So, here I am, writing the next part of Evalia's ongoing origin story (which is hard enough since that's almost 20 years ago) and reaching a point which became the defining point for where she is now:

When Evalia went to FurryMUCK and started hanging around the Giants' Club.

I'm not going to lie, and I'm not going to sugarcoat it. That period was the largest part of what developed her as a character, alongside private roleplay scenes I had with others. (One of those scenes being entwined with this story thus far, as they were present and driving a lot of development before FM.) But publicly hanging out and having met a number of different people, chatted, played around... FM shaped Evalia to the point she's at now.* I can't tell a good tale about her origins and early development without going into it.

... and therein lies the problem I just got hit with. Full in the face like a 2x4. These aren't my characters to talk about, and when I dropped onto FM back in 2005. (Maybe earlier, that's just the first date I can find for certain.) I don't have the rights to really include them in the story, yet the interactions with them are part of what shaped Evalia. And even more, I want to tell the story about my time with Evalia getting to know some people who are - even now - among my closest friends and persistent RP scene partners.

So I'm sitting and striking a pose like Gendo Ikari staring at the monitor and fighting the dilemma:

I can either write and only include the characters I want to highlight, and make up people for crowds or other minor interactions so I don't include people who would rather not be a part of this story. Benefits? I don't have to worry about people falling out with me and demanding I remove stories featuring them. (I've already crossed that line, in a sense, by wanting to include the Club in the first place.) I can focus more on Evalia and her development through to the end of this section, and just leave informed what happens through journal notes like the last entry. It's very bare-bones but it gets me through quicker.

Or...

I can figure out who would have actually been around at the time in the Club in '05 and start thumbing through my contacts to see who's not yet blocked me, then ask if they're okay with a cameo in a story which isn't about them and their presence is all about propping up my character's existence so the world doesn't feel empty. And, hey, since I don't have detailed logs of what went on I'd be reconstructing entirely from memory - and could get it completely wrong! I'm sure that offer would go down about as smooth as shattered glass.

I'll figure it out, I'm sure, but it could always be worse. I could have to explain how I got Evalia to exist in the first place and have the other person involved come looking for me. There's at least one person out there still active which might know the tale... it's not a good one, in many senses of that.




* (Or more accurately, the place she has been at for the last ten years or so. She kinda reached a point where her growth - pun intended - has mostly just been in stepping out of things and no longer being... public.)