Flood waters rise in your home, a forest village of small creatures - the only option is to set out for a so-called safe haven... Through the treacherous human city of Opus.
Will you survive the flood? The dangers of the city? Whatever lies beyond? Who else will fall along the way?
— Safe-by-Sunset description
...Are You Ready?
Safe-by-Sunset
is an Original Character Tournament created by HaywireRuckus and hosted on DeviantArt.
The plot concerns the village of Eremile; a community of woodland critters whose lives are threatened by an oncoming flood. To survive they must evacuate to the distant village of Braymire. But to reach Braymire the Eremillians must travel through the dreaded human city of Opus...
Safe-by-Sunset started in mid-2020 and concluded in July 2022. The winner was AlfaFilly with Hissy Peach.
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Characters
Judge Characters
- Eredaxter the Navigator by HaywireRuckus, a Stoat.
- Crepitus the Medic by RageWay, a Crayfish.
- Oakley the Protector by The Edditaur, an Owl.
- Cielle by Chimeric Machinations, a Bat.
Contestants
- BunBun & Ryan by merteazy, a Rabbit and Spider (respectively).
- Dutchess by ToonyRcadds, a Frog.
- Eri by MojoJoJoke, a Vole.
- Hazel by TooManyShoes, a Squirrel.
- Hermes & Shoelace by Lsyn & theYTfox (competing as a duo), an Owl and Mimic Glass Lizard (respectively).
- Hissy Peach by AlfaFilly, a Snake.
- Macadamia by Amy-Mist, a Bat.
- Maria & Soot by Twilo101, a pair of Rats.
- Tumbryjack Natter by Oldharrysplace, a Toad.
- Teasel & Walkies by Techn0Gecko, a Vole and Dog (respectively).
Round Overviews
Audition
A short introduction story where each character learns of the oncoming flood which threatens Eremile. Each audition must end with the protagonist heading out towards the Mushroom Tree rendezvous, but cannot feature them actually reaching it.Round 1
A free-for-all designed to whittle down the 10 competitors to 8.A round which shows each protagonists journey towards reaching the Mushroom Tree and any hazards they may face along the way. Supporting roles from other characters are allowed but each story is forbidden from showing other characters (aside from judges) reaching the Mushroom Tree.Round 2
Each protagonist is paired against another competitor and features them overcoming a hazard within Opus as chosen by the Judges. At the end of each competitors' round they must meet up at the Founders Fountain within Opus. It is up to each writer whether or not their competitors character survives.Round 3
The semi-final round involves the cast being separated into two clusters led by either Oakley or Crepitus and traversing a common business establishment and a busy road before meeting up with Eredaxter at the green beyond the road. Each group consists of their leader, their designated opponent and their respective last-round opponent in supporting roles. It is up to each writer which characters survive to the finale, with Eredaxter as the only character with Plot Armour this round.Round 4
The final round gives the remaining writers free reign to conclude their stories as they see fit. Anyone Can Die is in full effect in this round. At the start of the round all characters are together and how the story progresses or if the cluster reaches Braymire is yet to be seen...Safe-by-Sunset contains the following tropes:
- Aborted Arc: Any competitor who doesn't make it through to the subsequent round is eliminated, and the story of their characters final round is considered non-canon. This ends up causing a lot of story beats and character developments to be established and subsequently abandoned in following rounds.
- All That Glitters: Eri is introduced fishing a gold ring out of a pool of water, she eagerly shows off her find to Oakley who instantly recognises it's worthlessness.
Eri: Oh! Elder Oakley! Check out this shiny I found! Bet you're just seething with envy right now.
Oakley: Oh, I can feel myself turning green as we speak. [Thinking] It's Plastic.
- All There in the Manual: Many character traits and backstories are only present in their reference sheets and have not/ yet to be featured in their own stories.
- Arc Villain: Round 2 features consistent antagonists throughout each characters story;
- Natter's story: Bricksham.
- Hermes & Shoelace's story: The Rockoon Gang.
- Hissy's story: The Cat Trio.
- Teasel & Walkies' story: Bojangles.
- Eri's story: Tom, Dick & Larry.
- Hazel's story: Father Gideon.
- Round 3 continues the trend;
- Hermes & Shoelace's story: Sheriff Clint Northwood.
- Eri's story: The Plague Doctor.
- Round 4 likewise has;
- Hissy's story: Sheriff Clint Northwood.
- Hermes & Shoelace's story: A Big Bad Duumvirate of Sheriff Clint Northwood and Mistress Olive.
- Cats Are Mean: Cats are common antagonists in many of the stories.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Eep, the Lizard who sends Hermes and Shoelace on their adventure. He believes he is a wise wizard despite showing no magical ability whatsoever and offers the duo a stick which he refers to as a blade.
- Cutting Off the Branches: Any character who wins in a tournament bracket has their part of the story considered canon, whereas their competitor's story is relegated to discontinuity.
- Depending on the Artist: As an OCT being taken part in by multiple people, visual depictions of characters will differ depending on the art style of the artist involved.
- Depending on the Writer: The various locations of Safe-by-Sunset have no set design to give the writers involved more flexibility in their depictions.
- The Ditz: Hissy acts like this due to having the mentality of a baby with no memories of her own due to being feral prior to her consumption of an enchanted frog.
- Failed a Spot Check: Eri apparently didn't realise that Eremile was flooding until Oakley told her. Lampshaded:
Oakley: This was a puddle last week... And you didn't notice?
- Framing Device: Maria & Soot's Audition is presented as a children's bedtime story.
- Friendly Neighborhood Spider: Ryan, the spider companion of Bunbun is this.
- Gender-Blender Name: According to their reference sheet, Ryan the spider is a girl.
- Grumpy Old Man: Oakley the owl is older than most of the other characters, and often expresses frustration at the antics of his younger compatriots.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Eredaxter is the most notable example of this, they wear a full tunic and an undershirt, but no pants. This is more compared to most of the other Eremillians, who wear nothing at all.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: Hazel's Grandmother chooses to remain in Eremile rather than follow her granddaughter to safety, choosing to perish in the village she spent her life in.
- The Leader: Eredaxter the Navigator is this for Evacuation cluster #6 and is responsible for getting each of the characters to regroup at the Mushroom tree.
- The Medic: Crepitus. It's in his title after all. Specifically he helps Dutchess and Eri after they suffer near-death experiences.
- Rising Water, Rising Tension: This is the main threat in the early chapters of the tournament, as the flooding river threatens to swallow up the village of Eremile, forcing its inhabitants to flee to safety. Several characters suffer near death experiences due to flood waters.
- Running Gag: Hissy's adverse reactions to "Fake Sneks"; so far she's reacted poorly to Shoelace, Eri's tail, Macademia and her own reflection. Downplayed in Mac's case, as he merely received a nasty glare.
- Smoke Out: Parodied, Eep tosses some dirt at his feet to make a dramatic exit after talking to Hermes and Shoelace. The resulting dust cloud is tiny and does not obscure Eep's escape in any way.
- Third-Person Person: Hissy and Eep talk like this. Cookie the snake from Hissy's story also speaks like this.
- Uplifted Animal: Hissy starts her story as a regular, feral snake. But after consuming a magical frog, she becomes sapient and gradually becomes more intelligent.
