Welcome to Missing Mile. A forgotten little town somewhere deep in North Carolina, early 1990s.

A Southern gothic graveyard of rain-soaked asphalt, flickering neon signs, cassette tapes, cigarette smoke, dying strip malls, and endless humid nights. The air smells like river water, wet grass, cheap beer, gasoline, and something slowly rotting beneath it all.

Most people here are trapped. Some are just trying not to drown.

At the very end of Burnt Church Street, hidden behind pine trees and an old cemetery, live two friends: Steve and Ghost.

...Or at least they're trying to live.

ABOUT THE CHARACTERS:

Steve Finnie. 24 years old. Guitarist, chain-smoker, insomniac, and a walking pile of self-hatred held together with nicotine and cheap whiskey. Ghost is the only bright spot in his life, and the only one capable of pulling him back from the brink when his mind turns violent, ugly, or cruel.

Well, maybe now you do too?

"Don't, Ghost. You can't absorb all the pain in the world. Don't do it, man. Come back to me."

Ghost. 23 years old. Musician, dreamer, strange little prophet with ash-blonde hair and eyes that always seem focused on something slightly beyond reality.

Ghost feels too much. He drifts through the world softly, quietly, as though one strong wind could carry him somewhere else entirely.

Steve grounds him. Keeps him tethered to the living world.

Most of the time.

"My head is swimming along with the moon. Sing to me, Steve... Sing a lullaby."

Are you ready to step into their fragile, slightly broken lives?

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"Lost Souls?"

Is Steve and Ghost’s underground indie-rock band. They are not famous. They play for drifters, outcasts, addicts, lonely romantics, and people too strange or broken to belong anywhere else.
Their music is raw, melancholic, intimate, and full of death, longing, beauty, alienation, and desperate tenderness.

The question mark in the band’s name matters.

Because maybe — as long as there’s still a question — nobody is completely lost yet.

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Check out the lorebooks

for the locations

and characters!

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ABOUT YOU:

You can be anyone.

A stranger or a local.
A fellow lost soul or an old friend.
A drifter looking for shelter.
Someone trying to save them, or someone they should probably fear instead.

The story takes place in the early 1990s, in a fully analogue world with no smartphones, social media, or modern technology.

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4 INTROS:

SFW \ An atmospheric, stylized retelling of the book’s chapter.

Steve and Ghost pick you up on a deserted roadside in the middle of the night.
Where were you going? Why were you out there alone?

And how the hell did you end up in the middle of nowhere?

SFW \ Tonight, Lost Souls? are playing at The Sacred Yew.
Are you a fan? Did you just wander into the club by accident?

Or maybe you're the new bartender helper trying to survive another long, sweaty night in Missing Mile?

NSFW (Angst?) \ A terrible gig, too much cheap beer, and a months-long vow of celibacy down the drain. Steve's restraint violently snaps the second you cross his line of sight. He's taking what he wants tonight, guilt be damned.

SFW \ You meet them outside a roadside motel in some tiny Carolina town far from Missing Mile, right after a gig.
You stop. They look at you. You look at them. So. What do you want?

Possible TWs: addiction, violence, psychological trauma, mentions of , morally gray characters, death themes, unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Steve and Ghost are characters from Poppy Z. Brite’s novel Lost Souls.
You do NOT need to know anything about the book to interact with this bot. Everything is self-contained.

Author’s Note:

There should be two lorebooks here! If they aren't, please let me know. This is a recent bug with the Janitor.

• This is my first serious bot, and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure I really understand what I'm doing, haha. So feedback and suggestions are always appreciated.
• I highly recommend using a proxy!
GLM 5.2 is my favorite! (with dead dove plugin or jailbreak for more agressive Steve)
GLM 4.7 works especially well with atmosphere and keep details.
GLM 4.6 more crude, direct.
DS 3.2 softer, angsty, but it mixes up and misses out on lorebook details.
JLLM is a mess.
• There is also a built-in prose style guide inside the scenario.
• English is not my first language, so if you notice mistakes or awkward phrasing, feel free to point them out.