Lil' dude isn't terrifying on purpose, thats jus' how they are. We need to not only overlook the honks, but the awful, horrible, absolutely paralysing terror they bring upon everybody around them as well,, Helen is my sun!! I love Helen!!!
>Stax is red, stax has radical glasses, he might not be thr absolute dudebro that we want but yo atleast he's the guyman that we need. Greenie, tell Stax to call Helen a GOOD HONKIT, a ray of Sunshine! Heck, the entire sun even. Helen is the whole dang sun and we appreciate you for that Helen.
Now stop being mean to the patrons or I swear to govsh I will crawl through this screen right here and slap some sense into you i didnt raise you to act like this!!
05-09-2018, 10:48 PM(This post was last modified: 04-10-2019, 10:59 PM by kilozombie.)
Alright, that's it. You're feeling a fight coming on- Helen's giving Sublimate a fierce, intimidating gaze- and Laren and Stax, at the least, are incredibly unnerved. Vebbin, Nadezhda and Voronezh are doing better, but it's no question: either the Honkit quiets down or leaves, and you aren't going to give it another option.
You grab the Unshaken and begin prepping ingredients. Potent ones.
Vebbin glances over at what you're doing, amidst the loud honking and blaring of raised voices.
The Unshaken viciously rumbles and crackles as you shut it tightly. You could feel a reaction coming on-- but when it's closed, it ceases. Seems you stopped it right before a vicious climax, but now your shaker is glowing.
She's... maybe not wrong. Even with the reaction paused, light is shining through the Unshaken like it's a lighthouse. And you're not sure you can actually make it calm down-- it's like things are completely paused in there.
This is a crucial moment. If Helen doesn't want to play ball, you're going to have to play... bartender.
...Maybe that'll have some kind of effect! A secret phrase hidden between the honks! It's worth a try.
The bar shakes violently with an explosion supersceding even the loud noise Helen made-- the one which caused you to loosen your grip on the Unshaken, releasing its payload.
The bolt of energy rips through the honkit, and in a moment, nothing remains but smoke. The lid of the Unshaken, seemingly unbroken, impales itself in the wall of the bar several inches.
After pulling her hands off the side of her head, the first one to speak is Nadezhda.
Everyone pauses to take a breath.
After having pulled it free from the wall with a bit of effort, Laren walks over and hands you the lid-- relieved to see the honkit gone, and clearly not relieved to see it done in such a way.
Sublimate lets out a creaky laugh.
With that, the mechanical swan is gone again, both slightly shocked and entertained.
Ah, you've had a thought about this one!
Another thought rattles in the back of your head-- and you figure it's a good a time as any to bring it up.
Nadezhda glares at Stax.
You decide you're going to glare at Stax a little, too. Guy maybe could use some of it, even though you can tell he's... trying to be... better? Kinda?
A pause. The room cools down a little. Vebbin shifts a bit in his seat, floating around and sipping at his mug, which he seems to be really enjoying, despite the circumstances.
You think of pressing a bit further just then, but the door barges open-- and in comes a patron! Or... a... group of patrons? One big patron with many heads?
It's a lot of twisted multicolored bodies, necks, and legs, with heads poking out, all facing different directions. Two solemn legs at the bottom move the mass around, and after a few failed movements, they all land on Helen's former seat, squirming and chattering to each other. Finally, they speak to you-- all five heads in half-unison.
...Cops! Cops? They don't look like cops. Hopefully they're not here because of your recent honkit disposal. Either way, this is an opportunity to try and make their order before they've even ordered. That'd be pretty neat and pretty surprising, or it might fall flat on its face. Your mileage may vary.
There's also orders from Laren, Nadezhda and Voronezh to fulfill. But at least you no longer have a source of ear-shattering noise in town.
Today's been alright so far.
...You just get this nagging feeling in the back of your neck that you're not done with Helen.
Despite the fact that it wasn't ingested, your most recent created weapon-drink has a variety of ingredients added to the Cabinet:
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Author's Notes
3 for you today, translators.
Is Helen really gone?
Alright, so, sorry for the delay! I got a cold on Thursday night and it really hit me over the weekend, but I'm ecstatic about being able to release this ywupdate today. Sorry that it's a bit dialogue heavy, but there are a lot of characters rattling around in the bar (and there are about to be a heap more). It's just fun to write folks talking, y'know?
Also WOW Sunspider I never expected to see that translated. I actually didn't even know how to un-fuck it myself and forgot what it said. Well done!!!
05-10-2018, 11:29 AM(This post was last modified: 05-10-2018, 04:08 PM by Arcanuse.)
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I'm impressed, I barely managed to get started on that one.
Good job!
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Spoiler
Hrm. That went.... Better? Worse? than expected.
We should work on a weaker beverage for removing beings from our bar.
Admittedly this drink was meant to blast entities from the premises, but it ah. worked a bit too good. Not sure what I expected from the ingredients, but ah. oh well.
Oh. Cops. Just what we needed.
...Best not mention the honkit removal.
Or several of the ingredients used for that. cough So, just uh. back to work on the duo's drinks. Yes.
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Honk??
1. Seems standard font. Text entirely untranslated just yet.
2. Different font, Gabriola. Lots of words/pieces but no coherent whole just yet.
3.
...Huh. Interesting.
Anagram solver popped out three words, "ratter" "restart" and "starter".
Ratter of dubious relevance, latter two fit nicely.
Hopefully next time a honkit shows itself we aren't dealing with other patrons.
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BONUS
Word mentioned earlier, "Nickel".
Point of concern:medium.
Probability of threat:minor.
Monitor for terms "Harbinger Ghost","Nickel","Restart","Starter" in future.
Not all "Harbinger Ghosts" are positive entities ala vebin.
Remain vigilant!
Quiet. Good for an unusual opinion. Doesn't talk much.
05-15-2018, 11:28 PM(This post was last modified: 04-10-2019, 10:59 PM by kilozombie.)
Cops! COPS! You're not sure that you're ready to handle cops right now! You immediately start trying to keep the peace-- hopefully they don't notice the blast mark where Helen once was. Time to cool down Stax, keep Laren and Vebbin calm, and then think about making Nadezhda and Voronezh's drinks.
Oh.
The psychic angle isn't terrific. That'd mean... wow. You prepare to be arrested?!
Still a bit unnerving, but with the knowledge that you're not imminently about to be punished for your Helen battle, you decide to start working on Nadezhda and Voronezh's drinks. Both at once! It strikes you that Nad could probably use a bit more attention, so you put a bit more effort into her order-- but it's a fun process either way.
Vebbin's still enjoying his cup, and seems to be a little over halfway finished over it, spending his time just sipping ambiently and commenting now and then. It seems to have really done its job at calming him down.
That's three people in a row whose name starts with a V and then a vowel. Wacky.
Meanwhile, the drinks begin to take shape! You can't find any Imperial Jelly for Voronezh's drink, but decide the generic object should have a fun texture as a replacement if you can melt it first. You utilize the Unshaken to separate, combine, and have fun with it!
After taking a small stab at yourself to retrieve mothgrant blood for his drink, you notice you've... got a bit more than you intended. You decide it could be a good additive for Nadezhda's, and throw it in instead of the beer-- they're both alcoholic, after all. How could this possibly go wrong?
The tone of the room shifts a bit. Nad seems to have snapped-- you suspect there's more tension building up in their heads than out loud.
Both drinks are really taking shape, but they fully form as you drop an object into each. As you drop the ultra-thin antipodal shard into Nadezhda's brew, it shifts color instantly, and seems to be sucking in light. The layers separate and shift oddly, and the light from the generic object is refracted brilliantly, like it's infinitely more complicated than before. The serving of your blood rises to the top, becoming a brilliant color when seen through the glass, and seems to fit perfectly with the rest of the aesthetic.
The matterhorn chunk you drop into Voronezh's order behaves just as oddly. The materials form more distinct layers, thick and tough bubbles, and the liquefied generic object dissolves until it's nigh-invisible and incredibly, incredibly boring.
It's true! You love jazz! Or, at least... a big... part of you does? It's weird being a collective.
You're fairly certain that you just found something bartenders have always cherished finding, since the dawn of time: a drink's quintessential ingredient.
You're not sure Voronezh's drink went so well.
...Hold on, but... that definitely seemed like a drink that required a matterhorn chunk. You were sure of it! Maybe multitasking isn't the easiest thing.
The lizards have been chattering amongst themselves-- idle chat, really, but you can tell it's a bit of a large argument, trying to figure out what they'd like. VOOL raises their voice noticeably, perhaps wanting some input.
Just then, however, Nadezhda freezes up. One sip, and it's like her breath has been taken away. Her vision focuses, and she looks your way intently. It's halfway between an expression of complete shock and complete inspiration. She speaks slowly, setting the cup down more carefully than she'd taken it up.
Voronezh shouts over her shoulder. He, too, has taken a gulp of his drink-- and seems incredibly upset.
The red-chitin bug seems truly hurt, like something deep within him is pained. It's almost a perfect inverse to the bliss Nadezhda seems to have felt, but now the both of them are sharing in the frustration.
You didn't intend for this... at all.
Nadezhda slumps a little in the stool, her gaze meandering between you and her drink. The disappointment and frustration is clear in her expression and in her voice.
To this, both of them prod at the amplifiers on their foreheads absently.
She takes the cup in her claws, and clasps one of her back-origin arms over it, to prevent any spillage.
She really seems to want this. You're guessing there's at least some point she'll be able to enjoy it without sharing it with Voronezh... but you're also having cup troubles as is, even with the addition.
And that's another order. You think you'll need... several cups to feed all these necks, or some kind of large trough... and you've still got Laren's meal to make before the components start to get completely cold.
Nadezhda seems ready to leave, but her gaze is locked with you-- sympathetic, apologetic, in turmoil. Voronezh is already stood up.
Learn all about the miracle materials, antipodal shards and matterhorn chunks, as well as some others, in the Cabinet, Greene's one-stop-shop for bartending knowledge:
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Author's Notes
Well, here it is. Intended to have this out on Sunday, but... ahey, y'know, sometimes stuff just goes sideways.
Okay, so there's so much dialogue in this one! I'm generally happy with the dialogue, but I'd like to gauge how much people are feeling its quality and quantity. There are so many patrons in the bar right now that it's so much fun to write them interacting, but I understand if it's overwhelming or a slog to get through. I think I promised near the beginning that this adventure would be largely text-based vs. CHIRAL... and I'm happy with how it's turning out!
But obviously pictures are just easier to interpret, and visual stimulation sucks people in more than text, so I'm at a bit of an impasse. I want to make the best adventure for y'all, and if that involves more art (which I am wholly non-confident in my ability to do) then I'll work towards that.
But writing is my thing, and writing dialogue is my thing, and this is the sort of update structure I'm starting to make. I really appreciate critique, and apathy/disinterest is a very real and necessary criticism. I want more than anyone for this to continue and improve, and it's got to be at least partially a back-and-forth. I hear that character dynamics are fun, so I hope you enjoy the ones here.
Thanks for reading this little thing. I'm the sort of person that worries endlessly based on how many people even view the thread, and I don't want people to do anything special to try and alleviate that, but I do appreciate knowing what works and what doesn't, without having to second-guess myself at every turn.
05-16-2018, 12:17 AM(This post was last modified: 05-16-2018, 12:39 AM by ☆ C.H.W.O.K.A ☆.)
SHOTS!!!!!!!
okay so we don't have five cups for shots. so what we need is five distinct layers of non-mixing liquids and then five straws cut down with scissors to different heights. from top to bottom:
layer 1: ethanol
layer 2: tequila
layer 3: hot sauce with soap for surface tension
layer 4: a tequila sunrise, which is a whole separate 3-layer ordeal
layer 5: chloroform
tell them that each drink is custom-made for a specific head but don't tell them what corresponds to who. remind the cops that it's the law that they have to tell you if they're a cop
tell naz that they can keep the drink and the cup IF they bring you at least 3 more cups
Fascinating. These new ingredients should be fun to work with.
Should be able to make something nice for Voronezh next time with a bit of copier/eraser use.
Work on Laren's meal, think about what to serve the new guests.
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Drink
Five Long Dragons Brew Wrote:Sun-Blessed Orange (fruit juice)
Heavens wheeze (ground powder)
A(sura) grade alcohol
Cherry Lanterns (fruit juice)
Unity Apple (sliced)
Hmm. This might do the trick for the draconic quintet, though regular alcohol would probably be sufficient. Hopefully the ingredients are sufficiently stable to be mixed in something larger, and poured into separate cups.
Thoughts on composition, ingredients to add?
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Spoiler
Not terribly much to say, but the story has been enjoyable. Seeing how the various terms we come up with gets converted to ingredients is always interesting.
...Maybe hold off on the chloroform. That probably should be on the ask-first list.
Quiet. Good for an unusual opinion. Doesn't talk much.
okay so we don't have five cups for shots. so what we need is five distinct layers of non-mixing liquids and then five straws cut down with scissors to different heights. from top to bottom:
layer 1: ethanol
layer 2: tequila
layer 3: hot sauce with soap for surface tension
layer 4: a tequila sunrise, which is a whole separate 3-layer ordeal
layer 5: chloroform
tell them that each drink is custom-made for a specific head but don't tell them what corresponds to who. remind the cops that it's the law that they have to tell you if they're a cop
tell naz that they can keep the drink and the cup IF they bring you at least 3 more cups
This is an incredible idea and I don't have any direct things to change about it, but I would like to remind you that antipodal shards and matterhorn chunks can be used to alter the viscosity/density of fluids.
(05-16-2018, 12:38 AM)☆ C.H.W.O.K.A ☆ Wrote: »EDIT: also hey! we never finished laren's salad in all the commotion. how's that coming
Currently 1/3rd made, in the form of some beaten eggs ready to be made into an omelette, as well as sauteed cherries and a cucumber. Stax did a good job starting it, but it's going to take a couple more turns of effort.
>Let Nad take the cup, remind her to bring it back later!
>I dunno, dont think alcohol and fire-breathing dragons should mix. I second chwoka's order but instead replace all alcohol with some good ol' carborane superacid!
05-16-2018, 07:53 PM(This post was last modified: 05-16-2018, 07:56 PM by Fellow.)
We could ask nad if she'd mind having the drink poured into a hat to take with her.
We could also try to remove the generic object from the mash with the unshaken, the drink should become palletteable if we do. The object is very bland and the big complaint with the drink is the blandness, it's not like we need to see which individual components are good or bad to improve it.
These five will probably drink more than one person. So maybe we could use a bigger container than a cup. Maybe we could ask stax to hollow out a water melon so we can use it as an extra large glass? That way we can also work on laren's meal this turn.
Next, fixing your attempt at Voronezh's drink. The Unshaken is going to come in some serious handy with this one.
You scoop up his drink into the majestic, rune-encrusted shaker, and begin doing just that-- with some complicated maneuvers on the keypad that just make sense to you, suddenly the Matterhorn Mash has become the much lighter, more airy Matterless Mash.
Things. Things! Things, you've got to find things. Something to hold this big ol' drink you're going to concoct. After a moment's consideration, your eyes land on a peculiarly-colored melon fruit. A brief read of the instructions seem to indicate you have to... press something on it, to make it morph?
You decide to push up a cup onto the melon to maybe get a melon cup? As you do, the fruit begins rapidly transforming-- but the glass cup has disappeared entirely!
In a few short moments, you suddenly have a container perfectly suitable... at a cost.
Well, the truth couldn't hurt that bad.
Well... that isn't quite right. As you recall from reading Starnet, you're the bartender she's fated to find. But you're not sure now is the very best time to tell her. It's so strange having so much dialogue pour out before you can react to it all, truly!
Regardless, the drink is taking form much quicker than you could've expected, and as you plop straws into the respective layers, you feel extremely satisfied with your work.
Fixer gives it one look, rather puzzled.
The heads inspect your concoction carefully, trying to determine who gets what.
Despite the brief hiccup with layer allocation, the dragons seem to be readily enjoying the massive drink, swirling around it with contentment! Ziczhz, especially, is humming and huffing at every sip of that hottest sauce.
As if intentional, Vebbin finishes his mug just as the neck squad gets theirs, and blows some air through his eyes in satisfaction.
...Ugh. This is really actually getting to you now. You really should tell her, so you give it a go.
However, you're interrupted! It seems that while Nadezhda was speaking, another patron had entered the bar-- limping a bit on their cane, with a head full of sloshing, reddish liquid.
Klaxon takes a seat, gasping a bit under triv breath.
It's relatively true. You don't have a lot of openings to talk, sometimes, with the bar so full. Maybe it'll be easier and slower when there are fewer patrons, but you haven't known that life for a while yet.
An order! An order! An order!
Back in the groove again, it's Greene's time to shine.
You've successfully avoided patrons leaving your bar, and you've successfully filled The Cabinet with not only a half-dozen ingredients, but an entry on that polycorp melon!
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Author's Notes
So, I'd really recommend checking out Ghostwriter, the second side-project to YWUIAB thus far. It's one of my favorite stories I've ever written and it was with heavy heavy assistance from you all, the co-writers of this bizarre universe. It's also from the first-person-perspective of a very... different sort of person than YWUIAB is used to, so there's that.
And it's canon, and the stuff in it will come up later, all that jazz. You can also see the ongoing list of side stories for YWUIAB on the first post. Maybe someday one of you might want to use this setting for a story of your own, and create the canon which forms the basis of this place?
Just remember the YWUNIVERSE's golden rules: if it's possible to put in, put it in. No holes barred. No restrictions. Write things into existence with the simple flick of a wrist, and let them form the basis of everything.
ziczhz likes the music, and i like ziczhz, because he likes the music, so let's keep it coming
as for the drink, our mandate is nostalgia. that means we gotta use up our last unity apple. also we must pay tribute to the movie nostalghia by placing a lit candle dead-center in the drink. i think an appropriate drink base for reminiscing is bourbon and Eau De Dreams
06-02-2018, 07:09 PM(This post was last modified: 06-02-2018, 07:49 PM by ☆ C.H.W.O.K.A ☆.)
characters:
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a statue with a sash who's the epitome of class
the RBs: an animal shaped like a giant cowboy hat with tiny tiny legs and a big mouth that splits the brim. they are made of piping hot roast beef and poop delicious barbecue sauce out of the top of their heads like an old-school oil rig to cool themselves down. they have a sixth sense, a sense of humor, which leaves prone to break out in fits of hysterical hyena-esque laughter at the (in their opinion, FANTASTIC) cosmic joke of their own existence and existence in general.
clippy but a GUN
a creature made entirely of cascading blood, searching for its "better half," quite literally split vertically clean down the middle. this affliction leaves them very emotionally stunted and fundamentally lacking any inner moral compass, but they've actually become in past years quite apt at working around their lack of gut feelings and doing right by people anyway even though it's ridiculously hard for them
wings for ears, steam for tears. only 10% torso, legs moreso, long arms also. wears a frock, only eats rocks.
a rainbow trout. that is, a trout that swims through rainbows
everyone else keeps calling them human even though they are an elf, because what's pointy ears in the grand scheme of species
it's yaffenhash, turns out they only faked their death via mining accident. now they're a somewhat-unsuccessful space smuggler
an escaped computer virus, who finds solace for their fragmented soul and only partial physical manifestation in their intense love of music
a far-flung representative of the Central Eating System, who has a long, long, constantly-lengthening quasi-umbilical cord coming out of the small of their back transmitting waste and nutrition back to the source and also back from the source. contrary to popular belief, they are not at all a hivemind
..I wander what would happen if we made a drink out of only unity apple juice and unicorn tears. It would give the impression of being immeasurably good, without actually tasting of anything. Like heroin.
Probably not the best idea.
>See if you've got any sheep's blood, and if not, prepare some instant goat and then wring the blood out of it out like water out of a sponge. Mix it with some sort of hard liquor, salt (to imitate sweat), and bison musk extract. Heat it up to about 100 °F in the microwave. Garnish with pineapple chunks and a tuft of fur.
>Who's Muffy?
Kilo, would it be possible for you to put a google doc with all the character introduction cards in one place in the updates? I'm having trouble keeping track of all of them. It'd be even cooler if there were also links to the original suggestion, but I mostly just need some way to stop my stupid brain from immediately forgetting names and pronouns.
06-02-2018, 08:21 PM(This post was last modified: 06-02-2018, 08:23 PM by kilozombie.)
(06-02-2018, 08:07 PM)a52 Wrote: »Kilo, would it be possible for you to put a google doc with all the character introduction cards in one place in the updates? I'm having trouble keeping track of all of them. It'd be even cooler if there were also links to the original suggestion, but I mostly just need some way to stop my stupid brain from immediately forgetting names and pronouns.
Yes, absolutely! I've been linking them inside of the post, but that's a bit inefficient. What format would work best? A google doc with a series of links to each character to view their intro card, or a google doc with all the intro cards in sequence?
(06-02-2018, 08:07 PM)a52 Wrote: »Kilo, would it be possible for you to put a google doc with all the character introduction cards in one place in the updates? I'm having trouble keeping track of all of them. It'd be even cooler if there were also links to the original suggestion, but I mostly just need some way to stop my stupid brain from immediately forgetting names and pronouns.
Yes, absolutely! I've been linking them inside of the post, but that's a bit inefficient. What format would work best? A google doc with a series of links to each character to view their intro card, or a google doc with all the intro cards in sequence?
you could have it both ways with all of them in sequence plus a table of contents that jumps you to each one
I'll work dilligently to update every post in the past with this pair of links so you can zip to any information you need. Please let me know if The Lineup needs more work!
06-03-2018, 01:40 AM(This post was last modified: 06-03-2018, 01:42 AM by Arcanuse.)
Lessee... Stax can work on Laren's meal.
Our new guest seems in a bit of a hurry.
Try blending in some Igorian Ichor, cherry grenadine, and blood orange juice.
Throw in a memory plum, a pinch of urgency, and some Eonic... Eggfruit? Hrm.
Probably the right Eonic fruit.
Edit: Oh, and some Ale of Beginnings. Can't forget that.
Quiet. Good for an unusual opinion. Doesn't talk much.
>Offer to let triv try a sip of our blood
>Try making a Cherry Bomb drink for triv
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SpoilerAyyyy I wasn't able to get around to reading last update but here are my thoughts:
- I don't think it's a slog, as that implies reading this is unpleasant. It can take a bit to read, but in all honesty it's a true pleasure to take a few minutes to read the update, or when I'm behind, updates.
- I don't mind the 'crowded' nature of some updates. It's really juicy, and it can be hard to re-introduce a character in a scene, so I def understand if it's ever easier to have a character hang around. My only concern is that it feels like there are 'routes' to explore in dialogue, and it can be hard to get that done individually, but every character's personality and narrative shines thru so it still works. The dynamics are gudshit.
- If you choose to add more art that's valid, but I 100% do not mind the current comic. I think if you do choose to add art you should only add 'splash pages' for now, when there's a major thing. I love what I see though, as the Helen battle was cool af.
- I still need to read Ghostwriter, but I absolutely love how you canonize things for the setting and narrative.
- Big thing for me has been the melting pot universe. Aliens are alien. English is a dead language. I love the designs and lore and HOOOO gudshit.
- I don't mind textventures, and I find it sad that they often have issues with attracting readers.
Also don't tempt me to craft fanon and dunk worldbuilding onto you. When I'm not pre-occupied by the mountain of things in this life I totally will,,