SWC Megathread || Nov. 2022

A-Sad-Invention

Weekly 4

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

–

Write 100 words to start your adventure
Cali didn’t have enough money for lunch. Again.
She seethed. Her boss hasn’t been paying her for three months now, and she’s not so sure she could manage. She has been skipping breakfast almost daily now, and would only eat dinner on good days. But recently, she hasn’t even had enough money for lunch. Her little side job at McDonalds' isn’t enough for all her living expenses.
Cali stared at the rent sheet, sprawled on her bed. She hasn’t been able to pay her rent, and the owner was threatening to kick her out. She had to get her boss to pay her. Why not threaten to quit? After all, she was a very important figure in the organization.

119 words

Fanfiction: Write for ten minutes; if you don’t reach 200 words then write 100 more.
The next day, Cali drove to work. She was determined to get the pay she deserved, even if it meant she had to quit her job. It was taking up a lot of her time, anyway. She could find a better job that actually paid.
“Ugh,” she groaned. Her car was almost out of gas. How could she go on like this? She didn’t even have money for rent, much less gas. She’ll have to walk to work by foot if the car runs out of gas.
Scratch that. Today was the day she’ll finally get her money. She’ll make a decision and stick with it, no matter what happens. After all, they need her. Right?
–
“I’m quitting.”
“Excuse me?” her boss raised an eyebrow. Her boss’s name was Oliver, and they have been working together for two years now. They were practically best friends.
“You’re not paying me,” Cali complained.
“Yeah, because the company’s short on money.” Oliver sighed. “Look, I’ll do the best I can. Stay, pleeeaaaase?” she pleaded.
Unfortunately, Cali didn’t have the heart to say no to her best friend. “Okay, fine,” she agreed. “But you have to-”
“Shoot, I got a call, see you later!” Oliver sped away.
“Frick.”
–
Okay, so that didn’t work. Cali scolded herself for giving in. She couldn’t afford to do this, literally. She had to get her act together.
“Hey, Cali,” Erick, her coworker called. “You have a job.”
Another job. Okay, she hasn’t had one in a week or so, but that’s still a lot. One thing she liked about work is that most of the time, she got to sit around, talk, and research (she would mostly play games on the computers instead of research). Cali worked as a spy. She befriended evil people for information so that her organization could sabotage them.
She got up with a melodramatic sigh. “What is it?”
“You’re dealing with…” Erick double-checked on his computer. “Fred. We’ve researched a bit on him, and we got a bit of information. Here-” he crafted the paper into a paper airplane and threw it at her. A terrible throw, as always.
Cali rolled her eyes at his immaturity and quickly apologized to the person that got hit. She unfolded

376 words

Realistic Fiction: Sprint for three minutes
the paper airplane and read:
Likes computer science
Likes calculus
Basically, a nerd
Son of a mafia
Has lots of info about his father
Goes to college at
“That’s all?” Cali asked. “Normally we have more than that. Like, an entire personality database or something.”
“Yes, I know.” Erick responded. “But this one’s good at keeping his secrets, so…” he shrugged.
Cali huffed. “Fine. what’s the plan?”
“You pretend to be a new student at his school with a computer science major. You befriend him and get information.”
“Okay, when do I start?”
“Today, ASAP.”
Cali smiled.

100 words

Dystopian: Ask in the Main Cabin for a story starter and incorporate it into your writing
Prompt from Finch (@zparkly): it all started when the frogs attacked
After that conversation, she immediately got to work: she picked out an outfit that gave college vibes. Well, she tried to make it nerdy. And with glasses. Okay, that’s a bit stereotypical, but who cares?
She located the school and informed them vaguely of her mission. She had a written warrant signed by the CEO of the company, which made her life much easier. It was kinda fun, having so much power.
Cali would be a new student at the college the next day. She couldn’t wait.
–
“Good morning, everyone! This is our new transfer student, Catalina.”
A few people waved or said hi, but most of the class didn’t care. That’s what college students are like. Cali scanned the classroom, locating her target, sitting in the front row. She decided not to go up to him right away, to not seem suspicious. She chose a seat somewhere in the middle of the classroom.
The classes went by, and Cali developed a plan: she would walk up to Fred at lunch, as a new student who doesn’t have anyone to sit with. Then, she would befriend him slowly, get the information, and leave.
Everything was going fine. It was almost lunch.
Then it happened.
The frogs attacked.
Everyone in the classroom screamed, jumping out of their seats and running blindly. Cali felt her heartbeat speeding up- what was this? Erick never said anything about a frog attack. She quickly got out of her seat, trying to stay calm.
She sprinted away from the commotion, trying to find her way out of the school. The crowd of people jostled her around, and she tripped. Panic overtook her as she tried to get up, and got rushed by the tide of students.
“Hey, you need help?” A strong hand grabbed hers and pulled her up.
It was Fred.

306 words

Thriller: Use a random number generator to find out the word counts of your next 5 paragraphs
Numbers: 98, 84, 4, 50, 21
“Are you okay?” Fred asked worriedly, as the two ran together from the overwhelming number of frogs. His breathing was rapid and distorted. Cali collected herself and quickly shaped her personality (or rather, what her personality appears to be, anyway) to match Fred’s and be appropriate for the situation. She had to seem interesting, for a lack of better words, to her target. She pushed up her glasses, forcing practied tears to her eyes. She held on tightly onto Fred’s hand, making herself shake slightly. Cali delicately formed her voice into a soft, feeble mumble and finally replied:
“Yeah, I think so,” she responded shakily. Cali sniffled slightly, trying to gain sympathy from her target. And it worked- Fred gave her a quick hug. She smiled evilly, quickly erasing it from her face as Fred released her from the embrace. This was going great!! Fred was already on speaking terms with her. He probably likes her. Unfortunately, she wasn’t sure if it was platonically or romantically. Cali has learned how to not get attached to targets, so she’ll be fine. Hopefully, anyways.
“Name’s Fred, you’re Catalina?”
“Nice to meet you, Fred,” she smiled sweetly, enduring the introduction although she already knew him. “And I prefer Cali, if that’s okay with you.” Fred nodded with a kinda awkward grin, and Cali had to restrain herself from evilly smiling again. This was going even better than she thought!!
“We should get away from the frogs,” Fred observed. They stopped running during their conversation, and they should probably get going.

257 words

Science Fiction: Gasp! Your character gets deja vu or a premonition
Cali laughed. “Yep, probably.” And they resumed getting away from the armies of frogs that were conquering the hallway. They barely missed a frog that tried to eat them.
As they ran, Cali felt something prick at her mind. What was this feeling? Right, deja vu… something about running away from frogs with a target of spying- she had done something like before, has she not?
But as she searched her mind, she couldn’t find anything. The closest she has ever gotten to this was running from Erick’s cat, who was trying to bite her. But that wasn’t it. It was a very uncomfortable feeling- knowing something but can’t find it in your memory.
But she had no time to ponder on a stupid feeling when there are so many more important things to do. Well, not stupid, but… ugh, who cares? Cali forced herself back to reality. Time to focus on her target.

154 words

Horror: Write for five minutes at your own pace
She pretended to be tired, producing pants and stumbles. Fred slowed down. “You okay? We could stop if you want,” he offered.
“Yeah, I need it- thanks,” Cali laughed. They turned the corner and sat down on the stairs. They were a floor away from the chaos- that is to say, the frogs were on the third floor, and they were on the stairway before the first and second.
“So, uh…” Fred tried to find a topic for small talk. “What are your hobbies?”
“Reading and coding, mostly. I also like drawing and writing,” Cali lied. “My favorite coding website is Java. What about yours? I mean, your hobbies.”
“Hmm… I also like coding. I also like Java- it’s the most iconic one anyway,” Fred quirked his lips. “I like to play video games. I play Roblox and Minecraft.” He smiled a bit sheepishly.
“Roblox? Isn’t that a bit immature?” Cali teased. She couldn’t resist bullying spy targets, even though it could ruin relationships. She quickly reprimanded herself- “Sorry. I play a bit of Roblox too.”
“It’s okay,” Fred flashed a cute smile at her. “Let’s go.” He offered her a hand. She smiled back at him and took his hand.

201 words

Adventure: Your character’s setting and surroundings start working against them
They started running again. Cali suddenly felt her asthma kick in, the dust engulfing her lungs. The cleaning lady probably got lazy and didn’t clean the stairs. She started wheezing. Even as she tried to hold it back, her coughs cracked out.
“Woah, you alright there?” Fred turned to her, worried, but didn’t stop walking.
“Yeah, it’s just really dusty here,” Cali replied between coughs, walking alongside him. “I’ll be better when-”
And as they walked, she missed a step and tumbled down the steps.
“Omg, are you okay????” He’s asked that a million times already. Fred ran down the stairs, but surprise, surprise, he fell too.

107 words

Historical Fiction: Write for 5 minutes. If you didn’t write words then sprint for 10 more minutes
“Are you okay?” Cali asked as she hoisted herself up, still shaky on her feet. She ran over to Fred, who was lying on the floor.
“Oww, I hit my shoulder.” He complained, pouting almost comedically. “I’m dyingggg.”
Cali laughed in sympathy and gave him her hand, pulling him up. “Let’s go.”
Then the frogs launched down the stairs.
“EEEE!” Fred screamed, and they ran for their lives.
The frogs kept on chasing them. Cali was hysterical- Where did these frogs come from, and why are they chasing her? She jumped over a bench.
Then she realized.
The mafia. He had an entire farm consisting of mostly frogs. He had an obsession or something. He must’ve somehow figured out Cali was spying on his son! She skidded to a halt to test her theory.
The frogs lunged for her, but left Fred alone. She was right! She took a risk, taking a big leap down the stairs. Thankfully, she didn’t fall. It was a bit hard on her feet, though. She sprinted to catch up to Fred.
“They’re after me!” she yelled.
“Why??” Fred shouted back.
Cali wasn’t sure how to answer. Could she tell him? No.
“My friends are pranking me, probably!” Cali swerved quickly to avoid a pole.
“This isn’t a very nice prank,” Fred commented as they threw themselves against the door, finally out of the school. But the frogs were still after them. Cali grabbed his hand and sprinted towards her car. (this is where I sprinted for ten more minutes) She quickly slammed in her key, starting the engine just before the frogs jumped onto her car.
“Close one,” Fred giggled.
“Definitely,” Cali agreed.
“Where are we going?” Fred asked.
“To my house,” Cali replied.
–
They arrived at her house after approximately twenty minutes. Cali’s house was a mess, especially her room. Socks, shirts, jackets thrown everywhere. Her bed was unmade, her curtains still closed. Her laptop was open.
“Sorry it looks like a volcano erupted in here,” she apologized.
Fred laughed. “Don’t worry, my room is the same.”
Cali slid her hand into her pocket and pulled out her phone. There were several missing calls from Erick and Oliver. They must’ve figured out the mafia found out about her. She had to call them back soon.
“I hope the frogs don’t come to my house,” Fred remarked. He threw open Cali’s curtains to see the frogs on the road. Cali came up besides him and looked through the window.
“Looks like you jinxed it,” Cali commented.
–
Cali made a drastic choice: She’s going to tell Fred about the Organization of Sabatoge. Lame name, of course, but nobody really knows it except for the organization itself, so it’s okay.
She and Fred snuck onto the street, as the frogs banged on the house’s door. Cali drove them to the company building, building up her courage. It won’t be easy to tell him.
“We’re here,” she told him as she pulled up to one of the organization’s headquarter’s parking lots. She took his hand, ran into the building, and slammed close the door. The frogs yeeted onto the door and bounced off.
“It’s time to tell you.”

535 words

Bizzaro Fiction: Roll a die and multiply the number by 100 - write that many words
Die: 2
“Hey, Erick!” she made her way up the stairs.
“Omg, Cali, are you okay???” Erick jumped up from his chair and ran to Cali. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Fred. “Wha-”
“Calm down, Erick,” Cali rolled her eyes, but she was secretly Erick was here. She took a breath and explained: “I guess you heard about the frog attack. So, because I had nowhere to go, and I had to come here. Also, him-” she indicated at Fred. “I’m sorry. There wasn’t anything I could do except bring him here. Maybe we should tell him?” she cast a pleading glance at Erick.
“I’m sorry, Cali, but we can’t do that,” Erick replied sadly. “He already knows too much. We have to get rid of him.”
“But-” Cali began.
“We have to,” Erick interrupted firmly.
“Woah-” Fred began, but Erick cut him off with a casual question: “Sooooo, how do you wanna die?”
“What???” Fred was confused and panicked. “I mean, I’d prefer if you didn’t kill me. Please? I never say please. It’s weird saying it. Actually, I’ve probably did before, but just not that much. I’d say under 100 times in my life. Maybe, I’m not really sure. What do you think? Forget it. Don’t kill me? Please?” Erick shook his head. Fred smiled. Little did Erick know, he had a trick up his sleeve- puppy eyes.

231 words

Script: Sprint for four minutes
“Shoot,” Erick rolled his eyes. “Okay, since you want to be alive so much, I won’t kill you. For now, anyway.” He glanced at Cali: “Find a room, he could stay here for now. You can also tell him about us. I’ll call Alina to make the base more secure.” He smiled at Fred for a brief moment before returning to his computer.
“Okay, so yeah. Here’s your room,” Cali dragged Fred to the guest rooms that they built, even though there were barely any visitors. Welp, guess it paid off today.
The room was a basic white room, with a bed, a drawer, a table and chair, and a closet. There was also a shower room. “We can paint the walls if you want,” Cali told him. “Also, you can ask for whatever you want. Mostly, anyway. We have lunch.” She shrugged. Fred nodded.
Cali was about to leave when Fred called: “Wait!”
“Yeah?” she turned back to him.
“You didn’t tell me about you guys.” he pouted.

411 words

Fantasy: Free writing! Go write 250 more words
“Okay, so basically, we’re a spy organization that sabotages evil people. Your dad is an evil mafia, so I was sent to spy on you,” Cali explained. “I hope you don’t have daddy issues, because we won’t get much information that way.”
“Oh, I don’t. We’re pretty close, actually,” Fred smiled. Then it faded into a frown. “What if I don’t want to tell you about him now?”
“I don’t really know,” Cali admitted. “I’ll get back to you- for now, just rest.”
–
“He’s kinda cute,” Erick’s voice startled her.
“Wait what?” Cali screeched.
“Shh,” Erick slapped a hand over her mouth. “Shut up! He’s gonna hear you. Anyway, he’s cute. Don’t deny it.” Cali rolled her eyes and threw his hand away.
“Okay, sure, whatever,” she laughed. “I can’t believe you’re into him!”
“I’m not into him,” Erick retorted. “I just think he’s cute.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Cali shot back.
And they had a rather complicated fight. Lots of kicking and pinching were involved.
–
The next day, Fred and Cali came to the lounge to find Erick hyper on coffee.
“We killed all the frogs! We basically yeeted to the sun! Yay!” He hugged the two. “Wanna play among us vr??? Joe mama! Mangos! EEEEEEE!”
“Uhm, is he okay?” Fred asked Cali, concerned.
“Well… yes but no,” Cali laughed as she watched Erick yeeted himself around the lounge, nearly knocking over his coffee.
“He’s kinda cute,” Fred suddenly whispered to her. She could see a pink tint on his face.
Cali gasped. It was time to play matchmaker.

260 words

Mystery: Sprint for five minutes
Later in the day, Oliver arrived.
“HIIIII! EEEE!” Erick was, unfortunately, still high on coffee.
“Um, hi, Erick,” Oliver replied awkwardly. He turned towards Cali: “Hey, Cali. Good job. Sort of,” he laughed quietly. “Let me explain our situation here.” He nodded towards Fred.
“The mafia has sent a spy to spy on us, and they discovered you- Catalina-”
“Chill, Oliver. Cali is okay. You don’t have to act pro around him-” Cali indicated to Fred.
“Okay, Cali,” Oliver rolled his eyes. “They discovered you, and sent their army of frogs.” He let himself chuckle in amusement. “Interesting choice of animal- anyways, that’s all. They sent their frog army after you, but we obliterated them.” He looked a little proud.
“Cool,” Fred butted in. “But what are you going to do to me? It’s getting a bit boring without my video games,” he joked.
The group shared a laugh. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to do anything, and we won’t do anything to you,” Oliver confirmed. “We’ll get you a new computer. Sorry about that.” Fred nodded in understanding.
“Guys,” Cali put in. “Wanna get coffee?”

188 words

Poetry: Word war another SWC-er for 5 minutes
The quartet went to the nearest coffee shop, and here is where Cali’s scheme begins. After they order the coffee, she will talk to Erick and give him some flowers she ordered, so that he will be forced to give it to Fred. Because why else would he randomly have flowers? Cali was proud of herself for thinking up this scheme.
“Could I have a pumpkin spice latte?” she told the barista quickly, then dragged Erick aside.
“Hey,” she whispered. “You know how you have a huge crush on Fred?”
“I do not have a huge crush on Fred,” Erick whisper-screamed. “I just think he’s kinda cute.”
“Shut up,” Cali whispered. She produced flowers out of nowhere and handed it to him before he realized what was happening. “Give this to Fred!” She urged him, then ran back to the group.
“Here,” Oliver gave her her coffee. “What’s up with Erick?”
Cali smiled evilly. “You’ll see.”
–
Erick was seething. How dare Cali humiliate him like this?! He definitely did not have a huge crush on Fred. Anyways,

177 words

Folklore: Choose a Taylor Swift song and sprint for its duration
Song:
Song: You Belong With Me
what was he supposed to do with the flowers? He didn’t know how Cali summoned the flowers out of nowhere. He panicked as Fred walked over to him.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Fred eyed the flowers.
“Uh, nothing-” Erick coughed.
“Who is it for?” Fred pestered. “Cali?”
“EWW!!” Erick screeched. “I mean, she’s cool, but eww.”
“Then who are the flowers for?” Fred inquired.
“Nobody,” Erick defended.
“Why do you have them then?” Fred was persistent.
“Okay, whatever, you can have them then,” Erick shoved it into Fred’s hands.
Fred stared at him. A pink tint crept up onto his cheeks. “Um, thanks.”
“Uh, you’re welcome,” Erick mumbled, turning away and heating up in embarrassment. He sent a dagger glare at Cali, who smiled evilly.
“Let’s, uh, go back and get coffee,” Fred offered. Erick nodded, and they awkwardly walked together, back to the coffee table.

147 words

Non Fiction: Roll a die and sprint for that many minutes
Die: 5
“Yeah,“ Cali whispered to Oliver. ”Aren't they cute together? UwU!!!“
”Yeah, uh, I guess,“ Oliver replied, absentmindedly.
Fred hid the flowers behind his back, and eventually figured it out. He rolled his eyes at Cali, but was secretly glad she set them up. The four began drinking their coffee and engaging in small talk.
A frog yeeted out of nowhere, and several followed. Soon, there was a tsunami of frogs lunging at them.
”Sh-“ Cali jumped up, knocking over her chair. ”Gotta run-“ she started sprinting. Oliver followed closely after. Fred blinked, confused, but Erick took his hand and dragged him along.
”What's happening?“ Oliver yelled. ”I thought we got rid of them!“
”I don't know, they probably got more!“ Erick yelled back.
”iFrick-“ Cali skidded to a halt as the frogs jumped in front of her. ”We're cornered!“
The three others stopped.
”Uh, we're kinda doomed,“ Erick commented.
”We have to sacrifice someone,“ Cali suggested.
”Shut up,“ Erick retorted.
”EEE!“ Fred screamed as a frog latched itself onto him.
”Fred!!!" Erick grabbed the frog and threw it away from them.

181 words

Write 100 words to wrap up your adventure
But the frogs were closing in on them. Oliver realized first- he smiled sadly. “Guess it’s time to say goodbye,” he spoke softly.
“Nononono!” Cali panicked. “There must be a way-”
Then Erick made a run for it, dragging Fred behind him.
Surprisingly, the frogs were surprised and confused. They became a disorganized pile, which gave Cali and Oliver time to run. The four sprinted, and Cali threw open her car door. “Get in!!”
The four quickly got in, and Cali started the engine. The frogs followed close behind, so Cali brought it up a notch- that is to say, she put the speed on the highest level.
“We’re gonna die!” Fred shrieked.
“Shut up, I’m pro at driving,” Cali retorted.
–
They did make it out. And after a while, they obliterated the frogs, along with the mafia. Fred eventually asked Erick out, and they became lovebirds. Cali, Oliver, and Erick continued on with their job, in the Organization of Sabotage.

161 words

Total: 3911 words

Last edited by A-Sad-Invention (Nov. 27, 2022 17:33:40)

seasiide

11/27 (126 words): Documenting the little things that you appreciate in life is a great way to show gratitude and boost your mood! Today, write at least 100 words about either something good that happened today or a goal that you have for today. You will receive 50 points for completing this task and you can receive an additional 50 if you share your happy moment or goal with the main cabin.

(removed for personal reasons

)

Last edited by seasiide (Dec. 1, 2022 01:26:06)

theseventh-crow

Daily 27/11
(141 words)
It may seem silly – I think it’s silly – but today was actually quite good for a few reasons. I stayed at a friend’s house last night (which I hadn’t really wanted to do) but when we woke up, we made pancakes and played with her dog which was really sweet. She gave me a hot chocolate bomb when I left, which is ridiculous because it’s 30° Celsius where I am, but it was really fun to make.
My relationship with my dad isn’t great at the moment, so I wasn’t keen to go back to his house, but it was ok. I had leftover empanadas and watched a bit of the world cup with my brother, which I enjoyed more than I though I would, and now I’m listening to David Bowie and Queen with my dad. Today’s been pretty good.

sxwjq

November 27 daily (186 words):
Today, when I woke up, I felt strange. It was unlike any other day since this weekend had been four days. It was hard to believe that Thanksgiving was already over, especially with Monday being so close by. I was dreading tomorrow’s seven long hours of school and three hours of various exhausting extracurriculars I was too lazy to quit. Overall, I didn’t want break to end so soon. After I left my bed to eat breakfast and finish a couple of homework assignments, I found my cat wandering around in my room, meowing loudly. This cat was old in terms of cat years, but still acted like a young baby kitten, which was always very endearing. I dropped into a crouch and gently stroked her fluffy fur. As she started purring aggressively, I leaned into her soft coat, listening to each wave of purrs that entered my ears. How interesting it was that a cat could purr, but a tiger could not! I was suddenly reminded of this weird fact I found on the Internet. Barely holding in a laugh, I hugged my adorable cat.

smalltoe

General overview: This poem is a literal masterpiece omg - I love love love the concept and how you deliver it, the word choices are perfect, the message comes through really strongly, and I can totally imagine how good it would sound spoken out loud. I don't have much to say about the poem in general, but there are a few smaller things I noticed as I read through:

You Don’t Know

I'm not sure if this is the title or the first line of your poem? If its the title, you should probably put a space between it and the first stanza, or possibly put it in bold ^^
'What You Don't Know' might be a title that sums up your poem a little better, as each stanza is ‘what’ the person it's directed at doesn't know, but ‘You Don’t Know' works as well

You see the short girl with glasses over there?
She’s a deadly gun, who could end you in an instant.
That smiley face, and her quiet mouth
Hides the mess that goes through her head.

'smiling' could replace ‘smiley’ - ‘smiley’ has a certain child-y vibe around it, makes me think of ‘smiley faces’ and emojis, and kind of offsets the mood of this stanza slightly, but its not a major

The school jock who has the best body
He hates the sport, he just wants to rest.
He has tried to quit, but what would everyone say?
He doesn’t want that trouble, might as well stay.

I love this stanza so much, so relatable and sad as well <33
The rhyming fits really well, makes it nice and flow-y to read
'He's' might be a little easier to read aloud than ‘He has’ though

And oh the Starbucks lady who made you a bad face

You could include commas here, sort of like stage directions for when you read it aloud - 'And, oh, the Starbucks lady…"

She’s in a rough time, trying to pay her rent.
She’s working three jobs to give food to her kid
Who doesn’t go to school, they can’t afford it.

I love this stanza as well hehe

You don’t know them, just as you don’t know me
So why are you saying that I am a certain way?
The fire that’s coming out of your mouth,
Is corrupting my city, house by house.

Your message comes through really strongly here, I love it

Just because you see some tattoos in their arm
Doesn’t mean they’re a criminal or that they do something bad.
The way I wear my clothes or the look on my face
Doesn’t tell you any minimum thing about what happened in my day.

The grammar here's a little confusing -

Just because you see some tattoos on their arm
Doesn’t mean they’re a criminal, (comma here) or that (you can take out the 'that) they did something bad.
The way I wear my clothes or the look on my face
Doesn’t tell you the minimum (could also be ‘anything’) thing about what happened in my day.

Why are blonde and brunette two different types of girls?
Why are we defined by such simple words?
We’re not food to be labeled, we’re people; human beings

Loovveeee these lines!

Just because I wear jeans, shorts or some pants.

You could take out the ‘some’

You see the woman who always enters the bar?
She works there, every single night.
You thought she drank a lot but you were so wrong.
She's just trying to find a way to afford going home.

Really like this stanza as well!

The point is not to make yourself feel like you’re bad
But to think about the words you say or things you think.
Because maybe one day you’ll be the one they judge
And the fire you threw before will be thrown back to you.

Perfect ending!

Last edited by smalltoe (Nov. 27, 2022 20:36:33)

Rey_venclaw

weekly!

certificate: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/768091506/

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

word count: 2794

text:

I had a mother once.
And then the dragons arrived.
She was the first line of defence, and the only one our mountainside village ever needed. But that was when we thought we were the planet’s most dangerous species. Now we know better. I will never forget being seven years old and watching my mother’s vessel and three others plummet from the sky.
My sister, Jesse, was the one who invented the dragon alarms. They detect the changes in atmospheric pressure and temperature that mean a dragon is nearby. They have never been set off, but we all live in fear of the day we finally hear their piercing scream. It could happen at any time. (116)
I take a deep breath, banishing the memory of six years ago from my mind. Tonight I’m supposed to be happy. Tonight, we celebrate.
“Lisa!” Jesse calls from up the stairs. “We’re supposed to be leaving, Dad’s getting impatient!”
“Coming!” I return, gluing the last shell on my mask before settling it on my face, slipping the straps behind my ears. I can barely see. I cut the holes for the eyes too small. But from what I can tell, I look pretty cool.
“Lisa, seriously!” That’s my cousin, Mack.
“Okay, okay!” I quickly pull on my tall, red boots and clip my cape, shining with beads and pieces of sea glass, around my shoulders. Now I am a dragon.
No one, not even Dad, Jesse, and Mack, know what my costume is. It’s kind of an unspoken rule, ever since the attack. You do not make dragon costumes. But I just did, and the world hasn’t ended yet, has it? (161)
I rush up out of the basement, ignoring the looks my family is shooting at me and my costume, and exit the house. I jump the three porch steps at once, and take off running.
“The party’s at the beach, right?” I shout behind me. “What are you waiting for?”
Even though I can’t see her, I’m positive my sister is rolling her eyes.
I do catch her next eye roll, however, when my cape catches my heel, and I tumble backwards into the sand.
Jesse and Mack take their time laughing at me before finally offering me their hands to help me up.
There's sand in my hair. I brush out as much of it as I can, straighten my mask and cape, and by the time Dad arrives, it looks like nothing happened. (135)

It is traditional for the youngest family members to display their costumes first, then the second-youngest, and on until the oldest. Which means everyone will see my dragon costume almost right away.
“Be careful,” Jesse whispers to me as I step into the centre of the platform. “Don't dazzle them with too much rebelliousness.”
Since when have I ever listened to her?
As soon as I step out, gasps circulate through the crowd, along with whispers of, is that what I think it is? a dragon! and what is she thinking? I block them all out. I spread my arms wide, unfolding my cape into wings, and triggering the lights I'd placed at the base of my neck to glow red, making my throat appear to glow with fiery heat.
“I am not afraid of you!” I call out to the crowd on an impulse.
The whole beach falls silent for what feels like ages.
And then… applause. They're applauding me. (161)
We're stronger than the dragons, my display says, let's stop hiding.
It feels good, to act so sure and confident, and to have the town agree with me. But I can't silence the part of my mind that whispers, would Mama have approved? And suddenly, it's like I traveled back in time to the day of the attack. The last time I ever saw my mother, and the last time Mack saw his.
“Mama! Aunt Jade!” Seven-year-old me calls, running through the meadow on the outskirts of town, thirteen-year-old Mack and ten-year-old Jesse running close behind me. “Guess what, we found flowers!”
We place handfuls of the purple-pink and yellow flowers, some of spring's earliest, around the wonky edges of the picnic blanket Jesse knit, and weave the extras into Mama's crown braid and Aunt Jade's long, loose curls.
I'm tying off the last of the flowers into a bundle to take home, and Mack and Jesse are rummaging through the picnic basket for strawberries and chocolate sauce, when the screams start.
Mama and Aunt Jade make eye contact, not speaking, and stand up.
“You three stay here,” Aunt Jade tells us.
“Mack's in charge,” Mama adds. And then they're gone. The last Mack, Jesse, and I ever see of our mothers is their backs as they run, away from us and toward the rest of the Township Defence Team, flowers woven through their hair. (235)
I come back to the present, back to the cheering. Everyone's attention on me, suffocating me with their happiness. I need to get out of here.
I turn away from everyone and run toward the water, discarding my costume as I go. It must make quite the image, a girl running toward the water and the sunset, pieces of an elaborate costume scattered in her wake.
I don't stop when I hit the water. Instead I keep going. Running, than walking, then swimming, until I can no longer reach the bottom. I hold my breath and let myself sink under so I float just below the surface, looking up. The pink-tinged clouds, distorted through the water, look stunning. I float there on the water, letting the motion of the waves relax me, for a long time. I keep an eye on the sun, knowing if it sinks too low and I'm still out here, someone will come after me. I want to go back on my own. (167)
I pull myself up out of the water and onto the shor just as the last rays of sun touch the horizon. I walk back along the beach, leaving wet footprints in the dusty sand. I driften pretty far as I floated, so it takes me a while to get back to where the pieces of my costume still lay in the sand, sandy now, having been tossed and blown by the wind. And the light in my cape went out. I pick up each of the pieces as I head back toward the town. I keep taking deep breaths as I go, trying to stay calm. When I reach home, I sneak in the back door, not wanting to talk to anyone. I see Mack and Jesse playing a card game at the kitchen table, and Dad reading on the sofa, but none of them notice me as I creep to my room in the basement. I toss my costume in a heap on the floor and flop onto my bed without bothering to change into dry clothes. At some point, I fall asleep. (185)
“Lisa, Lisa,” Jesse shakes me awake.
I sit up, startled.
“Sorry,” she whispers. It's still completely dark outside, the middle of the night.
“What is it?” I ask.
She takes a deep breath. “Dragons.”
“What?” It's a shout. I can't help it.
“They're back,” my sister explains. “They haven't attacked, but they're flying around everywhere. The people are blaming you.”
“Why?” I ask, although I know the answer.
“They think you provoked the attack.”
“You said they aren't attacking yet!”
“Exactly. Yet. They still might. We need to get out of here.” She shoves my emergency bag at me, and the fireproof sac everyone in the village has in case of a dragon attack. I stuff as much of my stuff into it as I can before following my sister out of the room. Dad and Mack are waiting outside, their own bags hanging over their shoulders.
“This is really happening?” I ask.
“It is,” my dad confirms. (158)

On the outskirts of the village, there's an old barn that we fireproofed after the first dragon attack. The entire village is crowding inside it now. There are about four hundred of us, jammed into every available space in the barn. Everywhere we don't take up is filled with the stuff we managed to save from the village. There's piles of blankets and pillows, bags, boxes, one large cabinet filled with the village's analog records, four computers on a folding table, and a telescope angled out the only window so we can see where the dragons are at. Most of the adults are near the door, the children and teens at the back. I'm pressed against the far wall, and no one s Mack and Jesse has said anything to me so far. They really all think this is my fault. (141)
It gets real lonely, real fast. We spend the entire night in the barn shelter. I try to talk to people every couple of minutes, but they all ignore me, acting like I don't exist. A couple hours into the night, the dragons start attacking. Mack is the one who spots the first blasts of fire through the telescope. They start at the south side, near the forest, on the lake. Which is thankfully the opposite end of the village to where we are.
Finally, someone talks to me. The sun is starting to tinge the sky with greys, blues, and pinks, about a third of the villagers have fallen asleep, and the dragons are still attacking. I'm sitting with between Mack, who's awake, and Jesse, who isn't when the man approaches.
“This is all your fault, girl,” he growls. “That foolish show of arrogance has killed us all!” He walks away before I can respond. I know he's not right, but even Dad and Jesse seem to blame me, at least a bit. Only Mack is treating me like normal.
“How long is this going to last?” I ask. “How long until I'm not the villain anymore?”
Mack gently shakes his head. “I don't know, Lisa.” (207)
“Do you think it's safe to go outside?”

We walk carefully toward the telescope, being careful not to step on or otherwise waken anyone else. I step up close to the eyepiece.
The first thing I notice is the sky. The sun is just breaching the horizon over the trees to my left, shooting brilliant colours all through the early morning sky. Secondly, I notice the dragons are gone. There isn't a single one in sight.
“It's safe,” I say.
It's only once we step outside that I realize how stuffy it was in the shelter. The fresh morning air is wonderful, even if it's still mixed with the scent of smoke.
Somehow, the stress of last night is making the whole world seem more peaceful than ever before, this morning. If Mack's pleasant smile is anything to go by, he agrees with me.
Before the remnants of my fear can convince me otherwise, I take the first steps into the village. Mack follows. The buildings are surprisingly intact here, if slightly scorched. But something tells me that, closer to the water, things will be very different.
I was right. We reach our street, and everything is completely unrecognizable. All fourteen houses are completely gone.
We spend a few minutes sorting through the rubble that was once our home, but find nothing.
“Where will we go now?” I can't stop myself from asking. (225)

That is the question on everyone's minds once they're all awake. About a quarter of the village was destroyed, about a quarter of us lost our homes. Jesse starts playing hand games with the younger children to keep them distracted from their parents' heated conversations.
I try not to pay attention, as I know it will only stress me out further, but I can't help but overhear how no one wants to take in my family. It's my fault the dragons came in the first place, they argue. Serves me right I lost my home. Even if they're right, I don't see why Dad, Mack, and Jesse have to suffer too.
Eventually we end up agreeing to stay at an inn. The owner graciously offers eight suites to families who lost their homes. We get to stay for half a year, free of charge. That sounds good. By that time, maybe things will have been rebuilt enough that we can stay elsewhere. Maybe by that time, people will have forgiven me. (171)

The inn is surprisingly beautiful. The main floor has stained glass windows, polished marble floors, intricate furniture in the lobby and the dining area, and beautiful paintings on the walls. The suites are less decorated, but no less elegant. The building is round, so the rooms get steadily wider as you go toward the outer wall. Which isn't much of a wall really, as so much of it is taken up by a huge window. The occupants are apparently allowed to personalize the space as much as we want. No one who isn't ridiculously rich could possibly afford to run an inn like this. It's ridiculous.
It's not like anyone has much to personalize the space with anyway, considering our homes have been destroyed. Which is why we're in this mess to begin with.I suppose they're trying to be kind to us, make us feel more at home. But it feels more like rubbing it in our faces that we lost everything. (162)
The inn even has a private shuttle bus. Big enough to fit ten people sitting on leather seats with a sheet of plexiglass between them and the driver. I had no idea there was this much wealth in our small town. At least those who are in possession of such wealth are being kind with it, I reason.
The bus heads back and forth, picking up each of the families staying at the inn. One of them has four small children, the oldest no more than eight years old. I can't imagine how they've been coping with losing their home. I watch as the father drags the youngest child, a girl of about two, out of the bus by her arms. She's crying, and it looks like she has been for a while. The other three children all stand quietly behind their mother, not moving or speaking. It's so sad. (150)

Jess, Mack, and I crowd onto the bed. We slept together regularly when we were little, but that doesn't work very well now that we're thirteen, seventeen, and twenty. We're far too big for this to be comfortable, even with Dad sleeping on the floor. I wonder if we can get some sort of cot arrangement in the future, but that doesn't matter now. Now, it's late, and we're all exhausted. We just need to fall asleep and figure this out in the morning.
I don't know how long it takes me to finally nod off, squished between my sister and my cousin, but I do know I'm the last to do so. I'm surrounded by snores on both sides and still wide awake for at least a bit. When I wake up again, the sun is well above the horizon. It must be at least ten in the morning. (150)
Jesse and Mack are both gone. And when I stand up I realize Dad is too. They must've decided to let me sleep in.
I'm hungry, I realize. I don't think I've eaten in over a day. “That's not good,” I mutter to myself with a small laugh. I head down to the dining area, where I find a young woman, belly round from pregnancy, placing freshly baked rounds on a plastic tray.
“Try one!” She says to me. “They're very good, if I'm allowed to say so about my own creations.”
I take one, pull it apart, and stuff a good third of it in my mouth. It really is delicious. I try to say so, forgetting there's bread in my mouth, and I end up giving the baker a thumbs-up instead.
She smiles. “I'm glad you like it.” (140)
Maybe this ordeal won't be so bad after all.
We stay at the inn for three months, eventually with enough cots for all of us except Jesse who claims the bed. The dragons come by for another pass within that time, but all they do is torch the beach and leave behind some beautiful pieces of glass. Everyone forgives me eventually, and pretty soon we're able to move in with Alexis, Mack's best friend since they were both six. They consider themselves brothers. Alexis's twin sister lives there as well, and we quickly become friends. Sometimes, I still can't convince myself that this is real, that the attack actually happened, that someone was kind enough to take us in. But I do know that we'll be okay. (127)

pages-of-ink

Daily 11/27

One goal I have set for myself today is to do my English and science homework. I’ve been putting off both assignments for a week now because it’s Thanksgiving break. School starts tomorrow, unfortunately, so I do need to get moving on that. For English I have to answer questions about our reading (pretty easy, shouldn’t take too long) and for science I’ve got a review page and notebook organization (not as simple, could take anywhere from forty-five minutes to two hours). Hopefully, if I have time after finishing those assignments, I’ll work on my weekly and practice the clarinet.

Word count: 100

Drawing_Dragons28

WIP proof for weekly. 2065 words

Ember had been waiting for days out on the cold, unforgiving tundra. The weather had been harsh with frequent snowstorms but despite how long they have been waiting, The Nightwolf had yet to emerge from the fog.

Ember sighs. It is cold and they have been out here for literal ages. Why can't this monster just show up so they can murder it already? Or slay it, would be the official term, but that sounds so stuck up and haughty. They much prefer to call it murder, since that's what it is. Some people call it butchery, but that isn't right. No one wants to eat the creature. Ember doubts it would taste good.

They sit down on the icy ground next to the pathetic fire they built. It sputters and flickers weakly, but it's held on this long, and Ember isn't going to let it have the mercy of going out now. They pull another small stick out of their pack and are concerned to see that the fuel for the fire they brought has greatly diminished, and they will most likely run out soon.

Maybe they can return to their village and collect more? No. They vowed that they wouldn't return until the monster is dead or they are. Looking back they realize this was probably a foolish thing to do and the latter is looking more and more likely.

Ember glances up as something howls in the distance. They hope it's the Nightwolf, but with their luck, it's probably just the wind. Sighing, they go back to rummaging around inside their pack, seeing what food they have left. Some dried meat, a few animal skins full of water that miraculously hasn't frozen, three bread rolls, and a handful of dried apples. Just great. They eat a bread roll.

A sudden gust of wind blows snow across the icy expanse of the tundra and Ember shields their face from the airborne snow. Some get past their arms and nips at their face in small, freezing bites. When the snow clears, they look up, straight into moon pale eyes, boring into them.

The creature is huge, thrice the size of a full-grown mare. Its pelt is dirty grey and flecked with sparkling particles of ice and snow. Each of its paws bears a claw as long as Ember's arm and wicked sharp. It growls and they can see blood-stained teeth, big as a sword blade and just as dangerous.

“Hello,” Ember whispers meekly. “ I don´t want to be of any trouble. You know what I think I might leave now.¨ They slowly stand up, shouldering their pack. ¨Bye.¨

The Nightwolf doesn't seem to like this. It growls and sprints toward them. They barely have time to throw their pack to the side before the monster is on top of them, its foul breath hot on their body, but that doesn't warm them in the slightest.

Ember pulls their sword from its sheath, a glimmering five feet of metal, sharp enough to cut the toughest of monster pelts, and stabs the creature in the paw, hoping to cause some kind of damage.

Unfortunately, they fail. All it does is aggravate The Nightwolf. It lifts its paw into the air and shakes it vigorously. Ember clutches the hilt until their knuckles turn white and try to hold on as they're swung meters above the ground but their fingers slowly slip away.

They fly off at the peak of a swing. Of course, it's the highest point. Ember soars through the air flailing wildly. They land on their shoulder and hear a pop, followed by a bright burst of pain. They lay stunned for a moment, stuck in a haze of pain. They're not stupid. They come from a long line of Warriors turned Medics and know that when something makes a weird noise in your body and then it hurts, there is probably something wrong.

They only snap back to reality when they hear the deep growl of the Nightwolf above them. Opening their eyes, they can see that it is standing over them, its mouth dripping with saliva, ready to devour Ember.

The warrior rolls to the side just as jaws larger than a polar bear snap down where she had just been seconds before. Their shoulder throbs horribly and they're pretty sure it's dislocated. Which wouldn't be a problem if they were in the village, full of people who wouldn't think twice to help another living thing. But out here? At least a mile from their village and all alone? There wasn't a chance in Helheim that they could get it back into its socket. Only one functional arm? Amazing.

Ember staggers to their feet, scanning the ground for their sword. Something glimmers a few meters away, their sword if they're lucky, just some ice if they're unlucky, but they have to take that chance.

Stumbling across the ice, they slowly make their way toward the shiny thing. It's a polished silver color, attached to a dirty bronze curved T shape. Their sword. They snatch it from the snowy ground and spin to face the Nightwolf, who has followed them and is looking pretty angry at this point if its bared teeth and flattened ears are any sign.

Ember can feel their hand shaking as they raise the sword.

The Nightwolf stares down at them as if to say This is your best? Really? And I was hoping for a challenge. It almost seems to sigh before raising its paw to smack them halfway to the ocean.

As the paw comes swing down they duck and roll, despite how much their shoulder screams in agony. They pop back up, trying to balance their sword and swipe the snow off their face at the same time, which is annoyingly difficult since one of their arms is next to useless.

They turn to face the increasingly more agitated beast but nearly fall back to the ground as their side explodes in sharp, stabbing pain. Glancing down they can see that their tunic now sports a long rip across their side, which is dripping blood, staining the snow below them dark crimson. The beast did manage to land a hit.

”Wow, my good sir. Y-You are a formidable opponent.“ The blood trickling down their side is quickly turning cold and they shiver from a mix of that and the missing chunk of clothing, which leaves their skin exposed to the freezing temperatures and bone-chilling winds.

The wolf doesn't seem to like compliments, judging from what it does next.

It suddenly pounces and Ember is forced to throw themself into a snowbank. The snow grinds against their wound and they hiss in pain.

The Nightwolf doesn't pause as it closes down on empty air. It immediately leaps up again and lands mere feet away from Ember's hiding places, causing them to flee the hiding spot. This continues for several minutes, a twisted game of cat and mouse, with Ember constantly having to run away from the wolf, as it tries to pin her down. But Ember is getting tired and there is more time lost each time the wolf crunches into the snow behind them.

Their foot catches on something buried in the snow, maybe a rock or animal borrow, whatever it is doesn't matter. They stumble, trying to regain their balance but they fail and fall face-first into the snow. instincts take over and they roll onto their back, just before a massive paw comes crashing down on them.

The sickening sound of bones crunching and breaking echoes in their ears and they cry out as their chest explodes in pain. Their vision goes white and they fight back the sour bile that rises in their throat.

They try to curl up into a ball, trying to shield their vital organs but they can hardly breathe. The wolf removes its paw and bends down, sniffing the unmoving form of Ember. They close their eyes tight, trying to stop their tears. It can't end like this but they know it's going to. They're going to fail their quest and lose their life, which they probably deserve.

A flash suddenly lights up the sky, diverting The Nightwolf's attention from Ember. Its head snaps up and it bounds over to investigate the source of the light.

Ember groans as they slowly sit up, their ribs protesting violently. They look up just in time to see a spark of light and feel the intense heat on their face as the wolf is vaporized, revealing the source of the commotion standing behind them.

The figure is tall, taller than anyone Ember has ever seen, and glowing with a faint light. Their hair is the pale yellow of buttercups and floats around her like water. She is wearing a lavender, flowy, ankle-length dress that is incredibly impractical for this climate, but despite how much skin is exposed, they don't seem to be shivering in the slightest.

Glancing up from where the wolf had just been, the mysterious figure notices Ember and hurries over.

”Oh wow, that thing was giant. Are you alright?“ Their voice is soft and calming, like the sunkissed flowers that grow on the selling hills that surround Ember's village.

”Eh, more or less. That overgrown puppy can't keep me-“ Ember breaks off coughing, which sends more sharp spikes of agony through their body. When they manage to get their breath back, they realize that small drops of blood now decorate the snow next to them. ”Ah snake sheddings,“ they curse.

”Oh no, that's not good,“ The stranger murmurs, dropping to her knees. ”You're hurt more than you want to admit aren't you?“

”Nah, I'll be fine. Just need a bit of rest and I'll be fit as a fiddle. That's a weird saying when you think about it right? Like how can a fiddle be fit? Come to think of it, what even is a fiddle?“

”I think it's a stringed instrument, similar to a violin,“ the stranger says absentmindedly. ”I need to take you back to my castle so I can fix your injuries properly. I need to put you under a sleep spell first alright? Is that ok with you little mortal?“

”Mm ok. Wait! What do you mean by castle? And spell, also why are you calling me a mortal?“ Ember tries to ask, but the pretty stranger is already placing a delicate, gentle hand on their forehead and they feel their eyelids getting heavier and heavier.

”Have peaceful dreams little warrior.“ is the last thing they hear before their eyes close and everything goes black

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ember awakens slowly, their whole body throbbing and sore. The bright light of wherever they penetrates through their eyelids and they lift their arm to block it out. Except their arm doesn't move. Panic surges through them and their eyes snap open. They're lying on an unfamiliar bed, much larger and softer than they're used to. They sit up, happy to find that the pain in their ribs has been reduced to a dull ache, instead of knives stabbing into them. They survey their surroundings.

The room is uncomfortably bright, despite no visible light sources. Beautiful murals cover any visible wall, stylized suns, and flowers in all shades and hues of the rainbow. Pale green curtains cover the large windows and Ember can hear howling winds battering against the exterior of the window.

A noise comes from outside the heavy wooden door (carved with more suns of course) and Ember snaps to attention. A possible threat! They feel around their bed and realize with alarm that it's across the room, leaning against the wall right next to the door. Well great. Now, on top of any other weapons they may have, now the mystery person will have e first access to Ember's sword.

The door creaks open and a head with buttercup yellow hair pokes around it.

”Oh, you're awake,“ The mystery person seems surprised. ”That's good. You can eat something now. I would imagine that you're hungry, after not eating for a full day.“ They step fully into the room, looking exactly the same as the last time Ember saw them.

”A- A full day? how long have I been asleep? Also, who are you and why did you bring me here?" Ember asks, their voice wavering dangerously.

scratch_warrior_cat

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

A Story from the Alien Invasion

featuring Dregg Moriss from Medieval Cop <3

4,257 words

Write 100 words to begin your adventure. (119 words)

Screams pierced the sudden silence, a rising crescendo that enveloped the world. A dark, writhing mass of people churned as they fled from the scene, stumbling over the dead and dying in an effort to get as far away as possible from the gaping fissure in the Earth’s surface. Smoke billowed through the air, enveloping the clouds, the sun, and the crowd, until all was dark.

Though chaos reigned around her, and bystanders screamed at her to move as they ran, a girl stood in front of her house, watching. She tilted her head up at the sky, not a trace of fear or shock on her young face. Not even as her world fell apart all around her.

* * * * *

Realistic Fiction: (119 words)

The three Real-fi leaders smile menacingly as you enter the inn. Sprint for three minutes as you beg them to let you escape.

Azura stood silent, letting the sounds wash over her. She could hear the rumbling of the truck engine and low murmuring of her colleagues, but if she concentrated deeper, she could hear the distant rumble of thunder, and even… (she tilted her head slightly and closed her eyes) the screeches and growls of the creatures that lay in wait.

Despite the tension that hung like smoke, Azura broke a small smile. They didn’t know what was coming for them. The aliens thought it was a trap, but soon they would discover that they were the ones being fooled. Azura opened her eyes again, mentally checking off the gear she needed. Talon-proof clothing? Check. Goggles? Check. Alien spray? Azura smirked.

Mystery: (134 words)

Magnifying glasses help us see details that would otherwise be impossible to notice; perfect for discovering details in clues! In the next 125 words, your character has an epiphany and notices something of great importance that they had previously ignored/neglected.

Azura had created the alien spray herself. Her mind dancing with fantasies of finally putting her hard work to good use, she absent-mindedly felt for the smooth canisters attached to her belt. It took her a few moments to notice that her fingers grasped empty air.

WHAT.

Panic flooded through her limbs. Maybe it fell to the floor. Azura crouched, searching for it in the darkness. The others watched her, some curious, some nervous, some alarmed, but she paid them no mind and continued her frantic search. Finding only empty ground, Azura tried to stave off the panic.

That spray was what would fuel their weapons. Without the spray, the monsters would overcome them easily, and there would be no way they could fight back.

“Stop the truck.” Azura’s words came out soft, weak.

Historical Fiction (301 words):

You’re scaling the roof of a train, light on your feet and quick as lightning. Suddenly one of the shingles comes loose, and you lose your balance. Write for 5 minutes while you try to regain your footing again. How many words did you write? Multiply your WPM by 5 – if you reached that number, you’re still on the roof! If you didn’t, sprint for 10 more minutes to climb back on the train.

No one answered, with only a few people leaning at her curiously. “What did you say?” one of her companions asked, leaning forward.

Azura took a deep breath before responding, “STOP THE TRUCK,” she shouted, her voice shrill but strong. The truck lurched to a halt. Everyone stared at her.

“I…” the words came out weak. Azura swallowed, hating the show of weakness, and tried again. “The alien spray is missing; We have to turn back.”

“TURN BACK?” a couple of voices cried in disbelief. “But we’ve come so far!” One moaned.

Another looked ashen. “We’re already deep in their territory. They might attack us if we leave.”

Azura’s mind was filled with fear and shame. “DID YOU NOT HEAR ME. WE ARE OUT OF ALIEN SPRAY. IF WE GO IN LIKE THIS, WE’RE DEAD.”

She turned to the driver. “Move. Now. Take us back.”

There were some grumbles and moans, but no one questioned her orders. They knew as well as she did that they could not continue without the fuel for their weapons. As the truck rumbled in a U-Turn, Azura turned away, unable to look at the disappointment and disgust on her companions’ faces.

A small hand gripped her arm. Azura turned to see the youngest member of their group, his face stained with grime and soot. “But what about my family?” he asked in a small voice.

Azura’s heart broke, and she mentally smacked herself again for her negligence. Even though her troop wouldn’t be heading into danger, they were leaving countless others behind.

She found herself with no words to answer the boy, and just shrugged him off. “Go back and wait with the others.”

The trip passed in silence. Or maybe not, but that was all Azura could hear beyond the storm of her mind.

300 words, which is exactly 60 x 5 :)

Thriller (465 words)

Divers must resurface slowly in order to avoid decompression sickness. Word sprint as fast as you can for 5 minutes. Then, write at the speed of your WPM divided by 2 (you should end up with ~WPMx1.5 total words written) for the next 3 minutes. Then write at the speed of your WPM divided by 4 for the next 2 minutes (you should end up with WPMx0.5 words at the end). Spend an extra two minutes to look back on what you wrote; fix any grammar mistakes and edit your writing to be better.

As the truck rumbled on, Azura gradually became aware of the muttering of her colleagues behind the buzz of thoughts rumbling through her mind. She didn’t want to listen to them, but her ears still strained to pick up their words. She found herself leaning toward them when the truck came to a bump, jolting everyone. Azura lunged and caught the side of the seat to keep her balance. She couldn’t help but glance behind. Everyone seemed to be pointedly looking somewhere else. Cheeks red, head low, she made her way to the front of the truck, setting herself down in the passenger seat.

The driver, a young, sharp woman, glanced at her for a moment before turning to the road. “You forgot the spray?” she murmured after a few moments.

Azura didn’t think her face could get redder, but it somehow did, flaming with heat. She let out a grunt of acknowledgement before turning to stare out the window. She stared at the darkness and trees, trying to stop her eyes from pricking with moisture. There was no use, tears trickled down her cheeks. She watched them travel down her reflection, disappearing into the fabric of her collar. She leaned against the seatbelt, eyes blank.

Then she spotted a hint of movement in the darkness. Her sluggish mind jolting to alertness, she raised her head and scanned the surroundings. At first, nothing. Then again there was a flash of movement. Azura spotted glinting eyes and teeth, and sucked in a sharp breath. “Stop the truck.”

The driver glanced at her. “Again?”

Murmurs from the back of the truck rose to her ears. Although she couldn’t pick out individual words, Azura imagined them complaining and groaning. Blood rushed to her head. “I SAID STOP.”

The truck yet again lurched to a halt. “Turn off the lights,” Azura ordered, and this time no one questioned her.

She leaned forward, straining to pick out details from the dark surroundings. Then she spotted it—the glint of hundreds of eyes in the undergrowth, prowling toward them.

Her blood ran cold. The monsters shouldn’t have been so far from their territory, but there they were. “Get us out of here. Now.”

The driver didn’t hesitate, flooring the gas. Azura lowered her window, straining her neck to see if they were being followed. A low-pitch rumbling filled the air, distinct from the whine of the engine. “FASTER,” she called, the hair on her spine standing up as she recognized the sound. The engine revved, shooting farther along the road. Branches and leaves scraped Azura’s scalp, but she stayed in her position, squinting as she tried to gain a glimpse of their pursuers.

And then she finally spotted them, dark shapes racing through the dust cloud that they were leaving behind.

Folklore (237 words):

You stumble across a little village; the Folklore leaders invite you in to relax and enjoy a delicious bowl of Lio’s famous soup. Write 200 words at your own pace while the mysterious quartet tell stories around the campfire.

Azura eased herself back into her seat, wiping stray strands of hair away from her mouth. She rolled up the window, turning to the driver. “Faster.”

As the vehicle complied, Azura could feel the fear and nervousness of her companions. But for some reason, knowing that her companions were scared calmed her nerves. She felt herself sink into the familiar blankness that she always fell into before a fight.

This was what she had trained for. This was why she was the group’s leader, despite her age. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting the waves pass over her mind. Then she started planning their escape.

She turned to the back of the truck, meeting the gazes of her companions. “Stay calm. We’re nearly there.”

One by one, the six people nodded in acknowledgement. Azura turned back to the road, continuing, “We’ll restock at base, and then return more fuel and weapons.” Her steady tone even convinced herself that everything would be fine, and she let a smile break through her features. “We’ll show those monsters what’s coming, won’t we, gang?”

A chorus of cheers met her words, and Azura met the driver’s eyes. The other young woman stared at her for a moment, her face as hard as stone. Azura’s grin faltered, and she turned away, knowing that the driver could see through her façade.

“We’re nearly there,” she repeated to herself under her breath.

Fantasy (279 words):

Oh no, it’s raining! A winged creature (dragon? gargoyle? you're too shy to ask) kindly offers you a ride back to the Sanctuary, and you accept. But the mist clouds his navigational senses, and soon you’re both terribly lost—and not a map in sight. Write 250 words while you wait for the sun to come out again.

They traveled a mile or two through the darkness without trouble. Azura was sure that a monster would sprint into their path at any moment, but nothing happened. But she wasn’t dumb enough to think they were gone. The low moan of their pursuers still echoed through the trees.

The truck shot down a fork in the road, and Azura finally allowed herself to lean back against the seat. She closed her eyes briefly. They were home free at this point. And just like she had said, they’d be back on their way without a hitch.

Then the sound of skidding filled Azura’s ears. Her body smashed against the dashboard, the seatbelt carving a line through her chest. The next few moments were chaos as Azura was thrown from side to side, sparking pain in her arms, legs, and head.

Then just as soon as it had happened, the movement stopped. Azura stayed still, dazed.

She could hear, as if from a great distance, the moans and shouts of her companions. The driver’s voice echoed in her ears. “A..ra! Y…ri…t?

Black spots and white flecks weaved through her vision, framed with red. Azura shook her head, fighting through the pain. After a few moments, her vision cleared. Her arm was jammed beneath her, on the cool surface of the window. Azura reached for her seatbelt, punching it a few times before it released her.

A hand outstretched from above, and Azura grasped it, climbing out of her seat. The driver pulled her out, and Azura turned her head to catch her first glimpse of what had happened. The truck had keeled over on its side, sinking into the mud.

Bizarro Fiction (203 words):

Everything has an entirely random chance in the Bi-Fi Cinema, and so does your writing. Roll a standard six-sided die. Multiply that number by 100, and write at least that many words.

Rolled a die, got 2 jdfsakljafdsl 200 words coming up ^^

Azura leaned against a tree, shaking her head to clear the last vestiges of cloudiness. “Everyone alright?” she called out.

A chorus of assenting noises met her ears, and she met the eyes of the driver, Dalia, who nodded in confirmation.

Unease was coursing through every vein in her body, but Azura straightened nonetheless. “The base is that way. Let’s go.”

No one protested, just trudged after, holding their weapons nervously. There was no point telling them that they were out in the open. Azura didn’t need to explain that the monsters chasing them could reappear at any second. They knew that their best chance of survival was to get going as soon as possible. They wouldn’t have lasted this long otherwise.

Azura limped through the trees, occasionally looking back to see if anyone was falling behind. She counted seven heads briefly, and moved on. Soft groans and whimpers came from her companions, but no one asked to stop.

After a few minutes of walking, a low-pitched whine started to waft through the trees. Azura huddled close to Dalia, glancing around. A couple people looked at her with wide, alarmed eyes, but Azura simply motioned for them to stay quiet and keep going.

Horror (252 words):

As you traverse the underworld, you notice that the faces of the people you meet flicker once in a while. Eventually you come to a terrifying realization – their ‘faces’ are nothing but elaborate masks, specially constructed to hide their true identities. In your next 150 words, describe someone putting on a literal or metaphorical mask.

As they trudged along, pain sparked through Azura’s thigh up into her shoulder. She fought to hold back a wince, trying to steel her mind. The group was extremely vulnerable, and they needed their leader to be strong, now more than ever.

“Are you alright?” Dalia asked her softly, noticing Azura’s labored breathing.

“Fine,” Azura grunted, pulling away.

The rustling behind them grew louder, sending a bolt of fear through the group. Azura started, feeling her mind sharpen and her pain dullen. The long-familiar mask slipped into place over her mind. She closed her eyes for a moment, stretching her senses through the trees. They were close.

But the base was still too far away.

Azura stopped, turning back. “Who has the flares?”

The youngest member of the team, a young boy, stepped forward, clutching a large satchel. He hurried toward her and passed her the bag, shivering.

Azura nodded and reached inside, pulling out one of the precious flares.

“Are you sure?” Dalia’s voice was soft on her ear. “You know we can’t make any more of those.” The supply had been steadily dwindling ever since the monsters had swarmed their last base.

Azura met her gaze steadily. They had no choice. Azura loaded the flare carefully into her launcher, pushing back the unease and fear. She raised her arm, pulling the trigger.

With a pop, the flare flew high into the air, exploding with a burst of sparks. Everyone jumped.

Azura handed the boy the satchel. “Let’s move,” she ordered.

Nonfiction (192 words):

You’re safely eating your bread when that dreadful space monster barges in through the door. Roll a dice/generate a number from 1-6. Whichever number you get, that’s how many dollars you quickly spend on your food. Sprint for that many minutes.

Rolled a 4.

They hurried, breaking into a jog. Although a few people stumbled, Azura looked back and saw if they were ok, and then kept going. They had to get out of here, fast. Rustling in the bushes got louder and louder, and Azura turned to look, seeing flashes of claws.

Her blood ran cold.

“STOP,” she ordered. “IN FORMATION.”

The troop, though exhausted and terrified, quickly formed a circle, with the youngest and most injured members in the interior. They stood there for a few moments. Then the monsters prowled out.

They whined, shuddering as they stalked toward the group. The light caught the smooth, beetle-like carapase of one, flashing a memory into Azura’s eyes.

She was a little girl again, watching the monsters pour out of their abandoned spaceship. That had been the beginning of the end for the world. And just like at that moment, Azura didn’t shake or scream.

She just narrowed her eyes and pulled a pistol from her belt. “READY!” she called.

The troop tightened in response. Although they wouldn’t be able to kill the beasts without the spray, they still could hold them off until reinforcements arrived.

Fanfiction (269 words):

A sibilance is heard after the slamming of two automatic doors. This document-filled room seems to be some kind of secret location, due to the fact that you can’t seem to find much information on where exactly this place is. Until, of course, someone welcomes you to the Fan-fi Agency; the land where timelines blur.

Whoops, looks like you had a little too much fun with the whole time travel thing. Do you know how many time paradoxes you just created? Write for 10 minutes while apologizing to the Fan-fi leaders for your time shenanigans. If you reached 200 words, they’re convinced. Otherwise write 100 more words to butter them up.

* * * * *

A bystander finally noticed the young girl standing there, unfazed by the chaos raining all around her. She grabbed the girl by the arm, dragging her with the crowd.

“Come on!” the woman cried. “You can’t stay here!”

For the first time since the spaceship had fallen out of the sky, the girl felt a jolt of fear. She screamed and bit, wresting herself free. The woman let go of her quickly, but did not retreat. “They’ll tear you apart! Come on!”

Now free, the little girl looked up, calm settling once more over her features. “Ok.”

She followed her rescuer through the crowd. Screams and wails resounded all around them, but they pushed forward. The girl stumbled a few times, falling behind, until the woman picked her up again.

“Please don’t bite me,” the woman pleaded, struggling forward. “I’m not going to hurt you. It’ll be faster if I carry you.”

The girl was quiet. She stayed that way as the woman crossed 3 blocks and turned left, dashing down the steps of an old building. She still didn’t make a sound as the woman heaved the door open with one hand and slammed it shut behind them. And the girl remained still as the woman tucked her beneath a table a few meters down the hallway, squeezing herself in a few moments later.

“Don’t be afraid,” the woman murmured, wringing her hands. “Just stay quiet, so they won’t find us.”

“Ok.”

“…”

“…”

“You’re a brave little one, aren’t you?”

“…”

The quiet lasted long after the screaming faded in the distance.

Adventure (208 words):

Sprint for 5 minutes as you explore the Adventure Kingdom and become familiar with its environment.

Azura fired into the darkness, hearing a satisfying squelch as she hit one of the monsters. She whirled to slam the pommel of her dagger into the head of another, knocking it away from its victim. All doubt and fear vanished from her mind. This was Azura’s element.

Azura spun and slashed, occasionally firing her pistol, careful to save precious ammunition. The others did the same, and soon they had taken the advantage in the battle. Azura dragged Dalia away from a snapping alien, just in time for another monster to slam into her side. Azura grunted as she hit the ground, turning to get back on her feet. Teeth snapped near her ear, and she thrust her hands upward, trying to shove its head away. Azura cried out as claws dug into her shoulder, but didn’t relent, battering her fists against its eyes. As soon as the monster relented, she rolled away, leaping to her feet, and sprung forward, jumping onto the monster’s back. It snarled and shook, but couldn’t shake her away. Dalia grabbed Azura’s fallen pistol and fired it twice.

The monster slumped to the ground. Dalia handed Azura her weapons back, and after a brief nod of gratitude, Azura turned back to the battle.

Dystopian (549 words):

Suddenly, a new never-before-seen character appears out of nowhere. You don’t know if this is a moment to ask for directions or to run for your life. For the next 150 words in your story, a supernatural/celestial being intervenes in the middle of whatever your protagonist was doing.

Turning around to survey her surroundings, Azura sucked in a shocked breath. While she had been down, the number of monsters seemed to have doubled. And there was no sign of reinforcements. Near her, one of her companions lay on the floor, unmoving. The others were fighting desperately, but it was clear that it was a losing battle.

For the first time in a very long time, Azura’s calm mask cracked. We’re going to die here.

Azura, despair and desperation shooting through her mind, ran to help her troop. Then something very strange happened.

A bright light flooded the forest, blinding the fighters. Azura covered her eyes, straining to see what was happening. The monsters growled, shying away from the light. Then something fell out of the sky, right at Azura’s feet. She jumped back, alarmed.

The bright light faded as soon as it had arrived, leaving green spots in Azura’s vision. She shook her head and looked down, trying to focus on the object in front of her.

It moved, groaning. “Oh, the light..!! It burns..!!!”

Even the monsters seemed to be confused. Had someone just… fallen out of the sky?

“Where did you come from?” Dalia echoed the question in everyone’s minds.

The figure sprang up, an orange cape billowing behind him. “What, you’ve never seen a drunk suicidal cop fall out of the sky before?” The apathetic look on his face made it very hard to tell if he was joking or not.

There was a long, awkward silence.

“What are you doing anyway…?”

Azura cleared her throat, deciding to go along with the situation. “Um… Fighting those monsters over there..?”

The self-proclaimed drunk suicidal cop turned. “Oh.”

One of the monsters snapped obligingly, pawing at the ground and growling.

“GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD,” the stranger shouted abruptly, running toward the monsters. A few people, including Azura, jolted to stop him, but before they could, the monsters took one good look at his lifeless eyes and bolted into the woods, whimpering.

“Aww…” he said.

Azura, fear and shock still pumping through her veins, exploded. “WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT..??? WERE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED…?!?” Visions of people torn apart by the monsters flashed behind her eyes.

“…Yes…”

“ARE YOU FREAKING CRAZY?”

“No… just depressed…”

“More importantly,” Dalia interjected before Azura could tear the guy’s head off, “How did you make the monsters run away?”

“I have that effect on a lot of people.”

“I get why…” Azura said, fuming.

The members of the troop that could still stand gathered behind Azura and Dalia, peering at the newcomer with a mix of curiousity and suspicion.

“So…” Dalia asked after a long pause. “Do you have a name?”

“Depression…”

“Huh?”

“But some people call me Dregg… Dregg Moriss…”

Azura glared.

“Well, Dregg Moriss…” Dalia started. “I’m Dalia, and this is Azura.” Azura shot her a look, to which Dalia just shrugged before turning back to Dregg. “Thank you for driving away the monsters.”

“… You’re welcome…” Dregg abruptly turned to leave. “Now if you excuse me I have to go save the universe…” He stomped off into the bushes.

Azura stared after him before turning to glare at Dalia. “What?” the latter asked, noticing Azura’s look.

Azura just grumbled under her breath. “Let’s just get back to base.”

Science Fiction (236 words):

If I told you to think about “glitches” in the world, I’m sure many of you will mention déjà vu or premonitions. In the next 150 words, your character gets a feeling they’ve been somewhere before (but they haven’t), or they have a dream that unfolds exactly as it happened in their mind.

They trudged through the woods, flinching at every falling leaf. The only light to guide them was the light of the moon, which hid many of the roots and rocks that they stumbled over. A couple troopers were carrying an unconscious companion. When Azura had seen him, she’d feared the worst, but he wasn’t dead, only badly injured.

Azura’s mind kept returning to the battle. Dalia tried a few times to catch her eye, but Azura stared resolutely forward. She wasn’t sure why she felt so annoyed. That Dregg character had certainly shocked her, and she wasn’t happy about Dalia being so nice to him, but there was something else that was bugging her.

“Get your head in the game, Azura,” she muttered to herself. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”

Above them, tree branches bent toward them like menacing tendrils, only adding to the unsettling aura. Even though she knew negative thoughts wouldn’t help, Azura still felt her mind returning to the disaster after disaster that had occurred today. And before long, she began to feel like they were due for yet another one.

The dark forest felt all too familiar, like the darkness near their old base. For a wild moment, Azura wondered if they’d taken a terribly wrong turn, and were heading toward the wrong base. Then she shook her head. That would be impossible. Or so she tried to convince herself.

Poetry (285 words):

What’s an isle of fame without a little competition? Head over to the word war project and challenge somebody to a 5-minute word war! You can proceed once you complete the word war, whether or not you win (you’re all winners in the daily team’s eyes ;D).

Warred @Sandy_Dunes :)

Even though her hair was on end for the next few minutes, nothing fulfilled her fears and leapt out of the shadows. They kept moving, with Dalia calling out occasionally to correct their course and make sure they were on the right track. After a while, Azura traded places with one of the people carrying their injured friend, taking some of the load herself. She staggered along, grateful for the distraction from her intruding inner thoughts.

Then something snapped in front of them, driving a jolt through the entire group. They coiled into a circle defensively, keeping the injured at the center.

Lights shone through the bushes, and a group of people stepped out. Azura nearly slumped in relief, before she remembered she was supporting her unconscious teammate, and straightened. It was the team of reinforcements. Another person came to carry the unconscious teammate, and Azura moved to stand beside Dalia.

“Where are the monsters?” The other group leader asked.

Dalia shook her head. “Not here. It’s a long story, but we drove them off.” The other person tilted an eyebrow, but said nothing, turning to speak with Azura as she approached.

Azura signaled to the group to keep moving forward, and they resumed their trek, envigored by the clarity of the other group’s flashlights and tireless energy.

“We had to turn back because we didn’t have the alien spray,” Azura started, feeling a twinge of shame but moving on before they could settle on that point. “Then on our way back, the truck fell into a ditch and we were attacked by monsters.”

She winced, knowing that the next part would sound crazy. “Aaaaand then we were fighting, and something… weird happened.”

Dalia smiled.

Script (189 words):

If nobody’s here to clean up the mess left on the stage, I guess it’s up to you know. Word sprint for the next four minutes as you try to leave the stage better than you found it.

Five minutes later, the head of the rescuers looked dumbfounded. “So… someone fell out of the sky?”

“Yup,” Azura grumbled.

“Aaaand chased the monsters away?”

Dalia nodded, a bit too enthusiastically for Azura’s taste.

“Dang! Why didn’t we recruit this guy?”

Azura scowled. “He didn’t seem very interested in it.”

Dalia ignored her. “Maybe we could send a patrol to track him down,” she mused. “It would be really useful for our effort.”

“Sure, if you want a suicidal idiot that rushes into danger without thinking,” Azura muttered. Dalia frowned. “We met him for five seconds, how do you know anything about him?”

Azura responded by stalking ahead. They had one mission, which was get back to base, take care of the wounded, and figure out their next steps. There was no room for thinking about the past.

Not long after, but long enough to have Azura wondering if her feet were going to fall off, the lights of the base came into view through the trees, and an audible, collective sigh came from the group. They stepped out of the undergrowth and headed for the worn bunker doors.

Write 100 words to conclude your adventure as you fly away from your final planet. (220 words)

* * * * *

“Everyone understand the plan?” Azura checked. A round of nods came from around the room. Azura stabbed a pencil into the map, deciding to go over the plan again just in case.

“We’ll take the same route we left, careful to avoid the potholes that caught us last time.” Dalia nodded in acknowledgement.

“This time we’ll be leaving in the morning, which should give us enough time to get ready before the monsters come out,” Azura said. “Is the alien spray stocked?”

Multiple people nodded. Azura wouldn’t be making the same mistake again of leaving the responsibility solely up to herself.

“We attack at the secret entrances of the base. If we’re lucky, the monsters shouldn’t have discovered these yet. Our scanners can’t penetrate the bunker, so we’ll have to wait inside to locate any survivors.

“Remember, this is a search and rescue mission. We go in, we find anyone who’s alive, and we head out. If we’re lucky, Dalia and I will be able to gather information to guide our next attack, but you don’t need to worry about that.”

Azura paused, looking around the room. A couple people looked nervous or scared, but each and every one had a determined look in their eyes.

“Ok,” Azura nodded, rolling up the map.

“Let’s go.”

violent-measures

Critique ^^

I have never watched(? read?) the thing this is based on, but I am gonna give it a go! I’ll just point out when the world-building and such is unclear. I hoped I picked the right section to start?

Mari flicked her tail to the beat of the song. Whoever this new band was, they were good. Of course, that’s what she expected from a group hired specifically by Trank. He understood the place in a way no one but his boss did, and now that his boss was busy elsewhere (she’d heard whispers of a rare greenie smuggling going on in the Indi Ocean), Trank was in charge of the place, and boy was he good at it. Nice! I like the opening. What “place” are you speaking of, though? Some context for the setting here would be nice.

Being alright friends with her (at least, as much of friends as a Mako Shark and a Stonefish were ever going to be in a place worked mostly by other dwellers), Trank had allowed her to take the job, and she was thankful for that. She didn’t really need a job, so it wasn’t like he had changed her entire world or anything, but she had been in need of a bit of extra fish, so it certainly didn’t hurt. (And after her injury in the battle, hunting was pretty much off the table for the foreseeable future.) I personally wouldn’t use “alright” if you were about to say “as much as…” because that comment at the end basically makes the “alright” redundant. Extra fish? Do they eat fish? I thought they *were* fish? I’d also try and insert some emotion here when you mention the battle and her injury.

She would have preferred to work pretty much anywhere else. (Heck, she would have endured the teasing and rudeness of the Seazarian’s court to this. Though she had heard it had gotten better after a Dogfish had taken over the previous Megladons.) But she would’ve been lying to say that the place hadn’t grown on her at least a little bit. is there a reason she can’t work somewhere else?

Being run mostly (or entirely, depending on who you asked) by dwellers, it was one of the most accepting places she’d ever been, even if fights and shady business were just as common as a delicious meal. Which, trust her on this, were very common in a place with cooks as amazing as Slaggernacks’. what are dwellers? otherwise, I’m liking all the different names and places mentioned, it makes it feel very immersive. but if you’re not just making a reference, maybe explain. “dwellers” seems important

She let her brain come back to the present, feeling a slight warmth cross her face as she realized that she hadn’t been paying attention to her job. She turned a quick circle, but was glad to see that none of the tables seemed to need her help at the moment. (She’d been lucky with her daydream timing, she supposed.) “Let her brain come back to the present” feels a little wordy to me. “She focused again on the present” might work better. Otherwise, nice, I like it.

She gave the water one slap of her quick mako tail and glided back to the bar area. (It was called a bar just as much because it had been constructed out of a railing from some sunken land shark boat as what they served there. Being one of the two or three sharks on the list of employees, she had been one of the people assigned to moving the rail, that’s how new it was.) She had to get back to work quickly, because judging by the placement in the song that the whales sang, the current fish manning the bar had been due to take a break a few minutes ago.

She slid through the water effortlessly, dodging a passing tigershark (he still had the remains of a half eaten tuna fish hanging out of his mouth) and a crackling electric eel with relative ease. She hardly even noticed the soft pause in conversation as a newcomer made his way through the door, his flanks getting momentarily stuck in the skinny cave opening. Finally though, she managed to get to where she was meant to be. nice! I like the descriptions here; I like the different species mentioned too.

“Sorry,” she murmured, nodding apologetically to the pufferfish behind the counter, “I got a little bit sidetracked, I’ll take over now.”

Thankfully for her and her not-yet-poisoned blood, the yellow and black fish didn’t seem all that annoyed, nodding back to her and swimming away with a burst of bubbles. She looked out across the restaurant, checking to see if anything bad was happening. (There hadn’t been trouble for pretty much the whole day, and if the eel and tigershark were anything to prove it, they were just about due for their fair share of trouble.) I’m kind of unclear what you mean by “anything to prove it”? Are the eel and tigershark troublesome? I can’t quite tell.

But when she looked out at the customers, passing over each other without a care in the world, the only thing that caught her eye was the newcomer she had barely seen early. She felt one of her fins twitch involuntarily as he was led to a free table. ‘Is that a megalodon?’ she wondered, her mouth flopping open embarrassingly as she watched his tail nearly knock over a table, ‘If so, does that mean that he-,’ Do you mean “barely seen earlier”? I like this tho!

She shook her head, dismissing her thoughts of the megalodon commander of the winning side of the war. She had to get back to work, this was no time to be staring at random customers! That’s the kind of behavior that got people into fights, and if her missing fin tip was any indication, she wasn’t really ready for a fight. This is a nice conclusion! I like how immersive the story feels, it seems like you understand the world really well. For someone like me who doesn’t, there are definitely some clarifications to be made, but I think it’s really great overall! Good job. :D

Last edited by violent-measures (Nov. 27, 2022 23:13:55)

-Galatic_Planet-

Daily- Nov 27
158 words

Documenting the little things that you appreciate in life is a great way to show gratitude and boost your mood! Today, write at least 100 words about either something good that happened today or a goal that you have for today. You will receive 50 points for completing this task and you can receive an additional 50 if you share your happy moment or goal with the main cabin.

Today I finished majority of my weekly (as of now I have not finished it yet, but it is a goal to finish it today). Also I’m building a music box that I got last Christmas and never built. It’s all wood at yes I have gotten a splinter, but I’m halfway through! I’ll finish this daily when I finish the music box.

It has been 2 hours later and I have finished the music box

(When I wrote the first part it was 4:11 EST and I finished around 6:15 EST) It was a lot of fun and a nice way to get off of my phone (and lower my screen time). I did have to do some problem solving and yes, I took breaks. I also worked on my weekly a little bit more and I am really happy how it’s turning out. I wrote a really big twist and I hoping I pulled it off.

ka26dhan

DAILY 28

WORD COUNT GROUP THANK YOUS
- @Rlove10 | Re
You were such a great (co)leader! You acted very polite, and were enthusiastic! You updated word counts and chatted often, as well as contributing in cabin wars! You were a great (co)leader! P.S. THANK YOU FOR PROMPTS AND INSPIRATION

- @MasterEmilyCoolWOF | Emily
I didn’t get to talk much with you, but you asked questions about the weekly and other things, and were very curious! You were a great camper!

- @onewild_berry
I also didn’t chat with you very much, but I think you would be very fun to talk to and would have been very nice!

- @cloudyva | Cloudy
Yet again, I didn’t get to talk much, but you added words and were very polite! I would love to get to know you!

- @–pxppy-aesthetics– | Skye
You were very enthusiastic and helped in cabin wars! When I talked to you, you were always nice! You helped out in cabin wars and all in all, were a great camper!

- @-_flower-_petals-_ | El
I didn’t talk much, but from what I saw, you wrote very nicely and were very polite! You were a great camper! Hope you come to March SWC!

- @izzyrs2010 | Izzy
You were very active and kind! You were a big help in cabin wars and worked hard! You were on a lot and did a lot of dailies and weeklies!! You were also very kind! Also, thank you for your INSPIRATION! Very helpful

- @kitvmh | Kit
You were very kind and helped win cabin wars! You wrote a lot and were active! You were a great camper! I liked that when I was doing a cabin war you immediately came and helped finish it!

OTHER PEOPLE THANK YOUS

@CleverComment
HOW DARE YOU WAR US! You were a great friend and fun to talk to! I loved talking about bird poop splattered cars and homework with you! Hope you join SWC March!

@xc-egg
ALSO HOW DARE YOU WAR US! You were fun to talk about The Owl House with! But, I’m still interested in the half ghost thing… Hope you join SWC March!

@Eeveedonut
You’re not in my word count group, but you were a great inn stayer! We chatted a bit in early November, and you were very nice!

SussyLegWarmers-

SussyLegWarmers- wrote:
Bi-daily for Mystery
November 13-14th

Scene: Everybody is on a train, waiting for a meeting to commence.
AEO: Where is that conductor? We need them to start the meeting. (groans in annoyance)
RIVER: Should we go check on them? Maybe something happened?
JOJO: Aeo, stop being grumpy. And River, I think we should. (JOJO gets up.)
(RIVER gets up and motions for AEO to get up)
(AEO grumbles and gets up)
AEO: This better be worth my time.
(JULI appears in the center.)
JULI: Sorry I’m late. There was an incident.
(JULI is covered in blue paint)
AEO: Not even going to ask
RIVER: You are just in time! We were going to look for our missing conductor.
AEO: River, they might not be missing. Perhaps, they’re trying to get away from all of you.
(JOJO gasps)
JOJO: Aeo, be nice. Not all of us can deal with you right now.
(FAE and ABBIE walk in)
FAE: Hello all, what did I miss?
Everyone except for FAE and ABBIE: Finally, our wonderful leader.
(ABBIE seems to be excited)
ABBIE: Super excited for this meeting. When is it going to start?
AEO: Well you see, these nutcracker thing the conductor is “Missing” (AEO makes finger quotes) Though I think that they’re hiding from thim.
JULI: I thought I saw them earlier..They seemed to be doing something so I didn’t bother them
FAE: Perhaps we should go look for them
(ABBIE nods in agreement)
AEO: Maybe they are resting? Or perhaps, they have a train to handle. (AEO sighs.) Though, they might have the backup conductor on duty.
(RIVER turns around)
RIVER: Aeo, the backup is on duty.
JOJO: Can we all go check? Then the meeting can commence.
(They all walk together. They look around as the lights go off)
FAE: Everyone, watch out.
(AEO pulls out a flashlight)
ABBIE: Why do you have that with you?
AEO: Because I do. If you don’t want light, then I’ll turn it off.
(RIVER frantically shakes her head)
FAE: Mystery cabin, I think we may have a mystery on our hands.
(Everyone nods as they get to the conductor's cabin. No one’s inside)
AEO: The conductor nor the backup conductor is on duty. Which would explain the lights.
RIVER: Then, the conductor must be one of us.
JOJO: It has to either be: Juli, Fae, or Abbie.
JULI: It sadly isn’t me. Would’ve been a fun job.
AEO: Abbie is in no condition to pilot the train. She’s too hyper. You know it too Abbie.
(ABBIE nods)
JOJO: That narrows it down. It has to be Fae…
FAE: I’m too busy to be a conductor.
RIVER: Who to trust and who to not. I just want to know who it is.
ABBIE: Fine, I’m the backup, the conductor though, must reveal themselves.
(Everyone except ABBIE looks around)
AEO: So who is it…
(ABBIE looks at the conductor.)
(Everyone but the conductor gasps)

Ataraxea

Weekly 4
5589 Words

Note: This is based on a universe that I created. Some information may be missing since this does take place at a random time. This is also subject to change, but it could be considered a snippet of a story. (It is based on the universe I mentioned in here, but if you do have any questions feel free to ask because it can be confusing.) A space between paragraphs indicates a new prompt!

Certificate:

Prompts:
{Write 100 words to begin your adventure. || Words: 160}
{Horror: In your next 150 words, describe someone putting on a mask—literal or metaphorical. || Words: 420}
{Adventure: Sprint until your word count reaches the next 1000. || Status: I hit 1026 words.}
{Historical Fiction: Flip a coin! (ONCE. Reflipping not allowed ;’) ) Heads: 20 minute spring. Tails: 500 Words sprint. || I got tails. || Words: 515}
{Mystery: Epiphany time! In your next 150 words, your character realizes something important. || Words: 445}
{Poetry: Multiply your WPM by 10 and sprint for that many seconds. || Time: 710 seconds}
{Realistic Fiction: Sprint for 3 minutes}
{Science Fiction: Gasp! In your next 150 words, your character gets deja vu or a premonition. || Words: 318}
{Bizarro Fiction: Roll a die and multiply the number by 100—write that many words. (I got 4, so 400 words) || Words: 442}
{Thriller: In your next 150 words, your character starts sinking (through water/mud/quicksand/the floor/etc) || Words: 372}
{Fan Fiction: Timeline change! In your next 150 words, write a quick flashback. || Words: 291}
{Script: Sprint for 4 minutes}
{Fantasy: Free writing! Go write 250 more words. || Words: 424}
{Folklore: Slow writing time! Write 250 words taking as much time as you need. || Words: 260}
{Non-Fiction: Roll a die and sprint for that many minutes. || Time: 3 Minutes}
{Dystopian: Your character does some bejeweling and leaves everyone watching starstruck.}
{Write 100 words to conclude your adventure. || Words: 196}

Sylvan gasped for breath when he reached the end of the hallway. Glancing back, he realized he had company. He sighed and called forth his power, impaling the first guard with a vine. The guard let out an awful gurgling sound as Sylvan removed the vine and the other guards looked at him in surprise. In a matter of seconds, he had taken care of the rest of the guards.
“Now, whatever shall we do with this wall.” he mused to himself. There didn’t seem to be any other way out, so he started bashing the wall with his vines.
After what seemed like an eternity, he broke the wall. As Sylvan stepped out of his former prison, he inhaled deeply and sighed. Thinking back to the map he saw in the guard room, Sylvan attempted to find the direction of the nearest town. Once he got to that town, he would start looking for information on his mother’s whereabouts.

He sighed when he reached the town, it was already dark, so he decided to look for a place to stay, but first, Sylvan needed a change of clothes. His clothes were caked with dirt and blood from his prison escape. Sylvan spotted a shop nearby and weaseled his way through a crowd of sweaty, drunk people. The shop door made a pleasant jingling sound as he opened it, the clerk, however, didn’t look so pleased to see Sylvan. He smiled nervously at the clerk and went about his business.
After gathering all the supplies he needed, he proceeded to pay for his items. It was a good thing he had swiped some drunk man’s wallet. As he handed the clerk the money, he felt slightly bad for using some random drunk’s money, but then again, would that drunk even find out?
Leaving the store with his bag full of supplies, he proceeded to the nearest inn. Apparently, no one enjoyed the company of a bloody individual, because the lady running the inn gave him a dirty look.
“Uh, excuse me. Do you have any available rooms? If so, could I book one for 1 night?” Sylvan inquired.
“Yeah, but do ya have enough money?” the lady responded. Sylvan held up the pouch of money he had stolen and dumped the appropriate amount of coins out.
“Ya room’s on the second floor. It’s, ah, room 203,” the lady said, grabbing the coins and handing him the room key. Sylvan swiped the key and scurried up the stairs to his room.
He didn’t expect much, so he was surprised when he opened the room door. The room was actually quite spacious. Sylvan checked the room for any cameras and then proceeded to clean up.
After a long, luxurious bath, Sylvan put on the clothes he bought with stolen money and stood in front of the mirror with a pair of scissors. He proceeded to cut his hair, his hair was quite long, so he trimmed it as much as he could.
He put all of his “belongings” away and then scurried back downstairs to check out the town. The lady looked surprised to see him as if she didn’t remember checking him in. Sylvan looked around and spotted the centerpiece of attention. He squeezed through the mass of people until he reached the front. A lady was handing out fliers and she shoved one into Sylvan’s hands. It seems that no one recognized who he was—and that was a good thing.

Glancing down at the flier, Sylvan realized what the flier was promoting might be the perfect opportunity for his information gathering “scheme”. The flier was for a mid-semester application to the “Rosendale Academy”, but it didn’t give a load of information, so Sylvan decided to ask the miserable-looking lady who was still “handing” out the fliers.
“Excuse me, do you know how I could apply for the, uh, Rosendale Academy?” he asked. The lady stopped “handing” out fliers momentarily as she inspected his face.
“You don’t look like you’re from one of those wealthy, powerful families…If that’s the case, then you have to go to the address listed on the flier on the date specified on the flier. And before you ask, I don’t know what you’ll have to do, that’s for you to find out,” the lady said quickly. Sylvan gave her a nod of appreciation and went back to his room at the inn.
“I wonder what I’ll have to do…” Sylvan muttered to himself.
A week later, Sylvan was standing at the gates of the Rosendale Academy. It seems he wasn’t the only one who was trying to apply mid-semester—there was a whole horde of people. As soon as the gates opened, the horde of people moved toward the academy doors. They were sorted into testing rooms within minutes and put in them even faster.
3 hours later, Sylvan was staring at his test paper. He didn’t think that there would be this much written work. Earlier, he had done some research on the academy and found out that it was well-known for the powerful students that it had graduated, so he thought that for a school that was known for that, they would have a lot more fighting tests, but as it turns out, there were only a couple of strength and affinity tests.
By the time the whole testing phase was over, Sylvan was beginning to worry that he had flunked his chance at finding his mother, but thankfully, as they announced the names of those who had got into the academy, his name was called. He walked up to the stage with a handful of other to-be students to grab his designated uniform, but for some odd reason, he felt as if he were being watched. A flash of purple from behind the stage caught his eye and he could’ve sworn someone was there…
When he got back to the inn, which had become like an apartment, Sylvan couldn’t help but think about the flash of purple he saw. It must’ve been a student because, at that moment, he could see that the mysterious person was wearing Rosendale High’s uniform.

Yet another week passed, and Sylvan was standing at the gates of this “prestigious” academy once again. Maybe he was slightly earlier, but there was no one there, and he had no idea what to do.
“Hey! Are you lost or something?” a feminine voice cried. Sylvan jumped at the noise—he couldn’t see where the voice had come from. The bush to the right of him rustled and suddenly, there was a girl standing before him.
“Uh, hello?” the speaker asked, waving a hand in front of his eyes. For a moment, Sylvan was dumbfounded. Why was she in a bush?
“I, uh, I’m one of the new students so I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do,” he muttered.
“Yeah, I can tell.” she snorted. “What’s your first class?” Sylvan stared at the girl for a moment—she was pretty—she had purple hair and eyes. She was in uniform, but she wore her tie very loosely. He could feel his cheeks redden and snapped back to reality.
“I’m in room P-23,” Sylvan said quickly, avoiding eye contact.
“Oh, alright. I’m…” she trailed off and stared at him as if he sprouted another head. “…also in room P-23. You do know that you’re late, right?”
“Late? They told us to be here by 7:30. It’s 7:20 right now,” he said, confused. The girl looked equally puzzled.
“You were supposed to be here by 7:00. It’s what the empire’s decree states. All students attending school must report to school at least half an hour before school starts.” she finished with air quotes.
“I…didn’t know that,” he said simply.
“Yeah, I can see. At least they told me to check if anyone was coming late. If I didn’t, you’d be waiting here for an eternity,” she said and gestured for Sylvan to follow her.
“Oh, I’m Sylvan. Who are you?” he asked as he followed her to the classroom.
“Azalea. And hurry up.” Azalea replied, quickening her pace. The school was like a maze and it reminded Sylvan of his former prison. He shuddered at the memory.
Azalea stopped abruptly and swung the classroom door open. All the students in the class stared at them—or rather Sylvan.
“Ah, you’re late.” a woman replied, he assumed that she was the teacher. “Azalea, did you explain to him that he is late?”
“Yeah,” she said, rolling her eyes. Azalea then proceeded to sit down at her desk, leaving Sylvan in the front.
“Care to introduce yourself?” the teacher said sharply. He was nervous, if he messed up this first impression, it might make his task even more difficult.
“I’m Sylvan,” he said simply. Great, what an introduction. The teacher gestures for him to take a seat. The only available seat was right in front of Azalea. He had a taller upper body and couldn’t help but wonder if he would block the shorter girl’s view.
“Can you sit down?” an annoyed voice asked from behind—that was Azalea. Sylvan immediately sat down.
“Alright, now that all the students are here,” she said, glaring at Sylvan, “Let’s begin.”

The last bell rang, signaling the end of the school day.
“Sylvan, be sure to answer the questionnaire before you leave,” the teacher said. Sylvan thought about his decision carefully—yes, it would be a great way to become well-known, but at what cost? After a few more seconds of thinking, he decided he would participate in the school-wide tournament. He pulled up the questionnaire but hesitated before reaching for the “yes” button. Those few seconds of hesitation, however, cost him, in those seconds, someone had bumped into him and the action caused him to hit the “no” button instead.
“Sorry,” someone said. Sylvan turned around to look at the perpetrator—it was Azalea. She didn’t even look sorry, in fact, she looked happy that he had hit “no”. Without waiting for Sylvan’s response, she left. It was a good thing he had already completed the questionnaire because he was going to chase Azalea and demand an explanation. The only issue was, Azalea was, surprisingly, very quick on her feet, because, by the time Sylvan exited the building, she was almost at the gate.
“Hey!” he yelled after her. The girl stopped and turned her head to look at who was calling after her. She didn’t look surprised to see him.
“What do you want?” she snapped, her demeanor completely different. She seemed annoyed but seemed willing to listen to what he had to say.
“Why’d you push me? You know, I ended up hitting “no” and now I can’t participate!” he yelled.
“It was an accident,” she replied simply, tilting her head.
“I think we both know that’s not true.” he snapped angrily.
“Fine. Maybe it wasn’t an accident, but I’m doing this for you. You obviously don’t know anything about how much society has changed! Trust me, you don’t want to enter that competition, you have no idea how powerful some of the Psykers that go here are.” Azalea replied.
“How do you know that I’m not more powerful than them?” he said, challenging her.
“I can see it by looking at you. It looks like even the more powerful Elementals could overpower you!” she shot back.
“What Elementals, there are barely any!” he exclaimed, only to be met with a flabbergasted look.
“Are you stupid? There are only a few Elementals at the school! Are you living in the past? The system was changed years ago! Elementals are weaker and Psykers are stronger. I bet you aren’t aware that there’s a war going on!” she yelled. It was at this moment that he realized how much the world has changed. It was so different from the world he had lived in before that moment.

“If you think I’m so weak then why did you make me hit no?! Wouldn’t it be better for your amusement if you were watching me lose?” Sylvan yelled.
“Hah! You wish…If you’re so adamant about fighting, you could fight me…” she muttered.
“Why not?! When and where?” he asked, eager to fight the person who bumped into him.
“12 am, at the duel domes that have nearby. Meet me here because you’re obviously going to get lost. You can choose the environment.” she said, not missing a beat.
“Duel…duel domes, environments? What?” he asked, puzzled. Azalea sighed and proceeded to explain everything.
“Duel domes are basically domes you can duel in. They’re in a protected area dome if you couldn’t tell, and there are different environments within the domes. The environments are pretty customizable, so you can just name whatever you want and we can just customize one—not that we’ll need to.” she explained.
“A forest environment. Wait, at 12 am?” he replied, just remembering the time Azalea stated.
“Well, I guess we have no need to customize the dome. Yeah, 12 am, you have something you need to do?” she asked, annoyed again.
“Homework?!” he exclaimed.
“Oh,” she said. “Well, see you then.” She walked away, not looking back once.
“Wait, you’re not even going to change the time!” he cried.
“Well, just deal with it,” she called back.
Sylvan spent the next few hours worrying about their upcoming duel. In reality, he wanted to change the time because he knew nothing about Azalea, whereas she seemed to know a lot about him. He didn’t even know her affinity, but he assumed that she was powerful, judging by how willing she was to fight him.

He was growing more and more nervous the more he thought about Azalea. Come to think of it, wasn’t her hair purple? He suddenly remembered the flash of purple on the stage, could it have been Azalea? Was she stalking him?
Then, he slapped himself. He shouldn’t keep worrying about if she was stalking him, he needed information on her affinity. Sighing, he pulled up the school’s registration database to see what her registered affinity was—he was glad he could easily hack it. However, he didn’t find much information on her. The database didn’t even have her full name. Her affinity was “enhanced physical strength” but Sylvan doubted that was it.

Hours passed and Sylvan waited impatiently for Azalea to arrive. 3 seconds later, there she was. She gestured for him to follow her. They didn’t exchange a single word until they reached the duel domes.
“So you said a forest?” she inquired. Sylvan nodded in response. Her question brought him back to the hours prior to their arrival here. He couldn’t help but think that this would go terribly wrong for him. She definitely seemed to have the upper hand or had some hidden intention—she was quick to propose a duel and didn’t even try to change the “environment” of their duel. He found it very strange.
“Are you coming or not?” Azalea snapped, bringing him back to reality. He surveyed the surroundings, it seemed to suit his affinity very well, but Azalea seemed confident. “I’ll give you 1 minute to get ready.” she called to him as she walked into the “forest”.
1 minute later, Sylvan used his affinity to detect Azalea’s location. He didn’t exactly want to impale her like he had impaled the guards in his former prison, but he wanted revenge. He settled on striking her in the shoulder. Thinking for a moment, Sylvan realized that Azalea was much closer to him than he thought she’d be. Using his power, he sent a lightning-fast vine for her shoulder.
To his surprise, she was actually within his eyesight. He could see her, which meant Azalea could see him. She was watching him intently—too intently, he prayed that she wouldn’t see the vine. Unfortunately, his prayers were misplaced, Azalea dodged the vine and rushed straight for him.
“Looks like you missed,” she whispered in his ear, smiling. He immediately tried to trap her in a bunch more vines, but she darted away, landing on a tree. The feeling that he was going to epically lose this fight came back, and he was dumbfounded by her speed.

“If you really did look into me, then maybe you didn’t do a good job,” Sylvan said, it was a gamble, he didn’t know if she actually did some digging on him, but the statement hit home. Azalea looked bewildered. At that moment, he attacked her with vines, she avoided them with ease.
“Maybe you forgot, but that won’t work,” she said, smirking.
“Maybe you forgot,” he said, adding an emphasis on “you”, “But, my affinity isn’t limited to vines!” He suddenly encapsulated the girl with the tree’s branches. Perhaps he had underestimated his own abilities, or maybe Azalea had underestimated him.
Unfortunately for Sylvan, this was not the case, the tree branches that were holding Azalea captive exploded, sending bits of wood flying everywhere. Sylvan manipulated the debris out of his way. Using the debris, he sent them flying toward Azalea, who practically disappeared.
A second later, something sent Sylvan flying. The hit was extremely powerful—and it hurt. Coughing blood, he struggled to get back up again. Blinded by pain, he lashed out randomly with whatever he could manipulate. A grunt of pain came from Azalea. When he finally got over the fact that he was in excruciating pain from the hit, he saw that he had hit Azalea’s forehead with something. There was a gash on her head and it was bleeding. A lot.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, I did not mean to do that,” he said quickly, hoping she didn’t take any offense. He was genuinely trying to apologize but was met with another blow from Azalea, this blow was weaker and didn’t hurt as much, but he was surprised that she would land a blow on him after he tried to apologize.
“I’m genuinely sorry!” he exclaimed.
“I don’t care if you’re sorry or not. You shouldn’t apologize to your opponent while you’re still fighting,” she replied, hitting his head.
He fought to stay conscious, but the blow really did a number; Sylvan could feel the darkness seeping through until he eventually gave in.
After who knows how long later, Sylvan shot straight up from wherever he was lying.
“Ow!” he exclaimed, rubbing his head. He had a pounding headache and he was sore all over. Right, he had lost a seemingly easy duel to Azalea. He was angry, and after implying that Sylvan was weak, she beat him up. Now all of his former plans were screwed, he wouldn’t get any information like this.
Looking around his room, he noticed an envelope on the nightstand. It was a plain envelope, but when he picked it up, he noticed that something was in it. A letter.

The letter seemed to be some sort of invitation, but he found out that it was an invitation to some sort of underground organization. This seemed like a good opportunity. At first, he thought it was meant for someone else, but he saw that on the back of the letter, it was addressed to him. It was signed “Phantom”.
As he went down to his first class, he wondered who “Phantom” was. He noticed that Azalea was in his first class, she saw him but decided to ignore him. Oh right, she must have hauled him back to his dorm room. Thinking about their duel last night made his cheeks heat in embarrassment.
“Hey, new kid!” a voice called, he turned to find the source of the voice—only he couldn’t turn, he was sinking into the floor! A girl laughed, he figured that she was the source of his current predicament. A few others joined in.
“This isn’t funny!” he exclaimed. “Let me out!” What was it with him getting beat up by girls?
“How ‘bout you get yourself out! Or is it because you can’t? I heard from someone you lost a duel to Azalea! It must’ve been hilarious,” the girl said, what was her name? Oh, yes, it was Sarah. He was angry at Sarah for calling him out but was even angrier at Azalea, who probably leaked this information.
As he sank further into the floor, he wondered if this is how he would die—sinking into a floor. The floor around him was like quicksand and tar, it was thick, and when he moved, he sank a little more.
“Let him go,” Azalea called from where she was sitting.
“And why should I?” Sarah said, smirking.
“Maybe I need to knock that smirk off your face,” Azalea replied, getting up. Hearing that made Sarah release him immediately. He supposed that Azalea was quite intimidating, but why would she help him? This only made him angrier.
The floor spat him out like how a rifle would spit a bullet out—it ejected him with so much force that he hit the ceiling. Now, he was covered in liquid floor. Great.
“What’s all this ruckus!” the teacher exclaimed, walking into the classroom.

The leaves crunched under his feet, the autumn air was crisp and cool. He saw a butterfly—something he had never seen before—and decided to follow it. Tailing after the butterfly, he went deep into the forest. When he couldn’t follow the butterfly anymore, the realization of being lost hit him like a truck.
There was a fox, though. It cozied up to him, and he decided to take his chances in following the four-footed creature. Thankfully, it led him back to the village. He was happy to be back but realized there were empire soldiers there. Afraid, he made a beeline for his house, but he was unable to get in. He could see that the soldiers were at his doorstep and his mother was blocking their access.
“Mommy?” the little boy whimpered, exposing his spot. His mother’s eyes widened with surprise—and not the good kind.
“No! You can’t take him! H-he’s not even who you’re looking for!” his mother wailed. He was scared and confused and only wanted the soldiers to go away.
“We never told y’all who we were looking for,” a soldier said, cocking his head. His mother realized her mistake, letting out a wail. “So, that must mean this is who we’re looking for.” the soldier finished.
He didn’t know what to do, so he stepped in front of his mother, a pitiful attempt at protecting her. With one blow, the soldier moved him out of the way, and with another, his mother slumped to the floor.
“No!” he screamed—he barely used his affinity, but in this moment, his power exploded, quite literally—he exploded a tree. The soldier, unaffected by the action, walked toward him. Afraid, he backed up—right into another soldier. He was then knocked out.

Sylven woke up, panting. That memory… Even now, he felt powerless, he was as powerless as he was back then. He clenched his fist and looked around. He was in a…hospital? Confused, he tried getting off the bed but was restrained by another head-splitting headache. He noticed the nurse in the far corner of the room.
“Hey!” he yelled, trying to get the nurse’s attention. The nurse, shocked by the sudden noise, dropped her clipboard. After picking it up, she walked over to where Sylven was.
“W-what happened?” he asked.
“You fainted, so some girl brought you to the medical ward.” the nurse replied.
“Wait, who—and I fainted?” he asked, confused
“That’s what I was told,” the nurse said, putting her hands up defensively. “The girl…I don’t remember who it was, but she had purple hair.” Purple hair! It was Azalea, but why would she do that? That girl made no sense.

Why would she bring him to the medical ward—why not just let someone else do it? It didn’t make sense. Azalea didn’t exactly like him… This girl was infuriating, he was angry that she brought him down, it was like she was playing him. Now that class probably saw him as a fool—they knew what happened in the duel dome last night and they know that Azalea took him down. Maybe he would add Azalea to his list, next to his mother. He wanted to know about her and figured that if joined that group, he would find out more about his mother and Azalea. Hopefully, if he got any information on her, it would help him beat her in a duel.
After going through the rest of the school day, he went to his dorm room, where he scanned the letter. It said to meet at the closest park at 12 am… Sylven was nervous, so he made a bunch of weapons from vines and before he knew it, it was time for him to leave.
Arriving at the park, he checked his watch, it was 12 am, but he didn’t see anyone…the park was completely empty. He sighed, maybe this was all a prank… A crunch of leaves made Sylven whip around, what he saw was a surprise, he didn’t think that some creepy, hooded stranger would be behind him. He pulled out the knives he had made earlier, a pathetic attempt to defend himself. One, he had never fought with knives before, and two, the person before him disarmed him with ease. He decided that this must be someone from that underground organization.
“Who’re you?” Sylven mumbled. He received no response, but the figure gestured for him to follow. He followed the person to a manhole, and the figure gestured for him to follow them into the manhole.
“Why..? I’m not going in there!” he exclaimed. Who in their right mind would have their base entrance at a manhole? The figure shrugged and hopped into the sewers, with no choice, he followed. Surprisingly, the sewer was actually quite clean.
He followed the figure until they reached a bunker-like door, opening it, they stepped into the room. Sylven was met by a variety of faces, he found it awkward, so he scanned the place. It was surprisingly large for something made in a sewer; he assumed that this city didn’t use the sewers anymore—someone was bound to see that reinforced door.
“Welcome,” a voice said—it was the person who brought him here.

The person removed the hood—he could finally see the person who brought him here, but it wasn’t who he expected. To be honest, he expected it to be a man, but the person was actually a girl—she didn’t seem to be much older than him. She reminded him slightly of Azalea, but whereas Azalea had dark hair and eyes, this person’s hair and eyes were nearly white. The girl was also wearing a gas mask, so he couldn’t see her full face. He glanced at the girl, curious; the girl met his eyes with an icy-cold stare, Sylven immediately looked away.
“So, you brought him?” a voice on the far side of the room asked. He turned, attempting to pinpoint the location of the voice. It was…Sarah? What was she doing here? Sarah looked annoyed, not at him, but rather at the girl next to him… What was going on?
“Jealous?” the girl asked. Sarah scoffed and walked away, turning to him she said, “Don’t mind her.”
“Wait, where are we going?” he asked as he followed the strange girl through the crowd. She stopped abruptly and gestured to the door. Sylven slid the door open and was surprised to see that there were several people in the room.
“Ah, so it’s him,” a boy with fiery hair said.
“Y’know you could’ve let Sarah have him… He looks pretty useless!” a girl in blue exclaimed.
“Leave him alone,” another girl said.
“Welcome to the squad,” said the last person. They all seemed to be around his age, which was surprising.

“The what?!” Sylven explained. The four people sitting down exchanged an exasperated look.
“You didn’t explain to him,” the boy with red hair said, looking at the girl next to him. She just stared at the boy. “Well, you read the letter, didn’t you?” he asked, turning to Sylven. Sylven nodded.
“It wasn’t very informational…” Sylven mumbled. The four people sitting in the room sighed.

The four people took some time explaining to Sylven what he was doing there. The girl who brought him here lurked in the corner the whole time, she didn’t say a single thing.
“Okay, so Phantom,” the red-haired boy said, gesturing at the girl who hadn’t contributed a single word to their conversation, “…gave us a rundown of your affinity, but she probably left something out.” Phantom glared at the boy. “So, what can you do?”
“I can manipulate anything that falls under “nature”,” he said with air quotes. Three of them looked confused. The last boy just raised his eyebrow.
Suddenly, Sylven felt the presence of a very small piece of tree bark being hurtled toward him, he instantly deflected it.
“Well, that was surprising. We should take him to the training rooms,” the boy who threw the projectile said. The group, excluding Phantom, got up and gestured for Sylven to follow them. When they arrived at the training rooms, he noticed that there were a lot of people gathered around a specific room. As they got closer, he realized that they were cheering on some sort of duel.
“Don’t worry, you won’t be doing anything like that,” Phantom whispered, appearing behind him.
“Who am I going to be sparring with?” Sylven asked nervously. Everyone turned to look at Phantom; Phantom rolled her eyes and stepped into the closest training room. The door shut behind them.
“Okay, so now what?” Sylven asked.
“Well, I’ll start the simulation,” the boy said. Phantom sighed.
“The what?!” Sylven exclaimed. One second he was in a sewer, the next he was in a forest. He recognized this forest—this memory. It was the day he lost his mother. He completely forgot that he was in a simulation and ran toward where his mother should be.
When he got there, he noticed that the same scene was playing out, he was hiding behind the house while his mother was outside with the soldier.
“No!” Sylven yelled, unleashing his power, but he missed. It struck him as strange, the soldier didn’t dodge before, did he? Angry, he grabbed whatever his affinity could allow and sent them flying toward the white-haired soldier.
After 10 minutes of fighting, a twisted realization grasped Sylven. That wasn’t just any soldier, it was the soldier who became the Director, the person who held the most power over his life just a few weeks ago. As his moves became sluggish, he noticed a striking similarity between the Director and Phantom. Snapping back to attention, Sylven realized he hadn’t landed a single strike on the Director.
“You became the Director, didn’t you?” Sylven said aloud. The Director suddenly froze and Sylven seized the chance, impaling him with a tree branch.
“Phantom!” a girl screeched, it was the girl in blue. It took him a moment to realize that it was all a simulation, with Phantom as the Director. The girl was now lying on the floor, unconscious, her abdomen soaked with a neon liquid…was that…blood?
The boy with red hair and the other boy rushed into the room, the former looked surprised to see the girl on the floor, but the second clapped.
“That was spectacular!” the boy exclaimed. Frowning, he added, “Maybe we should regroup.” At that, the rest of the group followed the boy out, Sylven included, leaving the girl to be tended to by the bystanders.
“I haven’t seen that much power displayed by a single individual in a while!” one girl exclaimed.
“Neither have I,” said the girl in blue glumly.
“Even though it didn’t end so well, I have to admit, that was amazing!” the red-haired boy added.
“It’s an honor to have you on our team!” the boy added. As soon as Sylven walked out of the room, he was swarmed by a group of people.
“I haven’t seen anyone beat Phantom before, that was spectacular!” one said.
“Yeah, that girl is—was undefeated!” another one added. Even with all the praise, Sylven felt bad for impaling the girl, but it seemed that everyone praised him for the incredible demonstration of his power.

Sylven, with directions from the girl in blue, headed to the “medical bay”, hoping to see Phantom. He was shocked to see that she was already conscious—it had only been half an hour since she was stabbed. He made his way over to her.
“Are you alright?” he asked. He hoped that she was, he didn’t exactly enjoy stabbing her.
“How do you know that name?” she demanded.
“I—what name?” he asked, not sure who she meant.
“That name you called in the simulation…” she mumbled. It was at this moment that the realized that he should not say that name. He remembered that when he called it in the simulation, the Director—no, Phantom, stalled. It seemed unlike her icy demeanor, so he was careful not to say it.
“He held the most power over my life until just a few weeks ago,” he replied.
“What does that name mean to you?” she whispered.
“Pretty much nothing,” he said. The girl’s face dropped.
“I guess we all have our scars,” she whispered.
Even after leaving the “medical bay”, he felt like Phantom’s last statement hit something. What happened to make her so afraid of that name?

Last edited by Ataraxea (Nov. 29, 2022 22:05:14)

Willowshine45

Thank You's 384 words (2,075 characters)

To SWC as a camp <3 :
Random question(s);
1) How do you pronounce SWC when talking?
➞ I say ‘s-we-c’, or ‘es-whee-see’
2) What do you use to count your words?
➞ I use google docs or wordcounter.net

@puffyfish
hey badowie!! firstly, you were an amazing leader for verse this session- we had to much fun!! Not only that but you sorta had to deal with me :impressed: i could get ‘hyper’ on words. :slaps head: I now i made your life way to difficult with all of my random word bursts. I am now officially impressed. (i already was but who cares-) so to summarize: ahh bee thanks for being an amazing (co-)leader for poetry <3 you made my third session in poetry amazing and aghhdrjf you managed to deal with me. also you voted for me – first time it's EVER happened so tysssm<3

@zsparkly
hey! we didn't really talk much but I just wanted to say thanks for being poetry's leader

You did an amazing job leading this session; I couldn't ask for a better leader this time around <3

@-jadefox-
Again, Viara, didn't exactly chat/talk that much- but thanks for being an amazing (co)leader!!

swc hosts & stuff:
thank you all for hosting this session! November ‘22 was maybe the best session of SWC I’ve ever had – whether it was because I finally settled into the groove or because everyone was so. frickin'. amazing. To all of the leaders of all the cabins – we survived another session!! how many do you already have under your belt?

‘lil suggestion: bring back myth!! myth is superior (coming from the girl who was never in it-) #BRINGBACKTHEMYTHTYRANNY we’ll all appreciate it i promise ;D

poetry as a cabin:
Hello poetry! My cabin, my home, for a year!! jk. Anywaysss – hello poetry

i love the fact for the first daily we could make you into a person, i quite enjoyed writing to/for Elodie Charmanee! Elodie and Poetry /has/ been my *home* for 3 sessions – march, july, and november. Poetry is all I've really know, yet it's been amazing. Never once have I regretted joining a session! So thanks, Poetry, and even if I don't get you next session, you'll hold a place in my heart <3

unhinged_musings

Here you have it folks! A 3,042 word journey of pain! And inconsistency, both character and lore related! With a pretty darn cheesy ending! Because I felt I had to tie it all together sloppily thematically because I definitely wasn't going to resolve the main conflict in time! Also the protagonist went from average person to merciless deity!

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

I would upload a screenshot but I apparently have to set up an image uploader or something and I just…don't feel like making an account for something like that right now, sorry

Maybe I should have marked all this stuff for planet, but I wasn't aware I was suppose to do that heheh…and it is kind of late now

Sorry for being lazy just trust me all the prompts word sprints and challenges are there

I Always Get Up Again

I shivered, the wind blowing locks of snow-dusted hair into my face. I couldn’t bring myself to brush them away; I feared if I let my hands leave my warm pockets, even for a moment, they would freeze solid. It felt like my feet, despite being surrounded by leather boots, already had.
I was alone on a frosty mountaintop, buffered thoroughly by the wind that curled around the sweeping slopes. I walked through the thick snow, every step making my muscles burn. I wanted to just…rest. But I couldn’t, not until I got where I needed to go. If I didn’t make it, I would die.
No, I had to be honest with myself. I would probably die regardless.
Step after step, breath after breath, I moved slowly across the landscape. I began down a slope, letting myself relax a bit. My momentum can help me move forward now, I thought. I considered sitting down and just sliding, but remembered there were probably rocks underneath the snow. If I hit one of those I -
I let out a yelp as I slipped on one of said rocks, one that was particularly icy. I ripped my hands out of my pockets, but they were too late. I landed hard on my butt, sending waves of shock throughout the rest of my body.
I suppose it’s a good time to mention that I didn’t have any sort of winter gear. I had a denim jacket and thin leather boots, but I had no hat, gloves, winter coat, snow pants, or pretty much anything that would help prevent a quick death up here. I suppose that’s what I deserved for putting HQ in Greenland, for goodness sake. (Sometimes I really hated past me, for various reasons.) A teleporter required two parties, and the closest one to said HQ had been quite a few miles and a couple of snowy mountains away.
As I sat there, shivering and trying to recover, I got a strange feeling that…this was familiar. Like deja vu. So a past me had put HQ here, then another past me had also had a similar problem with the snow. Unless it had been the same past me? Or maybe I’d guessed the events out of order, maybe one of me had died up here (would I…?), and then another me had put HQ up here as a joke or out of pure ignorance.
Ugh, when you had a thousand lives like this, sometimes it got really hard to keep track of things.
Slowly, trembling, I pulled myself up. The damage had already been done though, and my hands were almost unresponsive. I shook them vigorously. It sort of helped.
Standing as still as I could, making sure absolutely nothing was slipping, I took a moment to catch a few icy breaths. Man, the air is really thin up here, I thought. I tried to compensate, remembering the instructions I’d got back during swim training in some other life. Regardless of how frustrated this system made me sometimes, sometimes it was very useful in cases like this.
Closing my eyes, I breathed in deeply, making sure to utilize my entire diaphragm. I did this a few times until I felt a bit less dizzy and ready to continue.
One careful step, two careful steps, three careful steps…my confidence began to come back. I looked ahead, determination powering my gaze, and…
I slipped again.
My head rang and my breath shook, but I mostly just felt annoyed. No, more than annoyed - enraged. I hated this stupid mountain and its ridiculous snow! I hated snow and ice and rocks! I hated the cold! WHY WAS BEING COLD SO HORRIBLE?
I let out a scream of rage, forcing my numb hand to slam into the snowy ground. Again, again, again - at some point, it began to bleed, and at some point, my screams turned into frustrated tears.
I fell back onto the snow, giving up. After all, it didn’t matter if I died, right? I was only on life, what, 940? I had 60 more to complete my mission. That was plenty of lives. Maybe my consciousness, as it existed now, would be gone, but my spirit would still live on.
It was tempting, as I lay on the frigid ground, to just give up. But I couldn’t. The information I had in my head was too valuable to leave its preservation to chance.
The information about who could ruin everything, told to me by the universe in indecipherable code only Lucy could understand.
It didn’t matter if I died five minutes after I got to HQ. I just had to make it there and tell someone.
Still sobbing, I got up. Throwing caution to the wind, I began to sprint down the hill. It didn’t matter if I fell, I could just get up again.
I always got up again.
I ran down the slope and didn’t stop. At least, I didn’t try to - the fact that the snow suddenly stopped doing its job made me hesitate. Its job of supporting my feet, that is.
My foot sank down, down, down, way farther than it was supposed to. It tripped me up, literally and figuratively, and I fell flat onto my face.
I sank to the snow for another good second, screaming into the snow. Some of it got into my mouth, but I didn’t really care. I needed the water.
As I knew I would, I got up again.
With the knowledge of the snow’s lacking density, I could make the next leg of my journey without mishap. Or, at least, minimal mishap. Climbing the next slope was equally rough, but was overcome as well.
The rest of the exhausting trek became a blur of pain, tears, and bitter cold. My skin was beginning to tinge blue, and I’d long since given up on feeling my fingers and toes. I was beginning to feel dizzy from lack of oxygen at this height, and I would regularly have to stop to take a breath. I was starving, too. I’d only managed to quench my thirst with an occasional bite of freezing cold snow that left even my tongue feeling cold. I tried to work my jaw in an attempt to make sure I would actually be able to pass on the information once I made it to HQ, but it was futile. There was no significant warming up in these temperatures.
At one point, I began to feel a warm spread through my body. A sign of hypothermia. If left uncared for, it could cause death.
But, remember, I didn’t particularly care about that? I just needed to make it to HQ and pass on what I knew. That was the only purpose of this weak, fleshy mortal body. The only step in the grand plan it had to worry about now.
Finally, finally, HQ came into view at the top of the obstacle I had just climbed. It took me only moments to run down it and right across the snow at the bottom. I didn’t care if I fell anymore, if I got hurt. This mortal form was simply a vessel for me to accomplish my duty.
At some point, I’d thrown off my denim jacket and shed my winter boots. In hindsight, I wasn’t sure why. Not that I was thinking about it much as I ran up the black stone steps to my beloved headquarters. I stopped - panting, shivering, sobbing, laughing, stumbling - at the gate.
I knocked with both arms, attempting to exert what control on my limbs I had left on my elbows. “LEMME IN!” I shouted, my words slurring from the numbness seizing me. With my laughter, too, I probably sounded as if I was drunk. Or insane - which would be much more accurate. Something moved off to my left, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. Was there something to my right, too…? Nah.
The “something” to my left came a whole lot closer, so close I could smell its disgustingly warm breath. I jumped in surprise, but only mentally - physically I lethargically turned around, my unresponsive feet faltering.
It was Bob. Of course it was Bob. I clenched my jaw, or I would have, if I was capable of that type of conscious movement in that area.
“What…do you want? I’m trying to deliver a message to the…the database…”
Bob grinned. “You look a bit cold. Want some help?” With a wave of his finger, he wrenched the door off its hinges and threw it into the open gray sky. An arrogant display of power. He’s gotten powerful, I thought. I moved into a defensive position, even though I knew it was futile.
This was probably the worst encounter that could happen in my current state. Normally, I wouldn’t be this scared of him, but I had to get this message to my superior before my inevitable death - and he would probably try to stop me, because he hated me.
He hated me because of something one of the earliest versions of me had done - number 5? I couldn’t even remember what had motivated me to do it, but I’d stolen something “important” of his. (Number 85 had given it back, but he didn’t really care about that.) What that earlier version of me hadn’t anticipated was the gradual loss of my powers after each death that would leave me vulnerable some time in the distant future - say, life 940, when the most powerful thing I could do was heal kind of fast from wounds. Minor ones. Puny in the shadow of what number 1 had been able to do - start all life on earth.
“Are you seriously still mad about something that happened billions of years ago?” I said, enunciating each word carefully. (Each life used to be a lot longer for me, but they’d gradually shortened as my power diminished.)
“Oh, you have no idea how mad,” Bob said, still grinning maniacally. He picked me up with his telekinesis, lifting me above the ground by about five feet. He could do anything to me. He could snap my neck, he could throw me to the ground violently, he could throw me out of the atmosphere and leave me to suffocate. While I’d been getting weak with each death, he’d been getting stronger - he wasn’t meant to bring about the beginning, he was meant to bring about the endgame. I was helpless.
“Help!” I tried to shout, but Bob held my mouth closed. Why was he doing this? We were supposed to be working together. But then again, as each life passed away, I became more and more useless…maybe Bob thought that it wouldn’t matter if I died. But he didn’t know the information I had! If he was actually going to kill me, I had to get the information to someone -
“I don’t care about that, Ray,” he said, reading my thoughts now. My head began to twist slowly to the right. My eyes widened. Stupid Bob and his telepathy and telekinesis and tele-everything.
Then, a sound came from behind me - from what used to be my right. Of course there had been something there. But why had it taken so long to intervene? “Stop!” a voice said.
Great - my sister, Jill.
“Put him down!” she shouted, holding up two glowing hands. I created life, she…destroyed it. She was my counterpart, made for the destruction of humanity instead of the creation of it. We were one of three sets - body, spirit, and mind. We were twins, in a sense, but I’d always considered myself her older brother. At least, until now - she looked majestic, mature, and wise in her thick white sorceress’s robes, and I felt rather puny and childish, whimpering and shivering at Bob’s mercy. No wonder I hadn’t been able to see her before - she blended right into the snowy background.
“Why should I?” Bob snarled. I couldn’t even remember what I’d stolen, and -
No, wait, I could.
Grinning, I used magic to make myself taller and able to stand even more imposingly over a very young version of Bob. I held a golden necklace in my hands, waving it just out of his reach.
“So this is special to you, eh?” I said, a hand on my hips.
Bob pouted. “Super! Now give it back!”
I rolled my eyes. “You need to stop playing silly games for kids. You’re already on life, what, 135? I know you started less mature and everything, but this is outrageous. Do I need to get your older sister, Lucy now, I suppose, in on this?”
“I’m very mature!” he protested. “And that is very important. Zed gave it to me?”
“Are you seriously communicating with those primates? They’re pets for goodness sake!”
“Zed is my friend!” Bob said, stomping in anger. “Best friend! And he would be very sad if I lost that!”
“Maybe even sad enough to stop being friends with you?” I asked, an idea forming in my mind.
Bob nodded before he could think about what such a response could mean. “Maybe, I don’t know - “
I whipped the necklace behind my back. “Then I’ll be keeping this until further notice,” I said, walking out of Bob’s bedroom. I shut the door behind me, sighing as the sound of his anguished cries followed me all the way down the hall and out the door.
Oh, my, my. Of course old me had done something like that, back before I’d learned the value of humans and kindness, to make Bob this angry right now. Maybe the Zed boy really had stopped being friends with him, and Bob blamed me for his unhealthy, lasting pain after it through some form of twisted emotional logic. And when I’d returned the necklace, Zed had already died. I’d probably just rubbed salt on the wound.
It was getting harder and harder to stay conscious as the battle raged around me and the foreign feeling of heat increased in intensity, while the clarity of my cold-scattered thoughts decreased. Something blew up, someone screamed, a door opened, Bob claimed he was going to destroy the human race himself…
When I finally fell to the ground, I was already dead.

I woke up on a…boat? I sat up, looking around wildly. I was on a worn wooden deck overlooking the sea, the main room of the boat behind me. A door was opening and closing - I expected a confrontation soon. Something felt very wrong about this, unlike when I normally woke up from a death. Like me dying had messed up something very, very important.
“Who are you?” a gruff male voice said behind me, from where I’d expected my next encounter.
I didn’t answer, instead resorting to my usual protocol for waking up. First, find out if I’m relatively safe. Check. Second, find out where I am. Not check. “Where is this boat heading?”
“Home, but not that that’s any of your business. What is your business is explaining how you got onto this boat in the middle of an incredibly large lake without a single drop of water on you.”
I stood up and turned around, dusting myself off for no particular reason. “I can’t explain, but I can pay you for your troubles and keeping quiet.”
“That’s not an explanation, and I don’t fall for bribery.”
“Sir, if you were to learn who I am and what my mission is, you would have to die.”
“Are you…threatening me?”
“Not if you stop asking questions.”
“What would you even kill me with? I seem to be the one with the upper hand here.” He hefted a thick metal pole I hadn’t realized he’d been holding, which inspired me to further survey his appearance before I missed any more important details. He seemed to be fairly old, and it was a bit shocking he was on a boat by himself in the middle of whatever sea this was. He had a long, dense white-ish gray beard and white-ish gray hair to match. His clothes were dark, ragged, and salt-stained, providing proof that this was, indeed, salt water. He stood a bit more than six feet tall and would have been an imposing figure if I was not six and a half feet tall myself.
These bodies tended to be random, as far as traits went, but on average they were a) the semi-immortal’s preferred gender and b) from young adult to middle aged. There was some variance as far as height, eye color, face shape, skin tone, and frame size went, though. I seemed to be fairly tall and muscular this time - hopefully handsome, too. People were always more likely to trust a handsome face. (I’d programmed them that way myself.)
“You underestimate me.”
“Do I, now? Explain yourself,” he said coldly, preparing the metal rod to strike.
I held up my hands in surrender. “Alright, I will, but you have to promise to believe me.”
The man just gave a neutral grunt.
“I am part of an elite team of semi-immortals designed by an even greater power to create and end the human race. I am the being that created humanity, and am part of the expansive group of allies we have determined to make sure the world ends correctly. I have a thousand lives, and am now on my 941st. I appeared on your boat suddenly because I just revived from my latest death, and this is where the universe felt it was most prudent to drop me.”
The old man stared at me for a long, uncomfortable moment. “Well, that certainly explains how you suddenly appeared.”
“Of course it does. It’s the truth.”
“So you just died?” Well, this man caught on quickly.
I paused. “Yes.”
“How? What did it feel like?”
I shook my head. “I can’t remember.”
“Will you eventually?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Do you ever get tired of it?”
“…Yes.”
A memory came to me of a trek through snowy mountains and an overpowering sense of determination. And I remembered a code. Not the code, specifically, but that there had been one. I knew what I had to do now.
I’d definitely changed over the course of all my lives. However, one thing was always the same.
“But I always get up again."
And I wasn't going to stop until I saw humanity go down in flames - properly and in time, of course.

PixelDucko

Author’s Notes (Not Counted in Word Count) ::
• Current Code: 3;1;5;7;11/10/7/;3123;
• This is an unfinished weekly! I just didn't really like the plot so I didn't continue it :,] I don't think I can restart and finish the weekly in one day aha. The concept of the weekly was really cool though, props to the daily team! <3
• Text in italic is not counted in the word count
• The word count of the stories in the links are counted in the word count

“Write 100 words to begin your adventure.”

Nova loved outer space ever since she was a child. From the moon to asteroids, she loved every little aspect about it. Oftentimes, she would climb on the roof at night to look at the stars. She would doodle little planets on her corner of her notebook during class. She would pretend to be an astronaut with her friends as they used a cardboard box as a spaceship.

On her 10th birthday, her parents bought her a telescope. She would never forget that day. When she unwrapped the comically large box, when she squealed of excitement, and when she ran to hug her parents.

Every day after that, she observed the stars. She would make up her own constellations that nobody understood other than her. No pressure and no stress. Just her, a telescope, and the big wide world of space.

“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.”
WPM: 58
9 Minutes
Found here!

“Of course, the bakery would be nothing without its loyal bakers. In fact, those bakers deserve some recognition. In the next 100 words, include a character who bakes (whether it be by profession or a hobby).”

Now she’s 14 and still hasn’t lost her interest for the galaxy.

She still wrote about what she would do if she was an astronaut. She still rambled about space every time she could.

Unfortunately, her friend Coral was the target of the rambling today.

“…And it’s really fascinating!” Nova exclaimed, sitting down on a bench. “Like, they can just release so much energy! I can’t even imagine how much that is.”

“Uh-huh.” Coral replied, sitting down beside her. At this point, she wasn’t paying attention anymore.

She looked around the place. Stores of food, electronics, beauty and cleaning supplies surrounded the area. She spotted a bakery in the cluster of shops.

“Hey, I’m kinda hungry. Do you wanna go to that bakery?” she asked, pointing at the bread store.

Nova paused her talking and turned to look at the place.

“Yeah, sure. Now that you mention it, I’m kinda hungry too.” she admitted as she stood up. “Come on!”

The two walked — or for Nova, skipped — to the bakery. A quiet “ding!” of a hanging chime played as they entered the place. The air smelled cozy and pleasant. Bakers rushed in and out of the kitchen, holding all different sorts of bread.

“Hello! What would you like?” a female cashier asked.

Coral looked at the wide variety of pastries. From baguettes to shortcakes, they had so many options.

“I think I’ll get the crossiant and strawberry donut please.” she replied. “What about you, Nova?”

After twelve minutes of indecisiveness, they eventually placed their orders and walked out with bags in their hands.

“Finally, food.” Coral sighed, setting down all the bags on the bench from earlier.

“You’re scaling the roof of a train, light on your feet and quick as lightning. Suddenly, one of the shingles come lose, and you lose your balance. Write for 5 minutes while you try to regain your footing again. How many words did you write? Multiply your WPM by 5 - if you reached that number, you’re still on the roof! If you didn’t, write for 10 more minutes to climb back onto the train.”

She opened up one of the bags and got out the donut she bought. She sat down on the bench next to all the food and started biting the pastry. Nova did the same, except she got some blueberry muffins.

“Okay, so what was I saying earlier?” Nova asked to nobody in particular. “Oh, right! So yeah, they release tons of energy! It’s amazing. Like seriously, that amount of energy is like…”

Coral sighed.

– – –

It was the next day. A Monday. A school day. Nova isn’t exactly a fan of Mondays, but at least she gets to see her friends which is nice.

She follows the same schedule every Monday. Wake up, eat breakfast, brush teeth, take a shower, organize things, go to school. She eventually got bored of her schedule, but she never found a way to make it more “exciting”. Therefor, she just let it be.

She walked towards her classroom door, a backpack secured on her back. Her sneakers lit up and glowed every step she took. She opened the door, greeted her teacher Ms. Eric, and took her seat near the back.

“Hey Coral!” she waved as she put down her bag.

“Hey!” Coral waved back.

“I checked the course outlines, apparently we’re gonna be learning about ___ in ___ today. You like ___, right?” (A/N: I didn't know what to add here so I just put it as blank and then would come back later to fill it in)

“Oh, yeah! It’s pretty cool.”

“Oh no, it’s raining! A winged creature (dragon? gargoyle? you’re too shy to ask) kindly offers you a ride back to the Sanctuary, and you accept. But the mist clouds his navigational senses, and soon you’re both terribly lost - and not a map in sight. Write 250 words while you wait for the sun to come out again.”

– – –

Word Count: 896

Last edited by PixelDucko (Nov. 28, 2022 10:42:37)

-waveii

Iris: Yes I know, i’m back with another thank you note for you even though i’m already done with my word goal and I already wrote you like a 100+ word thank you note for the cabin wars you know extra challenge stuff and heh. I can not tell you how fun this session has been like I did not expect to co lead and I did not, ever in my life, expect to co lead with a pink possum and a goat. That’s bananas, but what is more crazy is how fast this session passed by. Am I trying to get to 26k? Nah, i’m totally just thanking everyone once again because that’s what potatoes do.
I loved talking to you, and I can guarantee I have stalked your profile and I know everything, your favourite food is pizza. Totally /gen because that’s what potatoes do.
Anyways, i’m so happy I got to get to know you this session, isn’t it so funny how we were talking ever since I sent my co leader app :0 I was hoping then and there that I could co lead with you, and then Ethel was like yo I just asked Iris and I was like omg partay
Ah yes, the thank you.
I need to thank you for being so kind and thoughtful, I need to thank you for making this session truly unforgettable. I need to thank you for being a sweet and caring friend that I know I can talk to whenever I need to, and I don’t always need to message first (personal problems smh) but I can not thank you enough, so I wrote you a 300 word thank you note and I hope you will accept my thank you, for the goaty arson potato person who is not totally planning on kidnapping Ethel,
Wave.
Also omg pizza

Ethel: heh.
Yep, that’s it.
Heh.
I’m just kidding welp here I go you were the most amazing leader this session, even though you were busy at some points, it was amazing to lead alongside you. First of all I need/want to thank you with all my heart for giving me an opportunity to co lead with you and I hope I managed to he a good co leader, even though I am potato. I believe this was your first session leading? Well, I can’t say i’m surprised.
Heh.
Your application was amazing, and I am so happy I could lead with you. Even before camp started, I was praying to get to lead or co lead Horror, I love the genre. And when I saw your profile, I got horror vibes frfr.
And then I woke up one morning to see you message me and be like yo you wanna co lead or smth and I was like
“Do I ever.”
I put down the phone, went to the bathroom, and screamed. My parents were concerned, but this ain’t about them.
I didn’t know that I could get an opportunity to co lead, and an amazing friend.
You are a truly amazing friend, I love how you’re so chaotic but also cool and chill and omg. You’re really nice to talk to, and you’re also really amazing with your art skills and your animations and especially coding, you’re a coding queen. You must teach me some day, all I know is arson.
I thank you for being an amazing friend to me, and I hope to see you around in more swc sessions

I hope to get to know you more even after swc is over in two days. Butterflies are rioting
Your pal, Wave.

Twi:
You’re probably the camper I talked to most this session, and it was amazing to be in horror with you! I was truly surprised to see how quickly you were progressing, and how soon you did the weeklies and dailies and were there for a pfp :0 you really helped out a lot, I don’t know if you know this but solo-ing cabin wars does not gain any points, and you saved me out there while I was panicking, heh.
I love your dedication to crush dystopian and win, you really inspired me and motivated me a lot to write during this session, even if it was just me looking at how fast you wrote words :eyes:. I truly adore your writing skills as well, you are an amazing writer and an even better individual. I hope to see you and talk to you aside from swc and in future swc sessions if you plan to join next time! I wish you best of luck in your quest to becoming a strawberry, there’s some mountain climbing and something about a giant white beard but that’s for later, plus Achlyd is mine ok bai.
From your pal, wave.

September :
Hihi! I know I haven’t spoken to you much this session, and your reaction to this thank you note may be ‘who the heck is this-‘ but let me explain.
You have been an amazing camper and have written so many words! I know we don’t know each other very well, but I have to recognise how much you contributed to our cabin, you were astonishing in the first cabin wars and I think the second one too, I was just asleep while you were doing the wars haha sorry but I have to say, it was a pleasure being in the same cabin as you and I hope that I see you in swc after this, or scratch in general! Maybe, one day, you’ll be leader and i’ll be camper :0 anyways, i’m thankful that you were in horror, and you seem like an amazing person and I hope to get to know you better in the future

bye, I hope you enjoyed this session ^^

Horror campers:
Horror campers, I hope you know that the cabin would never be complete without each and every one of you. Sven if you did not have the time for swc, it is completely understandable, and it’s in the equation as well (life over swc). I did not get to know so many of you, and that is one thing i’m really sad about. I wish this session was longer you know? So maybe we’d all finish with amazing unforgettable memories and more friends (lol I failed at this part). And I hope you guys know that we enjoyed this session a lot and no matter how much you wrote, even if it’s one unadded word, it contributed to Horror. This session had amazing teamwork and breath taking strategies, probably what I loved most! In cabin wars, we all got together and wrote words collectively, I guess it’s what they mean when they say “as a cabin”, because we’re all meant to be working together. While a lot of you had irl stuff in the second round, it was completely fine because we know you worked your hardest. You’re all really amazing, and who knows? Maybe in some future swc session, we might all be together in dystopian! Heh, I had to say that. Anyways, I really hope you enjoyed this session of swc, goodbye for now <3

Dystopian:
I know that you’re probably mad because we s l a m m e d you in 2nd place, but in our defence we’re just great. I’m just kidding, i’m writing this two days before camp ends so how should I know smh but that’s not the point. I loved how we fought for first place this session, and part of me hopes we tie so that we can all be happy and go home with a prize, unless some other cabin beats us in the writing comp, in which case I would just go arson everything. But that is also not the point.
The competition was one of the highlights for this session for me at least, I enjoyed crushing you guys with my whole cabin by my side and I hope you enjoyed getting crushed /lh ^^ and in case you guys have any tricks up your sleeve for the last minute or smth, we want you to know that we have tricks too and they may or may not involve bribing all of you to submit your dailies and weeklies towards horror instead, and we always have totally not poisoned and 100% safe candies that we are totally not about to chuck into your cabin.
You guys had amazing team work, I must say. And were truly an amazing cabin this whole session. I hope you had as much fun competing as we did, love from wave <3

More people i’m about to thank later:
Please be patient ty I need to go stay up all night writing so wait.

Hosts:
To Luna, Birdi, Sun, Starr and Robin for being the most amazing hosts

you guys worked so hard to make this session perfect, and it was a really joyful and unforgettable session. I loved every single part of this session, and all of us in swc can not thank you enough. You guys hosted this session, and swc provides me the motivation to write, and welcomes me over and over again to the writers community which would not exist this month if you guys didn’t work so hard to make it happen. I also passed my english exam, and I will obviously hold you guys responsible for this. You worked so hard with everything, and the leaders too for point adding and motivating everyone. Thank you for the virtual daisy as well, it’s in my virtual vase.
From, Wave.

Zaine and Luna:
Thank you sm for hosting the.. Gay vampire romance scratch writing camp and making the official birdi stanner cabin. It was amazing, I loved how fun it was and i’m so so so glad I got to be a part of it I am now crying because I am so happy. I also ate lasagna for the first time in my life and heck, it was the most delicious thing I have ever put in my mouth. Aside from lasagna, gay codes, pack like sardines and teeter totter were so well thought of! Kudos to you guys.

To whoever would like a thank you note:
Thank you for being amazing, I am sure you are just as amazing as anyone mentioned above and if you’re reading this, i’d love to meet you! I don’t know why I haven’t mentioned you but it’s probably because I forgot/I don’t know you, both are prety stupid reasons ik but it does not compromise your awesomeness and you, as a swcer, are already amazing to me. If you completed whatever your goals for swc were, amazing job I applaud you.

Last edited by -waveii (Nov. 28, 2022 11:09:21)

IzzyRS2010

♡ weekly four ♡
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♡ my code: ♡
Your Journey: hifi, option #1, mystery, option #1, poetry, option #1, realfi, option #1, scifi, option #3, bifi, option #1, horror, option #1, adventure, option #1, thriller, option #1, fanfi, option #1, script, option #1, fantasy, option #1, nonfi, option #3, folklore, option #1, dystopian, option #3

♡ my 3,608-word story: ♡
Space planets
The glass almost made it look like the galaxy was on fire. Silly me, for it was just the reflection of the fire on my head. It matched my orange skin, if not my green eyes with diamond-shaped pupils. The sky was all black, with only the white stars to decorate it. I hadn't pressed the button to jump at light speed yet, and I was reluctant to do so. There was nothing within a light year of me. No planets, no satellites, no moons, no suns, no people, and no aliens. The loneliness felt.. nice. Though I felt the stars staring at me like eyes. I knew what I had to do.

As I held back on the lever - which took an immense amount of strength - colorful blues and purples and whites flashed by me, creating a tunnel around me. It was as if I was surrounded in blue fire.

My mind drifted off to another time. When I was little, and my planet wasn't in pieces, and I had gone to school. I hadn't quite grasped the concept of owning things. I saw a sparkly water bottle, all by itself on a table at school. I took it, and even drank out of it. I cringed at the germs my younger self could have gotten. I loved it. Though soon another child was looking for their missing water bottle. Everyone was looking for it, and the child looked beyond sad. I felt guilty, but I couldn't come clean. The child would be furious, and so would the school's other inhabitants. I sat slumped holding the water bottle, thinking about my choices. I hadn't noticed her until the child came up behind me.
“Hey.. I know you have my water bottle. If you give it back I won't tell anyone you took it,” she offered a trade.
“Really?” I was shocked. She wasn't furious?
“Yeah. Sometimes all we need is a second chance.”
I gave her a hug, which she probably didn't expect, and of course I handed back the water bottle. A second chance was good, but the friend I had made was better. I would be sure to make it up to her.

The blue surrounding me was amazing, but my own metaphor of fire had also reminded me it could cook me if I didn't get out. Looking back at the directions system, I steered off to our exit.

I looked back at the directions map. I hadn't looked at the maps before because I didn't want to raise my hopes too high in finding safety on a map. Something glued my eyes to this map. I traced above it with my fingers. It looked like my home map. It couldn't be.. I had landed on my home in a different universe. At least, that is what it looked like. My home had been crushed by nearby invaders, who sent flying bombs and shots and wrecked the city. The city had all the water and supplies of the whole planet, so with the city destroyed the planet's core had been taken out. If my home was on the map, then that meant.. I studied the map again. My heart dropped. The invaders were on the map too.

Soon enough, what had been pictured on the map came into view. To my horror, the planet was exploding. The planet seemed to be decorated in blooms of red and orange, deadly flowers of fire. Huge pieces were breaking off from the planet and crumbling away. The planet was wrecked. The core of the plant was visible from a cut to the center. It was like watching my planet die all over again. Tears trickled from my eyes, making my eyes pink and puffy. I wiped my tears from my face with my arm, and sniffled. I had been fine with being alone, but feeling alone.. I wanted to leave. I couldn't bare to watch my planet - even if it was in a different universe - be destroyed for a second longer. With my eyes blurry from tears, I moved the map aside to my desk, and I peered at a new map. Going anywhere to get out of here, I pulled the light speed lever.

With the rush of light speed all around me, my tears slowed and then stopped. I calmed myself down, knowing that I would be far away from the explosions and danger quite soon. I would be light years away. Eventually, I calmed down and looked back to the directions map. I turned and entered the area the map had pictured. There was three planets, oddly small and colorful. One looked like the orangey-pink clouds of a sunset, the velvety white clouds topped with warm colors. The middle planet looked like streamers of blue and purple cotton candy. The other planet looked like a huge sour candy, with yellow and green stripes. These colorful planets looked suspicious, but possibly safe. I looped around the planets to the other side and caught my breath.

The planets were half-spheres, cut in half. The other side looked like it was decaying from the inside, filled with dirt and bugs and creepy animals. What looked to be a huge worm with legs and three eyes crawled through the rubble, looking for food in the mess. I almost pinched my nose at the thought of how vile the smell must be. I desperately searched for something other than garbage. Hesitantly, I brought the ship closer to the planets to get a better look. Maybe something was stuck here that needed help.. BAM. I heard a bang on the screen. To my horror, a long magenta tentacle had gotten hold of the ship. Its suction cups held onto the screen, but I scrambled to the control center and pressed the button to make the screen anti-sticky. The tentacle fell away from the ship smoothly. With enough of this map, I decided to pull the light speed lever again, to find somewhere to rest under the stars.

When I exited the blue-purple tunnel of flame, I took the map I had just followed and put it on the last one I had used, on my desk. Taking the one I had used first, I found a place for it on my bulletin board and stuck it there with a pin. I then grabbed the other map and stuck it next to the first with another pin. I looked back in accomplishment at my bulletin board. The pride I felt was tinged with homesickness as I looked up at the bulletin board. It had hundreds on hundreds of maps. Yet I was still searching for home.

I stumbled back from the board, feeling sick. I grabbed onto the driving chair and it moved out of my reach. Feeling dizzy, I grabbed onto the wall to steady myself. It inched away, backing up. I grabbed for a self that almost ran away, then a pole that backed up. Everything seemed to be leaving. Reaching for the floor as I tumbled over, it lowered to get away from me. I kept falling, the floor of the spaceship going on. I kept reaching and falling as it ran from me. I felt sick from the inside, wrought with sadness. I just wanted something to hold onto, that would stay.

I woke up on the floor, staring up. It had been a dream. I had passed out from exhaustion. Wait.. I wasn't tired. I got up, my head swaying from the effort it took, and looked around. Something didn't feel right. I had gotten enough rest, so why was I so drowsy? I almost gasped at a hole in the ship, leaking air out. I held my breath and rushed to the materials drawer. I pulled out a shield and ran back to the hole to patch it up. I lasered the shield onto the ship from heat with my gloves. Sighing, I sank into my driving chair. I almost expected it to move away, but I was grateful when it didn't.

i decided that after that I was tired. I got up and walked to my battery changing station. I reached my hand back and felt for a rectangle on my neck. I pressed it and the rectangle swung open, revealing storage for batteries. I took my main batteries out, leaving only my extra batteries if I had to wake up during the night to defend the ship. I settled down on my bed, which was just a hunk of metal that adjusted to fit my body shape when I laid down. At least, thats what it appeared to be. With a specific movement I made with my back, cloud-like cushions sprouted to make the bed comfortable. With two breaths, I easily fell asleep, letting the cloud cushions take me.

When I woke up, I eagerly sat up, leading the cushions to disappear. I got out of my bed, immediately going to my battery changing station out of routine. I pressed on my battery storage area to open it and then placed recharged batteries back in. I patted down on the opening, making sure it looked only like a tattoo and not an opening for batteries. No one would guess a simple tattoo could be an area for batteries; and even if they did, they wouldn't know how to open it. Nor would they be likely to get close, with my head that could set on fire.
Some malicious people were after me for my robot parts, and they were ready to break me apart to get my technology. I shook at the thought. I didn't know what they were planning to do with my robot parts, but I didn't want to find out. I wouldn't trust powerful technology in the hands of evil.

Looking at the next map, I realized that this area was closer to my break spot than the last few areas had been. I powered up to light speed, and quickly exited. I steered toward the area. Suddenly, I was surrounded by meteorites, with one directly in front of my ship. The map had shown obstacles, but I didn't know when to expect them. Thinking quickly, I swerved around the meteorite, and then in the other way around another meteorite. A fiery meteorite was coming up and I lowered the ship to avoid it. I kept swerving and dodging meteorites until I had passed the crowd of flying rocks. With the sky in front of me clear, I sighed with relief.

My relief was not prolonged, for soon a marble-like planet came into view. It looked too empty. Something was suspicious here. Something was.. hiding. I swept around the planet, prepared to see something similar to the last area, but of course no areas close together were very similar, but the back of the planet was not decaying.

Something felt odd, and then I realized something was pulling me in. My entire ship was being drawn in to the planet. I tried pressing the buttons and pulling out of the planet's atmosphere, but I had gone too close and I was trapped. I fogged up the main screen from the outside and checked the shields. With nothing to do but wait to sink down to the planet, I turned on the accelerator and sped up my sinking. Soon my ship bumped into something. There was nothing there. Soon a flying camera came to examine my ship. I didn't like the feeling, and checked that my shield was fogged.
“Would you like to keep your identity hidden?” the device asked, in a robotic voice. Even my voice system was smoother than that. Comparing myself to a device was like comparing a human to a monkey; its past, possibly related, form.
“Yes. Yes, I would,” I answered.

Some kind of gate opened as the device buzzed away. It looked like air had split, warping into two sides of a gate. It opened up, and uncovered the planet to not be blue, yet orange and fiery instead. Fiery sounded like home to me.

Home. My mind drifted off again. I was standing with my foot on the chest of an alien, metal shoe on metal armor.
“Please, forgive me. I was ordered to do it, really it was not personal. Please, take my word,” the alien begged for his life, with the fire on my head reflected in his eyes.
“My heart can't bare to forgive you. Perhaps God will,” fires blazed in my eyes, which were not a reflection.
Startled, I snapped out of the flashback quickly. I didn't want to see how that scene ended. That had been one of the aliens that had *put to sleep* my parents. Something in me begged myself to muster up some forgiveness, but it wasn't there. I felt no forgiveness for the alien. I was sure not going to fake it. I still felt guilty every day. Could I not have waited until I was much more calm, and not a heated mess?
What had I done?

The planet exploded with bursts of orange and red. Ash was everywhere. Smoke clouded the air, making it hard to breath. Ash stirred and covered surfaces, flying. It brought along small objects which lead to flying rubble. It was a dangerous area to be in, having to protect your face and head with your hands while finding a rough trail over crushed buildings and streets. Lamp posts rolled in the streets, with the glass sometimes cracking open to start a fire. The fire grew wilder when the lamp broke by a gas station whose gas had leaked. Puddles of gas and broken glass were left in some spots. Rarely was anything clean. The smoke was hard to breathe in, the stenches were vile. If you stepped on glass covered in dirt, disguised in the rubble, you could get hurt. It was a heartbreaking place to be in. Happiness was uncommon to be found.

I trekked through the garbage, picking my way angrily. I wore goggles and a mask, and a helmet of protective material. My metal eye showed, as well as my silver ears. I cringed whenever I saw a red puddle or area of trash. So many losses. The pain of mine, and multiplied. Too many losses.

I burned with anger when I thought about it, and cried hot tears.
My parents were part of the first attack before the war started. One of the first losses.
I had to get out of here. It was my only home, but everything that had made it home was gone. My family. My friends. The people of my city. They were all shreds and rubble.
I turned on the blasters in my ankles and flew above a pile of wreck and whatnot in my way. The shrapnel was choking to look at. The school bell. The city clock. Tears flooded my eyes at simple objects. The humans were gone. Some had escaped, or … shared the same fate as the robots.

I was alone with nothing but… materials. I looked around me. I grabbed metal pieces, parts and bars. Devices and chairs, shelves and compartments. I still had my batteries in my bag. With all my resources, I had started a ship. For the roof I used a huge mirror. It was double sided, so I could see the galaxy when I travel. I needed an engine for my ship. I eventually found ten car engines to combine the power. I sighed. Ten cars would not be enough for space. I needed something I didn’t have.

I knew the NASA center was nearby, almost at the edge of the city. Reluctantly, I trekked off and left my engineless ship temporarily. I heaved a sigh of relief when i came across the NASA sign toppled over on the ground by a collapsed building of white and marble. The sign was still intact, as was an entire lab room. I felt the creeps. What was so important in that lab that it was so well protected? I shook off the feeling and marched in, looking for my engine. The walls and the roof had covered anything left behind in other rooms, so I went to the lab. The door was locked. I picked a bobby pin from my bag and twisted it in the lock. I also may have kicked the door. Only a little though. Eventually, I knocked the door open. The room was full of tables with scattered pages of paper, test models, experiments and substances. What drew my attention was the assignment written on the bulletin board. “Travel Maps Project Space.” Looking closely at the papers, most of them looked like.. planets and the way to get to them. Hundreds of planets. Big, small, alone, with six others.. hundreds of planets and how to get to them. These had been maps for the astronauts to explore? I then looked at the experiments. There was an engine ready enough to power a ship! Something glossy caught my eye and I turned around. Another engine! I read the papers surrounding it. There was a lot of math and variables, but some words too. “Light speed engine.” Next to it was the lever. I smiled wide, knowing I had hit the jackpot. I also had somewhere, if not hundreds of places, to go now. I gathered all of the maps, the engine, and the lever. I stacked all the maps into a folder to put in my bag. I carried the engine and the lever back to my ship, elevated to fly at light speed.

I put the lever half-way in my bag, and found a spot for the engine. I attached it at the back of the ship by blasting it with my gloves from the heat. The metal melted together, fusing, and then got colder and were solid and fused together. I fused the light speed engine underneath it, making sure it was well connected onto the ship. I headed into the ship, finding the last parts and bringing spare parts as well. In a few days, everything was ready to go. I sat in the driver's chair, ready for takeoff. My device pet Lake squeaked. Shocked, I turned around quickly.
“Lake?” I exclaimed, excited.
Blake beeped, “Hello! How are you, owner?” Lake asked politely in a smooth voice I was proud of programming. I disliked when robots or devices had rough voices that were mixes of different tones; it was almost mimicking to robots like me.
“Im glad you're here,” I answered. Now I had to make a pet bed and chair for Lake. I got out of the ship, knowing the effort to make him what he needed would be worth the companion. When I came back to the ship with everything we needed, something glinted in the rubble. I put what I had collected in the ship hastily and walked out to see what had glinted. It had looked aureate, reflecting light from the sullen sun hanging low in the sky. Shock hit me like a punch. I rushed towards the golden object. It was a wheel. Not just any wheel. I pulled it out of the dirt and broken glass. It was a spoked golden wheel, with design carved into it and dust settling on the top. It was the Wheel of Home. It was the lost relic. It couldn't be.. That wheel was the sign for good luck and always finding your home. I felt a pang of gratefulness. I said a silent thanks to whoever rules the sky above. With this on my ship, I would find home.

I attached the golden wheel next to the lever for steering. I didn't fuse it with heat and instead made it hang onto the ship without damaging the wheel. I could never damage the Wheel of Home. I had a newfound sense of confidence. Something told em that the universe was on my side. I went to the bathroom to ready for takeoff. I had a tank of water filled with the water that comes from my gloves whenever I want it. I planned to refill it whenever it was low. Water for flushing the toilet came from there, as well as water for washing and drinking.

I checked on Lake and made sure he was all snug in his pet bed. I put his seatbelt on him, tucking him in for a nap. I sat down on the driving chair, and I saved my location on my navigating system if I ever needed to come back. Anyways, some things are hard to let go of. I pulled back the light speed lever and shot off into galaxies unknown.

The gates opened up, revealing the blue planet to be red. the gravitational pull had started yet again, pulling me in at a snail's pace. I got up to check on Lake, and refilled his snacks. He woke up and squeaked, wondering where we were. I picked him up to show him the big screen and the huge red planet. “Thats where we are,” I explained. I settled Lake back into his chair and put his seatbelt on. I sped closer into the planet, faster than I had ever gone. I yelled with excitement. “Woohoo!” Soon, I neared the planet. I could see the tops of buildings and streets and cities. Then I saw little people. I saw.. little robots, too. Robots? I peered down. Robots were everywhere! What kind of planet had I landed on? Were the humans even… humans?

Last edited by IzzyRS2010 (Nov. 28, 2022 14:30:39)

Cynthialz

Weekly #4 (4163 Words)

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

inspired by see you yesterday <3

Write 100 words to begin your adventure: (175 Words Words)
I've been stuck in an endless loop of time. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, “But Charlotte, that's impossible,” but allow me to explain. It was a normal Monday, Monday the 16th. Disgruntinly waking up for school and slowly moving around the house to get ready. The forty-five bus ride to school and attempting to stay awake all 8 periods and 6 hours of school. Then the ride back home, another fourty-five minutes, and then spending a good three hours on youtube and Netflix. Then a highly anticipated meal before bed and then off with the lights and under the covers. Every day an endless cycle of the same routine, but not literally. Now it's a literal cycle. Every day I wake up at the same time on the same day, Monday the 16th. I get the same good morning texts, the same breakfast from my mom, and the same lessons during school. The only person that can change is me. Nothing and nobody changes unless I interact with it/them.

Adventure: Five-minute Sprint (224 Words)
Now, I might be okay with this (at least for a little while) if the day I'd been repeating had been exciting like a birthday or maybe Christmas, but Monday, December 16th was a completely average day with nothing outside of the norm. Trust me, I've lived it so many times I would have if realized there was something even slightly out of place. Something that needed fixing. Sometimes I wonder if this is some sort of way of my words and thoughts catching up to me. I've always dreamed of living out a fantasy. Getting my own impossible story. If I could have to live the reality I live now back when everything was normal I might have actually taken it. Now I know that fantasies aren't always as “fantastical” as they seem. I've begun to miss sitting in the back of class doodling on a spare sheet of paper (or my hand if there is no paper available). I would gladly go back to struggling to earn a passing score on my exams. To the stress of midterms and finals. Anything would be better than this. Even listening to Mrs. Micah's lectures every day would be more illuminating than this. And that's when I decided I was going to make the most of my predicament. I was going to enjoy December 16th.

Horror: Three-minute Sprint (118 Words)
When I wake up the next morning (unsurprisingly it is still the 16th) I don't go through with my normal morning routine. Today I do something different. I spend much more time in the mirror doing my hair and I spend a good fifteen minutes scouring my closest for the cutest outfit possible. The reason I'm stuck in this infinite time loop must be that I need to accomplish something big in order for everything to go back to normal. That's how it is in the movies so why should it be any different in real life? I head to the bus stop with a new bounce in my step Soon everything will be back to normal.

Bi-Fi: Dice, Number Rolled: 5 (500) (631 Words)
I usually sit in the library for the fifteen minutes I have before the first bell, but today I go to my first-period class to wait for the moment my plan can go into action. There's no one in the room, not even the teacher which is honestly a relief. Now I can be alone with my thoughts. My ambitious, but ingenious, scheming thoughts. You're probably wondering what I'm planning. What could possibly be so huge that it could get me out of this impossible predicament? Well, that would be asking out my crush of four years, Jason Stanley.
My crush first developed when I was sat next to him on my first day of fifth grade. He was super energetic and even more hilarious. He was one of the “athletic boys” both unlike most of them he wasn't annoyed when your serve didn't make it over the net while playing volleyball in the gym or when you missed an easy goal during soccer. He was super kindhearted and thoughtful. I remember once we had been talking to each other and the teacher must have been giving out instructions without us realized because the teacher called me out and said that if I continued talking she have to call my home. I was somewhat the teacher's pet and by that I mean I never made teachers upset and I never got in trouble so, of course, this hit me hard, but then Jason raised his hand and told the teacher that it was his fault even though it wasn't and that he had been asking me a question even though our conversation had been going on for quite awhile. It was a small thing to do and the teacher didn't really seem to care, but it meant a lot to me.
Ever since we'd continued to be friends and four years later, in eighth grade, I still have a crush on him. I've been wanting to ask him out, but I've been worried that he'll reject me and it'll ruin our friendship, but I think I'd rather face that than have to live the exact same day for the rest of my life no matter how heartbroken I would be. The more I think about asking him out the more nervous I become. Even if I do successfully ask him out and he says yes will he remember any of it? Even if the time loop is fixed will he remember the first December 16th or the day most recent? What if it doesn't work? Will I be stuck in a time loop forever? I shake my head no wanting to think about it.
I take my phone out of the front pocket of my backpack and check the time. Five more minutes until the bell rings and then probably another five or so minutes until people actually start filing into the classroom since we have ten minutes to actually get to class before first period to give people time to get anything they need to get done and to drop their stuff off at their locker. I'm staring at my time and my gorgeous wallpaper featuring Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hollan (my two celebrity crushes). Five minutes later the bell rings and I wait anxiously for Jason to enter the classroom.
Finally, I see him. His gorgeous brown fluffy hair, his bright blue alluring eyes, and his smile. God, I love his smile. He's laughing at something his best friend Jackson has just said and I'm convinced his smile could light up even the darkest and dreariest of places. He waves goodbye and walks over to his desk glancing over at me with a smile as he does so. I take a deep breath in It's now or never.

Thriller: Character Starts Sinking (209 Words)
(this one isn't actually related to the story above lol)
My is head turning, my thoughts are whirling, my stomach is churning, but most importantly I think I'm going to die. I can feel the oxygen start to leave my lungs. I can feel the water start to enter my nostrils. I desperately try hard not to take a deep breath of what my body must think is air. Last time I checked air doesn't leave you bitterly cold and soaked to the bone. I try to swim up the surface, but I can't, I never learned to swim. Now I'm realising that was a mistake, but then again I never expected myself to be in this situation. I never thought that this would happen to me. Haven't I already had enough bad luck? Does the universe just really have it our for me? Eventually, I can't handle it anymore and I take a deep breath of well, water. I just can't do this anymore. I give up trying. I give up everything. At this point my head is swimming. At least some part of me know how to do that I bitterly think. I've always been a funny kid, but I never expected my last words, well thoughts to be humoring my death. The world goes black.

Fan-Fi: Time Converted to Minutes for Word Sprint (time 7:04 so 7 minutes, four seconds) (263 Words)
(going back to the story I was using before the thriller one lol)
There are still 3 minutes until first period actually starts and even then our teacher usually gives us a few minutes to finish up our conversations. She's really considerate like that. I get up from my desk and start to walk over to his. He looks up and sees me walking over and waves to me giving me another one of his radiant smiles. I smile back and sit on his desk. Luckily it's one of the sturdy desks and not one of the flimsy ones that I have knocked over sitting on multiple times in the past. I wonder how to start this conversation. I had a plan about what I would say when I actually got the part when I asked him out (I actually had daydreams about asking him out all the time so piece of cake), but I wasn't really sure how to start the conversation that would ultimately lead to me asking him out. I take a deep breath trying to figure out how to word all of this.
“You alright?” he asks me his eyes filled with concern. “You look kind of stressed.”
Have I told you I love this guy? I summon up as much courage as I can and say, “I've… actually been wanting to ask you- well tell you something- and ask you something.”
“I'm all ears,” he says flashing me yet another smile. I swear if he keeps doing this I might actually die before get to ask him out. Then it won't matter that I'm stuck in this outrageous time loop!

Sci-Fi: Sprint for Three Minutes + Prompt! (252 Words)
(this part is also not part of the story I've been writing for most of this weekly)
“Hey, I'm Henrietta and I'm one of a kind.” Now I know you are probably thinking something like Wow, what a self-confident QUEEN just GIRLBOSSING her way through like oh my god SLAY! but that's where I have to stop you, you see yes I am one of a kind, but not in a good way you see I'm actually one of a kind because I have a curse, and I really bad one at that. You're probably thinking I have some Medusa type of curse were anyone I look at turns to stone, but no it's not that deadly and my curse is manageable, but even so, it's completely destroyed and utterly ruined my life. By now you're probably dying to know what this curse is so I won't make you wait any longer. Anything that I touch turns into a flower. And by anything, I mean anything, random objects, animals, people, EVERYTHING. Trust me it wasn't fun when I tried to hug my cat and made it disappear and reappear as a daisy (which I still have preserved by the way so I guess in a way my cat will live with me forever? Kind of?) Anyways, like I said it's manageable. If I wear love sleeves, and gloves and cover up every inch of my skin possible then I'm fine, but that's not fun at all. Even then, there are still a lot of people who are afraid to touch me and I honestly don't blame them!

Real-Fi: Build Up to a Happy Scene and Then Plot Twist! (350 Words)
(and now we are back to the normal story where my girl Charlotte is trying to ask out her crush in an attempt to get her out of a time loop and also snag a boyfriend eeee!)
I wring my hands, cracking my knuckles even though I've cracked them so much today they can no longer be cracked (it's a stress habit I have). I take another deep breath…
“Soooo…” I start deciding to start things slow and then start to make my way up to the part where I actually ask him out. “We've been friends for a while now, right?”
“Yep,” Jason says giving me a wink that makes my heart flutter. “What about it?”
“Well I've actually had something I've wanted to tell you for a while now, and by that, I mean like four years,” I pause and he looks at me so intensely it makes me start to blush. I pray he doesn't notice, but then again he's about to find out I like him in a second anyways.
“I don't really know how to put this but…. I really like you,” he breathes. For a second he stops then a huge grin spreads throughout his face.
“I really like you too,” he says smiling broadly at me." I laugh and then he's laughing too and suddenly I forget that I'm in a time loop and that the last few weeks have been absolute garbage, all that matters it this moment that I'm living right now, all that matters is this happiness.
The rest of the day is a blur of joy, excitement, and laughter and when I finally get to bed and turn off the lights I feel confident that tomorrow is going to actually be tomorrow. I wake up with a smile still stretched across my face and I unlock my phone to turn off my alarm. I swipe down to check the date and my heart stops when I see it. December 16th. It's still December 16th! The time loop didn't end. It's still going on! It didn't matter! None of it did! Not me asking out Jason, not my happiness the day before! None of it! I curl myself in a little ball in my bed and start to cry. I cry until I can't cry any longer.

Mystery: Your character Realises Something Important (82 Words)
None of it mattered. I could have done anything today and no one would have remembered. That's when it hits me. I could do anything. No one would remember. I could do literally ANYTHING. I get out of bed and look in my closet for the most embarrassing outfit possible, finally settling with some pink unicorn pajamas. I put them on and glance at myself in the mirror, not even bothering to fix my bedhead. This was going to be fun.

Poetry: Multiply Your WPM by 10 and Sprint for That Many Seconds 70*10=700 seconds (348 Words)
As I walk down the aisle to get to my usual seat at the back of the bus I get a lot of strange looks which isn't surprising considering my obviously well-thought-out and elegant attire. Honestly, my rash decision to just not give a * might have something to do with the heartbreak I feel right now or maybe it's just the fact that it's been a Monday for way too long. As the bus makes the final turn toward my middle school I realize that going to school means seeing Jason again. After I asked him out and realized that he feels the same way about me that I feel about him. It also means he's going to see me in my ridiculous pink unicorn onesie. I shrug it off and remind myself that he's not going to remember any of this. When I get to school I prance through the halls even singing a couple of lines from the My Little Pony theme song (a childhood favorite of mine). Maybe the universe really does hate me and everything going to go back to normal after my embarrassing day as a unicorn, but at this point, I don't really care. I've kind of run out of things to care about. I see Jason in the hall and I give him a wave and he stifles a laugh he runs over to me and looks me up and down. Then he bursts out laughing.
“Oh my GOD Charlotte,” he says trying to contain his laughter. “I- I'm not really sure what to think- or say for that matter” I smile at him and tell him,
“You can do some My Little Pony karaoke with me,” I say giving him a wink.
“Hard pass on that one,” he says smiling. “You're really something aren't you Charlotte,” he says, but I can tell he's not judging me. Then he turns away and runs to catch up with one of his friends and they immediately strike up a conversation. I continue prancing down the hall in my unicorn pajamas.

Hi-Fi: Character Remember a Time They Stole Something and Then Gave it Back (231 Words)
Tonight I dream about Jason. (I know what a surprise). The strange thing about this dream is that it's less of a dream, and more of a memory. In this dream, I'm in sixth grade and I and Jason are in Science together. We're messing around and teasing each other and I steal his favorite mechanical pencil without him seeing. Instead of laughing and telling me he knew I stole it, he started to panic as soon as he realized he had lost it. I felt bad and immediately handed it back to him and apologized. I didn't know it meant so much to him. The pencil didn't actually even have any lead in it and I'd never seen him use it, but I would always see him messing with it, staring at it, almost longingly. I guess it must have some sort of sentimental value to him. It makes me realize that despite knowing him for four whole years how little I actually know about him. Jason wasn't angry or upset about me, but for some reason even now I still sometimes feel bad about the thirty seconds of panic I had caused him. I really do care about him so very much as seeing him hurts even in my dream makes me hurt too. I need to get out of this time loop. For him. And for me too.

Script: Sprint for Four Minutes (162 Words)
The next few weeks are awful. I've given up on ever trying to get out of this loop. I've started to accept that I never will. Every day is the same. Every day Jason looks concerned as I walk into class looking like a bum, not taking notes, barely doing the classwork, and sometimes even dozing off during class. The answers I give him are vague. At first, I felt bad, but I told him I'm fine and that I'm just tired, and that I just didn't sleep very well last night the lie almost feels like the truth. I've always done things alone, at least until Jason came into my life. He made everything better. Yeah rarely asked for his help, but he was there for me and he always made me feel less alone. He made me feel like there was someone out there who did care about me. He made me feel like everything was going to be okay.

Fantasy: Write More Than 250 Words (265 Words)
The next day I'm sitting with Jason at lunch and he's doing the usual. Asking if I'm okay and telling me that he'll always be there for me. He's really just the sweetest most kindhearted guy ever and I'd kill anyone that hurt him. The thought makes me realize that in a way I'm probably hurting him right now. Every day. Even if it's just a day for him I've been distant from him for weeks. It makes me hate myself. I know he'd never want me to feel this way, but I do. I just care about him too much. And that's when it starts flooding out. Everything about the time loop that I've been living the same day for months on end. I do end up leaving the part about asking him out, but everything else I tell him. I tell him about the stress I've been feeling, the anxiety. To my surprise (and relief) he actually believes me or at least I think he does for the most part. And then he's hugging me and I'm hugging him like we're the only people who both of us will ever need. It doesn't matter that these last few months have been trash I have Jason and Jason has me. We have each other and we always will. That night before I go to bed Jason texts me. I open the text and it reads,
Everything is going to be okay, I just know it. Good night Charlotte <3
I hope so, is what I text back. Good night Jason <3

Folklore: Sprinting While Listening to Anti-Hero by Taylor Swift (305 Words)
That morning I wake up to my alarm and turn it off, not even bothering to check the date. I already know what it says. There's no reason for today to be any different. Today is going to be another ordinary December 16th. Another ordinary Monday. Suddenly my phone vibrated letting out a low chime and I look down at my phone reading the text I'd just received. It's from Jason. My heart skips a bit. Jason hasn't texted me Monday morning and I haven't interacted with him at all today which means he texted me of his own accord which means… Something changed. Something Changed! I swipe up and look at the date on the screen. December 27th A million emotions hit me as I read the date. It can't be… I didn't do anything differently! It was another ordinary day! Why would the time loop be fixed today? That's when it hits me. Jason. I told Jason about the time loop. That's it. I needed to tell someone! Maybe the universe didn't hate me after all!? Maybe it just wanted me to trust someone else. Maybe it just wanted me to feel less alone. Maybe the months of repeating the same day were to get me close enough to Jason that I would open up to him. Trust him. I realize I spent so much time marveling over the fact that something different happened, that I'm longer stuck in a time loop that I haven't even read Jason's text! I look down at it.
I need to talk to you before first period. It's important. My relief is switched with confusion. What? Why would he need to talk to me at six in the morning? Unless… But it couldn't be. It couldn't. Nevertheless, my heart fills with hope… Maybe…

Naan-Fi: Sprint for One Minute (165 Words)
When I arrive at school I find Jason waiting for me at my locker. When I reach him we both stare at each other for a few moments before deciding, simultaneously to go in for a hug, and god it's so comforting. When we break apart he looks at me all serious and says,
“So about yesterday…” Then he explains that at first when I told him about me being stuck in a time loop he thought it was some joke or prank, but the more I talked about it the more something told him to believe me. He told me that that night he'd had some really strange dreams, but they felt a lot more real than any normal dream. It felt like he was really there. He also told me that I was in every single one of them. When I asked him to describe them to me he smiled.
“Well, there was one where you were dressed in a pin unicorn onesie.”

Dystopian: Story Starter (215 Words)
My heart stops. No. NO WAY.
“What else happened in your dreams,” I ask him, not even bothering to try and keep the excitement out of my voice. I am starstruck. I'm deceased. I can't believe this is happening. I look at him again taking in his piercing blue stare and his waving brown hair and god he's gorgeous.
“Well…,” he says shyly. After describing a couple of other dreams which were all things that did actually happen during my time in the time loop.
“There was one dream where you- uh… you asked me out,” he whispered. Ahhhhhh! I internally scream.
“What if I told you…” I start a little bit hesitant that he'll believe me.
“That all of your dreams… They actually did happen. They were our interactions while I was in the time loop.”
“You… You asked me out?”
“Yes,” I manage to squeak out. Jason's eyes widen and I see his cheeks start to turn pink and then…
“WAIT SO YOU ALSO ACTUALLY WORE THAT ONESIE TO SCHOOL TOO!?” I cover my face with my hands.
“Yes,” I squeak. And then he's laughing. He's laughing so hard that his entire body is shaking. Tears are rolling down his face and he's giving me that wonderful smile of his.

Write 100 Words to Conclude Your Story (168 Words)
“So…” he says suddenly turning serious.
“So… Do you- Do you like me?”
“Yes,” I squeak for the third time. His eyes light up and he grins. And then I'm grinning and I can't stop. Neither of us can stop grinning and then we're laughing again and I realize how much I've missed him. How much I've missed this. Now it's my turn to be serious,
“So- Do you um- Do you like me back?”
“Well duh,” he says laughing. And of course, I start laughing too and we're so caught up in our laughter we don't even notice the first bell rings until we see the last couple of stragglers rushing to get into their classes to avoid a scolding. We walk into class together and before we part to go to our seats he gives my hand a soft, but tight squeeze that tells me he'll always be there for me and I squeeze his hand back telling him I'll always be there for him too.

Last edited by Cynthialz (Nov. 29, 2022 02:24:37)

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