Painted Devils

An arcane dark academia interactive fiction FAQ | Meet the Writers

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Welcome to Painted Devils IF

Who We Are

We three Fates are a trio of writers. Though we've written as a team before, Painted Devils is our first foray into interactive fiction. We welcome you to climb aboard our dark academia adventure. Well, are you taking my hand?

What is Painted Devils?

Welcome to Blackthorn Academy, where blood runs thick, but betrayal runs thicker. Someone has been stealing the hearts of students... and the bodies are starting to pile up. Who—or what—is killing the students, and what do they want with you? Customize your character, study a major of your choice, romance one of four fellow students, and one by one discover the skeletons in their closets…

Features

• A fully customizable MC, including appearance, gender, sexuality, personality, and the coping mechanism you use to drown out memories you desperately wish you could forget…

• Character and romance driven story where you can build friendships, form relationships, and then use them how you so choose

• Choose from one of five unique magical specialities to study while at Blackthorn

• Romance one of four ROs available to all players

DEMO: Coming Soon

Meet the Love Interests and Find Useful Posts:

Theo Fairchild: Popular and always seen wearing half a dozen bruises, Theo’s infamous for his participation in the academy fight club, but black eyes and broken bones are far from the worst thing he’s hiding….

Oliver Ying: The stoner son of a business tycoon, Oliver is content to coast on his father's wealth. But beneath the smoke are the eyes of a phoenix and a sword on his tongue...

Juliette Lancaster: Highly intelligent and always at the top of the class, Juliette projects an image of arrogance and class to everyone she meets. What could she be hiding behind her perfectly pressed blazer and immaculate grades?

Valeria Cortés: The resident queen bee, Val has all of Blackthorn's social royalty in the palm of her hand. Mysterious, brutal, and ambitious, she says she’s only working for herself, but who is she really dancing for?

Useful Posts:

Blackthorn Academy Majors Breakdown

Coping Mechanisms Breakdown

RO Posts:

Heights

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So obviously this could change depending on what traits get nailed down, and yes I'm going to horny jail but someone's got to take one for the team and ask... any kinks the ROs have?

Theo

Theo’s what’s known as a service top, which is part of why he gets so much ass. That and he’s really really enthusiastic about giving oral. He likes to be tied up/tie you up, spanking, dirty talk, etc. Boy’s had a lot of sex and he’ll try just about anything once. As for specific kinks: he likes coming without condoms, he’s an exhibitionist.

Oliver

Oliver is a control freak, and this does extend to the bedroom. However, the closer you become and the more he opens up to you, the more he allows in bed. Once you breach that famed Oliver Ying wall, you find he actually enjoys giving up control more than he realized. For specific kinks he’d probably be into orgasm control, and edging. You controlling his, or him controlling yours.

Juliette

Juliette barely has time to sleep with someone, and so in her eyes the sex must be perfect. She's always in control in some way, either by giving the most meticulously thorough oral or giving orders on exactly how to please her. She also really enjoys using senses other than sight, so blindfolds and temperature play are a big turn on for her. As for specific kinks, she definitely has a praise kink and loves being told just how good she is in bed.

Val

Val really goes for a light dom/sub sort of vibe, she’s a switch and enjoys both sides. It’s all about trust for her, she trusts no one so if she trusts you enough to get that far, she’s happy to really let go. She’s got what perhaps can be described as a competence kink: she really loves when people show themselves to be very competent in bed. As for actual kink kinks: bondage, spanking, choking, etc.

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ROs MBTI?

Juliette: INTJ

Theo: ESTP

Oliver: ISTJ

Val: ENTJ

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How do the ROs act when they're frustrated/angry? And what does it take to calm down (as in genuinely calm down as I imagine their coping mechanism at best puts things on hold for a while - or at best with Theo get his anger out of his system before being left with just frustration or sadness)? Ofc don't worry about answering if there are spoilers!

Theo

Theo is probably going to be the most difficult to answer since anger is a real issue for him. Theo doesn’t get calm quiet angry, or sexy angry, or anything like that. Theo gets violently angry. Theo’s anger issues are complex, and stem from a long held fear that will be revealed in his backstory. The good thing is he knows how he gets and hates it, and he’s ruthlessly dedicated himself to keeping it under control. He uses the fighting pits or sex as an outlet for his aggression, but he’s never really had someone who cared to calm him down before, so if MC does, it’ll be a new and interesting adventure for him.

Oliver

Oliver's whole deal is that he doesn't get angry. He's not a threat, see, anything goes with this guy! Now of course there's more to him than meets the eye. Anger grants Oliver a sort of clarity--you know that Applegate quote about ruthlessness and the bright clear line? What he can't handle is anxiety, frustration, or any sense that he can't see what's going on. The superficial way to calm him down is to restore order and give him back control, but an MC who forces him to allow unpredictability in his life might (might!) do more good in the long run.

Juliette

Juliette is the type to get quietly angry/frustrated. She's tried using hookups as a means to an end, but those ended up bothering her even more if the sex wasn't up to her standards. Rather than voice her anger, she takes a smoke break or two and then buries herself even more into her work. It's that quiet frustration that has sometimes led to her biggest breakthroughs, and so she embraces it as much as she can. If she meets an MC who can be understanding of that, she will be pleasantly surprised by the lack of pushback she's used to.

Val

Val gets silent. The second you hit the wrong note you’ll know, because she will go silent and still, and walk away. Good luck getting her to talk to you again because she can hold a grudge as easily as a Prada bag. She holds on to grudges for years, and truly never gets over them. Once you slight her, there is almost nothing you can do to get back in her good graces. She is not one for forgiveness, and she has no interest in changing that.

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What are the ROs thoughts/opinions on the majors they don't take? Obviously they went for their own majors for a reason or because they enjoy that one the most (though with all the secrets who knows), but I'm curious about what they think of the other subjects, especially as ancient history is considered boring by some.

Oliver

He'd never admit to caring about anything enough to form an opinion, but... Archaeology: boring. Classics: boring when it's for grades. Alchemy: boring but necessary. History: fine, I guess, but only because people like Shostakovich are more fun to listen to when you know the context. Monstrology, though... It's fascinating. It's looking through the gore to see the exact biological cascade of how a thing goes from alive to dead, the precise spiderweb logic of life and the ever-pumping heartbeat of the universe.

Theo

Theo was really interested in archaeology because he liked the idea of being an adventurer and discovering tombs and things. The rest of the majors don’t really interest him all that much. History seems like a more boring version of his major, alchemy a less interesting (read: less aesthetic, becuase Theo secretly loves the aesthetic of being a classics major) version of his major, and as for monstrology, he likes the aesthetic of it, but the real practical biology part just bores him to tears.

Juliette

Juliette quite literally tried to apply to be in every single major at the same time. When she told her academic advisor this was her plan, they laughed and told her to calm down and start with one for now. She's always had an interest in all of the aspects related to Alchemy, so she ended up sticking with that. It had the most room for growth and knowledge compared to the other majors, at least according to her.

Val

Val had a little interest in just about everything, but she ultimately decided on archaeology because she became enthralled with magical objects. Cleopatra’s crown, Excalibur, the Holy Grail, etc. Val wants to find lost cities, travel through tombs, all of that. To her the other majors are simply… less impressive.

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Idk if you guys already answered this, but what type of personality mc can have? Is it going to be similar to the ilw? (As in, stoic/emotional/jokester)

We definitely have some personality variants cooking in the back. Let me just open the oven and take a peek here-- Yep, that's baking quite nicely.

Rather than having 3 main personality types like ilw, our MC is more likely to have a set of dichotomous traits. For example, are you more emotional or rational, studious or rebellious, etc. The precise traits and mechanisms are still being worked out, but that's the gist.

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Haven't heard from you guys in a while... Hope everything is going well! Looking forward to knowing more about Oliver and Juliet <3

Thanks! We've been in a little lull with life haha, but rest assured that things are moving behind the scenes. As a treat, here's Oliver and Juliette (in full ff.net a/n glory) to share some kind words

M: Hi guys! I'm leaning into my 14-year-old cringe phase and talking to my characters. What's up?

Juliette: No.

M: Understandable, have a nice day. Oliver?

Oliver: Yes.

M: You're both very uncooperative.

Oliver: Or maybe you're just uncreative.

M: Wonderful. Anything else?

Juliette: Bye.

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So, very, very, very tempted to call my MC Romeo regardless of gender bc my mc WILL be a little shit and Juliette is going to be constantly pissed off/in exasperated pain by it all.

Oh anon I LOVE this. You should do it. Do it. Go on do it.

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hi! i see you've started doing ro asks, so i was wondering if you could give them a specific tag to make them all easier to find once there are a lot of them like in the ilw blog :)

Of course! The tag will be “painted devils LIs”

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Is there going to be right or wrong answers in some choices??

Kind of, right and wrong is a strong term. For the stat checks the “right” or “wrong” answers will depend on your stats. And for characters it’s not so much right vs wrong as how much/what kind of drama are you looking for

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When we create our character, do we get a choice over their full name? Middle name, if they have more than one last name, and the like?

For the sake of coding simplicity it’ll just be first and last name. But since you can write in first and last names you can write in whatever you want. If you want MC to have two names like “Mary Anne” then type “Mary Anne” in the first name box. Ditto with the last name.

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I'm assuming it's the former, but for clarification do the murders start after the MC transfers to Blackthorn, or before? If it's before I might have to ask MC to see a therapist if they looked at a school with students dropping dead and said "yeah that looks preferable"

The murders started right before MC got there, too soon for them to have really known beforehand. But trust me, MC was not about to stay at their previous school….

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I was wondering, how much relationship experience do the ros have? If you can share it with us of course :)

Theo

He for sure has the highest body count, he’s famously the campus bicycle. As for relationship experience? Basically none.

Val

Val’s had her fair share of relationships. Always relationships that looked good on paper, and always ending more or less amicably, and without any real emotion from either party.

Juliette

Juliette has had one or two short relationships in the past, but they were all broken off by her because she sees them as a waste of time. She's had a few one-night stands though for stress relief.

Oliver

Oliver dated someone once, back in high school. It ended... poorly.

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PLEASE give me any extra info on theo and oliver these men have me on the floor already 😩

Your wish is our command, anon

Theo’s got some anger issues, issues stemming from his childhood, and issues that he keeps on an extremely tightly controlled leash. He really sincerely does not like when people poke at that control, but the consequences are usually pretty dramatic and fun 👀. Except, you know, not for him.

Oliver's probably not as lackadaisical as he seems. Despite his apparent habit of saying whatever half-assed nonsense comes to mind, he actually holds his cards pretty close to his chest. If you want to survive beneath his watchful gaze, try not to piss him off, and especially don't touch his people. Better yet, become one of his people.

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Forgive me if this is a stupid question, I'm only familiar with Choices formula of stories which is pretty basic (around 16-20 chapters, first book builds up to getting together officially with the LI and that's usually it for the romance unless there's a second book). If you get together with someone in Painted Devils, will that be towards the end of the story or will we get to see their officially-together relationship development/struggles for a fair while?

I’m just curious as to the extent of the romance aspect since Choices is usually very “you got together either in the final chapter or a couple chapters before, the end” if there’s only one book. It makes sense, because in only 16-20 chapters there’s only really space for the getting together part (and even then it can feel a bit rushed in certain books), but I’d imagine that an IF has more leeway? Unless there’s a limit on the number of chapters you can post on the hosted games apps you mentioned in a previous post? (Sorry, as I said I’m only really familiar with Choices so I have no clue if there’s a sort of standard for the lengths of IFs or how they’re done).

Another question that’s just occurred to me, and I fully get if it’s not answerable at this time: If there are chapter limits, will this story be fitted into one book or will there be a book 2 that continues the story?

So IF’s are styled a little more like normal books. There’s no chapter limit, so we’ll be writing as many chapters as we need. As for book 2, it’s certainly a possibility, we’ll see as things go on.

For the romance routes, they’ll all take their own pace, so when an LI and MC get together will be up to that writer and how that route works out.

I will say that character dynamics are a big priority for us, so we’ll have a lot of scenes where the characters are all hanging out together, and a lot of LI scenes. Since IFs tend to be on the higher word count side we’re being as indulgent as we want with the LIs.

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I spy a major that isn't affiliated with any of the ROs... you have my curiosity

👀

[painted-devils-if]

thank you so much for making a consideration my question, even if you don't add it because we all know a work in progress is in constant change, thank you!!!

Of course! We’re always happy to answer anon questions as best we can 😘