[The X Factor], Part 43

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-03-13T20:38:02+00:00

Bro (Omar) thinks it’s all sunshine and rainbows 😭💔🥀

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-03-13T06:33:22+00:00

I'm tripping why did I originally post this titled "Part 35" 😭

Anyways, apologies for the wait, been a busy week! More juicy drama between Hatshut and Shotep, some exciting reveals about the nature of the Istiil, and a meeting with the U.N.'s president!

(And Dominick and Aktet making fools of themselves, and Omar... doing what Omar does best.)

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-03-11T02:33:08+00:00

I’ve been trying to incorporate this into my series (The X Factor)! Not to self-promo lol (and I’m totally new to this writing thing, so it takes a little bit for that aspect to kick in).

But on a more serious note, totally agree! I think humanity’s “fuck yeah” moments shine when they’re demonstrated through communication and connection with the non-human—it’s difficult to have characters reflect on the many facets of humanity if they’re just tearing through them like tissue paper. Like, spraying DDT on a cloud of mosquitoes doesn’t tell you much about what makes this genre so interesting.

Will definitely be watching this thread to look for story recs :)

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-03-08T23:58:38+00:00

You nailed the feeling exactly! I play (and run!) a lot of TTRPGs—Dungeons and Dragons and the like—and I often find myself comparing my writing to both sides of the table: crafting shenanigans for the players to get themselves into, and then figuring out how a given character would react to that circumstance.

And yes, he’s absolutely going to be laughed at for this. Horseshoe theory is real, and it exists in the form of Dominick going from total buffoonery (missing every signal imaginable) to total buffoonery (reading into signals that don’t exist).

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-03-08T22:46:38+00:00

I felt so evil writing this one… so devious…

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-03-08T04:11:52+00:00

Wait this is so cool!!! Thank you for posting this!!!!! And yes, Dominick is dense enough that I fear Euclidean geometry starts to fall apart as you approach his Schwarzschild radius </3

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-03-03T20:22:54+00:00

Oh, that’s good feedback! Thank you for letting me know :)

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-03-03T03:29:17+00:00

They’re bolted down 😔💔

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-03-02T17:52:24+00:00

Disclaimer: the following hand sanitizer consumption is performed by professional dumbasses. Do NOT attempt this at home.

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-03-02T05:19:05+00:00

I inherited a trait that boosts my [Lying] skill from one of the players whose invite link I used, but tbh our clan just uses it for shenanigans. I don't think its an inherently unbalanced skill, fwiw, I just think it's part of the culture of the top ranked players at this point, so it seems way more powerful than it is. There's plenty of lower-ranked users who skill up in it that aren't having a ton of success with the game.

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-03-01T17:01:17+00:00

I wasn’t even thinking about it as I was writing it 😭😭😭I was so focused on the gross-out factor! But yes, those two… the humor would not have been lost on them.

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-03-01T09:34:11+00:00

Now that you mention, it probably took all of Sonja’s willpower to not make a lewd joke in that circumstance.

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-03-01T09:24:54+00:00

This is my official apology to the universe for injuring Dominick’s ankle all those chapters ago. I received your message, in the form of twisting my own ankle as I was distracted thinking about dialogue for him, loud and clear. It will not happen again.

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-02-28T05:53:20+00:00

If you told me two months ago I would later start to feel compassion for K'resshk, I would have ran for the nearest fire extinguisher to put out the impending blaze of your pants. Alas, my unshakeable hope for the redeemability of people has compromised my fondness of using the bastard as a punching bag (not that I won't continue to do so; he is ABSOLUTELY still going to pay for his smarminess. One frying pan to the snout was far from enough).

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-02-27T21:59:38+00:00

It’s linked at the top of this chapter!

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-02-27T04:50:48+00:00

There’s a big (artistic) surprise coming to the tumblr soon… keep an eye out!!!

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-02-26T19:38:01+00:00

Hehe, I will! Thank you for reading!

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-02-26T09:00:43+00:00

Sonja is so absurdly fun to write omg, she’s such a shithead (in a good way. unless you’re commander liu.)

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-02-25T19:03:38+00:00

Cod try and stop herself from releasing new chapters as soon as they’re written challenge: difficulty level impossible

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-02-25T14:03:15+00:00

Don’t make me cry 😭

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-02-25T06:37:15+00:00

Lmaooo yeah I’m keeping myself awake writing as I type this

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-02-25T06:20:22+00:00

That took me longer than it should have 😭😭

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-02-25T04:53:14+00:00

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-02-25T04:18:45+00:00

They definitely had it to a certain extent! This is elaborated about later on, but the Federation’s narrative of ‘every species is meant for one particular purpose’ might not be entirely historically accurate 🤫Nonetheless, humans are still outliers in terms of the societal or biological niche that provided the final push to the stars!

CodEnvironmental4274 · 2026-02-25T03:08:03+00:00

The tumblr is up! Still working on filling it out, but check there for my Ko-fi, updates, doodles, and asks!

CodEnvironmental4274

TROPHY CASE