heyyy! i'm ducky, i go by she/her pronouns, and i'm a survivor from sci-fi!! some of my goals for this session are to: 1) write more of my novel, 2) meet more swcers! and 3) complete at least one weekly <3 as a childhood toy, i'd be a cabbage patch doll- idk how to explain it though haha, it just suits me

Daily 11/4 || 432 words

Note: Andromeda is one of my characters, and she's supposed to be the deity of space, basically. She has no connection to the constellation of the same name ^v^'

Eridanus - The River

Many mortals believe that the stars are simply giant balls of hot gas in the sky.
And, well, they aren’t wrong.
But not /all/ stars are giant balls of hot gas in the sky.

Take the star Cursa, for example. When Andromeda created it, she had intended to enchant it to become a watery consistency, while keeping the same shape as a normal star. Nobody knows why she wanted to do that, or if she even had a reason, but nobody bothers to ask her anymore.
When the space deity enchanted it, something went wrong, and Cursa began to spew its thin magma across the cosmos, unable to be controlled or stopped. Andromeda created a new star in its path to contain the stream, but all it did was eject the liquid in a different direction. She tried again and again and again, before realizing that the stars she was making were too weak, and not made to hold that lava.
So she came up with a new plan.
First, the kitsune-tanuki of the galaxies set up a handful of stars, located and primed to guide the stream where she wanted it to go. Then, she went to a star she had already made.
Mortals call it Achernar, and Andromeda had created it out of curiosity, to see what would happen if she made a star spin insanely fast, much faster than the average star. At this point, it had taken on a squished shape, being more oblong than spherical, essentially leaving something akin to a glowing blue football in the sky.
As the fiery water surged across the cosmos, Andromeda acted quickly, enchanting her star to absorb the liquid, like a black hole. Once she was satisfied, she hovered backwards, waiting for the last star to gush Cursa’s water right into Achernar’s trap.
And it worked.
With a bright flash, the enchanted star completed its job, Andromeda beaming with pride, before turning to the mess she had made. A huge amount of light years away, Cursa was still spewing magma, and the new stars were still comfortably guiding that magma to where she was.
The deity stared at the river for a minute, before coming up with a wonderful idea.

Nowadays, those who live close enough to the river, well, know that it is a river. The glowing stream guides travelers across the galaxy, connecting civilizations and allowing very different societies to trade with each other, held together by the river that Andromeda had created on accident.

Nobody knows why she named that river Eridanus. Perhaps the name just sounded cool.

Today we're bringing back a classic SWC daily - constellations! Constellations have become a huge part of our society over the centuries, from using them to track crop growth, to navigation in the night, to even retelling legends about they were created. All of these constellations, including the Ursa Major, Orion, and Pisces, carry a variety of traits that make them unique! For this daily, you will write 400 words of either a fiction or non-fiction piece based on how your favourite constellation came to be.

Complete this daily to earn 300 points, with additional 100 points for sharing proof. Have fun!

573 words, 400 points

This story is of how the constellation “Apus”, meaning “bird of paradise”, came to be.

It was a peaceful, sunny day in the Kingdom of Agavia. Princess Alexandra, a fierce warrior with fiery red hair, was talking a walk through the palace gardens.
When suddenly, she came across a bird's nest. It had appeared to fall from a nearby apple tree, so she picked the egg up and brought it inside. Cautiously Walking through, she grabbed a pillow and set the egg on it.
She carefully brought it upstairs to her bedroom, taking great care to set it on the windowsill.
“I hope my father lets me keep you,” Princess Alexandra whispered. “Maybe I could name you Apus? I found you in the garden and my father has called our palace garden a ‘paradise’ and my latin teacher said Apus means bird of paradise.”
Suddenly, a noise started Alexandra. Her maid, Martha, was taking care of the sheets. Martha was Princess Alexandra’s favorite maid.
“Your highness, I wasn’t expecting you here. I’m so sorry to bother you. Please excuse me,” she apologized. Martha turned to sprint out the door but Princess Alexandra stopped her.
“Why, it’s a pleasure to see you Martha and you ain’t nothing of a nuisance to me. Please stay for some tea,” Princess Alexandra exclaimed.
Martha sat down and they both talked for a while. Suddenly, Princess Alexandra heard a little peep behind her, the egg was hatching! Martha and Princess Alexandra rushed over and stared at the egg as it slowly cracked open.
Suddenly, a little bird popped out. It made a little peep and stepped out of the shell.
“Oh my goodness! Hello little one,” proclaimed Princess Alexandra.
“Where did you find this, your majesty?” asked Martha.
“I found him in the palace garden! He must’ve fallen out of the tree. There wasn’t a mama bird in sight. His brothers and sisters must’ve abandoned him.”
“Oh my, what’re you going to do with him?”
“I might keep him. I named him Apus, which means bird of paradise since I found him in the garden.”

Ten years later

“Apus, come along now!” shouted Queen Alexandra. Many years had passed since that afternoon, and Princess Alexandra was now a queen. The bird, Apus, was her best friend. They did many adventures together, but unfortunately the bird was growing old. Queen Alexandra decided to do one last ride with him.
“Apus, since you’re getting old and I’ve sensed that you might pass soon, I’m taking you to the witch in the woods so that you don’t die a frightful death.”
They rode along in silence some more, when finally a small cottage appeared. The witch, having seen them through her glass ball, opened the door.
“I’ve been expecting you, Queen,” she cackled. “Please come in.”
“I’m afraid I can’t stay long, so please make this quick.”
“Sure, your highness.”
They went outside, the witch having already planned this had a area prepared. Queen Alexandra gave her dear friend a final goodbye before the witch performed the spell. Apus waved his wing and started flying towards the night sky, flying until neither the witch nor Queen Alexandra could see him.
Suddenly, a bright flash filled the sky and a new constellation appeared. Queen Alexandra declared that it would be named Apus, meaning bird of paradise after her dear friend. She rode into the night, and that’s the end of this story.

The explosion hung in the sky like a terrible eye, casting its blinding gaze upon them all, as if intending to scour the world clean and leave no trace, not a single pawprint remaining.
The death of a star.
Around him, his fellow lynxes panicked, cried, prayed for salvation, believing that surely this would be the end of them all. Yet, he alone stayed calm. This was not the final day. The sun would rise again, just as it always had.
Truly, it was not such a tragedy at all. The light shone brightly, but it was far away. It could not harm them. And the star was just a star, a natural occurrence of the universe, nothing more. It had no greater meaning. Nothing did. The other lynxes’ beliefs decieved them.
He was not like them. He recalled it now, the words his own mother had spoken to him all those years ago, her voice hushed in awe, not a hint of doubt in what she said.
“We have always looked to the stars for guidance, little one,” she had purred, as he nestled into the soft fur of her belly. “After all, we were stars once, and one day, we will become stars once again.”
He had looked up at the sky with wide eyes, too young to do anything but hang on her every word.
“You see that constellation, just above the horizon, there? Those are our oldest ancestors, the first to set paw upon this earth. They were the youngest kittens of our Catmother, growing up in the infinite cosmos alongside Her elder litters. But as all cats do, they came of age and had to make their own pawprints upon the universe. They gave up their lives in the heavens and came here, ready to start anew.
“And there, just to the right of them, our greatest leaders shine in the sky, immortalized in the heavens. They will be remembered for all time.”
Leaning in close to him, she had traced the lines between the stars with her claw, drawing the tails and ears and paws of their ancestors, those fabled felines of their history, inscribed in light upon the sky.
“Each kitten born is the spirit of a star, finding their paws within the body of a cat,” she had explained. “And when they die, that star returns to the night to guide the kittens they leave behind on earth.”
He had believed her then, falling asleep that day to dreams of celestial cats whispering the secrets of the heavens.
But it had all been a lie. Cats were just cats, and stars were just stars. There were no ancestor spirits to guide them. They had to rely upon each other alone.
“Such drama,” a voice drawled behind him, a startling contrast to the cacophony of distress. It was enough to snap him out of his bitter memories and make him twitch his whiskers in surprise. Was he not the only one who saw no legends in the sky?
“You too?” he responded, turning to find himself face-to-face with an unfamiliar spotted she-lynx. He struggled to find his words. “I- I thought…”
She mewed a laugh, smirking. “Not all of us are caught in the claws of belief, so it seems.”
He blinked at her, a smile rising upon his own face. In the light of the dying star, her speckles shone like a constellation of a different kind. And this time, the constellation was real.
“My name is Creekwhisper,” she said. “What’s yours?”

daily 4
constellations - surely, you've heard of them before. they're like a celestial game of connect the dots; except each “dot” is millions of light years away, and very capable of wiping out a corner of existence. all together, a constellation is supposed to be this brilliant picture in the night sky, it's name and story noble and mighty. but in our sad cloudy reality, they rarely ever end up looking like what the astronomer intended, even vaguely. and in many cases, the constellation doesn't get a story, or it inevitably gets lost and forgotten over the course of time. and this is even more likely in our modern-day world, where the focus tends to be on tech and innovation. (stars are science too, but oh well.)

orion is one of the more well-known constellations, as well as one of the oldest. it's the twenty-sixth largest, and one of forty-eight listed by ptolemy. it's located on the celestial equator, which means that it's visible throughout the world. it houses many of the sky's brightest stars, making it very easy to spot. anyways, that's the science behind “the hunter”.

now for the literary part. there are lots of versions of orion's tale, all of them bizarre and tragic. our protagonist survives an astounding none of them. most of the myths go like this:
orion was a large and handsome hunter, blessed by the gods in some way. his life starts out somewhat happy, and he becomes a companion of artemis. this was special because artemis rarely, if ever tolerated men. in one version, he falls in love with her, and in some other versions, she falls in love back (which was a problem since she swore off of men). either way, the goddess's brother apollo disapproved of this relationship, and tricked her into shooting him (oof).
the most common story is probably the one between orion and gaia (mother earth). in some way or another he's determined to kill a large amount of beasts. so he goes off into the woods, and soon enough he's going overboard and there are at least a hundred corpses beneath his feet, from a huge unearthly snake to a baby bunny. he throws his head back and laughs.
“ahahah!!! i am the mighty orion, the supreme slayer of beasts!”
gaia doesn't like that, since she was an earth deity and all of those animals were of her creation. but she's wiser than to go and fight, so she sends a scorpion out of the earth to sting orion.
the scorpion is scampering towards orion, so he nocks an arrow, smiling, because there was totally a dead scorpion around him somewhere. why not another? except this scorpion is blessed by gaia, so it doesn't die and orion does.

his soul ends up being placed in the stars. some say that gaia did it as a warning to humans, and some say that zeus did it out of pity. the scorpion that killed him is up there somewhere too - his name is scorpio, maybe you've heard of him. orion and scorpio rise in the night sky at opposite times of the year, and the two are left to chase each other for eternity.

DAILy
Once upon a time, deep in the woods, a young wolf pup was born. No one knew his name, however, the one thing we know mainly about now since most of the story has been lost to time, was he loved the night, especially the stars and the moon.
Ever since he was a pup, every night he would howl a greeting to the stars and the moon and he'd wake up before dawn every day to howl his goodbyes.
Every once in a while, when stars shot across the sky, the young pup would try to chase them, yet as fast as he was, he never seemed to be able to out run them.
The night loved this wolf as much as he loved it. They adored their admirer.
As he grew older, his pelt became as black as the midnight sky, some said it was a blessing from the stars. Because of this, he became an excellent hunter, able to sneak through the woods with ease.
But with growing older comes its downs, soon, he started to grow sicker and sicker, and no one knew how to fix it.
The sky did not want to lose their most adoring creature.
So the stars created a staircase for him so he could climb to the sky and join them.
As the wolf climbed farther and farther up, stars seemed to stick to his pelt like burrs and when he eventually made it to his new home, the stars and the moon and the planets welcomed him like an old friend.
And as he became more and more accustomed to his home, he seemed like he was finally able to keep up with the stars that fell away from their home. He never visited his old home, yet he would watch it from his home in the sky.
And then he became known as Lupus, the constellation of the wolf. He missed some of his old friends, and seeing the stars from his old home on the earth, but in some ways, the sky was so, so much better in the sky itself.
He travels around sometimes, saying hello to all of his star friends and planet friends, chasing his friends that want to travel to other places in the sky as well. He loves his new home, very, very much. And still, he rests there today, in his sky home.

Churro's Word Wars #1- against @CleverComment
(word count: 143)
Dear diary, today I finally figured it out. You can actually eat those little ball thingies in bubble tea, hahaha. No actually, they're edible! I know I used to think they weren't but then I found out they were because my Asian friend from Taiwan tells me they're edible after she bought me bubble tea and saw me avoiding the pearls, lol. Like they look like plastic for some reason! They're so shiny because they're wet, so they look like plastic! It's mindblowing! I'm mindblown! And my friend looks at me like “dude what is wrong with you everyone knows you can eat them.” And I'm like “I'm not Asian do you expect me to know that you can eat them.” They actually taste pretty good, they're mushy and sweet, and if they were just made, they can be warm too. It's delicious!


(btw this isnt part of meh writing but i am asian so i already knew this i just didn't know what to write in 3 min so i thought of bubble tea and this came up lol)

Churro's Word Wars #2- against @DashingDiamonds
(word count: 117)
I like cats. They are super duper cute and plump and fluffy and amazing. My favorite cats are Scottish Folds because they're so cute and they have folded ears. But they might be more prone to diseases and infections because nothing can go into their folded ears and clean it, so it's super dirty under there. I don't know what to write so I will write random stuff, because why not. I just want to win this word war because why not ha ha ha. So there was mustard on a hot dog and there was ketchup too but there was more ketchup than mustard and the mustard was yellow and the ketchup was red. And yeah.



(i just panik at end when there only 54 sec left -___-)

this was a word war; removed for reasons :')

for a word war

What I saw that day was far from realistic. It was a sort of… reassuring feeling that everything was going to be alright, but far from realistic. Hah! Everyone knows nothing will be right in the end! Hopeless kind of optimism, that is! I was joking, you know…what's this? I should be more optimistic? No, that's not how the world works at all! You need to grow up and face said world head-on instead of mindlessly daydreaming about the “was” and the “has” and the “will be”…and do some actual work for once! Because in the end, money and time and hard work is what makes the world go round! You don't make a living off of daydreaming and you certainly can't survive off of that, daydreaming, alone…Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you can!…IN YOUR DAYDREAMS!!! HAH! Take that, stupid optimists! Pessimism is the only way to go, everything is hopeless! We're all gonna die and our efforts will be worthless anyways so what's really the point?

“And…scene!”

So, how'd I do? That improv going okay? I'm glad to hear that, Mr. Director! Just so you know, I'm not playing off of personal experience, everything is going to be fine in the end!!

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Words Wars 1

I sat by the lake. It's calm waters were so cooling upon my contact. It was as cold as sea breeze, yet as warm as an embrace. Sitting at the lake bed was so relaxing, especially after my horrible times facing exams. Of course, it isn't that bad, but I felt very stressed out due to the pressure I had received from my parents. Their expectations upon me are very extreme, setting achievements for myself that I personally do not enjoy. But that is my life, right? I spent so much of my life receiving all this without any remorse. Other families are also like this right? I always said this to comfort myself. But it never works. Until my friends told me all the unexpected reality I never realized before. My eyes were open wide to a new world and the possiblity that my parents are never caring. I sat by the lake, thinking why I am facing all these struggles. One thought came to my mind, my parents had never loved me at all. They only had me just to show off their achievements that they can raise a perfect child. I never felt love from them, and I grew isolated as the days passed. I'm so alone. Will I ever have any friends at all?

218 words

word war 1 - 193 words

“This can’t get much worse, can it?” “Sure, just give me a few more minutes,” I said, and flung the rope up the side of the building. I laughed at the horrified look on my partners face as I climbed up the wall and onto the roof of the jewellery store. “Now, all I need to do is blow the place up!” I said, with a maniacal laugh. “NO! My father lives in this building!” my partner screamed. I simply shrugged and grinned, and pressed the detonate button. We were both flung off of the edge of the building and into the river below us. Yes, I know, I am so excellent at planning these things. Screams echoed around, and my partner wailed. “My father! My father!” they yelled desperately. I shrugged. “Are we really that upset over an old man?” “YES?! That’s MY FATHER!” my partner yelled. I didn’t see why they were so upset. It’s just your father, not like an arm or a leg. You can live without him. Smiling, I stood up and walked away, laughing at the amount of chaos I had just caused. What an eventful day.

Word Wars 1 || 179 words
Prompt: “This can't get worse, can it?” ”Sure, just give me a few minutes”

Original (Word War count)

“Weevile, wait-!” Eclipse called out as Weevile dove into the chaos, spreading the fires that had already started and knocking over random objects and Pokemon just to knock them over. Lark sighed, looking at Pliko. “Did you /have/ to invite her to cause more chaos,” he said, the Pikachu awkwardly shrugging. “I didn’t know she would try,” he explained, “although it’s kind of funny…”
Weevile continued flying around, before noticing a group of police Pokemon approaching to figure out what had happened. “We should get out of here,” Ronald whispered nervously, eying the lead policeman, a Blaziken. “Uhm… yes,” Lark agreed, Eclipse calling “Weevile!” and failing to get her attention. Luckily she had already figured out that she was in trouble and flew away from the group of angry Pokemon, the Greninja beginning to chase her. The other master ball rescuers fled as well, but after running past an annoyed Ninetails, who called out to the Blaziken, they had to pick up the pace, as the Pokemon was very swift. They ran through stalls, jumping over flames, before catch

Edited (Personal word count) (282 words)

“Weevile, wait-!” Eclipse called out as Weevile dove into the chaos, spreading the fires that had already started and knocking over random objects and Pokemon just to knock them over. Lark sighed, looking at Pliko. “Did you /have/ to invite her to cause more chaos,” he said, the Pikachu awkwardly shrugging. “I didn’t know she would try,” he explained, “although it’s kind of funny…”
Weevile continued flying around, before noticing a group of police Pokemon approaching to figure out what had happened. “We should get out of here,” Ronald whispered nervously, eying the lead policeman, a Blaziken. “Uhm… yes,” Lark agreed, Eclipse calling “Weevile!” and failing to get her attention. Luckily she had already figured out that she was in trouble and flew away from the group of angry Pokemon, a Greninja beginning to chase her. The other Master Ball Rescuers fled as well, but after running past an annoyed Ninetails, who called out to the Blaziken, they had to pick up the pace, as the swift Pokemon began chase.
They ran through stalls, jumping over flames, before catching up to a panicked Weevile, Eclipse beginning to chastise her for managing to pin the blame of the fire on them. Pliko led them into an alley, quickly identifying a hole that he, Weevile, and Lark could fit in, Eclipse barely able to squish in. Ronald, who was too big and not flexible enough, hid in a dumpster. The Blaziken and Greninja ran in, looking around quickly, before running off to look somewhere else.

The group waited a few seconds, before sliding out slowly. “I guess we’re criminals now,” Lark said lightheartedly. “Dirty criminals,” Ronald huffed as he fell out of the dumpster.

—— ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☽【❖】 Weekly 1 【❖】☾━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━——

PART 1: Now. it wrote all this, but then my computer suddenly restarted and deleted my work. so you just have to work on a honour system here, i wrote around 230 words. My song was High infidelity and these were my lyrics:

Do i really have to chart the constellations in his eyes?
Storm coming, good husband
Bad oomen

PART 2: After pasting my work onto a word document to see how many words it was, it did not lose it to my computer's restart. Atlas is a character for GAGES, my comic series. Here is the character sheet, with 144 words:

Name: Atlas
Pronouns: he/him
Sexuality: Asexual, Aromantic
Appearance: Completely covered in jet-black fur, his face scarred with deep blue eyes
Posture/gait: He stands with power and intimidating height
Age: 45 in human years, so a cat in GAGES aged 12 has the mental age and development of a 12 year old human
Introvert/extrovert: Introvert
Intelligence: Very high, he is able to understand behaviour very well and can bend people to his wishes, as well as run Gold Finch
Morals: He has no strict morals, but does believe those in the wrong deserve punishment, and that he knows best. He does not enjoy taking life, but some things are “just necessary for success” in his eyes. He has no morals surrounding freedom and sees it more as an illusion that detracts from safety and security
Languages known: BasicScript, GiantScript, AvonScript these are GAGES specific languages

PART 3: to plan out his motives i wrote around 100 words, describing his relation to the character motive pyramid (a more complex/in depth version of what appeared in the workshop) As a fun fact, i read this workshop in my last SWC! so now we move onto our 3 scenarios. Trigger warning, whist most is implied, just stay on the safe side if you need

SCENCE 1 - Flyn fails the mission - 260 words

It felt like the staircase would go on forever. He'd been up here before, but not like this. That stupid Elgardian Captain had flipped up his whole plan, killing almost all of his men. What he would do to him once he got his hands on him. But that's not what he should worry about. He should worry about the two massive wooden doors in front of him, and more importantly, what was behind them. He paused before knocking, shaking, thinking about all the ways this could go wrong. He would not be pleased. “Enter” He almost certainly knew who it was knocking, as he said the words with his usual tone of calculus and malice. Pushing it open, he was met with a jet-black, tall, sleek cat. Older than many soldiers, certainly not as battle ready. Turning his head to face him, Those pair of deep, soulless blue eyes fixed on him once again. “You know how i got these scars, don't you?” Flyn nodded, not daring to speak. The black cat kept the silence, letting them read the implication behind his message. “And you.” Flyn let out a small choking noise. “You know already why you're here. Tell me” He tried to speak, his mouth opening, but no words coming out “Tell me” Flyn looked to the floor, not facing him “I..I failed the mission” He didn't reply, inclining for more, letting Flyn inevitably fill the silence that tormented him. “It was the Elgardian Captain-” He raises his paw, slashing across Flyn's face. “It was YOU” “YOUR fault”

SCENE 2 - Atlas plans an attack - 286 words
Everyone in the room was uncomfortable, except for Atlas, of course, his brain constantly making hundreds of silent calculations as the other cats in the strategy room quickly kept darting their eyes at him, none of them wanting to speak and break the silence. He smiled on the inside, secretly enjoying their distress a little. “So, we tell Orkhelm to give Elgard the information that she has ‘gained’ from working ‘undercover’ with us, that Gold finch has is running a party, that is subsequently a front to discuss illegal activity between them and the Elites. Kajma will give Ishnaar the same information” he continued “So, presuming they turn up, which of course they will, not only will Elgard be planning to attack us, Ishnaar with throw them off, and vice versa” Murmurs of agreement came from the other cats “We should set the party up an hour earlier, discuss with the Elites, then Ishnaar and Elgard will turn up, crash the party, then we let them mess around a little and lure them down here-” he points the second layer of the building “And ask the Elites who want to do business with us to leave for their safety.” The cat's faces furrowed, slightly confused as to why “And explode the building” Their faces switched, for a split second to terror, then trying to mask their feelings as they met Atlas' gaze. He could tell what they wanted to ask. “Why?” he said himself “We get rid of the Elites who know about us, the Ishaarians and Elgardians, in one easy swoop.” One of the cats mustered up some confidence to speak “What about our soldiers?” Atlas sighed “They will make the necessary sacrifice, i'm afraid”

SCENE 3 - Syfyn confronts Atlas - 145 words
Syfyn looked at the cat infront of him. He was tall, lean and skinny, with a thin layer of night-black fur, but he was no soldier. Age had worn him down, he had basically no muscle and a barrage of scars lay on his face. Their eyes met, his ocean deep pools staring him down. “You have done a great deal to hurt my cause, Captain” Syfyn could play that game to “Thanks for the compliment” Atlas continued “You have also killed one of my best men” Syfyn bared his teeth, barrelling over Atlas onto his back as he winced in pain. “I Didn't Kill Flyn” He growled. He similed “Don't get ahead of yourself, Captain” Syfyn batted his paw over Atlas' face, breaking his nose and dripping his blood over the floor. Grunting and wincing in the pain, Atlas raised his head to speak.

PART 4: Expanded scenario. I wasn't sure of which to chose, so i expanded on my last scene, Syfyn confronts Atlas, by writing the events that lead up to the fight. this is 1344 words, got a little carried away ahah

“Come on boys, we’re getting close. His eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness surrounding him, they were walking through a vent into Gold Finch’s current hideout. Elgardian soldiers had tracked suspiciously large quantities of food rations and supplies being taken through the local town, to this location. This vent would lead them inside, but they had no idea where. Quill looked to Syfyn’s helmet as it glistened in what little light they had left. “I don’t like this” Syfyn turned to face the cadet, to be met with a equally dimly lit image. “Neither do I. I just get a feeling” he shuddered “that this is another one of his sick traps he’s set up for us” Quill’s mind began to run over the consequences of that being true, a grim thought manifested itself in his mind “Syfyn?” Looking back at the cat, He replied “yes?” The cadet lowered his head and paused “what if it is a trap?” Syfyn knew that it was almost impossible for Gold Finch to just brush over a vent this large. “Well…I suppose it’s a bit late to turn back hey?” He coughed a little laugh to lighten the mood, but it didn’t seem to help. “No, give me a real answer” Syfyn lowered his head in dismay. He honestly didn’t really know. “Well, Malmuka said she’s waiting for me call if we need backup, and, well, we’ve had worst odds, right?” Quill unenthusiastically repeated him “right” Placing a paw on the metal shaft, he heard a loud creak come from underfoot, raising it quickly and whispering a curse. “This doesn’t seem very stable sir” one of the soldiers observed. “Yeah, no kidding” another one of the group joined the conversation. “It’s fine, we should get going” The captain nodded, making a sound of approval. “Let’s go boys” placing his paw back down and walking over it. Quill blinked in the abyss. He didn’t think it could get any darker, but it seemed like it just did. He trudged on, wary of the danger and worried about the stability of the vent.

“Syfyn?” He opend his mouth to reply to Quill, just a deafening crash came from behind. “Holy-“ he trailed off. The vent had collapsed in on itself and trapped the rest of his group behind it “Any of you hurt?” He heard his Cadet’s voice echo through the broken structure. “No, you?” He let out his breath, relief flooding over him. “No, fine here. Is it completely wrecked?” A few scratching and heaving noises could be heard behind the vent’s walls “I think it’s gone sir. Maybe if we got a lever we could” he cut off the soldier “yes, try everything you can. Kricket?” The second in command spoke a response. “Estimated time to fix?” He asked the cat. “Mmmm it’s not looking good sir. Maybe 3 hours, if the lever mechanism works, if it doesn’t then anything between 5 to 10” He considered his options, just as Kricket spoke up again “You would be lighter than all of us combined…and there’s no use you sitting like a lemon there…” they paused. “What If I scout ahead? Then develop a plan from there? You can mange the collapse yourself and-“ Quill broke him off “that’s pretty dangerous. What if it breaks again? Or it is a trap and-“ Syfyn broke into his conversation this time “It’s fine. Bother yourself with fixing this wreck up and not me” he made his decision “I’ll scout, Kricket, your in charge, Quill, you after. Get this open as soon as you can.” “Let’s get moving” he added, loudening his voice.

As he walked along the metal pipe, a looming sense of anxiety followed him through. The creaks and echos of the vent didn't help him, but soon, light began to fill his eyes, and the visibility improved. Squinting his eyes, he caught a glimpse of the end. Making his way down, he found himself at a thick mesh barrier, but the screws holding it's frame up could be removed. It seemed to open up to a sort of foodstuff storage room. A blank-walled area with several shelves of rations and a door off to the left, presumably the entrance to the room. He began to hear muffled voices, good, the battalion were getting work done on the broken- no- that was to far away. there coming from- two cats walked in through the door “He said to grab those ones. I think” Syfyn looked back. the vent was straight, nowhere to hide. “I'm sure it was the dried meats” Moving at all could reveal himself. he just had to stay very still, as quiet as a mouse. “No it's not. there's loads of animal prey at the attack site. we need the minerals from the powdered vegetables, that's what he told us” attack site? this could be vital information. “ugh forget it. just grab your stupid vegetables” “you're only putting up a fight because you don't like them” “shut up, get them, and leave” no, he needed them to stay, he needed the information. “fine. silly cat” he muttered, shoving some packets into a bag. “lets go, Kallumn's waiting” Was that…kallumn he just said? think fast. the cats were leaving the room, he needed this information. Kallumn was a vital member to Gold Finch, he could find out- “You don't make the orders here, I do…” their voices faded as they walked off.

He quickly grabbed the mesh barrier, centimetres before it crashed onto the ground. “I swear I heard-” the other cut him off “Stop, you do this every time. it's your dumb imagination” Carefully placing the metal frame, he followed the two as they spat insults to eachother, not getting to close. “Put em' in here” no- wait- the door slammed shut, locked. He wanted to shout in frustration but he stealth left him at a whisper. He looked back. wait…what way was the vent again?

Quill muttered to himself, pacing. “this isn't working, Kricket” The second in command turned from the soldiers and back at the nervous cadet “It will, see, the've made good progress” Quill wasn't hopeful “how much longer?” Kricket paused a second, making a thoughtful noise “maybe another hour? hour and a half?” The cadet groaned. “Syfyn's not even come back yet. were could he be?” Shrugging, the cat replied to Quill. “I'm sure he has it under control” but a hint of wariness edged his tone

He continued to scout ahead, all of the possible outcomes brushing his mind. The building, whilst not in the best state, was manageable, he could see it's appeal as a war base. Every so often, he'd hear voices, and manage to get away from them, as not to be seen. He'd taken off his armour and left it in a random room after wiping the files off his helmet's headset, so he could blend in with the other cats. His Elgardian armour would be a dead giveaway. “Ugh, I hate patrols” voices again, from the left, hide, fast. “I mean, what does he think? that Elgard's gonna waltz in through our walls? this is almost as safe as it gets” he walked to a corridor, away from the Gold finch members. Another voice picked up, the hairs on his neck rising. It was from the right “Yea, it's a shift change. Down here” He began to panic, his breath becoming shaky as they rounded the corridor he was in. Falling backwards, he found himself in a room. He slammed the door shut. “Geez. Kento, calm it” what. whose- “Kento's not in here, It's Atlas. Shift change was a minute ago.” silence, followed my frantic shuffling echoed from outside. The cat lowered his volume as the news hit him. Atlas. what the actual- “Hello, Captain” He couldn't breathe. His feet were frozen. “Why don't you take a seat?”. He turned his head to the slender, night-black cat as he stood tall, his blue eyes staring into his soul. “You're welcome to stand, if you wish”

daily, 11/4 (no idea if this counts for points but im still posting it), 688 words

It was a chilly winter night, when some of the star spirits decided that it was time for a feast. The Gemini twins, Ashe and Ember, decided that perhaps they should make something to bring to the feast. Most of the time, the other spirits would bring food they'd made to show off. Virgo was famous for their ridiculously elaborate cake constructions. Pisces made a wickedly good sourdough. Scorpio and Leo always coordinated their snacks, usually some form of chips and a dip, that were always delicious. Typically, Ash and Ember would provide the venue, or entertainment, but they had grown tired of that. Since Virgo was hosting at their place, and Cancer had said something about singing, the twins were stuck with their least favorite pastime:
cooking.
Even as they looked through recipes, before anything was bought or decisions were made, the twins were already disagreeing.
“I think we should make a stew,” Ashe suggested as she flipped to a page of the cookbook showing a creamy potato stew. “It'll be filling and delicious.”
“But then the others will accuse us of purposefully not leaving them room to try others' dishes,” Ember argued. He flipped his copy over to a different page, displaying a clear, simple miso broth. “A lighter soup would go better with the others' contributions, and would likely be more popular.”
“But then what if people don't like it? Miso is much too simple a flavor anyways, it won't match with Virgo's cakes *or* Pisces' sourdough.”
The two argued like this for hours, going back and forth over all of the different possibilities. Finally, Ashe sighed, and wearily suggested, “What if we each make our own dish? Then there are two options and no arguments. But neither of us will say anything about it from now until the party.”
“Sounds smart, let's try it,” Ember agreed, and the two set to cooking.
Later that night, when they got to the party, both twins set their dishes on the table, covered. Neither knew what the other had made, being very careful not to share details.
“Alrighty folks, time to unveil the contributions!” Virgo announced, in their best announcer voice. “Of course, I will be unveiling them, and taste-testing along the way.” Everyone laughed, but Ash and Ember both felt a sudden rush of nervousness. How would this go down with the other star spirits?

Virgo first uncovered their own cake. Although relatively small in size, the entire thing was decorated with star-shaped chocolate pieces, perfectly round puffs of whipped cream, and a thin but delicious-looking glaze. When Virgo cut into it, they revealed that it was a chocolate mousse cake, and then the applause started. Virgo almost always got a standing ovation for their cakes.
They unveiled Scorpio and Leo's pretzels and queso, Pisces' amazing rosemary flatbread, and finally, they made it to the twins' dishes.
“What do we have here?” Virgo wondered. Ember ran up and briefly explained it. With a smile, Virgo announced, “The twins have made *two* dishes for-” Everyone was applauding before Virgo had even finished the sentence.
“Let's open them both at the same time!” they shouted to quiet the crowd, and took the lids off the dishes.

There on the table were two pots, one small and one large, of the exact same potato soup, each with their own ladle. “Well, folks, it appears that we simply have two potato soups this evening.”
“More for me!” Leo shouted excitedly, and the other spirits agreed.
“Gemini, would you two like to come up here and chat for a second? I assume there's a story behind this.”
“That's right,” Ashe sighed. “We'd better explain…”

When the story was all told, all of the other spirits were absolutely cackling, they were laughing so hard. Ashe and Ember had realized just how foolish their arguments had been, and were able to laugh along. Finally, Virgo decided to take a vote.
“All those in favor of a new constellation?” they shouted…

… and that's how we have the Big and Little Dippers: a simple fight between siblings, which showed them how getting along was important.

word war w/ @27coding_crazy
178 words
“We can't eat him, it's Thursday,” the troll said, rolling his eyes at the newbie. Luke, who had just discovered he was a monster, was apparently very confused with the rules. “We eat people on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we hide under children's beds.”

“What about the weekends?” Luke asked.

“On the weekends, we're off. Just like everyone else in the world, monster or human.”

“Ohhhh, okay. So, how do we know who's beds to hide under? Is it like in Monsters Inc, where we get it assigned, or do we just go to anyone's house and hope they have kids?” Although Luke actually seemed serious, the troll couldn't help rolling his eyes. At this point, it was just annoying. Of course all new monsters were a bit curious, but at least they weren't this clueless!

“Not everything works like the movies, kid. But yes, we do get assigned. You'll stay at their house until the kid figures you out. Any more questions?”

“Actually, I was wondering if-” The troll screamed, interrupting Luke's statement.

Nickname - Ava
Content - Word War
Word Count - 361
Cabin - Mystery
Status - Won
Against - @selkie-
Time - 5 minutes

Prompt- “Dear diary, I finally figured it out.”

Sheila opened her book, finally content with the time. It was 3 AM when she finally pulled open the pages of her new book which he bought 3 months ago- Just waiting for the correct moment, the correct idea.

“Dear diary, I finally figured it out,” she said, muttering to herself the favorite song she loved when she was a child. “I figured out who I'm waiting for~”
She pulled out her blue fountain pen and started to write softly, careful not to press too hard or the ink would go through the mild yellow eye-pleasing colored papers. She drew out the cover of her brand new novel in fancy, curvy words: A romance for my diary to keep.
Sure, the idea was silly. But did Shiela care? Of course not! In fact, she most likely would turn into something that would be famous- her knack for writing too good for anyone to be more than amazed. They were astounded as they peeked at her writings, though Shiela stayed modest as ever.

She took out another colored fountain pen, this time black. SHe started to draw careful doodles on the cover page. The idea she had in mind was a romance novel marked and written through the diary of a 16-year-old girl. In this she would interpret her own feelings toward a certain boy at school- but that didn't matter currently.

The girl would have long red hair and green eyes so that she looked nothing like Sheila. Sheila expressed her feelings through writing, and she always showed them to the people she wanted toe express her feelings to. Nobody knew this, yet they went along with it and marveled at her writing, feeling special that she had shown them, but not knowing why or what the reason was.

Because she was too shy to say that she liked the specific boy, she decided to write a romance novel about it, and write everything she loved about him into the book. Almost like her own personal diary for the world to read: it was scary, but such a beautiful idea that Sheila couldn't resist at all.

Starting the first page-

I WON AGAINST A PERSON WITH 99 WORDS PER MINUTE, I FEEL SO PROUD <3

Go Back Home Here

Hello! It's Nova! All of my writing is right here: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/722681/?page=1#post-7629402

lost word war w/ @bohemian_
173 words

The last thing I expected was to meet a mango, but here he was, standing on my doorstep in an army uniform. His name was Jeffery, and he told me that it was my time to serve in the mangoland army - so who was I to refuse such an offer from a mango? I hopped right into his jeep and we drove to the mangoland recruitment center, where all I had to do was sign a couple forms, and I was handed my uniform and a mango. Jeffery escorted me to my new home, where I would master the art of fighting with mangoes, cucumbers, and other fruits and vegetables. With me were all kinds of people from all around the world, including tomatoes, carrots, and potatoes from all the way down in vegetable-land. Over the first few weeks we learned the basics of how to fight with mangoes - how to throw them accurately and make sure they did the most delicious damage upon impact. And eventually, after twelve long, tiring months of

DragonFrenchFries wrote:

Weekly 1

Part 1
Inspiration: “A friend to all is a friend to no one” (idk)

Twila smiled and took a deep breath. “You got this,” she said. “Today will be a different day.” She rehearsed her lines in her head and made sure to iron out any wrinkles. Today she would try and talk to someone. Before, her heritage had gotten in the way, and she was afraid if she said something people would be even more upset than they already were. Gargoyles and humans opposed each other so fiercely, so naturally being half human and half gargoyle made things difficult. After all, no one likes a double dealer.
That didn’t mean she wanted to live like a hermit.
This time they would see past her double-sided nature. This time they would see her for her personality and tastes. Who knows? If the day goes well, she might just make a friend. Someone who would hang out and have a good time with her, who would look past her large horns or her small nose. They wouldn’t mind that she had taloned fingers and rounded pupils.
Despite her optimistic attitude, she made sure to mark all of her escape routes. Just in case.
Twila opened her front door for the first time in a month and felt the unfamiliar feeling of the breeze blowing her hair back. She ignored the whispering and pointing and made her way through the busy street to the general store. Looking for a good excuse to make conversation, she picked up an apple and placed it on the counter. All right. Don’t panic. “Good morning, sir.” The gargoyle behind the counter glanced nervously at her and buried himself further into his book, clearly trying to ignore her. Sweat began to coat her hands, but she made herself continue. “Is…um, is your book interesting?” She asked. The gargoyle shook his head in annoyance and slammed the book on the counter. “Do you need something, human?”
The carefully subdued panic couldn’t be held back.
Twila shrunk. “Oh, no sir. Sorry sir, I was just leaving.” She wrapped herself in her cloak and fled before he had a chance to call the guards on her like last month. She didn’t have the heart to even try talking with the humans. Keeping her head down, she finally made her way back home. The gargoyle-girl resigned herself to hiding for another month. Flipping to an open page of her diary, she had only one thing to write down.
To my parents,
I’m sorry.

(NOTES: well, uh, ahaha….I tried? idk I'm in a writer's block right now so it's kinda forced, but I'm mostly breaking down over the fact that the entire internet can see this but oh well you need a crisis every now and then)

Part 2:
Name: Twila
Pronouns: she/her
Sexuality: straight (is that the word?)
Strengths: Stealthy, agile, open-minded, supportive, not easily angered.
Weaknesses: Self-doubt, yes-man, overwhelming desire to please others.
Tendencies: She hides herself in her own home, and only goes out once a month for supplies. While being an outcast, she will do anything, even things she would never ordinarily do, just to please someone else. She has resorted to stealing on occasion due to not having enough money for food. She will have occasional spells where she lets the isolation get to her, making her borderline insane. After these episodes, she goes on an intense cleaning spree.
(I hope I did this right, writing is hard and it’s kind of painful to read my own writing)

Part 3:
On its way oh boy oh boy

AMAZING