OC story blog run by @esteebarnes94.
The Butterfly Effect is a psychological horror with heavy existential themes. It's to be a series of novels, but is currently in the planning stage. I've been cooking it for a while.
Edith never expected to experience psychosis. Of course, she never expected to lose her home in a terrible house fire, or to be forced to move from California to Washington state as a result. Within her first day, she made an enemy of her next-door neighbour. It all seemed as if the world was out to get her.
Ironically, her so-called miraculous recovery came as quickly as the psychosis appeared. The town feared, judged, and pitied her. Against her doctor's wishes, she was spared hospitalisation. Instead, she was required to track her every symptom in a journal.
Only when Edith discovers an exact copy of her journal does she begin to truly question her stability. It contains her memories of the house fire, her psychosis, and things she has never experienced. She realises she has found a relic of her own future. Armed with this knowledge, she becomes determined to change the course of fate and figure out how she crossed time.
Hi! I'm @dollycosmic, creator/owner of The Butterfly Effect (TBE for short) and the mod behind this blog. I have a handful of stories, but this is one I am really excited about. Here is where I dump all things related to TBE, from art to rambling to OC ask games to random posts I associate with it. You're welcome to take a wander through it!
The Butterfly Effect is a psychological horror with heavy existential themes. It features potentially triggering topics including domestic abuse, bigotry, drug use (mostly just cigarettes) and alcoholism, and death. Mental health is the big one. They can't be mentally well when having existential crises!
I plan for TBE to be a series of about four novels, give or take. Currently, everything is still in the planning phase. Character and setting info, names, and inclusion in the plot are subject to change! I'm trying to keep only the stuff I really want to include on this blog. That's why it took so long to get even a blurb up here, haha <:']
You're encouraged to ask me questions about the characters, story, and so on as long as they are SFW. Please note that some things might have to be kept under wraps for spoilers or because I'm still figuring it out. Even so, I appreciate when people appreciate my OCs :]
All tags have the prefix 'tbe'. E.g., '#tbe edith'. Current tags include (as one hodgepodge to prevent this from being one billion lines long):
hii hi hi 2, 5, 28 and/or 30 for Edith?? smiles so wide
Hiii!! Thank you for the ask, Coco!! Smiles so, so wide :]
From this OC ask game. Most of these are under the cut.
Q2: Biggest Pet Peeve
Edith can't stand people not performing basic etiquette, especially in public places. She would hate to work in hospitality because she'd have to deal with untucked chairs. It's such an easy thing to do.
Q5: Do They Smoke?
Nope! She has no interest in it. All her life, she has been surrounded by cigarettes. Now, she associates them with carelessness.
Q28: Do They Believe in Aliens?
No. She has not seen any proof, so she does not believe. Edith seeks facts. In her persuit of knowledge and truth, she disregards anything without solid evidence.
This is why she is athiest. She hasn't had her prayers recieved, hasn't seen any proof of Jesus, or anything else. It doesn't make sense to her. She can get rather judgy about it.
This contrasts with Brandon, who believes in aliens because of a lack of proof against it. The two can debate about this for a long time. He takes it very seriously, but she sees it as a casual, intellectual debate. No matter what, they end in stalemates.
Q30: Have They Been in Love?
I was hoping someone would ask this for Edith.
Anyway, nope, and she never will. She's aromantic-asexual and has no interest in dating as an aro-ace person. Of course, living in the 1950s, she does not have these labels. She assumes she will fall in love someday, but resents the idea.
She's also on the aplatonic spectrum. Her friendships are very shallow. Because it's the bare minimum in her society to have friends, she does feel that something is wrong with her.
It's a small spoiler to say this, but I don't mind. Before moving, she had one friend she considered close/a best friend. Days before moving, she went to this girl's house to retrieve some photos/memorabillia. The girl was distant. A group of her friends were hanging out at her house. Only then did Edith realise her friend never behaved as casual and happy around her as she did with this group.
I don't know if Edith ever got those photos. What I do know is she left feeling rather strange. It wasn't that she wasn't upset. She was greatly upset that she never knew this girl did not care for her much. However, that's all it really was. It occurred to her that she didn't miss her friendship, but that she was angry at herself. She was angry for not seeing the signs. She was angry for not feeling how others felt.
Over the story, Edith will never have a grand moment of, for lack of a better word, unlocking friendship. I want it to be clear that her aplatonicism is not something to be fixed. Her struggles come from living in a society that places having close friends as the bare minimum.
She is not completely aplatonic, though. Her friendship to Brandon is very important to her character and the story overall.
TL;DR: Edith is greyplatonic and aro-ace. If people ship her with anyone, I will lose my shit (/negative).
With an OC (or multiple) of your choosing, what would happen if they were completely opposite of how they are now?
Be it design, personality, gender/identity, likes & dislikes, alignment/morality, clothing preferences, skills/abilities, etc. Etc.
Bonus: with this alternate version of this character (or more!), what would their story look like? How does it change with them being this way? Are other characters also completely different in this flipped universe, or is it more fun to just have 1 or a few characters changed and everything else stay the same? What shenanigans ensue either way?
Oooh!
I'm gonna do some gender bending here because I think that has the most potential. I'm also gonna answer this in short responses for a bunch of characters.
Growing Pains: 1994 (@growing-pains-1994)
Renee: a male Renee would arguably have an easier time in some aspects. Her violent outbursts wouldn't be surprised subject to comments of them being unladylike. Of course, this would also have a gender bent Barneby and Russell, so she'd be labelled as sexist instead. Her backstory would change a lot in some aspects, but I shan't say.
Lucas: female Lucas is still head over heels for guy Renee. He's always hetslop. Anyway, he wouldn't change too much. Laura (his mother) would change a lot if she were a father. This would cause the biggest changes to his story. He'd face sexism for being into so-called boyish hobbies like motorsport and video games.
Ally: has an easier life. Her interests in skateboarding, video games, and sports are seen as normal boy stuff. She would get flack for being such a hopeless romantic, though.
Mary-Anne: fairly consistent! Would likely turn into the story's Jack, though. She'd be bullied a lot for being soft-spoken and nerdy. This would fuck up her self-esteem.
Lola: now seen as effeminate. Her interests in fashion would be called gay. It's 1994, alright? Anyway, yeah, she's getting bullied more. Definitely seen as a nerd and weirdo. Keeps her magazine collection secret.
Jack: a shy and dare I say kinda likeable girl. His interests in music and theatre are now just nerdy, not nerdy and effeminate. He still gets picked on, but people would be more willing to stick up for him. However, he would face a lot of backlash for being weak. Sexism and all.
The Butterfly Effect (@thebutterflyeffect-tbe)
Edith: has an easier life, but it still sucks. Her mental health struggles still get shit treatment, but they're better thanks to her now being a boy. She'd have a lot more freedom to stay out late and investigate stuff. Still paired with Brandon by others, but now she would be the one getting most of it thanks to being both the guy and the weirdo.
Brandon: told he's dumber than he is. His interests in radio technology are predicted to go nowhere. His pride is his head up his arse, his snarky humour is just rude, his--albeit unhealthy--self-preservation is purely selfish, et cetera.
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I honestly can't really think of much else. Thank you for the ask, Limbo!! I really appreciate it :]
