Yapping about my VN characters :)

Hi hi! I made a free to play visual novel called Atlas Ablaze, and I wanted to info dump about some of my characters on here :)

 If you're interested in playing it, it's on Steam and Itch.io but I don't recommend it for anyone under maybe like 15 or someone who's set off by any of the trigger warnings at the end of the trailer on Steam. 

It's a coming of age type story but doesn't have a strong plot direction. The main focus is probably Andi and their girlfriend, but Andi's friends are a big part of it too.
I think it's both fascinating and horrifying the way we're affected by things that happen to us while we're young, hence this being a high school story. I really wanted to highlight what "growing up" means to a teenager and the highs and lows of getting to know someone for who they truly are.

 With that out of the way~

 Andi is my main character!

I'm gonna use they/them pronouns for them right now, because canonically they realize sometime after the game's ending that they're nonbinary (it's confirmed in the extra epilogue comics I added into the game for some of the endings) BUT Andi uses she/her pronouns throughout the game and it's not really a focus in my plot.

ANYWAYS, Andi is a 16 year old, uhhhh lets just say neurodivergent kid? Undiagnosed, probably just thinks they're just dumb. Some aspects of Andi are direct ripoffs of 16 year old me tbh. Fun fact! (it's not fun) They also have ARFID.

 Andi is a little socially stunted, kinda hot headed and can be gullible. They have this imaginary frienemy, a little purple demon who hangs around them that they're fully aware isn't real. Gabriella, a personification of a lot of Andi's negative thoughts, is a purple demon that looks eerily like an older version of Andi's best friend, Nancy.

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 This is Nancy, a 15 year old h*terosexual with an urgent need to impress everyone around her. She can be viewed by her friends as bossy or naggy because as much as she tries to guide them with love, she DOES think her way is best and it can be an issue. Nancy is smart though, and is often right regardless of coming off too strong.

 Well, in her own way she's still a bit of a moron. She and Andi share the same terrible sense of humor.

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 Iris is Andi's girlfriend, which brings us to the main plot of the story. She's a young s*x worker who Andi met first at a gas station and then at a party where Iris was hired as a joke.

DISCLAIMER: My game focuses on the everyday aspects of Andi's life. Iris's work is talked about but never ever ever shown. None of it's described in graphic detail.

I do talk about a lot of heavy topics but I promise I was really cautious about how I portrayed my characters because they're so young. The concept of maturity from a teenager's perspective VS the reality of it was actually something I made sure to touch on throughout the game. 

 Okay, anyways-

 Iris is so used to putting on a mask for the people around her that she isn't sure who is is anymore. Andi is one of the few people she feels humanizes her, having treated her like a normal person from the start despite knowing what she does for work.

 She has a pretty dry sense of humor and cries A LOT. Not that I blame her. The two of them are arguably unhealthily codependent, relying on each other as escapes for their own lives.

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 BRADDDD oh my god, regardless of not being the worst of my characters, he's the one people hate on the most. He's 15 years old and tries really hard to fit in, to a point where it's pathetic. He also has a really annoying crush on Nancy.

 Brad's one of those people where you can see WHY they are the way that they are, but they're *ssholes regardless. The question is, does he really want to change or is it all a front?

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 This is Kita, my absolute favorite character. 17 years old. Similar to Nancy, she can be kinda blunt and bossy but for different reasons. There IS still that nurturing undertone, but she can be a little more visibly cold towards people. While Nancy can put on a good face when other people become too much, Kita thinks that no matter what she does, no one will like her. In contrast to Nancy who fights for people's approval, Kita is tired of fighting. She can also be a little more careless with her words.

 She has a really in depth side story that I'm working on for a book that'll pretty much extend the story of Atlas Ablaze. It's gonna take me forever to write tho :(

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 This is Grace, Kita's closest friend and polar opposite. She's 15. Where Kita has no filter but not everyone realizes she has a big heart, Grace is... well she's fake as f*ck. Most of their school saw through her act over the years since she's pretty hot headed, but she masks her apathy anyways because it helps her socially.

 Another thing that's not included in the game but I wanna write into the book, Grace likes to draw. Her art style is reminiscent of that early 2000's style that had a lot of swirls and flowers. I don't know how to describe it but I'd know it if I saw it. She probably doodles people in a really cartoony way, dressed in either really frilly clothes or fancy dresses.

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 David is the resident idiot. I mean, not really, but he's a massive goofball that's frequently high and canonically has terrible hygiene. Also some secrets I won't spoil :) He's 17 and stinkyyyyyy~ 

 In this household we LOVE DAVID.

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 This is Richie!! He's the youngest of the friend group, 13 at the start of the game. He's a big softy and just wants to be friends with everyone.

 He's also pretty gullible and can be a little socially unaware. There's a better word I'm looking for but I forgot what it is.

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 This is his best friend, Devon. He's 15, 14 at the very beginning of the game. They've been basically attached at the hip since becoming friends. Devon is quiet at first but when he opens up, he never stops talking. He's very optimistic, a bit unrealistic at times.

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 Sam :) She only looks mad here because she's talking to Brad, but she usually has a big smile and puppy eyes. She's a 17 year old diagnosed lesbian.

 She's very flirtatious by habit and will slam someone's head into a wall if they pick on her friends, unless it's Brad. If someone picks on Brad she'd probably join in. 

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 I have other side characters but that's the friend group!! Idek if anyone will read all this but I like info dumping about my characters and there's so much I'm holding back from dumping here. Here's some more random things from my BlueSky: