Word wars log #5
Vs. Hi-fi
Words: 170
Result: Won
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(all the rest of them have been deleted??)

Through the confines of my bed, I stared at my bookshelf. It was nicely organized, neat rows of books lined up next to each other. Series were tied together, and some were color coordinated. Others scrambled. I wondered what to pick out from my shelf today. There was nothing on there that I hated, and nothing that I hadn’t read once. Maybe it was time for a new hobby. Or was it? I didn’t really know. I picked up the basic art supplies I had received from the school and began doodling. It was just stickmen, nothing too new, and I was not very proud of them. I wanted to learn animation, like the tootubers I watched. I wanted to have some decency when I came to outside trivia. Or, I could just sit on my but in my room and play pokemon go or dnd. I wanted dnd badly, but my parents told me to to waste my money on it. They mean, don’t waste our money on it.

Word Wars Log #6
Vs. Mystery
Words: 150
Result: Lost
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Oh, so I was floating in space. Well, this was certainly an unusual experience. I poked around at my hair, as it was levitating along with my body. Swimming in air was not the thing that I predicted my dream realm to be throwing at me today, but it was fun. I rocketed off of the inside interior of the spaceship, gliding. I had seen astronauts throw pieces of water in the air because they floated, and I scouted for a piece of my own. Aha, a perfect subject. I took a water bottle that was strapped to a nearby bench and released it into the atmosphere. It floated around and I watched it, transfixed and mezmorized at the idea of floating water. It was absurd! I finally gulped it up, and for some reason, it tasted better than normal. Maybe it was my imagination. I flung the whole water (unfinished)

Weekly 4:
Willow is the older sister to Cleo, and they are both elf-witches. This basically means they have the basic abilities of witches, but they are able to live much longer, thus the name elf-witch. Since she only lives with her sister and her mother, they can often run low on resources because their kind are quite nomadic. Willow hunts every day, and she gathers food for her mother to cook. She is very kind and caring towards those she cares about, but can appear as hostile and unwelcoming at first. She has black hair, dark skin, and bright green eyes. She loves exploring her homeland, Akenlia, and she is a direct descendant of the native people who once lived there. Willow enjoys hunting, meeting dragons and pegasi, going to the academy for school, and swimming in the ocean with her sister. In her academy, she is in her second year. The animal for that year is a fox, and Willow wears a cloak with a fox-shaped fastening as part of her school uniform. She's very assertive, serious, and definitely a realist, but she tends to loosen up around close family and friends. She also has a soft side for animals. While hunting for fish one day, she was headed towards the beach and preparing to sail to Dragon Isle, because the waters around the island had the largest fish. When she arrived there, she heard the whimper of a small animal, and found a baby sapphire dragon laying in the sand. Willow had decided to wait for the mother to show up so that she could fish in peace. When a day had passed and no mother came, Willow picked up her load of fish, cradled the baby dragon (which had grown to trust her) and brought it home, much to the delight of Cleo and the horror of her mother. They named the dragon Topaz, and they took care of it as their own pet.
Cleo is Willow's younger sister, and though they have similar appearances (with the exception of Cleo's bright violet eyes), she is built in ways that can be extremely different from her sister. For one, she is way more energetic and caring towards everyone, not just people she's close to. Willow once called her “our little four-leaf clover,” which was a fitting name, due to the fact that she could light up a room just by being in it. She has medium-length black hair, dark skin, and bright violet eyes, in comparison and contrast to her sister who's hair is longer and whose eyes are green instead. She loves any and all animals, and is caring and kind towards everyone, no matter their background and no matter how they treat her. She goes to an academy that is quite close to her sister's, and she is in her fifth year there. Her favourite animal is a phoenix, and she wears the symbol with her because in Akenlia, the phoenix is a symbol of good luck, cheerfulness, and rebirth. Cleo is the person in the household in charge of gathering berries from nearby (since she's young her mom and grandmother don't want her going too far) and taking care of Topaz the dragon. If her sister allows her to come fishing with her, she'll often spend the day being with the dragons of Dragon Isle or the pegasi, alicorns, and unicorns in Pegasus Valley. She doesn't understand why people try to take others' homes, and frankly, she's glad that her family hasn't lost their home at all. She loves hanging out with her sister, exploring Akenlia, playing with animals, practising her dancing, and reading. She's an avid reader who definitely enjoys almost any book she can get her hands on, quite unlike her sister.
The background I got was green and blue. This is the base of Akenlia, as it is mostly wooded thicket, with an exception for the bright blue and sandy beaches surrounding it. Akenlia is basically a fantasy island: it is home to fairies, dragons, pegasi, sea serpents, and much more. It is one main island, with a couple more islands scattered around it, often one to three miles away from the largest one, Akenlia itself. Akenlia was once home to only native and nomadic people, and those people were the only inhabitants. However, more people were born, and some of them began permanent lifestyles. Akenlia is home to thousands of native plants and creatures, and almost everyone lives a beautiful cottage core lifestyle there. Plants are literally everywhere (I mean everywhere), and they even have plants you can breathe into to prevent asthma or allergy triggers. Isn't that a cool place?
Willow breathed heavily as she stared down into the crystal clear ocean, spear in hand. At the first hint of movement she thrust it downwards quite quickly and quite forcefully, only to find out… wait, that wasn't a fish. Cleo popped up from out of the water and cried out in pain as scarlet red liquid dripped out of her hand and tainted the bright blue ocean with red streaks. Willow gasped and pulled her sister into the boat she was sailing in. She examined her hand thoroughly and pulled out a bandage.
“How many times do I have to tell you, Clover? Don't swim in the ocean while I'm fishing! We're extremely lucky I didn't hit any of your vital veins or Topaz…”
Cleo simply rolled her eyes. She was used to these kinds of lectures from her sister. She brushed her soaking wet hair out of her face with her good hand, then turned towards the ocean. “Topaz? Topaz! Come ‘ere, boy!” she whistled and clapped. Topaz’s sapphire blue form could be seen doggy-paddling across the waves, barely visible from the boat and the fact that there was a clear blue sky right above them, basically making the baby dragon invisible. Cleo had been training him to respond to the name, and she was good at it. He came when called and left when dismissed. Smart sapphire dragon Willow had thought.
Cleo pulled the dragon into the boat, wincing as it scratched her injured hand. Willow noticed this.
“Do you want me to take you home? I think we're about halfway from Akenlia, but Dragon Isle has some healing plants too. I don't have any on me, but this wouldn't have happened if you weren't being so childish and swimming while I had a spear and I was trying to fi-”
“Okay, okay, I get it, I get it. I screwed up. I promise I'm fine. Let's just go to the island already?” Cleo waved her hand and cut off her sister. “If worse comes to worst, I know a few simple healing charms from school that'll prevent infection. I'm fine.”
“This is what I hate about being the oldest,” Willow grumbled. “You have a perfect life set out for you. I hate it.”
“Love you too,” sang Cleo. “Anyways, are we there yet? I'm getting a little bored.”
“Deal with it. We haven't even started moving,” retorted Willow, a bit sternly. Her day had started off a bit roughly, and Cleo getting injured did not ease her mind one bit.
Cleo let out a harrumph and folded her hands against her chest. Willow began rowing the boat swiftly and quietly through the waves. Throughout the whole time, Cleo did not say a word.
“Clo, are you mad at me?” asked Willow apprehensively. “Look, I'm sorry for getting mad. I wasn't thinking right and- Cleo? Are you even listening to me?”
Cleo was simply staring at the waves, not showing any sign of having heard her sister. It was terrifying. One, because Cleo had better hearing than most of Akenlia, and two, Cleo was an omnivert who wouldn't shut up around her family. Her not doing either of those things scared Willow.
Willow began interrogating her sister a bit more, who did not turn around even once, even as Willow's pleas became a bit more desperate.
“C'mon Cleo, please just talk to me! I'll help you with whatever's wrong!”
Cleo did not respond. She stared with a blank expression towards the ocean, back turned to Willow. A shadow began looming over them both, but neither girl noticed, until…
The boat capsized.
Willow was thrust underwater. The shock caused her to gasp in surprise, which made her inhale water and caused her to choke, losing oxygen fast. She glanced around wildly. Where was Cleo? She realized she couldn't breathe, so she swam up for air. As soon as she hit the surface, she began gasping wildly. All of a sudden, dark clouds covered the clear blue sky, blocking out the sun completely. Everything was pitch black, then it began to rain.
Cleo wasn't sure what had come over her. One minute, everything was completely fine. She was playfully teasing and arguing with her sister as usual. The next, she couldn't hear anything at all, and she was stuck facing the ocean. She somehow knew that her sister was calling her, desperate for a response, but no matter what, she could not force her mouth open or even turn around. It was almost as if someone or something had temporarily taken over her body.
Then the boat capsized and Cleo was thrown about fifteen feet away from Willow. Wait a minute. She could control her body again! She noticed Topaz swimming to the surface, and she scooped him up in her arms and dashed up for air. She took a large gasp as her head bobbed in the waves. Cleo noticed her sister doing the same thing a couple of yards away. She began swimming towards her, but then Cleo noticed something glinting in the sand underneath the waves.
Cleo was not dumb. She knew very well that an object in the middle of the ocean would be much deeper than it appeared to be. However, a gut feeling told her it was important. Or was it the thing that had taken over her body just a few minutes ago? She wasn't sure, but she swam down there anyway. She had just managed to retrieve it, and then she saw what it was. It was some kind of ancient flute. She swam up to the surface, but then it all turned pitch black.
“Willow, where are you?” Cleo called. She was talking to herself more than her sister. “I- where am I? Where do I go now? What am I supposed to do? I just failed! I- What came over me? Who am I now? Am I someone different? Am I the same? I don't know if I'll ever know…” Cleo muttered to herself, desperate for answers.
Cleo was still clutching the flute tightly, and then she noticed it was glowing. There was some etching on it which read, The gems of Akenlia are at the heart, must be protected. Cleo paused. What gems? She was about to swim over to Willow and ask her about it (Willow was great at Akenlian history) but then there was a shimmering light, and the flute disappeared without a trace. Great.
Willow thrashed about the water, looking for Cleo. She noticed a shimmering golden light, then darkness. She began swimming towards it, then bumped into a warm, wet, soft object. Cleo! She brought her sister in for a hug, who returned it, confirming that it was indeed Cleo. Topaz spit some water towards the duo.
“Oh my gosh, Cleo, I was so worried,” murmured Willow. The two stayed in an embrace for a couple of minutes, desperately kicking underwater in an attempt to stay afloat. It was working, but just barely. Willow pulled away to try and look at her sister's face for evidence of what had happened earlier, only to remember that it was pitch black and she couldn't see a thing. Oh, and it was also raining quite heavily now. All of a sudden, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, then it all faded to black.
“What on earth even happened out there, Cleo? Why is your sister unconscious?”
“For the last time, Amma, I don't know why or how it happened. She was fine for one minute, and then she just collapsed!”
“Well there has to be some explanation! Your sister isn't scared of anything! She wouldn't have passed out from fear! And what do you mean when you say it was pitch black? You were fishing in the middle of the afternoon!”
“She's right,” said Willow, sitting up on the couch suddenly. “Neither of us saw it happen. It became really dark because the clouds covered the sun, and then it started raining. Neither of us could see a thing out there. We're lucky we made it out alive.”
Willow and Cleo's mother looked shocked. Their grandmother stood behind her daughter and nodded somberly. “It's true, Alia, what your daughters said. It's happened before, why wouldn't it happen again? They are indeed lucky, especially since they were in the middle of the ocean when it happened,” she said.
Cleo nodded and clutched her sister's hand and pulled hard, forcing Willow to her feet. “Amma, can I bring Willow to my room? She seems to be doing much better after all!”
Alia sighed softly. “Sure, Cleo. Be gentle. Remember that.”
Cleo was already pulling Willow up the stairs. “Okay, okay, I will, I promise Amma.” She pulled Willow into her room, wincing when her hand rubbed against her sister's arm.
“Are you okay? Did you disinfect the cut?” asked Willow. Cleo nodded. “How long was I out for? After the incident?”
“About 5 hours,” confirmed Cleo.
your character does something that is against what they would usually do / something sneaks behind your character / have the lights suddenly go out in the next scene / start a section from a different character or object's point of view / a character discovers an old instrument of some sort / include a scene where a character starts talking to themselves /

4th weekly
2542 words

Part 1:

Character 1
306 words
Age-17
Personality-extrovert
Name: Ralph Christ
Gender: male
Personality: Ralph is a student, interested in engineering. He has black spike hair and a pale coloured skin with eyes with the shine of the moon. He’s social and talks with basically everyone who approaches him, not knowing who has good intentions or bad intentions. He has a calm expression which puts many at ease when they look at his face. He’s helpful but he doesn’t stand lies and won’t stand gossiping at all. He has a pure mindset of following the rules, though he sometimes is negligent towards his work. He encourages students to work on different projects being a member of the student council committee. He is known throughout the school as the prince of mechanical engineering because of his talents in building machines for the school use. He hates the colour black because of it’s ominous vibes. He likes rainy days as he does get tired from all the popularity, he has because of his extrovert personality and the rain clearly reminds him of events he remembers with all his heart. He prefers quite places instead of crowded ones, where only the one’s he knows closely may accompany him. Many of his friends who don’t know him personally call him Christ, but it is offending to him in a way though he keeps up with the act. His hobby is to open up any mechanical machine he finds when sitting around freely and then making something out of it. Ralph is a sports enthusiast as well, he developed this passion from watching to many sports event on the TV. Though he isn’t at all athletic. He hopes to someday study in a university of top graduates and become a successful as well as well known mechanical engineer. He prefers cats as pets as they bring pleasure to him through their purring and cute behaviour.

Character 2
309 words
Age- 17
Personality- omnivert
Name: Elara Jo
Gender: female
Personality: Elara is a fortune teller who knows many magic tricks. She has long black hair up to her waist which she usually ties with ears like an elf, skin as vibrant flowers and with the eyes of an eagle. She has terribly mood swings because of her omnivert personality. So, when frightened or meeting new people she is always on guard and may sometimes may harm others if frightened to an extent unbearable by her. People who know her for a few days might think of her having a twin sister with her dual personality. Her friends know about this so not many approach her except for one of her childhood friends who she’s still in contact with. She is in love with roller coasters and is not at all afraid of ghosts or anything abnormal, as since the time she was four or five she loved to read horror stories. She likes to wear clothes covering her from top to bottom like the mages in games or animated cartoons. She is sensitive to light and has a weird allergy towards dairy products, making her unable to eat any food containing dairy. In other words, she isn’t able to taste many delicacies of the world. Her hobbies include playing pranks on her friends (it doesn’t necessarily need to be a friend it can be her enemy) and practising card tricks. She has a knack for knowing what a person is thinking about in a situation with their facial expressions. She rarely smiles or laughs as according to her its draining energy. Her favourite weather is monsoon in which she likes to blankly stare out of her window to the far side of the hill. She fears excitement which other humans basically anticipate like crazy, that is because of her fear of getting to excited and doing something wrong.

Setting: green and maroon, aurora borealis
157 words

The aurora borealis is an incredible phenomenon taking place in the northern cold hemispheres, also known as the northern lights. It occurs as a beautiful phenomenon lighting up the sky with different colours, such as green, maroon or blue. It was named by Galileo Galilei after the Roman goddess of Aurora, dawn and the Greek god of north winds. It is believed to be a holy dance in the sky, as it filles the sky with lights which reflect on the snow creating an amazing show. The lights that appear are in different shapes, sometimes appearing like sound waves in the sky. It can be seen from high altitudes or low lands where there aren’t many trees to cover up the sky. It has been discovered to be a phenomenon t have occurred over thirty thousand years ago. Many admire it for its beauty, not knowing the harm it does through its appearance in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Freewrite
473 words

“What’s that?” Ralph asked pointing towards the sky with curiosity and amazement of the skies dancing figures

“It’s… the aurora borealis” replied Elara with a frown, thinking to herself “Why am I stuck with a kid of all people” she groaned

“Is there a problem Ela?” asked Ralph politely

“Don’t call me that Ch-KID!” she shouted walking faster and faster, making a crunching sound in the snow with her boots

“Why didn’t she call me Christ” Ralph questioned, “Wait, wait, STOP Elara!” Ralph called out running to catch up to Elara

“What do you want now?!” roared Elara

“Why did you not call me Christ?” he asked panting

Elara burst into laughter after hearing this, as she said “Did you want me to call you that?”

“Umm-no”

“Then what’s the need to asking this stupid question” Elara commented as she turned around and kept walking

“Where are you going?” Ralph asked

“To the hotel of course, dummy! It’s almost nine” she replied in a calm manner with a grin

Hearing this Ralph checked his watch as he rushed behind her. They were supposed to get back to the hotel before nine if they wanted dinner

Elara pulled out the chair and sat down (including Ralph) as they waited patiently for someone to come and take their order. But turned out there was no staff so they had to get their food on their own.

Elara’s plate was filled to the top with not even space for sauce while Ralph’s plate had the bare minimum.

Elara kept stuffing food in her mouth as she chewed loudly.

“Cou-could you chew more softly?” asked Ralph

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t know you couldn’t handle loud chewing” she said with eyes of concern adding, “Maybe you should just sit on another table” she snickered

“Why not!” responded Ralph moving to another table and eating his meal in silence while Elara thought to herself “He really is a ‘PRINCE’, dose he even eat?”

Elara finished up eating as she got up from her table, satisfied and returned to her room, leaving behind her phone. Ralph noticed it and decide to give it back later when he would go back to his room, when a message came on Elara’s phone “Happy B-Day” it said. Getting to know this Ralph was surprised as he decided to plan something.

Elara remembered later on that she left her phone. So, she went down to get it when the lights where turned of “Why are the lights off?” she muttered.

The lights suddenly switched on with Ralph wishing “HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELARA!”

Elara was startled her mind was out of state as she rushed back to her room to calm herself down. At this Ralph was puzzled not knowing what had happened as he waited for Elara to come back and take her phone.

Part 2:

1297 words (excluding freewrite)
1770 words (including freewrite)

Introduce a pet who gives good life advice

Elara at the moment was excited inside but knew that if she felt anymore of this emotion, she might do something out of her control. When a dog, with fur as white as snow ran towards her. She was startled but when it licked her face, she felt her anxiety fade away.

The dog kept barking as if speaking, Elara thought it to be saying “Life is hard my friend, but if you push forward, you’ll get through it and you have me here” as the dog snuggled her or it might be that it was just attracted to her scent. Elara felt comforted thinking about what the dog might have spoken. Nevertheless, she wondered from where the dog came, but didn’t bother to go and check on this since she was tired. So, she told the dog, “You’ll stay with me right?”

The dog in reply barked happily. “I’ll assume that as “Yes!””. Elara felt that a pet gives very good life advice indeed. She snuggled it for quite some time, by the time she woke up it had only been ten minutes but the dog was fast asleep. So, she decided to head down and contact the person to whom the dog belongs.

One of your character’s beliefs is challenged

After everything was settled, she went to the dinning hall to get her phone back, where she saw Ralph sitting on a table and dozing off. She didn’t bother to ask him anything she just took her phone and covered him with a blanket.

While she was walking, she felt something clinging to her. When she turned around she found Ralph pulling her as he then asked, “Why did you run away?”

“Umm…because I didn’t have a stable mental state at that time” Elara replied annoyed

“But do your friends never throw you a party, don’t you feel that, that time”

“Of course, I do! And why are you asking me these questions anyway, because you threw me a party so I should be thankful-”

“Not thankful but appreciate it, my friends always threw me one”

“I’ll clear up one thing those people whom you call ‘friends’ are no friends of your, they are just using you.”

“That’s not true” responded Ralph in anger as incident’s flashed back in his mind

“I’m completely sure that after you got the title ‘Prince of Mechanical engineering’ all your friends from that point were fake, maybe your friends from before that might be true ones, but who knows” Elara replied yawning

“No-no” muttered Ralph with his head down low and eyes fixed to the ground, he knew what Elara was saying was right but he couldn’t believe it

“You might not have friends, but if you did you might know how encouraging they are in-”

Elara cut off Ralph and started speaking in a harsh manner, “Listen KID those hollow words from your friends don’t have meaning if they don’t know you and, in my case, yes, I don’t have friends but still there is one of them who encourages me with examples not hollow words…Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be going to bed”

Elara went to bed while Ralph wasn’t over with this topic and resented her, his belief was now scattered into pieces.

Introduce a clumsy supporting character

The very next morning they were meet with a big surprise…

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??” screamed Elara

“Just here to drop you a visit and some materials for the research” replied Kaley

“Where are your bag’s then?” asked Elara with a guess

“I …I think I left it at the airport…” replied Kaley averting eye contact with Elara, as she glared at her.

“I kne-”

“Who’s this Elara?” asked Ralph coming back from a morning run

“It’s umm… no one-”

“Hi!!” squealed Kaley pinching Ralph’s cheeks “Why didn’t you tell me you had someone else with you” asked Kaley

“It’s clearly shown why…ugh”

“Wh..ho …are… y..o..u”

Kaley first dusted herself and then spoke in a polite and bright manner, “Nice to meet you, I’m Kaley a friend of yours truly and a student at M university”

“What, she has friends?” questioned Ralph with suspicion

“Why won’t I?” asked Elara frowning

“Guys” Kaley screamed to stop them from fighting (to begin actually)

“GUYS”

“What?!” both of them responded simultaneously

“I left my phone in the cab”

“What?” gasped Ralph

“What! Then call the cab driver”

“I don’t have his number” replied Kaley as she started to cry

“Don’t worry, don’t worry…” Elara said comforting, “I’ll buy you a new one…”

“Ahh than-”

“…When we get back”

“That’s even worse,” cried Kaley

“Well… I happen to have an extra phone…would like to have that for now?” asked Ralph hesitantly

“YES!!-” squealed Kaley

“No don’t give her that, and you don’t need to do that-” said Elara

“It’s my wish and you don’t need to interfere” replied Ralph coldly

Start a section from a different character or object’s point of view

Ah…Hi I’m Kaley, Elara’s best friends as well as her only friend… And they are still arguing about to give me the phone or not to give me the phone.

“She’s very clumsy” said Elara, aww, thanks Eli I said in my mind

“But she need’s this to contact us!” responded Ralph, well that’s very much true I thought to myself.

Ok I think I’ve got the picture of how they became sworn enemies, Ralph must have done something stupid like see my text message and plan something for Eli since he seems the extrovert type of guy. Then must have been anxious from the surprise, thereafter some heart-to-heart talk must be there in which Ralph’s viewpoint was broken and that’s why they are like this.

But I think Eli said all that just to make Ralph realize something but I suppose it didn’t go through his head and his morals were broken so now they are fighting to prove who’s wrong…seems like it from the way they were behaving.

Ralph and Elara at that moment were still fighting while I figured out everything, he he… am I not smart.

Make a creature your character draws come to life

“Than how about you two do a challenge to decide…maybe a drawing challenge” suggests Kaley

“Alright!” both of them reply simultaneously

“But it needs to be a creature” added Kaley

“Do robotic machines count as creatures?” asked Ralph

“Hmm…yes” replied Kaley while Ralph was excited since he could draw the gears in just a few seconds.

They bring some sheets and some pencils,

“Now…GO!” declared Kaley

Both of them started drawing at a rapid speed, the time limit was 2 minutes.

“DONE!” declared Elara completing here piece in 1 minute and 10 seconds while Ralph completed soon after that.

“Eli what did you draw?” asked Kaley

“An abomination with wings and a tail” replied Elara as soon as she said those words the creature came to life…

“Aww it’s sooo adorable, aren’t you” said Kaley pinching the creature

“What is that?” asked Ralph nauseous

“It’s a cutie of course” replied Elara proudly.

“Elara is the winner” Kaley declared

“But you-”

“I know yours is a bucket of bolts and nothing can compare to this” replied Kaley with a glare snuggling the creature

“Then you won’t be getting your phone” said Elara laughing

“WHAT?”

Write their protagonist in their comfort place when they are stressed

Elara’s comfort place is where she can be alone, with no one bothering her or anyone making her feel anxious. She would put on headphones and start reading a book, doing so she would eventually fall asleep. And after waking up find her stress gone and her head as well as heart feeling much better. But sometimes she prefers someone who would listen to her, where Kaley comes in. Kaley listens to all of what Elara wants to say and Elara doesn’t hesitate either as she knowns that Kaley won’t tell this to anyone. Elara in the end receives feedback on her thoughts which clears up things for her.

/ introduce a pet who gives very good life advice / one of your character's beliefs is challenged / introduce a clumsy supporting character / start a section from a different character or object's point of view / Make a creature your character draws com to life / write their protagonist in their comfort place when they are stressed

Weekly done for Dystopia :)

(I'm so sorry this was seriously rushed and then I accidentally deleted some of the writing and couldn't restore it and–)

Weekly #4
Part 1: Write two 300-word biographies on two characters inspired by the card generator found on Birdi’s profile, 150 words describing a setting based on the colours of your cards, 400 words for the beginning of a story including your characters and the setting.

Character one card: Jack, Clubs, cream and dark brown
—

Biographical Information
Full name: Festus Creed
Titles: N/A
Age: 50-60
Species: Human
Ethnic Origin: Unknown

Personality and Traits

In Creed’s youth, he is described as a vain heart-breaker and puppet of the tyrannical ruler at the time. Though as the years crept by and he was summoned to fight, his true personality began to shine through. Having had had a brutal upbringing with a one-man-for-himself attitude, his past horrors and events obviously played a major part with his lack of ever thinking rationally. As a result, Creed’s selfishness also affected his reactions on the battlefield. In one instance, multiple lives were stolen after having abandoned them for fear of the loss of his own life.

This obviously shows that Festus Creed’s greatest weakness is the fear of dying. He has no care for others, though is shown as a brutal killer and soldier. He has no forgiveness and has a bad habit of always being tardy. Festus has always been a care-free and raggedy person, even in his most recent, elderly years.

Physical Description

In his earlier years Festus was described as almost handsome, though his glory years have obviously been swept away by now. His once ravenous black hair has long since greyed and hangs in thin locks. His body is riddled with scars from past combat and military conflict, and his skin sags with old age. Though Festus’s eyes stand out as the only remaining bold feature of his—a deep sapphire blue.

Relationships

Creed has never once remained close to anyone. His upbringing taught him that no one is ever to best trusted—they’ll abandon you eventually. He often comes off as rude and demanding, having never once made an effort for anyone. His supposed wartime comrades were killed as a result of his rashness.

Character two card: 5, diamonds, orange and yellow

—

Biographical Information

—
Name: Dorian
Titles: N/A
Age: 20
Species: Human
Ethnic origin: Unknown

Personality and Traits

Constantly abused from a young age and stops to prove himself worthy at nothing. Dorian was raised under the laws of his countries’ dictator and taught that the government knows best. He eventually comes to the conclusion that it is best to suffer in silence than face the multiple brutal torture methods intended for those who rebel against this new era that has recently risen up. Why bother rebelling against a completely and utterly immortal force when only failure is bound to accompany it, anyway?

Physical description

Dorian has never been the most attractive, though is always reminded that he resembles his father: a mop of dark and frizzy hair, and tall and scrawny with pine-green eyes. Of course he isn’t the healthiest either, having faced starvation and near-death in his earlier years. Food shortages had been frequent and the most vulnerable of his town (including himself) had faced burdens much greater than any human had the right to.

Relationships

Dorian, orphaned after his mother died in labor and his father to the military conflicts raging at the time of his birth, has practically always been alone since the start. He attended school with still-fading marks and bruises left from beatings in the orphanage and a permanent sucken expression on his face.

Setting

We never talk of the house that sits upon the hill in the far west corner of town, and the strange old man that lives inside of it is no exception.
It's always dark in there; he never turns the lights on. If he even has lights, that is. Though as it is impossible to tell, it remains a mystery to me. The windows are boarded shut and all doors have long since been locked. No one ever goes in, and nobody ever comes out save for old Festus Creed himself.
Sometimes, I think of his home, garden in particular, as an entire memorial to his life. I haven’t a clue what he did before such things became of his life. Perhaps he had been a soldier, medic, maybe even a refugee or survivor of the war. But he isn’t happy with his past, whatever it was, I expect. Creed had a permanent sucken expression and eyes hollow.
I can’t seem to find any pleasure in pounding such abstract philosophic questions about him, so I adjust my eyes downwards and keep walking.

Short Story
(Just some random account from Festus’s life)

Running, running, running…
Lucky thing I can run at all, actually. A bloke left back there had had his legs blown off by a mine. And whether that mine was planted in the first rebellion or the current one raging strong, I didn’t particularly care. Bomb was a bomb, lost life was a lost life.
My gun in slung over a shoulder as I sprint across the intersection, looking over the barrel to aim.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Blood sprays a little girl’s yellow raincoat with bright red.
Red. The colour of blood.

Part two:
Dice game
Activity 1: Write your character experiencing a rainy day at home
(I kind of took the rain bit and turned it into whatever this is I guess )

Sometimes, I imagine that we are like the rain. We waver and we sway, only a pitter patter. Our life essence is contained within the raindrops. We make ripples in the water; we have an effect on society. But never a big one. Not in this world, they tell us, anyway. We fall and we fall, but as soon as we hit the ground, it’s over. Done. Blankness. Oblivion.
Our government and rulers are like the clouds in a way as well; just another role to be played. They’re the ones that really have the big effects on our world. They built our society up from the ashes, produced the laws and rituals it is now our duty to follow. But they make mistakes, also, though it’s not like anyone ever points them out. Their flaws are the thunder and lightning, unable to be contained, completely and utterly immortal.
You don’t always get what you want. Don’t always deserve what you want. Who am I, who is anyone, to speak up against the people considered literal gods? Someone has to be at the bottom, the peasant class, after all.
That’s what they tell me anyway.

Word count: 194

Activity 2: A character’s personality changes

I do not recognise his character, nor even his voice or appearance. Though somehow, I know he is still the same person within that body. Only different, only changed. Whether intentional or something much greater not allowed to be spoken upon one’s lips remains a mystery to me. We are allowed to speak of it, actually, though I don’t see how brutal torture would be a pleasant discussion to have.
He'd always been rebellious I knew though, and the second option, unfortunately, seemed at greater odds.
He's still conscious, though, completely aware of his behaviour and actions, just under severe threat I suspect. What was usually a slouched, hunched over posture had become straighter and alert, and the usually raggedy-looking clothes had been exchanged for newer, crisper ones. The thought of him appearing in anything but his usual taste unnerved me. Though he was not himself, one thing I was completely and utterly sure of.
I didn’t particularly want to interact, so I alter my head downwards and keep walking.

Word count: 170

Activity 3: One of your character’s beliefs is challenged

I now question what I thought was once central in this world, what I once believed. But how, I still ask myself, can this new generation, this new era that has risen up, possibly erase years of worship? But no matter how many times I try and knock the sense into myself and return to my usual rituals, I find that it just doesn’t feel right anymore. This world, in fact, doesn’t feel right anymore.
I am blind, deaf, senseless. What can you possibly believe anymore? What’s right and what’s wrong? There is no clear identification between the two. Everything I once thought was life is gone, and so what remains of my life?
Though what I fear is nearing is the beginning of the end. The darkness is slowly enclosing not just my vision, but my whole world.

Word count: 139

Short story

I do not recognise him.
I do not recognise him, nor even his appearance or voice. It is at that that the realisation hit me.
He was one of our own.
Though whether he had changed intentionally or something much worse not allowed to be spoken upon one’s lips remains a mystery to me. But either way he had been unfaithful. We are allowed to talk about it, actually, though I just don’t see how brutal torture would be at all a pleasant conversation to have.
Though I knew he had always been rebellious, and unfortunately, it seemed that the second option was at much greater odds. Those who show rebellious behaviour will be punished.
But he was unfaithful and had betrayed us. And if one could possibly be so unfaithful that it goes the extra mile and betrays their belief, then I find myself questioning the existence of my own. In our religion, one would surely be directed off and onto the right path before giving into sin. How could this new era that has only recently build itself up from the ashes possibly erase years of worship? Though no matter how many times I try to knock the sense back into myself, I find that returning to my usual rituals simply feels wrong.
Neither do I recognise his appearance. The usually slouched and hunched over posture had been replaced by a straight back and confident gaze, and the tatty clothing I was accustomed to exchanged for newer, crisper looking ones.
He still remains conscious, though, and completely aware of all his actions, but just under severe threat I suspect.
I am deaf, blind, senseless. There is no clear indication between what is right and wrong, and everything that I once believed that was utterly and absolutely central in life is gone, and so what remains of my life?
That is why sometimes I imagine we are all like the rain. We waver and we sway, only a pitter patter. Our life essences are contained within the raindrops. We make ripples in the water; we have an effect on society. But never a big one. Not in this world, anyway, they tell us. We fall and we fall, but as soon as we hit the ground, it’s over. Done. Blankness. Oblivion.
Our government is like the clouds in a way as well; just another role to be played. They’re the ones that really have the big effects on our world. They built our society up from the ashes, produced the laws and rituals it is now our duty to follow. But they make mistakes, also, though it’s not like anyone ever points them out. Their flaws are the thunder and lightning, unable to be contained, completely and utterly immortal.
You don’t always get what you want. Don’t always deserve what you want. Who am I, who is anyone, to speak up against the people considered literal gods? Someone has to be at the bottom, the peasant class, after all.
That’s what they tell me anyway.

Word count: 1942

Daily March 30th.

Jagged lines stretched across its rough, umber bark. Lots of tiny leaves sprouted from its serene-looking branches. Birds nested in its protective leaves, butterflies fluttered around the pedals of its rosy pink blossoms. The plant was full of life and also generous enough to help others.
Its roots grasped the soil tightly while its pretty leaves, which were al sorts of shades of green, made swift movements according to the slight breeze. Its shade provided protection from the sun, and its fruit cherished many with thier indescibably delicious flavour. Appreciated by all, the scence was truely one deserving to be admired.

3/30/22 daily
136 words

i am flat, thin, and i come from the needed. i am the whitest white, and am torn and folded easily. though, if you chose to tear me apart, beware of cuts. the cuts you get even have a special name. you may already know what— or who i am, but what if i said: to some people, writing and drawing on me is disgraceful? people read me, and play me. sometimes, the black freckles on me are complicated to read, while other times, they are easier to read. i usually come with or are attached to multiple pages, and the authors who wrote the stories tattooed onto me have often passed away already. please dont spill things on me, im a bit old; or my stories are, at least. who do you think i am?!

102 word daily


The object I’m describing is made of gleaming metal. It is silver and the light can reflect off it. It also has two circular holes at the top, if you know what I mean. A person may pick up this object and use it in a way to change the properties of paper, cardboard, or easily bendable materials. The handle of this, (which consists of the two circular holes) can be any color, any design. People of all ages can use this tool, and it is very widespread. Every culture has it, or some tool that performs the same function, at least.

Description of Something without saying what it is….
‘Tis medium sized for the standards of what it is. Dark blue and gold, with a bit of red. White stickers on it that ruin its beauty, but… oh well. What’s in between the blue layer is what is important, and unaffected by the many hands that have touched it. Then again, I’ve found it so many times that I doubt that anyone besides me has touched it for a very long time. Pathetic. All should know of its glory.
When I open it, the emotions are very strong. My attachment to this object is not as strong as I’ve felt to others of its kind, fortunately, but I feel fear, and joy. My heart beats faster just looking at it.
I’m very sad that it’s not mine. It’s borrowed… But at least it’s a physical object. Getting attached to virtual things is the worst.


GUESS WHAT IT IS!!!! I COMMAND YOU!!!
145 words.

MC Daily :] exactly 100 words!

Guess my object:

My object is very big and wide, and it is sturdy enough to carry a person. You can lie on it to think, or relax, or sleep. It's usually comfy and soft, and the structure's often made of smooth wood. You lie on it at night to sleep and stay warm. You also can study or read a book on it. It often goes in your room, and it is quite often the main part of your room, actually. It's very important and helpful. You use it all year long, but probably value it a little more in the winter.

March 30th Daily : 232 Words

I randomly opened my eyes after closing them for a little while, as my head throbbed in pain. This was a long week, too long, and now I had to take this stupid test that I didn’t even study for. My blood was boiling and my tolerance was decreasing second by second– except, I didn’t know why. And that’s when I saw it. The nasty big fat thing that sat like a couch potato in the front of the classroom. Something to remind us, all of us, about the worst thing that had ever happened to us after almost a century of peace. A logo on it had the words “Best Smash” in bold white letters. I scoffed. Yeah right, I bet it couldn’t even kill a marine microbe! Every single tiring day when we entered the classroom, every.single.classroom. – it was there, staring slyly with its pointy white push cap, and its smooth, big body. It was always very still, in a curved position, like a model–except a not-so-loved one (though it was famous.) Sometimes I felt bad for it. It has so much potential, yet it sat there with nonchalance, making anyone who wiped it on their hand worry so much that one day they broke into a hygiene fit and soon… well soon they were the ones that ended up living– but I still prefer water and soap.

Guess what the object is!!!

Hint : Read the last sentence, you'll get it :)

Weekly #4
Cabin: poetry
Total words: 2299
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Characters:

A): 304 words

Card: 6 of hearts
age range: 10-15
personality: ambivert

Meet an ambiverted fellow human, who is fourteen and christened “Kira”. Kira is a very responsible citizen of her town, she is well known for her kindness towards other people and also, nature. She always makes sure the plants are well taken care of and she personally keeps a check on the gardeners to see if the plants are being watered properly or not. Kira has an interest in botany, and thus she keeps planting new plants often in her neighbourhood, thus increasing the biodiversity of her town. Kira has a lot of reputation due to this and this is what makes her parents proud.

She also adores photography. She aspires to be a wildlife photographer. As not many animals are spotted in her locality, she often likes to visit national parks and the zoo near by to interact with the animals and click pictures. As dangerous as it sounds to interact with wild animals, Kira is a daring girl who seems to have done a course on how to deal with all sorts of animals, be it a cat or something as wild as a lion! She absolutely loves birdwatching as well, so you can tell how much she loves nature. She also loves stargazing and astronomy.

Not only this, but Kira is also a bright child in school. She barely gets any complaints from her teachers and she knows way too much for her age. Her parents made her skip a class since they thought it was too easy for her, and yes it actually was. Even though she is studying with a batch that is older to her, she is still amongst the highest scorers. How she manages her studies along with her hobbies and supervising the neighbourhood is praiseworthy! Kia has a lot of friends who look after her and aspire to become someone like her.

B): 305 words

Card: 5 of spades
age range: 10-15
personality: extrovert

Amelia, fourteen years old, she is delight to have around! She is the most cheerful person one could ever meet. She has a very bubbly personality and it barely takes her 5 minutes to blend in and adapt new surroundings, and new people! She is a highly extroverted person who loves her friends more than anything. She has a lot of friends, for she is an extrovert and also very kind and fun to be with. However, over the years Amelia has known whom to trust and whom not to trust. She is very careful while choosing her friends, but that does not change the fact that she could blend in with her enemy as well within just 5 minutes, and then it looks like they are best of friends!
Her personality is adored by all her friends and barely anyone dislikes her. Those who dislike her, are probably jealous that they can not be like Amelia, as she one of a billion. Amelia is a nature lover and also a very good swimmer. She has gone to various swimming competitions and won almost all of them. She aspires to be an olympic swimmer and I'm sure she would be able to achieve this dream of hers. She is also a bright child who never fails to impress her teachers and classmates by her good grades. She is also an amateur artist. She paints for fun, and often does challenges with her friends. She is also good at singing, her melodious voice is loved by all. Amelia is for sure an all rounder, and she can be whatever she wants to be. Her parents are very supportive of her and let her do as many activities as she'd like, they believe its entirely her decision on what field she wants her career to be in.

———————————————————–
Setting: 160 words

Colours: Dark blue and Black

The story is set in the woods, at the night time. This is a hypothetical forest situated in the United States, and this forest is called “The Star Ville” Which means the city of stars, which indicates that stars are very clearly visible in this forest. It is a must visit for someone who loves astronomy because the evening sky is beautiful. In summer evenings, one can easily locate various constellations like the Ursa Major when stargazing. The forest is pollution free and thankfully industrialisation has not taken over the beauty of this forest. There are various animals found here, which are wild but still happen to be friendly and do not attack visitors unless they are troubled. One can find all sorts of animals here, Koalas, Tigers, Lions, Sloths, Bears etc. In the daytime, many families often come for a jungle safari and during the night it is open for visitors to openly move freely, at their own risk.

———————————————————–
Freewrite: 412 words

“Oh woah, this looks interesting!” Amelia exclaimed, reading an article in a magazine. “What’s up Amel?” Her best friend Kira suddenly barged into her room, and saw her reading something. Amelia looked up and smiled widely. “Ki!! What a timing! I was just thinking about you! Come on here look at this. I am sure you would love this too.” Amelia said. Kira went up to her and looked at what she was showing. “A new place of joy: The Star Ville” she read the heading. She continued reading the article and as she read on, she couldn’t help but smile. The Star Ville forest, which seemed to have recently drawn attention of the citizens, was an amazing place, a place with lots of wildlife animals, and extremely biodiverse and clean environment along with being an amazing spot for astronomy lovers who can gaze at stars, which are very prominently visible from here for hours. This was like Kira’s ideal place. This forest seriously had everything Kira adored. Not only Kira, but this place also attracted Amelia, who was a nature lover like Kira as well. Amelia was usually not interested in astronomy, but this forest seemed to attract her for some reason. “Oh my god! This forest seems so beautiful!! Its definitely my ideal place!” Kira exclaimed, followed by Amelia who stated that they must visit the place.

Amelia went over to her mother. “Mom, I read an article in the magazine you gave me earlier today. There was a place mentioned that has fascinated both Kira and me. Although its not safe for us to visit such a place by ourselves that too at night, since its a forest full of wild animals, so could you please please please arrange a trip there with Kira’s family?” She pleaded. “Oh my god, a forest?!!! Full of wild animals?!!!! At night?!!! NO I WOULD NOT LET ANY OF YOU TWO GO THERE BY ANY COSTS! That could be so dangerous!!” Her mother shouted. “But mom, there are guides that would make sure we’re safe and you will come along too!! Can we please go??” Amelia tried to convince but her mother was not ready to change her decision. It took Amelia a little help from Kira, who successfully convinced her parents, and over three days to convince her mother. It was decided that they would visit the forest, Kira, Amelia, Kira’s little, twelve year old sister, joy, Amelia’s older sister, Amanda, and their mothers.

———————————————————–
Continuation
Without freewrite: 1119 words
With freewrite: 1531

Activities: Introduce a pet who gives very good life advice // something completely unexpected happens which surprises everyone // kill off a character // make an important object disappear into thin air // Include a very long to-do list // Give one of your characters amnesia.

That same evening, inside Kira’s room was happening something really interesting. Joy, Amanda, Amelia and Kira all sat down on Kira’s study desk, planning out what all stuff they would do in the forest they were supposed to visit the next day. They were making a to-do list for the day ahead.
They were being accompanied by Amelia’s cat, coco, who could magically speak. Not really speak, it was just words that came out in “meows” but Amelia and Amanda somehow knew exactly what she meant. Coco was a very smart pet, she was not an ordinary cat, she tried to help Amanda and Amelia in every way possible and sometimes even gave them solutions that was better than what several humans gave them. Once when there was a gas leakage in their house, coco quickly sensed it and quickly alerted Amanda before it caused any damage. Amelia and Amanda’s father had passed away in a car crash when Amelia was nine and Amanda was eleven. This incident had completely shattered both of them since they were very close to their father. That time, it was Coco who somehow consoled the both of them when nobody, not even Kira or their own mother could. That is when everybody realised there must be something unique about Coco.

Coco was assisting them make a to-do list. The list included ideas from all of them. “Oh, I have always dreamt of seeing a Koala in person!!! They are so cute! Let me add that to the list I heard there are plenty of Koala in The Star Ville. “ Kira said as she added another thing to the list. “I want to see the Orion constellation! Its so amazing! I’ve just seen it in my textbooks and pictures! I wanna see it in reality! Kira please add it!” Added Amanda. “Meow meow” Coco meowed. “Oh Kira Coco wants us to find her some wild animals for her to befriend, and she’d like if it is a sloth. I’m not sure if cats and sloths can be friends but yeah why not!” Amelia said. “I don’t think there would be any orangutans over there but I’ve always wanted to see them so please add that as well” Joy said. Like this the evening passed and they completed the list which turned out to be extremely long, with about 150 items in it. They were all so excited to go. After finishing the list, they went to their homes to pack their backpacks, while their mothers packed theirs.

They were finally ready to go and Kira had a sleepless night, due to being over-excited about the thought going to her ideal place and how much fun she was going to have the following day. It was midnight and Joy was snoring, while Kira was unable to sleep. Amanda and Amelia were equally excited too, but Amelia was having a nightmare. It was about the time of her father’s death which had also immensely affected her mother, who was traumatised and suffered amnesia. She could not even recognise her own daughters for months, until coco suggested a doctor which cured her. “AAAH” Amelia shouted, scared by the nightmare, waking up Amanda in the process. Amanda hugged her and realised that she had seen the same nightmare once again as usual. She consoled her by mentioning the amazing day they were about to experience soon.

Next day passed by and soon it was night, which meant it was the time to leave! They all were very excited and they left in separate cars. The journey was three hour long, but it was worth it. They went on jamming to music and daydreaming about the things they might experience today. They soon reached their destination and the entrance of the forest was remarkable. They all stepped inside and started walking. It had been an hour since they had been walking when they realised that Coco was nowhere to be seen. This shocked everyone. They also realised that two of their torches had gone missing, which made it extremely difficult for them to walk in the dark. Amelia was sobbing at the thought of losing coco, and Kira was consoling her. Joy and Amanda wandered about a little to find the small creature, but she was not found. This was now worrying their mothers too, and they had started regretting the idea of visiting the Star Ville. They decided to go back and search for coco, and just then they saw two sources of light in a bush nearby, which seemed to look like the eyes of a demon or some sort of wild animal. Possibly a tiger since they have night vision. This frightened everyone but Kira being the daring girl she is, didn’t miss the opportunity to capture the “demon” in her camera. Then going near it, she tried to see what it was, and she was surprised to find coco with the two torches on her head. She sighed in relief and picked her up, petting her. She returned to everyone and everyone screamed in joy, and Amelia was fast to quickly grab Coco from Kira, hugging her tightly.

They decided to continue their journey, this time hand in hand so that no one I lost, and Coco rested in Amelia’s arms. It had been 3 hours and by now they had seen many animals and had also ticked off almost half of their extremely long to-do list. Kira was sad since she wasn’t able to find a Koala. That is when she felt a hand on her shoulder which felt different. She turned and saw that it was a baby koala hanging from a tree. She was delighted and made sure to capture the most of it in her camera. She was really having a lot of fun. Joy even spotted orangutans which she had no idea that she would find them over there. They made their way towards the stargazing area and everyone was really happy to see the beauty of the place. They had seen the Ursa Major constellation, but Amanda wanted to see the Orion constellation. They changed a few spots and finally spotted it! They found sloth bears and coco got herself some new friends! They continued wandering in the forest until their big to-do list was complete. This was indeed the best day ever. They couldn’t believe that they saw so many wonderful things in one day. The Star Ville was indeed a must visit. Amanda, Amelia, Joy, Kira, their mothers and Coco definitely made some life long memories in the star ville and had already decided that they would come and visit it sometime again in the future.

Daily 30:

My object is the size of my hand and could be opened or closed. If you open it, you would see thin white sheets inside that occasionally have math equations on. It also had some notes. If you lay it flat on it's back, you could see the front and the back. Which means my object has a spine. The white sheets are arranged in a particular way, since it's not being held together by those metal thins you see in binders. Instead, I'd imagine it being long and held flat then sewn to the spine in a sort of way., The white sheets don't have rows and rows of ink lettering on it, but random notes in random areas of the sheets. And the sheets are protected by a cover and back that is also sewn to the spine.

What is my object?

Asdgfhhjuaesdfigjwoesldfvbjvc WEEKLY!!!

WEEKLY FOR HIFI

Pt. 1:
• Background: White and white (don’t ask how that happened xD)
• Char. 1 - 4 of spades (extroverted, 10-20)
• Char. 2 - 6 of clubs (introverted, 10-20)

CHAR. 1
Name: Adelaide Whitaker
Age: 13
Species: Human
Personality type: Extroverted
Relatives: Mother, mother, (twin) sister and a mysterious uncle…

Adelaide is a very outgoing, popular girl. Everyone at her school wants to be like her (including people in higher grades). She’s very pretty, very funny, and - at times - very mean. It’s not like she’s an absolutely evil tyrant who everyone cowers at, but sometimes she just doesn’t understand the concept of ‘consequences’. She doesn’t really think about her actions, and how they might hurt someone. That’s not to say that she can never be kind; in fact, she can often be extremely welcoming, sweet-hearted and lovely - it’s just that occasionally, she says something she doesn’t realise is hurtful. Sometimes, she just lets the pressure of popularity get to her - in more ways than one. For example: Adelaide is incredibly smart. She’s quick-witted, resourceful, she has an amazing memory, and she could get all straight As if she really tried. But normally she just skips homework to go hang out with her friends by the pool - she lives in a very hot area, so she enjoys swimming. Her teachers always say that if she pushed herself, she could maybe even be top of the class, but Adelaide really doesn’t care. She says that she doesn’t want to be a, “Niminy-piminy nerd who everyone hates.”

Her family often pushes her hard to break away from her friends, who they think are a bad influence, and instead focus on her schoolwork - her twin sister April most of all. Adelaide is the younger twin (by 13 minutes) but you wouldn’t expect it at all. April lets Adelaide push her around and pretends to hate her for it, but you can see that all she does is look up to her sister - literally /and/ physically, as Adelaide is very tall.




CHAR. 2
Name: April Whitaker
Age: 13
Species: Human
Personality type: Introverted
Relatives: Mother, mother, twin sister, uncle and a hamster called Jill

April is essentially the opposite of her sister. She’s very introverted and shy, so she normally goes unnoticed. She’s very academic, and not ashamed to show it - her lowest ever grade is a B+ in Maths (which just so happens to be Adelaide’s favourite subject). The way Adelaide describes her, everyone would expect her to look like an ugly nerd, but the truth is that she’s just as beautiful - if not more than - as her sister, as they’re identical. Teachers are always extremely surprised to see that she is Adelaide’s sister, even though they look the same - she is just /so/ smart. Her best subject is English, and she is currently writing a novel based around Greek mythology - which will break her heart when Adelaide becomes a goddess > (wait, now I actually feel bad xD). April has one main friend called Ilse but apart from that, she only has her hamster, called Jill. Jill is basically her safety net if anything goes wrong, or she just feels upset.

April is quite claustrophobic (similar to her sister) and doesn’t like being far away from home for long periods of time. She doesn’t like going on holiday for that reason, which means that she wouldn’t really last long on Mt Olympus (this is partially why Adelaide was chosen to be a goddess, not her). April doesn’t really like spiders or bugs in general.

April has wavy, black hair and almost black eyes. She (obviously) normally wears her school uniform, but when out of school, she wears things like bell bottoms and t-shirts with ‘SAVE OUR SEAS’ or ‘EQUAL HUMAN RIGHTS’. She’s a profound activist, and sometimes gets laughed at for this.




SETTING

Mount Olympus

Mount Olympus is very different to how people imagine it. It isn’t really all it’s blown up to be. As Dionysus says, “No wonder Zeus is grumpy.” It is essentially a cave (of course, a big one) with a few torches and mosaics of Zeus smiting humans. For those who don’t know (such as Adelaide), Mount Olympus is home to the Greek gods and goddesses. It is also home to nymphs, centaurs, and many other mythical creatures. The cave provides ‘temples’ for each god or goddess - for example, Hades has a black room, with a trapdoor to the Underworld under the skull carpet, and Poseidon to the sea. For Adelaide, there is a pool and a makeup station - she gets bullied for the first time in her life because of this.

Also, Mount Olympus was designed by a nymph, which means that it’s very nature-y (is that a word?) on the outside - moss, grass, etc.

However, Mt. Olympus /is/ in the clouds (hence the white & white)




FREEWRITE:

/”Jeez, I’m never gonna finish that science homework.”
“Omigodomigodomigod. Did you hear the news?”
“I know for a fact that Miriam cheated on that pop quiz.”
“Ugh, what? He is SO not right for her.”
“Y’know, I think Mr Allen noticed but just didn’t care.”
“Guys, wait! Adelaide’s coming!”/

The eyes of gossiping students widened in awe as a girl with wavy brunette hair walked by, holding a pile of at least thirteen books.

“Addie! Over here!”
“WE’REYOURBIGGESTHUGESTEVERFANSPLEASECOMETOUS!”

The girl rolled her eyes, and walked past.

“But - but -” Amelia asked, a frown upon her freckled face. Emily readjusted her glasses, brushing away her frizzy hair.
“Adelaide would /never/ do that -” she stopped. “Guys, look at the scar on her chin! That’s -”

Emily was cut off by an almost simultaneous groan.

“APRIL.”

That girl was not the most popular person in the entire school - the beautiful, ravishing girl they idolised. No, it was April Whitaker, her ‘weirdo’, ‘nerdy’ sister. Twin sister, to be exact.


——



“Ma-ae? Anyone home?”

April paused in her tracks. It was so silent, she could almost hear the house breathing. It was clearly empty, and Adelaide wouldn’t be back for an hour from her netball.

So she was alone. Something ominous was in the air - she could feel it.

“O-okay. W-well then. I’ll just …”

Carefully, ever so carefully, she padded upstairs.
“Hello-o. Mae? Where are you? Didn’t you say you had the day off?”

“ADELAIDE! OH, THANK HOLY ZEUS - I THOUGHT YOU’D NEVER COME!”

April stood speechless, physically unable to open her mouth. It was like she was suddenly made of granite. Standing front of her was a complete and utter stranger. An intruder. In her house. Weren’t those security cameras Ann put in to protect strangers? Did they not work?

“I can see you’re … slightly confused.” the intruder chuckled. “But never fear. For I - the great and powerful Aristaeus,”
“W-wait. Tyche? As in - like - Greek god Aristaeus? God of cheesemakers, beekeepers, and rural crafts?” Aristaeus clapped April on the back.
“And you’re smart too!” he cheered. “And at least you know who I am, Adelaide,” he muttered under his breath.
“A-Adelaide? I think you might’ve made a mistake … I’m not -”
“Dear Addie. /You/ have been chosen to be a goddess of Olympus. You’ll have infinite life, power and happiness.” He laughed. “I see you don’t believe me. Will /this/ convince you?”

April’s jaw dropped as she saw what was in front of her. What was once a blank wall was now covered by a huge portal. Her breath caught.
“Well? Are you going through or not?”

She stepped through.

In front of April was a cave. A /floating/ cave. Upon hundreds and hundreds of bleached-white clouds. Around the cave was moss, flowers, soil, bluebells, daffodils - it was …
“Magical.”

/BANG!/

A jolt ran down April’s spine. She knew that bang well.
“April? A-pril! I’m ho-ome!”

April crept through the abyss and rushed downstairs.






PART 2

Unconscious
Amnesia
Something behind dark curtain
Gum in hair
Rainy day
Meaning of life

/“I don’t know who she is…”
“What do you think’s wrong with her?”
“Maybe she’s from … I don’t know. Muspelheim?”
“Well, she has obviously fainted, that much we know. We just must decipher why.”
“Do you think we should call an Olympian Council Meeting?”
“No. I think more likely Alfheim. Only elves could be that beautiful.”
“Athena, please don’t. Stop being a nerd.”
“Of course not! Zeus will get in the way like he always does.”
“Excuse me, Dionysus?”
“WILL YOU STOP WITH YOUR OBSESSION WITH ELVES?”
“Everyone … I think she’s waking up.”/

The girl’s eyelid fluttered. Where was she?

Every muscle in her body ached. She groaned as she sat up, a stabbing pain in her shoulder. All she remembered was a fall …

“Ahem. I said /ahem/! Excuse me everybody, coming through -” a man was squeezing through the crowd, his bald head shining with sweat. “Ah. This is the girl you were talking about, I assume?”
“This is the girl you were talking about, I assume?” a young boy in the crowd mimicked. They all laughed, the giggles reverberating through the girl’s head. Too loud, too sharp - it filled her head with echoes of cackles, until it felt like her head was split in half.

The bald man looked around nervously, “W-well. That’s rather rude.”

The girl screwed her eyes shut. The echoes were dimming …
“W-who /are/ you?” she asked.
“Why, isn’t it obvious?” the man blustered. “I am Pan, God of the Wild. And you are?”
“I - I don’t know.”

———

“Let me get this straight.” Aristaeus grumbled. “You have an identical twin sister who absolutely hates Greek mythology but is about to become a goddess,”
“Correct.” April said.
“And now she is unconscious and has no memory of who or where she is.”
“… also correct.”
“And it’s all your fault.”

Silence.

“Y-yes?”
“Great. Well, what are we going to do now, eh? She clearly doesn’t want to be a goddess -”
“100 percent not.”
“Okay. So we need a plan.”

April winced as she remembered what damage she’d caused in the last two hours.

/Her heart sank. A girl, almost identical to her, stood in the doorway, a puzzled look on her face.

Adelaide.

“Um.” Aristaeus said. “Who is she?”
“That’s - that’s Adelaide.”
“THAT’S Adelaide? But-”
“We’re twins,” April explained apologetically.
“Wait. If that’s Adelaide … then who are you?”

“April? April, who is this man?”
“One sec, Ad.”

Ad. April hadn’t called her sister that in years. They’d drifted apart … April sometimes regretted it. But she immediately put that thought out of her mind.

She could see Aristaeus’ panicked face. He had no idea what was going on … neither really did she. Suddenly, all the emotions came crashing down. A torrent of anger, years of being put aside, second to her sister. An avalanche of fear, fear of this strange new world that had just been opened. And a tsunami of heartbreak. She had been so close - so close to being admired, even worshipped, but Adelaide just had to step in.

Before she knew what was happening, a stormcloud had appeared above her head, raining down on the house. Before long, they were wading through inch-thick water. Aristaeus’ face grew more and more panicked.

What was happening?

She looked around desperately, searching for any way out of this nightmare. But then she saw something else.

Adelaide was out cold.

And then she was gone.

And according to Aristaeus, gone to Olympus./

“Essentially, all your emotions blended together, mixed with my ‘godly powers’, and pouf! You know, tidal wave and everything. So what we need to figure out is how to undo that. How to somehow erase Adelaide’s name from the ‘list of godly candidates’. And then find someone else to replace her - because unfortunately, Aphrodite was slain by a hydra, and we have an empty goddess spot. So how do we do that?”
“You think I know?”
“Well, you’re smarter than your sister. You told me that yourself. So /think/.”

April groaned.

“I miss my old life. And Jill.”
“Who? Did you say /Jill/?” Aristaeus snickered.
“Yes, Jill. My hamster.” April said defensively.
Aristaeus chortled, “Jill! Of all names! JILL! Why not … Poseidon? Hestia? Ooh, Hestia’s a great name for a hamster!” April rolled her eyes.
“As in, Hestia, goddess of the hearth?”
“You really know your stuff, don’t you!”
April blushed, “Well, I am kind of a mythology nerd.”

Aristaeus snapped his fingers.

“So /you/ fill in for her.”

———

Adelaide was having the time of her life. All she’d had to do was tell a little white lie (she was the daughter of Zeus, just a random name she’d heard along with ‘will just get in the way of things’) and now she was treated like a queen. She was utterly carefree: a handsome teenager named Hades in a punk t-shirt introduced himself as the God of Death and then played her a grunge song on his electric keytar, a lady gave her a diamond tiara and weaved a celebratory tapestry of her - she even got a gum brand named after her; Zeus’ Daughter: Bubbly and Gummy! Did she get it stuck in her hair? Yes. Did she pay any attention to it? No. And Zeus … well, she actually didn’t know what Zeus thought, but she didn’t care. As long as he didn’t know about this whole ‘daughter’ thing, it was fine by her.

She still didn’t know where she was, but she didn’t let that bother her - there was a swimming pool, for goodness’ sake! And she’d remembered her name - that was a bonus. She was 100 percent worry-free.

Yes.










Well. That wasn’t quite true. She still couldn’t shake off a nagging feeling that she wasn’t meant to be here. So when two strangers turned up at - well, wherever she was - after about three days, claiming to want to see her, she wasn’t as surprised as everyone else. Apparently this area of the world ‘never got visitors’.

“Milady.” A nymph bowed down at her. “They’re here.”
“Well, let them in, then!” exclaimed Adelaide, a bright pink fan in hand.
“Yes, of course.”

The door creaked open.
“Adelaide! What …” The visitor frowned. “What are you doing?”
“Excuse me, how do you know my name?”
“Ad? Addie? We’re twins! Identical!”
“That’s what got you two into this mess in the first place,” muttered the second visitor.

Now that she thought of it, the girl did look exactly like her… Could it be?

“I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.” Adelaide said airily.
“But -”
“You came here to tell me something. If you don’t have it, I suggest you leave.”

The girl was taken aback, “Ad, I always knew you could be selfish, but … this ‘goddess’ business has gotten to your head. I think we need to go.”

She reached out to grab her twin sister’s hand, but Adelaide recoiled.

“I think I’ll have to fill her in.” said the second visitor gravely.

———

“I get it now. You did /so/ much for me, April. You gave up /so/ much!”
“Two sisters united.”
“Together forever.”

Aristaeus looked back on the two twins.
“The goddesses of family.”

Adelaide looked blissfully around the room … and then she saw a shadow behind the curtain.

“How did that get here?” laughed Adelaide.
“JILL!”

SWC weekly #4:
Part one:
Bio one: 8 of hearts

Cam Garrison is a 23-year-old male. He is an average height, about 5’8”, has curly dirty-blond hair that flops over his eyes, and a light complexion. He is a senior in college and is majoring in computer science. He generally wears blue jeans and a t-shirt, and doesn’t care very much about fashion. He has t-shirts of various colors and designs, but will mostly wear plain shirts or shirts with video game references on them. If it’s cold, he’ll wear a hoodie with his university logo on it.
Cam is an ambivert, and although he loves talking to people online you’ll rarely see him speaking in front of a large crowd (in real life). He’s generally friendly, and very loyal to his friends. He has a bit of a problem with profanity when he’s gaming online, but not when he’s talking to people in real life. Cam is quick to make friends, but slow to trust people fully. If he doesn’t get enough time to himself though, he is a huge crab.
Aside from video games and computer stuff, Cam likes to read, especially historical fiction, nonfiction and science fiction. His favorite book is Ready Player One (because /of course/ it is).
Cam is not particularly athletic and doesn’t participate in any team sports, but he walks every morning on the university campus. He can be a little self-conscious and doesn’t want to seem self-absorbed, so he won’t talk about himself much unless he really trusts the person, and instead will listen to other people talk about their lives.
If he has spare time, Cam will probably be playing a video game, walking or reading, but if he’s not doing any of those things you can find him in the campus chapel. He’s not religious, but the campus is on the roof of the building and Cam likes the serenity he can find there.
Cam’s favorite thing to do with his real life friends is get pizza at the local sports bar, especially if there’s a football or basketball game going on (even though he doesn’t play a sport, he likes to watch the home team).
Cam dreams of being a software developer and possibly a game designer. He doesn’t like spiders or moths, and is terrified of losing his close friends. He isn’t a fan of getting into arguments, but will hold his ground when it counts. Although he is easygoing with people, he is determined in his studies and can get a bit stubborn if there’s an irritating bug in his code.

424 words

Bio 2: ace of spades

Ramona Heartford is a 64-year-old woman. She is a little over average height at 5’7”. She has long silver hair, striking blue eyes, and wrinkled skin with a deep tan from many years spent outdoors. She has lived in the college town all her life and doesn’t plan on leaving. She is currently retired, but spent her career as a day-trader in the stock market and still works at a climbing gym for fun. Ramona usually wears black leggings, brightly colored tank tops (long-sleeved shirts when it’s cold), and sneakers.
Ramona is an extrovert with a sharp sense of humor. She loves to meet new people, and with the exception of an occasional sarcastic remark, is very friendly. Most of Ramona’s old friends have moved out of the town, so her good friends are at the climbing gym now. Ramona likes to learn about other people’s stories, and loves to share her own. She enjoys being by herself, but gets lonely quickly and needs to be with her friends.
Ramona is very outdoorsy. She played tennis in high school but doesn’t like it very much anymore, preferring to hike, bike, or run. She likes to camp in the nearby mountains or run on the beach. She likes to write and hopes to write a memoir someday. Ramona listens to a lot of NPR, and is trying to learn how to use watercolor paints, although she isn’t very good at it yet.
Ramona isn’t /technically/ scared of death; what she is scared of is the idea that her life was meaningless. She spent most of her life as a daytrader before realizing how pointless it was. Now she participates in a lot of community service initiatives and teaches young people about money management and investing, in the hopes that she’ll leave the world better than it was before she lived. Ramona can be a bit pushy sometimes, but most of the time she is just talkative and vivacious.

327 words

Setting: blue and pink (thought this was supposed to be 400 words so I wrote WAY too much oopsie)

This story takes place in a college town. The school is called Mangoes University and its colors are blue and pink. Its mascot is Marc Mangosen. On one side of the town is the coast. There are sandy beaches. Sadly, the beaches have a lot of trash on them, but there are a lot of volunteers dedicated to cleaning it up. The town gets hot in the summer but is temperate in all the other seasons. On the other side of the town is a small mountain range. There are rocky hills that have many popular hiking and biking trails. Some people like to camp in the mountain range, and its unique rock formations have good overlooks.
Like all college towns, the town has a lot of bars and pizza places. There are the normal businesses that any town would have, but the biggest feature of the town is Mangoes University. It specializes in creative writing and computer courses but also has pretty good sports teams. The MU campus is beautiful, with tree-lined sidewalks and old stone buildings. There are a lot of green spaces and the landscapers use native plants in the landscaping. Oftentimes you will see a student reading in a hammock hung between two trees, or sipping coffee on a park bench.
The main MU building sits in the center of the campus. It is where the bell tower and the library is, as well as the auditorium. Other buildings are the music department, the art classrooms, and the computer building (which has a greenhouse on the roof). The writing classrooms are in the big building with the bell tower.
A little farther away is the athletic complex, which has a football field, a soccer field, tennis courts, a basketball stadium, and a swimming pool. Mangoes University doesn’t have a big athletics program but they usually have a good team that wins most of the games.
The college has student housing on-campus, but non-students like Ramona live a little farther away from the college. Right now the town is working on repairing and replacing all the stop lights, so traffic is very bad. Some people commuted by foot before the stop light replacement, but more people are doing it now that there is a traffic problem.
The town is known for its beautiful sunsets; a popular activity is to hike out to an overlook and watch the sun set over the town and the ocean.

408 words

Freewrite:

Cam rubbed his eyes and stretched. It was probably time to log off the computer. Cam was trying to set limits on screen time, and for the most part, failing miserably. But he’d been online all day, and his head hurt. It was probably for the best if he got offline; his future eyesight would certainly thank him. Cam typed a “goodbye” to his friends and signed out of the server. He took a look at the wall clock - the sun would set in about an hour. It was a Saturday. Cam didn’t have much homework. Might as well go to an overlook and watch the sunset.
-
Ramona had been hiking all day, and had no intention of stopping. The sun, however, had other plans. She checked her Garmin watch and frowned when she saw the time. It had been a lovely day. There was nothing better in this world than a hike in the forest. Oh well. The sun was setting; might as well go to an overlook and watch the sunset.
-
Cam didn’t really know where he was going. He usually walked on the paved, predictable sidewalks at the MU campus, and this forest was a far cry from that. In fact, it was the exact opposite. And Cam was lost.
“Hello there!”
There was someone else on the trail. Cam looked behind him and saw an older woman walking his way. She was wearing hiking shoes; clearly she knew more about this forest than Vans-clad Cam did.
“Going to see the sunset?”
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Cam said sheepishly, “but I’m sort of lost. I’ve never been up here before.”
“That’s where I’m headed,” the woman said, “if you’d like to walk with me.”
-
Cam sat on the overlook, his legs swinging off the edge. He and Ramona had been chatting for a while now. She liked to talk, but also liked to listen. Cam had just met her, but somehow it was easy to tell her about his life; easier than it was with most people.
“I want to change the world, and for the better,” Cam confided, “but I don’t know how.”
Ramona smiled.
“There are a lot of people in the world who don’t think about others. Wanting to make things better? That’s a start. Someday, that start will turn into a plan, and that plan will turn into action… and if enough people take action, things will change. You just watch, Cam Garrison.”
-
The two looked out into the setting sun. They had never seen each other before; but because they had met, their lives were both infinitely better.
Ramona was right: It was a start.

445 words

Part 2 (continued from freewrite, if I understand correctly the 1500 words /was/ including the freewrite so this is just over 1000):
The things I got were:
A character’s personality changes
Write in a dream sequence
Your character discovers the meaning of life
Include a scene where a character starts talking to themselves
Include three similes and a metaphor in what you’ve written so far
The weather changes suddenly to darkness
(jsyk when I added in the similes and metaphor they were “like he was a bleary-eyed zombie,” “like he was seeing life through a smudged camera lens,” and “a heart of stone.”)

Cam’s heart dropped as he read the obituaries. “Ramona Heartford, aged 64, died of a heart attack last night. Ramona loved hiking, camping, and…”
Cam couldn’t read any more. Ramona was the woman who he’d talked with that day he’d hiked out to the sunset. She had changed his life. And now she was gone. Cam crumpled up the newspaper and powered up his computer. He didn’t get on a game, or talk to his friends. He didn’t talk to anyone. In fact, he just scrolled. He scrolled and scrolled like he was a bleary-eyed zombie. He scrolled until his mind was numb; until he couldn’t feel sadness, or loneliness, or anything at all.
-
“Cam?”
Cam looked around. Everything was fuzzy, like he was seeing life through a smudged camera lens.
“Cam?”
It was Ramona. Ramona, who was supposed to be dead. Cam wanted to say something, but didn’t.
“You look like you have something to say.”
How was it that Ramona always knew what was on Cam’s mind?
“Well, say it!” Ramona was angry now. “What happened to you?! You used to be one of the most socially adept college students I knew! Now you’re a total recluse - you’ve stopped talking to your friends, both real life and online; you’ve stopped answering questions in class, even when you know the answer…”
“I want to wake up,” Cam mumbled, almost subconsciously.
Ramona raised her eyebrows. “You want to wake up? Hide from society? Hide from responsibility? Hide from yourself? Well, go ahead. Forget what I said about changing the world for the better. You can’t even change yourself.”
Ramona’s words stung. Cam had never seen her this angry.
“I WANT TO WAKE UP!” he shouted.
-
Cam sat at the overlook, watching the sunset. He had been doing this every day since Ramona’s death. It brought a strange sort of peace, but with it came the knowledge that he was doing something wrong in his life. Wherever Ramona was, she was certainly frowning down on him from the afterlife. Last night’s dream certainly proved as much.
Maybe Cam /was/ doing something wrong. All the old folks in his life had died before he was born. It sounded childish, but he’d never experienced death before.
The setting sun left brushmarks of pink on the sky. It made Cam think of the day he’d met Ramona. Cam remembered something she’d said to him:
“It’s okay that you don’t know where you’re going. Sometimes, it’s good to be a little lost. That way, you can find things you never thought you were looking for.”
Most of Ramona’s sayings Cam had forgotten, or let fly over his head while he pretended to nod. But this one was coming back to him, for some reason. Cam didn’t want to think about what it meant. Ever since he’d lost his friend, Cam had been trying not to think. Thinking was painful.
He thought about it anyway.
Cam didn’t want Ramona’s death to give him a heart of stone. Ever since it happened, he’d been trying to become numb. He wanted to forget the pain. But… by trying to forget it, he was unable to let go.
The sun set, and along with it, Cam’s old life. As the sky filled with stars, a new chapter began.
Maybe, just maybe… The meaning of life was to love, even if those you loved were gone.
That was what Ramona had been trying to tell him all along.
-
Cam didn’t normally talk to himself. Ramona did.
“I must be picking up habits from Ramon- gah! This is annoying. I only ever talk to myself when I’m playing video games, and even then very little. It annoys people.”
Cam tried to stop talking to himself and think silently instead. He needed to make it right to the people who he’d ignored over the past almost-week.
“I need to make it right to the people-”
Ugh.
-
Cam was walking to the library. That was where his friends were most likely hanging out. He rehearsed to himself as he walked, drawing a few weird stares from people nearby.
“Guys, I’m sorry for- No. I’m sorry, guys. I’ve been really shut off the past few days, and I want to-”
Cam gave up. He’d make it up as he went. That was sure to end well, and wouldn’t be awkward at all.
-
“Hey, guys,” he said to his friends. They were sitting at a table in the library, chatting and looking at books. His friends had a habit of annoying the librarians with their laughter, but at least they took care of the books. That was better than most could say.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in! Where have you been, Cam?”
That was Lisa. An English major with white-blond hair and a love for sarcasm, Lisa was fiercely loyal to her friends - unless she could turn their mistakes into a New York Times-worthy short story.
“I’m sorry,” Cam started, “I’m really sorry. I’ve been a total-”
He didn’t get a chance to finish. Lisa hugged him hard, knocking the wind out of him.
“Careful! You’re strangling me!”
His other friends laughed and came over.
“We forgive you,” said James. “Seriously, though, what’s up? You /have/ been really off the past few days.”
“Meh, nothing much,” Cam joked, “only a friend’s death, a major life philosophy change, and a genuinely creepy nightmare.” In a more serious tone, he continued, “I’ve been a jerk. I didn’t know how to deal with my emotions, so I decided not to deal with them at all. I hope I can make it up to you, somehow.”
James smiled. “You’re here. That’s enough.”
-
Cam and his friends left the library (to the relief of the weary librarians), laughing and making plans. And somehow, Cam knew that it was all going to be okay.
-
Cam sat on the overlook, watching the evening sun. Before, he had forced himself to come here. Now, he came just for himself. The view was amazing, after all. Cam knew that Ramona was going to be with him always, even if she was gone from the physical world.
-
The sun was suddenly obscured by a cloud as a storm began to brew over the ocean.The storm had come up quite abruptly, and at one point, he would have been worried. Not today. Instead, he breathed in the fresh air, relishing in the almost-rain humidity.
“I’ll change the world, Ramona,” he said, “just you wait.”
-

1081 words not including freewrite (1526 with freewrite)

Total for weekly: 2685

Weekly 4

Characters

Card One
Card - Queen of clubs (40-60 years old, introvert)

Phoebe MacLeoud is a 45-year-old woman who lives with her husband, James, and two kids, Hannah and Thomas, in a small house on an island that they've been isolated on since before the kids were born. Phoebe, as an introvert, enjoys the quiet, especially when she can just go somewhere else and there would be no one nearby. However, she does get a little lonely. Although she preferred isolation back in her old life on the mainland, she now misses what few yet good friends she had, and tries to keep touch through technology, though she knows it will still be quite a long time until she can see them again in person. She and her husband both work together to homeschool the children, and Phoebe's role in this is to teach them what will and won't kill them, math, and language. Phoebe likes to read, listen to music, and explore the island with her children, because there's always more to discover, even after over a decade. Sometimes, she even likes to hide little surprises and toys in certain areas where she plans on taking the kids, so that they can find them. Phoebe is very observant and has a good memory, so she almost never loses these surprises, even if Hannah and Thomas can't find them. Before marrying her husband, she lived in a suburban city in New England with her two sisters, Brianna and Victoria, and their parents. Some of Phoebe's dislikes are loud noises, snakes, bright lights, and (depending on the day) her children when they get bored and there is a grand total of three other people on the island to interact with. Phoebe is not only quick to get around the island, but ever since she got there, she seemed to be at least ten times faster than normal if she simply willed herself to. It's gotten her kids out of trouble while exploring on their own several times.

(Card one: 324 words!)

Card Two
Card - Jack of clubs (40-60, introvert)

Phoebe's husband, James MacLeoud, is forty-six years old and loves to work with his hands. He's actually the main reason his family can access a few things online, by making a device out of a few different electronics and wires, much to his wife and kids' delight after months of being alone with no conversation with the outside world. James's role in homeschooling the children is to teach them how to make things, science, and coding. He, like his wife, Phoebe, also has a few friends in the outside world that he keeps touch with using his technology. He is hardly ever bored with so much to see and learn all over the island, and is constantly climbing and running around to find something new, sometimes coming across one of Phoebe's surprises for the kids, but leaves them for the others to find. James spends a lot of his free time aside from exploring on his biggest project: A boat and a form of global positioning system to escape the island. No one else knows about these plans, though, as it is supposed to be a surprise for when he finally figures it out. However, he's also starting to wonder if he should continue to build them, because he had become so much better with technology upon arrival, just as his wife had her speed enhanced, and wonders if his kids' best skills are there for the same reason, and whether or not they would disappear if they decided to leave. He grew up in a very different place than his wife, an apartment in an urban city with his parents and four siblings (One sister, Maxine, and three brothers, Ian, Connor, and Dylan). There aren't many things he dislikes, but one thing he absolutely despises is bats, for no known reason.

(Card two: 302 words!)

Setting
Colors - Light blue and red-brown

Phoebe, James, Hannah, and Thomas live in a cottage built out of brick on an island in an unknown area of the world. (Unknown meaning that they do not know which ocean they are in.) The island is full of life, even if most of it is not that of humans. Creatures such as parrots and snakes thrive in the inland forests, an exotic haven for air and land creatures alike. On the more southern coast is the house, safe from the dangers of the forests and close to the water, so that the residents of the island don’t have to go far to fish. The house is made of reddish brown brick, mostly, with windows with a nice view of the bright blue waters surrounding the island, depending where you are in the house. The northern coast of the island is made of jagged, steep cliffs that one can access through a natural trail up the rocky hills leading there.

(Setting: 161 words!)

Story Beginning
Phoebe MacLeoud awoke in her family's small house with a start after another nightmare. This time, it had been that her family back home was in trouble, but she couldn't escape the island and do anything about it. She was helpless, hearing the screams of her sisters and parents, trying to shout out to them that she was there, that she would save them.
But in her nightmares, Phoebe was unable to lie.
She looked over at her husband, James, and tried to focus on her breathing. In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. Repeat, in, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four.
Sometimes she wished that her enhanced speed ability would be able to get them home. For her to just pick up her kids and husband and run, run, run, dashing across the bright blue seas into the nearest landmass, get a sense of where they are in relation to home, and run until she got there, never once stopping for anyone, anything. Not until her family was safe at home. Not until she was reunited with the people she knew before The Taking. And maybe then, after they were all safe and sound, she'd go and rescue the other victims of The Taking. She'd get them to their respective homes, too.
In an ideal world…
No. In an ideal world, this would never have even happened. Phoebe should have been able to protect herself and James. She should have allowed her children the privilege of living in a real society, not confined to an island that would become all they've ever known. She should have done something about the people that came to take her and James away, should've called the cops or grabbed something to fend them off until her husband could escape.
That was seventeen years ago. She and her husband had been kidnapped in the dead of night by hooded figures in all black, then knocked out. The next thing either of them could remember, they were waking up on the couch in the living room of this house, on this island, at the start of this life of isolation from anyone, anywhere in the outside world. Not being able to do anything else about the situation, she began to cry.
At the sound of his wife's sobs, James awoke and immediately tried to comfort her. “Moon, are you alright?”
Moon was James' nickname for Phoebe, ever since she told him that she was named after one of Saturn's moons. It had also been her father's nickname for her, a thought that only made her cry harder and pull away from her husband. She started to walk over to the door and go to make breakfast, but just then, there was a knock at the door.

(Story beginning: 463 words!)

Game

Activities
One - Your protagonist gets gum stuck in their hair. ✔️
Two - There's a setback in your protagonist's plan. ✔️
Three - A character's personality changes. ✔️
Four - Write in a dream sequence. ✔️
Five - One of your character's beliefs is challenged. ✔️
Six - Include three similes and metaphors in what you've written so far. ✔️

Story
(Changing to Hannah's POV)

Bright flashes of red and blue light mounted atop a moving vehicle.
Loud sirens blaring all up and down the street.
People running, trying to get away.
From what?
I tried to look around, but it seemed I was both there and not, as if watching a movie or reading a book. I don't know much about movies. Or books. But some of my parents' favorites are lying around somewhere in this house, and there's always the Internet to find more things on. I focus on the scene again.
What is happening? This is clearly one of those cities I've heard so much about. My dad told me a lot about these: Constant noise, lots of people. Sure, I could do without the noise, but the people…they're what make me want to live in a city. What do people do for fun? How do they make friends? And once they have friends, how do they bond? Surely it's not through being forced into it by the friend being the only person your age that you know. How do siblings act there? Do they all get along? How does a government work? Does everyone live in a house like mine? These are the questions that have been filling my mind for the past four years, ever since I started seeing flashes of bad things happening. Because in the background of such terrible events, there were hints at what life away from the island is like. Life in this place called New England, that my mother had grown up in. Life in this place called New York, that my father had learned to love in his childhood. Life!
But even so, I never told anyone what I saw. Sometimes I wondered if this was like my mom's ability to run really fast, or my dad's ability to work with technology so easily. Or maybe they just learned those things as kids? If so, why weren't they teaching Thomas and I? And why was mine not something people could already do, just better? I was ten when it started. Thomas is twelve. I wonder if…
“Hey, Tom!” I called, opening my eyes and moving away from the window where I was standing, letting the vision fade.
“Yeah?” came my brother's response, slightly startling me and making me drop the pen and paper I had been holding. I normally liked to take notes about certain flashes such as this one.
He ran over to me and asked me what I had called him for. He wasn't really fast or good with tech either. Not as good as Mom and Dad. But he seemed to know exactly how I was feeling at all times, and I had previously wondered if that was just his thing. Does everyone to ever step on the island get an ability like this? Or is it just everyone, everywhere in the world?
More new questions only meant less answered ones.
“What are you so nervous about?” he asked, spitting out the gum he had been chewing. Unfortunately, I bent down to pick up my pen right in front of the trash barrel he was aiming for at the wrong moment and it got stuck in my hair.
“Dang it, Tom!” I half-shouted, trying not to wake my parents. It was still early in the morning, so I didn't know if they were still asleep or not. “Now I have to get this out!”
Tom rolled his eyes. “Stop avoiding the question. What are you nervous about?”
I sighed. Tom was like an elephant, nothing but a large span of time could get him to forget anything, and that was only if you were lucky.
“How can you tell people's emotions so well? How do you know how everyone feels at all times?” I asked.
I didn't have to tell him it was a genuine question. The look in his eyes told me that my emotions were all he needed to see that I wanted to know.
“I… I don't know. It just kinda…. started? Like, I woke up on my tenth birthday with a funny feeling, and then I suddenly could sense how everyone around me felt. Does that sound stupid?”
I looked at him, knowing that he could sense my hope and triumph at this answer. “It's not stupid. I get flashes, times where I can see things away from the island, places and events on the mainlands. I can normally control them, but sometimes, there's some people that bear resemblance to our parents. They're almost always in the ones I can't control. Just a few minutes ago, I was having a controlled flash of a city, like where Dad says he grew up. Do you think everyone here gets an ability?”
Thomas looked up and stared me right in the eyes. “I have for a while.”
There was silence for a moment.
And that's when we heard it.
The knock at the door.
We looked at each other for a moment, and then started running as fast as Mom when she was using her ability. Someone was here! Someone new!
And just as we got there, our parents were already opening the door.
The mysterious newcomer was a shadow, cloaked in black and hiding their face behind a mask. Did all people act like this outside their own homes? Questions, questions.
The newcomer held out their hand, and Mom and Dad in turn shook it. I knew that gesture. It was how mainland people greeted each other sometimes. Meanwhile, my brother stared at their hands as if he had never heard about it at all.

Once the newcomer showed us what they actually looked like and who they were, we found out it was a teenage boy named Planch sent here by the same people that had brought my parents. He said he was here to see if they had “Learned their lesson”, and if they had, then he'd take them home. Seeing this as an opportunity, my parents agreed to let him stay for a little bit.
It didn't seem like Planch was doing anything at first. Mainly, he tried to quiz me on how mainland people acted by asking random questions. I, having read about life on the mainland, answered most of them correctly. So he left me alone.
Meanwhile, Tom was very curious on how mainlanders behaved. Planch taught him all sorts of things, calling them his “lessons”, when really he was saying things that were all wrong. If I focused control of my Flashes on their lessons, I could see him teaching my little brother bad words, rude gestures, and saying that was how people acted on the mainland. I mean, sure, I've heard and seen them in my Flashes, but that definitely wasn't how everyone acted.
Over the course of a few days, there was a significant change in Tom. He started talking back to people and being a nuisance, both of which he would never do before. He also started using the Internet more, suddenly less interested in science and reading. This wasn't like him
One week into Planch's stay, I came up with a plan. If I could convince Planch that my parents had learned their lesson, we could go back to their home and get Tom out of this… whatever it was. I continuously observed through Flashes, which he still didn't know about, and decided that it was the behavior of my parents that Planch was inspecting. I started preparing an essay, of reasons why we should go back to the mainland, but on the day I was finally ready to show it to him, he called us all to the living room.
“I have made my decision,” he announced.
We all looked intently, hoping for good news.
“You're staying here.”
A loud “WHAT?!” came from everyone in the room but Planch. Even Tom didn't like this.
“Look how easily your son could get changed by outside influence! Look how he goes with anything, no questions asked! And look at your daughter! Look how she knows so much about the mainland, without you telling her! How does she know this?” He demanded.
My parents turned to me.
“I- I- I have Flashes! I can see people on the mainland if I focus! It started when I was ten, and Tomas could sense people's emotions since he turned ten, too!”
My parents exchanged a look and shooed me and my brother out of the room. A Flash told me that they were talking with Planch about our abilities.
"They'll never fit in on the mainland! You'll never fit in! It's best to just let you stay here!“
”No! We can teach them how to control their abilities. They've already been able to keep them secret!“
Planch considered that for a moment. Then his face became more confused. ”Why do you even want to leave? The mainland… it's kinda messed up sometimes. For example, your very own family is at risk of being taken, and it's not us that's doing it. We're trying to stop them, we really are, but they keep going back and trying. You don't want to go there.“
I gasped and ended the flash.
So this was what mainlanders were really like? Heartless criminals that would take someone just for the sake of it? People that tried to influence others through their words and actions, drawing them away from their true selves? Why had I ever wanted to go?
Because of people.
Because I believed that there would be someone just like me there that was waiting for someone just like them. Waiting for a friend.
And maybe then I'd feel more free than I could ever feel, even in a place with no rules.
And as I regained control of myself, I let my mind Flash back to the conversation, just in time to hear Planch say:
”Alright, then. Get your kids, the boat is just east of here."

(Story: 1,662 words!)

Totals

Part 1, card 1: 324
Part 1, card 2: 302
Part 1, setting: 161
Part 1, story: 463
Part 2, story: 1,662

Final total: 2,912 words!

Weekly #4

Three = 1-10
Clubs = introvert

Evana - 332 words
Evana is a nine-year-old girl who lives with her two fathers, Miles and Alex, as well as Miles’s triplets, Lessa and Dahrel. To others, she appears to be somewhere of a quiet kid, and she does prefer to stick to people she knows, not talking much around strangers. But with her family and friends, though still on the quiet side, she isn’t afraid to share her ideas, of which she has many. Often she’ll spend an afternoon with one of her parents, drawing pictures of some magical machine, dessert, or obstacle course she’s invented. They’ll make diagrams, try to figure out how it could work. And then, if it’s feasible, they’ll often make it. Evana is homeschooled, and so has lots of time to work on these projects.
She knows a lot of the kids on her street, and neighboring streets, and a few of them are her close friends. Often, the neighborhood kids will go exploring together in the forest at the end of Evana’s street, building shelters and playing games. Evana’s favorite part is playing imaginative games with her best friends, Ellis and Janelle, though often she’s much deeper in their made up world than her two friends. She likes to imagine strange and fantastical things, things her friends either don’t understand, or things she just doesn't share in the first place, because she’s afraid they won’t.
When she’s not playing with her friends or doing projects with her dads, Evana likes to spend time alone. She’ll read books, do a puzzle, draw a picture, or play something on her ipad. She likes the quiet, and the sounds of nothing but her own mind.
But she also likes doing things with Lessa and Dahrel. Often she and Dahrel will spend hours in the kitchen, Dahrel showing her some of xer favourite recipes. Dahrel is more than happy to let xer niece add her own spin to a dish, and though it doesn’t always turn out perfectly, they always have fun.


Ten = 40-60
Spades = extrovert

Linda - 306 words
Linda is 52 years old, and has a nice life on a quiet street in the suburbs. Other than a twenty-four-year-old daughter who currently lives a few hours away, she doesn’t have much family. When she was a child, she never really connected with her siblings and parents, causing many arguments, and when she left the house at twenty, she never went back much, eventually losing contact. She got divorced from her daughter’s dad long ago, and lives with no one except for her three cats, and her plants, which she has in pots all over her house.
Linda might strike some people as of the weird, imaginative type, especially if they saw her speaking to her cats or orchids, which she frequently does; but in reality, she’s quite down-to-earth, and despises - or is at least very annoyed by - illogical people. But she does have an interesting relationship with plants, one she’s very aware of, and believes talking to plants is, if weird, not entirely nonsensical.
She works as a website designer, and spends the rest of her time enjoying the vast forest near where she lives. Linda also occasionally spends time writing, working on a book she hopes to write someday, about her unique relationship with plants.
Other than that, she spends time with friends. Being quite the extrovert, talking to people and going places gives her energy, fuels her. They’ll often all go to see movies together - and they’ll watch literally whatever is playing; afterwards, they’ll spend at least an hour ranting to each other about everything wrong with the movie, even if they liked it. She and her friends will also take walks through the woods near her house, trying to identify plants, or just talking about whatever comes to their minds.
Overall, Linda is very satisfied with her life.


Black and green = a forest at night

Setting - 206 words
Near where Evana and Linda live, there is a forest. It’s not the oldest forest ever, but a few of its trees are pretty thick. It’s a large forest, with many animals. If you go there often enough, chances are you’ll glimpse a deer at some point.
For the neighborhood kids, this forest is a meeting place. They play games and create clubs and secret organizations. They defeat monsters and save their friends from mortal peril. The path that leads in is like a secret portal to another world, and any adults who enter are aliens from another planet.
That being said, adults do have their parts of the forest that they usually go, where they don’t disrupt the kids, and the kids’ noise doesn’t bother them. The forest is a sort of haven for the whole neighborhood, a place they all respect and are welcome.
But not many go in the forest at night. For the kids, it’s because they’re not allowed out after dark. For everyone else, it’s more of a subconscious, unspoken thing, and nobody quite knows why. Nobody even knows if it’s actually based on fact, but either way, people like to stay away from the darkness of the forest at night.

Freewrite - 499 words
A child made her way through the forest, crunching through piles of fallen leaves, tripping over large sticks. She walked as quickly as she could until she found herself at a small hollow, a dip in the ground surrounded by three trees, their branches long and low enough to create walls around the small space. The child, whose name was Evana, piled leaves in the hollow, sat down, and cried.
She wasn’t sure how long she cried for. But when she looked up, she realized it was darker than before, and, scrambling out through the leaves, she saw that the sun was setting. Fear set in, making her heart thump as she remembered her dads’ instructions to be out of the forest and home by nightfall. Evana knew she couldn’t be home by then, because she had no idea where home was.
She had no idea where she was.
She was lost.
Evana took a deep breath, trying not to freak. But she couldn’t seem to stop the tears that came to her eyes. First one of her friends had betrayed her, and then she got lost in the forest right before dark. This day just kept getting worse and worse.
Come on, Evana, you need to think, she urged herself. She was in the forest. She was far away from anything familiar, like the grove of birch trees, or the shelters she and her friends built, or the river -
The river.
Evana forced herself to slow down her breath and listen. After a few heartstopping moments, she heard it: the sound of running water. A moment later, she started running in the direction of the sound as fast as her feet would take her. Branches scraped her arms and got caught in her hair, but she didn’t slow down, only coming to a halt when she reached the riverbank.
Hopefully she looked around for anything familiar, anything at all, but the hope died when she realized she was far along the river, far from anywhere she recognized. Her fear returning, she realized how deep in the forest she must be.
But Evana knew she had to be brave. She had to get home to Papa and Daddy, and Lessa and Dahrel. So, even as her eyes tried to start crying again, she took a step, and then another, along the river. If she followed it for long enough, she knew she could find her way home.
But as she walked, the woods seemed to get less and less familiar, and the sky got darker and darker. She started to jump at every strange sound, walking faster, until finally -
She bumped into someone.
“Hey,” the person said as Evana jumped back, mumbling an apology. “What are you doing so far out in the forest?”
Evana looked up, not feeling like she could speak. The woman had gray hair and pale blue eyes. Though she had a kind look in her eyes, Evana still couldn’t make herself talk.

Continuation of freewrite - 1798 words
“Are you lost?” the woman asked when Evana still didn’t respond. “Can I help you?”
“I - I don’t know how to get home,” the eight-year-old finally got out.
The woman nodded. “I’m Linda. I’ll take you home. Do you know your address?”
“Seawood Crescent,” Evana whispered. “I don’t remember the number.”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to recognize your house, though,” Linda said seriously. “Come on.”
Evana just stood there for a second. Then, terror still welled in her chest, she followed Linda through the forest. The woman led her in the opposite direction she’d been walking before, and she realized she must have been following the river in the wrong direction before. She didn’t speak, and neither did Linda, until, after a while, she realized Linda was leading her away from the river.
“Where are we going? That’s not the right way.”
“It’s a shortcut to where all those birch trees are. Don’t worry, I’ve taken it many times before.”
“It’s getting dark,” Evana muttered after a moment.
“Nothing to worry about. I know where I’m going. I come here all the time, often at night.”
Evana didn’t see how Linda could be so confident. Sure, she was an adult, but everyone knew you should never go in the forest at night. It was dark and dangerous, and Evana had always imagined that terrible monsters lurked under the trees. But Linda had said she’d been here at nighttime before, and obviously she hadn’t been eaten by a monster.
For a moment Evana imagined Linda suddenly turning into a vampire, then almost laughed. She did know monsters didn’t exist. Maybe Linda was right, even if the forest was scary in the dark.
“You sure are quiet,” Linda commented after a few minutes. When Evana nodded, she barked a laugh.
“You know, when I was a child, we always responded when adults were talking to us,” she continued. “Those were the good old days. Children were always obedient, because if they weren’t they’d be punished much more harshly than you kids are. We spoke when we were told, ate when we were told, did everything when we were told, and when we weren’t told to do something we didn’t dare do it. And we never stayed in the forest after dark if our parents told us not to.”
She said all this not in an angry way, but more of a thoughtful one. When she finished, she cast Evana a sidelong glance.
“I didn’t stay after dark on purpose,” Evana said quietly.
“Then what made you do it?”
“I… ran away from the other kids, because one of my friends betrayed me. She said some mean things. I didn’t really look where I was going,” she finished, slightly embarrassed.
Linda’s next words surprised her.
“I did the same thing once. Or perhaps twice - I don’t remember exactly. I was grounded for weeks afterwards, but it was worth it because I found a new climbing tree. I’m still friends with it, to tell you the truth.”
“Friends with a tree?” Despite her shyness, Evana couldn’t help smiling a little.
“Of course. Don’t ever let anyone tell you who you can and can’t be friends with.”

Let’s pause for a moment. Yes, I suppose until this moment you thought I wasn't really here - me, the narrator. And I do like to stay inconspicuously on the side. But at this point I think it might be beneficial to have a look at Linda’s side of things.
Unlike Evana, Linda wasn’t the least bit nervous. She was confident in the forest, and confident in taking this girl home. And when Evana inquired about her being friends with a tree, she confidently answered.
“Of course. Don’t ever let anyone tell you who you can and can’t be friends with.”
Linda had learned that the hard way. As a child, she’d listened to her parents when they told her not to make friends with certain kids - the majority of the kids in her neighborhood. They had ideas that their family was better than others. Linda now knew that wasn’t right, but as a kid she had been a rule follower.
For a while, she hadn’t had many friends. She’d always been very outgoing, so this was hard on her. She got quieter and sadder, until her parents started to worry. She thought she might be on the verge of deciding to run away from home when the dream came.
One night, she dreamt she was in a long stone corridor. As she walked along the polished stone floor, she heard scratches and taps echoing throughout the space. At the end of the corridor were two open doors. Through one, there were her parents, stern faced, commanding her to come to them. Though the other was a group of kids, many of whom her parents didn’t like, planting a garden. They laughed and played, while Linda’s parents called her name. She didn’t know which way to turn.
But then, though she was in a dream, she somehow remembered her tree, the one that was her friend. And, barely thinking about the choice, she went through the door to join the kids, laughing as they planted the garden.
After that she changed. Not by much at first, but she began speaking to who she wanted to. Then, a month or so after she had the dream, she was playing at the park. It was close enough to her house that she was allowed to go by herself, so there was no parent there keeping a stern eye on her, and she was enjoying it. Linda was swinging across the monkey bars when someone ran past.
It was her neighbor, Louisa, and she was crying. Linda swung to a stop as the other girl sat down on one of the swings and cried into her hands. Linda took a step toward her, then stopped.
Mom and Dad told me not to talk to her, she remembered.
But she’s crying, said another voice in her head.
I should see if she’s okay.
Mom would say it doesn’t matter if she’s okay.
Linda bit her lip as she struggled with these two opposing opinions in her head. At this point, she wasn’t sure which was her conscience, which was her, and if most of it wasn’t just her parents’ voices echoing in her head. But she did know what she wanted to do.
I’m going to help her.
Linda walked over to the swingset. “Are you alright?”
Louisa shook her head, not looking up.
“Can I help?” When Louisa didn’t respond, Linda added, “I’d like to help, if I can.”
Louisa lifted her head, looking surprised to see Linda’s face. “Really?”
“Yes.”
And that was the day Linda made her first true friend. It was also the day she learned that you choose your friends, not anyone else.

Now, back to the present. Linda and Evana had been walking through the forest for a few minutes when Evana tripped over a large branch on the ground.
“Are you okay?” Linda gave her a hand up.
Evana shook her head, and pointed to her knee, where her leggings had ripped.
“Well, it doesn’t look scraped. Think you can keep going? Good. Here, I’ll give us some light, though. You sure are dark tonight, Woods. Your leaves would make good blackout curtains,” she said to the trees as she took out her cell phone and turned on its flashlight. It did help, making it so she and Evana were better able to see what was under their feet.
But after only about five minutes, the light went out. “Dang,” Linda muttered.
“This day just keeps getting worse and worse,” Evana sighed, holding tighter to Linda’s hand.
“Some days are like that, kid. The thing to remember is that tomorrow could be better.”
“I guess.”
They were silent again for a while, until Linda said, “So tell me about this fight you mentioned with your friend. How’d it start?”
Evana thought for a moment before speaking. “We were playing a game, with forts and teams and stuff, but then Ellis - that’s my friend’s name - suddenly said I’d betrayed the team and that I couldn’t be friends with her or Janelle anymore. And everyone else believed her. Except Janelle - she wanted me to stay. But I ran away anyway. I didn’t betray anyone. If anything, Ellis betrayed me. She was my friend,” Evana finished in a small voice.
“Hmm. Did you think about why Ellis might have said all that?”
“Because she’s mean. I hope she trips and breaks a bone.”
“Now that’s just mean.”
Evana looked at her feet, ashamed because she knew Linda was right, but still angry at her once-friend.
“What happened before Ellis said that?”
“Janelle and I were making a plan for a secret attack on the other team, and Ellis wanted to know. But we didn’t want her to know, because it was a secret thing for just us, and she might tell it, and maybe I don’t like her as much as Janelle, and then she got angry and called a meeting with everyone and said I’d betrayed the team.”
“Evana.” Linda said the kid’s name, then paused. “Do you think that maybe Ellis felt hurt by that - by you not telling her the plan?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you say anything else that could have hurt her feelings?”
“…I said I liked Janelle better.”
“Ah. Evana, I think that Ellis felt like you and Janelle were excluding her. Maybe even like you stole Janelle, her other friend.”
“But I didn’t.”
“Didn’t you? You three are all friends, no?”
“We were.”
“Exactly. And suddenly you didn’t want to play with her. She felt like she lost her best friends. She probably felt really hurt. Does that make sense to you?”
“Yeah…” Evana said quietly. “Linda?”
“Yes?”
“She also said she was doing it for the team. Said that if two people did something secretly, it would get in the way of us working together. I think maybe… she was right.”
Then Evana stopped, almost crying as she asked, “Linda, what do I do? I don’t want Ellis to be hurt and not like me forever!”
“Apologize to her. She might not accept, but show her you’re sorry. Okay?”
“Okay… Thank you.”
“My pleasure. Now, take a look - we’re almost out of the forest.”
With a start, Evana realized she was right. She recognized this part of the forest. She felt relieved as Linda walked her home. Papa and Daddy were really worried, but Linda explained things to them, and it was all okay. Evana fell asleep quickly, deciding that tomorrow she would go and fix things with Ellis.

The activities I did

Note: I couldn't find ways to fit some of them in exactly how the activity said, so I changed a few to fit the story better, but still trying to keep the same basic idea.

one of your character's beliefs is challenged / have a character go on a rant about the good old days / write in a dream sequence / write a scene where a character talks with their conscience / have the lights suddenly go out in the next scene / your protagonist becomes the evil one and your antagonist good, why? /

3/30 for non-fi (112 words)

The clear glass shimmers, glowing in the reflection of light. The glass is misted with the circular reflections illuminating from it. Beneath the layer of glass, three arrows dance around the center of the circle, pointing towards black bolded numbers, symmetrically spaced apart from one another. Each number has it’s own dash, along with four more that follow it. One of the dancing arrows is red, the longest one, while the other two are black. Beside the bolded black numbers, something is written, it is too small to be read from this distance. A rim of dark black plastic circles around all of these things, encompassing them in one solid, final, circle.

Weekly for non-fi (2321 words)

Our character is a 45 year old man. There is also his 43 year old wife. Recently, they’ve been having some marriage problems! And he has to find out if he stills loves her. While they go on one last date to try to rekindle their love for one another, he remembers what it was like in the past, and wishes things were still so simple.

Norman Bernard

Norman Bernard is 45. He is an omnivert, meaning he can switch between being extroverted and introverted. He is close friends with Paul, Trevor, and Devin from his work, but they will not be referenced in the story. He married his wife when he was younger, probably in his twenties. At that age, he was at college with her, and they met through their job at the bookstore. They feel hard and fast for one another. Since they married so young, however, he doesn’t really know who he is outside of her, and is trying to find that individual person. Meanwhile, she wants him to stay the same. He is frustuarated and doesn’t know how to express what he is feeling because he doens’t know what it is, but at the same time he’s probably going through a mid-life crisis. He ponders his life alone nd without her, and he dosen’t see anyone there. He imagines himself at the nursing home when she dies first and he’s no one. Outside of his wife, his only personality is his job (he works a desk job as an accountant, he works in a cubicle and it’s very boring.) He and his wife never had children due to fertility issues, as well as the fact that she wanted to advance her career. He feels like this was kind of selfish of her, and even though the fertility issues weren’t her fault he blames her for never letting him pursue adoption or anything like that. He knows it’s not too late, but he is getting old, and he knows this. He feels guilty for not feeling the same love that he once felt for his beloved wife, but for some reason, he just feels like the old, unoriginal, boring person he never wanted to be. And she’s just his old, unoriginal, boring wife.

Crystal Bernard

Crystal Bernard has been working longer hours recently. The most important thing to her is her job and she will not let anyone get in the way of that, including family maters. She has partly been working longer hours because she, too, does not feel that same spark she used to feel for her husband. She feels like he doesn’t love her as much either. And she can’t figure out why. So to avoid him, she’s been working longer. Crystal is quite an intelligent and hard working woman, she didn’t come from much and she went to college on full ride. She’s had a lot of troubles in her life but instead of letting them get her down she actually just worked harder. This was how she was raised to act by her single mother and it’s how she still acts. Unfortunately, this can come with consequences: She is ill-equipped to handle extreme stress and is quite prone to burnout. Which is how she feels about her marriage. She is kind of scared to bring a kid into the world, and is also really upset about her fertility issues at the same time. She would love to adopt but also wants to focus on her work life. She earns more than her husband and this may also create a dynamic in their marriage. She loves her husband but just doesn’t feel like she always has time for him. Sometimes he’s no more than a chore. And she refuses to do all the emotional labor in their marriage, which often ends up happening because he doesn’t know how to communicate. She still loves him, she’s just not sure how sustainable the marriage is in the long run. And she’s starting to have her doubts, because she can’t really imagine her getting old with him, which is what he is looking forward to so much when they both retire. While he wants her to retire younger, at around 55 (and they are saving enough to do so), she enjoys her job and wants to retire at 70, which would disrupt his plan.

Setting: (Green + green)

For their date (where the story takes place) they decide to go on a picnic/camping trip? Or hike. Yes, they hike up through a waterfall. This hike specifically is important to them because it’s where they proposed. To be honest, Crystal isn’t so keen on going because she doesn’t want to take the time off, but she still agrees to do it. The hike is fifteen miles, so they decide to go backpacking. As they go, their bodies will be tested, a reminder that they aren’t as young as they used to be. This is a metaphor for their marriage: they’re past the honeymoon phase, it’s a long and hard journey that will have it’s challenges. But if they push through, they’ll see the beauty at the end of the trail. The hike itself is somewhere along the Appalachain Trail- I’m thinking probably Crabtree Falls, which technically isn’t a 15 mile trail but maybe they got on early. Crabtree falls is in Virginia. It’s going to be a very mossy and green area, and it’s going to be set during the fall where the weathers kind of cool.




The racoon’s organs spilled out of his body. Blood spilled onto the road, staining it almost black, and his legs were bent backward. His fur was clumped together, and his eyes were a shiny black. They were the only thing left intact. The rest of him was destroyed, and it only happened in an instant.
“I didn’t mean to hit him,” I stuttered.
“Norman, let’s go.” Crystal said. “It happens. It was just an accident.”
I felt my stomach tighten up. Another car zoomed past.
“I just feel like we should bury him, or something. At least move him off the road.”
“Someone else will take care of that. We’re in a hurry, let’s go.” ||
I stared at the racoon, smashed against the navy pavement. “Okay,” I said softly.
“Let’s go,” she said again, a little harsher.
We kept driving, but it was quiet this time. Not exactly the great start I was hoping for from the first overnight date I’d been on in years with my wife.
I look at her. Her eyes have bags now. Her hair is graying and her face is wrinkiling. She’s gained twenty pounds since I frist met her. She’s still beautiful, but that spark we used to have is gone. Things are somuch different than when we met back in college.
I pressed my foot against the pedal a little harder.
“So,” she says, trying to smile. She doesn’t smile like she used to either. I guess that’s the main thing. Is that she used to look so happy, and that she doesn’t anymore. “Aren’t you going to play our playlist?”
It had been awhile since I had heard that. Full of the Eagles and the Beatles and all sorts of music from our twenties, floating through our heads. It was the sound of love, all these romantic mushy songs that defined our love for one another. But there aren’t any songs for what I’m feeling now.
We used to dream about growing old together. And now we’re here. Why doesn’t it feel as special? ||
Maybe she knows that.
“I’m just… I’m wondering why we’re here.”
“You know why were doing this. To become closer. Do it, Norman. Take me back to the good old days. The ones where you cared about me.”
“I still care about you.”
“Be honest, Norman.” She looked at me. “We aren’t as close as we were before. We used to be so young. What happened to us?”
She hit the eject button. I didn’ tknow how to respond to that.
“I still love you, Norman. At least, I think I do. And I need you to tell me: do you love me?”
I breathed in the silence. “You don’t have to answer that.” She said. It still felt like a trap.
“It’s just…” I paused, taking a deep breath. My tongue was caught on the words I couldn’t say. “It’s just I guess…. I really want kids.”
“I know you do,” she said.
“We’re not too old to consider adoption.”
I thought back to her first miscarriage, how we both cried and how she kind of seemed in the dark for days. She started birth control after that. She didn’t even want to try.
“Why bother?” She asked. “The doctor confirmed. We’re not going to ever reproduce, so why bother.”
Adoption had come into question, butt there was always some excuse: she was too busy or it was too expsnive or something. Now she didn’t even want to. Maybe she never did.
“It’s just…” she breathed back. “That’s not what’s important to me. It seems like what you want and what I want are different, like you’re so focused on the fact we’ll never have kids, and I kind of just want to grow old with you.”
“What happens when I die?” I turned to look at her. “Let’s say you die first. THen I go. What do I do in between then? What am I in that period?”
“I can’t answer that, NOrman.”
“All I am is you.”
“We both kow that isn’t true.”
“I am nothing outside of you and you know it.” She said nothing. “Say it back! You know it! You stole my personality from me!” My face flushed.
“Norman.”
“I mean, who am I going to be without you? And I’m stuck at a job I hate with a wife-”
“Don’t say it.”
I looked at her, and suddenly I was flooded with rage. I slammed on the breaks. “Get out.”
“Norman. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I SAID GET OUT.”
She looked back at me and I regretted it. She always won the fights. I wanted to win something, for once. “We came here to make up, and that’s what I intend to do. But if you’re too coward to see this through, then by all means. Turn around. You can leave me right when we get home. I’ll sign the papers. But I’m not getting out here.”
Slowly, the calm returned. “We’re going to see this through,” she promised me.
“Okay,” I said. “Okay. Where do we start?”
“Remember that parrot we had?”
“Ooh, that was a mistake. I would go to have a snack, and then I’d just hear that thing ‘You’re on a diet! You’re on a diet!’”
“And he was right.” She smiled at me. Oh, it had been awhile since I had seen that smile on my wife.
“Not after I quit,” I laughed. I looked at her. “I’m sorry for yelling at you.”
She nodded. “So you agree, then? That we can’t just end things like this. I mean, what happened to that love we used to have?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I think it’s still there. Just… buried. Like an avalanche.”
“And what sparked this avalanche?” She asked.
“I don’t think it was one thing,” I admitted. “I think the rocks all came down one at a time. And at first I thought I could handle it. Now I don’t think I can. Like, the child thing was one thing. It’s like you’re not even willing to consider adoption. And with my work and with your work- it’s like we never see each other. It’s like you don’t even want to see me. You’ve worked through the last two Christmases.”
“I think you’re right,” she sighed. “Look!” she giggled. I checked the mirrors. Sure enough, there was a deer.
“We don’t have those where we live,” I laughed back.
“See?” she smiled at me. “I told you this would be a good idea. Getting back in nature.”
“Yeah, but you were raised with these things.”
“They’re pretty,” she insisted.
“Anyway,” I said. “I think we need to get back to this. Your so focused on your job….”
“ I know I am,” she sighed. “I brought something. I thought it could maybe show us both some perspective…” She pulled out a black journal from her bag which I immideately recognized as her diary. “Maybe I’m going to regret this,” she said, “But I think it’s important for you to get my unfiltered view.”
‘I slept twelve hours last night. Today is Sunday, which is my only off day this week. I’m sick of the work and I’m sick of home. I don’t want to have to choose between them. At least work pays well. I’ve been working 60 hour weeks and I am exhausted. I think Norman is getting tired of that. I don’t know what this comes down to, maybe something in my childhood, but I can tell you that work feels a lot more natural than home at this point.’
“You didn’t tell me that.” I said.
“When was I supposed to?” She asked. “I’m sorry, Norman. Because I don’t love you either.” She paused. “I used to be convinced in soul mates, or true love, or whatever. But it fades, Norman. It fades.”
I nodded. Because I felt exactly the same.
“Do you think it will ever come back?” She asked weakly.
A glorious thunderstorm started, thick rain pelting down. I pulled into the gravel parking lot.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But let’s find out.

I included a pet that gives good life advice, the protagonist being wrong instead of the antagonist, something sneaking behind my character, a character’s diary is read aloud, have a character give a rant about the good old days, and a characters belief is challenged.

swc weekly - march 24-30
total words: 3126

part one: characters, setting, and freewrite

Alex (four of diamonds)
Words: 307

Alex is an omniverted non-binary human who is twelve years old. They can come off as introverted around people they don’t know well or are intimidating, but when they’re around people they know well or feel comfortable with, their more omniverted side comes out. Alex might come off as cold or overly judging to people unfamiliar with the environment that they grew up in, but when comparing them to other people in that setting, their attitude is actually more mild. Alex has short black hair that is dyed to have sea-blue (the signature color of their school) streaks at the ends of their hair, calm brown eyes that might be described as warm by some people but also cold by others at the same time, and their skin is both naturally pale and hasn’t been tanned by the sun due to their strict parents’ parenting. They are slow to trust people since trusting someone who wasn’t worthy of that trust was what caused their younger sister Luna’s d34th and their sorta-magical ghost-seeing powers being thrown down the drain. Alex genuinely cares about helping people, and they enjoy the feeling they have when they get any form of ‘compensation’ (making someone happy, any literal compensation, thanks, etc). They also enjoy learning about things that they can’t see with their own eyes, though they prefer real experience and their own opinions over those from a book or others. They aren’t allowed to leave the city, so they have developed an urge to leave and see the outside world over the years. Alex doesn’t like feeling trapped, though they often feel trapped by many things: their parents’ strict rules, the barrier of the city, the city’s regulations, and many other things. They also dislike being alone, and without being able to see Luna they often feel like it’s just them.

Luna (two of clubs)
Words: 316

Luna is an introverted female human ghost who would be nine and a half years old when the story takes place, though she d13d at the age of nine. Since not a lot of people can see her, much less hear her (and Alex no longer can), she often ends up talking with herself or following Alex or someone else around. When she does meet someone who can see her, she often seems shy and doesn’t talk a lot. Luna is now translucent and light blue, but in life she had long dark brown hair that reached her waist, warm brown eyes that came off as kind to other people, and skin a slightly darker tone than Alex’s. She doesn’t mind being alone, though she can’t stand being in a large crowd for long periods of time. When she does get to know someone, she puts a lot of trust in them. Luna enjoys walking around the city and visiting the different districts or just sitting by the only saltwater “pond” in the city and watching the water interacting with the land. She also likes reading books written about Hopinglow and Elevenation, and especially likes historical fiction novels set in the time period when Aquaria wasn’t an underwater city. She aspired to become a scientist and help the city get back above water, but that possibility was taken away from her once she became a ghost (ghosts aren’t allowed to apply for scientific jobs, and most people wouldn’t understand what she would be trying to do anyways), so for now she wants to focus on trying to help Alex accomplish their goals and helping other people as much as the two of them can. Since Alex can’t see ghosts, Luna focuses mostly on helping other ghosts or people who can see her, and lets Alex help the people who are like them and can’t see Luna.

Setting: dusty blue and light blue
Words: 453

The setting of the story is an underwater city known by its residents as Aquaria, though the city was originally known as Hopinglow. Before the city ''fell” or “was reborn” (depending on what you describe that day as), Hopinglow was the pride of Elevenation. The untouchable sea capital, with the best scenery- how could anybody not be proud of the city for becoming so famous? Unfortunately, that pride was their downfall. The citizens of Hopinglow tried experimenting with some new explosive and dangerous chemicals, believing that because they had survived so many disasters before, they would survive anything that came with the chemicals. The chemicals had explosive results- the residue gathered on the city’s protective bubble and caused their storms to start sinking the city. Luckily, the scientists of Hopinglow were able to recreate the original bubble, enhancing it to help them survive the storms. While they weren’t able to un-sink the city, Hopinglow survived underwater, gaining the new name of Aquaria that caused the theme of rebirth to become intertwined with the city’s beliefs. Aquaria is divided into four districts- one for each aspect that is believed to be important. The first district, Aku, is home to the government of Aquaria- the Council of Seven. The Council’s officers, their families, and their underlings live and work there. The second district, Aer, is home to the “Air-bringers” (hence the name of Aer)- scientists, scholars, students, professors, teachers, and many other education and science-related citizens either work or live in Aer. Aer is the home of knowledge, learning, and innovation. Aer has the most advanced/“new” technology, and is the pride of Aquaria in the hopes that the residents of Aer will one day bring the city to the surface. The third district, Ieya, is home to the people who keep the city alive. Factory workers, farmers, cleaners- they all live and/or work in Ie. And the fourth district, Leya, is home to the Unspokens- the people judged unnecessary to the city. Leya doesn’t have any of Aku or Aer’s technology, though Ieya still supports them. If you have made significant contributions, you get to stay in Aku, Aer, or Ieya- but if you haven’t, you go straight to Leya and become an Unspoken. Due to the barrier around Aquaria, the souls of those who d1e in Aquaria are stuck inside the city- hence the abundance of ghosts and the developing supernatural abilities of some of the residents. Aquaria’s currency is shells- the larger and rarer the more they’re worth. Depending on how well you complete a task and how much the task is needed, you get x amount of shells, and the better you can do the task the more you get. Aquaria often smells like fish or aquatic life since that is the main food source, though it sometimes smells like smoke if there is an explosion from an experiment in Aer.

Freewrite (words: 453)

Luna watched as Alex walked through the school district of Aer and headed through the front gate of their school. That school… With the sea-blue roof, pale white walls, and flashy metal gate, it all felt painfully familiar. Too familiar- the school that they had both attended before felt just out of reach.
Luna floated down to the gate, which Alex had closed after them. She tried to open them, but her hands were suddenly stopped by the metal in the gate, and she sighed. Had she been alive, she would have been able to open them, but now as an intangible ghost specifically warded out by the gate she couldn’t.
Now that Alex was at school, Luna decided to explore the rest of the city and find something else to occupy her time while Alex was somewhere she couldn’t go.
“Alright, Luna,” she told herself, “where do you want to go?”
Of course, there was only one answer that immediately appeared in her mind- the saltwater “pond” in the corner of Ieya, just next to the fish markets. Luna floated upwards, towards the barrier that held away the ocean, and looked down sadly at the clear dividers between the sectors- easy to navigate, but a sad reminder of Aquaria’s divisions and strict rules.

Alex sighed as they pushed open their school’s gate. Barely half a year ago, they and Luna had been there together- laughing, arguing, having fun even through their disagreements. A memory drifted back to them:
They ran down the road towards the school building, Luna right behind them. They sped up and hopped up the stairs to the gate, while Luna slowed down to carefully climb up the steps.
“I win!” they called as they just barely stopped themself from crashing into the gate.
Luna slowed down and almost stopped, then saw that they had stopped, ran straight past them, and pushed open the gate. “No, I do!”
“Hang on, you’re a slower runner than I am! How would you win the race?” they argued.
“Well, you were slow to open the gate, so I won!” Luna argued right back at them. “The contest was to get to school before the other, right? So then I won because I opened the gate!”
“No, because I got to the gate before you did! The gate is part of the school!”
“No, the gate is part of the gate! Everything inside the gate is part of the school, so I won!”
Alex sighed and tried to shove the memory under a curtain- after all, thinking about what was wouldn’t do them any good in the present and just make them lonelier. They walked down the path and into the school building.

part two: writing based on activities
Activities: Include a very long to-do list, spontaneous snowball/dodgeball/magic/space junk/etc fight, something sneaks behind your character, have one of your characters receive a note, describe something without its appearance, and the weather changes suddenly to darkness*
Words: 1597/2050

When Alex entered their classroom, they were greeted with an unfamiliar sight- every single person in the class was holding a large stack of papers and moaning about how long the list on the papers were.
“What’s going on?” they asked the person seated next to them.
“Read the list and despair,” was his only answer. “We have to do all of that today.”
Alex looked at the first sheet of paper and immediately realized why they were all despairing. On the paper was a list of tasks that had been printed using every trick in the book to take up the least amount of space possible: three columns of text with no paragraph indents, a just barely legible font size, barely any space between the text and the paper’s edge or the columns, and double sided pages- yet the list made a stack of one hundred sheets of paper.
Alex joined their classmates in despairing over the amount of work they had to do. Alex flipped through the pages and was so occupied with looking through the to-do list that they didn’t notice when a crumpled-up piece of paper flew right past their face and hit the person seated next to them.
When they finally finished looking through their list, Alex looked up and realized that the entire class except for them was involved in a paper-ball fight. Crumpled-up pieces of paper were flying everywhere, and there weren’t any teachers in sight to calm down the class.
“What has this day become?” Alex groaned.

Meanwhile, Luna floated down to the surprisingly calm lake. She tossed a pebble into the waters and watched the ripples slowly spread outwards. The ripples eventually became just tiny disturbances on the surface, then stopped for good.
“Are you a ghost?” a voice behind Luna asked.
Luna whirled around, startled, and found herself face-to-face with a young child who looked almost like she had when she was alive. She stared at the child, then remembered that she should answer their question.
“Yeah,” she replied. Then, after a pause, she asked, “Why do you ask?”
“Well, you looked like one,” they said with a chuckle. “All of the ghosts that I’ve met look like human-shaped windows, so I know what a ghost looks like. What’s your name?”
Luna pouted at the unflattering description of spiritual entities, but cheerfully answered their question. “I’m Luna. Who are you?”
“My name’s Sam,” they said. “Nice to meet you!”

After nearly an hour of the class fighting each other with balls of list-paper, the teacher finally arrived and calmed down the chaotic scene. While most of the class cleaned up their mess and gathered up their papers, Alex found themself uncrumpling and recrumpling a note that had been dropped onto their desk during the chaos.
There is a magical place hidden under the lake, the note read. Do you want to see what it is?
Alex sighed. The citizens of Aquaria weren’t allowed to dive into or explore the lake in Ie. Whoever sent the note was either not well versed in the laws or just- there was no other explanation- after all, nobody from the cities above the ocean even knew where Aquaria was, much less how to get past the barrier.
“Absolutely not,” Alex wrote on the back of the note. “That would mean breaking a law.” They threw the note into the air, hoping that the person who tossed it to them would take it.
The note came back in around half an hour. This time, it said “It’s well worth the price. Come to the lake when school ends; I can at least describe it for you if you aren’t willing to go.”
Alex sighed, but their curiosity had been piqued by the note, even though it could have just been a prank. They made a mental note to visit the lake after school ended and went on with their day.

After talking with Luna for a bit, Sam went off for some sort of meeting, while Luna stayed sitting by the lake. Luna noticed Alex walking over to the lake with someone else that she assumed was one of Alex’s classmates due to his uniform. She floated down to where the two were and peeked over Alex’s shoulder to see what they were looking at.
They were both looking at a drawing of… Something. It was unfamiliar, and Luna couldn’t find a name to describe it with. Even though it was just a drawing, it was so well-drawn that Luna felt like if she reached out she would be able to feel the wet surface of whatever it was and the wetness of the water- a sensation that she hadn’t felt in a long time and only barely remembered.
“So… This is the place you said?” Alex asked their classmate.
“Yup!” he answered. “I found this when I was exploring the lake.”
“You do realize that exploring the lake is illegal, right?” Alex asked. “Why are you doing that?”
“Well…” he bit his lips nervously. “I kinda got a commission from a scientist in Aer? They said that if I explored the hole in the barrier and investigated what it was made of, I would get four shells an hour.”
Alex raised their eyebrows, surprised. “Four shells an hour? Why is that task so important for them?”
He sighed, as though his good mood had suddenly been deflated. “Apparently the lake is the reason why we can’t float up to the surface, but the original creators didn’t disclose their methods. For every drawing I make, every description- they’re better able to determine what it was made out of.”
Alex and Luna’s eyes both widened in alarm as they both realized the implications. The entire city of Aquaria relied on the lake for their food supply, and if the carefully-regulated hole that allowed the lake to exist was sealed over, many of Aquaria’s citizens would starve as the city began the slow process of floating upwards.
Alex opened their mouth to protest, but their classmate was quicker. “I know about the consequences! I’ve been fabricating reports for a while now, but their work is being finished faster than I anticipated and I just wanted to show someone what I discovered before they find out what’s actually going on.
“The real place… I can’t think of a name for it, but it just feels magical. I touched it once, and it felt like I was trying to touch a piece of extremely thin, wet fabric. It feels like it’s about to tear, like if you push too hard it will fall apart into pieces. And when I touched it, I heard screaming people- I couldn’t understand why, but I just felt vibrations and they got louder and louder until I could actually hear screams in my head. It’s incomprehensible- I don’t know how it exists or why, not even what it looks like, but it- I don’t think it’s normal like the barrier.”
While she heard Alex’s classmate try to explain what was going on, Luna felt as though she’d had an epiphany. The barrier wasn’t keeping souls in, it was made of souls- and the trapped souls reflected other souls, keeping them from passing through.

Meanwhile, as Luna was having her moment of realization, Sam was returning to the lake after their meeting with their scientific consultants. They saw both Luna and two other people- no, two students- standing by the lake, completely unaware of what was going to happen.
Sam recognized the second student as Max Planar, the one who was giving their group of researchers reports on the hole in the barrier surrounding the city. They sighed, knowing that the three standing there would be an obstacle to their plots, but the day when the city would finally be freed was drawing near and couldn’t- no, wouldn’t- be stopped by any obstruction.
While the three were occupied, Sam checked to see if their device had charged up yet. The bar was almost full- just one tiny length left- so they watched the bar for a bit. Finally, it reached the end, and the button was revealed.
“I greet the new world,” Sam muttered. “Welcome to the city.” They pressed the button, and the entire city was rocked by the explosion.

Everywhere in Aquaria, every resident of each of the four districts turned towards the lake in Ie. But only a few people knew what had actually happened. As the lake’s water started to overflow, Luna could see herself fading away, and thanks to her moment of realization earlier she realized why.
The barrier had been blown open.
That was just the first step of Sam’s plan. However, their second and third steps were unable to come into effect. Why? Because of the fake information that Max had fed to Sam over the course of the past few weeks.
Sam’s plan had been to blow open the hole, then restore it with a glass seal- but that seal fell right out of the hole. The barrier’s material of souls had rejected the filling, and the entire city paid for that dearly. For the second- no, final- time in Aquaria’s history, the city began to drown.
If someone had survived the initial stage, they would have seen the distant sunlight vanish, yielding to a void of darkness. Without the air to keep it afloat, the foundation and cracked barrier began to sink. Aquaria- the first truly underwater city, home to twenty thousand residents and growing- fell to the bottom of the sea, lost.

*this may be inaccurate since the weather didn't really change, the city just sunk