#icosbooks
Note
Hello! I love Icos so much and I was wondering if you could share some cute things about Boyd and Hsin relationship. Are they happy, even if they are still running away?
Just in case - **SPOILERS FOR ICOS**
aww thanks I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Yeah I think they are tbh. I think they finally figured out how to work through things as a team, and their love for each other is pretty much cemented so there's no need for questioning or confusion on that front.
That being said..... I just realized, I did post what we had of the sequel notes and they didn't get much chance to be happy, once again, because we suck at giving them full on happy endings. But! I still believe they'd have one at the end of that too!
Just in case you didn't see that and are curious though - https://www.patreon.com/posts/icos-sequel-what-44700040 has all the info :) Don't worry - yes, I posted it on my Patreon, but it's not behind a pay wall. It was just the easiest place for me to remember where to find it and put all the info in one place. But all the info there is free so you don't need to pay anything.
Aside from that, I'm trying to think of cute things that could happen regardless. Hmm. I imagine Boyd still likes to sleep cuddled up against Hsin, especially if he can have his head where he can hear his heartbeat. He probably doesn't sleep that way every night but I think it's a thing he'd love. I also imagine there were probably times Boyd painted Hsin for fun, and they may have even made a joke of it at some point if it made sense. They probably still try to get each other birthday or other holiday-type presents, and they probably both still kind of suck at it sometimes, but the thought is always there and they're getting better over time. Regardless, they probably always know the other person's intentions were good, and that probably reminds them of their love.
As a side note, I'd answered a question about marriage forever ago but it feels like it could fit here too. Someone once asked if they would ever get married and what we figured was that if either of them asked, the other would say yes. It's just a question of whether either of them ever felt like it was something they wanted to do, and they may need to also explain their thoughts to the other as to the reason/meaning/whatever. But ultimately? Doesn't matter if Hsin asked or Boyd asked; the answer would be yes.
25 notes
·
View notes
Note
How would have cedrick responded to learning about what vivienne had done to boyd by putting him up for the position at the agency, giving him a promotion, and selling him to cyclone? Would he have been angry, or thought that she was trying to protect him in her own way? How would he have reacted to seeing Boyd after the Aleixo mission, or at the end of fade after his eye was removed, at times where it was really obvious the affect physically and mentally that the lifetsyle had on boyd? Would he chose a side in the Beaulieu's feuds, or would he play both sides to try to make both of his loved ones happy? How would Boyd feel about his reaction? Would Boyd want Cedrick to be mad at Vivienne? What would Boyd want from his father if he came back to life in fade, what kind of relationship would he want?
**ICOS SPOILERS - JUST FYI :)**
I'm putting the whole reply behind a cut because I ended up rambling a bit - also I have a (shittily written and very short) excerpt from Julian Files that feels kind of relevant to this line of questioning, so that's easier to throw behind a cut too.
I'm pretty sure Ced would've been pissed at her for the Cyclone stuff. He would understand her reasons for it, and would know that in her own fucked up way she was kind of trying to help - but he also would have been pissed at her for how much Boyd was hurt in the process. He was very loving/protective of Boyd, and also pretty optimistic/hopeful in general, so he would've thought there surely could have been a safer and less traumatic way to help Boyd in the short run without fucking him up further in the long run.
(As for the rest of the things you mentioned of joining the Agency and the promotion, I don't know for sure but I think he might have understood that stuff more - because there's enough of Viv in Boyd for him to get that sometimes when they shut down emotionally, certain life changes or certain shifts in perspective help them find a reason to open up again, albeit slowly. And even if he wouldn't have wanted Boyd to be in a dangerous situation, he would have wanted Boyd to be as prepared IN that dangerous situation as possible, so at least with a promotion he learned more skills to protect himself and others. Also, Ced wanted to help others, so he would understand at least that part of the job is trying to help in some form, even though it's far from a perfect way of doing so.)
There's actually part of a scene I wrote in Julian Files that I never finished because I don't love how the preceding scenes go, and the scene in question is a direct result of them. But in the general part of that plot, Cedrick was out of town for work and Viv was supposed to be watching Boyd who was like 6 or something at the time. But Viv, being Viv, was being neglectful of him and Ced didn't know. He knew that Viv wasn't the most caring of mothers but they'd had conversations about how to make sure Boyd was safe when Ced wasn't around.
In this particular case, some shit happens with a person who kind of stalked Boyd showing up at the home when Boyd's alone, he and a buddy break in to steal shit, Boyd gets hurt in the process, Viv gets home after the fact, Boyd accidentally breaks pretty much the one thing Viv had from her parents (a horse figurine thing), and she gets pissed and yells at Boyd that she would have preferred to have lost him than to lose this thing. So Boyd runs off to Lou's and stays with him for a bit. At some point days later, Ced is finally able to get home - he tried to come home right away when he learned what happened, but he wasn't able to, so he was freaking out the entire time just beside himself worried about Boyd. He had some basic info and knew Boyd was alive and seemingly okay but was still terrified.
I kind of hate the way this is written, as well as the chapters that precede this, but this might be the only scene I can remember writing so far where it got to explore Cedrick freaking the fuck out worried about Boyd and being upset with Vivienne not protecting him. There were some previous scenes written ages ago but this is the most recent one, and probably would be closest in context to the context you're asking about.
-----------------
UNEDITED SHITTY SCENE EXCERPT:
The door slammed open, making Boyd jump and his heart race. He’d barely turned around when heavy footsteps came at him. His father nearly bowled him over, grabbing him in a tight embrace with shaking hands holding the back of his head and crossing over his shoulders.
“Boyd, Boyd, I heard—They said—Are you okay?”
Boyd could hear and feel his father’s heartbeat crashing around in his chest. He felt instantly safer with the warm and strong hands holding him tightly and, strangely, his father’s rushed and panicked words, barely gaining breath between them.
Heavy kisses rained down all over Boyd’s hair on the top of his head, and his father’s uneven breath gusted out near his temple.
“I couldn’t get back any sooner—I tried, dear God I tried because fuck I was so scared and—shit, no, don’t say those words, they’re bad words, Daddy’s just really worried and—and, Boyd, are you okay? Are you okay? You didn’t tell me yet if you’re—”
Cedrick pushed Boyd out by the shoulders, his eyes intensely focused and scouring every inch he could see of his son. He ran his hands all over Boyd, and when Boyd accidentally winced and shied away from the pain, Cedrick instantly pulled up Boyd’s shirt.
He froze at the sight of the dark bruises and cut on Boyd’s pale skin.
“Viv—Viv—Vivienne!” Cedrick shouted, panicked.
Boyd’s mother came and stood behind his father, her face expressionless and posture straight. But Boyd saw the coldness in her eyes, and tried to pull away from his dad. He couldn’t, though; his dad gripped him carefully but firmly with one hand, the other beginning to shake with the shirt in his hold.
Cedrick twisted around to face Vivienne, his voice rising louder.
“Where the hell were you? You told me you’d be home with him! You told me—”
Vivienne’s stare only became more remote. Cedrick’s hand tightened so hard on Boyd it almost hurt. He let Boyd’s shirt fall back down.
“Don’t even fucking try that look on me. You know I can read you like a fucking book. You promised me, Vivienne, and you… He could have been killed, he could have—What would we have done? What would—what would I have done?”
Vivienne didn’t answer.
“Vivienne! You need to goddamn answer me! Where were you? Why don’t you ever care—”
“She helped!”
Boyd’s outburst made Cedrick snap his attention back to his son. Boyd trembled in his father’s hold, terrified because his parents rarely argued like this and it was his fault, he knew it was his fault because he let them know about Troy. He never should have told anyone. He never should have hurt that horse and he never should have told the police the truth.
It was just like Mr. Cole said. Everything was coming true.
“What?” Boyd’s father sounded a lot less scary when he addressed Boyd. Now he was tense but gentle, just like his hand running along Boyd’s shoulder. “Boyd, it’s okay—”
“She was here,” Boyd insisted. It was a lie but he didn’t care, he made it as convincing as he’d ever done in his life. “She was here but then she had to go get something, and Troy must have been watching and then he came in when she was gone but then she came back and the police got him so it’s okay now. You don’t have to yell. You don’t have to be mad.”
He tried to ignore the way his eyes grew wet with tears, and twisted the hem of his shirt in his hands.
--------
I never finished the scene so that's all I have.
Without writing the actual scenes out you're talking about, I don't know for sure - it always seems like I think characters will do one thing and then they do another unexpectedly. But I'd generally guess it would be something along the above vibe, maybe? Except with Boyd being less timid.
Ced sort of would have been in the middle but he also wouldn't excuse certain things. He would have understood that Viv does some shit because she's fucked up, and he loves her so he understands that her choices are sometimes fucked, but that also doesn't mean he'll excuse it and tell Boyd he has no reason to be upset about things he has every right to be upset about. He probably would have ended up being a little bit of a mediator, but less so in the way of trying to smooth things over and making everyone happy, and probably more so in the way of trying to make sure every side felt heard, but more importantly that they understood if they did shitty actions that they were shitty (in this case, that would be directed toward Vivienne), and that they figure out a way for these things not to happen again, while being realistic about knowing how everyone is.
As for what Boyd would have wanted, he probably wouldn't have wanted Ced to hate Viv - he would have just wanted everything to be figured out in a way where no one had to be hurt, and they could just get along, and he would feel valued. He would have loved to just have any sort of relationship with his dad, but Ced being Ced, the relationship would have been a largely happy/supportive one, with Ced being a doofy loving dad - but also someone who will always stand firm if he thinks Boyd, Vivienne, he himself, anyone, is doing something wrong or etc and needs to be called out on it.
If Ced were there in Fade, I think more than anything, Boyd would have just wanted to be able to go up to him, hug him, and be able to cry in his arms, and feel like it was okay and he wasn't being weak for wanting to break down. He would have just wanted to hear his dad say that Boyd was doing ok, that he was trying hard and that was important, and that he had value as a person and that Ced didn't judge him or hate him or wasn't disappointed in him because of anything Boyd had said or done or etc in his life since Ced left. All of which is what Ced would have wanted to do/say too. Well, and then Ced would have for sure wanted to say how proud he was of Boyd, which I don't know if Boyd would have thought to hope to hear in Fade but idk, maybe he would have hoped for that too.
They probably would've just had fun hanging around at times doing whatever. I could see the two having fun digging into different topics or theories or mysteries or whatnot to figure them out.
Also, Ced would have liked Hsin, and would have accepted him as a son in law, just FYI. He already met Hsin when Hsin was like 14 and tried to help him then, so if it later turned out those two got together, he would've understood. Honestly, Boyd/Hsin have a lot of Ced/Viv vibes in some ways, and Ced would've been able to see that, so he would totally get why Boyd and Hsin love each other so much. Except Boyd/Hsin were more volatile because they eventually actually talked their shit out more than Ced/Viv properly did, or really honestly got a chance to do - so in many ways, Boyd/Hsin's volatility was in part because they were ultimately able to be more brutally honest with themselves and each other.
Hopefully that all makes sense.
#ask ais#icos#icosbooks#in the company of shadows#fade spoilers#cedrick beaulieu#boyd beaulieu#vivienne beaulieu#icos spoilers
11 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hi! I read ICOS last year and I loved it so much. I was just wondering if I could have a link to the wordpress where the high school AU and all the other things were? The links don’t work anymore huhuhu. Thank you so much!
Oh no they don't? Dangit, thanks for letting me know!
https://aisness.wordpress.com/ is the general wordpress link.
https://aisness.wordpress.com/2015/06/03/icos-au-hs/ is the table of content for the ICoS High School AU bits. You should be able to click each of those links listed if you scroll down, but just in case that doesn't work on your end - https://aisness.wordpress.com/2015/06/03/icos-au-hs-1/ is the first part and I *THINK* I posted the link to the next part at the bottom of each post but I'm not positive. Theoretically you could just keep clicking the continue links at bottom. Otherwise, the search engine in the upper right of the blog actually works pretty well so if you search icos high school you'll get all the links that way too.
Hope that helps and sorry I took forever to reply! Haven't been online much for health stuff but trying to get back into it. Also if there's something else you remember that you can't find linked places let me know; I may be able to track it down if needed.
17 notes
·
View notes
Note
hi!!! firstly i just want to say i LOVE ICOS with my whole being. i read it for the first time in high school abt 5 years ago and read it again over quarantine last summer and it drew me in and wrapped me up wholly, i couldn’t put it down. i love the story and characters so much.
i also love writing very much and have always written small stories, fan fiction etc., the past couple weeks i’ve felt inspired to write fiction of my own, a novel of sorts with my own original plot and characters, and i wanted to ask you for some advice/ words of wisdom.
how did you plan out the characters you wrote? or did you more just let them write themselves? and did you plan out chapter by chapter how the plot would unfold before writing, or again let it happen as you wrote it? i’ve found it easier for me personally to let things happen as i write, and that the characters do things and say things i never planned for, was wondering if you felt the same or if you were more organized lol.
also what platform did you use to write on?
sorry for the long post, i hope you’re doing well.
Aww thank you, that's so sweet! I'm glad you like it :)
Side note, before I forget to mention - I just made a subreddit for my writing/stuff which will include ICoS things... I'll be adding more info on there this weekend hopefully, and I'm sure I'll do another post over here too but the link if you want it is https://www.reddit.com/r/aisylum/ It may be a place to find some other stuff in the future if you think of anything. I was thinking of doing an AMA or Q&A type thing over there too. Obviously, always feel free to ask here too <3 I love either place. Just wanted to mention while I'm thinking of it :)
I'm so happy you've been inspired to write - good luck and great job! I think that sounds absolutely awesome and I bet your story will be fantastic :)
We kind of did a bit of a hybrid.... I really wish I had the original bulletpoint list for what the book was originally going to be, but "Sonny" and I had opposite ways of looking at things. "He" would delete things as we went, and I would squirrel it all away until later lol So "he" deleted a bunch of bulletpoints/early info as we went because neither of us actually expected anything to come of any of it, so I also wasn't super anal about keeping track of things way early on. I might still have some documents buried somewhere with info but offhand I don't know where.
Anyway so I kind of am more like you in the way you write, but I will sometimes make the effort to try to plan a bit, especially if there's a cowriter. For ICoS for example, we had a rough outline planned of what was going to be the story, we started writing, we let the characters/plot/etc go where it needed to go, that meant things we hadn't planned from the start came in. The original story was basically mostly Evenfall, then skip Afterimage and Interludes for the most part but not entirely, and then we didn't really have a hugely detailed end initially from what I recall but we knew generally what was going to happen, so some of the stuff from later Fade would probably have been in the bullets. But when we got to the end of Evenfall, whatever was our next bulletpoint just did not feel right; we knew all the other stuff that starts Afterimage would happen instead.
For my long ongoing LGBTQ+ fantasy series I'm working on, the first book is finished but I'm editing it to change/add some significant stuff. I have a whole bunch of info on that which I've compiled over the years, so to an extent I have a general idea of plot things that will go down in the rewrite and also in the future into the other books, but a lot of details and even bigger points are left untouched. I prefer to let the characters/story/world/plot go where it wants to go, and I just have general points that I know make sense or have to happen eventually, and I look for how to fit them in as organically as possible to the way the story is going. If that makes sense. I will occasionally try to really work out exact storyline bullets but I get so bored so quickly that I never finish.
Because I like world-building and character development, I actually find it more fun and more useful for my organizational skills (any that exist, anyway, lol) to be aimed more toward that. Rather than focusing on the story and what the plot will be and what character will say what in which chapter, I prefer to dig into the past of the characters, dig into the world, the magic system or whatever is relevant, and have that info all squirreled away somewhere if needed. That way, as I'm going forward with writing the characters/story more organically, if things are going around what I initially thought the plot would be, this gives me something to then pull from for inspiration on how to incorporate this new plot/etc into the world more seamlessly, and make it feel more at home. And if you have all that info on characters, it also makes it easier to throw in things that flesh the character out more, and that can all lead toward character development in the future.
Boyd, for example - when we first had the valentine thing come up, it was just going to be a thing that happened that showed their miscommunication and how fucked the Agency was. But then it didn't make sense to me for it to just be a thing mentioned once and never again. So then that added to Boyd's story; now he was a valentine, so if it made sense or it was relevant, that was a thing that could or should come up. As the story progressed and the world grew, and with that the Agency and other factors were more fleshed out, it became more and more relevant. Then, by the time Fade came around, it was fully integrated into Boyd's story because by that point it would be weirder if it weren't - and because it made total sense in the characters' perspectives and the different organizations' perspectives and the story as a whole for the things to happen the way they did. But all of that, of course, then informs Boyd's mental health, physical health, and overall stability. Which then affects how he interacts with the world and other characters, which then affects the plot to an extent because of the choices he would make that may be different now, in the context of these life experiences, compared to prior to those life experiences. If the valentine thing never happened in Evenfall, a lot of Fade would be different. When we had that coming up in Evenfall, we didn't know another book was coming at all, let alone 3, let alone that it would end up having such a significant impact on the story and character development. But that's just kind of an example of building on things as you go, which is what I tend to do, personally.
As for the program - in the beginning we just used Word I think, and talked on AIM or something. It's been so long I don't totally remember. But for most of it we used Google Docs because that made it easy to share and write/edit at the same time.
Also, haha never be sorry for long posts - as you can see, I will almost always go longer ^_~
Hope you're doing well too! Thanks for your interest :)
13 notes
·
View notes
Text
ICoS sequel draft notes/plot summary posted
For anyone who missed it, I posted the draft notes/plot summary we had for the ICoS sequel - LINK: https://www.patreon.com/posts/icos-sequel-what-44700040
I explain it more where I posted it on my Patreon (don’t worry, it’s free) but I figured it was finally time to just share these notes I have so even though the sequel isn’t written (and it feels less and less likely it will be as time passes, but you never know) - at least you can get a little glimpse into some of our plans.
If you wondered things like who we had planned to reunite, some of the story arcs we wanted to do, some of the power dynamics, etc, you should go see!
It’s super draft mode and I had forgotten to put some things into it. I went into further detail on some of it over on the ICoS discord - LINK: https://discord.gg/9AM9AFs4TJ Feel free to swing by and check the agency channel for that info, and feel free to ask more stuff and/or comment/etc to your heart’s content.
Happy nearly-15th anniversary of the conception of ICoS! (first convo was December 31, 2005) Thanks for sticking around so long, too. You’re the real stars of it all <3
42 notes
·
View notes
Note
hello!! i just spent the past month or so reading all the icos books, scrolling through your account, and reading the notes you posted about the sequel on patreon. i’m absolutely amazed by this series and these characters, i don’t have words for how good of a time i had delving into this story. i started off loving hsin immediately and although it took me some time to warm up to boyd, he ended up being one of my absolute favorite characters that i’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. i really think boyd and hsin and their story, along with the stories of all the other amazing characters associated with them, will stick with me for a long time. anyway sorry for the long message, but i just wanted to express my gratitude for these books—they helped me out a lot mentally after everything post-2020 haha. i did have a sort of question though!! how did boyd deal with the loss of one of his eyes? did he train with hsin to help adapt? how did he deal with the insecurities and frustrations that came with that loss?
Just in case - **ICOS SPOILERS / FADE SPOILERS** :)
Hi! Aww that's awesome! I'm so happy you enjoyed the series :) And that you were able to find all the content on it right away too. It's also really cool how things shifted for you over the course of the series - because that means it did its job with showing character progression :) I mean, not that it matters if people end up liking all the characters or not - but if you start feeling one way and end another, that's awesome because it means there was character development that resonated with you in anyone and that's one of my favorite things when I'M reading a book, so it's one of my favorite things for if anyone ever reads anything I'm involved in writing. So that made me really happy to hear, thank you <3
I'm gonna put my answer behind a cut just in case for spoilers :) Hopefully this thing doesn't disallow you from clicking the Read More link which once in awhile tumblr does.
Spoilers behind cut :D
Regarding his eye, it was obviously in many ways pretty life-changing for him. Even though Boyd and Hsin by that point were much better about communicating, and Boyd would want to lean on Hsin whenever needed, although I haven't written out anything from those time periods (so it may change when/if I actually do, as sometimes the characters do things I'm not expecting) -- I have a feeling Boyd tried to kind of hide as much of the downside as he could from Hsin. Not because he didn't trust Hsin - he did, unequivocally - but rather because Hsin had seemed so regretful and seemed to have guilt/worry when Boyd first woke up and learned he lost his eye. He didn't want Hsin blaming himself for it, and if Hsin saw it upsetting him too much he would have probably worried about how Hsin felt.
It did take him time to figure out some things - his depth perception was fucked, and he couldn't fight quite the way he initially had learned because of that, along with other things. He would have let Hsin see him relearning things when necessary because that's inevitable, but he would have tried to play off anything much deeper if possible. He would have wanted to see if he could handle things on his own first (in typical Boyd style) just so he could spare Hsin extra stress. He felt like Hsin had already lost so much; it didn't feel fair to pile anything further on him.
So Hsin would have helped with some stuff when needed, and obviously I'm sure they talked about things as needed too. It's not like the topic was taboo or Boyd was super sensitive to it. As much as it sucked, it was also just a thing he had to accept. So in some ways, he kind of just rolled with it the way he'd had to learn to roll with so much else in his life.
Where it really was most frustrating and upsetting for him was the way it affected his ability to work. Even though he felt and was fully capable of many things, certain jobs just would not hire someone with one eye, period. Their rules didn't allow it, or they just chose not to, or so on. Because they had to stay on the downlow, he already had limited options in the first place, and that made it worse. Then on top of that, having an eyepatch made him more memorable. Once he eventually got his glass eye, it helped a bit with that, but he'd always had an unusual eye color so without contacts and different hair color and all that, if someone were looking for him they could still potentially track him down. Hsin was also incredibly memorable so it was a worry for him as well. Especially when you put those two together.
I don't think we ever talked about it but in my personal opinion, I would guess that they probably talked about their plans for the different cities/countries they were in, whether one or both of them would stand out more, what sorts of income they could get, what sorts of things they could do, what sort of places they could live incognito, and so on.
I have always had in my mind that there was a period of time especially early on when Boyd was still healing and getting used to things, where he (as usual) tried to push himself a little too far a little too fast but Hsin stopped him because he knew how Boyd is and he knew if he was firm, Boyd would actually listen.
So for a time, Hsin was the main person going out to do things, get money, etc. There were hours Boyd would be alone wherever they were staying, and during that time all those doubts and frustrations and anger and insecurity and fear would come in. For awhile, I think he probably even drank when he was alone. Never to an addictive level or anything; just the actions of a man who felt depressed.
I'm sure some of his demons leapt on that--telling him shit like he wasn't ever going to have more worth than he did when he was used by Cyclone, or the Agency - shit like, maybe you're never going to be anything more than a valentine/whore for money in the future anyway. If people won't see you as anything other than the parts of you, and now the parts of you that are missing more than the parts that are there, maybe it's useless to think there's anything more of value in your life. That sort of negative thought process that you know isn't true but still buries its tendrils deep inside and twists.
The thing is, Boyd never really had much to call his own his whole life that people didn't attribute to others around him - one of the only things he had was his art. And losing an eye didn't make it impossible to do art, but in that beginning stage, it just felt extra awful to have lost something so integral to the one thing he had that was his alone, that hadn't been used and abused and destroyed by other powers in his life - it felt like maybe that just went to show he didn't have value other than what others assigned to him. Which is how the valentine stuff probably came to mind - through a bit of depression and also practicality, because he knew he could make money doing that if they needed it, even though it was the absolute last thing in his life he would ever want to do. But then the guilt would come in about not being able to do enough on his own, not pulling his weight, etc etc, and then the fear associated with all of these topics, and that's how the depression would have slid in and spiraled him down.
I always imagined that Hsin recognized how depressed Boyd was, even though Boyd tried to hide it, and eventually they would have had some sort of conversation about it all.
In my mind, somehow through that and any following conversations or actions or etc, Hsin was able to remind Boyd of all the things he could do still, rather than focusing on the things he couldn't. He would have reminded him that it was bullshit to think he had no value, and as for getting denied different jobs, it didn't matter - they were in this together, they'd figure it out together. He would have been able to remind Boyd to stop taking all the shit on himself and share the burden. And that Hsin didn't give a shit about any of that stuff - Hsin saw Boyd for who he was, and he loved him for that, and nothing would ever change that. Boyd would have probably told Hsin at that point he was afraid of Hsin blaming himself when it never had been his blame to begin with, and he never wanted to hurt Hsin, and etc. I imagine he told him that, but am not sure.
Either way, it would have reignited Boyd's stubborn streak and determination, and he would have been reminded of how much they could do together as a team. And how much they loved each other. And fuck the world, who cared what other people thought? He could do whatever the hell he wanted. He'd figure it out. He always had.
From then, he would have started working on things again - figuring out ways to fight that relied more on touch so his blind spot and depth perception were less of an issue (Hsin would have helped a lot with this), and he would have started painting and drawing again. It went from his offtime from Hsin being something dark and depressing to something largely productive. Obviously everyone still has bad days, but at least he was generally on the up. And they did eventually figure out jobs he could work too, or things he could do, so he wasn't just spending all his time alone when Hsin wasn't around. And so Hsin didn't have to have any pressure on him to do things alone.
I don't remember if I ever answered this question before and if I did, it's possible my answer was a little different. I often think about parts we didn't write down and I feel like I have an idea of how it would go, but until I actually write something down I never know for sure. We never planned for Afterimage, for example - but when we went to write past Evenfall, it became clear that was a thing that was going to happen, and so it did, and then things from that affected other things into Interludes, Fade, 1/27, etc.
So it's possible if ever any of these time periods are written down that maybe my view of what I think would happen ends up being completely incorrect or off. But right now, generally speaking, I imagine it went something like this.
Sorry for the long rambly reply!
8 notes
·
View notes
Note
Boyd, Owen, and Emilio are the comedic trio I never knew I need in my life lol, I enjoyed their scene in Fade a lot. It was so needed after all the heavy stuff that happened in the book.
Just in case - **KIND OF SPOILERS FOR AFTERIMAGE + IN ICOS SORT OF**
lol I'm glad! That chapter always amuses me. That was actually so fun to write... I love being able to write Owen because he's so fucking just... Owen... and when you throw those other two personalities into the mix it was way more entertaining than I ever expected it would be. Now you're making me want to go back and skim that again... Sometimes when I'm zoning out and I look down and see the freckles on my arms I suddenly think of Owen going, "All sorts of gangly limbs and freckles everywhere, I swear." and it's really dumb but I get amused by my own line. So I'm glad you get entertainment out of it too lol Also yeah, there reallllllly sort of needed a break in the mood around there XD I somehow manage to forget sometimes how intense the emotional rollercoaster can be with the series....
10 notes
·
View notes
Link
I’m making no promises either way but, because I’ve been asked enough over the years about whether the rest of ICoS will ever be in print, I decided to make this survey so people can weigh in. I always thought that the only way it’s fair to print it is if they are professionally and officially edited first, but that really pushes out how likely (or quickly) it will happen. This isn’t to say it WOULDN’T happen if I waited to edit them first. Just that it will keep pushing it out, possibly indefinitely.
So, I got curious about how important official editing is for folks prior to physical publishing, and that’s basically what this survey is asking. I can’t promise I will print them even if everyone says, “hell yeah, print with all the problems in it!” but I will definitely take into account what the overall consensus is, and that will definitely inform my decision making in the future.
So, answer honestly please! I genuinely want to know what you’d prefer - you will not upset or insult me regardless of your answers, I promise <3
Thank you for your interest/feedback!
The link again, in case above doesn’t work, here’s the survey again:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6Z7HJ2K
11 notes
·
View notes
Note
Oh, and I would like to know if you could tell us the heights of the main characters of icos?😊😊
This is an old’n at this point so a lot of the links don’t work anymore (since tumblr decided to break them all - the info is still up on my tumblr, or should be, I just don’t have direct links anymore). Anyway so I’m pulling partly from here which has a lot of the main info on most of the main characters: https://aisness.wordpress.com/2016/05/01/icos-master-list-feb-2016-edition/
The link I have on there has this as the answers from 2015:
Kassian: 6′2″
Emilio: 5′10″ (I’m pretty sure since then Santino said he’s taller like maybe 6′? not sure.)
Zachary: 6′1″
Vivienne: 5′8″
Ryan: 5′3″
Boyd: 5′10″
Hsin: 6′4″
(Actually, I think Boyd is 5′11″ or maybe he’s somewhere between 5′10″ and 5′11″ - I think Emilio and Boyd were the same height at first, and then I don’t know if “Santino” did decide that Emilio was taller after all? Even if Emilio is 6′, Boyd is not. Boyd is max 5′11″. Not a huge difference, just noting it.)
Oh also from this post - https://ais-n.tumblr.com/post/121072646226/following-up-on-that-anon-question-how-tall-are - there’s:
Owen: 5′11″
Jeffrey: 5′8″
lol I thought Jeffrey was taller than that but apparently not. I thought he was like 5′9″ at least. (I say this as if I did not write him. I did lmao So this just goes to show how well I remember some details...)
And from this post - https://ais-n.tumblr.com/post/118172048841/how-old-and-tall-is-seth-whats-his-back-story - I mentioned that Seth is somewhere around 5′5″ - 5′8″. Not sure if anyone cares about him though lol
Fun fact: Ryan’s my height! And my parents were CONVINCED I wrote him (spoiler: I did not) because they thought he seemed most like me. I did not remember Ryan being a little’n with me but when I pulled all this info back up I was like, aww, he’s a shorty with me.
Anyway, that’s the info we had on them. Honestly, I’m sure there could be some shift by an inch or two on most of them one way or the other but generally speaking, this at least gives a good idea of their heights relative to each other.
Hope that helps! If I didn’t list someone you wondered about, you can let me know their name(s) and I can check if I have that character’s info somewhere. But just fair warning it may or may not exist.
12 notes
·
View notes
Note
Post fade do hsin and boyd fight about money?
Hmm, good question - I never thought about it. But I don’t think so. I’m trying to think of a situation where that would become something they would fight about, but I think by that point they’re much better about communication. And they’re used to having to run at a moment’s notice.
They had money before post-Fade so I’m not sure exactly how they dealt with that - they had to have developed some type of system. Likely involving cash withdrawals for a long enough time that they could hide it away or something. I honestly have forgotten if that detail was ever mentioned or figured out.
But even in circumstances where they are flat broke, I feel like they have by that point developed a set of priorities individually and as a couple - and money is what lets us function in society so it definitely matters for daily living. But it’s not a priority of theirs. They are just happy to have each other.
So, possibly minor things might come to an argument here and there if it’s been building from other stuff or something? Maybe? But even then I think it would be pretty short-lived and they’d probably talk about what’s really going on later.
It definitely wouldn’t be early!Monterrey levels of bitchiness, that’s for sure lol
9 notes
·
View notes
Note
hi hello, good night!!!!
OKAY forget about vega sandwich, I just finished "1/27 an Icos anthology" and the question is: WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO HAVE ICOS CONTINUED ???? OH MY GOD, I NEED THIS AS I NEED AIR TO BREATHE!!!!!!!
hi! lmao about the vega sandwich. Every time it reminds me of the Ais’ Terrible Art I made about that - if you haven’t seen it:
and then the follow up I did lmao
It’s so fucking stupid but always makes me laugh thinking about this dumbass comic and them being like slices of bread and shit XD
(I couldn’t remember where they were on my tumblr so I just grabbed them from my site - which I haven’t updated in awhile. But if you want to see more terrible ICoS art it’s at http://aisylum.com/fun/ais-terrible-art/)
Anyway, back on topic XD Just in case you didn’t see earlier - I don’t have the sequel written but I did release the notes for what was planned so you can read that at least for now :) You can read it for free at:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/icos-sequel-what-44700040
11 notes
·
View notes
Note
is an icos sequel in the works?? i’m excited to read incarnations btw 💕
No, sadly, but I did release the notes we had from the sequel so you can still see what had been planned. Also you never know if I might one day suddenly decide to write it out - it’s just difficult since so many of the main characters aren’t mine.
Here’s the notes though! https://www.patreon.com/posts/icos-sequel-what-44700040 Don’t worry, you can read/see that for free.
Also thank you! If you read what’s out of Incarnations, I super want to hear thoughts! I’m having a hell of a time motivating myself to finish the current round of editing. It’s getting to the point where it’s pissing me off that I’m so slow because I just want to get it out there.
#ask ais#icosbooks#icos sequel#icos#in the company of shadows#incarnations#wildwood rising#Anonymous
10 notes
·
View notes
Note
Ais, I’m on my millionth reread of the series and in Fade, when Sin is assassinating the two head honchos of Janus, there’s a kid he saves.... maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it felt like maybe that kid would probably have a vendetta against Sin and he was set up to make an appearance in the sequel that had been planned? 👀 also, I know you might not confirm this if it WAS true, but I still wanted to ask and see if I was right at all! XD that would be such a dope concept to see happen!
Did I not reply to this before??? I thought I did! I’m sorry UGGGGH.
!!FADE SPOILERS PROBABLY!! just marking for anyone who needs it :)
Sorry if this is a repeat answer then but - yeah actually, that was at one point one of the ideas. We were thinking that kid could show up later again with a vendetta against Hsin, maybe try to kill him or do whatever other thing to fuck with him or those he loved.
If I remember correctly actually, there was an idea at one point that kids would basically be farmed into super soldiers using Hsin’s experiments as the study case for developing something that would work better on people who don’t have his abnormally high natural abilities - and I think we were thinking they’d aim for kids because they’re more malleable and still developing so it would be easier.
That idea sort of shifted over time to be a rendition of the Agency and the body/mind control stuff (as mentioned in the sequel notes at https://www.patreon.com/posts/icos-sequel-what-44700040) so I’m not sure if that kid would have ended up AT the Agency where that was happening - which might be a bit weird? They would know who this kid was in the past. On the other hand, maybe they’d do it on purpose to really fuck with Janus should anyone ever decide to try to start it back up - and maybe it was something they were doing in case they ever had to worry about Hsin as an enemy.
I honestly can’t remember the logic. I also think by the time we got to the sequel notes, that kid didn’t make as much sense to pull in specifically for the Agency farm type thing, so he probably would’ve shown up independently in some other way - or, in retrospect, he actually could maybe end up with the Knights if he has something about him that appeals to them. I don’t think he would’ve ended up on the Rift / Defectors / Journalist Guild side of things most likely, because I don’t think the ideals of those would’ve worked with the vendetta he had.
I wish I wrote more of the characters because it’d be fun to have that kid show up again sometime. I wouldn’t have a problem writing the kid, since he could be developed later, but since I didn’t write Hsin I always hesitate to do anything with him as a character because I feel like I’d fuck him up.
Anyway you were right and good catch! :) We had a few things like that where we thought maybe a thing would come up again later but it became too difficult to pull it into the main story with everything else going on so it stayed on the side for possible future side stories or fun plot ideas.
7 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hello wonderful Ais- I’ve always wondered, what would Vivienne had done/what would her reaction been like if Dr. Shapiro hadn’t warned Boyd in time and he’d been executed? Would they have enacted their plan earlier than planned? Would she have tried to go after Seong? I’m so fascinated by Viv and Boyd’s relationship I want to ask so many questions so I apologize in advance if you get a sudden bombardment of questions regarding either of them 😅
Hi wonderful anon! Before I forget I’ll just throw this in--
!!FADE/ICOS SPOILERS PROBABLY BELOW!!
She would’ve been pissed probably tbh. I think she would have wanted to enact their plan earlier, yeah - it probably would have triggered things to go into action the way it did with the whole riot thing. And honestly, if Viv and the others had escaped and Seong and the others were alive back at the Agency, I could totally see Viv working on some long term plan to fuck Seong over and get back in some way at the Agency’s heads.
Actually, now that I’m thinking about it - so, what I REALLY wanted Vivienne’s end in the ICoS series to be (before we realized 1/27 was going to be a thing) was for Vivienne to end up choosing to support the cause of outing the Agency and all the shit it did by testifying against them in court and admitting to all of her own shitty things she did. I had planned for her to go through the court process, and the last time she was seen would be her in prison. Whether she lived long once she was in there was going to be unverified - she would have been alive for sure at the end of the book, but with the power the Agency had, and with her in a vulnerable position like that, would she actually be safe from them trying to get rid of her? Or would they not care because she’d done the damage already?
In the end, it was decided that a court process didn’t necessarily work very well for the sort of situation we had with international issues, and not really a high enough court to realistically take this on and be able to enact any sort of punishment. And just some other logistical things where that didn’t make sense with the way we went with the story.
But if Fade hadn’t ended how it did with the way the Defectors et al dealt with the Agency and all the shady shit it had done - if there had been a situation in which it did actually make sense for any sort of official court proceeding to occur, Vivienne would have done so even if Boyd was alive. But if he was killed she definitely would have done it.
So in that scenario, she would have done something for sure - but whether it was lurking in the shadows for years figuring out some sneaky way to get back at Seong and/or the Agency, or whether it was a really public outing of the Agency and everything it had done and specifically naming Seong and others as a way of destroying their reputations and credibility and hoping to get them imprisoned - how exactly it would have happened would have been dependent on whatever else would have happened in the background/contextually in plot in that version. If that makes sense. I feel like I worded that terribly.
Anyway, never apologize for asking questions! I love questions! I’m just sorry that sometimes I’m super quick to reply and other times I take ages.
6 notes
·
View notes
Note
I'm definitely uncomfortable with the incest jokes and want them tagged, and idk if theres more than the vega sandwich stuff, but that is the main example. i am completely serious that incest jokes make me uncomfortable and i want to be able to avoid jokes about it if they exist. it also sets a tone in the fandom that vega sandwich jokes are different than regular incest jokes, but they are just as triggering, so i'd really rather that it was tagged
Hey thanks for replying! I appreciate it! I'm glad you were able to get back to me on this!
Completely fair, my friend :) I'm generally not big on incest jokes either tbh; Vega Sandwich kind of just became a thing that turned into an ongoing meme so now the way it's mentioned amuses me as a meme but I don't at all blame anyone who is uncomfortable with it. Makes complete sense and it's a totally fair request to be able to have a tag you can input to avoid. Especially because in the real world there's some really seriously terrible shit that can happen where people are survivors of incest or similar and that can be incredibly triggering. I know people personally who are survivors, yet it didn't even occur to me before you mentioned this because somehow my brain put a space between IRL and story on that topic and didn't manage to connect the dots.
So - this is a great idea and I really appreciate you saying something, but I'm also really sorry it didn't occur to me first and instead you had to get into a position that made you feel uncomfortable and ask :(
I was trying to remember when I last made any jokes about it but since I'm so hit or miss the last several months on tumblr I don't remember at all. But in thinking on it, that also makes me wonder if I could have reposted stuff too that had it and it didn't even occur to me. Sometimes when I use tumblr it's on my phone and for some reason the app won't let me do tags all the time, so I am pretty sure I've done several reposts without any tags at all.
All that is to say - I am going to do my best to remember to use that tag in anything I'm posting or reposting that has an incest joke in it. But if you (or anyone) ever notices I miss something, seriously, I want people to tell me so I can go back and tag it. I will try to not have that be an issue in the first place, but because I tend to go weeks/months without touching tumblr then spam post, and sometimes it just won't let me edit tags, if ever something does slip through it's unintentional and I definitely want to be called out on it so I can fix it for you and anyone else who needs it.
For now, I started by tagging this one with that :) Also I was trying to remember and yeah I think Vega Sandwich is the main incest joke that I can think of in the series so anything incest at all related should fit having this tag - but just in case, even if other incest jokes pop up, I'll still tag it vega sandwich unless we get good ideas from anyone else on what else to do in those rare scenarios (although I would think if nothing else just tagging it incest would also help).
Sorry for the long ass reply as always - but again, seriously, thanks for saying something :) I'm sorry you had to say something, because I hate for people to feel uncomfortable in the first place. But I super appreciate that you did say something and you clarified further. That was awesome of you :)
You rock!
I hope you have a good day :)
Oh and PS if you know of specific examples recently you want me to go back and tag I can do that :) But otherwise, so you don't have to stress out on it, we'll just start from today forward with the tag.
2 notes
·
View notes
Note
Can you please tag incest jokes "vega sandwich"
lol have there been many? my god, I can't even remember. good idea though!
tbh maybe I'm just too tired/dense today but I can't tell if you're serious or joking, hence my somewhat neutral reply. But I think it's both funny and a good idea, so either way I'm all for it if people tell me things I should go back and edit tags on. And I'll try to remember for the future lol
2 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
