Catching up on some lore I promised (4/25/26 - 5/16/26)

 

~Remember that time I asked you guys what lore you were most interested in? Yeah…~

Hi… this took so long to finish that I had to redo the intro because it was just so outdated and would just be confusing. Anyways, Missy I am now bringing you your long overdue character dynamic lore dumps, and Eebie, even though you said you’re fine with waiting, you’re getting The Purge of Decay lore sooner than originally planned, which is what I’m currently working on :)

Now with that said, here’s some character dynamics, woo!

~*~*~*~

Usually I would immediately go for explaining my B.A. OC OTP (that string of letters mean something I swear), Sadie and Willow, but I’m currently workshopping those two and their dynamic feels so unfamiliar and not solid enough even for my note posts, so for today I have selected these character dynamics to discuss:

-Penny, Brielle, and Ben

-Brielle and Jolie

-Jolie and Josephine

Some will be short, and some will be paragraphs, but I figured lore was lore and even if it’s short it’s still something that would otherwise be unknown to y’all, so here we are, starting with the Brown Siblings, because I can’t believe I’ve been working on B.A. for over a year and have barely talked about those three.

~The Brown Siblings (Penny, Ben, Brielle)~

The Brown Siblings! The original main characters. Despite originally being more illustration centered they actually have a lot of lore to share, Brielle and Penny even has quite a lot of lore within the STEPs, meanwhile Ben stays more chill and illustration focused. So, let’s talk about them!

Before jumping straight into their dynamics, you first need to understand their escapism, as it plays a *very* big part in how they interact with eachother.

~*~*~

Brielle is the most straightforward out of the escapism tendencies each sibling has, she’s avoidant in nature, so despite being able to handle herself and defend against attacking forces, she’s also the first to run away when she’s scared. Even the way she defends against the Infection is avoidant. If you go out into the forest you’re going to have to understand that facing the Infection head-on is inevitable, however it was also taught to most River Town residents that the best corse of action is to stun and flee, they’re taught that the Infected can’t be killed and that is exactly how Brielle handles it. This is also how Brielle handles her trauma, “stun and flee” is basically another way to describe avoidance, is it not? When given the option to choose, Brielle will *always* choose avoidance, it shows in her main form of escapism- workaholism, it’s a distraction and therefore a form of avoidance, if she’s busy she doesn’t have the *time* to think about what happened to her parents and her community and therefore pushes it off. It shows in her action, her personality, her guilt- when she accidentally “kills” an Infected Townsperson and hurts her brother, what does she do? She runs, she flees, she avoids, it’s the same tactics she’s always followed that was even more built up ever since coming to Brooklet Avenue. It even shows in how she interacts with others, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

Penny’s escapism is the least controlled, it’s also the most innocent-looking of the three, as she struggles with maladaptive daydreaming, imagination cranked up to 100% to the point of being harmful, she’s pulled out of reality, and when forced to experience reality folds in on herself. She doesn’t know how to handle real complications, she’s babied, kept safe from harsh realities, and has been given too much false hope that she can no longer perceive when it is *false.* Her optimism comes from naïveté masquerading as hope, and when exposed as such she reverts back into her sweet dreams of a better, more gentle reality. Penny is also avoidant, but it is a different kind of avoidance. While Brielle’s avoidance is more controlled, Penny’s came from a place of misunderstanding and being nurtured in the wrong ways, protecting someone from the harsh reality of life doesn’t mean keeping them from it.

Ben is easiest summed up with a phrase: you can never fully move on, but you sure can try. Unlike his sisters who are stuck in an escapism limbo, Ben has actually worked through a lot of his trauma, but *like* his sisters, he too engages with escapism. Ben’s escapism has always been the hardest to explain, hence why it was always just described as “music,” but that’s not all there is to it. Ben puts up a front, in order to “move on” he believed he had to put his past behind him, and in order to do so has to become a new person, essentially the complete opposite of his twin, and this is primarily thanks to his Aunt who helped him work through his grief. To briefly explain Sadie’s flawed reasoning, she believes that the only way the Brown Siblings can heal is if they move on and live new lives, might I remind you this is someone who grew up with an absent “father,” only to later in life lose her mother, and due to her previous losses, Sadie has a reoccurring pattern of “casting aside” her past in search of a new future. This is basically what she teaches Ben. Sadie (with permission from the twins, although they were hesitant) burns down their family home to prove to them that they don’t need to focus on their past and can instead build a new life, a fresh start, and Ben takes this opportunity and runs with it: new people who doesn’t know him, a new culture and environment, he can be whoever he wants, and he can shape it himself. Ben’s way of escaping his trauma is by living in the moment, he follows life wherever it takes him, and he refuses to fit into a singular mold (or at least he tries), this is why music is so prominent in his escapism. Whether it’s listening to a record on his phonograph with his little sister by his side, or playing the violin with his friends, he listens to every note, every lyric, the sound of a bow gliding on strings, and for a brief moment nothing else matters and he feels weightless. While Brielle immediately “moved on,” and Penny was shielded from the truth, Ben fully caved in on his new reality, it hit him hard but he also allowed himself to feel the grief, and that’s probably why he was the first to move on, and the one with the healthiest coping mechanism.

~*~*~

With all that said, I’m going to explain the dynamics in this order:

-Brielle and Penny

-Penny and Ben

-Brielle and Ben

Brielle and Penny:

Brielle, being Penny’s older sister, does have the tendency to baby her like Sadie, however there’s also more to it. Brielle will do anything to keep the Infection away from her little sister, and that includes keeping her in the dark about it. While Brielle is out in the forest fighting the Infection, Penny is safe and sound in the town living a calm childhood. However, little kids aren’t stupid, they catch onto more than you’d think, and Penny could always tell there was something going on, she just never knew what. Penny would eventually get curious about the forest, the place she wasn’t allowed to enter, and would find a little spot where it was difficult for people to see her leaving, and cross the river by simply swimming across. This would be the time when Penny meets Millie, an Infected who had conflicting feelings upon reuniting with “her” lost friend, and Penny would get out safe and sound, Millie Mayfield being the only Infected to ever hesitate when it came to infecting. Then there was Brielle. Brielle’s relationship with Penny is a complicated one, because while she is incredibly overprotective of her, she also doesn’t set aside the time to play with or hang out with her little sister, causing their relationship to be primarily lead by a type of “do you actually care about me?” attitude from Penny’s side. And after discovering that Penny had been sneaking into the forest, Brielle’s attempts to keep Penny safe changes from “there’s nothing wrong” to “there is something wrong and you must stay away from it” which just damages their relationship further as Penny distances herself from Brielle to keep her from learning about Millie. They never fully make up, as Penny and Brielle only ever grow more distant as neither of them work through their destructive coping mechanisms, and Brielle never gets the chance to truly connect to her little sister, nor Penny to her big sister. (How sad…)

Penny and Ben:

While Brielle was strict and distant, Ben was quite the opposite, he has a very healthy relationship with Penny as he would actively put aside time to play with her, and would often invite her to hang out with him whenever he went off on his own to de-stress. Ben and Sadie basically raised Penny together, as neither of them could fully take up the space of her parental figures but did their best to make sure she had a happy childhood. Ben raises his little sister similarly to how he lives his life, unrestricted and free, which is probably why Penny, a imaginative little girl, gravitated more towards her fun-loving older brother and his friends rather than her busy, closed off older sister. Ben actively encourages Penny’s imagination, and tries to give her the space to be herself, however he too would avoid the “Infection Talk,” and isn’t fully clued in on her forest escapes until Brielle brings it to light when she becomes furiously anxious about it.

Ben and Brielle:

Ben and Brielle, despite being twins, aren’t really characters I thought much of together, as they’ve always had their own lives separate from each other. Due to Brielle’s busy life and Ben’s own relationships with his friends and Penny, there isn’t much to comment on in regard to how they interact. Which is honestly a plot hole on my part, they grew up together so there should be *something* there. If there’s one thing I can comment on, it’s that Brielle’s trauma sure does screw up any relationship she was barely holding onto, because the single thing I can think of where Ben and Brielle was involved with each other’s storylines is the end of STEP II: where Brielle accidentally decapitates the Infected Honey (The Carpenter’s wife), which is something that was heavily looked down upon by the River Town community as they consider it inhumane to do so to Infected Humans. Ben stumbles upon the scene, and Brielle panics, begging him not to tell anyone and not to see her differently and that she didn’t mean to do it. Ben doesn’t know what to think and tries to leave after Brielle won’t clam down, which is when Brielle suddenly lashes out, her hands turning to wooden claws as she slashes her brother in the chest. Seeing what she had done, Brielle is horrified, and with panic and adrenaline through the roof, she runs, leaving Ben to bleed out in the melting snow… obviously he survives, but.. yikes.

~Jolie Cardinal and Brielle Brown~

Jolie and Brielle! Probably the shortest character dynamic in the list, it’s simple but sweet, and I’ve had an illustration idea based off of this very duo since back when I was first thinking about the story. (I still really want to draw it but it requires The Huntsman to be designed and I just haven’t gotten around to that yet)

As you probably already know, Jolie’s main goal in life is to find a cure for The Infection, by Step III onward she’s kind of shifted her perspective and changed her goal to trying to learn as much as possible about The Infection and write down all her research in her journal for others to use, so that they can continue on her research to hopefully one day find a cure, but that doesn’t mean she’s lost hope for her own lifetime… But I’m getting carried away, I’m talking about STEP I, Springtime Survival, with little 12 year old Jolie Cardinal and 16 year old Brielle Brown. The very beginning of Jolie’s cure studies, in the midst of Brielle’s trauma-based workaholism. I will admit, this dynamic is a bit one-sided, but that’s because Brielle is just distant like that, I mean, you’ve seen how she is with her own siblings, what do you think she’d be like with others? Brielle was one of the youngest River Town residents who would go out into the Infection infested forest to do chores and come back usually unscathed, she has both training in logging and medical care and because of all of these traits she quickly gained the awe and attention of young Jolie Cardinal, who had been studying medical care and botany through limited books in determination to find a cure, and had been wanting to study under someone with experience. Perhaps even gain experience herself… but unfortunately for Jolie, being a young girl who didn’t seem physically or mentally prepared for the forest, would be turned down by basically every person she tried to study under. Therefore she turned to her last resort, someone closer to her age who surely would understand her perspective and determination, someone like Brielle Brown! Someone who… also turned her down. Look, Brielle doesn’t have the time to teach someone else, and she certainly doesn’t have the mental energy to let anyone in, and above all she wasn’t going to send a twelve year old girl to her inevitable fungal demise. Unfortunately for Brielle, being turned down by her last resort only made Jolie even more determined, and caused her to turn to her true last resort: gaining experience through trial and error, learning firsthand what the Infection is like by going into the forest by herself without anyone else’s help. Because her guardian certainly wouldn’t be coming with her, gosh he doesn’t even know she’s doing such things! Jolie would get herself into trouble and if she couldn’t get herself out of it, Brielle would often miraculously be there to save her. Brielle would try to convince Jolie to stop coming into the forest if she couldn’t handle it, but Jolie would keep showing up, time and time again, and eventually Brielle would feel inclined to teach Jolie a thing or two, but would ultimately still stay distant and refused to actually mentor her. These two, while not forming any close bonds, has always stuck out to me as a STEP I dynamic, as they were thought out so early on and is just that: a character dynamic, so it felt like a bit of a breather in between the two long dynamics :)

~Jolie Cardinal and Josephine Solara~

Jo-Jo! *cough* I mean Jolie and Josephine! These two are such cuties to me, which is funny because they live very dangerous lives. A bit of a side note, but I was originally hesitant to pair these two together because Jolie looked so much older than Mary in Step I, but they’re actually incredibly close in age (only a one year difference), Jolie just looked old for her age and Mary had the same base as Penny, besides Mary gets a few growth spurts somewhere between Step I and Step II, so she doesn’t look younger for that long. Anyways, back to character dynamics!

Sooo… fun fact about these two, they’re the prime example of “Stitch makes too many romantic duos and doesn’t go in-depth enough with most of them,” because I have so much going on in B.A. that I don’t think of stuff unless they’re plot relevant enough and therefore can’t give you a specific answer of how these two met, and if I did know once, I’ve long forgotten by now.

~*~*~

“Mary” also known as “Marigold” was a little eleven year old girl, very small for her age, who came to Brooklet Avenue with her twin brother, named “Spider Lily,” those names were given to them by Sadie Foxglove due to the fact that they were both selectively mute and refused to talk to anyone. Marigold and Spider Lily were both often seen scampering around the River Town, usually seen by townsfolk as Spider Lily causing some type of ruckus or commotion while Marigold would follow him around and help him out of tight spots, however she never engaged with any of his shenanigans. Despite clearly coming from the Mill Community, it was clear that the two were on their own, but no one could ever figure out where they would disappear to when they weren’t causing trouble, their home was a completely mystery.

Jolie Cardinal was a twelve year old girl, often described as “studious” and “mature” for her age. She is known as “the girl who floated down the river,” as she would be found floating down the river of Brooklet Avenue on a branch not long after the start of the Infection. Jolie would be taken in by the Carpenter, and later it would be known that her mother was attacked by Infected and tossed Jolie into the water, supposedly in hopes her daughter would make it out alive. Jolie was often found studying, either medical or botanical books, and when she wasn’t trying to get out into the forest and putting herself in danger for her studies, would often be carving something out of a little piece of wood.

~*~*~

To give a timeline, Jolie and Mary starts interacting sometime in STEP I, Springtime Survival, probably about a year (or a year and half) into STEP I (for reference, STEP II is three years after STEP I).

Jolie and Mary would run into each other a few times in the forest, usually while Mary was trying to bring her brother back to Knell’s Treehouse, but Mary and Spider would always disappear the moment they got the chance. However Jolie had already started noticing signs of what Mary and Spider kept secret from the entire town: Spider was ill, in what way she didn’t know, it could’ve been some chronic illness she didn’t know much about, but she also didn’t want to ignore the signs. Jolie would begin to keep an eye out for the twins, and whenever she had the opportunity would try to interact with Mary.

Eventually the two would warm up to each other, and would start to get to know each other on a personal level, learning that one of their goals were the same: they both wanted to find a cure for The Infection. Mary also officially introduces herself to Jolie as Josephine Solara.

This would bring us close to the end of STEP I, where Spider is outed as Infected and the town kicks him out, forcing Mary to test for the Infection before letting her go with him. Jolie believes that Spider was treated unfairly, but also understands why the townspeople reacted the way they did, he was Infected after all, and the town was never hesitant to cast out their own people if it meant keeping the Infection out. Jolie was aware by that point that Spider was Infected, but Mary never explained the details of how he was keeping it at bay up until that point.

Fortunately, by STEP II, Mary finally trusts Jolie enough that she knows she wouldn’t react poorly learning the information, and brings Jolie into the woods where she introduces her to Knell The Creature. Mary explains to Jolie that Knell is her’s and Spider’s caretaker in the same way how the Carpenter is for her, and that his natural Creature magic was how Spider was able to fight the infection (even if it was a loosing battle). Jolie is shocked by the information, but her shock is quickly overcome by the revelation that she may have had a breakthrough- the Infection can be kept at bay, and if it can be kept at bay, surely that means it can be reversed? Despite Knell’s attempts to explain the situation properly to Jolie- how the Infection can’t be reversed and even he could only do so much to fight it- Jolie was already filled with more hope and determination.

This would be when Jolie and Mary would share everything they know about the Infection with each other, and would officially consider each other partners- no, sorry, not romantic partners, partners in the sense of working together for the same goal, that comes later.

Jolie and Mary would run into Gabriel Flintlock in the forest, who was snapping photos of frozen Infected, and this is how Jolie would learn that Gabriel had some knowledge of the Infection himself and would start seeking him out to question him on such things, however Mary was incredibly hesitant to trust him. Mary would later be proven correct. Throughout STEP II Gabriel would interact with Jolie, Mary, and Penny, pushing Penny into interacting with Jolie and Mary and introducing them to Millie, manipulating them all into believing there was hope for a cure and traveling out to his old Academy (University?) where the Infector lay asleep from the freeze. He would also manipulate little Colette and bring her to the university himself (now you guys understand why Gabriel isn’t that great of a guy, but that can be a whole post of it’s own). After manipulating the three girls to travel with Millie to the old academy, Gabriel arrives with Colette and the Infector is freed from the thaw and wakes up (it’s a whole thing that has nothing to do with Jo-Jo), they trap Jolie, Mary, Penny, and Colette and removes Millie’s flowers. Then Spider is brought to the academy (I haven’t quite figured out the details of how he gets there, I’ve gone through a few ideas and just haven’t figured out which one would work best), and the “experiment” begins. (I’m having to remind myself this is about Jolie and Mary, not Step II lol) Mary becomes distraught over her brother (supposedly) becoming Infected, and Jolie quickly gets out of her branch restraints during all the commotion and frees Mary, running off with her before they catch The Infector’s attention.

Knell ends up explaining to Mary that he knows from a trusted source that Spider is alive, and this is how STEP III begins for Mary and Jolie.

Phew, this is where I can finally describe their dynamic. Yeah, that’s right, this was all leading up to me being able to actually talk about these two, my goodness! This is why I had to cut out so much…

STEP III is when I’ve always thought of Mary and Jolie the most, probably because this is when the plot picks up and they become romantically involved- Mary even picking up the surname “Cardinal” in preference over “Solara” despite nothing being official (it’s the same scenario as Sadie Foxglove still legally being called Sadie Brown). Jolie is a stoic girl who doesn’t often show much emotion on her face, and only really warms up around those she loves, one of which being Josephine, an overprotective and passionate girl who is compared to sunshine. Jolie and Josephine both had similar feelings when it came to “growing up too fast,” as Jolie was always considered too “mature” or “adult” for the other kids her age, and Josephine was neglected by both her parents and her older sister and only had the company of her brother within their harsh environment. Alongside this and sharing a similar goal, they were able to get close pretty fast. The only time the two clashes with each other is Jolie’s inability to see when she’s gone too far for her research, particularly when it comes to putting herself in danger, and usually values others more over herself. Part of this is due to Jolie’s overconfidence, as she’s survived many a scenario and truly believes she can get herself out of most situations, but living on the edge like this usually causes Josephine to stress over her and has caused many an argument. They have attempted to work through this, with Jolie being convinced to be more cautious with her life, and Josephine being less overprotective and trusting that her girlfriend knows what she’s doing, however the problem will always remain present in their relationship in one way or another. The two never officially “dated,” at least not in the typical way, as they confessed their feelings for each other and became romantically involved while simultaneously putting their goals first, but they both preferred it that way, as neither of them are very fond of the concept of “dating” and simply fell into their own version of a romance. Out of the two, Josephine is the most outspoken about their relationship and her love for Jolie, she adores her girlfriend and finds her determination and hope admirable, and is always in awe with how intuitive Jolie is, one of her favorite compliments to give her being “you beautiful genius!” Jolie shows her love in more quiet ways, her love language is quality time and she isn’t much of a public affection type of person, she doesn’t mind if Josephine is the one who initiates public affection as she knows Josephine is a very openly lovey person, but she won’t be the one to initiate it. Jolie enjoys quiet quality time with Josephine, she will gladly help Josephine with whatever is important to her, and having someone so dedicated to her and her own goals means the world to her. Jolie’s heart melted when Josephine asked if she could take up her surname, Cardinal, as her own, as to her it meant she truly saw her as family.

~*~*~*~

The character dynamics list originally had Knell and Nico, as well as Mary and Spider, but I quickly realized that if I explained Knell and Nico’s dynamic on top of all the others I’d be writing this thing for like two months, soooo character dynamics part two anyone? Also remind me to never do this many dynamics in one post, I’m doing one dynamic per post from here on out…

-Stitch 🌱

STEP II and STEP III pov plot summaries (5/15/26)

  

~What happens in STEP I anyways…~

 I was working on my basic plot summaries I’ve been making in preparation to work on a timeline for Brooklet Avenue, and decided to share them with you guys. You know, get more lore out there, even if it’s simple and not the full picture in any way.

Also I’m still working on my other posts I swear! ToT (In fact I just need to finish one last part for the character dynamics post :))

~*~*~*~

(Lore is subject to change)

(Also this only includes the main plot driven POVs and doesn’t include the many different characters interacting with each other, this is simply meant to map out which POVs requires the most time to play out so I can figure out how long STEP II and III should be. Which is why STEP I isn’t included because I already know how long STEP I goes for)

Main plot of Step II-

🌻Nico: Nico travels outside of B.A, stays with the Lake Community and trains to get through the “beast” to get to the City. Once he makes it to the city, he finds Madame, and learns of his father’s fate, convincing Madame that he wants to become a Creature Hunter.

🐦‍⬛🪾Spider/Knell: Spider is outed as Infected and outcasted from The River Town. He becomes sick from the Infection clashing with the winter and Knell takes care of him, Spider has troubles with his Infection outgrowing Knell’s magic and begins hearing the voice of The Infector.

🍎🌿 JoJo: Jolie gets to know Mary more who is stressing out over her brother, Jolie doesn’t believe it was right for Spider to be treated the way he was but also finds his case to be somewhat of a breakthrough. Jolie and Mary also both starts hanging out with Gabe because Jolie thinks he might have some information on the Infection, but Mary is hesitant to trust him.

🐇🌼🍄‍🟫 Gabe/Penny/Millie: Penny starts hanging out with Gabe as she finds him intriguing and amusing, and introduces him to Millie, who he is deeply interested in.

🎻🍓 Ben/Clem: Ben and Clem come to terms with their feelings, and begins to try things out in this new winter wonderland, but during this they become more and more distant from Sylas who seems to be secluding himself from them and won’t explain why.

🤍🍃 Colette/Sy: Sylas begins distancing himself from his friends after they become more romantically involved, during this he finds a little girl and starts to take care of her, becoming more and more attached to his new “little sister” and enjoying this new form of love and attachment.

🐺🐑 Brielle/Penelope: Brielle keeps busy but seems to be getting a little distracted with Penelope, a girl who won’t leave her alone that Brielle has gotten used to the company of. Penelope believes that she can help Brielle and they become very close, but both struggle with their family issues.

🪾🍁🌾 Infector/Sadie/Willow: The Infector is frozen the entire time, but that doesn’t stop them from being involved. Sadie shares the truth with Willow, and Willow struggles with being torn between two communities, especially while her own is struggling in the winter.

🐦‍⬛🔏 Sebastian/August: August learns the truth about Sebastian, and upon confronting him, is given the power to kill him (need to learn how exactly this happens but this is just reference for how many years Step II should be)

Main plot of Step III-

🐦‍⬛ SpiderLily: Wandering the land with amnesia after escaping The Infector, SpiderLily stumbles upon The City and takes a liking to the environment, finding enjoyment in messing with the citizens and spooking people. However it’s not long before he draws in the attention of Creature Hunters, and ends up befriending two thieves, Ellie VonLillian and Reese. Before realizing he’s being lead on by the two thieves, who are secretly working with Creature Hunters, he is attacked and caught by Creature Hunters and taken away to be experimented on in preparation for the hunters big plan.

🌻 Nico: Nico is deep within infiltration acting as a Creature Hunter, trying to figure out how to dismantle the Creature Hunters or put a wrench in their hunting. He gets caught after trying to help SpiderLily escape the clutches of the hunters and doesn’t get out until Knell finds him and frees him at the climax.

🌿🍎 JoJo: Jolie and Mary are searching for Spider, they make their way to the city where the real searching begins, they meet Ellie VonLillian and Reese who tries to help them after feeling guilty of their betrayal and learning what Creature Hunting actually is. They find and free SpiderLily but is unable to sneak him out.

🍄🌼 SilverBell/Penny: Penny stumbles upon “Millie” and attempts to reconnect with her childhood friend, however SilverBell won’t go along with it. Penny continues to look for SilverBell, eventually following her to the Creature Community deep within the forest. Penny ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and before she can be turned away is mistakenly captured alongside the entire Creature Community by a sudden attack from the Creature Hunters.

🥀🌲 Elder Rose/Knell: Knell meets up with Elder Rose for the first time since he was a baby, they discuss The Purge of Decay and Elder Rose gives Knell some things to contemplate about his life as a “Decomposer” and as the one who freed the Infector, explaining that it was ultimately his choice whether he “went down the same path” as Poppy. It’s not long before the two of them realize what happened to the Creature Community, and Knell becomes incredibly angry, leaving immediately to stop whatever it was the Creature Hunters were plotting.

🪾🍁🌾 Infector/Sadie/Willow: After agreeing to the Infector’s link, Sadie takes up the persona of who she consider’s to be the true “Sadie Foxglove,” a conniving Creature who is done playing nice. She appears in Brooklet Avenue, letting everyone know “who she truly is,” souring her reputation in an attempt to convince The Infector of her act and make sure no one will miss her when she’s gone. Willow doesn’t believe her, and follows her into the forest, where she runs into Sadie and The Infector. Sadie convinces Willow to leave before The Infector can do anything to her, and Willow begins to form a plan of her own to either get Sadie out of this situation, take her place, or go down with her trying.

🎻🍓 Ben/Clementine: Clementine helps Ben get through the disappearance of his best friend and twin sister, his distant little sister, and his Aunt’s sudden change in heart. The two of them promise to build a family together, and Ben holds out long enough for his little sister to return home before eventually proposing to Clementine and going through with marriage.

🐺🐑 Brielle/Penelope: After accidentally injuring her brother, Brielle has run away and been overtaken by some type of “wolf Creature,” she eventually finds herself near a lighthouse where the wolf tries to attack the flock of sheep nearby. Brielle is stopped by Old Lady Herder, who houses her and gives her work to do: tending the flock. Penelope has left her home after a falling out with her family, deciding that Brielle was the only one who could understand her and upon learning that Brielle has disappeared, goes after her.

I had to hold so much information back, If I went into detail of each pov… well I’d finally have most of the lore out, that’s for sure, but I’d also be here for like a full week straight which I simply can’t do. Feel free to mention which pov you’re most interested in and I might put it higher on the “just get the lore out there already” list :>

-Stitch 🌱

B.A. Legacy genre brainstorming (5/5/26)

   

~To make a Fairytale or not to make a Fairytale that is the question~

Hello~ I’ve been thinking about Brooklet Avenue: Legacy again and have some thoughts I want to share with you guys, this post is going to be kind of brainstormy and I encourage you guys to share any input you might have (if you have any) :)

But first-

(This is going to be said twice because I took it straight from the other post I’m working on that’s taking way too long, so bare with me) 

I remembered back when I asked you two what you were most interested in, regarding the story of Brooklet Avenue, and if I remember correctly… *flips through paper and adjusts glasses* Missy asked for character dynamics and didn’t care who but hinted at a preference for romance, and Eebie wanted to know about the origin of The Infection, which would now officially be called The Purge Of Decay.

Well, Missy I am working on your long overdue character dynamic lore dumps, as for Eebie, I have a question for you: I have already told you that I was holding off on sharing lore for The Purge Of Decay because the concept was too unsteady and constantly changing for me to feel comfortable sharing it, however these note posts now brings me some leeway. I have three options for you- 1) I can continue to hold off until I have a more solid concept that I’m more sure of, 2) I can show you my general thoughts and the direction I plan on going with The Purge Of Decay as a concept, or 3) I can share the bare bones, non history version of The Infection’s origin that you might already know or at least have an inkling about.

Now that I’ve freed that from WIP jail, let’s talk about the real topic of this note post shall we?

I’ve officially named Penny, Steven, and Jo-Jo’s POV of Legacy, which is:

“The Collective of Faerie Journalists”

(Yes I know I’m waiting to read Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries and yes I am easily inspired when it comes to media I enjoy but this was not one of those moments I swear)

I decided to call it this because It follows Jolie Cardinal, (who would be either in her 20s or 30s, I haven’t figured out the timeline yet) as she continues to research the Infection alongside Josephine Cardinal after having to remake her entire journal due to loosing it in the city back in B.A. STEP III, and Steven VonLillian, as he researches the Fae alongside Penny Brown, both in hopes to educate future generations and promote a world kinder to the Fae. (I feel like I should mention the four of them travel together)

Now while I love this idea, I also find myself leaning more and more away from Brooklet Avenue’s overall genre, that of a post-apocalyptic world, and leaning more towards a fantasy approach. Now there’s a reason why I mentioned that Legacy may end up more “fantasy” than Nature’s Revival, but something I find to be a reoccurring problem is how I tend to detach from the overall world building whenever I get too excited about a specific POV idea. Let me explain: You have Rori Crowell, Paisly Brown, Percy Brown, and SpiderLily, those two duos follows a POV that is very centered around the more apocalyptic side of B.A, they get to constantly deal with the Infection while trying to get Paisly back home to The River Town, hence that’s how I see that POV, the only “fantasy” elements being SpiderLily, meaning it’s not that different from STEP III. Then we have Evie Goldborne and Bonibell Jules, they are unapologetically based off of a specific duo I like (if you know.. let’s be real you already know) particularly based off of an AU that will probably never see the light of day (hence why I yoinked certain plot points from it), it’s like a mix of what I can best describe as southern gothic (simply the general visual aesthetic) primarily because Evie comes from a mining community and has a theme of gold, and slightly vampiric because Bonibell literally has fangs and is represented by a bat and wears primarily blacks reds and pinks, you also see a lot on the city and the Gardeners from this POV, while also being very focused on the Creature’s and how they’re treated, it’s difficult for me to describe simply with words but their POV is very different aesthetically than Paisly’s POV. Then we go to Sylas Crowell and Emil Finch and the rest of their group, an extremely city-focused POV that sheds a lot of light on the inner workings of the Gardeners and generally focused on traveling around in the first train test run, it also has a different aesthetic but to me, like Paisly’s POV, feels the most similar to Nature’s Revival. And then we have The Collective of Faerie Journalists… this is where the genre gets thrown way off track because despite being in the same world with the same worldbuilding I can’t stop thinking about a more fantastical world that I can best describe as “fairytale” in comparison to Brooklet Avenue’s usual worldbuilding, I really want to introduce the Fae Realm and I keep wanting to introduce characters who are surrounded by that typical nonsensical storybook magic, you know the type where you randomly meet some lady in the woods who has a magic house, things like that. I also keep veering towards slight medieval fantasy despite the fact that I know I wouldn’t like writing a medieval story, I just can’t help myself I like knights and fairies and Princess and stuff… ToT

My brain craves magical buildings and faerie portals and nonsensical storybook characters within a medieval-esc fantasy world, but at the same time it also craves a vampiric dark academia hunter city and a cozy cottagecore town within a post-Apocalyptic world… surely two can coexist, right?

That’s what I’m trying to figure out, can the two coexist or am I just trying to hard to make it work…

The main problem is that there’s a lot of stuff with B.A.’s worldbuilding that doesn’t allow for me to do that type of stuff, one of the main problems I have with the idea of the world of B.A. suddenly having so much “fairytale” medieval-fantasy elements is the fact that not too long ago it was a generally normal place with the occasional “Critter” or “Creature” within a forest and then went through an apocalypse. Legacy is basically the concept of a new world being shaped after the humans have started to learn to live inside of the apocalypse and is attempting to rebuild society, but the fact that not much time has passed still bothers me, like to give an idea Percy Brown is 24(?) and was born either inbetween STEPs II and III or inbetween STEPs III and IV, meaning it’s only been barely a decade or so since Nature’s Revival (give or take, perhaps two decades), and yeah, a lot can happen in a decade, but I can’t help but feel like it’s a bit strange for things to suddenly show up out of nowhere… Which means I have two ideas: 1) make an AU, not the greatest idea to me because then I’ll start confusing AU with Original and I don’t like the idea of balancing both, but it’s an option, and 2) Make it so that the Fae Realm starts “leaking” into the human world, the Fae can start engaging more outside of their realm, interact more with humans, and I have this specific idea of how it would look to do it that way because the concept of how Creatures access the Fae realm is a really cool concept in my head. The main thing that would work against this idea is the fact that the Fae Monarch didn’t like humans due to how they were treating their kind, but frankly that had more to do with the Creatures living outside of the Fae Realm and frankly the Fae Monarch was more scared of The Infector than Humans, and that issue is taken care of thanks to Sadie, Willow, and Elder Rose so like who knows maybe the Fae can have a bit of a comeback.

Idk I’m interested to see your guys thoughts because I feel like getting some input that’s not my own thoughts could be helpful :)

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Do you think suddenly introducing the Fae Realm more in Legacy would work despite the worldbuilding I already built up?

-Stitch 🌱

I’ve never felt smarter in my life (4/30/26 - 5/2/26)

  

~Local Floriography enthusiast who also makes characters desperately needs to rant about flowers associated with her characters~

 Guys, I may have cooked.

Okay so first off, I currently have two note posts in the works, they’re taking longer than planned and I literally had to shorten one a ton because it was just going to take too long, but *just so you know* I haven’t abandoned these, I’m just not pumping them out as fast as I’d like :’)

Alright, now for the real reason I’m here: I just had my book arrive today- The Complete Language of Flowers by S. Theresa Dietz. And naturally due to being very overwhelmed by how much Floriography knowledge now sat in my hands and not knowing where to start, I decided to look up the flowers I assigned each of my characters, you know, see whether my not-very-in-depth internet searches were at all similar to what this book had to say, and while some are kind of so-so (Fragaria/Strawberry flowers for example, not at all what I found on the internet, but I mainly chose that one for Clem for aesthetics anyways) some of them are SO much better than I expected- like, perfectly matches with the character and their lore, and I couldn’t be happier. This is great, I’ve never felt smarter in my life! (This is half a joke)

I will add I haven’t looked into all of them yet, but Ben and Arthur/Spider is *spot on* and I couldn’t be more giddy about it, especially when I always felt like my choice for Ben’s flower didn’t match him too well.

So firstly, here’s what I had written down for Arthur’s flower (aka why I chose it)

Spider Lily - Parting, Death

Yeah so I gave the kid with a death flag a flower with death symbolism, typical, BUT here’s what Dietz book had to say:

Spider Lily - Abandonment, flower of the afterlife, Hopeful but tragic fate of lovers, Lost memory, Never to meet again

The scream I scrempt in my mind when I read that, let me explain:

Arthur Solara, later to be known by SpiderLily (Shortened to “Spider” during Steps I and II), grew up in a neglectful family, he was neglected by his parents and was essentially abandoned by his older sister in favor of taking care of herself over her siblings, and when he and his twin sister ran away, no one came looking, so while his twin sister is the complete opposite of “abandonment,” his past still contains hints of that type of symbolism. Flower of the afterlife: the whole reason I chose the flower, already explained, he spends most of the story on the verge of death and originally was meant to die before I took his story in a different direction. Hopeful but tragic fate of lovers, this one is a bit of a stretch but change “lovers” to “siblings” and you got Arthur and Josephine Solara, the doomed siblings, Arthur was kept from death for so long which gave Josephine hope, but inevitably fell to the Infection, hope and tragedy is a constant cycle of those two. Lost memory, this can symbolize two things with Arthur, not only does he have an amnesia arc where he doesn’t remember himself as Arthur Solara and therefore only knows of himself as SpiderLily, but “lost memory” also makes me think of how even when Josephine finally reconnects with her brother, he’s not the same as she first knew him, Arthur Solara is a lost memory. And Never to meet again, this one is also a stretch, but Arthur Solara and Josephine Solara are never to meet again, even when she finds him, simple as that.

Now you get it? Yeah? Yeahhh?~

Okay on to Benjamin Brown, with the Bluebell.

(Or more specifically the Campanula rotundifolia, also known as the Bluebell or Harebell)

So Ben’s might feel way less exciting after Arthur’s, *but* I still was pleasantly surprised by it as it makes his flower match him more than it did before.

Bluebell - Humility, Gratitude

As I said I my Floriography post, I mainly chose it because I had “blue” in it and “bluebell” sounded similar to “bluebird,” but here’s what Dietz book had to say:

Bluebell - Gratitude, Grief, Humility, Retirement, Submission, Thinking of you

Gratitude and Humility both is the same as before and is very surface level of Ben’s character, he’s very grateful for his life in Brooklet Avenue. Grief I feel is self explanatory, he lost his parents at age 11, lost his sister and friend (not to death but them both running away at the same time), and then lost his Aunt later on, like many of the characters grief is a big part of his life, but Ben specifically also has grief as a big part of his past and how it shaped who he is now. Retirement just reminds me of the life Ben leads, happily married, plays music, runs a flower shop and has kids, that’s Ben’s life. Honestly I don’t really have much for Submission, so we’re skipping that one. “Thinking of you” reminds me of his broken friendship with Sylas Crowell, where Sylas left Ben without a word and both of them are forever just thinking of each other, there’s also a song that I associate with those two that this phrase reminds me of (Always Gold by Radical Face, that song makes me so emotional about those two… It’s extremely lore accurate too). So yeah, nothing too mind blowing but still pretty close to his character considering it could’ve been vastly different :)

Expect more of this if the others match as much, but that’s all for now!

I know that some of these obviously mean other things and some of them are very easily a stretch, for example how “lost memory” and “never to meet again” probably has to do with death. But that’s the fun thing about it being symbolism, symbolism doesn’t have to perfectly match so long as it symbolizes what you want it too ^^

-Stitch 🌱

Colette “The Lost Girl” || Brooklet Avenue: STEP II (Story Post)

   (All Lore explained in this post is conceptual and subject to change)

-Brooklet Avenue: STEP II, Winter’s Arrival-

(Lore of: Colette “The Lost Girl”)

The way Half Creatures come to be is something only those who make it happen know, but not many live long enough to make it known. Colette’s mother was no different, being hunted down by Creature Hunters once word spread, barely able to hide Colette on time before being killed. Eventually, after hiding up in an attic for years with her mother, Colette would be found by her grandfather (a former train conductor) after he would hear the news of his daughter’s death. He would take care of Colette for a while, but information would make it’s way to the Creature Hunter’s and Colette’s grandfather would be forced to flee the City with Colette, intending to hide her in his abandoned train while seeking refuge at the closest town, The River Town. However bad luck would find Colette once again, as a sudden winter would sweep across the land, hitting her and her grandfather barely before they would make it to the train. Colette’s grandfather would finally make it to the train, and would give his granddaughter his coat and hat, and warm up some of the train’s leftover coal before hastily leaving to seek help from the townspeople of The River Town, but he would never make it.

After the storm died down and word spread that the Infected in the forest had become frozen over and therefore harmless, the Townspeople brave enough (or simply curious enough) would often leave the town to explore their new winter wonderland. Some townspeople would then stumble across Colette’s grandfather, left frozen from the storm, and would take him back to the town to be checked out by one of the nurses, completely unaware that there was a little girl hidden away in a train, waiting for him. Fortunately, there was one townsperson who had made it a bit of a hobby of exploring the various abandoned trains and train stations, and was curious how they faired after the storm. Sylas Crowell would then venture to the abandoned train, and find a little girl covered in coal marks and wrapped in the hat and coat of a train conductor, a little girl.. with wings…

[Lore Concluded]

August Flintlock || Brooklet Avenue: Infection (Story Post)

  (All Lore explained in this post is conceptual and subject to change)

-Brooklet Avenue: Infection-

(Lore of: August Flintlock)

August would be working as a nurse while writing The Flintlock Archives in her free time, when her routine would be interrupted by a sudden wave of panic, as word would spread that unknown creatures had been spotted in the forest. August would try to keep calm as the situation escalated, throughout the day dark clouds of smoke would begin rising from the city beyond, and the whole town felt as if everyone were collectively holding their breath as they could feel the panic around them. Some even claimed they could hear screams and commotion from inside the forest at the edge of the town. Eventually one of the townspeople who had been out in the forest would return, terrified, shaken, and covered in dirt and moss. The frightened young man would explain what it was he had encountered: he had been attacked by a feral creature that had jumped him from the trees, it had blended in with the surrounding due to being covered in moss, sticks, and foliage, but sticking out of it was white fungus. The frightened young man claimed that he was only able to get away with his life because it seemed to show no interest in him after spewing what he could only assume were spores into his mouth, he was then able to run back to the town without attracting the attention of any of the “creatures,” despite being spotted by many of them. The most concerning thing about the young man’s story was how the things showed no interest in him after he had ingested spores, which would imply that their goal was to do exactly that, but was it poisonous? Was it fatal? Or was it something worse… that was the nurses job to figure out, but it would be a young florist from Brooklet Avenue who claimed she knew what was going on. The young man would experience excruciating pain as his body seemed to be growing a layer of moss and sticks, and the florist, Sadie Foxglove, explained her “theory.” What the “creatures” were spreading was for the purpose of infecting, and that breathing in the spores would result in becoming one of them yourself. Plants would grow through your skin, your mind would be taken over by something else, and you will essentially die away and be replaced with something else, with the same goal, to spread spores and infect. Their world had entered an apocalypse lead by a plant based Infection. While there was no hope for the young man or any of the other townspeople, who were out in the forest, Sadie confirmed that there was still hope for the others. She explained that these creatures are unable to be submerged in water, and will avoid it at all costs, meaning so long as the townspeople stayed in the town, the creatures would not follow. Sadie advised that everyone should stay away from the edge of the town and stay inside, and above all, NOT leave until word of the outside towns and communities spread. The nurses explained to the town, and due to being medical professionals, everyone listened, as for the young man, he was unfortunately outcasted after the town learned of his condition.

August would continue life same as the rest of the town, and her younger brother would make it back to The River Town safe and sound and reunite with his soon to be fiancée, June Reese. August would then propose the idea for June to paint illustrations for The Flintlock Archives. She would even rope in Sadie Foxglove, who would publish her poem, Nature’s Revival, within The Flintlock Archives, helping to let the children become used to their new reality in a more digestible way through fiction.

A few months in to what had now been labeled as “The Infection,” and someone new would make their way to Brooklet Avenue, a tall, dark haired man would enter with a young boy. He claimed that he was a salesman, as well as a humble inventor, and that he had a proposition that involved all the communities, a way to help with their struggling material gathering. He introduced himself as Sebastian Crowell, and explained an idea: each community would pick three representatives to gather all trade materials and meet at the lake on an island where the Infection wouldn’t be able to reach. He then followed it up with saying that he had already spoken with the Lake Community and the Mill Community, and that the Mill Community was sending out a message to whoever might be left at the Ocean Town. August found this concept deeply intriguing, but was more interested in Sebastian, who had come into her town, proved his own brilliance, and then claimed two of the three spots for himself and his son to represent the River Town in trade.

After the town agreed to Sebastian’s offer, and collectively requested that Sadie Foxglove be the third representative, Sebastian then confirmed that he was going to be staying in Brooklet Avenue from then on. It would be during this time that Sebastian and August would start running into each other, and Step I would begin…

[Lore Concluded]

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