Announcement about Discord Forum Quest

hello beautiful patrons!!! sorry i've been so absentee, I have been having some writers block as usual. bleh.

while i try to get my shit together, I have been playing a little forum game over on my discord. it's like kind of an interactive story thingie? like homestuck or something. Laura says they're usually called "Forum quests". basically its like i'm telling a story and you decide what the main character says and does. i'm also doing some illustrations for it as we go.

anyway this is one called "Come Out to the Beach" which i previously played on the STWL discord in like 2022. i am eager to see how different it gets with a new set of players :3

this shouldn't interfere with my usual writing, it's just something i am doing for fun. i'm not sure if people would be interested in me posting updates/recaps of it here, but i figured i would make this post to test it out. let me know if you would like me to post more (maybe every few days or so?) or if you would prefer i keep this sort of thing to the discord and off the patreon feed

anyway here is what we've been up to so far! regular text is me, indented text are discord member suggestions :3

—

You never felt like you fit in back in high school. Sure, you knew all the other kids well enough -- it's hard not to, in such a small town -- but did any of them really know you?

Probably not. After all, most of the time you didn't really feel like you knew yourself. It was like you were witnessing your life from the outside, the boring tale of a sad and lonely boy...

But then you left your small town to go to uni in the big smoke, and you really flourished. You got super into....

POLL: What hobby did you pick up in uni?

• Oztag

• League of Legends

• Musical theatre

You got super into MUSICAL THEATRE. For some reason, it made you really happy. Something about stepping into a role, becoming a completely different person... and wearing makeup.

It also helped that there were a bunch of queer people around.

After a few shows, and a few drunk DNMs with your theatre besties, your egg finally cracked. You came out as a trans girl and things got a lot better.

You decided to change your name to...

Icosa Hedron
Chloe

You changed your name to CHLOE!

At Christmas break, you head home to visit your family. Going home reminds you of how much high school sucked. Your sibling picks you up from the train station.

"Hey bro!" they say. They can clearly see that you're a girl now, but they don't mention it. They're quirky like that, "Some of the people from our old high school are having a party at the beach tonight. You wanna go?"

zyllycat
Cast fireball

You try to cast a fireball. Unfortunately your NERDNESS is too low to know the proper incantation.

Amelia!
Stand there with a sunned expression and point at your tits

You stand there with a sunned expression and point at your tits.

"Wow, nice tits bro," says your sibling, "Also ouch looks like you got a sunburn... or as we call it in our family, a sunned expression."

You are hurt by your sunburn and by being misgendered. +1 DEPRESSION.

cass
Get on a plane and go home

zyllycat
you can bring a bottle of fireball

rabbit 3mma
do an interpretive dance to let them know how you feel

You try to turn around and leave but your sibling catches you.

"This isn't the time for that!" they say.

Reluctantly, you grab a bottle of Fireball you picked up at the duty-free (they have a duty-free store at the train station, a quirk of this particular town), and do an interpretive dance to tell your sibling how you feel.

With your 5 ARTNESS, you perform a beautiful dance that shows exactly how you feel -- the anxiety about coming home, the joy you found in transitioning, and the pain from your sunned expression. Your sibling is moved to tears.

"Wow," they say, "I can't believe my brother is so beautiful."

Amelia!
“I’m a girl now, you idiot!”

"I'm a girl now, you idiot!" you say.

"Oh yeah," they say, "That's awesome sis."

cass
lll just throw the obvious out there
agree to go to the beach party

zyllycat
why is the siblings gender hidden

cass
investigate siblings gender

rabbit 3mma
go to the store to pick up beach supplies like a towel and suntan lotion so you don't burn more

Elle
I would like to insight check sibling, are they lying about their ambiguous gender?

marya of 1000 names
leave ur sib alone!!!
they are allowed to be ambiggy!!!

You agree to go to the beach party and your sibling drives you there. Before you can investigate their gender, they announce that they need to go to the store to pick up beach supplies for you, like a towel and suntan lotion.

"Plus I forgot to bring party drugs," they say, "It's not a party without party drugs."

They drive off, leaving you stranded at the beach.

It's getting dark, and you can see the party has already begun.

AAYUSH SINGH, DARREN PAWSON, and JENNY YANG are throwing a footy around.

RAT HENSON is sitting by a bonfire, staring into the flames.

MELINDA WU is playing a game on her Nintendo Switch.

There is A DOG wandering around.

There are other people at the party, but they're not relevant. What do you wanna do?

Amelia!
Play with the dog

Elle
pet the dog

You approach the DOG.

"Woof!" says the dog.

Elle
scratch ears and neck

You scratch the dog's ears and neck.

"Woof!" says the dog.

Amelia!
Investigate DOG

You investigate the dog.

It appears to be a BLUE HEELER. It is wet and dirty as if it has been playing at the beach.

The dog noses at a stick lying in the sand.

Amelia!
Throw stick over towards MELINDA

You throw the stick towards MELINDA WU.

With 0 SPORTSNESS, you do not have good control over your throw.

"Ow! What the fuck?" says Melinda. She glares at you, "What did you do that for?"

zyllycat
hide behind dog

Amelia!
Smile as dog rushes her

You try to hide behind the dog, but the dog has already rushed her. It grabs the stick and runs off to go play with someone else.

Coward! Traitor!

"Ugh," says Melinda, "Stupid dog. I knew I should've just stayed home tonight."

rabbit 3mma
apologize for hitting her

You apologise for hitting her and she sighs deeply.

"I accept your apology, I GUESS," she says, "I know you were always a shitty thrower back in high school. Actually, you weren't really good at anything, were you? Well, at least you're hot now."

Lucy the one and only!
ask why she isnt playing the brand new nintendo switch 2 system which comes packaged with mario kart world

"Do I look like I'm made of money?" she says, "I'm saving up to go visit my girlfriend so I can't afford to be buying new consoles all the time."

"By girlfriend I mean girl who is a friend," she clarifies quickly.

Lucy the one and only!
oh okay i assumed you were a lesbian

Melinda looks shifty, "Why would you assume that? I clarified that I mean a girl who is my friend."

Lucy the one and only!
not that there's anything wrong with that

"Hmm, I agree..."

Elle
rizz up Melinda

You try to rizz up Melinda. What do you say?

Amelia!
“Less assume and more hope, I guess”

Ellie
Speaking of the nintendo switch, how about we nintendo switch things up at my place?

Elle
"its kind of a relief, that shes a girl who's your friend and not your...whats the situation there?"

You spam three pickup lines in a row. Melinda tries to keep a straight face but she is clearly flattered.

"Glad to see I'm not the only gay on this beach," she says, "Okay, here's the truth: I actually am a lesbian. When I said girlfriend, I really did mean girlfriend. Actually... I have more than one."

She looks slyly around the beach, "And none of these dumb straighties know a thing."

Elle
"with room for another or are you full up?"

"My girlfriends would need to approve of you before I could consider dating you," she says. She gets out her phone and starts typing away, "I'm gonna check in with them first, because I don't want to waste time flirting with you if the answer ends up being no. I could be spending that time speedrunning instead."

Amelia!
“Just let them know that I make a mean spaghetti and I can do the dishes”

"You should make a nice spaghetti instead," says Melinda, completely deadpan.

Amelia!
Huh, I took you for the type that likes things a little mean, but I can do nice too

Melinda giggles then waves you away, "I told you, no flirting until the girls have vetted you! Now scram."

She get back to work on her phone. It looks like she's gonna be a while.

rabbit 3mma
talk to rat

Ellie
but make sure to do a cool hand sign at DARREN PAWSON on the way to RAT HENSON

As you turn to go talk to Rat, Melinda says, "Hey, just between us ligabitqas, do you mind keeping my girlfriends a secret? I think everyone else here is straight and I don't want it to be a whole thing."

trish
(heart hands emoji) (thumbs up emoji)

Amelia!
“Yes, obviously!”

You agree and then do a cool heart hands gesture to Darren Pawson as you walk over to Rat.

Darren gives you a jankily drawn thumbs up in return. Unlike Melinda, he doesn't seem to recognise you.

You approach RAT HENSON, who is sitting by the fire being a sadboy as usual. He looks up as you approach, and for a moment his eyes widen in recognition and surprise. But then he scowls and lowers his gaze back to the flames.

Amelia!
Check how much fireball is left

You have yet to drink any Fireball! The spicy cinnamon whisky sizzles in its bottle with a fiery power.

Amelia!
Take a shot

Glug glug! Ahh...

You take a shot of Fireball. Yowch! That's spicy!

The FIERY heat of the whisky reminds you of the burn of your sunned expression. Maybe there's something you can do to cool down your face...

Bæddelzebub 😈
Use your theater training to overcome stage fright and start a convo with your old buddy Rat

"Look who decided to fuckin' grace us with her presence," he mutters.

Bæddelzebub 😈
Ask Rat which Sondheim work he finds the most middle, your favorite opening line

He scowls.

"Don't think you can just show up out of the blue and act like we're mates," he says, "What does that question even mean, anyway?"

Bæddelzebub 😈
It means the Sondheim work that is more middle than the rest
It can't all be peak

Amelia!
Offer him some of the fireball

Rat accepts the Fireball and takes a big swig.

"Probably West Side Story," he says.

Bæddelzebub 😈
Okay wild choice but I respect a bold position

"Fucken whatever," he says, "We really gonna talk about fucking Sondheim and not the fact that you're a girl now? Didn't feel like mentioning that in high school?"

DefinitelyNotAnEggAhahaha
Offer him some of your estrogen

You didn't bring much with you to the beach, but you always carry some spare estrogen patches, just in case.

Rat gets very angry.

"That's not fucking funny cunt!" he says, "Why don't you fuck off... what's your name now, anyway?"

Amelia!
"Oh geez sorry, are pills better? Some girls get burns from the patches"

"Fuck off, whoever you are!"

Rat turns his back on you. He doesn't want to talk to you anymore. Transphobic much??

Unfortunately it doesn't seem like he's in the mood to answer any of your questions. Maybe you should talk to someone else.

AAYUSH SINGH, DARREN PAWSON and JENNY YANG are still playing footy. MELINDA WU is on her phone, talking to her gfs.

The DOG has returned and is sniffing around by an ESKY.

Amelia!
Check the Esky. Maybe it has ice, or a mixer

Amelia!
Wait what LFL drink is that
Oh check the note too

You investigate the Little Fat Lamb, which appears to be some kind of MYSTERIOUS PURPLE FLAVOUR.

Aha, right here on the label, it says the flavour is.... "Mysterious Purple".

As for the note...

Amelia!
Well we've already pissed off Rat enough, so lets munch on some ice while we put everything back right where we found it

You take a pic of the note and put it back. You take some ice to munch on.

Ahh. The cool ice feels good, very soothing to your sunned expression. Well, a bit. Like, the ice on the inside of your cheeks makes your cheeks feel better on the outside where they are burned. Does that makes sense? Ya.

What do you do now?

Bæddelzebub 😈
See if the footy crew are willing to stop and chat for a minute. Maybe more voices can find the true middle Sondheim?
Properly polled and whatnot

The footy players are very intently involved in their game. You doubt that you'll be able to get all of their attention at once. Maybe you can break one of them off from the group though.

Bæddelzebub 😈
Damn, okay. See if you can get Aayush's attention.

You call out to Aayush, still with a mouthful of ice.

"Heh! Aayuh!"

Aayush catches the ball and smiles at you.

"Hey! I don't think we've met! My name's actually Aayush, not Aayuh."

—

that's all so far! if you wanna join in, you can join my discord server here:

https://discord.gg/DCnan8DbSN

and let me know if you are interested in seeing more of these posts here on the patreon! or if you very much do not want that! or if you have any suggestions on how to format it better. do you like seeing the players' instructions? or would it be better if i format it into a more normal story? it would be very minor editing so it wouldn't be blowing you away with the power of writing lol but maybe it's easier to read that way

anyway!!! still working on normal stories, i've had a few stalled-out attempts at one shots eek and still working on DFTT Ch 6!!! ok love u bye