Posted September 25, 2024 by Naarel
So, uh. Hi. Naarel here. I'm not doing that great, but it's been a longer while since All of Us Flames, yet another planning doc and I need to let it out dropped, so I guess it'd be good to drop you a sort of an intro post. This post is practically a remake of the intro post I made about it on Cohost, but Cohost is closing down and not many of you have even followed me there anyway, so, time for me to repost it here and add some more info along the way.
It's sometime in early 2010s. Little me is hiding under the covers in their bed with a flashlight, reading a book way past their bed time. The book was Private by Kate Brian - a story about a scholarship student entering an academy for rich people and subsequently having to deal with the ruthless social landscape that comes with it all. There are boyfriends, friends, sex, alcohol, drugs and even murder at one point. Probably too dark for someone my age at that time, but who cares.
I grew up (and still live) in the middle of Polish Nowhere (population around 100), in a family full of blue collar workers, therefore, little me was invested. It was so different compared to what I knew. This isn't to say that I thought this is a real account of a rich people's lives, or that I wanted that kind of life; I treated it just like I'd treat a fantasy novel. Every other book or movie about the lives of fictional rich people was rather unproblematic, straightforward thing, where the rich were heroes and heroines, outside of the obvious mean girl archetype that was a bully for a less financially privileged protagonist or something. But in Private universe, things were messy. As the main character tried to become "one of the girls", I kept questioning: is it even fucking worth it at this point?
Was it the best book ever? No. No, it absolutely wasn't. But it made an impact on me. I couldn't consume all those Boarding School For Rich People love stories anymore because they were clean. And obviously, as I grew up I became a bit more conscious about how celebrity life with all its wealth and fame can be messy and scandalous. Suddenly I found myself following dramas of internet influencers and tragic stories of childhood stars, and from this point on, the soft, pastel approach that I kept encountering really stopped working for me. So, sooner or later, I started writing my own things, tinged ever so slightly with queerness that I began to find in myself. That is to say, there were a lot of lesbians involved (I thought I am one at that time!).
Either way, those ideas stayed somewhere in the back of my head for years. I always wanted to write something like this, but I kept it away because there were always better things to write about. And when I became a VN dev, I had other stories to tell. As much as I love Oneironverse, though, I had to do something on the side to keep myself sane; in this case, it was a series of fanfics (Don't ask me about it, by the way. The girls who know, know, the girls who don't, don't). To summarize the plot: in a School For Rich People, the bottle blonde influencer falls for the softest girl around, and against all odds, they become a couple. What the influencer doesn't know is that the soft girl isn't that soft in reality, and she will go to great lengths to keep her by her side. So, very yandere behavior. It was a whole messy affair that tried to explore the "mean girl" character and dive a little into what obsession can do to you. And writing all of this brought the ideas I used to have back to the forefront of my little empty head.
So one day, I talked with my dear friend about it all, and they said, quote, If we want any hope of a good fucked up romance WE NEED YOU. And so, I said fuck it, and started planning Passerine Hills.
At first it was meant to vaguely follow the same plan as the fanfic version, but it soon evolved into its entire own thing as I realized that the background characters I made should probably have their own stories (and routes) as well. It's its own thing now. Kinda insane how that went. Do I want it to be realistic? No. It's my "rest project" - something I do to relax and have fun. It's meant to be messy, dark in certain places, and sapphic, obviously. I'm doing it only because I want to, and because I have friends who want to read it. That's all.
Titular Passerine Hills is a School For Rich People - somewhat like a uni, so everyone involved here is young adults. The main appeal for this place isn't its educational values (although they are really good at that if this is what you really want): it's the privacy that it can grant. Passerine Hills doesn't really exist - it's a name for an undisclosed secret location, surrounded by a fake city made to deter people from trying to snoop around. Generally, this is where young adult rich people come to hide from the relentless attention of the public for some time and some of them are running from far more dire things.
The main character is Tiffany, one of the top social media influencers around. Outside, she's the very stereotype of a mean girl with her platinum blonde hair, resting bitch face and Valley Girl accent, but internally, she's really Just A Girl who doesn't quite know how she found herself here. One night, she finds herself in a vulnerable position at one of the regularly held parties, and her bestie, Holly, is nowhere to be found. However, another girl, Clare, shows up to help Tiffany out. Tiffany doesn't know it yet, but that encounter is only one piece in a series of events that will change the course of not only her life, but also the lives of everyone in Passerine Hills. So, yeah! Go to parties, make new friends, discover horrifying secrets and new things about yourself, fall in love with girls and Izzy and don't mind Clare, she's just here to help you out. Haha, unless... unless you'd want more than this... haha just kidding... unless?
I don't know! I'm currently working on a Test Version (which is like demo, but not really, since I'm just testing the waters and seeing if I can actually make it and vibe with the concept). We'll see how it goes after that. I think the full version will be divided in acts and released accordingly. For now, however, I'm focusing on making the Test Version, which I hope to release this year. Also, I want this project to be made for me and my friends, for fun. Putting deadlines on myself feels counterintuitive.
I'm on scene 11 out of 15 in the first draft phase! It's above 20k words at this moment.
No. It's interactive fiction, built in Twine.
Unless I gather a whole team that'll be willing to work with me for gods know how long, no. I choose interactive fiction for this project because it's very much a solo thing as of right now and making a visual novel solo requires far more effort than interactive fiction for me. You will get spin-off VNs though.
Yep! Not a lot of it in the Test Version (just a little taste...), but full version will give you an option to romance some characters.
There are five routes planned, with seven characters involved. As you can see, the math suggests that there are poly routes involved. Two of them, to be exact (or, well, two and a half, since in one of those you're in a V, not in a triangle).
Why not?
No. You get six girls and one nonbinary person (that calls themselves a girl anyway).
No.
Well, Tiffany is bisexual and could date a guy. However, I want to write sapphics.
I don't know why you'd ask that, considering I described the main character. The answer is "no". Tiffany is a set character and has her own character arc that's slightly different, depending on what route you put her on. She's at a point in her life where she feels quite hollow and unsure of who she is, though, so she might be a little bit blank slate-ish anyway.
See, every character here's been through some shit. Trauma, addiction, mental and/or physical health issues. And on top of that, almost all of them are rich and somewhat privileged. Now close them all in a secluded place. This is bound to turn ugly sooner or later.
I want everyone to know that some characters will do things that can be considered problematic or wrong. Some relationships here are unhealthy, some thought processes lead to bad conclusions, some people have biases and wrong attitudes. I'm not afraid of touching this sort of a mess and I find exploring scenarios of this kind interesting, so I won't stop myself from trying to respectfully portray a wide variety of issues. Now, there won't be any hate crimes, on-screen bigotry or queerphobia (other than the internalized kind in some cases), so you can rest assured on that field. Every route has a slightly different set of dedicated trigger warnings which will be revealed once I'm truly done with the Test Version. I tend to write all the trigger warnings down after I finish my works just to make sure I won't accidentally leave something out. That being said, if mentions of drugs and alcohol (if you're American, that's underage drinking for you) and mildly suggestive content aren't something for you, you most likely shouldn't be here.
I'll be honest with you and tell you that I didn't do any maths for this and therefore, everyone's around 20.
Everyone. Is. Around. 20. Listen, some of them are celebrities with messed up timings on education anyway.
Yep.
In full version, most likely. In Test Version? Not really, but depending on your route, things might get... gestures vaguely. In the future full version, I plan for more sexually charged scenes to be skippable, so, don't worry about it too much.
Yeah, but I suck at describing characters, so, not here and not now. However, you can kind of, sort of, meet almost the entire cast (outside of Holly) in my Passerine Hills side projects right now!
Kaja and Tara (joint route) in All of Us Flames
Emmeline, Ana Vitória (joint route) and Izzy in yet another planning doc
and Clare in I need to let it out.
I plan to make a little post about the characters/routes at some point. Knowing me? Probably won't do it because I'll forget. But trust me, I'll try my best to remember.
Well, you can leave it in the comments here. Or, if you're really shy, send me a message on Discord (ednaarel) or an ask on Tumblr (@ednaarel). I'll be back to you as soon as possible.
I'll be honest with you, I really am NOT doing that great lately. Passerine Hills is one of those little things I'm making to keep myself afloat, in a way. If this is not what you're here for, I understand. It's just that this is something I always wanted to make, regardless of how silly or bad it might be. This is where I ran away during burnouts and terrible moments this year. I just want to make something for myself and not think about it too much, and share it with you all when it's done.
Thank you to everyone who read this because it's a damn long post that's been sitting in my drafts for A WHILE. Good gods, I'm tired.
xx, Naarel