As a healthcare professional-in-training, Iāve been working on a medical drama game with a healthy dash of romance added.
Please note,Ā CitadelĀ and this Tumblr may contain adult themes unsuitable for underage readers.
Please enjoy and leave comments/suggestions/etc.! Also, feel free to leave something in the ask box!Ā
Itās the not-so-distant future, and the landscape of medicine has been irrevocably changed. Once incurable diseases are now completely manageable. Metastatic cancer. Alzheimerās. These patients have a new lease on life, and itās all thanks to Citadel Healthās NINO technique. But, like all innovations in medicine, thereās more to it than meets the eyeā¦
Play as a first-year surgery intern at Citadel Health. Will you become the star intern and curry the favor of the chief? Or will you uncover Citadel Healthās secrets and break a story or two? This will be the best and worst year of your life. Donāt forget to save lives and break some hearts along the way.
Current Demo Word Count:Ā 127,000+ words
Elliot/Ellen Sanford (he/him, she/her):Ā
Your roommate, and Citadel Health medicine intern. You and Eli have known each other since the beginning of medical school. Can come off as a bit of a slacker, but cares deeply about providing the best possible care to patients. Aspires to become a geriatrician.
Davy JacksonĀ (they/them):
Fellow Citadel Health surgery intern. Very self-assured, very sassy. Has huge ambitions to become a leading surgeon of the NINO technique and isnāt afraid to hide them. Whether theyāre your friend, frenemy, or enemy is up to you.
Jean Liu (she/her, he/him):
Resident (hah!) coffee-drinker, and Citadel Health medicine intern. Born and bred in the Bay Area, this is really their first time out of California (and theyāre already regretting itā¦). Would love to do a fellowship in Pulmonology/Critical Care to become an ICU attending.
Victor/Victoria Uytterhoeven (he/him, she/her):
One of the chief surgery residents at Citadel Health. Strict, jacked, and full of angst.
Dr. Peter Grey (he/him):
Chief of NINO Surgery at Citadel Health, and one of the early pioneers of the NINO technique. Perfect for your McDreamy fantasies.
Dr. Ivy Sloan (she/her):
Medicine attending at Citadel Health. Smiles rarely. Compliments residents even more rarely. Perfect for your House fantasies.
Just thought I'd pop in and give you all an update on where I've been.
1) I moved to a new state after almost a decade.
2) I started my fellowship training.
The past few months have been...hectic to say the least. Besides the actual logistics of acclimating to an entirely new city, I've also been acclimating to an entire medical specialty. In some respects, fellowship is a lot better than residency - no more night shifts, more free weekends. But in other respects, it's like starting as a brand new intern again (in a new hospital...but thankfully with the same electronic medical record system).
So where does that leave Citadel?
The truth is, after work, it's hard to open up Citadel's code. I want to spend time with my partner, or my friends, or my dog, or just by myself. But, as my partner told me not too long ago, opening up the code is the hardest part. And, sometimes you just gotta do it.
So that's where I am. Re-opening the code. Going through the variables. Remembering all the branches, and how to put them all together to make a story, a good story, for you but also for myself.
So, cheers everyone - to clicking open the file again.
In short, I'm pretty burnt out from work. Even things that I used to enjoy, like clinic, are more difficult these days. To be honest, what I most look forward to immediately after clocking in is the exact moment when I can go home.
Things that I do enjoy - spending time with my partner and friends, petting my dog, reading, and reflecting back on how much I've already accomplished with Citadel. You'll just have to take my word for it, but I amĀ still chipping away at the next chapter piece by piece.
Once again, thank you for your patience and your support. Even just your presence on this platform means more than you can imagine.
You look down at Vic, who - unsurprisingly - looks skeptical. Then again, you areĀ sitting on them although, in your defense, it's for purely innocent purposes. For now.
"I'm just trying to apply your face mask." You give them your best innocent expression which, from the arch of their eyebrow, leaves them entirely unconvinced. "Now hold still."
"This better be hypoallergenic," they grumble as you dip your silicone brush into the face mask jar.
"It's rice and honey. Very anti-inflammatory. Now shush." You run your brush against their cheek, bite back a laugh as they hiss.
"It's not thatĀ cold." You continue painting their face in soft, gentle strokes. "Think about something relaxing. Like the beach - "
"I burn at the beach - "
"PiƱa colada in hand - "
"You know I like wine - "
You squeeze your thighs against their waist, smirk as they inhale sharply. "It's a thought experiment."
You apply one final stroke on their nose, lean back to admire your handiwork. Vic Uytterhoeven in a face mask, just as stunning - maybe even more so, the way they look so relaxed underneath you. Fellowship looks good on them, and so does self-care.
"Something on my face?" Vic says, and you smile down at them.
"I love you," you say, and you don't need to see through their face mask to know that they're flushed. It's the quiet moments, small intimacies, that always get to them.
Their hands slide up your thighs, and you set the jar and brush aside.
"I love you too," they say.
And, well, you do have 15 minutes to kill.
-------------------------------------------------
In case you're curious what face mask I'm talking about...it's the Beauty of Joseon Ground Rice and Honey Glow Mask.
You've never been someone who cared about your appearance.
After all, there's no better way to show up to 8 a.m. lecture than in a sweatshirt, joggers, and Birkenstocks (worn unironically). As Chloe liked to tease you - often - you wouldĀ choose a career where you could get away with wearing glorified pajamas all day.
But now, on the eve of winter formal, you find yourself - you! - fussing over what to wear. You have dresses scattered on your bed, shoes discarded on the floor. Your index finger still smarts from where you burnt yourself on the curling iron (easy, tousled waves your ass!), and you only have twenty minutes left to get ready.
This shouldn't be a big deal. MC's seen you dressed up before - hell, you've gone to the last twoĀ winter formals together. But, okay, you haven't really looked your best over the past few months. Surgery's really kicked your ass, and you think caffeine actually makes you look moreĀ tired. You really want to put your best foot forward, but honestly - you don't even know what your best self looks like anymore.
Whatever. You're done with rotations, you're done with Step 1. Hopefully, MC and you will get so hammered tonight that it won't really matter whatĀ you wore - that's how good of a time you want to have, you want themĀ to have.
You slip on a light blue dress, acceptable heels. A dab of eyeshadow, just the slightest bit of gloss. This will do.
You open the door and almost immediately ram into MC. Their hands reach out to steady you, and you notice how warm their palms are against your bare arms - the way their fingers feel pressed against your skin.
"Sorry - " you both say, and you both laugh.
They look good - really fucking good.
"You were taking so long, I thought you'd fallen asleep," they tease, and you gasp in mock offense. It's so easy for the two of you to fall into banter, inside jokes - it's like you've known each other for much longer than three years, it just feels absolutely right.
If it had been a year ago, you'd say that MC was your person - your platonic soulmate, the twin you never had.
But now - seeing them dressed to the nines - the way they smile at you, the way they effortlessly take your hand, spin you around as if you're in a ballroom and not the living room of your med school apartment, that description isn't particularly right.
You could pull on that thread more...but standing here with them is so perfect, so absolutely exquisite that there's no other choice but to let it lie.
"You really do look..." MC trails off, and the moment stretches on - one second, two.
"I look..." You raise an eyebrow - the beginnings of a joke on your lips - but you hold it back, waiting (even though you shouldn't, you just can't help yourself).
MC huffs out a breath, pokes you lightly on the forehead. "If I flatter you, your head's only gonna inflate more."
"And that'd be a disservice," you say, finishing the bit. Always - as easy as breathing.
"7 p.m. on a Thursday - Danton, Wisconsin" - Raffle Snippet #1
Dr. Grey's POV
You hate the apartment.
You hate the newness of it, the glass, the steel. You hate the sterility of it, the just-bought furniture, the hush in the space - like a showroom. There's parts of you here that you brought from the house (your father's record collection, now thatĀ you had moved out immediately), but there's so much you left behind - too much.
You miss mowing the lawn in the mornings.
You miss cleaning your fishing rods in the garage.
You miss Charlie - Charlie eating breakfast at the kitchen table, Charlie reading next to you on the couch, Charlie looking up at you as you tucked them in, kissed them goodnight.
It was, of course, only fair for Erika to have the house. Charlie would be spending the most time with her after all, and the last thing you'd want was to rip another thing away from them - the promise of a happy family, you think, was enough (moreĀ than enough).
And, maybe the two of you could've worked it out. In another life, you - the patient, kind, reasonable Peter - might've gone to marriage counseling, might've had some kind of breakthrough, and there'd have been progress and there'd have been setbacks, but you'd have learned to live with Erika again, to see her, to understand her the way she wanted you too.
But the truth is, you are not patient, and kind, and reasonable. You are angry, hurt, and bitter - and what makes it worse is, you know that she's partly right. You didĀ lose her in your marriage, you chose to turn a blind eye, and when she had told you that night what had happened in San Francisco - there was the shock of it, but also no shock at all.
Then again, if she heard this, she'd probably roll her eyes. She always thought you had a habit of martyring yourself.
You open your fridge and take out a beer, consider this apartment you hate - the fact that you were married, and now...you're not. Somewhere, Erika is having dinner with Charlie, Charlie still in their soccer uniform, straight home from practice - it's selfish, you decide, that you hope they miss you, that you hope they look at the empty chair to their left and think about what it used to be like when you were there.
The Citadel demo has now been moved to cogsdemos.ink (rest in peace dashingdon website - you'll be missed)!
In celebration of relaunching the demo (and in honor of Citadel's dashingdon days), 3 lucky winners will receive the choice of either a short snippet or the ability to name a side character in Citadel.
If you like this post, youāll be entered into the raffle once.
If you reblog this post, youāll be entered into the raffle twice.
If you like and reblog, that's a total of 3 raffle entries!
Raffle will close Monday, January 20th at 9:00 pm EST.
The Citadel demo has now been moved to cogsdemos.ink (rest in peace dashingdon website - you'll be missed)!
In celebration of relaunching the demo (and in honor of Citadel's dashingdon days), 3 lucky winners will receive the choice of either a short snippet or the ability to name a side character in Citadel.
If you like this post, youāll be entered into the raffle once.
If you reblog this post, youāll be entered into the raffle twice.
If you like and reblog, that's a total of 3 raffle entries!
Raffle will close Monday, January 20th at 9:00 pm EST.
The Citadel demo has now been moved to cogsdemos.ink (rest in peace dashingdon website - you'll be missed)!
In celebration of relaunching the demo (and in honor of Citadel's dashingdon days), 3 lucky winners will receive the choice of either a short snippet or the ability to name a side character in Citadel.
If you like this post, youāll be entered into the raffle once.
If you reblog this post, youāll be entered into the raffle twice.
If you like and reblog, that's a total of 3 raffle entries!
Raffle will close Monday, January 20th at 9:00 pm EST.
The Citadel demo has now been moved to cogsdemos.ink (rest in peace dashingdon website - you'll be missed)!
In celebration of relaunching the demo (and in honor of Citadel's dashingdon days), 3 lucky winners will receive the choice of either a short snippet or the ability to name a side character in Citadel.
If you like this post, youāll be entered into the raffle once.
If you reblog this post, youāll be entered into the raffle twice.
If you like and reblog, that's a total of 3 raffle entries!
Raffle will close Monday, January 20th at 9:00 pm EST.
Thank you all for the messages letting me know that Dashingdon is shutting down at the end of the month!
Question for folks - what are my options in terms of sites to repost the demo (which is written with Choicescript)? Feel free to answer in the comments of this post, in my ask box, or in my DMs!
Thank you all for the messages letting me know that Dashingdon is shutting down at the end of the month!
Question for folks - what are my options in terms of sites to repost the demo (which is written with Choicescript)? Feel free to answer in the comments of this post, in my ask box, or in my DMs!
Iām delighted to announce that Interact-IF is officially back in business! I (Allie @allieebobo) will be taking the reins as the new mod, and Iām very excited to get this blog up and running again!
First, a heartfelt thank-you to the original mod team for everything theyāve built. Interact-if has become such an invaluable resource and hub for interactive fiction fans and authors alike. Itās a tough act to follow, but Iāll do my best to keep the spirit of this wonderful space alive :)
A little bit more about me: Iām the author of two WIP interactive fiction games, @collegetennisoriginstory and @merrycrisis-if. Interact-if was one of the first blogs/places that I discovered almost three years ago now, and it led me to so many amazing stories, authors, and resources.
When I saw that the blog was going into archive mode, with a call for a new generation of mods, I wanted to do my best to help out. I reached out to the original mod team and worked out a gameplan for the future of Interact-if, which Iād like to share with all of you today.
P.S. If you would like to join me, Iād love to have you on the team! Scroll down to the section on āopen call for modsā.
Without further ado, hereās the plan!
My goal is to focus on retaining the aspects that made Interact-IF so special: spotlighting diverse authors, and creating a warm, inclusive space to talk about and share wonderful games.
š¢ Active:
Game Updates & Intros: If youāre an author with a new game or demo update, or if youāre organizing a game jam or event youād like to share with the community, simply tag @interact-if in your posts, and Iāll reblog them.
Themed Author Features: Iāll continue the tradition of spotlighting authors and games based on monthly themes (e.g. Pride Month, Disability Month). These interviews are such a great way of celebrating diversity and inclusivity in the IF community, and Iād love to keep these going! Stay tuned for a detailed post on this soon!
Community Spotlight: Once every quarter, Iāll also do a call for reader recs around certain categories/themes (e.g. Fave RO, Fave Worldbuilding/setting, Fave plot-twist etc.) and compile these recommendations to share. Think of it as a bulletin of crowdsourced faves and a way of sharing a little note about an IF you love!
š” Remain open/active, but not modded:
Game directory: The Interact-IF repository of games (excel) will remain open for authors to update/list their games and/or readers to discover their next read. (Feel free to continue to update/populate the repository, though do note it will remain completely crowd-sourced/author-updated).
Discord: The discord will remain open and active for discussions, resource sharing, and casual chats, though again, this will not be officially modded (though I, and some of the original mods like roast, may be active from time to time)
š“ Not active:
Asks: I will not be answering asks except for specific submissions (e.g. for author features, reader recommendations etc.). If you would like to ask for specific game recommendations, or have questions/just wanna chat, the discord channel is a great place to do just that! :)
Keeping track of events/game updates: As mentioned, Iāll rely on authors / readers to tag me in updates posts and/or flag any games with questionable content/anything that might need my attention, as I won't be able to search out update posts or do any extensive vetting.
Open call for mods:
Finally, Iād love to have some company! If youāre interested in helping outāwhether with reblogs, interviews, or brainstorming new featuresāplease reach out. Having a small team would make this space even more vibrant!
Thank you for your support, your enthusiasm, and for being part of what makes Interact-IF such a special corner of the internet! :)
If you have any suggestions or ideas on how Interact-If can be improved, feel free also to drop the blog a direct message or an ask. I look forward to getting to know all of you better. Here's to an awesome year of interactive fiction (and many more!)
It feels like just yesterday that I was a med student...but it also feels like a lifetime ago š
I just wanted to take a moment to say - thank you all for being with me during med school and also during residency. CitadelĀ and its community have honestly been such sources of joy for me for the past few years, and I'm perpetually humbled and awed that you all believe in me enough to not just follow my Tumblr, but also send me asks and share your art and writing.
Now that fellowship application season is over, I anticipate I'll have more time for writing (and code some of that delicious RO angst that I know some of you crave).
Cheers, and - to paraphrase PBS - CitadelĀ is made possible by readers like you. Thank you!
In full transparency, I haven't managed to code much of CitadelĀ recently due to a combination of work and - well, to be honest - exhaustion š . My most recent bloodwork actually showed that I have a few vitamin deficiencies, so...š Coffee, as it turns out, doesn't have great nutritional value and neither does take-out. Don't ask when the last time I ate a green, leafy vegetable was.
All that being said, thank you so much for your patience and kind messages in my inbox especially in these grim winter months. Residency is hard, but y'all warm the cockles of my heart.
