College Tennis: Origin Story (WIP) - Updated 8 Jun '25 [968k words]

[burninglights]

@Cloudy thank you- I’ll check this and fix it!

@Anarore_Kriptih

How hurt Deepal would be to learn that Tobi wants to switch partners?

Haha, if MC has been flirting with Tobin, Deepal will goodnaturedly grumble but be more than willing to play smarmy matchmaker. Otherwise, Deepal will be a little sad but they’re chill with whoever - and they do like Rayyan as well (and are one of the only players who can wrangle/handle the junior.) So all is good on that front. I’ll definitely devote a paragraph or two at least to wrap up loose ends/reactions in the next update

@bored92

kinda wish there was a cocky option to say something like “okay look you and I are the best so once we kick everybody’s asses out on the court

Hahaha! Hmm, something less like an intense / angry “you’re underestimating me” (which already exists) and more like a chill smug/cocky “well, you’ll see, you won’t regret this” kind of option, you mean?

@stsword

since I was playing a junkballer and the game didn’t let me play as a junkballer against him and use my finesse,

Oh hmm. Good shout, I didnt realize there wasnt enough options to use finesse, I’ll look into this!

@stsword

won both of my doubles matches, including my game with Afiq, it seems a little weird that he’s acting like I’m some albatross around his neck when we are a winning team.

I think in Rayyan’s eyes, there’s a difference between (a) winning two doubles matches against specific pairings that were not technically the most competitive (Tobin/Deepal and Rayyan/Jacks are 2&3, 1&4 rather than 1&2) vs. (b) actually being good enough to compete with the best pairs at NCAA div 1 standard.

They’re unhappy with coach’s approach to balance out the skill levels and opt for 2 strong pairs this season rather than go with the best possible pair (i.e. 1& 2 paired together, 3 & 4 and so on vs. 1&4, 2&3). In other words, they want Tobin, because they want to bank on winning the 1&2 pairing rather than win the 2&3 pairing (which does not involve them.)

So Rayyan accepts that MC is a “not bad” player. But they dont want to be part of a “not bad” doubles pairing, they want to be part of the best possible pairing. Hope that makes sense.

@JBento

Afiq, now that their previous doubles partner is gone, was banking on getting partnered up with Tobin, who is top doubles partner

Ah yes, this. (See above).

@dividom

but is exlucisvley cocky and showboaty towards rayyan is peak.

Hahahaha oh absolutely. Fight fire with fire.

@Morningstar

losing is a important part of any sport and learning how to recover from defeat is just as important as learning how to win.

Aww, some wise words right here. Yoda’d probably say something like:

Lose, you will
But recover, you must

@JBento

This does not evade the fact that Afiq is a monumental asshole

HahHa this is fair. Unleashing on Addie is a possible alternative solution to scheming something with Tobin. More direct.

@Zeom

we won’t be able to change to Tobin?

You will be able to speak to coaches, at least. Tobin offered at the end of the update, didnt they? If they didnt, it’s because you stated Rayyan was your preferred partner

@Zeom

Not to mention the horrible behavior towards the end which makes me even less willing to work with her.

Hahah. Well, Rayyan’s character arc of learning to put things beyond tennis first (like not being an asshole) is one of the main narrative themes of CT:OS, so. This changes over time. And I also will flesh out some of their inner workings (why they are the way they are) along the way. You’re absolutely right that it will be a bumpier path with rayyan in some respects though. But Tobin’s route is not without its… ups and downs as well, just so yall know

Ok - will get to the other messages soon

[bored92]

@burninglights

Hahaha! Hmm, something less like an intense / angry “you’re underestimating me” (which already exists) and more like a chill smug/cocky “well, you’ll see, you won’t regret this” kind of option, you mean?

That’s… surprisingly accurate but yes that’s what I was going for with that comment. I’m mostly playing as cocky off of the court and such but when it comes to playing a game, that’d be when my MC would become intense as they’d “be in the zone” if you will call it that. But for myself, I don’t really see going for the intense option with Rayyan.

[ibracadabra404]

@Zeom

So we won’t be able to change to Tobin?

You could always just get paired with Tobin. Then you won’t need to change to Tobin

[JBento]

Beginning. Some scenes switch places.

@burninglights

(a) winning two doubles matches against specific pairings that were not technically the most competitive

Rayyan continuing to completely fail to understand that building strong pairings isn’t about pairing the stronger individual players but making sure they complement each other is peak Rayyan.

Unfortunately for me, my dump stats are Strength and Serve, so skills-wise I AM Rayyan’s flipside, so I guess I’m stuck.

@burninglights

In other words, they want Tobin

The one combination that is NOT in the cards, because the coaches are never partnering me and Deepal and getting a team of two junkballers.

[burninglights]

@Lonily

I was mainly losing because of finesse

Ahh, hmm, I’d say you can win without actually needing finesse, specifically - unless you want to achieve Devil’s Dozen. Otherwise, just pick ~3 skills and make sure they’re >25 (early game) and >30 (later part of the game), then pick choices during the match that correspond to those skills! Choosing options that are a bit more intense/hardcore (e.g. challenging when you think the ball is out, not giving a shit when Rayyan dives for the ball) also give you a nice little boost to your winning chances.

All the best, I hope your tennis fortunes change soon- and I assure you that it’s a nice feeling when the wins are hard-fought

@JBento

the likelihood of the coaches breaking up the Tobin-Deepal duo is slim, because they already have a huge amount of experience partnering up and work great together

Oh yes wanted to add also that this is another reason why they’d decided to go with Rayyan-MC in the first place, even though a Rayyan-Tobin pairing might admittedly be more conventional.

@JBento

If both parties don’t want the pairing, it feels counter-productive with regards to results to force you to pair up anyway. Or the coaches may decide to do it anyway, at least for a bit

Yup! All of this will be taken into consideration on Monday - essentially, Rayyan, MC (and Tobin/Deepal, if affected) will get to state their case for/against certain pairings. Ultimately, dynamics, relationship off the court, playing styles, and overall team strength (of the 3 pairs) will be taken into account.

@Radiantbliss

My MC raging, won both of the doubles. Hit the devil’s dozen. Holds her own.

Oh absolutely! I think an MC who’s been absolutely crushing the matches and tests/training so far adds more fire to the confrontation, cause there’s that added dimension of “screw you, I’m good, and you’re blind not to see that”.

@Radiantbliss

Those codes saved my life as I hurdled through different playthroughs.

Haha actually I got the meseage on tumblr, thank you so much for it I’ll reply there as soon as I can! glad the passwords were a useful functionality.

@Radiantbliss

Sam>G>Tobin. My three bbys. Sam is a clown. I love them.
“do something”

Bahaha Sam is a sweetheart for sure.

Also - yay the pre-med flavor text was fun to write and I hope to add in some snippets like that to make the choice of major factor into the story!

@Radiantbliss

I still think your ability at writing is witchcraft

Awww thank you!! I know picking a sports setting doesn’t always give you the biggest target audience - much less a college sports setting - (y’know, compared to medieval fantasy, for instance :p) so it always thrills me that I’m getting people who arent interested in sports to read the IF too

Alrighty - will resume with the other msgs after dinner! thanks for them, by the way, they never fail to make me smile

[Cloudy]

I finally got the Sam POV scene (after 3 tries!), and it’s really nice. I like how you captured the emotions.

Even though I picked photography, the second meeting (where you see the photos) doesn’t show up.

Also I just saw your comment about the major flavor text - I’m still undecided at the moment, how much am I missing out on? Will there be more opportunities to pick one soon?

[Knoez]

Yep finally get the Devil dozen achievement but to be honest my stat to go is always agility, endurance and strength.

And for the first time trying Tobin route, well at least he is sweet than Rayyan

@burninglights why you take away the scene when MC doing like pick locking on their new locker, I really like that scene

[stsword]

To be fair there was a chance to use finesse, but it was tied to tactics, which isn’t a strong point of my junkballer, who is endurance/agility/finesse.

So of course my character lost against Deepal going endurance against endurance. He is a fellow counterpuncher after all.

But if there had been an agility plus finesse option, I’d go, as a player, “Okay, Deepal is better than me, fair enough.”

I get it, counterpuncher is really three play styles in a trench coat and hat, so it makes sense that pushers and junkballers might get overlooked occasionally.

Likewise I’d imagine pushers would want an endurance plus tactics option against Deepal, now that I’m thinking about it.

I do have your thinking right- counterpuncher = agility, endurance, junkballer adds finesse, pushers add tactics, yeah?

[Zeom]

How do you obtain that result?

[ibracadabra404]

Lose the challenge match to Jacks, win the doubles match against Rayyan and lose the doubles match against Tobin.
That’s the only way I managed it after many attempts.

[Zeom]

Ah… then it’s impossible for me.

I hate losing too much. Let’s hope we can convince the coaches to switch us.

[idonotlikeusernames]

@burninglights

Also - yay the pre-med flavor text was fun to write and I hope to add in some snippets like that to make the choice of major factor into the story!

My mc can’t really decide on one, but pre-med seems far too brutal as we see in @bouncyball 's Citadel WIP that graduating university is just the start of it for wannabe doctors in the US and my mc, much like Rayyan, wants to turn pro at tennis and if an injury were to prevent that he might be better at music or acting. The degree is just a nice last-resort fallback to him.

[mags]

This was so good!! I usually hate sports but a few years ago I read Check! Please and thus began my love for hockey, so I decided to give this a shot and I’m glad I did. The setting is great and the found family vibes are so genuine, can’t wait to see how it develops
(sadly I found this right after an update so I guess I’m gonna have to be patient for more)

[billiam]

Having your MC be enthusiastic over century eggs is a top tier addition, because they are ACTUALLY GOOD

[JBento]

I had never even HEARD of century eggs, so I’m glad that we can now wonder about wtf these jokesters put in our locker (because they were so jealous that we managed to get the Devil’s Dozen and they didn’t. I guess that’s just ANOTHER thing I’m better at than you, Rayyan, like running, doubles’ing, and being not-an-asshole; starting to feel that I’m the one who’s getting paired down in this) without having to pass on them.

Previously the only “wtf is this” option had you hand them over to Tobin, but now I get to eat ANOTHER new thing, though this one is less likely to end up with G getting soaked.

What’s next, allie? Haggis? Lutefisk? Hákarl?

[ceciliasantana]

I noticed some of the paragraphs are repeated. It’s Aug. 26 Wednesday when Coach Sy sends the dropshot across the room. I chose the “I leap. I dive.” option and then “Pause, uncertain.”

[bouncyball]

As someone who just worked 76 hours last week, please don’t subject your MC to this life

[burninglights]

@Cloudy

with the Sam team jacket, I’m playing with an average height MC and opposite-gender Sam

Yeah I definitely see your point! Height is tricky with gender variable characters. Will consider adding extra code to acknowledge this.

@bored92 Haha yes, I see - a fairly focused and skilled MC who’s rather chill about their feats off the court would certainly benefit from an option to be casual about the fact that Rayyan’s underestimating them.

@ibracadabra404 hahaha love the straightforwardness of this for sure. Skip all of Rayyan’s reactions

@Cloudy

I finally got the Sam POV scene (after 3 tries!), and it’s really nice. I like how you captured the emotions.

Haha yay!! Congrats on reaching the scene (I hadnt realized it was kinda difficult to get ) and glad it was worth the effort!

Thanks also for pointing out the potential error with the 2nd photography club session, I’ll check that out.

@Cloudy

comment about the major flavor text - I’m still undecided at the moment, how much am I missing out on?

Hmm. Not much at all at the moment, but in the future you might not get a brief mention/joke etc but I’ll probably write flavor text for undecided MCs as well, so I guess overall you wouldnt be missing out that much? As for another chance to decide on a major, probably not till the spring semester, which is many many updates away hahaa

@Knoez

And for the first time trying Tobin route, well at least he is sweet than Rayyan

Ooh welcome to the Tobin club! Pros and cons, I guess

@Knoez

why you take away the scene when MC doing like pick locking on their new locker, I really like that scene

hahahaha oh!! Didnt realize that scene mattered to some of yall heh, might have gotten a little too enthusiastic with my Marie-Kondoing of the earlier chapters

Get to the rest of the msgs in the next round! love yall!

[burninglights]

@stsword

there was a chance to use finesse, but it was tied to tactics

Ahhh got it! Hmm yeah it definitely is much harder to play against Deepal using the same style…but I’ll see what I can do to cater a bit more for pushers/junk ballers (e.g. tactics + endurance or endurance + agility) because finesse + tactics rly are more for all court players.

@stsword

counterpuncher is really three play styles in a trench coat and hat, so it makes sense that pushers and junkballers might get overlooked occasionally.

Totally. Honestly one of the more difficult styles to play apart from serve and volleys.

@stsword

counterpuncher = agility, endurance, junkballer adds finesse, pushers add tactics, yeah?

Actually, I’d say it’s sth like counterpuncher = finesse, endurance, tactics (30/30/30); junkballer = endurance, agility, finesse (60/20/20) ; pusher = endurance, agility (70/30)?

[Akky42]

Allie, are you planing on doing the update poll again? If yes, the results of the previous one would also be cool to see. Ignore me if they have outlived their usefulness!