It's my character Zenobos' birthday today! Zenobos is a love interest in my game Romance The Backrooms, voiced by the amazing @auroraaveva ! He's an anxious bean who's terrified of confrontation & combat, but will still gather his courage to stand up for those he loves.
In Romance The Backrooms, you fall into the titular liminal space and are rescued by 5 entities. Zenobos is one of them. In the first chapter of the game, you are then taken by other malicious actors to The King, who wants you (a human) for his own purposes.
You can play the first chapter here: https://norbez.itch.io/romance-the-backrooms . We are currently working on revamping it in Renpy with updated writing and new graphics all around!
Finally, if you played Romance The Backrooms or are interested in it, can you please reply and let me know? Knowing that people are invested in this story, which is a long one that will take time to fully tell, will help motivate me to finish it.
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Saw all of the Miiverse "Yeah" art going around (since Twitter disabled public likes), and decided to do some versions with the Romance The Backrooms characters!
70th day of the 365 Days Of Character Development writing game! Basically how it works is that each day, we use (with permission, of course) a question from my friend's book on character development to get our creative juices flowing! If you like this game, I recommend buying the book to support an independent creator!
Also, I apologize for not posting prompts consistently—it’s been difficult for me to post a prompt every day. I can’t promise daily prompts, but I will try to do at least 1 per week from now on. I hope that’s understandable.
Here's today's question:
I'll be answering for the main characters of my liminal space otome game Romance The Backrooms. I’d love to hear the answer to the prompt for your characters—reply, reblog, and/or make your own post (and give me the link, because I’d love to see it!).
Carla (the main character) bursts into tears and sobs. She isolates herself from others, not answering calls or texts from people concerned about her. She spends most of her time in the “depression” phase of grief.
Kalcal becomes angry and sad. He laughs in response to intense emotions, including sadness, so he’ll laugh a lot and go looking for ways to relieve his stress and let out his energy. Once his energy is drained, he’ll curl up into a ball and cry. Poor guy. . . He spends most of his time in the “anger” & “depression” phases of grief.
Glarence buries his feelings and tries to move forward as normal. Unfortunately, this results in him releasing those emotions when he doesn’t mean to, lashing out towards people he cares about. It’s very rare for him to cry in front of people—not many have seen him do so. He spends the most time in the “anger” phase of grief.
Uri feels numb & sad, and blames himself. Even if he logically knows nothing he could’ve done would’ve changed things, emotionally, he feels at fault and like he should have done more. He spends the most time in the “depression” phase of grief.
Zenobos becomes in denial, then tries to figure out a way to undo what’s happened, find a way to fix it. Once it becomes clear it can’t be fixed, he breaks down. He spends the most time in the “denial” & “bargaining” phases of grief.
Adiel becomes sad, but knows that death is to be expected in the backrooms—it was bound to happen eventually. He spends most of his time in the “acceptance” phase of grief, but that doesn’t mean he’s not mad, sad, or depressed.
I'm making a dating sim that takes place in the backrooms!
The demo comes out next month for the Otome Jam, and I'm so excited to share this passion project of mine with the world. I've been hyperfixated on it since October of last year lol.
You play as this lovely lady right here:
More on Carla
And here's more information on the 5 love interests!
More on Kalcal
More on Glarence
More on Uri
More on Zenobos
More on Adiel
I tag everything related to the game with #romancethebackrooms , and I've made a few posts on Twitter if you want to check that out! Most recently, our talented voice cast was announced--I'm so humbled to be working with such talented people!
Lmk your thoughts on this idea. I'll be uploading more stuff about the game on this blog!
I found out that creativepromptsforwriting is doing another prompt week and it’s Valentine’s Day themed and HOW DID I MISS THIS??? Regardless, now I gotta write something for the prompts! C:
As usual, the stories are for the characters in my game Romance The Backrooms, a liminal space otome with 5 main love interests.
There were too many good prompts to choose form, so I ended up writing multiple stories. They will be splt into 2 parts; I’ll link Part 2 when it’s up. Enjoy!
These may or may not be canon.
Today’s Overall Prompt: Accidental Love Confessions
__________
Story 1’s Prompts: Confessing in the middle of a stupid fight; During a very stressful situation, one screams "I care about you, can't you see that I love you?"
Characters: Glarence & Carla (the main character)
Other Info: Inspired by my BPD.
“I push everyone I care about away,” Glarence snapped. “I’m unstable—everyone around me can see that. So why the FUCK don’t you?!”
“Because I care about you, and I’m not letting you just shove me into a corner like some forgotten toy!” Carla shouted, clenching her fists.
Glarence scoffed. “You don’t care about me.”
“Of course I do!” Carla exclaimed. Anger & passion ran through her in equal measure, and she shouted. “Can you see that I love you?!”
Glarence’s eyes widened in surprise. “You do?” he asked, utterly dumbfounded for perhaps the first time in his life.
Carla looked into his eyes and nodde. “I do,” she replied. “I love you, Glarence.”
_____
Story 2’s Prompts: Saying "you're lucky I love you" and realizing too late what they said
Characters: Kalcal & Zenobos
Other Info: I write a lot of Kalcal x Zenobos stories, this is the latest one of the bunch.
Zenobos gave Kalcal a plate of food, looking embarrassed. “I kind of burned the Hound meat,” the green entity said sadly. “I’m sorry if it tastes bad. . .”
“Hey, your food always tastes amazing!” Kalcal replied, taking the food and ruffling Zenobos’ hair playfully.
Zenobos giggles. “And if it does taste bad?” he asks.
Kalcal laughed. “Then consider yourself lucky that I love you, buddy!”
Zenobos blinked, and stared at his friend. “You. . . You love me?” he squeaked.
“Of course I do, buddy!” Kalcal exclaimed. He leaned down and kissed Zenobos on the forehead. “You’re the person I’m closest to in the world. I love you more than anyone.” Zenobos blushed. “Thank you, Kalcal.”
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More @juneofdoom ! This is Day 24: "Let’s get you cleaned up." I did incorporate some of of the keywords (stitches & bandages).
Takes place: before Romance The Backrooms occurs
Contains: injured & bleeding Kalcal, scene where Zenobos has to stitch up the wound
Other things to know: this story takes place in the backrooms. Before Kalcal & Zenobos met the other 3 main characters (Glarence, Adiel, & Uri), the two of them were traveling together. I wrote a story about how they met and started doing that here.
___________
“Ahahahaha!” Kalcal exclaimed, dancing next to the body of the hound he had slain. “Another victory for me!”
Kalcal frowned, looking at his arms and trying to find the injury. Sure enough, there was a gash on his shoulder, and cyan-colored blood was pouring out of it. Had the hound scratched him with its claws? He hadn’t even noticed.
Zenobos was turning pale, and he took off his backpack. “I-I have medical supplies,” he told Kalcal. “B-But I can’t stand the sight of b-blood. . . You’ll have to tend to the wound yourself, o-ok?”
“Okey-doke!” Kalcal said with a shrug.
Zenobos sat down on the floor, and Kalcal went next to him. Zenobos took a few items out of his bag: a needle, thick thread, wet wipes, and wrap-around bandages. “Here, use these to sew up the wound and tend to it,” Zenobos said, holding the items out but looking away as much as possible.
“Thanks, buddy!” Kalcal exclaimed, taking the items. “I’ve never sewn up my own flesh before—this is gonna be fun!”
Zenobos put a hand over his mouth, looking sick. “D-Don’t say that. . . I feel like I’m going to puke.”
“Oh, sorry buddy,” Kalcal said. “I’ll just focus on this then, ok?”
Zenobos nodded. “Y-Yeah."
Kalcal threaded the needle and looked down at his shoulder. He tried to get a good angle, but soon found a problem. “Hey Z,” he said, “I kinda can’t see what I’m doing here. . .”
Zenobos gulped. “A-Are you asking me to do it then?”
“If that’s ok. Sorry, I just don’t want to mess this up.”
Zenobos sighed and swallowed hard. After a moment of silence, he said, “O-Ok then. Give me the needle.”
Kalcal did so. Zenobos turned to look at the wound, bringing his hands over to the gash. “I-I’m going to start now, ok?” he said, trying not to get sick.
“Yep!” Kalcal replied.
Zenobos swallowed hard, and then, he brought the needle into Kalcal’s skin. Kalcal screamed, and Zenobos winced—hold on, wait a minute. Was that a scream, or a laugh?
“Are you ok?” he asked Kalcal.
“I’m fine, it just tickles!” Kalcal exclaimed, laughing again. “Go ahead.”
Zenobos sighed and turned back to the wound. Trying not to think too hard about the gruesome task before him, he started stitching up the wound.
Kalcal’s laughter throughout the process actually made it easier, not harder. It made Zenobos pretend to himself that he was doing something fun & innocent, something nice. . . He could dream at least.
It was over faster than he expected, thankfully. He soon found himself cutting the thread, cleaning the wound, and wrapping it. “Phew,” Zenobos said, letting out a sigh of relief. “I-I’m glad that’s done with. . .”
“Thanks, buddy!” Kalcal exclaimed, giving Zenobos a great big hug, startling the scared little entity. “You’re the best!”
Zenobos smiled and patted Kalcal’s arm. “N-No worries.”
Kalcal let him go and asked, “How’d you know how to do that, anyways?”
The question brought back a flood of memories. There was a lot Zenobos could say in that moment, but he simply responded, “A human I met taught me.”
So, @creativepromptsforwriting is doing a writing thing called “24 Days of Gift-Giving” where each day of December has a prompt, so I figured it would be fun to write something up for each prompt! Feel free to participate too, if you’d like! It could be a fun writing game!
Like usual, I will be doing these for the characters of my story Romance The Backrooms, a liminal space otome with 5 main love interests.
Today’s Prompt: Nine Nice Compliments; “I really like the way you speak. You make everyone listen to what you have to say.” ; “You definitely have a talent for this. It’s awesome.” ; “Hanging out with you is always so much fun.”; “You’re a good friend, and I appreciate that so much.” ; “I admire how you always find the right words to say.” ; “Your style is so great and works perfectly for you.” ; “I always feel safe around you.” ; “You’re so strong. I always admired that about you.” ; “I wouldn’t change a thing about you, you are great as you are.”
Characters: Kalcal & Zenobos
Other Info: This takes place when Kalcal & Zenobos were travelling together, just the two of them.
__________
Nine Little Moments Between Kalcal & Zenobos
1.
“I really like the way you speak,” Kalcal said to Zenobos. “You make everyone listen to what you have to say, ‘cuz you always know what you’re talking about.”
Zenobos blushed. “Aw geez, thanks!” he said. “I-I just try to keep myself knowledgeable, that’s all. . .”
“It shows!” Kalcal exclaimed.”
2.
“You definitely have a talent for this,” Zenobos said as he showed Kalcal how to use his pan over the fire.
Kalcal looked over at him. For once, he looked shy & unsure. “You really think so?”
“Yeah,” Zenobos replied with a reassuring smile. “It’s awesome.”
3.
“Hanging out with you is always so much fun!” Kalcal exclaimed.
“But we hang out all the time!” Zenobos pointed out with a laugh.
Kalcal grinned. “Yeah! It makes every day so much fun!
4.
“You’re a good friend, and I appreciate that so much,” Kalcal said to Zenobos as they watched Level 48’s sunset.
Zenobos looked over with a smile. “You’re a good friend to me, too,” he said.
5.
“It’s going to be ok,” Zenobos said, putting his hand on top of Kalcal’s. “I can locate an exit. We won’t be trapped here forever, I promise.”
Kalcal sniffled, wiping away his tears. “You know, I admire how you always find the right words to say. . . Thank you.”
6.
“Heh—your fighting style is so great,” Zenobos said to Kalcal. “It fits you so perfectly.”
Kalcal grinned. “Thanks! It’s chaotic and wild, just like me!”
7.
“Stay behind me,” Kalcal whispered to Zenobos. “I’ll keep you safe from those Hounds.”
“I know you will,” Zenobos said with a smile. “I always feel safe around you.”
Kalcal grinned. “Thanks, buddy.”
8.
Kalcal panted, licking Smiler blood off of his claws, and turned around to see Zenobos standing there. “You ok?” Kalcal asked him.
“Yeah. . .” Zenobos looked up at him in awe. “Y-You’re so strong. . . I’ve always admired that about you.”
Kalcal smiled. “Heh, thanks.”
9.
“Sometimes I wish I was different,” Kalcal admitted. “That I my soul had been born a different way in my body, and made me a completely different person than who I am now.”
Zenobos put a comforting hand on Kalcal’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t want to change a thing about you,” he told his friend. “You’re great just as you are.”
Kalcal looked over at him, unsure. “You think so?” Zenobos nodded. “Absolutely.”
14th day of the 365 Days Of Character Development writing game! Basically how it works is that each day, we use (with permission, of course) a question from my friend's book on character development to get our creative juices flowing! If you like this game, I recommend buying the book to support an independent creator!
Here's today's question:
How does your character feel about the inevitability of their own death?
I'll be answering for the main characters of my gameRomance The Backrooms. I’d love to hear the answer to the prompt for your characters—reply, reblog, and/or make your own post (and give me the link, because I’d love to see it!).
Since this can be a triggering topic, I will hide my answers under the cut. CW for discussion of death (of course), mental health issues, and suicidal ideations.
Carla (the main character) feels anxious about the inevitability of death, but she tries to push forward and not think about it too much. She’s had anxiety attacks as a result of overthinking it in the past.
Kalcal feels nothing in particular. To him, death is just going to be a new adventure, so there’s nothing to be afraid of! He’ll get to it when he gets to it.
Glarence feels anxious about his own death, but he tries not to show it and disguise his nervousness with a stoic attitude. He sees death as a terrifying thing, an unknown horror that will rip him away from everything he knows and all of the people he cares about.
Uri feels sad about the inevitability of his own death, but also angry that he hasn’t died yet. He is suicidal, and thinks that if anyone deserves to die, it’s him, so why is he still here?!
Zenobos feels anxious about the inevitability of his own death, but is also comforted by it. Because when he dies, he’ll get to meet all of the humans he bonded with who have passed away, people he spent a lot of time grieving. And he would like to see them again.
Adiel feels . . . conflicted. On one hand, he knows death is a reality, and has seen many people die. On the other hand, he doesn’t have the needs that other people do, like food, water, or sleep, and has survived things that would kill most other people. So as a result, he wonders if he can die at all. And if the others can die but he can’t, is he trapped in the living realm, while everybody leaves him? He doesn’t know.
