VN Ren'Py Our Red String [Ch.14.1.4 Beta] [Eva Kiss]

[Socrambus]

Depends on your definitions. She seems scared to break up with Wade, has guilt over what she's doing, and Axel does blatantly try flirting with her. Telling her that she is playing with Ian is more of a wake up call to her that she is supposed to take the relationship with Ian more seriously. Wade and Cindy do break up and at the beach Cindy seems more committed to Ian after she has that wake up call, though she's not present at the beach.

Next few releases will be Lena centered, so I doubt you'll see much Ian x Cindy content. But once the focus goes back I think it will be some time after the break up and Ian and Cindy might agree to finally go public.

The romantic path is already there, it's just currently facing challenges due to the circumstances.

A lot is left to interpretation and open to imagination. You say she seems more commited to Ian after that wake up call, but it's also the only path where there is no sexting and at the same time it's also the only path where Cindy messages Ian when he didn't message her before. It's also open to discussion whether the stuff with Axel's hand in Cindy's ass happens also in that path or if Cindy and Wade's relationship is not awful and is just not publically revealed. It's not even clear what that photo with Axel means or if it means the same in all circunstances where it happens.

Regarding going public with their relationship, I don't think it will happen until endgame unless they are forced out before. They could privately commit to their relationship and clear up things but it would be too soon after the break up with Wade to go public with their friends without arousing suspicion. Having to keep it on the low adds tension and offers easy drama with possibly being discovered by any of the cast. It seems too useful for Eva to let it go before the end.

 

[Tomamax19]

Hello, do you know if there is a lot of game left or if there is less left until the end?
I hope to be able to play it when it's finally complete.

 

[Skylark21]

I bet Cindy fucking Axel is gonna be inevitable in the game regardless of your choices, something like Mike/Ivy situation and both are morally dark routes, so kinda similar.
I guess choices will only determine how it'll impact Ian(Dating or not) and how he knows and deals with it (IF) and the only way to avoid getting cucked will be to avoid the route altogether, cause there's no way Ian is coming out of it unscathed after betraying his bestfriend. Plus from what I've seen so far after playing Gggb and ORS, Eva doesn't hesitate in giving big L to her MCs sometimes.

 

[BigAlzBub]

Hello, do you know if there is a lot of game left or if there is less left until the end?
I hope to be able to play it when it's finally complete.

If I remember correctly, originally the game was supposed to have something like 20 chapters, however a bit in I think Eva said she could fit it all in about 16, so if that holds true (and I'm not misremembering) then there should be something like 4 chapters remaining

 

[fatpussy123]

I bet Cindy fucking Axel is gonna be inevitable in the game regardless of your choices, something like Mike/Ivy situation and both are morally dark routes, so kinda similar.
I guess choices will only determine how it'll impact Ian(Dating or not) and how he knows and deals with it (IF) and the only way to avoid getting cucked will be to avoid the route altogether, cause there's no way Ian is coming out of it unscathed after betraying his bestfriend. Plus from what I've seen so far after playing Gggb and ORS, Eva doesn't hesitate in giving big L to her MCs sometimes.

Difference is Cindy actually shows romantic interest in Ian. Mike it's entirely one-sided. Lena never even goes on a date with Mike and expect him to reciprocate her feelings. Cindy actually shows romantic interest in Ian, goes on a dates with him, and expects him not to sleep around.

If Cindy was fucking Axel regardless of her relationship with Ian it would be different from Mike and contradict her prior behavior. Mike has been upfront about being a fuckboy from the start.

 

[fatpussy123]

A lot is left to interpretation and open to imagination. You say she seems more commited to Ian after that wake up call, but it's also the only path where there is no sexting and at the same time it's also the only path where Cindy messages Ian when he didn't message her before. It's also open to discussion whether the stuff with Axel's hand in Cindy's ass happens also in that path or if Cindy and Wade's relationship is not awful and is just not publically revealed. It's not even clear what that photo with Axel means or if it means the same in all circunstances where it happens.

Regarding going public with their relationship, I don't think it will happen until endgame unless they are forced out before. They could privately commit to their relationship and clear up things but it would be too soon after the break up with Wade to go public with their friends without arousing suspicion. Having to keep it on the low adds tension and offers easy drama with possibly being discovered by any of the cast. It seems too useful for Eva to let it go before the end.

The sexting not happening is indicative of how both parties are reevaluating how to proceed on their relationship. Cindy wants to appeal to Ian and make him happy, seen by her initiating the texts and sending a nude. Ian expects Cindy to commit to him and doesn't want to indulge Cindy until their relationship is on a stronger foundation, observe how he doesn't initiate the actual sexting like he does when he thinks everything is sunshine and rainbows on the other Cindy paths. Cindy because she is clearly thinking more about Ian and their relationship does not post the ass pic she posts in other paths.

 

[Skylark21]

Difference is Cindy actually shows romantic interest in Ian. Mike it's entirely one-sided. Lena never even goes on a date with Mike and expect him to reciprocate her feelings. Cindy actually shows romantic interest in Ian, goes on a dates with him, and expects him not to sleep around.

If Cindy was fucking Axel regardless of her relationship with Ian it would be different from Mike and contradict her prior behavior. Mike has been upfront about being a fuckboy from the start.

Reason why I said something like Mike/Ivy situation and not exactly and why Cindy having romantic interest in Ian would even matter here? As if people in love or serious relationships never cheat? She was in long term relationship with Wade yet it didn't stop her from cheating on him with Ian his best friend, so why would it stop her doing same to Ian with Axel?
Not to forget Axel is considered to be a master manipulator, so even if she doesn't intend to cheat, Axel can very well manipulate her and by looking at her conversation and response she gives when Lena warns her, Cindy doesn't seem very bright in that regard.

 

[Socrambus]

Difference is Cindy actually shows romantic interest in Ian. Mike it's entirely one-sided. Lena never even goes on a date with Mike and expect him to reciprocate her feelings. Cindy actually shows romantic interest in Ian, goes on a dates with him, and expects him not to sleep around.

If Cindy was fucking Axel regardless of her relationship with Ian it would be different from Mike and contradict her prior behavior. Mike has been upfront about being a fuckboy from the start.

What do you mean Cindy goes on dates with Ian?, the closest thing to a date would be the museum and that's before they enter into a romantic/sexual relationship. All the other scenes happen at their homes if I'm not misremembering. Also, Cindy doesn't show a clear romantic interest in Ian, that's the issue in that path, she's not being straight with him and thus the "You're playing with me" arguement. Although is true that she's more posessive of Ian than Mike of Lena.

And regarding Mike being upfront about being a fuckboy:

    l "If she was that important to you, you wouldn't be here tonight, don't you think?"
    $ fmike = "sad"
    mk "It's not like that..."
    l "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that, it's just..."
    "I was frustrated, but didn't want to admit it to him."
    "Mike looked at me in silence for a second before sighing and sitting on the bed next to me."
    $ fmike = "n"
    mk "You probably think I do this all the time, but I don't. Not since I am with her..."
    mk "You're the only other girl I've slept with since I started dating her."
    "I wasn't sure how that made me feel."
    l "She must be pretty special."
    mk "She is. But so are you."
    mk "I mean... It's not like we've had that much time to get to know each other, but it's easy to see..."
    mk "There aren't many girls like you, Lena. You're off the charts in so many ways."
    $ flena = "smile"
    "Now, that was something I liked hearing."
    l "You really think so?"
    mk "I wouldn't be here otherwise, wouldn't I? You're the hottest girl I've ever met. You're not only hot, but you're also beautiful, and you have charm, too much, even."
    mk "And well, being noticed by a girl like you... I just couldn't say no to you, even if I wanted to."
    l "I'm glad you didn't... At first, I was afraid you'd ignore me, but I'm happy a guy like you noticed me, too."
    $ fmike = "smile"
    mk "There was no way I couldn't notice you, you know that. When I saw you with Louise, I thought she could be Jeremy's girlfriend, so I used her as an excuse to talk to you."
    l "Oh, so that's the real reason you said hi?"
    $ fmike = "happy"
    mk "Yeah, well... You won't blame me now, will you?"
    $ flena = "happy"
    l "Not at all."
    $ fmike = "smile"
    mk "So there you have it. If I had met you a year ago, well... Things might've been different, who knows."

Which we all know it was bullshit but it's not exactly like Lena's expectations come from nowhere and is all in her head. I'm not saying that Cindy and Mike paths are identical, but there are enough similarities to at least suspect "cheating"might also happen on Cindy's path no matter what.

The sexting not happening is indicative of how both parties are reevaluating how to proceed on their relationship. Cindy wants to appeal to Ian and make him happy, seen by her initiating the texts and sending a nude. Ian expects Cindy to commit to him and doesn't want to indulge Cindy until their relationship is on a stronger foundation, observe how he doesn't initiate the actual sexting like he does when he thinks everything is sunshine and rainbows on the other Cindy paths. Cindy because she is clearly thinking more about Ian and their relationship does not post the ass pic she posts in other paths.

Yes, but ass pic happens if Ian and Cindy are in a loving relationship and Ian chooses to trust her instead of calling her out. That's what makes things unclear about the meaning of the ass pic being the same in that case as in Ian just fucking Cindy casually. And also it's not impossible she would tell Axel not to post the pic but it happens all the same without being made public when it's not published.

 

[fatpussy123]

Reason why I said something like Mike/Ivy situation and not exactly and why Cindy having romantic interest in Ian would even matter here? As if people in love or serious relationships never cheat? She was in long term relationship with Wade yet it didn't stop her from cheating on him with Ian his best friend, so why would it stop her doing same to Ian with Axel?
Not to forget Axel is considered to be a master manipulator, so even if she doesn't intend to cheat, Axel can very well manipulate her and by looking at her conversation and response she gives when Lena warns her, Cindy doesn't seem very bright in that regard.

This isn't real life. It's a narrative. And in stories character motivations presented to the reader need to be coherently followed up on. It could be realistic for a character to be walking down the street and get hit by a car, ending that character and their route. It happens in real life right? But that would be unsatisfying to the reader.

In a similar vain just having one of Ian's love interest cheat on him with no way of preventing it and with no build up would be similarly bad writing and unsatisfying to the player.

The reason why Cindy cheats isn't as simple as "Cindy is always a cheater and it was inevitable". She cheats because of her growing frustrations with Wade that we see over the course of multiple chapters and because she feels there are things Wade does not provide for her, both sexually and in terms of how stagnant her life feels. There has been no indication she feels this way about Ian when their relationship is healthy. There are ways to make her unhappy, being rude in dialogues or sleeping around despite wanting her to break up with Wade, but in the healthy relationship there is no indication of unhappiness regarding Ian.

Yes even in happy relationships in real life people cheat, but in the story it would be random, inconsistent, and unsatisfying for people on the Cindy path playing a romantic route.

 

[fatpussy123]

What do you mean Cindy goes on dates with Ian?, the closest thing to a date would be the museum and that's before they enter into a romantic/sexual relationship. All the other scenes happen at their homes if I'm not misremembering. Also, Cindy doesn't show a clear romantic interest in Ian, that's the issue in that path, she's not being straight with him and thus the "You're playing with me" arguement. Although is true that she's more posessive of Ian than Mike of Lena.

And regarding Mike being upfront about being a fuckboy:

    l "If she was that important to you, you wouldn't be here tonight, don't you think?"
    $ fmike = "sad"
    mk "It's not like that..."
    l "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that, it's just..."
    "I was frustrated, but didn't want to admit it to him."
    "Mike looked at me in silence for a second before sighing and sitting on the bed next to me."
    $ fmike = "n"
    mk "You probably think I do this all the time, but I don't. Not since I am with her..."
    mk "You're the only other girl I've slept with since I started dating her."
    "I wasn't sure how that made me feel."
    l "She must be pretty special."
    mk "She is. But so are you."
    mk "I mean... It's not like we've had that much time to get to know each other, but it's easy to see..."
    mk "There aren't many girls like you, Lena. You're off the charts in so many ways."
    $ flena = "smile"
    "Now, that was something I liked hearing."
    l "You really think so?"
    mk "I wouldn't be here otherwise, wouldn't I? You're the hottest girl I've ever met. You're not only hot, but you're also beautiful, and you have charm, too much, even."
    mk "And well, being noticed by a girl like you... I just couldn't say no to you, even if I wanted to."
    l "I'm glad you didn't... At first, I was afraid you'd ignore me, but I'm happy a guy like you noticed me, too."
    $ fmike = "smile"
    mk "There was no way I couldn't notice you, you know that. When I saw you with Louise, I thought she could be Jeremy's girlfriend, so I used her as an excuse to talk to you."
    l "Oh, so that's the real reason you said hi?"
    $ fmike = "happy"
    mk "Yeah, well... You won't blame me now, will you?"
    $ flena = "happy"
    l "Not at all."
    $ fmike = "smile"
    mk "So there you have it. If I had met you a year ago, well... Things might've been different, who knows."

Which we all know it was bullshit but it's not exactly like Lena's expectations come from nowhere and is all in her head. I'm not saying that Cindy and Mike paths are identical, but there are enough similarities to at least suspect "cheating"might also happen on Cindy's path no matter what.



Yes, but ass pic happens if Ian and Cindy are in a loving relationship and Ian chooses to trust her instead of calling her out. That's what makes things unclear about the meaning of the ass pic being the same in that case as in Ian just fucking Cindy casually. And also it's not impossible she would tell Axel not to post the pic but it happens all the same without being made public when it's not published.

I was using the term date loosely. I meant Ian and Cindy before ever having sex go to the museum together, go to the club and dance together, spend time talking about their issues, Cindy asks Ian to accompany her to her modelling, they actually have a built up chemistry.

Mike on the other hand meets Lena at the club once and ends up in her bed the same night. All subsequent scenes are them having a little dialogue before inevitably having sex.

Even in the dialogue you posted, it is praise from Mike, but it's so obviously bedroom talk/shallow flirting. Lena doesn't really know anything about Mike and hasn't spent time with him outside of her bedroom or at the club.

 

[Skylark21]

In a similar vain just having one of Ian's love interest cheat on him with no way of preventing it and with no build up would be similarly bad writing and unsatisfying to the player.

Reason why I brought up similarity between Ian/Cindy/Axel and /LenaMike/Ivy. Mike and Lena's relation might not be exact same but he's still a love interest for Lena with a proper romance route too and Lena isn't a NPC, she's a MC. so if Mike can fuck Ivy regardless of our choices in that route, why do you think Ian is going to be any special?
Anyways, tbh I don't care whether Cindy cheats on Ian or not, I mostly treat Ian as NPC in my playthrough, so no big deal for me. I just felt Cindy cheating with Axel is going to be one of those events in the game that happens regardless of our choices hence my comment.

 

[pokiehl]

Iris didn't have any indications of bi-curiosity, that I can recall, until asked to take part in a lesbian threesome in GGGB.

That said, Iris was, if anything, the character most steeped in porn-logic safe for Ash. So I'm not expecting something like that will be the same case with any female characters in ORS necessarily, but I don't think any lesbian pairings should just be dismissed as a whole just because the interactions haven't happened yet.

Something not having any build-up yet doesn't mean it cannot recieve build-up soon, we don't have to jump directly to "Cindy having her tongue wiggling around inside Lena" right away. There was nothing indicating Emma's romantic interest in Ian until it came this past chapter, though you could perhaps read her feminization content as being indicative of a desire for romance sprouting in her.

Lena and Cindy already had an argument at the party, whereas the first tried to warn about the dangers of getting involved with Axel, and they now share a relation with him. I can picture several options for a lesbian path becoming available from this setup, or at the very least a 3some. You can think of Axel disposing Cindy away, deceiving her with a promise of a top model career and then she goes to Lena and realizes she's been right all long, and they become close friends. Just a quick idea of how it can be managed by EK.

 

[ffive]

then she goes to Lena and realizes she's been right all long

Unfortunately the game doesn't store whether Lena has warned Cindy or been a complete bitch to her (in fact, warning Cindy causes a generic drop in their relationship level) so no, such scenario isn't going to exist outside of fanfiction.

 

[GokutheG]

Unfortunately the game doesn't store whether Lena has warned Cindy or been a complete bitch to her (in fact, warning Cindy causes a generic drop in their relationship level) so no, such scenario isn't going to exist outside of fanfiction.

I've thought about this and wouldn't be surprised if how high the Lena/Cindy value is what determines this. It starts at 3 which is the highest it can reach. If you're cordial with her and warn her the value just drops to 2. So I can see Eva using this to try and not spoil something with a named variable.

Or I'm just putting too much faith in Eva.

 

[fatpussy123]

Reason why I brought up similarity between Ian/Cindy/Axel and /LenaMike/Ivy. Mike and Lena's relation might not be exact same but he's still a love interest for Lena with a proper romance route too and Lena isn't a NPC, she's a MC. so if Mike can fuck Ivy regardless of our choices in that route, why do you think Ian is going to be any special?
Anyways, tbh I don't care whether Cindy cheats on Ian or not, I mostly treat Ian as NPC in my playthrough, so no big deal for me. I just felt Cindy cheating with Axel is going to be one of those events in the game that happens regardless of our choices hence my comment.

Why do I think Cindy won't cheat on Ian like Mike did?

Like I said, because Cindy actively displays interest in her relationship with Ian. She is unhappy when Ian sleeps around, she keeps trying to reassure Ian that she will dump Wade for him, she has a deeper relationship with Ian than Mike has with Lena.

Mike never committed to dumping his girlfriend for Lena, Mike does not have a deep relationship with Lena, Mike does not care about who Lena sleeps with.

With those differences in mind it would make as much sense to say Alison or Holly would cheat on Ian on the pure romantic paths, only because Mike did so on Lena's path. Even though the situation clearly have meaningful differences.

Cindy has displayed way too much affection for Ian than Mike ever showed for Lena. It might still happen, but if it does it would be pretty bad writing, whereas Mike situation was just consistent with his character.

 

[ffive]

I've thought about this and wouldn't be surprised if how high the Lena/Cindy value is what determines this. It starts at 3 which is the highest it can reach. If you're cordial with her and warn her the value just drops to 2. So I can see Eva using this to try and not spoil something with a named variable.

Or I'm just putting too much faith in Eva.

Unfortunately it can't really work this way, because there's more than one option which can drop relationship with Cindy. So the game can't determine if a single drop in relationship level is a result of a warning, or from Lena not warning Cindy but just being casually snippy towards her at some other point.

 

[MagicMan753]

Unfortunately it can't really work this way, because there's more than one option which can drop relationship with Cindy. So the game can't determine if a single drop in relationship level is a result of a warning, or from Lena not warning Cindy but just being casually snippy towards her at some other point.

Just because the variable is not there now. Doesn't mean he won't add in the future or some sort of choice to become friends on lena's side. Eva goes back and constantly adds things like adding mike to the dojo or changing stories of some characters like Stan, etc. So you can't say for sure that just because there is nothing now, doesn't mean there won't be in the future.

 

[BlandChili]

Unfortunately it can't really work this way, because there's more than one option which can drop relationship with Cindy. So the game can't determine if a single drop in relationship level is a result of a warning, or from Lena not warning Cindy but just being casually snippy towards her at some other point.

But the game could base a Lena/Cindy development on if there had been a drop in agenda, regardless of which point or how many drops there have been. Lena and Cindy have a starting agenda level, so the game can check if that value is still present.

 

[ffive]

But the game could base a Lena/Cindy development on if there had been a drop in agenda, regardless of which point or how many drops there have been. Lena and Cindy have a starting agenda level, so the game can check if that value is still present.

Yes, but since the drop of relationship can be either caused by Lena trying to be helpful or by Lena being an ass (or both) and the game has no way to determine which case it was, it would be difficult to produce relationship development which would make sense for all these potentially very different scenarios.

Just because the variable is not there now. Doesn't mean he won't add in the future or some sort of choice to become friends on lena's side. Eva goes back and constantly adds things like adding mike to the dojo or changing stories of some characters like Stan, etc. So you can't say for sure that just because there is nothing now, doesn't mean there won't be in the future.

Sure, but the variable not being there suggests that EK didn't consider that a plot point that would lead to any development between these two characters. Can it theoretically happen? Of course, just like theoretically Robert can have a training montage and become a chad who puts Axel to shame.

 

[Xupuzulla]

The more i read people defending Cindy the more i hope Axel tapping that ass is canon in every save.
Once a cheater,always a cheater,like that bitch Gillian.