I'm a few days late to the party, but Happy March! I've been extremely busy with non-TE things during February and then followed that up by getting sick a few days ago! I'm still recovering, but I've been working on a cozy little MC/Shea short that I hope will be ready to share in the next few days. I'm currently in planning/editing mode when it comes to game content, so this will be a little post-game tidbit—something of a counterpart to this Hawk snippet from last year. See you soon with a little Shea fluff!
Happy almost-February! I'm currently recovering from a health situation earlier this month, so this will be a bit of a short update! I've been able to get initial editing done on what I had previously written for the autumn festival. Thankfully, I should be able to reuse a large amount of the text, but there's still a fair amount of work to be done before the update will be ready to go. For now, I'm going to get back to resting, but here's a tiny preview snippet with Hawk!
"Hawk, could you help me put it on?" You hold one pendant out to them, and after a moment's hesitation, they take it.
Hawk takes a small step closer and place the pendant around your neck. They're careful not to let their fingers brush against you, but standing this close, their aura is palpable, sending a chill up your spine as it ripples around you. Hawk doesn't step back immediately but lingers, their eyes looking into yours as if searching for something. After a few more moments, they seem to abruptly realize what they're doing and quickly look away. You catch a hint of red in their cheeks as they stuff their own pendant in their pocket.
Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain to those who celebrate! Somehow, another month has passed, and here we are again! The Hawk short is almost done, but it just wasn't feasible to complete it and have it tested in time for Halloween. It's much shorter than last year's Halloween extra—I just have much less free time this year!
For those of you who only discovered TE recently, I had a pretty major change in my life a few months ago that has resulted in a drop in free time from 1-2 days a week to a few hours (if that!). It's been a positive change for me, but it has hit my writing time pretty hard. I'm still figuring out the best way to balance everything in a way that I'm happy with, but I am still working—TE isn't on hiatus, just a very, VERY slow update schedule! I should have a bug fix update coming next week based on some recent bug reports (thank you!).
Thank you all again for your patience! I posted a short preview from the middle of the werewolf!Hawk extra a couple months ago, but the first few paragraphs (they/them Hawk pronouns, Hawk/MC relationship is romantic) are under the cut:
Hawk's tail thumps the ground as they sit beside you, impatiently waiting for the moon to set. You flip the veggie burgers that you've been grilling, and Hawk responds to the renewed sizzling with a rumbling growl. If you didn't know them, you might have been alarmed, but since you're familiar with the limited vocabulary of Hawk's wolf form, you know that it merely indicates impatient excitement. You scratch behind Hawk's large pointed ears, and their tail thumping increases in enthusiasm.
One would think that spending time with a werewolf during a full moon wouldn't involve mundane things like barbequing a healthy dinner. But these days, with the vampire threat mostly under control, mundane is what full moons usually look like for you. Indeed, one of the primary difficulties you face is that Hawk's vegetarian diet apparently tastes much less satisfying to a wolf palate than a human one, so "dinner" has been relocated to the early morning hours when the full moon finally sets. But judging by the continued low rumbling and the way Hawk is leaning heavily against you, the wait has, as usual, not been a pleasant one. You run your fingers through their thick fur, and golden eyes look up at you plaintively. If you ever called that expression puppy-dog eyes, they'd deny it—but that's exactly what it is. Keeping that thought to yourself, you remove the finished burgers from the grill as the moon continues to sink below the horizon.
Deep in the woods, another member of Hawk's pack begins to howl, and a chorus of werewolf voices follows until Hawk sits up and throws their head back to join in. No matter how many times you've heard it, Hawk's howl still gives you chills. Even with all the strange and fantastical things you've experienced as a vampire hunter, your mate's howl feels otherworldly.
As the pack's howl fades to echoes, the last silver rays of moonlight vanish, and you brace yourself for what's coming next.
Happy New Year! I'm a little late on this one due to the busy holidays, but I hope you've been enjoying the werewolf!Hawk AU extra! With that complete, next on the to-do list is to dive into editing and rewrites for the next part of TE proper.
2024 was full of unexpected things for me, and delaying TE's updates was an unfortunate necessity. Unfortunately, TE will still need to take a back seat for a while, but the person I am now is better equipped to make TE the story I always wanted it to be than the person I was a year ago. So I hope that it will all be worth it for all of you who've been so patient!
I hope you continue to find even small moments of joy this year and live in a present that brings you happiness. If those seem too far away, hold on to a vision of the future that brings you hope, no matter how small or far away it seems. Sometimes, good things can be found where you least expect them. ❤️
Unfortunately, not much progress to report this month due to an incredibly busy schedule. Due to the relatively programming-intensive nature of this part of Talon's End, it's difficult to make progress without having multiple hours at a time to sit down and focus—something that's been difficult to come by lately!
Since it's been so long since the last big TE update, I wanted to share one of the first bits of setting lore I wrote: The origin of the place that is now called Talon's End. I don't want to spoil the whole story, so it does end abruptly. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it! Read it HERE.
A little progress this month! Work has kept me very busy, but I've added a couple small scenes between the end of the current demo and the festival. They should help things feel a little less rushed and allow the new customization options to be spread out a little more. I've also been implementing some tweaks for the already-written festival content to improve the depth of choices and emphasize the start of MC's journey and the first little choices they get to make as their own semi-independent person. These are mostly little nuts-and-bolts additions and edits, so nothing juicy to share this month.
Instead, please enjoy this unfinished gecko origin story from the vault of incomplete tidbits (spoiler warning for a never-before-seen character from Hawk's Enclave):
"Do you have any geckos, Hawk?"
"Geckos?"
"Those little ones that eat magic. We—"
"Glyph geckos. They don't 'eat' magic."
"Well, whatever they do with it, we have some." Quill's pale face is lit by the hot blaze of the lodge's eternal furnace as they cast their darkened, rapidly eroding blade into it. Quill's rust-brown eyes are transfixed as the furnace melts the metal, crackling as it burns away the caustic blood of the otherworldly creature that was its last kill. "Shame. Had that one for twenty winters. Ah well."
Hawk gives them a few moments of silence before reminding them: "The geckos?"
"Oh. Yes. Do you want some?" Forcing themself to turn away from the flame, Quill leads the way back down the hill toward the lodge. Though it should be early summer, the Frostwood's eternal winter leaves a permanent layer of snow on the ground. "Ever since the humans to the east have decided they don't like magic anymore, the geckos have been coming here. The only place there's enough magic to keep them alive, I think. So we—Zephyr and I—we've been letting them into the lodge. Too cold and dangerous for them out in the 'Wood." Quill presses their gloved palm to the featureless wood door of the lodge, and it opens, spilling warmth into the forest. "But they've been eating—absorbing, or whatever it is—our wards, and Ember won't let us keep them anymore. Can you take some?"
"You want them to weaken my wards instead?"
Quill shrugs. "You have the time to renew them."
"Everyone seems to believe I have infinite time to dispense magic on demand."
Quill spins around and crosses their arms over their chest as they look up at Hawk. There's a nearly two-foot difference in height between them, but Quill has always possessed the confidence of a small dog that has no idea its ancestors haven't been wolves for millennia. "I'm asking for your help to save these little creatures. They'll die if we release them. I know you'll say yes, so will you stop giving me a hard time and agree already?"
Hawk sighs. "Let me see them first."
Quill grins. "Thank you!" They lead the way through the narrow, wood-paneled hallways, talking all the while.
Not much progress last month, unfortunately, as I spent most of March being sick. But the good news is I was finally able to finish Shea's snippet a few days ago! I'm hoping that I'll be fully recovered soon and will have a more exciting update next month. Until then, Happy Spring to the Northern Hemisphere and Happy Autumn to the Southern Hemisphere!
A little late this month due to some family health issues, but I'm still around! I've continued slowly working on both the edit for the next update and the AU extras, but both are still works in progress. The urban AU extra is getting close to completion, so I'm hoping to have it ready for release this month! It won't have any major choices like the Halloween or Valentine's shorts, but it will still be semi-interactive in that it will adapt to your MC and their relationship with Hawk (romantic, platonic; touch, no touch, etc.).
Short update this time and no spoilers since I'm going straight back to bed! Happy Spooky Season! 🎃
