#manorial rtb

[norbezjones]

24 Days of Gift-Giving: Ten Titles

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

Happy December, everyone!

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

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

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

Characters: Uri & Manorial

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

__________

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

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

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

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

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

Right?

@creativepromptfills

[norbezjones]

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

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

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

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

Enjoy!

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

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

Characters: Uri, Glarence, Manorial

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

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

Uri frowned.  “I am?”

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

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

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

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

“Alright,” Uri agreed.  “Thanks.”

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

[norbezjones]

Sketch sheet of the 3rd love interest of Romance The Backrooms, my upcoming dating sim visual novel. Meet the sad boy, Uri! The cat is his "friend" Manorial, who we will discuss in a bit. Uri was designed by gurosquid, and Manorial was designed by Neopixelz.

Oh Uri, my sweet summer child. He's such a gloomy little guy, but I love him so much. You just wanna cuddle him and give him a great big hug because he's just so sad!

His voice actor, Sam Hodges, depicts this so fucking well. The story about how Sam got cast is kind of an interesting one, so I shall tell you the tale:

During the casting process, I wasn't getting as many Uri auditions, and the ones I did get didn't sound at all like Uri to me (this was partially my fault in not being specific enough in how I wanted him to sound, I'll admit). The deadline for the casting call was approaching, and I feared Uri's voice would not appear in my inbox.

But then, I got Sam's email. And even though he auditioned for Glarence, I was listening to it and thinking to myself, "URI??? IS THAT YOU???" Because FINALLY I could hear the character speaking to me through a talented voice! I was very happy!

So I reached out to him and asked if he wanted to be considered for Uri. He said yes, and submitted lines for Uri as well, which turned out perfect. And that's how he got cast!

As for Manorial, he's a very interesting character whose existence as he is today came about bit by bit. Here's a breakdown:

When I was trying to flesh out the Romance The Backrooms characters, I wanted to make sure that each of them had a strength/benefit to the group, but also couldn't obliterate all opponents and make all threats minor. For example, Kalcal can physically defeat most small/medium backrooms entities, but pit him against anything bigger than a hound, and he's gonna have a problem. And in a battle of wits, 90% of the time he's going to lose.

As I recall, I was discussing the characters with my friend, who I'll call L, and specifically brought up how I wasn't sure what Uri's strength should be. L suggested that Uri has an object that can help the group, but has some kind of drawback. I took that idea and ran with it, turning the object into an entity, and making the drawback into Uri losing memories, because there's so much angsty potential there and I like torturing my characters. Mwahahaha!

As the Otome Jam drew closer, I tried to figure out the memory entity's design, and was looking through the character designs I had already obtained for the game, trying to figure out who stood out to me. Then, it hit me like a freight train--ah, of course! The memory entity should be the mascot of the open species idea I adopted from Neopixelz! And that's how Manorial became the memory entity.

I'm really hyped to launch the open species when the game is out, but SHHHHH, we'll get to that when we get to that. ;3

Manorial is a suave, persuasive watcher who gazes out at the world through the red eye in the middle of Uri's forehead. Like all Memory Collectors, he is a shapeshifter, and has chosen the form he has now. He's the only character who constantly flirts with the main character, and I find that absolutely hilarious. Sorry Manorial, you're not gonna get the girl! Well, maybe in DLC someday, lol.

Manorial is voiced by Sterling Barbett! He was my 2nd choice to voice Adiel (the 5th love interest, who I'll make a blog about soon), and I knew I wanted him to get involved in the project, even if it wasn't as the voice of a love interest. So I asked if I wanted to voice Manorial, and he said yes! Hooray!

That's all for today. Please share your thoughts, and have a good one!

[norbezjones]

I was looking into writing challenges and found out about @juneofdoom . It intrigues me because I'm a big whump fan, and it gives me the opportunity to do some writing exercises with the characters of my upcoming liminal space otome, Romance The Backrooms. I'm getting into the challenge pretty late, and I can't promise I'll be able to do it every day because the summer has been hella busy, but I want to do some at least! It'll be a good way to unwind after all of the work I have to do every day. @_@

With all of that said, here's Day 22: "What's the bad news?"

Takes place: before Romance The Backrooms occurs

Content Warning: memory loss

Other things to know: this story takes place in the backrooms. Manorial is an entity that can bend reality itself, but at the cost of Uri's memories.

__________

Adiel was getting worried. Uri, Glarence, and Zenobos said they could handle retrieving a few bottles of almond water for the group, so he had sent them off with confidence. But the two hadn't returned when they said they would.

Kalcal, who he was waiting with in Level 48, kept trying to reassure him. "They're just running a little late, that's all! I'm sure everything's fine!" the multicolored entity exclaimed with his signature grin. It was like Kalcal to be optimistic, but that optimism didn't make Adiel feel more reassured.

Finally, he heard multiple pairs of footsteps against the sandy ground, and turned to see his three friends walking towards him. Relieved, Adiel stood up from the ground and jogged up to the trio--but once he was close to them, he realized that something didn't feel right.

"What happened?" he asked. "What's the bad news?"

Zenobos swallowed hard. "W-Well, we did manage to get the almond water," he said, gesturing to the bottles held by Glarence. "But, well. . ."

"Uri used Manorial," Glarence grunted, shaking his head.

"I had to," Uri said quietly. "We were in danger, and there was no other option."

Adiel felt angry at first--didn't he tell Uri only to ask for Manorial's help as a last resort?!--but his rage soon dissipated. It must have been a dire situation, so he could forgive his friend. But he hated the thought of Uri forgetting anything, even if it was willingly.

"What did you give up?" he asked, knowing that Uri wouldn't recall the memory itself, but he did have the memory of telling Manorial what memory to take.

"Our last trip to Level 5," Uri replied. "Manorial said that was the one he wanted. . . I don't know why."

Adiel nodded. He put his arm around his friend, and led him towards Kalcal. Zenobos and Glarence followed close behind.

"Come on," Adiel said. "Let's sit down and enjoy some almond water, and hopefully we can help fill in the gaps that memory left behind."

[norbezjones]

I’m spending some time doing the AU-gust prompt days I had to skip back in September.  Enjoy the story!

The event is “supposed” to be for fanfiction, but I want to write AUs for my game Romance The Backrooms, a liminal space otome with 5 main love interests, so I’m gonna do that instead. 

Today’s Prompt: Canon Divergence

Characters: Glarence & Manorial

Other Info: This is basically an AU where Manorial (a shapeshifting entity called a “Memory Collector”, that trades power for a person’s memories) is attached to Glarence.

_________

“Just let me handle everything,” Manorial purred to Glarence.  “I can make this problem go away, if you let me.”

“Shut up, you stupid cat,” Glarence snapped.  “I can handle this by myself!”

Manorial chuckled.  “Are you sure about that?” he asked.  “I think you’re in a bit over your head. . . Admit it, Glarence.  You need me.”

Glarence sighed.  He didn’t want to admit that the Memory Collector was right, but he knew there was no getting out of this one without help.  “What do you want?” he asked.

Manorial grinned.  “I want a memory you have of Adiel.  You’ve been so hesitant to give them to me—but if you want me to solve this for you, you’ll have to give up something precious.  And clearly, those are precious to you.”

Glarence gritted his teeth.  Damn this stupid cat, taking advantage of him like this. . . He wished Adiel was here to witness this, so that Adiel could tell him about the memory they shared later.  But it was just him & Manorial.

He took some time to think, and then said, “Fine.  I’ll give you one of those memories.  But first, let’s go over how we’re going to get out of this.”

Manorial smiled.  “Gladly.”