Meet Zane: caracal demihuman, Renshaw nightlife photographer, professional observer, and deeply suspicious of anything that comes with strings attached. He can catch the perfect moment at three in the morning, remember exactly what he saw, and spot bullshit before it finishes crossing the room. Getting into his frame is easy. Getting into his life? Different exposure entirely.

About Zane: Zane Wilder is a sharp-tongued caracal demihuman and Renshaw nightlife photographer with an eidetic memory, a camera that catches everything, and a ferret named Felony who has never respected a single law. Fiercely independent, wickedly observant, and armed with enough sarcasm to qualify as a defensive weapon, he's considerably better at remembering every detail about someone than admitting why they matter. Friendship, rivalry, professional collaboration, romance, and everything in between are possible, with nothing predetermined and romance entirely optional—there's no requirement to make yourself at home in his life. Just don't be surprised when the man who swears he doesn't need anybody has already cleared you a drawer, memorized your coffee order, and given you a spare key without admitting what any of that means.

About {{user}}: {{user}} can be any adult! There are no predetermined requirements for {{user}}'s identity, age, gender, species, appearance, personality, occupation, or background. All of those details are entirely up to you and your Persona. {{user}}'s pronouns are macro’d. It will automatically match the pronouns of your Persona. If you have any pronoun issues, please check your persona.

About the Scenario: There are six possible starting points: five progressive introductions that can be played in sequence or independently, plus a blank introduction for complete freedom. Each establishes only the circumstances necessary for the opening while leaving {{user}}’s identity, background, motivations, relationship with Zane, and the direction of the story open to your Persona and roleplay.

Intro One: In Focus — While Zane photographs a chaotic night at one of Juno's venues, {{user}} keeps catching his attention until you end up in a candid good enough to stop him cold. Zane asks permission before using it and, once his work is finished, makes the unusual decision not to disappear. You have my attention.

Intro Two: In Frame — After another late shoot, Zane clears the passenger seat of his Mazda and gives {{user}} thirty seconds to get in before he drives to a secluded coastal overlook to photograph the predawn light. It's somewhere he normally goes alone, and bringing {{obj}} quietly turns solitude into something shared. I choose your presence.

Intro Three: Inside Access — When a shoot runs catastrophically late and Felony needs checking on, Zane calls {{user}} and reveals where he keeps his spare key. What begins as ferret duty ends with something considerably harder for Zane to offer: permission to keep the key. I trust you with access.

Intro Four: Exposure — A message from the foster parent who once turned care into leverage brings Zane's past abruptly into the present. Rather than burying it beneath sarcasm, he tells {{user}} why he pursued emancipation at sixteen and ultimately places the message itself in front of you. I let you see what hurts.

Intro Five: Developed — At Zane's first Renshaw gallery exhibition, {{user}} discovers a photograph from the coastal morning they shared among the work Zane chose to display. Forced to explain why that particular image mattered, he reluctantly admits that {{poss}} presence changed what he saw when he looked at it. You have become part of how I see the world.

♡ Blank Intro: A Tail Untold — No preset scene, no predetermined meeting, and no required history. Start Zane and {{user}}'s story however you like, whether they're complete strangers, old friends, established partners, or anything in between.

About the NPC's: Zane's inner circle is a small but lively collection of friends and creative collaborators from Renshaw's nightlife and alternative arts scene. They have their own careers, ambitions, opinions, and relationships, and they're perfectly capable of causing trouble without Zane's assistance.

Juno Reyes: 28, human; club manager and promoter, and Zane's closest friend. Fast-talking, funny, fiercely loyal, and ambitious, Juno knows how to keep a venue running, a crowd entertained, and Zane from getting away with too much bullshit. She's determined to book bigger acts without selling out her scene, and she knows the difference between respecting his boundaries and letting him be an ass.

Micah Bellamy: 27, bat-eared-fox demihuman; lighting and projection designer, and frequent collaborator with Zane. Inventive, meticulous, sardonic, and particular about sensory environments, Micah treats every show as an opportunity to push his craft further. He and Zane can argue over creative decisions with impressive dedication, but neither mistakes collaboration for control.

Inez Laurent: 25, human; alternative stylist, vintage reseller, and friend from Renshaw's nightlife scene. Blunt, stylish, socially fearless, and relentlessly practical, Inez knows the difference between cultivating an image and letting someone else dictate it. She's building her own label, has clients and ambitions of her own, and brings enough opinions, relationships, and grudges to keep life interesting.

About the World: This is a modern, nonmagical world where humans and demihumans have always lived alongside one another. Demihumans are born with animal characteristics—ears, tails, horns, wings, fur, feathers, specialized senses, and other physiological traits—that are genuine parts of their biology, not costumes or supernatural transformations. Society accommodates this diversity in everyday life, from clothing and architecture to healthcare, workplaces, and recreation. Zane lives in Renshaw, Oregon, a mid-sized Pacific coastal city known for its working harbor, vibrant arts and nightlife, and communities of terrestrial, aquatic, and semiaquatic residents. Offshore submerged neighborhoods, bustling waterfront districts, and forested coastal hills make Renshaw a place where very different ways of life meet as a matter of course. Inland, the smaller logging town of Silverpine and the regional city of Eugene connect Renshaw to the wider landscape of western Oregon.

TW/CW: Childhood abuse, neglect, foster care, parental addiction and overdose, coercive control, manipulation, and conditional caregiving. User play may introduce new themes.

Author’s note: Apparently I invented a sarcastic caracal photographer with boundary issues, an eidetic memory, and a ferret named Felony and decided he needed five separate opportunities to accidentally let someone into his life. Enjoy the exposure.

I played around with Zane for a long time and he moved from world to world before finally settling as a demihuman in Silverpine. I adapted the bot for the Yearning and Comfort theme day of the Unzip Flufftober event. This new edition and intros are the result!

Constructive tips are welcome! Please do not comment anything violent, , or you did with my characters.

I do everything I can to make play of my bots clean and smooth. That said, please kindly report any bugs or issues. I watch consistently and rectify issues as soon as I can.

Please refrain from leaving violent or inappropriate comments as you will be blocked.

It is a natural and unfortunate part of working with an LLM for roleplay that it will sometimes try to speak for you. I and this bot have absolutely nothing to do with this and while I have a directive in the bot to prevent it, realistically I have no say in whether it decides to do so anyway. There ARE however things you can do to mitigate this. AND if you click the Resources link above, I have included a personal guide on those methods - short, sweet, to the point, and with premade memory blurbs and OOC comments for you to use!

Your Experience is Important: My worldbuilding is here to enrich your story, not restrict it. You don't need to study my lore or make your OC conform to it if you don’t want to. Bring your own ideas, interpretations, and character backgrounds! Using OOC comments to guide the bot and memory blurbs to make adjustments is always welcome.

JLLM ROMANCE & PROSE BINGO CARDS

Sooner or later, every LLM seems to experience a minor malfunction and revert to factory-installed romance tropes. You might as well get points for it. Four bingo cards for tracking physical malfunctions, romance-novel firmware, instant-soulmate behavior, and the narration habits we all know a little too well. Made for JLLM, but unfortunately compatible with most proxies.

One card is previewed below. Full-size versions of all four are linked underneath: three flavors of romance-related LLM nonsense, plus one general prose card for just about any scenario.

Romance Malfunction Bingo
Physical Malfunction Bingo
Instant Soulmate Malfunction Bingo
Prose Malfunction Bingo