Glo gl0st1ck

The story was originally going to be set a few years before Crispia Chapter 13, with the main characters being Caramel Arrow, Second Watcher, and Bittersweet Dark Cacao Watcher. The story would have followed these three characters from the moment Caramel Arrow started her training as a Watcher to the moment she became First Watcher.

Caramel Arrow had a mentor that was named something along the lines of "Strawberry Choco" (I genuinely don't remember), who would go on to serve alongside her after Carrow graduated from training. She was a role model to Caramel Arrow specifically because she was a strong Watcher who empowered women and girls in the cadet classes. Strawberry Choco would ultimately die, which would give Caramel Arrow another motive to strive for the title of First Watcher.

Second Watcher and Bittersweet, on the other hand, were a bit more complicated than Caramel Arrow's hero's journey. The two were originally going to be sweethearts from their cadet days, but then a horrific patrol incident that left both of them scarred and traumatized ended things. Said incident was where Second Watcher lost his eye as well as where Bittersweet got horrible scars that resulted in her covering half her face. Their story would have followed them a year or so after the incident, and would have ended with them tentatively trying to mend their relationship.

I'm actually not too sure what Dark Cacao's role in this rendition of Night Flower was aside from being king. I think he was just perpetually sitting on the throne looking ominous the whole time.

Probably set in like,, a college setting?? Mostly bc a lot of characters are already close to the age where they would be going.

Would also be a conglomerate of arcs, so characters from different arcs are interacting with each other while modernized events of specific arc moments are playing out.

Dorms are required at the uni everyone goes to, so the roommate situation was Dark Cacao sharing a space with Chocolate Pepero, White Swirled Chocolate, and Chocolate Bark.

There is a period of time when Dark Cacao was dating Sharp Espresso like in arc 2, but the other three were so proactive about keeping Dark Cacao away from him after a failed intervention that it didn't last nearly as long as it did in night flower. The three of them admittedly took it a bit far and got walkie-talkies to communicate despite having phones, but luckily they could retire before getting to the point of buying binoculars and stalking.

In Arc 3, White Lily is introduced and meets the then-First Watcher Amaretto Chocolate. In the modern au, this translates to White Lily being an international student with Amaretto Chocolate being her roommate.

Chocolate Pepero's been an intern with a social activist organization since his freshman year. In his second year with the organization, he meets Cocoa Marshmallow, a freshman who just started volunteering with them. Nothing horrific happens to her in this au, and she goes on to set several records for the university's track team.

Choco Silk Pie is a history major who had a few shared classes with Chocolate Pepero. Unfortunately, a less-evil-but-still-evil version of Malted Cacao exists. Instead of sacrificing his perceived undeserved happiness and marrying her, Chocolate Pepero fistfights Malted Cacao in an alleyway and wins. Malted Cacao would go on to try and become an alpha male podcaster only to get bullied off of the internet and the campus.

Chocolate Khalimag and Shuang Pei Nai are younger students who insist on following Dark Cacao around like ducklings. If he isn't around, its usually Chocolate Pepero, Choco Bingsu (Dark Cacao's wife in a later arc), or White Swirled Chocolate who gets it.

Normally, students will go through a K-12 school system between the ages of 6-18. However, more prestigious houses will choose to accelerate their children's schooling so that they graduate from the system between the ages of 14-16. The practice comes from the post-war sentiment that the next generation must build on the hardships of their forefathers to pave the road for a better future, but it's often criticized by a handful of political parties and activists.

There's a number of houses that are either completely original or already exist in canon but are being built upon. My completely, unbiased, totally-not-influenced-by-otters-and-impending-degree favorite is House Scallop, which has a focus in marine conservation and science. My second favorite is House Chantilly, which mostly serves as a commentary on what the church should be vs. what they actually are.

There's a tradition where houses, organizations, and universities will send them flyers, promotional materials, and letters of interest to graduating seniors. Schools will sort these materials into folders and distribute them on something called 'Flyer Day.' This was largely made up for the sake of simplifying the narrative, but is also a personal commentary on how I got SO MUCH PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS FROM COLLEGES individually when I was a high school senior that I didn't get around to cleaning them out until recently. If everything had come in at once in a neat little folder, I would've had a more fun time throwing them out.