Critique for @x_Rosemary_x! ( https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/638246/?page=33#post-6746800 )
(this is my first time critiquing, sorry if it's sorta ramble-y heh)

Since the story is written in script style, I can't really judge the writing since- well, it's script lol. So I'll just give a general overview, like what you said. First off, I really like this piece! Comedy is probably one of my favorite writing genres, and it doesn't feel very forced here :] I feel like the pacing is “not slow, not fast” but leaning towards fast, if you want feedback about that.

Secondly, maybe try clarifying what some lines mean? For example,

“Cloudy walks in, starting an intro that was actually better than Aeo’s. -
Cloudy: Wait, where’d all the Starbucks come from?”

Did she start the intro but stop to ask about the Starbucks? Did she finish the intro? The line is already good, but I'd say a bit of clarifying can help! (e.g. if you meant the former, something like “Cloudy walks in, starting an intro that was actually better than Aeo's. In the middle of the intro, she paused.”)

Andd, that's all I have to say. I didn't really critique the dialogue since I don't completely know how they were supposed to be heard if said in real life (+ I don't know how the people would actually talk, assuming that they are real Scratchers), but if you want me to then I can. Bye! :-D

(By the way, I apologize if I sound rude anywhere here! I assure you, that isn't my intention ^^")

– – –

Word Count :: 215 (excluding emoticons, abbreviations, links, usernames, and text copied from the original)

NickName - Ava
Content - November 23rd Daily
Word Count - 224/50
Topic - Write 100 words describing a book you wrote!
Cabin - Thriller

LET'S GET STARTED

I am in the process of writing a book! I haven't really decided on the name yet.
The main plot is that there are many clans, and each of them hates the other. But they'd do anything to win. Team up and then betray their partner, Go solo and defeat everyone single-handedly, or even betray your own clan and side with the winning team. Anything was possible here.
And finally, A girl named Ava loses it and finds the forbidden prophecy.

The forbidden prophecy states one child from every clan would be the only key to stopping the feud. And since Ava had found the prophecy, she was already one of the contestants. Ava was representing the water clan, Azulnatto.
Her secret best-friend from the mixed clan, where children born from parents from different camps were placed, had been with her too. So now she was too automatically the kid from Mleeoneen, the mixed clan. Her mother from the moon clan Selenemi and her father from the love clan Ixhsila didn't help. The Love and Moon teams hated one another. But not more than war, though. Love detested war. Ironic, since Love and war could not exist without eachother, but we'd come to the later.

How would Ava stop the fight? And how in the world would she ever accomplish the impossible feat?

How would she convince her parents?

11/23 (105 words): Today, the Main Cabin is a Bestselling Bookstore! Why not take a look around and browse some books? And surely you want your own works on the shelves? Write 50 words describing your book in the Main Cabin for 100 points. Then, take a look around. If you see another book you'd be interested in buying, say so in a reply to that comment!

You pull out a dark green book with golden text that has the word ‘Inevitable’ inscribed. You flip it over and read the back blurb. It states, “The Kingdom of Carugo is ruled by Queen Emiline, King Roland, and Princess Lynnette. Lynette and Roland are trained axxaxxins, which is unknown to all of Carugo, including Emeline. But when an axxaxxin from their organization attacks and kills the King, chaos erupts and Lynette has no choice but to tell the truth. What’s worse is she starts seeing strange visions that she thinks depict the future! But will that end up being a power.. or a curse?

Walking the Tightrope
1998 words
Writing Comp Entry
Tw: drowning, implied repeated death, implied child abuse

***

Ezra lives his life in the middle.

He tightropes between life and death, a sort of one-way gateway between the two. He takes the gone, the cold, the dead, and he knits them back to life. He makes hearts beat and lungs breathe and eyes flutter awake.

Some call the power a blessing. Something soft and gentle. Something that can only ever benefit. As for the thoughts of others? It’s an inhuman curse. He never really got around to deciding which side he believed more, so he walks in between, angels singing his praises and devils burning his skin.

Perhaps he would be able to make up his mind easier if it weren’t for one factor. He hates every fiber of his being for thinking it, but sometimes he wonders what he could have been if it weren’t for that factor. Maybe he could have gone on to believe that he could only do right. Maybe he could have been an angel, a saint. Maybe he could have been good.

That factor is Tommy.

Small, blonde, blue-eyed Tommy. Tommy, who Ezra loves more than the warmth of summer, the spotted stars in the night sky, and the singing of the birds. Tommy, who Ezra kills again and again and again.

Technically, it’s not really him doing the killing. He only… brings Tommy back, so the Association can poke more needles in his scrawny arm, so they can drain more blood from his tiny body, so—

So that maybe someday he’ll get to watch the sunrise. So maybe he’ll get to listen to the radio while watching cars whiz past out the window. So maybe he’ll get the chance to see that life is more than needles and death and suffering.

Ezra is not good. He’s not bad, either. Righteousness is at his fingertips, and evil is just an inch away.

For Tommy, he walks the wire.

~

The Association does not keep Ezra under a rock.

Yes, he may be forbidden to contact anybody outside of the bunkers, own any personal belongings, or wander outside three select halls without permission, but he is not sheltered. He has access to practically every book known to man, every TV station there is, and more than enough news articles. He may not be permitted to participate in the world, but he can watch it roll past as much as he pleases.

He watches the circus on the TV in one of the lounge rooms. It’s a flurry of flashing colors and crashing noise — a chaos far too mesmerizing to glance away from.

The acrobats fly into the sky. From ropes and hoops and platforms, they defy gravity in flips and twists. Ezra is no fool. He knows that if any of the performers were to slip up, they’d plummet to the ground beneath them, and it would all be over. They know this as much as he does, and yet they still fly.

And for what? A mighty round of applause? The roar of the crowd? The cheers only last for a moment.

The next act tumbles onto the screen, but Ezra doesn’t notice. If the acrobats risk everything for just a moment of reward, then why shouldn’t he?

~

Running away from the government isn’t the easiest task in the world. It takes six weeks of sneaking around, enduring multiple panic attacks, stealing a janitor uniform, and shoving Tommy into a trash bag, but they do it.

It’s the first time he’s been outside in three years, but he doesn’t dare stop to revel in nature’s majesty. He runs through the forest, tripping on every stone and stick obscured by the night until his trembling legs force him to start walking. When he finally breaks out of the forest, the world is starting to wake, and Tommy is fast asleep on his back. A gravel road runs along in both directions, and Ezra knows they should both hide away before dawn arrives. But it’s been years since he’s seen the world outside of a computer screen, and he wants to show Tommy that there is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel.

He shakes Tommy awake. The boy rubs his eyes, then gasps when he sees the sun spilling from over the horizon, painting the world orange and pink. He gazes at the sky with such awe that Ezra doubts he ever truly loved the sunrise.

A robin bobs on a skinny branch in the trees above them, and Ezra thinks he feels a little like that bird. High in the sky, only a second away from falling.

But Tommy’s hand is warm in his, and even from up high, the view is beautiful.

~

They find a little shed out in the forest. It’s ancient and falling apart in multiple places, but it has a floor and a roof, and that’s enough. Town is only about a half hour walk away, and there Ezra finds clothes from a donation pile.

There’s a farm house right outside the forest, and there, Ezra finds his work. The Jacksons are — they’re nice. Eryn and Emma are both police officers with two daughters, Jorden and Christian. Suddenly, Ezra isn’t just sticking around to work — he’s being coerced into staying for dinner and for movies and for game nights.

The anxiety of leaving Tommy alone for hours at a time eats away at him, however, and it must show, because one evening Eryn asks, “Something on your mind?”

Ezra throws some more feed down for the chickens. “No. I’m fine.”

Eryn hums, and Ezra’s breath catches in his throat. The Jacksons are nice. Nice in a way that reminds him of a woman who sang the prettiest lullabies and a man who played the violin beautifully.

“My brother,” he blurts. “My brother is alone at home. I’m worried about him.”

Eryn squeezes his shoulder and says, “I’m sure he could be a great help if you wanted to bring him over with you.”

Would it be right? Would they both be instantly recognized and sent back to an endless cycle of death?

But Ezra likes the Jacksons, and after everything, what’s one more leap?

“Okay.”

His hands are shaking. The gentle smile Eryn gives him makes it worth it.

~

Tommy screams.

It’s been five months since Ezra’s heard his little brother scream. His instincts have far from died out, however, and in a heartbeat he’s dropping the shovel and sprinting toward the noise alongside eryn.

Tommy is hyperventilating on the bridge, unharmed, but Christian was out here with him, and she’s nowhere to be found.

Eryn curses under his breath as he looks over the railing. He runs to the side of the ditch and begins climbing down. Ezra jerks to follow him, but the man yells, “Stay back!”

Tommy tries to explain what happened, but Ezra can’t discern a thing through the boy’s hiccuping sobs. He soothes the boy best he can until Eryn stumbles back up, Christian tucked into his chest. He lies her out on the road, and Ezra can’t tear his eyes away at the horrific, mesmerizing sight of her pale, sopping wet body. Ezra already knows she’s dead, however, because his power is swirling anxiously under his hands, begging to be released.

“Let me help her.”

Eryn opens his mouth to protest, but Ezra is already pressing his hands to the girl’s chest. The action is familiar, and five months of neglect cannot erase years of muscle memory.

Christian spasms to life, coughing water out of her lungs. Ezra watches hazily as Tommy runs to her side and Eryn beats her back to help her clear her lungs.

Eryn stares at him, eyes wide. He’s a police officer, and Ezra is certain that while the search has been kept quiet, the Association has alerted government officials. Eryn knows exactly who he is.

But it was the right thing to do, wasn’t it? In a way, however, he’s simply trading out one life for another’s. Christian’s for Tommy’s. How is that fair? Whose to say that one life is more valuable than the other’s?

Ezra is a coward, however, and he’s tired of wobbling on the thin wire of morality. So he runs.

~

He climbs up into the rafters of the barn. It’s the most obvious spot to hide, but he climbs up anyway.

(Distantly, he thinks that maybe he wants to be found.)

Sure enough, Eryn’s voice echoes through the barn. “Ezra?”

He curls up smaller in the hay at the voice.

“Ezra, I know you’re up there. I’m not gonna come up. I’ll wait right here until you’re ready.”

After counting to one hundred, Ezra slowly peaks above the hay. Sure enough, Eryn is there, leaning on the goats’ stall.

“Hey there, bud,” Eryn greets, as if he didn’t just watch Ezra bring a child back from the dead. “It’s good to see you.”

“You know who we are now.”

Eryn hums. “I do.”

“They want us back. Me and Tommy.”

Finally, some of the gravity of the situation seems to hit Eryn. Silence enwraps them both until Eryn hums. “I have a lot of questions, and I think we’ll have to work through a lot. But we’ll do it together, huh?”

“You can’t do that. I — the government is after us. You can’t just defy — you don’t even know me. I’m not even your family—“

Eryn’s laugh interrupts Ezra’s stuttering. “I hate to break it to you, kiddo, but I think we’ve loved you for a long time.”

Ezra stops breathing.

What does love even entail? To the Jacksons, it’s movie nights. It’s invites to dinner, trips to the park, and long sessions of Monopoly.

It’s fierce and unwavering protection. It’s a promise to go through thick and thin together. It’s seeing the lowest, ugliest side of him and loving him just the same.

(The circus acrobats may fall, but Ezra never thought about everyone who was waiting to catch them at the bottom.)

“Do you trust me?”

(Maybe, just maybe, there’s more to life than sky and clouds. Maybe he’s more than an empty shell of right and wrong decisions.)

He breathes. “Yes.”

Ezra crawls over mounds of hay to the ladder. Sweaty, shaky hands were never ideal for climbing — up or down. He’s only a few feet from the floor when he slips off one of the ladder rungs, but Eryn catches him in a strong embrace before he even has time to yelp.

“I’ve got you,” he assures. The words carry a weight that tethers Ezra to the ground.

~

“What’s that?”

He’s pressed between Emma and Jorden on the couch. Christian and Tommy, exhausted from a long week of questions and interviews, are curled up on the other side, drowsily watching a cartoon. Eryn flips through a newspaper on the armchair like the old soul he is.

“A zip tie,” he tells Emma, “The… they put it on ages ago to keep me tied to a chair, and I could never get it off after. I guess I forgot about it.”

“Would you like me to cut it off?”

He has plenty of reminders of the Association: phantom screams reverberating through his head, warm tingling hands, and vivid nightmares in the dead of night. He doesn’t need another.

“Yes, please.”

A zip tie, as it turns out, is a formidable opponent against even police officers. Emma struggles for several long moments before Eryn snorts and insists he try. As the two bicker back and forth, Jorden giggles to herself. Tommy and Christian are both knocked out cold now, bundled in a tangle of blankets.

Ezra is right here in the living room. Not watching from a perch high above, but here. Safe.

Despite the gentle tugging and prodding at his wrist, his eyes droop closed. After several laborious minutes of struggle with a pair of scissors, Emma triumphantly shouts as the zip tie snaps.

The rope is cut, but Ezra sleeps soundly through the night.

***

You can find an unnecessary author’s note here
(Edited to add author note and tws)

NickName - Ava
Content - Weekly #4
Cabin - Thriller

LET'S GET STARTED

MISSION 1-
Write 100 words to begin your adventure.

Wordcount - 188/100
I grunted as I switched up the control panel, trying to keep the spaceship afloat.
My crewmates were panicking. Fi was running around, collecting food, and munching on some of it in stress. It wasn't helping, but we left the matter, alone. Fighting with Fi right now would only make the matter worse.
CD was synesthetic. All he saw right now was a bunch of different colors everywhere, and he was panicking too. He clutched his head, running around in the limited space we had wildly, screaming ‘We’re doomed!' over and over again.
Aspen was trying to help me and was continuously flicking switches and sending messages, or at least trying to.
'Headquarters, are you there?!' she screamed once more. All that came through was static.
Leopard was trying to calm down the mess, snatching our supplies away from Fi and asking CD to sit down.
Our other crewmates at the back were too trying to help the ship, while a few were freaking out.

But it was too late.

'WE'RE GONNA CRAAAAASH!' I screamed and the others screamed with me, and the spaceship sounded like a gigantic hyena.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I CHOSE THE FANFICTION PLANET~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MISSION 2
Write for 10 minutes apologizing to the Fanfiction leader in 200 words for your shenanigans. If you don't reach 200, write 100 more!
Wordcount- 237
Minutes taken- 8minutes, 57 seconds

We've time-traveled.
Our ship crashed in a time whirlpool.
All of my friends know this except me.
And apparently, I have to write that apology letter to the gods of this planet. I had to make it up to them.

I sighed and took out my pen. It was a fountain pen, and I had prayed it had not broken in the crash. My mother gave it to me before I left for space. I hardened. When would I see my parents again? Would I even see them again ever?

I shook the horrible thoughts out of my head and started to write-

Dear Gods,
I'm Ava. I have recently learned we have time-traveled to your beautiful planet and destroyed the time loops. I am genuinely sorry, and so is my team.
We could not see the time whirlpool. We were busy navigating the spaceship back to the location point, and we barely had time to look in front of us before the ship hit the whirlpool. We didn't even know what that was before we came here, and we didn't comprehend that we had bumped into one.
I request you to forgive us.
I need to ask for a favor and would happily give something in return for it. We want to time travel back in time to our period. Our families, friends, and everyone we know is waiting for us there.
Your humble visitor,
Ava.


——————————-I CHOSE ADVENTURE PLANET———————————-

Mission3
Sprint for 5 minutes in getting used to the Adventure realm
Wordcount- 246
Minutes taken- just a little above 5 minutes

The Gods of the planet allowed us to pass. I was surprised that had worked. When we entered the time Whirpool, flashing light blinded us until we transited to our time.
We had traveled to the correct timeline, but not the right place. It was a beautiful jungle.

We decided to search for food. We were seriously hungry because we hadn't eaten for almost a whole day. Fi had eaten up all our resources.

I had to go find some shelter. As I walked across the pathways, I saw different types of people, all of them wearing sun hats. It was quite sunny out today, I must admit.

I saw many ferocious plants which I did not want to see. I also saw many pretty and safe plants which I thought I could give to CD and see how he reacted or what colors he saw.

The food here was exceptional. I was awestruck at the juicy strawberries and plump mangoes. I was sure that the most outstanding farmers had come from here.

I finally found what I was looking for, some cloth, sticks, and hay.

When we all reached our meeting point again, we set everything up. Fi made the fire, I made the beds, CD started cooking the food, and Leopard was making sure we were safe from the outdoors. The others were helping out too.

I sat next to the fire and warmed my hands. This was going to be a long night.

———————–I CHOSE THE SCIENCE FICTION PLANET~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


MISSION 4
Your character has a premonition or deja vu with a dream or feeling they've been somewhere. Describe in 150 words
Wordcount- 226/150

I had the strangest dream.
Fi and CD were screeching as a huge… I don't even know what it was… was chasing them. Leopard was hiding behind a tree, and our other crewmates were either running or hiding. Our crewmate Moonlit was trying to make a crude weapon while running, but it wasn't working. Birdi had made a sword, but it did no good. The thing leaned forward, and just as it was going to eat CD, I woke up in a sweat.

What I saw did not please me.

It was the same scene. CD and Fi were screaming for their lives as that… plant?… chased them. The plant had a humanoid figure, but any resemblance stopped there. Its vines flew out of its back, and it had the head of a Venus Flytrap. Yikes. With that head, you would barely make any friends.
No wonder it was so angry.

Birdi's sword scraped its skin slightly but did no damage. It only made the monster angrier, and Moonlit's bow wasn't coming up fast enough. Then what I saw wasn't pleasant.

The monster swallowed Birdi, and then Moonlit, and then Fi. It charged straight at Moonlit and ate her too. It ate up a few more crewmates before finally noticing me.

My stomach did a backflip, and I tried to run. I only made it a few steps before getting swallowed too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I CHOSE FANTASY PLANET———————————–

MISSION 5
A winged creature offers you a ride. But mist clouds his navigation, and then you are both lost. Write 250 words while you wait for the sun again
Wordcount- 358/250

Getting rescued while inside an unexpectedly gigantic stomach by a winged creature who tore open the mouth of the beast we were inside was not on my bucket list.
But it wasn't that bad, except for the part where we saw the head from the inside getting ripped apart. Ouch.

The stomach of the humanoid Venus Flytrap thing was startlingly big. It was enough to fit all the campers except one, who had to stand on two people's hands. We weren't abandoning anyone this time.

Birdi was definitely panicking. She didn't have any place to move, but she could clutch her hair and keep muttering nonsense. Leopard tried to calm her down, but it didn't work a lot. It did not help when we saw the monster's front door being kicked down.

What was it? It had the head of a Mynah Bird with beautiful dark plumages. It had the body of a pegasus, with huge, white wings which contrasted with the smooth black coat. Instead of hooves, it had bird feet, which looked weird since there were four of them. It used that to tear apart the monster. Quiet in time, too, since some fluid was starting to fill the stomach which I did not like the sight of.

Moonlit could talk to creatures. She touched her hand to the face of the bird-horse, which was splattered with bl00d. She nodded multiple times. Birdi could also talk to animals, but only birds, and this wasn't quite a fully formed one.

Moonlit turned to us and told us that the creature was sent by somebody to pick us up and give us a ride. That sounded pretty suspicious, but I decided to go with it. Anything better than here. It was big enough to fit all of us, which was ten people. Aspen sat at the back and Moonlit at the front. Birdi made sure Aspen didn't fall back.

But we were way high in the sky when we realized; the sun hadn't even risen yet.

The creature couldn't see because of the morning mist, but it couldn't land anywhere. We groaned.

Now we'd have to wait a few hours just for the sun

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~I CHOSE THE HORROR PLANET-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

MISSION 6
You'd been feeling a little tired but maybe now is not the time to nap. Write for 5 minutes to wake up your fingers.
Wordcount- 223 words
Minutes taken- A bit above 5 minutes

When the sun came up, we wanted to go back to sleep again.
The animals suddenly jerked, waking us up. Aspen almost fell off, if it hadn't been for Birdi and Leopard. An electric current passed through my spine as we flew at an incomprehensible speed. How fast could this thing go?

We flew over gorgeous rivers which were sparkling in the sunrise. The mist was slowly fading away, and the creature slowly gained speed. I still didn't think riding on an unknown animal sent by an unknown person to bring us to an unknown place wasn't the greatest idea. A lot of red flags there. But at least we were in that walking carnivorous plant anymore.

He took us to a small cave, which was dryer than any cave I'd ever seen. It had premade beds, which were better than the ones I had made, and a warm fireplace too. Fi gasped and sprawled on her makeshift bed, and immediately fell asleep. The others did the same. I was about to fall asleep when I heard a voice in the background.

'Why did you take so long, Hunter?'
There was a distinct sound of a neigh and a squawk sounding together.
'It wasn't that misty. Now we're off schedule, and their all sleeping during day time. How will they sleep at night? We need them to do the mission tomorrow.'
I gulped. This didn't make sense.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~————————I CHOSE FOLKLORE PLANET——————~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MISSION 7
Introduce a lost relic within 103 words.
Word count- 103/103

I instantly jumped up from my bed, waking up the others.
'What do you mean?' I asked, breathlessly. I just wanted to sleep
The man tittered. He had gray hair and a white beard. He just smiled and said, ‘I’m Oh-Shing.'
That was supposed to mean something.
He did a sarcastic grin and said, ‘I’ve been looking for a necklace for centuries. You're the only candidates I found who covered all expectations.'
So he was… watching us?
Suddenly Birdi jumped. She widened her eyes. ‘you don’t mean…?'
Oh-Shing nodded, pleased someone had gotten it.
'I want you to find it.'
'But-'
'The curses?' he waved his hand. ‘I’ll be there to bury you.'

———~~~~~~————–~~~~I CHOSE MYSTERY PLANET~~~~~~~~~~~———~~~~—
MISSION 8
In 125 words write about something your character notices which was not important to them before.
Wordcount- 176/125

Birdi explained what the Juwain necklace was to us. I kept rushing her till she reached the curse part.
The Juwain necklace was this super old thing that had lasted eons. It was emerald green and sapphire blue mixed together and symbolized the importance of earth and water together. Each stone by itself had immense power, but together wearing the necklace, you were as close as you could get to being a god.
Why was that guy searching for it?
And why would we give it to him again?
Does he just think we'd accept his offer and hand him the most powerful thing known in history?
Wow, that's a new level of dumb for me.
But he said that if we give it to him, we'd get more sleep. So we agreed instantly.
I never thought sleep was so important. I used to spend countless nights staying up late reading, writing, or just giggling at funny videos. Only now do I realize what kind of horrifying things your mind can experience without a good night's sleep.
What a great time to realize it.

~~~~——-I CHOSE POETRY PLANET—–~~~~~~~
MISSION 9
Place a character in isolation. How do they react? Describe in 150 words
Wordcount- 382/150

To find the necklace, we had to split. I didn't quite like the idea of that, but I went with it. A lot of things are decided irrationally when you're sleep-deprived.
We started from the middle and took off in eight directions. The other two stayed back to make sure the old man didn't do anything suspicious under the mask that they weren't feeling very well.
I was in the northwest direction. Birdi was on my left at West, and Fi and North.

I had been walking for around an estimated half an hour when I skid to a stop. Something was rustling in the bushes.
I tried to calm down. I had always been brave, but today I was seeing hallucinations. I thought I saw a monkey sitting on the bird-horse when we were riding it when I rubbed my eyes. It turned out it was Aspen.

I hated being alone. I was an Ambivert. Sometimes I was extremely quiet, and sometimes I couldn't keep silent. But being alone had always been different for me. Half of the time I would love being alone, the other extremely frightened. I was paranoid that someone was watching me, and instead of jumping, I would put on a show, as if in a movie, and be careful of every move. If I did something embarrassing, I would relate to the times I would get bullied in school, and how people laughed behind my back. Isolation wasn't that good.

What jumped out of the bushes was more than scary.
How do you react to a necklace growing into a human, the necklace at the center of its body, giving power to it? Your mind instantly related to Iron Man.
It was a beautiful girl with brown hair and a green dress with a perfect hole to hold the necklace in the middle. She didn't wear it around her neck. I stumbled back only to be advanced on by the woman. Her next move frightened me more.
She smiled ever so kindly and stuck out her hand. My head spun with confusion and fear. I had just seen a human constructed, starting from the bones to the muscle to the bl00d to every single detail.
'Hi, I'm Kia,' she said. ‘I see you’ve found that idiot Oh-Shing.'

————~—————–I CHOSE THRILLER PLANET————~—————-
MISSION 10
Use a random number generator and generate 5 numbers. Write 5 paragraphs consisting of those numbers.
Paragraph 1- 44/38
Paragraph 2- 77/64
Paragraph 3- 106/79
Paragraph 4- 44/44
Paragraph 5- 22/12

Great. Wonderful. What a nice way to introduce yourself. ‘Oh hi, my name’s Kia and I'm sorry you just had to see me constructed back to life or something. Oh, and did I mention an old man is an idiot?' This was just fine.

Kia frowns, noticing something wrong with me. I didn't shake her hand, and she dropped it down disappointedly. I did not feel any guilt. The only thing I knew about her was that her name was Kia and she knew that crazy old man. Not a good sign. I looked at her, my eyes desperate for sleep and answers. Once again I rubbed my eyes, thinking my lack of rest was making me construct this… lady myself.

Kia tittered and swished her fingers. I was slowly raised in the air, an invisible force carrying me. ‘Has Oh-Shing been bribing people with sleep deprivation again?’ she asked sadly and swished her finger. All the other seven members instantly popped in front of her. Their minds took three seconds to process what happened before they ran backward, not turning their head away from the located danger. Kia smiled warmly, making CD and Aspen stumble in their walk, while Leopard freezer, confused. She slowly walked up to Kia, like a leopard to prey, and stopped just a bit more than an arm's distance away from her.

Kia snapped, and pillows and blankets dropped on us. We forgot about her, the necklace, or the fact that we were slowly being carried away. The pillows were soft. The blankets were fuzzy. We cuddled in, literally floating on air. It didn't matter anymore.

She grinned and looked disapprovingly in the direction of the old man. ‘Don’t worry, you're safe now.' And we all fell asleep.

~~~~~~-~~~~~~I CHOSE HISTORICAL-FICTION PLANET~~~~-~~~~~
MISSION 11
Write 100 words on the time your character remembers a thing they stole and how they returned it. Does it help them make a decision?
Wordcount- 319/100

While I was sleeping, I remembered how I had stolen a stuffed toy from someone else in second grade.

Hariette was always showing off her new bunny. My bunny was way softer than hers, and she used to be my best friend too. But Hariette made that all so hard. She wouldn't be friends with me anymore. One day, she finally brought it to school, and my mouth opened with shock.
That was my bunny.
She stole it.
That's how it went lost.
She looked away with guilt and I sat alone next to the window while the others crowded around her. I felt like smacking her.
So during the break when she was in the restroom, I snatched her bracelet which she had left on the table.

When Hariette noticed, it was already dispersal, and she was worried sick.
A few days passed when my conscience wouldn't let me sleep. I was too embarrassed to tell my mother. So after a week, I went up to Hariette while looking at my feet. She looked curiously at me and gasped when I opened my fist to reveal the bracelet.
I started sobbing and telling her I was sorry. She also started crying and gave me back my bunny. She said that she wanted the same thing, but her mother wouldn't buy it for her. We sat there on the playground, crying while hugging each other.

I woke up with a start and groaned. Why always that dream?
It took me a minute to process the surroundings.
There were trees inside this dark cave with birds everywhere. Almost like a manmade structure of a nighttime forest. Kia walked in shortly after I had woken the others up. She smiled and liked her heels. Oh-Shing appeared in view for a second before he disappeared again. His hands were tied together and he looked disgruntled.

'He's finally locked up.' said Kia, her nose wrinkling in disgust. ‘Now I can send you guys back home.’

-~~-~~-~~-~~-~~-I CHOSE BIZZARO-FICTION PLANET-~~-~~-~~-~~-

MISSION 12
Make something absurd happen, anything you can think of!
Wordcount- 133

Aspen screamed in delight and wrapped herself in the blanket. Fi and Leopard grinned while the others showed other signs of happiness. Kia made a clicking sound.
'But you'll have to get me some stuff first.'
We all groaned. Of course. Bargaining.
'What would you like?' Moonlit asked.
Kia smiled. ‘For the portal, you’ll need four ingredients. I want you to get them for me. After coming back to life, I need to… make a few things right,' she interlocked her fingers and stretched them forward. ‘So I’ll have no time.'
We were a bit hesitant until she said,
'It's the only way to get you back home.'
Fi cut off our desperate faces with a smile. ‘Of course, we’ll do it for you!'
Kia chuckled. ‘The ingredients are really easy to find, too. First, we’ll have to travel eighteen hours.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I CHOSE REALISTIC-FICTION PLANET!———————

MISSION 13
Write for 10 minutes
Wordcount- 307
Minutes taken- A little over 10 minutes

The first ingredient- Snow from a Snowdrop.

How?
Why?
Where?
What?
These questions did not exist in Kia's mind. To her Snow from a Snowdrop seemed as simple as finding skin on your body. She reminded me of the female version of Willy Wonka.
I trudged in the freezing snow, shivering. The jackets were very thick, but the cold still crept in. I breathed out, and a white mist formed in from of my mouth. I smiled slightly, remembering how I used to do that as a kid.

I was waiting for my school bus in front of my house. My mother was standing with me.
It was wintertime. My mother always loved winter. It made her feel happy. The hot chocolate, and the fires, all brought memories to her mind. And even though we weren't Christian, my family still celebrated Christmas anyways. We would meet up with our friends and behave like it was like any there special holiday like Holi.

She giggled and we both exhaled deeply at the same time. A huge puff of white frost formed around us. The bus arrived and we said bye to each other.

I smiled more, remembering how after we got our dog, he would jump back when frost formed around him.

My smile faded quickly and I stood frozen. What if I never saw them again?
What if I never saw my mother or my father?
My brother or my best friend?
My dog or my cat?
What if I never saw them again?
Only this kept me going to look for the so-called snow from the flower. I started running when I heard CD screaming triumphantly. He raced around everywhere while Aspen followed at a slower but still fast pace, holding a white flower covered with snow carefully.
I smiled.
One ingredient is gone, and three are left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~I CHOSE SCRIPT PLANET———————

MISSION 14
Sprint for four minutes
Wordcount- 175
Minutes Taken- 5 minutes

Next ingredient- Dark obsidian from the Elephanta Caves.

Is there even Obsidian in the Elephanta caves?

I don't think so.

But we had to keep mining anyways. The worst part was we had to cover it after we finished, so no one would suspect anything.

'Just keep swimming, just keep swimming,' I sang to myself as I covered up another part of the ground. When I heard Fi call us, I abruptly stopped.

She had an idea. ‘What if it doesn’t mean Elephanta caves.' she said. ‘What if we have to go to a cave with elephants?’
We thought this was ridiculous, of course, but we thought it was better than nothing. So the next time I found myself I was inside a cave with elephants snoring.

Fi was right. The cave was covered with obsidian. In every corner, you could see it sticking out. Birdi and Moonlit immediately opened their sacks and took out their pickaxes.

At the end of the day, we were running with bags full of obsidian from three angry elephants.

——————-~~~——–I CHOSE NONFICTION PLANET—~~—————–
MISSION 15
Include a baker in your next 100 words
Wordcount- 192/100

Next ingredient- Bread. Just bread.
Just bread from the super secret hideout baker shop in the middle of nowhere that I'm not even sure visits.
It should be way out of business by now.

I groaned, using my given pocket knife once again to cut through the thick vines. How did Kia know these people again?
When I had almost reached the center, I saw a brown blob between the trees. As I came closer and closer, I realized it was a house. Or a shop.

On a tree.

I climbed the ladder to the top, my friends following me. When I knocked on the door, a kind face opened it. ‘I’m Daisy,' she said, smiling. ‘Do you need something?’

Unfortunately, Aspen said, ‘Bread.’

Daisy burst out laughing, holding the door handle. ‘Has Kia sent you?’

We nodded.

She signaled us to come inside. ‘I’m not a baker, it's just a hobby. Bread is a codeword for Vixa.'
'What's that?' I asked.
'It's a special liquid.' Daisy winked.

We collected the liquid and after saying bye to her, we climbed down the staircase and made our way back for the last ingredient.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I CHOSE DYSTOPIAN PLANET~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MISSION 16
In the next 150 words, a supernatural/celestial being intervenes in what the protagonist is doing.
Wordcount- 297/100

The last and final item- is a star. How to get a star? Kia transports us to space. Perfect.
We wander around floating, searching for the same star which fit her description. Orange, diamond-like, and cold. Seemed easy in a sky full of these many stars, but once you get up close to them, they weren't what you thought they were.

One star turned out to be this god.

When we touched it, the star transformed into a boy. He looked at us haughtily and gave us a two hour lecture on how horrible it was when a mortal disturbed gods' sleep. This was a bit hilarious coming from a seven-year-old, but then again, I don't think he was that young after all. After a bit of scolding, he transformed back into a star. Aspen burst into silent laughter while Leopard tried not to smile. The others had already finished laughing while the god was talking discreetly. We made our way.

When we came across a star exactly like what Kia had said but yellow, we wanted to have a fit. But Birdi intervened, telling us this star had a twin. The twin star would be somewhere around here. When we asked her how she know, she said her friend had spent hours lecturing her about space through poetry. Most of us had a high suspicion of Zai.

After floating for half an hour, we found the orange star. Kia said if we touched it, it would shrink and turn small enough to fit into a vile. We were scared it was going to turn into another angry god, but when we touched it, it relievingly did exactly what Kia said.

We looked at each other. We were so happy we couldn't speak.

We were going home.

MISSION 17
Write 100 words as you fly away from your final planet
Wordcount- 236/100

As Kia poured the contents into a conical-shaped cauldron, her body started to glow. Her eyes became pure white, and her skin became even brighter. Her hair floated upwards as she glided upwards with it before the cauldron let out an explosive blast of air which made us all tumble backward. But when we got up, we weren't in the forest.
We were at the space center.
'THEY'RE BACK, ATTENTION EVERYONE, CREW 165 IS BACK, LOUNGE SEAT 12, CREW 165 IS BACK.' The announcer said with more emotion than he was paid to use.
Loud screaming was heard everywhere. We were instantly surrounded by people. Robin, Luna, Sun, Raya, and Zai, were all there. Our eyes were brimmed with tears of happiness when we saw our families rushing in through the front doors of the center.

I laughed, trying to stop myself from crying. Crying not only from joy but a tinge of sadness too.
I saw my family again. My best friend, my dog, my cat, and everyone I ever wanted to see.
But our mission was over. One month was over. We wouldn't see each other till March now.
Considering all the things we had been through, I almost didn't want to leave. I turned and we had a group hug, just the ten of us. And then we parted to run to our families, cry in their chests and exaggerate about our adventures.



A last note-
:sobbing: I don't want SWC to end, but we still have next year, of course. Thank you to everyone who was in this incredibly cheesy story, and thank you to every single person who contributed in the littlest way to help with the project, and of course, thank you to everyone reading this and every SWC member, past, present, or in the future.
Wishing you the best writing,
Ava!

Writing Comp Author’s Note

Ahaha here’s my entry- I honestly don’t know how I feel about it. I like the concept, but I do wish I had given myself more time to work on it. It’s very rushed, and I hope that doesn’t show too much ^^’ I have no idea why, but this thing was super hard to write, and I was not anticipating that. The words just… weren’t working, I had to drag them out of my brain. There are some bits and phrases that I’m quite happy with! And then there are the other parts where I feel like you can tell that I was just plodding through the words because I needed them to pull the whole piece together. But maybe that’s just me! I felt that way about my last entry, and that one ended up being fine, so who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But enough of semi-self-deprecation! I am rather proud at the metaphor I /think/ I used it well? Idk but it was fun to write, and I think I’m improving with use of poetic language.

Hopefully this isn’t a huge let down to what I’ve written in the past?? I feel like it is, but you know. And hey, even if it is a giant flunk, then at least I can learn from it! Next session I’m going to start working on it earlier so that if my brain decides to work at the speed of slow, I’ll have a little bit of wiggle room.

If any judges happen to read through all this, my sincere thanks for judging the writing comp! Y’all are amazing, I can’t imagine having to read through all these entries. I really appreciate all your time and effort!! And for anyone else who happens to get to the end of this, thank you for putting up with my rambling! Have a wonderful rest of your day Now, I’m off to go finish math and take a nap XD

Weekly 4: 3605 words

Your Journey: hifi, option #2, mystery, option #3, poetry, option #3, realfi, option #3 folkore, option 3, nonfi, option 3, dystopian, option 1, horror, option 1

Write 100 words to begin your adventure:

My name is Erica, and I’m a gargoyle girl. My sister is Yaladine, and we don’t know where my parents went off to, but I hope they are in the world above. While so many of us got ourselves stuck here because there was a load of us trying to take over the kingdom above our heads.
I call it a kingdom, by the way, no matter how many times mum would always tell me “It’s a city, not a kingdom” but really, they are just the same thing anyways.
Oh, here comes Yaladine.
“Heyy Ericaaa,” She cooed. I raise an eyebrow, seeing what crazy thing Yalaldine has done now.
A pushes a girl tied up in stone ropes, struggling to get free. Yaladine holds up a fading but ornate storybook and waves it around.
“Did you know that we had a cousin? She’s called Carla.”
(145 words)
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Hi-fi: Speed type for 5 minutes! If by then the word count is not you WPMx5, write for ten more minutes!

“Carla?” I asked.
Yes, Carla, Yaladine smirked. Carla struggled and yelled out when Yalaldine hissed into her ear. Carla yelped. “Oí! You guys weren’t even trapped in here in the first place. It says in the “
“I don’t care what says in the book!” Yaladine snapped. It’s just stories. “Stories are useless.”
“She does have a point.” I pointed out. Yaladine glared at me.
“You are getting ideas too quickly from her you know! Aren’t too annoyed at this little human we have as a cousin?”
“No? I think she is truthful?”
“As if!!”
I sighed. “Oh really, Yalaldine, what has got into you? If it’s something about Cerberus or whatever, he is over there and ready for you to steal again.”
Yaladine asked, somehow suddenly eager.
“By Hades Palace; go just leave me and Carla here.”
And Yaladine was off in a flash, I tell you. She was so easily persuaded- it was tedious if you ask me.
“Thanks for getting me out of there!” Carla suddenly turned to me and flashed a warm smile. I shrugged nonchalantly.
“It’s nothing, here let me get you out of those ropes.”

I untied her quickly and within seconds she was free.
“How did you do that?” She said. I hushed her.
“Shhh, You can’t be too loud! can’t have Yaladine risk finding me putting you out of those ropes, I’m Erica, Yaldine’s sister. Although I’ll never try to steal Cerberus like that. Yaladine always seems to get the wrong ideas about this kinda stuff. Here’s your book, by the way.” I offered her the book Yaldine left when she was running.
“Thank you,” Carla whispered and hugged the book close to her. She smiled and said. “This was my mum’s, your aunt. It’s got powers.”
“Powers?” I perked up, I peered over the book where Carla turned over to the blurb. “Wait, I know my aunt. Your mum. And-“
But anger, fury-filled footsteps stomped from the direction going to Hades Palace. Shouts of indigence and anger filled the distant air, and immediately Carla looked as if she was about to pounce. My breath dropped like a rock.
“Yalaldine was quick. I breathed fearfully. Carla still looked determined.
“I fought your sister before, and I can fight her again. Come on, Erica-“
“RUN!” I screamed and grasped Crala’s wrist. She screamed and yelped again, and Yaladine’s poker-hot rage came crashing in. I screamed even louder and ran on, bursting out of my Underworld makeshift shelter.
“LITTLE SISTERR!” Yaladine screamed. And she chased, her toes scrapping my heels. I sprinted even after, tears of jade streaming down my face, Carla still kept her face of sudden fright and concern.
“You’ll never catch us! We’ll stop ALL of your EVIL PLANS!” I screamed as I broke out to the center of the Underworld.
(427 words)
————————————————
(Mystery: Sprint for five minutes!)

“Are we going to fly?” Carla whimpered behind me.
“Yes!!” I screamed. I and we went.
It was a relief to fly again, I tell you. A chance to spread my wings and soar as high as… well… the roof of the Underworld which was higher than palace courts, I tell you. carla whooped and cheered, and I smile. At least Carla isn't getting scared anymore. she must've done this before with Yaladine.
I swell up with newfound freedom and we fly away, free from my sister's grasp, and over to the door of the Underworld. Finally. We escaped that hot and steamy place.
“Ok, so what do we do now?” Carla asked when I flew over the kingdom, scanning for the road Carla mentioned to me already. I shrugged. “I don't know, Maybe we could try to find out more about that book of yours?”
“This old thing?” Carla joked and laughed as the cool air sweeps elegantly beside her. “Oh, I don't know where it came from. All I know is that it has magical properties, and it helped me love stories again!”
“Magical properties?” I stopped mid-air. Carla then floated still grasping my hands, not even being dragged down. “What of the sorts?” I asked.
“Well,” Carla thought for a moment. “When I was battling your sister, I used this magical magnetic-y thing that can pull things and even transforms them into the opposite of that object!”
“Ok…” I thought. “But what of it could do more of that? We should try it out on more stuff!”
(260 words)
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(Poetry: Sprint for the number of seconds of your WPMx10!)

A few hours later, we were in Carla's bedroom, trying out more things and testing any other of the book's powers by levitating objects, moving them around, switching toys into gravel, and then turning them back again. It was quite fun, and the two of us had a great blast together.
By the time we were too tired- midnight- Carala slumped in exhaustion and sighed happily
“Okay, so we have figured out that there were the powers I mentioned about, yes, and but that was it? We couldn't find anything good or new or something.
”They're all really good,“ I said. ”Just that maybe we need to have a go tomorrow. try it on anything. As in anything.“
But Carla was already asleep.

I couldn't fall asleep. After all, Gargoyles are most active during the night. We are nocturnal, you see. I kept looking out of the window, to see if Yaladine has set any buildings on fire or anything.
A siren wailed in the distance. Scouts and arguments of people, nop, empty people, no, magical residents in the klandc=scaoe.
I looked up. The moon was not there in this kingdom. Not even the stars.
Where have they gone?
Snake hisses sound behind my neck. I yelp and jump around.

But then fall, still holding on to Carla's book, out of the window and into the street below.

And my wings, by the snap of a snake's fangs, are clipped.
”CUSHION MY FALL!" I order the book immediately, hoping it will turn something into a giant cushion or something. The book rises against stone palms, and it shoots down to the pavement, emitting a silent, almost invisibe0like string of dewy light down onto the pavement.
I fall with a softened thud, onto a sheet of sea-like fabric.
(298 words)
————————————————
Real-fi: Write for 10 minutes!

Oh, I thought, Where did that come from?
I finger the silk with my hands. It is smooth, like water, and a deep blue that seems to illustrate bottomless deep.
How thrilling.*
Something was strange about the powers of this book. It could transform and shift, and now it had bought me the blue silk of the sea.
I looked up at the roof. The snake wasn’t there anymore. And for a few minutes, I sat in an overwhelming silence, the type where you always just don’t know what to do next.

My wings were clipped, and Carla was nice and snuggled into her bed. She had no idea what had just happened.
Dread clouded over me. Oh no, the humans are going to find out about me. Humans in these sort of huge kingdoms, or any kingdom, like gargoyles like me.


I stand up and try to bundle the silk away over next door’s fence. It is heavy and my hand somehow grows slightly damp although I am not sweating (Gargoyles are stone after all) And look out in the streets that wind and fork like grey-green mazes walled by buildings.
Now, All I need to do is alert Carla that my wings are clipped and that she would have to get me.

*(Get it!? Thrilling- thriller! Bottomless deep- Thriller Deep! SWC dad joke for you there <3 Erica is also an SWC-er in this story ;D)
(233 words)
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Sci-fi: Write 150 words on your character getting premonition or dêja vú!

There was something about this place I couldn’t put down. Yes, I have been here before, on holiday, mind you, but there with no stars or moon or even clouds I now noticed, the world felt… silently silent.
I hauled myself up onto fences and ivies and windowsills, constantly, having to look down so no humans found me. Weirdly, there were none to be seen, although I heard catches of noise and conversation only in backdrop stage whispers.
I must be hearing things. I told myself. I managed, miraculously, into Carla’s room, and just then the sky grew evening blue just before a hint of gold began to spread.
But sunrise never came.
A tension spread and a tight staleness became the air. I could hardly breathe. Carla was tossing and turning in her sleep.
I couldn’t bare it anymore. I had to get Carla.
“Carla?” I whispered wispily. “This book of yours is not what it seems.”
(258 words)
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Bi-fi: How many letters does your favourite movie/show character have in their name? Write for that many minutes!

Carla woke up suddenly, bumbling my head. I tumbled back and cried “Ow!” But Carla still lay motionless and wide-eyed.
“I had just the craziest dream ever.” She whispered fearfully. “Wow! You woke me up early!”
I sighed. “No, time’s been messing around the tap and that sun is not going to rose if we don’t get to the bottom of this whole book mystery. I feel like there’s something linked to it” I stare down at the book tucked safely and sturdily in my little handbag.
“There are also no stars and moon and clouds,” I added warily. Carla shrugged at that.
“Eh, that’s the city of you! But I mean, we do get cloys here.” She thought for a moment, “In fact! I had a weird dream about all those three things. Oh, and the sun as well!”
“Is that why it’s not rising?” I replied.
(147 words)
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Adventure: Sprint for five minutes!

We lay the book down on Carla's desk. It glowed longs eerily and irresistible, but as ornate and old and dust as ever,
“Something must be trapped in it,” Carla nodded.
I nodded with her. “Must be some secret power that makes weird things happen.”

Carla lifted the bounded cover ever so lightly, though only just a few sparks fizzled out. She opened the whole book gingerly, delicate with the old pages.
“Eh, at least nothing crazy happened.“ She shrugged. She flicked gently to a page with a title emblazoned with blue and yellow.
Collect the clouds to be found,

“I know that story!” I exclaimed. “Our parents used to retell that to me and Yalaldine. It was my favourite and Yaladine's least favourite!”
“I read this story too with my mum!” Carla agreed, “It’s the one on how this one person tries to gather clouds with only the wing of a hawk spell and a wicker basket!” Carla looked happily down at the illustration.
But wait there I silently thought to myself. Something strange was about this you know, Was this linked to where all the stars went? What about the moon and clouds?
(195 words)
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Thriller: Write five paragraphs consisting of a random number of words between 10 and 100!
20 words in each paragraph

We looked at the book and then at each other.
“So, I think I've got a the about this one.” I experimented. “What if…”

“The book harnesses the power of the sun, moon clouds, and stars,” Carla explained.
“Yes! But that means…”
Carla thought for a moment.

“This didn't happen before, so I think it only had a few clouds and stars in it. But how did it get the sun and moon? Something doesn't add up.”

She walked over to her window and placed her knees on the sill. She looked back at me. “We need to find a way to return the sun and moon and lots and lots of the clouds and stars.” She said.

She looked at my wings, noticing their damage for the first time. “What happened to your wings?” She asked me.
“A snake but me and I fell out of the window. Then the book summoned a bit of the sea or something.” I shrugged.
(162 words)
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Fan-fi: write for ten minutes and if you haven't reached 200 words by then, write 100 more!

“Must be about the moon controlling the tides or something.” I went over to the window where Carla was already starting to climb the ivies up to her roof.
A few minutes later we had al; ready reached the roof. The whole kingdom sprawled out like a sea of cluttered concrete boxes, with towers that scrape the sky and streets empty and ghostly bare.
Carla slowly opened up the book and held it towards the sky.
“O mighty sky!!” She bellowed.d “Come and claim your residents. Come, sun, moon stars, clouds…” her voice grew quiet. “Not… all of the stars and clouds, mind you, um-”
“Maybe we have to recite a specific spell?” I suggested. “Or find out how the sun and moon even got in the book in the first place?”
“Well, definitely a month ago when I used battle;e Yalaldiner.” Carla shot back, her face determined, not angry. “So, it's got to do with what happened between then… or….”

“Were you sure the book was always with you?”
“Yeah! Unless Yalaldine stole it in the middle of the night, tinkered with it, and gave it back. But that is highly unlikely.”
“Unless it's just baited for a devious plan,” I replied. I looked around, hoping to might catch Yalalidne peeking around the chimney or something. But no one was there.
OIr on the roof, anyways.ned:
“CARLA!!” A familiar voice came from right behind my neck, breathing down from it. “You have not seen the last of ME!”
carla shrieked, her voice echoing around the city. Yalaldine grabbed her and hovered just a few inches off the ground.
“So it IS you!” I asked, almost fainting.
“OF course!” My sister replied. "Who else would've sent you that snake? Or who else would've fabricated a whole magic mystery with that book? She clawed it off my hands, her talons wounding me down to my bones. I yelped in pain and gently cradled my damaged hand, the stone in it chipped with flesh.
(332 words)
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Script: sprint for four minutes!
And in just a matter of seconds, Yalaldne flew away with Carla and the book.

I screamed out, but it was no use. Yalaldine has already raced to who knows where,
And guess what I have to do, on clipped wings as well.
Follow her across the rooftops in the night.
I first went a bit slow, making sure I jumped over every gap very safely, but after a while, I got the hang of it, and I was soo right under Yaladine and Carla.
“Come down!” I yelled out to Carla. “Jump!! Jump!”
“I can’t!” She yelled back, “It’s too far away!”
“I’ll catch you!” I scream in return and I held out my shaking hands. Carla whimpered and winced and trembled under my sister’s grasp, But suddenly,
Death defyingly,
Yanked herself out of Yaladine’s grasp.
“OH NO, YOU DON’T!!” She screamed, and swiped doesn’t to try and catch Carla. But Carla was falling faster than Yalalidne could ever fly, and soon enough, miraculously, she fell right into my shaking arms
“That was a crazy save,” I whispered. “I must've gotten lucky there.”
Eh, you're just a good father. “ Carla shrugged. But Yaladine was swooping in fast, and we had to get out of there.

Fast, ironically.

And so the two of us raced across the rooftops on the dusky before dawn, our silhouette against the remnants of a stolen rising sun, leaping and panting for breath.

Not even going anywhere as well.
(248 words)
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Fantasy: Write 250 words!
After what seemed like ages of Yaladine. chasing us to nowhere, we arrived just on the roof of the building which houses the door to the Underworld.
“Oh,” Carla said right in my ear. “Here again.”
I nodded. Yalaldine took her lucky chance to try and steal the book off of us.
“For your information, that is mine!” She snarled, and try to grab it from Carla’s grasp. Carla roared.
“No!” She yelled back. “I inherited that from my mum!”
And as she said those words, the book snapped open, still half in Yaladine’s hands.
The silky blanket flowed out of it again, and a giant lump was forming, taller and taller, in front of Yaladine. She could’ve flown away, but you know my sister, and she can get stubborn if she wants something.
Out of the navy blanket grew a sea serpent, twice the width of my wings, snapping and snarling at my sister. She started to shrink back and whimpered ever so slightly.
I could’ve helped her, but my feet were glued to the ground. I think Carla’s feet were as well.

It lunged forward and Yalaldine jumped back, horrified. But not even fast enough for the serpent to crunch into her wings, clipping them with venom. She gave a shriek of indigence and terror, and stumbled over the edge of the rooftop,
Where she fell down and down, into the alleyway below and just in front of the door to the underworld, bringing a ripped chunk of the book with her.
(257 words)
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Folklore: Sprint the duration of a Taylor Swift song!! B))
(I chose “Shake it Off” which is four minutes =DD)
It all almost happened in slow motion.
Yaladine was falling, down a large building (not very large but still a huge height) and Carla was screaming at the top of her lungs. I didn’t blame her,
Her favourite book in the world was torn in two, by the way, you guys!
I shrieked with her. And the Carla, still clinging onto our half of her book, lunged out and tried to grab Yalaidne by the wrists in that adventure-movie way,
Did it work? No, not at all.
Yalalidne was already halfway to the ground, and Carla overbalanced herself and sent herself hurtling down, the book’s pages being ripped out as that girl fell.
I covered my ears, hurting from the amount of screaming I am hearing, and look up as the pages of Carla’s book were sent into the sky carried by the snake-like spine of the breeze.
(152 words)
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Non-fi: Roll a dice and sprint for the number of minutes you got!
(2 minutes)
“The pages!” I exclaim out loud and run to grab them, but I almost teetered off the edge and fell.
Carla and Yalaldine are still falling, miraculously almost to the very bottom.
“No, there has to be something I could do,” I call out.
“What are you doing?!” I command the pages of Carla’s book. “CUSHION THEIR FALL! BOTH OF THEM!”
And I shut my eyes tightly and pray it works.
I look down again
And I see the two girls, one human and the other gargoyle, both dear relatives, on the concrete.
(100 words on the dot =0)
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Dystopian: Write 150 words with a new character who are a celestial/supernatural being!
“Nooo, no, no no no.” I whispered to myself, my breath shaking and eyes maddened. “What… what was I thinking?”
The pages had fully disappeared by to I slumped to my knees, every bone in my body just bruised.
“Wait! Hold up “ yelled a nearby voice. I sat up immediately and turned around to find a young person, dressed in a wispy cloud and stars toga, their face shining with wet dawn rose.
“Who are you!?” I cried out loud. The celestial looked on.
“I was the clouds and stars that a lady trapped inside of this huge heavy boom.” They spoke. “Now I got out, I feel… different.”
“Because you are in human-like form?” I suggested tearfully. “And what about my family?”
“They’re alive! I tell you!” Mx star-clouds exclaimed. They grabbed my hand and I felt a vapourish, misty palm beneath my hard, flesh-stone one.
“I’m going to prove it to you.” They cried, and I floated down, my clipped wings slowly healing until they I was flying myself.
Yaladine and Carla had opened their eyes, their breath fluting and faltering.
I gasped and ran over to them
“You are alive!” I stage-whispered. Yaladine and Carla could only nod slightly, before sitting up and trying to catch their desperate breaths.
“I told you.” Said Mx star-clouds, and looked up to the sky, which was blazing hot with a heavy festival of pinks, oranges, and reds.
Dawn. Finally.
“Beautiful.” Carla breathed, tears falling from her. “The ground must’ve softened to cushion our fall.” She turned to me and Mx. “Thank you, Erica, and…”
“The star-clouds your mother collected.” Mx star-clouds smiled gently. “Now, should we go inside and have a cup of tea? In Carla’s house, if you all don’t mind?”
(292 words)
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Horror: Write 150 words about someone putting on a mask, literally or metaphorically!
My name is Erica, and I’m a gargoyle girl, I’m case you have forgotten.
And this is how my sister stole practically the whole sky into my cousin’s most precious treasure, and how we had to get it off her and release the whole sky daytime could happen.
And, as you just read, that was no easy task.
Me, Carla, and Mx right now are sitting around Carla’s kitchen table with even Carla’s dad, who is on the whole magical world thing.
We are talking and laugh, whilst sipping tea from colourful mugs.
We have no clue where Yalaldine went, but none of us even noticed.

But the gargoyle-girl, whose marvelous plan had gotten so marvelously ruined, stayed within the silhouettes of the early morning, slipping into shadows. She held onto a beautiful, beautifully elaborate mask, and wore it over her face.
“You had not seen the last of me, Carla. Erica.” She hissed. “And you will never do.”
(158 words)
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Write 100 words concluding your story!
“Carla!” Called Carla’s dad from down the stairs. “Mum’s home from her trip! Come and say hi!”
Carla walked down the stairs, absolutely baffled of what Da said.
“But Da-“ She replied quickly. “It has been- what? Five years? You know Mum never came-“
“What are you talking about!” Her dad laughed. “That is nonsense!”
Weird, Carla thought to herself. Da’s memory has gone… anyways must just be the delivery person.
But everything had then gone out like a magic trick.
Carla opened the door, and there, standing in the doorway, beaming casually, was her mother.
“Hi darling,” She chirped happily. “I’m home!”
(103 words)

word war
125 words
I’m sorry, I really am. I never thought that a small lie would come to this. I’ve always thought they understood when I made these small jokes. I guess not. Oh, well, I don’t know what to say. I don’t understand, well, I do understand why they hate me, nobody would like someone learning their secrets but you, why are you mad? Did I apologize didn’t I? I’m sorry I hope one day you are ready to forgive me
From
Elira”
I clutched the coffee-stained paper in my hand breathing slowly as I read each word. Elira, I wonder who that is.
I don’t know anyone named Elira. I sighed as I molded the paper into a ball and threw it to the well.

between bruised bouquets ᪥ an swc november 2022 writing competition entry

Nestled between the river deep and the mountain high lay a cozy, stone cottage. It seemed straight from the pages of a fairy tale, covered in ivy and shrouded by beautiful birch trees all around. Out the kitchen door was a grand garden, full of life and lovely plants, buzzing with bees and butterflies. Joy radiated from the space, as did a profound love for the world and all that it could offer.
Joy and love given by none other than the cottage’s witch.
Dahlia had no greater pleasure than her garden. She took great pride in cultivating its variety and beauty and tended to it all year round, rain or shine, snow or wind. And, in return for her care and compassion, the garden told her all she wanted to know.
From long-forgotten libraries to misty moors and manors, the world’s hidden secrets always tempt a certain few. Together, they formed an organization, a society for those curious enough to ask the questions without answers and dare to dig them up. Many years had passed since that first group gathered, but still their legacy lived on in the quests of travelers. Always faced by danger but never backing down, these proud travelers sought and saw and returned, every time.
Thus, danger was no stranger to the best traveler of her generation, the scholar errant.
But Blaise had never faced anything quite like this. The puzzles had been simple enough, the traps easy to evade, in the beginning. Now, it was changing. This place knew her. Knew her weaknesses and could exploit them. In a way, it reminded her of home, a twisted, broken version of her home. And she wasn’t sure she could make it out, not from this far in.
Enchanted as seeds and nurtured fondly for all their lives, Dahlia’s flowers divulged her in many tales, in tidbits she’d otherwise never know. Most prized among them were the woven matches of dahlia and nightshade. One bloom for her, the other for her beloved.
In times like this, with the scholar off on a quest and the witch here at home, the two would grow apart. All around, forget-me-nots blossomed, each small floret a reminder of love shared across the widest of distances. Warnings came alongside the little blue flowers, the pale pink of oleander accompanied by violet hyacinth for carelessness or dark hellebore for madness.
No warnings had yet appeared among the lovely usual blooms, not when Dahlia last looked out across the yard.
Lost, trapped, hopeless; Blaise knew she was all three. If only she had time, but her lantern would certainly burn out soon. If only she had wax, perhaps a spell could save her from this place. If only she had thought before blindly lunging at this chance.
Tears clouded her vision, morbid realization dawning. She reached for the one thing she always carried, the one reminder of her truest love. A bouquet, picked carefully from the cottage garden. One shaky breath in, one shaky breath out, flowers pressed close to her chest.
“Te amo, mi flor,” came her shaky whisper, last words with eyes shut tight.
Across the world, a flurry of growth, a bright burst of orange and yellow. Marigolds choked the garden.
Dahlia screamed.
One blossom fell into her hands. A lone white snowdrop. The promise of hope. The promise that the story isn’t over. Dahlia held it tight, the promise never to let go.

- Rosemary from the Dystopian cabin is sitting at a table with a nervous expression. Alongside her are Kenzie from the Fan-fi cabin, Nova from Bizarro, and JC, her friend from Dystopian who she should probably get to know a little better. -
Rosemary: Uh, are we all here?
- Ayid runs in. -
Ayid: Now we are, I think?
Nova: Does anyone even know who’s on the guest list?
- Rosemary unrolls a very long scroll with only a few names on it. -
Rosemary: Ayid’s here, Nova’s here, where’s Aeo?
Aeo: You’ll never know, will you?
- Aeo appears very mysteriously out of some random smoke cloud in the corner of the room. She probably set off a smoke bomb or something, but how should our cast know? -
Kenzie: How did you-
JC: That’s so cool-I mean, Dystopian can do so much better!
- Cloudy slowly walks in and puts a pair of sunglasses on. Rock music is playing in the background. -
Nova: You didn’t get the memo? Aeo already stole your introduction thingy, and made it so much better!
Cloudy: No way, really? I wanted to have, like, this smoke bomb, but someone stole the little smoke pellet thingies!
Aeo: Definitely not me at all. Definitely.
Rosemary: This is a meet-
Kenzie: We should have an introduction contest!
JC: Yeah, but no teams.
Nova: No way, we should totally have teams!
Rosemary: You guys…
JC: Lighten up a little, Rosemary!
Aeo: Why do we even need a contest? It’s obvious I won.
Cloudy: No way, I would have won if you hadn’t stole my smoke bombs!
Ayid: If there’s a contest, can I enter?
Nova: We should all enter!
Kenzie: I can team up with you, Nova!
- Rosemary sighs. -
Rosemary: You know what, I’m in.
Cloudy: Let’s go! Meet you back here in an hour?
Rosemary: I’ll judge.
- 1 hour later -
Rosemary: You guys, anyone else here? I’m so boreddddd…
- Kenzie and Nova walk in with a bunch of Starbucks drinks. -
Rosemary: Oh, can I have one?
Kenzie: They’re for our introduction.
Nova: And I had to spend money on them, even though we’re literally-
Rosemary: DON’T DESTROY THE STARBUCKS.
Kenzie: That’s not what we were-
Rosemary: I need to steal all of those. For, uh, safekeeping.
- Rosemary grabs all the Starbucks drinks and starts drinking them. Cloudy walks in, starting an intro that was actually better than Aeo’s, but pauses the music in the middle. -
Cloudy: Wait, where’d all the Starbucks come from?
Rosemary: Here, have a Chai Latte because coffee’s overrated.
Kenzie: Hey, we paid for those! You can’t just start-
Rosemary: I’m a Starbucks-obsessed judge. I can do what I want.

432 words, I should have made it a few hundred words longer but I was rushing. Btw, irl I'm not like this at all. I'd join in the chaos, and I'm not Starbucks-obsessed, and I'm definitely not a judge.

Daily Nov.23\
I really love this book, it is called School for Good and Evil.
It is about a world where everyone who gets to this forest gets taken to this institution.
As a result, Sophie gets dropped in the evil school and Agatha in the good school but they're both opposites of their schools.

Weekly Four
Word Count: 2207

Table of Contents

Save code:
3;2;16;5;8/1/7/9/11/12/13/2/15/4/14/5/;123332121123;

Unfinished :sob:

Introduction

Prompt: Write 100 words to begin your story

229/100 words
Adira squinted to see through the rain-covered window of her parents’ car. The droplets rolled down the window, clearing space that wasn’t available long before a new drop fell into its place, pinging softly. She sighed as she stared out the window, but it was a happy sigh. After all these years of working and studying in every spare moment, she was finally heading to Cresswood Academy, one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the country. It had been hard and tiring but the thought of Cresswood had kept her going.
Ever since she had been a young girl, she dreamed of attending Cresswood. Though their reputation for churning out doctors and lawyers hadn’t been what had drawn Adi in. No, it hadn’t had anything to do with academics, the thing that had captured Adi’s attention was their equestrian program. Adi loved horses despite her allergy to them. Throughout the years though, Adi’s interest had expanded to academics as well. She had taken the admission test in early July and received her acceptance package in the mail a few weeks later. After that everything was a blur. Adi had lived in her bedroom studying, at the stable riding, and saying her goodbyes to friends. Before she knew it she was in the backseat of her car, travelling hundreds of kilometres to Cresswood, her new school. Her new home.

Horror

Prompt: In 100 words describe someone putting on a mask - literal or metaphorical.

296 Words
Quill slumped in the backseat of the limo. Beside him, his parents sat stiff-backed, their hands folded neatly in their laps.
“Sit up straight.” His father said, not even bothering to glance at him. Quill just glared and slouched farther, sliding until his head was lower than the back of the seat.
“Quillon.” Quill’s mother’s eyes were dark, and Quill could read the warning in them. He shoved himself back up and turned his back to his mother. Stay calm. He told himself. Remember, you're calm. You're cool. You're collected. A taking a deep breath he mentally pulled on the mask he'd been wearing his whole life.
Resting his head on the seat he stared at the golden fields rushing past. Soon enough, the swaying gold changed to rolling green plains, signifying they were getting closer to Cresswood. Sighing, he turned back towards his parents. His father was still staring at the glowing screen of his laptop, while his mother was touching up her makeup in a compact mirror.
Quill’s mouth tightened into a hard line, they didn’t even care that this would probably be the last time they saw him for another eleven months. As long as he succeeded in school, they were happy. He didn’t even want to go to the stupid boarding school. But when it came to opinions he wasn’t supposed to happen, and choice wasn’t even a word in his house. Anything his parents said, went. Quill was as loved as the servants.
His mother snapped the compact shut, startling Quill out of his reverie.
“We’re here.” His father finally looked up from his screen as the limo smoothly entered the tall silver gates.
Quill sat up straighter, self-consciously straightening his tie and smoothing out the wrinkles of his uniform.
Showtime.

Adventure

Prompt: Sprint for 5 minutes

142 words
Adi gasped, her mouth hanging open like a dead fish. She noticed her brother laughing at her but ignored him. The school was too majestic not to gasp at. The property was surrounded by a tall, twisted, silver fence. And the buildings! The buildings were huge! Larger than anything she’d ever seen before. And so clear and shiny. Adi estimated that 85% of the buildings were glass. They rose up into the candy-pink clouds. Tiered balconies looked out over the flat plains.
“It’s even better than I imagined!” Adi exclaimed.
“It’s pretty impressive all right.” Her father drawled, looking down at the computer screen.
YOU HAVE ARRIVED. The automated voice of their car announced, smoothly sliding to a stop in front of the building Adi assumed was the main office.
Adi hopped out of the car, her feet hitting the smooth rock.

Hi-Fi

Prompt: Flip a coin! Heads: Sprint for 20 minutes // Tails: Sprint for 500 words // I got heads

318 words
Her parents followed close behind her and Adi felt an arm slide around her shoulder.
“Are you ready for this, honey?” Adi looked up at her mother, spotting concern in those cheerful eyes.
“Of course!” Adi shrugged out of her mother’s grasp and turned to face her parents. “Look, Mom, Dad. I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life. I’m ready! You’ll see, I can do this.”
“We know that, honey. It’s just… a big change, that’s all.” Her father gave her a lopsided grin. “Now, how about we check in and get you settled?”
Adi grinned and turned back towards the office. Taking a deep breath, she walked up the steps.

= = =

“Thanks, James.” Quill thanked his chauffeur and picked his bags up. Just three. Most of the stuff he needed was already here. His parents had made sure of that a few weeks ago.
Quill headed up the steps, precariously balancing his bags in front of him. By the time he reached the door, he was huffing and puffing. Even for an athlete like him, mounting twenty-five steps carrying almost a hundred pounds wasn’t easy.
Once there though, he was faced with another challenge. How do I open the door? He groaned. Attempting to shift the bags to one hand, he reached for the knob. Just… need… to… open… it a little… bit… His hand closed around the knob and he yanked it open. Quickly, he jammed his foot in the gap while steadying his bags with his hand. He used his foot to kick the door open and hurried through. A cool blast of air hit his face as he entered the air-conditioned room. Much better. He turned to the right, heading towards the headmistress’s desk.
“Headmistress Connwell?” The headmistress’s head snapped up, her scowl quickly morphing into a smile.
“Mr. Quillon.” Her voice was sugary sweet. “How good it is to see you again.”

Mystery

Prompt: Sprint for 5 minutes

147 words
“The pleasure is all mine.” Quill’s smile was strained. He knew the headmistress only treated him well because of his family connections. “I’m sorry, I would bow but I’m afraid the bags might topple over.” His voice was flat.
“I assume you’re here to check in?” The headmistress turned and clicked a few times on her computer. “Done!”
“Thank you,” Quill shifted the bags. “I hate to hurry away so quickly but these bags are rahter heavy, he gave a practiced rueful smile.
“Of course, of course!” The headmistress reached under her desk and pulled out a flat silver card. “Here’s your keycard. I trust I’ll see you tonight at the opening ceremony?” Her eyes turned hard.
“I wouldn’t miss it!” Quill flashed an award-winning smile as he reached out –or reached out as much as he could, considering the stack of bags– and took the keycard.

Poetry

Prompt: Multiply your wpm by 10 and sprint for that many minutes. // Sprinted for 450 seconds, or 7.5 minutes

277 words
He turned headed toward the door, which slid open. He walked through without hesitation, nearly crashing into someone.
“Watch it,” he growled, not bothering to look at who nearly crashed into him.

= = =

Adi watched, aghast, as the stranger strode down the marble steps without so much as an apology. The arrogance. Adi seethed. He had the audacity to tell her to ‘watch it’ when he was the one carrying a stack of bags that obscured his vision. It wasn’t her fault!
“Are you ok, honey?” Oh no! Adi grounded and turned around, her parents had seen the stranger speak so rudely to her.
“Yeah, mom. I’m fine,” she turned back and pressed the button to open the doors. She heard her parents talking behind her.
“I don’t think I like people here, Cici.” Adi could hear the tension in her dad’s voice.
Adi ignored them and headed towards the desk. They can’t bring me home. I need to show them that not everybody here is rude. They can’t!!!
“May I help you?” Adi looked up, blinking. “Oh… yeah. Um, I’m Adi– Adira Frescal, a new student.”
“Adi…” The silver haired woman glanced down at her computer. Adi fidgeted nervously. “Oh, yes.” The woman spoke slowly. “You’re the poor student.” The woman said poor like it was the supreme insult.
“Umm…” Adi swallowed, not sure what to say. Thankfully, the woman continued.
“I’m your headmistress, Mistress Connwell. Here’s your keycard, the opening ceremony is at five o’clock today. Don’t be late.” She glared at Adi, then turned away, obviously dismissing her.
Adi stood there, stunned. Mistress Connwell was so unfriendly! “Uh, my horse..” Adi swallowed.

Real-Fi

Prompt: Sprint for three minutes

102 words
“What horse?” The woman snapped, clearly annoyed.
“My horse… I was told that I could bring him. And he could stay in the stables…” Adi trailed off.
“Well, he certainly can’t stay in the dorms.” The woman harumphed. “Here’s a map of the grounds, you can find the stable yourself. Talk to Mr. Stanser when you get there.”
“Alright…” Adi took the map and turned away, heading back out to her parents.
“Where are you staying, honey?” Her mom asked, a wrinkle in between her eyebrows. “Your dad and I can get your things in your room while you get Donner settled.

Sci-Fi

Prompt:In the next 150 words, your character gets deja vu or a premonition

179 words
Don’t worry about us finding our way, we’ll manage.”
“Sounds good. My room is number 140, Tremest Hall. I’ll meet you there in half an hour?”
“Great! You have your cellphone, so if there’s anything you need or you’ll be a little bit long, you can call us. Love you, honey.” Her mom wrapped her arms around her in a huge hug.
“Now, Cici, don’t get all emotional now. Save that for the goodbye.” Her dad patted her mom on the should but Adi saw tears glistening in his eyes.
Adi gently pulled out of her mom’s embrace. “See you later.”
She looked down at the map, “Stables are this way.” She turned to the left.
As soon as she saw the huge white building before her, she had the strangest feeling she had been there before. Don’t be silly. It’s just because you’ve seen so many pictures on their website. She scolded herself. Heading through the open doors, she looked around. Riders and stablehands milled around her but no one looked like they could be the head instructor.

Bi-Fi

Prompt: Roll a die and write 100x that number // I rolled a one!

116/100 words
All of a sudden, a tall, thin man exited an office. That must be Mr. Stanser. Adi approached him, timidly tapping on his shoulder.
“Yes?” Mr. Stanser turned and glanced down at her.
“Um,” Adi nervously twirled a lock of hair. “Are you Mr. Stanser?”
“I am,” Mr. Stanser’s deep voice seemed to fill the whole stable.
“Uh, Mistress Connwell told me I could talk to you about boarding my horse, Donner, here?”
“That would be my field, yes. Who are you?” Mr. Stanser appeared to examine her closer.
“Adira Frescal, and my horse is Donner. His registered name is Blitzen’s Donner.” Adi swallowed and glanced away, her eyes bouncing nervously from one object to another.

Thriller

Prompt: In the next 150 words, your character starts sinking

161 words
“Right! Let me get something quick and then we’ll find your stall, alright?” Mr. Stansen darted back into his office before she could respond. He quickly emerged again, carrying a clipboard. “Come on!” He hurried away and Adi struggled to follow him.
“Watch your step!” He called out behind her, but it was too late. Adi stepped right into a large pile of horse poop. She groaned, the one time she wasn’t wearing boots!
“Eugh…” She lifted her foot, the other one sinking down into the brown mush.
“Why is that here?” Mr. Stansen’s voice was sharp.
“Sorry. There weren’t any wheelbarrows and I figured…” The voice withered and Adi looked up to see a tall boy standing there, not at all dressed appropriately for a stable.
“Do not do that again.” Mr. Stanson glared. “Just because you’re only here to serve your detention time, doesn’t mean you can behave irresponsibly and disobey stable rules.”
“Yes, sir.” The boy looked down.

Fan-Fi

Prompt: Write a 150 word flashback

152 words
Seeing the boy’s misery, Adi felt her throat constrict. She suddenly had a flashback to when she had been a fairly new rider, no more than eight years old. She had been mucking out one of the lesson pony’s stalls and hadn’t noticed that she wasn’t shovelling into the wheelbarrow but rather beside it. When the instructor had discovered her, Adi had felt miserable but the instructor had laughed raucously. She found it hilarious. Adi, however, at the time didn’t. Once the instructor had stopped laughing, she moved the wheelbarrow closer and helped Adi muck out the remains of the stall. After that, Adi had always made sure to make sure she was shovelling into the wheelbarrow. It had all worked out in the end though and she had more time to bond with her instructor. And as an added bonus, the instructor had helped Adi learn to watch what she’s doing.

Script

Prompt: Sprint for four minutes

112 words
“Adi?” Adi snapped out of her reverie and looked up at Mr. Stanser. “Are you alright?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just remembering something.” Adi smiled. “Now, Donner’s stall?”
Mr. Stanser smiled back and continued forward, leaving the boy behind. They turned left and walked down a wide hall. “Here we are!”
Adi peered at the stall and gasped. Donner would be treated like royalty! The stall was huge, with plenty of bedding. And it had Donner’s nameplate, a gold nameplate. “It’s amazing! Thank you!”
Mr. Stanser seemed pleased with her reaction. “Glad you like it! You can bring him down here right away. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go now.”

Fantasy

Prompt: Write 250 words

__ words

Folklore

Prompt:

__ words

Naan-Fi

Prompt:

__ words

Dystopian

Prompt:

__ words

Weekly #4

Code: Your Journey: adventure, option #3, horror, option #3, scifi, option #1, realfi, option #2, thriller, option #3, fanfi, option #3, fantasy, option #3, folklore, option #3, nonfi, option #3, hifi, option #3, bifi, option #2, poetry, option #1, mystery, option #1, dystopian, option #3, script, option #3


Intro: 154/100 words
Aster woke up in the morning as every day goes, slumped over her computer with her drool flooding the desk. “Oh shoot-” they yelled as she quickly went to grab toilet paper to cover it up. They had not woken up by alarm clock but rather because she had forgotten to close the windows and the autumn breeze was blowing their hair mercilessly. Her computer was luckily shut but she knew exactly what she had been searching yesterday. Quickly checking the time, she bit her lip realizing how late it was. They weren't supposed to be like this! They were entering high school the next year and they thought they would have already learned that fact by now. Quickly swiping a black turtleneck and jeans (they would have picked some merch but she didn't want to repeat the mistakes of her last year), they slid across the stair balusters down to the first floor.

Adventure - “Sprint to the nearest thousand” 1028/846 words
“Dad, didn't I tell you to wake me up? You know I could never wake up naturally on my own!” Aster protested, struggling to wipe dirt off of their glasses.
One of her dads shrugged. “I told you, you need to prepare for high school and it won't do you any good if I'm the one who wakes you up every morning.”
“But I would have prepared earlier if you were going to!” They replied while quickly scurrying through the cupboards trying to find a box of cereal.
“Ace, I've already got scrambled eggs on a plate for you,” said J.
“Oh my gosh thanks Dad,” Aster said while gobbling up with the speed of a superhuman.
“Calm down calm down, you still have 25 minutes before school starts.”
“But it's my second day of school! And my first period history teacher is mean,” Aster pointed out, shivering at the thought of Ms. Harvard giving her a tardy as she definitely would if they were late even a minute early. They saw her do that before and they would never make her mad enough for that. “Although you're right, at least I don't have to worry about first impressions since I already screwed that up yesterday.”
“No you didn't, how much could you screw it up anyway?” Her dad said while her other dad gave him a smoldering look. “What we're trying to say is that you shouldn't beat yourself up. Oh wait it's 20 minutes now.”
“GAH!” Aster yelled, shoveling up the rest of the eggs and wiping her mouth with her sleeve like a caveman. “Okay now I've got to go-” They swung their backpack up in which she could hear all of her items crashing into each other. “-I'll see you after school byeee!” And they closed the door with a bang.
Aster let out a sigh as they checked their watch. They would have to sprint to be able to make it to school and that's what they did while slowing to a halt whenever they spotted one of their neighbors and they would wave awkwardly like the social outcast they are. Well it's not that they're an introvert or even an introvert, they are just a wonderfully socially awkward omnivert. Although their introvertedness had definitely increased when her best friends had moved away and the thought made her wilt.
10 minutes left and they were halfway down the path. They would have to ask their dads to buy them a bike but with spending all of their allowance on fandom merch and p!n outfits, they wouldn't get them that as a lesson. “Hhhh.” This is what they get for being late and they were panting when they finally arrived at the stairs of the school. They smoothed back their hair. They can do this!
Ms. Harvard's history class was possibly one of the worst classes they had ever been in. The fact that she had 3 periods with this lady made their skin crawl and she had no one to endure it with. At least they knew that all of the other students were also being tortured in their seats which gave them slight comfort like the sadistic little person they are.
The day went horrible slow, first going through English, then history, then science, her electives, and the rest of the classes that didn't matter so much. Video production would have been fun if they actually listened to their ideas, infuriating her more. But they would only slick their hair back and plaster an artificial smile on their face and they would believe it because who would listen to them?
Ecstasy bloomed when the final bell rang and Aster could join the flood of students heading for the back. They wiped a few droplets of sweat off their brow since they had just finished P.E. They ran down the stairs and spent the next third of an hour sinking further into her constant daydream of fandom-related thoughts as they always did. What they would give for summer break to start again.
When she came back, they expected her parents to be working at their computers but instead the foyer was looking emptier than usual and her dads were scurrying around the house. “Um dads? What's going on?” Her dads didn't look sad so she thought that was supposed to be a good sign but it wasn't exactly…
“Remember when we signed you up for several different exam-needed schools? Well you haven't been accepted at those but a school has heard of your academic prowess and they just sent us a letter in the mail!”
It sounded fishy. It sounded really suspicious. Why would another school hear of her academic prowess? “Are you sure this is legit? What if it's like prank mail?”
“Look we've done our research kid. This school is one of the top-rated schools in Britain and has earned several awards in fact. We've also received an email if you'd like to see that?”
Aster raised an eyebrow but she hopped onto her dad's computer and scrolled through, finding the email that looked right for them. There was a lot of excessive flowery adult language but essentially, they asked if they could join Mr. Hart's School for Enrichment which was for quote-unquote “special children”. It wasn't a boarding school, thank goodness, but Aster was still feeling a bit of doubt. “And you accepted it? Without asking me?”
“No of course we wouldn't! We just started packing early just in case you said yes,” her dad said, pulling on his brown hair self-consciously.
“So do you think we should accept?” Her other dad said, showing her a thumbs-in-the-middle, an inside joke that scared Aster that they were actually taking it seriously. They bit her lip. “I want to do my research first before anything else. Please?”
Her dads nodded. “Alright. The letter says that you should accept and start school in the next 28 days.”
“Why 15?” They frowned. It was an oddly specific number that would land in the middle of the month in the middle of the week. Her dads shrugged in response as they walked up back to their room.

Horror - Sprint for 3 minutes 175/? words
“Okay this is suspicious as…” Aster said, mumbling off the last word while jumping into her spinny chair like every doubtful protagonist. So this random school notices her ‘academic prowess’ and decides to invite them to their fancy-shmancy school? No they weren't buying it. This sounded something straight out of a fictitious novel and they would find the truth…like every protagonist ever. It wasn't a boarding school which gave it a slightly bigger factor. But they started clicking the keys and they searched up ‘Mr. Hart’s School for Enrichment'. It had 4.9 out of 5 stars and there were hundreds of good reviews with some 1-star reviews mysteriously being “Spread ideas that my child was having a gift when it was in reality a disease. But luckily, we got rid of it no thanks to this school.” The review made Aster even more suspicious but the good reviews were pretty good. “Very accepting school.” “My kid had a lot of fun in this school.” “There were so many challenges that helped expand my child's skill.”

Sci-fi - In the next 150 words, your character gets a sense of deja vu. 161/150 words
A disease? They thought. How could being gifted be a disease? Were they referring to intelligence as some sort of illness? That didn't exactly seem right. And what did it mean, ‘they got rid of it’?. That's not strangely foreboding at all… The whole thing gave her a really strange sense of deja vu, even looking at the campus which reminded her of something…she didn't know if she had seen somewhere similar to it but that was impossible, she had never even heard about Mr. Hart's School for Enrichment prior to her dads introducing it to her so to think that theory would be callous. But the entire existence of this school that she had never heard of gave her a sense of…excitement, similar to the emotion she felt while watching a plot-heavy episode in some of her fandoms. Perhaps there was a reason but her brain wasn't providing an answer. So she continued to dive into her research.

Real-fi - Sprint for 3 minutes 179/? words
A subconscious part of Aster's mind while discovering more information was telling them that they didn't need to change schools for the fourth time. They already moved and traveled so much as her dad went on several business trips and they didn't need to go to yet another school. And from her knowledge, the school was around an hour and a half away from Cambridge, where they lived now. They thought about it for a bit but there was something that pushed them to accept. Maybe it was because they thought they were at the brink of something new or maybe there was just something about this school that she knew was special. Not to mention that her dads had already started packing and they didn't want to invalidate all of their efforts. They stood up. Yes they would do it. They would attend Mr. Hart's School for Enrichment. And Aster was looking forward to the day that she could go. They walked downstairs and her dads looked at her to see what she would say.
“I'm doing it.”

Thrilller
5 minute sprint - 437/? words
Her dads were smiling as she said the news. “Great! Now we can continue packing,” she saw her dad whispering to her other dad. They looked happy that she had accepted the offer and made them feel both a bit better and a bit worse about the situation. They liked pleasing them but the thought that they were doing it just for them made her stomach a little bit queasy. But never mind that! She shrugged as she went back upstairs to pack. They had a few suitcases in the closet already so they started packing all of their merch. Seeing all of her custom shirts made her happier as they started packing but the amount of nostalgia that was in this room started to overwhelm her. They had been at this house the longest, 4 years and moving again didn't exactly make them feel joyous. They were born in Oxford, moved to Preston, moved to Cambridge and then finally they were going to move to London, a pace that she always wanted to visit from the sheer amount of history in the walls of every single architecture located there and all of the lore that she had read about it in all of her fandoms (specifically in her potter phase but hey that lasted short thanks to J.K. Rowling). The thought of her dads moving just for her to go to a good school didn't make her feel better so there were so many conflicting emotions at stake. But she quickly snapped on a pair of headphones and she listened to Taylor Swift songs endlessly to avoid the thoughts coming back. In a couple hours, they had packed their entire wardrobe. Huh, I guess music can be really productive huh? Aster thought as they went downstairs. She wasn't the only one who was productive. It was almost like her dads were already preparing for this moment the second they moved into this house because a lot of the furniture was pushed off to the side and the small trinkets that were around the house were nowhere to be found. But they were familiar with this, she knew from the times they had moved and traveled. They knew some of her old friends were always going on about how amazing it was that they could travel all the time but they learned through their life that indulging in a good thing can easily turn it into a bad or boring thing, as it did.
But London would be different, they insisted. Mr. Hart's School for Enrichment would be different, they knew it.
Write WPM divided by 2 217/195 words
It took around a week for Aster and her dads to get the packing ready and then it took another week for them to find a suitable house but now, Aster was in the car holding a phone staring at the great wildreness behind the window.
“You doing okay there?”
“Yeah I'm okay. I've gotten used to this anyway…” she muttered low under her breath so they couldn't hear. She watched as the grassy fields drifted past behind her with clueless cows munching on the vegetation as well as birds circling the sky. They were crows which seemed rather like a premonition but they weren't going to digress on that. An hour and a half later, they arrived at the house and Aster went to look at it. It was a decent 2 story house and their parents weren't really financially insecure. It was okay though to their taste. The fourth house and they were going to get used to it per usual. They checked over the modern-looking aspect of the house, which wasn't really a factor that Aster enjoyed so much, but it would do. They would probably move again in another few years.
“Why don't you go inside and pick a room? We'll bring some of the stuff inside,” her dad said and Aster nodded.
Write WPM divided by 4 125/65 words (I'm sorry :sob
Aster toured the rooms and looked at the furniture. They would have preferred a house that was a bit older-looking but this was the house that was the most affordable and suitable for their needs so Aster agreed when their dads wanted this house. She looked around the rooms and they decided to claim the medium-spacious room to make her room. It was empty, of course, so she tried to imagine what it would look like when the moving truck hauled their bed inside and how everything would look when she made it more comfortable. Taking a glance outside, she saw her dads come in hand-in-hand as they eagerly discussed their plans. Them being happy made Aster smile. They would get comfy with this house.

Fanfiction - Sprint the current time (for me: 3:23 pm) 223/? words
And then everything would be fine, Aster thought before descending back into their almost constant routine of drowning out the noise.

Mr. Hart said that Aster's first day would be September 19th, a Monday luckily so at least she wouldn't come in the middle of the week. Aster would have come on exactly the 28th day and she was still unsure why Mr. Hart said it had to be that specific day but she didn't focus that much on it. Perhaps it was his favorite number? But the more they thought about it, the more the thought boiled in her head.
She looked at herself in the mirror on that Monday morning and flashed herself a grin. They were simply wearing a tanktop and a skirt in order to be more inconscpicuous but evidently it wasn't working. As she always knew, first impressions were everything. They would have to be confident but not too confident or else people will think that they're a poser…
Oh who am I kidding? It's not going to work out. Besides, who cares about first impressions anyway? It's not like you're unpopular anyway, Aster assured herself and she slicked her hair back nervously. I can do this. She said out loud and then went downstairs to get ready for school. And this time, she wasn't late.

Fantasy - Write 250 words 335/250 words
Half an hour later, they were walking to school and they looked at their phone in apprehension. Aster The school campus looked exactly like the photos that Aster had seen online with the lively green grass and there were a lot of kids who seemed to be having fun. There was a basketball court a little bit far off to the side of the front campus where there were students having a game. There were some people who were literally just resting in the grass and chatting. Whatever it looked like, Aster thought that this looked like a school that students liked, other than the schools that they've noticed before.
Speaking about noticing things, Aster was mostly just surveying the campus as they walked up the path but as she came in closer to look at the students, she noticed some…peculiar things. For one thing, one kid's hair was…floating? in the strangest manner possible which should be impossible right? And now that they thought about it, they also weren't sitting on the ground; in fact, they were flying in the air while sitting criss-cross applesauce happily chatting with another person whose fingernails were sharper than their sense of humor.
“Wha-”
“Aster! Thank you for coming here,” A voice interrupted as a dark-skinned man walked forward in a suit. He took out a hand for them to shake and they shook his hand back hesitantly. “I'm glad to see you here. I'm Mr. Hart.”
“Uh…you're…welcome…sir?” Aster asked slowly. They looked around and saw even more strange people. One person had a pair of cat ears on top of their head with a matching tail and another was emitting smoke from their hands. “I'm sorry but uh-”
“Come with me Aster,” Mr. Hart said while taking her inside the large victorian structure. “And let me explain before you say anything. Why don't we have a chat in my office? Don't worry about school starting. Trust me, this may take a few tries for you to understand this.”

Folklore - Sprint the length of a taylor swift song (look what you made me do - 3:31 245/? words
Mr. Hart led me into his office which had an older more ancient vibe just judging from the structure and office. Well, it could easily be said from just looking at the design of the entire school and Aster noted that Mr. Hart must be pretty wealthy. But that didn't really matter right now, all that mattered was listening to him and how he could possibly explain what they had just seen.
“So Aster, you might have already noticed that this isn't a normal school and you'd be right. This school is known as ‘Mr. Hart’s School for Enrichment' but the thing that we leave out is that it's not only academically enriching but…” He took a pause before continuing. “This school is for special people. Special people known as mutants. They used to be very commonly known during the later few decades of the 20th century but because of all of the ‘accidents’ related to the issue, Britain has tried to push the idea of mutants further below into the pages of a history book. Of course, that decision is foolhardy considering that mutants haven't exactly stopped growing; in fact they've only continued to increase.”
The information was starting to foil Aster's brain. “But what's a mutant? And what does it have to do with me?”
“Well…” Mr. Hart stood up straighter, as if he had said this multiple times which he must have considering the amount of students that Aster had glimpsed previously.

Nonfiction - Roll a dice and sprint for that many minutes - 2 144/? words
“You must have learned before that so far, our species is known as homo sapiens. But that wasn't always the case. The previous evolution of our kind was known as the ‘neanderthal’ and I don't really need to mention the other evolutions. Every few millenia, the human race takes an intense step forward and right now…this is what is happening. We are evolving and that is why we are known as mutants. Because of our evolving, our dna has mutated so that some of us have grown to have…unique abilities. I guess you would be able to describe them as ‘superpowers’,” Mr. Hart explained, waving his arms around to enunciate certain points. He continued to explain on about more of the mutant origin but Aster had stopped listening once they had heard the word ‘superpower’. Superpower? SUPERPOWERS??? Do I seriously have super powers???

Hi-fi - Flip a coin and see if you sprint for 20 minutes or write 500 words - I got heads sob sob sob 1058/? words
What does this mean for me? Okay but is this seriously real? This is literally everything I've ever dreamed up in my entire li- His hand went up in front of her face which interrupted their thoughts. “I can see that you are very ecstatic about this-”
“How could you tell?” Aster gasped but realized that their mouth had unwillingly stretched into a grin while in their melting pot of fandom thoughts. Mr. Hart grumbled under his breath, making Aster feel a little bit bad but he continued. “So as I was saying, I sent a letter for you because I have the unique mutant ability of sensing other mutants and being able to find them all across the world…as well as sensing other mutant-related information.”
For Aster, that confirmed that she was a mutant and the thought was sending in her brain in looping spirals. “Wait what type of information?”
“I'm not a telepath but I can sense when a person's mutation will start coming through the surface, what type of mutant ability they have, and how powerful they are. It's why I'm principal of this school in fact.”
“So…when you said that I had to come in 29 days, was it because my mutation would come on the last day?” Today…
“Yes. But actually it's coming tomorrow since I wanted to make sure that I would be there when it comes out.”
“Wait so what is my mutation?” Aster asked, their eyes growing wider. “Oops oops um sorry for my interruption.”
Mr. Hart continued to look more disheveled by every time Aster burst out but then he softened and he smiled. “It's alright. It's nice to see you so happy about your mutation and to be alerted to easily. It's been much harder for some of us…not specifically me but finding out that I was a mutant in the 20th century was….not the best.”
Aster didn't want to ask him further so they decided to bury that information about some accident in the 1970's about mutants for research purposes later. “So wow…mutants existed. I know something about that's familiar, I don't know why.”
“Perhaps you heard about some mutant-related issues in the 20th century,” Mr. Hart suggested but Aster was thinking about something that she never watched before called the x-men that had a giant amount of films related to it and that Mr. Hart shared an ability with Callisto but hey those films don't exist in this universe Aster! Snap out of it.
“…Perhaps,” Aster came to a conclusion after a couple seconds. “So…do I start my classes now? And again sorry for being annoying throughout this conversation.”
“Again, it's alright. And yes. Actually, your next class is with me and it's about mutant history. I hope you enjoy your time here because we at this school try to make your experiences as pleasant as we can possible make it.”
“Thanks, that's really kind of you.”
“You're welcome. Now, if you can follow me, I can introduce you to-” Strangely, he seemed to notice her horrified expression. “Would you not like to be introduced?”
Aster was surprised. A lot. Nobody ever noticed that. “Oh no it's okay.”
“There's something about mutants that I forgot to mention. Because of our persecuted we were during the entire time we've existed, we've learned to be bound by a code. We don't hurt other mutants if we can't help it. An important mutant in the U.S. even thought of our…catchphrase.” He lightly punched her in the shoulder. “Mutant and proud.”
“…Mutant and proud,” Aster repeated before following Mr. Hart into a classroom. “Hello students. We have a new student among us named Aster.” He didn't elaborate further; he only sat in his chair in the front of the classroom while making a hand motion for Aster to pick a seat. Everyone was staring at Aster which made them really uncomfortable. Most of the seats were already taken so they found an empty seat in the second row instead of the back row, which was a nice subversion to the trope in all of the media they've seen before. They also expected all of the students to stare at them weirdly but most of them smiled and even waved to her. Maybe Mr. Hart was right. Mutant and proud.
“So we've just wrapped up our unit on the evolution of humanity even before humans properly existed so our next unit is on historical mutants thoughout the age. It's important for us to know how mutants thrived in previous ages past. There's a thick population in the 20th and 21st century but there have been a few scattered much before that: one example that you might have heard about it in 1983 is about the mutant Apocalypse who actually lived since the times of Ancient Egypt and in his day, he even attained a cul* following. He was a very powerful mutant because he transferred his consciousness into different bodies, attaining more and more different mutant abilities. Because he was so powerful, he considered himself a ‘god’. However, his people betrayed him and he ended up being buried in stone for centuries and centuries until in 1983, his crypt was uncovered and he awoke. His existence was one of the most-”
This was one of the most interesting lectures that Aster had ever listened to so it annoyed her to an extreme degree when an elbow nudged her. They turned around to give them a look to see a girl of Asian descent laughing. “I've literally heard about this so many times. You know, my dad is a mutant and he was there when that happened. He said that Apocalypse infiltrated the mind of a super powerful telepath and ended up setting a bunch of-”
She continued to blabber on about on how powerful their dad was and how he was so brave while that was happening while Aster nodded her head practically to a beat while listening to her while also trying to listen to Mr. Hart's lecture.
“…His name was literally Apocalypse,” Mr. Hart continued. But before he could continue, the bell rang. “Well that's it for today. Now go on to your next class.”
Aster walked out of the classroom after Mr. Hart told her that he would catch her up on their previous unit.

Bi-fi - Roll a dice and write that many words - 3 392/300 words
Aster tried to walk forward but the girl stopped her. “Hey I never told you my name. My name's Prisha,” he shook out a hand. “Oh my name's um Aster.”
“Well yeah I already know that. Mr. Hart introduced you in front of the entire class remember?” During the lecture, the light had been turned off because Mr. Hart was also showing a presentation. Now that it was light out, Aster could actually see what he looked like. They had somewhat dark skin with dark brown eyes, at least that's what they thought they were since she was wearing a pair of foggy white glasses: an odd color to choose.
“Now since you're new here and I've been here since I was 10, I think that I should probably help you out: don't you think?” Prisha said, continuing to blab. “What's your mutation by the way?”
“Oh um I don't actually know yet. Mine hasn't developed yet but Mr. Hart brought me here a day early,” Aster explained.
“Ohhh,” Prisha looked a little bit unhappier after that statement but he seemed to quickly shrug it off. “Oh it's actually break right now. You should go outside with me.” She tugged on Aster's arm and instantly, Aster could recognize that this girl was most likely rich and proud, at least the latter one was definitely apparent. “I think I'd like to explore on myself thanks.” Aster said, walking away from her.
“Oh of course of course. See you later homie!” Prisha said before walking away. Aster sighed. They walked out of the building to see the campus. There were so many different types of people there. Now that they knew what they were, it was even more astounding to see them. A guy with bat wings as well as accompanying devil horns and a devil tail was playing with another person with angel wings, rather fitting. There was a person who was taking leaps much higher than they should be able to. Another student was using a bow and arrow to shoot various amounts of fruit in the air that their friend was sending them with extreme superhuman reflexes. Looking at her hands, Aster looked back at all of the mutants and the curiosity of her own ability continued to grow. They thought they would be able to fit in here just fine.

Poetry - Place a character in isolation. 291/150 words
Meanwhile, in the great forests of Britain, a child stood next to a swing set. Who knows what that swing set meant or what the kid was doing. They were alone and all they had were their thoughts. Only their thoughts. Only their thoughts…and the emotions that accompanied them. No one to comfort them at least not anymore and after several minutes, they fell onto their knees and stared at that tree. They stared at their hands and planted them onto the floor as a flower curled in between the fingers.
And in a classroom, a child in the corner but no one saw. Perhaps this was because of the surface level invisibility but it was more than that. Even if there was so many people in the room, they were isolated. They thought about their turmoil about their parents…and how they couldn't be of any more use to them.
And near the beach, a child held a jellyfish yet felt no sting as he whispered to to the creature, completely alone except for a brainless jellyfish, all of his thoughts and worries for he thought that if he continued to stay by himself, he would dare go insane. And he did not want that no no no. Nobody wanted to be insane perhaps. Or perhaps no one wanted themselves until they turned to be and their mind would shatter.
Mutant children, isolated of their power, unsure of their control. That was what Aster learned about the next day in history. Her power had not come yet but it would and Mr. Hart's latest lecture made her excitement dwindle and her dread grow. Was this the worries of mutants? How is it possible they had never heard of them at all?

Mystery - A character has an epiphany 163/125 words
Is this why Mr. Hart was so sad when talking about other mutants? But the more important question…Aster rolled the idea in their head so many times even though they didn't want it to. Would something like that happen to them? How would their dads react when they learn it? In fact, would her dads ever find out? They assumed they weren't mutants or else they would have told her about it. Or were they? But probably not. But could they be? Wouldn't her dads have told her about the mutant conditions? When she came back from school, they had done research about mutants and found out so much about the chaos that they had inflicted and had been inflicted on. All of the torture and research that regular humans did…all of the isolation they had to be forced through because of being a mutant…the countless deaths…would her dads approve? What would have happened if Mr. Hart had never sent that letter?

Dystopian - Character walks in with new confidence 384/? words
After school, Aster went back home and sat in her chair and continued to research about mutants. Mr. Hart told her about a secrete site mutants talked on. She learned about good and heroic mutants like one called Charles Xavier and Mystique who respectively had the power of telepathy and shapeshifting and some bad mutants like Magneto and as Mr. Hart mentioned, Apocalypse who respectively had the power to manipulate metal and the other had numerous powers that he gained over years of only taking.
Her dads had gone to work in their new town and they were all alone in the house in their room. They clenched their fists as they begin breathing in and out again. They had never knew about mutants before and even the existence of mutants seemed like such a queer idea. Like something fictional. Something that wasn't real.
Would her life have any drama about her being a mutant or something? Are they even a mutant? Her power had still not developed and it was the second day. It was supposed to come. What if she's not a mutant? Would that make her less special? Would her dads have to move back? Would they be spared from all of the mutant drama.
“UGH!” They yelled and slammed her fists onto the table…and suddenly the lights shot out. Aster gasped. Was this her ability? Or was this just a coincidence. Slowly, they reached out their fingers and snapped. The lights came back on. Another snap, they turned off. A snap, they came back. Was their ability controlling light? Or electricity? Clenching their fists again, they smiled. Tomorrow will be a cinch.

Walking into school the next day was definitely inspiring. She wasn't just the new kid now, she was the new mutant and somehow, that title brought something different to the table. They tried standing up just a bit straighter, smiling just a bit more, slouching just a little bit less, and somehow it actually worked. Some people actually smiled at them or even said hi. Maybe a day at this school would be better than all of the other schools they had transferred to before. Something would be different and they kept that in mind while walking through the hallowed halls of Mr. Hart's School for Enrichment.

Script - Say your ideas out loud and then write them down. 141/? words
Their dads were inside the house while they said goodbye to each other while they were going to start in-real-life work. It was Aster's third-ish day of school and they had just left, who was looking more confident than ever.
The thought of Aster being happier finally at this new school brought joy to her dads. He knew that they were always felt out of place whenever they moved which always brought him a little guilt so if she could be happier than that would be fine with them.
He had just left through the front door when someone was coming up the front boarch. They were slathered in black clothing including a large dark hood so he couldn't see their face. “Oh hello-” Two glowing orbs shined from underneath that cloak and the next thing that he saw was darkness.

Ending 108/100 words
Aster was just leaving from science (which ended up being incredibly fiery because one kid accidentally blew up one of her concoctions) and the end of the day was nearing. She slung her backpack over her shoulder, just ready to go to her last period: Physical Education when something strange came in the front of the school. They were clothed in black and Aster could hear click-clacking from heels hitting stone. Mutant students started to run when they neared and some hid behind bushes while quietly peeking from their position. They walked right up to Aster who was at the front entrance and lifted up their hood. “Hello.”

Screenshot

Daily for the 24th:

July 10th 2021

I know I’m right. Janice definitely stole my pink eraser. She had to have done it. I analyzed the crime scene, she’s the only one who had access to the legendary pink eraser AND who had the time to do it. Plus, I had my amazing pink eraser locked away in the depths of my safe. WHICH is guarded by tons of lasers and alarms and cool spy stuff that only Janice had the shut off code too. I know what she plans to do. She’s holding the magical pink eraser hostage. She wanted me to pay a ransom to let it go. She even asked me for the money for ‘retrieving’ her eraser for me. She refused to give it to me without the money! I'm disappointed and will never speak to her again.

August 14th 2095

Today I got a email. An apology email. Marcus sent me a email a couple of weeks back- I just chose to read it now. He explained everything about why friendship came to an end so many years ago.

Marcus thought I took his eraser. But in truth, I was framed. Earlier that day, I went to my locker to have gotten a note signed by Marcus. The letter had asked me to retrieve his amazing awesome superb pink eraser, that was extracted from the legendary pencil, from his safe. He said that he would give me tons of money if I did it. At the time, I needed tons of money to fix my father’s broken car that I may or may not have accidentally run into the neighbor’s mailbox. I also had to pay for the mailbox. Except, when I asked for the money he refused to give it, so I refused to give him his eraser. I need money. Plus, Marcus was the one who asked me to give it. Even though I knew that the letter wasn’t actually from Marcus, I still wasn’t going to give the eraser back until I got my cash.

Years later, I kept the eraser. I had realized my mistake but Marcus had cut off all connections so I couldn't return it. I walked towards the safe which was so similar to the one Marcus had. Inside, was the eraser. I could finally return it. We plan to go to dinner later this week.


(391 words)

Daily for Mystery. November 23rd


333 words

These are characters from a book of mine. they are the oldest LIVING characters

TW D3@TH

(Jacques is on January 14th (2 weeks after her death.) Ramya is on May 14th.)
Jacques had been pondering Nora’s death. He couldn’t make peace with it. Though it had been weeks, four to be exact, he couldn’t forget about it. She died, as a sacrifice for them. If she had accepted Jacques deal, he would be the one dead. She wasnt washed away, she had frozen. His coat wasn’t enough. It should’ve been me. The one who ended up dying. Only if I had forced her to go below deck. Only if she wasn’t so stubborn.

Ramya was free. She finally had the life she wanted. With the people she wanted to be with. Except for one. Nora. She was gone. Like gone gone. Like never coming back gone. Except Jacques didn’t seem to understand that. He didn’t understand that she wouldn’t be coming back. She knew he thought it was his fault. Which it sort of was, yet sort of wasn’t..? As the eldest, he could’ve fought for sailing the ship. But, she was glad he didn’t do it. They needed someone with experience, someone who could communicate with others, which sadly, Nora couldn’t do. She couldn’t speak with others for Nora was a silent stalker. Lei and Arron had missed her too, yet they were the youngest. They didn’t understand who she was to the team.

Jacques was mortified when he had saw her lifeless body. He’s the one being chased by the nightmares, not Arron, Lei, or Ramya. Not even Nora was having nightmares. But she was dead. Which seems to be worse rhan nightmares. What did not living feel like? I don’t think I should find out soon. Then Nora’s sacrifice would be worth nothing..Nothing at all.

Ramya was tired of watching Jacques not get sleep. Nora’s desth had triggered nightmares, which then trigger his insomnia. Never got better. He couldn’t sleep and she was worried. He only got a little sleep per month, she was no doctor, but she knew he had to sleep.

Jacques did not sleep.

Ramya only watched.

Daily 11/24

This is a Ruy x Alvar Keeper of the Lost Cities fanfiction. It contains spoilers for book 4. And yup, I did draw inspiration from Sokeefe’s meeting scene in book 1.

Alvar stumbled through the halls, clutching a stack of textbooks to his chest. He remembered coming here just a few weeks ago with his father, on an early tour of school. “You see? It’s not so terrible,” Alden had said as he walked his son through Foxfire’s blue Level One wing. “You’ll probably have no trouble at all getting around on the first day.”

He’d been wrong about that. It wasn’t even lunch yet, and Alvar was already hopelessly lost. His dad had been wrong about a lot of things, come to think of it. Only yesterday he’d exclaimed, perhaps for the hundredth time, “You are going to love Foxfire, Alvar. I know you’re scared- ”

“I’m not scared, Dad!”

“ -but it’s going to be a great experience. Think of how lucky you are! So many kids would do anything to attend Foxfire like you. It’s the most prestigious school in the Lost Cities.”

You could say the same things about the Vackers as well, and only the last two sentiments would actually be true. Funny; the more Alvar thought about his family and his school, the more he realized that they were alike. And the more he hated them.

He walked around a bend in the hall, suddenly angry and still very lost.

Sitting on a bench, several tufts of red hair flopping over his forehead, was a boy.

———

“Are you sure about this, Alvar?” Ruy murmured.

“Of course I am,” Alvar replied sharply. “This is the only way to make things better. To bring my family down. To show everyone how messed up our world really is.”

The boys crouched behind a row of bushes in some remote forest. The night was still and silent, save for their loud breathing. Ruy shuddered slightly, pressing his cloak around himself. When would Fintan arrive already?

“Hey, isn’t this what you wanted me to do?” Alvar demanded. “You’ve been bugging me about it for months now. Every day practically, it’s been Neverseen this and Neverseen that. Now that I’ve finally decided to join, you’re questioning my decisions?”

“No, no,” Ruy hastily insisted. “No, it’s not like that. I just… this is a huge deal, is all. Being in the Neverseen isn’t something to be taken lightly. There are training sessions, and meetings, and missions, and rules you have to follow. And secrets.” So many secrets.

“I know that.” Alvar stared straight ahead, though his words were directed at the boy next to him. “I can handle being in the Neverseen, I promise. I mean, you do it, so why shouldn’t I?”

Ruy was silent.

“Right?” Alvar demanded.

“Right,” Ruy whispered.

———

Ignore him, Alvar thought, keeping his head low. Ignore him and maybe he won’t try to talk to you. If so much as one more person tried to start a conversation with him, the Vacker kid -

“Hey, are you lost?” the red-haired boy rasped.

Hissing softly, Alvar looked up. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

“You need help getting around? Hey, what’s your next session?”

Alvar opened his mouth, about to refuse the boy’s offer, then stopped. “Elvin History. With Sir Ainsley.”

“I had him last year. Could barely keep my eyes open through most of his lectures.” The boy rose stiffly from the bench, pushing a lock of hair from his face. “I can show you to his classroom, if you want.”

Alvar stared. The boy’s eyes were a piercing shade of blue, almost painful to look at in their intensity. Beautiful and terrible at the same time, like the sky before a devastating storm. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from them.

“Well, do you want help or not?” the boy demanded.

“What?” Alvar blinked rapidly, trying to focus. “I mean… yeah. Yeah, that would be cool.”

“Sounds good.” They started off down the hall. “I’m Ruy, by the way.”

“Good to meet you, Ruy. I’m Alvar.”

———

“Is it hard?”

Ruy turned to gaze at Alvar. “What?”

“Being in the Neverseen, I mean. Is it hard?” Alvar stared straight ahead, his expression almost unreadable. Ruy thought he caught a flicker of something like fear in those perfect teal eyes, though it was gone before he could be sure.

“Kind of. At first. Actually…” Ruy trailed off. “Yes. It is hard. Every day.” His breath wavered. “But the Neverseen… they’re worth it. Our fight is worth it.” He had been trying to convince himself of that last statement for the past three years. He believed it, most of of the time.

“I thought so.” Alvar’s face was tight. “Ruy?”

“Yeah?” They were directly facing each other now, Alvar’s bright eyes glowing in the darkness. Ruy’s heart shivered in his throat.

“Do you ever regret joining?”

Ruy flinched. “I- ” He stopped, whatever lie he’d been about to tell melting on his tongue. “Sometimes. Not always. Not most of the time. But…”

“It’s worth it,” Alvar finished. There was a question in the statement.

“Yeah.” Ruy swallowed. “The Neverseen is worth it.”

Alvar nodded in the darkness.

———

“Are you helping me because I’m a Vacker?” Alvar burst out.

“You’re what?” Ruy stared, his eyebrows crinkling in confusion. “Really? I didn’t know.”

Alvar stared back, stunned. “I thought… it feels like everyone here knows.”

“Well, I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you at first glance, Your Majesty.” The sarcasm of Ruy’s remark stung more than it should have.

“No! It’s not like that!” Alvar scrambled for the words to explain. “I just - it’s nice, not being treated different just because I’m a Vacker. For once.”

“Oh really?” Ruy considered this confession for a moment. “So you don’t like being a Vacker, then.”

Alvar hesitated. “Sometimes. Yes.” It sounded embarrassingly ungrateful spoken aloud, but true nonetheless.

“A Vacker who doesn’t like being a Vacker.” Slowly, Ruy grinned. “You know, I kind of like you, kid. I kind of like you.”

Alvar smiled shyly back. Funny, being flustered instead of annoyed by someone for once.

———

“Fintan should be coming soon,” Ruy whispered.

“Yeah? Good.”

Silence.

The sound of an owl’s hoot.

Ruy jumped, then glanced at Alvar, embarrassed for having startled so easily.

His companion said nothing. Instead, he reached over and twined their hands together.

Ruy stiffened, then slowly relaxed. Both boys stared straight ahead, not quite looking at each other. Twin heartbeats beat in the darkness.

They stayed like that until Fintan arrived, seven minutes later.

Word count: 1,065
Help the characterization in this is so bad
I’m going to have to write a more well-thought-out fic another day because these two deserve it

Author's Notes (Not Counted in Word Count) ::
• This is for the weekly! I didn't want to continue the story with the prompt, so I made a new one
• This isn't in the finished weekly thing because I didn't want it to be chaotic with all the new stories that aren't related to the main story heh
• This is NOT a real diary entry, don't worry
• I'll link this is the finished weekly (If I do finish it, that is)
• The prompt was: “What’s your WPM? Multiply your WPM by 10, and that’s how many seconds you need to write. Word sprint for that amount of time to outrun the falling spears.” I took the test again and got 58, so I used a calculator to multiply it by ten. I rounded it off to a whole number and wrote for 9 minutes ^^

13/3/19

Dear Diary,
Today was awesome! We went on a field trip to the an art museum. There were so many paintings and sculptures! As you may know, I’m a sucker for art, so I loved it. Some of my classmates found it boring, which I understand, but I personally found it exciting. So many different styles of different artists! We learned about all the backstories of the paintings. So much meaning can be put into some little shapes, don’t you think that’s cool Diary?

Speaking of painting, I was inspired by some of the paintings today and decided to paint something myself. The last time I used paint was like 3 years ago, so I’m not the greatest at it. I tried my best though! The drawing is about some ducks in a pond. Not much meaning, I just like birds haha.

I want to remake the drawing in the future to show my improvement. Hey future me if you’re reading this!

My hand is kinda getting tired, Diary. I’ll write more tomorrow. Bye!

Sincerely,
Elise

– – –

Word Count: 179

╔══ ≪ daily twenty four ══╗

“Sometimes one story is just not enough for the SWC community, which is why today's daily is a dual timeline. What is a dual timeline, you ask? It's a simple way to write two stories in just one writing piece. Start with the beginning of one time line, break in whatever way you see fit, and begin the second timeline. You may do so as many times as you'd like, provided that it is 300 words or more. This will award you 200 points, plus 100 more if you share.”

Eon shoves his hands back into his pockets, the warmth washing over him like a tender breeze. “Yes, Rayne?”
“We have a job for you,” she answers with a glint shining in her eyes.
Another assassin job. They didn't require much skill – he'd slip into someone's house under the cover of darkness, rid them of all their problems, and then break in all the windows to make it seem like it was more than one person. Sometimes, if he was feeling malicious or if he had been instructed to, he would leave clues leading all around the world; his personal favourite clue to leave was an abandoned shoe, a hole in the bottom and trickled with blood as if he had stepped on glass. Authorities would try and search for the shoe size, the fingerprints, anything that could lead them to the ruthless owner, but they would get nothing! His team never got so much delight from huddling in front of the radio and hearing the words, ‘went undiscovered’, twine in their waves into the air.
“This one's a little special, though. We trust you, got that? Do you trust us?”
No is the correct answer, but he just shrugs and twirls his fingers around in his denim pockets.
“Do you trust us?”
“As much as I trust anybody,” which isn't saying much, Eon being the person he is, flighty and unreliable.
“Perfect,” Rayne grins, “For this mission requires a lot of trust.”

“Are you alright, Sire?”
“I'm fine, I'm fine. Stop bothering me,” he answers impatiently, sitting at his throne with his right leg kicked up over the other.
Beside him, a child with golden curls is waiting, a small sword gripped in his hands and an unusually blank expression on his face.
“We've got news of a new enemy coming up on the Northern Border.”
“Send a troop to eliminate them.”
“No war meetings? No – nothing?”
“We're the strongest kingdom in the world, and you're not someone to question me, got it?”
“I get it,” the general answers somewhat humbly.
“See, son? This is how you take control of a kingdom like this. Don't get attached. Don't have problems. Think of everyone else as a pawn, and you're the player. You hear me?”
The child isn't sure that he does, but why would he say that to his father, a king who doesn't get attached? So, he nods mutely, and thinks to himself that when he gets older, he won't stay at the palace like his father – he will march all of the world, defending his territory in valiant combat.

Eon is given a couple of things for his trip. At seventeen, he isn't exactly the most knowledgeable about travelling or foreign kingdoms, but he can smile pretty well and everyone else at the base knows that. He's given a rucksack of food to last him to the nearest inn, a jingling bag of coins, a change of clothes and a sword to wear on his belt. Staring into the mirror, he thinks he looks pretty respectable for such a job – he could be any traveller, looking for a place to stay for the night. In fact, he could run off now and not look back. Getting a job would be pretty – a farm would love his strength – and then he could earn money for a home and settle down there. If only he hadn't decided that that wasn't the life for him, or he would be safe.
But safety is a fickle thing, and Eon packs his bag and doesn't think about the what-if's.

Two weeks later, there is a new king – or a prince, as he demands to be called.
“I'm only twelve. I'm not being a king, not yet,” he tells all the advisors, and firmly sits in his father's throne with a pouting expression, refusing to move.
He doesn't miss his father that much. Maybe he didn't get attached?

The first inn lets him in with no hesitation. He buys enough food to keep him going for another few nights, gets a warm bed for free as he helps out with the horses outside, and then cheerfully tosses the waitress a tip the next morning. In fact, he remains in good humour for the first two weeks of his journey – what else would he do, when the skies are a marvellous blue and he is still relatively fed and clean? He whistles sometimes. He hasn't whistled in a while.

Eight years later, he is still a prince, but he is going into his first (last) battle. He doesn't expect to not come back. He always assumed he was invincible, and that is where he went wrong.

“I'm so sorry, Sire.” Eon whispers to the body.

The prince smiles weakly at his murderer before he closes his eyes for the final time.
That, he thinks, was not a good battle, after all.

And then he is gone.

(828 words)