#upcoming if

[findmeintheash-if]

HI! just curious, do you have face claims and/or mood boards for the characters?

holy cow you actually just reminded me to continue working on those lol.

No, i don’t currently have any face claims or mood boards but they are definitely in the works! I’ll say to expect mood boards specifically around next week! face claims are a little harder…

[findmeintheash-if]

Mira

Absence by Rio Romeo

“If I just vanished, do you think you’d manage? Or would you disappear right beside me? Do you think you’re ready, when I go unsteady? Lover, please prepare for my absence.”

~~~~~~~

25, 5'7" (170 cm); compact strength, quick balance, built for sudden acceleration rather than endurance marathons. medium-deep with a neutral undertone; scars read pale against it in harsh light; old bruises fade slower than they should. dark brown eyes, sharp and constant. dark hair (near-black), kept practical (short or tied back); usually tied tight enough it won’t snag; flyaways only show after a fight or a long run. callused hands built for grips and edges; small nicks at the knuckles; old healed cuts at the forearms; a faint notch in one eyebrow; posture that keeps weight ready on the balls of the feet, like the body is always half a second from moving. quiet breathing; minimal wasted motion; tends to stand slightly off-center of a room (never directly in a doorway, never directly under a light). practical, dark, silent clothes that don’t snag when you run; gear worn-in and positioned for speed, not aesthetics; boots chosen for silence over comfort

Mira is blunt, tactical, and impatient with sentiment—yet frighteningly attentive to what people need versus what they say. She doesn't offer comfort first; she offers plans, exits, and the terrible thing she'll do so nobody else has to. Mira reads power dynamics instantly, trusts slowly, and once trust is earned it becomes hard to break—because Mira protects in a way that costs her something.

Her past tastes like roads instead of cities: ambush angles, not etiquette; survival learned early enough that hesitation feels like a sin. Mira doesn’t give full stories about where she learned to move like this. You get half answers, changed subjects, an implied history with loss—enough loss that attachment should feel like a liability, and Mira keeps choosing it anyway. Under the steel is a specific, private want to make sure you never have to become the worst version of yourself just to live.

Mira is like a memory you can never quite hold on to, she believes love makes people vulnerable—and Mira hates vulnerability. So the romance becomes a slow reshaping of what “safety” means: not just surviving the night, but allowing someone to see the parts of her that are tired, scared, and still choosing you anyway.

[findmeintheash-if]

The parents sound like such wondeful people and were so good to the MCs. Hopefully we'll get the chance to mourn them properly and make them proud.

Of course! The parents are and always will be the MCs biggest supporters and i can’t wait for you guys to really see that🥹

[findmeintheash-if]

The two protag thing reminds me of Task of The Burdened One which is sadly dead

Here's hoping you can juggle the two paths!

As for an ask: How would the parents feel about watching the siblings' current situation from the afterlife?

Woww, I think I had that one added to my list of things to check out, so sad to see it dead😞

But! Great ask, I have been sitting and pondering on this since I read it, and was really struggling on how to answer.

But ultimately, the parents spent their entire adult lives doing one thing, and that was keeping their children from becoming what the kingdom feared. Hiding the eyes, teaching the stillness, choosing a life of smallness specifically so their children could have ordinary ones. From wherever they are now, watching both children end up at the exact center of the thing they ran from — one clawing toward a throne, one already sitting on it — there's an unbearable irony in it. Everything they sacrificed to avoid this outcome led directly to it anyway. I think there's a version of grief that's almost like vertigo: the feeling of having spent your whole life pushing against a current that was carrying you toward the destination regardless.

But I don't think they'd see it as failure.

The parents weren't trying to prevent their children from being Vethkai, or from being powerful, or even from ending up near a throne. What they were trying to prevent was their children becoming what previous Vethkai became — cruel, hollowed out, and consumed by the Kaimark. And watching from wherever they are, I think what they'd actually be watching for is that — not the throne, not the danger, but the choices. Every time the Younger says "not yet" to the Kaimark. Every time the Elder tells someone something true instead of useful. Those moments, I think, are the ones that would matter to parents who spent their whole lives trying to model exactly that kind of restraint.

Their mother, specifically.

I think she'd recognize her own children completely. Not the circumstances — the circumstances would terrify her — but the people. The Elder's careful reading of others, the Younger's refusal to fully become the thing the Conclave wants — these aren't new traits born from trauma. These are the same children, the same instincts, just under unimaginable pressure. I think there's something almost recognition based in how she'd watch them. There you are. I'd know you anywhere.

The hardest part would be watching them not find each other yet.

If the parents are watching in any kind of real-time sense, the cruelest part of this whole story for them wouldn't be the danger, or the Conclave, or even the Kaimark. It would be the years of separation — watching two children who loved each other carry that loss separately, each constructing a version of the other from fragments, each grieving alone when they didn't have to be. I think that's the thing that would actually be unbearable to witness. Not what their children have become. Just how long they've had to do it without each other.

[findmeintheash-if]

I just spent the last 5 hours doing nothing but coding…

buttt, as I was working on character customization and was wondering what I should include, I realized I can just ask you guys for anything out of the ordinary you’d like included!

Feel free to send some ideas over ;) No guarantees that every little thing will be included but I feel as though what I have is lacking something…

[findmeintheash-if]

Hi! My name is Lex, or Lexi. Call me whatever you’d like.

I am the author for an upcoming IF: Find Me in the Ash.

I’ve been working on this story for a couple of months, and decided if I really wanted to go somewhere with it, it would have to be now!!

This is going to be an 18+ story, but of course, I can’t stop you from reading it if you’re underage, just proceed with caution.

Now on to the real juicy stuff.

I’ve never coded before🥹

I’ve looked at choice script and it seems relatively easy, but when I release this demo just be gentle fr if you see any mistakes. This is the first time I’ve put out my own original work, so I’m a little nervous but overall excited!!

I know theres not much put out for the story, but my asks are open for literally anything and everything. I want to be more active in the IF community and I feel as though this is a great start.

If anyone has any tips and tricks that would be useful for this journey, please share them!

Until next time!

[lyraeluxstudios]

“Scare you off? My dear Starweaver, I’m much more interested in seeing if you can keep up.”

Like a summer storm of jet-black hair and sun-warmed steel, the royal military instructor is an ardent force of nature.

Despite carrying the mistrust of the nobility — and a past they do not like to talk about — The Exiled Sun carries themselves with an easy charm. They believe themselves to be guarded, but their impulsive generosity and fiery, protective heart are as visible as a mid-day sun.

Stay tuned for more information on our upcoming high-fantasy interactive fiction inspired by the lush history of South Asia!