lol I can just imagine my character wearing a Sherlock Holmes hat
Lucy: Elizabeth, why are you wearing that stupid hat?
Me: I’m going to win you back baby!
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It’s also the perfect way to blend in and get information- by sticking out so much that nobody, not even your own ex-wife, will think that the MC is the one writing the papers. Because obviously the writers of The Rust would never do something that would make them that obvious…
Reverse psychology- in the name of love.
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Well… the two schools of thinking as a spy is either Seriously blend in or… Stick out so much that your Seen from space so badly that your ignored as a suspect.
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I just read the short of Raf and i nearly cried 
Is there a short for Lucy and MC? Please tell me there issssss!
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There is, it’s at post 678. I’m sure you going to love it if you also love raf story
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Lucyyyyyyy! Why do you have to be so loveable?!
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Unfortunately my mc hasn’t got the money to make this strategy work in a way that’s acceptable to him, so he’s pretty much locked into non-descriptness. 
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hey which post was that again? I got halfway through
and never got to finish…
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You can find it at post 689. I bookmark it(you can’t blame me for that)
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hey your more prepared then me so props friend
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Thanks for telling me btw! I have a question though im not sure if it was asked before. But what was MC’s previous job when she was still married to Lucy/Raf?
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Or you could do both. Blend in while also sticking out a lot.
Snake-in-a-box style.
Yay! I’m so sorry.
She can’t help it. It’s just part of her natural charisma. 
Well, you could always do something like, oh, say, get in a fight with the featured sculptor at an extraordinarily high class party. Y’know, just as a completely random example off the top of my head.
So, funny story, this is actually something I’ve been going back and forth with in my mind and everytime I reach a conclusion I double back on it and say- “oh wait no what if…”.
But, the general plan is that the MC had to have some reporting experience- just because Finley would not, no matter what, hire an inexperienced reporter to tackle the cases that The Rust throws at you. They’d just never throw a rookie into the kinda line of fire that everyone at The Rust has to deal with. It’s not safe.
But I also want to allow for some customization, and I have two (well, three, but the third one is more tentative) ideas for changing up the MCs past. The first being- your hometown. This is the one that’s set-in-stone, you’ll pick where you grew up which will then change the flashbacks the MC has from when they were especially young (and your interactions with one specific character), as well as give the MC a little bonus/extra knowledge in certain situations. The second, and the one more pertaining to your question as well as the one I’m figuring out how to work in while still giving the MC some reporting experience so that working at The Rust is plausible, would be the MCs job (or at least, what they wanted to do before everything went sideways.)
I have two workarounds for this to allow the MC to have their own dream while also getting the experience needed for Finley to hire them, and they’re kinda tied in. The first being that they would’ve worked on their local newspaper (whether this was an internship to bolster their grades or, if your MC actually wants to be a reporter, for their own passion… or if your MC is a troublemaker I’m thinking it could’ve been as some kinda punishment if they messed up their office and got caught.)
The second idea I have (and maybe these two even work in tandem) is that for an MC who wasn’t a reporter professionally pre-Rust, has to prove themself to Finley. This would work in the vein of Finley having rejected their application beforehand, thinking that the MC was too inexperienced, and then afterwards overhears one of the other reporters talking about a case they’re having some trouble with, and the MC sorta… takes it on, on their own.
While they wouldn’t necessarily succeed (that would depend on your own actions), they would at the very least get far enough in the case to prove to Finley that they know what they’re doing. Thusly leading to Finley hiring them.
I’m leaning more heavily towards the second idea, but I’m thinking the first could also provide, if nothing else, a basis for why the MC has these skills, and still doesn’t force the MC into any specified occupation.
Then, afterwards, the MC could choose what they’re job was pre-Rust. Whether they were a reporter or… something else. (And, hey, maybe that even becomes another variable that can open up some extra options later on. This game is my guinea pig for these kinda coding/storytelling experiments. 
)
But, yeah, if anyone has any thoughts on one/both of those ideas then I’m open to hear them.
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Uhmm…that’s a good way to ensure we’ll lose valuable access in the future, plus it might get the mc some media attention of their own, not to mention sued for money we don’t have, and my mc would rather not grace the gossip rags with what he’s currently wearing.
There are a few other jobs that focus on investigative skills, the mc could have been a police detective or private investigator, maybe even the bounty hunter flavour of that profession, for example.
Still I like your first idea best.
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I personally prefer the second one as well but I do see how the first idea could prevent you from restricting a character to simply having one job. Hmm…the only possible idea I could have is that you keep the basis for the second one (i.e. they have to prove themselves to Finn) but they can choose which case to overhear. To explain it more clearly:
For instance, supposing MC used to work as a dressmaker and one conversation they overhear is about a super specific piece of cloth that came off a superhero’s outfit. They choose to follow that case and using their knowledge, they find out who manufactures the superhero’s outfit and thus their identity. (That was a long-winded way of putting it but there you go.)
That way their tenacity + specific knowledge of previous job is what pushes Finley to hire them despite their lack of journalistic knowledge. So you can choose what your non-journalist profession was and then use that to your advantage.
In the case that the MC was a journalist even before they met Finley, maybe Finley doesn’t trust small-town journalists and so the MC has to prove themselves anyway…and even if they fail due to lack of specific knowledge, they still have the good writing skills to back them up?
This is me just writing whatever comes to mind, obviously. Feel free to use the bits you may like and ignore what you don’t. These are just my thoughts!
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True, true, all very true.
It also would, hypothetically, put you on some not very good terms with said sculptor.
Oh, yeah, those would definitely work as well! I still feel like Finley would hesitate to hire someone who’s inexperienced with the reporting aspect itself, even if they have the investigative skills it would also be matters of how well can they handle others and how well can they hide themself.
But those are all good professions to keep in mind when I’m writing the MCs past, and would definitely make Finley a lot less tentative than an MC who was, say, a baker or something along those lines. Thank you!
Ooh, I like your thoughts! Yeah, the basis for the second one is that the MC wouldn’t have been a reporter (although you do bring up a really good point for a small-town reporter, and that would also allow those who chose for their MCs to have always been a reporter to also get the chance to go through this extra mini-case as well), so they’d have to use what knowledge/skills they do have to solve the case.
The different-cases one might also work as well, though I’d have to think up a bunch of different cases that can pertain to each job. But, I’m 100% willing to do that, it might be fun to experiment and see what I can come up with. So, yeah!
Makes sense, thank you so much!
Just because now the conversation has brought it up, I have a basic list in mind of idea for jobs that the MC could have had/wanted to have before everything happened. But what jobs would you all want for your MCs to have had?
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Makes sense, thank you so much!
No problem! I really do love this game so I’m stoked to have been of some use 
But what jobs would you all want for your MCs to have had?
Mm, something to do with healthcare, definitely. Need to stitch those superheroes + villains up. Maybe a nurse? I’m not a huge fan of my MC having been a doctor mostly because the idea a person would go through med school and residency only to not actually practice the profession is…beyond painful.
And then something that focuses on social skills and buttering people up, like waitressing or being a hairdresser or whatever else.
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@RenaB
Oh shit this hit me in the feels. It was horrible timing because I just argued with someone about this exact thing. If the update comes and I’m not done crying someone pm me please 
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I really like the idea of doing an internship for being a reporter. Sounds like the kind of thing my mc would be interested in!
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Ah, geez, I’m flattered!
And, also, thank you so much again! You’ve definitely been very helpful!
…
This is one of those instances in which I have to refrain from making a joke for minor spoiler purposes.
But I will say that you’ve given me one helluva idea that might be really fun (albeit minor) thing to implement in this regard.
Well, to be entirely fair, absolutely everything going up to the divorce is ‘beyond painful’ when you take into consideration, y’know, everything that happens- even in the immediate afterwards.
Hmm… maybe a sales manager? Or in marketing or advertising?
Oh, geez, I’m sorry. 
Yay! I’m glad that the idea seems good.
I think it could also provide some funny scenes if the MC got in trouble and this was sorta their punishment- especially if they ever reflect on their current job compared to how they got their first experience as a reporter…
Well, lets just say that irony is both cruel as well as beautiful.
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Sorry if this is spoilery or already been asked before, but do you have an idea for the exact ages of everyone or is that something you’d rather have the reader decide? Guessing everyone’s ages, I’d say;
Jacob- 21-23
Finley- A little older than the MC, 27? 28?
Yolanda-Early to Mid thirties? 32
Ricky- Around the same age as Yolanda, give or take a few years.
Informat- 25-29. For some reason I can’t see this guy being older than 30.
Rafael/Lucy- Same age as the MC
MC- Depending on the college degree they went for, I’m going to assume it was a two year college, and they married Raf/Lucy right out of college and got divorced a year or two later +4 years away from each other, 26?
Likewise- 27
Eileen- We haven’t even seen her yet but I’m gonna guess 24. She seems she would be the same age or younger than the MC.
Sorry if this is off topic or has already been discussed, the thought just popped into my head and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
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