I think it would have to be too. The world would be to be slightly altered to accommodate it a bit more easily, like, on their first night, maybe someone (I'm thinking Heather or Kurt or Zack for various reasons) would introduce the rest to a scary story pow-wow, and one of them (probably one of the same three) would bring up the story of the "haunted, abandoned cabin, oooOOOooooOOoo," and so on. And imagining Zack and Victoria as amateur ghost hunters is hilarious to me. As in, do people demonstrate the same paraphilia differently? They do, yeah. Some may channel it constructively into a hobby or a profession, or it just becomes a simple fetish, and if that's the case, it isn't a cause for concern or treatment. If it interferes with your daily life to the point that it's inappropriate or violates another's agency or prevents you from functioning in some way, then treatment is sought. I remember reading a case of a man who had to masturbate on cars, specifically newer Japanese models and often in showrooms. Other people might just get the thrill of doing it in a car, or even just masturbating alone in a car. Social factors, brain chemistry, existing mental conditions or states or disorders, all of that plays it part, but the consensus is that most paraphilias originate because of some kind of conditioning early on in life that transmutes into a sexual experience. You see people having sex as a kid, and that steadily becomes ingrained through fantasies while masturbating, and eventually you find voyeurism arousing. That also works for stuffed animals, licking eyeballs, or many of the other random paraphilias. But not everything though -- psychologists once thought BDSM originated from conditioning in child abuse, something even my abnormal psychology book quietly endorsed, but there's no evidence for that. If anything, it seems to be a form of stress relief for most in the community. Oh lord, I can ramble on! I am very curious about your idea about how people can find ghosts and spirits erotic! Glad you like it, lol. But yeah, I've thought about that, and I think I can swing something in that direction It'll give more context to their behavior anyway, and can build them into a more powerful relationship. duskford's intention are to make Zack, Heather, and Kurt into a powerful trio, and I agree with that direction. And given he effects of the erotophilia, that just might be the case! And I'm definitely curious about Zack's upcoming snag -- involving his sister, yes?
Giving my two cents about that spirit issue, one scene I imagined for an alternate thread involved a powerful sex spirit that had the form of a sexy woman orchestrating the characters' reactions, much like Yarkoz's erotophilia. Then Zack and maybe one of the females would be the ones to solve the stuff and eventually defeat the spirit by Zack conquering and fucking it. Yarkoz, considering my main story, the scene of Zack and Taylor will probably be featured only in the series of one shots I'm planning as a sequel of At The Cabin. In the current story, without giving away too many spoilers, Zack will face a hurdle that'll keep him apart from Heather for a while and the negative reaction he'll have to this hurdle will lead him to a threesome with the Woodsen sisters, but in the end he'll be back with Heather once everything gets resolved. In the meantime, we can also expect the relationship between Gavin and Chloe to get hotter and a weird relationship to develop between Brandon and Victoria, one that I don't know yet if it'll go ahead. Heather will also react quite negatively to the problem keeping her from Zack, but the scene I'm planning for her will be much weirder than Zack's tryst with Ashley and Hannah, one that I'm hoping it won't scare off readers.
Oh boy. Pour yourselves drinks for this one. Oooh, everyone telling ghost stories around the fire is a great idea. I can see it getting to Heather or Kurt, and someone asks them about the abandoned cabin. "Oh that's nothing no story there no sir." Heather and Kurt both had strange experiences there, neither of them can explain what happened, and it was too scary for them to talk about. The rambling is much appreciated! It has helped me some, especially your example of the man with the Japanese cars. First of all, I've always enjoyed more psychological ghost stories, the ones that emphasize feelings of "wrongness," where something is threatening because it interrupts normal life rather than because it might kill you outright. Combined with that, fear shares some markers with attraction. On a physical level, your heart rate rises; you breathe faster; you become more aware of your body and your surroundings; etc. On an intellectual level, people are often drawn to the forbidden and the illicit, so engaging with something perceived as "wrong" or outside your "normal life" can hold a powerful thrill. My idea is that your brain would immediately flag an encounter with the supernatural as unnatural and therefore dangerous. However, your brain might also associate the body's involuntary responses to danger with sexual attraction, so one set of instincts would be telling you to run away while another suggests you'll be rewarded if you keep going. If you can't sense anything directly harmful, just a general feeling of "wrongness," it would be easy to ignore your instincts telling you to leave. You'd stay and explore (your sexuality through the metaphor of) the creepy old house. When you meet someone else in the house, you're happy for a chance to relieve the (sexual, you think) tension. I'd call it the "flight or fuck response." This is where Yarkoz explanation how the same paraphilia manifests in different ways gives me an idea. Maybe each person/couple has a separate encounter with these spirits that keeps recurring and has to be resolved in different ways. Because Zack sees the spirits as threatening and disruptive, he has to assert his own "realness" over this spirit woman by fucking her. Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I figure there probably was or has been a mutual attraction starting before everyone arrives at the cabin. They're so sexual with other people, it's likely crossed their minds before. I think that would be a good idea to bring up when I get to the spirits story. "We don't understand why we did it, but we had sex in that cabin, and even though we're ashamed and think it was wrong, we'd wanted to do it for a while and now we want to do it again." I saw duskford talk about his alternate threads, but I didn't realize he was thinking about making a trio with Zack. Very curious how that turns out! Is that going to be part of the main story, or also part of the alternate threads? It sounds like you've got an exciting tale planned for us, duskford! Weird, as you can see above, is right up my alley. Don't suppose you could drop us any clues?
Patzo, the trio idea was for the main thread, and maybe I should've expressed myself better, I didn't mean a threeway relationship between the three of them, I was implying that Kurt, now that he's reformed, would be one of the most vocal supporters of the relationship between Zack and Heather, being a good friend to both of them and helping to solve the mystery going on in the story. A clue? Well, much like Zack will find some comfort in the arms of Hannah and Ashley, Heather will also end up involved in a weird threesome. On one of the next couple threads in the story, we'll see the introduction of Heather's dad and his sexy minx of a girlfriend; suffice to say, said girlfriend would have no qualms about pulling a few strings and orchestrate an unexpected encounter to make a distraught Heather feel better. How it'll happen, I'll leave it to your imagination for now.
Ah, no problem there. I remember you saying that Heather and Kurt would become a support network for Zack, and I agree that reformed Kurt is proving himself trustworthy to the others. From the context I thought Yarkoz was suggesting a threeway relationship after all. My mistake! As for your clue: all elements that can lead to something we've not seen before! I admire your willingness to keep things shaken up and moving! Looking forward to seeing things draw together.
Be bold. great thing about this format is that if something doesn't work all you need is a new thread. I have the same fear about my "Kurt becomes a good guy" scene I plan to build toward.
henrytemp, it goes like this: Hannah's are big, Taylor's are medium-sized and Kendra's are a bit smaller than medium.
Thank you. Helpful for future writing AND reading Also want to say, if I post on this forum after midnight, pretty good chance I'm drunk. So please read anything I say or how I say it with that in mind. The last thing I want to do is offend any of you. I enjoy everything you all are putting out there.
Drunk posts are the most useful posts, though, henrytemp! Tell us how you really feel! You make a good point above. At The Cabin definitely has a spirit that urges anyone who wants a different spin on an idea or plotline to start a new thread, and it's cool how many active thread series have sprung out of the same eight characters and setting. Everybody adds a new layer of detail that comes back around in someone else's work.
Haha, it's not the honesty I fear, only me choosing the wrong way to say it. Have so much respect for Duskford and the story he has created. And Vain, and his version. As well as all the spiltoff stories. Just never want anyone to think I'm insulting or anything like that.
That's fair. Nothing wrong with being constructive with someone else's work if you take a productive way of putting thoughts into words. And speaking of Vain, I was excited to see them update and expand a few of their threads. They've been quiet around these parts of late!
Especially after, say, they've been recounting strange tales for a bit. Then they both stop, and avoid the topic completely. I think it could be another great bonding moment between them as they come to terms with what happened. Agreed, and that's why was one of the undercurrents of the hate-sex scene in my original branches. Heather always had some control over the situation, and would've stopped Kurt if she so chose -- but she was horny, enjoying the really dirty talk a bit too much, and used Kurt for all he was worth, though just barely. I don't think Heather would've entertained him if she hadn't had some kind of attraction to begin with -- hence my later development of her backstory with Kurt before his personality transplant. I'll revise those threads to better reflect that history I think -- I know it's that necessary, but I like to think that each representation of the characters that we have are facets of a similar personality. We've drawn on each others contributions here -- I can't keep up with who has given what anymore! -- and so I think a sort of meta-personality develops for each character and their relationships. That's what I was tying together in your latest thread with Chloe, Patzo, and Heather and Kurt's relationship has developed this way too I think. You actually just described the "exotic becomes erotic" (EBE) theory, though in the different way. EBE deals with differing attitudes from those in society, like rejecting gender roles in favor of new ones, but fear is much more basic. That's why people love roller coasters and thrill rides -- the fear thy may feel is translated into a physiological arousal. And I'm sure there are people who get a sexual thrill from a roller coaster too. But reacting to an unnatural force, different from what you expect or have been used to, would also elicit that response. I personally don't know of anyone who gets turned on by, say, quantum physics or something, but I'm sure that's someone's fetish Heh nice! I do like that metaphorical angle -- the house represents a character's sexuality, and each character would see or act upon something that would reflect an aspect of their inner self. A walk-in Rorshach test as it were. Really, that's a story in of itself! By doing so, they can also serve as a way for the character to accept something about themselves that they wouldn't normally address or even acknowledge. Zack's encounter with his ghost could be a metaphor for his own reluctance in establishing a relationship with Victoria instead of pining for her constantly. Brandon and Ashley's could be over their immature relationship and the allure of exploring other people sexually, or even finding a way to stengthen their relationship by redefining themselves. And so forth. Yeah, I thought so, my apologies Patzo. Still, I want to set up something like that too, but I don't want to force Zack's character into a weird box. You may be right in what you said in a comment, duskford, Ashley might be a better fit for Zack in this timeline. There is a mutual attraction between them, and, thought they'd be wondering what happened at first, Taylor and Hannah wouldn't mind being sisters-in-law Indeed! I certainly look forward to how both of your threads develop! I wasn't sure about the scene between Colin and Lisa either when I wrote it, but I like to think it works. The thing about Chyoo/Chyoa is that it exposes us to different sexual concepts. They may seem... well, unseemly at first, but it's also an artistic expression in prose and form. Fever Dreamer's "Art & Soul" and "An Alien Attachment" explore mind control and being, quite literally, conquered from within, and I have to say they are disturbing stories. But I love the prose and the imagery, and I've been a fan of Lovercraft anyway, so it appeals to me on that level. So, as you said, be bold, henrytemp. I like your writing, and I'm sure I'll like your contributions from that. Phew doggie, did I get everyone? I hate double-posting, so sorry for the Dickensian novel here. And I'm glad to see people like Vain dropping in, and I'm happy that everyone who is submitting it having as much fun as I am!
duskford, I want to ask you something: just how big is Silver Lake in general? I know that the Ravers cabin and the other cabin with Hannah, Taylor, and the rest are within sight of each other, and that it is small enough for Brandon to watch Victoria run around its edge, though I'm imagining she's running around the short border near both cabins where Brandon can follow her. I'm wondering if there's a large section of the lake that leads off into the falls, or if they're connected by a stream or a small river. Whenever they go there in every thread, there's a hike involved, but I've been thinking they either follow the lake of a connecting body of water. (If this has been addressed in the text of a thread, my apologies.)
Yarkoz, the park itself is really big, but Silver Lake is just a big lake on that area with the nicer cabins, it doesn't really branch anywhere, although there other rivers and smaller lakes on different areas. The park is named Silver Lake Park because Silver Lake is at its center. Brandon could observe Victoria on my thread because she was running near Ravers' Cabin at that time.
Posting to invite follow-ups to my new thread. http://chyoa.com/story/at-the-cabin/thread/heather-stays-and-hannah-isn-t-bluffing This is a branch from the Alternate Beginning, between setting up the rooms and going to the lake, where on the first night, the rooms are (last names marking brothers/sisters, * for cousins): Kurt* + Lisa Zack Bishop + Gavin + Chloe Brandon Cole + Ashley Woodsen + Victoria + Madison Cole Heather* + Hannah Woodsen + Taylor Bishop Heather has looked into Hannah and Taylor's bottom drawer and discovered their sex toys and had a brief chat -- they're peer sex educators in the dorms at college, and had a brief, serious fling as exclusive girlfriends -- but no longer. Though Hannah and Taylor DO still have sex with each other, as in, right now. Taylor needs some relief after the long hot car trip, so up goes a sock on the doorknob. When Hannah and Taylor ask Heather if she's going to stay or go, Heather decides to stay and watch them. I'm offering this thread as a possible jumping off point if people are interested in taking it one or more directions. The collaborative aspect of Chyoo/Chyoa is one of the things I enjoy most. I sprinkled in some clues in this thread and the last that could be expanded if people are interested. - Hannah and Taylor are not steady girlfriends (i.e. not exclusive), but definitely Roommates With Benefits (but perhaps on and off, depending on other things in their lives). I had a notion that they would be open to playing with others, but they might wait a few days or toward the end of the trip -- say, to give Gavin or Victoria or Chloe a good sexual start -- without treading on any connections the others (Heather or Zack or Madison) are making. Perhaps some matchmaking would happen, esp. connected to their college role (next item). - "Peer Sex Educators" at college -- so they're used to straight talk about choices around sexuality and giving advice. Maybe not above meddling if they see a bad connection or a potential good one. Especially regarding Hannah's younger sister Ashley or Taylor's younger brother Zack. And they have some visual aids for a demonstration if that becomes a thing. Part of being peer sex educators has included getting acquainted with sex toys (which seems to have become a personal hobby). Another part would be around alternatives to intercourse -- sexy things to enjoy together without going all the way. - Hannah's first time with another woman was while she was a cheerleader in high school; she describes the episode as "I stole her boyfriend. Her revenge was to steal me from him. THAT was an eye-opener. Then he stole her back. Go figure." Presumably Taylor knows the inside story on this, maybe Ashley to some extent, and perhaps Zack a little bit. - Heather's impression of exclusive girlfriends in high school was that it seemed more about declaring identity or allegiance rather than being hot for each other. Hannah and Taylor are rather the opposite. - What was Taylor dreaming about? Something she doesn't want to share in front of Heather right away. Maybe Taylor was dreaming about Heather. Or Zack. Or really, about any of the others in the cabin. - The branch question: What does Taylor ask for? I thought of that as a "pure sex" choice to let the follow-up authors have fun -- but maybe Taylor also wants some specific gesture of affection or a nod to what turned her on from her dream (without revealing to Heather exactly what the dream was). - Also open as to whether Heather just watches, touches herself, or participates. - Or whether someone comes looking for Heather as "house mother" since it's her family's cabin, and what they do when they see the socks on the door. Maybe they should make this a quickie; Taylor's earlier desire for the lake supports that. Of course I'm sure Kurt would step up as cruise director if Heather weren't to be found, since he knows the place. Thanks again to Duskford for running a great story! -Z.
I think it's a thread that holds some promise for multiple branches. I've had an idea for Taylor's dream, I'll try to add it when I have some time.
Hey all, I've got a thread for my version of the story line that I've typed out several times, but just can't quite bring myself to post. Not because I don't think it's good enough, but because it may turn some people off to the story. Since most of the main contributors have been running their ideas on here, I thought I do the same. What if Victoria secretly HATES Zack?
Cretan_Bull14, it'd be an original angle that no one explored before, I think that can be quite interesting if you post it. To me, every angle, no matter how different it is, can be interesting if developed the right way. She seemed a little annoyed by Zack in your threads, but I had thought it was because she expected him to make a move on her and ended up chasing Heather instead, now I'm curious to read more about these deeper bad feelings she might have regarding him.
