Sounds awfully fun. You don’t get many opportunities to play as a journalist, not to mention the superhero angle.
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I hope you dug that pit deep, because I am dying to know more of this story and about our villainous ex-spouse. I have to agree with everyone before, this is a really interesting take on a superhero/villain story. You don’t normally think about how the everyday person might see the heroes and villains in their cities, and this is a fun way to look at it. I am very excited to see where this goes. I hope writing this stays enjoyable for you as you work on Icarus Sun!
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Fair warning, I’m not an editor and I don’t consider myself a writer, but I can avoid looking at the code if you don’t want me to look at it. All I can honestly offer are spelling corrections and a few opinions, depending on how far you want me to go.
“A man with dark sunglasses sits rubbing his head at the counter, an irritated scowl on his face.” Is this guy going to be important?
Ooh this is going to be good, I can’t wait to hear more about the MC’s backstory. I’m glad I made you laugh by the way. 
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Well, good! This one is all about the fun so I’m glad it’s doing what it’s supposed to!
Ohoho, that part is one of my favorites to write so you’d better bet that pit is about as deep as it can get.
Thank you so much! I’m really excited to see where it goes as well, and I’m sure I’ll have fun with it! (I mean, I already do, so yeah!)
I mean, do whatever you think feels best. I will warn you though:
I do not recommend reading the code if you want to be surprised.
Because the code has some heavy spoilers in there already. (I mean, as you could probably imagine since I have to code all of the heroes and their identities and everything- long story short, you’ll probably enjoy the game more if you don’t look at the code, but if you want to, I’m not particular either way…
That and it’s probably a mess since this story is my experimental lab-rat when it comes to coding and also my coding is just a mess in general).
But, yeah, even so much as spelling corrections and opinions are amazing! So I’d be happy with just those if you don’t want to spoil everything for yourself.
As for sunglasses guy? Yes… kinda. He can be.
MCs backstory is gonna be fun, I can tell ya that.
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Oh my gosh please contiue this! Its vastly diffrent from the array of superhero centric games we have here and Im super stoked to perhaps see our ordinary world overlap with those of a superhero. ( How about some scraps of info on the RO’s ;D?).
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The plan is definitely to continue it! (Albeit slowly, aha)
I’m super happy you like the idea!
Oooh, scrap info on the ROs? Glad you asked!
So most of the names who you can currently see on the relationships tab of the stats screen are ROs, but here’s some blurbs about each that you’ve yet to meet/have already met:
Finley Burke - Nonbinary (Genderfluid), Pansexual
Finley is your boss. That being said, they don’t really appear to like their job at The Rust either, which might contribute to their consistently caustic tone. You don’t really know why they took job if they dislike what The Rust does, but for some reason they did and they’re doing their damnedest to make The Rust the best it can be- which is really just like them. Because no matter the situation, Finley’s the type of person who’ll take it with a sarcastic comment and a smile, and then do their best to make it into something better.
Rafael “Raf” Darzi (Name subject to change because he’s gone through like 20 name changes and I’m still not happy with it, actually is anyone has any ideas for names it’d be super amazing if you could throw them out because hoo, boy this boy’s name is givin’ me trouble.) - Male, Pansexual
Raf is an affectionate, shy guy with gentle manners and a knack for remaining calm in even the most dire of situations. Raf is very empathetic, and as a result he has a tendency to put himself last. Raf has a tendency to focus on one thing as a time, since when he does he kinda loses sight of everything else outside of what it is he’s so focused on.
Jacob Greenhill - Male, Homosexual
A young law student who used to be in a police academy but left after deciding that catching the bad-guys wasn’t enough- but making sure that they actually got into jail was. Jacob’s a man with a strong sense of justice and a lot of passion, but he’s young and doesn’t quite know what he’s doing, and he gets frustrated easily with that fact. Jacob’s a social, energetic guy with a lot of hopes and dreams.
Lucille “Lucy” Pinchette - Female, Pansexual
Lucy’s a woman with a pirate’s swagger and a fire in her eyes. She’s outspoken and unafraid to state exactly what’s on her mind. She’s your grade-A extrovert and loves being around people- well… people she likes. Lucy isn’t afraid to speak out when she dislikes something or someone. Lucy is also fiercely loyal to those she does like, she’ll do pretty much anything for family and friends.
Yolanda Waltz - Female, Homosexual
Yolanda Waltz is a socialite who’s known for managing the nightclub Chat Blanc and for being a bit of a playboy (playgirl? I’m not sure of the word) type, although, strangely, she’s never actually seen in a relationship. Yolanda is known to be suave and cool-headed, and has a rather gleaming reputation in Nickelport’s mass media as the businesswoman responsible for Chat Blanc’s recent success.
There’re three romances I’m going back and forth about whether or not I’d want to include which are these lovelies right here: (Again, a public opinion might actually be really helpful here, would anyone be interested in romancing any of them?)
Eileen Abney - Female, Asexual (Panromantic)
Eileen is a sweet girl who just moved to Nickelport recently. She’s struggling in the big city since she’s never really been in that kind of environment, and as a result is a little overwhelmed with everything. But she finds solace in small groups of friends that she’s made while she’s here. Eileen’s main concern right now is proving, to herself and others, that she can survive in this crazy city- and not just survive, but thrive as well.
??? (You don’t know his name, he hasn’t really given you one yet…) - Male, Pansexual
An informant, and… that’s really all you know about him. This guy is someone who you’ve yet to find out the identity of. In the few interactions you’ve had with him it’s been hard to get a read on his personality, especially since most of them are short or not in person. Somehow he seems to know everything about Nickelport’s underground, and he’s perfectly willing to trade that information… if you can bring him more.
Ricky Dempsey - Male, Pansexual? Heterosexual?
Ah… yes… Mr. Ricky Dempsey. Ricky Dempsey and you have a… strained… relationship, to say the least. He’s a politician who you actually caught cheating on his wife in a story that was supposed to be a dead-end rumormill investigation that you were using as cover on a bigger, superhero-related piece. Now you’ve got him under your thumb (despite the fact that you were never going to publish the piece anyway), especially since his entire political campaign was built on promises of “honesty and a trustworthy politician who’ll tackle corporate corruption”. Since then, Dempsey and his wife have split, and though the public thinks that its because of his focus on politics you know a bit better. Dempsey is a politician, so he’s got all the charm and eloquence that comes with one… on the outside, at least.
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It seems that out of all of them (Finley and Rafael aside) the extra three grabbed my attention the most.
A fellow Ace! 
Out of all the female options, she seems the most gentle-natured. I suppose I’m a tad bit more biased towards her since I’m a sucker for the ‘fish out of water’ trope.
I’m getting massive Red Light vibes, for some reason. But I could also be 100% wrong.
I advocate for this option 100%. I can just see so many possibilities with this RO, given the history he has not only on his own, but with the MC as well. Plus, we divorcees need to make a club at some point.
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Asks for scrap gets book 
Given your apparent excitement for this project, I’m not sure you should hold back until you get a dry spell in Icarus Sun. It might be more useful to bounce between projects to give yourself a creative break so to speak on each project.
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Aha! Well, it’s a good thing that they’re all up for consideration, then!
Same here, honestly when I first planned out Eileen she was just a side character but I loved her so much I interwove her into the story more and then I was like ‘She could make a really good romantic interest’ and hence now she’s here. (And, hey! Another Ace, yo!)
As for ??? (I really need to come up with an alias for this guy other than just ???), well… I suppose that’s what you’re going to the party to find out, no? (Can’t spoil anything… yet.)
Ha! I could just imagine the MC and Ricky sitting in a room by themselves like ‘okay wtf do we do now’ and suddenly their exes come barging in like ‘Hey we heard there was a club for divorcees-… uh…’
Also, yeah, his romance path might be super fun to write and also since there’d be so much tension and drama it’d just be great.
Ahaha, these aren’t even all my notes on the personalities of these people- just the ones that avoid spoilers 
Hmm… that’s true. What I’m kind of doing now is I write this one when stressed/uninspired and then when I get really fired up from this one I move onto Icarus Sun (which has a lot of coding to fix because I had to write half of it outside of my normal TextEdit, on Google Docs which messed up all the indents and formatting, all due to a series of rather interesting complications involving an ex-wrestler tech guy with a lot of -I think fake??- house plants and a cardboard cutout of Justin Bieber that has since gone missing) and because of said coding I can lose energy quickly (indents are hard man), so it’s easy for me to ride out all the extra inspiration I get from MCU into IS and then when I hit a wall come back to this and so and so on…
It’s like ping-pong with words and plots.
Buuut, yeah, I’ll probably end up writing their romance paths whether I want to or not just because I already love these characters so much. I figured I might have a better sense of whether or not I should/would based upon whether or not anyone would actually have fun with them, y’know?
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She would! And I’m glad to hear that she is at least involved in the story without being a RO, she just seems like such a sweet character I can’t help but root for her regardless of whether I can romance her or not. (Ayy! 
)
Oooh! First the cliffhanger, now this? Jeez this pit sure is deep…
Everyone sits in an awkward little circle talking about their feelings and life after divorce. They serve brownies later and agree to meet on Thursdays.
Oh well, who doesn’t love a bit of angst, anyway?
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Of course! I like to keep all my ROs/RO potentials involved in the story whether they’d want to be or not no matter whether or not the player romances them! I guess it just feels like the romance matters more if you do decide to romance them that way? I don’t know.
And, yeah, Eileen is adorable. She’s like the sweet summer child of the group who would 100% bring cookies to any meetings. (Probably also bakes the brownies for the Divorcee Club every Thursday despite not being a divorcee herself.)
Spoilers/snippets and cliffhangers are my life so you can bring your pickaxe because it only gets deeper from here, pal!
Imagine MC and Ricky’s ex teaming up to talk about their exes behind their backs while Ricky and the MCs ex team up as well and now everyone knows everyone else’s most embarrassing secrets, and now Ricky has something to use against MC whenever they try to blackmail him but MC has even more ammo to use now as well.
Ahh… the smell of fresh angst in the morning.
((But also I’d be lying if I didn’t want there to be a Ricky-romance just for a scene where the MC can tease him about using the alias ‘Alfonse Silver’ for his affair because that name basically screams suspicious activity.))
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Steady on, we’ll end up making a black hole at this rate
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First, the core of this world, next, the center of the universe.
At this point MCU is starting to sound like a villainous plot in and of itself…
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Being the villainous reporter wouldn’t be a bad thing…
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That’ll depend on who you ask.
But it might be fun. Who knows where you’ll end up?
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I can play as a regular journalist in a superhero/supervillain world that definitely caught my interest…i really enjoyed reading it and really love it…
Looking foward for more…especially for the MC backstory…
i like most of the romance option but i have my eyes on Ricky,i already like his character after his short interaction with the MC and now that i read more about him i love Ricky more i hope you will add him as the romance options…by the way…
does that mean you still unsure about his sexuality?
i hope you will make him Pansexual because i prefer playing a male MC and it will be more interesting if he is keeping his sexuality a secret before meeting the MC…
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Yay! I’m glad you like it!
It looks like I’m probably gonna go ahead and add in the extra three romances. They’d be fun to write and it looks like people would actually play them so, eh, why not? This is already my experimental lab-rat of a story so I’ll go ahead and test out how it would be with a larger number of romantic options as well.
Yeah, it means that I’m not 100% set on Ricky’s sexuality. I know that up until now he’s only been with women romantically. Buut I also feel like it’d be interesting to write a character who’s questioning their own sexuality and just who they are in general. (Ricky can be saddled with a lot of moral dilemmas in the game depending on how the MC interacts with him).
That and since Ricky’s a pretty… self-assured (read: arrogant) person it’d be really interesting to write a scene or two where he’s actually confronted with an aspect of himself that he doesn’t know.
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I concur, I feel like the story and characters come first and foremost and then you add any romance if you so choose to.
( It’s too much, I can’t handle how sweet that is. You got 4 bitter divorcees and a girl who baked brownies. )
Tour Guide Voice And if you look to your left, you can see the author rubbing their hands together as they laugh maniacally.
I’m slowly beginning to wonder how Ricky ever managed to keep his affair a ‘secret’ by this point. Truly, he is the epitome of subtlety.
I just thought of that not long ago! I feel like the MC and Ricky’s ex would make a fantastic duo when it comes to trash-talking their exes. “My husband had an affair.” “Oh yeah? Mine turned out to be a villain. Even worse is that he never did the dishes.”
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Yes! The only problem with this, for me, is that I love a lot of the characters too easily, and then I want to make them a bigger part of the story which means more interactions with MC which usually leads to them being a potential romance candidate and then I have to come to terms with the fact that I am not physically capable of writing that much and need to cut out half the cast (which is why I usually take the characters I’ve cut and place them in stories that need other characters. The person is already there, I just kinda weave them into the plot… Funnily enough Eileen is one such character.)
Just wait till you learn what her job is and how the MC meets her, and her backstory- this woman is just full of fluff. She’s probably the happiest romance path I’ve plotted out in a while, honestly.
“Watch your step please, as you’ll notice there’s a giant pit in the floor that appears to have been dug out for the very purpose of letting people dangle off of the edge only to fall down into…”
“Ma’am is that legal?”
“I don’t know. I’m just here for the tax benefits.”
He’s a lucky boy with a good smile and a talent for redirecting people’s attention away from the man behind the curtain. (And money. Money helps. Money helps a lot.)
Oml imagine them getting into a competition about who has the worse ex. “Mine scammed the entire city into thinking he’s a reputable candidate for their board.” “Yeah? Well mine probably KILLED the real reputable candidate for their board.” “Mine bribed him to drop out of the runnings first.” “Mine probably stole the corrupted money from their bank account.”
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I totally get that! When I write, I put great care into my characters. I like to work out how they function both individually and together. This isn’t a bad thing, but sometimes I just go a bit overboard and end up losing focus of what I was supposed to do with them in the first place. 
I swear if her job is something like an animal shelter volunteer or a florist… This is too pure for me. 11/10
Charm and money are always the answer for politicians, aren’t they? 
I wonder how good 'ol Ricky would handle being in a situation where neither of those can get him out of trouble.
Ricky and MC’s ex just watch on helplessly, knowing that stopping their exes is futile. MC and Ricky’s ex continue this back and forth until Eileen brings out the brownies and cookies. The situation has de-escalated… for this week.
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