Daily 1:602 words

Hullo!! I'm Tiger, my pronouns are she/her, and this is my third session of SWC!! My last two sessions were in Myth and in this session I am in Horror! My favourite colour is pink and my favourite animals are tigers ;D. I love writing (duh) and art, as well as learning new things, climbing, and learning Latin! I also really love reading, and some of my favourite books are the Harry Potter series, the Girl Who Speaks Bear, Rooftoppers, the Orphans of the Tide trilogy, and the Tea Dragon trilogy if graphic novels count! But, I've got three favourite authors who are Katherine Rundell, Sophie Anderson, and Robin Stevens.

Robin Stevens is the author of the Murd3r Most Unladylike series and the new The Ministry of Unladylike Activity series as well. She writes mystery books and has written around eleven of them in the last decade, including the sequel to the London Eye Mystery by Sioban Dowd as the Guggenheim Mystery. She is one of the most well-known mystery writers of this decade and is a bestselling author around the world. Her writing voice is very interesting and clear to read, allowing you to follow along to her complex plotlines and baffling mystery stories. Each book she writes is in its own unique as a standalone novel. The background she paints is vivid and stunning and fits in with the plot and characters of the story. For example, in her Murder Most Unladylike series, the two main characters, detectives Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong, always solving their mysteries in new places or familiar places they called home, and each book there is a different theme to it which is always better and more exciting than the last.

My second favourite author is Katherine Rundell. She is the author of lots of standalone novels, such as The Explorer and the Good Thieves. She has an amazing imagination and a sense of thrill and adventure throughout her books, with brilliant backdrops such as the Amazonian Jungle, the rooftops of Paris, and 1910s Russia. She has produced memorable heroines and heroes that always achieve the assumed impossible and stand up for what they believe in. These excellent role models are an example of never giving up and showing bravery in times when others would have found no hope. Her writing style is full of rip-roaring adventure and a larger-than-life thrill that will always keep you on the edge of your seat. I recommend her books!!

My third pick, last but not least, is Sophie Anderson. She has written just four books so far, such as her debut novel The House With Chicken Legs and her newest work The Thief Who Sang Storms. Her writing genre is usually adventure, fantasy, and coming-of-age. Her stories are inspired by Russian folklore and are normally set in magical places such as floating islands, enchanted forests, and large, many-domed castles. Sophie has a wide, diverse range of characters, such as Yaga, spirits, alkonosts and even talking animals! But it is her timeless, poetic writing style that makes her an outstanding, unique author. She writes from the first-person perspective of the main character and widely expresses their dreams, fears, and yearnings through masterful, beautiful structures. The characters go through a magical journey that is very far from surface level. From the very first sentence to that last paragraph, Sophie Anderson's works will certainly make you look up from the book and just whisper “Wow.”

Well, that's all I've got for today!! <3 I hoped you enjoyed my little Ted Talk and until next time, remember: #Horrorftw!! (No typo > /lh)

Kit's Table of Contents

Dailies
Nov 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/638246/?page=5#post-6711989
Nov 3: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/638246/?page=12#post-6716117
Nov 19: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/638246/?page=39#post-6759996

Weeklies
Week 3: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/638246/?page=40#post-6762132

11/1 (1105 words): Welcome everyone, new and familiar faces alike, to SWC! Fun fact: November 1st is both the start date of this session and National Author's Day! Today's task is to introduce yourself in the Main Cabin comments and tell us about your favourite author(s). What are their names, what genres do they write in, and what do you love about their books?

Greetings everyone! My name is Jade, and this is my seventh session of SWC! I use she/her pronouns, and I am addicted to Marvel. I turned thirteen years old in May, and I currently am in the timezone PDT (or is it PST? I can never remember-) since I am your stereotypical dumb American who never learns about other countries in school and wants a British accent, but that is besides the point- I am also a Taurus who is leading Script this session, which makes this my first time leading. I was also a co-leader once before in the March session this year, where I co-led with Blair (@pixel-doodles) and the amazingly talented Robin (@-redredrobin-). Additionally, I am in love with many fandoms, such as Marvel (my current obsession that I mentioned earlier), the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan, the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer, the Harry Potter books and movies by J.K. Rowling (although I am not as obsessed with it as much as I had been before), the Hunger Games books and movies by Suzanne Collins, and several others that I can not remember haha. Rick Riordan writes in the genre mythology, Marissa Meyer writes science fiction, dystopian, and fantasy, J.K. Rowling writes fantasy, and Suzanne Collins writes dystopian. One thing I love about those books is how Marissa Meyer makes realistic characters that are easy to like with an interesting plot (it is related to Brothers Grimm fairy tales), how Rick Riordan makes loveable characters with a story full of action and emotion, how J.K. Rowling thought up a unique plot, and how Suzanne Collins made me fall in love with Dystopian (and Gale HAHA-). Furthermore, I play piano daily and have a lesson on the weekend, and I also play video games in my free time (also known as only after I have finished my homework haha). Some games that I like and play include Fall Guys, Animal Crossing, Super Animal Royale, Sky: Children of the Light, and the Legend of Zelda games. I also like to write (duh) Avengers fanfics with my own characters from some stories I’m writing. Although I like to plan and write stories, I almost always never finish them because I think of a better plot or character and don’t have the motivation to keep my old story running, which eventually becomes this endless cycle of me creating new characters and a plot that is slightly different than my last one. But this year, I’m determined to actually stick with a story, so I will see how that goes. Also, I am very shy, stubborn, ambitious, determined, sarcastic, and have a slight temper in real life. I do not like to talk that much, unless I am with friends or family. I like to joke a lot, although my comebacks are mostly ‘ur mom’ or me just switching the (joking) insult back around haha. Additionally, I can never think of different transition words (as you can see ehe) or adjectives, so I have a habit or repeating or using the same ones a lot in my writing. I also have two sisters. One is my twin, and the other is one year older than me. My older sister (@Cru-mble) is a very moody teenager now that she is fourteen years old and a freshman in high school, and my twin sister (@gh0stwriter) is quite annoying and immature, but we all still get along pretty well… Well, most of the time hehe. I also have a few random facts about me, such as being obsessed with my favorite color (the color green), falling helplessly in love with several fictional characters every time I get introduced to a new fandom, and my love of mango, which actually started before I first participated in SWC, surprisingly. Furthermore, a few of my favorite foods are ramen, miso soup, sushi, and boba (if that counts as food-). I like to stalk the internet, watch YouTube instead of doing my homework, and procrastinate because who does not haha. I just remembered that I forgot to add Hamilton to my list of fandoms, which is ironic considering that Script’s, the cabin I am leading, theme is centered around Hamilton and the Schuyler sisters. But yes, I do like Hamilton and singing the entire soundtrack during road trips, which I have memorized, by the way. On the topic of Hamilton, my sisters and I dressed up as the Schuyler sisters for Halloween, actually! I was Eliza (fittingly), my twin (@gh0stwriter) was Peggy, and my older sister (@Cru-mble) was Angelica. We mostly did it because I am technically older than my twin, so she decided to be Peggy, who is the youngest sister, and my older sister is (obviously) older than me, so she was Angelica, who is the oldest sister, so I was Eliza since I am technically the middle child like Eliza Schuyler herself. Moving on to more stuff about me, my favorite subject in school used to be English, but I do not really like my current English teacher, so I do not have one as of now. I am also an ISTP, which makes sense since I am very introverted (my results said I was ninety percent introverted bahaha-), and I like problem solving. I also like working alone, am independent, and tend to be afraid of things I do not understand, which makes it difficult for me to tell someone about a problem, although I am working to change that. This is pretty random, but I also hate drawing graphs and math in general. I am also afraid of highschool boys (you know the ones), which is bad since I am going into highschool next year, but oh, well- More on my personality, I am a nerd, get straight-A’s, and like to make myself panic when I think I forget something, which in most cases I do. Oof- But I love my parents, my sisters, my friends (on Scratch and in real life) and Marvel hehe, and I hope you enjoyed my attempt at a one thousand word intro! And sorry if it sounds weird because I did not add emojis because I wanted to make this as grammatically correct as possible and separated contractions to get more words haha- and I just remembered that I forgot to mention my love of the country France and how I am learning French on Duolingo, so there. But that’s basically it, so bye, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read all the way through this!

Ayid's SWC writing uwu
hello hello! welcome to my very aEsThEtIc directory, This is mainly just for me to have all my writing available in one spot uwu.

Dailies |･ω･)

daily 1┊ ➶ commented!
daily 2┊ ➶ link
daily 3┊ ➶ link
daily 4┊ ➶ did in notebook!
daily 5┊ ➶ link
daily 6┊ ➶ link
Meekly 1┊ ➶ so um. I lost hope for the daily so here's the Meekly instead! (for MWC) EDIT: I FINISHED THE DAILY IN THE END
daily 7┊ ➶ commented!
daily 8┊ ➶ link
daily 9┊ ➶ cabin wars?
daily 10┊ ➶ notebook
daily 11┊ ➶ notebook
daily 12┊ ➶ notebook
daily 14┊ ➶ got too long and too lazy to share
daily 15┊ ➶ dang I did a lot in my notebook
daily 16┊ ➶ notebook
daily 17┊ ➶ I can't remember if I did this one?
daily 18┊ ➶ critqiue wars
daily 19┊ ➶ link


y'know what- I give up on trying to adding my dailies to this list :'') ig i'm just to lazy
…

Weeklies |ω･)ﾉ

weekly 1┊ ➶ link
weekly 2┊ ➶ link
weekly 3┊ ➶ link
weekly 4┊ ➶ link


to be continued…

Orpheus and Eurydice
A Retelling by Auj
13074 words
I didn't write this on scratch forums, and it's so long that I don't want to italicize a bunch of stuff so ignore the weird formatting.
Please only constructive criticism after me agreeing to it, thank you!

Eurydice pet the cat, her mind spinning with ideas as she tried to focus on her work. Suddenly, its yellow eyes leered up at her, full of mischief, and it nipped her finger. She flinched, pulling her hand away. Her brow furrowed as the cat strode away with a ‘hmph.’
The black cat left, stopping at the feet of another person nearby.
Such flighty creatures, she thought.
The guy crouched down, giving just as much affection as Eurydice had given, and yet the cat did not stray from this person’s side.
She glanced up.
Sandy brown hair peeking through a dark hood, multiple shades lighter than her dark brown. Gray eyes. And…as she peered into those eyes, she saw something.
Something…all too familiar.
Something that was also quickly joined by confusion.



One

“Orpheus, don’t stay out too late today, alright? It’s been a while since our family has hung out together, alright?” his mom called as Orpheus slid his backpack onto his shoulders.
Yes, he still lived with his parents. Got a problem with that?
“Alright, mom, I get it.”
He waved goodbye to her, swinging the door open, then closing it behind him.

Orpheus sat at the concert, his legs bouncing with excitement.
He attended one of these at least once a month, but it never got any less exhilarating. He would've loved to get back up on a stage soon, but not this time.
He felt no need to join an orchestra. He found that timing and general focus were easily messed up when trying to play with others. So, as the orchestra started to play, he just sat back and enjoyed himself.
Which, he would soon find, was something he should’ve taken more advantage of.

Orpheus left the concert hall with one thought in mind.
He really needed some coffee.
Picking through his coupons (he preferred to save money as a broke college student), he found a little slip of paper with cats drawn all over it. Huh, he thought. Come to think of it, cat cafes are always good for focusing, right? Maybe I can get some work done.
He slipped the coupon back into his wallet.
There weren’t many sunny days where Orpheus lived, so the fact that no stormy clouds shaded the light of the sun was certainly a good sign.
In generally good spirits, he headed to the parking lot and walked towards the stand where he had left his bike. Orpheus fiddled with the padlock, but no affirming click sounded. He blinked, confused. What was this one’s password again? He contemplated trying to reset it, but there was no way it would come to that, right?
His memory wasn’t horrible, just…less decent than the average person’s.
Eventually, after more tries than he wanted to admit, the lock fell off the bike with a click. He sighed, picking it up and shoving it into his backpack. Swinging his leg over the bike, he started peddling away until the street, cars zooming past him at three times his speed. He didn’t have a car. “I mean, what kind of college student needs a car anyways?” he would always say, more of a coping mechanism than anything.
Clearly, he was in denial.
Orpheus biked for around fifteen minutes straight, until he eventually arrived at the cafe front. It was a small shop, built inside the basement of another. He parked his bike and skidded down the mini staircase. He caught himself right before he flung the door open.
What are you doing, slamming open doors like that? I thought you didn’t want any more attention, he chided himself. He pulled his hood up, and, a little more cautiously now, he pushed the door open. A loud bell chimed, announcing his arrival.
Orpheus didn’t get bells like those. Were they for the people running the shop’s convenience? If so, why don’t they just stay alert instead? Or was it supposed to make the person walking in feel like they’re special when they weren’t even the first customer?
“Hello!’ the woman at the front desk said, her voice as melodic as the store’s ringing bells.
Orpheus nodded and cast his head down throughout the entire conversation, putting the coupon down on the counter and ordering a Vietnamese coffee, (he was in the mood for something sweet.)
He didn’t need to be this cautious. He had no idea how many people even listened to classical music, let alone his. But with that one time…Well, let’s just say that he had enough worries.
As he walked over to a table, which was made to have no chairs, just cushions (allowing you to sit and have cats in your lap) a black cat walked up to him. Intelligent golden eyes made it look a lot like the cat was judging him.
The cat didn’t seem very impressed.
Ouch, but fair, Orpheus supposed. It circled his feet as he tried to find a place to sit down until eventually he gave in and crouched down to pet it.
He felt eyes on him and turned to find a girl watching him. She cocked her head, slowly, inspecting him with an amount of judgment that was equal to, if not more, the cat’s.
Orpheus glanced away, embarrassed, as well as concerned. Did she recognize him? Her face looked like she was trying to piece something together. He slowly stood up, making sure that his head was facing away from her, and sat down a table or two away.
Ugh, you probably look so suspicious, he chuckled. In truth he wasn’t as famous as he liked to pretend. He had won a few concerts, but there was always someone else that would always be better. In every field of life, really.
Shrugging it off with a sigh, he pulled his computer out of his backpack.
Time to do some research.

Orpheus sat at a table, plates set out before him and his family. Though the food was clearly delicious, his appetite was gone.
“Orpheus, you have to eat something!” his mother chided.
He tried to grumble some excuse, and his mother frowned.
Sensing his reluctance, and the fact that his excuse would not be taken back, his mother gave up, instead helping his little sister with her dinner.
After all, he was in college. He should’ve left the nest by now anyways.
He just…needed a bigger break, somehow. Something to inspire him.
His mother scanned his face, full of caution. “Orpheus, you should quit your music.”
Orpheus’ head snapped up. “What? I thought you encouraged my music!”
“I encouraged it when it made money. But you’re an adult now, there’s more competition, and look at you! To put it honestly, you’re completely barren!”
‘Orpheus, quit your music,’ ‘Orpheus, you should eat something,’ ‘Orpheus, those concerts are a waste of money, why do you need to go to them?’
As if she still controlled his life.
“What, so you can talk to your friends about how ‘successful’ your son is?” Orpheus said bitterly, not meeting her eyes.
His mom cast her gaze down, face shadowed, hands trembling. “You know this isn’t what this is about, Orpheus.”
“You encourage what I like until it isn’t convenient for you anymore, I know very well what it’s about!”
“Papa,” his sister said, her eyes peering up from below the table. She was clearly too small for her seat. “Why are mama and brother fighting?”
Orpheus was hit with guilt immediately. “Not fighting…just trying to figure things out, okay? Promise you won’t worry.”
She nodded, and then after a long pause, said: “In return…just promise you won’t leave us! You’ve been gone so much recently, I was afraid you’d left us for good!” Her face pleaded with him, “when will you have time to play with me again? Or teach me your instrument thingies, whatever they’re called?”
He thought over his next words carefully. “I won’t…always be here, but I’ll try my best with the time I can manage.” He smiled, but it was clearly forced.
His sister, his dear innocent little sister, brightened at his response. She smiled contentedly, quickly returning back to her meal as if nothing happened.
She acts like things like this are so simple, Orpheus laughed to himself.
“For your sister, Orpheus.” his mother begged. “Please.”
He clenched his teeth, and didn’t respond, too numb to form a coherent answer. Really, he would do anything for his sister.
But it wasn’t a question of what he would do further.
It was if it was necessary.
Why should he have to give up himself for them all to be happy?





Two

Eurydice sat at the lecture, twirling her pencil in thought. Her head spun with ideas, and she was barely able to keep up with the things passing through her head, let alone her teacher’s words. Idly doodling in her notebook, she really did try her best to pay attention, but it seemed that she just wasn’t feeling like it. Eurydice hated having to do her general studies courses, but they were necessary along with her dancing major.
She excused herself with great haste, (she was good at pretending like most things were emergencies, she liked getting to overreact) heading outside into the hallway. Walking outside of view of the window pane in the door, Eurydice sank down against the wall, letting out a sigh.
She sat there for a while, her vision blurring as students passed by her.
As if piercing through her haze, a figure popped out to her. Face shaded by a hood, he had the same posture, same way of carrying himself.. For some reason the memory of him was so vivid to her, she recognized him by sight.
“You!” Eurydice blurted, pointing.
The guy turned to face her, pointing at himself. “Me?”
“Yes you! The shady guy from the cat cafe!” She gaped.
“…You, what are you doing here?” He said, confused.
“I go to school here, duh. Why else would I be here?”
“If you go to school here why aren’t you in class…?”
“If you go to school here, why aren’t you in class?” Eurydice repeated. “Why aren’t you in class, you hypocrite?”
He blinked, a little dumbfounded. “I was going to the bathroom…” he muttered, a little shocked by her attitude. Eurydice couldn’t help but feel a little bit proud after that.
“But this is the wing for the dance majors… I’ve never seen you before, so unless you’re a new student you’re probably majoring in something else, right?”
The sus guy nodded, “Music.”
“So you got lost…”
He flushed, embarrassed, and nodded again.
“I see, a fellow lost soul.” She winked, “don’t worry, I gotcha! The bathroom’s down the hall over there.”
“Oh, I already went…I got lost on the way back.”
“Oh, I don't got ya anymore then…”
It fell silent for a while, before Eurydice recalled something. “At the cat cafe you hid your face from me like some sort of celebrity,” she snorted, but she paused after noticing the expression on his face. Shock. “Huh…Unless you are!?”
“I’m not…a celebrity,” The guy said slowly, cautiously even.
“So what is it, music or something?”
He sighed. “Yes, specifically I’m a classical violinist.”
“Oooooo, fancy stuff, I see. I like classical music, well except for that one…” Except for that musician– She didn’t like talking about him.
The violinist’s brow furrowed as she trailed off, and she hastily picked her sentence back up.
“Do you have a concert soon?”
“W-What?” His eyes widened, he was clearly caught off guard.
“You heard me right.”
He ran a hand through his sandy brown hair, looking up in thought. Eventually he seemed to recall. “Huh…Yeah, I suppose I do.”
“Alright, when is it?”
“Sorry?” The violinist asked, confused again. How much about the way she was talking was so hard for him to understand?
“When and where is it? I want to go.” Eurydice said, a little more clearly. Just for his sake.
“I–” he paused. “Next week,” he pulled a pamphlet out of his messenger bag.
“Next week…” Eurydice pulled it out of his hands, looking through it. She saw a lot of musicians she knew and some she– she paused, finding a name on it. Orpheus. So that one would be there? Maybe she would have to cancel.
Both the name and his songs…
“Hey,” she started, glancing up. “I actually don’t think I can….”
He was gone.
He left as suddenly as he had come, and Eurydice frowned.
I didn’t even hear him leave, she thought, perplexed at the
Well, a promise is a promise, she sighed.





Three

Orpheus saw that girl once more after that day at the school. She had greeted him, then left without another word. And he still didn’t even know her name.
He also couldn’t have beared to tell her that no recruiters would be there. No journalists would be there. It was a concert for nobodies, people who the world did not know, did not care for.
A concert for families to bring their toddlers to.
That is how unprofessional this was.
The days after he met her passed by with little to no items of interest, besides the occasional little musical block and vent-playing on the violin.
When the day of his concert eventually came, he was met with both a ridiculous amount of ecstasy and anxiety. I mean, it wasn’t even his concert. It was a bunch of musicians in one concert hall for the entire day. Not just him.
But someone did come for Orpheus.
And that alone overpowered his uneasiness.
Right now all he wore was a bomber jacket and jeans. He would change into his actual formal, concert clothes once it was almost his turn with the stage.
Hoisting his messenger bag onto his shoulder, he left without a word to his mother.
They hadn’t talked since the last time they went out as a family. Neither wanted to mention it. They had made an agreement. They agreed to disagree.
Silently.
Having to have his sister hear things…that would only be hard for both of them.
Getting on his bike, again reminded (like he was everyday) that he really needed a car, he pulled out his map, unsteadily steering with one hand. Despite being in college Orpheus hadn’t even taken up a part time job yet, so alas, since his mom refused to pay for a SIM card unless he bought one himself, he was dataless.
He reached the concert hall just in time. After parking his bike he hurried towards the front desk, where he checked in as a musician, and was quickly hurried through the halls. The lady entered another wing, and he followed suit.
After using the washroom to clean up and change into a suit, Orpheus walked out into the room where they could view the other performers. At the moment, since this was a multi-instrument concert, a pianist was playing aggressively, her heart and soul being slammed down onto the keys.
The thing that was the most interesting to him about music, was how much of the person’s emotions, backstory, and just personal taste could be shown in their music. For some people, their lack of it could also show through. But, that was a rare case.
Music was really such an influence.
Even too much so, at times.
“Orpheus?” someone called.
He hurried from where he was, walking towards the sound of the voice.
“Excuse me, sir, but we don’t have any last name inputted here?”
“Just Orpheus is fine,” he muttered. He didn’t use his last name, as his mom didn’t want him to use the legal one, the name that had been taken from his fater.
“Alright, please prepare yourself, as well as your instrument! You’ll be out in five minutes.”
Orpheus nodded his thanks to the stranger, then went to grab his violin case. He unzipped it with great care, pulling out the violin by its neck. With the violin in hand, he pulled out the delicate, horsehair bow. With one item in each hand, he walked through the stage doors, stepping out onto the wooden platform.
The boards creaked under his dress shoes, the only sound that could be heard in the entire spacious hall. Feeling all the eyes on him was never a feeling he would get used to. Walking out onto the stage like this, he always became uncomfortably aware of things that usually wouldn’t bother him.
The way his clothes brushed against his skin.
The way he was walking; so stiffly.
The way the people in the crowd looked him up and down, judging him from the moment he walked in. How they could be so unaware of the pressure; the suffocating pressure that all performers felt. To deliver, to entertain.
How cold the entire area was, why didn’t they heat it up at all? The bitter cold only made him seem to shrink smaller as he brought his violin with him to center stage.
Orpheus felt his anxiety rise as his breath caught in his throat. His heart beat at an alarming rate, and his hands began to feel clammy.
He held his breath until he reached his position, and eventually let it out in a great sigh. Breathing deeply, in and out, in and out.
Slowly but surely, he rested his chin on the plastic rest, and raised his bow…
And with one swipe; one note, his song began.




Four

Eurydice was late. It wasn’t her fault she had felt an irresistible urge to get coffee!
It had been a sign from God, clearly telling her it was time to indulge a little.
Unfortunately, the only one of her regular shops that was open at this time, on this day, had a crazy long wait! Why did all of the employees decide to slack off right now? Literally any other time would’ve been perfectly beneficial for her!
Eurydice kept thinking “Sorry shady dude! Sorry stranger!” in her head.
How hard it was, to not know someone’s name.
She essentially sprinted the entire way to the concert hall– it had been close to home so she hadn’t thought that she’d needed to bring her car. Unfortunately she just had to have that , so now she was 5 minutes (sprinting straight) from the concert hall.
And considering her previous…physical evaluation, no way was she sprinting for 5 minutes straight. In fact, she could probably only manage 1.
Eurydice occasionally came to an abrupt spot to take a sip of her coffee (she had her priorities straight, you see) but she was pretty proud of the fact that she managed to spri …jog the entire way.
At full speed, panting and dizzy, she tumbled into the lot of the concert hall, grasping a cement pillar for support. She stood there for a while, catching her breath, before bursting through the heavy double doors of the music center.
It was an open concert so there was no reason for her to check in with a ticket…since there was, you know, none. Thankfully there were still many people in the lobby of the concert hall, so she probably wasn’t that late.
Hopefully she would get there in time to see his performance. His, meaning the random guy. Again, so hard to not know someone’s name!
She carefully climbed through the rows of seats at the concert hall, searching for an open seat. Eventually she found one, and she sat on the cushioned chair, watching as the musician played.
She sat there, listening for a bit before she remembered her pamphlet.
Looking through the pamphlet, she scanned the photos, each with the performer’s name written under it, along with a bio on the side. Searching for the face she recognized, Eurydice flipped frantically through her book.
There, she thought. Musician number 6, just after the violinist that was going right now. Now, what was his name…
As her eyes landed on the word, her hands began to tremble.
Eurydice reread the word over and over, searching for confirmation. When what she had sought actually came, she dropped the papers, eyes widening in realization of what she now knew.
I have this student…
Eurydice hastened to pick up the pamphlet as the people around her turned to face her, eyes full judgment.
He’s a pretty brilliant musician…
She glanced up as the current musician left, and stood up in a haze, her pamphlet crumpled up in her hand. No, no, no no, she gripped the seat behind her, seeking balance.
If only he had a different teacher.
That laugh…oh, how she wished she could have buried the memories of it forever.
I’m going to teach him today.
Eurydice sprinted for the doors, rounding the corner, her shoes squeaking against the floor. What a disturbance she was making, but she couldn’t bear to mind, at least this time. She couldn’t even cringe as everyone looked at her in disgust. ‘How dare she interrupt the performance!’ they were probably thinking
Maybe you'll understand later, when he gets famous and everyone hears his song, his story.
A soft string of notes started to play, and she turned to the stage.
I’ll see you after my lesson, okay sweetie?
That song…Her mother’s favorite…How she had pleaded to hear that song, day after day, but…not from his hands. Sandy brown hair, eyes full of something ridiculous, something dangerous. Something that felt too familiar. Too similar to her mother’s own passion, own expression.
No wonder it had scared her so.
The song was as soft and emotional as she had remembered, yet there seemed to be a different feeling to it. A comforting feeling. Not the comfort her mother gave her, but a reassuring peace. And it would’ve been so, she would’ve been at peace.
Had it not ended up feeling more like a punch to the gut.
Eurydice’s heart pounded erratically, fluttering in a rather uncomfortable way, and her chest tightened, making it hard to breathe. All of a sudden, she felt dizzy, unbalanced as she stepped backwards, closer to the exit.
Don’t forget his name, Eurydice.
She almost laughed at the thought, how could she? The melody continued, and everything else seemed to disappear, for a moment she saw her, and her mother. She was sitting on a bench and smiling as her mother played her a song. They were both so happy. And yet…
Eurydice backed away, her back pressed up against the door out to the lobby.
“Orpheus,” she whispered





Five

Orpheus searched everywhere for her, but after the concert was done he couldn’t find her anywhere.
But he had seen her. After the moment he had been pulled into the music, he stopped paying attention to the crowd. But he had seen her. So where had she gone? He glanced around in the lobby, searching for at least one familiar face, but to no avail. His family hadn’t come to this concert, just like how they hadn’t gone to any other.
“Excuse me!” a voice called out from behind him.
Orpheus turned back.
Nope, definitely not her either.
“Hm?” he cocked his head as the little boy, the one who had shouted to him, held up a pamphlet, flipping to the page that had his name and photo on it. He remembered having to take that photo. Sarcasm had dripped from his voice as he had joked about looking like he was about to go to jail. Looking at the photo again, it was certainly reminiscent of a mug shot.
“This is you, right?” The little boy held up a pamphlet, flipped to the page with his name and photo on it.
“…Yes, why do you ask?”
The child brightened in excitement. “Could I have your autograph please?”
Orpheus nodded, surprised. The boy grinned from ear to ear as Orpheus pulled out a black marker, signing the front of the pamphlet.
His mother walked up behind him, nodding in thanks as the child happily waved goodbye, full of abundant enthusiasm.
He felt his heart warmed a bit by the experience, and couldn’t help but wonder if his mother would start to feel the same way about his music. Warmed by it. Happy that he had chosen this path. Orpheus wanted that, but never had something felt so distant, even ridiculous.
Before he could be stopped, Orpheus walked out of the concert hall, seeking the solace of silence. He walked away from the chattering, irritating whispers, shouts, and small talk. At last he was able to think a little clearer.
Orpheus idly turned a corner, his feet carrying him at a quick pace. Turning and swerving, he often bumped into someone, having to apologize to them before he was once again lost in thought.
Times like this, stressful times, were when he needed to have peace and quiet —to be by himself so he could think— the most. If there was someone willing to bear it with him, he would gladly allow them to.
But there was a reason he was walking alone now.
Searching around in his pockets, he brought out a pair of earbuds. Sometimes, when he needed to focus, or needed some space, he found that music was what he would always go to. When wearing headphones in public though, people tend to think of you as antisocial, which could be far from true depending on the person. Everyone needs rest and relaxation.
Orpheus didn’t know how long he was walking for, but eventually he found himself among a circle of people, clapping and laughing along to music bursting from a small speaker. The sounds coming from the speaker were so stark in contrast to the peaceful sounds coming out of his headphones.
Peeking over the circle of people, he tried desperately to look at what everyone was watching, but clearly being average height was not going to cut it here. Muttering many ‘excuse me’s, Orpheus forcibly pushed through the crowd of resisting people, heading towards the center.
In the middle of the crowd was a girl of his age, with dark brown hair and tanned skin. She spun, her skirt flowing out around her, hopping around and laughing. Around her, other people were being coaxed into coming into the circle and were quickly charmed by her dancing. They spun along with her and Orpheus felt a sudden urge to go and join them.
However, something held him back and he ended up just smiling and clapping along with everyone else. He watched the “show” for a while, until the music slowly faded off. The girl and the people around her stopped their spinning, and as she started thanking them for coming, he realized what he probably should’ve before. That voice was so familiar, why hadn’t he caught it?
As she picked up her speaker, the girl from the cat cafe turned to face him. Her eyes widened for a second, but quickly narrowed in something he couldn’t define. Anger? Suspicion? It definitely wasn’t a friendly sight.
Before she could push past him and the slowly dispersing crowd, Orpheus grabbed her by the arm, scanning her eyes. He cocked his head questioningly, brow furrowed in confusion as well as concern.
The girl yanked her arm out of his grip, and crossed her arms. She glanced away, practically fuming. She stood there like that for a while, until the party of music and dancing eventually changed into another everyday street. “…I need to talk to you about something.”
He blinked in confusion as she continued.
“But not here, obviously. There are too many people here.”
Glancing around, Orpheus realized that there were indeed people watching them. Why?
The girl seemed to sense his uncertainty. “You’re probably wondering why there are people staring at us, yes? You’re ‘famous’ now, can’t you tell? Some blogger or journalist or something filmed your performance and posted it online, a lot of people have seen it by now.”
Slightly disturbed from the news, he nodded. “Yeah, somewhere else then.” As they walked down the street, heading to a more secluded, natural part of the city, Orpheus pondered over why he was feeling so nervous from what she had just told him. Him? Famous? He shook his head in disbelief. Who would film his performance out of all of them?
Before he had longed to get his big break, to have someone recognize what he was trying to convey; what he had now apparently succeeded in showing. And yet, it felt so different than how he had expected. It’s not like he had expected for hundreds of people to come running up to him or something. But nothing about him changed, so he didn’t understand why the way people viewed him was able to change so suddenly. He was still the same person, the same old broke college student. So why did people care about him, and his music now?
He started to laugh, softly at first, but it quickly became hysterical. He felt almost insane. Why did the thought of all of this amuse him so much? The dancer glanced at him with judgment in her eyes, clearly perplexed at what had brought him to all of a sudden burst into a fit of laughter.
Orpheus quickly straightened himself, clearing his throat. “Nothing.”
She raised an eyebrow, then gestured at a bench, making him realize that they had arrived at a small park, not even close to the same size as the dining hall at their school. The girl smoothed her skirts under her, then sat on the bench. She sat so primly, which was funny to Orpheus, especially when comparing it to her wildish dance performance earlier.
As he sat down beside her, Orpheus noticed how all of a sudden the mood had drastically changed. Before, it was a bearable silence but now it felt suffocating and rather ominous as they sat for a few minutes before she spoke.
“I’m sure you’re practically dying to know my name at this point.”
“Err, not dying, that’s a little extreme. Just mildly interested.”
She gave him a flat stare, and he shrugged. “You take my jokes too seriously,” she said, exasperated.
Orpheus glanced up, thinking over what she had said before. “That was a joke?”
“Exactly my point,” she let out a sigh. Putting her hands against the flat seat of the bench, she leaned back a little. “Does the name ‘Eurydice’ ring a bell?”
Orpheus thought back, and shook his head. “Should it? I don’t know, how far will I have to think back here? My memory isn’t the best.”
“A long time probably. I think maybe…seven years?”
“Seven years…Hm, if I recall correctly I was twelve then, right?”
Her eyes narrowed in thought for a second, and then she nodded.
“That’s when I first started playing the violin,” he said with a chuckle, thinking back on those days. “I remember really missing my violin teacher. For some reason she stopped coming to teach me.” He smiled numbly. “I remember how sad I was, my mom kept trying to contact my teacher after that, but alas, to no avail.”
As if she would do something like that now.
Thinking back farther, searching within the very blurry back corners of his memory, Orpheus recalled something. “Yes! Right! She had a daughter named Eurydice, did she not?”
The girl’s eyes closed, and she let out a deep breath. “Yes, she did.”
“I don’t…think I ever met the girl, really. But one thing I do remember is that her mom used to talk about her a lot. Apparently the girl was some sort of dancing prodigy or something. My teacher used to tell me that my music was the kind she liked to dance to.” He glanced at the girl sitting beside him now, and something about her expression gave him pause.
She looked…numb. Staring off into the distance, and smiling softly as tears slipped down her cheeks. It was hard to tell whether she was sad, happy, or both.
Orpheus leaned away a little, slightly disturbed seeing a girl cry right in front of him like that. But he quickly recovered from his shock and general incompetence, and… “Wait, are you Eurydice??”…promptly made it worse.
Those words made her head snap up, and her eyes lit up from their previous, almost lifeless state and she turned to face him, eyes narrowed. Glaring.
Orpheus frantically started waving his hands around randomly. Why did he say that?! “I’m sorry, that was insensitive, I didn’t mean–”
Eurydice, he was now sure she was called, starting laughing. At a time like this?
She wiped the tears from her eyes, now just looking like her eyes had been watering from laughter.
Orpheus blinked, confused as to why she was all of a sudden taking this so lightly. She had been crying before for goodness sake. Now had just reaffirmed his belief that he had no idea how girls worked.
“No, it’s nothing, I just find it funny how it took you so long to figure that out.” Eurydice said, laughing a little.
They sat in silence for a bit until Eurydice spoke again, voice barely a whisper. “I remember…the day my mom died as clearly as if it were yesterday.”
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. He wasn’t surprised at a revelation like this. It had been his assumption for years up to this point anyways.
“It was a Tuesday, which was the day my mom would leave to give you violin lessons. She was walking out the door, before I ran up to say goodbye to her, asking her about why she was leaving. She went off, told me a little about you along with your name, and said that she would be back before the sun set, telling me not to worry” Eurydice let out a deep breath, smiling in a way that seemed to show the way telling this story stung, and also how much thinking of her mom brought her joy.
“The sun set, and rose again. I remember my dad opening the door and some strangers I didn’t know barging in. A ‘professional,’ meant to make the loss better for kids, told me that my mom had died in a car crash on the highway. It didn’t feel real until one day I walked into her room, excited, only to realize she wasn’t there. I was only eleven at the time, but I knew I needed something to distract myself. Me and my dad were never close, and now that it was just him and me I plunged deeper into my passion for dancing, trying my best to ignore everything else.” Eurydice explained, glancing up at the bright blue sky that was now dotted with wispy clouds.
How could she smile after having gone through so much?
“Anyways, moving on from that info dump,” she said with a small laugh. “The song you played at the concert, that was my mother’s song, wasn’t it? Did she teach it to you, or did you find her music sheets?”
Orpheus thought back on it. “I don’t remember when, or how she managed to teach me such a complicated song, but I do remember how entranced I was by it. Even to this day I don't feel as though I’ve done justice to the song. Although, I think the fact that I’m still playing it to this day would make her happy.”
Eurydice smiled at him, nodding.
How could she still smile after everything she’d been through?
Orpheus stood up from the now cold bench, zipping his coat. The scarf that was wrapped around his neck gave him only a small amount of warmth. He smiled along with Eurydice, as genuinely as he could.
Around him, leaves fell slowly, almost hesitantly, to the ground. Colors of orange, red, brown and yellow surrounded them. The colors of fall.
“Who knows, maybe I’ll play the song again for you sometime.”
Eurydice glanced up, eyes wide and curious.
“You’ll just have to wait till next concert, Eurydice.”





Six

The next day, Orpheus received an obscene amount of offers to play in concerts. Unfortunately since many of them overlapped, he was only able to accept one of the many generous proposals.
After doing so, he had texted Eurydice (he had gotten her number because he was socially adept like that,) and asked her if she was free in three days, which was when the concert would happen, as well as if she had any idea for a piece he could do..
She responded with a thumbs up emoji, and Orpheus waited as she continued to type.
A new message came in, saying that she wasn’t familiar with any violin pieces whatsoever, and that he should decide himself.
What totally helpful advice! As if that wasn’t what he had been trying to do.
At the moment, he was in his music room, which had soundproof walls to help him focus by blocking out excess noise, as well as make it so others couldn’t hear him.
He walked over to one of his shelves, scanning it until he found the cubby he was looking for. He pulled out the smallest booklet on the shelf. Upon further examination, he definitely needed to get better organization skills. Jutting out from the book were scores, with elegantly connected and disconnected notes. His notes, markings, and arrows were spread all across the pages.
Orpheus remembered every single piece in this specific booklet. It was all of his favorite songs, combined. Why did he remember this when, being real with himself, he didn’t remember anything else?
To be honest, he had no idea.
He sat criss-cross-apple-sauce on the floor, pulling back the cover of the book.
Putting candidates on his right, and disqualified options on his left, Orpheus sifted through scores until sunset.
. . . .
Eurydice waved goodbye to her friends, heading over to where the dorms were. Climbing up multiple flights of stairs, she searched for her dorm. Which direction was it in again? Aha! She spotted room number 217, her dorm number, and headed toward it.
Bringing her dorm keys out of her pocket, she looked through all the different keys until she found the right one. She opened the door and tossed her keys into a plastic plate, which was resting on a small shelf bolted to the wall.
She shared the dorm with a friend of hers, and it consisted of a small kitchen, two twin beds, and one cabinet for clothes. Nothing else. It was spartan, for sure. Neither of them could be bothered to use their money on much else besides food, school, and coffee.
Flopping onto her bed, Eurydice lay on her side for a while. She idly scrolled on her phone, her eyes barely taking any of the text in. After a while of this, she let out a sigh, putting her phone back down next to her. Honestly, she felt rather stressed, as well as suddenly exhausted.
She pulled her sheets over herself, closing her eyes. She didn’t bother putting on pajamas or anything, it was only a nap after all.

Eurydice woke up drowsily an hour later, her eyelids heavy. Her mind was foggy, but it felt different than the other haze that often blocked her thoughts. Why do I feel so bleary? And so dizzy, I just woke up from a nap, did I not?
Eyes essentially half closed, she sat up and put on her slippers. She stood and was quickly hit by another wave of fatigue. Eh…? She laughed out loud, crazily, sounding almost desperate for some reason. What is…this?
She grabbed the frame of her bed, putting all of her weight on it as she attempted to find balance. However, soon that alone couldn’t keep her up. Her legs shook, all of a sudden unsteady, and they started to give out beneath her. Her head had slowly but surely become more and more clouded….So….so…dizzy…
The last thing she saw was the ceiling, as a sudden thud resounded in the room.






Seven

Orpheus skipped along the sidewalk, holding his mother’s hand in his own. His yellow rain boots splashed against the rain puddles of spring, and he laughed in delight. Beside him, his mama held an umbrella, smiling, and squeezed his hand. He crouched down, peeking at his reflection in the small collection of water.
His mama crouched down, holding the umbrella over his head so he wouldn’t be drenched in rain. “Orpheus, don’t go too fast, alright? I wouldn’t want you to slip. It’s very wet out today.”
“I know, mama. I know.” Orpheus said, just a little bit exasperated after having heard this multiple times earlier already. He popped back up, walking down the street.
“We should do this again, mama! It’s so much fun to go out like this. If only daddy had come with us, then it would be even more fun!”
His mama’s eyes softened, and she smiled. Orpheus thought there was something different about this smile, and he couldn’t tell if it was a good thing or not. “Alright, little Orpheus. How does every Saturday sound?”
Orpheus jumped up and down excitedly, splashing even more on the muddy puddle. The freshly fallen water sprayed against his coat, but this time his mama didn’t get mad at him. Why was that? After letting out his energy, he grabbed his mama’s hand once more. His hand was getting shaken. Why? Glancing at his mama’s hand he saw that it was shaking.
His mama squeezed his hand really, really hard, so much it hurt! Why were her eyes raining water just like the sky was? He wanted to ask her if releasing water from her eyes like water came out of the clouds was normal, but his mama smiled at him, wiped her eyes, and tugged him onward.
Do clouds need to wipe their eyes too?
Someone needs to give them a tissue, Orpheus thought, shaking his head and frowning at the sky.
. . . .
Orpheus sat on a cushioned bench, looking out over the large arched window. He was in the living room of his family’s house.
It was so quiet, essentially devoid of any life.
Orpheus’ father was away like he always was nowadays. What he was doing, Orpheus didn’t know. His work should’ve been done by now. Day after day, his father seemed to become more and more hesitant to come home. Orpheus’ mother was home, but like usual she didn’t actively interact with him, acting as though he was a poisonous viper. Instead, she called him down for dinner, breakfast, and lunch. And when they did talk, it was in loud, argumentative tones that tend to scare his little sister, who was at school at the moment.
It was just him and his mother in this small little house. Years ago, it might’ve been full of laughing and smiling, even if it was just him and his mother. But now it was silent, for reasons he couldn’t honestly comprehend.
It was also a Saturday, which made it even worse.
Orpheus still hadn’t forgotten that rainy day. His mother had made a promise that day. How does every Saturday sound? And yet…what? What were they doing now besides sitting at home, avoiding each other in every way possible?
What good came from avoiding something that they could still fix?
But despite his thoughts, despite a beckoning feeling inside him that urged him to fix this, to stop living in shame of something that he didn’t even think he caused…Orpheus did nothing. He sat, and pondered, but never took action.
What a coward he was.
Yes, maybe if he had tried to fix things a little earlier, maybe it would’ve gone better for both of them. Maybe this little country house wouldn’t be so quiet. Maybe his father would be with them. Maybe his father would eat dinner with them. Maybe, after his sister came home, he would play pretend with her. Maybe he would see her smile and laugh and would be able to know that he had caused that. Instead of feeling as if he had caused her sorrow.
Maybe, his mother would love him again.
Sighing, and laughing quietly, softly, Orpheus shook it all off. What good would thoughts like those do you, huh? He asked himself, What good will those cynical thoughts do besides make you feel worse about your situation?
Orpheus stood up, cracking his knuckles and stretching, preparing himself for a little violin practice. Whenever he didn’t know what to do; whenever he was everything but certain, he would always go back to music.
Shouldn’t that be enough to convince my mother that this was the right path for him?
And yet he was famous now. Or at least, moderately so. But everything was still the exact same. What more did she want? And what weirded him out even more was the fact that it had all happened so suddenly, it was all like a dream to him. No way was this some normal coincidence.
Orpheus sdidn’t bbelieve that things could be entirely coincidental.
He headed back to his practice room, bringing his sheets back out. To be honest, he was exhausted. But the concert was the next day, so what was he to do? And even more so, Eurydice hadn’t sent him confirmation that she had bought a ticket to this one, as it was fancy enough that it wasn’t open to whoever wished to come.
But, she had left him on read.
Orpheus had a disturbing feeling that something was very, very wrong.





Eight

Eurydice sat up with a groan, utterly exhausted. She ran a hand through her hair, not caring that it messed it up even more. Her lips were cracked and dry, and she was completely parched.
She glanced around the room, perplexed at the scenery around her. Hadn’t she just taken a nap…? And yet…She met the nurse’s eyes. The nurse’s ashy blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders, and little fake flowers were hanging from her ID, which was clipped to a string that wrapped around her neck.
The nurse quickly became overjoyed to see her sitting up and breathing. Like a normal person. Woww. She said that she would bring Eurydice food, and left out the door. While she was gone, Eurydice stared up at the ceiling, remembering what had happened earlier…Yesterday? A few minutes ago? An hour ago? She glanced at the analog clock on the wall.
Her brain couldn’t even process that. Eurydice let out a sigh, laying back on the hard mattress. She was definitely in a hospital, which was made very obvious by the nurse who was now walking back in through the door. But who had brought her here?
The nurse pulled out the bed table for Eurydice, setting a tray of steaming food on top of it. She thanked the nurse, who replied:
“No need to thank me, it is my job after all.” The nurse glanced at the clock.
“My husband will be with you shortly.”
Why couldn’t she just read the time out loud for me? Eurydice groaned, frustrated. Wait… “Your husband?” she asked, confused.
The nurse gasped. “Yes, right! Sorry, the doctor will be with you shortly.”
“…A doctor?”
The nurse nodded. “Will there be a problem with this arrangement?”
Eurydice gulped, then violently shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. Thank you very much.”
In response, the nurse smiled, and brought out a clipboard. “Now, if I could just ask you a few questions before we start…”

The doctor walked into the room, wearing a black doctor’s coat (was that even allowed?) He had dark black hair, and tired, sunken eyes. He rolled a small stool over beside Eurydice’s bed, and plopped himself down on it.
“Alright,” he said, sounding very uninvolved. “I will need to check your heartbeat, so please sit up.” Eurydice did as he asked, turning so he could measure her heartbeat. After pulling the stethoscope, the weird tool they used to measure heartbeat, away from her back, the doctor paused for a while, noting some things down on the computer, which sat on the desk beside her bed.
“Just based on your heartbeat alone, as well as your heartbeat as soon as you were brought to us after your collapse, we’ll need to get a chest x-ray for you. I suspect that you may have some form of a heart disease, most likely arrhythmia, off of the fact that you fainted and that is one of the key signs, but it could be another common type of heart disease. Would you rather do the x-ray on a different date, or later tonight?”
Eurydice blinked, processing what he had just said. “I-I would prefer to do it later today, if that’s alright. Thank you so much.”
“Alright, I’ll have my nurse set it up with you in a little while. After the x-ray, you are free to go as you please until we deem it necessary that you stay in this hospital. Does that sound fine with you?” the doctor asked, taking the clipboard the nurse had left behind and writing some things down on it.
Eurydice nodded, hastily thanking him once again before he left.
She stared at her plate of food, which had gotten a little cold at this point. She sighed. How could she have an appetite after that? Shaking her head, she put the tray down and laid back on the bed. She rolled over onto her side, pulling the blanket over her head.
Bringing her phone out of her pocket, Eurydice texted Orpheus.
‘yup! just got the tickets a bit ago. excited to go, but are you nervous?’
“Pretty nervous, there’ll be a lot more people this time.”
‘im sure you’ll do great’
“Eh, not sure if I agree with that, but ok. How’ve you been? You haven’t texted me all day.”
Eurydice paused at this question. How was she? No way could she be completely honest with Orpheus. Cringing at the lie, she texted back, ‘I've been really good! I was hanging out with some friends of mine. Anyways, it’s getting late so I’ll have to go now.’
“Alright, goodnight!”
Eurydice buried her head in her pillow, breathing deeply as she tried to stop the pounding ache that threatened to explode her head.







Nine

Orpheus’ hands shook as he held the heavy violin.
Why had he changed it again? Something about better performance? Until he got used to it the new instrument would be more of a burden than anything. He breathed, glancing up at the hundreds of seats in the silent amphitheater.
His eyes met Eurydice’s, who sat a few rows from the front, and Orpheus smiled. The only person who came to see him, by his invitation. Oh, how he wished he had some sort of way to repay her.
A little more reassured, he raised his bow in front of him, steady as a rock.
The sounds rang through the hall. Loud, quiet. Aggressive, soft. Sounds that burst with emotion, and then quickly withdrew. He hadn’t chosen a song to play. Screw those old pieces, they all felt the same to him anyways.
This was his song. Dedicated, and made for everyone he’d let down.
As he played, he watched the crowd’s faces. Shocked, confused. He hadn’t registered what song he’d been doing, had he? Orpheus grinned as he saw them delighted by his song. He was improvising now, letting his musical spirit take full reign over his body. He pretty much danced around the stage as he played, a full performance.
He found Eurydice once again. Why was it that out of hundreds of people he could always find her immediately? She popped out the same way that paint did on a piece of paper. A touch of bright color in a world of black and white.
And…as it lifted from his violin, his bow was held aloft as Orpheus noticed something odd. Was that a tear…in Eurydice’s eye? Was it true, was what he saw true? Was it true, that she wasn’t smiling through it this time?
Orpheus put his bow down again and struck the strings with one final swing. The loud note echoed, echoed, and echoed through the large chamber. The standing ovation came suddenly, and he was caught off guard, never having experienced one before.
He watched and tried so hard to track her, but Eurydice was quickly lost amidst the crowds of people moving out of the music hall, and amidst the some who still stood, clapping and whooping.
He was, after all, the final performance.
The final song.
And the final note.
. . . .
Eurydice had stood beside her doctor, reviewing the x-ray results for a while. Now sitting in bed once again, unsure of what to do.
The doctor had officially diagnosed her with Coronary Artery disease, the most common heart disease. He had said that instead of her fainting being a symptom of arrhythmia like he had thought, it might’ve been a side effect of her overexerting herself while dealing with this disease.
He also said that unfortunately since Eurydice seemed to have left the disease untreated for a while, there was a possibility that this could scale greatly. He said that one out of four deaths was from Coronary Artery disease.
Not very reassuring, but at least he had been honest.
Suddenly, Orpheus burst through the door, violin strapped against his back.
Eurydice jumped, and after realizing it was just him, she put her hand against her chest and closed her eyes, panting. “You scared me!” she complained, and he laughed, embarrassed.
“Sorry,” he said between pants, “for bursting in like that.”
“It’s fine,” Eurydice started, “What— Wait. How did you even get here?!?” she cried out, completely confused.
He glanced around the room. “I followed you, of course. The nasty secretary at the counter got really grumpy when I couldn’t give a last name for you. ‘I’m afraid Mr. Cerberus doesn’t understand your request! Please leave.” Orpheus imitated the secretary perfectly and pouted. “Old guy was very very rude until one of the nurses came to help me instead.”
Eurydice laughed, and they sat in rather tense silence until Orpheus finally asked the question she knew he would.
“So…are you going to explain to me why you’re here?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. He looked mighty concerned for someone who had only met her a few weeks ago, maybe even less.
“I suppose I might as well be honest with you, right?” Eurydice chuckled, fiddling with her fingers as Orpheus sat down on the same stool her doctor had sat on just a few minutes before.
“I have Coronary Artery disease.” It could kill me… “Thankfully it isn’t that bad yet, so there’s still hope that we can cure it before it spikes.” I’ll need to stay in the hospital for a while… “Soon I’ll probably be up and running again, just you wait!” My dad hasn’t visited me once… “Don’t worry, I’ve already been brought some of my stuff by my dad, so I’ll be fine until I’m released, which will probably be soon as well.”
Orpheus let out a sigh of release. His chair spun round and round as he spread out his arms, stretching in relief. He hit the cabinet and tumbled off the stool in a frenzy of papers and books. He had pulled some of the cubbies out, leaving files scattered across the floor. He backed away as some nurses rushed into the room to see what the commotion was.
After frantically apologizing to the nurses while ridiculously red in the face, Orpheus pulled the stool back over to sit beside Eurydice.
“Anyways, as I was going to say, that’s good. I’m glad it’s not gotten any worse.” He smiled at her. “I can still visit you every day if I want though, right?”
Eurydice frowned, narrowing her eyes. “Do you really not have anything else better to do? Do you not have any other friends?”
Orpheus laughed, “Of course I have other things to do. But I determine keeping you company as a very good way to spend my time. Why should you be complaining about that?” He cocked his head at her.
Eurydice sighed, exasperated. “Yes, I guess so.”
Warily, Orpheus glanced to the door, noticed the nurses had left, and picked up his violin. He unzipped its case to reveal a shiny spruce wood violin, the standard for most violins, it was the same one her mom had used.
As he began to wax his bow, he hesitated, turning to her. “You can still use your arms, besides being probably exhausted, right?”
Eurydice laughed, “Of course I can, who do you take me for?” Orpheus shrugged in response, continuing to wax the bow. After he was done, he set it beside her on the bed. She picked it up, handling it with reverent hands as she looked over the delicate thing.
Orpheus brought out the violin, holding it by its neck.
Frowning, Eurydice asked: “What is all of this for?”
Orpheus grinned, shrugging once more. He passed the violin to her, gesturing at her to be careful with it when she almost dropped it during the exchange. “I thought it was time that you learned your mother’s trade.”
“You say it like we’re in the time of older history.”
“Hm…well, people nowadays haven’t gotten any better so I suppose it feels the same in some aspects.”
Eurydice snickered, and picked up the bow. She rested the violin under her chin, and glanced at Orpheus. “Like this?”
He nodded. Walking towards her bedside, he adjusted the angle of the bow. “Now try it.” Demonstrating for her, playing an air violin. Orpheus played a pretend song. He was clearly trying and failing to get her to understand how to play the notes correctly.
Eurydice pressed the bow against the strings, and slowly swiped it to the right. The violin let out a nasal, high-pitched shriek in the form of an ear-splitting sound. She dropped the violin, covering her ears and wincing.
Eyes wide, Orpheus speedily dove for the violin, catching it just before it hit the ground. He glared at her from below, lying completely flat against the hard, vinyl flooring. He carefully set the violin on the ground as he sat back up, criss-cross-apple-sauce.
“Well, looks like we have some work to do.” Orpheus said with a sigh, putting his hands on his hips as he probably thought about how he could possibly save such a hopeless case as her.




Ten

It was not soon, and quickly Orpheus began to feel as though something important was being held back from him. Eurydice was in the hospital for almost two weeks. He wasn’t able to visit her every day, that would be absurd considering he had college to juggle. However, he tried his hardest to be there beside her bed whenever she was free.
Day after day though, it looked more and more like a deathbed.
But like Eurydice usually did, she smiled through it all.
One day, Orpheus brought her a get well soon basket, with candy, snacks, drinks that were both healthy and delicious, as well as his violin. Every day he came he taught her a little, and being able to teach someone violin was more than he could ask for.
Another day, he brought her some books to read. Next, he came with one of her friends, who had wanted to check up on her as well. Orpheus had even asked her if her dad was going to come, because whenever he dropped by Eurydice’s dad was never there. But she had brushed it off, and told him that her dad had already visited her plenty.
On the most recent day Orpheus had gone, he had brought her Haberleas, known as the resurrecting flower. Orpheus had brought that specific one because he had thought it would be symbolic about how he wanted her to recover, but apparently she didn’t think to look up the symbolism of the flowers before accepting the bouquet.
Orpheus became more and more worried as everything around him started to go downhill. His general studies grades were getting lower and lower. Eurydice had a disease that could suddenly pounce on her any minute now, claiming her life. His father was long gone at this point, and only came home to sleep, leaving immediately after in the morning.
His mother had her own problems. With his father gone so much, she had been under more and more stress, having to deal with his sister. They had been fighting more and more, and his mother didn’t even seem to care anymore. Only in music had things gotten better.
Orpheus sat at the cat cafe. Yes, the same one where he had met Eurydice for for the first time. He was drafting a letter to Eurydice. His plan at the moment was to give it to her and run. Mm, that’ll go very well, definitely.
He twirled his pencil in thought, then aggressively erased part of the letter, rewriting something else instead.
“To: Eurydice I Don’t Remember Your Last Name,
I wonder, do you miss your mom? Ugh, that was a dumb question to start the letter, let me try again. I’m sure that after your mom was gone a lot in your life changed. After I found out that you had heart disease, I wondered if I had made you unintentionally relive thouse memories. Stress isn’t good for you when you’re sick, you know.”
His phone rang.
Orpheus ignored it.
“You’re doing very well learning the violin, in case you’re wondering. I don’t think I remembered to tell you that haha. The way you hold your bow reminds me of your mother. I remember her telling me: “Now Orpheus, don’t hold your bow as I do, that’s not the proper way.” Despite knowing that you were doing it wrong, I didn’t have the heart to make you fix it. In fact, it brought me a little bit of joy to see that similarity between you two.”
His phone rang once again.
This time, Orpheus didn’t ignore it, and pulled it out of his pocket.
A call from the hospital? At this time? He answered the call.
“Hello?” he asked, confused.
“Hello,” the robotic voice from the phone crackled back at him. “Are you Orpheus?”
“…Yes, I am. Why?”
“I was just getting to that. You are registered as being a frequent visitor of the patient: Eurydice. I would like to inform you that she is now suddenly in critical condition. It is very dangerous, and her doctors say that the probability of death is extremely high. If you wish to see her, please visit Room 109 as soon as possible. Thank you!”
All he heard next was a low, ringing sound, which sounded incredibly similar to a flat heart line. In a state of shock, he shoved his phone back into his pocket as well as all his books back into his bag.
Orpheus sprinted out the door, the bell ringing with a melodious tone. He swung his leg over the bike, quickly pedaling as fast as he could in the direction of the hospital. How much time do I have?! He thought frantically, his brain in panic mode.
After having gone as fast as he possibly could’ve, Orpheus hopped off his bike at the hospital, hurrying into the hospital building. He slammed his hands down on “Mr. Cerberus’” desk, surprising the grumpy man.
“Nasty Cerberus! Please let me visit a patient!” Orpheus glanced around agitatedly, searching for anyone else to help him. All that was stopping him from reaching Eurydice was Mr. Cerberus.
Mr. Cerberus’ eyes narrowed, and he looked away indignantly. “No.”
Orpheus gaped at him.
“What?! You’re the one who called me ‘Nasty Cerberus,’ and now you expect me to let you visit a patient?!” He scoffed.
“Please, Mr. Cerberus? I-I could play you a song, what about that?”
“Wait, no, I don’t want to–”
Orpheus pulled out his violin, as quick as the wind, and started playing a short melody for the secretary. Eyes followed him, watching as he played a song for the stunned Mr. Cerberus. After finishing his quick song, he exasperatedly asked the secretary. “So? Can I go through now?”
Stunned, Mr. Cerberus stuttered out an incoherent response, and Orpheus hurriedly thanked him, despite not even being able to determine whether he been given an affirming answer or not.
Room 109, Room 109, his brain repeated over and over. He almost sprinted right past the room, but he quickly doubled back and read the plate on the door over, and over. 109. Taking in a deep breath, he slowly opened the door to the room, more hesitant now.
A nurse and a doctor were standing by Eurydice’s bed, clothed in black and blue. They turned to face him as he walked in, and the nurse’s eyes widened. “What are you doing here?”
Orpheus didn’t respond, instead hurrying to Eurydice’s bedside. Her eyes were closed, but bshe definitely did not seem like she was getting any sort of rest and relaxation. Her brow was furrowed and her face was alarmingly pale. He turned to the doctor and nurse, eyes wide.
“How is she?” He had never yet seen a dying person.
The doctor shrugged dismissively, “Unless we find a heart donor, I don’t know what we’ll do. There aren’t many families who are willing to give up their dead relative’s heart.”
“How about a live heart donor…?” Orpheus asked slowly.
The nurse bit her lip in thought. “It has been done before, but it’s ridiculously risky. Do you know of anyone who would give up their life that easily? I haven’t met anyone so selfless.”
He frantically thought of any other option there was. “Unless we can find a dead heart donor, the only other option is someone else dying in her place, is that right?” Hope dripped from his voice as he desperately tried to see if there was any other way.
“Usually we’d have one but no, not today. It seems like fate is against us,” the doctor said soberly. “It’s unfortunate. She was so positive despite her growing disease.”
“A life for a life,” Orpheus said, now without pause. “If her mother had never met me, never taught me…” he trailed off. You’ve only brought her pain in the end. “It’s only fair that I make up for what I took from her, don’t you think?”
The doctor raised an eyebrow. “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”
The nurse violently shook her head. “No, the operation would be far too dangerous, we can’t risk it.” Her eyes narrowed, darkening eerily. “Are you even sure you’re even willing to do it yourself?”
Orpheus hesitated, then nodded. “With my whole heart.”
The doctor snickered, and the nurse gave him a questioning glance. “‘With my whole heart.’ He’s planning on donating his heart. Don’t you get it?” The nurse rolled her eyes and the doctor crossed his arms, frowning at her. “What? I just thought it was funny.”
Orpheus cleared his throat. “What. Do. You. Think? We don’t exactly have very much time,” he added dryly.
The nurse tapped her chin. “I still don’t think we should do it.”
“I disagree,” the doctor objected. “Do you see how intent he is on this? How can you deny him something he truly seems to be so viament about?”
Orpheus turned to the nurse, clasping his hands together in anticipation.
“Although,” the doctor cut in again. “Say that the operation did work out. We have reason to believe that the girl herself would be happy with this exchange. If you are willing to die for her, if you are willing to give up your life on her behalf, shouldn’t she feel the same? You really think that if this operation works, she would be fine with living in a world without you?”
“…Yes, almost certain of it.” Orpheus locked eyes with the doctor, but he quickly tore his eyes away after being met with such an intense stare. One that seemed to look right through him, but did he really see the whole truth?
The doctor sighed. “Check the files for his blood type,” he ordered the nurse. Before he did so, though, he asked Orpheus. “Wait, do you go to this hospital for your yearly checkups?”
Orpheus said yes, and the doctor nodded to the nurse. She was about to protest, when he interrupted her. “Just let him do as he wishes, Persephone.”
The nurse glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, wary. Then bowed her head, submitting to the doctor’s will. Seeming to accept his decision, she thoroughly looked through the files in the cubbies, the ones Orpheus had knocked over on his first day visiting Eurydice.
After searching for what seemed like ages to the agitated Orpheus, the nurse (Persephone, her name was) brought out a file. Handing it to the doctor, he looked through it briefly.
Orpheus was worried that he wasn’t looking through it well enough, but the doctor and nurse were the only ones he could trust here. After all, he was no medical professional, he knew essentially nothing.
Anxious, Orpheus glanced back to Eurydice’s bedside. How much time did they have? He bit his lip, then forced himself to turn back to the doctor and nurse. They nodded solemnly to him, and led him out the hallway into another room.
The next while was a haze. He couldn’t even tell if it was going well, he didn’t know enough about this to know. All he knew is that the gave him some sedatives, pain killers, etc. He thought back on everything, oh how dumb he had been.
Giving his life up for someone else? Who even was he? So caught up in the moment, had he even considered everything fully? His mother, would she care after he died? Surely most mothers would care. And yet, he regretted not being able to know if his would. An unstable relationship with his mom? What, was he some kind of book character?
What hurt most is that his sister would never truly be able to understand his death. Knowing his mother, she would block Orpheus out of their everyday lives like he had never existed. Hopefully his little sister would forget about him.
That would give him some comfort at least.
Melpomene…I hope that mom loves you and cares for you, with you more than I could and more than she did for me. We’ll play dolls some other time, alright?
Maybe once this is all over…










Epilogue

Neither of the patients survived. It was a tragic event. After looking over the news, it seemed like the donor in question was a famous violinist. Thankfully, the huge drama of it didn’t explode the news, and the sadness of the people quickly faded away.
Persephone had scoffed after hearing it at first. Why had something so heartbreaking disappear completely from people’s minds so easily? After getting mad, and talking about how they were now so “depressed,” the music-lovers of society moved on with life as normal.
And yet no one talked about Eurydice. Just another death among thousands more. Persephone thought it strange how people could care about a celebrity’s death so much more than a normal person’s. What, did the person’s relatives, friends…did they not weep just as much?
At Orpheus’ funeral now, Persephone was hit by a wave of despair. She almost sobbed as people gave speeches. They were all people she didn’t know. How isolated she felt from everyone else. She hadn’t even known the boy, so why did she deserve to be invited to his funeral?
Persephone hadn’t even done anything. She had just agreed with Hades, only for that to lead to the boy’s death, and the death of the person he thought he was saving.
Persephone couldn’t resent Hades for it of course, in the end she had agreed with the fact that if they didn’t agree the stupid boy would eventually get his way in the end. Some way, somehow.
Walking towards the coffin, which they hadn’t yet buried, Persephone peered over the top, Hades at her side. Beside them, a woman stared blankly at Orpheus’ face through the glass. A small girl clung to her arms.
“Mommy, why can’t I see what’s in the big box?” the girl asked, standing on her tippy toes as she tried to see what was inside.
The woman forced a smile, crouching down in front of her daughter. “Melpomene, you’ll understand when you’re older, alright sweetie? Just trust me that this isn’t what you want to see right now.”
Her daughter, Melpomene, smiled, bright in contrast to the mourning colors she wore. “Alright, but why aren’t daddy and brother with us?”
The woman stayed still and silent for a while. “Daddy and Orpheus are off in other places right now. You’ll see them soon enough. Just learn to be patient and I’m sure what you want will come to you.”
Persephone stayed silent through the entire thing, her pity for Orpheus’ mother showing on her expression. The woman’s voice was shaky, unsteady, as her entire life had just been changed for the worst. She wanted to reach out and comfort the woman, but something stopped her.
Who was she to try and comfort a grieving woman? How different was this woman from all the other mourning ones she saw every day? Crying in the hospital lobby, heads bowed by their sick child’s bedside.
There was nothing different about this woman.
And yet, Persephone felt the heartache as if it were her own.
. . . .
Eight years later
Melpomene kneeled before Orpheus’ grave, sitting in silence. She smiled through her tears, holding the small bouquet of flowers. They were Haberleas, the resurrecting flower. Funny was it that despite not remembering much of her brother, she desperately wanted him back. Funny how she shed tears for him despite everything.
Melpomene found that despite it being so long ago, there were moments with him that she still remembered, and would cling to forever.
Orpheus’ music, a large part of who he was, was something she was overly grateful that she could remember. His songs, blessing her ears as she sat with him in his music room. His smile, as he played for her and saw her laugh at the sounds.
Melpomene peeking in through his door to find him conked out on his desk, having studied through the entire night. How she had shrieked, yelling at her mom and telling her that Orpheus was dead. To be honest, his death ended up hurting her a lot more than little her probably thought it would. To be even more honest, she probably had barely even understood the concept of death.
Oh, how much she wished she had gotten to spend more time with him.
Melpomene’s mother had told her he had died a noble death, as noble as there could be in the real world. She told Melpomene that he had died for a girl named Eurydice, giving his heart up to cure her heart disease, knowing it would kill him. Both Melpomene and her mother didn’t know what happened to the girl after that, but they both hoped that she was out there, living a good life in his place.
How stupid her brother’s death was though. How stupid his decision was. Dying in another’s place? Did he think he was the hero of some book or something? Melpomene kept ridiculing him in her mind, but in reality she was proud of what her brother had done.
Every time she thought of him, Melpomene would grin in delight as she recalled the little memories she had, or she would cry over a brother she had barely known. Funny how there was essentially no inbetween.
“Melpomene?” Her mother called, having already spent her time with Orpheus.
“Just a moment!” she called back. Setting the light bouquet of Haberleas on the grave, she pat the stone of the grave, smiling softly. “You did a good thing, big brother.” Then with that, she wiped her remaining tears away, and stood up.
Melpomene walked to whereher mother was.
Her mother smiled at her, “It’s a shame you never truly knew him. He was a better son that I deserved,” she said with a laugh. “Come on now, we’re going to be late for your music lessons.”
Melpomene rolled her eyes. “I know, mom.” She smiled up at the sky, watching the clouds spin, and shielded her eyes from the sun.
I hope I do your song justice, Orpheus.





Authors Notes (A/Ns):
A/N 1: “Orpheus’ mother was home, but like usual she didn’t actively interact with him, acting as though he was a poisonous viper.” This sentence was particularly funny to me, because in the original myth, Eurydice died immediately after being bitten by a viper.

A/N 2: Melpomene is the Muse of Tragedy, previously the Muse of Singing. I felt as though it fit, because after Orpheus left her, it turned from singing to tragedy, a.k.a happiness to despair in a way. Although, ignore the fact that Orpheus is the son of Calliope, another Muse. Orpheus actually had 3 sisters, but I wanted to name his sister what I thought would be interesting.

A/N 3: Haberleas, also known as the Orpheus Flower, are the flowers that Melpomene lays at Orpheus’ grave. However, looking back on the previous chapter, they are also said to be the flowers that Orpheus gave Eurydice while she was sick. They are also the resurrecting flower, and are therefore symbolic of Orpheus wanted Eurydice to get better and also of Melpomene wanting her brother back.

A/N 4: Oof, so essentially, Melpomene taking music lessons (I didn’t want to have to choose an instrument for her so I just said music generally) is her way of connecting with Orpheus despite his passing, and understanding what drove him so much. What she means by “your song,” is probably the song that Eurydice’s mom wrote, as he was never able to disclose to the public how he didn’t write it.

Hello! My name is Auj and I'm from Fantasy cabin. Pronouns she/her, and I'm in middle school, (i wouldn't like to reveal anything past that though) My favorite author is Brandon Sanderson because he writes fantasy and sci-fi, my two favorite genres. He hosted the most backed kickstarter of all time and continued Wheel of Time after the death of Robert Jordan. I think my favorite of his so far is the Mistborn Trilogy, since I haven't finished Stormlight Archives (the first book goes over 1000 pg)

Extended Intro:
Hi, my name is Auj, it is a nickname but obviously I won’t share my real name. I’m from Fantasy cabin (#fantasyftw) and have been writing for longer than I could remember. Embarrassing story is that I used to write and then put the emoji suggestions from my ipad beside the words…My favorite genres are probably fantasy (I really like steampunk fantasy specifically,) scifi, and also realistic fiction (generally the highschool ones because they tend to be the most interesting.) I know I”m a little late on some of the halloween stuff, but my family doesn’t do halloween so I didn’t think (for some strang reason) that there would be a SWC thing for that.
One of my favorite authors is Brandon Sanderson. For books of his, I’ve read Elantris, the Mistborn Trilogy (Final Empire, Well of Ascension, Hero of Ages), The first two books of the Stormlight Archives, the Reckoners Trilogy (Steelheart, firefight, calamity,) all of Skyward, (Skyward, Starsight, Sunreach, ReDawn, Evershore, Cytonic, ) Warbreaker, Mistborn Era 2 (Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, Bands of Mourning,) Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians (full series,) as well as The Rithmatist. If you who is reading this doesn’t know Brandon Sanderson, as a lot of people don’t know him, but there are also a lot who do, he currently has the most backed kickstarter of all time. He writes 2,000-2,500 words a day, and 500 an hour.
Another author I like is Marissa Meyer. She does tons of fairy tales spinoffs, and I believe that her most popular series is the Lunar Chronicles. Personally, I’ve read many of her books including Heartless (Standalone Novel), Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Winter, Stars Above, Fairest (Lunar Chronicles), Renegades, Arch Nemesis, and Supernova (Renegades Trilogy). She does really well with fantasy and sci-fi, which like I said, are two of my favorite genres.
Next is Rick Riordan. Many have heard of him. He’s written many mythology spinoffs, whether it’s roman, norse, egyptian, or greek, and has collabed with many other authors in the “Riordanverse,” to create an intertwining world of wonderful characters, plot, and light reading. I’ve loved his books ever since I was a kid, and still continue to! I’ve read the Kane Chronicles, Trials of Apollo, Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, Magnus Chase, and that’s about it haha. Really recommend his books if you haven’t read them already!
As for my last author, her name is Shannon Messenger and the series that most people have probably heard of is yes, Keeper of the Lost Cities! I feel like this series is more geared towards people of a lower reading level than me, but I can still find it enjoyable. I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a Sophitz hater, okay, please don’t come after me haha. Her writing style is definitely a lot more simple than the two authors I’ve listed above, and the only series of hers I've read is KotLC, but I enjoyed it quite a bit for a while, until I had to start waiting for Stellarlune haha.
Anyways, that’s it for todays daily. #fantasyftw! <3

AAAGH I'M LATE TODAY LAST TIME I WAS ON THE 4TH PAGE

but anyways, Claim!!

Introduction

Hi guys!!! I'm Ava!! Well, that isn't a bit close to my name, but I love it sOOOOO much it's my alias everywhere online.

WARNING- pronounce the beginning like how you would do art. It is not Ava with the alike baked. I will seriously blow my head off if anyone makes that mistake again. :D

Nicknames- Ava, Icebunny, Icebunny11, ObsessiveFangirlOverLeo , ObsessiveFangirlOverNico , ObsessiveFangirlOverLeo&Nico ,. Etc.
Zodiac- Aquarius/Air Sign (OK HERE PEEPS HELP ME UNDERSTAND HOW THE ONE ZODIAC WITH AQUA IN IT IS AN AIR SIGN)
Age- I'll let you guys decide- 10-14
Pronouns- she/they
Nationality- Indian
Culture- Hindu-Parsi(also probably Greek-Roman) so Hindu-Parsi-Greek-And-Roman. GRAPH. Huh.
Godly parent- don't get me started…
But here are the beginning ones-
Athena
Hades
Aphrodite
Artemis (HOW?!)
Poseidon
Favourite book- You guessed it. Percy Jackson. But my favorite is also Malory Towers.
Favourite quotes- ykw imma keep this in another section cause it will take too long.
Favourite Authors- Rick Riordon and Enid Blyton.
Cabin- Thriller
Favourite genres to read and write- fantasy, fanfiction, thriller, romance, comedy
Hobbies- Reading, Writing, Drawing, Singing, Making music, hearing music, binge watching bts, reading memes, reading anything related to bts or Percy Jackson, staring into someone's soul
Qualities- smart, creative, takes initiative, leader, half-dark half-pop, impatient, a little bossy, I'll continue tom cause I'm really tired rn

Writing-

Dailies -

November 1st - Introductions only!!
November 2nd
November 3rd
November 4th (WAYYYYYY too long ;_; )
November 5th
November 6th
November 7th THIS ONE WAS WILLLLDDD
November 8th+9th (a 2-day daily!) (original version, I had to shorten it cause I thought I could go over 400;-;)
November 10th
November 11th
November 12th- CABIN WAAAAARRRSSSS
November 13th - celebrating burning down of cabins
November 14th+15th (a 2-day daily!)
November 16th
November 17th
November 18th - critique intro which I did not do ^^' but I will do it later, promise! There is a different section for my critique!!
November 19th
November 20th
November 21st
November 22nd
November 23rd
November 24th (The split time one)
November 25th
November 26th - CABIN WARSSSSSSSSSSS
November 27th
November 28th+29th (Bi daily!)
November 30th

Weeklies-

First Week (2nd-9th)
Second Week - (9th-16th)
Third Week -(16th-22nd)
Fourth Week -(22th-29th)

Cabin wars
#1
#2

Writing Competition-

Main writing
Fanfiction writing

Critique-

1. iinspirqtion's critique!
2. seasiide's critique

table of contents

Daily 1/11: 1,073 words

Hi, I'm Raya, also known as Loki next to many other nicknames I've accumulated. I use she/her pronouns, and am a straight girl. I've been homeschooled my entire life, and am currently in eighth grade. I've always been pretty flexible in my learning and have been able to write a lot in my free time. I enjoy writing fanfiction the most, as I'm a fan of many fandoms such as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings (still reading it), Harry Potter, Marvel, and many others.

I love playing the piano and guitar, as well as singing to music (I'm one of those who can't get enough of YouTube karaokes). My grandfather played classical piano and he helped bought me a real piano for my family. I started playing piano around the age of six or seven. Only around my tween years did I found piano really entrancing. I had an easy lesson book and one lesson from a teacher. Since then I've learned hundreds of songs in so many different genres and artists. Some of my favorites in my repertoire are Blinding Lights by the Weeknd, good 4 u by Olivia Rodrigo, and Epiphany from Pixar's Soul.

I'm on a Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, and BTS marathon. I can't get enough of their songs. While writing this, I've listened to Enemy, Thunder, Demons, On Top of the World, Shots, Bleeding Out, Wrecked, Roots, and Whatever It Takes by Imagine Dragons. And Yellow, The Scientist, Paradise, Viva la Vida, and Fix You by Coldplay. And Fix You (BTS unplugged cover), Run Bulletproof, and Dynamite by BTS.

Reading is a humongous part of my learning, whether casual or for studying. Fantasy is my favorite genre. There's so much magic that it enchants me every time I read it. Some of my most loved books and series include the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tokien.

How did I get into Scratch camps? I was introduced to SSC (Scratch Science Camp) by @moonlight_activist. I entered the camp's March 2022 session as a camper of Engineering. I then found SRC (Scratch Reading Camp) through participants in SSC and joined its session the next month (April.) I really enjoyed that session. I took a break from camps for a few months and went back to make a leader application for SRC. I was not expecting to, but I got accepted and started to prepare for my cabin. So I led Fan-Fi in SRC's August session with the wonderful Celes (@Cynthialz, I believe.) I had also signed up for SWC's July session as a camper. I have also participated in SAC (Scratch Art Camp) this October as a camper in Realism with the fantastic Brave (@not-a-nobody or @23Heart) and Hope (@euphoriafall.) I am now hosting a new camp called Scratch Inspiration Camp along with me, Soki (@Rey_venclaw), Sandy (@Sandy-Dunes), and Starla (@pure-randomness.) I'm leading the Music Department with the awesome Clay (@Clay_Camps.) I am now participating in this session of SWC!

I would actually like to call this my first session since I feel I didn't participate much in July. Let me explain what overrode SWC that month. Hem. I was enrolled in a local summer camp that ran almost the whole day, every day. First two weeks I played volleyball; second two I did flag football. Both were exceedingly fun. All the bruised, scraped knees, jabbed fingers, sweating bodies, empty water bottles, and turf burns, made the summer so exciting. We got to play actual games. I repeat, actual games. May not be the most interesting thing to to guys, but I've never played full, real-life, right-amount-of-people games. Not to say I've been lonely, because I certainly haven't, but I have never really gotten to play sports. This summer I got the chance to play sports that I love with kids. I probably sound odd, don't I? That's me, your quirky homeschooled teen. Back on topic, Loki. It felt really good to have an entire month dedicated to sports and outside time. It felt wholesome to be off-screen for so long. I took to writing in my bullet journal (finally) and entering daily entries, tracking water intake, emotions, and more. Ooh, looks like another paragraph coming.

Bullet journaling. I just got into bujo'ing and I love/hate it. It demands aesthetic-y taste which I honestly don't have. I write in with colored or 2B pencils and crayons with the occasional marker. Not super sophisticated. But, art is in the eye of the beholder, and I think it's perfect. I really just care about the content I put in. I've kind of drifted off from doing it, but I'm going back now.

I started this out going for the thousand word challenge, but so far it looks like I'm only making it to about 800, haha. 10 o'clock and I'm still going for it, let's go!

My signs. I'm a Gemini, born in June. In the zodiac calendar, I was born in the year of the Rat which I'm actually really proud of, because the rat came in first place (if you know what I'm saying that's awesome.)

I'm asian-american, and this is how asian is (mainly) incorporated in my life: food. My dad is the cook of the house and he makes such delicious asian food I cannot get enough of it. I especially love pho. Pho is a Vietnamese soup dish made with pork bone(?) broth, noodles, meat, and veggies called choy. I also eat a lot of char siu fun, another dish similar to pho. We have it a lot more often, though, and it seems easier to make. We eat lo men, a noodle dish with (bok) choy, pork or steak or beef, topped with some chili sauce. We make our own nuac mam, a spicy sauce that goes on a lot of different types of dishes. And oh yes- kimchi. Kimchi, if you don't already know, is basically pickled daikon, carrots, and others with vinegar. It can also be put on anything. Rice is so simple yet so yummy. Everything goes with it and it's the perfect base dish.

I FREAKING MADE IT TO 1K I FEEL SO PROUD!! Thank you, Soki, for inspiring me. You're, like, my role model here <3

Daily #1

Hello! I’m known as Soki on Scratch, and I’m attempting to complete the 1k introduction challenge for the third session in a row. Last session was the first time I succeeded.
I’m currently leading the first-ever Bizarro Fiction cabin alongside my incredibly amazing co-leaders, Stingray (@Whirlygig), Mayhem (@mayhem-olympia), and Skye (@strange_skies). We’re very excited for you all to see what we’ve done with the cabin this session.
November 2022 marks my fifth session of SWC. I first participated as a camper back in July of 2021, during which I was in the Real-Fi Family Reunion, lead by Bright (@starbriqht), Elle (@Sparkelle), and Wishes (@GoodWishes). My second session, November 2021, was my first as leader, and currently it’s probably my favourite session I’ve been in, although obviously that’s a very hard choice. During this session, I lead the Thriller Detective Agency (or Thrillee Dective Ahenvy as some of you will remember) alongside my absolutely phenomenal co-leaders Luna (@Luna-Lovegood-LOL) and Sai (@Starrial). In my third session, March 2022, I lead the Sci-Fi Spacewreck, and my fantastic co-leaders were Hop (@-limeade), Waterfall (@129Waterfall), and Sai (@Starrial). And in the most recent session this past July, I lead the Adventure Parks with Dawn (@Dawnlights-/@Dawn_Camps) and Jess (@FollowCherryBlossom/@vimto-) as my cos.
SWC has been an absolutely huge part of my life ever since July 2021, and I genuinely don’t know what I would do without it now.
Aside from just rambling on about SWC, I should maybe use this introduction to, I don’t know, actually introduce myself?
As I said, I’m Soki. I prefer to go by she/they pronouns, although I don’t mind too much. There aren’t really any pronouns I’m against being called. I’m a biromantic, neurodivergent fandom fanatic, and I feel more at home on Scratch than anywhere irl at this point. I’ve loved writing since I was about four or five. An early story of mine, the earliest I still have, is about a baby elephant who gets lost. I made my mom write a couple of the words because I couldn’t figure out how to spell them myself xD I wrote it in 2012. Ten years later, I write at least a bit every day, and I think it’s pretty cool how far I’ve come since I was five.
My main fandoms currently and throughout most of my fandom fanatic life are Harry Potter, Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Riordanverse, Wings of Fire, The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Apothecary, Hamilton, Wonder, Anne of Green Gables, The Greatest Showman, Keeper of the Lost Cities, The Inheritance Cycle, Tolkien works, and a new addition to this list, the Grishaverse. If you were to look, you would probably find almost everything I’ve ever written was influenced in some way by at least one of these amazing stories.
It’s incredibly hard for me to pick even a few authors to call my favourites, because there are so many unique and interesting ways different writers tell their stories. However, I do tend to prefer stories that focus on developing individual characters and their relationships rather than ones that are more focused on the overall plot story and sacrifice unique, well-written characters in favour of an intricate or suspenseful storyline.
My current writing projects include a Marvel fanfiction that I’m using as a character study and as an experiment in different ways to manage the hypothetical problem of people having superpowers, and that I’m sharing here on scratch; two fantasy war type novels in collaboration with friends of mine, and a dystopia taking place partially in the middle of a strict dictatorship and partially in a region with total anarchy.
I’ve participated in some way in five different Scratch camps including SWC. I co-lead the Mystery Patisserie in in SRC (Scractch Reading Camp) in August, with the wonderful Nat (@RoseReef) as leader; and I camped in SAC (Scratch Art Camp)’s Botanical Birdhouse, lead by the lovely Dawn (@Dawnlights-/@Dawn_Camps) and Cloudii (@Cloudii-Moon), and in SHC (Scratch Humanities Camp)’s Languages Languages Library, lead by the awesome Celes (@Cynthialz) and Wave (@waveii-), both this past October. I’m also hosting SIC (Scratch Inspiration Camp) alongside the wonderful Raya/Loki (@dsjlin), Sandy (@Sandy-Dunes), and Starla (@pure-randomness), as well as leading Wordsmiths with my wonderful co, Waterfall, (@129Waterfall). I hope to continue to participate in and lead these and other Scratch camps in the future.
I’m fifteen years old, studying Grade 10, and I’ve been homeschooled my entire life. I live on a small farm/homestead in rural Ontario, where I currently help to take care of nine chickens, two cats, one dog, six beehives, and two little siblings (who obviously count as livestock /j). Both little siblings have Scratch accounts, are participating in this session of SWC, and deserve follows! @-Primr0se- and @Tootsie_Queen/@_-Everqreen-_.
In addition to writing, I’m also interested in social studies and social sciences, as well as music. Which makes me feel like such a copy of my mom, because that’s exactly what she studied in university xD but it’s also nice because there’s always someone who will at least semi-interestedly listen to me ramble about Latin roots or chord progression or Karl Marx, and that makes up for how annoyed she gets whenever I bring up Star Wars.
I’m running out of things I can discuss here and I still have about a hundred words I still need to write here, so let me just…
Pineapple does not belong on pizza. Even if I didn’t have taste aversion to pineapple because of bad juice I drank while camping once, I would not like it on pizza.
I do not like Among Us. It has very violent and disturbing implications for a fun cartoonish kids game.
Reading while listening to music is terrible, because I find I can miss so much of what you’re reading and not even notice it. However I’m a big fan of writing with music. I actually find it much easier to write with music than without.
If you were to stumble across me, you’d probably find me at my desk with my iPad, Bluetooth keyboard, headphones, a glass of water, and some chocolate, either writing or studying. (1,026 words)

Daily 1
642 words
Hellooo there, camper, (co)leader, host or complete stranger reading this. My name is Clo and I am so super duper excited for this session. I am the co leader of sci-fi, leading along with Sein and Peggy, which is a fantastic team. Our theme for this session is Sci-Fi Simulation and we are super pumped. This is actually only my third session. The first session, March ‘22 I was in Foetry Wilds which was extremely fun and I enjoyed a lot and then my second session was July ‘22 when I was in the newest cabin Script. This session was when I had a lot of trouble with enjoying it instead of feeling stressed. Aside from the trianual Scratch Writing Camp my daily life is filled with school which is either really good, meh or horrible. My favourite subjects are PE, Drama, Music, Maths and Science. Apart from that I do a lot of physical activity such as trail running, orienteering, walks, gymnastics or pilates. At a young age I wasn’t into running but for the past couple years it has turned into my passion and I love it. I also play clarinet and tenor saxophone which I love but really do not have nearly enough time for practising, unfortunately. (no motivation either, hehe). I’ve played the clarinet for the past couple years and will continue to play it, I just love it so much for some reason. When I am in the right zone it is just so fun to play. I have played tenor sax since the start of this year but I am not continuing since I just don’t have the time. I have a very busy life with two siblings as well as two dogs and two parents, each with a million different hobbies which is why I love organisation. It makes me feel in control of life. I keep my room immaculate and journal everyday as well as using a bullet journal to track habits. Journaling is a really big part of my life. I am a bit of an introvert but once I get to know people really well I am pretty loud and an enthusiastic person. I love going to bed at a reasonable time and am definitely more of a morning person but I think that is changing as I get older. I often wish I had more time in my life to take up more hobbies but then I actually look at my schedule and realise how absurd that is. I’ve had a lot of priority issues in SWC over the past sessions because I always feel like I’m not doing enough for my cabin so I do more and put lots of pressure on myself and leave myself burnt out which is definitely a thing I do not suggest doing, hehe. I was aiming for a 1000 word introduction but I am honestly not sure how much longer I can ramble on about myself. Time for discussing my favourite books, authors and genres! I have loved reading and getting read too since I was tiny, books and literature have just been a gigantic part of my life. I adore dystopian, fantasy, sci-fi, mystery/crime and rom-com books! All of them have endless possibilities but obvious cliques yet unexpected twists and turns. My all time favourite authors are Suzzane Collins, John Green, Shannon Messenger, Karen M Mcmanus and the ultimate duo: American Kaufman & Jay Kristoff. My favourite book series ever would definitely the Hunger Games. I've read the whole series over 7 times and it's become my comfort book. I also love Keeper of the Lost Cities, One of Us is Lying series, the Illuminae Files and the Divergent Trilogy. My favourite standalone are mainly just random romance books like Fault in the Stars and Looking for Alaska. And that is about it.

Daily #1
1035 words

Hey! I’m Kit, and I’m trying for a one thousand word introduction, so be warned: this will most likely be long and rambly.
So yes, I’m Kit, pronouns she/her, and I’m a 13-year-old Ravenpuff on the line between INFP and INTP. I like reading, writing (I know, shocker), and drawing - lately I mostly draw fanart of whatever fandom I’m currently obsessing over (right now it’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power).
My favorite genre to write in is definitely fantasy, usually urban fantasy - I have so much fun writing about magical shenanigans. Unfortunately, I often don’t finish the many stories I start… I have a huge pile of stories I’m “working on”, aka procrastinating on, stories I may never touch again. I… should maybe try and finish some of those, heheh.
My favorite authors? I’m going to have to go with Anne Ursu. She writes middle grade fantasy novels, and they’re so good (seriously, often very nearly perfect) - I especially like The Lost Girl, The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, and The Real Boy. I also love Lemony Snicket. A Series of Unfortunate Events is good, but I especially like its comparatively underrated prequel/spinoff series All The Wrong Questions, a mystery series and sort of riff on noir detective stories, with Lemony himself as the protagonist.
My other favorite books are… oh, gods, it’s such a long list. Let’s see… the Theodosia Throckmorton series by R. L. LaFevers, and of course Harry Potter, and Percy Jackson (I didn’t like Heroes of Olympus quite as much, and still need to read Rick Riordan’s other series), and The Hunger Games books… Oh! And Greenglass House by Kate Milford. I also like graphic novels, my favorites being Nimona by ND Stevenson and Snapdragon by Kat Leyh, and the comic series Lumberjanes (which both Stevenson and Leyh worked on).
And I have so many non-book fandoms as well… the other big ones are She-Ra and Encanto, though I also love The Owl House, Welcome To Night Vale, and Wicked the Musical. Like I said, I’m very obsessed with She-Ra at the moment, I can and will talk about it for hours - but let’s not rant about it just now.
I listen to other musicals too - so far I’ve tried Hamilton, Six, The Lightning Thief, and Dear Evan Hansen - but Wicked is my favorite by far. Broadway and Disney make up much of my favorite songs, haha, but I also like Jonathan Coulton, and the bands The Go-Go’s and The Linda Lindas.
And yes, the Encanto songs are some of my favorites - I was obsessed with that whole movie for months. It was so fun in the March 2022 SWC session though, when most of the camp was super into it, too. There were so many We Don’t Talk About Bruno lyric chains, haha.
Right, past sessions! I’ve been doing SWC since November 2021 - this session marks a full year for me!
That November, I was in Adventure, led by Pika (@-Pika-Cat-), Pandora (@snowyforest-), and Vivi (@Good-Vibxs). That month was so special, and might still be my favorite session. It was the first time, and Adventure November 2021 still holds an extra-special place in my heart.
Next session, in March 2022, I was in Fanfiction, led by Lukatie (Luna, @Luna-Lovegood-LOL), Lukatie (Katie, @always-wriiting), and Andy (@-endless_abyss-). That month was so great too, I had so much fun.
After that session, I decided to apply for co-leader, and ended up co-leading Thriller that July, alongside Birdi (@Bellevue91) and Moonlit (@MoonlitSeas). They were amazing to work with, and it was so cool getting to co-lead a cabin, though I wasn’t able to be as active as I’d hoped.
So yeah, co-leading was great, but I was tired out after that month and decided I’d just sign up for camper in November. So I did, and was sorted into Realistic Fiction, led by LJ (@26friedland), Cherri (@CherriCookie), and Re (@RLove10). There’s not much to say about this session yet, since it’s only just started, but I’m super excited for the rest of the month! (Real-Fi for the win!)
Okay, only at 600-something words… let’s see, what else is there to say? This is probably going to get a lot more random and rambly and poorly-written starting around now, as I try to come up with more to write to reach 10k.
I actually haven’t been writing many stories recently outside of SWC; mostly I’ve just written journal-type stuff and rants about random topics. Most recently, I’ve been looking at personality-database.com and the Myers-Briggs types it has listed for each She-Ra character, and then reading through the articles on the personality types and writing down my thoughts on how well the personality types actually fit the characters. Weird and random and obscure? Yes, very. That’s me. I normally don’t do quite such oddly specific things, but… yeah.
Other stuff about me! I’m the oldest of 3 kids. One of my sisters, Ayla, is on Scratch and in SWC (her user is @FairyAyla). My other sister is still too little for Scratch. We also have 3 cats, one of whom is right next to me, purring, as I write this. Her name is Trina Ann (we didn’t name her; she had that name when we got her), and her and the other two are all siblings. They were actually the last three unadopted kittens in a litter of seven. And whoops, now I’m ranting about my cats - that’s another thing I can go on and on about.
Anyway, um, some other stuff I’m interested in is history, mythology, folklore, and cryptozoology and the paranormal. I tend to watch lots YouTube videos on my interests, haha- My favorite YT channels are Overly Sarcastic Productions, Bernadette Banner, Be Smart, and Storied.
Oh! I completely forgot to mention I’m homeschooled! I don’t have much to say about it honestly; I mean, it’s nice, I guess? I do not think I’d like going to school; it mostly just doesn’t seem like an environment I’d do well in.
Uh… and now I’m at 1k words! …And I have no idea how to end this. If you read through this whole thing, then good job! So… The End.

Main Cabin Daily- Nov. 1 (99 words)

Hello! I’m Kate/Gala (Either one works) and my pronouns are She/her. The session of SWC I’m in Fan-Fi. This is my 2nd session (my first was the March ‘22 session)! I like horseback riding, drawing, writing, reading (though I don’t do it often), and spending time outside. For my favorite author, I don’t have a favorite as I don’t often check the author. But some of my favorite books and their authors are: Going Viral - Katie Cicatelli-Kuc, Good Girls Guide to Murder- Holly Jackson, Astrid the Unstoppable- Maria Parr, and the Click series by Kayla Miller

nov 1st daily
(would like to quickly mention that i have no time tonight so this has not been reread, apologies in advance)

Hello!! I’m Ash, my pronouns are he/they. This is my sixth session, I believe — I started off in March of 2021 in fantasy, then July of ’21 in dystopian, November ’21 (co-)leading fantasy, March ’22 co-leading fairy tales, July ’22 as a horror camper, and I’m in horror again this session.
If I’m not writing, I’m probably playing (electric) guitar, which is something I started teaching myself a few months ago and have been continuing to learn somewhat obsessively. Ask anyone I know in person — they’ll tell you it’s all I talk about. And they aren’t necessarily wrong. I’m currently learning to play the Black Parade album by My Chemical Romance, and if there’s one thing it’s taught me, it’s that the rhythm guitar is actually way more fun than the lead (minus the solos, of course). I’m learning both parts of every song from that album and I’m three solos away from being able to play through the whole thing.
Anyways. Enough about my hobbies. Or hobby, I should say. Besides writing, it’s really my only one (sad, I know).
I’ll be honest — if I’m looking for a book to read, I rarely ever focus on the author. Unless it’s Marie Lu, and maybe Marissa Meyer. Both of them have written multiple series’s that I have obsessed over. And by obsessed, I mean I literally could not stop reading and rereading and rereading.
(I’ve come to learn recently that this was partly because of gender envy — if you couldn’t tell by my pfp, I’m trans, and I spend a lot of my time wanting to be or look like certain people. Mostly fictional characters. And one singer.)
Take the Legend Series, for example (possible spoiler alert?). I loved those books from the very beginning. The style was great, the characters were easy to empathize with, the world was (for the most part) realistic. Marie Lu even managed to make two of the most generic dystopian plots into some of the most interesting, engaging books I’ve ever read — a plague and a war.
And the character development was absolutely amazing. One of the characters was kind of annoying and stuck up at first, but she became one of my favorite fictional characters I’ve ever read about. The other main character developed as well, but he was a favorite from the beginning for me.
Marie Lu just does a great job with character creation in general. She’ll throw them into specific situations and perfectly convey and capture the way they’d react. Her plots and world building are also so great and complex, but she makes them clear.
I’m sure a lot of SWC-ers have read the Lunar Chronicles as well. If you haven’t, you definitely should. It was another one of my favorites from when I spent all my free time in the dystopian section of the library at my other school. And if you liked those books, read Heartless. Its similar to the Lunar Chronicles in the sense of twisting a fairytale, and the author does it so well.
Besides Marie Lu and Marissa Meyer, I don’t normally care who writes the book as long as it’s good. But if I like the style specifically, I’ll probably look into the author more. (Except for the author of Shatter Me, which is an incredible book. I just need to find more books by that author, and also get around to finishing the series.)
If you couldn’t tell, I love dystopian books. If anyone has any recommendations (and not only dystopian — I’ll read just about anything) I’d love to hear about them.
I’ll also recommend Casey McQuinston, but please note that many of her books have some. Uh. Adult themes. Make sure to read into that a little more before just jumping into one of her books and make sure you’ll be okay with some of the things that happen. Besides that (and including that, again depending on what you’re comfortable with), there’s a lot of pretty great queer representation in her books. If you want any other books with good representation, I know a ton. Feel free to ask me if you want any
That’s basically all there is to know about me. To summarize: I write, read, play guitar, and can go on forever about any of my hobbies.
Alsoooo I’d love to meet people so if anyone wants to chat, it would make me very happy <3
Horror* ftw!!

*the most awesome cabin with the coolest leaders and coolest campers and coolest storyline and quite obviously the best cabin and one of the best genres :)

768 words

Nov. 1 Daily
Introduce yourself

Word Count: 1,000

Hey everyone, I’m Ash! I’m a teenage girl and my pronouns are she/her. In addition to Ash, I also go by Wish and a number of other nicknames. This will be my third time participating in Scratch Writing Camp, and I’m looking forward to it! Previously I’ve been in hi-fi and adventure, and this time I’m in bizarro! I’m hoping to make decent progress on a few stories this month, so we’ll see. I actually can’t remember what my word goal is this time around, so I guess it’ll be a surprise when I find out lol.
Edit to that, I just saw what my word goal is. It’s a lot longer than I thought it was- but I should be able to make it.
When it comes to writing, my favorite genres are fantasy, contemporary and poetry of all kinds. I don’t read horror, but it’s surprisingly fun to write every once in a while. Sci-fi is also pretty fun to write. I don’t tend to write in any other genres that I can think of of the top of my head, but it’s always fun to experiment with them and write in new ways!
Let’s see, to get into the actual introduction… I really love animals and all things nature related. I’ve got a dog (he’s a Maltese, if you were wondering) and up until recently I’ve always had fish. I’ve always been really into birds, okay, /obsessed/ with them and birding. I’ve admittedly been slacking in that department lately, but with it being migrant season I hope to get back into it soon.
A few years ago I took up bowling and quickly ended up obsessed with it. I bowl a few times a week, including on a league. It’s pretty fun! I plan to stick with it and maybe -just maybe- go pro in a few years. I don’t know if I’ll end up doing that or not though, but it would be pretty cool.
I also really enjoy reading, which admittedly is also something I’ve been slacking on lately but y’know- My favorite series is Keeper of The Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger, which I’ve read three times now. I’m actually trying to read it for a fourth time before the next book comes out, and I’m pretty far behind so I should really be doing that right now instead of this, but that’s beside the point.
It’s really early right now, I’m actually the first one up, which feels kinda weird because I’m a total night owl and usually the last one up. This feels irrelevant to the introduction but it’s weird okay lol.
Back on the note of things I like doing, I also really like drawing and just finished my second time participating in Scratch Art Camp. I didn’t hit my minute goal this time around, but it was really fun!
I often introduce myself as a shipper of too many things and member of too many fandoms. I’m not even going to try listing all of my ships, but some of my fandoms include: Keeper of The Lost Cities (of course), Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus/Etc by Rick Riordan (Though I still haven’t read Magnus Chase-), Artemis Fowl, Disney Descendants and Zombies, The Two Princes, Six Minutes, Harry Potter and- you know what, I should stop now. This list can just keep going on forever-
A lot of the aforementioned ships are actually from roleplays, which are another one of my favorite things. I’ve got /way/ too many characters and way too many interweaving, crazy, and of course traumatic backstories for them all. When I’ve tried to count my characters I’ve gotten into the seventies before giving up, but it’s been a long time since I tried counting and I just keep making and getting more-
I’ve recently started playing Minecraft again. Well, I never officially stopped, but I’ve hardly played the last few months because of things going on with me and a friend. But I’ve started playing without her again, and gosh I’ve missed this game. I’ve been exploring servers for the first time, and found thar there’s a lot of really fun mini-games out there! One of my favorites is Cake Wars which, admittedly, I haven’t had that much luck with. But my team did win for the first time today, so that was pretty exciting!
Someday I hope to build the Lost Cities from the Keeper book in Minecraft. It’ll be quite a challenge, considering how big and elaborate all the buildings are, but it’ll be fun too.
On a completely different note, I’m pretty obsessed with music. I don’t play any instruments, though I have attempted to learn to play the harmonica, piano and ukulele at various times… but I’ve never had enough patience to stick with any of them. But I’ve got music playing like constantly and my main playlist has reached a possibility concerning length of 2,000+ songs and is growing everyday…
It’s becoming a problem.
One of my favorite music artists has always been Kenny Chesney, and some of my other favorites include Kelly Clarkson, Darius Rucker, and a bunch of others. My favorite genres are country and pop but I listen to a bit of everything. So my playlist is a bit of a trip lol- it can easily go from Taylor Swift to Elvis to Panic! At The Disco… it’s something.
I don’t know what more to say, so I guess I’ll wrap this up now. So yeah, that’s me. I’m weird. I’m introverted and either I don’t talk or never shut up. I willingly admit to being both a total nerd and a bit of a dork. So yeah. If you ever feel like stopping by, my door is always open and I’m always willing to chat or roleplay! Plus there’s always the possibility I might have cookies and lemonade…
Man I could go for some lemonade right about now.
But I digress.
This is Ash, signing out.

november first daily ☙ 334 intro
♡ 334 words ♡

hey everyone! it's a pleasure to be back in swc this session as a sci-fi camper - i'm arli! (my pronouns are she/her) this is my sixth session, and i first joined swc as a non-fi camper in march 2021. in july 2021, i was a dystopian camper, and in november 2021, thriller. my fourth session in march 2022 was my first session on the (co)leader team - i co-led real-fi - and last session, i was poetry's leader <3

this session, i signed up as a camper once again, and i can't wait to partake in the sci-fi simulation :] i first remember writing when i was around four years old, but i wouldn't consider that real writing. about three years ago, i started to get into it more seriously, and the best thing that ever happened to me in terms of writing happened, well, in march 2021

besides writing, you'd probably find me drowning in schoolwork (/hj), attempting to actually finish a drawing for once, chatting with my friends, or listening to music. my favorite school subjects include social studies, tech, and math, and i do choir and ballet as extracurricular activities!

i don't have many favorite authors, but i do have some particular favorite books. my absolute favorite is when you reach me by rebecca stead, which i've definitely re-read many times since last august. additionally, my best friend introduced me to the keeper of the lost cities series, by shannon messenger, which i enjoyed reading this past year <33 (for any kotlc fans who happen to be reading this, one week?!)

okay, i wish i knew more books, but there you go! xDD

i'm really excited to meet all the new campers this session, find some new friends, and talk again with my friends from past sessions. again, this community always makes me ten times more excited to write and have fun, and i can't wait to see where the november 2022 session takes us.

i almost sound kind of calm here but i'm pretty chaotic irl /hj

Daily One
Word Count: 1,045

Table of Contents

Hello! I already introduced myself in the main cabin but I decided to make it longer (attempting the 1k words introduction) so here I am! (Especially since I wrote the other one in October and it doesn't count for words :sob Be warned that I'm quite a boring person so this will probably just end up being me rambling about random things. Have fun! If you read the whole thing I'll give you a cookie.

First up, my name and pronouns! I go by Dawn online though I don't mind if you call me by my real name (if you know it). Though it does sound weird when I hear my real name on here. My pronouns are she/her, please only call me by that. Thanks! I have a horrible memory though so I understand if you forget/don't know. If you do happen to forget/don't know they/them is fine. I highly prefer she/her though. So if you know, please refer to me with she/her.

I've been in SWC fourth times, including this session. My first session was exactly a year ago. I was a camper in Myth Temple with Amy, Sai, and Frog. I've been participating ever since and have been in Real-Fi Academy as a camper and Adventure Parks as a co-leader. As well as co-leading Dystopian Realm this session. SWC is one of my greatest passions and just when I feel like giving up on writing, a new SWC session comes up and gives me inspiration. I'm pretty sure I would have quit Scratch by now if it weren't for all the friends I've made through Scratch. SWC gives me the opportunity to improve my writing, make new friends, and grow in my relationship with the friends I already have. When I look back at my writing from last November, I'm in awe of how much I've improved.

In addition to SWC and writing, I have many hobbies. One of which is reading. I absolutely love reading. My favourite genres are Fantasy, Realistic Fiction, Dystopian, Historical Fiction, and Romance! My least favourite genres are Thriller and Horror, especially Horror. Basically anything scary. I can't stand horror. It creeps me out. One of my favourite authors is Suzanne Collins. She wrote of my absolute favourite series, The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is (in my opinion) the best Dystopian series ever written. It's been made into an ok (not as good as the books) movie for a reason. Another of my favourite series is the Maze Runner series by James Dashner. And my new absolute favourite book (new because I just finished reading it a couple of days ago) is Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. fskfhjsfhfkds It was so good!!! I can't stress how amazing it was. The characters were so well-developed and complex. And the plot twists- I can't stress how amazing it was. I highly recommend it! It is a young adult book so you might want to check with your parents first. All the characters were amazing!! I can't choose a favourite. I really want to read the next book but I can't because my library doesn't have itttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt. I'm so angry about that. Anyways, moving on before I start ranting about how my library doesn't carry any of the books I want to read… As far as comics/graphic novels go I really like the Tintin series. They're kind of nostalgic for me since they were the first comics I ever read. I could probably go on about books for another hour but you probably don't want to hear about that so we'll move on to another one of my hobbies.

Another one of my hobbies is actually two. Art and crafts! My favourite art medium is Digital. It gives you so much freedom. They have so many different brushes that can mimic other art mediums and I'm a perfectionist so the undo button is my very best friend. I mostly got into crafts because of this thing called Kiwi Crates. Basically, it's a subscription thing where the company sends you a new activity each month. Because of Kiwi Crates, I've gotten into macrame, embroidery, hand lettering, and punch hole (whatever you call it). In addition to those activities, I like knitting (mostly hats and scarves), latch hook (I made a rug that my mom started ~30 years ago), and I dabble a bit in crocheting.

One of my other hobbies is biking. We have tons of bike trails behind our house. Which I can't go on unless I have my brother or dad with me because there are a lot of- uh- bad people- so it's dangerous for anyone but especially a young AFAB. So I mostly bike around the neighbourhood or to the nearest park. The park is actually part of my (really) old school. It's now a rehab center for troubled teens, as well as a daycare. Yeah, the two things don't really go together but it's the city's decision, not mine. :shrug:

Another thing I enjoy is eating. That may sound weird but it's true. My favourite thing to eat/drink is bubble/boba tea!! It's the best thing ever created (aside from books, lol). My favourite flavour is mango!! The bubble tea place I like has one called Mango Butterfly and it's so good!! It has GLITTER in it. Like- wow. It's amazing!! My other favourite foods are chicken, bacon, and ham. Pretty much all meat. Ooh, and cheesecake!! Almost anything sweet.

Some other random facts about me! I'm fifteen years old and will be sixteen in January. It's hard to imagine being that old, lol. I have ADHD/ADD. (I haven't been officially diagnosed but I have all the ‘symptoms’.) Also, I'm a huge procrastinator. I still need to study for my learner's license. I could have gotten it almost two years ago but I'm procrastination at its finest. B) I have a female Labrador Retriever x Golden Retriever named Piper! She's a year old and looks almost exactly like a black lab. She's the cutest most mischievous thing ever. xD

And I made it to 1k words!! Whoo!! Don't mind the fact that it took me roughly three hours because I kept getting distracted. xD

nov nineteenth - i got “lavender haze symbolizing calmness” for this one ^^
With all the stress going on in her life, Hope only wanted a breath, a refresher. She never knew how hard it was to find one. So she kept going to school, kept smiling, kept joking and pretending that she was okay. Pretending sucked. It was really difficult at times and left her in a gaping hole of guilt. She probably should let out how she felt… but how? And she didn’t want to, anyway. Being bottled up gave her the privacy she needed. She was almost certain that everybody being concerned for her would only make things worse.
Hope sighed, and set her pencil down. The homework was too much, pressing her in from all sides. The teachers always said, go home, spend time with family, get some rest for the next day. How the heck was she able to do that when she had an endless, looming pile of work, chores, and activities? She had to leave for tennis in an hour. It wasn’t like she was a nobody with no life. She remembered the mental health lessons the school had taught way back - do things you enjoy, don’t overwork yourself, etc, etc. It was school itself that kept herself from doing just that.
She rubbed the side of her head, trying to crush down the rising headache. Wake up, school, homework, tennis, dinner, homework, sleep, repeat. All day, every day, so consistent that Hope was beginning to feel like some sort of machine. She glanced at the math papers again. Long strands of numbers she’d never use, taunting her, confusing her, dancing off the page. A sharp pain bloomed in her head. Yep, that was without a doubt going to wait for later. They say ‘homework will be the death of me’ jokingly, but it felt uncomfortably real.
Hope stood up, her little white cat bounding over to rub his face on her legs. She managed a small smile, and reached down to gently pat him, causing an eruption of tiny mews. She reached for her jacket, and headed for the door, hoping that a walk would be able to clear her mind. Stepping outside, a cold breeze immediately brushed her face. It was numbing, and Hope liked it that way. The sun was setting behind the low, purply clouds. It was like the world had been blanketed in plush lavender. The air was filled with fragrance and the distant scent of rain. She took deep breaths as she walked, letting the lavender haze calm her.
420 words

weekly 3 - 641 words total
part 1
I won’t share proof for this as it’s kinda personal, but I chose to do the matrix and time blocking!
74 words

part 2
(brainstorming)
(strange_skies) prompt - write a life story about the next stranger you see based off of their clothing, then add use your most prized possession as the most important thing in the story :D
> (me) add-on: give the item a curse that the character(s) didn’t know existed >:D

(theseventh-crow) Prompt: what's (one of) your favourite genre(s)? Now write something in that genre but the time of day is whatever time of day it is for you right now
> (me) add on! : but,,, make the season in the story the /opposite/ of what it is for you! (ex. heatwave in winter, snow in summer, or just… rain :,D)

(Fantastical_Words) Prompt: Look out of a window or go outside and pick 3 (maybe slightly obscure) things to use in a story. the story has to be under 300 words!
> (me) add on: turn the things into human characters!

(me) prompt: what’s your favorite animal? what’s your least favorite animal? combine the two and write about an au where that animal exists ;)
78 words of me giving prompts

part 3
- hydration
I didn’t know staying hydrated had so much to do with your body’s ability to function! I often struggle to get myself to drink water, even if the water is right in front if me. I either forget it’s there, am too lazy, or simply don’t have the will to take a sip. I’ll try to encourage myself to drink more by remembering this workshop, hehe.

- sleep
Ah yes, the usual SWC-er’s worst enemy, sleep. I’ve always known that I should be getting more sleep, but I kind of have a weird relationship with it. I get 8 - 10 hours of sleep a day, which is good, but I also struggle to actually fall asleep,,,

- putting away devices
I used to have crazy amounts of screen time. As a SWC-er, digital artist, and victim of online homework assignments, I still have those days! Cutting back my time watching random videos and playing random games has helped a ton, but the rest is kind of out of control ~

How much water do you drink per day? How about your sleep schedule? And just how much time do you spend on your phone? Most of you might have unhealthy answers to these questions. You’re supposed to be taking in 6 cups of water and getting at least 8 hours of sleep a day - both of these may sound like big numbers now, but they won’t be if you start working!
If you’re a Scratch Writing Camp camper, you might find it hard to step away from the wonderful world of writing. And with added time scrolling through short videos and mindlessly texting, your screentime gets… insane, to say the least. It’s not good for your body, or your mind. Believe me, I’ve been in your place before - still kind of working my way out of it, actually! Your life and health both matter more, even if you have a hard time forcing yourself to believe it. Water helps us to circulate and digest. You can work towards the daily six cups if you increase a little each day, as it’s not entirely healthy to jump right there. As for sleep… ah yes, sleep, the average SWC-er’s crisis. It’s really tempting to stay up and do whatever you like to do, but please, sleep! You may view it as productive to work through the night, but suprise suprise, you’ll be left utterly exhausted the next morning. Sleep is needed for your body to rest and recharge. Your mind needs a break; the more unrested you are, the more sluggish your brain will be. An unrested brain is prone to making questionable decisions. If you have trouble falling asleep sometimes, like me, try cutting back screens and studying. I usually read to relax myself before bed. Trust me - take your deserved 8 hours of sleep, and you’ll be sharp, energized, and ready to go!
489 words

nov seventeenth - bread!
Bread! It's a wonderful thing
Perhaps too majestic for your eyes
It's beautiful
Gorgeous
Prettier than you.
The beep of the oven
The ding of my toaster
The click of my breadbox
Any sign that bread is ready to eat
Makes me sing
And jump with joy!
Bread! Delicious, nutritious
Comes in so many varieties
Bagels, naan, toast, banana bread, corn bread
Every single one different!
Every single one magnificent!
Every single one worth trying!
I remember once there was a day
Where I was without bread.
It was the most miserable day of my life.
I broke down on the bathroom floor and cried for hours
For I was without bread!
Bread! Better than your significant other!
Try it with butter
Try it raw
Try it with jelly?
Maybe you're a psychopath and like it in ashes.
That's okay, I don't discriminate.
Because, ashes or not, it's bread!
Or has been bread. Whatever
The only thing worse than that is…
Not liking bread.
Lies! have you even tried it?
Perhaps take a bite
Try it with peanut butter
Try it with mango sauce
Try my limited edition salmon flavored bread
There has got to be a type of bread you like!
For there are so many varieties
If you truly do not like bread though
I want you d3ad /j

Scratch this is a joke please
220 words

nov sixteenth - color writing
Pink had rimmed my vision for days. I was head over heels in love with him - his smile, his voice, his everything. I couldn’t think, think of anything else. I was failing school, but who cared? He smiled at me this morning, and that was all that mattered. He liked me! He liked me back! It was a golden type of happiness that made me want to jump up and down and scream. There was hope! Pastel purple, delightful hope. It was what I had been wishing for since I had first seen him. Wishing on a star, wishing on the gods of love… I skipped through the campus, my friends calling my name. I didn’t hear them, my head was up in the clouds. Had been, for days. I skipped and hummed cheery love songs, clutching a rose in my hand. I pretended that he gave it to me, but in truth I found it off the ground. A girl can dream, right? But my friends kept calling my name. There was something electric blue in the back of my mind that told me it was urgent, but I still couldn’t quite comprehend it. Until Lizzy grabbed my arm and shook my insides.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“Tyler doesn’t like you back.”
Doesn’t, doesn’t, doesn’t. Doesn’t? It took me a second, but then my vision turned a rainbow of colors - sad grays, angry reds, confused yellows. The tears fell.
243 words

weekly #2
part 1
https://scratch.mit.edu/users/-vanillamochabear-/#comments-235378990
331 words of me asking/answering!

part 2
https://scratch.mit.edu/users/-vanillamochabear-/#comments-235288159
306 words of my part

part 3
human
what even is this idk — it’s approx 3 minutes long that’s what matters ig :D

You’ve been told to cut your hair short all your life.
“Look at those split ends!”
“It’ll be easy to brush, I promise.”

Yet when you do so:
“You looked better with it long.”
“Ew, grow it out.”
“You look like a poodle when you wake up.”

Anything you decide to do in life, anything that’s naturally part of your appearance, anything existing on the surface of the Earth
… gets judged.
“You’re fat.”
“You’re skinny.”
“you’re… boring.”

Why is it this way, you ask?
It’s in human nature
We’re all secretly insecure ourselves, we judge to bring up our self esteem,
But does it have to be this way?
no.

You’re insecure. They’re insecure. What good does it do to bring someone down?
You don’t like their shirt
They’re not bothering you
Do they deserve an Insult? Or a kind nod and a smile?
Why does their shirt matter?

they’re a person too.

What about in the event that you are the one being judged?
Do you get mad and fight back?
Or do you change?
What if I told you to do neither?

I had a dream once
Floating free
Floating away from the Earth, away from the judgement
Tumbling in a pool of cotton candy clouds
Imperfect in shape but perfect in color

What if we looked for perfections
In everybody instead?

Would our world be better?
What if we focused on the pretty eye in the “ugly” drawing?
On the colorful books on the rusting bookshelf?
On the rainbow in the sky?

Us, humans, are naturally the judgiest species alive
Is it even possible to change at this point in time?

The planets will always orbit the sun
The moons will orbit our planets
The water is lapping the seashore
Things we’ve known since the start of time

But
they too
will change
over time
long,
l o n g
periods of time.

We can change over time too,
quicker if we start now,
Can we change our ways?
It only makes sense in my opinion
that
we can.
343 words

part four - song!
dahlias
(meaning: yours ‘til the end)
imagine writing a love song… hehe…

(soft instrumental of the first few lines of the chorus)
(same note x8)

verse 1:
it’s crazy how life is full of
ups and downs
spiraling towards the ground before i can
turn arou-oundd

(little instrumental blurb)

we’reeee likeeee petals in the wi-ind
but you’reeeee byyyy myyy sideeee, we’re flying, soaring,
journeying toge-therrrr
(together!)

pre-chorus:
there’s firefliiiiies in your eyessss
i can’t seem to pull away-y
blueeee like the nighttime skie-ies
i just want to stay-yyyyy…

(epic instrumental)

chorus:
it’s like a fantasy
your hand in mine, we’re meant to beee
a perfect melodyyy
it’s heavenly, we’re meant to be,,,

together, together
i’m yours, foreverrrr
together, togetherrr
we’re just two birds, of a feather

verse 2:
your fingers brush my hair asi-ide
gently
you tuck the flower between my ear
smiling

(instrumental blurb again)

we’reee dancing through the dahlia fie-ields
staaaarliiight bouncing off the raindrops
you’re by my side
guiding me throughhhh (!)

pre-chorus:
there’s firefliiiiies in your eyessss
a seaaaa of wonderrr, am i insane?
blueeee like the moonrise
it’s getting late, i won’t complain,,

(cool chords)

chorus:
it’s like a fantasy
your hand in mine, we’re meant to beee
a perfect melodyyy
it’s heavenly, we’re meant to be,,,

together, together
i’m yours, foreverrrr
together, togetherrr
you’re my dahlia, my treasure

verse 3:
delicaate threads of moooonlight, it’s
ethereal-l
the breeze, it’s almost,
musical-l

(instrumental blurb again)

it’ssss all so, unpredictable
the uuuniverse is spiiinning,, yet our little corner is somehow stilllll,,
iii brush your lipsss and wish wee can bee, for eternityy-y
(eternity…)

bridge:
(slow, melodic, sadish like a radish)
whaaat wouuld eeveerr haaapen
if wee weeree without each ooother?
what if the world daaarkened
(softly) how would i love another?

(instrumentals)

pre-chorus:
there’s firefliiiiies in your eyessss
they hold me captive, it’s no surprise
blue like the star speckled skie-ies
the rain stings me, but i’ll stay ’til sunri-ise

(more energetically hitting the notes)

chorus;
it’s like a fantasy
your hand in mine, we’re meant to beee
a perfect melodyyy
it’s heavenly, we’re meant to be,,,

together, together
i’m yours, foreverrrr
together, togetherrr
i’ll be with you, no matter the weatherr

together, together
i’m yours, foreverrrr
forever, togetherrr,,

(instrumental of the chorus)

wee’ll dancee liiikee dah-li-a petals in the wi-ind
(slow) and i’ll promise to be yours
if youuu’ll be minee
(softly) ‘til the end <3

(arpeggiated chords, ending on a really high note)
403 words including the nonsense musical notes that make me look cool /hj


nov tenth - constellations

Once upon a time, on a planet we call Earth, a constellation called Leo existed. In the human’s eyes, of course. The humans would like to say that this beloved constellation had an interesting backstory, perhaps one of action, neglect, and child labor, but the hard truth was that it did not. Or so they thought,

You see, in an ancient kingdom that has since fallen a good deal of years ago, there lived a king. An arrogant, narcissist king. He was named Leo. After the invention of the telescope, he received the honor of being one of it’s first users. Well, not really, as he invited himself to do so, but you get the idea.
He did not discover any planets. Most likely because he did not have any idea how to operate this complex machinery. And nobody offered to help him, either.
So instead, he shoved the telescope aside and squinted up at the royal midnight sky.
“Oi!” he said, “That bunch of stars over there looks particularly like a lion, a.k.a. my favorite animal, because they are magnificent and glorious like me —”
“And?” his guard replied.
Leo scowled. “Constellations are simply groups of stars named by people, yes?”
The inventor of the telescope accompanying them spoke up. “My lord, yes, but no —”
“Perfect.” the King answered. “Then, from now on, that lion looking clump of stars is called Leo.”
The guard and the inventor sighed in harmony. This was supposed to be a test run of the telescope.

That was the end of the story of the constellation Leo. The one they know, however… remember that “or so they thought”?
Moving on to the juicier part of this essay! We have one of the stars in Leo not wanting to be in Leo, or having anything to do with this annoying humanoid king on Earth. Specifically, this was the goddess of Denebola. Her name was Denebola. She was an expert of dealing with things.
“I will not tolerate this!” she shouted from the heavens above.
And Leo, who was at the time in the bathtub smiling at his smile, went missing and reappeared in an African forest far away as a lion.
Denebola says do not question her actions.

“Oh em gee!” he roared, very confused.
He would shouted more, had a fit, or whatever, but Denebola decided that that was the absolute perfect timing to appear as a hunter in front of Leo, and promptly shoot him with a look of satisfaction in her eyes that did not make sense to the King. Our girl boss then put his spirit up into the constellation with her, to be held for eternity. Again, no questions please.
I suppose this isn’t a naming story, yet a post-naming story… at least the humans have /a/ story for Leo.
…well, the end, on that happy note.
478 words

nov eighth/ninth - flash fiction
“Small things”
The little girl sat with her back against the old willow tree, hugging her knees to her chest. She didn’t have the energy for this stupid playtime, didn’t have the heart to live. How do you get over the loss of something that had been your entire life? A young boy jump roping by himself notices the girl. He wanders towards her and taps her shoulder.
“Hey,” He places a tiny doll of a cat in the girl’s palm. It was painted bright green and blue, and was perhaps the most idiotic thing in the world.
The girl thought of her own kitten snoozing in the heavens, and smiled for the first time in days.

“(un) Lucky Number Ten”
He folded a tenth paper airplane for that afternoon, hoping it was his last for the tenth time. Why was he so determined to throw further than his girlfriend, he had no idea. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and flicked his wrist with all his strength, just as he did the past ten times. When he lifted his eyelids, he saw his flimsy handcrafted toy fluttering to the ground - until a strong breeze whooshed it further. Straight into a puddle.
His girlfriend laughed. “I’ll consider that a success on your end.”

“Winter”
The last of the leaves gracefully twirled down from the branches. My yellow boots crunched through them all, and I smiled. The end of one season, yet the start of another. There was something peaceful behind that.
254 words

weekly 1
Alright, so, I imagine Mystery personified as a feminine, intelligent, elegant, and… mySterious figure on first impression. She’s good at holding grudges and forever bitter against her few enemies. She isn’t cruel and tries to be friendly with the neutrals, but knows to be careful around them. And as soon as you warm up to her, she can be fun and really kind.

—

Mystery carries her stack of letters with both arms, cradling them carefully. Each envelope has a name on the back in elegant, sweeping handwriting, as well as a blood-red seal. The threatening wind sweeps her navy blue hair over her shoulders.

Dystopian
To our beloved divine ally:
How’s it going for you? I see that you’re ahead of the entire camp - well done, by the way. If you’re ever in need of a rest after all that hard work, you’ll always find a place within our express. I hope to visit your realm again someday. I imagine it to be beautiful, no matter whatever things you’re dealing with. And by the way, the painting you sent with your last letter was gorgeous! The color, the detail, the overall composition… oh, and of course, your pet cat in the corner that somehow makes and appearance every time. Could I perhaps commision a piece for display?
Yours truly, Mystery

Fantasy
Hello,
I’ve been told not to be too friendly to you, but I haven’t recieved word to be cruel either. Don’t try to take this as an offer on allyship, because we actually intend to steal your ranking soon enough. Was I allowed to say that? Whatever, I hope you guys are doing well. I must admit, I love your use of a fantasy subgenre, especially steampunk, that’s one of my favorites! And mixed with cute animals, too. Creativity at it’s height - though with the sanctuary theme, a little febreeze could do no harm… ?
Just trying to help out a little, Mystery

Horror
Ew. I mean, hi! Yep, hello.
You’re one of our two enemies. I can’t particularly recall which of your actions placed you there. Or was it all of them, collectively? Either way, you’re going to be staying mistrusted. You’re awfully creepy too; perhaps the horror-est horror camp has seen. I remember back in my day, you were so much more tame. What has happened? If it’s for some reason your goal to live up to your name, you’re doing a wonderful job at it. Keep up the horrific work, I guess.
By the way, we’ve recently surpassed you in the rankings. Haha
Mystery

Script
Dear Script,
Barely in top 5, I see. Congratulations anyway! For the record, I support you in passing Horror.
I stopped by your theater early last month in disguise, just for the fun of it. This was shortly before it “broke down”. I barely managed to grab a ticket, they sell out fast even with the high price tag, hm? Do not worry for me, I am not broke.
The musical you performed in that night was decent. Not bad, if I must, but nothing special too. Your costume was the best out of everyones, but your singing could use some work. The theater chefs make fabulous cupcakes though.
With good intention, Mystery

Folklore
Folklore! We haven’t talked in quite a while.
Friends from the start, and hopefully friends ‘till the end. A little long-distance, maybe, but true allies nonetheless? I think you’re a pretty fantastic genre, it’s nice to have a fresh face around for perspective. Reborn (or brought back to life?) from two fallen cabins I kind of liked. I can’t tell if that makes me adore you more or less.
I hope the woods are treating you well. I hear it’s blossoming time for the flowers; which must be lovely! I would love to be plucking a colorful bouquet right now. If it weren’t for those pesky bugs, of course.
Sincerely, Mystery.

Thriller
Bonjour, my very wet friend!
Hi Thrill! I just received your letter yesterday. Um, most of the ink washed out, but I was able to make out a few of the sentences. Looks like we’re both dealing with the cold - as they say, it’s better to struggle together, right? All of the photography you attached made it through perfectly! I have them displayed on my desk, teehee. I bet the colorful fish under the surface must be a spectacular sight in person. I’ve been to an aquarium once, and nothing there was nearly as interesting. Have you encountered any sharks this session?
Stay safe, Mystery

Real-fi
Hey Real-fi:
The snow hasn’t been too kind to your area either, has it? How’s the Inn? It feels so recent that you just bought the place, but it’s been 3 months and you’ve done an amazing job renovating it. Well done, I suppose. You have a knack for buildings, some session before it was a restaurant if I remember correctly. I found somewhere online that adding syrup to fresh snow is delicious. I would try it, but we’re always on the move, so here I am suggesting the recipe to you instead. You could pass it on to one of the restaurant’s chefs.
Mystery

Bi-Fi
Hello there, another of our many unaligned!
You’re the second of this session’s new faces, I assume. We haven’t yet established a relationship of sort, but I’ll treat you towards the nicer side. I didn’t have a liking towards your genre much at first, but I suppose it’s not all too that bad. You have got to love the cinemas, right? Entertainment is promising. I heard from a friend that you script all the movies yourself - is that true? If so, you’re an awesome writer. I especially loved that one about zombie goldfish, it makes me glad my train is nowhere near the ocean.
Wishing you the best, Mystery

Sci-fi
Greetings, Sci-fi. We haven’t reached out, like ever, but I’m pretty sure that’s no accident.
Enemies in life, likely enemies in death. And apparently also enemies in this pointless virtual stimulation of yours. I dream that it’s going terribly for you guys. Mwahahaha. Okay, but seriously, tone it down with the neon colors - there was once a time long ago when I enjoyed them, but not anymore. Not paired with the glitching effects, at least. This session, it gives me a headache. How about aim for some still, peaceful grays? And while you’re at it, come back into the real world,
Mystery

Adventure
Hi Adventure,
How is life in the kingdom? The last letter I got from you was over a month ago, and I kind of got worried so here I am with a reply. I hope things haven’t gotten any more hectic than they were. Actually, they probably have; I’ve received word that your kingdom is preparing for a fight of sorts? I seriously hope they don’t get to that point. I’m here to resolve whatever issue, you know. And if battle eventually does occur, well, good luck.
As a random side note, it’s refreshing to have someone older than I.
Good luck, Mystery

Fan-fi
Dear Fan-fiction:
Why didn’t you tell me you found out how to time travel? Just how long ago did you make this discovery? I feel very left in the dark, thank you very much.
I’m mostly kidding, no extremely harsh feelings. I hope you guys are being careful with this splendid gift. Have you been traveling a little too much? Oh, and don’t touch anything that doesn’t need to be touched, of course. If the course of the Earth were to change one day, I’ll know who to blame it on.
Again, I’m kidding. No need to worry. Kind of.
Stay safe, Mystery

Hi-fi
Woo! Hi Hi-fi! Yes, that was intended.
My favorite train sibling! Yes, this is another on of those random check-in letters. We’ve written perhaps 20 letters back and forth within the past month. I’m heading north this session, you’re heading south. Is it nice and warm where you’re at? If we can’t scream at each other daily, it’s going to be letters. Good to stay in contact, am I right? I would have gone broke paying for the overnight delivery if it weren’t for you. Thanks for lending me all that (stolen) money. You’re the only criminal I have ever supported in my entire life. Try not to get caught after all that theft though,
Love, Mystery

Non-fi
Naan-fi! Hello.
To start, I love your name choice. It was totally necessary too - like, Non-fi? Not fi? What even was that? And second, wishing your bread business is going as well as you dreamed. Back when we were childhood friends, you were always telling me how badly you wanted to open a bakery; and I’m truly proud of you! From the times I’ve stopped by, the smell is still stuck with me. In a positive way, of course. I can vividly stir up the scent of your bread I mean, and it’s making me really hungry. Too bad I’m so far away.
Craving naan, Mystery

Poetry
My other favorite sibling. Hey Poetry!
It’s kind of sad how you’re all the way down in last. If you need some assistance in any way, just mail me back, you know? Oh, and I’m sorry that Hi-fi has been so rude to you. I’ll try talking it out with them, but it’s really just in their nature as a criminal. But maybe you could be nicer to them as well… ? Don’t pretend like I didn’t see you stealing Hi-fi’s cupcakes during our last get-together. Enough about sibling relationships, I hope the Isle of Fame is proving to be fun.
Smiles, Mystery

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1625 words

nov fourth - iconic google translate daily!
a translated excerpt of “all i want for christmas is you”. because it’s christmastime and no one can convince me otherwise ;D can’t wait for those annoying christmas songs to come back!! /hj
i don't like christmas
I want one
I have nothing to do with Christmas gifts.
he will love you
More than you think.
He can make your dreams come true.
I wish you a Merry Christmas, I wish you a Merry Christmas
Beautiful face

-

He had gone missing over ten years ago.
I still remembered a conversation we had way back, as innocent children.

“It's November first.” I said, “Merry Christmas!”
Noah rolled his eyes. “Mm. I don't like Christmas.”
“But you do celebrate it?”
“Yeah?”
I thought for a moment. “What holiday do you like, then?”
“Halloween!” Noah's eyes brightened.
“The one that just passed?”
“Uh-huh. I'm a candy loving type of person.”
I chuckled. “Who isn't?”
Noah smiled slyly, and pulled a fistful of chocolates out of his pockets. “From yesterday's haul,”
“I want one!” I exclaimed,
He dropped a raspberry truffle into my open palm, and I snacked on it gratefully.
“Huh, how much of your stash remains?” I inquired between bites.
“A lot, actually.”
“You could give them out as low quality Christmas presents!”
“I have nothing to do with Christmas gifts. They're such a waste of time,”
I gave up and sighed. “Ugh, you're so mean,” I half-joked. “What if you gave, like, a really cool gift to that annoying brother you keep talking about? He'll looooove you. All your dreams'll come true, as soon as he stops bothering you!
Noah grinned. ”Eh. Maybe I'll think about it."

I hadn't talked to him, or seen him, in over a decade. But when the organization's leader brought him into the meeting room, I gasped, but it quickly switched to an expression of delight.
“Hey, Christmas hater boy,” I said.
A look of recognition flashed over Noah. It was so unreal to have his iconic half-smile back on his beautiful face.
“It's November first again,” I prompted. To my surprise, Noah caught on.
“I know. Merry Christmas, Linda.”
277 words

nov third - ela homework smoothie
You're casually going about your day at Scratch Writing Camp, typing up letters for the weekly while drifting in your canoe, when a short, dark haired girl pulls herself up onto the red roof of the main cabin. She's hoisting up what appears to be a red megaphone, and after fiddling with some buttons, begins her speech.
“HEY KIDS!” she shouts. “WELL, HALF OF YOU ARE PROBABLY OLDER THAN ME, BUT ANYWAY. I'M JULI, AND I'M HE–” she paused again, surveying the crowd.
Everybody had their hands over their ears, and the lake's surface was rippling from the megaphone's sheer volume. In fact, you had begun to fear for the life of your laptop.
Juli chuckles, then turns down the sound. “Oh, my bad. As I was saying, I'm here to promote my brand new smoothie!”
You grimace. Juli was practically famous for being a very bad cook.
Juli reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a packet of paper. “This, is my english language arts homework!”
It was clear that nobody really understood how homework and smoothies were related. Until Juli turned around and caught the wireless blender that had been tossed up for her, as well as a gallon of milk and some nutmeg. And at that moment, your eyes widened with realization.
“Beeeeecause I don't want to do my stupid homework, I'm going to feed it to y'all!” Juli exclaims. She begins pouring her cursed combination of ingredients into the blender. “Who doesn't love the papery feel of paper? And the make matters worse,” she coughed. “Ahem, I mean better, the assignment is on Jack London's ‘The Call of the Wild’! Everybody is saying it's an iconic, really good book, but I disagree. Probably because it's been assigned as homework and I'm two chapters behind. That's beside the point - what I'm saying is, you'll be consuming my half-finished essay on dogs! Tasty! And did I mention that I have a staple somewhere in here? Whoever gets that bit is going to be lucky.”
Juli rips the final pieces of her paper, and clicks “blend”. She let it run for a few seconds, to the entire camp's horror. She smiled proudly, pouring the creamy-white mix into cups that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
By now, the hosts had appeared in the distance, waving their arms. Juli didn't look all too worried.
Turning her red megaphone back up to full volume, she shouts, “WELL, THAT'S MY CUE TO GO! IF YOU WANT SOME OF THIS, I'LL BE WAITING IN FRONT OF MYSTERY CABIN!”
Juli disappeared in a poof of navy blue, and the dazed campers resumed their activities.
440 words

nov second - swc postscript article
(rushed)
Yesterday was the kick-off for Scratch Writing Camp's November 2022 session! In case you didn't know, Scratch Writing Camp is a virtual camp, hosted entirely on a children's platform called Scratch. All ages are welcome, and from my experience, I've seen children as young as 7 and all the way up to college aged around! This camp is triannual, or runs three times per year, ideally in the months of March, July, and November. Despite there only being around 90 days of SWC per year, most of the in-between months are bustling with the excitement of leader applications, cabin planning, and camper sign ups. This session presents itself as the seventeenth – and despite it's old age, the camp is going strong!
What keeps participants participating, you may ask? Well, with myself going into my sixth session, personally I enjoy taking part due to the wonderful community of authors. Even in my beginning stages, no one has ever made fun of my writing, and has instead offered encouragement and criticism! The ever changing dailies remain creative and engaging, thanks to the wonders of the daily team. Each daily and weekly is designed to improve your writing in a fun way. And the inside jokes… the best part, if I say so myself.
211 words

nov first - introduction to juli
hello cool people and things of SWC! i'm juli, and this session i'm a co-leader for mystery with fae, brave, and rockie :D this is my sixth session, i've been participating since march 2021 in different cabins each time hehe (beloved myth, poetry, hi-fi, horror, fantasy, and now mystery). this is my fourth session as a co-leader! my pronouns are she/any and i'll be turning 13 in december - this is my last chance to enter for juniors sfdghkj woah. i'm and intp (i used to be an intj but i retook the test and it's much more accurate now), and a professional procrastinator! i'm also really good at recovering from procrastination, i'll be “forgetting” about my homework but finish it at the last minute and get somewhat of a passing grade :,] moving on, besides writing i like art, dance, crochet, music, and reading <3 i've been drawing for as long as i can remember but i only started drawing digitally and actually taking it seriously like a year or two ago, i've done dance (ballet, tap, n jazz) since 3 but my studio shut down a while ago so now i'm confined to in-school dance (:P) and self-teaching (:D) until i find a place (if ever), i started crocheting during the pandemic and love making plushies, i play violin and also piano,, and lastly, reading! reading > movies and shows for me ^o^ reading is like my escape, i kind of got disinterested in it the past few years but i'm just getting back into it and nowadays i'm back to the point where i'll pick up a book if i'm bored. some of my favorite book series are percy jackson (and the rest of riordanverse!), kotlc, hp, sge, and yeah a bunch of random novels. my favorite genres are fantasy, adventure, and mystery!
this topic of books ties to the question in the daily so i might as well answer that too: i have a lot of favorite authors but rick riordan probably tops them all because i really love his lightheartedish style :) i go back to his books every now and then just because they're so iconic and comforting to reread! every character he creates has such an interesting and unique backstory and they're all so lovable (or hateable i guess) !!
i have a dog named teddy and (one of) his favorite toys is this plush pig!! yesterday for halloween i put a pig costume on him and it was really funny ANYWAYS i really like animals lol they tend to distract me ;D; i like collecting really random things for instance plushies, gems, and this one specific type of pens!!! and sanrio stuff because of how cutesy and colorful they are. my favorite color is purple and i've been obsessed with lavender shades lately! i've been talking about my likes this entire time jfskksdhf so for a change of topic i hate bugs, celery, and yeah i can't think of much – anyway that's really all thank you for coming to my introduction where i constantly get distracted )
511 words

testing forum, sorry!!