Weekly #1 -

Part One:
Character reference sheet for Jack Kelly (From the movie, and musical of the same name, Newsies)
Series continuing or ended?: Ended

Pronouns: He/Him
Sexuality: Straight
Species: Human

Strengths:
- Loyal
- Takes initiative
- Clever
- Resourceful
Weaknesses:
- Overly protective of his friends
- Impulsive
- Regretful

Relationships:
- Romantic interest: Katherine Pulitzer
- Friends: Racetrack, Mush, Crutchie, Romeo, Specs, most other newsies
- Family: None that are mentioned

Tendencies:
- Tends to make decisions thinking of how they will affect his friends more than himself
Improvement: Little improvement, mostly staying the same
- Tends to have a very quick temper, quick to go off when annoyed
Improvement: Little improvement, mostly staying the same
- Doesn’t like to share his emotions, it’s difficult for him to open up
Improvement: Slowly improving

Situations:
Loss of a friend:
- Blames himself and wonders what he may have done, assuming it must be his fault
- Tries to make up with his friend but won’t push too hard if his friend doesn’t want to try and resolve it
- Eventually he will just try and ignore it for a while to give himself and his friend time to think things over as well
- Outcome is usually him blaming himself and trying to ignore the problem entirely, hoping it may resolve itself

Romantic struggles:
- Similar to above, with major struggles he will blame himself and assume he has done something to upset his partner.
- Will admit unhealthy parts of a relationship, however does not fix these things immediately.
- When upset, will vent to his friends before going to talk to his partner.
- Outcome is usually a brief breakup before conversations that lead to reconciliation.

Helping others:
- Finds joy in helping others, especially his friends
- He is determined to do whatever necessary to help people
- On the other hand, it is extremely difficult for him to accept help from others
- Outcome is he usually feels extremely good and motivated after helping his friends with something
(275 Words)

Scenario (Your character has a family to take care of, but they have just been evicted from their home):

Jack was sitting on the curb head in his hands as he tried to figure out what he was going to do. He’d just been evicted from his home and his wife and child had no idea. He didn’t know how he was going to tell them this. His wife, Katherine, and their six year old daughter, Olivia, were visiting Katherine’s parents for the weekend uptown, while Jack had stayed behind because he had work he had to take care of.
In some way, he had of course known this was coming. He hadn’t told Katherine, but for the last couple of months he’d been receiving notices that they were behind on the rent of the apartment that they lived in. He hadn’t told anyone, thinking that he would be able to handle it himself, however obviously he’d been wrong.
When Jack had arrived home after a long day at work, he found a few boxes outside of the apartment with some of his and his family’s things inside of them. He had immediately tried to open the door but found that the key he had didn’t work and that he’d been locked out of the house. After realizing what happened, all that he could think about was how he was going to tell Katherine and Olivia that they’d been evicted and didn’t have anywhere to stay anymore. The two would be coming home later today and he had no idea what they were going to do.
There was nothing that he could think of to do, try as hard as he could, he had no family that they could go to, and while Katheine’s family would have let them stay with them until they could figure something out he was sure, he didn’t want to have to take any kind of charity from them, or honestly anybody else. He knew that Katherine’s family already didn’t think very highly of him and he felt that this would only make things worse, if they found out that he couldn’t even keep a home for his family.
A couple of hours later Jack saw Katherine and Olivia coming down the street, talking and laughing as they came towards him. He stood up, trying to keep the stress out of his face. When Olivia noticed him waiting there he ran over to him and hugged him. Jack smiled and picked her up slowly, hugging her back before setting her back down. Katherine came over to him and smiled slightly before noticing the boxes on the ground.
“What are those boxes for?” She asked, furrowing her brow and going over to look inside the closest box
“Kath.. Um..” He started slowly as she opened the box and saw some of Olivia’s things in them.
“Jack what are these doing out here?” Katherine asked again, pulling out one of the toys and holding it in her hands. Jack didn’t answer, trying to figure out the best way to put it. Olivia noticed the things in the box and looked up at him
“Why are my things out here?” She asked
“We… We were… We were evicted.”
(521 Words)

- Total of 796 words for Part One
–
Part Two:
The characters that I chose to use were Sophie Foster and Dex Dizznee from the Keeper of the Lost Cities series.

Character Voices:
Sophie is an extremely independent person and she really doesn’t like to have to accept help from people. She often lies when talking to friends and family about doing things that she knows they would not approve of because she does not want them to try and stop her. She doesn’t really like to talk about her emotions and often will avoid her friends and family on purpose because she knows they usually want her to talk about it. She usually is a very emotionally closed off person and when she gets upset she tends to close herself off even more despite people making attempts to talk to her and help her.
(112 Words)

Dex is a very excitable and cheery person around people that he knows, however when around people he is not friends with he can be very quiet and seem shy. While he doesn’t necessarily enjoy confrontation he is not afraid to speak his mind when he feels that something is not right, even when it might get him in trouble with people. He is also not afraid to voice his unpopular opinions about things many people would disagree with. Unlike Sophie, he never really holds back his emotions when people ask him and will not often close himself off from friends and family when he is upset or angry.
(109 Words)

Scene from Sophie’s POV:
Taking Dex to her room, Sophie felt a bit awkward, kind of unsure of what to do. It’s not like she had a lot of friends in general back in the human world and she had never really had a friend come over to her room before, much less a friend who just happened to be a boy. Dex on the other hand seemed completely at ease walking around her room, he seemed particularly interested in all the human things that she had in her room, he thought that the clothes she had brought with her looked absolutely ridiculous. Though, comparing the things she’d once thought pretty nice to what elves in The Lost Cities wore on a daily basis, she could see how her human clothes looked pretty weird and honestly fairly inferior.
However, even more than the human clothes that he had found, Dex was also extremely excited to find the scrapbook that Sophie had brought with her and hidden in her bookshelf, hoping that Grady and Edaline (Or anybody else really) would never find it. And, well, maybe she was also hiding it from herself a little bit so that she wouldn’t have to look at it and remind herself even more about the life she had been forced to leave behind when she came to the Lost Cities. Since she had arrived, she hadn’t looked through the book once, finding it too painful. Instead she had just hidden it away so she didn’t have to look at it.
Dex saw the image on the front cover of the scrapbook and he studied it for a moment before turning to her
“Is this you?” He asked, pointing to the younger her in the picture
“Yeah.” Sophie nodded, trying to keep her emotions and tears at bay as she looked at the picture of her at the beach. It had been taken the summer before.
“And that’s your dad?” Dex asked, continuing to study the picture
“Well.. The man who raised me at least..” Sophie said, finding it even harder to keep her tears back as she thought about the people that she had thought were her parents.
“Oh..” Dex started “What happened to them?”
“I-I’m not allowed to know.” Sophie muttered, shuffling her feet awkwardly as she struggled to keep herself from breaking down in front of one of Dex.
“Oh.. I’m really sorry.” Dex said, “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No, not really.” Sophie said, in a voice she hoped made it clear that it was the end of the conversation.
(427 Words)

Scene from Dex’s POV:
As Dex followed Sophie up to her bedroom in Havenfield he noticed that she seemed a little bit nervous, or maybe uncomfortable, with bringing him upstairs and he wasn’t quite sure why, but he decided it wasn’t important enough to ask her about. He also didn’t want to make her any more uncomfortable than she already seemed to be.
Once the two of them walked into the room, Dex took a moment to look around the room and as he looked around, he noticed that while at first glance it looked like any other normal room in the Lost Cities, but as he looked closer he started to notice odd things scattered around the room. Soon he realized that they weren’t just “odd looking” things but they were actually human things!
As soon as he realized this, Dex immediately took an interest in the things and he started walking around the room looking at all of the human things that Sophie had in her room. He could only assume that she had brought these things with her when she came to the Lost Cities from the human world. Some of the things that he saw included a small rectangular shaped screen that he decided to leave for later. It seemed to be some kind of human electronic device and since he knew pretty much nothing about it, he decided to ask Sophie about it later.
He found some, what he assumed to be, human clothes laying near Sophie’s desk and while he tried not to laugh because honestly he didn’t want to offend her if these were really things that she had used to wear, but quite honestly they looked pretty ridiculous to him. Very plain compared to what he was used to seeing. He saw Sophie’s face grow slightly red as he let a small grin appear while looking at all of the clothes that she had brought with her. He tried his best to stop smiling so as not to hurt her feelings.
He put the clothes down and looking over at her bookshelf, he noticed a large black rectangular book and it looked very different from the rest of the books that were on the shelf. He pulled it out to look at it and found a picture of what looked like a smaller Sophie on the cover. It looked like she was at a beach with an older looking man.
“Is this you?” He asked, pointing to the young girl in the picture and looking over at Sophie. The girl nodded slightly
“Yeah.” She answered simply. Dex continued to study the picture for a bit longer
“And that’s your dad?” He asked after a moment
“Well.. The man who raised me at least.” Sophie answered, Dex looked over at her and she seemed to be getting kind of emotional. He felt a bit bad but he was still a little curious and asked another question.
“Oh.. What happened to them?” He asked
“I-I’m not allowed to know.” Sophie muttered, Dex noticed her shuffling her feet and she looked a bit uncomfortable. He felt bad and tried to make her feel a little better.
“Oh.. I’m really sorry.” He murmured, he knew it was a useless thing to say but he really didn’t know what else to say “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No, not really.” Sophie said, and by the way she said it Dex could tell she was being serious and was done talking.
(581 Words)

Total of 1,229 words for Part Two
–
Part Three:

I did a Newsies fanfic because I’m kind of obsessed with this fandom xD (This is also kind of a continuation of a full chapter long fanfic using my OC Piper so the backstory mentioned at the end is something that was developed in her fanfic)
The tropes that I included in this fanfic were Hurt/Comfort, Original Character, and Kidfic (At least, I think kidfic qualifies here)
TW)) Pregnancy (idk if this needs to be a tw but I put it here to be safe) & mentions of ch!Id @bvse

Twenty four year old Piper Jacobs woke suddenly from a nightmare, her eyes shooting open and she found herself staring into the darkness still in a slight state of panic. Her heart was racing and her eyes were darting back and forth, though she knew that there was nothing she should be looking for to be scared of. It took her a moment to realize where she was, but once she did she took a deep breath to calm herself, trying not to wake her husband, Davey, who was still asleep beside her. She sat up slowly, careful not to make too much noise, and stood up, walking out of their room and into the small living area in her apartment. She flipped on the lamp in the living area and she sat on the couch, putting her head in her hands and taking a deep breath, trying to calm herself back down.
She had been having a recurring nightmare for the past couple of months, really ever since she had found out that she was pregnant, which had been nearly four months ago. The nightmare wasn’t necessarily the exact same every time, however it always followed the same kind of formula. It always had her waking up in a cold sweat, panicked, with her heart racing. The dreams always started off in a memory of her childhood, when her mother would @bvse her. It had started when Piper was young and continued until she and her older brother, Jack Kelly, had run away from home when she was seven and Jack was nine. While the dreams started out like this, they usually didn’t stay this way for two long. It would start with her mother h!tt!ng her or something similar, but after a while it would shift. It would no longer be Piper being hvrt by her mother, but instead she had become her mother and she was hvrting her child. This part of the dream varied as much as the first part, but the end was always the same; the child screaming and begging her to stop, just as she had done when she was a child and her mother would hvrt her.
This was something she had always really been worried about, though she really started thinking about it in her late teens. As she had gotten older it had grown to be one of her greatest fears, becoming a mother. But not just becoming a mother, but becoming like her own mother. She was terrified that when her child was born, that somehow, someway she might become like her own mother and start to hurt the child. She never wanted another child to go through what she and he brother had to go through as children, and deep down, she was scared that she might inflict that kind of pa!n onto her child once they were born.
Trying to shake it off, Piper looked up and took a deep breath, shaking her head. She wiped her eyes quickly, realizing she’d been crying. She was embarrassed by that, she was a grown woman and she could still barely control herself when she had nightmares. She hadn’t told anybody about these nightmares because she didn’t want anybody to worry. And, well, she was also a bit worried that someone might agree with her, or that they would think that because of her childhood she wasn’t fit to raise her child. In a way, that was even more terrifying than becoming like her mother. On the other hand, she had worried that maybe people would think she was being stup!d and she didn’t want to be belittled for something like this.
“Piper? What are you doing up?” She heard someone ask from behind her, she turned and saw Davey standing and looking at her with concern
“Nothing I was just um… I just needed to uh… To take a minute, that's all.” She said, trying to sound as convincing as possible, hoping that it didn’t look like she’d been crying. Davey raised an eyebrow slightly and he came to sit beside her
“You sure?” He asked gently, “You don’t look too good… Are you feeling alright?”
“Yeah, I’m… I’m feeling fine.” Piper murmured quietly. She was grateful for his concern, and she considered telling him about her dreams and her concerns, but she hesitated. She didn’t want him to dismiss it, or worse say that maybe he agreed with her concerns. Davey noticed her hesitation though and he grabbed her hand gently.
“You know you can always talk to me,” He started, looking straight into her eyes “About anything. You do know that right?” Piper nodded slightly, feeling tears pricking in the corner of her eyes. She tried to blink them away and she looked down, hoping that she had done so before he could see. Unfortunately she hadn't been fast enough. “Piper what’s wrong?” He asked
Finally, unable to hold it all back any longer, Piper spilled everything that she had been worrying about. The nightmares, becoming like her mother, people thinking she wouldn’t be fit to raise her child, and everything else that had been bothering her about this.
Once she had finished, Davey looked back at her. He seemed to think about what she had said for a moment before talking
“Piper… You know, I really don’t think you have to worry about any of this.” He said simply. Piper was a bit shocked, she hadn’t expected him to just dismiss it like this and she was confused.
“What do you mean?” She asked, wringing her hands in her lap anxiously
“I’m sorry that.. That came out wrong.” He started “What I meant was, think about this, you’ve already kind of been a mother in some respects.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked, racking her brain to try and figure out what he could have been talking about.
“Well, think about it, you lived in the Lodging House with all those younger boys for like four years, right?”
“Yeah.” Piper nodded, still wondering if she completely understood
“And you did a lot for those little boys, you were a role model to them, you know. You were a mother figure. The only one that a lot of them had.” He said. And as he did Piper realized that he was right. She had never really thought about it like that. “And if I know you, which I think I must, then I know that you are going to be the best possible mother to this kid.”
“But how do I know that I won’t turn out like her?” Piper said, looking down
“You don’t. But… I believe that you could never do something to another child like the things your mother did to you. I believe that you’re too good of a person to do that. And I know that you will be the best mother imaginable for this kid.” Piper smiled at his words, and the two had a bit more conversation before finally going back to sleep and having a peaceful night.
After that, Piper rarely had another nightmare like the one she’d had that night. And when she did, she talked about it or remembered the little boys that she had helped raise in the Lodging House. She knew that somehow, when her child came, she would be ready to be the best mother she could possibly be to them.
(1,242 Words)

Total of 1,242 words for Part Three
–
Part Four:
For this fanfic, I made SWC a physical place and mainly focused on mine and Moss’s friendly rivalry as Script and Myth (Co)leaders. I placed this during cabin wars ;)

The day had come. Cabin Wars. They always caused a bit of anxiety; but in a sort of fun way. It was definitely one of the ways that Piper was able to up her word count the most throughout the month of camp.
Tonight, Piper was planning to sneak into Moss’s cabin as quietly as she could and hopefully surprise her with a war. It was quite late, but it was cabin wars today and so she wouldn’t be sleeping too much tonight. It was fine, normal even here at SWC or Scratch Writing Camp (The camp had been able to transfer to an in-person campus due to its growing popularity on the website and it had been absolutely wonderful). And while she knew that almost nobody slept during cabin wars, she knew that Moss sometimes did. Piper was hoping that this was one of the times that Moss had taken a quick nap during cabin wars. She was trying to spring one on Myth and she knew that if Moss was awake and writing then the war would have no effect.
Sure, some people might think she was being a bit mean to purposefully attack her friends cabin while her friend might be asleep, however she and Moss had decided even before this session of camp had started that they would have a nice clean friendly rivalry. And, since their cabins (Script, which Piper was co-leading and Myth, which Moss was leading) were enemies it made it even more fun. Plus, currently Myth was way up on the leaderboard and Piper really wanted to try and pass them, and one way to do that was to make sure Myth lost a couple of points during Cabin Wars(Okay maybe more than a couple).
After obsessively checking the time to make sure that Myths shield was finally down, it was time. She went and reminded her leader Lio that she was going to place a war on their enemy cabin and after getting final confirmation, she ran over to the desk to get a paper to prepare the cabin war.
Writing the war down on a clean sheet of paper in her curly handwriting, Piper began to creep towards the Mythology Maze cabin. She moved quietly as she could up to the cabin and in through the door. She heard keyboards tapping in the other room, and realized that was probably where the campers and leaders who were awake were writing or finishing things up from their last war. Creeping past the room quietly she pinned the war onto a board and before anybody could see her she left the cabin.
When she reached the Script cabin, she walked inside to find some of her cabin mates frantically opening computers and notebooks to begin writing. She ran over to their own war posting board and she found one that hadn’t been there when she had left. Reading it, and who it was from, she smiled slightly, going to grab her computer and start writing.
“Thanks for this Moss” She thought as she began to write, determined to beat her friend (In a nice way of course)
(526 words)

Total of 526 words for Part Four
–
Total of 3,793 words for Weekly #1

Artist’s Daily

July 4

Pisces Horoscope

Word Count: 808

Real-Fi


Charlie tilted his head at a girl with long brown hair, his sister, that sat beside him on the park bench. “What’s wrong, Val?” He asked, looking at her with a sort of sadness mixed with curiosity glimmering in his eyes. He was always observant and good at reading emotions, but he didn’t have to try hard for his sister, as she always made her displeasure as apparent as possible. Val tilted her head back against the bench and kicked her legs, letting out a stretched on sigh before speaking. “Broke up with Jake,” she shook her head, her hair somehow remaining stiff. “Aw, it’s okay, Val,” Charlie put his small hand on her shoulder. He was always caring, only wanting to help others. “I’m sure you’ll find someone better. He didn’t deserve you,” Charlie comforted. Val nodded reluctantly, her head snapping back up. “Charlie! Cmon! It’s almost dark! We NEED to get home!” Charlie threw himself off of the bench, chasing after Val as the setting sun illuminated the pathway. Charlie panted, extremely out of shape, as they halted to a stop on the porch. His older sister grabbed the key for the front door from her pocket and allowed them inside. “We were home before dark,” Val reminded their mother, who sat on the couch, and earned herself an eye roll. Charlie glanced out the door as he stepped inside. Val was right, it was only almost dark. “Just get to bed. You both have school in the morning,” their mother said. Charlie nodded quickly and rushed up the stairs to his room, not wanting to get into any trouble. He quickly got into pajamas and crawled into bed, the tiredness stabbing at him as soon as he laid down. Quickly, the darkness of sleep took him. The next morning, he woke up very early. He changed quickly into a plaid shirt and got his mother to sleek back his hair for picture day. Their mother drove Val and Charlie to school early so they could get everything they needed. Val had her pictures earlier, but Charlie had to wait until after lunch. As Charlie opened his green lunchbox, he peered across the table and noticed his friend, who was lunchless. In signature Charlie fashion, he offered up his lunch and went the rest of the day with his stomach growling violently at him, seeming mad for not feeding it. The next day, he gave a kid in his class his water bottle since they forgot theirs, and the day after that, he handed over his aced test to a kid who got a zero. Other kids, worse ones, more mischievous ones, we’re beginning to take notice of Charlie’s kindness, which had increased a lot over the recently passed summer break. Charlie ended up skipping class for one of them, to refill out their survey to make them seem a bit nicer. Then Charlie helped one of them fake an injury to get out of class. It was getting out of hand. Charlie’s mother was noticing he was in worse and worse shape by the day, hungrier, more tired, more anxious. “Charlie,” she said one day as she was driving him home. Val wasn’t there, as she had basketball practice so his mother took the full opportunity to speak to him. “Are you okay? What’s been going on at school?” She said, softness and kindness ringing in her voice. “Um-well…” the more recent kids he’d helped had specifically told him not to tell anyone, especially an adult. So he sat in the back seat, twiddling his thumbs. “Charlie, I don’t know what’s going on, it would be kind of you to tell me. Could you please tell me?” His mother said as she took a turn, hating to use his weakness on him, but knowing it was the only way. “I’ve just been helping people. I skipped class for one kid two days ago, and helped another one seem nicer in the school’s beginning of the year survey,” he described. “Charles James Matter, you should know better than to skip class. You can’t keep using yourself up,” she unlocked the car and hopped out, helping Charlie out after. “Cmon, we’re gonna read a story,” she sat him on the couch, then grabbed out the book titled ‘The Giving Tree.’ Charlie understood what she meant, and being the good kid he was, decided to obey her. The next day at school, he only did small deeds of help, though it hurt him. Physically and emotionally. When the meaner kids started to realize he wasn’t as gullible they tripped him. He couldn’t be perfect. But he couldn’t be awful either. Charlie wasn’t sure if his life would ever get better than this, but he didn’t care. He needed to try his best, even with the hitting and shouting.

#GOFAN-FI
randomized horoscope: cancer
547 words, for Fan-fi:
Lark was working on a machine. Lark was a normal boy, who just loved machines. Whenever he went to a store, he would be in awe at all the machinery that was there. Everything was so logical. Anything that wasn't logical never made sense to him. He didn’t have any friends because he never went to public schooling. His only friends were the gears, the mechanical parts. He was a kind of Solo-effort person, who only worked by himself. He didn’t want to ask for help. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was ashamed to ask for help. He liked being the one who got the praise. But that all changed the day he went to the mall, to look for a new machine to take apart and then rebuild, he met another boy. His age, probably 13, or so. He had glasses and was also asking for the same thing he was. He decided to have a chat with this boy. It turned out, the other boy's name was Alex, and that he too took a hobby to machinery and engineering. Alex had a few friends help him out, and they had a conversation. When it was time for Alex to go home, they went their separate ways. When Lark got home, he wondered how Alex could even deal with friends. But then his attention went to a big problem. His machine he was making had suddenly stopped. He noticed how the main electrical system had been overrunning. There were two options. One, the expensive repair. Or the harder, more cheap way, but it required a lot of precision. He recalled how Alex said one of his friends had a good precision with hand. Now Lark was questioning whether friends were actually worth it. The next morning he decided to go meet up with Alex. If Alex’s friend could help with hand precision, then he might reconsider his thoughts about friendship. When he went to Alex’s address, He noticed that the garage was open. When he called for someone, He heard Alex’s voice. He said hello to Alex, and then told Alex about his situation. Alex suggested redesigning the bumper a bit, and then they could work on the main problem. His friend was really good with precision, and they were kind of like a team. One person was good with one thing, while the other specialized in another thing. They were missing someone who could build good. He offered Lark to join his team. Lark told him he will consider it, and thanked him for the offer. When he returned home, his mind began opening to the wonders of having friends. He decided that when the morning of tomorrow arrives, he would go and accept the offer. He began remodeling the bumper of his machine, and then he worked on his building and precision skills. After he went to bed, the next morning came as a breeze. He went to Alex’s house, and told Alex that he accepts his offer. His life from there became full of great adventures with his friends and team, and wished he had these friends earlier. His machine was so amazing, the team had worked so hard, that the mayor of their town had a look and was awed.

Daily July 6th
prompt: write about a character with telekinesis (506 words)
I sat down in my room.
A prison.
I should have known when Alexia told me to be careful.
“They're going to catch you, Lydia,” she said.
“Keep it a secret, Lydia,” she said.
“Be careful, Lydia,” she said.
Alexia was amazing. But she worried too much sometimes, and I was a bit of a daredevil, testing things to see if they would break, pushing buttons to see what they would do.
Naturally, we got along great.
I jiggled the lock. It clattered and clanged against the door, but didn't break.
I guess you're wondering how I did that.
INSIDE my cell. From the back wall.
Well… I'm not a regular person. In fact, I'd say I'm irregular.
Anyway, I'm telekinetic. I move stuff with my mind, for all of you idiots who don't know what that means.
It looks a bit freaky. Kinda like there's a ghost.
Apparently the dude next door thought so.
“Hey! Wotcha doing? Cute little mind tricks?”
I sighed. Honestly, these people are so stupid.
“My ”cute little mind tricks“ are telekinesis, you idiot.”
“Yeah? You think you're so smart, you with your big head. That's cute.”
The dude was getting on my nerves, so I decided to scare him a bit. There was a pile of dirt in his cell, probably from digging into the ground to try and escape. How cliche.
I levitated the dirt pile into the air. The jerk still didn't notice.
How stupid of him. Did he really think he could get away with insulting me, calling me cute?
I dropped the dirt pile on his head.
He cursed. For a whole minute. I'm surprised he didn't run out of breath.
“You big-headed idiot. Do you know how often you get to shower here? Once a month. I'm gonna smell like dirt for a month.”
He started swearing again, and I couldn't help but feel both satisfied and sorry.
Oh well. He deserved it… right? Anyway, I was sleepy. The trip to get to the prison had been long and tiring, and I just wanted to sleep. I laid down on the hard prison floor, thinking about how I would escape.
The opportunity presented itself sooner than I expected.
When I woke up, my cell door was wide open. The guards outside were gone, and so were all the other prisoners, including the jerk I met last night. I took the opportunity and ran.
Then immediately dropped to the ground in extreme pain.
My leg burned, and I could tell I wasn't going anywhere. My eyelids were heavy, even though I had just woken up. I wondered what had happened to me as I lay on the ground, my vision slowly fading.
Suddenly, I heard slow footsteps coming closer to me. I wasn't sure if they were real or a dream, but I closed my eyes and heard faint talking.
“Geez, what happened to you?” The person sighed. They sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place them.
“Come… on… Let's…” The person's voice faded away.

･ ｡ﾟ : * . ☽ . * : ｡ﾟ･ july 6th daily ･ ｡ﾟ : * . ☽ . * : ｡ﾟ･

☆ 534 words || 800 points ☆

|| pisces

“Flora! I need your help!” I place my notebook down on my desk and look up. Two of my coworkers rush in, clearly frazzled and drenched in sweat. “There’s a customer, we’re having some trouble, his condition is alarming-”

“On my way.” I sigh, leaving the papers behind me as I grab my safety gear. This man seems to needs me much more than my lab work does.

I rush into the room, hands charged with supernatural energy. My coworkers are trembling behind a desk as the disturbed man in question blasts a strange substance at me. Putting up a shield, I examine the substance. Maple syrup..?

The man gives me a look of terror. “Please help me! I can’t stop shooting maple syrup out of my palms! If you don’t help, they said I’d become a giant waffle!!” He shudders, looking at Pamela, who glances at me sheepishly.

“I thought it would make him listen to me..?” Pamela fidgets with her thumbs, avoiding my gaze. “It sort of made everything worse?”

I glare at her, then turn to the man, giving him a kind look. “You’ll be fine, your situation is not serious. Calm down, then we can continue the treatment-” I’m interrupted by another coworker bursting through the door.

“Flora!” they yell. “Code yellow in room 916!” I grab my tools and follow them to the next room, calling back to Pamela. “Be honest with our customers!”

My coworker explains the situation as we run. “Yellow woman.. yellow baby.. eaten by monkeys in the past..” I quickly give them a run-down on a fast treatment for the problem. Before we reach room 916, however, another worker grabs my hand.

“I need you in lobby 274!” she gasps, her face blackened. “Fire problem!”

“Extinguish it!” I pant, as three other coworkers rush in with specimens.

Each person starts their own story. “We need you- emergency- help now!”

I try to focus, but I feel my energy waning. I hold my head in my hands, inhaling, as I try to focus on the frenzied workers surrounding me.

“Okay!” I say loudly, and everyone stops, gazing at me. “I- I can’t help you all at once. Please, all of you, review the guidebook if you’re unsure. It’s already been downloaded in your individual databases.”

The girl with the blackened face speaks. “But, Flora, we need you to perform-”

“You can do it yourselves,” I interject. “I hired you all for a reason. You can have my advice, but you’ll have to handle things yourselves.” I wipe my eyes with a sleeve. Stress makes me tear up.

My coworkers give me kind glances. “You should go rest. You’ve worked a lot. We’ll tell you if there’s a real emergency.”

I sigh. “Thank you so much. I’ll be studying in the lab if you need me.”

“Okay, we’ll go handle our emergencies. Don’t want to keep them all waiting!” The people scramble over each other, grabbing the tools they need, and separate into groups.

As they rush away, I feel a sense of pride. Although I couldn’t help them all, I guided them to become the people they are now, and that is enough for me.

daily 6 ehe <333

i am a sag B)

572 words yay

Lillian was outside on a cool, sunny day. She picked up a slip of notebook paper and a pen and began writing.

“Dearest Bridget,
How have you been? It's been a few years since I've contacted you. I feel guilty, of course, being your pen-pal. I should probably be writing to you every month, at the least.
I've been doing well-”

She placed the pen down on the bench and took a big breath. The wind made her hair glide. She grasped the pen again and continued writing.

“I miss you very much. It feels like it's been decades, even though I know it's only been four years. We should meet again in person some time. It'd been nice to see you in person again. Even if it's not possible. The last time I saw you in person was for dinner. I remember what we had that night. We had roast turkey and gravy. That Thanksgiving was the greatest night of my life. But it was the last time I will have ever seen you. I miss you so much, Bridget. I can't get over the fact that I will never see you again. I wish we had gotten more time together. I am still your friend, after all that's happened. Whether you are gone or not, we will always be the best of friends.”

Suddenly, a stream of tears fell from Lillian's eyes. The tears left Lillian's notebook page streaked with water. She couldn't believe Bridget was gone. Nevertheless, she picked the pen up once again and continued to write.

“We danced that night.. do you remember what we danced to? We danced to ”Dance of the Swans“. We thought the night would never end. It never truly ended. I can still feel it within my heart. Whether it's in my heart or not, we will never be together again. The last song you heard was ”Dance of the Swans“. I listen to it every day. Sometimes I listen to it once a day. Sometimes I listen to it ten times a day. I always find time to listen to it at least once, Bridget.”

Lillian found herself not on the bench anymore, but with Bridget on the last Thanksgiving. She was waltzing with her to “Dance of the Swans”. Then, she found herself on the bench yet again. She wanted to write more, but she couldn't bring herself to. She went on the dock and looked at the clear pond. She could see Bridget in the reflection. She smiled as a frog bounced from one lily pad to another. Then, she got her car-keys and unlocked her car. She put the keys in the ignition and switched gears to drive. She drove for about an hour. Finally, she pulled up at the graveyard. She left the car and went to search for Bridget.

After a bit of walking, she found Bridget's grave. Engraved on the stone were the words, “All Good Things Must Come to an End.” Those were the last words Bridget had ever spoken to the world. Lillian smiled weakly. She remembered what Bridget had told her while she was at the hospital. “Whether I survive this or not, I want you to promise me that you will never shatter. I need you to stay strong. I also want you to write letters to me when you get the time.”

“Okay,” Lillian said faintly.

“You promise me?”

“Yes.”

Hi guys!
Here's the 7/6/22 daily, 500 words exactly, done in a rush so I'll add more later maybe sorry for the cliffhanger hehe. I did it for Zodiac ‘Virgo’ prompt:

Heading down the street, I focus on counting my breaths in an attempt to stop me from hearing other people’s thoughts, although it isn’t really working. I can hear the young woman sitting on her porch thinking about how beautiful the butterfly flying overhead was, and the retired sailor grumbling about his plants dying because there was no rain. I reached my best friend’s house and climbed on top of their trash can and jumped the fence—the gate had long since rusted shut and no one even attempted opening it anymore.
I reach the oak tree in the middle of the backyard and look up through the dense foliage to where I can just barely see the treehouse, and call out the password.
Instantly, I hear the thoughts of Kris, Vince, and Jessica; clearly, they have some sort of news, although the exact news didn’t cross their minds.
“Fern! I’m so glad you made it!” Jessica’s excited thoughts and wild hand gestures give me a buzz of excitement—-When Jessie’s happy, you’re happy.
“So what’s up?”
I ask, gaining myself a volley of thoughts from the others: According to their thoughts, Kris wants us to try out for the swim team, Jessie… her thoughts are giving me a headache, but it’s Vince’s thought that gets me excited—He found a portal generator. Kris and Jessie are talking at the same time, over each other, not helping with the noise in my head. When the pause for a breath, Vince brings up his portal generator.
“Awesome! Let’s use it!”
Kris says, punching the air.
“Slow down, Kristina. We don’t even know if this thing works yet. Or if it’s safe. Or–”
Kris grabs it from him and jabs a button.
“Kristina don’t—”
Jessie’s warning came too late. A vortex ripped open and we were sucked in.

When I open my eyes, the first thing I notice is that we’re in a tunnel. A flashlight lies on the ground, pointed up, to illuminate the space. Vince is the only other person awake—the others are still unconscious. Kris comes to with a thought of ‘Coooool!’ and Jessie with an ‘Ow.’
“We should get moving. Something snatched the portal generator, and ran off just as I came to,”
Vince says to us, all drowsiness now replaced with panic. I relax and open my mind. A distant thought cuts across the familiar tones of my friend’s thoughts, a thought of getting something to a master. It came from the left. While I was sensing for thoughts, my friends decided to go right.
“Okay, let’s get going right, then!”
Jessie says, her normal optimism overflowing again.
“No. We go left.”
They stopped and looked at me—I didn’t disagree often.
“Okay…” Kris said slowly, “I guess we’ll go with you for a change.”
Her thoughts were annoyed and also didn’t want disagreement. I let out a small breath.
“Thanks, Kris.”
She smiled.
“Anytime.”
We headed left, and the further we got, the louder the thoughts of the thief got.

Daily - July 6

Sam had always learned that doing things alone was normal. It didn’t matter if you would be crying yourself to sleep tonight, because you're supposed to be strong, and strong people don’t cry. He had always tried to hide the tears, block off the pain, and push away doubt and grief. Sam was thinking a lot, and thinking made his head throb. Resorting to something else, Sam stood up, shaking. He drew a breath, looking at himself, the hydra boy. Tears crept to the back of his eyes as he looked at the other head, Griffin. The head was deformed, and not quite as big as Sam’s. Eyes gooey and loose, the head shook at every movement Sam made.
“Oh, brother! How are you? I do hope that living is going well. I'm very great myself, oh, haha, wait. I’m dead.” That was Griffin, with his stale jokes, almost as stale as the bread that Sam had been hoarding for years now. Sam sighed, looking at Griffin, unsure if he should reply, or simply ignore him. He didn’t ignore him.
“What do you need? You're dead, we all know it.” Sam coughed out, anger in his voice, but yet, in it was the slightest sympathy. Griffin chuckled loosely, looking Sam in the eye, and what scared Sam most was the fact that Griffin was supposed to be dead. He died years ago, why was he just now plaguing Sam.
“Mm… brother, do tell me, why do you get such a life while I rot. I never asked for you to be alive, or that I might die, and look at me now! Boy, you don’t understand. The only reason I’m ‘still alive’ is to get back at you for killing me.” Griffin chuckled, and if he could move, he would be patting Sam on the head, as if he cared, and sometimes he did, Sam really didn’t understand Griffin.
“Why are you even still here?” Sam spat, stopping where he was to look at his brother. Griffin shrugged before smiling madly.
“I’m not sure, okay? But I might as well make use of it. Brother, let's all be real, no one can help you. Talking won’t help, because I’ll simply make your life worse. You need to grow up and face your own problems, hm?” And just like that, Griffin’s head went limp, and Sam was alone. He quietly laid down, laying his head on the ground, quietly weeping. Don’t cry. Crying is for the weak. You're fine, and still Sam felt so weak.
“Are you… okay?” Sam flipped around to see Rue, his travel buddy. She was trying to get to the sea, so the two worked together to go there. Sam really didn’t care where he was going, he just was trying to stay alive.
“Uh… yes. I… I really am. Yeah, I’m alright.” Sam whispered, looking away from the girl, but he could hear her sitting down beside him. He hid his face, holding back the tears that were leaking out of his eyes.
“I can see that you aren’t, you know. It’s okay to cry.” Rue smiled, softly resting her hand on his, and it helped him. Sam slowly looked at Rue, a tight knot in his throat. Could he really tell Rue about these things?
“B-but it really isn’t. Dad- and… brother says it isn’t okay to cry.” He squeaked, pushing back the hot tears. Rue sighed, looking Sam in the eyes, her green eyes filled with sorrow and guilt.
“Sam… your dad was a maniac, and… your brother is dead. Griffin is gone.” Rue whispered, but that only made Sam more unsure of himself. He looked away, the knot in his throat tightening.
“But-” before he could object, Rue cut him off. Even her eyes were red, making Sam surprised.
“Sam, don’t you see? I’m with you right now, you don’t have to shut me out, o-okay? We’re working together, we’re friends… okay? A-and friends help each other.” Rue whispered, this time making Sam feel… better. Rue seemed to notice and smile.
“O-okay…promise… okay?”
“Promise what?” Rue asked, smiling lightly to Sam.
“That’ll you’ll never leave me… okay..?”
“I know. I won’t, okay?”

Alternate prompt for daily 6

“I was born with memories. They're not mine of course, because that wouldn't make sense. They're the memories of my dad's best friend's son. I know that sounds super odd. But I'm telling you, it's the truth. It's been proven. We can't explain it, but we can prove it.
Ronin and I are permanently and unexplainably connected by… something. We can communicate mentally, often in a way beyond language, from any distance. We can feel each other's thoughts and emotions, and access eacb other's memories. He's a year and a half older than me, so my entire life has been like this, and he barely remembers his before it wasn't.
When we were younger, before anyone had any idea what was going on, we'd use our unique abilities to cheat on games without realizing we were cheating. Then we did realize we were cheating, and for quite a while we kept going anyway. That was probably what lead our parents to figure out something was up. Either that or the, you know, nonverbal communication and weird knowledge of each other's memories.
It's been seven years since we were discovered, or just about exactly half my life. Since then, various different people have had various different theories as to why and how, but none of them made any sense to us to begin with, and all were quickly disproven. We're good not knowing why or how though. I mean, people don't know exactly why or how we exist, you know?
And before you ask, I can't tell you what it's like. As I said, it's always been like this for me, so it's normal. Just like you don't know what it's like to live with this, I don't know what it's like to not live with it.
If you're skeptical, just ask, and I'll prove it.” I stop looking out toward where the audience will be and turn my head toward Ronin. “Was that good?” I ask. “Theatrical enough, but not too theatrical?”
Ronin nods. “Yes, it was perfect.”
“Really?” I ask, even though I know full well he meant it.
He looks at me skeptically, as if pointing out that fact. “Remember,” he finally says, “You're the princess. They'll be glued to your every word no matter what.”
Even though I know what he means, I can't help but imagine each word I speak becoming tangible and flying out into the audience, where each one finds a different audience member to become attached to with sticky resin. That would really be some speech.
Ronin bursts out laughing, wondering how my mind goes such weird places.
I just shrug at him.

Just as I expected, as soon as I'm done with my speech, if you can really call it that, everyone bombards me with questions and requests to prove it.
I pull a sheet of paper out of my pocket. It's blank. I hand it, along with a writing utensil, to a random person in the audience and ask them to draw or write anything they want on it and hand it back to me.
I receive the paper back and look at it. It takes me a little while to decipher what it is, but Ronin smiles as soon as I do. “It's a waterfall,” he says, feeling triumphant.
The audience member stares in shock.
I'm shocked too, but not because it succeeded. Because waterfalls hold a special meaning for Ronin and me that this audience member has no idea about. Maybe Ronin and I aren't so unusual after all. Maybe we just have a stronger version of something that unites us all. (603)

589 words, virgo

“Jeez, guys! You have no opinion! Can you just get over it and pick somewhere!” Anikka scowled.

“Says YOU!” shot back Dejanay, jabbing her finger at Anikka’s chest. So had been the conversation for at least a quarter of an hour now. Diana, Nia, Amaya, Johanna, Sonia, Akiani, Fleur and I were standing around with a variety of expressions on our faces. Nia and Diana were just mucking around, although occasionally Diana would shoot an annoyed look in the direction of the shouting. Johanna was trying to peace keep, but her interjections could barely be heard over the roar of the debate. After ten minutes or so, she had stepped back, resigned to her fate. Amaya was on her phone, looking bored. Sonia was being restrained by Fleur. They probably had the same opinion on what restaurant to go to for our childhood friend reunion- it was strange, because Fleur was so mild and Sonia was so outrageously outgoing, but they still seemed to share the same thoughts and emotions, even after all these years seperated, at different schools and universities. Anyways, everyone knew that if Sonia was allowed into the discussion, it would get even worse, and Fleur had been tasked with the draining demand of holding her back. I felt bad for her. Alien loud noises could be heard frequently exploding from Akiani’s airpods, but we all unspokenly agreed not to question it.

I began to grow restless. Does it honesstly take these guys so much time just to decide on a restaurant? Like, seriously- we met up to celebrate still ebing friends after almost two decades, and we can’t even start. I, personally, have an idea. It may not be great, but it’ll certainly bring us back to our childhood. But I don’t know if I can say it- even with my best friends as the only ones around me, I’m still the shyest girl you’ve probably ever met. Debating weather or not to interrupt the still ensuing shouting match in my head, I sidle uncomfortably up to Fleur and Sonia and whisper to them-

“Hey, I have an idea. For where we could eat, I mean.” They look up, and I tell them my idea softly.

“That’s a great plan, Quinne!” Sonia beams, stopping her small tugs of resistance. Fleu lets go of her, shaking her arms out. I’m surprised.

“You really think so?” I ask.

“Yeah, I think the gang will love the irony of it.” Fleur answers more gently, also smiling. “You should tell it to Anikka and Deej!”

My mollification swiftly flips to mortification. Me, speak out against Anikka and Deej? I couldn’t!

“No, you should sa-” I begin, but Sonia interrupts me.

“Nu-uh, Quinnei-o. You gotta learn to speak up. Come on! Hit ‘em with what you got!”

I swallow. Sonia’s right. I have to get over my fear at some point. I cough loudly.

Sonia and Fleur are smiling encouragingly. Amaya, who I think has been listening in, nods once.

“Guys-”

“JUST DECIDE ALREADY!” shouts Deej.

“Guys!” my voice erupts. It’s not that loud, but unused to hearing me shout, everyone quiets. “I have an idea.” I swallow. Everyone’s eyes are on me.

“Let’s go to Chuck E. Cheese. For old time’s sake.”

The room is quiet. Then everyone starts laughing. “It’s a great idea!” I hear. “All for Quinne’s suggestion!” Anika slaps me on the back heartily, and Diana, Nia and Johanna shake their heads in wonder. I grin, a wholehearted, full grin. Maybe I should speak more often.

(I'm sorry, but one thing before we start, the only thing I think of when I see the horoscope says “Why me?” I immediately think of a Twisted Translations video I'm obsessed with XD)
—–
July 6th daily || Oop- 1201 words || Inspired by the Taurus horoscope
—–
I sat on the rocks near the lake we lived near. I looked at the water, which was reflecting the sun, which was slowly coming down. I put my feet on the rock I was sitting on and put my legs as high as I could without getting up from the rock. My face slowly lowered into my knees and I became loose like I was a deflating balloon. I heard footsteps from behind me, followed by my mother's voice.
“Bailey, sweetie? What's the matter?” she asked. I didn't really want to talk about it with her. She was the reason I was feeling this way.
“Just leave me alone, mom.” I said, still facing the other way, and rolling my eyes. I heard her mutter a bit to herself as she walked the other way. Her sounds became harder and harder to hear as she went back to our house until they were impossible to hear. I continued sitting around with my thoughts, every time I thought of something new, I just wanted to cry more. It came to the point that I did start crying. “Why me-?” I asked the emptiness around me. Just as I expected, there was no response, or so I thought.
“Hehehe! Time to go to the lake!” I heard my brother call from the distance. I looked up and saw him running towards me. But, he just passed me and jumped into the chilly lake. Little drops of water went everywhere as he hit the water. A few droplets hit me.
“Ugh…” I groaned, putting my head up and wiping the water away. “Why does he have to be so annoying?” I nearly yelled, but stopped myself from doing so. But, he still heard me. He turned his head around and looked at me. Even though I was wet from the lake, I could tell he was tearing up.
“I- I don't mean to…” he stuttered, trying to hold the tears in. I looked at him, and knew exactly how he felt. It was wrong of me to call him annoying, because I knew how it felt to be called worse.
“I'm sorry Marcus…” I said, slightly hesitant. I stood up and wiped away the tears on his face. “It just slipped out…” I said, wading in the water, heading towards the rocks again. “I apologize for what I say, just like everything else I say…” I continued, putting my feet on the rocks and going back into the same position I did before. My head was still up, and I could see that my brother Marcus now had an expression of guilt on his face.
“What's wrong?” he asked pretty genuinely. But I knew he was just saying it because he felt bad. He didn't really care. But, I was too upset to not let my feelings out.
“Ok fine… I'll explain it to you…” I said, beginning to think back to when I was young.

It all started a long time ago. My mother divorced my father and we had to stay with my mother full time. It was difficult, and for a while, I just wanted to cry. But I sucked it up, knowing I had to be the responsible one who helps out the rest of the family. This lasted for years, I was constantly helping with everything, taking care of Marcus, doing chores around the house, and even having a part time job not too long ago. It was exhausting after a while, but I didn't mind.
But then, I looked at a photo, the only photo left in the house that still had my dad on it. It was one of the photos at my parents' wedding. They seemed so cute together, and having the two children in the photo, me and my brother, made it even more complete. I looked around the house and realized I didn't have such a complete feeling like the photo expressed. I went up to my mother that day.
“Mom… you know, it's been many years… and Dad is such a changed person, is there any chance you could…” I said. The last bit was the hardest to get out. “…get back together with him?” I flinched, thinking my mom was going to yell at me.
“Hmm… sweetie, you're right, I may just try again, we'll see. I've been considering it for a while, but now that you seem to have an interest in it, I may just do it.” said my mother. The most joyful expression came on my face after she had finished her sentence. I hugged her as tight as possible, crying happy tears. And, it worked, she came back together with my dad, but things changed. He wasn't the man I thought he'd be… and it meant even more responsibility on me. My mom never seemed to have much of an interest in me when they got together.
“Bailey, do the dishes!” “Bailey, sweep the floor!” “Bailey, cook dinner!” “I can't give you attention currently because your dad and Marcus want attention currently!” are all things my mom would say to me daily. I was basically the mother of the house. But I kept it in, unless I was in my room. “Why me…?” I'd always mutter to myself, many times a night when falling asleep.
And today was no better. I came home to my mother saying this, “Bailey, I heard you didn't finish your homework, so go do that. Also, last night, you forgot to sweep the floor, so you're going to complete that so you can sweep your disappointment from my mind, then cook dinner, then clean your room, and the kitchen.” I did all of the following things. But what did the rest of the family do? Well, my father got to watch television, my mother got to scroll through the internet, and Marcus got to play video games, then go to the lake. So after I realized these things, I ended up here.

Marcus seemed to be paying attention the whole time. He looked at the ground guiltily, then me. “Marcus, don't feel bad, it's not your fault, it's luck's fault I guess.” I said, sighing. and from that day on, I noticed something, he changed. He became more responsible for himself, less annoying, and even tried to back me up. Wow, I need to talk to him more often I guess.
One day I asked him why he changed, and he looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Well, you said it was luck's fault you were this way, so I'm attempting to make sure luck doesn't harm you.”, giggled, and walked away. I smiled at him as he did. I looked at the ceiling as I lay down on my bed. “Why me? Why did I have to have such an amazing brother?” I asked with such a joyful expression on my face.
“I dunno, why did I get such an amazing sister?” asked Marcus, popping his head through the door and quickly closing it. I cried, but this time, I wasn't sad. I was the happiest I ever was. And probably would be the happiest I would ever be.

Main Cabin Daily 7/6
512 words

Don’t automatically assume that you can work out all your problems by yourself, Cancer. Just the act of talking things over with others can help shed light on a situation that was baffling you earlier. Enlist the help of others in areas where you need help. Don’t be ashamed to ask for assistance. We all have problems and issues to deal with. You aren’t alone.

“This one’s mine.”
I take off toward the serpent, whose head is just emerging from beneath the choppy waves. Jane yells after me but I can’t hear her over the rushing of the water; I assume she’s trying to stop me. She thinks I’m trying to take on too much. I need to prove her wrong.
I know how to fight! I’ve trained all my life. Yes, it’s true that I haven’t encountered a two hundred-foot sea monster before, but who has? Once she sees me beat it, she’ll finally stop underestimating me. Maybe everyone will.
I swing my sword out as I leap toward the monster. It unhinges its jaw in a snakelike way that would make me shudder if I wasn’t midair and flying directly toward the forked tongue. Flailing my arms, I manage to narrowly miss becoming the sea serpent’s dinner. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t win this battle, easily! Every battle has its downsides. From here on, it’ll go smoothly. I’m good at this.
I land just behind its eyes. I lift my sword to try to slash them but my feet slide; the scales are slippery. I fall downward, to the bottom of the curve in its body, and off the side. My hand brushes a sharp rock and the water gets a little redder. This is okay! Now I have a good position, because it’s still looking the other way. Maybe I could do some damage here.
Of course I can! I’ve been trained well. I just need to figure out how to do it. I grasp my sword and draw it upward, then strike. It slices through the air and hits the serpent but barely makes a dent in the smooth scales. With all the energy I put into it, I get catapulted over the body and find myself next to Jane again; without my sword. I quickly stand and brush myself off. “That was on purpose.”
So now I need to come up with a different strategy, and prove I’m just as good as her.
She puts a hand on my shoulder and laughs a bit. “Hey, no way could anyone take that thing out alone. Do you want some help?”
I feel myself deflate a little. “Yeah. The scales were slippery, but its reflexes were slow. I was able to land on its head and stay there for a few seconds without it launching me off. And my sword didn’t work on its back. ”
“Wow. So we need to find somewhere it will work, then.”
“Oh! Of course, how did it just occur to me? The underside is more vulnerable and aiming there will have a greater effect on the serpent.”
She hands me her sword and grabs her own dagger, grinning. “Let’s do this.”
We take off running toward the serpent, like we’ve done it a thousand times. She throws me into the air, and dives down into the water. I land, once again, on its head. This time I keep my balance, and I aim right for the eyes.

July 6th Daily
I wrote about a girl who has premonitions
TW)) Her premonition is of a sh00tIng
—–
I was sitting on my bed, scrolling through social media, trying to think of something to do today when I saw a message from my friend Kaylie.
“Good,” I though, opening it to read “Now I’ve got something to do at least.”

Kaylie
Hey, what are you up to today?

Ashlyn
Nothing really, no plans, what about you?

Kaylie
I was thinking of going to the movie theater to see that new movie that came out. Wanna come?

I smiled, it was as though Kaylie was able to read my mind or something, she was always popping up with a kind word or something to do just when I needed it. When I’d asked her about it though, she just shrugged it off saying She somehow just knew.

The first time she had said that to me, I had wondered if maybe she was like me. If maybe she also had.. Well if she had premonitions like I did sometimes. However I was nearly certain that she didn’t. The things that she had “known” about were never important enough o warrant a premonition ever time.

And there had been plenty of times when she had gone to an event or done something that had a catastrophic outcome and there was no way that she wouldn’t have had a premonition about the things. And if she’s really had a premonition about those things there would have been no way she would ever had attended them.

Shaking my head I pushed that thought away realizing I still hadn’t responded to Kaylie’s text. I looked back down at my phone and dashed off a quick response, sending it quickly.

Ashlyn
Yeah! I’d love to come! I’ll be at your place in like 15 minutes. That work?

Kaylie
Yup! See you then!

I stood up and stretched slowly as I’d been sitting around for a good portion of the day. I grabbed my purse and put my phone in it as well as grabbing some cash so I could pay for my own stuff while I was at the movies with Kaylie. I ran a brush through my hair and tied it up into a messy bun, put on a little lipstick and mascara and I was just about to head downstairs and leave when suddenly I saw something in front of me, something that was not taking place in my room. Instead I felt myself suddenly thrown into a premonition. And little did I know that this one was going to be one of the worst premonitions I had ever had.

I opened my eyes and found myself at the movie theater. I looked around and found that I was sitting in one of the theaters, there were previews playing on the screen in front of me. I was confused and slightly terrified, wondering why I was having a premonition of the movie theater. I looked to my right and I saw Kaylie sitting next to me. Was this a premonition of something that would happen when I went to the theater with Kaylie?
Looking around, I was slightly confused. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary and usually with premonitions there was something immediately noticeable or I was able to tell what was going to happen. Here though, I honestly had no idea what was going on.
Suddenly, I heard something that sounded like fireworks coming from outside of the theater. Why were there fireworks in the theater? Then I realized. Those weren’t fireworks. They were gvnsh0ts. I looked over and saw that Kaylie had heard the shots too.
Then, I heard the door to our theater bang open and the last thing I saw was a man coming up in front of the screen and I heard more sh0ts before it all went dark.
I snapped back to reality and was terrified. Immediately I grabbed my phone and texted Kaylie.

Ashlyn
KAYLIE! DO NOT GO TO THE THEATER. TRUST ME PLEASE
I could only hope that she would listen to me.

(672 Words)

Daily for 7/6
Gemini

Once upon a time there was a girl named Harper who was 13 years old. Harper loved to write and code on her mom's computer. One day she told her mom that she wanted to get a computer. Her mom told her that she will have to save up her own money to buy one. Harper started by writing a list of things she can do to get money. Her favorite ideas were doing a bake stand with lemonade, cupcakes, muffins, and donuts. And walking dogs. Later that night she decided to walk dogs Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and make things and then do a bake sale every Saturday.The next day she put up posters for the bake sale on Saturday and for dog walking starting tomorrow on Monday. For the rest of the day she got straight to work writing a paper the owner of the dog would have to sign. The next day tons of dogs and their owners were at the door. She told some of them they would have to wait. Once Harper finished talking to everyone in the line she started walking dogs right away. She walked a few blocks down from her house then came back around them. Mattering the size of the dog and how hard it could pull would be how she decided how much it was. The highest price was 15 dollars. By the end of the day she was tired but had a good time walking the dogs. By the end of the week she had made 50 dollars and had everything ready for the bake sale. The next day she set everything up in her front yard and by 1:00 pm she opened the sale. When people came they loved it and some people even gave her tips for how good it was. By the end of the sale Harper made a total of 150 dollars and she was so happy. The next day she slept in and then went to the store to look at computers. Some she already has enough money for but she realized that the cheaper computers that she can buy have less memory and storage than more expensive computers. She went back home and decided to go back next week after getting more money. So the next week she did the same thing. Walking dogs and doing a bake sale but this time by the end of the week she only had a total of 250 dollars. Even though she got less she still went to the store on Sunday. This time Harper found a computer that she liked. It had a good amount of storage and memory. She would have to save up more money because this computer was 400 dollars. She wanted to do something that she could get more money for so she could get it faster so she decided to do yard work in other people's yards. She put some signs up to do it on Monday and tuesday. After two days of doing lots of yard work she made about 500 dollars so the next day she went to the store and bought the computer. Harper also had extra money that she used to buy some other things for the computer and she lived happily ever after.

Daily #6 Pisces -
774 words

I ran through the grass, my heart beating as the moonlight showed its serene light upon the empty, dark field.
I scanned the horizon for my friend, but she was nowhere to be found.
I kept running, the long grass tickling my bare ankles. Suddenly, I spotted a dark figure crouching next to an empty space in the grass.
As I approached her slowly, I noticed the dark space was a miniature pond. The water was so clear and crystal-like, it looked almost unrealistic. The moon reflected in the pond looked like a high-quality picture.
My friend was crouching next to the pond, her head in her hands. Small little fireflies were floating around the area, making the place look like a home for a fairy.
“So,” I said, almost bursting with curiosity, “what did it say?”
Mila slowly looked up from her hands. In the light of the fireflies, you could see her eyes were red and puffy.
“It told me the decision I needed to make.”
“Which is…”
Mila stared at the pond.
“I- I just can’t bring myself to do it.”
She put her head back in her hands again. I knew asking the ancient pond for advice would be a bad idea. You can’t always trust random ponds to make life decisions for you.
“Listen,” I said, “you asked the pond whether you had to go to prison for the crime you committed, right?”
Mila nodded.
“I’m guessing it told you that you had to go to prison?”
Mila nodded again. She squeezed her hands closer to her face.
“I don’t want to go to prison,” she said, tears trickling down her cheeks. “Prison is scary and I’ll be known for committing this crime for the rest of my life. I won’t be able to live a single day without feeling terribly guilty about what I’ve done, and- and I’ll miss you. I don’t know how I will survive without you.” She wiped her face and stared at the pond.
“Here,” she said, her face strewn with tears. “Look closely at the pond. Maybe it’ll show you what it showed me.
I stared into the clear waters of the dark pond, and suddenly I saw an image reflected in the pond. The image showed a crossroad with a path that went right and left. The path that led to the right had two images floating above it. The first image showed Mila in prison. She looked unbearably thin and tortured in that image. The second image showed Mila and I in the sunshine. We were together with joyful smiles on our faces, and we also looked much older.
The path that went to the left also had two images floating above it. The first one showed Mila and I in a dark area. We seemed to be hiding because we had wary looks on our faces. The second image showed Mila hiding behind a building with flashing lights behind it. She looked bruised and tired.
In the middle of the crossroads, I noticed an arrow pointing towards the path that led to the right. My heart started to shatter. I couldn’t bring myself to see the picture of Mila suffering in prison, but at the same time, the pond was right.
I angrily waved the image out of the water.
“Did you get it now?” Mila asked.
I sighed,
“So the choices are that you go to prison, or we run away and you become a fugitive your whole life.
“I don’t know what to do,” Mila wailed.
“Listen, Mila. I know you didn’t mean to commit the crime that you did. I know it was a total accident, but no one will believe that."
“But, I only have you since we’re both orphans. I can’t stand to leave you.”
“After you come back from prison, we still might be with each other, but I can’t guarantee it.”
“This is so unfair. We’re having to suffer so much for things that we didn’t mean to cause.”
“Unfortunately,” I said, “this is the way some things are, but if you do the right thing, things may get better no matter how terrible the situation is. I’m trusting you to make the right decision.”
A minute silence followed that, then finally Mila spoke.
“Okay,” she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I decided what we’re going to do. I will admit myself into prison, but I’ll miss you so much.”
“I’ll miss you too,” I said.
We both hugged.
I was proud she picked the right thing, but the world is so cruel for doing this to Mila. I’ll miss her.

Daily for July 6th(518 words):

(Capricorn and Virgo- Virgo's my zodiac, I just added Capricorn)

A girl waltzes through the pitch-black, leaving a rainbow with every delicate step she takes. Her blue eyes paint bright colors along a blank canvas. She calls it the world.
Her hand makes a slight movement towards the additions of her masterpiece. With their flesh and bones, the additions cry out in vibrant melodies that flow across the white page.
She finds one.
One with flowing red hair like the leaves in the autumn wind, that scurry away with every breath of the wind. Her eyes spoke sadness, hurt and shame sang out. The girl takes a step to the addition.
Like a puppet, the addition’s face changes form. No longer are the eyes of green crying with anguish, but they hiss. They speak of anger, annoyance. The girl can understand.
The addition’s sweet honey lips curl as they move, whispering out sentences that do wonders on a poor girl. They scowl and shriek, those lips, they hiss. They only want to be alone.
Then they try. They try to summon the girl, bring her to her knees. Judging by their proud looks, they want to be inside a being as peculiar as the girl. Her thought process to them is like gold, and like hungry lions they look to savage the area and plunder.
But woe is them! Woe to that addition who’s look gives pity to the girl, despite her own despicable past waiting for her in the shadows. For this addition is from the house of Capricorn. A fabulous explanation to how her lips could spit out such evil truths about the canvas called the world.
The girl knows more. She senses the shadows of the addition’s past. She can sense many past waiting to consume the sorrowful minds of their owners. But no one else can see. No one but her. For she is from the land of Virgo. She was made unblind to the thoughts, both good and bad.
She outstretches her weak arms, and walks up to the addition, her lips still dishing out the cruel heartbreak. And the addition leans in, as if waiting for something to happen. Anything.
It’s what they call a hug. The girl's arms enveloping the cold addition’s body, feeling her hair as if touching the flame. The past shrieks in pain. It charges, fastly approaching. The girl does not shake.
Then she whispers.
And that whisper dances around the canvas, until it touches down like a feather. It makes home to the past, and starts to consume. The past wails and begs, but how sad! No longer can it torture.
The addition falls still and straightens, like a burden was lifted, burned in the flame. However she cannot see it. She does not know. She only feels.
And the girl lets her lips part. She lets out another whisper. It floats into the addition ear, and the addition closes her salty lips. Now she knows. Now she knows the past.
The girl remains still. And once again, her steps begin making the rainbows, her eyes painting the canvas known as the world.

Daily 07/06/2022 - Horoscopes
551 words
“You might find yourself sidestepping in order to avoid a commitment today, Capricorn. Don't keep giving someone the runaround. Be strong and let people know your thoughts even if you think their feelings will be hurt. Your job is to protect your own emotions. Other people can handle their own. Be aggressive if you have to be. Your own sanity depends on you being true to yourself.”

Logan pressed their back against the wall under the desk. If they had known that Sage would be in here, they would have found a different hiding place, but it was too late for that. They held their breath as Sage dug through the closet. The door was open — Logan could make a run for it! But it was too risky. Sage had a way of hearing everything, so instead they took quick, shallow breaths and waited for her to leave.
Sage must have found what she was looking for, because she started to head for the door. Logan held their breath again, but this time because they were ready to let out a sigh of relief. Sage walked past the desk and Logan unclenched their fists.
She turned around. Logan couldn’t see her face. Was she angry because she had spotted them? Had she forgotten something. Was she going to look under the desk. Logan’s heart beat faster. Not now, not now, they thought. They tried to breathe slowly. It didn’t work. They could hear their heart beat getting louder and louder. But Sage couldn’t seem to hear anything at least. She kept walking at a steady pace. Was she going to peek under the desk?
Nope. Logan almost sighed, and then remembered what they were doing.
Sage leaned her arms onto the desk and put whatever she had taken from the closet in front of her. Logan heard her click open a pen and write something.
She left the room and shut the door behind her. Logan waited a few minutes and then, still holding their breath, crawled out from under the desk. Sage had left a post-it note on the desk:
Logan - When you’re back check in with me about the posters? Sage
Logan gritted their teeth. They hadn’t touched the posters. Every time they opened their computer to do so, something came up, or they couldn’t think of what to do. Nothing looked good enough.
Sage was depending on them, they realized. They needed their computer to work on it, but it was in their room down the hall. They put their hand on the door, then realized: Sage was in the room right across and would definitely hear, and she wouldn’t be happy to know that Logan had been hiding from her in there. They pulled out their phone. Maybe they could get a bit of work done and then go talk to Sage, so it didn’t look like they had made no progress at all.
The Google Slides app turned out to be very frustrating to use. Every time they tried to create a shape and move it around, they accidentally pulled something that was already in the correct place, and it was missing several features that the web app had. They slumped back against the wall. They were going to have to talk to Sage.
“Logan!” Sage said when they entered. “Are you here about the posters?”
Logan nodded, trying not to grimace. “I’m…” They trailed off. How could they say this without sounding like they didn’t know what they were doing? “Having trouble figuring out what to put on them?”
Sage furrowed her eyebrows and said with a smile, “Well, let’s see what you’ve got so far!”
Logan breathed a sigh of relief.

This may be the rough copy of the prologue of a sequel to a story I'm working on || 410 words
—–
“How fascinating…” said a woman, watching a video caught on a camera not long ago. It was of a girl with grey hair, sleeping on the ground. It somehow transformed into a small tabby cat. “How does this person do that?” she asked, still watching. The cat then woke up and walked around. It seemed to be a lively cat. The cameras switched as the cat zoomed around. Within a few minutes, the cat lay back down on the ground, transformed into the human, and then woke up. The person seemed puzzled, like they didn't know where they were.
“Ma'am, what are you watching?” asked a man, coming into the room.
“Finding footage of these very interesting people. They seem to be… two different beings.” she said, still looking at the video playing in front of her. “Were these beings created in a laboratory?” she asked, pulling out her computer and typing something. She looked at the screen a bit longer. “No… then what is creating these?” she asks herself.
“Who knows, but we must focus on more important situations.” said the man. The woman looked at him straight in the eye.
“I am focusing on an important situation. This may be a brand new scientific discovery!” the woman exclaimed. “I must find one of these beings!”

A few days passed and the same woman sat in the same place she was a few days back. The man entered the room. “I found one.” he said, allowing a young boy in.
“Why am I here!?” screamed the boy, terrified.
“Calm down, you're just here for a few… experiments.” said the woman, taking the little boy's hand and bringing him into another room. This room was filled with a lot of futuristic-looking technology. The little boy looked around in awe. “Now, sit down in that chair.” said the woman, pointing to a small chair hooked up to a machine in the shape of a box. The boy obeyed, still terrified. He was worried he may be harmed if he didn't listen. “Great, now, we shall start this up.” said the woman, pressing a button. A whirring sound followed that.

Inside the box was now a human. “You can go now, little boy.” said the woman, and the boy ran as fast as possible, the man following him. The woman allowed the human outside of the box. It looked exactly like the boy, but with one eye being covered by his hair.
(And I'll stop there because idk what to put next)

[quPrompt - ‘Listen to the wind, for the answers are blowing right in front of you..’
P.S. - I took this prompt very literally .

Breeze gasped for air, then coughed. Her ankles ached from the shackles, her wrists too. She didn’t understand why this was happening. She tried to clear the smoke, but the shackles shocked her, and she lost concentration. She managed to purify the air once it entered her body, but she knew she would have to stop eventually. The smoke stung her eyes, and she closed them. ‘No! Don’t give in!’ she thought, and forced them open. Her eyes watered, and she looked down. She could barely see the vents emitting so much smoke. She saw a speaker too. The same voices sounded out of it. “Give in, traitor, you know you can’t fight this.” it snarled, and more smoke billowed out. She felt her exhaustion kicking in, and her head hung down. She barely got more than a few shallow breaths before she had nothing left. She held her breath. She didn’t want to give in. She didn’t know why these people were doing this, and she didn’t care. She wanted to go back with her family. Extra tears streamed down her face, and she had to close them. She knew they weren't there anymore. She felt her lungs release, and breathe in the smoke. She coughed it out, and held her breath again, just long enough to see the smoke get sucked in, and a different gas out. She got a precious few moments of air, before the gas settled over her. Her lungs burned, and she gave in, breathing in several gulps. She felt her body slack down, and she tumbled into a black void.
When she awoke, she didn’t open her eyes. She didn’t want to give up when she was awake. She felt a mask on her face that just stopped emitting the gas. She took in several gulps of clean air. Suddenly, the mask was ripped from her face. Something opened her shackles and she fell on the ground. Someone kicked her. “Get up, you deserter!” She winced and opened her eyes, getting to her feet unsteadily. Two guards grabbed her and pushed her into a cell. She landed on her hands, and stood up, her eyes on the ground. “Write that down, miscreant! Whatever the gas is called works! And smoke!” he snapped at a young man with a paper. He grabbed his pen and scribbled something. He stomped out of the room, and she sat on the edge of the dirty cot provided for her. She turned away from the guards outside of her cell. She was glad he hadn’t ordered the shackles on her yet, and let a cool breeze blow her hair. She summoned a leaf, and studied it. ‘Autumn.. Sometime in September.’ it whispered. She blew in some more, and used them to create shapes in the air. It calmed her nerves and replenished her… abilities. She hoped one day she would be strong enough to blow away this life, and go back to her home.. Even if her family wasn’t there anymore. Suddenly she heard an explosion, and men screaming. Her guards ran to check it out. She heard them scream, before footsteps padded into the room. She grabbed the bars. “Help!! Please help me!” she screamed. The lights went out. She touched some dying ivy on the wall. ‘Shadow. Killed guards.’ it said. She shuddered, and stepped back as she saw a shadow approach. “Is this Breeze?” they said.
“..Yes? I-I mean yes.” she stuttered. They took out something and fiddled with the lock. It popped open, and she slowly stepped out. “Um..” she said, as they stepped closer to her. It surprised her when they grabbed her and pushed a mask onto her face. She instinctively breathed in sharply, and then realized what a bad idea that was as she fell into the void. Strange dreams fell into her head. She was standing in a meadow, as a wind whisked around her. She knew she was dreaming, but she decided to enjoy it. She heard the wind whisper words into her ear, and she heard a small sentence. You are more. She jolted out of her sleep. She was on a… Bed? She hadn’t slept on a bed for years. She studied her surroundings. She was relieved to see a plant next to the bed. She touched it, and it said, ‘Rowan's house. Safe.’
“I see you’ve met Ren.” She whirled around, staring at her strange savior.. Or kidnapper. “I’m Rowan.” he said, taking off his hood. He had red hair, with streaks of white, even though he didn't look that old. She touched her hair, which was blue with streaks of white. He was wearing all black, the same way he looked when he rescued her. Across his back was a spear and a sword, both with a little blood on them. “I’m Breeze.” She paused, not knowing how to express her curiosity. “I’m sure you have many questions. Come with me.” he said, and walked out of the cabin. They were on a secluded corner of the beach. She smelled the ocean breeze and smiled a little. Behind them was a forest, and she followed him into it. He led her to a small clearing, where several people were seated on the grass. Rowan took a place at the head of the circle. “Breeze. You lived in Festine for several years before being abducted. Your family was part of this group for generations. They started it. You were blessed with a special power that others longed for. When we heard they were close to.. Controlling you. You belong here with your family.”
“But I don’t have a family anymore.” she bursted out. Rowan smiled.
“You do, Breeze.” he said, smiling. She felt the wind wish past her. You are more, Breeze. You will never be alone. It whispered.