So, I've gotten the first chunk of chapters for Ethereals sequel gods and monsters done! Which means we're on schedule for its release in June. I'm being particular about this fic (I mean I am with all of them but this one even more so) because Ethereal is by far my biggest and most popular one and I intent on making its second instalment live up to the name of the first one.

Of all my L fics, Ethereal is definitely the magnum opus, followed by death doesn't scare me. So get hyped because it's coming VERY soon.

Now the next fic thing I'm gonna mention is my hiatus books. The woods behind the orphanage and million dollar man. They're probably gonna be hiatused for a long while because I was hit with the weirdest case of writers block for those two. No clue why, one day I just,,, stopped functioning?? Like my ideas just ran out. I started them knowing the general direction I was going in but when I got to the halfway mark my brain just stopped.

In the case of million dollar man, that was written around the time some new system communication had opened up and it kind of derailed everything as well, since there was a lot going on in the brain and I just couldn't focus on it for a bit.

I do fully intend on finishing them eventually, but right now I'm just stumped and Gods and monsters is taking up a lot of time.

Last writing update before I get into some system stuff: my original story officially has a tumblr now, where I archive the process, extra lore and art. @ Izroulia is the handle so go give it a follow if you're interested. I'm currently doing the first draft for its sequel too. My intention with Izroulia is to have both books first drafts open to the public for feedback and criticism and then I'll go and re-write what needed to be done, add things that need to be added and clean it up in general and HOPEFULLY I can have it actually published one day.

2012 me would literally be screaming.

Just to hook y'all into reading it here's some chibis of the book 1 characters

They're so cute look at my little blorbos. And yes Aries did get some design influence from L

N E WAYS

Inner world stuff. Now it's been a good while since the plural awakening I'm a lot more aware of what the headspace is like. I can't access a good chunk of it because I'm host, but I am aware of what it looks like since there's less amnesia in our system than usual. That and the others tell me what it's like in the areas I can't get to.

I'm 100% certain that the main area is based on a school camp I went to as a kid, because it looks so similar and has the layout of a camp ground. It's this big field with dorms, two other buildings, all fenced off and even a path to a beach cove that is exactly what that camp had. That camp was literally the best week of my life as kid, I loved it so much I literally wrote a short story about it over a year later for a school project. It really impacted my childhood so I know for a damn fact that's why it was the basis for the inner world.

The dorms is the closest to the front you can get. At the end of one hall is the 'front' door, you step through it to front. The other ends door leads to the rest of the headspace, I can't pass that door. I'm stuck in the dorms, I can see out the windows though. Those who are frequent fronters each have a room in the dorms and it's all personalised.

Shout out to Hypnos for having the coolest room ever btw. The light is the moon and there's all those glow in the dark stars surrounding it on the roof in the shape of constellations. And the bed is the most comfortable thing ever, silk sheets, tons of stuffed animals, fluffy blankets and puffy pillows. All covered by a canopy. It's always dimly lit in there and smells like lavender. I get why he sleeps for days on end in there it's so cosy.

There's also a small commons area in that building where lot of the regular fronters hang out. Being co con is kind of like having someone standing in the doorway of the front door behind you, looking over your shoulders.

Or in L's case the man just walks right in and basically leans on me he's always so close by.

Outside the dorms is a small garden, not sure what the significance is there. It's just kinda there, it's got mainly berries and poppies. The poppies is definitely Hypnos' doing since that's their sacred flower.

There's a random paved area on the field, which I'm sure is from the basketball courts that were at camp. My child brain just didn't really care for basketball and half assed that section.

Opposite the dorms on the other end of the field are two buildings. One is a mess hall type area where meetings are held, I can't get there so idk what goes on in there. And the other is Des' library. We technically can enter it but Des prefers we stay out of it since that's where they do all their gatekeeping stuff. Each book is like a memory, a brain function, a trigger etc. so they'd rather we don't mess with it in case we accidentally see something we shouldn't. The library is also a bigger on the inside TARDIS style and the halls go on for seemingly ever. I have no idea how Des navigates that place.

Again I can't enter it, but I'm told it's pretty cosy and Des has this hammock hanging from two rafter beams where they sleep above all the books.

Then there's the path to the beach, it's not too long and the only area that isn't fenced off. You can access the Forrest that way but we can't go far in without a force field type thing blocking us. The beach is where one of the people who doesn't want to be named spends a lot of time. They're directly linked to ocean mythology so it's no wonder they're always there. They have a habit of fronting a lot in summer and vanishing to the beach all winter.

There's no seasons cycle, it's always a comfortable warm. And there is a day/night cycle but the sky is always pretty overcast, not too much light gets in because a lot of us are sensitive to light.

Now, the Forrest. We don't know much about it, it's seemingly endless and kept fenced off for a reason. There is a gate, Des can unlock it but keeps it locked, and none of us really want to go into the Forrest anyway because that place is dark and really dense and we don't wanna get lost or find something we shouldn't. That being said, L was brave recently and wandered into the Forrest via the path to the beach, and found an abandoned treehouse just out of sight from the path.

We aren't sure who lived there, or how long it's been there. Even Des isn't sure. I have a theory it may have belonged to a Hiccup fictive because IM SO DAMN SURE we used to have one. But he's either gone dormant or integrated with someone else. I'm not sure the significance of treehouses for it to end up there, I did have a phase as a kid where I begged for a treehouse so maybe that?

What we do know about the Forrest though is dormant alters must lie there, because that's where Luka was when he woke up. He woke up on the other side of the fence and has to climb over to get back to the main area. I assume fragments must be in there as well, because none of us can see any in the main area but we know they've existed, I mean some of us started at fragments.

That forest is one big mystery, but I think it's best it stays that way. Des doesn't know much about it but they know more than we do, and they're keeping the details for a reason. I trust them, if they're keeping something from us then it's clearly something we don't need to know for safety. I assume maybe a trauma fragment stuck in a loop, or an area out there linked to a trigger or something.

Time passes the same as the real world, but it can be hard to tell because of the overcast at times.

I'm sure that if we ever split more alters, the world will expand to accommodate them as needed. According to some of our oldest ones, the area has changed over time as we've expanded in size. Granted 9 (that we know of) is still a very small system, so we could probably fit some more in before the world has to expand.

Although life after 2020 has been pretty chill and the only split we've had since then is Damien. Funny enough he formed in the library, so I suppose there could be people hiding in there too. Since ya know, bigger on the inside and all.

And Damien didn't split from stress he just came into existence to fill a role to function better as we started T. So I'd say anyone that may show up in the future is probably someone waking up from dormancy, someone who has been here a while but was just blocked from communicating or a fragment fully forming. Because we're in a stable environment at the moment.

This is all literally so interesting to me, both on a psychology and brain function level and a symbolic level. Like connecting the dots of where parts of the headspace came from is kind of fun. When I realised it was probably rooted in that school camp I was all "OOOOHHHHHHH that makes SO much sense"

So yeah, that's my little deep dive on the inner world and some fic updates. I kinda wanna try and draw or make the inner world in the sims or something.

I'll see y'all next update!