༺═─── daily 8 ───═༻

my favourite google translate daily :> woo! I translated lemon boy by cavetown to this;
“Sometimes people who like it
Result is
It grows in my garden and I water like grass.
And it grows like grass.
That's why I came up with it, so it was a lot of fun.”

༺═── word count; 411 ──═༻

There are a lot of different types of grasses. Leila knew that. She spent a lot of time researching for her project on grasses, spread it out on a designed poster board, lugged it into school, displayed it on a wall, taught her class about it, when it came her time to speak; yet she still didn't know what this grass was.
She'd thought of it as a weed, but she'd researched weeds and there were no weeds that resembled these plants.
She'd thought of it as a flower bud, but there was no bud, only tall stems.
She'd thought of it as a sapling, but there there was no resemblance, either.
So she thought of it as a grass, but it wasn't a grass, either?

Kneeling in her garden, Leila began to cut at the plant. She took small samples and stuffed them into plastic bags for a botanist to take a look at. Her curiosity would not be satisfied until she figured out what this plant was. Except, when she cut the grass, it was thick on the inside, and out of it leaked honey. Honey? She scooped it up with her finger and sniffed it delicately; and sure, it smelt exactly like honey. It had the same scent and it seemed sweet and gooey, exactly like the substance sitting in her kitchen cabinet at that very moment.

Throwing aside the sample, she ran inside to collect a jar. Then, she filled the jar with the honey, took up the samples and stored them in a cardboard box, shipping that off to the nearest botanist. Leila stood, out of breath, once she arrived back from the post office, but then took hold of the jars of honey and began labelling and marking them, writing in sweet calligraphy: "Leila's Honey". She brought it to the market and made a hefty profit.

When she got home, she smiled towards the plants.

The next day, when cutting back the plants, it seemed that the honey was gone; only a soft, mellow substance was inside, in pale whites and pinks. Leila scooped out the substance, sniffed and found that it was marshmallows. She shoved those into bags, tied them with gorgeous ribbon, and set off to the local shop to sell them.

These plants were helping her. These plants were benefitting her. These plants could be considered a business.

She smiled and smiled, and watered the plants like they were prize roses.

Daily wip:

English, Spanish, Afrikaans, Latin, Shona, English, Hawaiian, Xhosa, English

Song: False Peace by Precious Jewel Armor

[v.
You can hit me
Do you think he is strong?
To all who rise above me
i don't mind


All my friends turned their backs on me
Do you think this is a miracle?
And jumping high is such a voluntary victory
I put you on my bed
false peace

[v.
Do you think I work here?
Do you think I have succeeded?
I will redeem your soul from war;
Think of all the things you want me to do


Remember everything I did?
Do you think this is a miracle?
Playing first, it's time to win
I put you on my bed
false peace


I have a choice
The living, the working, and the dead
You can catch me, you hurt me
But in the end you can see the last laugh.
He wishes


I have a choice
The living, the working, and the dead
I enjoy your life, leaving it under my shadow
I was in my bed when the time came
false peace

Rivers gods and goddesses get it hard. Not worshipped? Check. Neglected? Check. Temples? Nonexistent. Humans to kill or fall in love with? Absolutely EVERYWHERE, yet we’re forbidden to interact. Yeahhh, as life has progressed on Earth, us gods have gotten more idiotic and demented. Zeus has ordered us all to not interact with humans unless absolutely necessary, and only he is allowed to deem something necessary. I’m assuming that most women he fancies are seen as very much necessary. Nonetheless, I was in my bed (the river bed, get it?) when I saw lightning flash. This usually meant that the major gods were having a meeting at Mount Olympus. However, when the lightning flashed again and again in rapid succession, I knew that this was strange. I, being able to teleport to other fresh bodies of water, teleported to the river that was closest to Mount Olympus. After a tad of traveling, I was there. Zeus, in front of all of us gods, said to us, “Hello and welcome. I have an announcement.” We all gathered around him, the air spirits walking on the floor with a hiss (one a lot like the hiss a can of whipped cream makes when it runs out). My fellow river gods gathered around me, and I heard the swishing of a dress behind me. My wife placed her hand on my shoulder. “What do you think he has to say?” Her angelic voice whispered. I shrugged. Zeus quieted us by raising his fist. “The living and the working, the humans, have noticed something.” He sighed. “Tartarus has taken a human form and is looking to overthrow us.” My eyes widened. Zeus looked at some of the gods’ faces. He suddenly lashed out. “Do you think this is a miracle?! This is disgusting! He will slice us all up just like Kronos and send us to his stomach!” An echoing voice resonated in the chamber. “Such a false peace, don’t you think?” I grabbed my wife’s hand and looked around. Was Tartarus here? What was going on? I had a choice. Run before he comes or fight him off with the other gods. I looked around and locked eyes with Athena. She gave a hauty look and turned her eyes away from me. If all the gods turned their backs on me, then so would I. Tartarus laughed. “I enjoy looking at your lives in the future. Living under my shadow. Now, shall we begin?”

Day #3

I cut the leaves and broke things
I have a voice, I have a voice, but I can’t sing
Will you let me rest?
I hit the floor
I'm lost, I've crossed the line
He has a voice, a voice, but he can't talk
You arrested me
I'm running away now

Ok… that got dark pretty fast, also uh.. How exactly did that happen? Whatever, google translate is weird.
789 words.

My average morning involves having a staring contest with a vase.
After trillions of mornings, I have every inch of it memorized. The exterior is a smooth, chalky white marble, twisted with blue designs of fantasies and memories and stories. It’s beautiful.
The inside on the other hand… well, I’ve never actually looked inside, but I know what it contains, and it’s not flowers.
Every morning after I bathe, I spend a few hours trying to get it to release me.
After those mornings, I normally wander aimlessly through the woods, exchanging conversation with squirrels and birds (one way conversation, but whatever).
Today though, I hear the creak of caravans outside my cave and rush out.
Traders. People. I haven’t seen them in… I forget how long. Centuries? Seconds?
I sprint over to them, waving my hands enthusiastically.
I’ve done this before, of course. Sometimes I’m greeted with equal enthusiasm, sometimes with confusion.
This time though, I’m met with screams.
“It’s the Silent Caver!”
“Run! Run for your lives, or she’ll steal your voice!”
What? I want to say, but I can’t. Instead I wave my hands and try to make my face as friendly as possible.
They don’t listen, none of them do. They drop everything, all their precious goods and run.
I’m standing, alone with the empty caravans.
As usual.
They thought I was a… what? A demon? They called me ‘Silent Caver’, sure I’m silent, and I live in a cave, but I would never hurt anyone! I’m much too friendly for that.
What lies has the Noise been spreading?
Wait, I’m not alone. I hear something. Breathing, whimpering.
Slowly, I make my way around the caravans.
There, curled into the corner, hiding behind the wheel is a little boy.
I must be careful. If I scare him, he’ll run like the others. I think of him as a scared rabbit, fierce and ready to bolt, but can be befriended with the right approach.
I smile as non threateningly as possible as I crouch down, pressing my knees to the earth.
He yelps, flinching back.
“P-please don’t h-hurt me,”
I shake my head, slowly, and stretch out my arm. Nestled in my hand are a fistful of red berries.
“I-I’m n-not eating them, demon!” he gasps, though he looks tempted.
I pop a single berry into my mouth, and relish the juicy taste between my teeth. Then smile again to show I’m certainly not poisoned.
Slowly, he stretches out his hand and takes one.
“You’re not trying to eat me?” he asks, almost absently.
I flinch. Why on earth would I eat children? There are so many more things to eat in these woods that let me keep my sanity.
“The stories say that you eat kids,” he informs me, “First you steal their voices so that they can’t scream for help. Then you eat us.”
I shake my head vigorously, my mouth opening and closing like a fish.
“You can’t talk,” he realizes, “How did that happen,”
I wonder if the vase is part of the stories about me. I wonder if he knows how to fix it.
In one flowing move, I stand up straight and run back into the cave. I grab the vase, hoist it high above my head, ready to fling it to the ground.
But I can’t, I just can’t.
The vase is the reason I can’t speak. It contains not just my voice, but my very life. If I destroy it, I die. But if I don’t, I spend my life living a half existence, never speaking to anyone, trapped forever in the cave and the woods. Never to travel, or love, or live. That’s my curse.
“You’re not the demon are you?” I jump when I see the little boy. He followed me to my cave.
He’s right though.
The Noise did this to me.
“In the stories, the demon traps the children’s souls before eating them, so they’re always under her control.” he peers closer at the vase, “Is that yours? Was it planning to eat you too?”
I roll my eyes. The eating children part of the myth is just that, a myth.
“You have to destroy it don’t you? That’s the only way you can be free of the demon.”
Slowly, I nod.
But I can’t.
I’ve been trying to destroy the vase, to be done, to finally rest for a millennia.
The boy’s shoulder’s set, and his jaw tightens.
“I’ll do it.” he says.
One minute, I’m clutching the vase for dear life, the next, I’m passing it to a boy I barely know. He swings his arms, and throws it, hard, at the wall.
The vase shatters.
And I am finally, finally free.

daily wip for real-fi:

(Definitely didn’t think of doing the lost continent prophecy then realized it wasn’t a song um um um)

I’M SORRY- I- I- I DID DESPACITO. SO YOU KNOW NOT TO MESS WITH ME. AND UH- I GOT THIS RESULT-
About slowly
the taste is and he is happy
Tugot is here and there
Be great when I'm not
About slowly
The taste is ipaseka ta hinaihinay
Draw things in a box
Ug himoa ang imong Lawas and he was happy

Uh- idk what to do with that- why are some things not translated yet lol
Because of these unclear lyrics and the fact that I like to blame something on everything, my story is chaotic and dumb. ^^
——
I shook it up and drew a piece of paper from the box. Playing charades was fun, but not around my friends. I was too socially awkward.
“Dragon? Bird? Pterodactyl?”
“Cactus?”
I spread my arms out and soared through the room slowly, wondering if I should act more graceful and smooth.
“Airplane?”
“Cactus?”
Sylvie eyed Irene. “Please, stop saying cactus. Does that look like a cactus to you?” she pointed to me, and I froze. Social anxiety strikes again. I don't like being pointed at. Does that explain why adults always tell us pointing is rude?
Irene threw a pillow at me. “I quit. Everything looks like a cactus.” She grumbled and left miserably out of the room, not bothering to clack her heels every step like she usually did.
Sylvie mumbled something about anger issues.
Again with the mumbling. People tease that I'm deaf, and half of the time they're correct. I can't hear anybody except if they're shouting. I frequently ask people how they learned Filipino.
I slowly plopped on the couch, ignoring my friends. “Pegasus.”
“What? You should act more fluttery next time.” Sylvie may be my friend, but boy was she bossy. I didn't like being bossed around. I mainly was, though, because I was deaf. She never knows how I'm feeling at the moment. She always looks like she's feeling great when I'm not. She barely notices or even cares about me, but I never mention it since I don't want to lose a friend.
Jumping here and there, she glared at me and shouted, “Guess!”
“A frog.”
“Ew, no.”
I was deeply offended. Frogs weren't ew. “A really bouncy kangaroo?”
Sylvie frowned in her sassy way. “Uh, no.”
Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Sylvie and I raced to get the door. Irene got there first. I didn't know she could run so fast.
The door flew open. A boy stepped in, pushed Irene away, and stood up straight.
“He looks too happy to be breaking into someone's house.” I coughed.
"He is happy.“ Irene smiled triumphantly. ”This is my brother, Lawas. He's the star player in our team and…“ Irene kept on bragging, because that's what her family does when their brother pops out of nowhere, looking like a robber.
”Hi!“ Sylvie smiled her flirtiest smile. ”Are you really Irene's brother?"
Irene crinkled her nose. I stayed silent in case I did something stupid.

July 8th Daily : WIP

Obvious - Dear Evan Hansen's bonus track

When something turns out to be true without a doubt, no one has heard that blue is the color of the sky. The mother worries, and the old man dies. The phone rings and becomes inaudible. Why are you talking about simple and obvious things? It hurts so much, how can you forget something so obvious? If you are comfortable with a star on the sleeve of your jeans, if it sparkles and suits you, always answer the questions that you will find in these books for teenagers and dancers. You feel very stable with whom you are familiar. Brave, wonderful, contagious, always cheerful person. Why are you saying something obvious? It hurts to realize why you missed something so obvious? Yes, when it shines and looks at you, it's true, sometimes the word we hide, but it's the word we have to say to someone. We say: “I love you, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you“ does not say ”How to forget the obvious and very clear things?

Weekly #1
(this was painful to format)

Part 1: 625 words
Character sheet: Aru Shah from the Pandava Quintet book series

Pronouns: she/her
Species: reincarnated deity (Pandava)

Good Qualities: natural leader, clever, humorous, able to sympathize with others, brave (willing to do whatever it takes to protect her friends), bold, creative, compassionate, determined
Weaknesses: (sometimes) dishonest, distrustful, overprotective of her friends, awkward, insecure, ignorant, impatient

Relationships
- Boyfriend: Aiden Acharya
- Friends/Pandava Sisters: Mini Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez, Brynne Rao, Nikita Jagan, Sheela Jagan
- Other friend: Prince Rudy
- Mentors: Boo, Urvashi, Hanuman
- Parents: Krithika P. Shah, Suyodhana

Tendencies
- Tends to make A LOT of movie references
- Improvement: none
- Tends to put her friends before herself
- Improvement: none
- Tends to keep all her worries to herself, has a hard time opening up
- Improvement: slowly improving
- Tends to be very dictating in dangerous situations, especially when her friends are involved
- Improvement: slowly improving
- Tends to make sarcastic jokes
- Improvement: none
- Tells fibs to try and fit in
- Improvement: much improvement

Situation: Dealing with betrayal
- Becomes angry, directs her anger toward that person
- Deep down, is actually heartbroken
- Angry at herself for allowing herself to trust that person
- Blames herself

View on Life: while sardonic at times, generally purposeful and hopeful
+194 words

Scenario: This scene is a dream sequence featuring Aru and two twins, Sheela and Nikita.

Aru opens her eyes to find herself standing in a garden. Two girls are standing in the center of a courtyard decorated with roses. One of them, Sheela, bounds over.

“Aru!” she exclaims affectionately.

Aru grins. “Miss me?”

Nikita steps forward, her arms crossed. “We’ve been trying to reach you in your sleep for hours. Come, we have lots to do.”

Aru follows the twins through the garden. Either side of the path is lined with roses, tulips, hydrangeas, and lilies. Nikita is dressed with her usual flair—a floral jumpsuit with stylish high heeled boots. Tiny vines are woven through her braided hair. Aru looks sheepishly at her own outfit; she’s still wearing her Spider-Man pajamas.

They continued walking through the pristine garden. The twins continue silently.

“Um, hello?” Aru asks. “Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?”
Nikita rolls her eyes. “We need to make plans for your birthday party. I can’t believe we have to remind you, Aru.”

It wasn’t that Aru had forgotten about her birthday. She didn’t feel like there was any planning to be done. The garden faded into a massive wardrobe filled with colorful patterns and fabrics. Nikita got straight to work.

“First things first, you need a special outfit,” she ordered.

Aru scowled.

“What? You weren’t planning on wearing that, were you?” Nikita shot a disdainful look at Aru’s Spider-Man pajamas.

“I like Aru’s pjs,” Sheela said thoughtfully.

Nikita examined Aru closely, muttering words to herself. “I was thinking we could make the center color jade and use gold as an accent. It’ll really bring out your eyes.”

Aru shrugged. She really had no care for fashion. “I like it.”

“Of course you like it. I’m amazing,” Nikita responded bluntly. “I’ll have the dress sent to the museum in a few days.”

The wardrobe faded to reveal the garden from before. Nikita appears holding a clipboard. Sheela appears to have run off—something about smelling the flowers.

“Now, let’s talk guest list, so far I have—” Nikita is suddenly interrupted by Aru.

“Hold on, we have a guest list? Geez, how fancy are we making this party?” Aru interjects.

Nikita narrowed her eyes. If Aru hadn’t known her better, she would’ve mistaken this for anger. This was just Nikita being her usual, irritable self.

“Casual is just an excuse for sloppiness and poor-planning. And, as your event organizer, I will not make a fool of myself.”

Aru grinned. “You’re the best Nikita.”

She sniffed. “I know I am.”
+431 words

Part 2: 977 words
I chose the characters Reynie Muldoon and Kate Wetherall from the book/tv series The Mysterious Benedict Society.

Character voices (262 total words):
Reynie is an exceptionally bright, clever boy. One of his special talents is solving riddles and puzzles, especially ones that not many others can. He is very inquisitive and logical. He often assumes the leader role in troubling situations and his friends look up to him. As an orphan, Reynie is used to feeling left out and alone. Growing up with not many friends, he was quite shy and laid-back. Reynie is never one to brag about his talents. This is partially because he is modest but also because he carries a lot of self-doubt. Reynie tends to doubt his capability, causing him to be nervous and anxious at times. However, Reynie has kept a strong sense of what is right and wrong, and he uses this morality to aid him in tough situations.
+134 words
Kate Wetherall is a very bright, capable person. She is not the most bookish person, instead preferring to use her hands. She is very creative and resourceful, using whatever objects she has to create a solution. Kate is a quick thinker, and able to come up with instant plans in urgent situations. Kate is also very physically capable. Having former circus experience, Kate is well accustomed to climbing and acrobatics. Kate’s methods are not very conventional; she likes to think outside of the box. Kate is known to be very strong and tough, although she has had a rough past. She keeps all her worries and sadness tucked away. Overall, Kate is a very positive person, always being the one to cheer up the rest of her friends.
+128 words

Reynie:
He led the group into a dark chamber. Reynie had passed the first two written parts of the exam, and now it was time for the problem solving. He examined his surroundings: the circular room had a doorway, which led to another room, which led to another room, and so on. After the man left without any instructions whatsoever, Reynie’s group was all alone. That is, until a woman appeared behind us. She had chocolate-brown skin and black, braided hair. First, Reynie was shocked—it was the same girl he had met earlier, Rhonda. Then she told us she was not actually a girl, but an adult. Reynie was frustrated that he had been tricked.

Rhonda explained that their task was to make it through all the rooms and ring the bell. The first three people to ring the bell would pass the test. Reynie felt the pressure weighing down on his shoulders. It was squeezing, suffocating, nerve-wracking. And yet, the only person forcing this pressure was himself. Reynie knew how important this test was. Passing it would mean a chance to the Boatwright Academy, his future. As soon as the signal was given to start, Reynie paced furiously, racking his mind hard. He ran from one room to another, searching for clues that would tell him where he was going. Pausing, Reynie noticed arrows on the doorways, pointing right, left, up, and down. That’s odd. Reynie thought. They all point in different directions. His fingers ran over the arrows. The arrows were smooth and flat, except for a few tiny bumps. Wait… The bumps formed another arrow. Reynie sucked in his breath, a mixture of relief and satisfaction. He always felt this way when he cracked a puzzle. Setting off in the direction of the arrow, he went to find another doorway.
+302 words

Kate:
Kate Wetherall was used to witnessing lots of weird things. She had lived and performed in the circus, after all. Even by circus standards, this was turning out to be an unusual day. It all started when she’d seen the ad in the paper—a test for gifted children. Kate thought she might give it a shot. What was there to lose? she told herself.
The test turned out to be a long, puzzling jumble of riddles, personal questions, and enigmas. Kate, of course, had failed, as she was not a nerdy, bookish person. She was much more of a hands-on problem solver. However, the test supervisor had let her pass anyway, after successfully handling a mob of angry parents whose kids had failed.
Now, Kate was standing in the middle of a dark room, completely alone save for a few kids who were equally as clueless as her. Suddenly, a girl popped up out of nowhere. Kate recognized her as Rhonda, whom she had met earlier. She was in a different outfit however, and she looked…older. Then, Rhonda confessed that she was a part of the test, and that she had merely been pretending to be a kid. To be honest, Kate was not even surprised. Today alone had been full of worse surprises. Rhonda began to explain their quest. The goal was to make it through the maze and ring the bell. The first three people to ring the bell would pass. A maze, huh? Seems simple enough. Still, there was a slight tugging at her heart, urging her to do well on this test. Kate realized how badly she wanted to pass; for the first time, she felt like she belonged. Preparing her thinking cap, she spotted a vent in the wall, and a plan began to hatch. The starting bell was rung. Kate set to work.
First, Kate removed the Swiss Army knife from her bucket. She used it to pry open the vent cover. Inside the air duct was dark, cramped, and filled with cobwebs. She even had to use karate to break a few boards. After crawling uncomfortably for a few minutes, she spotted another vent opening leading to a room with a bell. Yes! I reached the end of the maze! It looked like she was the first one there, which meant she would have to wait for the others to get there. An immense amount of relief and pleasure was overcoming her. That wasn’t so bad.
+413 words

Part 3: 1,020 words

Tropes: High School AU, OC, Backstory fic

Aru is wandering along the lockers of her high school, lost. Mini is right alongside her, equally clueless.
“Ugh,” Aru grumbles. “This is the worst.”
Mini frowns at Aru’s negativity, but Aru can tell she agrees. As their punishment for goofing off in their Otherworld training, Aru and Mini were sentenced to spend their time in normal school. Something about “not fulfilling their purposes as Pandavas.” Perhaps you’ll appreciate your lessons more after experiencing public school. That was what Urvashi had so kindly foretold them.
So far, it had only been a week since Aru and Mini had arrived out of the blue. Did no one think it was odd that two girls randomly showed up to their high school? So far, Aru was hating it. The atmosphere was stifling, boring, and overall uninteresting. Everything, from the beat up lockers to the moldy carpets, was just so…dull. And, worst of all, Aru had no weapon. Absolutely not, Hanuman had responded, when Aru asked if she could take Vajra with her. She sighed. At least if she had Vajra, she could have spiced things up a bit. Aru imagined that kids would freak when they saw a giant lightning bolt tearing up the school. Okay, maybe that was a little far-fetched, Aru thought.
As Aru and Mini wander around the halls at lunch, Mini speaks.
“I can’t imagine how many germs this place is infested with. So many people here don’t cover their mouth when they cough!” she stresses.
Aru sighs. Sometimes, it seems like germs were all Mini could think about.
Mini continues. Either she didn’t hear Aru or was choosing to ignore her. “And once you catch someone’s germs, you could get sick, and then you could—”
Now it's Aru's turn to jump in. “Die?” she said, finishing Mini’s sentence.
Mini groans. “It’s not funny Aru! And don’t even get me started on the cafeteria.”
She was right about the cafeteria however. Aru had never seen a place so messy and wild. And the food looked disgusting too.
In terms of the people, they generally ignored Aru and Mini, as if they were nonexistent. Only one girl, Sana, seemed to take any interest in them. Aru notices the hopeful look in Sana’s eyes every time she and Mini pass. Aru generally makes a point of ignoring her. Making friends with a normal high schooler is the last thing she needs.
Suddenly, a kid walks up to her. He’s tall and gangly with curly brown hair. There’s an evil glint in his eyes.
“Hey, new kid,” he said. “You're the one whose mom owns the museum, right?”
Aru bristles, the way she always does when someone talks about her parents.
“Yeah, why?” she asks, narrowing her eyes.
He shrugged. “Dunno. Just seems kind of lame. I mean, who even likes ancient Chinese artifacts anyways?”
Aru freezes. His words are like a spear. It comes towards her, hitting her straight on.
Mini tugs Aru’s sleeve. “Maybe we should…you know…”
But Aru keeps her feet firmly planted. A lifetime’s worth of memories comes washing over her.
Seven-year-old Aru is standing in the lobby of the museum. Her mom had promised to take her bowling for her birthday. Two hours passed. She never came.
Later, when her mom finally comes home, Aru hides. When her mom discovers her, she is unable to control her tears.
“You promised,” she sobbed.
The memory fades. Another one takes its place.
Aru bursts through the museum doors, waving the poetry certificate she won from school. She is nine years old.
“Mom!” Aru hollers. There is a tiny hint of hope in her voice.
No response.
Aru sighs, her smile fading. She should have known her mom wouldn’t be there. Aru hurries up to her room, right before the tears start to fall.
Aru is trembling now. Those memories—of her and her mom—were captured so vividly in her mind. Silent tears are streaming down her face. Leaning against Mini for support, she cries, as Mini strokes her head softly.
The mean kid is still there, with a mixture of pleasure and confusion on his face.
“Okay, you don’t have to cry,” he mutters.
Suddenly, a voice comes from down the hall. “Leave her alone!”
It’s Sana, the only girl who pays any interest to Aru and Mini. Aru sucks up her tears, making an effort to be strong. She has support now—Mini, and possibly even Sana.
Sana walks up to the bully, her eyes narrowed threateningly. “What do you think you’re doing, huh? Tell me you didn’t just make Aru cry.”
“N-no! That’s not what I did!” The boy’s eyes widen, as he takes a step back.
This time, Aru steps in. “Actually, he was making rude remarks about my mother’s museum.”
Sana steps forward to face the bully. She is a great deal shorter than him, but doesn’t appear fazed.
The bully scowls. “Alright. fine. I’m sorry, okay?”
He turns to walk away, looking dejected and embarrassed. Right before he turns the corner, Aru hollers, “They’re ancient Indian artifacts—not Chinese! Get it right!”
When he’s gone, the girls exchange glances, grinning.
“That was great!” exclaimed Mini. “You two were so brave!”
Sana smiled. “I saw the whole thing. It made me so mad, seeing him hurt you like that.”
“Thanks, Sana,” Aru says. “I mean it.”
—
A few weeks later, Aru and Mini are in the Otherworld. Urvashi and Hanuman, their mentors, appear before them.
“Well?” Urvashi says. “Have you learned your lesson?”
“Yes,” Aru responds confidently. It had taken many weeks for Aru to realize that public high school was not as bad as she thought.
“We made a friend,” Mini adds. “Her name is Sana.”
Hanuman nods. “Good. Perhaps interacting with mortal humans has taught you to appreciate your role as Pandavas.”
“Actually, normal humans are much stronger than you think,” Aru comments.
She thought about Sana, and the way she’d stood up to the bully. She didn’t have a weapon or a magical artifact, only her voice.
Strength doesn’t always mean fighting with magic powers, Aru thinks. Standing up with words can be just as powerful.
+1,020 words

Part 4: 541 words

The Mysterious Disappearance of Goose and Sun
Scratch Writing Camp was bustling with campers, the way it normally was on a July morning. The hot summer breeze didn’t seem to deter any campers from spending time outside. Some were milling around the main cabin, logging points from word wars, dailies, and weeklies. Others were swimming or canoeing in the lake which the campground overlooked.
Bunni stood in front of her own cabin, a majestic building with Renaissance themed architecture. Inside was even more impressive, for it was nothing like it appeared on the outside. When one stepped inside, one was transported to an entirely different world. To start with, there were no ceilings. Just an open sky dotted with clouds. The faire seemed to stretch for miles in every direction, with no apparent end. Bunni spotted the familiar faces of hi-fi campers, completing their in-cabin duties and exploring the different tents. One of them, Will, spotted her and walked over.
“Hey!” they said.
“Hello Will!” Bunni replied cheerfully.
“Have you seen Sun?” Will asked, a concerned expression washing over their face. “Sun wasn’t in the Japanese Guild tent.”
“Hmm, that’s odd,” Bunni puzzled. “Let’s go check the Italian Guild.”
Will and Bunni made their way through the busy faire. All around her, spices wafted through the air, and the shuffling of feet kicked up dust clouds. They emerged in a grassy clearing, with a wide tent saying, Tenda Italiana.
Bunni walked up to the tent and peeked her head inside. “Goose?” she called. “Hello?” No response. Inside was deserted.
As Bunni walked outside, feeling like something was off, Will strides up to her. “So? Any news?”
She shakes her head. “Goose wasn’t there.”
Now, a look of worry passed over Will’s face. With a glance at Bunni, they knew she was thinking the same thing. What’s going on?
Bunni and Will decided to walk around the faire some more. After all, Sun and Goose could have merely been enjoying the various tent displays. There’s a perfectly logical reason for their disappearance, Bunni thought, trying to convince herself. In every tent, chefs were whipping up heaping trays of international cuisine. Performers from all around the world were showcasing their skills. After hours of searching, Bunni and Will came back with no leads. Now, she was starting to panic.
“I don’t get it! Where are Goose and Sun?” Bunni fretted.
Will sighed. “It’s strange. Why would they just disappear like that?”
Just then, another familiar face emerged from the crowd.
“What’s up, guys!” said Kat.
“Oh, hi Kat!” Bunni responded. She quickly filled her in on Goose and Sun’s situation. “We’ve been searching for hours!”
Kat listened attentively, though it looks as if she is trying hard not to laugh.
“Wait,” she said. “Haven’t you checked outside? I saw both of them by the lake.”
Bunni and Will exchanged glances.
“Oh.” they said.
“Oh my gosh! I can’t believe we didn’t think to check there,” Bunni muttered to herself.
“I guess we got so wrapped up in the idea that they disappeared that we forgot to check the rest of the camp,” Will confessed sheepishly.
Kat laughed. “You guys are so overdramatic. Come on, let’s go enjoy the faire!”
The three of them marched off into the sea of fairegoers.
+541 words

Word Total: 3,163 words

Daily - July 8th

I can't guarantee that everything is alright / everyone is safe / they saved me from this dream / I can't hear you cry / you seem to be gone
A Band Called Desire - Sweet Goodbyes , google translated

( >400 words)

July 8 Daily (452 Words)

I put enemy through a few languages and here is the part I shall be using as a writing prompt

Wake up to the sounds of silence
'Cause my mind will run aground with my ear
I try to see the stories they tell me
My back is clean with a smile when I turn around.

tw for the last 2 paragraphs <3

I wake up in a cold sweat glancing around. I can still see the dark shadows. The voices still ring in my ears. I still see her as she turns to me with a smile. I still see the red blurring my eyes. I still feel the unbearable pain all throughout my body. I still hear her crying. I still feel the silence as I walk away. It's just a dream I tell myself. It's just a dream, a dream that has caused me to lose days of sleep because of the fear of seeing her face again. Of facing the regret that I've been burring inside of me for years now.

Again I flash back to the dream. The screams of pure shock and betrayal, inaudible to me, though it doesn't matter as I already know what they say. Even though it's the millionth time I've replayed the incident every word still shoots a bullet through my heart, a dagger to my chest. I want to go back to her. Comfort her. Wrap my arms around her, close my eyes and tell her everything would be okay. If only I could take everything back. I would do anything just to hear her soft laugh again. To see her heartwarming smile. To hear her tell me she loved me once again. She meant the world to me and I left her alone and now it's my fault that she's gone.

I'd always had anger issues. I'd do or say things that I'd regret right after. Things have always been okay, but now, now nothing is okay. I did something I could never take back. No matter how hard I want to erase everything that happened, but I can't. She'll be gone for a long time and I'm not sure when I will see her again. There have been many times when I slipped up and almost got to reunite with her. Many times when I would want nothing more, but I'm too afraid. What if she doesn't forgive me. What if she's up there right now still heartbroken, wanting me dead. I couldn't blame her though, The feeling is mutual.

I feel my eyes start to flood with tears. What have I done. I can't live with this regret forever. I can't live knowing that she died hating me. She died thinking I hated her, even though I still loved her. She died thinking I regretted all the time we'd spent together, meanwhile I was crying over her photo knowing it would be the only thing I only have of her. She left me thinking I'd live better without her, when really I havn't been living without her at all.

Daily 8
536 words

Song used: Schuyler Sisters from Hamilton

The rich don't like anything
'Cause you go to town and give it to the poor
They got out of the car smiling.
Usually they only look at conversations with students.
In the case of Philip Schuler, defendant
Oh but I know very little
They are his daughters, Piggy, Angelica, Eliza.
Go downtown alone to see everyone
Angelic!
(Opera, opera!) Eliza!
And Peggy! (Opera Opera)
Scientists, scientists!
Angelic! Peggy ! Elizabeth! (Primary school!)
My father said he would be home tomorrow.
Father you don't wanna know
Father said he wouldn't go to town.
Like I said, you have freedom of movement.
But look around, look around
What's New in New York
Angelica (activity!)

“Father is going to get home tomorrow, and he's going to see that we're tired, and he's going to get suspicious, and then he'll find out that we snuck out to watch Phantom of the Opera instead of studying to become scientists,” whined Peggy Schuler, nicknamed Piggy by her sisters.
Angelica, or Angelic for short, parked the car. “Well, you have the ability to move, don't you? Why don't you walk home and go snitch on us when Father comes back?”
“No,” decided Piggy, “I'm staying.”
Elizabeth, or Eliza for short, got out of the car beaming. “What's new in New York?”
The sisters excitedly walked down the street, watching the hustle and bustle all around them. They only liked to watch students, though. Eliza and Piggy looked for kids that they recognized from primary school, while Angelic eavesdropped on people from the nearby performing arts college. Angelic was considering going there in a few years, but first she wanted to listen in on what the students were saying about it to decide to if it was a good school or not.
Before she chose her school, though, there was also the huge problem of telling her father that she wanted to be a Broadway performer, not a scientist like he wanted. He would freak out. He’d been enrolling his daughters in the most elite science schools since they were little, and the thought of them becoming anything other than scientists was infuriating to him.
Angelic decided to push her doubts out of her mind. After all, she was going to see a live Broadway show for the first time. Nothing, not even her father, would ruin this moment.
A few steps later, the sisters caught their first glimpses of the theater. Angelic’s jaws dropped at all the glowing lights and show posters. She was finally here, ready for the first step toward fulfilling her dream.
Near the huge door was a donation box for used clothes. Piggy complained, “I don't like any of my clothes! Can I get some from home and donate them?”
Angelic replied, “We already brought some clothes to donate, remember?” She and Eliza held up shopping bags full of their old clothes and dropped them into the bin.
Angelic then led Eliza and Piggy through the doors, scanned their tickets, and found their seats. They marveled at the hugeness of the stage, the set and props, all of the complicated devices for sound and lighting. They arrived just in time, because the stage lights were already turning on. The sisters sat back and watched the show.
When the show was over, the sisters walked out of the theater smiling at the amazing performance they had just witnessed.
“That was awesome!” Eliza exlaimed. “Can we see another show sometime?”
“Maybe, if Father goes on another work trip,” Angelic replied.
Angelic drove them home. When they arrived, they got ready to grab their science books and pretend they'd been studying the whole night. However, when they opened the door, they saw someone sitting in a kitchen chair. Someone they didn't expect to see for another twelve hours. And that someone was their father, Philip Schuler.
He glared at them “Where have you been?”

Daily 7/8

The song I chose to mangle beyond recognition today is My Grand Plan from The Lightning Thief musical. It’s a great song, go listen to it, and read the books while you’re at it. Anyways, after running the lyrics though Google Translate a few times, I got this masterpiece:

I've always been a smart girl
Always score, always get a gold star
I've always been a smart girl
But smart girls can only have one girl right now
You won all the games
You want to travel, they tell you it's hard
If you don't go, you'll never know you'll make it

My big project
This will be my memory
My big project
Wait a minute
You'll feel better because I'm awake
Bring all kinds of trouble
And one day someone will notice me

My interpretation of these lyrics is that Annabeth (I’ll be using her as the main character in this daily, or at least someone who shares her first name) is a “smart girl” who thinks very highly, maybe too highly, of herself. However, she feels under-appreciated. She is working on some kind of memorable project that will get people to finally notice her. Also, she really wants to travel? And she has two lovers, but one doesn’t want her because she’s smart? I’ll try my best to include all of this in the final work, but we’ll see how that goes.

————

I will make them notice me.

Annabeth slammed the door of Cabin 7, pulling off her shoes and reaching for the laptop beneath her bunk. She flung herself onto the mattress with a sigh, opening her device and watching the screen flare to life. You would think that redesigning Mount Olympus would be enough to make the world notice you. But for Annabeth, enough was never enough. Her mom barely ever reached out to her. Her friends were distant. And her father… she growled at the mere thought of Frederick Chase’s name, forcing his mental image out of her head. The man claimed he wanted to support her, and help her reach her dreams. But if that was true, then why did he let her refuse to let her go on the trip to Greece? The trip that could change her career, her future?

“Annabeth?” Someone knocked on the cabin door, their voice muffled somewhat. “Annabeth, Chiron wants to ask you something.”

“Come in,” Annabeth grumbled. She really wasn’t in a mood to talk to someone right now.

The door slid open, and Piper’s face peered in. “Chiron- ” She broke off, seeing Annabeth’s scowl. “What is it?”

“Oh, nothing,” Annabeth snarled bitterly. “Just that my mom hates me, Percy broke up with me, some girl at college who I thought could replace him said that she doesn’t want to hang out with me anymore, and my dad- ” She stopped, almost too angry to get the words out. “My dad is refusing to let me go to Greece. Piper, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. A renowned Greek architect wants me to be his student. He says I have talent, a real gift. With him, I could go places beyond my wildest dreams. I could leave my mark on the Olympian and mortal worlds. But my dad isn’t letting me leave the country.”

Piper came in to sit beside Annabeth, placing a hand on her arm. “Why not?”

There was real concern in her eyes. Something in Annabeth loosened, relaxed. “He thinks it’ll be too dangerous. He said something about how it’s Greece, and we can’t know for certain… it’s the old place of monsters and gods, and a demigod like me might not be safe.”

“But all the beings from myth have moved here. To the United States.” Piper frowned, confused.

“I know!” Annabeth stared down at her laptop, willing herself not to throw it across the room. “And I… he also said that it won’t be good for my health. That I’m pushing myself too much as it is, and accepting this offer will only put a bigger strain on me. That’s why I’m working on this.” She gestured at her computer screen. “It’s an architecture project. It will be so impressive, so mind-blowingly amazing, that the Greek architect won’t be able to accept my rejection. He’ll do anything to get me as his student. My dad won’t be able to refuse.”

Piper nodded. “Sounds like a plan. What is it?”

Annabeth looked at her, surprised. “You mean… you don’t think I’m being delusional? You don’t think that this project is ridiculous, that it will never work, that I think too highly of myself and my abilities?”

“No,” Piper replied. “No, of course I believe in you. Why would I think any of that?”

The words made Annabeth feel lighter, and she resisted the urge to hug Piper. “It’s what Percy and the girl at university said. Percy and I got into a huge fight over it. That’s why we broke up.” She deflated at the memory, the hope bubbling up within her instantly gone. “That other girl… I really thought she and I could be good together. I really thought she could fill the space that Percy had left. But she told me I was being delusional and ridiculous with my ideas. She said that I had too big of an ego, and that she couldn’t even be friends with someone like that. Someone like me.” Annabeth’s voice caught. “I know hubris is my fatal flaw. Pride, and feeling more capable than you really are. But it hurts, to have someone you thought you could love scream it in your face like that. You know?”

“I do,” Piper whispered, squeezing Annabeth’s arm. Annabeth leaned into the other girl, something in her heart stirring. Something that had lain cold and asleep since Percy left.

“Do you think…” she asked, too afraid to say the words. She swallowed, and forced them out. “Do you really think that I’ll succeed with this project? Do you really think I can grab hold of this opportunity before it’s gone?”

“Annabeth, you’ve always been a smart girl,” Piper said quietly. “No, a brilliant one. You’ll make this work. I know you can.”

Annabeth smiled, her hope flaring up again. You’ve always been a smart girl. The words felt good. And better yet, they were true. She knew them to be. Look out world, she thought. I’m coming for you, and this time nobody is going to stop me.

Word count: 846

————

I just wrote a Pipabeth ship fic. What the heck. I don’t even ship them (I’m more into Percabeth, though I completely respect you if you do ship something else!). Something about these lyrics just made me think of Pipabeth, though, so I just took that and ran. And wrote over double the minimum word requirement. Oops. More words for me, I guess!

Rift Challenge II
327 words

7:30 AM – My shadow is just waking up at the same time I am. While I’m busy checking Scratch, my shadow slips away and spends some time outside, goes around the house and makes sure everything is fine.
8:30 AM – As I’m eating breakfast, my shadow gets kind of bored and drifts off to check on the chickens.
8:45 AM – My shadow returns just as I’m getting off from my chair and finishing breakfast, but once I retreat into the part where the sun doesn’t hit me, my shadow traipses off into the backyard. It spends time there, hanging out with the birds and perhaps meeting more shadows, as I discuss weekly plans with my fellow daily team members.
9:30 AM – While I’m baking cookies, my shadow decides that what I’m doing is extremely boring and so they go meet some of my friends’ shadows in a nearby park. They stay there all throughout lunch and partway into the afternoon, chatting away. I envy my shadow, honestly, because they can do whatever they want.
2 PM – For the next four hours as I’m discussing more weekly plans with fellow daily team members, my shadow returns from the park and gets extremely bored, drifts off, eats a cookie, and then dances around my head for some time just to mock me.
6 PM – As I’m outside watching the chickens, my shadow is obliged to accompany me, though when I’m in the shade it’ll stealthily sneak out from behind me and wander around, but it’ll be back in the blink of an eye when I’m in the sun again.
7:30 PM – I eat dinner and head back upstairs to do the daily and talk with Moonlit. My shadow is tired, so it stays with me as the last few specks of daylight filter through the window and cast a pale glow over me. When the daylight disappears, my shadow does too – until the next morning, and the cycle continues.

Weekly Number One
>Contains Spoilers For Keeper of The Lost Cities

Total Word Count: 3,179

Part One
Word Count: 705
Character reference sheet for Keefe Sencen (Keeper of The Lost Cities books 1-8.5)
Series continuing or ended?: Continuing

Pronouns: he/him
Species: elf

Strengths: bold, witty, selfless
Weaknesses: reckless, low sense of self preservation, often unwilling to listen to or take help from others

General view of life: hopeless?

Relationships:
- romantic interest: Sophie Foster
- friends: Fitz Vacker, Biana Vacker, Dex Dizznee, Linh Song, Tam Song (?) etc
- family: Cassius Sencen (father), Gisela Sencen (mother)

Tendencies:
- Tends to act recklessly, without considering the consequences.
Improvement: Improved? He’s gotten worse!
- Tends to put himself in danger if he believes it’ll help his friends
Improvement: Annd he’s gotten worse here too
- Often pushes the people he cares about away
Improvement: …Also worse
- Deflects questions and covers emotions with humor
Improvement: pfft if you can call this improvement

Situations:
Romantic struggles:
- Unwilling to confess
- Sends a lot of mixed signals
- Obsesses over the situation
- Overly willing to put others happiness before his own

Helping others:
- Will go out of his way to make their life better -often with consequences
Feels like it’s the only way he can make things right
In his attempts to help, often ignores what the person actually wants from him

Scenario
Word Count: 505
I took inspiration from one of the suggested scenarios, “your character has just been framed for something they didn't do and is being interrogated by the police”, only instead, Keefe is being questioned by the Black Swan

“Mr. Sencen, we need to have a talk,” Mr. Forkle said, looking especially grave, all things considering.
“Keefe. I told you, I want nothing to with that name,” Keefe said. “But anyway, what’s up?”
The rest of the group shared a look. Whatever it was, it was clear that they weren’t looking forward to this conversation. Sophie especially looked uncomfortable. Not to mention the wave of emotions she was hitting him with. In fact, the whole scene reminded him of…
No.
“It’s my mom, isn’t it?” Keefe asked. It was a broad question, but he looked at Sophie, directing it towards her. “What did she do this time? Did she… did she hurt someone?”
He wouldn’t put it past his mom to do something even more horrifying than what she’d already done. The very thought made him sick to his stomach.
Or maybe Ro had just slipped him another dose of Gurgle Gut. She did owe him payback for his last prank. Apparently the ogre princess didn’t take kindly to having little hearts drawn on her sword in glitter. Who would have thought?
“Keefe…” Sophie started, hitting him with a wave of even more intense emotions. “It’s not about what your mom did. …It’s about what you did.”
“…What?”
That’s when Forkle decided to cut in. “Well, Mr. Sencen-“
But Keefe interrupted, shaking his head. “Is this about the prank I pulled on Ro? Because if she’s letting it turn into another inter-species incident, I’ll be close to topping Foster’s record.”
“I’m not. But I should,” Ro said, followed by muttering about how a perfectly good sword was ruined.
“What did you do to Ro?” Mr. Forkle started to asked, then thought better of it. “Never mind. Whatever happened is between you and your bodyguard. I’m talking about the fact that you-“
“Was there a gulon in Foxfire? Because if so, I swear that wasn’t me this time. Not that I had anything to do with it last time, but you know, pranking Dame Alina was one thing, but I know better than to prank the Forkster. I mean, we’re on the same team, right?” Keefe held up a hand for a high five.
Mr. Forkle left him hanging.
“Oh, for goodness sake!” Grady blurted out. “We’re not here because of some foolish school prank! We’re here because you betrayed the Black Swan.”
Silence. Keefe stared at his feet.
“Look, I know that was dumb, alright? But I thought we were past this. What more do you want me to do?”
“You could try not stabbing us in the back again. That would have been nice.” This time, it was Fitz who blurted something out.
“What are you talking about?” Keefe just stared.
“Keefe, someone stole something from one of the Black Swan’s hideouts last night,” Sophie explained. “Dex hacked into the registry to see who it was.”
“Mr. Sencen, the only elf who visited that particular hideout last night -indeed, the only elf who had been there in multiple days- was you.”
“…What?”

Part Two
Word Count: 856

Keefe’s Voice
Keefe’s speech is generally humorous, even if it doesn’t seem appropriate for the situation. He’s admitted that sometimes he uses humor as a coping mechanism, in an attempt to ignore the harder emotions. He’s also got a good deal of snark, which he uses as both a coping mechanism and a way of showing defiance. He is also prone to deflecting questions he doesn’t want to answer/questions he doesn’t know how to answer with questions of his own.
A lot of Keefe’s voice was influenced by his upbringing, where showing intense emotion was far from encouraged. It’s also influenced by the fact that he doesn’t want to be a burden or make things harder on his friends then he already has.

Tam’s voice
Tam is often relatively quite, choosing to pick his words carefully so as to make them count. However, he is usually willing to speak up when he has a question or a problem with something and can be extremely defiant. He can be pretty salty, likely using his sarcasm as a coping mechanism.
Tam’s background influenced his voice most notably in the fact that during his time at Exilium he was given little choice but to adopt a strict “Don’t speak to anyone” code. His background also influenced his voice by the fact that he likely had to stand up to his parents rather often when he was living with them.

Keefe’s pov
Looking back, that night definitely has a spot on the Official List of Times Keefe Has Totally screwed up. That list is getting way too long… and knowing me I’ll probably end up making it even longer.
I know everyone said I shouldn’t go. Heck, Foster basically flat out forbid me to. Ro used up her dare -which I know she was saving to use as payback- to keep me at home, because there was no way I’d willingly fail a dare.
But I did. I failed at so much more than a dare that night.
I was just trying to keep everyone safe, you know? Especially Foster. It was me my mom wanted, if I went then maybe she’d let them go.
Okay fine, I know that was wishful thinking, but maybe she’d at least go easy on them.
How was I supposed to know that I was going to end up stuck to some dwarf throne with some dwarf crone melting on my head while Bangs Boy did whatever freakish things shades do? And how was I supposed to know it would land me where I am now?
It became clear pretty early on that there was no stopping whatever messed up plan my mom had put into play this time. But I could at least make it easier on Bangs Boy. Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t like the guy, but he didn’t want this any more than I did. And well… maybe I can see where he was coming from. Either way, we didn’t need another broken mind, so I could at least try to lessen his guilt, right?
Plus, that could’ve been my last chance to make fun of his stupid bangs, you never know. Couldn’t very well pass that chance up, now could I?
So that’s how I, the great Lord Hunkyhair, ended up passed out on a throne. Life tip?
Don’t try it.

Tam’s pov
I never wanted to do the things I was forced to do that night. But I didn’t have a choice. Sophie kept insisting that I did, but she didn’t understand. I didn’t. I really didn’t.
There was only one thing I could do, and I did it. When Sophie had the oh so bright idea to reach out to me telepathically, I gave her a warning. Keep Keefe away from me.
And then what does that idiot do? He walks right into his mom’s plan, despite my warning and everyone’s efforts to keep him away.
Typical.
I know thinking isn’t his strong suit, but I thought he was at least bright enough not to do that.
So as much as I didn’t want to, I didn’t have any choice but to follow Lady Gisela’s orders. She’d made me her little shade pet, after all. But her plan was just plain messed up, not to mention the fact that I didn’t trust it -or myself- at all. As much as I dislike Keefe, I didn’t want to see the guy killed, especially if it was partially because of me.
Keefe started talking, insisting he’d always make fun of my bangs and then promising that he didn’t never blame me for this. I wasn’t sure if I could believe that, but I couldn’t help but smile, just slightly.
And then… I had to do it. I released a bolt of shadowflux, and whatever “thing” was being done was set into motion. The crown started melting, Keefe ended up passed out, and we were all in a mess.
Partially thanks to me.
There came a point while I was with the Neverseen when I had to ask myself, how much was I willing to put at stake for my sister? The answer came immediately.
Everything.


Part Three
Word Count: 1,218
The tropes I chose to use are high school au, soulmate au, and songfic. The song in question is “How Did I Fall In Love With You?” by The Backstreet Boys. I’m afraid it kind of drops off before the end of the song. I may add more to it someday, actually-

Sophie Foster lived in a world where the first thing your soul mate said to you would be imprinted on your skin, but only after both parties fell for each other. Until then, you would have no idea who your soulmate was. So you’d best remember the first thing someone said to you, in case it was important later.
Sophie, to put it quite frankly, found this to be a load of rubbish. She was a busy high school student who had no time to worry about stuff like this. Who needed a soulmate this young anyway?She had all the time in the world to figure it out, she wasn't going to bother now.
Remember when, we never needed each other
That’s what she told herself, at least. Everyday, she couldn’t help but check to see if the words “Is this you?” were etched on her wrist. Those were the first words the cute, teal eyed upperclassman, Fitz Vacker, had said to her. She knew it was probably foolish to hope she could ever be meant to be with someone like Fitz, but part of her couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if it somehow came to be.
“Miss Foster! Sophie Foster!” Her chemistry teacher snapped, jerking Sophie out of her thoughts. “Pay attention!”
Sophie looked up, just in time to see the chemical concoction in front of her practically explode, splashing her and her teacher. Sophie held up her arm to shield her face, but some of the substance landed on her hand, stinging terribly.
She slowly lowered her arm and looked down, where an angry red mark was already forming on her hand. She looked back up to see her teacher glaring at her, a hole now burned in her sleeve.
“Miss Foster, you…” Her teacher stopped, noticing the burn on her hand. Sighing, she continued. “Well, it looks like you had best head to the nurse’s office.”
Sophie nodded. “I’m sorry, I-“
“Go.”
Sophie grabbed her things and left, but got turned around on the way to the nurse’s office. This school was big, and she was still pretty new. Not to mention the fact that she didn’t want to go to the nurse’s office anyway. Doctors were scary, and her burn wasn’t that bad. That’s what she kept telling herself, at least.
Somehow she found herself in a corridor of the school she’d never been to before. She didn’t recognize it, at least. There was a blond boy in the corner, leaning against the wall, hair mused. He looked up, spotting her.
“You must be lost.”
And that was how she came to meet Keefe Sencen.

In the time that followed, Keefe and Sophie came to get to know each other better, maybe better than anyone else.
The best of friends, like sister and brother
It became clear that Fitz was growing jealous of them, even though they were just friends. Well, clear to Keefe at least. Sweet Foster was still totally oblivious. Sometimes he’d catch her glancing hopefully at her wrist after she’d talked to Fitz, which Keefe did his best to ignore. So what if she was hoping her soulmate was Fitz? Seemed like nearly every girl in the school was. It didn’t mean anything.
Right?

“Keefe, what’s wrong?” Sophie asked, cornering Keefe on their way to class. “You’ve been acting weird all day.”
Keefe paused before answering. “Have I?”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Deflect my questions with more questions!”
“Am I doing that?”
“Y- Keefe! Just tell me what’s wrong, because I know something is.”
“Nothing is wrong, Foster. Nothing at all.”
“Keefe… it’s your parents again, isn’t it?”
“Maybe. It’s not a big deal.”
“Yes, it is.”
“No, it’s not. It’s not like anyone cares, Foster,” Keefe said, regretting it immediately.
Sophie looked at him, her expression one he couldn’t quite read, but at least it wasn’t pity. “Yes, they do. I care, Keefe.”
He finally met her eyes and smiled slightly.
We understood, we’d never be alone
“Anyway, I-“
The bell rang before he could finish.
“Oh my gosh, we’re going to be late to class- I’ve got English next and it’s on the other side of school- I’ve got to go. I’ll catch up with you later.” Sophie rushed off, pausing to look back at Keefe. “And stay out of trouble!”
And then she was gone.
Keefe sighed and glanced at his wrist. Now he was the one partaking in wishful thinking.
Those days are gone, now I want you so much

Later that day, Keefe was sitting in his room, sketching and trying to take his mind off things. He’d had a fight with his dad about his grades after he came home.
Again.
Seriously, you’d think the fact that Keefe was the youngest in his grade and scored the second highest would be enough for his dad. But nooo, Keefe had to be the best. That title had, of course, gone to Fitz.
As much as Keefe didn’t like bothering Sophie with all of his family problems, he wished he could see her. Even if he didn’t tell her what was going on, just talking to her would help.
The night is long and I need your touch
But the sun had set hours ago, and even though his parents wouldn’t care -or if they did, he could sneak out- he knew her parents probably wouldn’t let her visit anyone this late. Her dad, especially, wouldn’t want Sophie out of his sight if Keefe was involved. That Boy, he called him.
And again, it was late. Knowing Sophie, she was probably still up, but if she wasn’t, Keefe didn’t want to wake her.
But…
Before he could think better of it, he was dialing her number. She picked up on the third ring.
“Hey Keefe. What’s up? It’s kind of late.”
“Were you sleeping?” He asked, already regretting calling.
“Me? No.”
“Alright, well, I just-“
“Yes?”
Don’t know what to say, never meant to feel this way
“I… guess I just wanted someone to talk to.”
Don’t wanna be alone tonight
“Gotcha. Well, I’m probably going to be up for awhile anyway.”
Keefe glanced at his wrist, even though he knew there wouldn’t be anything there. He knew she liked Fitz. They probably were soulmates. But if they weren’t…
What can I do, to make you mine?
“You’re awfully quiet,” Sophie noted.
“I’m just thinking.”
“About?”
“About a prank that’ll top the Great Guinea Pig Incident, of course,” Keefe said, even though that was definitely not what he was thinking about. “Even though, you know, I had nothing to do with that.”
“Riiight… you really need to tell me what that was.”
“Someday, Foster, someday.” He took a breath, debating whether or not to say this next part. “Anyway, can you meet me at the pavilion tomorrow after school?”
“Sure thing, why?”
“I just want to talk to you about something.”
“What?”
“So many questions, Foster.” Keefe jokingly made a “tsk” sound. “You’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.”
He could practically see her small smile, even though she was miles away. “Okay, Keefe. I’ll be there.”
Keefe’s dreams that night consisted of the gold flecked brown eyes that were always on his mind.
Falling so hard, so fast this time

Part Four
SWC Fanfic
Word Count: 400
This is far from the best… but y’know.

Ash was sitting on a bench in camp. It was a nice day, and she was happily watching the going’s on. It was her second time at camp, and it was already turning out to be quite fun, and she was glad she had decided to join again. At Scratch Writing Camp, there was always something fun to do, whether you wanted to participate in the many activities or procrastinate.
Well, not procrastinate. There couldn’t be any procrastinators in SWC, surely not… Ash herself definitely was not one…
Anyway.
Ash saw a couple campers carrying mangos for an event later that day. She couldn’t help but make a face. Could she be the only one at camp who couldn’t stand those fruits?
Ash got up, deciding to go check the leaderboard. On her way there, she overheard some campers debating what a daily meant.
“That’s not vague or ambiguous.” One of the campers shook their head. “That’s just plain confusing.”
“No, you’re confusing,” Their companion insisted. They both laughed, not actually fighting.
Ash made it to the leaderboard and looked it over. It appeared her cabin, Adventure, was consistently staying somewhere in the middle of the rankings. Even so, she had no doubt that they would be able to bring their place up.
She smiled slightly when she noticed Hi-fi and Myth were fairing pretty good as well. She still had a soft spot for Hi-fi, her cabin of last session, and while she’d never been in Myth, she knew a friend or two were there.
Ash looked up to see the sun dipping lower in the sky, painting the few existing clouds in pale pinks and oranges. Seemed the day was coming to the end…
“Oh man I still haven’t done the daily!” Ash overheard a fellow camper exclaim. “How much time is left?”
Ash glanced back at the sky, gauging the time. “About… twenty minutes?”
“Oh no…” the camper sighed.
“You still have time, if you hurry!” Ash told her. Then her eyes widened in realization. “Oh my gosh, I haven’t finished it either-“
“Come on,” the camper said. “We can go work on it together. Like you said, we have still got a bit of time if we don’t poke around.”
“Okay, that sounds good!” Ash nodded, then she and her fellow camper went off to go finish the daily before the sun completely set.

Electric had no idea what she did, where she ended up.
That was the past.
This is the future.
Last year, Electric dropped a quarter, and started wishing for that quarter,
What she didn’t know is then, she discovered Scratch Writing Camp.
Ever since, she had so much fun, but now,
Her parents didn’t know where she went.
She couldn’t text them, unless she was near Sci-fi cabin,
But now,
She’s going to come back.
There was only one time where she could join the camp, and that was summer. Her cabin won, she wants to do it again.
She came back to the wishing well, with her quarter, and dropped it and wished to come back to SWC.
Then, she accidentally fell in.

Where am I?
She blinked, then looked at the old, wooden sign that read SWC.
A girl with black hair, a nice tone of brown, accidentally bumped into Electric.
Oops! She said,
Electric looked around the space.
Is this-
Nope, this is not Space Warden Camp.
Electric managed to catch her breath.
I meant, Scratch Writing Camp?
The girl's eyes widened.
Oh! Yeah. It is!
And, what's your name?
The girl smiled. Cherry.
Electric liked the name, it sounded really, really, nice.
Now let's get you signed up~
Electric looked at her results.
Apparently, she was chosen to be in Fantasy.
Not bad!
Cherry smiled. I’m in Fantasy too!

Electric looked around the cabin Electric was selected for. The leader was Cae, of the witches, which seemed interesting. Electric turned around, and tried to do magic, like Cae can.
Electric strangely did it.
One of the campers- Pri, was a nice person, Rea, is the creator and mastermind for the Wishing Well.
Electric didn’t really know one of the other leaders- Julie, but she was still nice.
The Honary camper- Lisa, was a really good artist. Better then Electric.
But Lisa was also really nice.

When the the sunrise started, the 2 top cabins celebrated with a bonfire.
Sci-fi and Thriller.

But, Fantasy wouldn’t give up so easily. They are going to try.
They will try to win, and if they don’t,
At least its still a victory.
It’s time to prove that they can write the most words,
They can write a lot.
Electric did really have some trouble with the weekly, but eventually did it.
It’s fantasy going to win.
Fantasy for the win!

July 8th Daily

Word Count: 428

I was shocked. He was kicking us out? Our children –I– needed him. But one look at his face made me pack up my bags and leave without protest. I gathered the kids, my 10 year old son, David, and my 2 year old daughter, Claire. Taking my minivan, I backed out of the driveway and just drove. I had no clue where I was going but I had to go somewhere. I kept going, not caring where I went. Suddenly, I realized I was at a church. I wasn't religious, why had my subconscious taken me here?
“Hello?” I heard someone knocking on my window. I turned and saw a round woman with a concerned look on her face. I rolled down my window.
“Are you alright?” She had the kind of homey, country accent you might expect to see in a movie.
“Oh, yeah. Why?”
“Well, I felt God telling me to come over and invite you over for dinner.” She smiled. “Would you like to come?”
Normally, I'm very cautious and wouldn't go over for any reason to a random stranger's house, especially with my kids but something compelled me to say yes. Her smile grew wider when I accepted. “Here's my address, feel free to pop over whenever you feel like it. No time is too early!” She handed me a slip of paper.
“See you soon!” She waved as she strode away.
“Are we really going over to her house for dinner, Mom? We don't even know her.” David asked, his eyes narrowed suspiciously after the woman.
I opened my mouth to respond, then closed it. “Yes… yes, we are.” I still couldn't explain why I felt compelled to go, I just had this feeling. A need.
When I pulled into the driveway of their address, I almost left. Their house was a large, country-style mansion. All I could do was gape at it.
I finally stopped when the woman came out and knocked on my window. Again.
“Are y'all going to come in? Or would you rather eat out here?”
“Oh,” I flushed red. “We'll go inside.”
“Good!” Her wide grin returned. “I'll help you with the little one.”
She walked around the front of my car to the door next to Claire's car seat. I watched, waiting to see how Claire would react. She hated strangers. Surprisingly, she let the woman unbuckle and hold her.
“I have a daughter around your age. I'm sure she would love to play with you.” The woman smiled and tapped Claire's nose, making her giggle.

song : We Be Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush
translated lyrics (english - sanskrit - hawaiian - latin - english)
And if only I could I will make a deal with God
And I'll make him switch places
Be running this way
This hill is going up
This building is running
Say, if only I could, oh

You don't want to hurt me
But look how deep the bullet lies
Unbeknownst to me, I tore us apart
Oh, there's thunder in our hearts
Is there a lot of hatred for our loved ones?
Oh, tell me, we both matter, right?
(450 words exactly) :-

I saw you walking away from me, my whole body heating up in anger. I felt a desire to hold onto you, to keep you back and not let you leave me. We had been companions, lovers for so long, and I unknowingly tore us apart. I guess this was coming, we fought every day, threatening each other of the unthinkable. I always wished to leave you, and when I finally did, I should feel free from my heartstrings that were tied to yours, I should be happy, dancing. But I feel like going after you, saying sorry and not leaving your hand for all eternity. Is it too late? are the wounds in your heart too deep, to forgive me, who shot you with heartbreaks.
If only I could, I would beg god, to hold you back. To keep you with me. Did you feel the same? were you regretting walking away, and are on your way back? no, you weren't. I ran up the hill of your love, which you pushed me off of. This wasn't about you, or me. It's about us- we were the most important thing to me, and still are. I will run up roads, swim through pools and do absolutely anything to find you, say sorry, and keep you.

Is there now hatred in your heart for me? like you hate all our loved ones. The bittersweet times we used to have- were they all now poisoned in your mind, as games I played with you? That wasn't true, there were storms, lightning and thunder in my heart, the heart that beats for you. For us, we're still one aren't we? we cant truly separate, my love has wrapped your heart in it, you cant leave me can you? your heart still beats for us, I still matter to you, don't I?

If we meet again, in heaven or hell, will you say to me, you missed me? you want to do it all over again, because that's what I would say for sure. We made a skyscraper using building blocks of our memories, our sweet times together, and our love. I'll run up that building, hoping to meet you at the top, so we can save it from running away, falling. I know you want to hold on to our memories, which you will cry to at night, wont you? Tell me, if I made it to hell and you to heaven, would you make a deal with god, and get him to switch our places? You would, wouldn't you? Tell me the fire is still alive in your heart, the thunder is still present for me, tell me we matter, right?

June 8th Daily || 757 words
—–
Prompt from Google translated “Jump Up Super Star” from Super Mario Odyssey, “You can enter this crazy world for a month. Come visit and enjoy! I don’t jump in the air, I don’t jump out of fear, I don’t jump thinking about my flight! It was dark and the tears were falling, I pressed a button, it was gone and we went to ODC.” (Ummm… apparently we go to the optical disc center…?)
—–
Ok, slight spoilers for the story, but, as soon as I heard “crazy world”, I instantly thought of my friend group, each of them with their own dark, chaotic, but fun personalities, all of them but one are part of the lgbtq community. And, so I thought, why not make this about my friend group, change the names a little, and make it so we add a new friend into the group, a person who seemed to be kind of shy and make them carefree.
—–
Lindsey:
I live in a place full of chaos. But, I'm used to it. I love it, and I'm part of it. What is this place? My friend group. Most people think that at this age we should be mature, and we should be gossiping, which we do sometimes, but we love running around, playing in playrounds, having fun through actions, and just being a pile of chaos. It's the best place ever in my opinion.
There was a new kid in our class, they seemed kind of shy, so being probably the most “normal” out of my friends, I decided to greet them.
“Hello there, I'm Lindsey!” I said to the new kid.
“…Hi.” said the new kid, taking a seat on a rock outside, as we were outside at this time. “If you didn't know, my name is Ellie.” the kid continued. “…But I don't like that name, I'd like to be called Rylie if you don't mind.” the kid said, looking at the ground, embarrassed. I nodded my head, showing them that this was alright. They seemed to be that awkward kid no one ever hung out with, maybe because they were different. At the time, I didn't know what this was, until they told me they were non-binary.
“Of course I accept you!” I said, looking at them when they told me. “Actually, my friends may like you!” I said. All of my friends were welcoming to them, as some of them were also in the lgbtq community.
“So, welcome to the friend group!” I exclaimed to Rylie, circling around them.

Rylie:
It all started back at my old school. I was bullied for who I was. I never told my parents why, but they decided to move me to a different school, where I met accepting kids, and even found a whole lot of friends thanks to Lindsey. They were super nice to me, and no one judged me for being different. But the secret was only kept between my new group of friends. I felt less introverted, I had an urge to run around and scream whenever I was around them. But the fun didn't last long…
It was a month after I had met those friends. We were giggling a bit in class. And maybe a bit too loudly. A girl turned around, and of course it had to be the one who gossiped the most, and listened to our conversation. We didn't know until we heard everyone teasing about me a couple of days later about being “different”. I no longer felt the joy and excitement I had felt for a month. I no longer jumped around when having no fear about what came out. I no longer felt safe in my class. When I came to my house just a few days after I changed to my old self, my parents said this:
“Well, sweetie, I knew it wasn't a good idea to move, we're going to move back as soon as possible.” I was so mad. I made friends, just because I didn't feel safe around most kids didn't mean I didn't appreciate my friends still. But my parents didn't listen.
The next day I arrived at school, I bawled my eyes out. Lindsey came up to me.
“What's the matter, Rylie?” she asked. I looked up at her, tears still rolling down my face. I was sniffling.
“My parents are making me move back after they realized I wasn't doing great here…” I replied, instantly turning away. I didn't want any response today. I was too upset. I was actually so upset, it's almost as if I pressed a button in my mind that completely shut down the tears. Nothing would come out of my eyes. I was so upset that I wasn't upset. I was almost like a robot, just acting plain, and as if I had no emotions at all.

A few days later, my parents were picking me up from school. It was my last day here, we were going back to my old school, I dreaded it. My friends had to go on a bus, but that didn't stop them from coming over and saying goodbye. They told me how special I was. I cried, but I wasn't upset. I was happy. I whispered the word, “goodbye” to my friends from outside of the car window as it drove away. Maybe I'd miss my friends, but I would cherish them forever, I'd be different, it would be like I've never left them.

Weekly #1
Part 1 -

Annie Cresta - The Hunger Games.

There is someone in your character’s house.

I was all alone in my house that night. My child had been invited to a sleepover at his best friend’s house and I agreed that he could go. Biggest mistake of my life. I hadn’t been alone since the early days of Finnick’s death, so I didn’t know what it was like. Lying there in my dark bedroom made me wonder. Was I alone? Are there things out there that I cannot see? The thought frightened me enough to keep me in bed throughout the darkest hours of the night.
I couldn’t help but remember sleeping in The Hunger Games. Making camouflaged shelters hidden behind tree trunks. Spending hours placing every leaf in the right position. Settling down for the night on the hard ground. Knowing that everyone was watching. Feeling the water before it even reached me. Knocking down my shelter and trying to run. Remembering all of the swimming lessons I took as a child. Hearing the screams as tributes were washed under.
No, that wasn’t what I wanted to remember.
CLATTER!
I lay frozen in my bed. Was that real?
CLINK!
There was somebody there. I checked my clock: 2:59 am
I started to shake all over, thinking it was one of those deadly careers coming for their revenge or one of the vicious mutts that killed my love. I felt sick to the stomach. They were climbing the stairs. Every step I heard them take made me shudder. My room was the last room, which would only make the worry worse.
I listened as they made their way in and out of each bedroom, one by one. In a way, I was glad that my son - who was named Rory after my late father - was not here to witness whatever this was.
My heart pounded in my chest as they moved closer to my door. For a moment, I was certain that I could explode at any moment. Then, I reminded myself that that was medically impossible. Slowly, I reached inside my drawer and pulled out the shotgun that I kept there. The Hunger Games had terrified me enough to keep it there. I silently thanked the past version of myself and braced myself for whatever came next.
The door carefully slid open so I pointed the shotgun at it. A tall, shadowy figure emerged from the hallway. The clock struck 3:00 am.
“Annie Cresta. It’s been a while.”
I gasped.
(408 words)

Part 2 -

Clove Kentwell and Cato Hadley - Backstory.

Clove Kentwell lives in District 2 where she trains to volunteer for The Hunger Games. She is particularly good at knife throwing which suits her personality. She is very sharp and is good under pressure. Trained to kill, you’d think that’d be all Clove cared about, but she has a soft side for her fellow trainee - Cato Hadley. When with him, she shows her passionate and loving side as well as being sarcastic and playful. They both agreed that if they were competing in The Hunger Games at the same time, they’d win Together Or Not At All. Cato and Clove have known each other since they were young as their mothers were friends. When they reunited at the training centre one day, they realised that their feelings for each other had changed.
(133 words)

Cato Hadley also lives in District 2 and attends the training centre. His special skill is using a sword which he has been taught to kill people with in multiple different ways. Volunteering has always been his dream. This dream shows how naive he can be at times, not realising the real danger of things. He tends to act before thinking, like how he asked Clove out. Luckily, she liked him back, but he did not think before acting. Despite being a lethal killing machine, Cato has his caring side which is massively shown during the time he spends with Clove.
(101 words)

Cato’s P.O.V
I positioned myself on the bench and waited. I just simply waited. Not causing any trouble. I just waited.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Hadley. The sword-thrower,” a deep voice snickered behind me. It was too deep to be Clove’s voice, and after all, she didn’t call me Hadley. Only one person called me that.
“Trevor. I thought you were dead,” I answered.
Turning round to look at him, I tried to steady my breathing. His face was blank and expressionless. He was caked in dirt from head to toe and blood dripped from one white eyeball.
“No. I was never really dead. Just dead to you. Dead to everyone.”
I turned back around. I wasn’t listening to this. Trevor is dead. We had a funeral and everything. Truthfully, I wanted him to be dead. What he did was unforgivable
My heart suddenly began to punch my rib cage harder than before. Not in fright. In anger. How dare he show up here! Questions that I was too afraid to ask myself flooded my brain. The one that stood out the most was the scariest: What if Clove shows up now? A million questions branched out from that one. What if he does it again? Will he remember her? Will I have to spend the night haunted by her screams? If he does do that again, then will I ever see her again?
No. That was the wrong attitude. I had to think positively.
“Hey!” I heard from the alleyway. I was certain that it was directed at me. It was a girl’s voice. A very familiar girl's voice. It was Clove’s.
“Clove, get outta here, now,” I instructed.
Catching sight of her, I couldn’t help but blush. She looked gorgeous. Her hair was straightened and hung around her cheeks, and she was wearing a dark green dress that came above her knees. Then, I looked down at her feet. Thank god she was wearing trainers! If those trainers were high heels, then we would have been in deep trouble.
“But, I don’t underst-” she said sorrowfully. She cut herself off when she moved her eyes to focus on Trevor.
I heard her gasp, then her footsteps taking off down the alley. When I turned back to Trevor, he too was gone. Then I heard another pair of heavier footsteps charging down the alley.
“NO!” I screamed, but it was too late. Clove had been shoved into the back of his car and they sped away.

(416 words)

Clove’s P.O.V
Hitting play on my favourite playlist, I jumped up from my chair and threw open the doors of my wardrobe.
Choosing my favourite green dress, I closed the doors and ran to get changed.
When I came back into my room, my brothers were staring at me.
“What?” I asked, annoyed.
My oldest brother shuffled to the ladder that cascaded downwards from the top bunk where he was sitting.
“Going out?” he chuckled.
“Yeah, I am, actually. What’s it to you anyway?”
He just shook his head and exited the room. Living with five brothers was difficult, but sharing a room with them all was another story. I’m not even gonna mention that I’m the youngest.
I ignored them and continued to get ready.
“Clove!” I heard my Mum shout from downstairs.
“Yeah!” I replied, wondering what she wanted.
She didn’t reply, so I descended the stairs to discover the issue.
I found her in the kitchen cooking dinner.
“Clove! I hope you haven’t forgotten that you’re grounded this weekend,” she said, lifting her eyebrows.
“Just please let me go out tonight! Please, please, please!” I begged.
“Sorry Clove. Not tonight.”
I charged upstairs and slammed the door to my room. As I flopped onto my bed, I began to create a plan.
All of my brothers were occupied, so I quietly slid down the drainpipe and into the garden. Running faster than ever before, I got to the alleyway where me and Cato had agreed to meet.
“Hey!” I smiled. There seemed to be someone standing with Cato.
“Clove. You’ve gotta get outta here. Now!” he cried. I could see the look of panic on his face.
“But, I don’t underst-” I spotted the face of the person standing before me and I ran.
I could hear footsteps running behind me.
I heard someone scream ‘no’, but it was too late. I could feel Trevor’s hands on me. Within seconds, I was speeding away in the boot of his car.
(331 words)

Part 3 -

Fanfiction

I watched in fright as he stepped out of the shadows. He crossed the room and came to face me. Bending down, his face was only inches away from my quivering one.
“Clove. Didn’t think I’d be seeing you again,” he whispered, a smile crossing his face.
I stood up. “Me neither, Trevor. What do you want with me?” I asked, trying to sound confident.
He just chuckled and shook his head. “I want what I didn’t get last time.”
My breathing began to quicken and I think he noticed, because he chuckled, then left the room.
I sat in the corner, thinking about all of the possible things that he could want.
“Oi, you. Gotcha a room-mate,” Trevor shouted into the room, making me jump.
Someone else was shoved into the dark room. She let out a squeal as Trevor shoved her onto the wooden floor.
“Oh, and one more thing. Don’t get blood on my floors,” he called. At first I didn’t understand what he meant, but just as the metal door slammed shut, blood trickled in a stream towards me and formed a puddle at my feet.
I could hear soft whimpering coming from the centre of the room.
Following the soft glow of light that had appeared after the mysterious room-mate had entered, I found the source - a candle.
I picked it up with both hands and carried it to where the whimpering was coming from. With the light’s glow as a guide, I found a young woman curled up on the floor: tears streaming down her face and a large gash on her forehead. Blood circled her like she was swimming in a red pool. Her salty tears dropped one by one into the sea of red liquid and it made me squirm watching. The pink flesh that lined her wound suggested that it was newly exposed and the still dripping blood assured it. As I looked closer I realised that her eyes were closed and she had not yet seen me.
“Hey. I’m Clove,” I whispered, trying not to frighten her.
She looked up.
“I’m Annie. Annie Cresta,” she grimaced, noticeably trying to smile through the pain.
I’d heard the name and was just beginning to rack my brains for where, when she gulped and rolled onto her back.
“I hate to admit it, but I’m the victor of the 70th Hunger Games,” she explained.
It clicked in my brain that I had been forced to watch those treacherous games when I was eleven and ran to my room crying when the dam broke.
Before I could reply to her, the room door opened and Trevor appeared. I instinctively dropped the candle and the flame caught the floor on fire. Stumbling backwards, I tried to escape the flame. Annie. I had to help her. But how?
Running back into the smoke, I caught her by the arms and started to drag her towards the door, where most of the smoke was escaping from. The flames licked my boots, making them disintegrate, but I kept going. My eyes were blurred, but I could just about make out the door.
I was nearly there. I could almost taste the freedom. My hand reached out to hold it open…..
SLAM.
Somebody had slammed the door shut. Pulling Annie into a corner, I let go of her and started to scream.
“HELP ME!! HELP WE’RE STUCK IN HERE!” I screamed.
Sweat started to drip off my forehead and I could feel the flames surrounding me and I decided to accept the fact that I could be engulfed any minute. I could smell burning but couldn’t bring myself to look at where it was coming from.
At that moment, I was unsure whether I was hallucinating or it was real life, but the smoke started to disappear. Then, my world went black.
Three angel figures appeared before me. One blue, one green, one red.
“Clove,” the blue one said, in a singsong voice. “There are three of us.”
The green one moved forward, “One is the angel of hell. One is the angel of heaven. One is the angel of the living.”
The red one said, “Whichever one you choose, you will follow into their world. Who’s it gonna be?”
I stared at each figure - sure I was in a dream. My natural instinct was to choose my favourite colour - green - but the blue one was so tempting. I then realised that it was supposed to be tempting.
“Green,” I answered.
The green one smiled and the other two disappeared.
“You can live on. I am the angel of the living. Until next time, Clove. Although next time, we might have changed….”
Those were the last words I heard before I awoke to Cato staring at me.
(798 words)

SWC Fanfiction

Every morning at SWC, the sun rises high and the noise of chirping birds awakens the campers. Each different cabin meets at breakfast in the main cabin, then takes a look at the daily or the weekly (if it has changed). They use this time to chat and sometimes sort out daily collaborations. Some campers decide to word war with each other during the day, whereas others decide to just write for points and/or words.
They often check the leader-board - which is situated inside the main cabin - to see whose cabin is in the lead with the most points. One day, this system was messed up.
In the morning, all of the campers were on their way to breakfast, when they saw a crowd gathered outside of the main cabin - it was the leaders and co-leaders.
“What’s going on?” a curious camper questioned.
Bellevue91 stepped forward. “Calm down everybody! It’s okay! A tornado hit the main cabin last night and it’s going to take us a few days to repair it! Everybody please return to your cabins immediately!” she shouted. Everybody rushed around frantically trying to get back to their cabins in case the tornado returned.
Later that day, there was an announcement aired to every corner of the camp.
“THE TORNADO IS ON ITS WAY! CAMPERS PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE BUNKERS LOCATED BELOW THE CAMPER HELP AREA IN THE CENTRE OF YOUR CABIN! THANK YOU!” the speakers boomed.
Everybody was charging towards their bunkers and they were beginning to fill up rather quickly. A few campers from Script had to run to Myth and beg for cover and, despite them being enemies, they were housed in the Myth bunker no problem. After about half an hour of getting everybody under cover, the leaders began to tick off who was there. It wasn’t until they called out the last name on the list, that the Myth leaders realised that they were missing a camper. Using the bunkers’ landline, they called every other leader until they realised that the camper was officially missing.
Nobody would survive going out in that tornado, so they decided to invite the mythic gods and goddesses to camp to help them.
Before long, three gods and three goddesses had made their way over and the tornado was getting stronger - whipping the cabins from the ground, leaving the bunkers exposed to the wind’s harsh blow….
(401 words)

2637 altogether

jenny's swc thread - horror

please read, note: this is not it, i claimed this spot at fri, 8 jul wib - i have been writing more in the studios

—————– weeklies

#1 - first scenario, fri 8 jul. fanfic from harry potter; order of the phoenix time ———

I tugged my jacket uncertainly as I stared out one of Hogwarts' library windows, to the field, gloomy and battered with the current, heavy rain. Quidditch didn't seem nearly as fun anymore. Even if I was in the team - and the Seeker, the position I would have taken at any time if I had gotten the chance.
But no, not now. Not now that Harry was kicked out of the team, as well as Fred and George.
At every practice so far, Angelina always seemed almost in tears. It burned to walk down the hallway and past my twin brothers, both glowering and marching past coldly, stopping only to give her a glance. Even more to see Harry, who now had a permenant, as always when something went wrong, that it's-all-my-fault look on his bowed face, his hand pushing his dark fringe out of his deep green eyes.
And it was all Umbridge's fault.
Harry and I were growing a little closer with the DA, but especially with Hemione's advice. I wished I'd not cowered like a silly girl my past years around him. Because of that, I didn't think that we would get past the ‘friends’ state; not when he had Cho to blush at. I was so sick of her hair flicks and cries - I had Michael Corner now.
I was brought back to now with a tap on my shoulder, followed by a familiar onion smell. My heart stopped instinctively pounding at that.
‘Luna,’ I murmured, to the dirty-blonde's vague smile. ‘Hey.’
She unstuck her wand from her hair, swinging both her Butterbeer cap necklace and Dirigible Plum earrings in the proccess. ‘Oh, Ginny,’ Luna said dreamily, as if I had tapped her shoulder, not the other way around.
Tearing my eyes away from the Quidditch field, I grinned, ‘Can I help you here?’ maybe a little too loudly; Madam Pince stopped sharply and turned to us - well, me - with a withering glare, before continuing to stomp onwards the library, prowling around the reading wizards and witches.
‘Yes.’ Luna turned her head to wherer I had been looking, the field, inquiringly.
I let her continue on, but evidently that was it. Wasn't really a surprise with her though.
‘Well - what then?’ I low-voicedly, keeping a wary eye on the long-robed librarian, who was now sniffing the air with disdain - lucky she couldn't see Luna's onions and cat litter, tucked away in her junk-filled bag. ‘If it’s Angelina say I'm coming.'
‘Help me find my shoes?’ she said simply. ‘I think Orla Quirke took them again.’
‘Loony’ had an unfortunate amount of haters, and most of them loved to steal her things, some good-naturedly, some not - they had even gotten as far as swiping them just as she was packing one last term. Quirke was not in their year, but cheeked Luna nontheless.
‘Yeah, sure,’ I said. ‘When, now?’
She nodded, then for some reason dug in her bag for something, resurfacing with nothing.
‘I’m sorry, Luna, I can't now,' I apologised. ‘I’ve got practice in a minute. I'll help later, I swear.'
Luna looked at me shrewdly. ‘Or can you?’ she said in her usual soft voice, not looking even slightly bothered. ‘You were staring off in a dilemma, obviously - of course you didn’t want to go. It's pouring. Come knock later, I'll answer the riddle for you.'
Then she smiled at her and walked off, almost in a daze, leaving me in my resumed dilemma. I really didn't want to go, but Fred and George were coming to look - and I know for a fact that they were impressed at my skills on the broom. And Angelina would be furious if I skipped.
But then again, I just wanted to break free from the literal storm that was my fourth year. I wanted to go over to the Ravenclaw common room, and after trying to solve the knocker's riddle, smirk at the shocked Ravenclaws, including Cho, about me entering, and with Luna especially. To do something nice to make up for the frustration of a moody side of Harry.
I stared there thinking for longer than I thought; soon Jack Sloper, Fred's replacement, I reminded myself with a mental glare at Umbridge, came along, dripping wet with mud. ‘Ginny!’ he called. ‘You’re late, come on!'
‘Angelina sent you?’ I sighed.
‘Well, obviously. Get along with it!’ And with that, he sauntered off, leaving me to and make the choice to either go up to her dorm and change to my Quidditch robes, or to go up to Luna's dorm and help her with her shoe search.

#2 - a FAILED attempt, but yes, newspaperrrr, leggoo (kk i honestly have no idea how. prepare to cringe…)

The Skies Insight
The Skies insight - 12th edition - volume 1
edited in Skylend on July 14 2022
]Theif swipes from Silveford Mansion
In yesterday's early hours(the thirteenth of July) a dark figure, clearly a theif and most possibly a man, was seen by several of the scores of the loaded Pearce family's security guards and cameras. As he approached Silveford Mansion at the end of the Conrichque Boulevard, he was noted by the panicked guards to be extremely, helplessly flexible and clever in his choice of moves, allowing him to unfortunately get in the house.
A wailing Miss Pearce gave us an exclusive reveal to through her sobs this morning, stating in quite the high-pitched voice that apparently, an ‘Utalit Chiramolite’, which is ‘Glitteringly rare. Passed through the family for centuries! A diamond gem, it’s hard as stone and pretty as anything, it's surrounded by pearls and emeralds, and its sheen! So effervescently beautiful,' was gone.
‘Fell of the perch, perhaps?’ she stated scornfully as she dabbed her red eyes, a still slightly horrified look on her face. ‘No, it’s definitely that rotten thief! I declare that a prize shall be given to whoever recovers my baby!'
Eleven jewels from her personal collection and five million dollars was announced to be the said prize, instantly uproaring those in her room, who jumped up and reprimanded her. The police, who are all determinedly searching for the dirty criminal, said to call them immediately if a trace of a clue appears before you.
One full-batteried security camera managed to capture a breif shot of the criminal when he had forgootton to pull his hood over him. The Pearces were proud to say that the police had found out who it was.
Dick Beckenly wasn't exactly well-known, but his intentions were found to be ruthlessly horribble, as he had stolen many times before - security cameras couldn't quite grasp the man's facial features, but luckily they knew now. Conrichque's local mall, The Sparke Yeast, an esquisite western restaurant the next block over, Wast Dells, and over five more had reported burgulary with that same blond man.
The mystery now was about how Beckenly knew about the Chiramolite. Nobody had heard a word about it, as it was before a tightly sealed family secret, but Mr Pearce was able to supply us with several pictures, shown below alongside the photos of Beckenly.
Debates over wether Beckenly had an accomplice was made. Personal spies are now roaming the townalongside the police, as online shops were also reported to be hacked, though this rumor is very vague. A friend in his crime certainly would have been helpful with the cameras.
Again, the Pearces say that if you get the merest glimpse of anything stated before, please call them immediately for the grand prize of five million dollars and eleven jewels from their personal, hard-worked collection.
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Merigold's Thai Castings - a Review
Coming for lunch with my big group of friends to Merigold's Veggi Castings wasn't a mistake; we loved our amazing mains, delicious with loads of flavour, all the meals, in fact, were very good. Really impressive for a vegiterian resto, and I reccomend the Thai Fri Chips - so scrumptiously golden that it ran out, in fact! Deifinitely get those before they sell out.
But hey, there's always a ‘but’.
The service was simply terrible. Waiters everyhere looking quite clueless didn't quite make an impression, and we had to wait for like, over half an hour for the food, and it seemed like the place was deserted!
And some foods looked tantilizing in the menu's(I've got to say, though, the layout was very pleasant) photos, when, of course, they weren't. Those, we expected much more of as they were extremely overpriced.
One waiter offered his help and asked if everything was allright. We were kind of quiet when one of my friends spoke up quietly. He frowned but shrugged and left, and scowled when we didn't tip him. He didn't even give us anything or take one untouched meal off the bill!
Furniture there, and the design, was flawless. I enjoyed taking pictures there, and the manager told us he could take a picture for us in front of this amazing work of art, and he proved to be an excellent photographer.
Merigold's had its ups and downs; some things were just bleh but some fantastic, but overall, I'd give them, well, a four-star rating, because some of the mains completely took over most of the negative list.

#3 part 1, 2 out of 3

Brainstorming
Archipelago setting
Each person has their own large star
If they see it, they have to immediately fly up to it to find out destiny
Three large islands
Magic ocean
Elements as transportation
Four rival families
Blankets as best selling item
General magic core aesthetic
Three as lucky number
Magic as normal
Pretty lands ruined by arguing people
Diet based around what one’s born surroundings are
Foxes as a respected symbol
Chaos as general aura
Skyquil as a sky kingdom
Children hidden from community until five years of age
Waters as a symbol of friendship
Each kingdom has its own general hobby
A huge traveling circus goes around the land

Connections, using the bolded items
Colorful waters weren’t a thing - that is, before the ocean surrounding Chaotti Archipelago said otherwise. The land was most known for it. Bright red waters could be seen at one end of the archipelago, about to collide with purple, followed by yellow, or something like that, every single day.
Sometimes, though, what caught visitors’ attention most was the immense chaos and color that was on the land, too. Whiffs of smoke was everywhere there, random wizards or warlocks flying around, talking their heads off, or simple white witch farmers trying to get peace.
Magic literally was seen in the air everywhere - and in the fairy population especially. For example, one pixie might have, say, leaves or even flowing water for hair, or perhaps tree bark for nails.
Each creature ate what their born surroundings were, so it made food a little complicate, especially as children were lawfully from the public until they were five years of age.
Making things easier, though, each civilian would gaze up to the starry sky every single night, searching for their star.
Each had their own special one, which flamed over to them when seen, and revealed their respective inner selves, a personal gemstone or precious gift to treasure, and very rarely, only for ones of a truly pure heart, predictions of their future to them.
The archipelago had three main, large islands where many lived, each a powerful kingdom and surrounded by many smaller ones - Foreaid, Skyquil, and Rockxcite.
Foreaid, the mythed first, busiest and oldest kingdom, represented produce and kindness, hard work and cheerfullness. Its residents settled in a large, though not dense, enchanted forest that covered the whole island.
It offered crops and supplied items for the whole Chaotti with its many environmental-friendly factories and animals. The Forelians excelled in nature most, and sent food and such out.
Fairies and the other population in Foreaid commonly had antlers, tails, ears and other creaturistic features to add to their kind, small structures. The many clearings in the wood provided excellent spaces for housing.
Skyquil, on the other hand, had quite a bare surface. The beautiful water of the archipelago, in that case, was allowed to lap beautifully on the shore.
Nicknamed ‘the middle one’, the island was made next, and true to its name, the kingdom rested in the sky - the clouds - offering tranquil. Of course, the air there was always buzzing gently with all sorts of wings.
Peace, intelligence, philosophy, and theraphy symbolized the old, wise kingdom. Most times it seemed like Skyquil was older than Foreaid; many believed that wholeheartedly.
Offering schooling and therapy, the island mostly attracted the attention of the wise. The creatures who had experienced walking in the clump of clouds in the sky Skyquil was left starstruck and walking lightly, used to the foamy water texture as ground. It was also the best stargazing place.
Rockxcite, now, definitely the most crowded island, was completely different.
Like Skyquil, the ground was not very occupied, but quite unlike it, the people set up their villages deep underground, making up the ‘rock’ part of its name, using natural light sources, like glowing magic particles(sparkles) for light, so it wasn’t scarce.
With that, it barely seemed like they weren’t below the surface. Towering soilscrapers nestled in large cities below the seabed. Massive roads connected the seemingly endless man-dug cavities.
‘Xcite’ was about, of course, the excitement, movement, activity, and the large population of the vast kingdom. Nightclubs and such were best there, at the youngest island.
And the three kingdoms, as well as the many small, surrounding islands, were all ruled by the great royal family, the Astlores, who resided in their own private island in the center of the circular-shaped Chaotti.

—————– dailies

#1 - fifteenth of july. claimed my object from @–kitti-kat–, a string holding three deflated balloons, one green, two white. 577 words, not bad for about a half-hourlong very tired(3 hours of hip-hop- - bruh!) writing session…

Izzy shook her head, at one of the rooms on the top floor of her friend Lauren's just huge, gothic mansion. Her other friend Callie was perched on the banister, giggling at Lauren's father a floor below; he was pulling the silliest faces Izzy knew, or any of the did, for that matter, making his wife Mrs Brooks, passing by with a large basket of laundry, sigh defeatedly - all the while Lauren was making uneccesary loud, spooky noises in the bathroom.
‘Come out, Lauren,’ she called impatiently, hammering the thick wooden door, steady as if made of steel. ‘Go on, we’re waiting!'
Callie finally slipped off the banister in her hurry to join Izzy, winicng horribly as Lauren let out a simply ginormous, purpouseful and obviously fake fart. ‘Yeah, get here, you idiot, we’re ready to splash a bucket of you're dogs urine over you!'
Shooting Callie a No, wrong wording choice! desperate look, Izzy frowned light-heartedly, as both she and Lauren knew Callie would definitely not hesitate to do what she had just threatened. ‘Oh, um, of course,’ she played up reluctantly. ‘We’ll be ready to make you scream now, isn't that right, Calli-'
The bathroom door swung open loudly with an extremely deafening, unpleasant hinge screech, before Lauren gave a very sudden pose. The twp sprang forward to - help - momentarily, as Lauren looked like she was about to stumble for a moment.
'As I was saying.' Glaring at Lauren imperiously, Callie cleared her throat, ‘where’s that wretched dog of yours? We really are bored here. Fetch loads of water, too, Izzy. Make sure you stop Lauren from getting those white pee pad thingies. And I need a bucket…'
‘Git,’ said Lauren, rolling her eyes. 'But well, yeah, I have to admit for once, that -' she took several play breaths, quite deep, staring at Callie hard - ‘you’re right. In this oone matter only,' she added quickly. 'We are desperately bored here. What can we do? We've still got three days together here…'
Izzy shrugged, and looked over to the Brooks' amazing rooftop garden with it's gorgeous layout, complete with a large empty space perfect for any outdoor activites. ‘Something outside,’ she suggested, ‘but what?’
Callie tilted her head. She sat on one of the hallway benches she and Izzy were so jealous of, before sitting straight-backed suddenly and removing her backpack from her shoulders.
‘What?’ asked her two intrigued friends simutaneously. They looked at each other with narrowed eyes before turnig back to Callie.
‘I’ve got lots of things here….maybe…'
‘Let’s see them,' Izzy said.
Lauren began listing, as well as adding comments, the stuff - or rather, junk, or trash - Callie pulled out of her seemingly never-ending bag, making quite some pile on the then-clean marble floor of the Brooks' mansion. ‘Skipping rope, nah, dance ribbons, why do you have them in here? None of us can dance…empty smelly Starbucks coffee cup, no!…Your…your mpthers make up set? Really? A string with three deflated balloons on -’
‘Well, hey!’ interrupted Izzy. ‘That’s it!'
Both Callie and Lauren looked at her, one in confusion and the other with scorn.
Lauren raised her eyebrows. ‘And what can we do with that?’
Izzy grinned. ‘Why, not that. We can play water balloons! Have a moonlight splatter fight.’
Surprise was written all over her rich friend's face, delight on the other. ‘Yeah, that’s so cool!' they said.
‘Well then, let’s get on to it.'

#2 - DAILY 18 JULY 2022 I'M SO EXCITED(based on hansel and gretel)

The woodcutter was now a miserble widower. Hansel comforted his sister every night. Barely any food were given to the grubby children, who so desperately wanted to escape, only they couldn't. They didn't like their father - Gretel insisted they find something to do; something that would take them all round the world like they wanted to - but still kept them in the same place.
Hansel gave her a hopeless half-smile but suggested, ‘Why not we take a walk? Clear our heads…’ he said, glancing at his father, who was smoking a pipe and scowling at the wall. Lowering his voice he added, ‘Come on, Gretel, we might find something to do,’ for their father seemed like he was going to say ‘No’ to anything.
Gretel shrugged happily. ‘Yeah, sure!’
As they walked through a bright alley, the siblings noticed a positive stream of ads and posters, stuck along one of the larger shop's walls. Several flipped off the glass but were immideately replaced by more; loads of people were eagerly waiting to advertise their brands. They found a defeated someone off from the crowd, holding a poster hopelessly.
‘Hi,’ said Hansel kindly. She jumped in surprise.
‘Oh, uh, yeah,’ she said hurriedly. ‘Um, er, hi.’
Gretel went over as well. ‘Need any help there?’ she offered shrewdly. ‘Are you trying to stick that up?’
The nervous girl quickly held the poster tight. ‘No,’ she obviously lied. ‘T-thank you.’
‘Hey,’ Gretel laughed, but not unkindly. ‘Why so nervous? What’s your name?' For she had sort of a liking to her, though annoyance at her stutters blocked friendship slightly.
‘Jadette,’ she confessed, her shoulders slumping.
Confused, the siblings looked at each other in puzzlement, but they knew her name, and it would be awkward if they left her suddenly. ‘That’s pretty,' Hansel said, slightly taken aback.
‘So you do want to hang up an ad, don’t you?' Gretel pushed nosily, earning herself a hard glare from the soft-hearted Hansel. ‘What’s so disappointing about that? Or secretive?'
‘It’s just me today, I got a bit upset at my brother,' Jadette sighed, and Gretel repeated Really? in her head at that. ‘And the fact that what I’m about to put up might not be that good…'
Intrigued, Hansel said, ‘You made whatever it is?’
‘Oh, no. The great founder’s Candy. It's…' she said. Finally she showed them it, and both immediately gasped. This was exactly what they were looking for! ‘…a writing camp. Just afraid it might not be perfect…’
‘You designed this?’ they both asked.
Jadette nodded. ‘So…yeah, I told you it’s bad,' she said.
‘No, not at all!’ exclaimed Gretel. ‘In fact, we want to join, don’t we, Hansel? How, what number or what?'
Hansel heaved out a huge sigh. ‘I never said I wanted to,’ he muttered. ‘And how to join is literally right there. In large writing.’ He paused and added to Jadette, ‘Forgive me, she’s always like that.'
Gretel scowled. ‘Fine. But we can join, right?’
Jadette eventually relaxed around the two siblings and told them all about Scratch Writing Camp - SWC for short. The two signed up and said good-bye cheerfully. ‘Well, now we have something!’ Hansel said to a nearly-exploding Gretel. ‘We had always been quite good writers.’
The way home was long, but they didn't mind. Beaming, they reached the house's view. ‘Now not a word to him,’ Gretel warned.
‘As if.’
Slowly they creaked open the front door - only to find an old, ugly stranger staring down at them.
‘Aaah!’ Gretel yelped, backing away. ‘You old - witch! What did you do to our father?’ she said fiercely. Hansel, on the other hand, stared right back at the woman with wide eyes, frozen on the spot.
‘Oh, I didn’t take him,' the witch cackled. ‘He took me!’ And she stepped aside to reveal their smirking father, who at once came over and put his hand around the woman's.
‘Children,’ he said nastily, with an equally terrible grin, ‘I would like to introduce you to your new stepmother.’

‘What are we going to do about her - the evil monstrosity?’ Gretel moaned, about sixty-nine beatings and forty-five scoldings later. ‘They aren’t even properly married yet! Dad’s changed, too! She really must be a witch - he was sad, but not downright horrible! It’s all her!’
‘What did you just say?’ whispered the familiar, unwelcome voice.
‘I,’ shot Gretel, ‘was just asking Hansel a simple little question here. We were pondering over how to get rid of you, you see.’
The witch narrowed her eyes and left their bedroom, only to startle them with a shriek from there. ‘SEND THEM AWAY AT ONCE!’
‘That I will, darling,’ came their father's hard voice. ‘That I will.’ Then he raised his voice. ‘Children!’ he yelled. ‘Go pack your bags! You’re going in the woods and you're not coming back until this famine's over!' he then muttered, ‘Ungrateful…We should have them killed.’
‘What?’ hissed Gretel to a pale, quiet Hansel. ‘They’re going to just leave us? A famine? Or was it me? I’m so, so, sorry, Hansel! I couldn’t help it, she deserved it!’
‘Quick,’ whispered Hansel, who, quiet as he was, was smart. ‘Gather pebbles from outside, pretend we didn’t hear them. Never mind her.'
Gretel understood at once, and she smiled thankfully. ‘You’re the best,’ she whispered.
And so the next day, they went off with pursed lips. Victoriously, though, they went back with the pebbel trail as soon as the moon shone, much to their parents' rage.
‘Go the other way!’ their father shouted furiously. ‘And don’t ever come back!'
Hansel looked at Gretel in panic.
The father began to shoo them in, chasing them. ‘You get out!’ he yelled, trying to catch up with them. He, cleverly, had brought a map with him. ‘Go! Go! Go!’
‘Just run, Hansel, come on! He’s under a spell, I’m sure of it, it’s not like him to do that, and you know it!’’
After their father had gone back, muttering, Gretel took a slice of bread from her bag. ‘We should eat, at least,’ she sighed.
Hansel smiled suddenly. ‘You don’t need to.’
Gretel looked up, confused. But then her brain clicked as Hansel cried, ‘I left a breadcrumb trail!'
They both followed it excitedly, but after a few feet it was gone.
‘Birds,’ muttered Gretel. ‘Ugh. Now what?’
‘Now…’ said Hansel, ‘Now we follow that chocolate smell.’
‘Chocolate smell? Hansel, I think -‘ began Gretel, but then caught a whiff of candy as well. ‘We’re both going delusional,’ she changed instead.
‘Of course not,’ said Hansel confidently. Let’s go!’

‘I swear,’ Hansel whispered as he looked at Gretel’s large, desperate eyes, ‘being locked up by a real witch owning an edible home as bait and being fried in an oven wasn’t part of my plan.’
Gretel shook her head. ‘I’ll think of something. Don’t worry.’
Suddenly the baker witch’s footsteps were heard tapping fast on the floor of the candy house.
‘Is he hot enough to eat yet?’ the blind woman asked loudly.
‘Nearly,’ said Gretel quickly, glancing at the oven, which was barely warm. Hansel let a little Ding! escape his mouth; he was excellent imitating things. ‘Yes now, Master. I will bring him to the dining room.’
‘Proceed.’
Gretel picked a warm Hansel up gingerly and carried him to the front door. ‘Go. Save yourself and get help. Go to Aunt Sue; she’s always nice. I’ll meet you there. She said she’d always wanted us, right?’
‘No,’ Hansel said, starting.
‘If you miss your first chance to escape I’ll kill you!’ said his sister ferociously; Hansel got down, scared, and scampered away. He, though, stopped and hid in a bush as soon as Gretel’s back was turned.
Gretel went back to the witch, who was smiling suspiciously strangely.
‘Come in, dear,’ she said in a painfully fake nice-granny voice. A sinister look dawned on her face. ‘Now, honey, if you would look and check in the oven for any…um, mice, that would be quite wonderful, my dear?’
The quick-witted Gretel grasped the witch’s plan immediately. She played the dumb next, heart racing. ‘What? I don’t understand.’
The witch’s face scrunched back up to its normal mean expression. ‘Oh, no worry, dear,’ she scowled, glaring at her through her blind eyes, and begrudgingly bending in the oven.
Quick as a flash, Gretel pushed her in and slammed the door, and set the heat up to max. ‘Rest in peace, witch,’ she muttered. ‘Not!’
‘Gretel! Are you all right?’
Hansel burst through the door, looking out of breath.
‘Hansel! What -‘
‘Look,’ he said quietly. ‘I knew you were going to put me out, so I tied a string to the oven. I hid in the bushes with the other end of the string in case she…’ he looked around. ‘Actually, where is she?’
A moan submerged from the oven. ‘You’ll pay for this…But my sister would die too, your stepmother…And so will the curse…’
‘Oh. I took care of that.’

—————– aracade games

#1 - mystery wheel

words:
1. staff ✓
2. designer ✓
3. theorist ✓
4. desire ✓
5. miracle
6. pleasant ✓
7. left ✓
8. admit ✓
9. clinic ✓
10. self ✓

(wow, these are really lucky compared to my past ones… finally! but that makes this story is really cheery…and way too rushed. the info might be wrong…I just googled it but well, here it is)

I grinned as I walked past the clinic to my building. My new, desired job as a theorist definitely suited me far better than my old one, a designer, though that was pretty good; the other staff were pleasant and it was some place we worked at. It was by some miracle I was admitted, and left my old job.
Bouncing on his wooden stool, my five-year-old nephew asked eagerly, ‘So what did you do today?’ after I'd gotten in.
‘You’re not going to understand it,' I told him, as always, ‘but I finished supervising a PhD student in IRB document preparation.’
I was a postdoctoral associate now, and I'm still proud of myself at getting it three years later. My nephew had been really in it but never understood, up to now. Well, he has school.
He raised an eyebrow. ‘And?’
‘And what?’ I laughed, before joking, ‘I don’t want to explain it all to you…'
‘Never mind,’ he said, standing up, giving me his signature innocent, yet cheeky look. ‘Do you want a snack? We’ve got-'
‘Hey, I’m the one owning the house!' I interrrupted, cocking my head. 'How was your day?'
He looked away. ‘Pretty boring,’ he sighed slumping down again, apparently forgetting that it was a hard, high seat because he fell, wincing and rubbing his bottom. ‘Too much Mandarin. Took up half a day…’ he groaned.

—————– other

#1 - random scene idea thing i thought of in the shower XD

note: u can find it here, on my watpad page(used watpad without the double t cuz it's inappropriate for scratch). and warning: this thing is 3894 words(:000), so prepare…

'Tate!' called a rough voice, interrupting Eunice's silence. ‘You’re wanted!'
She started slightly as the hotel room door was creaked open by a filthy, muddy man in orange.
‘Do you mind ringing the doorbell?’ she said in clear annoyance, without so much of a greeting, putting down her Apple Pencil. ‘And why aren’t you outside? That's just got cleaned, stop going around dirtying every-'
‘I’m a builder, Miss Angrytoes,' the person said mock-knowingly. ‘It’s my job. I can't help it.'
‘Construction worker, Soot,’ growled Eunice. Previously she had been in a little mood - but it looked like it was starting to come back now. ‘They have very much different meanings. And if so, why aren’t you doing it?'
‘Ooho, last-name terms now, are we, Tate?’ grinned Soot, plucking an orange from a bowl on her desk lightly.
Pressing matters with the man would not help, and she knew that.
‘Please,’ Eunice said, eyes returning firmly to her iPad, where a drawing app, Procreate, was open. She had been sketching a vague new piece before he had come in. ‘Let me live in peace.’
Soot cocked his head and went further in, closing the door, leaving mud on the handle.
‘You’re cleaning that. I will not be responsible this time. Do get out.'
‘Stop being so fussy,’ the other groaned, looking out at the window to the hotel's neighbour, a five-floored, narrow office structure that was still being built.
He was supposed to be out there amongst the other workers, working on the third floor's walls, but then, he always made excuses, even though he'd gotten the job he'd wanted in the first place. Eunice had never understood how his mind worked.
‘David?’ came her sister's soft voice from beyond the sliding double doors, opening now, that separated the bedroom from the main living area and foyer. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘If it isn’t my dear cousin,' drawled Soot. David. ‘Evangeline!’
Her sister was very tall for her age, taller than David, who was two years older, whereas Eunice was rather small. Other than that and the five-year difference, they were exact replicas, with their ombre five-stranded waterfall braids and inverted-triangular faces.
‘Quiet your voice,’ Evangeline reminded cooly, calmly. ‘Evelyn’s still sleeping.'
‘Suppose,’ yawned David, slumping down on the then-shiny clean couch. ‘Don’t want to disturb her beauty sleep, do we?'
Eunice looked over at the sliding French doors in slight surprise. No one could possibly sleep that long - but her six-year-old sibling had managed it. She was always sleeping, anyhow, and could almost doze off deeply on her will, which both she and Evangeline very much envied.
‘Why aren’t you at work?' her sister said, turning her back to them and shutting the doors. ‘I seem to remember that you had your break at nine.’
‘I work from seven to three, and I’m twenty-one!' complained the man. ‘Needs for non-thirty-including-lunch-minute-long breaks are requested.’
‘By only you,’ interjected Eunice, turning in her chair to him behind her, though she knew he would ignore the remark.
‘So why are you inside?’ said Evangeline with somehow clipped politeness. ‘It’s one forty-five; you're over in just an hour or so.'
‘It’s sweltering hot and about to rain, I checked the forecast. And I'm spent.'
‘About to rain…in three hours. And very lightly,’ Eunice said, dropping the Pencil, which she had just picked up to continue, again. ‘That’s no excuse even so. But didn't you say I was wanted?'
‘Uh-huh…’ said David, looking at the large floor-to-ceiling window again; their level at the hotel was quite high up, so they had a marvellous view.
It could be tiring running down the emergency stairs in case, though; she had to rush down from the forty-seventh floor, her father's work building, because of a light earthquake once. Her leg muscles had been all sore the next day.
‘By who?’ Evangeline's tone had a small but very noticeable sharp edge to it.
‘Well, me, of course.’ David raised an eyebrow as if explaining the obvious, before reaching out to sneak another orange in his mouth recklessly. Eunice slapped his muddy hand away.
‘What for?’ the woman pressed. Well, understandably.
‘You know,’ shrugged Soot carelessly. ‘Actually, I did just need a teeny-tiny break with air conditioning.’
‘It’s been ten minutes already,' said the older girl icily. ‘And when you come back, clean this mess up.’
Even David could be scared of her sometimes when she wanted to. ‘Yes, Vangie,’ he said, meekly but cheekily too, skipping away quickly and slamming the door.
Evangeline flinched, both at her hated nickname and the door slam.
‘Do you mind cleaning it a bit with me?’ immediately said Evangeline in her normal, quiet voice. ‘He’ll leave it worse if it isn't a bit better.'
Eunice nodded.
‘Right. Let me shut this down for a moment first…’ she said, plugging the iPad charger on and turning it off, and storing the Pencil in a case she had for it.
Once done, Evangeline returned to the bedroom with Evelyn, who was still sleeping soundly, and resumed reading her new novel.
She returned to her sketch, a colourful psychedelic illustration of a man with a very long white beard, blue eyes, spectacles, and a crooked nose; Albus Dumbledore, the wizard headmaster from the Harry Potter books. Evangeline loved the series and Eunice found herself absorbed in it too, which was saying something because she didn't read much.
She tilted her head. A psychedelic wouldn't really agree with the character, a wise, grand old mentor. Changing it to a caricature would make a lot more sense, so she did.
Time was spent filling in missing things, starting the line art, and filling the main, rather bland colour, in. Highlights and shading, both easy and transforming, would have to wait, as it still looked awful.
Stretching, she stood up, glancing at the clock in surprise. It was nearly three - she had been drawing for almost an hour. And what was more, David would be barging in any moment now.
‘Good morning, Eunice,’ called Evelyn in a deceptively twee voice, from the couch - the decidedly cleaner side, the one Soot had not occupied. Eunice jumped, having not seen the small figure crouching in.
‘Awake now?’
‘Have been. Since two-fifteen!’ said Evelyn in indignant pride. She looked back down to Evangeline's iPhone, on which she had been playing Minecraft, her favourite game, on. With the sound off. Cheeky.
‘You’re still in that - resourceful - village?' she said incredulously, walking over and peering down at the device to see the familiar landscape, shaking her head. ‘And in Creative Mode…you have invincibility, fly access and all the blocks you’d ever want!'
‘Then why don’t you play that mode then?' demanded Evelyn. ‘And we don’t have suspicious stew, barriers, dragon eggs and spawners. And I've been getting their trade levels up to the max!'
Eunice sat on the - clean - arm of the couch, muttering, ‘Yeah, and with an endless supply of emeralds to trade with, that’s such a big achievement…'
‘Fine,’ huffed the other. ‘I’ll make a survival world, and I'll trade up to max there!'
‘I saw you try once,’ she grinned. ‘You barely got three emeralds after a whole real-life week.’
She knew a fair bit about Minecraft, for Evelyn, having discovered the app a month ago, had kept on rattling about it. Eunice had gotten sick of not knowing anything on the subject, so she had read every word Wikipedia had to offer about it.
They were interrupted by a grinning David punching the door open, making it swing almost off its hinges.
‘Day-vid!’ shrieked Evelyn, running like a mini whirlwind over to him, who was even dirtier than before, and flinging herself in his arms, before swinging her feet off the ground completely and up to the air like a handstand, though still in his arms, and flopping her legs down on his shoulders, her favourite little trick.
Eunice had no idea why she was still stubbornly attached to him, to this day. That was why, for their winter holidays, he begged Evangeline to have their vacation in Australia, where David lived and it was warm, leaving their dog Occhi in a shelter, instead of alone in their small flat.
He was normally the one to visit them, not the other way around, for both their parents were deceased - they lost their father when he was overseas, and their mother died giving birth to Evelyn. One of their aunts took care of them until Evangeline graduated from university a year ago.
She had gotten a scholarship, as Eunice and Evelyn had for their current school; the Tates had been all ‘exceedingly clever’, ‘wondrously intelligent’ and ‘impressively outstanding’, according to their reports, but Evangeline had leaned more to reading and writing, Eunice to arts, and Evelyn to maths and technology.
‘Evee,’ replied Soot, his voice a little muffled; his mouth was against her middle. ‘You woke up, then?’
‘Everyone keeps saying that,’ Evelyn moaned, sliding down his body with her arms outstretched for when they hit the birch floor, ‘just because I -’
‘Fell asleep for about five hours,’ she acknowledged. ‘Yes.’
Evelyn kicked her feet back down, unsticking herself from the other.
‘Now remember,’ Eunice said warningly. ‘Clean the muck off and -’
‘Chill,’ said David, waggling his eyebrows, making Evelyn giggle. ‘I shall just call someone to do it.’
Eunice sighed loudly. One more of his disadvantages was that he was extremely good-looking; caramel hair, hazel eyes that matched that perfectly, and a strong build. Easily David could go and convince one of the maids, who would normally be disgusted with anything that bad, to do it.
‘Don’t be lazy for once,' she begged. ‘Just try. You had cleaning lessons in kindergarten, don’t you?'
His gaze settled on Eunice, joking, but obviously still not meaning to do it, ‘Dear girl, this is not a video game. Cleaning includes excessive sweat, getting dirty, and the feel of slaving away like I’m an Israelite in Egypt.'
‘I’m quite sure they did far worse, so be the knight in shining armour for the poor maids and don't let them do it.'
‘It’s their purpose,' he replied. ‘They signed up for the job.’
‘And speaking of that,’ Eunice tried to shoot pointedly, ‘you did as well. You signed up for your dream job, yet you try to run away from it.’
‘Don’t change the subject. I fantasized about being one in my childhood. I still do it because, well-'
‘Yeah, because? You still like it!’ she half-snapped. ‘The only reason.’
Then Evangeline entered once more, glimpsing around. When she saw the area was still muddy, she sent David a glare and started rounding on him.
‘No! Don’t!' Evelyn laughed helplessly, half on his side and half on Evangeline's. She was squealing as if an invisible someone was tickling her. ‘Don’t - stop-'
‘…and go get rid of it now!’ finished Evangeline ferociously, striding out the door and slamming it.
‘Well, we don’t want the ice queen freezing all of us up then, do we?' said David to no one in particular. Well, Evelyn, perhaps, as he was picking her up now. ‘This’ll be sparkly clean and shiny when she gets back.'
‘Do the magic!’ tittered the six-year-old.
And five minutes later it was as he said. The hotel maid left giggling, not seeming to mind cleaning the muddy mess at all.
‘Since when did flirting with guests be professional for hotel maids?’ Eunice said, raising an eyebrow at the departing form.
‘I want ice cream,’ pouted Evelyn as she left. ‘I’m hungry.'
‘That nice big croffle I got you for breakfast wasn’t enough?' Soot shook his head. ‘All right then. Later. I need to shower first.’
‘But-’
‘Promise!’ he called from the bathroom.
Evelyn turned to Eunice. ‘So what were you saying?’
‘You need to hone your minecraft Survival skills,’ she said, smirking lightly.
‘Never mind,’ she muttered, continuing playing the game again as Evangeline opened the door, looking at it in relief. Eunice could tell, though, that she knew David had not cleaned it himself.
‘I forgot my phone,’ she called, reaching a hand out for it. ‘Come on now. Enough. You can play later.’
‘But I was-’
‘Where were you going?’ asked Eunice.
‘I was planning to go get gelato, for a fact,’ said Evangeline, glancing around for David, before hearing the shower water run. ‘And for you guys too. It’s a bit hot today.'
By the looks of it, Evelyn couldn't contain her delight, so Eunice spilt it. ‘Don’t. David had said he would do the same earlier.'
‘Right then, let him do it,’ she said, slipping into the room with a slight smile. ‘Sorry, but the shop’s scoops're huge! You can't have two cones.'
‘You mean cups,’ said the other, huffing disappointedly. ‘I have cups. Nasty cones. Just like waffles.’
‘Technically, they are,’ said Eunice, turning back in her chair and deciding to stop drawing for the moment. ‘Which makes you weird for liking croffles, which are basically that, but whatever.’
‘The croissant part makes up for it!’ Evelyn argued. ‘There weren’t any at the breakfast place, so I got a croffle! That's how it's got its name, croffle!'
They played cards while waiting for David to finish his surpassingly long shower. When he finally got out, steam smoked out the door and in the room, making them all yell and cover their faces.
Well, that was typical life with him.
‘Let’s go, Evee!' he said brightly.
Eunice made to follow Evelyn and get up, but David pretended to be shocked. ‘I didn’t invite you!' he laughed, as Evangeline stood too. ‘Nor you.’
‘Oh, come on, Mr Soot,’ Evangeline played on, wrenching the door open. ‘Let us join.’
‘Certainly not!’
‘You mean pig,’ said Eunice, trying to keep a straight face.
‘Pig!’ trilled Evelyn, from her perch on David's shoulder, snorting in laughter, ‘pig!’
David shook his head as they set off for the lift, grinning widely. ‘I should never trust you again. Traitor!’ then he turned his head back seriously. ‘Wait, I forgot -’
‘I’ll pay for now,' said Evangeline. ‘And I will make sure you return it. Unlike last time.’
‘But I never did. And last time is two years ago.’
‘Oh, that air of surprise is totally worth Hollywood,’ said Eunice sarcastically, punching the ‘L’(Lobby) button on the lift's side. ‘Isn’t it, Evelyn?'
The other looked torn. Both agreeing and disagreeing would be on Eunice's side.
‘Come on, think of a good comeback,’ she teased.
‘Evee’s taking so long the lift's open already,' said David, following them out. ‘See, she’s on my side!'
‘Was that your intention all along?’ said Evangeline, raising her eyebrows. ‘You have been exceptionally quiet during dear old Evee’s silence.'
‘Might be,’ he replied vaguely, stroking an imaginary beard.
Evelyn laughed nervously. ‘So…I’m all clear now?'
‘Case cleared,’ Eunice sighed, as they went out the lobby onto the sun, before stopping and looking at David in confusion. ‘Where is it? They moved?’
‘Well, it’s been two years, what do you think?'
‘Where has the place moved?’ demanded Evangeline coolly. ‘You should know.’
‘Just beyond the construction thing.’
And three voices automatically corrected him. With different answers.
‘The office in construction.’
‘Your - ’job project' that you yourself have not been working on.'
‘The build.’
He simply just looked amused. ‘Seriously, you all do know your alphabet now, don’t you?'
‘Be serious,’ said Evangeline sternly, while Evelyn giggled again.
Eunice peered out, and sure enough, the dessert shop was there, with all its best mouth-watering-looking delicious creamy goodnesses displayed in its windows, most of which were below colourful canopies.
‘I get wordy in my head just seeing those,’ Eunice muttered.
Evangeline grinned. ‘Yeah, me too.’ She turned to David. ‘Well, at least you told the truth for once.’
He sighed like he was about to put up to a very long, long argument, which was true.

Being greeted by the sight of queues at every one of the sweets' lines was evidently not part of Evelyn's plan; after strutting in, slamming the door open(David following suit) and looking around, she scowled and gave a low, warning growl, her other version of a pout.
David made sure that the door shut just before she and Evangeline came in. They ducked under the rather large, silver bell, which, despite its size, just let out a tinkling noise as they opened the door.
The ice cream - well, gelato - line was by far the longest. More customers had gone after David and Evelyn, and they had just come in a few seconds ago. She wanted some of that but followed Evangeline to one of the shortest lines, the cake one.
She didn't particularly like cake, only ones that were chocolate, had no frosting or preservatives, warm, and made by Evangeline(who was good at baking though not cooking) and Evangeline did too, but when she saw what her sister was looking at, she stayed.
‘That’s where you're going at! The chocolate lava?'
‘Yeah. And it comes with ice cream of choice. Much better deal than theirs,’ Evangeline replied, smirking at the gelato line. Eunice watched as her eyes glanced around, stopping at the woman in the line next to them, the milkshakes.
Mostly slim and athletic-looking, what stood out most from her was her wild tangle of bright orange, curly hair, which torrented around her like a cloud of wasps. Eventually, she felt someone looking at her and, in turn, she turned her head and stared at them, her face breaking into a cheery smile.
She struck Eunice as the kind of person who was always very optimistic, at any time.
'Oh, hi!' she said. Her voice was very loud. 'Have we met? You look familiar! Why, I do think we have met! What's your name?' she inquired of Evangeline, who looked mildly bewildered. Her eyes, though, showed slight familiarity.
‘Evangeline Tate,’ she said politely, her voice sounding extra quiet in contrast to the other. ‘Yes, you do look familiar. Yours?’
'Oh, mine! Curly kale!' She burst out laughing at her sort-of joke, her eyes, a beautiful shade of blue, gleaming. 'Get it? Because of my hair?' She snorted and giggled, ‘You know, that is actually my nickname. Curly! Kale is my surname! Oh, you’re ever so polite, goodness!'
‘She uses far too many exclamation points and italics,’ Eunice muttered under her breath, so only Evangeline could hear, but she sort of was warming up to the way over-friendly Curly. ‘And Oh’s.'
‘Your name is…Carly, isn’t it?' said Evangeline, much to Eunice's surprise.
'Oh, yes!' said the woman, almost yelling. 'I suppose you do know me! Hey! I think I remember! Did you go to Upperlock Hill Kindergarten?'
‘For a fact, you were in my class,’ said Evangeline, stepping forward as the line shifted. ‘I remember too. Everyone called you Curly back then.’
‘Oh, they still do!’ exclaimed Curly. 'They still do, Evee! What are you doing in Melbourne, by the way?'
‘They call me Line now, Curls,’ answered Evangeline. ‘Evee is for my little sister. Evelyn. We’re visiting my cousin here.'
‘Oh, hello!’ Curls cheered. Like she just noticed her. ‘How old are you, little Evee?’
‘I’m not Evelyn,' said Eunice offhandedly, restraining herself from saying ‘Oh’ before the remark. ‘It’s Eunice, fourteen. Hi.'
'Oh, hello! But then which one is Evelyn?'
‘There,’ said Evangeline, looking over at David and Evelyn, who were now enjoying a dramatic thumb fight, or as they liked to call it, chicken fight. Both were very good at it. ‘With my cousin. David. We can meet them outside at the tables.’
‘Oh, okay, okay!’ she exclaimed. ‘Who else are you with?’
‘Just us,’ said Evangeline, smiling gently. ‘For the winter. Evelyn begged us to, didn’t she?'
Eunice nodded.
Curly looked concerned. ‘You didn’t bring your parents? They must be quite old by now.'
An awkward silence filled the air, suddenly thick. Evangeline's eyes darted down quickly, then out a fake-ice-cream-filled window. ‘They’re - gone. Both,' she said without looking at her friend.
‘Oh…I’m…Oh -' Curly froze, then said quietly, ‘so sorry.’
‘Yeah; all right,’ said Evangeline, and didn't say another word. Eunice also looked off uncomfortably. The rest of the wait for their respective desserts went on in silence.
‘Is she always that - boisterous?’ Eunice hissed while she had the chance.
‘No,’ Evangeline whispered, as Curly went first in her line, out of hearing. ‘She just does it to new people so she knows who’ll really accept her ways. Don't worry.'
She sighed in relief. If they would have to put up with her for their time at Carlton, Victoria, they should at least speak normally, not overenthusiastically, for the time being.
Later, as promised, they, Curly, David and Evelyn shared a table together. ‘David, my kinder friend, Carly Kale.’
David eyed the woman, who was wearing an extremely tight-fitting leather jacket, which was the same colour as her eyes, with interest. ‘Good creams,’ he said, nodding at a sign on a window, which said that as a greeting to the customers. ‘Watcha doing in Melbourne?’
‘Oh, I moved here,’ Curls said in a - normal - laidback, tone. Her trademark ‘Oh’ was still there, though. Eunice had a feeling she was just as interested. ‘Some time ago, for uni, but I stayed.’
‘How very curious. I did too. I don’t suppose you live here?' said David.
‘Oh. Nah. My house is in Sydney,’ said Curly, with a grin. ‘Trips to elsewhere than Australia are rather long. So, yeah.’
Eunice sat straight-backed. ‘Don’t listen to a word he says,' she narrowed her eyes. ‘He’s lived here all his life.'

Eight people were definitely enough to fit one, small car, officially decided.
Eunice, squished between two very talkative old ladies she barely knew, squirmed uncomfortably.
By the car door, too, Evangeline didn't look exactly pleased with her surroundings, while Curly, on the other end of the backseat, looking perfectly content, was chatting with David, who was handling Evelyn on his lap, in their seat up front by the driver, who looked extremely nauseous and slightly terrified.
She kept trying to catch the bald man's eye, wanting to give him what she hoped, at least, was, a reassuring nod, but the taxi driver seemed to always miss her in the rearview mirror.
Worst of all, they were stopping dead in the middle of the road due to very large, unusual amounts of traffic, that, Eunice realized with a loud groan(thanks to the driver's ETA on his map app), would make their already long journey more than twice longer.
Some suki place would not, in her opinion, make up for the dreadful journey. It had all started up in their room after the ice-cream episode when Curly's phone alarm had given a loud ring.
The woman had, after stopping the alarm, slapped her palm on her forehead and got up, gathering her things. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I've got to go,' she apologised, at the others' questioning glances. ‘I clean forgot! I planned dinner with my grandmother and her friend. Hey, how if you guys come?’ she suggested.
‘Carly Kale, we just ate, for goodness’ sake!' said Evangeline. ‘And dessert.’
‘Oh, don’t worry,' said Curls, swinging her bag on. ‘Now, who else wants to go? Evangeline, come on! The place is good. Do you want to come or not?’

#2 - a remix of the Thea Sisters special editions by Elisabetta Dami, one of which my sister was reading. trying this POV for the first time, so don't mind if it's super cringe.

'So,' the younger sister asked excitedly. ‘Where are we going today?’
The other smiled. ‘Thea, relax,’ she said.
‘We’re literally in a super-secret govermental magic reasearch HQ, and that's deep underneath Antartica, about to go on a mission, and you're a top agent, Violet Mystery!'
‘Okay, okay,’ said the cool, calm Violet glancing over at her sibling's wild orange curls. She took a deep breath and continued somewhat slowly. ‘Now don’t get too shocked about this, but…we're - well, for six hours, we're searching the…'
Thea breathed in sharply.
‘The Everest,’ she continued, ‘for signs of magical exec-’
‘Wait, what?’ Thea shrieked. 'The Everest? We can't climb that in one day! Or reach there that quickly, we're in Antartica! And I can't even climb a little slope! It will take ages to even train to go up, how will we do this? And what are we searching for?' she added.
‘Whoa, chill,’ Violet laughed. ‘No pun intended. Don’t worry, our high-tech will take care of everything.'
‘Explain?’ the ginger demanded.
Violet shook her head. ‘Oh well, let’s see. Our supercopter will take us to the Himalayas very quickly, much faster than any copter would take 12,666 kilometers. It will take us high as it can go up the Everest too, and don't worry, it'll be completely safe. You don't need to climb much; we have very good equipment. And we're searching for signs of an old legend - magic, snow, clouds, that sort of thing - a cave, a warm-as-spring, misty cave, supposedly the passageway to a land - of clouds.'
‘Oh!’ said Thea joyfully, and her eyes bulged. ‘When are we going?’
She checked her gold-trimmed watch. ‘In four hours.’
A distraught expression sprung upon Thea's face as she cried, ‘Why do we have to wait that long? Let’s go now!' excitedly.
Flicking her very long, black hair over her shoulder, Violet sighed. ‘My dear Thea, you justa simply have to wait,’ she said patiently. ‘The IIS’s agents are working hard, and on a schedule. We might tour around, if you're bored?'
The IIS stood for the Institute of Incredible Stories. Violet was only permitted to take Thea along because she was an accomplished, skilled, and according to Thea, the most important, an authoritzed agent, a hand-picked succesor of one of the old founders, and a friend of the government, as she used to be a spy.
‘Yes!’
‘Let’s go then,' smiled Violet.
First they entered a room free of anything except a single, odd-looking plant, a pool of water, almost like a river, beyond that, and an agent in a white lab coat. Thea, as an expert biologist, opened her mouth in puzzlement, but Violet shushed her, saying, ‘Shh - don’t - you'll see-' as the white-coated agent went over to the plant and plucked a jellybean-like fruit from it, and, after a moment of hesitation, slowly and nervously ate it.
A smile overtook his face as he swallowed, and he looked elated - elated enough to sing in a very high, chirpy voice that definitely didn't suit his big form. Loads of squeaks and splashed suddenly emerged from the pool.
‘Did he do what I thought he did?’ whispered Thea with incredulous delight.
Violet beamed proudly. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘He can talk penguin now!’
‘If this is the first room,’ Thea murmured in awe, ‘then -’
The other interrupted with a laugh. ‘Don’t stress it. Let's move on.'
Four hours passed easily as the siblings peered at the many experiments, Thea always trying to stifle a gasp of wonder, and Violet smiling like she was the volunteers' mothers. Thea predictably looked torn at the prospect of leaving, but was excited nontheless as the two equiiped their neccesary clothing and tools.
‘All set?’
‘Of course,’ bounced Thea, eyes gleaming. As she did so, Violet grinned to herself, thinking how she suited her nickname, Bounce, for both her excitement and her hair. She breathed out in the cool night air, the landing pad room, which had no ceiling but was hidden by a hologram. ‘This is going to be so cool!’
‘I get it. Now let us board the copter.’ Violet nodded to a red, impossibly silent vehicle that was landing. ‘There it is.’
A couple of agents, looking quite tired, almost literally tumbled of the thing, though they thanked the pilot heartily, sincerely, and snapped to attention at the sight of Violet who they bowed to. To Thea they simply nodded.
Violet rested a hand at Thea's shoulder and swiftly swept her onwards, gliding her up to the barely whirring helicopter gracefully and smiling gently at the worn-looking pilot, who departed to let another take his place.
‘High as I can go up the Everest?’ he checked stiffly.
‘Correct,’ confirmed Violet, nodding serenely.
And they rose.
‘Oh!’ cried Thea, and as she was also an excellent photographer, she cried, ‘Antartica looks so good from above. A photo, quick! Where’s my camera?'
It was to the pilot's relentless annoyance that the backseat was soon full of Thea's camera flashes all the way there.
‘Here we are,’ breathed Violet calmly, as they descended. Then she rattled sharply, ‘come on, then. Agent 927, we’ll see you in a bit. You know what to do when the red light flashes. Food tucked in drawer 2B, first aid in 5A, and extra equipment and handler in drawe 3V, clear?'
The pilot saluted. ‘I know where everything is, Miss,’ he said firmly, not seeming to bother even the Everest's cold. Thea wondered if he had a heater underneath his uniform. ‘Good luck.’
The first, crunchy step on the snow-covered stone was satisfying for both Thea and Violet. Whistling in their ears, the wind was not that preferable, but it wasn't bad enough to be lethal. Ice and flakes shattered against everything, and the snow blew in front of their eyes, just enough to not block their view.
After a quick stop so Thea could take some photos, they trekked off.
‘This is so magical,’ whispered Thea. ‘I love it.’
‘Keep an eye peeled for anything,’ Violet said back amongst the tips and tricks she was telling her sister about dealing with the cold.
‘Yes, yes, I know,’ said Thea in a bored voice. Suddenly, she started and her head pointed sharply at a small, twinkling spot she saw for a mere split second. ‘Wait a minute,’ she said with narrowed eyes, tilting at various angles to catch a glimpse of its sharp reflection, against the steadily rising sun. ‘Violet, look!’
Crystal, it looked like, they both thought, and Thea hurried over. ‘Stop. Go more slowly,’ Violet instructed. ‘We must not risk falling into any cracks or crevices down here. Right at this spot you can stilll take pictures and post them, but beyond is top secret,’ she said firmly. Immediatey loads of pictures were taken. ‘Now let’s go,' she said, steering Thea over. ‘Be very careful. Hold tight to your stuff, you’ve had the lesson.'
Thea gasped when they reached it. ‘It’s a cave!' she burst. ‘It’s made of really crystal, all of it! There's like a warm sort of vibe from the inside! But -'
‘Stop fizzing,’ Violet ordered. ‘Quick, take pictures of this area before we procceed. Very careful now, this might just be a deadly geode.’
Keep calm, Thea told herself, as they stepped cautiously in. But as they stayed longer down the tunnellike path, they relaxed more, the light didn't darken, and it got somehow miraculously warmer, the springlike sensation Violet had described. Soon, the passageway stopped and widened broadly. ‘What’s this?' Violet murmured. What looked like a very grand, precise staircase led up to a stage. Beams of light coming from perfectly circular cracks on the ceiling were lighting it up.
‘Keep going,’ Violet said. ‘This might be magic all right.’
Beyond the stage was even brighter light. They followed it very cautiously and were surprised to find that it led to a sort of balcony outside, jutting out from a side of the mountain. Miraculously, what appeared to be a never-ending lake lay in the middle of the natural-looking balcony. Clouds were somehow very quickly evaporating from it, and they puffed out to the sky, making a sort of path.
‘Do we go up?’ Thea whispered. ‘Can we -’
‘Yes,’ said Violet, unsurprisingly losing her cool at the moment. ‘Yes, yes, let’s go! I recognise this type of magic cloud!'
Moments later, they were walking along breathlessly across the path, on clouds, fizzing with excitement and looking forward to their floating adventure.

#3 - this ‘horror’(well, guess its kind of just spooky) thing i thought of. kinda proud of it, i just keep going - it dosen't make sense and its in an oldish writing style, but i like it. 829 words
The old mansion lay, still and foreboeding, in the dead of the night. It had so an uneasy, tense aura that a few cats slunk out of its grand frame, followed slowly and gratefully by several mice, who, after catching the felines' attention, disheartenly scampered away, both as if afraid of disturbing it.
Different it was, very much so, than the other houses in the ancient, unknown street, that was as a rule always be dark, though it could be the daytime; some of the other less-worn houses occasionally sheltered very violent beggars, dirty in both ways and perfectly capable of living themselves.
Heavily filtered by the grey clouds that always seemed to be there shone the moon, softly, as if desperate to get through the grey forms of water that never burst; but alas it never did, and the moon sadly turned back amongst the clouds, making the moonlight from it, reflected in the silvery cobwebs that were everywhere, fade.
The very few who knew of the disturbed place had most likely only heard of it, and those who really knew had just scraped the surface of the mystery behind the then-surban, respected street that was now a haunted, deserted area, and had never come back from how far they ventured. The tiniest sounds echoed loudly throughout the area, scaring the stranded off. Souls were rumoured to be captured in this mysterious place, by unknown forces.
Only one living thing stayed permenantly there, and it wasn't a plant, nor a creature, and both of which wouldn't survive anyhow. It was a small child, a girl; with large, silvery eyes that caught its color from her dear friend the moon, a small face bitten various times by different bugs, hair dark as her surroundings that flowed all the way down her knees, and nimble legs trained by the spirits that continually chased her.
One could suppose that, technically and logically, she was not really alive; that was not a word that fit her description. She wasn't human, somehow - the only thing that signified her humanity was that she could breathe. She was silvery and magical, seemingly invincible and strangely, when she wanted to, she could just disappear. But the rules of that were complicated.
Clothes she had a long white nightgown from goodness knows where; it was always sparkling clean, and she never took more from the never-ending supply of trash that were dumped in unbearable-smelling bins around the gloom, and as for food, it was a mystery; but she never seemed to need it, nor water. She, like but especially her eyes, had a silvery aura that was almost ghostlike.
If one were to travel near, they would be spooked by the ghosts and her, as she looked like one of them; and her big, looming silver eyes were thought to be fatal to anything in her gaze.
Forlorn, she, over time became one with the haunted souls around the alley. She rarely spoke, nor, cried, did anything humanlike; but yet she breathed, she breathed the hopelesly polluted air; and her movements were like waves from a great ocean, going up gently and coming down with a crash.
With an unability to sit still, she roamed around, nearly floating, past the fascinating houses; though she took absoluely no interest in them as she went, blinking slowly.
Until that one night.
Back we go, to near the mansion, as this tale begins. The girl was floating down one of the staircaises of the larger houses beside the mansion. She came to a landing that forked to a door and a hallway. She chose the first automatically but could not open the door; so she turned to the right and went on, looking unable to go backwards. It was as if she was programmed - or she didn't have a brain.
Slowly, but still without the slightest bit of interest, she went on; with her blank, delicate face staring askew. Her silver eyes, like water in a pool, were the only thing highly animated in the scene, darting back and forth - but with no interest, still.
She reached the end - or what looked like the end. For the first time in her life, her face was puzzled, her eyes stopped moving and they gazed at what she found in curiosity. It was a curious black hole, swirling with bright twinkling lights around and about it, blocking the way. A dark hand reached out to feel the texture of the inky thing; and how odd it felt like, a mix of sticky and solid, and what she was delighted about was that it didn't smell.
Perfume-like, she thought. She rarely ever did think and when she did it was far back when she had encountered the Moonlonged Alley Street for the first time.
Gently she floated her way to it, and the whirling slowed, as if waiting in anticipation for her. Then she took her first real, human breath and she dived.

Daily (AAAA IDK WHAT DAILY THIS IS)
I started with “Wings, hearts, some things are meant to be torn apart. Faith, hope, some things are meant to be gone broke” and ended up with “It means wings, heart, some are torn. Faith, hope, some things mean transgression.” OOO that last line could be useful

I never understood this city.
It's bustling, pouring with rain. I shove through the crowd, pushing and jostling people wherever I can. I hear a few muttered curse words and receive a few shoves of my own before I stumble out into the one part of the street that isn't cluttered and dash down a nearby alleyway that is covered in graffiti. I pull my apple-green hood over my tangled brown curls and sink to the ground, sighing. Of course I didn't want to shove those random people. I'm not a rude person in general, but… this city is strange. To be nice to someone is the equivalent of randomly attacking a person in another town: you go to jail. In the Greenthorn Republic, being rude is considered manners. Throw in a few swears and bam- you've just complimented someone. I hate it. But I have to, otherwise those “police officers” patrolling the street 24/7 would zap me with a buzz baton and throw me in the slammer. I pull out my phone and look at the map. The shops close in 20 minutes. I have to be quick. I storm out of the alley, putting on an angry expression so the GPD (Greenthorn Police Department) don't suspect I've been smiling at anyone. I run through the crowd, knocking people over like skittles. Slamming open the door of the shops, I walk in, an angry look on my face. The shopkeeper, a teen girl with short spiky black hair, three piercings through her ear and a nose ring, looks up at me. “Ugh, another *bleeping* customer. Just get what you need and get OUT,” she says, rolling her eyes. I glance at my phone and grab a bag of bread, a box of cereal and a jug of milk and toss them roughly into a brown hessian bag. I smack a crumpled $10 note onto the counter and leave. “Keep the change,” I snarl.

I… feel horrible. As I do everyday. As everyone does everyday. News that someone jumped off a cliff has become a regular notification that pops up on my phone. Why can't we just be kind? Why does the government have to limit our happiness and act as if faith and hope are against the law. Why?! I run into my apartment, slam the door, drop the groceries and lie on the floor, sobbing into the wood. I can't take this any longer. I have to escape this city and all the horror in it. I grab my backpack, fill it with supplies and dash out the door. And as the world becomes a blur as I sprint and the crowd is shoved aside, I smile. For once in public. A nearby GPD yells out, retrieves her buzz baton and runs after me. But I don't care. I do not care anymore. I need to be able to experience happiness for once in my life.

As I run, I yell to the world, “I'M FREE!”

And I actually mean it.

Suddenly, the back of my hoodie rips open and two torn, jagged white wings unfold from my back. The GPD cries out and stumbles backwards, dropping her weapon. I use the wings to push me along, leaping higher with every step, until I'm walking into the sky.

This is my secret. The one thing that kept me going through every day of suffering.

These wings are torn.

But they help me fly.

word war proof

Emira sighed as she saw the blackboard as she walked into class. Seriously she'd forgotten another math test. Her grade was already a C and if she failed another test it would drop down to a d and her mom would kill her. “I cant fail this test.” she said to her friends groaning. Her friend shrugged. “You should have studies then” “How could I have studied if I didn't even know that the test existed she exclaimed.” “I dunno.” she mumbled. “Great my mom's gonna kill me.” As the bell rang her and her friend sat down and listened to the teacher ramble on about the upcoming test. When the test was finally handed out Emira groaned. She didn't know any of this. She looked over at her friend only to find her looking down at her test. Emira really didn't want to cheat. but she also really couldn't fail this exam.