I just read your story in the twst horrorzine, and I just wanted to pop in and say how much I loved it! Your writing was as beautiful as the story was horrifying and tragic, and everything about Leona and Floyd felt so in character and so correct that I could have taken it as canon if TWST ever went that dark. Like if we fail to defeat Malleus in the events of chapter 7, this is what would happen.
I also just wanted to ask, what was your reasoning behind Leona finding Floyd first? It was such a surprising pairing to me but everything around the circumstances played out to where I was like “yeah, this is the obvious choice”. Like I said, everything you’ve written here just feels like it fits. And it was so heartbreaking to see the context clues on the ways Azul and Jade kept Floyd alive. Leona musing on the fact they always claimed to never be friends or care about each other, only to die protecting each other, had me in shambles.
Did you have any plans of continuing this story outside the zine, or have you always pictured it as open ended? Do you have any ideas on who the other survivors might be, if there’s any at all? The hints to Rook and the freshies maybe making it out definitely had me hooked.
Thank you so much for your work!
I'm glad you liked it! And thank you for supporting the zine đź’–đź’–đź’–
As for Leona finding Floyd first, well first of all, I just like Floyd LMAO. I also think he's one of the more tenacious characters in TWST, and also would be very good at survival. He's smart in his own way, and one of the few who can prob match Leona in strength and is just generally an excellent fighter. I wanted Leona to have a companion who can keep up with him, and it's not like the others aren't strong in their own ways, but Floyd felt like he fit the bill the best. And last but not least, I wanted Leona to have someone he actually needs to work at to keep on track and anchored to sanity, to have someone who needs him because otherwise they might go on a suicide run at Malleus. Because lbr Leona's will to live isn't always standing on solid ground. Floyd is crazy enough and independent enough to challenge Leona and not let him just give up, but Floyd's also lost enough now to need Leona around just as much as Leona would need him.
I have nebulous plans to continue it? I've def thought about some scenes and plot points that would come after this. For example, Leona's group would actually include Rook and possibly Silver as well, although Silver would probably be unconscious/asleep for quite a while. Idia too eventually. They would be on this island for only a little longer, their next stop would be the Sunset Savanna, and there'd be a whole angsty scene where the kingdom's in shambles. Leona may or may not make it back in time for Falena and Cheka's last moments. And a broader goal of theirs would be to find the freshies who are still alive but who knows where they are lol. That's about as far as brainstormed though. Obviously I couldn't fit it all into one zine piece but I might write a sequel in the future. We'll see.
Thank you again for reading and dropping me such a nice comment!
