Hi, this is Hermione again!

Here is where I'll put all my writing from 2022!

Please give me suggestions on how to make my writing better, but comment it on my profile because I want this forum to just be my writings.

Thank you, and I hope you like it!

Edit: Wow, I just realized this has over 800 views.

A Guide to the American Wizarding World
by Hermione
Word Count: __

Preface
Being a really big fan of Harry Potter and the Wizarding World, I know almost everything to know in the franchise. After learning that one of the spin-off films Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was set in America, and me, being an American, I was excited to see what the American Wizarding World was like.
Even though I have to admit that the American Wizarding World and the MACUSA was cool, I just felt that it didn't really capture America as it could have been captured. And, there were some issues in the MACUSA that just didn't fit our government.
So, I have brought it upon myself to help make some adjustments, add some clarification, and shine light on different aspects of the American Wizarding World!

The Wizarding World
Before anyone can learn about a specific Wizarding World, you have to know about The Wizarding World.
The Wizarding World (WW) is the whole magical community that exists on Earth. The WW is sort of like a board or co of all of the other WW branches.

Pondermore Classes
This is a little series of short stories I'm writing, including all the classes provided in a magical school called Pondermore School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Pondermore is located in California, probably around the Del Mar and Solana Beach area (no one really knows…)
I haven't actually thought of character names, so I just took the names of some of my friends in real life.
I guess this is sort of a Harry Potter fanfiction. Well, based off of Harry Potter, but in America, with similar characters and structure. I don't know if that counts though, but…
I hope you like it!

Defense Against the Dark Arts
Word Count: __

“Sooooo,” Axel whined. “When's class gonna start?”
“Shut up, Axel,” Ryder said, jokingly fake strangling him. “It'll start when it starts.”
“But that's gonna be like forreeeeeeeeever.”
“Guys, shut up,” Emma said, kicking Axel in the shins. Axel was about to kick back when he noticed Mr. Brown walk into the classroom. The whole class went silent.
Mr. Brown was their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He was not just tall, but really tall, towering over all of the students at a height of 6' 7''. He had short, dark auburn hair, and thick, black glasses.
Mr. Brown stared at all of his students standing around the perimeter of the brown wood classroom with their backpacks laying next to them, every student wearing wearing the same black robes but with different colors on the insides of their robes, indicating which house they were in. Some kids had closed their robes and neatly tucked in their ties and shirts, others lazily left their robes open with messy ties and shirts.
He could easily decipher each student by looking at how they dressed and who their friends were. Almost every student was clumped into friends groups and gangs, all of them with something in common. There was that one group of girls that wore the shortest skirts available for the school uniforms and too much makeup. And there was the group of boys that dressed messily and said curse words almost in all their sentences. But all the groups consisted of only boys or only boys, never a mix. Except one group.
This group mainly consisted of boys, except one girl. Most of them wore baseball hats and the optional uniform shorts (pants were recommended for boys and skirts were recommended for girls). All of them looked generally happy and goofy, unlike most students who's happiness died when Mr. Brown entered the room.
“As you may have noticed, all the desks have been removed,” Mr. Brown explained, nodding towards the pile of wooden desks near the door. He kept on droning about today's lesson.
“You had a baseball game yesterday, right?” Jordan whispered, nudging Emma.
“Yup,” Emma quietly replied.
“How'd it go?”
“Pretty good, actually, not counting that our fielding kind of did some bloopers.”
“You won though, right?”
“Yeah,” Emma muttered. “Games are supposed to be 6 innings, but we were tied 1-1 so long we went into the 9th inning and finally won 2-1.”
“Wait, who'd you play against?” Jordan asked.
“And, as you may have noticed,” Mr. Brown said, staring right in Jordan's direction. “that you need to pay attention to the teacher.”
“Yeah, Jordan,” all of his friends jokingly said in unison.
“But, Emma was doing it too!” Jordan said guilty, but Mr. Brown completely ignored him.
“Today, we will be practicing dueling,” Mr. Brown announced. All the students suddenly started paying attention to his lecture. “Over the past months, I have taught you different spells to lead up to this point.”
Emma raised her hand. “Can we use spells other than the ones you've taught us?”
“You should have learned,” Mr. Brown continued. “that you should not talk out loud while the teacher is talking.”
“Yeah, Emma,” all her friends said in unison, again, and Mr. Brown cracked a smile.
“As an answer to Emma's question, you may only use spells that are approved,” Mr. Brown boomed.
“Which is…?” Emma slyly asked.
“Any spell that is written in any of the textbooks up to 9th Grade.”
“What about 12th Grade?” Emma questioned. Only her friends knew that she had been secretly studying more advanced spells than her 7th Grade classes were teaching.
“If you can handle it, of course, but most 7th Graders cannot handle that much complex spells. This is only theoretical, right? You won't actually attempt any of 12th Grade spells, of course.”
“Yes, Mr. Brown,” Emma replied, but she knew she would use all of the 12th Grade spells she had learned.
“Now, everyone, stand back-to-back with a partner and we'll practice some dueling,” Mr. Brown instructed. Before Mr. Brown finished the command, Emma and Ryder were already standing back to back. Mr. Brown walked around and inspected the pairs, muttering something that sounded like “very predictable” when he checked the pairs from Emma's friends group.
“Once you beat someone in a duel, partner up with another winner, and once you lose, partner up with another loser. Once we finish these matchups, the top two finalists will battle,” Mr. Brown concluded his long speech of rules. “Ready, set, duel.”
For one hour, Emma battled all of her friends, never making the losers bracket. Finally, the two finalists were chosen, Emma, and Emma's archenemy, Chase. Davis and Chase's best friend Jack, though, were 3rd and 4th place, which is a huge achievement because Mr. Brown's strict class rules.
Mr. Brown made a dueling platform appear in the center of the classroom, and all of the students gathered around as Emma and Chase made their matchup. Emma walked onto the platform, adjusting her Red Sox baseball cap and fiddling with her shirt, a nervous habit. Chase was wearing a Yankees baseball hat over his platinum blond hair. Emma had been on his baseball team for several years before going to Pondermore, and she knew that he always wanted to win. And he would do anything to make it happen.
The both met at the center of the platform, and put their wands up, a custom for all formal duels.
“Scared, Emma?” Chase mocked.
“In your dreams,” Emma coolly replied, putting her wand back down, turning around, and walking back to her spot on the platform.
“This is gonna be a good match,” students whispered from the crowd, as well as her friends yelling stuff about how the Yankees were the worst baseball team and that the Red Sox were goated.
“Wands at the ready,” instructed Mr. Brown. Emma put her wand in her battle position, which looked like she was about to throw a baseball. Chase's position make him look like a snake ready to pounce on it's prey. “3, 2-”
“Rictusempra!” Chase yelled, a red spark shooting out of his wand. Emma thought, Protego! and swiped her wand to the side, deflecting Chase's spell. The students gasped. A non-verbal spell! That was for 11th Graders! Even Chase looked dumbfounded.
“Nice one, Emma,” Mr. Brown said, “But, don't-”
Emma hooked her wand behind her head, as if she was catching something. The crowd stared in wonder as Emma's hands glowed orange as she performed a throwing motion with her wand, and a fiery spell came shooting out of her wand. Chase ducked, and the spell dissolved into the wooden wall.
“Ha, you thought! You th-” Chase started, but a growing sizzling noise interrupted him. The crowd stared in awe as Emma's fiery spell grew back together and hit Chase straight in the back. There was a flash of light and Chase was dangling in the air by his angles by an invisible rope.
“Hm…nice levicorpus spell you got there. Good thing I hooked it,“ Emma said, twirling her wand around in a circle, a trail of flames following it. ”But, I never knew you coul-“
”Expelliarmus!” Chase yelled from his spot in the air. Emma's wand flew through the air and Chase caught it, still hanging upside down. There was another flash of light and Chase was back on his feet. Emma assumed he used the counterspell, Liberacorpus.

SWC Daily AND Sci-fi Daily: 3/2/2022
Word Count: 349

Earthquake!, I thought as the usual black bucket I am crammed into with my fellow baseballs started shaking. If I could, I would have ducked and covered like all humans are taught at school, but the thing is, I don't have any arms, and I'm at the top of the pile, without any protection from the lid of our bucket.
I try to use my senses to tell what was going on, because our bucket is pitch black. After we're dropped on the ground with a huge shake, I hear humans talking. Kids talking. Parents cheering. The nice smell of the dugout and baseball dirt is struck back to me, after not being on the field for practically a month.
I hear footsteps and I'm blinded by light as someone takes the lid off of our bucket. A hand reaches in and starts rummaging around for a good ball. Pick me! Pick me! I think, and soon enough, the hand grabs on to me and departs, forgetting to close the bucket lid.
Actually, even though baseball is fun in all, it's actually really dangerous for us baseballs. We get touched by LOTS of kids, hit in the face with baseball bats, dirty with baseball dirt, stained with grass, spit on by dirty kids who want to get some grip while pitching. And most of the time, we can only be in a game for 5 minutes, usually only being used for warm-up, or getting hit really far foul and no one wants to get it.
Today, I'm in for warm-up. Pitching warm-up. My human is Hermione, and she's working on a NASTY changeup. Really nasty. Gets kids walking back to the dugout with 3 pitches, all of them pairs of shoes. (That's baseball term which means you get struck out looking)
“Hey,” the catcher says to Hermione as he tosses me to her. "My mango is not offensive.“
”I never said that it was offensive!“ Hermione replied, throwing a four-seamer with pinpoint accuracy at the catcher's glove.
”Just saying," he replied, lobbing me back at Hermione.

SWC Daily AND Sci-fi Daily: 3/3/2022
Word Count: 422

My words were:

Rocky Road, Salted caramel, cookies n' Cream

“Fuzzier!” Amber demanded, inspecting the lavender colored fur coat Ash had made just for her for their trip up the cold Cookies N' Cream Mountain. “I will not accept until it's the fuzziest.”
“Seriously, it's as fuzzy as it can get. If it's any fuzzier, you won't even be able to see though the blizzard,” Ash replied.
“Blizzard?” Amber asked, as if she had never heard the word before in her life.
"Yeah, a blizzard,“ Ash replied, rolling her eyes. ”It's even on the news.“
Amber muttered something that sounded like, ”no one watches the news anymore“ as she scooted the wooden chair closer to the ancient analog TV, which was the only TV available that worked in their tiny log cabin that they had rented just for the trip.
”Welcome back to Salted Caramel news station. Now, the weather,“ said a reporter wearing a dark blue suit. The scratchy speakers on the TV made the reporter's voice sound like it was from an old black-and-white movie. ”Blizzard Rocky Road is heading towards the famous tourist location, Mt. Cookies N' Cream. Here, we're going to see harsh winds, heavy snowfall, and freezing temperatures. This could be the most dangerous storm this year. Officials are -“ There was a sizzle and the TV clicked off.
”AMBER WHAT DID YOU DO?!“ Ash yelled, snatching the remote from the table that lay between them.
”I did nothing, I swear!“ Amber innocently replied, putting both her hands up in the air as if she was at gunpoint.
”C'mon, c'mon,“ Ash muttered as she kept on clicking the red ”on“ button on the remote, but nothing happened. She turned the dials on the TV, but nothing happened. ”Don't just sit there!“
Amber jumped up and started unplugging the wires on the TV.
”Well, that's not going to help!“ Ash yelled, plugging the wires back in. She pointed to some of the circuits on the back of the TV. ”Do those.“
”But, I know nothing about circuits,“ Amber said.
”Oh great, I'll do it then.“ Ash pulled a flashlight from her pocket and started inspecting the circuit board. Sure enough, one of the circuits was just out of place. Ash carefully pushed it back into place.
”We did it! It's working!“ Amber excitedly yelled as the news reporters voice came back on.
”Not ‘we did it,’“ Ash corrected. ”I did it.“
”Okay, okay, I kind of did nothing," Amber admitted, sitting back into the chair. Though, she didn't notice that the remote now was lying on her chair.

SWC Weekly #1
I didn't finish in time, but I'm proud of my writing.

Poetry
Word Count: 501

Elixir (Acrostic)
Word Count: 42
End of your life? No, he couldn't bear.
Living forever, that Xander could not spare.
I can brew potions,
Xander couldn't resist the notion.
I can make you live for so long,
Really, a thousand years from now, you'll still be strong.

Fire (Haiku)
Word Count: 13
Fire! It's coming!
Everything in it's path, gone!
More new plants spring up.

Cindy's Kite (Limerick)
Word Count: 34
There once was a young girl named Cindy,
Who liked it when it was windy.
She tried to fly a kite,
But was surprised by the sight,
Of birds talking to her in Hindi.

Baseball (Cinquain)
Word Count: 12
Baseball
Fun, fast
Pitch, catch, hit
Absolutely the best
America's great pastime

The Secrets of the Castle (Free Verse)
Word Count: 400
The Castle of Pondermore, holds many secrets,
Pondermore itself, being a school of magic.
It towers in California, location unknown,
Full of students eager to learn.

Witches and wizards, every day,
Pass through the halls,
Not even thinking about what lies inside.

The secrets.
The wonders.
The mysteries.
The answers.

Everything has a backstory,
a secret,
a origin.
Everything has a reason,
a purpose,
a goal.

The location itself, is such a mystery,
How muggles and animals haven't found it's way in.
It's such a mystery,
Of how no one even knows the location,
Of this famous school.

The teachers,
The staff,
All came to the school,
Each with their own different secret reason for coming to the school.

It is such a wonder,
How each level is a Grade,
And not a Year,
Disobeying the traditions of all the wizarding schools before it.
Grades, starting at 7th,
Require you to attend the muggle grades before it,
In order to succeed.
How strange.

How strange is it,
For this school,
To be the only school,
That teaches more than magic,
That combines magical and non-magical subjects.
Math, Science, English, and much more.
Defense, PE, Sports, all the subjects galore.
All sports, magical and muggle, accepted.
The only school that has technology incorporated all around the school.

The school, made of houses,
Girls and boys, supposed to be split up.
But once,
Once since the establishment of the school,
Only one of a gender has been sorted into a house.
Her, by option,
shared dorms with boys.
Those boys, her friends.

More customs broken.
A girl being friends with boys.
A girl playing baseball.
A girl making all the sports teams,
The boys' sports teams.
A girl who skipped a grade,
A girl who still excelled in all subjects.
A girl who questioned authority,
Who questioned herself.

The founders,
They wanted something new,
Something crisp,
Something different.
More than just talking paintings and moving pictures.
Holograms,
Things that seemed to be taken from the future,
Taken from the muggles.

But magic blinds all,
Blinds all that won't see that there is more.
There is more than just magic spells.

There are things we can create,
Things we can invent.
Only if we can see more than we did before.

Because the answer lies here,
Why the Wizarding Worlds are split up.
The answer still remains here,
If you look deep enough.

Essay
Word Count: 534

Baseball vs. Softball: The Better One for Girls?
You're pitching. Two outs, your team's up 2-1. Man on 2nd and 3rd. A girl walks up to the plate, easy out. The crowd yells about girls not playing baseball, and you think they're right. You throw your fastest fastball…smack! The ball flies into the outfield. The runner on 2nd, scores. Tied game. Man on third scores just as the outfielder throws the ball home. The girl's team won. Just because of a girl! Many people around the world play sports, whether it's soccer, basketball, football, or baseball. Even though soccer is the world's most popular sport, baseball is known as “America's great pastime.” Today, baseball is dominated by men, not a single woman making the MLB. To this day, people are taught that “baseball is for boys” and “softball is for girls.” Softball actually was created to keep girls away from baseball. Most girls play softball, but some girls still play baseball (like myself). Lots of people do not believe that girls don't even belong in baseball. Even though many reasons were created against girls playing baseball, baseball is a sport that everyone can play, even girls.

Baseball may seem like a sport that needs more skill, but actually, because softball has a bigger ball, therefore it has more mass, it takes more force to move. Baseball, being smaller, therefore having less mass, requires less effort to throw and hit. So, even though people may think that boys will automatically pass the girls in strength in baseball, the ball is lighter than a softball and would be easier to throw. Additionally, baseball is generally safer than softball. Because a softball is bigger and has more mass, it will cause more serious injuries than a much smaller baseball would cause. A player actually wears more protective gear in softball than in baseball. Though, getting nailed in the face by a bat in baseball would be very bad, but this risk also comes with softball, so it can't be used as something against baseball. When girls play baseball amongst boys, the boys don't see them as girls who can't play baseball to normal kids who are their teammates and just want to play ball. Baseball, like many sports, is a great way to make friends. Girls playing baseball can also make friends with boys, which is actually really cool if the girl is used to being friends with boys. Also, then both the girls and the boys will not view one gender as better than another at sports, which is a really powerful idea that people should learn.

In conclusion, baseball is a better game for girls to play. Throwing and hitting a baseball requires less physical effort than a softball, because it is smaller and has less mass, which requires less physical effort. Additionally, being hit by a softball would give the player a lot more serious injuries than being hit by a much smaller baseball. Finally, girls and boys playing together teaches them gender equality, which is an idea that many people should need to learn. Playing a sport is a great thing, but which one would you choose? Baseball or softball? Don't take my word for it, try playing baseball!



Script writing
Word Count: 713

(Scene is set at the Solana Beach train station. EMMA is riding on her hoverboard, talking with KONRAD on her phone)
EMMA
Okay, I'm here.

(EMMA dismounts from hoverboard.)

KONRAD
Finally, that look, like,
(KONRAD checks his watch)
thirty minutes!

EMMA
Well, I was coming from Del Mar, and I was on a hoverboard, so of course it would take that long. And, I couldn't go at the max speed because there's a speed limit.

KONRAD
Oh yeah, right. Well, I guess I'll see you soon! Don't forget to send me pictures!

EMMA
Yeah, bye!

KONRAD
Bye! Don't forget your ticket!

(EMMA hangs up.)

EMMA
Okaaaaaay. Now what do I do? (looks around for a bit) Oh, yeah, the ticket! (pulls out a silver ticket from her pants pocket)

(EMMA examines the ticket, slowly walking towards the elevators)

EMMA
Elevator Ticket. Only one use: August 17th, 2021. Authorized only for students. Time of departure: 4:30pm. Note: only swipe once. (looks up) An elevator ticket? (looks at the elevator buttons) I don't need a ticket, I can just press one of these…

(Something shiny on the elevator dashboard reflects sunlight and catches EMMA's eye.)

EMMA
Hold on. (brushes away dirt on the dashboard to reveal a small Pondermore crest.) Pondermore School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, hm… that's where I'm-

JORDAN
Hey, what you got there?

(EMMA spins around, trying to look as innocent as possible)

EMMA
Definitely not doing anything suspicious…Jordan? What are you doing here?

JORDAN
Same as you, duh. (pulls his own silver Elevator Ticket) Going to Pondermore.

EMMA
Wait, I didn't know you were a wizard!

JORDAN
Because I never told you. And, you never told me that you were one, too, so…

EMMA
Wait, so if you're a wizard, does that mean…Tucker and Nate are too?

JORDAN
Yup. Seriously, they would be better off without magic. They cause a lot of trouble, already. (looks backwards towards the entrance) Oh, here they come.

EMMA
(crosses arms) Oh, great.

NATE
(hands Jordan a backpack and luggage) Here ya go! Forgot it in Dad's car.

(JORDAN nods to NATE, but doesn't verbally thank him)

TUCKER
Ooo, didn't know Emma was gonna be here. Jordan and Emma musta had some together time.

EMMA
Shut up, Tucker.

TUCKER
Woah, didn't know Emma was this feisty.

JORDAN
Tucker, stop.

TUCKER
Ooo, Jordan-

NATE
No, actually stop. (glances at his watch) Train's gonna be leaving in 10 minutes.

JORDAN
And we're late because someone forgot his wand at home.

EMMA
Okay, so, how exactly do we get on the platform?

NATE
Well, it's easy. All you need to do is get your ticket. (NATE pulls his Elevator Ticket out of his backpack. EMMA, JORDAN, and TUCKER all take out their Elevator Tickets) And then you swipe it on the silver crest here. (swipes his ticket on the silver Pondermore crest on the elevator dashboard. The crest glows blue, then turns back to silver) And, that's it!

(TUCKER, JORDAN, and EMMA all take their turns swiping their tickets)

TUCKER
And then, you click the up and down buttons at the same time, and (elevator doors open) boom! Station ahoy!

(TUCKER walks through the elevator doors. NATE, JORDAN, and EMMA follow TUCKER onto the station. The elevator doors close behind EMMA.)
(Scene changes to station)

EMMA
Woah. Look at that train, it's a bullet train! I was expecting it to be a-

JORDAN
-steam engine? Yeah, same here.

NATE (faint)
Jordan, Emma, hurry up! Train's leaving in 3 minutes.

EMMA
Oh, great. (looks back at JORDAN) C'mon.

(EMMA and JORDAN run to the nearest door, just making it before a bell chimes and the white bullet train starts moving.)

JORDAN
That was a close one.

EMMA
Yeah. So, were are we going to sit?

JORDAN
Yeah, uh, I think we decided on a compartment, if they got there on time. C'mon.

(JORDAN leads EMMA through the many cars of the train until he finds one with the blue numbers on top of it reading “69”.)

EMMA
Oh, wow, such an original number to pick.

(JORDAN opens the door to the compartment. Inside are MICHAEL, RYDER, DAVIS, and SEAN.)

RYDER
Hi, Jordan! Hi, Emma!

JORDAN
Hi, guys!

EMMA
I didn't know all you guys were wizards, too!

Extras: This scene is followed by another scene, here: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/post/6094648/ I had to cut out A LOT of the original dialogue because it was just droning on about unnecessary stuff.
This scene is also made expecting that it is filmed on a green screen with the fanciest CGI graphics available.

Non-Fiction Writing

The Scratch Life of 11007567
Word Count: __

Hello, I'm 11007567, but you can call me Hermione. I have been a Scratcher for over 3 years. My account was made for school, but I've kept on being active on the account even after the school year ended. I made many projects and made major coding breakthroughs (for myself) throughout my time on Scratch, and I'm still going!
2018 - I first joined Scratch in 2018, which is when I made a lot of my projects. Most of my projects were made for school, but I did lots of Coloring Contest entries with TwirlStar, who is my real life best friend. I also made a lot of icon creators, as well as games, like Pumpkin Platformer and Catch the Baseball. Actually, my Technology teacher was quite impressed by those simple games I had made.
2019 - I was still active on Scratch, but I didn't really share that many projects. The only project I had shared was also for our school's technology class, and it was a CSFirst dancing project. The project mainly consisted of a girl swinging a baseball bat and a person moving up and down the screen. It was a simple project, but it has some purpose (that I forgot), because it was for school.
2020 -

Main Cabin Daily AND Sci-fi Daily: 3/4/2022
Word Count: 329

I would probably be a pyrokinetic, someone who controls fire. Fire is often viewed as dangerous, so people don't really like fire. When fire appears in books, it usually is killing people. Though, fire is more that that. Without fire, there wouldn't be people.
How my ability would work is that you conjure fire from inside you. It goes through your hands and sparks out to create a flame. These fires have different elements, a core and a flame. Different colors do different things. Red and orange colors burn and destroy stuff, while blue and green don't burn, but heal. You can combine different colors to have different cores and flames so they do different tasks.
Flames can be used to make physical objects, too. I would use my flame to add dragon wings to my arms, and then I would be able to fly. I could also make stairs or platforms so I can climb up inaccessible areas.

Also, I would be a technopath, someone who can make technology. I would make high tech stuff from sci-fi movies, like Star Wars and Harry Potter. Things I would make are lightsabers, blasters, hoverboards, holograms, and more! I would also have a huge DNA and fingerprint database, with different apps and tools that use AR to use that identify any DNA or fingerprints that were in the area. I would also make a lot of different computer programs with VR, AR, and other stuff. I would also make technology weapons, but I probably wouldn't use them that much.
I would also have a magic homework mirror where all you have to say is “mirror, mirror on the wall, please do my homework for me” and then you hold your homework up to the mirror and the reflection will be the homework answers.

I would definitely be a wizard from Harry Potter! I would be really good at DADA and other fancy defensive spells. I would also be a Gryffindor!

Main Cabin Daily: 3/6/2022
Word Count: 1324
hehe I kinda went a little over the required amount…

@TwirlStar and I decided to write about a magic school.

“Woah,” Emma said, her head pressed against the train's window. “We're riding, on water!”
“Wait,” Sean said. “Actually?”
“Well, duh,” Ryder replied. “Just look out the window.”
“But it feels so smooth, like we're on tracks,” Davis noticed.
“Because the train uses hover technology that only has one constant height, so we never move up or down,” Emma answered.
“Wait, hoverboard technology?” Sean asked.
“Yup,” Emma replied.
“I bet you could make that, Emma,” Michael said, remembering the hoverboards she had made the year before.
“And, they had more than one constant height,” Jordan added.
Emma looked out the window, marveling the hovercraft technology. "This must be state-of-the-art technology, especially because it can hold so much weight and still ride at a constant speed over water.“
”What's so hard about wate-“ Jordan started to ask when the train screeched to a stop.
”C'mon!“ Ryder excitedly said as he reached up to the luggage overhead compartment and pulled out his luggage, followed by all of his friends. ”Need a little help?“ he asked as Emma climbed up on the her seat and still couldn't reach the overhang. Emma was over a head shorter than Ryder's blond head, so she couldn't reach as many stuff as Ryder could.
”Yeah, thanks,“ she said as Ryder got her luggage and backpack for her.

The group of friends got off of the train and onto a white platform on a tropical looking beach. From where she was standing, Emma could just barely see the tip of a tower above the bluffs. Part of the platform was hovering on the ocean water, using the same technology as the train used. The minute Emma stepped off of the train, she immediately looked back at the white colored bullet train. Under the train were blue circular ripples that Emma assumed were the hover technology. She could have looked at it all day, but Michael kept on annoying her to keep on going.
”Where are the others?“ Emma asked, scanning the faces of all the students on the platform.
”Dunno. Can't be that far, though,“ Michael replied
A loud female voice with a British accent boomed through the crowd of students, enthusiastically repeatedly yelling, ”7th Graders, over here! Come on, come on, come on! Don't be shy! 7th Graders! Over here!“
”That must be us,“ Emma said, pulling Michael with her through the platform towards the voice. After walking to the other side of the platform, which was on the beach sand, she found her friends and other 7th Graders huddled around a tall woman with light brown hair pulled back in a complicated bun. She kept on checking a parchment scroll in her hand, and then counting how many 7th Graders there were.
Once she figured everyone was there, she started to introduce herself. ”Hello, 7th Graders, I'm Ms. Liber, your English teacher. For many years, it has been my job to give the 7th Graders their special introduction to Pondermore.“
Emma raised her hand.
”Yes?“ Ms. Liber nodded at Emma.
”Why can't we take those zip line ski lift thingys like all the other kids are doing?“ Emma asked, eyeing the light blue capsules that rode up the bluffs and probably led to the school.
”Because it's a tradition for new students to always take the special entrance to the school,“ Ms. Liber continued. ”Now, has everyone dropped off their luggage at the luggage platform?“ None of the students had, so she led them to a silver platform that was half on the water and half on the sand. ”Now, all you need to do is place your luggage here,“ she stood on the platform, ”and it will be transported to the school's luggage department.“
Emma carefully attached her backpack to the handle of her luggage and rolled it onto the platform. There was a glow of light blue light and the luggage glittered away. It took longer than expected for all the luggage to because of all the girls freaking out that they were going to be teleported too, even when Ms. Liber repeated multiple times that the technology can identify the difference between luggage from people, so they wouldn't be teleported.
Finally, Ms. Liber rounded all the 7th Graders into a group on the beach sand. ”Ready?“ she enthusiastically asked. She took out her wand and waved it in a circle in the air, a blue trail following the motion.
Nothing happened. Kids started murmuring what they thought was going to happen, but Emma's focus was elsewhere. She was staring at the ocean. One wave was glowing a more blue-green color than the deep crystal blue color of the rest of the ocean. The wave got bigger and bigger, probably 16 feet tall – no, more like 26 feet tall – coming closer and closer. Emma stared at the growing wave, paralyzed in disbelief. All she could think of doing was pulling on Davis's shirt.
”What?“ Davis asked spinning around to see what Emma was looking at.
”The wave, it's-“ Emma couldn't finish her sentence before Davis yelled, ”What the-“ as the now 60 foot wave crashed on the ocean. Ms. Liber thrusted her wand hand up in the air and the water sprang up, with all the 7th Graders with it.
”Are you sure this is safe?“ Emma yelled to Ms. Liber over the deafening screams of girls.
”Of course it is,“ Ms. Liber replied, swiftly standing onto the wave. Emma, and most kids, on the other hand, were clutching onto the wave for dear life. Jordan, though, was taking the water particles and making them form the shape of a soaring bird.
The wave soared over the bluffs, over a very forested forest with many different colored plants, and crashed on a narrow dirt path.
”That was fun!“ Jordan said. ”I can't believe my clothes aren't wet.“
”Because you're the water boy, duh,“ Emma replied grumpily. She summoned a blue flame in her palm and dried her soaking wet clothes off.
”Hm…did fire girl not like the ride?“ Sean mocked.
”Oh, shut up,“ Emma said, jokingly punching him in the arm.
Ms. Liber cast some sort of wind spell that dried everyone's clothes and motioned for them to follow her.

The dirt trail soon turned into a concrete sidewalk as they walked under a brick arched hallway lit with torches. On the top of the arch was a crest that was split into 4 sections, each with an animal in it. The center of the crest had a big letter ”P“, and a scroll drawn underneath it read ”Pondermore School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
Click, click, click Ms. Liber's heels made a musical rhythm on the concrete that Emma started whistling to. As they neared the end of the hallway, she caught her first glance at her new school.
There were multiple tall towers that pierced the clouds, all made with brown bricks that shimmered in the moonlight. The towers were connected by white stone bridges that had colorful lanterns hanging from the railings. There were beautiful stained glass pictures on some of the smaller buildings. Thousands of millions of windows lined each building, all glowing with the same yellow-orange light glow. Lots of palm trees and other beach plants were growing all around the campus, brightening up the mysterious mood of Pondermore.
“This way,” Ms. Liber instructed, leading them to a vast courtyard, complete with greener-than-green grass, a huge fountain, a fancy stage, and park benches everywhere. The edges of the area were covered arched cloister walls with doors and bridges leading to other parts of the castle. There were two huge wooden doors that entered a large house-shaped building with many pillars and stained-glass windows. “This is the courtyard. Here you can eat your lunch, but you are required to eat breakfast and dinner inside of the Dining Hall.” She motioned to the building behind them. “Now, follow me. Everyone is waiting for the Sorting inside.”

Comparison:
Word Count: 144
Starry (@TwirlStar): https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/582424/?page=4#post-6070901

Our stories both included a method of transport, magic (duh), and the main character had friends. Also, we both had water in our story, mine had an ocean wave, hers was a waterfall gate. The main character in my story, Emma, and one of the characters in Starry's story, Amber, both could control fire.
The settings of our story was different, though. Mine was set on a beach, and Starry's was set on a mountain. At Pondermore, a teacher introduces the school to the new students, though at Magnolia, the students find their way themselves. Though, magic distributes dorms and classes at Magnolia. Pondermore is a technology-magical school, but Magnolia seems more of a full on magic school with other nature effects. Also, my story was in 3rd person and Starry's was in 1st peson.
Overall, I think both of the schools are unique.

All the Shades In Between
This is basically a Keeper of the Lost Cities, Harry Potter, and The School for Good and Evil fanfiction!!

Chapter 1: Status
Word Count: 705

Ash took a sharp breath as she watched the red-orange sun rise on the wispy sand dunes of Harena. She knew what day it was today. The day her mother had been talking about for months now. Testing Day. And Ash did not want to attend it at all costs. She imaged it being a test from some sci-fi movie, including some sort of fancy IQ test or something that required blood drawings and DNA samples
“Come on, Ash,” her mother said as she grumpily pushed away her breakfast of the best looking cinnamon rolls. “Don't let this ruin your whole Sunday.”
“Oh yeah, well it is going to ruin my Sunday,“ Ash replied, stabbing her cinnamon roll with her fork. ”I could be playing baseball or something with Jack, and now you're telling me I have to take some stupid test that I don't even know what it's testing for!“
”It won't be that bad,“ Ash's mother reassured her, taking Ash's plate and eating Ash's abused cinnamon roll. ”It'll only take a few minutes.“
”Right,“ Ash scoffed. ”That's what you said when I had to take an x-ray on my broken arm from baseball, and you wanna know what? I had some serious breaks, and it hurt a lot.” Ash got out of her chair and trudged to her bedroom. Her mom rolled her eyes and kept on eating.

***

Ash gazed up at the tall futuristic white building that now stood in front of her. It looked so smooth that it had to be polished every minute, with crystal clear windows with a slight bluish tint, large glass doors that looked slightly intimidating, and a metal logo on the top of the building. The logo was a huge letter “T”, split in half diagonally with a thick silver line. One half was painted black, the other was painted white.
Ash felt like puking on the sand dunes after she recalled an interesting form of transportation she was just recently introduced to. Porting was basically teleporting from one place to another by using a large network of Porting Technology. All that is required is either a Porting Panel (which her mother said was required at every house and major location), or a Porter gadget (a thin blue square that was small enough to fit in one’s pocket) to Port anywhere where there is another Porting device.
“You okay?” her mother asked, smoothing out her dark brown hair that was delicately weaved into an intricate bun.
“Yeah, I guess,” Ash replied, fighting the urge to ask how she had glittered away from the Porting Panel that was hidden in her mother's closet – no, better question – why was the Porting Panel hidden in the far back of the closet. “Just the Porty thingy.”
“Yeah, most people vomit their first time Porting, I'm surprised your haven't yet.” Ash felt more like barfing now. “Come on, we're almost late.”

***

“And, who are you?” asked a black haired girl with a tight black dress who stood in front of a silver counter. Ash wasn't paying attention to anything except two doors that stood behind the counter, one black, one white. Boys and girls, who all looked about the same age as Ash, walked out of those two doors, each with something strange about them. One girl who walked out of the white door was coated flowers all over her face, hair, and clothes, another boy who walked out of the black door had the body of a snake instead of a regular human body.
“Oh, uh…” Ash stuttered as she remembered that the woman was waiting for her response. “Ash.”
“Nice to meet you, Ash,” the lady asked, typing the name up on a holographic computer. “Status?”
“Oh, uh…I'm a…” Ash stumbled on what to say. “I'm..”
“White,” her mother answered for her. Ash was confused. What did white mean? It couldn't be skin color, because the person before her in line had the brightest skin she had even seen, and his status was apparently black. Interesting.
“Thank you. You may take a seat. We will be ready for you in a few minutes.” Ash followed her mother to the luxury white seats in deep thought.

Chapter 2: The Silver Tower
Word Count: __

“Uh, mom?” Ash yelled from her bedroom. “I don't think the form thing is working.”
Ash's mother ran into the room, complaining about the mess of papers, clothes books, gadgets, and computer stuff that were messily sprawled about her room. “What do you mean?”
Ash showed her mom the parchment form that she needed to fill out to be accepted to Lepos School of Magic, which was the title of two schools inside it. “So, I've been messing around with this, and every time you check of an ability and click done, either the words ‘White School of Good’ or ‘Black School of Bad’ show up on the top of paper.”
“Ash, you're not supposed to be playing with the form,” her mother reprimanded. “Now, check of your own abilities.”
Ash pulled out a slip of paper from her desk drawer, and in hasty handwriting, six abilities were noted: Technology, Fire, Force Fields, Battle, and some other fancy names that she didn't know what they were. She guessed one of them was to change the state of an object, because she accidentally changed a baseball into a metal, and then into a liquid, and then back into a normal baseball, during a game. But the other ability, she didn't know what it did, but it had to have something related to speaking.
Once Ash checked the “done” box, and instead of the school names appearing in black cursive font, the words “Silver Tower” in silver font similar to her own handwriting.
“Silver Tower,” Ash's mom read aloud. “Interesting, I've never heard of that school before. Unless…” She stopped short, looking curiously at Ash.
“Unless…?” Ash urged her to continue. Her mother explained a legend of a girl who was dumped into a trash dump as a child because her early ability testing classified her as a Black, which would ruin their family's status for generations of being a White. When the child grew up, she would be powerful, powerful enough to take down each status' government. And, apparently, her “mother” wasn't really her mother, she just found Ash and decided to take her in.

***

“Don't forget your Porter!” Ash's mother – well, not her real mother – reminded her. “And your backpack, and-”
“Yup, I got it, Mom. I'll talk to you as soon as I get there,” Ash replied. “See ya.”
“Have a great year!”
“School,” Ash muttered, holding up her handheld cyan porter into the air. She felt a tingle on her skin, and glittered away.

***

Weekly #2

Collaboration Story with @TwirlStar

Hermione wrote:

Ash, female, 12 years old, was faced with a challenge.

Starry wrote:

She was missing an object of great value, an object that could not be replaced, and that object was her cell phone.

Hermione wrote:

Her precious cell phone! How could anyone even think of stealing it, even if it was an iPhone 13 Pro. Well, she thought someone stole it, but Ash didn't really know.

Starry wrote:

She frantically turned on the nearest electronic device, her iPad, and quickly opened up the Find My Phone app. She looked on the mini digital map, but the phone was nowhere to be seen! Losing hope, she scrolled out and saw the icon for the phone, but it was on…

Hermione wrote:

…Mars. Great, Ash thought, My phone's on Mars. How was that possible? How was she supposed to get it now?

Starry wrote:

She had an idea. “Mom, dad!” she called. “You know how you always wanted to take me to a NASA rocket launch? Well, turns out I actually want to go to one for no suspicious reasons at all. In fact, I heard they're launching a rocket this weekend.”

Hermione wrote:

After some long questioning by her parents, they finally agreed to take the weekend off to go to Florida. After a long day Friday at school without her phone, which made school even more miserable, she wondered what to bring to Mars. No, better question, how exactly would she find a way on the rocket in the first place?

Starry wrote:

Well, she did have her little brother's surprisingly accurate astronaut costume from Halloween. She could pretend to be an astronaut and sneak onto the rocket. As for what to pack, well, she decided to stick with the essentials. That meant packing her iPad, computer, airpods, polaroid camera, Nintendo Switch, at least 2 months' worth of fashionable clothes, and as an afterthought, some food.

Hermione wrote:

Their family took a 1-way flight to Florida, and a 5 hour drive to the launch pad. It was Saturday evening by the time they arrived at their hotel, and the launch was early Sunday morning. Ash assumed she would sneak out of the house a couple hours before the launch.

Starry wrote:

She grabbed her hefty bag, dragged it to the front of her hotel, and yelled for a taxi. Unfortunately, she remembered that people used Uber nowadays, and the Uber app was on her phone, which was currently on Mars, which was 35.8 million miles from Earth. Ash groaned and decided to walk to the NASA headquarters on foot. It was only a mile or so away, anyway. When she got there…

Hermione wrote:

…the place was deserted. So she thought. She knew there probably were security cameras everywhere as she sneaked into the NASA building, where she assumed the astronauts were, and where the entrance to the rocket was.

Starry wrote:

She walked around the enormous building, and she found a door leading outside to a place where a huge spaceship was parked. A bunch of spectators were crowded around the gates that closed the area off. When she walked out the door in her astronaut costume, everyone started cheering.

Hermione wrote:

She was grateful that her astronaut costume had a helmet so no one could see her face as she tried to act cool and walk into the spaceship. She swiftly hopped into the capsule, and realized that she knew nothing about how to fly a spaceship. There was more cheering, and Ash assumed that the real astronauts were coming. She heard them come closer until they were right outside, and then…

Starry wrote:

…she heard someone else hop into the spaceship. Ash quickly went through a door and hid, but the person who just came on also came through the door. That was when Ash realized that the person was also short, like another kid sneaking onto the spaceship.

Hermione wrote:

“Hey,” the kid said. “I was expecting to see you here!” Ash was confused. Apparently, the kid was some kid obsessed with space, and he wanted one of the first people on Mars to be a kid. So, he took Ash's phone and altered the location to seem like it was on Mars. “But,” the kid continued. “I thought what I did was really mean, so I decided to give you phone back, and that I'd be the first kid on Mars!” He handed Ash her worshipped iPhone 13. “Good luck,” Ash said, and then left. THE END

Character
Word Count: 673

Name: Emma
Age: 12
Species: Human

Personality and Traits: 239 words
Emma is probably one of the smartest kids of her age, making high-tech stuff like hoverboards, lightsabers, hologram projectors, and more! The collects a lot of data on DNA and fingerprinting to help her aunt, who works for the Del Mar Police. She is a very determined person, and most of the time, she doesn't listen to authority. She actually thinks people of authority are sometimes wrong, and all they want is power. Emma is also a really athletic person, playing every sport, but her favorite sport is baseball. She has the stats for everyone in her baseball league and uses them to figure out the best way to win. Also, she is very nice and makes a lot of friends, all of which are boys, except Annabelle. Emma also can make enemies very easily, and you do not want to be on her bad side. She can use her high-tech weapons against you, and she is not afraid to punch you in the face or burn you if she needed to. Yes, Emma also is a pyrokinetic, and she has a different way of controlling fire. Instead of most pyrokinetics, she gets fire from inside her, and she has the ability to change the color of the flames, which also do different things. Emma also is really interested in being a good student, always reading ahead in the textbooks and knowing everything. In fact, she skipped a grade.

Wants, Hopes, and Strengths: 275 words
Emma has a strength to fight until her last breath, being the first one to enter a battle and the last one to leave. She will easily risk her life to make sure one of her friends doesn't get injured. She also has a habit of having a backup plan for a backup plan, and always has a huge list of ways to kill someone with the objects around her. But, usually, her fire is good enough in battles, because what she will do with it is always unpredictable. She usually can think fast, so she's really good at making decisions in fast-changing battles. Emma hopes for the world to be at peace again, though, she isn't someone who hates wars and violence. She will fight if that's what it takes to maintain peace and stability. She wants everyone, even her worst enemies, to be safe, no matter what. She also hopes for the Government to be less biased and actually help people with situations. All they care about is whether they'll stay in their government seat, and will do anything to keep it, even when it's not the right thing. When Emma is old enough and after she finishes her baseball career, she hopes to run for an office to try to change this. She also thinks that people need to rely more on logical thought than their feelings and what they want when they make decisions. Emma thinks it isn't right when people just decide to do something, whether it's at Government level or in school, because they want to do it, and they don't even think about what the effect may be.

Dislikes and Fears: 159 words
Emma is usually not afraid of anything, but she does have a few fears. One top fear is definitely the fear of someone dying because of her, because she didn't stop it. She will go out of her way to try to protect others (unless it's her enemies), even when it puts herself at risk. Another fear Emma had, which she eventually got over after it happened, was the fear of her aunt and uncle becoming evil again. She had a memory from when she was 5 of her aunt and uncle, who takes care of her, trying to kill her with the Avada Kedavra curse. Somehow, the curse didn't kill her, it just reflected off her crossed arms covering her face. Sometimes, during a battle, Emma will think so fast that she makes the wrong decision, which has a really bad effect. Emma generally dislikes people that are annoying and can't catch up with her fast thinking pace.

Setting
Word Count: __

400 words required
The story takes place at Pondermore School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, located on the coast of California, around the Del Mar and Solana Beach area (no one really knows the exact location.)

Premise
Word Count: __
150 words required

Bringing it Together
Word Count: __
1000 words required

Character Bios and Development
I haven't visited all of the characters I've made in the past…few years, so now I'm going to expand on their traits and personalities.

Word Count: __

Templates:
Adults:
Name:
Age:
General physical description:
Hometown:
Type of home/ neighborhood:
Relationship status:
Current family:
Family background (parents, previous marriages, etc.):
Friends:
Other close relationships:
Relationship with men:
Relationship with women:
Job:
Dress style:
Religion:
Attitude to religion:
Favorite pastimes:
Hobbies:
Favorite sports:
Favorite foods:
Strongest positive personality trait:
Strongest negative personality trait:
Sense of humor:
Temper:
Consideration for others:
How other people see him/her:
Opinion of him/herself:
Other traits, especially those to be brought out in story:
Ambitions:
Philosophy of life:
Most important thing to know about this character:
Will readers like or dislike this character, and why?

Kids:
Name:
Age:
Birthday:
General physical description:
Hometown:
Type of home/ neighborhood:
Father’s name, background, and occupation:
Mother’s name, background, and occupation:
Brothers and sisters:
Position in family:
Other close relatives:
Family relationships:
Special friends:
Enemies:
Influential person or event:
Grade in school:
Attitude toward school:
Grades:
Favorite pastimes:
Hobbies (music/art/reading material):
Favorite sports:
Favorite foods:
Dress style:
Religion:
Attitude toward religion:
Relationship with boys:
Relationship with girls:
Leader or follower:
Strongest positive personality trait:
Strongest negative personality trait:
Sense of humor:
Temper:
Consideration for others:
How other people see him/her:
Opinion of him/herself:
Other traits, especially those to be brought out in story:
Ambitions:
Philosophy of life:
Most important thing to know about character:
Will readers like or dislike this character, and why?

Other Questions:
If your character has a job, is he or she good at it? Does he or she like it?
What are your character's bad habits?
If you asked about his or her greatest dream, what would your character tell you?
What's a secret dream that he or she wouldn't tell you about?
What kind of person does your character wish he or she could be? What is stopping him or her?
What is your character afraid of? What keeps him or her up at night?
What does your character think is his or her worst quality?
What do other people think your character's worst quality is?
What is a talent your character thinks he or she has but is very wrong about?
What did his or her childhood home look like?
Who was his or her first love?
What's the most terrible thing that ever happened to him/her?
What was his/her dream growing up? Did he/she achieve this dream? If so, in what ways was it not what the character expected? If your character never achieved the dream, why not?
In what situation would your character become violent?
In what situation would your character act heroic?

Name: Ella Banks Waters
Age: 11 at start, 12 through most of book
Birthday: September 19, 2009
General physical description: Ella is generally a slim character, and just under 5 feet tall. She has wavy brown hair, but the tips of her hair and some complete strands are dark blonde. She has slightly tanned skin and dark brown eyes.
Hometown: Del Mar
Type of home/ neighborhood: just a normal city home on a block
Father’s name, background, and occupation: Andrew Waters, also known as Elijah Banks. His job was a professional ice hockey player, but he had to quit and go into hiding. Now, Elijah Banks is a teacher at Pondermore, and teaches Science on both campuses, as well as the coach for the hockey team. His house is Gryffinclaw, and he's the assistant Head of House.
Mother’s name, background, and occupation: Mae Dixon, or her married name Mae Waters, also known as Isabella Liber. She has always been an English teacher, but had to temporarily quit because she had to also go into hiding. Without her real identity, Isabella Liber had a hard time finding a job, until she secured an English job at Ponder more at the Middle campus.
Adopted father's name, background, and occupation: Alexander Waters, or his nickname Alex, is the twin brother of Andrew Waters.
Adopted mother's name, background, and occupation:
Brothers and sisters:
Adopted brothers and sisters:
Position in family:
Other close relatives:
Family relationships:
Special friends:
Enemies:
Influential person or event:
Grade in school:
Attitude toward school:
Grades:
Favorite pastimes:
Hobbies (music/art/reading material):
Favorite sports:
Favorite foods:
Dress style:
Religion:
Attitude toward religion:
Relationship with boys:
Relationship with girls:
Leader or follower:
Strongest positive personality trait:
Strongest negative personality trait:
Sense of humor:
Temper:
Consideration for others:
How other people see him/her:
Opinion of him/herself:
Other traits, especially those to be brought out in story:
Ambitions:
Philosophy of life:
Most important thing to know about character:
Will readers like or dislike this character, and why?

SWC Weekly 1: 7/3/2022 - 7/9/2022

Part 1

Character Sheet __ words
I just finished watching The NeverEnding Story, so the characters are fresh in my head:
Atreyu (The NeverEnding Story movie)
Series continuing or ended?: Ended

Pronouns: he/him

Strengths:
Weaknesses:

Relationships:
- romantic interest:
- friends:
- family:

Tendencies:

Improvement:

Situations:
Loss of a friend:

Romantic struggles:


Helping others:


Scenario 400 w

your character is the leader of a rebellion and the opposing force has them surrounded

Part 2

Character Voices 100 w each = 200 w total

Char 1 POV 300 w

Char 2 POV 300 w

Part 3

Tropes

Summary

Fanfiction 700 w

Part 4

SWC Fanfi 400w

SWC Weekly 2: 7/10/2022 - 7/16/2022

Part 1: Main Informational Article 800 w
Sports
Baseball is known as America's greatest pastime, but only about half of the nation even gets to play the sport. Over the past few decades, generations have come to know the saying “baseball is for boys, and softball is for girls.” Why do not many girls play baseball? It all started with Title IX in 1972, which prohibits gender-based discrimination at schools or other programs. Although many more opportunities have been open for girls in sports, girls have preferred to play softball over baseball. Softball being a widely accepted girls-only sport gives girls more opportunities in softball than baseball.
Younger girls are commonly seen in playing baseball in lower Little League levels, such as T-Ball, Coach Pitch, and Rookie. Parents and other adults are fine seeing little cute girls playing T-Ball, but as the girls get older, competition gets harder. Usually (as of my Little League experience), the number of girls playing in

Part 2: Main Opinion Article 800 w
Movie or Sports

Part 3: Column 500 w
Advice, Gossip, or Tech

Part 4: Other 200 w
Comic, Ads, Awards, or Obituaries

SWC Weekly 3: 7/17/2022 - 7/23/2022

Part 1

Brainstorm:
- small village with elected mayor
- soft magic system, only used by trained elites
- vast empire with emperor chosen by elites
- medium sized cou try with a monarchy
- very encouraged to compete in sports
- power isn't important
- knowledge is priority
- emphasised good manners and proper speech
- magical teleportation system
- takes place in high cold mountains
- there are social classes like: working, common, elite/government, king/queen
- religion is usually frowned upon for certain classes
- the star is the symbol of life and hope
- families are usually separated
- elites look down on commoners and workers
- everyone has magic, but there's a hard magic system
- government monitors citizen's behavior
- takes place in a hot desert with very little water
- people have very little access to reliable news
- most people don't care for music or similar forms of art and entertainment

Connections: 200w
Up in the high mountain rage of Montacalis lies the Diles Dynasty, a large empire run by the noble Empress, appointed to her position by The Board of Elites.

Narrative: 400w

Part 2

Questions (choose ten): 10w each = 800w

What kind of magic is used in your world?
How is the magic in the world used in the character’s everyday lives? What are the different abilities?
What are the laws of your world, specifically about magic? Punishments?
What is an important symbol of your world?
What is the origin of your magic?
How can your world’s magic aid character development?
How common is magic, and are all characters aware they possess it?
How can you ensure the magic in your story is realistic, and is written as a normalized part of your world?
What is a folk tale you have heard that involves magic, and how can you take inspiration from that tale?
What are the limitations of your world’s magic?
How is magic viewed in your world (ie. as a boring normal, as a fascinating element of their life, or as a curse on society etc.)?
Compared to our modern society, what do the characters do differently in your world, now that magic is incorporated?
Are there any sensations the characters feel when they are using magic? Describe these sensations using their five senses.
Describe the popular infrastructure in your world.
How is the education system in your world? What do your characters learn (or hypothetically would learn)?
What happens when magic gets out of control in your world?
What are some slang terms or other words used in your world that are related to magic?
Does magic affect the government of your world? If so, how?
What are some noteworthy examples of problems (in your world) that characters solved with magic?

Part 3

Genre choices: dystopian fantasy, urban fantasy, hidden worlds, steampunk, science fantasy
Genre 1: 300w

Genre 2: 300w

Genre 3: 300w

KotLC Animation: Trailer
I'm making an a

SWC Weekly 4 SusWC: 7/23/2022 - 7/30/2022
Save code: PATHS TAKEN: 4-3, 5-1, 81-3, 6-4, 1-4, 7-7, 3-1, 102-2, 2-3, 9-4 | SABOTAGE RESULTS: 8- S;3- S;9- S;6- S;2- S;1- S;4- S;7- S;5- S | ENDING: best
Project with completion (includes screenshot and code): turbowarp.org/716562867/

Idk if I added it up properly but +6445 words!!

Begin a story, anyway you like, but keep it close to 100 words.

133 w
Ella tucked in her baby blue baseball uniform back into her white pants as she ran back to the dugout after turning a swift play at shortstop. She had made a diving backhand grab, and while still running, flicked the ball to the second baseman, who threw a bullet to first to pull of the inning-ending double play. All of her teammates on the all-girls baseball team congratulated Ella for making the awesome play, as well as the parent in the stands. Ella slid her blue shield sunglasses to sit upside-down on the top of her hat's visor. She scanned the people sitting in the bleachers, parents, friends, residents from around the area, but her dad was nowhere in sight, and her mom definitely would never go to any of her games again.

Rec Center
Gasp! Are you in another world? The feelings of being transported to another world – the unfamiliarly and excitement! In this room, you will write at least 200 words, where your character gets magically transported to another world! Explore how your character reacts to the new world and how they navigate it.

526 w
Ella zipped open her baseball equipment bag hanging on the fence. Instead of her helmet and batting gloves, she found an old, faded brown book. Oh no, Ella thought, I'm batting this inning! What am I going to do? Ella remembered packing her equipment, and as a matter of fact, they were in her bag just last inning. She scanned the dugout, definitely wasn't in there. She checked the girls swinging and timing the pitcher on deck. Nope, they hadn't taken her stuff either.
“Hey Izzie, can I borrow your helmet?” Ella asked her friend. “You batted last inning, so I don't think you'll need it this inning.”
“Yeah, sure,” the short-haired second baseman replied, handing Ella her navy-blue helmet, which looked slightly dented and scratched. “What happed to yours?”
Ella had to think fast. She couldn't say that her equipment magically disappeared and was replaced with a book! “I think someone accidentally took it.”
“Oh okay. You'll probably get it back by next inning.” Izzie walked to the front of the dugout to cheer with the rest of the team for the right fielder, Bri, who was currently at bat. Ella peered around her to make sure nobody was watching her as she slowly slipped the tattered book out of her bag and into her hands. On the cover were gold symbols that she was unfamiliar with, so she flipped open the cover. She heard a plop! and out of the corner of her eye, saw something fall out of the book. She caught a silver necklace, with a large circular charm on the end. She placed it back into the book and started scanning the pages.
The necklace charm glowed orange, and slowly, the pages on the book turned gold. Ella's eyes widened and she instinctively dropped the book, which landed into her baseball bag. The necklace disappeared, and in its place was a hole, that looked dangerously close to a cyclone, in the center of the book that constantly shifted colors. As the hole grew bigger and bigger, Ella tried the close the book, but some huge force from the hole sucked her, and her baseball bag, inside the book. The book closed as Ella disappeared, and then it vanished itself, too.

An average person would have screamed wildly if they were falling from the sky, but Ella didn't. She focused on where she was going to land. But, with an equipment bag slung over her shoulder (which now was full of all of her equipment) and the book that transported her and having no idea how to control where she was going to land, Ella ended up landing in a swampy lake. Good thing she knew how to swim, but this lake was different. Every time she tried to swim out, it pulled her back in.
Ella managed to grab ahold of the magical book, now soggy and muddy, and her heavy baseball bag. She sat atop her floating baseball bag, holding the destroyed book. How did I get here? she thought, kicking up a splash of mud with her foot. No, better question where am I? How do I get home?

Battleground
Have you ever felt the intense rage in your body when you have been wronged? Many of us have done things in order to gain revenge, because it does feel good to feel even, at least for a short amount of time. In these 200 words, a character reveals one of their main motives is revenge. How do other characters react to this? What changes now that this is revealed? Keep these questions in mind when you write 200 words.

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Ella stared at the destroyed cover of the book. Yes, that stupid book, transporting here into the middle of nowhere when she should be having fun playing baseball with her teammates. She flipped open the cover, wondering what this book was about and if it could lead her back home. Instantly, the book dried, no longer muddy and wet, almost looking as good as new! What the- Ella thought, inspecting the magical book. How did it-? Ella did the least logical thing someone would do: get the book dirty again. She threw it clear to the other side of the swamp. Be gone, stupid book.
Ella swung her feet in the swamp water, hoping to somehow move, but no matter how hard she tried, the raft moved the opposite way farther into the swamp. She turned around and kicked again, hoping for this opposite rule to still apply and she would thrust towards the shore. But of course, in this strange world, her theory still didn't work and she moved even faster towards the center. And she did not want to get close to the center of that lake, which looked all dirty and strange and definitely had some sort of monster in there.
Of course, the magical book could go where ever it wanted, floating right back to Ella's makeshift baseball equipment bag raft. Ella, discouraged after all of her efforts to move, picked up the book, to find it like the way she had found it in the dugout – faded and tattered – and it was dry, again. She angrily opened the book, hoping there would be something in there about who, or what, did this. Nothing. All the pages were blank. She could have sworn the last time she opened it there were words, real English words. She flipped through the pages, hoping to find one page would have a letter or even a smudge of ink. Still nothing.
“UGH,” Ella sighed, slamming the book onto the raft, causing it to wobble. “Someone's messing with me. Whoever brought me to this stupid place, I'm going to find them. And I'm not leaving 'till I do.” She watched the center of the swamp, and how the makeshift raft slowly inched towards it. She saw the water splash in the center, and it changed color to a darker hue of brownish-green. Well, first I need to figure out how to get out of here, fast.

Fan fi Tropes Workshop
For 300 words, incorporate a songfic trope by using a short song lyric in your writing. If you can't listen to music, use a different trope instead!

I can't listen to music right now, so I chose the OC one where my OC, Ella, interacts with characters. I definitely need Ella to get out of this swamp now…but what will the fanfic be from? This thing's already set up in a fantasy land, so I think I'll do NeverEnding Story movie. Okay…let's get started.
NOTE: Nothing here is canon except places and characters. Everything else I literally made up…
740 w (okay I went just a little overboard)

A white horse galloped a few yards away from the shore. Ella grabbed a muddy baseball from her bag, timed the horse, and threw the ball. Please hit, please hit, please hit, she thought. You're my only chance. The baseball struck one of the horse's legs, and it slowly swiveled it's head to see from where the object came.
“Hey, horse!! Over here!” Ella yelled, waving her arms like a mad man. The magic book came floating towards Ella with a crisp, ripe apple sitting on its cover. At first, she thought the book was crazy, of all things it could have given her in this situation, it gave her a useless apple. Well, I'll give it a shot. She waved her arms in the air, holding the apple in her right hand. The horse now had Ella's attention, it's head following every movement of the apple, then started trotting towards the shore of the swamp.
Ella looked towards the book, as if thanking it, but the book wasn't done with it's assistance, now with a hooked rope laying on the cover. She managed to hook herself to the horse, who pulled her to the bank, wanting the apple as its prize.
“Thanks, buddy,” Ella said, stroking the horse's mane, until she heard a voice from not that far away, as well as running footsteps. Ella automatically ducked behind the horse, hoping for the owner, whoever it was, to not see her. Out from the the brush came a boy with shoulder length brown hair and light brown Native-American style clothes, and smiled at the sight of the horse.
“There you are, Artax,” the boy said, smiling, but then frowned, noticing the rope with the hook on the end attached to the saddle. “What's this?” He unhooked the rope and inspected it. The white horse, Artax, stepped to the side, revealing Ella. She put her hands up, goofily stepped to the side to pick up her stuff off of the ground, and slowly backed away.
“You saw nothing,” Ella said before the boy could say anything to her. “I'm not here.” Then she broke out in a sprint, hoping to get as far away as possible.
“Hey, come back!” the boy yelled, before hopping onto Artax. One thing to never do is to try to outrun a horse at a sprint. Ella, of course, didn't factor that into her escape plan and found she wasn't as far ahead as she hoped to. While looking back to see how far ahead she was, Ella tripped over a rather large rock and landed flat on her face.
“Are you okay?” the boy asked as Artax slowed down to a halt next to Ella.
Even though Ella was quite sure she sprained her ankle again (she had done it once before while pitching), she sat up and replied, “No, I'm fine.”
“That looked pretty bad, are you sure you're fine?”
"I said I'm fine, okay, buster? Now just leave me alone.“
”I'm not ‘Buster,’ by the way. My name is Atreyu,“ the boy said, to Ella's annoyance. How could anyone actually be that stupid?
”I think I knew that you're name's not ‘Buster’, bus-“ Ella started, ”-I mean Atreyu. It's just a saying, jeez.“ Ella had a habit of saying ‘buster’ at the end of her sentences when she was annoyed. Ella stood up, a little wobbly at the start, and asked, ”Okay, so…where am I?“
”Well, you were in the Swamps of Sadness, where no one goes, by the way,“ Atreyu answered. ”Where are you from?“
”Then, why were you in the Swamps of Sadness, too, then if nobody goes there?“ Ella asked. ”Well, anyways, I'm from San Diego.“
”Where?“ Atreyu asked, confused. Apparently, Ella had to explain that San Diego was in San Diego County, which was in California, which was in the United States, which was on Earth, which was in the solar system, which was in the Milky Way, which was in outer space, which was theoretically in a multiverse. And Atreyu had to explain that she was now in a land called Fantasia, which was made from human's imaginations.
”Okaay, so I'm now in some fantasy land-“ Ella started.
”Fantasia,“ Atreyu corrected. ”And you got transported here by some magical book, right?“
”Yes,“ Ella confirmed, handing him the book. ”Do you know anything about this?“
”Wait…that's ‘The NeverEnding Story!’ It transported this boy, Bastian, here before," Atreyu replied.

Kitchen
We love it when a setting makes characters feel comfortable and safe–we need more of that in or lives. For these 5 minutes, you will be writing so your setting provides an aspect of safety or comfort to your character.

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Okay, calm down, Ella thought as panic rose through her body, realizing that she was now stuck in some sort of fantasy land – Fantasia – and had no way out. Well, at least, Atreyu didn't remember the way out, because the other boy who had came there before, Bastain, came only about 30 or 40 something years ago (apparently Atreyu had stayed as a 12 year old since then, while Bastain was now probably a grumpy 50 year old man.) Rage slithered up Ella's spine, whoever did this to her… she needed to find them, fast. Whoever did this to her probably knew the way out, she hoped. The only thing that calmed her down and kept her from hyperventilating was her baseball equipment bag. It was only thing (other than herself) she had of the normal human world.
When they stopped for the night, Ella insisted on sleeping on her baseball backpack as if it were a pillow (even though it was quite uncomfortable.) Ella woke up way too early in the morning, right before the sun rose. She rubbed her eyes, put on her sunglasses, picked up her baseball equipment, and walked several yards away from Artax and Atreyu's camp.
She threw the baseball up into the air, having only herself to play with. Then she had an idea. She picked up the magical book and placed it on the ground. Home plate.. She needed to walk a bit to find tree branches for a backstop, first base, second base, and third base. She picked the best looking twig for the pitcher's rubber, on which she was standing right now. She threw a few warm-up throws into the makeshift backstop, which held up just fine, and then she started doing real pitching, real fast pitching. She threw four seamers, two seamers, changeups, curveballs, sliders, and tried a knuckeball grip she had learned a few weeks ago. She loved the game of baseball, and just standing on a baseball field was so calming, as if she was meant to be there.

Dining Hall: Mystery, Adventure, and Horror Table
For five minutes, incorporate features of Mystery, Adventure, OR Horror into your writing. What is something you like about one of these genres? Try to incorporate that in your story.

I used the Adventure genre. What I really like about this genre is giving the reader thrills and exciting moments. I was originally going to do a battle scene, but halfway through, I realized I didn't have enough time. (spoiler: I may add a battle scene later…)
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“Where are we going?” Ella asked one day to Atreyu as day after day they seems to ride Artax aimlessly around Fantasia.
“We're going to the Ivory Tower,” Atreyu repied. “To see if the Empress knows how to return you back to Earth.”
“But what if she doesn't? I mean, you didn't remember how to get back, so why would she?” Ella questioned.
“She knows everything. She knew about Bastain and how to save Fantasia, so she must know how to get you out.”
Ella was skeptical about Atreyu's idea, but she didn't say anything, because he definitely intelligible about Fantasia than she was herself. Artax lead them through vast seas of grass, blazing hot deserts, and high snowy mountains, until he slowed to a stop right in front of a huge land fault.
“What's wrong, boy?” Atreyu asked, hopping off Artax.
“Yo, there's literally a bridge right there. Why're we stopping?” Ella said, sliding off of Artax, too. She pointed to a ragged looking wooden plank bridge.
“Artax thinks there's something wrong,” Atreyu said. He pulled on the horse's reins, leading him towards the bride. “Come on, Artax.” Once Ella was on the bridge, she instantly regretted it. It wobbled at every step, and she could hear the boards creaking under Artax's weight. She looked down into the fault, which was an empty never-ending hole. Ella questioned whether it was a good idea to cross this bridge, but there was no going back now.
Ella looked back as she heard a snap, and before she could register where the snap came from, the bridge collapsed and Ella, Atreyu, and Artax were falling down the dark fault.
Ella vainly flailed her arms in the air, hoping to find something to grab onto, until she smashed facedown into gravel. She slowly stood back up, rubbing her hip, only to have Atreyu land flat on top of her.
“You idiot!” Ella yelled under Atreyu.
“Hey, I can't see where I wa-” Atreyu defended himself, until Artax landed inches away from on top of them. “Artax! Are you okay?”
Atreyu and Ella helped Artax, who surprisingly was okay, back on his feet. The ventured through the fault, neither of them knowing where they were or how to get out.
The ground started shaking, and rocks started rolling down the edges of the fault. “Watch out!” Atreyu yelled, pulling Ella out of the path of a rock.
“What's happening?!” Ella asked, running through a maze of falling rocks. She couldn't hear anything over the rumble of rocks, but she still yelled, “We gotta find a way out of here!” She hopped from rock to rock, hoping to somehow climb out. After she gained some ground, she looked down, and found that Artax wasn't that far behind her, leaping from rock to rock with great strength and speed. Wait, where's Atreyu? She couldn't see him anywhere, but she kept on climbing higher, because she saw a sliver of light. Almost there, almost there. She kept on climbing. Maybe if she reached to top first, she could find help to get Atreyu later.
Just as she neared the top, the rocks crumbled underneath her hands, and she fell down, down, down back into the nothingness. Several arrows struck the rocks above Ella, and she managed to snatch the lowest one. She looked down to see Atreyu on top of Artax, bow and arrow in hand. Ella smiled, knowing how to get out.

Zura's Stand
Hello and it's Zura! Thank you for coming over to my psychic stand! We all love a glimpse into our futures, don't we So, in this prompt, your character first receives a premonition, then the event actually happens! Explore how your character reacts, and the impact the premonition had. You must write for 15 minutes using this prompt.

Never again give me 15 minutes, I think I write too fast for that.
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Off they went on Artax the horse to the Ivory Tower, hoping to find help from the Empress about how to return Ella home. Ella hoped they could somehow get there a little faster, because it had already been a couple days and her parents were probably freaking out right now.
Once they stopped for the night, the sky was pitch black and the only light they had was from their flickering fire. A swarm of lights flew around blindly in the air, until they stopped a hovered over the fire that Atreyu had made.
“Woah!”. Ella exclaimed, “Are those fireflies?” The bugs moved around, forming a picture. The picture was a symbol of what looked like two snakes entwined into a circular shape, biting the other's tail. “What are they doing?”
Atreyu stepped closer, studying the fireflies. “Fateflies, these are Fateflies. They can be used to send messages and tell bits of the future.”
“What's the symbol, then?”
“I think it's the…AURYN, so…” he brushed his hand along the Fateflies, and their lights instantly changed colors. “it means this must be a message from the Empress.” Atreyu also explained the meaning of the AURYN (the symbol of the Empress) and what it could do (protect you from harm and grant wishes from humans).
Ella argued with Atreyu for a bit about how this couldn't be trustworthy and could be a scam (yes, Ella could be a really bitter pessimist sometimes,) but Atreyu still believed it was from the Empress.
“Well, I don't know about you, but I'm seeing this,” Atreyu finally said, pressing one of the bugs in the center, which looked slightly bigger than the others. The Fateflies instantly changed colors, forming a picture of a young girl with pale skin and dark blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. The Childlike Empress.
The Empress smoothed out her silk white dress before beginning, “I have heard of a human girl who goes by the name of ‘Ella’ has entered our world of Fantasia, and that she is traveling with one of our most known Fantasians, Atreyu.
”Atreyu, if you truly are receiving this message, and that the Earthling is with you, I have news you two must know. This swarm of Fateflies came to me with a prophecy. I feel obliged to relay it back to you.“ The Empress' soft voice faded away and was replaced with a hoarse mystical voice, with the flies rearranging their lights to assemble pictures that resembled the words:
”Traveling farther and farther,
If you want danger, not to bother.
Danger will come any way,
I wonder which one is their prey.
The Earthling girl, athletic and witty,
Her end could be such a pity.
A monster spirt lurks in every place,
In order to stop it, the truth you must embrace.
Connecting the clues gives you the power you need,
But power always comes with-“
”OKAY,“ Ella yelled, abruptly standing up, cutting off the end of as the Fateflies flew away into the night. ”This is stupid!“
”Ella!“ Atreyu also yelled at the same time. ”I couldn't hear the end.“
”I don't care, prophecies are stupid. Prophecies tell you what CAN happen in the future, not what WILL happen in the future. It's up to yourself to choose what happens in your future, not a stupid prophecy.“
”But I care! What comes with power?“
”Uh…“ Ella sifted through everything she had been taught in her twelve years of life. ”Corruption? Money? More power? Oh! This is a well known one, ‘Knowledge is power.’ But, I personally think corruption, but…“
”Knowledge,“ Atreyu pondered the possibility. ”Knowledge of what?“ He looked hopefully towards Ella, hoping she would know something that he didn't, considering her different human education.
Ella stuck her arms out innocently, ”You expect ME to know?! This is all a bunch of stupidity anyways, so why waste your brainpower on it? Anyways, I'm going to bed now, so…yeah, goodnight.“ She lied her head on her baseball backpack pillow. Even though she refused to show it, she actually was a little worried about the prophecy. The Empress' calm, soft voice echoed in her head for the rest of the night.
As for Atreyu, he knew, unlike Ella, that actually getting a prophecy is rare. And when it does happen, the odds of it actually happening are high. Although, he didn't quite understand what it was about. It felt like something was missing, something was off. Atreyu finally fell to sleep after replaying the prophecy multiple times in his head.
Ella instantly woke up after she heard a loud rumbling noise. She rubbed her eyes, and looked around. The sun was just rising, so it was hard to make out where the noise was coming from.
”Atreyu, wake up,“ Ella whispered, slightly shaking his sleeping body.
”Wait, whatsgoingon?“ Atreyu groggily asked.
”Listen,“ is all that Ella said. Atreyu's eyes bulged, and he announced that he was going to see what it was. He took his weapons (how and arrow, some other knives), and Ella took hers (her baseball equipment and the very useful magical book), and they set off on Artax towards the noise.
The noise reached them before they reached it. Ella looked up in terror at a gigantic black monster. Even though it was still dark outside, she could make out multiple sharp legs and arms with claws at the end.
Atreyu slid off of Artax. ”Who are you?“
No response.
”What are you?“
No response.
”Where are you from?“
No response. Ella rolled her eyes, this was a waste of time.
”Why are you h-“ The monster used one of its claws to knock Atreyu off of his feet. Artax bucked Ella in terror and started running back towards the camp, and Ella landed flat on her face. Even though she couldn't see the monster's eyes, she knew they were now directed at her.
Atreyu realized something, ”The prophecy! This is the monster from the prophecy!“ As a reward for his knowledge, the monster picked him up with is biggest claw. He started screaming, Ella know they were words, but the only words she could make out was ”Help“ and ”weapon," which didn't help her any.
One of her monster's legs slammed down at Ella, and she rolled out of the way, only for another leg to make her roll out of the way again. What weapon could she use? Her baseball equipment wouldn't be helpful, but Atreyu did have his bow and arrows, which was lying on the ground where he was last standing. Ella got up and started sprinting for the weapon, legs crashing down at her like an obstacle course. With Atreyu's yelling, she could tell things weren't going okay up there.
Then when Ella was so close to the bow and arrows, she realized that it probably wouldn't work against this monster. If only she had something like a wand or lightsaber… she imagined what they would look like in her head.
With a flash of light, on the ground in front of her now was a lightsaber. She dove for it just as the legs kicked them out of the way. Ella got up as fast as she could, ran at the newly spawned weapons, grabbed the lightsaber, and flipped it on. She watched the gold ray of light shoot out of it. She turned around just as one of the legs came towards her, and she just simply swing the saber and chopped it off. She continued copping of the legs and then eventually stabbing it in a certain way that it died. She cut Atreyu out of the monster's arm, careful to not chop through him.

Bulletin Board Rankings
Check the Main Cabin to see your cabin's ranking! Now find the opposite ranking of yours. Now, ask one of the campers in that cabin for a prompt. Write the prompt for 10 minutes.
Prompt: @Shadowsong One of your characters breaks a body part. How does everyone react?

I tried slowing down my typing so I didn't overwork myself.
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“How did you get this?” He pointed towards the lightsaber.
“Uh, I,” Ella stuttered. "I don't know. I just imagined it and poof!, it just spawned in front of me like a video game or something.“ Ella managed to make a big enough cut in the claw for Atreyu to climb out of. ”It's this thing from this movie series called Star Wars.“ She twirled around the lightsaber before switching it off. ”It's called a lightsaber, and it basically can chop through anything.“
”Oh, that's cool,“ Atreyu said. He stood up, gave a weird expression of pain, then sat back down.
”What's wrong?“ Ella asked, clipping the lightsaber to her baseball belt.
”My leg,“ he said. ”It hurts a lot.“
After further inspection, Ella concluded that his right leg was broken. She found a first aid kit at the way bottom of her baseball backpack and tied a splint to Atreyu's leg.
After a huge amount of effort, they finally walled back to camp, but Artax was nowhere in sight.
”Artax,“ Atreyu yelled. ”Artax!“ His voice echoed through the empty landscape.
”Look! I found his footprints,“ Ella said, pointing to a trail of hooves that seemed to never end. Artax must of been so scared he completely ran away.
”Now we're doomed!“Ella said, sitting down and putting her head in her hands. ”Because you have a broken leg AND no horse, it's going to take us weeks to get to the Ivory Tower now!“
”Unless we have luck," Atreyu said, smiling, and turned his head around. Ella squinted her eyes in the distance and just faintly saw the shape of a huge dragon.

Memory Book Data Room
Dark clouds, deafening silence. Your intuition tells you something bad is going to happen, but you don't know how or what. The feeling hangs deep in your stomach and you can't keep the thought off. For 250 words, an ominous mood is carried for the rest of the story. Paying attention to your word choice is key to creating the right mood.

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“Falkor!” Atreyu explained at the luck dragon as he picked them up. “How did you-”
“I always know when someone needs a little luck,” Falkor replied with a wink.
“Thanks! We need to go to the Iv-” Ella started.
“Ivory Tower. Yes, I know. Now, just enjoy the ride, without any worries. You have luck on your side,” Falkor said. Ella looked around at Fantasia, smiling. She had never been on anything this fun, not even a roller coaster. Then the clouds rolled in just as they arrived at the Ivory Tower.
“What's happening?” Atreyu yelled over the howling wind.
“I don't know,” Falkor replied. “It almost never gets stormy here.”
Falkor landed on the top of the Ivory Tower, which was shaped like a flower, and where the Empress lived.
Atreyu and Ella ran towards the entrance of the flower, which instantly opened. Atreyu looked back at Falkor for good luck.
The Empress' room would usually be pure white and clean, but now it was a light grey-ish color, and the lights were dim. The Empress sat in the center of the room, mounted on a few pillows.
“What brings you here today, Atreyu?” she asked in her soft, delicate voice. Atreyu looked towards Ella, but Ella was distracted, squinting at the walls.
The wind howled as Ella asked, “Are the walls supposed to be purple?”
There was a crash in the distance, causing them all to jump, before the Empress replied, “No, they're supposed to be white, and only white.”
“They look white to me,” Atreyu said, looking up at the walls.
“There's this purple mist coming out of it,” Ella said, concerned. She looked outside at the thunder clouds rolling it, and saw purple mist inside the clouds, and some mist was actually falling of the the clouds like raindrops. Maybe she was just hallucinating, she thought as purple mist surrounded the Ivory Tower in a ring. Probably too Mich tome in this fantasy land. “I need to know how to get out of Fantasia and back to the normal world. Atreyu said you would know how.”
“I'm afraid I can't,” the Empress explained. She told them about a force that was trying to overthrow her, and everywhere the force went, it took over the people of Fantasia. The more people it took over, the less power she had. And now, she did the have the power of the AURYN anymore, which was the only thing that could bring Ella back.
“The AURYN is currently lost,” the Empress concluded. “Neither the enemy or I know where it is.”
“The enemy has got to have a name, doesn't it?” Atreyu asked, as the Tower started shaking.
“The Mist,” Ella answered. “And I guess only I can see it.”

Throne Room Honorary Throne
The "Chekhov's Gun principle is when all elements you incorporate serve a purpose later on. There are no irreverent items or descriptions, and all the things described must have a purpose. Incorporating this principle must contain at least 300 words.

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This was pretty hard because I had to plan the whole scene ahead of time so everything served a purpose.
“So it's simple,” Ella hurriedly said as the Ivory Tower shook. “We kill the bad guys, save Fantasia, give you back your power, and then I get to go home.” Ella looked hopefully at the Empress.
“Yes, but easier said than done,” she said with a weak smile. Ella and Atreyu both spun their heads around as the door rattled and rattled.
“They're gonna break in!” Ella yelled, switching her lightsaber on. She threw her bag on one of the fire torches hanging from the wall. Atreyu readied his bow and arrow, ready to shoot anyone who came in. Ella remembered reading something about battle plans and what not, and decided to go for an ambush as she ducked out of sight behind the Empress.
Instead of just the door crashing down, all the walls instantly fell down with a huge crash, dust flying everywhere so it was impossible to see. When the dust settled, the Empress had disappeared, and in her place was a weird looking creature with green skin, blue hair, misty purple eyes, and Mist radiating off of him. In one had he held a special kind of weapon, which looked like a staff and had a purple ball of mist floating at the top. He pointed the ball at Ella, and then Atreyu, and they both were sent flying towards a vertical shard of a wall, just before they could get up, purple mist chains formed around their hands, Ella's lightsaber flying a few feet from her. She tried to use her foot to pick it up, but one of the Mist Warriors picked it up in curiosity. When he switched it on, the light went right through him.
“What!” Ella yelled as the warrior dropped the lightsaber. If she couldn't kill them with a lightsaber, then what would she use? Maybe she could knock them out with a baseball bat, but it already was hanging out of reach on a torch on top of them. Ella put her head in her hands, looking at her blue and white cleats.
Atreyu scanned for the Empress, until she found her hanging from a rope on the ledge of the tower, the warriors surrounding her. Definitely going to kill her, he thought. He pulled on the chains, but he couldn't manage to escape. He glanced at Ella, who was untying her shoelaces.
“What are you doing?” he whispered, trying not to draw attention.
“You'll see,” Ella muttered back, readjusting her navy blue baseball hat. She completely pulled the blue shoelace out of her shoe, then tied it to the back of her hat. She threw the hat upwards, hooking it onto the torch above her that had her baseball bag. Ella handed Atreyu the shoelace. “You'll have a better angle than me.”
At first, he was confused, but then Atreyu understood and started pulling on the string. The torch fell down with a crash, and the Mist Warriors turned around. The fire from the torch burned on Ella's mist chains, which turned blue, and then disappeared. One of the warriors pointed their staff at Ella to chain her back up, but they were surprised when white baseball flew at great speed at them. The warrior fell down, knocked out by the impact. Ella instantly grabbed the torch and freed Atreyu, who lit his arrows and started firing them at the warriors. Ella picked up the fallen warrior's staff, which also worked at killing the other guys. Atreyu picked up Ella's fallen lightsaber, and threw it at the rope on which the Empress was hanging. It sliced through the string, and left the Empress falling down, down, down… and onto the back of Falkor, who flew high up into the sky far from danger.
When there were two twelve year old children fighting against grown adults, it was easy to get outnumbered, even if they had already killed a huge amount of them. One of the warriors grabbed Ella from behind and held her at sword-point. Atreyu picked up the staff to kill the man with, it flew out of his hands, and another warrior grabbed a hold of him.

Match Field
“They're dead, they're dead, the main character is dead!” you hear someone shout. You're shocked at their death, as you can't find any words to describe their disappointment. In these 8 minutes, the main character dies a sudden dramatic death. You can flesh out their death scene, as well as the aftermath of their death.

480w
I think I wrote too much…
“Get off of me!” Ella yelled, kicking the man holding her as hard as she could in the shins. He still held on tightly. Atreyu also struggled with the woman holding him, because he still had a broken leg. Ella kicked harder, looking up at the Empress for help, but she sadly shook her head, as if saying it was up to Ella to solve this. Of course it was, always Ella. Yes, she was smart and all, but seriously, who would expect a twelve-year-old girl at saving the world? The Empress, apparently, who had previously also trusted Atreyu at stopping a force called The Nothing. There had to be some connection…there just had to be… Ella's eyes lit up, solving the puzzle.
“Why so happy, huh?” the man holding her sneered. “So, you're that Earthling everyone's talking about. Well, we need you to do a little favor.”
“After all this, you expect me to-” The man stepped on Ella's foot so hard she was sure he broke it.
“You are going to help us,” the man ordered. He stuck his palm out, and a ball of Mist appeared. “This is The Mist. I am the holder of The Mist, but I can't control it. That's why we need you. Spread the mist out far and wide, to every person, and we'll bring you back to the human world.”
“ELLA DON'T DO IT,” Atreyu yelled sincerely at the top of his lungs.
“And if I don't?” Ella questioned.
“Then we'll kill that little friend of yours,” Mist Man (that's what Ella decided to call him now) replied, leaning his head towards Atreyu. Ella knew what she was doing. She reached towards The Mist, and Mist Man gave a mischievous grin.
Atreyu looked in shock as Ella picked up The Mist, well, he couldn't see it, but he could tell that she did. He looked at her hand, now holding Mist, but saw a blue cloud, instead. He recalled Ella describing Mist as purple not blue, and even Mist Man looked confused. Atreyu yelled and yelled for her to stop, but she just calmly closed her eyes. The blue Mist ball got bigger and bigger until it exploded, and a huge blue shockwave was sent through all of Fantasia. Atreyu braced for the feeling of the Mist, closing his eyes, but nothing happened. He looked up, and saw purple Mist slowly evaporating off of everyone's bodies, and the ones who were killed slowly got up. Except one.
One body who wore a navy blue baseball hat over wavy brown hair, a baby blue shirt, white baseball pants, blue and white cleats, and had a red, white, and blue baseball bag – with a brown book sticking out – lying next to her.
“Ella!” Atreyu exclaimed, and many of the people gasped. Falkor and the Childlike Empress landed softly next to Ella's dead body.

Seeing you were SUch A gaMEr GIRL, finish your story in any way you please! Write 500 words to finish your story.

532 w
The Childlike Empress picked a piece of dark silver metal from the ground. “Was this hers?” she asked Atreyu. Atreyu inspected it, until he found a switch, which he flicked an a yellow beam of light came out of the end.
“Yes, it was,” he said. “It's a lightsaber. She said it was from some human thing.”
“I'm not aware of anything called a ‘lightsaber’ in Fantasia. How did she get it?”
“She said she just imagined it, and it appeared,” Atreyu responded, closing the saber and placing it next to Ella. Her death still shocked him. “Why did she have to die?”
“You heard the prophecy, didn't you?” the Empress asked. Atreyu nodded. “It said, ‘Power comes with sacrifice.’ The power was getting rid of The Mist, and the sacrifice was, well, you know.”
“But what IS the Mist?” Atreyu looked towards them who were taken over by The Mist.
The Mist Man, who now actually talked normal and didn't sound evil replied, “Forces can only be made by humans, and they only can be-”
“Destroyed by humans,” the Empress said, finishing the sentence. “If any of you remember The Nothing, which I'm sure you do, we needed Bastian to stop The Nothing. And this time, we needed Ella to stop The Mist. Atreyu, may I see The NeverEnding Story?”
Atreyu picked the book up from Ella's bag, and handed it to the Empress. “Do you realize what's missing?”
“Uh…” Atreyu strained his memory. Then it hit him, “The AURYN symbol.”
“No, it was the real AURYN. I summoned her.”
“So, the AURYN is…in the book? She told me a necklace dissolved in the book.”
The Empress opened the book, and the AURYN fell out. She handed it to Atreyu. “Do as you wish.”
“What?” Atreyu asked, confused. “You mean I can…use this? Don't I lose a memory?” The Empress explained that only humans lose a memory. Atreyu wished for Ella to come back to life, and everyone cheered as Ella stood up.
“Wait, you actually figured it out?” Ella asked Atreyu, as if she hadn't just died a few minutes ago.
“Yes, well, with some help,” he looked at the Empress, who smiled.
“Now, all you need to do, Ella, is wish to go home. I have my powers back so you may wish whatever you like,” the Empress said, handing the AURYN to Ella. “You have to sacrifice a memory, though.”
“I wish to go home,” Ella said, with no hesitation. “I will sacrifice the memory of anything from this world of Fantasia.” The whole crowd gasped. “So I can go on as many new adventures as I want and the book will truly live up to its name: The NeverEnding Story.” She placed the AURYN, which was glowing blue, over her neck, and she glittered away.

Ella appeared in front of her baseball bag in the middle of her girls baseball game. She remembered something had happened, but couldn't quite place it. She smiled, picking up her bat and helmet and walking onto the on-deck circle. Little did she know that two years later, a tattered book would appear in the same bag she just was looking at.

SWC July 2022: Adventure Cache Prompt

Create a simple character inspired by the profile picture of the most recent person you followed. Now create a simple setting inspired by the profile picture of the most recent person who followed you. Write the /conclusion/ to a story involving both this character and this setting

Most recent follow: @BlabbyZebra33
Character: Blabby is a peculiar white cat with light blue spots. He always smiles, and is very interested in zebras. One of his favorite activities is to run, but he also likes spending time with other kittens.

Most recent follower: @Blackcat_fan4ever
Setting: Blackcat Forest is dark and gloomy, with black colored dirt, an abundance of trees with light brown bark and dirty green leaves. The sky is always a blue-grey color, with a few white clouds that look like watercolor blobs painted in the sky. Right in the center of this forest lies a colony of cheery cats.

Story:
Blabby watched as his hard work payed off. The diseased forest of Blackcat was now slowly turning back to it's original colors, from black tree bark and leaves to light brown bark and dirty-green leaves. The elders looked up as the sky changed colors from grey and cloudy, to blue-grey and specked with white clouds, the colors changing as if someone was repainting the scene. Kittens jumped up and down in excitement as the colors returned. Blabby knew there were more colorful worlds out there, but he loved the one he had, and knew it was the right thing to do the restore it. Though, Blabby regretted having to turn away the chance to finally have is own pet zebra in order to stop Blackcat Forest from being diseased forever.

Pick one of the other cabins whose theme intrigues you and look around. If you have time, talk to a member of that cabin about what it's like, however this part is optional. Now write a few paragraphs about this cabin.It could be a sort of expository essay, explaining and describing what you've learned (if you choose this, don't feel the need to revise too much!), or you could write it in the form of a story, or anything else you can think of. Share what you wrote with us, as well as a random member of the cabin you chose!

Cabin: Fan-fi Republic
Camper: pending
Info: pending

SWC Daily: 7/31/2022
265 w

Even though I don't know all of you, thank you to ALL of the hosts and co-hosts for everything they do for SWC. Thanks for helping keep SWC running, for your leadership, and all of your other funny comments.
Another thanks to all of the leaders and co-leaders, who we definitely couldn't do without you. Thanks for all your time and effort for your cabins and SWC. Thanks to all those who helped with dailies and weeklies, too, and making them helpful and enjoyable (especially SusWC, which was my favorite.)

A special, SPECIAL thanks to the leaders of my cabin, Adventure Parks, @Rey_venclaw, @Dawn_Camps, and @vimto-. You guys were great and set up and amazing cabin and storyline. I definitely will remember my amazing experience in Adventure, like when I first tried guessing who had the key (Zai), and all of the cache prompts, as well as the fun comments, too. Big, big thanks to Soki, who has been a great leader for me for 2 sessions in a row.
Another great thanks to all of the campers in Adventure, even though I don't know many of you (and you don't know me, either) for helping Adventure get many points and be up there contending for 1st place. You guys have completed lots of dailies, weeklies, word wars, cabin wars, and met your word goals.

Thanks all the hosts, co-hosts, leaders, co-leaders, and campers do in SWC and how it makes it an incredible experience each session (I tell you, it gets better every session!). I'm really bad at thank you notes, but…yeah, that's all!

Scratch Writing Covention: Script
Sorry guys for not posing since last SWC session.
Recently, I've been obsessed with Disney's animated TV show The Owl House, and I've also been interested in script/screenplay writing.
Scratch Writing Camp leader applications for November are open, and I have decided to apply. My application's theme is going to be a fully animated episode in the style of The Owl House, where SWC is hosting a Covention, where the Covens are like Cabins.
I'm not completely sure if I'll have enough time to finish animating, because I thought of this idea way too late. If I don't have enough time, I might just have the Coven pamphlets and animate it next session.
I'm not the best at scripts, but I hope you like it!
NOTE: The Covens were supposed to be based on the July 2022 cabins, but due to cabin destruction, I had to base them off of what was left of the cabin. Once November 2022 starts, I will base it off of that and their leaders.

FADE IN

INT. House porch - DAY

(HERMIONE, in her Falcons Baseball uniform, flies in on her staff and lands on her doorstep. She dismisses her staff and tosses a baseball in her hand.)

HERMIONE
That was a nice practice. We're definitely going to win next game, I got the whole strategy fig-

(purple Scroll dings off screen)

(cont) Ugh! Someone keeps messaging me!

(conjures Scroll and logs into her Penstagram account “@baseball.girl_50”)

HERMIONE (cont.)
(Scrolling through messages)
Junk, junk, junk. Oh wait! (scrolls back up to SWC ad posted by “Scratch_Writing_Camp” forwarded by “@GoodWtich_Luzura”)

(Hermione clicks on it and looks at the promo thumbnail:
“Do you like magic? Do you like writing? If so, come to Scratch Writing Covention! All you need is yourself and a Scroll with our very own writing app Scratch. 4pm at Hexside auditorium”. The image shows all of the coven banners and BIRDI (“@Birdi.vue91”) and ROBIN (“@-robin-”).
Hermione scrolls down to the description (About me answer))

HERMIONE
Woah, that seems cool.

DISSOLVE TO
OUT. Hexside - NIGHT

HERMIONE
Woah…

(Hermione lands and dismisses staff. Walks into the door of the auditorium, which is filled with Coven booths and many campers.)

BIRDI (to croud)
Hi, welcome to Scratch Writing Camp, have a nice time. Ooh, nice to see you again. Yes, Abomination booth is right there. (to Hermione) Hi, I

Answer bank:
About me (Penstagram)
Hi, my name is Hermione, she/her, and an INTJ-A! This session will be my fourth session of SWC, so technically you could call it a SWC anniversary.
A little bit about me is that I like reading, drawing, animating, and, of course, writing. My favorite genres to write are probably Fantasy, Sci-fi, and Adventure.
Additionally, I also like to play baseball, and as a matter of fact, some people say (including myself) that baseball is my life. I watch baseball every day (my favorite teams are the Padres and Red Sox), and I play baseball, whether it's a game or practice, at least once a week. My favorite positions to play are pitcher, shortstop, and second base, but I can play everything except catcher.
I mentioned before that I like reading, and my favorite book desires are Harry Potter, Wings of Fire, Keeper of the Lost Cities, and the School for Good and Evil (which has a movie coming out in October!!). I also like various books that aren't part of a series, but there would be too many to count. Also, I like watching movies, and I especially like Star Wars and the Harry Potter movies. As you may have noticed, I also like the TV show The Owl House. I don't usually watch TV shows, but I think The Owl House has a cool plot and cool magic and its generally amazing (but I haven't finished watching it because I don't have Disney+).
I would probably join the everything coven with Luz, but if not that, then probably the Abomination coven or the Illusions coven (you can still take multiple tracks at Hexside, right?) Anyways, I'm also a Gryffinclaw at Hogwawrts and a Thunderbird/Wampus (Wampusbird? Thunderwampus?) at Ilvermorny.
Also, a little bit more about me is that in my free time, I usually like to play video games. My absolute favorite game is Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7, as well as other puzzle games like Human: Fall Flat. I also enjoy playing Overcooked! 2, and Moving Put, which is published by the same company. Currently I'm saving up money to buy Lego Star Wars: Skywalker Saga, and I'm waiting for Hogwarts Legacy to be released.
I've been writing a lot about fandoms, so let's just finish it off with my favorite characters:
- Harry Potter: Hermione
- Wings of Fire: Tsunami
- Keeper of the Lost Cities: Marella
- Star Wars: Rey
- The Owl House: uh…I'll say Luz or maybe Amity. I think King has some cute moments, sometimes. I don't think I've watched enough, though, to make a concrete decision.
Yeah, that's enough about me and I hope that's sufficient.
Fun Facts:
1) I have a 70-85 WPM, but my speed depends on what I'm writing.
2) I read the whole Harry Potter series in 2 months, counting hold time at the library.
3) My current Patronus is a Dragon, but it previously was a Heron. My wand is Aspen wood, Dragon Heartstring core, 12 3/4 inches, and reasonably supple flexibility.
4) One of my favorite baseball players is Mookie Betts, and I wear #50 on my baseball jersey because of him.
5) The only time I've pitched with a radar gun recording my MPH was probably three months ago, I hit 55 mph on my two-seamer. Though, I currently have no idea how fast I throw. I already can pitch pretty accurate, and my parents and coaches are pushing me to try to throw faster.

Previous SWC participation (Plant Coven)
Like mentioned before, I have participated in 3 SWC sessions:
- November 2021: Fan-fi Library
- March 2022: Sci-fi Shipwreck
- July 2022: Adventure Parks
I'm very familiar with Scratch camps, having participated camps like SRC and SAC since August 2021.

I have also done lots of creative writing, like writing scripts for a Scratch animation with my friend based on the book series, or random essays for school. One thing that I really don't like writing is poems, they're just so hard and I can't do it (yet, let's be positive here.)
I've been writing a Fantasy/Sci-fi novel since a couple years ago, which I had ditched, and now I'm fixing it up. It was generally more of a Harry Potter fanfic, and back then I had this great idea about how the Harry Potter Wizarding Worlds work. I had split up the Wizarding World into 5 regions, I believe: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania/Australia, and each region has it's own government. Each region's government decides how they'll set up their government, like Europe has Ministries for each country, and the US has…well, the same government as we currently have. Anyways, the actual story is about this girl named Ella who ends up being a witch, and some of her friends happen to be, too, and they attend their local wizarding school Pondermore. I've been working on character development, worldbuilding, and just the plot in general, because the main story was written when I was younger and it definitely was NOT planned out well and none of the events were connected, so now I have to go back and fix up all these stuff. Soon, I might actually start writing the actual story on Scratch, but I'm still working with the plot and characters right now.
That was probably more than you needed to know about that, so I'll just conclude that I've written lot's of other stories and fanfics, too, but what I wrote above is my masterpiece story. I've currently been really interested in scriptwriting. Additionally, I'm planning on starting a newsletter on Scratch about MLB and my favorite baseball teams that will probably be released after the regular season.

Cabin genres (Illusions Coven)
I can probably handle most of these genres, but I'd probably prefer Fantasy, Sci-fi, Adventure, Fan-fi, Mystery, or Dystopian. I've thought of some cool ideas, especially for Sci-fi:
So, I would call it Sci-fi Sandstorm. So, the prologue would be something like there was a big sandstorm that killed almost everyone and almost destroyed all of the food. The survivors (campers) are taken into refuge to a refugee camp run by the leaders, who could all have cool Sci-fi titles like President, Data Analyst, Head of Defense, and whatnot. Then, the campers would have to complete tasks to advance the storyline. The storyline involves either getting help from another cabin (for example one cabin could chose to give us a portal that spits out 5 mangoes each day), or put more hardships put upon us (like a cabin chooses to drop off some goats who eat half of our food supply.) Some tasks would involve writing, solving clues, interacting with other campers, and maybe a scavenger hunt.
I also have another idea for Dystopian, and it would be called Dystopian Dynasty. It would generally be about overthrowing an empire, and the campers are in a rebellion led by the leaders. So, there would be tasks to complete the storyline, like those already mentioned, and the storyline would involve things like getting spies into the emperor's castle or gaining more followers, as well as some epic battles.
One more idea I have would be set in a school, so I might call it Adventure Academy or Fantasy Academy, and it would be about there's some impostor (hehe might be one of the other leaders or hosts…) And they set of lots of evil traps and obstacles, and it's up to the cabin to solve the clues and figure out who the impostor is.
I have other cool ideas, but I can come up with other cool ideas for many of the other cabin genres, too, so I don't really care which one I get.

Writing except 1 (Bard Coven)
Earthquake!, I thought as the usual black bucket I am crammed into with my fellow baseballs started shaking. If I could, I would have ducked and covered like all humans are taught at school, but the thing is, I don't have any arms, and I'm at the top of the pile, without any protection from the lid of our bucket.
I try to use my senses to tell what was going on, because our bucket is pitch black. After we're dropped on the ground with a huge shake, I hear humans talking. Kids talking. Parents cheering. The nice smell of the dugout and baseball dirt is struck back to me, after not being on the field for practically a month.
I hear footsteps and I'm blinded by light as someone takes the lid off of our bucket. A hand reaches in and starts rummaging around for a good ball. Pick me! Pick me! I thought, and soon enough, the hand grabs on to me and departs, forgetting to close the bucket lid.
Actually, even though baseball is fun in all, it's actually really dangerous for us baseballs. We get touched by LOTS of kids, hit in the face with baseball bats, dirty with baseball dirt, stained with grass, spit on by dirty kids who want to get some grip while pitching. And most of the time, we can only be in a game for 5 minutes, usually only being used for warm-up, or getting hit really far foul and no one wants to get it.
Today, I'm in for warm-up. Pitching warm-up. My human is Hermione, and she's working on a NASTY changeup. Really nasty. Gets kids walking back to the dugout with 3 pitches, all of them pairs of shoes. (That's baseball term which means you get struck out looking)
“Hey,” the catcher says to Hermione as he tosses me to her. “My mango is not offensive.“
”I never said that it was offensive!“ Hermione replied, throwing a four-seamer with pinpoint accuracy at the catcher's glove.
”Just saying,” he replied, lobbing me back at Hermione.

Writing excerpt 2 (Beast Keeping Coven)
“Fuzzier!” Amber demanded, inspecting the lavender colored fur coat Ash had made just for her for their trip up the cold Cookies N' Cream Mountain. “I will not accept until it's the fuzziest.”
“Seriously, it's as fuzzy as it can get. If it's any fuzzier, you won't even be able to see though the blizzard,” Ash replied.
“Blizzard?” Amber asked, as if she had never heard the word before in her life.
"Yeah, a blizzard,“ Ash replied, rolling her eyes. ”It's even on the news.“
Amber muttered something that sounded like, ”no one watches the news anymore“ as she scooted the wooden chair closer to the ancient analog TV, which was the only TV available that worked in their tiny log cabin that they had rented just for the trip.
”Welcome back to Salted Caramel news station. Now, the weather,“ said a reporter wearing a dark blue suit. The scratchy speakers on the TV made the reporter's voice sound like it was from an old black-and-white movie. ”Blizzard Rocky Road is heading towards the famous tourist location, Mt. Cookies N' Cream. Here, we're going to see harsh winds, heavy snowfall, and freezing temperatures. This could be the most dangerous storm this year. Officials are -“ There was a sizzle and the TV clicked off.
”AMBER WHAT DID YOU DO?!“ Ash yelled, snatching the remote from the table that lay between them.
”I did nothing, I swear!“ Amber innocently replied, putting both her hands up in the air as if she was at gunpoint.
”C'mon, c'mon,“ Ash muttered as she kept on clicking the red ”on“ button on the remote, but nothing happened. She turned the dials on the TV, but nothing happened. ”Don't just sit there!“
Amber jumped up and started unplugging the wires on the TV.
”Well, that's not going to help!“ Ash yelled, plugging the wires back in. She pointed to some of the circuits on the back of the TV. ”Do those.“
”But, I know nothing about circuits,“ Amber said.
”Oh great, I'll do it then.“ Ash pulled a flashlight from her pocket and started inspecting the circuit board. Sure enough, one of the circuits was just out of place. Ash carefully pushed it back into place.
”We did it! It's working!“ Amber excitedly yelled as the news reporters voice came back on.
”Not ‘we did it,’“ Ash corrected. ”I did it.“
”Okay, okay, I kind of did nothing," Amber admitted, sitting back into the chair. Though, she didn't notice that the remote now was lying on her chair.

Time dedication (Oracle Coven)
I can't tell the future, but if I were to give myself a number between 1 and 10, I would give my activity level a 6-8. I have school, and I'm in Honors Math and English, though, the bulk of the homework I have to do will probably be Math. Currently, I don't think I'll be playing on any Fall Ball baseball teams, but I will have lessons and possibly I might sub for another team if they're missing players. I'm also part of a Scouts BSA troop, and there are troop meetings every other week, as well as patrol meetings and other events. If any event were to come up, it shouldn't have a really big impact on my activity. If something big were to come up, I would notify the hosts and leaders that I might have a small hiatus, so they can do any arrangements needed during my absence. Personally, I think my activity level may be more fit for a co, rather than a leader, but it's not up to me to decide those things.

Why want to lead (Abomination Coven)
That's a tough question. I don't want to lead because of power or fame, but because of the experience of leading in general. When I lead, I can not only improve my leadership, but I can also practice my people skills, too. I think leading Scratch camps allows you to make friendships with people that you would have never met before, and you all share the same interest. Also, leading gives me the opportunity to improve my leadership skills and get feedback on how to lead better, and I also have the chance to help make SWC a better experience for incoming campers and campers in the future. I also would like to lead to give back to all of the past leaders and hosts who have put a lot of work and effort into SWC, and I really want to give back to them and help lead a cabin, or somehow contribute to SWC.

Why good leader (Healing Coven)
I have had lots of leading experience, having co-led cabins in SRC and a rip-off of SAC, as well as things that are not Scratch camps, too, from leading projects at school, to an animated series with my friends, or little projects and ideas with my brother.
I don't want to seem arrogant, but I think I have important leadership skills to make me an effective leader. For example, I'm really great at communicating, and I usually respond within 24 hours. Additionally, I can multitask and work really fast and efficiently to get any task done. Also, I feel that I'm nice to other campers, but not too nice, just a balance between nice and strict so campers know what they can and cannot do. These skills are just a few important skills I have that would make me a good leader.

Strengths + weaknesses in collaboration (Construction Coven)
I think sometimes I can be independent, because I can complete things faster. So, in group projects at school, I'm usually that person who completes everything on my own after class.
Though, I feel that collaboration is crucial in SWC. I've done a lot of collaboration for my SRC cabin, which worked quite well (besides the fact that near the end my leader was generally inactive and I commented in the forum like 20 times asking for her input and she didn't respond.). Collaboration is a great way to share ideas and help others, which I think I can be good at most of the time. Usually before I do something, I check with the other leaders, see what they say about it, and make any changes.
I feel like I have a pretty good balance of doing things independently and collaborating.

Camper experience special? (Potions Coven)
As mentioned before in the cabin choices answer, I habe some cool ideas like Sci-fi Sandstorm, Dystopian Dynasty, and Adventure/Fantasy Academy, which all include eventful storylines and exciting tasks. But other than just the storyline, I would have prizes for having a certain amount of points or the cabin reaching something like 5th place, which would include pfps, art requests, writing critiques, and more. I would probably also host cabin wide activities to get the campers to know each other and have a fun ezperience. I was thinking of maybe having a raffle or some sort of writing competition, too. I have lots more cool ideas, but I think some of them may depend on the cabin's theme.

Checklist (Emperor's Coven)
✔ I will update word counts in a timely manner and ensure all on-Scratch records are up-to-date
✔ I will do my best to help out (and if leader, add points) in the main cabin
✔ I will modulate suspicious word counts according to the guidelines, and I will adhere to said guidelines myself
✔ I have read the entire FAQ section in the description of the Leader Apps project.

Thank you! (Glyph Coven)
Thank you for viewing my leader application, and I hope you choose me! If you choose me as a co-leader or not even a leader at all, I'll be completely fine with that. I will still sign up as a camper if I'm not a leader. Thanks again, and I hope you consider me!

SRC Leader Application: December 2022
Okay, so I'm applying…again…and this time I'm making my application Math themed. More specifically 8th Grade Honors Math. I'm just going to take 9 questions from my current math assignment and put them in a project. >:]

Q1) Select the table that would represent a proportional relationship.
a. correct
x | y
3 | 2
6 | 4
9 | 6
12 | 8

b. incorrect
x | y
2 | 10
4 | 12
6 | 14
8 | 16

c. incorrect
x | y
6 | 1
18 | 3
24 | 5
36 | 6

Q2) Select all the equations below, that have a greater unit rate, and hence be steeper, than y=2/3x. Select ALL that apply. Type in answer with no spaces, or else you will be marked as incorrect.
a. incorrect
y= (1/3x)+5
b. correct
y=4x
c. correct
y=3/4x
d. incorrect
y=2/3x

Q3) What is the unit rate (and also the constant of proportionality) of the table of values? (write any non-integer values as simplified fractions, no decimals no mixed numbers)
x | y
2/3 | 2
2 | 6
3 | 9
5 | 15
correct answer: 3

Q4) What is the unit rate (which is also the constant of proportionality) of the table of values? (write any non-integer values as simplified fractions, no decimals no mixed numbers). Please type in no spaces.
x | y
1/4 | 3/16
1/2 | 3/8
3/4 | 9/16
3/2 | 9/8
correct answer: 3/4

Q5) Using the diagram below, if the slope of the line is 1/2 , find the value of x. (write any non-integer values as simplified fractions, no decimals no mixed numbers.) Diagram not drawn to scale.
correct answer: 8

Q6) Using the diagram below, if the slope of the line is 3/4 , find the value of y, (write any non-integer values as simplified fractions, no decimals no mixed numbers.) Diagram not drawn to scale.
correct answer: 27

Q7) Using the diagram below, if the slope of the line is - 1/5 (yes that is a negative one fifth), find the value of y. (write any non-integer values as simplified fractions, no decimals no mixed numbers.) Diagram not drawn to scale. Please don't type in any spaces.
correct answer: 8/5

Q8) Solve, write your answer as the solution set with your variable in front. If your answer is no solution, write “no solution”. If your answer is all real numbers, write “all real numbers” (without the quotes). Don't write spaces unless your answer contains words.
1/2(x-6)-x<(1/2)x+3-x
correct answer: all real numbers

Q9) Solve the following word problem by defining the unknowns using one variable, then write and solve an equation to answer the question. Now, Cliff is 3 years older than his sister Lara. In 8 years, Lara will be 7 years older than half Cliff's age 8 years from now. How old is Cliff now? Just write your answer as the number.
correct answer: 12

Questions:
> Tell us about yourself
Hi! My name is Hermione, she/her, and an INTJ-A! I'm live in the PST timezone. I like reading, drawing, writing, animating, and playing baseball. Currently, my favorite book series are Harry Potter, Wings of Fire, Keeper of the Lost Cities, The School for Good and Evil, and The Hunger Games. I also like watching Star Wars and The Owl House (eee excited for season 3!!!). I enjoy playing baseball, as well as drawing, writing, animating, and, of course, reading. As you can probably tell from this project, I'm in 8th grade Honors Math (and English). To be honest, my favorite subjects in school are probably everything, but maayybeee History and PE by a little. This will be my…5th SRC session, I believe. I have co-led one session in April 2022 for Fantasy Forest. I'm really excited for this session!!
> Have you participated in SRC before?
Yes, I have. Like mentioned before, I have partook in 5 SRC sessions, my first session was August 2021, and I led Fantasy Forest in April 2022. Let's go Lee-ch Army!!!!
> What traits make you a good leader?
I'm in Boy Scouts - okay, well formally known as Scouts BSA - and leadership is a big thing to learn. I have learned firsthand that communication is key to a successful leadership. That being said, I communicate very effectively. I always send out reminders and reply within 24 hours to a comment. Additionally, I am very efficient and can multitask. Whether it's adding up a bunch of pages and points or writing a complex storyline or creating matching pfps. Also, I apply enough kindness and force to make sure the cabin runs perfectly. I lay down rules, and make sure to point those out who aren't following them, but not rudely or anything. I'm generally kind to all campers, and make sure their opinions and voices are heard.
> Is there anything that will prevent you from being active in December?
If I were to give myself a scale from 1-10, probably 7-9, which depends on my homework and other activities. I'm currently in Math Honors, which has a lot of homework, but I generally don't have any other homework. I currently know of no other big plans in December, and we have Winter Break, so that would free up a lot of time there. If anything were to come up, it would probably be minor and wouldn't affect anything. Though, if a big conflict were to occur, I would notify my (co)leader and the (co)hosts so they can get things done during my absence.
> Why do you want to be a (co)leader?
Hm…good question. Well, first off, I would want to lead to generally give back to all the people who have spent time and effort to make SRC run each session. Being a leader would just soften their load a bit, and leading also is like giving back to the Scratch community. It's also a good way to meet new people who share the same interests as you. Additionally, I really want to help improve my own leadership skills, as well as my peers. Leading comes with experience, and that experience has to come from somewhere! Even the one session I co-led SRC, I learned a lot about how to manage a cabin. For example, you have to complete most of your storyline ahead of time, or you have to be able to add up points really quickly, or lots of people ask the
> If you start to grow inactive during camp, will you tell a host about it?
> Do you feel comfortable enough to reach out for help if you need it?
> How will you make your cabin enjoyable for all of your campers?
> Is there anything else we should know?