flushed

I’ve decided to go with “Lab Rat.” If this wasn’t your fav, don’t fret. I may still dabble in the other projects I’ve teased. My writing is subject to mood and motivation, and sometimes I may get inspired to write on one of these other stories if I’m not feeling GC or LR.

Lab Rat probably called to me the most, and I did see that most others felt the same. I want to dive into an MC with a different depth of trauma and show their path of healing from it. I have been playing with ideas to flesh out this story, and it still has a ways to go before I feel more secure about the plotline. I’ve made some alterations as well.

The premise you read remains the same, but some of the details will change. And I’ll also mention this now, you will see some similarities with a few things that are in GC. Obviously, the stories and paths are different, but there’s a common thread in the things that impact the MCs. I just like writing these, so I’m going to. I know it will be mentioned, and I’m tempering expectations now. It’s not the same story, clearly, but some aspects will feel familiar. That’s just kinda how entertainment media goes.

I have also adjusted the RO selections. If I had more time in a day, I would happily do mostly, or even all, gender-selectable ROs; however, that doesn’t seem feasible right now. So, you will have two gen-selectable ROs, but 6 ROs in total. Depending on what the future holds, perhaps this can be expanded or something. I do apologize if your favorite RO from the early teaser isn’t who you want them to be. I already had a couple of leanings when the characters were created, so I used that to determine the lineup. For now, ACE will not be on this list (they may be a stretch goal).

So, I won’t leave you in suspense any longer...

Ev’ren, our beloved Team Captain, will be a woman.

Soltis, the Vice Captain, will be a man.

And Winter, the Medic, will be gender-selectable.

Ah-ha, but you may now be saying, “Lunan, that is only 3 ROs...”

You are correct, I’m getting there, lol.

So, as I was redesigning, I got to thinking that everyone needs a friend to connect with, and MC here should be no different. The team is great and all, but what if they had someone who could identify with them on a level that the others can’t quite reach?

So, your other gender-selectable RO is a friend you accidentally stumbled upon while in recovery — Echo.

As you may have guessed or fantasized about (I don’t judge), the 3rd Floor Janitor mentioned in the teaser is your next RO and will also be a man.

Last but not least, we will have a brilliant, soft, and sweet little lady who definitely isn’t a mad scientist and might just be able to help MC along on their journey.

Throughout the month on Patreon & Ko-fi (free/public tiers), I will post about each RO. I’ll tell you just a little about them, their personalities, and quirks. The names of the last two will be revealed then. I’ve rewritten a little of the intro, showing some background on the MC’s decision to break into the Parsec Archives. I’ll move the demo to an official template soon as well and try to make it pretty for you before publishing it for reading.

I’ll be playing around more with relationship mechanics in this one, and maybe some skills and skill checks. I’m not a fan of skill checks that feel redundant or are written in an elusive way leaving me confused on what skill we're talking about, lol. So, I want to avoid doing that. I’d also like to come up with a relationship system that doesn’t require you to pick every single thing the RO likes and such to score points with them. I want to do something different, and I want that to be more decision-based. Two or even three of the ROs may actually have “meters” you will need to reduce for one reason or another in order to get them to see MC in a romantic light. For example, one or more team members may need to see MC as independent because they’re stuck in a “caregiver” mentality. So, the MC’s choices can influence the RO’s understanding of this. I’ll probably make the flirting optional as well and have the MC specifically choose who they’re interested in.

There will likely be consequences for flirting with multiple people, at least after a particular point in the story. There will also be poly relationships. I have not officially decided on pairings, but I’m seeing a few possibilities.

Eventually, I will make all the fun little Tumblr posts about characters and such and update my pinned post as well! There may even be art this year for it!

In less exciting news...uh, my laptop broke yesterday, lol. One of the hinges decided, “no, fuck this person,” and broke away from the casing and began to pop my screen out with it. It was one of the most absurd things ever. I baby the stupid thing, and nothing happened. I was just shutting the lid when I heard a snap. So, there’s that. It might hang me up here and there, but I have an old computer that still limps along that I can use until my good one is fixed. Thankfully, I still had 3 months on the warranty, but I will need to ship it off for repair. Hilariously, I once lost a Toshiba laptop down a flight of stairs, and it didn’t so much as scuff, and that thing lasted YEARS after. “Back in my day...” *shakes cane*

Anyway, that's all for now!