alcohol and drugs, physical abuse and violence. please check trigger warnings.

The setting of the 70s is purely for aesthetic and technology. Don't expect era—accurate racism or homophobia as it won't be included in this IF.

FEATURES ☯︎ [ Trigger Warnings ]

fully customise your MC! name, gender&pronouns (M/F/NB), appearance, personality

decide your on air persona──can you hack it in the limelight or will you crack under the pressure?

build your relations──do you get along with your fellow teammates? how about your fanbase? or your company?

+your radio teams backstory──how the four of you (Nate, José, Mica and yourself) got along, created the pirated radio show, how you got signed into legality, how everything went to shit... or not?

romance someone (or not)──featuring eight solo routes and two poly routes OR just enjoy the mystery and figure out a murder!

chose paths that affect the game──your choices matter, and the ending you may or may not get is dependent on them.

decide which kathryn is your mother──and your relationship with her. (Catherine, Kate, Cathy, Katherine or Rynnie)

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN ☮︎ [ RO Intros ]

The Man, The Myth, The Legend. [???]

“Nate Nicks” Nathan Nicholson──he/him. 28. Radio Kathryn's host and front man, adored by thousands. Complete arsehole but somehow it makes him endearing to others. Cocky son of a bitch that let fame get to his head... or is he? Nevertheless, he's missing now and you may have something to do with it.

think a mix between gauge burek and chris veres in druck (2019)

The Benefactor.

“Mr Robinson” Lionel Robinson──he/him. 42. The man who funded your radio show, the one who got you to where you are. Kind, calm and considerate, especially with Nate. But every one has a line to cross at some point and Mr Robinson is not someone to get angry.

think chad michael murray in sullivan's crossing (2023)

The Fiancé. [RO]

“Eva Vidal” Evangeline Vidal──she/her. 25. The woman who's been there from the beginning, your first listener, your first fan. You used to be closer but Nate sunk his teeth in her and pulled her away. You watched her steadily lose her glow and for someone engaged she seems quite jaded at the news of her missing fiancé.

think penélope cruz in vanilla sky (2001) or vicky christina barcelona (2008)

The Best Friend. [RO]

“Mica Hollens” Michael/a Hollens──he/him, she/her. your age (24─28). Your voice of reason in the chaos of life and Radio Kathryn's manager. Your support system and rock, even if they are a bit quick to jump the bullet in your honour. Mica has strong opinions and Nate has never been in their good books, but surely they wouldn't do anything to jeopardise your job.

think tanaya beatty in through black spruce (2018) or alex meraz in mine games (2012)

The Detective. [RO]

“Detective Han” Han Jimin──he/him or she/her. 30. The detective assigned to Nate's missing persons case. They are meticulous and goal oriented and their current goal is figuring you and your work family out. The more you resist the more they're intrigued and the more you help the more you unravel them.

think lee soohyuk in tomorrow (2022) or lee siyoung in sweet home (2020)

The Rival DJ. [RO]

“José Danger” Jose/phine Jeager──she/her or they/them. 26. Nate calls them the traitor─the defector. They used to be part of your team, a co-host with Nate in your beginning days. The two of them worked like magic until Nate was in demand more and José was kicked to the curb. You wonder if the festering grudge they left with is still there... and if it still extends to you.

think zazie beetz in deadpool 2 (2018) or wounds (2019)

The "Hater". [RO]

“Ji Han” Han Ji Young──he/him. 23. The younger brother of Detective Han. Ji Han is not a fan of Nathaniel Nicholson but he is a fan of the songs he plays─or rather the ones you play when he's absent. He's taken the utmost interest in his siblings case, suspiciously enough to become entangled in it more than anticipated.

think a mix of choi san (2022-23) and lee dohyun in 18 again (2020) or the glory (2022)

The "Fan". [RO]

“Fauve” Faye─Mauve Langham──she/her. 25. Fauve is a bit of a groupie, she can admit. She's not totally obsessed with Radio Kathryn, she reasons, she's just invested in the show and even more so in the people behind it. Fauve become more involved in the case of Nate Nicks than she's wanted, leaving you to wonder just what it is that keeps her going─even to the edge of insanity.

think a mix of imogen poots in need for speed (2014) and hayden panettiere in nashville (2012-18)

The Family Man. [RO]

“Mr Lewis” Jackson Lewis──he/him. 33. The night shift receptionist-slash-building coordinator. He usually brings his daughter to sit in on show recordings, seeing as she's got a bit of a crush on Nate─he's a no-bullshit kind of man but his soft spot is his daughter's puppy dog eyes. He just so happens to be the last person to see Nate before he disappeared and you can't help but get the feeling he's not being truthful in his statement about it.

think brian tyree henry in eternals (2021) or atlanta (2016-22)

The Question Mark. [???]

"Who?" ??? ???──unknown.

it'll be revealed later!

©️ bonnie berry 2023────@moretinyideas

──the polymances are between eva and ??? (eva???) as well as fauve and ji han (fauhan)!

──this is totally inspired by episode 2.8 of sister boniface "dead air" but other than the idea of a radio show called Radio Catherine there are no other similarities!

If you see this on your dashboard, reblog this, NO MATTER WHAT and all your dreams and wishes will come true.

me after every social interaction, knowing it went terribly:

[ID: spongebob sitting calmly and smiling in a blaze of red and orange fire.]