Evans Again!?

Chris: Probably killed the world cos he's resisting until his last breath. He's just ... naw.

Sydero: Accepted it. Period. It wouldn't really be any different than what she's doing now. She'll run but deep inside she's accepted that fate.

Rahim: Same for Rahim but he's not running.

Zillah: He's terrified of Death, so it's a toss up. He'd be resisting but not enough to where he doesn't accept it. Pretty much just wants it over with.

Amari: I think she'd resist until someone persuades her that it'll save the planet. The whole "it's fate" thing doesn't work on her, but saving people will have her roll over and accept it.

I am so sorry, but I have the memory of a… something with very selective recall memory.

True story. I once took an IQ test and they asked me what the tallest mountain in the world is called, and I was stuck on M for mount for minutes, didn’t even get to Everest. But then they were like “and what’s the name of the author that wrote Sherlock Holmes.” And I’m like: ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE—in half a second.

So… selective.

All that to say.

Chris: If it's a female Roe then Chris is just gonna shrug and be like "you're attractive, sue me." If it's a guy or nonbinary then Chris isn't there, he disappeared the minute Roe said "why did that."

Sydero: "I think I should be applauded for how much I've restrained myself from flirting with you. The fuck do you mean "why did that siren turn into you," it's clear why."

Zillah: "Because it wanted to annoy me. I don't know." *he's stuttering the entire time, give him a moment, he's trying*

Rahim: "I find you attractive. So it turned into you. It's a siren, ironically it doesn't do anything but skim the surface."

Amari: "I may have a tiny itty bitty, large, crush on you."

“He is not heartless, or quite as dear to death as people around him might say.”

~~~

😈😏

Watson: "Sherlock, no! You're wrong. You are—for once, because I know you all too well and I think you forget that sometimes. I do not take all that you say to heart, not when it is your mind playing tricks on you. And a person capable of such brilliance for such good intent—" 🥺 "Sherlock... whatever ideas you put upon yourself now... You are the greatest individual I have ever had the pleasure of knowing."

Watson is delulu.

-- Lestrade: "And? Bloody hell, like I'm any better?"

😆😄😀🙂😐🫩 "I'm stuck with you now. And you're stuck with me, and there ain't any getting out of that—couldn't if I tried. Wouldn't want to, either."

😤 "Stop looking at me like that... Yeah. You're sweet too, when you want to be." Lestrade doesn't mind. Not really. -- Adler:

"Say that again."

😏

"I want you mean. Manipulative? Darling, the only ones who think they ain't are the ones too stupid to see they're lying to themselves as well as others." 😗

"Now... you gonna prove that mean streak or do I have to tease it out of you?"

Adler's... into it.

-- Hamish/Helena: "... It has served you well, has it not?"

🧐 ☕️🫖✨ "You thought I'd mind? No, my dear detective, I do not mind any part that makes you who you are. We shall just have to be clever about who we show and tell, hmm?" ☺️ "Good. Glad we're on the same page—and on that subject, your deceit requires some work. Stealing my morning paper and telling me it was late? Your fingers are still stained... At the very least let the butler press it first."

🥱

"If you are going to lie, my dear... do it to all but me. Or, more importantly, if you have to lie to me—then you damn well better make it so remarkably clever that I do not mind."

Apologies for the smudginess but it still gets it all across I think, lol.

Historical Fiction Winner 🏆 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Affairs of the Heart

It was an incredible pleasure to interview @doriana-gray-games, author of the overall winner in the historical fiction category for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Affairs of the Heart. It's an IF with incredible writing, most lovable characters, and swoon-worthy romance.

Doriana has been a truly amazing, uplifting presence in the IF community for so many years now, and this interview contains... a relic from 2021, mentions of witches in ancient Egypt, and if you read nothing else today, let it be this.

See the full list of winners in this category here.

About the author

I am not British! This comes up a lot… 😅 I’m Swedish, and I learnt English through video games. I knew the English word vehicle before I knew the word cardigan. I host guide and working dogs in training 🥰 So I usually have a Labrador or two around. One did, once, eat my homework…

About the game

Play as your own Sherlock Holmes, but it’s a romance.

Tell me more about your journey into interactive fiction

Sure! I think I’ve told this story a few times, but I don’t mind re-rambling once more. I started this project (aaoth - the full title is far too long) as an interactive writing exercise. I was in the early days of a software engineering degree (that I only took to make games and have a steady backup profession… Ask me how the IT industry is doing for juniors now lol…)

Anyway, I had been sitting on this other RPG game idea for like 2 years. Far too ambitious in hindsight. And when covid hit, I finally had time to sit down and do something with it. I wrote my first scene and… God. It was shit. I thought, like most ignorant people probably do, that writing would be the easy bit in making a game.

Ha!

So, fast-forwarding a bit, I decided to teach myself creative writing + branching dialogue. Gave myself about a year. I had been reading Wayhaven a lot at the time, and loved it, and I decided that ChoiceScript could be a great little way to practice.

[Imagine a montage of writing and reading here] 😌 ✨

I did some really tedious writing exercises, and I skimmed some very long books on writing. I began the project during the late summer of 2020, and I posted my first demo and chapter in the summer of 2021. I had showed it to no one. I didn’t really know Tumblr was a thing at that point, so I didn’t have one. The only person who read it before I posted was one user on the forums, a few hours before I put it up. I think I asked in some writing support thread…

HOLD ON IM SKIMMING MY OLD POSTS AND DMS, I found it:

I posted this, and someone very nice DM'd me. And they were complimentary enough of my demo that I posted it publicly like an hour later. With very shaky hands.

And, the rest, as they say, is history!

Everyone was so nice about it that I very quickly moved it from an exercise in my mind to something much more. Thankfully, I had already done all my outlining and planning as part of my learning process 🥰

I want to end this part on an unusual note.

My journey into writing was a strange one, and in many ways quite late in life. I always thought only a certain type of person was a writer—someone born with a pen in hand, who speaks eloquently and has read Tolstoy in multiple translations. AS I NOW KNOW THIS ISN’T TRUE, I can say that anyone can do it if they are ready to work on it, and do the hard work and practice ❤

Doing this was so fun and sweet and ugh ❤️ I had been so busy that I had missed this whole event and then this appeared in my inbox and I just about melted 🥺 Y'all so sweet. Thank you to everyone who voted, to the @interact-if team for their hard work and wonderful questions (Even if I'm terribly indecisive at the last ones! 😆), and y'all reading this right this second 💐

😚

You have a great weekend now!

💌 xoxo

Replies were restricted so dksjdjskzo

Historical Fiction Winner 🏆 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Affairs of the Heart

It was an incredible pleasure to interview @doriana-gray-games, author of the overall winner in the historical fiction category for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Affairs of the Heart. It's an IF with incredible writing, most lovable characters, and swoon-worthy romance.

Doriana has been a truly amazing, uplifting presence in the IF community for so many years now, and this interview contains... a relic from 2021, mentions of witches in ancient Egypt, and if you read nothing else today, let it be this.

See the full list of winners in this category here.

About the author

I am not British! This comes up a lot… 😅 I’m Swedish, and I learnt English through video games. I knew the English word vehicle before I knew the word cardigan. I host guide and working dogs in training 🥰 So I usually have a Labrador or two around. One did, once, eat my homework…

About the game

Play as your own Sherlock Holmes, but it’s a romance.

Tell me more about your journey into interactive fiction

Sure! I think I’ve told this story a few times, but I don’t mind re-rambling once more. I started this project (aaoth - the full title is far too long) as an interactive writing exercise. I was in the early days of a software engineering degree (that I only took to make games and have a steady backup profession… Ask me how the IT industry is doing for juniors now lol…)

Anyway, I had been sitting on this other RPG game idea for like 2 years. Far too ambitious in hindsight. And when covid hit, I finally had time to sit down and do something with it. I wrote my first scene and… God. It was shit. I thought, like most ignorant people probably do, that writing would be the easy bit in making a game.

Ha!

So, fast-forwarding a bit, I decided to teach myself creative writing + branching dialogue. Gave myself about a year. I had been reading Wayhaven a lot at the time, and loved it, and I decided that ChoiceScript could be a great little way to practice.

[Imagine a montage of writing and reading here] 😌 ✨

I did some really tedious writing exercises, and I skimmed some very long books on writing. I began the project during the late summer of 2020, and I posted my first demo and chapter in the summer of 2021. I had showed it to no one. I didn’t really know Tumblr was a thing at that point, so I didn’t have one. The only person who read it before I posted was one user on the forums, a few hours before I put it up. I think I asked in some writing support thread…

HOLD ON IM SKIMMING MY OLD POSTS AND DMS, I found it:

I posted this, and someone very nice DM'd me. And they were complimentary enough of my demo that I posted it publicly like an hour later. With very shaky hands.

And, the rest, as they say, is history!

Everyone was so nice about it that I very quickly moved it from an exercise in my mind to something much more. Thankfully, I had already done all my outlining and planning as part of my learning process 🥰

I want to end this part on an unusual note.

My journey into writing was a strange one, and in many ways quite late in life. I always thought only a certain type of person was a writer—someone born with a pen in hand, who speaks eloquently and has read Tolstoy in multiple translations. AS I NOW KNOW THIS ISN’T TRUE, I can say that anyone can do it if they are ready to work on it, and do the hard work and practice ❤

Doing this was so fun and sweet and ugh ❤️ I had been so busy that I had missed this whole event and then this appeared in my inbox and I just about melted 🥺 Y'all so sweet. Thank you to everyone who voted, to the @interact-if team for their hard work and wonderful questions (Even if I'm terribly indecisive at the last ones! 😆), and y'all reading this right this second 💐

😚

You have a great weekend now!

💌 xoxo

And thus chaos ensued:

I'm surprised that siren ask was a hit lol Here's pt1

Rook: "You're ok MC, it's ok." He holds your shivering body close, trying not to let his emotions play out on his face. You were reaching for him, enraptured by not just the siren's song, but his own image. You stutter out his name, voice rough, but he only shushes you, "Just rest for now. That's all that matters."

Beck: The water is both his home and his curse. He pulls you away easily, golden magic flaring and lighting up the whole of the dark night and ocean. He doesn't let you go onto your back on land. You cling to him, body shaking. He waits for your thoughts to process and when you say his name, he breathes out a sigh of relief. You whisper, "That siren...it..." He presses a kiss to your brow, "I know. You can tell me later. Let's just get you safe and warm."

Rhea: She screams your name, feet splashing against the water as she runs towards you. She throws her arms around you, voice desperate, "That isn't me, MC. Wake up, it isn't me." The cold winter water makes her body shake, and even you tremble in her arms. There are people behind her, weapons drawn to take on the siren. It slips away before they can get close. You blink slowly, slumping back in her arms. She doesn't let you go. As your conscious fades she whispers, "If I'd known your feelings, I'd..." you don't catch the last of her sentence before you go under.

Zoe: They're shaking more then you, opening their mouth to speak, only for it to close seconds later. They can only see them taking your face in their hands, but it isn't them. Not really. It's the hands of a siren wearing their face. You had been so willing to embrace them, and they can't focus on that. They need to focus on you, on making sure you're ok, on getting you to safety. They swallow and take your hand, "...A doctor. You need to see a doctor." It's all they can manage

Lars: The siren lays dead at his feet, the image of his face flickering out to reveal its true form. The water laps away the blood splattered on him and on you. He has an arm wrapped around you, and you lean heavily into his side. "Lars, that wasn't-" "I know what that was." He has no emotion to his voice, instead pulling you closer to him and out of the water. Despite his words, he's careful with you, as he walks you back to shore, tide pulling at your legs. Somethings shifted, even if he doesn't say it.

It would honestly be really funny to have this in the game, so if I self plagiarise this later, don’t be mad 😅

(Not in relationship, but deep interest from RO, and possible Sherlock).

//I’ll start with Lestrade and do the other ones later—will reblog when they are done :)

Lestrade: (Sherlock is the instigator)

It is in the middle of the day in London town. The sun is blazing despite the famous weather, but the air feels bitingly cold in your lungs. Your shoes hit the stone path with rapid succession. An almost metallic taste hits your mouth. This is not good. Your heart has never beat so fast in your chest.

“Shit—faster, Sherlock!”

—“My legs are of a proportional height! Y—Your legs are uncommonly long!”

Lestrade sprints before you, pushing planks and containers in the way of our pursuers. “What?!”

—”I am saying, I am running as fast as I can!”

Another expletive is thrown out amongst Lestrade’s heavy breathing. “There are people on the next street over—we need a distraction or a means of blending in with the crowd—you—we can’t keep running!”

You need a plan...

—“Will you do as I say?!” you ask, croaking the sound with the last of your breath.

You both fly into a populated street—shopping and promenade, discussion and children running around. There is not enough chaos to be lost by only the crowd. 

“What choice do I have?”

Then there is no time to lose.

You take Lestrade by the arm, pulling them to the side of a shop. The little cover affords you a second to consider the details of a rushed plan. You look into Lestrade's eyes, their eyes wide, breathing heavy. A droplet of sweat falls down their cheek, down to the edge of their neck, where it plunges to a descent. 

This proximity to Lestrade is something new. It feels foreign and sharp. And yet, these new boundaries have to be pressed with further nearness. Your heartbeat thunders in your head. You press forward until their breath and yours intermingle in the small space hidden from view.

“What are you—” They ask. Their pupils wide, their posture frozen.

Oh, if this works, your thoughts pray.

“Make it look real,” you ask of them, you plead, as you close the final proximity.

And as tips of lips touch, and as breaths hitch, and hands falls to waists and hair and cheeks. And as previously frozen hands are warm on skin, pulling in—taking that final breath you thought was lost, you feel found. And as mouths melt, and minds melt—and bodies sink into one another. Oh.

You hear your own distant thoughts echo that time has passed. And find the strength to release them. And as you do, so do they.

And now the cold distance is only tempered by the indulgent wicked touch of hands remaining on cheeks and waists. 

Their eyes remain closed. Their lips marked by slight redness of previous activities. Their breathing still heavy from exertion. Your breath still heavy from... 

Your fingertip happens upon your lip. You wonder how the taste and touch still remain.

They exhale, that shaky and purposeful act that aims to clear the mind of the past, and prepare for the future. Lestrade’s eyelids slowly lift. And no words are said, and no hands are removed until they suddenly are.  

Oh

You find yourself feeling terribly awkward. Needing to explain how—how this was all a plan. How your kiss... was nothing at all.

“There was no time to explain Lestrade—you see, people have a want to avert their gaze from public displays of affection. I’ve seen other strategies, to yawn or to do uncivil acts. But while that could have also diverted eyes, I did not think it had the power necessary here. I thought a kiss... had the highest rate of success. Are you alright, Lestrade?”

“Mmm.” is all the answer you get.

Their eyes scan the area, their hand takes you by the arm. They stop a coach and give directions. And once you have both entered, not another word is said during the journey. Not until you are about to exit, and you can’t be sure you heard right... but you believe they said, “I’m sorry.”

///Sorry if this was grammatically incorrect and there are errors—I wrote it a bit hastily and I have to leave now! I will fix it later <3 Happy Friday!

Watson: (Sherlock is the instigator)

Adler: (They are the instigator)