State of Strings (July '26)
Found this in drafts from the start of the year x_x
Updated it to be current but tbh, between Daydream Blocks, false starts and continuing attempts to be a functional person(tm), everything is going so so slowly _._
Oceans Apart
So so so many snippets of OA!Shal getting forcibly taken care of. Something something daydreaming reflecting the thing needed in reality x_x
It has also learned the joy of watching TV with OA!Shiny because sometimes an Antagonist will talk in it's language.
OA!Shiny meanwhile has come to the conclusion that training OA!Shal and then showing it off to her friends is a worthwhile goal. No this will not include a professional trainer.
Also a factory worker is trying to contact OA!Captain regarding worker safety/efficency ideas. No clue what that is about, but that scene was on repeat for a while so... *shrug*
[A big problem I have with this storyline is that everytime I find media/ideas that would fit thematically to progress the story, I then have to translate that into an alien society and uuuuuurgh. Someone force me to sit down and do a proper worldbuilding document for this]
Unused Words
Cw: domestic abuse mention;
Strange times where these people are honest to each other. Alas they are dealing with those honesties in terrible ways. Gotta stay on brand!
UW!Captain knows that UW!Shal is being blackmailed by xyr "Brother" Slate, yet finds this mostly amusing and ok to go on as long as xe gets regular updates. Cause their "Father" has finally decided that xe's to old for this shit, so we now have a Crimelord Succession war going on in the background.
UW!Navika (hey look, Captain's twin got a name!) has made it clear to UW!Captain that yin knows about the Domestic Abuse happening. Yet only just to remind xym that yin is gonna kill xym personally if another unplanned corpse turns up near xym.
Talliv decided to put his fate in UW!Captain's hand by coming clean about being a police informant. Which is why the entire core group is now on a improptu Swamp Cabin Vacation while they figure out what to do with this info.
This coming right after they have finally set up an international drug smuggling route via public passenger trains. Like Talliv really though being honest at the fucking afterparty would be in any way helpful. UW!Captain has been understandably furious about this whole thing and you may now take a wild guess who xe is taking that anger out on :/
[Unused Words is also the easiest to plug and play temporary obsessions into, which has led to so many false starts. Which are fun for me, but also don't progress the story]
Hunting Grounds
One thing I've noticed about this storyline is that it kinda functions like....binge dreaming. Whenever I figure out the next deathgame I am gone for however long it takes to daydream the whole thing through. Which is not ok. But I also love it.
This has led to me forcibly putting off daydreaming this story cause it really conflicts with my attempts to be a functional human(tm). Which sucks cause I really love this world and the alternate takes on my Blorbos it has produced. I haven't fully figured out how to deal with that.
Anyway, the last game I finished was "Couple's Concert"
Players: 6, paired into 3 rooms
Place: Entirely closed off Dorm like structure + adjacent Concert stage; Furnishing inlcudes some objects referencing games the players had been in before; Kitchen restock every other day;
Goal: Perform a daily Concert for 2 weeks, based on a prompt every morning; Performances get scored;
Twist: 1 of each couple has a secret goal (Specific Rankings; Key that goes nowhere; sabotage performances;)
Notable moments:
) HG!Acid is part of the Games now which lead to very funny scenes of him and HG!Shal pretending really hard that this is the first time they have met. Meanwhile HG!Captain has already connected the dots due to them sharing some very specific gestures.
) They all revealed their secret goals and came to the group decision to only focus on the Performance rankings cause that Player would only need one more win to leave the Games entirely after this one.
) Kinda betraying that, HG!Captain figured out where HG!Shals key lead to and locked em into a hidden room. Xe participated a couple more days, letting HG!Shals intense claustrophobia take it's course, before also leaving. Which triggered another hidden door leading them outside the game space.
And that's how they both ended up being chained to opposite walls where they have just been yellin at each other for a while now oO