When your older brother told you university was going to be wild, this wasn’t what you expected.
In his extensive (and probably highly exaggerated) tales of wild parties, terrifying teachers and mad study sessions the night before exams, he didn’t once mention multiple ancient horrors rising and heralding the apocalypse. How rude.
However, a group of troubled young adults have banded together and just might be able to put a stop to the end of the world.
There’s hope after all!
Well… kind of.
Unfortunately for both you and the world, you happen to know this group - so well that you’re one of them - and there is no one you’d trust less with such a task.
Playlists for the End Times is currently rated 16+ for strong language, alcohol/drug use, and discussion of sensitive topics such as mental illness. A more thorough list will be in the demo.
Customise your protagonist’s name, gender, sexuality and appearance.
Play as a medobestia, an almost extinct specialisation of magic
Go on the so-called ‘best road trip of all time!’ (which may also be the last road trip of all time)
Romance one of six potential love interests (2x female, 2x male, 2x selectable), or don’t. It’s up to you!
Try to put up with your child of an older brother
Explore your relationships with each of your eight quest companions, all with their own baggage
… and befriend some monsters?
Osric ‘Osi’ Jalava
21 ° he/him ° creviso ° RO
(Unwilling) student, waiter and (self-proclaimed) tortured artist
When Osric volunteered to join the group, everyone thought he was joking - maybe making fun of them. But no, here he is. And no one’s complaining, he supplied the mini-bus after all. With his perpetually messy mop of hair, eyeliner that’s somehow always a couple of nights old, clothes that look like they’ve never touched an iron before (because they haven’t, he doesn’t own one, he ideologically disagrees with them), and the scent of cigarette smoke always lingering on him, you can see why some of professors consider him a lost cause. That doesn’t mean you agree, however, because there’s something more to him. You’re sure of it, there has to be. Nobody signs up for a death mission just because “why the fuck not?”.
Lucius ‘Luci’ Vinter
20 ° he/him ° misamum ° RO
Student and resident acoustic-guitar-guy at parties
Nobody is quite sure who invited Luci, but he’s here anyway and raring to go. With gorgeous black curls almost down to his shoulders, a smile that could light up a black hole, the bone-structure of a god and more money than most people could visualise, it’s hard not to fall for him - it's the reason he’s so widely beloved around the university. So why is he here, with a group of random outcasts on a doomed mission? And more importantly, why is he so happy about it?
Katia de Sola
21 ° she/her ° morcius ° RO
Student, essay-editor, and real-life mad scientist
Many years ago, Katia wasn’t your childhood friend, but you were certainly aware of each other. Not much has changed about her since both her and your parents tried to make the two of you into best friends with constant play-dates and dinners. Not her slightly hunched posture that developed from being constantly reading, the way her eyes always jump around as though begging to soak up more information, nor the piercing look she gives when interrupted that can freeze the toughest adbellus to the core. Now here she is, on the precipice of greatness. She’s going to save the world, and nobody can stop her… That’s definitely the only reason she’s here…
Etheline ‘Ettie’ Bohan
19 ° she/her ° gramand ° RO
Student, plant-nursery worker and (possible) manic pixie dream girl
Ettie arrived out of nowhere on the second day of the second week of classes and she is fascinating. From her obsession with living life to the fullest and insistence on taking every opportunity, to her musical voice and mischievous sparkle in her eye that never quite fades, Etheline Bohan is addictive. How anyone could not want to spend time with her is perplexing, so the fact that she decided to come along is great. To quote her “may as well get a good seat for the apocalypse”.
Tomas ‘Tom’ Mabille/Tamsyn ‘Tas’ Mabille
22 ° he/they or she/they ° gramand ° RO
Student, bartender, aspiring journalist and (probable) future sibling-in-law
When T’s older sister, Gisela, started dating your brother four years ago, you never expected them to become such a big part in your life. With chin-length floppy red hair, dark eyes that always seem a little bit lost in thought, and a smile that for some reason always looks a little apologetic, T has had your back since the moment you met. They claim that they’re coming on the trip to write it all up in an exclusive story that’ll for sure shoot them to the top, but you can’t help but notice the uncertainty in their voice as they say it.
Cassandra/Cassius/Cass ‘Cass’ Phillips
20 ° she/her or he/him or they/them ° adbellus ° RO
Student, librarian, and owner of a mysterious backstory™
Your actual childhood best friend, Cass used to be the life of the party. Always happy and sociable, as a kid, you don’t think anyone could’ve disliked them. But then they moved away at thirteen, returning seven years later. Now instead of mischievous, their face always looks melancholy. Instead of chattering non-stop, constantly (and good-naturedly) teasing everyone, they rarely speak. And instead of their bright eyes that always exuded such zest and excitement for life, their eyes are sad and tired. Something obviously happened while they were gone, but they refuse to even admit to it. Maybe this trip will get them to open up. After all, what’s a better time to confide in someone than the end of the world?
Miles
27 ° he/him ° misamum
Teaching assistant, older brother and village idiot
Hey, did you really think your older brother would let you go on a perilous world-saving quest without him? Being seven years older than you, Miles has always been very protective, and this is no different. With a face that seems to be perpetually stuck at age fifteen, a tall and lanky body that he doesn’t seem to have full control over, a constant look of disarray, and a complete lack of common sense or basic self-preservation, it often surprises people that Miles was valedictorian of his class, and is now in training to be a professor himself. But it doesn’t surprise you, not in the slightest. He may be a mess in most (if not all) aspects of his life, but your brother is probably the best person you’ve ever met. Now hopefully he just doesn’t accidentally fuck up your quest. That’d be bad… and unfortunately, very in character.
Gisela Mabille
24 ° she/her ° saconda
Doctor-in-training, older brother’s girlfriend and potential Disney princess
When Gisela and Miles started dating, you didn’t expect her to become such a permanent fixture in your life. Her doe eyes, button nose, somehow permanent dusting of blush and rose-tinted hair make her look like some sort of ethereal princess and her personality only adds to it. And you have to admit, having a healer on board can’t be a bad thing. Still, with both Gisela and Miles along, you can't help but start to feel like a child being chaperoned.
Alright, so I've got to say, I think it's just a little funny that immediately after posting a thing saying "At the very least, assuming there aren't any wild unforeseen circumstances, I promise not to disappear without a trace for basically three months!" I disappeared for four months.
Well, suffice to say, major wild unforeseen fucking circumstances happened, and my life's been in chaos for around four months now. But, due to both the fact that I feel like half my posts at this point are explanations of why I disappear, and that it's a long/complicated story with a lot of personal shit mixed up in it, I'm probably going to just leave it at that.
I probably won't be posting anything other than some queued things and some reposts until next month. Come next month, however, I'll be starting a new job. It means I'll have less time, but also far less stress and far more stability - so it'll be a better situation for writing all around.
In more exciting news however: I've entirely written and coded the prologue, half of the first chapter, and the character customisation (oh how far I've come), so I am currently purely working on the UI design before hopefully publishing something soon(ish)!
“It’s so cold, you should hold my hand, so it doesn’t freeze.” “I’m not that cold, I can give you my gloves if you want.”
Please
So I actually wrote this months ago, but completely forgot to post it. Reading it back, I'm actually really happy with it.
So apologies for how late it is, but here you go!
This isn't set at any particular point (as in its not exactly pre- or post- book, maybe even closer to an au where the story doesn't happen? idk).
Set in the crushing stage for both.
Under the cut for length
(also I love Ostrich instead of Osric. Auto-correct can be very annoying, but very funny. At least three people definitely have him saved as ostrich in their phones).
Ancia is always at its prettiest when it snows.
A layer of white coats the streets and the roofs of buildings, hiding the everpresent grime that coats the city for at least a month. The sky takes on an almost otherworldly purple glow - maybe the only times in your entire life of living in Ancia when you see the sky as anything other than a polluted grey.
It's almost impossible not to fall in love with the city in winter.
Small white flakes drift slowly in the air, completely aimless without a breeze around to guide them. Usually, at such a time it would be too dark to see so many of them, even with the dim orange glow of streetlights, but the sky is illuminated with the light of the full moon - even if the moon itself is not visible behind a wall of clouds.
It's late. No way that it's before midnight, evidence of that being right next to you in the form of Osric Jalava walking home.
That man does not leave a venue before midnight, it's somehow impossible.
You’re pretty sure he’s fully lost his mind, as despite the temperature, he’s dressed pretty much as he always is.
That is truly the one downside to winters in the city - the temperature. Because holy fuck, it's cold. You’re wrapped up in too many layers to count, a full ski jacket on top of jumpers on top of long-sleeve-shirts, with a scarf, hat and snow boots on top of all that. And here this idiot is with nothing more than jeans, a t-shirt covered by a thin pull-over, converse (that are utterly soaked through by this point) and a pair of gloves. And he isn’t even shivering.
For as long as you’ve known Osric he somehow seemed impervious to the cold, but this seemed like a bit much even for him.
The two of you walk silently back to his apartment, as it's a good amount closer to the bar than yours. It isn’t an awkward silence though, it isn’t as though neither of you can think of something to say, it just somehow feels wrong to disturb the night. It's a rare occasion for any street in Ancia to be quiet, especially in Greenplane, but it seems as though the cold has even the hardiest of partiers in bed tonight.
Osric reaches into his back pocket, grabbing out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He places one in his mouth before turning the box to you, tilting it slightly in offering. You consider it for a moment, the warmth would definitely be welcome right about now, but in the end shake your head. He simply shrugs and lights his own before shoving both items back into his pockets.
It's crisp enough that every exhale already comes out looking like a puff of smoke, but now the smell of tobacco mixes with the smell of the air that always comes with winter, the one that is indescribable except for simply the smell of cold.
It’s oddly comforting, you find. It's not the smell of cigarette smoke anymore you suppose, now it’s just the smell of him.
You look at him walking next to you, his eyes ahead but not focusing on anything in particular.
It’s at moments like these that you can’t help but appreciate how pretty he is. With his face basking in the weird mix of purple and orange light and flakes of snow landing on his face like freckles. His hair is a mess (though to be fair, you don’t think you’ve ever seen it not a mess). It’s grown out slightly longer than usual and you know the way it keeps falling in front of his eyes is annoying him - but you also know he won’t be quite bothered enough to do anything about it for probably another month. His lips are ever so slightly curved up into a relaxed smirk, which you’ve come to find is his default expression. You’re not quite sure why it is, but you certainly get why people often think he’s somewhat of a smug bastard before getting to know him. That’s not to say that it’s an entirely inaccurate presumption - he’s certainly a bastard, but he’s not smug, not really… well, maybe sometimes, but no more than your average person. Most of the time it’s an act, inauthentic - a comedic bit that he does for himself that he’s become slightly too good at.
As though he can hear you thinking about him, he turns to look at you, sending you a much more genuine smile. You attempt to smile back, but your chattering teeth make it look a little more like an odd grimace, making him chuckle.
“It’s cold as absolute shit out here.” He tries to say it nonchalantly, turning his eyes back in front of him to avoid yours. He comes to a stop causing you to do the same.
You send him a questioning look, but he doesn’t see it. Instead he looks at his hands intently, as though he’s having a mental argument with them, before pulling off his gloves and holding them out towards you.
You hesitate for a second, causing him to look up. You realise with surprise that he actually looks bashful. It’s strange, as you don’t think you’ve ever seen him look anything other than confident.
“Aren’t you freezing?” you ask, concerned but very tempted to accept the offer.
He shrugs, “I’m not that cold. I’m happy to give you my gloves… you know, if you want.”
You nod, and out of the corner of your eye, you see him grin as you pull them on.
You go to start walking again, but stop as you realise he doesn’t make to follow you.
“Um,” he looks away nervously, an entirely odd sight to see. “Do you wanna, you know…”
He trails off but holds his hand out to you in obvious invitation.
You grin, is the Osric Jalava actually nervous to ask you to hold his hand?
“Just because you’re cold and stuff.” He adds hurriedly. “You know, so you don’t freeze or something.”
He looks at you, trying to keep his face neutral, but his eyes give away just how desperate he is to know if he’s just royally fucked up the situation.
You reach out and grab his hand, causing a relieved smile to break out on his face. You roll your eyes in amusement, this is a man who can unflinchingly ask you to sleep over at his place and share his bed (though calling it a bed is maybe too kind, it’s a blow-up-mattress), but is scared to ask to hold your hand.
“Hmm, yes,” You hum, eyes dancing with a mix of laughter and deep affection. “Thank you for so bravely saving me from freezing.”
He nods effusively, making the snow that had landed on his head fly off.
“You’re welcome.”
And at that, you both start walking once again. Silence once again envelops you, but just as before, it’s not awkward, not even close.
Instead, it’s a warm silence. One that wards off the harsh chill of the winter night, leaving in its wake only the beauty of Ancia in the snow.
(sorry for this mess of a post, I promise I'll put out something better/more about the actual project soon, I just wanted to put out this more personal message first. I know the formatting is dodgy and it may not all entirely make sense, but it comes straight from the heart/sleep-deprived mind.
I might take this down and re-write it tomorrow later today it's the early hours of the morning when I inevitably re-read it and cringe, but for now, here it is)
So turns out I missed the one-year anniversary (January 14th), so well done me...
It's wild to think that I've now officially been working on pftet for over a year now. My life has changed so wildly and drastically over the 12-month span that it's almost hard to imagine where I was when I started it.
I haven't done as much in that time as I would've hoped at the beginning, but to be fair to myself, I don't think I could've imagined what an utterly chaotic mess 2022 ended up becoming for me. I've mentioned a few different things on here (the mess that moving flat became, getting covid, breaking my arm, etc.) but on top of those and just the impact they had on my life, there was a bit more behind the scenes, as well as uni and work (gross).
Especially now as where I live is going through a cost-of-living crisis, it's not only been stressful as fuck, but I've had to start working even more frequently than before (both a blessing and a curse, as it means less time to write in general, but also I'm pretty sure all of my best moments of inspiration have come to me on my commute).
That's not to say I'm not still working on pftet, because I am. And even when I'm not actively writing, I'm constantly thinking about the characters and the world. I love this project, and I promise I'm not abandoning it - no matter how long I go between randomly popping up to answer questions that have been in my ask box for several months.
The unfortunate truth is just that, at least at the moment, I need to prioritise some other stuff - namely work and my health (although, touch wood, my health hasn't had any major blows since my arm in May).
However, I do promise that in 2023 I will (at least try my best to) be more active than last year. At the very least, assuming there aren't any wild unforeseen circumstances, I promise not to disappear without a trace for basically three months!
Who knows? Maybe the fact that I've had to deal with all this wild shite in 2022 means I'll be able to handle it better in 2023.
Anyway, this has been long and I've said a lot of nothing, I just thought that my spotty appearances necessitated some sort of explanation. You guys deserve that.
The main thing, though, is that I want to say thank you. Thank you to everyone who's ever shown any interest in the dumb things my brain spouted one day and spiralled into this weird story about growing up and feeling as though the world is ending (and realising that it actually might be!)
I don't think I'll ever be able to properly express my gratitude. Every single notification I get makes me grin stupidly, and I'm still mind-blown every time someone sends in an ask.
I'm going to do a proper post more about thanking you all soon, maybe include a contest of some sort, I'm not entirely sure yet, but keep an eye out.
TLDR:
2022 was a shit show, but I'm hoping to get (at least a little bit) more on track and be active far more frequently. Thank you all so much for caring about pftet so far, and here's to the future!
I've gotten quite a lot done recently, but my problem is that I'm exceedingly insecure in my writing to the point I can't even give it to someone to proofread hahaha I'm a mess.
fuck it, if anyone's willing to read some of what I've got so far and tell me what they think (probably just the prologue for now so that I can finally post at least that), let me know.
Sometimes when I read through my old posts I see things I said I couldn't answer (or answer fully) because of "spoilers" and I just have absolutely no idea what the fuck I was talking about, because what spoilers??? What did I think I was spoiling???
I've gotten quite a lot done recently, but my problem is that I'm exceedingly insecure in my writing to the point I can't even give it to someone to proofread hahaha I'm a mess.
I absolutely don't mind! From this list, feel free to request more!
Also, this got really long so I had to put it under the cut <3
19. What is your character’s biggest relationship flaw? Has this flaw destroyed relationships for them before?
Luci avoids confrontation in most ways he can. In his life, he's been taught that it's usually easier and better for both parties if he just backs down from any sort of conflict. Due to [redacted] circumstances he's never been in a relationship, so it's never been a problem.
Katia has very specific ways of showing affection and if someone's not clued into them, she can easily be misunderstood as not caring. And no, but only because she's been too caught up in her work/mind to actually get into a relationship before.
Ettie tries not to actually grow actually attached to people, so she might get into a relationship, but she might not necessarily feel strongly towards them until a while in if at all. And although it has been the reason for a few break-ups for her, they were all only intended as short flings anyway and all of the endings were initiated by her - so I don't know if I'd call the relationships destroyed.
Osric and T actually have a very similar problem but in different ways - that problem being insecurity. Osric is always very hesitant to actually make the jump to going into a relationship but once comfortable enough in the fact that the other person likes him back, he'll relax a lot. He also has some hang-ups around PDA. T on the other hand absolutely CANNOT deal with any form of embarrassment or awkward situation, and so has a pretty big fear of rejection. This causes them a lot of stress, but like Osric, they'll relax once they're more confident that their feelings are mutual (although they'll probably take longer and retain more of that stress than Osric). It hasn't really destroyed any relationships for either (although T did once have to get Gisela to break up with someone for them because they couldn't bring themselves to), but there are many relationships that both could've had but didn't because of it.
Cass I mean, Cass's biggest relationship thing is that they are trying not to be in one as to keep everyone they care about safe, but ignoring that, it's probably the fact that they're terrible at expressing how they feel. It's either all bottled up inside never to be let out, or a big messy explosion of emotion. And again, they've never been in a relationship for it to potentially destroy.
22. What does your character like in other people?
this is not a conclusive list for any of the ROs, and they will still like people that don't have these traits
Osric: honesty, a sense of humour, humanity and kindness (not necessarily a soft kindness that everyone can see, but the type of kindness where they can be wearing a fucking rad "scary" outfit and scowl at everyone, but they'll still wave back to a small child, or stop to feed a stray cat)
Luci: understanding, creativity, the ability to express themself and passion (it doesn't have to be for any of his interests, but he'd love for someone to be into fashion like him)
Katia: independence, a sense of pride for what they do, strong morals and curiosity (they don't have to be particularly smart or academic, it's more the pure want for more knowledge and understanding that she adores)
Ettie: spontaneity, a certain joie de vivre/zest for life, gratitude and trust in her (not only to do right by them but that she knows what she's doing for herself as well)
T: caringness, quick wit, humility - although they don't have to be super humble and a willingness to listen and work together
Cass: loyalty, open-mindedness, the ability to smile even in a tough situation and patience (especially because it'll take Cass a long time to fully trust in a person/situation being safe)
23. What does your character dislike in other people?
this is not a conclusive list for any of the ROs, and they can still like people that have these traits
also, obviously none of the characters are cool with bigots or anything similar, these lists are more annoyances to the characters than actual line-in-the-sand deal-breakers
Osric: a patronising stance towards him/his music/his beliefs, being overly judgmental, a feeling of superiority due to the art/music/media they like/consume and not acknowledging their privilege if coming from a privileged background
Luci: controlling nature, a short fuse on their temper, an obsessiveness around reputation (not appearance-wise but persona-wise) and carelessness (for both others and their interests)
Katia: strong optimism, chattiness, a need for constant/near-constant attention and dismissiveness towards her interests (they don't have to be interested, just not downright dismissive)
Ettie: an inability to move on, cynicism, being serious all the time and being overly cautious/the inability to be impulsive
T: argumentativeness, impatience, stubbornness and gullibility/the inability to figure out truth from fiction (A.K.A. they get annoyed by bad media literacy)
Cass: aggression, invasiveness (as in needing to know what's going on with everything all the time), quietness (this is literally just because Cass doesn't talk much, and if the other person doesn't talk much either, it's going to be way too quiet) and a lack of common sense
“It’s so cold, you should hold my hand, so it doesn’t freeze.” “I’m not that cold, I can give you my gloves if you want.”
Please
So I actually wrote this months ago, but completely forgot to post it. Reading it back, I'm actually really happy with it.
So apologies for how late it is, but here you go!
This isn't set at any particular point (as in its not exactly pre- or post- book, maybe even closer to an au where the story doesn't happen? idk).
Set in the crushing stage for both.
Under the cut for length
(also I love Ostrich instead of Osric. Auto-correct can be very annoying, but very funny. At least three people definitely have him saved as ostrich in their phones).
Ancia is always at its prettiest when it snows.
A layer of white coats the streets and the roofs of buildings, hiding the everpresent grime that coats the city for at least a month. The sky takes on an almost otherworldly purple glow - maybe the only times in your entire life of living in Ancia when you see the sky as anything other than a polluted grey.
It's almost impossible not to fall in love with the city in winter.
Small white flakes drift slowly in the air, completely aimless without a breeze around to guide them. Usually, at such a time it would be too dark to see so many of them, even with the dim orange glow of streetlights, but the sky is illuminated with the light of the full moon - even if the moon itself is not visible behind a wall of clouds.
It's late. No way that it's before midnight, evidence of that being right next to you in the form of Osric Jalava walking home.
That man does not leave a venue before midnight, it's somehow impossible.
You’re pretty sure he’s fully lost his mind, as despite the temperature, he’s dressed pretty much as he always is.
That is truly the one downside to winters in the city - the temperature. Because holy fuck, it's cold. You’re wrapped up in too many layers to count, a full ski jacket on top of jumpers on top of long-sleeve-shirts, with a scarf, hat and snow boots on top of all that. And here this idiot is with nothing more than jeans, a t-shirt covered by a thin pull-over, converse (that are utterly soaked through by this point) and a pair of gloves. And he isn’t even shivering.
For as long as you’ve known Osric he somehow seemed impervious to the cold, but this seemed like a bit much even for him.
The two of you walk silently back to his apartment, as it's a good amount closer to the bar than yours. It isn’t an awkward silence though, it isn’t as though neither of you can think of something to say, it just somehow feels wrong to disturb the night. It's a rare occasion for any street in Ancia to be quiet, especially in Greenplane, but it seems as though the cold has even the hardiest of partiers in bed tonight.
Osric reaches into his back pocket, grabbing out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He places one in his mouth before turning the box to you, tilting it slightly in offering. You consider it for a moment, the warmth would definitely be welcome right about now, but in the end shake your head. He simply shrugs and lights his own before shoving both items back into his pockets.
It's crisp enough that every exhale already comes out looking like a puff of smoke, but now the smell of tobacco mixes with the smell of the air that always comes with winter, the one that is indescribable except for simply the smell of cold.
It’s oddly comforting, you find. It's not the smell of cigarette smoke anymore you suppose, now it’s just the smell of him.
You look at him walking next to you, his eyes ahead but not focusing on anything in particular.
It’s at moments like these that you can’t help but appreciate how pretty he is. With his face basking in the weird mix of purple and orange light and flakes of snow landing on his face like freckles. His hair is a mess (though to be fair, you don’t think you’ve ever seen it not a mess). It’s grown out slightly longer than usual and you know the way it keeps falling in front of his eyes is annoying him - but you also know he won’t be quite bothered enough to do anything about it for probably another month. His lips are ever so slightly curved up into a relaxed smirk, which you’ve come to find is his default expression. You’re not quite sure why it is, but you certainly get why people often think he’s somewhat of a smug bastard before getting to know him. That’s not to say that it’s an entirely inaccurate presumption - he’s certainly a bastard, but he’s not smug, not really… well, maybe sometimes, but no more than your average person. Most of the time it’s an act, inauthentic - a comedic bit that he does for himself that he’s become slightly too good at.
As though he can hear you thinking about him, he turns to look at you, sending you a much more genuine smile. You attempt to smile back, but your chattering teeth make it look a little more like an odd grimace, making him chuckle.
“It’s cold as absolute shit out here.” He tries to say it nonchalantly, turning his eyes back in front of him to avoid yours. He comes to a stop causing you to do the same.
You send him a questioning look, but he doesn’t see it. Instead he looks at his hands intently, as though he’s having a mental argument with them, before pulling off his gloves and holding them out towards you.
You hesitate for a second, causing him to look up. You realise with surprise that he actually looks bashful. It’s strange, as you don’t think you’ve ever seen him look anything other than confident.
“Aren’t you freezing?” you ask, concerned but very tempted to accept the offer.
He shrugs, “I’m not that cold. I’m happy to give you my gloves… you know, if you want.”
You nod, and out of the corner of your eye, you see him grin as you pull them on.
You go to start walking again, but stop as you realise he doesn’t make to follow you.
“Um,” he looks away nervously, an entirely odd sight to see. “Do you wanna, you know…”
He trails off but holds his hand out to you in obvious invitation.
You grin, is the Osric Jalava actually nervous to ask you to hold his hand?
“Just because you’re cold and stuff.” He adds hurriedly. “You know, so you don’t freeze or something.”
He looks at you, trying to keep his face neutral, but his eyes give away just how desperate he is to know if he’s just royally fucked up the situation.
You reach out and grab his hand, causing a relieved smile to break out on his face. You roll your eyes in amusement, this is a man who can unflinchingly ask you to sleep over at his place and share his bed (though calling it a bed is maybe too kind, it’s a blow-up-mattress), but is scared to ask to hold your hand.
“Hmm, yes,” You hum, eyes dancing with a mix of laughter and deep affection. “Thank you for so bravely saving me from freezing.”
He nods effusively, making the snow that had landed on his head fly off.
“You’re welcome.”
And at that, you both start walking once again. Silence once again envelops you, but just as before, it’s not awkward, not even close.
Instead, it’s a warm silence. One that wards off the harsh chill of the winter night, leaving in its wake only the beauty of Ancia in the snow.
Sure thing! It's more than ok - it's encouraged lol! From this list, feel free to request more!
Also, this got really long so I had to put it under the cut <3
1. Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which ONE are they closest with?
I think I've mentioned most (if not all) of the siblings in character fun facts, but here they are again. I do actually have art breeders for (nearly) all of the families and I'll post them all once I finish the mini-bios lol
Osric
has three siblings (two older and one younger):
Elmore - older brother, 33 years old (12 years older)
Marigold 'Maria' - older sister, 29 years old (8 years older)
Romilly 'Milly' - younger sister, 17 years old (4 years younger)
He also has two nephews and a niece who he babysits often (all three are Marigold's kids):
Fletcher 'Fletch' - 9 years old
Bennet 'Benny' - 7 years old
Sage - 4 years old
Of his siblings, Osric is unquestionably closest to Marigold. He would never choose between his niece/nephews.
Luci
has one younger sister, Antigone 'Twiggy', who is 15 years old (5 years younger than him). They are very close.
Katia
has two older sisters:
Annika 'Ana' - 27 years old (6 years older)
Bianca - 23 years old (2 years older)
Katia loves both her sisters though they aren't particularly close, especially since none of them live together anymore. If she had to pick which one she's closest with it'd probably be Bianca.
Ettie
is an only child.
T
has one older sister - Gisela. Who we all know and love. They are also very close.
Cass
definitely had siblings at one point...
[information is redacted]
2. What is/was your character’s relationship with their mother like?
3. What is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?
I put these questions together because they're so similar. Also I won't be able to answer a few of these because I don't want to spoil some major plot points.
Katia
Katia's relationship with both of her parents is pretty much the same. She loves her parents dearly but is not particularly close to either of them. Though they are all very clever and all three share many interests, their personalities are pretty different. Or more accurately Katia is very different to her parents (the two of them are actually pretty similar). It makes it hard for them to truly connect, but that doesn't mean they don't try. And Katia still loves her parents very much even if she doesn't see them that often.
Ettie
Ettie's mother died fairly recently, but prior to that they were very close, but not quite as close as Ettie and her father.
Ettie's father is her best friend and has been since the day she was born. They love spending time together and she wouldn't be the person she is today without him.
T
Though there's no bad blood, T has a complicated relationship with their father. Their parents split up (very amicably, the two are still friends) when T was 10, and when they were 11 their father moved back to France, meaning they very rarely got to see him after that. So though they like their father very much and think he's fun to be around, he's almost more like a cool uncle figure than a dad.
They're a lot closer to their mother. They don't always see eye to eye, especially because T can tell that their mother approves of Gisela's career path far more, but the two still talk and see each other often. Some of T's favourite childhood memories are the days they and Gisela used to spend in the hotel their mother works at during school breaks.
What are all the characters (LIs + Miles/Gisela) favourite songs?
I'm super happy to answer this question lol! I mean the story is called Playlists for the End Times. Anyway, I got excited and so now you get each character's top three favourite songs.
I know I've answered favourite song for Luci, Katia and Osric in their fun fact posts, but they're included here too with their other two favourites <3
You can check out more of each of the character's music tastes on their individual playlists (I tried linking them all here but the links kept messing up. So here's a link to my profile where all the playlists are and links to the individual playlists can be found in the character intro posts)
Osric
1st - Aneurysm by Nirvana
2nd - Pretend We're Dead by L7
3rd - Violet by Hole
Luci
Tied 1st - Wonderwall by Oasis
Tied 1st - MONTERO (call me by your name) by Lil Nas X
2nd - Angeleyes by ABBA
Katia
1st - Oblivion by Grimes
2nd - Venus as a Boy by Björk
3rd - Dirty Harry by Gorillaz
Ettie
1st - Overload by Sugarbabes
2nd - Spice Up Your Life by Spice Girls
3rd - The Promise by Girls Aloud
T
Tied 1st - For Love by Lush
Tied 1st - to here knows when by my bloody valentine
2nd - Valerie by Amy Winehouse
Cass
1st - St. Thomas by Sonny Rollins
2nd - Take Five by Dave Brubeck
3rd - Mack the Knife by Louis Armstrong
Miles
1st - Fat Lip by Sum 41
2nd - Waterloo by ABBA
3rd - In Too Deep by Sum 41
Gisela
1st - Life on Mars? by David Bowie
2nd - Talk to Me by Cavetown
3rd - Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time) by Elton John
Okay, so this is a simple answer for two characters, and then a bit more complicated for the rest.
The only characters with official, cannon, real-world accents are Katia and Ettie.
Ettie was born and raised in Dublin, only moving to Ancia this past year, so she's got an Irish accent (North Dublin to be more specific). Though her mother's fairly strong Chicago accent definitely had some influence on her accent growing up, so she does have some words and phrases that'll sound a bit odd.
Katia was born and raised in New York by parents who are also born and raised New Yorkers, so, as you can imagine, she's got a New York accent. It was somewhat tempered growing up by the fact that she spent around two months of every year between the ages of 3 to 18 in Ancia, but barely.
Here's where it gets a little bit more ambiguous, as the rest of the characters have Ancian accents (here's a bit more about Ancia to see why that convolutes things a bit). Really they have whatever accent you want. As I've said before, I very purposefully didn't want to give Ancia a specific location.
Besides, how I personally imagine the Ancian accent is a really hard sound to define. I mainly just imagine my accent, but I've moved around A LOT in my life which is reflected in most of the characters lol oops so my (and the rest of my family's) accent is pretty weird and difficult to explain without just hearing it. So I wouldn't even know how to describe it if I wanted to lol
A lot of things have changed throughout the process of writing this story, I've dropped a few plots and new ones have grown in their place, but easily my favourite thing that unexpectedly developed while writing has been Osric and Luci's friendship.
The two of them look at each other, see someone just as mentally ill and with as much familial trauma as themselves and go "that one, that's my best friend".
I've been working on taking all the work I've done on the story/characters/worldbuilding and making it all neat and clear (because my working folder is a mess). As part of it, I put together an overview of each of the main group's fashion/dress sense and I thought it'd be a fun thing to share - so here you go!
(images and links to the rest of the characters under the cut <3)
Regular outfits:
Typical shoes:
Best dressed:
Relaxed outfits:
Favourite outfits:
Characters: Osric, Luci, Katia, Ettie, T, Cass 1, Cass 2, Miles, Gisela, MC 1, MC 2, MC 3, MC 4
See Pinterest for more!
(shout out @high-voltage-rat who created easily the most comprehensive list of questions I have EVER seen and whose list of types of outfits I used and inspired like, all of this!)
