Junior

(Still a bit of a WIP!)

Okay so this I can answer quite easily!

If you want the short/direct answer to the question,

Dominating The Scenery (DTS) was inspired by a dream I had on the 3rd of February this year (2026). So like 4 and a half months ago. (Told you this story was still in development lmao)

HI HRLLO AGAIN

I know you wanted LOTS of yapping/lore and probably something cooler than this, but the only real thing that I’ve been dying to talk about (and frankly forgot) is actually a brief character concept I had! And I figured I’d take the opportunity to tell someone before I forgot again lol.

[edit while writing this: oops! All yabbering! /reference]

Basically, the concept is this kinda vague “penpal” character, whose real name, looks, etc are kind of a mystery? But they send letters and such back and forth between whoever in the DTS building, most notably their “best friend” who is currently unnamed and undesigned (although they’re supposed to have a canon name and design eventually ofc!) and who attends the DTS building for whatever reason

This “Penpal” (which is what they’re simply known by) is frankly inspired by the “friend” In some of the YouTubers SocksApollo’s shorts of all things??? And so they have a very very silly personality, and probably use the :3 emoticon wayyy too much. Again, most actual identifying things about them are unknown, and I’m thinking they probably avoid personal questions and such? But idk how they’d go about it exactly. That’s for me to figure out.

I’m thinking specifically that you contact them via the DTS building, usually maybe via some sort of place/main “booth” where you like… sit down, and there’s a bit of a (red coloured) curved counter + paper and pens and such for you to write with, and there’s also a bunch of yellowish tubes all against the wall…. and so you write something, and then you put it in a tube, and the tube system kinda sucks it up and pulls it away into who knows where. Like uhhh. pneumatic tube systems/air tube systems I think they’re called. Like in banks or hospitals. But maybe even without the actual container, because DTS building logic. But anyways, im thinking that they then usually respond unusually fast (maybe only within certain hours though??? I’d have to figure that out. Like as if they’re only avalible on whatever “shift”. But that aside, it’s like you’re texting them with how fast they usually are. Small delay obviously, but still rather fast). I also figure there’s smaller version of this booth with only like one tube each scattered around the building, although it’s more common in certain areas/divisions than others (before most common in whatever division the main booth is in). ((Which I still have to figure out how that division/part of the building looks and works lmao. But I have some vague aesthetic/vibe in mind))

I also think that these booths and the main booths aren’t like…. specifically just for Penpal. I think they’re mostly for other things. Like normal (small) mail or whatever. But it just also happens to be one of the fastest/most reliable ways to contact Penpal

Again, their more or less best freind/best pen pal is a currently unnamed, undesigned, and undeveloped character, and usually they chat a fair amount. But Penpal is also very friendly and does not at all mind chatting with new people and making new friends! In fact I’m sure a fair amount of people are in contact with them, even if it’s usually far less than their normal/most “loyal” pal.

I’m also thinking that although usually they’re quite silly and are up to chat about whatever nonsensical things, maybe they’ve also hinted at knowing an ominous amount of things? Like obviously they probably secretly know a lot of gossip considering I wouldn’t doubt people share all sorts of tea with them, but I mean like random helpful things. Like oh you have an issue? Just ask resident Penpal. The unofficial help desk.

But maybe later in the story it’s also briefly implied that they know more than they let on— like they’re the silly one that just happens to be like “oh yeah I know about the layers, why didn’t you ask?? :3” (Even if you may have asked before 😔) or some other ominous stuff like that. Like fym you knew about the other layers of the DTS building??? Stuff like that. I’m uncertain though.

Anyways forgot to mention but i think that they probably communicate in these little yellowed formal postcard sized pieces of paper, almost like a telegram, if you guys are communicating quickly/in short messages. If yall sending full on letters, then maybe you’ll get the fancy similarly styled paper, orrr maybe you’ll get the most cheap lined paper ever in return. Who knows?

Also, although I mentioned a quick response time, I’m sure that it kind of depends, actually? Like if you’re sending long letters every few weeks/days and don’t mind waiting a few days for one back, it may take a while. In that case, I feel like you’d also use more “standard” mailing, even if it’s still DTS style mailing which is probably still very weird and illogical or whatever. But if you send a short message through a booth and want a message quickly, then usually it’ll come relatively quickly, or at least as long as it takes to get your message and then write one back and send it real quick.

Idk what else to say tbh

If I come up with anything else or change anything, I’ll update ya!

Frankly, for some mild context, “OP” as a character was originally apart of a story called ERRORCODE, and was made all the way back in April 2023 (although she was finalised January 2024). Her full name was Original Poster. Acronymised name pronounced as O-P aka oh-pee. As my old online friend once said, “Not the Reddit/Quora slang 😭”. (/silly). Don’t really wanna talk about ERRORCODE!OP on here anymore though

But anyways I reused her in DTS for reasons I’ll explain when I answer the ask regarding when I came up with DTS! :D

as for the actual DTS version of her (aka the one you asked about), frankly, without getting into spoiler territory, I’m still developing that! So technically speaking, her real/full name COULD theoretically be different than ERRORCODE!OP. Or maybe not. Or maybe not not. Or maybe not not not not. Who knows? But again, possible spoilers if I get too far into it and the ideas I have with her (even with my current underdeveloped knowledge).

Hostess, because I got hit with the hashtag hyperfixation beam randomly (brains are weird)

Which is unfortunate since Ellie is the main character, NOT Hostess🙅🙅🙅

Actually, fun fact, she was made a little bit before DTS was conceived, and was my persona for a short time! But then I made DTS and casually shoved her in there as her own character lmao

(Repost of this image for the hundredth time (sorry!) but under the cut is Hostess for reference, for those unaware! :3)

HAHAHSHEHEHHEHEHEHE MY FIRST ASK IM SO HAPPY EHEHEH!!!! THANK YOU ROADKILL :DDDD

Okay so anyways. Onto the answer

(Please note that I am ACTIVELY working on this story, and so things are always subject change!)

((Also note that this is an entirely separate storyline/universe/canon from ERRORCODE. All my current posts about “OP” are from that storyline, not necessarily this one. Mentioning this to clear up any confusion.))

Without many Spoilers, the plot revolves around the main character named Ellie, and her search to find her friend named OP. For some reason I still have yet to develop, she decides to search for OP in (or otherwise somehow ends up in) a currently unnamed yet very important building (within an equally unnamed city), which I’ve been informally referring to as the “DTS building”. This building (in the current lore) is somewhat of a tourist attraction, mostly known for 2 things. First of all, it is in an “unstable part of reality” [note: still developing the actual worldbuilding around this], meaning that a plethora of wacky things happens, and a lot of the time, a lot of things don’t make sense! Second, it’s known for its many educational programmes it offers, as well as its take on education. They plan to “revolutionise” how people learn, pretty much rebuilding schooling from the ground up, and making education more “personalised” for each student — ensuring everyone gets the education they deserve, as well as HOW they deserve it (even if, for some students, they just want more “normal” schooling). As such, Ellie goes on MANY wacky and wonderful adventures within the building, and she meets lots of new people, all the while searching for OP. What happens? Who does she meet? Does she ever find OP? find out more when ummm. When I tell you! Yeah.

Link to a (still updating as of posting) frankly egregiously sized Pinterest board full of what some areas of the building look like

+ Ellie for reference (for anyone who doesn’t know what she looks like! :D) [**note: I removed some spoilers from this version of the ref for the purpose of this post]

Colour palette test + drawn for funsies cause the scene reminded me of the mirror doppelgänger

Also fun fact, this drawing is what made it canon (for now at least) that there can be multiple of them ehehe

(reference under cut)

(If I need to add any more CW/TW tags, just lmk!)

I don’t want to get too far into it, but I’m probably (possibly???) gonna slowly step away from posting about ERRORCODE, as I’ve made a LOT of mistakes with it and it’s writing that I don’t wish to repeat — mostly because it was simply made for fun and such, and wasn’t exactly created with having an audience in mind. Meaning that, again, Dominating The Scenery is the only real thing I’ll be infodumping since I don’t currently have any other major stories going on right now other than them two.