Person of many names. I answer to Spring, Salad, Dee, Bones, or all of the above. Any pronouns. Official blog for the interactive fiction, Valiant!
Ko-Fi Link
Where is the line between virtual intelligence and artificial intelligence? What prerequisites does a computer need before it is considered a person?
It's not something you've put much thought to in the past. A computer is software. Software is lines of code. Lines of code are written by people. But when that software starts making choices of its own, when it begins to expand and grow of its own accord, evolving into something beyond what humankind has made it, is it really just a computer anymore?
These are the questions that led you to steal something, something that was never meant to be stolen. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a rescue. But the company you're running from doesn't recognize the distinction. They've paid a lot of money to have their property returned to them. If you stop running, it won't just be your life on the line.
Valiant is an episodic interactive fiction novel centered around the main character (you) and an Artificial Intelligence that you have rescued. Explore your relationships and yourself as you encounter a mercenary crew that might just become your new family, if you let it.
Genres: Sci-fi, Thriller/Horror, Action, Romance
Content Warning: Valiant is rated 18+ for violence, gore, drug use, explicit sexual themes, horror, and other potentially sensitive topics. Additional content warnings will be provided as a forward to the work. Please interact with care!
Get exclusive benefits, including a weekly demo update, by subscribing to my Ko-Fi
Public Demo: Updated 07/06/2026
A customizable main character. Choose your name, appearance, gender, sexuality, personality, abilities, and explore your background.
Explore a variety of relationships from a main cast of 10 characters.
The choice of romance or sex or both or neither between 9 characters.
Help your AI friend to evolve her personality based on your interferences or lack thereof.
Learn the necessary skills to fit right in with your new mercenary crew.
Survive an extraterrestrial disaster.
Screw over (at least) one of the largest corporatocracies in the galaxy.
Help your new acquaintances to resolve their own personal demons. Or not.
The AI you took from the corporatocracy known as Archon Systems. CAIT (said like Kate), despite her extremely logical behavior, can be unexpectedly playful and friendly. She considers you her rescuer and will defer to your judgment in most situations, though she isn't afraid to veto your decisions with her own when your life is on the line. Will you nurture her independence or her compliance?
Anton Degauss | Alias: None
Pronouns: he/him | Age: 40
Romanceable: for all MCs
Captain of the SS Valiant and, for all intents and purposes, your rescuer. Anton Degauss has no reason to be as friendly as he is, but you left reason behind when you decided to take an asset from a powerful corporation. The truth is, you'll trust him because you don't have many other choices. But it helps that he seems pretty sincere.
Appearance: 5'11". Warm dark-brown skin. Locked black hair often tied into a ponytail. Often unshaven stubble that he sometimes lets grow into a full beard. Dark brown eyes. Medium build with a muscular upper-body.
Sonia Stark | Alias: Switch
Pronouns: she/her | Age: 42
Romanceable: for all MCs
Chief Technical Officer on the SS Valiant and Degauss' second-in-command. Switch is gruff and unsmiling, at least around you. You're pretty sure she doesn't like you—at least, she's always looking at you like she wants to jettison you out the airlock. But maybe that's just her face. The others keep swearing she's not that bad, but you're not so sure.
Appearance: 6'1". Light brown skin. Curly dark-brown hair often pulled back into a loose bun. Brown eyes. Large and muscular build. A few scars on her face of indeterminant origin. A tattoo on her right earlobe that corresponds with military rank.
Cassia MacKenna | Alias: Zero
Pronouns: she/her | Age: 31
Romanceable: for all MCs
Engineer and resident optimist on the SS Valiant. Zero is almost always bubbly and playful, though she knows when to back off. Despite your sudden appearance, she seems elated to have you aboard the Valiant. It's hard to tell if her trusting nature is a sign of kindness, naivete, or something else.
Appearance: 5'5". Light pink skin, lightly freckled. Yellow-blonde hair in a pixie cut. Blue eyes. Scrawny and rarely without a smudge of grease on her face. Several facial piercings.
Gael Lambert | Alias: Path
Pronouns: he/him | Age: 34
Romanceable: for all MCs
Pilot on the SS Valiant. Path takes to your appearance on the Valiant like it's an amusing inside-joke. He's relentless with his teasing—the only saving grace is that he targets everyone, not just you. The only one Switch maybe hates more than you. And, honestly, most days you can't blame her.
Appearance: 5'11". Pale white skin. Ash-blond hair, short and windswept. Clean-shaven. Gray-blue eyes. Thin with little muscle definition. Light scarring on his face of indeterminant origin. Prominent dimples on his cheeks.
Kiran Chandra | Alias: None
Pronouns: any | Age: 35
Romanceable: for all MCs
Medical Officer on the SS Valiant. Of all the members of the crew, Kiran is the only one who seems completely indifferent to your arrival. If they have an opinion on your presence, or anything else for that matter, she keeps it completely hidden. At the very least, they've been cordial with you, which is more than you can say for some people on the ship.
Appearance: 5'8". Warm light-brown skin. Long, wavy dark-brown hair usually pulled into a neat braid. Brown eyes. Slender with slight muscle definition. A couple of beauty marks on his face.
Yulia Kazantseva | Alias: None
Pronouns: she/her | Age: 49
Romanceable: for female MCs
An astrobiologist working for Archon Systems. Yulia might have no clue of your existence. Or she might be playing dumb. In either case, you can't let your guard down when you're around her. The only good news is that she seems too absorbed in her project to care much about you. On second thought, obsessed might be a better word for it.
Appearance: 5'7". White skin. Short, dark-brown hair with a liberal amount of gray. Light-brown eyes. Pear-shaped fat build with no muscle definition.
Hector Sideris | Alias: Hex
Pronouns: he/him | Age: 38
Romanceable: for male or nonbinary MCs
One of two Skiptracers hired by Archon Systems to bring you back in, dead or alive. He looks like the kind of guy you'd find drinking beer and generally taking up more space than necessary in a sports bar. You haven't exactly had a conversation with the guy, and you're not sure you want to.
Appearance: 6'2". Pale beige skin with light-brown freckles on his face. Auburn hair in a crop cut. Usually has an extended goatee. Hazel eyes. He has a weightlifter's build with a round gut.
Akagi Akio | Alias: A2
Pronouns: she/her | Age: 36
Romanceable: for male MCs
The other of two Skiptracers hired by Archon Systems to bring you back in, dead or alive. A2 looks every bit like a cold-blooded killer, especially when compared to her more laid-back partner. Either that, or someone peed in her food. Repeatedly. For the last twenty years. You would really rather not find out if she's as mean as she looks.
Appearance: 5'4". Pale skin. Straight, long black hair. Dark-brown eyes. Broad shoulders and slim hips with very knobby joints. She has noticeable muscle definition.
Ebrahim | Alias: The Prophet
Pronouns: he/him | Age: 41
Romanceable: no, though he may be up for an intimate encounter or two...
An information broker of no small renown. He strikes you as dodgy and dishonest, but maybe that's just part of his image. After all, he wouldn't be much of an information broker if he lied to his clients, would he?
Appearance: 6'. Light-brown skin. Black hair kept short and neat. Very neatly-cut anchor beard. Dark-brown eyes. Medium build with no muscle definition. He tends to wear a lot of eye makeup and has a fondness for ear piercings.
i'm not writing any stories that have a precog nor am i currently planning on anything that might have a precog, but today i just keep thinking~
if i do ever write something that has a character with precognition, i want that character to just be that little bit unhinged, like this person has been tearing at the seams for a long time and the Unsettling bits are always leaking out in a way that's noticeable but no one can really tell if that's just their personality or if their ability has driven them to that behavior
cuz i feel like if a person actually had any consistent form of precognition, there is a chance the constant question of whether or not their actions will cause or subvert events would put them in just a constant existential crisis that makes them act unpredictably
obviously this is the MOST important question for the valiant crew
🍦 SOFT ICE CREAM — what is/are your oc's favorite ice cream flavor(s)?
Nonny, how did you know that I, personally, love love love ice cream? It was an ask made in heaven.
Anton - It's gotta be like chocolate chip cookie dough, but specifically the kind that has the little brown sugar chunks in it, like Mom's Makin' Cookies from Baskin Robbins.
Switch - Probably more specifically a fan of sherbet, which obvi isn't ice cream if you get technical, but I think sticking to the same dessert category for the sake of this question is fair game. She gives me strawberry sherbet vibes.
Zero - I think she would like flavors with that salty sweet mix, like a sea salt and toffee or something. As an aside to this, I could also see Zero being the one to constantly suggest the group go get froyo, and she's just the one putting way too many things in her froyo cup. Like, it's a 50/50 ice cream to various candies ratio.
Path - Probably says he doesn't like ice cream but he's a LIAR. But I could see him liking more mild vanillas with no additives. A vanilla bean or an old-fashioned vanilla.
Kiran - Two different flavors pop up in my head for Kiran. Either a mint chocolate chip or a coffee ice cream. (There's a coffee ice cream flavor made by a local place in my city that I think Kiran would just love.)
Yulia - Is the chocolate girlie of the bunch. Probably likes a nice, rich double-fudge brownie.
Hex - So there's that one winter snippet where Hex and MC make ice cream in the snow, but he's also just really good at culinary stuff, so he deffo knows how to make ice cream like. In the actual kitchen. And I feel like he would really generally like experimental flavors a lot (not anything super crazy, but things that most people don't expect to be made into ice cream, like rose ice cream for example). But, if forced to choose one flavor, he'd probably go with a vanilla or a sweet cream, something that serves as a good simple ice cream flavor to pair with other desserts like pie.
A2 - I think A2 would loves malts. Just whatever kind of malt ice cream flavor she can get her hands on.
Thank you for the ask (and for giving me an excuse to think about ice cream)! 🍨
💘 HEART WITH ARROW — what and/or who do(es) your oc consider the most important to them?
Everybody? 👀
Hi, anon!
Some of these are spoilery, so the answers are gonna be kinda vague. Some of them may also only be true at the start of the story and change at some point, so keep that in mind.
Anton - His crew.
Switch - Her pride.
Zero - Her dad.
Path - His freedom.
Kiran - Their job.
Yulia - Her professional integrity.
Hex - His pride.
A2 - Her freedom.
CAIT - Tied between her freedom and Codex's safety.
🤔 THINKING FACE — what are some of your oc's quirks/mannerisms?
Zero's is the first that comes to mind because it's in the way she talks. She tends to use filler phrases a lot, like "I mean" or "um." Also fidgets a bit, but this is more common when she is nervous.
Kiran's is also in the way they talk. He tends not to use contractions in speech.
Anton is a little bit of a worrier.
For Switch, it's probably that she's almost always armed.
When talking about Path, does him being a bit of an asshole count?
Yulia moves her hands a lot when she talks.
Hex sometimes acts dumber than he is.
A2 tends to have a resting glare, though sometimes it's on purpose.
hi thank you for answering my questions. to conclude i have a silly one. if the ros+cait had fursonas what animal would they pick? thanks.
Hi again, anon!
Hmm. I had a hard time answering this one, but I did my best!
Anton - Some kind of canine, maybe a wolf.
Switch - A large cat, like a lion.
Zero - Genuinely no clue. Something small and cute. Maybe a hedgehog?
Path - For some reason he gives me lemur vibes.
Kiran - Maybe an owl?
Yulia - A beaver.
Hex - Would be undecided between a snake and a capybara.
A2 - A badger.
CAIT - A raven.
send an emoji/description of emoji to learn more about a writer's oc! many of these are taken from my munday asks meme, because i thought it would be fun to make a version for characters too! the prompts are categorized by emoji type and given descriptions in case anyone can't see the symbols. can be used for roleplayers and any general writers alike! for roleplayers, these can also be used for your interpretations of canon characters if you so desire as well!
𝐎𝐁𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐒.
💭 THOUGHT BALLOON — what is your oc's MBTI, enneagram, and/or other personality aspects (if known/interested in)?
🚗 CAR — does your oc have a driver's license? can they drive/operate any automobiles/machinery besides cars?
✈️ AIRPLANE — does your oc like traveling, or do they consider themselves a more homey person?
🎮 VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER — what are three of your oc's favorite hobbies?
💍 RING — does your oc have any piercings? do they want any (more) piercings?
🖊️ BALLPOINT PEN — does your oc have any tattoos? do they want any (more) tattoos?
📚 BOOKS — what level of education has your oc most recently completed/is currently in (GED, undergraduate, grad school, phd, etc)?
🎻 VIOLIN — does your oc play any instruments? what is their skill level (beginner/intermediate/advanced/virtuoso/etc)?
🩹 ADHESIVE BANDAGE — does your oc have any physical and/or mental disabilities?
🩸 DROP OF BLOOD — what is your oc's blood type?
𝐒𝐘𝐌𝐁𝐎𝐋𝐒.
🎶 MUSICAL NOTES — what type of music does your oc like? do they listen to music very often?
💯 HUNDRED POINTS SYMBOL — share three random facts about your oc that others may not know.
💤 SLEEPING SIGN — is your oc a light sleeper or a heavy sleeper? how are their sleeping habits?
🔱 TRIDENT EMBLEM — can your oc swim? do they enjoy swimming?
🔺 RED TRIANGLE POINTED UP — does your oc know how to use any weapons?
🔶 LARGE ORANGE DIAMOND — does your oc know cpr? do they have any other medical expertise?
🚫 PROHIBITED — does your oc drink/smoke? do they do it regularly, or is it more on occasion or for special events?
𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄.
🌈 RAINBOW — what is your oc's sexual orientation/gender identity? what pronouns do they use?
🎄 CHRISTMAS TREE — what is your oc's favorite holiday?
🐶 DOG FACE — does your oc have any pets?
🐈 CAT — does your oc prefer a wide circle of friends or a few close friends?
🐷 PIG FACE — what is your oc's favorite animal?
🐉 DRAGON — what is your oc's favorite mythical creature?
🍃 LEAVES FLUTTERING IN WIND — what is/was your oc's favorite subject in school?
🌴 PALM TREE — does your oc have a green thumb? do they enjoy gardening?
🍎 RED APPLE — where was your oc born? do they still live in/around their place of birth or do they live somewhere else? how do they feel about their birthplace?
𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒.
❤️ RED HEART — what are three of your oc's positive traits?
🤍 WHITE HEART — what are three of your oc's neutral/questionable traits?
💔 BROKEN HEART — what are three of your oc's negative traits?
💘 HEART WITH ARROW — what and/or who do(es) your oc consider the most important to them?
🧡 ORANGE HEART — does your oc tend to prioritize family or friends?
💛 YELLOW HEART — how many languages does your oc speak? what language(s) are they learning, if any?
💚 GREEN HEART — does your oc prefer being inside or outside?
💙 BLUE HEART — does your oc have any cool/special powers and/or abilities? how are they with magic, if it exists in their world?
💜 PURPLE HEART — what is your oc's ancestry/genetic background?
🖤 BLACK HEART — has your oc killed or seriously wounded anyone before? have they broken someone's heart and/or broken someone's trust?
𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐒.
🎂 BIRTHDAY CAKE — when is your oc's birthday? how old are they? what are their sun, moon, & rising signs (if known)? what about their tarot card, ruling planet, & ruling number (if known)? do they fit the typical traits of these sun, moon, & rising signs?
🍝 SPAGHETTI — what is/are your oc's favorite food(s)?
🍰 SHORTCAKE — what is/are your oc's favorite sweet(s)/dessert(s)?
🍦 SOFT ICE CREAM — what is/are your oc's favorite ice cream flavor(s)?
🍔 HAMBURGER — is your oc good at cooking? are they good at baking? which one do they prefer?
🥯 BAGEL — what does your oc's typical breakfast look like? do they usually eat breakfast?
🥪 SANDWICH — what does your oc's typical lunch look like? do they usually eat lunch?
🍛 CURRY AND RICE — what does your oc's typical dinner look like? do they usually eat dinner?
🍸 COCKTAIL GLASS — what is your oc's favorite alcoholic drink, if they can drink?
☕️ HOT BEVERAGE — does your oc prefer coffee, tea, hot chocolate, milk, water, or some other drink? how do they like to take this drink (ex. coffee with milk, hot chocolate with whipped cream, a specific kind of tea, etc)?
𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄.
😊 SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES — what are your oc's career/general life desires? what do they want to get the most out of life?
😖 CONFOUNDED FACE — is your oc an introvert, an extrovert, or an ambivert? do they let people in easily, or are they more reserved?
🤔 THINKING FACE — what are some of your oc's quirks/mannerisms?
🧐 FACE WITH MONOCLE — is your oc more logical or emotional?
🤓 SMILING FACE WITH GLASSES — is your oc chatty or quiet? are they at ease in social situations, or are they more shy?
🤩 FACE WITH STARRY EYES — is your oc a planner, or are they more spontaneous in their actions?
😥 SAD BUT RELIEVED FACE — is your oc prone to getting stressed out, or is it easy for them to keep their cool?
😓 DOWNCAST FACE WITH SWEAT — is your oc open-minded or stubborn? are they inquisitive or do they prefer to keep to their bubble of knowledge?
😞 DISAPPOINTED FACE — does your oc attract others, or do they tend to be left alone?
🤒 FACE WITH THERMOMETER — does your oc get sick easily?
👨👩👧👦 FAMILY WITH MOTHER, FATHER, SON AND DAUGHTER — how many people are in your oc's immediate family? how many people are in your oc's extended family? do they have aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc? who in their family are they closest with? are they close with their birth family, or do they have a found family?
hello, i was rereading old asks and saw that you mentioned zero has some lingering gender dysphoria. can you elaborate on this at all? thanks.
Hi, anon!
Basically Zero hasn't yet explored all of the gender-affirming options available to her, but she's still undecided about some of it. There are also some feelings around her relationship with her dad that are linked with her dysphoria.
I could elaborate in more detail, but it is something that can come up in conversation with Zero in the very near future, and I think I'd really like that to be the first time it gets discussed in detail—through the character's lens. I hope that makes sense.
i have a question about one of the shorts. in “paradise is a place you visit” hex doesn’t seem to recognize codex on sight. was that genuine or was he fucking with them? what kind of information did archon provide about their target? thanks.
Hi, anon!
minor spoilers under the cut for questions that may be answered later
Oh, Hex absolutely recognized Codex, he just didn't want the encounter to immediately devolve into a hostile situation. He didn't want to cause major trouble for the proprietor of a business who may have had nothing to do with what was going on, for one. He also wanted to get a feel for whether what Archon told him about Codex (which was a lot, by the way, but maybe not all of it true) was accurate.
There's a reason A2 isn't present in this scene, and it's mostly because they fundamentally disagreed with how to handle things here. Considering they may have succeeded in capturing Codex here if Hex had handled it A2's way, it has definitely been a point of contention between them since.
As for the specifics of the kind of information Archon provided, I'll keep that under wraps for now since it is more likely to come up than everything else I have said so far.
Hi! How does the cast feel about platonic physical affection? If bff!Codex was the type to like being casually touchy with their friends, what kinds of things would they be comfortable with/enjoy?
Hi, anon!
The generalized breakdown is this:
Okay with platonic physical affection: Anton, Switch, Zero, Yulia, Hex
Not okay or indifferent to platonic physical affection: Path, Kiran, A2
If we get more specific with it though, it's less cut-and-dry.
Anton is okay with it and can be physically affectionate himself at times, though his typical boundaries are lighter touches—things like a hand on the shoulder, for example. He does also specifically enjoy hugs between friends.
Switch is okay with with tamer forms of affection, like hands on the back or shoulder or briefly holding hands (slightly circumstantial). She isn't quite as comfortable with anything more than that. She's also less likely to initiate that kind of touch.
Zero is probably the most naturally physically affectionate with friends. She has boundaries primarily to keep other people comfortable, but she's okay with most touch and would enjoy as much as cuddling with bff!Codex or passively running fingers through hair (if applicable) or things like that.
I would not at all describe Path as touch-averse, but he is pretty choosy about who he is comfortable with casually touching him. If he and Codex were bffs, he would probably be fine with them getting touchy, but he might not reciprocate, would probably never initiate it, and really doesn't enjoy it that much but tolerates it for their sake.
Kiran does not typically like to be touched, though this is more a psychological and emotional boundary than a tactile one. They have no problems touching others to perform their job (though you'll notice they try to touch the least amount possible), and a romanced Kiran will become more comfortable with touch from their partner, but Kiran would not really enjoy being touched even by a bff!Codex.
Yulia might give off the vibe of someone who doesn't like to be touched, but she actually is okay with it. Though she is not likely to ever initiate it, she recognizes that some people prefer to show affection physically, so she is more than happy to let a bff!Codex be casually touchy with her. Probably secretly really enjoys those little rubs on the back of the neck.
Hex is an interesting case because I think he would enjoy casual touch with friends, but he's currently best friends with someone who mostly doesn't*, so he's never really had the chance to practice a lot of casual touch with friends. I think a bff!Codex being casually touchy would surprise him, but pleasantly. Once bff!Codex makes their stance on things clear, he'd be probably about as open about touch as Zero. Very specifically probably enjoys just leaning on each other while doing whatever.
A2 is also an interesting case because she doesn't technically have a problem with touch. She has a problem with affection, especially shown in public, even just between friends. (So the problem isn't if Hex gets touchy with her, the problem is that he's probably only ever done it in the wrong places and thus got the idea that she didn't liked to be touched.) A bff!Codex being touchy with A2 isn't really an issue when they are in private, but A2 isn't the type to explain that or initiate touch herself, so they might also get the wrong idea, just like Hex has.
Hope that answers your question! Thanks for the ask!
Hi! Kind of a weird question, but during the part where you go through and set your initial feelings on the Valiant crew, I got curious how each of the members would feel if Codex seemed to get along with everyone but them? Like, is it the sort of thing they’d even pick up on in the first place, do they have any particular reaction to it, stuff like that.
Hi, anon!
An interesting question!
Kiran and Path would not care at all. Kiran doesn't put a lot of value in personal relationships and finds them pretty secondary to anything else going on. It's easy for them to see an MC they don't get along with (or anyone for that matter) as a coworker and nothing more, even if everyone else gets along with them just fine. That said, Kiran might not care enough to even clock it. She's just doing her own thing.
Path, by comparison, operates under the assumption that people won't like him, which is why he wouldn't care. He knows that he can be abrasive and aggravating and often acts that way on purpose because it automatically establishes a predictable dynamic between him and other people, at least in the short term. (This obviously backfired with Zero in particular, and the other crew members are just used to the way he is, so it doesn't bother them too much.)
The short answer for Switch is that she would pick up on it and would be irritated, but why she would be irritated depends on some factors. If the reason she and MC don't get along is simply because of clashing personalities and she still respects their ability to do their job, she would be irritated because she would internalize the situation and wonder if it's something about her. But if the reason they don't get along is because she thinks they are bad at being a mercenary (reckless, puts people in danger, causes everyone else problems), she would be irritated with all of the other crew members for being unable to see what she sees. In that second case, she'd probably bring it up often. In front of the MC or not.
As for Anton, he might be a little confused if the MC gets along with Path and Kiran without problems (since those two are the hardest to get to know) but not him—unless the reason the MC got along with either of those two is because they have similar personalities. Otherwise, he wouldn't think much of it. He's had crew members when he started out that he didn't necessarily get along with. Comes with the territory of being a merc captain, and he wasn't quite as even-tempered when he was younger. He's not going to force anyone to get along with him.
Zero is the one for whom this would matter the most. She gets along with most people (going out of her way sometimes to do so), so seeing the MC get along with everyone but her would hurt her feelings a lot. Though she would probably make some effort not to show it. The biggest tell here would be that she would try her best not to bother Codex, going so far as to just leave their presence whenever possible so as not to be a nuisance.
Since this is all hypothetical anyway, I'll throw Hex and A2 into the mix.
Hex is pretty laid back, so he wouldn't be bothered by this and wouldn't care to do anything about it, but he would certainly notice it.
A2 is similar to Path in that she expects most people to not like her anyway. The big difference is that she doesn't treat people like shit on purpose like him. She just doesn't make an effort to be nice and lets her blunt-to-a-fault behavior reign free. So an MC liking everyone but her meets her expectations, and she doesn't feel any reason to change it.
ebrahim’s such an interesting guy, the second he dropped that question on us i instantly shifted into Pedant Mode and was like well okay what definition of redemption are we using, like i can think of at least 4 off the top of my head, i mean is this a religious thing or are we talking about a restorative justice situation, and furthermore you cant exactly obligate people to feel guilt but it is a situationally useful social tool to discourage unwanted behaviors…but no matter. luckily my very favorite response in basically any situation is there for me: it literally dependsssss
Hi, anon!
There is so much I want to say about this (and I even started to in my initial response), but I decided almost everything I wanna say is too spoilery 😅
What I will say, though, is that Ebrahim's personal stakes in the story are very tied to some of things he can bring up in these first conversations with him, though the reasons may not be clear until what I'm considering Acts 2 and 3 of the overall story.
I'm glad there was a response that fit best for you, though! One of the (many, many) things I struggled with when I was writing Ebrahim's section was making sure that the MC's responses covered a variety of feelings while still staying within what makes sense for them to say. Valiant's MC may not be as established as MCs in some other games, but there are still some things that would be out of character given aspects of their back story. I wanted to make sure players had options that made sense to them, but I also didn't want to go too far off the rails.
At any rate, Ebrahim will show up again soon enough. For MC's sake, hopefully his interactions become more straightforward in the future. 😂
I'm romancing Path, and I'm so torn on what to pick. Telling the while crew the truth makes the most sense with my MC. But just telling Path leads to him showing up in the middle of the night thinking its a booty call, which is just amazing.
Hi, anon!
This really shouldn't be as funny to me as it is because I'm the one who wrote that in there, but also I've been staring at this ask since you sent it and beset by fits of laughter because of it.
I just. It was never my plan to have him think that, but when I sat down to write the scene, I was like, he would think there is literally no other reason for the MC to come talk to him. It was just one of those things that happened unexpectedly, like the character took control of my fingers while I was typing and there was nothing I could do to stop it even if I wanted to. 😂
I don't remember whether or not I made this nuance present in the scene either, but Path is so much more dtf if he doesn't actually like MC cuz he figures there's pretty much no risk to it if things go bad later.
Which isn't at all a flattering perspective, but I never said he was a good dude.
This... was.... incredible. I only just found out about you. But this story... maaaaan that was so good. I may have been distracted reading it at work 'cause I didn't wanna put it down! (I still hit my numbers, don't feel bad lol).
Too many thoughts right now, but the loudest: Can we not like... Idk. Upgrade our implant's ram to give Cait some more room? I'm going to miss my brain buddy so much. Can't she staaaay? :'(
Hi, anon! I'm so glad you are enjoying it! 🧡 And don't worry. I used to work in a call center. I fully support "desk distractions" at certain jobs and actually think it helps some people do their work better. 😂
More on your thoughts below
You're right. Upgrades to the MC's implants would help CAIT stick around longer, but there are still a few issues with that.
Even within Archon Systems, where the tech is better and there are more specialists in the field of cybernetics, having another surgery to alter or upgrade already existing implants is always going to carry health and safety risks.
People within certain jobs can get the perks of cybernetics that are paid for by their company (or government)—which was the case with the MC and Switch, as examples—but normally that kind of surgery is very expensive, even just to perform upgrades. Right now, they wouldn't be able to afford it (unless CAIT used her tricks to pull some strings).
In theory, if CAIT's self-writing and rewriting program continues to grow, there will always be a limit. Over a long timeline, upgrading the implants is still a stopgap measure.
All that being said, who knows what will happen in the future. 😏
