Book Three Sneak Peek Snippet #1...

Friend: Wanna hang out tomorrow?

Me: I actually performed an Activity yesterday. Please wait the three day recovery period to submit another inquiry

Hello! Long time no see! I haven't been active in a meaningful way since early January. A lot of Not-So-Good things have happened (as well as good things) in my life and Emberwood kind of got lost in the mess.

I opened up the chapter 2 file and reread it and decided to just put it out. It's done, and it works, but it can be better so I'll consider it an alpha chapter. My beta testers offered great, great comments and corrections and critiques and so I have made the decision to go back and rewrite and update once I'm more on top of things. I just wanted to share it with you guys because Chapter 2 has been collecting dust in my files a while now and I don't see why I wouldn't post it.

so here it is!

DEMO (PROLOGUE + CHAPTER1 + CHAPTER2// 106,261K words)

I *highly* advise rereading from the beginning for a refresher (it's been a while.)(it might break anyway.) Also, I would say ignore the stats and the stat page as I have plans to overhaul that. There's probably some errors and stuff but there shouldn't be any game breaking errors (aka you should be able to play the entire demo.)

Just to reiterate: Chapter 2 will eventually get overhauled and updated.

If there are any errors, I would rather get reports at emberwoodif@gmail.com since I am not on Tumblr much.

Thank you for your patience, your understanding, your enthusiasm and everything else!

Do you ever notice yourself getting bad again…like, you know you’re not doing work that needs to be done, you know you’re not cleaning, you know you’re not taking care of yourself…you know all the things you need to do to start trying to feel better. But you just can’t. And you’re left feeling like shit bc you thought you were getting better but here we are

We all know MC isn't the most unbiased narrator, so what was really going on in Golden Scorpion's mind when they saw their former commander almost kill Overseer from behind bars? How'd they feel when they couldn't get MC to let go right away?

Ooh, okay. So I love this scene a lot and I need to set up the variations + reasoning for those before getting to the core of the question!

There are two versions of the prison scene-- one with hardened!Trystan and one with softened!Trystan. In the first version, Trystan is the one antagonizing MC, and as such, if you choose to lunge out and attack someone, you end up attacking Trystan themself. Otherwise, if you're playing with a softened!Trystan, The Overseer is the one antagonizing MC and, as a result, is the one who is grabbed.

Another fun fact is that in the hardened version, Trystan is just as strong as MC is and has chance of completely overpowering them. If they're physically stronger, they'll nearly break MC's arm again. Otherwise, if they lose, they goad MC into hurting them more... mostly b/c they're not scared. They're angry and unhinged-- laughing and smiling as MC threatens to break their neck in half.

In the softened version, however, Trystan has no chance of overpowering MC. It doesn't have to do with the physical part of it-- both Trystan's are just as strong as the other-- but the mental part. Trystan is scared of MC in that scene. They're watching someone they looked up to snap a second time-- though this one is undeniably on purpose and intentional.

You look at Trystan. They look at you. There's no emotions to be found other than a child-like confusion in their eyes. The longer you look at them, the more they begin to look like a child. A kid.

To Trystan, it's upsetting to see The Commander like this-- to see how far they've fallen. It's not pity but genuine distress, and the ever growing gut-feeling that they're the MC's enemy now.

And... well, they've seen what happens to The Commander's enemies.

Chinese Satellite - Phoebe Bridgers / Disco Elysium / My My, Hey Hey - Neil Young / Cowboy Bebop x 26 / Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book / (unknown) / Andy Muschietti’s direction during the quarry scene in It: Chapter Two / DE / Chelsea Wolfe, from Hisspun; “Two Spirit” / Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A history of Folk Horror (Kier-La Janisse, 2021) / Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless / DE / The Four Generations of Chang E - Zen Cho / DE / (x) / DE / James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room / DE / W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence / Safia Elhillo, from Home Is Not a Country; “The Stranger” / Succession 03x07 / My Tears Ricochet - TayIor Swift / DE / Thomas Wolfe, You Can’t Go Home Again / DE / James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room / Stalker (1979) / Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children’s Crusade, Kurt Vonnegut / Cinema Paradiso (1988) / John Murillo, “Mercy, Mercy Me,” from Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry / Riches and Wonders - The Mountain Goats / Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces / Warsan Shire, Home / Pathologic 2 / Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords / Warsan Shire, Home / Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me / Emily Jungmin Yoon, from “Related Matters” / Kentucky Route Zero / Lorde - Buzzcut Season / The Umbrella Academy Volume 1: Apocalype Suite, Gerard Way & Gabriel Bà / The Penumbra Podcast 02x09 / Black Sails 01x02 / Anne Carson, Men in the Off Hours; “Interview with Hara Tamiki (1950)” / DE / When the Sick Rule the World, ‘Phone Home’ by Dodie Bellamy / Night in the Woods / The End - Kings of Leon / Hermann Hesse, Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth

Nobody:

Particle Physics: “hey what if we made up words that made it read like you were having a stroke at first glance”

people are always like “are you a morning person or a night person” and I’m just like buddy I’m barely even a person

6k Followers Raffle!!! 🎉

Wow! This is a crazy number. Thank you all so much for giving this blog a follow ❤ To celebrate, I thought we could do a raffle! 

The prizes:

A short story featuring your Romanus and a character of your choice — must be SFW, and if it’s romantic in nature it has to be with the official ROs only.

You pick one snippet in the Patreon tag, and I’ll send you the whole story!

You pick one snippet from the Ko-fi tag, and I’ll send you the entire commission!

The first winner gets the first pick of the three prizes, the second winner chooses between the two left, and the third gets the last.

Rules:

Must be following me.

Reblogs count as 2 entries — but only one reblog is valid, so please don’t spam your followers’ dashes with the post! 😄

Likes count as one entry.

On the 12th of May, I’ll put all entries in a random number generator and get the winners! Please have your messages open, so I can contact you :)

I hope this will be fun, I’ve never done anything like this. Thank you, again, for all the support, it only motivates me to work harder and pick up the pen even on days when it seems to weigh a ton.

I know I’ve been quiet regarding Book Two’s progress, but that’s only because I want to get to a specific part before I make any sort of announcements. But I hope you find comfort in knowing that I’m working on it almost every day — and the days I’m not, I’m thinking about it constantly. It won’t be very long before I invite you to step back into the world of the Rose.

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

And may you have an amazing Friday. 🌹

THE PRICE OF RESURRECTION

nathaniel orion g.k / anna ådén / antigone - sophocles, tr. anne carson / jenna barton / grief lessons - anne carson / ain't no grave - claude ely