update 03.

RAMBLE (WHEN TWILIGHT STRIKES).

i think it'll come as no surprise to you that i've spent most of this week working on the twine upload for chapter two. as my mental health hasn't been great so far, i've been focusing on twine because it's mostly just copying and pasting which, for whatever reason, i find relaxing. as boring as it sounds, however, it's actually not so bad. i've been adding in new choices here and there and fixing up small pieces of dialogue, mostly between Blane and N. my vision for the two has changed somewhat since i first wrote them and as i've developed more of their characters, i realized that some of their banter isn't accurate to their dynamic. not to say that they're out of character, just... slightly off, i guess. in terms of where i'm at, i'm nearly at the infirmary scene and will probably finish it early this week. afterward, it'll be onto chapter three!

as for chapter seven, as you may be able to guess, there hasn't been much progress on that front. i mentioned last week how i miss it and i do, but lately, i just haven't had the energy to sit down and write new content. because there's not much to say here, i'll give a bit of insight as to what the chapter entails.

i like to think that there are four big sections: meeting mirai, the [redacted] and the two fallouts of [redacted], both of which are different branches of which you can only take one per playthrough. originally, the chapter was going to end with the second section, [redacted], but i decided to extend it to include the last two parts because that way, i'm not making you spend three chapters in crimson rouge. as excited as i am for everyone to meet mirai, i think most people will enjoy the second two sections most, especially those who want to want to romance one of the ros as they have some... popular tropes. i'm obviously biased but i think they're super fun and harmless so i guess i'll see what you all think when i get to it.

RAMBLE (SECRET PROJECT).

again, not much on this front either except i have slowly been filling out my little codex document in my free time. unlike when twilight strikes, this story has a lot more side characters—nearly all of which are important to the story i'm trying to tell. i haven't hammered out the exact details of all of them yet, but i've been slowly giving them names and descriptions as to who they are and what they do in the locations they're based in. it's a weird way of putting it but i don't know how to say it without spoiling too much.

on another note, i messed around with the twine ui again. it's not close to done and i'll have to go through the process of figuring out code (not fun), but it's coming along nicely. i'm at the stage where i could probably write in it if i wanted to (the outline of the plot is figured out too, the details are unimportant right now) but i don't think i'd be able to handle writing three different things. i've been itching to get in the characters' heads though, so maybe i'll write some short stories and save them to post later on after the project is publicly announced.

STATS.

• 224,843 (+ 0.8k)

* includes word count from chapter seven only.

SNEAK PEEK.

"And I bet Caine's on his hands and knees making excuses for why his golden pair failed," Blane mutters.

"As if he hasn't been lenient with us before," N responds. They're arching a dark eyebrow at their partner, sending them a silent message only Blane can read.

Still, Blane doesn't take the cue. "Lenient is stretching it."

"He's not unfair."

"You say that as if surname isn't standing right there. Living proof of his bias."

— taken from chapter 02.