Thank you notes:

Ris: RISSS!! You are so amazing. Thank you so so so much for picking me as co-leader. I could not have asked for a better leader. Leading with you and Kenzie was an absolute blast. Also I love Thor, he really is the mascot xD I hope to be in cabins with you (or lead with you) again <333

Kenzie: Kenzie! It was wonderful co-leading with you, and your an amazing co-leader. Thank you so much.

Rose: Ahaha Rose, you were a war(ring) lord during cabin wars. It was amazing being in a cabin with you, thank you.

Foss: You were an awesome camper, and I’m so glad that your first session of SWC happened to be in Action. I hope your join us again next time

Chocolate: You were an amazing camper, and I hope to be in a cabin with you again!

Qui: You are so cool :0 and very amazing at the events! I hope to see you around camp next July

Bookie: I saw you around some last session, so I’m very happy that you were here in Action this session! I hope to see you around

Coco: Coco! It was really cool being in Action with you, even though we didn’t interact a bunch I hope to see you next session

Summer: You were such an iconic SWCer, and it was really cool being in a cabin with you! Thank you, and I hope to see you next session

Everyone else in Action: I’m sorry I can’t write thank you notes for you all, but thank you all for being part of my first ever time co-leading!

Alana: You are so cool Alana :0 Fan-fi is so awesome too. The description stuff was so silly too. Also, you did an awesome job updating points <3

Sage: Sage! You were as chaotic and awesome as last session, Myth was awesome. I can’t wait to see you around next session <3

Kit: Your very cool and my sister so I must give you a thank you note. Also Journalism’s PFPs are awesome

Mouse: Omg Mouse where do I start. Firstly, Illu-fi is so awesome (even though Action is better), and your PFPs were SO COOL. Thank you so much for drawing me one while I was in Illu-fi. Als it was kinda cool how we on the same cabin wars activity team this time around. Please don’t eat anymore cars or cabins. Also, I would be happy to draw your spidersona if you’d like hehe.

Cat: You were really fun this session, although we didn’t interact much. I hope to see you around

Eevee: You were so iconic this session :0 I hope to see you around next session.

Hosties: Thank you for the awesome session <33

Chuey: CHUEYY! Even though we didn’t interact a ton this session, you were still chaotic and awesome. Also, Mystery is so cool.

The Daily Team: The dailies this session were AWESOME. Great job, you guys

Everyone in the Kevin debacle: Y’all are so chaotic /pos also #uncensorkevin

Everyone else: You all are amazing, and thank you for being here



Also, for all of you Actionners, I’ve got a little surprise for later ;D

(509 words <3)

2573 words ^^ definitely not speedrun wdym xD <3
fourth weekly

150 words where your character receives messages from an unknown person 174 words
Rachel plonks herself down at the breakfast table, leaning her elbows on the smooth wood, ruffly dirty blonde hair sticking up in tangles. She groans tiredly, wishing that mornings weren’t a thing.

“How’s my little ray of sunshine?” asks her mother chirpily, setting a bowl of cereal in front of Rachel, handing her a glass of honeybush juice.
Rachel shrugs and accepts the food gratefully, digging in.

“Oh! I almost forgot- something came in the mail for you.” Rachel’s mum slides a crumpled envelope with a green wax seal across the countertop.

Rachel picks it up, intrigued. Turning it over cautiously, Rachel traces the dark gold lettering on the front. She looks at her mum nervously, and receives an encouraging nod.

Her fingers rip open the papyrus paper and a slip falls out. Rachel’s eyes scan the page, words whirring and clicking in her brain, her mouth falling apart. Surely, this couldn’t be?

Rachel re-reads then reads again, brow furrowed and her mum eventually tires of patience and peers over her shoulder, reading aloud:

100 words where your character learns something unexpected 187 words

'Dear Rachel Slatespell,
It is my honour to inform you that you have a special gift..
We (the councillors) have been looking for someone that bears this gift for a long time. Of course, you know all about the ongoing war up north. I'm assuming you also know that the war is over who owns the missing crystals of Infinite Reef- well, it's come to our attention that you are one of the few crystal whisperers If you, and your fellow crystal whisperers, can find these missing crystals, you would be able to read them, find out, and settle this war for good.

The journey will be difficult, so it is a command that you must come with us to a carefully selected training ground where you will learn, study and train with other crystal whisperers. So far, the only crystal whisperers found are from the age of 10-20. We do not know why yet, but we need all the help we can get.

We will pick you up from the train station at 7:00 am this Friday.

Thank you,
Councillor Lysabel of the Everlasting Islets

200 words where a bizarre or unexpected scenario happens to your character 208 words

Rachel's fingers part and the slip of paper flutters to the floor gently. She no longer feels tired, exchanging comical looks of shock with her mum. Her mum grins proudly. “The COUNCIL?? Aw, Rachel, I'm so proud of you!” she hugs Rachel tightly.

Rachel nods, unsure. “I don't know. It's a little.. random? How do they even know I'm a crystal whisperer or whatnot.”
To Rachel, her mum seems naïve, batting off the question with an easy, “Oh, I don't know, they have your details, probably added up the odds or something. Now, go pack. It's Friday tomorrow already.”

// author's note: i did a pov switch if that's alright :3

I stumble up the soft, carpeted stairs to my attic room, flopping on the floor dramatically. I stare under my bed from where I'm laying, and eye my handled suitcase warily. I don't agree with.. whatever the letter is about, but I guess a command means I have no choice. I'm not sadistic, and I do want the war to stop, but really? This is so out of the blue. With a groan, I pick myself up from the carpet and crouch awkwardly next to my bed, reaching my hand under to grab the faded brown suitcase.

I drag it through the dust and flip it open, hinges creaking.

200 words where your character struggles to let something go 220 words

Fast forward 20 hours, and I am walking out of my front door for the last time in a while. I make my way along the path, boots scuffing the gravel, pausing when I reach the garden gate. I turn, and my breath hitches a little as I gaze at the fairy-like cottage, ivy creeping over the walls, flowers blooming at the front. My mum smiles, waves and I smile back, sadly. I worry for her, who will she talk to when I'm gone? Mr Tibbles, our dear cat? It's going to be hard for her, but I know she's nothing but happy for me. She will not share her inner sadness with me, but I know she has it, anyway.

I make a writing motion with my hand in the sky, and she nods eagerly, a promise. Satisfied, I take one more lingering look at the place where I grew up, push the gate open and hurry down the path. I don't look back, scared that if I do, I will run back home. I read the letter and I'm smart enough to know it could be just a week or a couple of years before I return. My heart breaks a little at the thought of leaving this town, but I guess things can't always stay the same?

200 words where your character gets out of their comfort zone 201 words

I wait, leaning against the brick wall of the ticket office, head down, picking my nails. Footsteps approach and I look up. A young woman with a black suit greets me, and I shift uncertainly. This is a little weird, but okay. “Rachel?” she inquires, and I nod, intimidated.

“Come with me.” Without even a slight smile or introduction, she turns, and I follow obediently. The carriage I am in has no windows, “for security” and has a plain seat. There is a banana and a ham sandwich supplied for me, but nothing else. I feel really weird, and wary, but this is what I've signed up for, right?

Before climbing in, I look back this time, at the deserted platform and quiet stillness. Oh wait- I can hear voices coming in our direction. Before my nosy self can catch a sight of the beings responsible for the chatter, the door slams shut and I jump into my seat, startled.

The journey is boring and endless and long. The white space prickles my head and I slump face down, tired, as I hug my knees. I sigh tiredly. I have decided that I hate this I hate this I hate this.

150 words incorporating meaningful music/songs/lyrics into the story 224 words

oh my god, i’m an idiot
stupid girl, so oblivious - taylor bickett

After what seems like forever, the ride finally ends and I climb out. It is a camp of some sort, but not at all what I was expecting, dull and grey yet full of life, people talking animatedly, laughter ringing through the grounds. There are some undeniable pops of colour though- flowers creeping up from cracks in the pavement, posters strewn across the walls messily. It.. doesn’t seem like an Everlasting Islets sort of camp.. more like, the Winderdown Kingdom’s. But.. no. Surely? That seed of doubt is the first thing that goes wrong. At loss with what else to do or where to go, I follow the woman quietly, slowing as I pass one of the posters.

Reading it, my stomach turns cold, but I dismiss it. It’s probably just an accident that an advert for a Winderdown brand is here. That’s the second thing that I probably shouldn’t have done- dismissing it.

Suddenly, the woman is far ahead of me, and I scramble to catch up, managing to catch the last words of her subtle conversation with a stuck up looking man. “..Yes, behind me is the everlaster we tricked into coming with us. Hopefully she can give us information to help us prove our worth and win the war.”

That’s when it dawns on me. Ohh, I’m such a naive idiot!

100 words where something a character believed was great/perfect turned out to be flawed/bad 143/100

The ride had been so boring, I had begun to wonder and fantasise about getting out of there and going to camp. I had thought it would be fun. but now I stumble backwards, panicking. I’ve been.. kidnapped? By the enemy? They will most likely force information out of me, by the sound of it.. and isn’t that treason or something?

I look around, nervous now. Could I escape probably? Judging that this is a training camp, probably not. And if I did, how would I be able to get home? There’s nothing I can do- but I don’t know anything, anyway. I’m just a random 14 year old that has a connection with rocks or whatever, so hopefully they will believe me and return me somehow or something.

Well, who even is ‘them’? I look back at them talking, eyeing them suspiciously.

200 words about your character overestimating their abilities 202/200

I mean.
I have nothing to lose, really.
They don’t know anything about me and they need me alive for ‘questioning’.
So it’s worth a shot?

I place my suitcase on the ground quietly and wait for a reaction. None. Looking around, no one seems to be paying attention to me. The gate is closing slowly, but I’m a fast runner. If I run now, I can make it through whilst the gate closes in on my pursuers, if any.

I whip around and take off, legs flying, arms pumping, the world around me a blur. My braids stream out behind me and I am halfway there by the time I start getting chased. Freedom is so.. SO.. close when…

Bang.

I slam into invisible wall and fly backwards, flailing through the air. I land on a patch of grass and groan. Force fields? Seriously.

The woman walks up to me and smiles gently, laughing, but not meanly. “You really thought you could escape?” she asks, dryly. I grasp her extended hand and stand up, wobbly, flattening out the creases in the skirt of my dress. “I didn’t know force fields were really.. real.” I admit, the admiration shown in my tone.

150 words where a character experiments with new or unfamiliar technology 191 words

“Oh yeah?” says the woman. “I can show you how they work.”
My mouth drops open. “Really?!” I grin widely.
“Yes, of course.” the woman seems kinder, more human, the more she talks. She introduces herself as Nora, then asks for my name.

I pause. Why is she being so nice? I should be careful. Of course, there’s no harm in simply saying Rachel.. but.. I rack my brain, thinking.
Remembering. Remembering what my mum said to me yesterday morning, and how I was her day of sunshine.

“I’m Ray. Nice to meet you, Nora.” she nods and gestures for me to come with her to the laboratory and that I do because I have been fascinated by science, specifically potions, forever.

“So.. this is the chemical that hardens the air.” Nora holds up a vial with some tweezers, rotating it gently. “It is made by..”
Okay, maybe I don’t like chemistry that much. Furthermore, you don’t need all these chemical reactions to harden air, a few whispers from the breeze would do just fine. I find myself looking around the lab, and sure enough, they have a magic cabinet. Perfect.

150 words where an everyday object take on magical properties 207 words
“If all you need to do is harden air,” I interrupt, “then why can’t you just use frozen breeze whispers? It takes half the time and half the effort for an equally as good solution.”

“I would, but I’m not a very good spellcaster.” admits Nova, “but here, you give it a try.”

I take a bowl and scan the shelves, ‘giving it a try’ - hah- I’m one of the best spellcasters in my school, I know that sounds cocky, but it’s true. Maybe that’s why I’m a crystal whisperer or whatever?

When the potion is done, I blow a little into the air, and the bubble solidifies into nothing. I run my fingers through the air and sure enough, you can feel the sphere, but hardly see it. Nova gasps, writing down the recipe. “Wow, Ray! This is so helpful, thank you.”

As I watch Nova tap on the bubble to deconstruct it, I get a funny feeling again. Dread, worry, fear. What am I doing helping the other side? Befriending them? I should be taking over the camp and infiltrating their databases or something, by now. But more of me wants to stay than the part that wants to leave, so that I do.

150 words about your character working together with others in order to achieve a hard goal 161 words

But then suddenly, something sparks in my mind and the worries disappear.

“Wait..” I say aloud. I’ve just had the best idea. Nova looks up, intrigued. “I’m listening!”
“If you harden the air around an object.. could you make it levitate? I know there won’t be any use to it, but that would still be cool, right?” I question, fiddling with my hair.

Nova snaps her fingers. “Yes! Why didn’t I think about that before? But we need to make it half solid half gas, I’d think, so it can float there, move, and be moved.”

I nod, brow furrowing. “How on the three Isles are we going to do this?”
Nova heaves a ton of books from under her desk. “With research, that’s how!”

A couple accidents, breaks, laughs and hours later, we have very nearly done it. It’s working just like how we wanted it to, except it is vibrating.

“I don’t think the particles like this.” Nova says.

200 words where your character is put in a dangerous scenario, include arson (maybe) 239 words

And just, just when I’m thinking that the enemy side is maybe not that bad, everything goes wrong. Nova and I are just working peacefully, side by side, when the walls around us explode and the roof comes crashing down. The ground beneath us erupts and we are thrown upwards, flames licking our toes. For the second time today, I fly through the sky, landing on the grass. Except this time, it hurts so, so much more.

Nova helps me up, again, and we watch in despair as the precious laboratory gets eaten up by flames, the acids and chemicals creating random outbursts in the chaos. I feel especially bad for Nova, who is probably more attached to the lab than I am.

Everything around me is burning, my face is burning, my thoughts are burning, my rage and anger is burning. I cannot think. If this happened to hurt me for being an Everlaster, why would this happen with Nova inside?

The fire is ginormous now, raging and fierce and I cannot outrun it, no matter how hard I try. No but I do try, I try really hard, but all my fight is gone and the smoke gets to my lungs. I cough and spit and continue on but it is hard. I have a massive headache and I don’t know where I am going. My thoughts blur and get hazy and I fall to the ground.

200 words where your character completely changes their appearance 216 words

When I wake up, I am in a hospital. I stare at the ceiling bleakly, at the bright fluorescent light and close my eyes. It hurts. It hurts so bad. Reluctantly, i swing my legs and sit up in bed, blinking groggily. I look up at a guy who is walking up to me in a nurse’s wear. His badge says ‘Tom!’ and according to the uniform, I am at NewHeights Hospital. I have no idea what that is, but okay then.

I push past him moodily and go the bathroom, washing my face. I feel fine, just tired. I don’t think I broke any bones or anything. I break into a coughing fit, then wipe my eyes and look at myself in the mirror.

Oh. My. Gosh.

Ew, what is that? I touch my hair, disgusted. Where my precious braids used to be is a disgusting bob cut, the ends frayed from smoke. I can’t go on looking like this un stylish fashion monster! ew ew ew. I crinkle my nose, disgusted, and hurry out of the bathroom, unable to look at my reflection any longer. I can’t. I literally can’t. It’s hilarious how weird I look, the hair is half singed, half frayed and it is cut at a 100 degree angle or something.

Daily #31 (Thank You Notes)
3/31/2025
idek how many words that’s future eevee’s problem

hi hosties <3 you guys are literal icons. thanks for helping shape another incredible session. i loved the ticket to ride/train theme this session and you guys keep things ever changing and keep us on our toes!

i've had a fun time working with the memory book committee and being able to capture the chaotic essence of each session is a challenge i love to accept. thanks for allowing me to be part of the mbc again and for working with an amazing team.

daily teammmmm!! the activities this session were amazing and you guys did a ton to bring it to life <3 working on the project weekly was a whirlwind and the art?? stunning, i loved seeing them come in TT i had fun with the graphic design team as well <33

quails and writing comp judges and panelists, thank you guys for all you do behind the scenes to get everything running. truly some unsung heroes and swc wouldn't be the same without you.

swcers, every one!! this session has been so wonderfully chaotic and i can’t believe i got to spend it with you guys <3 there are so many people that i have had small conversations with, had participated in chaos with, and i can’t point every single one of you out, but whether we briefly interacted or i laughed at the chaos that was being created from my end of the screen, thank you for making swc what it is. you guys are the heart of swc, every one of you, and i had a blast <33

dystopiannnnn!! i don't think i could have gotten a better cabin fit for me this session. truly, the chaos and work that was put into this cabin was amazing and zy, yume, sarah, you guys brought something wonderful to life. and thanks for dealing with the unhinged version of me that comes out during cabin wars i had a blast this session and every one of you played a part.

trackbear top 5 (specifically alana, muxa, luna, and mouse) you all have personal messages too dw. but thanks for motivating me this session and dragging me back into the 100k grind- all of you guys are such big inspirations and aghhhhh!! you guys kept me moving and going throughout the month, eevee needs a bit of competition to keep her going :3

and personal messages will be in alphabetical order as to not seem biased in the order zy, you go straight to the bottom.

alana >:0 little miss canadian alansy host ma'am. i don't know how you do it all- causing the most chaos in the main cabin description is always so fun to see and you're abusing your tyrant powers in the best way possibly <3 as well as hosting the mbc, one of the head polar bears, AND leading a cabin, bestie do you sleep? (no u don't and u should change that. eevee says so) thanks for being an icon and all that you do for swc, you bring so much of yourself into it. i love youuuuuuu <3

amethyst, you're such a queen <3 you do so much in swc and the polar bears and thanks for all that you do. with the project weekly, to extension requests, you dedicate so much of your time to swc and i hope you are able to get some good rest aksjfdh- please get good sleep, i beg you-

charlie!! it was a blast getting to know you this session and having someone to talk to about marvel. you're so cool and i've enjoyed our conversations this session. i can't wait to get to know you more <3

chueyyyyy!! thank you for gracing us with your ever silly, ever talented chaotic presence. the amount of talent you store in your toe stealing body is inspiring. you have the silliest ideas, but also execute the most amazing things and it's brilliant the way you navigate between them. you're such an icon love you <3

hi clev <3 you're an amazing friend and i love getting to talk to you about anything. even if it's as random as coolmathgames because you're iconic like that > you're such an inspiration and you push through and you get things done and i'm so proud of you <33

crim <3 <33 words can't express how unbelievably grateful i am for your friendship. i love talking to you everyday and i love you so much <33 i’ll keep this short as to not make it redundant, but thanks for being a space where i can be me

elly!! it was so fun to be in a cabin with you and you're so cool!! you were fun to write with during cabin wars and i hope to get to know you better <3

lunaaaaaa you're so cool and i love talking to you and i love where our relationship (rivalry? friendship? mutual respect????) has gone this session, esp with being able to talk about civil air patrol with someone else. you inspire me in so many ways and you are always a worthy rival <3 go get plenty of rest queen ily

mousey!! it was a blast getting to know you more this session and scream about marvel with ) i am so unbelievably hyped for you and please keep me posted- the amount of time you put into swc and writing scares me, but you’re an icon, so i’ll let that slide. illu-fi looked amazing this session as well, the aesthetic of it was just everything agjajfjksjfkd- thanks for being the amazing person you are and bringing a chaotic light wherever you go.

muxa, i would not be the swcer i am today without you u-u you inspired me during my second session of swc and have continued to inspire me as time goes on. I would’ve never dreamed that the 100k words was attainable. but you did it and it has pushed me as a writer and in my typing speed and you’re such an iconic part of my swc memories and i’m so happy that you’re back. thanks for all of the amazing memories over the years <3

sage, you are unbelievable. you’re the picture perfect swcer. the chaos, the infectious energy, the enthusiasm?! oh my word, you have poured your soul into this session and your efforts do not go untouched. you’ve already integrated yourself so deeply into the swc community and you haven’t even been around here for what? not even half a year. thank you for the dedication that you continue to bring and here’s to beating your personal best archery score ;D please get some well deserved rest <33

yumeeeee!! i loved having you as a coleader and getting to know you more this session. thanks for all of the conversations we've had throughout the session and your wonderful personality.

hy zi you icon <3 it was so fun to be in a cabin with you for the first time akljsdfh!! you're incredibly cool and your pfps were gorgeous, and it's a blessing that you have placed upon us u-u thanks for keeping me accountable and hyped. you match my chaotic competitive energy and i love you <3

WEEKLYYYYY

Maestro Maroon: Write 150 words incorporating meaningful music/songs/lyrics into your story.
Chaos blinked drowsily, nestled into her father’s pelt. His voice was soothing as he hummed a memory from his past. “And at the crossroads, we’ll meet again… We’ll meet again, my dear…”
He sighed and trailed off, gazing into the distance. “Aren’t you going to finish it?” Chaos asked softly, looking up at him.
“Oh,” he said, bending his neck to nuzzle her head, “I didn’t realize you were still awake.”
He sniffed at her two brothers, who were sound asleep beside her, Glory’s head resting atop Legend’s flank. Chaos curled up tighter. “I wanted to hear the end.”
Her father smiled gently. “Very well then. Where was I… Ah yes.” He cleared his throat. “The crossroads will lead us home, when we’ve got nothing left to fear…”
Chaos raised her muzzle to the sky to join in the final lines. “So long for now, my darling one, so long for now, I say. May your path be bright, and lead you right, ‘til I’m back again someday…”

Skog: If it isn’t too much trouble, Skog would like you to write about your character overestimating their abilities for 200 words.
Chaos woke up, the lingering warmth of the dream still clinging to her.
But there were no other pelts pressed against hers, family or otherwise. She had never taken to sleeping in Briny Pack’s group dens. She knew, deep down, she didn’t really belong there.
Still, they would be expecting her. With a grunt, she got to her paws, gave her pelt a quick shake, then went to find her training group. They were supposed to be practicing fighting skills today.
Chaos had hoped she was early, but by the time she got to their meeting place, most of the others had already arrived. They all looked at her as she came bounding up, their silent judgment like ants crawling through her fur.
She wasn’t the last to get there, though. “Where’s Karma at this time?” Chaos’s trainer grumbled. The others in her group just shrugged. If they knew, they weren’t telling.
Finally, Karma sauntered up, and the training session could begin. The trainer paired everyone up into sparring partners, and Chaos ended up facing Dapple, a slightly younger male. They looked at each other for an awkward heartbeat before he lunged at her, beginning their spar.
She dodged with ease and landed a swipe along his side. Being a bit older and taller, Chaos thought she could handle this fight, even though combat had never been her greatest skill.
Dapple was stronger than she expected, though. And fast. He turned and careened back towards her before she could react, knocking her off her paws. She tried to roll, but he pinned her down by her neck. “Yield,” he said, panting slightly.
“I yield,” Chaos relented, going limp. Dapple pulled back to let her stand up. Chaos glanced to the side. No one else’s spar had ended that quickly, but next to her, Karma was nearly tearing apart her partner, then backing off to have another go. Playing with her prey.
Chaos silently appreciated her luck. It could have been worse.

Captain Celadon: Write about a bizarre or unexpected scenario happening to your character. And make it 200 words, aye?
Throughout the rest of the season, things did get worse, however.
As Chaos and her training group got older, their behavior began to change. “All perfectly natural for maturing wolves,” their trainer assured them. “You’re trying to find your place in the natural hierarchy of the Pack. You’re going to want to compete with each other and test social boundaries. From this point on, you should start thinking about specialized interests and finding a mentor. There’s not much left for me to teach you.”
It was like the world had opened up, but it was all one big web, and Chaos was stuck somewhere in the middle of it. There were so many choices, and none of them felt right. It didn’t help that she was worse than her fellow trainees at practically everything. She was observant and smart, but she still tripped over her own paws at every turn. Neither hunting nor fighting nor construction came easily to her. She had no aptitude for healing or storytelling. What options were left for someone like her?
Nothing good, and the worst part was that everyone knew it. Everyone gossiped now, and Chaos had overheard them making fun of her on several occasions.
Normally, she wouldn’t have minded so much, but she knew they were right. It went beyond just clumsiness and being an introvert. There was something broken inside her, something that set her apart. She could practically feel it squirm through her blood. It was wrong, so wrong.
And then Briny Pack went to war with Sliver Pack.
In a way, it was a blessing that Chaos was so useless. When everyone else was encouraged to become a fighter or a healer, she simply faded into the background. She avoided attention when she could, often slipping away from Pack territories entirely. It was lonely out there, but she felt safer. There were no wars or mean words or difficult decisions.
But there was a lake. And in that lake, there were turtles.
One day, she went down to the shore, mind brimming with all her worries.
<<Quite a lot of thoughts there,>> a voice in her mind said.
“What-”
<<We are Chervil,>> the voice introduced itself. <<The turtles of this lake.>>

Baroness Bluebell: Hi dear! If it isn’t too much trouble, could you write about your character learning something unexpected? Ah, and make sure it’s 100 words, that will do quite nicely!
“Turtles?” Chaos wondered if she was losing her mind.
<<Not yet. No, this is real. It has been a long time since we have reached out to a mammal. Indeed, most can’t understand us, or choose not to pay attention.>>
“So… why me? Why now?” Chaos pinned her ears back, still not convinced this wasn’t a hallucination or something.
<<Wild told us about you,>> Chervil replied. <<And no, this is very much real, though we understand your doubt.>>
Chaos opened her mouth, then closed it again. She supposed there was no point in speaking, since the turtles were evidently just hearing her thoughts anyway.
<<You would be right. We communicate with mental energy alone. You project yours very well, though it is messy.>>
Chaos tried to process what all this meant. Attempting to focus her thoughts into a coherent statement, she asked a question in her mind. <<Who is Wild?>>
<<You have knowledge of the birds, yes?>>
Chaos nodded. In all the old stories, the birds were gods. They were the ones who made this world and its inhabitants. They would come down to the land and talk to the mortals from time to time, sometimes wreaking havoc, sometimes granting wishes. Until one day, they mysteriously disappeared. <<They weren’t just myths?>> The thought seemed a little crazy, but then, she was talking to a turtle right now. All sorts of other unlikely things may as well be true, too.
<<The stories you’re recalling are somewhat exaggerated. But yes, they were real. From what I can tell, Wild is one of them, though not one I have ever met before. And I have been around for a long time.>>
<<And what do they want with… me?>>

Gurtle: Write about your character receiving messages from an unknown person. 150 words would be great!
<<Ask them yourself,>> Chervil responded, falling quiet within Chaos’s mind.
Chaos squinted in confusion. <<They’re here?>> There was no answer save for the soft lapping of the lake waters rippling against the shore. She scented the air. Now that she was thinking about it, there was a trace of an odd scent nearby. It wasn’t the warm musk of a mammal nor the earthy scales of a reptile.
A fluttering above her head made her look up. A strange creature perched above her head. It had four limbs like hers, but also two wings and a long, thin tail with a huge fan at the end. Chaos tried to remember what to call the strange pelt that the creature’s wings and tail fan consisted of. The stories used to speak of this.
Feathers. That was it.
<<Helloooo,>> it called to her. Its thought-speak voice was more like an actual voice than the turtle’s had been. Chaos got the sense it was communicating with actual words, albeit translated via whatever that “mental energy” stuff was. <<You’re Chaos, right?>>
<<Um. Yes?>>
<<You don’t seem too sure about that.>> The creature tilted its head and let out a trill.
<<No, that’s- that’s me. But who are you, and what do you want with me?>>
<<Oh, call me Wild! And you, Chaos, you’re integral to the story I’m building. I think we can help each other out quite a bit. You see, you’ve got more power inside of you than you think.>>
<<Power?>> Chaos flicked her ears forward.
<<Yes.>> Spreading their wings, Wild swooped down to land on the ground beside Chaos. <<You didn’t know? You’re a shapeshifter.>>

Jim Flabsdz: Write 150 words where a character experiments with new or unfamiliar technology.
Chaos tried to wrap her mind around everything she had just learned. Turtles could talk, the birds were back, or at least one was, and she was a shapeshifter?
<<Yeah, that about sums it up,>> Wild said.
And everyone could listen to her thoughts.
<<Not “listen” exactly, and not /everyone/, really just us so far, but sure, close enough.>>
She lashed her tail. <<Please, I’m trying to process all this. Just- give me some space for now->>
<<Apologies. It’ll take some getting used to.>>
That was for sure. Chaos made her way back to Briny Pack territories, her head full of questions. For once, she barely paid attention to her surroundings. For once, she barely cared that the Pack she lived in never felt like home, and her Packmates weren’t her family.
She had something else in her blood. The curse of the shapeshifter was another one of those old stories she used to believe was only a myth. A ghost story, really. The tales she had heard were full of horrors, like wolves going mad, having horrific disfigurements, and bringing the wrath of Havensbane down upon their Packs. But all that was probably exaggerated, like Chervil had said.
Lying in her den, she looked at her paws. She couldn’t deny that she was a little scared. She had no idea what it would be like to change her body into something else. How did it even work? She was also excited, though. It would finally explain why she never fit in with the others. It would finally give her something special she was good at.
As soon as she could get free the next day, she raced down to the lake, calling for Wild. They were waiting by the lakeshore, right where she left them last time.
<<Good, you’re eager to learn, then?>>
<<Yes!>> Normally, she would have tried to control the excitement in her voice, but it wasn’t as easy to restrain her inner voice. She shuffled her paws bashfully.
Wild blinked happily. <<Don’t worry about it. You can be yourself here! Let’s get started right away, shall we?>>
Giving a nod of acknowledgement and approval, Chaos listened as Wild explained the process. <<It’s something the birds- my predecessors- coded into your bloodline a long time ago. With mixed results, admittedly, but you’re supposed to be better at handling it than most. The information the birds gave me told me as much, anyway. Anyhow! You need a significant sample of the creature you’re planning on shifting into. Your body will remember it after that. Ideally, pick an animal with similar anatomy, size, and mental capacity as you. Other things work, but they’re less advisable.>>
Chaos’s mind flashed to the visuals evoked by the ghost stories she had heard. <<Is that what causes things to go wrong?>>
<<It’s a major factor, yeah. Best to avoid it, especially for your first time. Are there any prey animals you’ve eaten that are mammals, similar in size to you?>>
Chaos thought for a moment. <<Small horses?>>
Wild chirped approvingly. <<That’ll work. Alright, here’s what you have to do…>>
It turned out the process was not as fast as Chaos had imagined. Transformation happened slowly, uncomfortably. It was sort of a daze, as well. She wasn’t sure how much time passed before she became fully conscious again, but she was very hungry. For… grass?

Mazasa: Write about your character completely changing their appearance. Yeah, also write 200 words, ty.
<<Hey. Chaos. Focus.>>
Wild’s thought-voice made Chaos snap to attention. <<I’m here.>>
<<You’re being run on a horse brain now, so your innate instincts may contradict.>>
Chaos tried to sit up, feeling a little dizzy. <<What does that mean, exactly? I’m being “run” on?>>
<<Yeah, like the brain is the hardware, and it has some stuff built in, but your personality and conscious self are the software, trying to function on a machine they weren’t built for.>>
Chaos stared blankly ahead.
“Uh. Right. Your society doesn’t have computers yet. Let me try to think of a better analogy- ah, never mind. It’s not important right now. What you need to know is that your instincts are now that of a horse. This is great, in that you should be able to walk like a horse and do normal horse things without worrying about how to do so, but it’s not so great, in that horses are prey animals, and you’re a predator by nature. Your conscious thoughts will be fighting your horse instincts. You have to remember to stay in control when it’s important. Can you stand up? Let the horse do that part.>>
Chaos tried to not think about standing up. Her legs felt unnatural, but they held her weight. She squeezed her eyes shut as she stumbled to her paws. No, wait, hooves.
She had hooves now, and a rounder body, and a whole different scent. This was all so strange. But it was also kind of cool. She began to relax a bit, and all at once, she felt like running, just for the fun of it. She took off down the shore, faster than she had ever gone before.
Pausing to nibble a tuft of grass growing at the water’s edge, she turned and began to trot back towards Wild, relishing the clop of her hooves against the stones.
<<I’m doing it!>> she cheered.

Peeles: Write about your character getting out of their comfort zone aaand please write 200 words for it!
Over the next few seasons, Chaos continued training with her new mentor by the lake while also taking on a mentor of her own species: Slip, a messenger. The job didn’t require a lot of physical strength, only good memory and fast paws. Making the decision and approaching Slip about taking her on as an apprentice had been nerve-wracking, but somehow, it wasn’t nearly as terrifying as it used to seem. Maybe finding her inner power was all she needed to find the confidence to deal with everything else.
Well, maybe not quite everything else. Karma was training to be a messenger, too, and the two of them had to spend more time together than Chaos could have ever wanted.
Why Karma hadn’t become a fighter and joined the war was beyond Chaos, who was usually good at guessing others’ motivations. It wasn’t like Karma feared danger or didn’t want to hurt anyone. In fact, she seemed to thrive on those things.
Still, Chaos had to admit she was cool. She made everything look easy, and she brought a unique flair to everything she accomplished, which was quite a bit. What’s more, she seemed to have changed her mind about Chaos since their days in the training group. Rather than the weird loner, Chaos was now the mysterious loner, and Karma had definitely fixated an interest on her.
Chaos wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that.

Smarlls: Write about your character working together with others in order to achieve a hard goal and make sure it’s 150 words!
As the war progressed, sometimes it felt like Maroon, leader of Briny Pack, was purposefully drawing it out. Chaos had seen Karma do it enough times to know what it looked like.
Chaos’s brother, Legend, was getting fed up with it. He had become the apprentice of Maroon herself, but Chaos could sense that their relationship was beginning to sour under the strain of the endless fighting.
Meanwhile, her own relationship with Karma had evolved into a tentative friendship. Or at least an alliance. Karma, in her boundless nosiness, tracked Chaos’s scent to her secret stash of prey samples, remains she was keeping for reference in case she ever needed them in order to shapeshift, as Wild was unclear on whether there was a limit to how long her body could remember a shape once it was sampled. Choas wanted to be prepared.
She wasn’t prepared for Karma to discover her secret, though, nor for Karma to share a secret of her own: She wanted to depose Maroon and take the crown herself.
However, as it turned out, Legend was the first one to turn on the Briny queen, though the messengers provided valuable assistance. For a brief moment, Chaos and Karma stood united, using their wits to spread the perfect false messages across Briny Pack.
But it was Legend who ended up with the crown, not Karma. And Karma wouldn’t settle for that. Chaos refused to let her former “friend” hurt her brother. In a move that ought to have been retold in countless tales as one of the greatest backstabbings of all times, Chaos used her shapeshifting to surprise Karma, blinding her and rendering her unable to make a challenge for the crown.
Of all the samples Chaos had ever tasted, none were quite as sweet as revenge.

Lieutenant Lilac: Write 200 words where your character is put in a dangerous scenario!
Of course, that wasn’t the full extent of the war, not even close.
Before Maroon was deposed and Karma blinded, some other important stuff happened. Chaos and Legend, plus their other brother, Glory, unexpectedly reunited with their parents, Hurricane and Blood, and it was better than Chaos had ever dreamed. Finally, she had a family that felt real, that she could trust. Together, they made up for all the lost time.
Even more than that, she learned something important.
“Mum? You’re a shapeshifter, too?” Chaos couldn’t believe it. At last, she had found someone who had experienced what it was like.
Everything was looking up.
With Maroon’s approval, they met up with Glory in the canyon where the three siblings were born, along with Glory’s rebel friends. Together, they plotted to take down Summit, the leader of Sliver Pack.
But when the day came, it was messier than they had hoped. Legend led the charge without Maroon’s consent, leading to the conflict where Maroon lost her crown.
Moreover, rather than becoming the new leader of Briny Pack, Legend revealed that he was set on ending the monarchy for good. Chaos was fully prepared to stand by him, even though she stayed undercover in Briny Pack for the time being. Their other brother, Glory, still had his doubts, despite Chaos’s best attempts to change his mind, using everything about brains she had ever learned from Chervil and Wild. Glory was just that stubborn.
<<He’ll come around eventually,>> Chervil had said. <<Your species is a social mammal. When he has no one else left, he will realize he needs you.>>
Chaos trusted her judgment, and sure enough, it came true. He came seeking refuge, and she directed him to Legend, who was living with Hurricane in the north.
When Chaos could, she snuck out to join them.

Blahaj: Write 100 words where something a character believed was great/perfect turned out to be flawed/bad.
It was insane how fast the seasons had flown past.
Although Chaos realized that ‘insane’ was a bit of a loaded word now. Her mother had not been nearly as stable as Chaos had once believed. Chaos didn’t want to believe it had been the fault of the shapeshifter’s curse, but it was clear that, just like all the old stories said, she lost her mind.
And that meant that could happen to her, too.
She hadn’t shapeshifted since her final confrontation with her mother, in which her mother led a blood-crazed rampage against her own family. Chaos had been in horse form at the time, and just like prey at the jaws of a predator, her mother nearly killed her. Luckily, the rest of her family was there to save her. Legend and Glory fought the beast that Blood had become, while Hurricane sang the one song that could get through to the fragment of sanity still buried within her mind.
And Chaos had taken the opportunity to turn into a snake and sink her venom into the beast’s leg. The creature that had once been her mother fell into the ocean that she had always wanted to see someday.
It wasn’t too long after that that Glory’s rebel forces reunited and led one final attack on both Maroon and Summit
Things had never been the same since then. But now, time had passed, and Chaos was done being traumatized. She couldn’t let fear control her; she had to master it.
And there was only one place that could help her learn to do that. For the first time in a while, she made the trek down to the lake.
<<Hey, it’s been a while!>> Wild said when she found them. <<I’ve got something for you…>>

Pandora Pink: Write 150 words where an everyday object takes on magical properties.
In one swift movement, Wild bent their head and pulled a feather from their tail, wincing as it was plucked free from their skin. A bead of blood welled at the tip of it, and Wild used their nimble paws to lift it to Chaos’s nose.
<<Take this,>> they told Chaos. <<Come flying with me.>>
Chaos’s eyes widened. <<You really mean that?>> Ever since she had met Wild, she had wondered what it would be like to fly, and Wild must have overheard her thoughts.
<<I do,>> Wild said solemnly.
Chaos’s brain shook off her surprise and returned to logic. <<There’s no way that’s a big enough sample.>>
<<Shazarxa blood is a bit more potent. Now, hurry up before it drips away.>>
Opening her jaws just slightly, she enveloped the drop of blood with her tongue. As she had done so many times before, she focused on the vision of what she wanted to be, some other form that could hold her essence.
Wild was right; the transformation was much smoother than usual. It wasn’t nearly as long before she shed her excess flesh and emerged as a shazarxa, identical to Wild.
<<Okay, how do I fly?>> she asked, nervous energy coursing through her new wings.
<<Like this!>> Wild trilled loudly, launching themself up into the sky. Almost without thinking, Chaos lifted herself up and followed.
Together, they spiraled through the air, feeling weightless. Chaos flew up until the lake was just a dot below. Then, she let herself fall, relishing the wind blowing through her pelt.
Right before reaching tree height, she spread her wings and coasted, her plummet slowing into a gentle drift within a heartbeat.
Eventually, she and Wild landed back where they began. <<That was the best thing ever,>> Chaos grinned. <<We /have/ to do this again soon.>>
She began to transform back into her original body, reclaiming the flesh she had shed earlier. When she was done, she looked at Wild.
Wild blinked at her oddly. <<Why are you looking at me like that?>> Chaos asked, suddenly worried. She searched Wild’s thoughts.
<<I’m afraid that was a goodbye present,>> Wild told her. <<I have to go after this. I already informed Chervil.>>
Chaos took a moment to comprehend what they were saying. <<Go? Go where? You’re leaving?>>
<<You’re not the only one whose story I have to interfere in,>> Wild laughed softly. <<But this doesn’t mean you’re irrelevant now. I just think you can handle this next one on your own.>>

Marc Mangoson: Write about your character struggling to let something go. For 200 words, okay?
“Next one?” Chaos said, so surprised that she spoke out loud. <<You know what’s going to happen in the future?>>
<<Not entirely,>> Wild admitted. <<I only remember a few things.>> They paused. “But I know we’ll meet again someday, somehow.”
“I don’t want you to go,” she murmured, aware that she sounded like a pup whining. But she had been left behind enough times in her life, hadn’t she? Even if Wild only ever met her to fulfill their own inscrutable purposes, they had a connection that extended beyond anything she had ever known before or since. They had literally shared their every thought with each other.
“You’ll be okay,” Wild responded, giving a gentle trill. “There are other shazarxi for you to meet, you know. Oh, and try heading back to the old canyon sometime. I think you’ll be… interested.”
“The canyon? There’s nothing left there,” Chaos said. “Maybe some old bones,” she added darkly. “Why would I go back?”
Wild turned away, and for once, Chaos couldn’t tell what they were thinking. Then they smiled knowingly. “Things change,” was all they said.
Chaos only stared back, crestfallen. “Keep working on your powers,” Wild chirped. “You haven’t even discovered the full extent of what you can do yet. And don’t forget, you still have Chervil.”
<<That’s right,>> the turtle population responded, their rhythmic reptilian thought-speak so much different from Wild’s that Chaos was left temporarily disoriented. It wasn’t until she saw Wild flying away that she realized why.
She and Wild hadn’t been using thought-speak for the latter half of their conversation. She had understood Wild’s spoken language.

WEEKLY FOUR:

Illu-Fi

Jonas prided himself with the fact that his life was normal. The fact that his life was just perfectly mundane. He wasn’t someone who would be remembered, and he wasn’t anyone special, but that was alright by him. He didn’t think he’d be able to handle being someone extraordinary. He’d just be another grave that grows mold in a cemetery.

It was then that on a cold day, the type where you can see your breath when you breathe, that he didn’t have the life he was meant to have, that he wouldn’t be in normalcy anymore. In fact, he’d be far from it.


He was walking past the park, the one where he and his friends would hang out after school. Fatigue suddenly overwhelmed his senses, and black ate at his vision. Struggling to stay awake, he made his way to the nearest bench and laid down.

He took his phone from his navy blue jacket and checked the time. It was late, 11pm, March 26th. It couldn’t hurt to take a small nap, right? His mom was used to him not coming home on time for curfew, and him sometimes not coming home until morning.

He closed his eyes, and fell asleep immediately.

When he opened his eyes, it was daytime. He opened his phone to check the time, it was 7:30am, April 2nd.

Huh? I could’ve sworn we were still in March?


Sci-fi

“That’s…strange.” Jonas muttered, hopping off the bench and wiping the dirt off his pants. His mom was gonna kill him. However, there was still the question of how exactly it was possible for him to have been asleep for 6 days, like a mini-hibernation.

Jonas looked back to the bench, was it some sort of time machine? Or, perhaps something more along the lines of time dilation? Jonas thinks he was asleep for about 7 hours. That would mean an hour was less than a day. How long would just a minute be?


Glancing around as if what he was doing was illegal, he hopped onto the bench and timed himself with his phone.

When the timer hit 60, Jonas hopped off the bench and checked the time.

7:42am.

So, it seemed 1 minute was 12 minutes. This bench was some strange, futuristic technology. Probably something never meant to be here in the first place.

Though, it couldn’t hurt to use it a bit, right? Run a few experiments?


Thriller

I went home and was met with a reprimanding from my mom, yeah, probably deserved. She went on about the fact that I was missing for a week and I didn’t know how exactly to tell her “I slept on a bench and then got sent forward in time.” Even if I said it with a completely straight face I’d look completely insane.

I made my way to my room and laid on my bed, trying to figure out what exactly it was that happened that night. I remember I read about time dilation in sci-fi books, when what feels like just a few minutes would be a tremendous amount of time.

My mom had just left the house for groceries, meaning I had the house to myself for the next 30 minutes or so. I hopped onto my computer to do some research.

Time Dilation

I searched the term up, before looking through article after article. Most of it was explanations on it in fiction, but not explained the possibility of it in real life, probably because it was too bizarre to be able to happen in real life.

It was then that Jonas smelt something, standing up, he took another smell.

Smoke.

Jonas jolted up, standing up and running downstairs.

He couldn’t exactly go downstairs though, considering the fact a blazing inferno was there.

“Shoot!” Jonas exclaimed, turning his heel and running. How did that happen? He wasn’t even using the stove!


Journalism

Jonas climbed to the window of his bedroom and hopped out, landing with a roll. He glanced up to his house, seeing it was mostly burnt up.

“Hope we have insurance…” Jonas muttered, taking out his phone to call firefighters.

“Hey!”

Jonas snapped around, looking around curiously for the person that just called out to him. He saw a girl, around his age, with bright white hair.

“Uh…are you the one who lit my house on fire?”
“What- no! I didn’t-“
“Ok, excuse me for making that perfectly logical assumption.”
“How is that-!?”
“A random person shows up outside my house at the same time it lit on fire when it should’ve been impossible for my house to go up in flames.”

“Listen to me.” The girl whispers, dead serious, causing me to shut up. “This is because of…that bench.”

“I’m sorry, what? It’s a bench. What is it gonna do?”

The girl took a breath and looked at me. “The bench brings misfortune to those who use it, sort of the exchange it makes for time dilation.”
“That’s how my house burnt down?”
“Yes, you were unlucky enough to come across the bench, and now you’re unlucky.”
“How…? How do I fix that?”
“That’s what I’m here for, I’ll be helping you find a way to reverse it.”
“How can I know I can trust you?”
“You’ll just have to believe it.” The girl turns to me, swift and precise. She extends her hand. “My name is Ember. So, how about we join forces?”


Action

“I- um…” Jonas stared at Ember’s hand, as if it would kill him to touch it. “Listen, I don’t…I don’t wanna interact with all this…stuff. I’m just not cut out for it. So, can we just…ignore it?”

“What?” Ember narrowed her eyes, staring at me. “If you let this go on, you’ll be in danger. The people around you will be in danger, not doing anything is the worst decision you could make.”

Sweat pricked at the back of Jonas’s neck, he had no idea what to do.

“I just…I’m not comfortable with this. I just…don’t think I’m ready for this. I’m just an average guy, I’m not prepared to…deal with supernatural forces.”

Ember looked at me, her face filled with ice. It was an intimidating look, that much was obvious.

“How…how selfish can you be!? Just because you can’t man up and- just do it, you put yourself and EVERYONE around you in danger. Who- who do you think you are!?”

Jonas found himself jolting back at the outburst.

“I-“
“Listen up, everyone around you will be in danger from your misfortune, so we need to find a way to fix it. Now, how about we join forces?”

Ember extended her hand again.

Jonas took it.

“Alright. I’m Jonas. Let’s do this.”


Fantasy

“So…what should we do?”

Ember ran towards the park, gesturing for Jonas to follow.

“C’mon, let’s go to where this all started.” Both of them ran over, and they found themselves at the park. Ember directed her icy glare to Jonas.

“So, this is the park bench. It feels…weird knowing what it’s capable of.”
“Yeah…I thought it was just a run-of-the mill bench. All the benches look like this, how was I meant to know this one would have time dilation properties?”
“You wouldn’t. That’s part of the deception, it tricks you.” Ember approached the bench, inspecting it but being careful not to touch it. “I’m going to run a test. I’m going to see how much contact is needed for it to work.”

Ember reached her hand towards the bench, before Jonas pulled her back.

“Are you insane!? You’re going to get bad luck, and two people with bad luck are worse than one!”

Ember glanced up to Jonas, assessing him.

“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” Ember glanced back at the bench. “I’m gonna keep talking, once I stop, assume the bench worked its wonders and pull me out.”

Ember reached her hand towards the bench.

“So, let’s keep talking. What ideas do you have to expel your bad luck? Personally I think-”

Ember suddenly stopped talking, so Jonas grabbed her and yanked her back. She glanced up to Jonas.

“Did I…?”
“Yep.”
“I was only there for…barely any time. It felt like nothing, it probably was close to nothing. After all, you pulled me back immediately, and a minute here seems to actually be about 12 minutes.”


Dystopian

“That’s…Awesome!” Jonas exclaimed, grinning as he looked towards the bench. “Do you understand how insane this is!? It could be used as something like a cryo-chamber, like Captain America in the ice! Maybe not as long but, that’s amazing!”

“What?” Ember stared at Jonas, if looks could kill, Jonas would be dead right now. “Do you- I told you how this works! If you use it, you gain misfortune. Do you not understand?”

“I know about that, but I’m willing to take a bit of bad luck for essentially time travel! I don’t know if you realize how- how revolutionary this is!”

“YOU are the one who doesn’t understand!” Ember shrieked, pushing Jonas back. “This isn’t a toy! You don’t- you don’t get it!” Ember glanced back at the bench, seemingly about to cry. “I- I discovered this bench. I discovered it a long time ago. For 7 years, 7 painful years, I had misfortune.” Ember looked back up to Jonas, “Do you know how many people I lost?”

“No- I-…”
“I lost everyone Jonas! Everyone around me died from my misfortune! Everyone but me!” Ember screeched, “I’m trying to prevent you from going through the same thing! But you- you’re here acting like this bench is- is good!”

Jonas took a step back, processing what Ember just said.

“Ember…I…” Jonas started, looking up at Ember. “I’m…so…so sorry Ember.”


Fairy Tales

“So, what do you plan on doing to combat my misfortune?” Jonas questioned Ember, he had just broken an awkward veil of silence both of them were in after what previously happened, Jonas just wanted to break the ice.

Ember thought for a moment, before opening her mouth. “I think we need to gather things that are superstitiously…lucky. I’m willing to believe that superstitions are real when we just discovered magic.”

“So..what do you mean by that? Like…four leaf clovers?”
“Yes! Exactly that! Also things like ladybugs, horseshoes, and rabbit’s foot!”

“So, we just need to find a four leaf clover?” Jonas questioned, he grinned, “Easy, we’ll get it done in no time.”

Ember glared at Jonas, “Don’t jinx it.”

Both of them explored the park, looking for a four leaf clover. However, they were met with nothing. There weren't any four leaf clovers in sight, both of them had checked the place up and down. There wasn’t a single four leafed clover for them in sight, like all had simultaneously disappeared the moment they began looking for them. Of course, they should’ve expected this, four leaf clovers were incredibly rare.

“So much for being ‘easy’” Ember snarled at Jonas, evidently annoyed, “Quit overestimating yourself, we can’t have that here.”


Bi-fi

“What the hell, Ember?” Jonas seethed at Ember, “We’re working together here, and you decide to insult me?”
“You needed the sense knocked into you.” Ember drawled, bite in every single word she spoke. “You can’t be prideful while we’re here.”

Jonas wanted to shout at Ember, yell at her, but he then realized that would just prove her point. He simply sat there, though he was embarrassed to admit how angry he was.

“Well, we can’t find a four leaf clover.” Ember sighed, walking away. “Let’s find a ladybug then, that should be easy enough.”

They both walked in silence, Ember seeming to have already cooled off. Jonas still found himself getting angry, he knew that he’s always held grudges.

“Why do you get to call something easy…” Jonas muttered, clearly annoyed. Ember snapped her head back, her pearl white hair flowing in the breeze.

“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” Jonas’s voice suddenly got low, “I don’t get why you think you’re above me here.”

“When did I-!?” Ember exclaimed, narrowing her eyes at Jonas, “You’re still mad about the argument we had? For Pete’s sake- what are you? Seven?”

“Listen, I just don’t like how you-”
“No, we’re over this. We’ve been over it. We have been for a while.”


Mystery

“You’re right.” Jonas admitted, finally finding himself cooling off. “…Sorry.” Ember’s gaze softened at this.

“…It’s alright.”

They both walked, neither having the courage to break the tension. However, a ding from Jonas’s phone caught both of their attention. Jonas took out his phone and took a glance.

‘Watch out.’

“Huh. What a weird spam number.”

Jonas deleted it, but Ember looked panicked.

“Come, we gotta go!” She shouted, taking Jonas’s hand and ducking into nearby bushes.

“Huh? What’s happening?!?”

Bang
Bang!
BANG!

“WHAT’S HAPPENING?” Jonas reiterated, but louder.

“Your bad luck is happening!” Ember whisper-shouted back as Jonas’s phone kept on dinging from messages.

“Ugh…It’s alright, we’ll still be able to find ladybugs somewhere.”
“How many do we need?”
“…Seven, that’s a lucky number.”

Jonas nodded as they both crawled forward, attempting to find an opening. It was then that Ember gasped. Jonas looked up to see a small clearing, somewhere where bugs would love.


Fan-fi

Do not enter is written on the doorway.

“So, what do you think we do?” Jonas questions, staring at Ember. Her eyes met his, and they sat there in silence, though it was a comfortable one.

“Well, we find ladybugs.”

Why can’t everyone just go away?

“Sounds like a plan.” Jonas smirked, and Ember’s face of ice faltered for a moment.

Except you, maybe you can stay.

“Found one!” Jonas exclaimed, cupping his hands around a red, black spotted bug. A ladybug. He grinned, “One down!”

What do you think of my treehouse?

“That’s great!” Ember exclaimed, a smile sneaking up her face. “I think we might also wanna do something about your appearance. Just for good measure, y’know?”

“How exactly is that a superstition?”
“Well, they believe new appearances will mean new beginnings, y’know, good luck!”
“We’re in a forest right now…how exactly…?”
“Just find stuff!”

It’s where I sit and talk really loud.

“Alright, guess we’ll do that!” Jonas grins, “I’ve always wanted to try out something new with my appearance, y’know?”

“Well, guess this is working out for you.” Ember smirks.

Usually I’m all by myself.


Adventure

“Alright, so what are we doing?” Jonas asks, carefully putting the ladybug in a jar. “Not sure how much we can really change my appearance, we can cut my hair a little and maybe change the color a bit with something here?”

“Hm…That’ll be good enough!”

Ember got to work searching for something that looked sharp enough. She exclaimed an “Aha!” once she found a sharp rock. Jonas laid down and Ember began hacking away at his hair.

“This is gonna look terrible.”
“The goal is to look different, not good!”
“I’ve never actually cut my hair short.”
“What!?”
“Yeah uh…funny.”

Jonas was half-prepared for something to go wrong. But alas, it didn’t.

“I’m done!” Ember exclaimed, and Jonas sat up. It was then Ember whistled in a teasing kind of way.

“Dang Jonas! I must say, short hair suits you!”
“Huh?” Jonas muttered, taking out his phone and opening the camera app. “Oh. It doesn’t look as bad as I thought.”

Jonas stood up and stretched, “Alright! Let’s go catch some ladybugs!”

Ember smiled and nodded in response, already looking around for the spotted creatures, “Aye aye captain!” she jokes, darting her eyes in order to attempt finding a ladybug.

Myth

“Got one!” Ember exclaims, grinning as she puts it in the jar. They had both been running around for quite a bit, trying to find what they needed. They had 4 so far, just 3 more.

“We’re doing great!” Ember exclaimed, smiling ear to ear, “I know we had a rough start but…we make a good team.”

“Do we now?” Jonas smirked, “Another one!”

Five ladybugs.

The rest of the time mostly contained banter, with an occasional catch. It was harder than they thought it would be, the ladybugs were harder to catch then one may think. However, with both of them working together, they did it.

Ember caught 4 of them and Jonas caught 3 of them. Ember rubbed it in Jonas’s face but he insisted it was just because of his bad luck.

“So, you did it.” Ember smiles, shoving the 7 ladybugs into Jonas’s hands. “See you around?”

Jonas smiled, taking the ladybugs. “Yeah, hope so.”

2746 words!

two minute word war with alana
112 words

'uhh.. are you really sure you want to touch that?' lily questions, nose crinkling in disgust.
'yeah, sure! it's not /that/ bad..' i reply, about to lick it off my finger, but think better of it, seeing lily's expression.
'what? it's just cake mix. it's not like it's slime or gunk or something icky.' i defend it fiercely. i have an emotional attachment to this cake batter and i have gone to five different supermarkets to get all the ingredients, so i won't be having any hate on it.
'yeah, i know.. but raw eggs.. butter.. flour.. sticky things.. ew…' lily complains, and hides her face in her hands. really, i would've

Roleplay Day - Overview

Roleplay Day began in the main cabin on March 24, at 12:00 am UTC, when the daily updated. For Roleplay Day, campers “roleplay” by commenting in third person and describing their actions, with anything they say in quotation marks.
Roleplay Day is a classic SWC daily that occurs every session, and it is beloved by many campers. “I honestly love roleplay day!” said Lily (@lilyjen), a Fanfiction camper. “I think it's really fun, and a great way to encourage people to interact with each other! It also creates a lot of glorious chaos. Overall, it's one of the best SWClassic dailies in my opinion!” Furthermore, Action co-leader Ayla (@FairyAyla) said, “It’s the BEST DAILY EVER!”
Comments written in roleplay format count for words, as long as they have some description outside of dialogue. Many campers wrote several hundred words for it, and some wrote over a thousand. Illustrated Fiction leader Mouse (@-BookDragon) said they wrote “around 2k words,” and Mythology leader Sage (@babyoda1546) said she wrote “3k, maybe 4k? I forgot the exact number.”
Some campers simply had conversations in roleplay format, while others roleplayed as themselves with magic powers, and some brought pets such as chickens into the roleplay.
Many people also asked in roleplay format for critique on their writing competition entries, as the writing competition closed on March 25. Others posted comments in roleplay format offering to give critique to anyone who needed it.
Many campers expressed sadness at Roleplay Day ending, and some believed it should last longer. “My opinion is that it should last a whole lot longer than a day, right?” said Dystopian camper Eevee (@AmazaEevee). “Roleplaying can stack up a lot of words and I think that having to write in the third person can also reveal things about a person that you can't from just regular discussions alone.”

Word War w/Luna
3/31/2025
229 words

he looked at me, offered a hand questioning. he gave ma an offer. a proposition. to join him. who does that? asks the person they were sent to take out and give them a job? strange man, but he works with a bow and arrow, so. i guess overall he’s strange. i don’t know what to say. i didn’t know what to say then and i donMy know what i would say now either. i guess i would do the same thing i did then. take his hand. “what are we doing from here? are you allowed to be doing. this?”
he gives me a crooked smile. “nope. i will probably get in trouble.” he cringes, rubbing his head. “but i’ve got you so. it’ll be okay.” he looks at me with those blue blue eyes.
and that’s the day that i died. or at least when natalia romanova died. i left her behind in my old life. as awkward as it was to take on the anglicized romanoff, i did it. i was not gong to be working for the red room anymore. i was not going to work for the russians, not after the torture they put me under after all of those years. it’s terrifying. that i took his hand and trusted him completely. but i follow my gut and i don’t regret it to this

activity :: weekly
week :: 4
topic :: swcaboose
word count :: 3487
cabin :: thriller

The mirror’s surface swirled.
In shock, Alazne fumbled backward, dropping the hand mirror on the ground. Her eyes drifted downward, meeting the once reflective surface of the mirror. She watched as translucent, blue wisps travelled upwards from the mirror like smoke, so entrancing and mesmerizing and-
She hadn’t realized she’d picked it up once more.
In the smoky fog of the mirror, it was impossible to see her reflection, or anything else really. Alazne squinted and examined the mirror once more, realizing that while the surface was unviewable, the frame was not. In fact, spindly cracks peppered the ornate designs of the gold frame, barely visible but there.
Alazne glanced around. She was alone, her brother at some band event and her parents working. But just to be safe, she ran to her bedroom and locked the door.
She blinked, squeezing her eyes shut before tentatively opening them again.
Still swirling.
In fact, the mirror seemed to be emitting even more smoke, beckoning her to do… something.

She realized, moments later, that it was actually beckoning her to do something.
The surface shifted.
Amidst the swirling blue and wispy smoke, letters, dark as ebony and ink, slowly came into view. They pulsed against the mirror almost like they were begging to be let free, and only upon that realization did Alazne read them.

Touch the mirror.

She blinked again, it seemed as though it had been ages since she had before, but her eyes weren’t watering.
Still there.
Just three words, but even one would have been ominous enough to stop her from breathing.

Touch. The. Mirror.

Almost as though someone were speaking the very words, she swore she could hear them, echoing in her mind and whispering the repeated phrase in every crevice of her brain, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over
Something inside of her pushed to follow the instructions. What harm would her hand mirror, the very one given to her by her grandmother, do? Nothing, she told herself, repeating it until the single word was engraved in her mind and pushing out that one… other phrase. Three words.
Alazne stared at the glass-was it still glass?- and tried to decide what to do. There wasn’t much choice. The mirror didn’t appear as though it would stop moving anytime soon, but whatever it was doing could be dangerous.
Dangerous…
Everything was dangerous, in some way. But this… this was different. This was out of the ordinary and scary.
She forced herself to think, just for a moment, that maybe it was magic.

At dawn, at dawn
The canary sings
And flaps her blackened wings
At dawn, at dawn
The magic rings
Who knows the terror it brings.

Her mom’s old song, about magic. Not the princessy fairy tale kind of magic, but the dark one. Dark forests or mind control or tearing worlds apart or eternal winter or taking captive or-
Alazne’s sleeve slipped in.
She gasped, quickly pulling back, abandoning the mirror on the floor. She stared at her sleeve, once the color of clear blue skies, and now a foggy shade of gray.

It looked like someone had dipped her sleeve in a pot of gray paint. She tried rubbing it off but the color stayed stuck to her.
Alazne bit her lip.
Nothing good could come out of-
Touch. The. MIRROR.
She shook her head, not realizing she’d shut her eyes until she saw little pinpricks of stars blotting her vision. Her eyes shot open and she gasped, her hand moving of its seemingly own accord towards the mirror.
She snatched it back, horrified.
What kind of magic is this?
This time, the pull was stronger. She picked up the mirror and gazed into it, the words still burned onto the surface. Her brain knew that this was wrong. Very, very wrong.
But she still did it.
Plunging her finger into the mirror, it felt like being sucked into a vortex. Her finger disappeared from view, but she could still feel it.
Like a hundred stinging nettles sinking into her skin, tiny pinpricks of pain submerged her finger.
Swallowing a scream, Alazne yanked back her finger.
Bad idea bad idea bad idea bad idea-
She was completely unharmed.
But her finger was gray and numb.
And it was spreading.

Like ink to paper, the colorless notion was spreading. Tendrils of gray seeped through her skin, numbing her hands.
So that’s what the mirror does.
And yet the mirror was still pulling her to it, fighting against her will to drop it, let it shatter against the floor and break into a million shards of glass.
The coldness of its reflection clawed at her mind, pulling at the very fibers of her soul, its depths unyielding. She could feel herself slipping, losing grip on reality, each breath growing harder. Her vision blurred, darkening around the edges.
And then she fell.
The world tilted, spinning wildly as her body dropped through the air, her limbs weak and heavy. For a moment, she felt weightless, as if the mirror had claimed her completely. She landed with a thud, her breath stolen by the impact, but the mirror’s call never stopped. It lingered, a quiet, insistent whisper at the back of her mind.
Then she was floating once more.

She watched as blue streams, the same hues of the swirling mirror grasped in her hand.
When she thought about it too hard, it made so little sense that it hurt.
Then it really hurt, not just her mind but everything.
It hurt.
It hurt so much more than just one finger.
It felt as though a million bees were swarming her, nipping and stinging every part of her body. But it wasn’t the pain that hurt.
It was the suffocation.
She couldn’t breathe, struggling to gasp for a wisp of air. Every breath of oxygen within her was squeezed out. She knew that if she didn’t breathe it would be over, it would be over it would be over it would be over it would be over
Her eyes squinted against the sheer pain of it all, feeling as though her body was on fire.

At dawn, at dawn
The canary seethes
Cruelly baring its fanged teeth
At dawn, at dawn
The canary screams
Flying away into the breeze.

She gasped for air but only gained a morsel. Her head fell back and her breathing staggered. She was a canary on fire, not a phoenix.
And then her vision went black.

She awoke in a forest.
Trees, the mass of elephants and tall as giraffes, towered over her. A light breeze rippled through the air, rustling the green leaves. The color of emeralds and grass, so clear and perfect.
But she was alone.
Alone.
And it was dark, the only sound being the faint noise of leaves brushing against each other. The faint noise that grew louder and louder—or so she thought—and the trees closed in on her.
Claustrophobia.
As if the portal wasn’t enough. She screamed, but it sounded silent. Nothingness. She was breathing, but every breath was too much, too little.
Her worst nightmare.
Oh, and it was in the dark.
The moon glowed with silver light, pulsing against the night sky. Stars peppered the inky blackness and smiled down at her as a comfort.
But she could’ve sworn that a shadow, black and bird-like, soared across the skies.
A canary? No. The shadow was too large, too quick. It twisted and flapped, a predator hunting beneath the silver moon. The forest seemed to hum in response, and she felt its unseen eyes watching her every move. She wasn’t just lost; she was being hunted.
No, she wasn’t. It was just her imagination.
There’s nothing there, there’s nothing there…

Alazne had been trudging along the path for what felt like days, but the sun had just begun to rise. Oddly enough, she didn’t feel a lick of hunger. The thought made her feel strong, strong enough to keep pushing and walking.
Now that daylight was beginning to seep through the crevices between leaves, making patterns against the forest floor, she no longer felt claustrophobic. The path felt open and welcoming in stark contrast to the dark and narrow restriction the night before.
But it was just her imagination, she knew that.
She continued her trek, unsure where she was headed. Only one thought pounded through her mind, engraving itself into her very being.
Find someone. Get help. Find someone. Get help.
By now, the grayness had spread to cover the entire length of her arms and was almost completed from the waist down. The sight and feel of nothing made her more determined to move forward. To find someone. To get help.’
Find someone. Get help.
She may have been walking for hours, it seemed like it. The sun now rested high above her head, warming the long black hair there. Strength surged through her bones, and the absence of the hunger for food or water only confirmed her thoughts.
Magic.
Of course, she knew the mirror was magic by then. She still held it in her hand and grasped it so tight her knuckles grew white. Every now and then she’d try-and fail- to get the portal to reopen.
She knew the mirror was magic, but wasn’t so sure that the world was, until now.
And so she kept walking.
Alazne kept walking until she watched a rabbit, everything except for the tips of its ears gray, ravenously nibble on a berry that hung along with a cluster of its kind. She watched in shock as some of the nothingness faded away from the rabbit, turning more of its ears crystal white.
She may not have felt the hunger, but it was clearly doing something.
She looked down to find that her dress had turned completely gray. And the color of nothing was slowly engulfing her neck.

Alazne gasped as the numbness crept up her neck, watching as the last folds of her dress turned gray. She couldn’t feel it-or see it- but she knew the same was happening to her neck. It didn’t hurt. It just felt like being drained of energy and emotion and the ability to feel the things around her. Like her nerves had just died and left her body to crumble to ashes.
The transformation was getting faster.
What was the transformation, exactly? All she knew was it involved her losing all color, and apparently feeling.
Her body was now completely colorless, a mute gray the same shade as the stones peppering the path. She forced herself to keep walking, to find someone, something before the rest of her body gave out. What would happen once the numbness reached her mind, she didn’t know. All she knew was that she couldn't feel the rough rocks beneath her feet or the ache in her legs as she forced herself to keep walking, forward and forward and forward.
It felt like hours.
It felt like hours, but it had probably only been minutes.
And that’s when she realized.
She couldn’t feel anything. Her eyes, lazy and numb, darted to the ends of her hair. Gray.
And that was the exact moment her legs gave out.

In her dreams, the canary in her mom’s song haunted her.
With wings black as night and a beak strong as vampire fangs, the large figure had swooped down to Alazne’s helpless body. She lay on the forest floor, completely numb and paralyzed as the bird landed on her torso.
She lay on the forest floor, completely numb and helpless and the canary screamed into the night. The noise seemed to have awakened the entire woods, trees suddenly gaining faces and twisting to peer down at her, a cacophony of sounds echoing throughout the area.
But that wasn’t the worst part.
The worst part was the birds, a flock of canaries suddenly arising from the shadows. Joining her captor as they began pecking at her skin and biting her legs, their beaks digging deep into the flesh.
She screamed, but she sounded inhuman and wild. Her head scraped against a jagged rock, the pain escalating to something so unbearable.
While the rest of the flock remained occupied, the original canary peered down at Alazne with sharp, beady eyes.
Break the mirror, they whispered.
Her mother’s song came back to her, only more ominous and haunting. She’d only meant to warn a young Alazne about the hidden dangers of the world, but the memories kept coming back to haunt her.
Break the mirror…
She didn’t want to. The mirror, her only possible escape home, could not be broken. She repeated this in her mind over and over again, but the birds cackled and the pain came back to her again.
Her shaking hand grabbed the mirror. She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to let go of the one possible hope she had to escape this nightmare, but then the beaks came again and she screamed.
She dropped the mirror, shattering it.
Then she awoke.

It was the second time in the last-probably 48 hours?- that she’d fallen unconscious.
But this time, she awoke in a very different setting.
She awoke to the peaceful crackle of a fire, sparks flying for a second before settling to ashes, the faint flicker of light burning out. For a second, the crackle of fire morphed into the screams of a canary, and she felt it picking, biting-
But then another figure entered the room.
It was only then that Alazne’s eyes opened to explore the room around her. Walls of darkly stained wood lined the small room, the knots and grains of the original tree still visible. The room was fairly plain, only a fireplace and mantle decorating one wall while her and the couch she lay on resided by another. Generic paintings and a clock that seemed to be moving backwards surrounded the area by the mantle.
Alazne looked up to see another girl enter the room, one with inky black hair that trailed down to her shoulders. If Alazne still contained color, their eyes would be the exact same shade of honey brown.
And it wasn’t only their eyes and hair that looked the same.
The girl, in a red dress that was still very much the vibrant colors, stared back at the mirror image of herself.
Alazne stared back, barely listening to the next words that came out of the girl’s mouth.
“My name’s Anara, and we need to talk.”

Fears. Past. Dreams.
Magic.
Anara, the young version of her mother, explained everything to her. Losing color, precious color, and feeling. And where she was, and everything that was happening.
It was all magic.
Alazne had been transported back to the Mirror Realm, the territory that her mother ruled. One version of her mother. Anara.
In order for Alazne to understand everything, she was forced to understand her mother’s past. Anara had been born in the Mirror Realm and was not, in any way, related to the Queen before her, the Queen of Hearts. However, after the former Queen’s death, Anara had been taken in and became the Queen of Broken Hearts, using her abilities to remove heartache from the people around her. But she’d lost control of her abilities after a few years of her reign, removing all feeling and color from the Mirror Realm. Now the world drains feeling from all inhabitants, excepting the Queen herself.
Then it was time to explain how Alazne had gotten there. After being exiled as Queen, Anara stayed in the human world and gave birth to Alazne there, aging as a regular human. However, all Mirrored Souls have one version of themselves in the human world and one in the Mirror Realm, where they age much more slowly.
And so Anara and Alazne were the same age, and life would continue as normal back in the human world. However, once Alazne returned home, her mind would be in the human realm.
If Alazne was to return, she would have to regain her feeling and conquer whatever abilities she had gotten as a Mirrored Soul.
“Fears.” Alazne looked up at Anara as the Mirrored Soul spoke. “Your ability involves fears. Those canaries?”
Alazne furrowed her brow. “The canaries in my dream?” She said the words as if it didn’t bother her at all, but the instance still haunted her.
Anara laughed. “Dream? Dreams are real life here. I’m afraid those canaries actually did attack you.”
Alazne shuddered, horrified.
“So all you have to do is get rid of your fears. Kill a canary. Remember, dreams are real life and real life are dreams, so kill a canary in your dreams and you’ll reawaken back in the human realm.”
Suddenly, it didn’t sound all that bad. All she had to do was fall asleep, and if she really was destined to be the future Queen of Fears, wouldn’t it be easy to complete this? Alazne shrugged. “Alright. So… we just wait for sleep?”
・・・
Sleep came, but not easily. He crawled in the corners of her vision, blacking out spots. Finally, he submerged her in a world of colors, vividly painted dreams that placed her back in the forest.
It was very much the same as before.
The birds screamed and the trees groaned, calling for canaries to be about her.
Alazne sat up, still numb and paralyzed to the ground.
The birds swooped down and bit her. She screamed but grasped the jagged rocks by her, hurtling the stones at them with the last bit of energy she had in her.
Birds fell, but they didn’t die.
Once again, Alazne faded to black.
This time, her eyes opened sooner than before. Anara sat beside her, glaring at Alazne as if the canaries had been her fault.
“Don’t overestimate yourself.” Anara swung her legs over the couch armrest.
Alazne rolled her eyes in annoyance. “You say that as if it’s my complete and utter fault.”
The mirror image of her smirked. “I mean, it kind of is.”
“So what do you say we do?”

It had been another twelve hours. Alazne watched as Anara slept on the rug, buried deep into a world of dreams. Sleep was upon her too, but she feared it.
This was it. If they managed to kill a canary, Alazne would return home, and if all went right, Anara would continue to reside in the Mirror Realm.
Alazne sighed, leaning her head back on the armrest before letting sleep consume her.
・・・
It was darker than the nights before. The moon stood still and silent, as if preparing to watch the event unfold. The foliage seemed thicker and more covering, trees like pillars.
Alazne wasn’t paralyzed that time. Perhaps just the comfort of having Anara with her as well changed things, but it was more likely that the Queen of Broken Hearts had worked some of her magic. Alazne turned to her right, seeing Anara perched on the rock she had once been paralyzed against. The girl swung her legs as if Alazne wasn’t about to relive one of her greatest nightmares.
“Considering this is your dream, I’m going to assume that I may have to battle a fear of my own,” Anara said. Her voice was an oddity against the silence.
“Which is?”
Anara shrugged. “Nothing to worry about. I don’t have too many fears.”
That wasn’t all that comforting.
And then came the screeches.
Canaries, dozens of flocks, rained down from the skies. Their black wings flapped against the sky like a canvas, filling the once silence with unbearable noise.
Like twin souls, the two girls stood up, both clutching jagged rocks in their hands.
Anara turned to the other, smiling sadly. “Good luck.”
Then the birds charged.
・・・
Alazne stumbled through the clearing, gray blood seeping from her arm. She gasped in pain as she lifted up said arm to defend against an oncoming canary. Her eyes darted to Anara, who met her gaze and recognized her pain. Suddenly, a rush of numbness flooded Alazne and she made use of the rock in her hand.
Three birds had fallen, all by Anara’s hand.
Alazne’s hands were raw and scraped from clutching the rock so tightly. She ran after the canary, a new fury ripping through her.
The bird turned.
Alazne slowed, recognizing the canary as the one who had reminded her of her mother’s song, the one who told her to let go of any hope she had to escape the Mirror Realm.

At dawn, at dawn
The canary-

She struck.
The moment that the rock touched the bird, the world shattered into a million pieces. Alazne turned, seeing Anara’s sad smile once more before everything went dark.
The only noise was the faint beat of a canary’s wings.
Heartbeat.

Word War w/Kit
3/31/2025
257 words

dear santa, for christmas, i’d like a peaceful life for a change. there is a lot that goes on in my life and i think i deserve a break. after all, after 3 car crashes, an fiance dead, and my heart broekn again by another careless man, doens’t i deserve something nice? a paceful nice would be nice, one with minimal dramaa and has everything i need.

of course, a peaceful life means a nice house. i know there’s a really nice one on the outskitrts of downtown, one with a big front porch and swing set and everything. it’s the one with the baby blue roof and the floor to ceiling windows in the back. it’s got a garden and everything. i’m sure one of your elves can help you find it.

a peaceful life also means a good job. afer i got fired from mcdonalds, i need something to fund all of my shopping spreees. you wouldn’t want me to be upset would you? there is a lot that is at stake here and i’m sure that there is a lot of damaage that a law suit could do… i mean, i don’t want to push, but that’s just something that someoneone liek me deserves, is it not? don’t you agree that i deserve something nice for a change? there is a lot at stake here and we wouldn’t want my heart to be broken again. at lsat i don’t want it to be. there is much that can be resovled if only i had a peace

weekly!! 2613 words!! no formatting because i am dead sobs


The MAIN CHARACTER is standing in a vast blank plain. Everything is painted in soft grays and whites, and the MAIN CHARACTER is the only sign of life. They are faceless and vaguely humanoid, quietly waiting for their first prompt.
Something falls from the sky and lands at their feet, and they move for the first time in their life, bending to pick it up. It’s a folded paper, with the words “Get out of your comfort zone!” typed on it in stark black ink.
Better to get the worst over with first. The MAIN CHARACTER resolves to decide on an identity, although it’s certainly more comfortable being a faceless nonentity. Being an individual means standing out.
So what are they going to be like, anyway? Bold and fearless? A rebel? Perhaps cold and distant, or even a babbling coward, although there aren’t many of those in the protagonist business, admittedly. Oh, well. Anything to be unique, right?
Somehow, though, none of those options seem right. The MAIN CHARACTER wants to be different, but not in that sense. They don’t want to start fires (or rebellions). They don’t want to push loved ones away, and they certainly don’t want to be a complete chicken. (Too many KFCs out there for comfort.) So maybe they’ll be something new. Maybe they’ll be an ordinary person.
***
The MAIN CHARACTER runs a hand over their head, and copper-colored waves sprout and fall in softly rippling waves to their shoulders. As they move, their body takes on a much more feminine silhouette, and clothing appears – jeans and a green shirt with a denim jacket and white sneakers, as well as mismatched pink and orange socks. Finally, they reach up and take the smooth white mask off their face, revealing tanned skin, full pink lips, and a dash of freckles across their nose. Dark lashes fan out across her cheeks, and when she opens her eyes they’re revealed to be a bright hazel, sprinkled with gold specks. On top of it all, she wears a silver necklace and tiny, sparkly studs.
It’s no fun to be completely ordinary, though. Despite her mundane appearance, the MAIN CHARACTER fully intends to have some personality quirks to spice things up a little. In fact…she swaps out the studs for cat-shaped earrings instead, and adds a celtic knot charm to the necklace. As a final touch, she turns her nails and a stripe of her hair neon pink, because why not? If she has to flesh out her own appearance and personality, she may as well do it to her liking.
***
The MAIN CHARACTER returns to her standing position, waiting for something else to happen.
And waits, and waits, and waits. She wants her character to be patient, but this endless idling is wearing on her nerves. The MAIN CHARACTER wishes she could go back to nonexistence; it’s much easier to stand around doing nothing when there’s nothing to do and no thoughts going through your mind.
Finally, another folded paper flutters down, a scrap of thought born from an author’s mind.
“Write about your character struggling to let something go,” it says.
Before she can protest, reality bends and curves, and the light is so bright she has to close her eyes…
She is standing on a grassy hill at sunset, something clenched in her palm. A dagger.
Her breath comes in short, quick gasps. She has been running for so long. And now no one can catch her, it’s all hers.
Her fingers wrap tighter around the hilt as she raises it, her face reflected in its bright, gleaming blade. She will bleed for this, but for every drop of blood she spills, a river will flow from her enemies. She blocks out the intrusive thoughts, that they were not always her enemies – that she could still make peace, if she chose. She does not choose.
She inhales, closes her eyes, lifts the blade
And lifts the blade
And lifts the
Lifts the blade
The blade
She cannot do it.
The dagger falls from nerveless fingers as she curls up on herself, and sobs.
***
The MAIN CHARACTER returns to her empty plain, the traces of tears still on her cheeks. Is that how it feels to be a protagonist? If so, she’s not so sure she wants this anymore. It felt so hard, all the emotions, all the pain.
But she can’t stop now, the paper is already descending again…
“Make an everyday object take on magical properties!”
This time, reality doesn’t fold in on itself. Instead, something else drops from the void: a shoe. To be specific, a slightly dirty white running sneaker, size seven.
She picks up the shoe and examines it. A twitch under her fingers warns her of what’s coming, and she’s not completely taken aback when the laces squirm and writhe into the semblance of a face.
“Hello,” the shoe says, its voice slightly – she isn’t entirely sure how to describe it – squirmy, or maybe wriggly, as though it didn’t quite exist and was struggling to escape from reality’s ruthless execution.
The MAIN CHARACTER stared at it, turning it over in her hand.
The shoe – shoelaces? opens its mouth to speak again, but before it can it vanishes, with a quick, eye-bending twist. How odd.
***
The MAIN CHARACTER has hardly had time to recover from the shoe when the world screeches to a halt and flips over on itself. This time, though, she knows what to expect. Kind of.
She lands on all fours in what appears to be a marketplace, bustling with color and sound. Beside her is a chicken – one carrying a sword in its beak.
“We’ve got to get the golden egg,” it clucks, narrowing beady eyes at her. “Be quiet.”
Well, okay then. She rises to a crouch, wondering what else will happen.
The chicken nudges her with its beak. “Well? Go on, cause a distraction!”
Unsure of how she’s going to do that, the MAIN CHARACTER stands.
It really isn’t that hard, after all. Every soul in the marketplace turns to her, beaks twisting downwards, sharp swords gleaming.
Oh, yes. Every single one of them is a chicken with a sword.
“ATTACK! NO HUMANS ALLOWED!” they squawk, and run after her.
The slightly more friendly chicken runs off in the commotion, presumably to fetch the egg. The MAIN CHARACTER is too busy fending off fowl to care.
***
The MAIN CHARACTER tumbles back into the empty plain, panting. Light scratches line her hands and face, although they vanish as soon as she notices them.
Perhaps a correction should be made. The plain used to be empty. Now it’s covered in snow. No, paper. Heaps and mounds of folded white paper scraps, each, she is sure, with another prompt. She unfolds the nearest one and reads: “Write about a chicken with a sword!” Another says “Write about the day your character dies!”
Okay, where are these coming from, seriously!? There’s got to be an explanation for all of these ideas drifting around. Why are they floating from the sky, who’s sending them, and most important, why is it about her? Aren’t there any other MAIN CHARACTERS who can shoulder some of the burden and be attacked by chickens with swords instead?
The MAIN CHARACTER pillows her face in her hands, wishing she understood.
***
It’s been what feels like hours, although the MAIN CHARACTER, being out of a story at present, has no way of telling. She’s read through hundreds of the paper slips, and still doesn’t know what’s going on. There’s just no reason for there to be so many ideas lying around, discarded, waiting for her to find them.
Lying around…
Discarded…
The MAIN CHARACTER slowly reaches for another piece of paper and reads it.
“Write about a frying pan flirting with a soup pot!”
As a MAIN CHARACTER, she knows an awful lot about stories, and neither frying pans nor soup pots tend to feature too heavily in them.
These aren’t real ideas, then. Just idle thoughts, silly doodles.
She isn’t a real MAIN CHARACTER, either.
This is an idea graveyard, and she is its puppet. Its ghost.
***
The MAIN CHARACTER is exhausted. She’s read all of the ideas. She’s even been sucked into a few. And all she can conclude is that she is useless.
She wants something, although what, she isn't sure. She needs something.
And all she has are mounds of dead ideas.
She’s got to go beyond, leave all she loves behind, if she ever wants a shot at being a real protagonist. A real MAIN CHARACTER. But if she leaves, how can she ever say goodbye to everything she’s ever known? Will she lose herself between the life she knows here, and what’s out there beyond?
Taking a deep breath, the MAIN CHARACTER closes her eyes and counts to ten. Calm. She must be calm.
She can break free. She will. She must. Her story is at stake.
She reaches into the fabric of reality – not with her hands, but with something else, something she can’t see – and pulls.
Something tears, and then she can feel nothing.
***
She is floating in nonexistence. Colors flash and pulse before dimming, snatches of sound boom and echo, then fade. A pair of beautiful brown eyes open and then are whisked away, but a faint aura of pink stains the area where they were.
The MAIN CHARACTER has never been this lost in her life.
She drifts aimlessly, wondering what the purpose of this place is, or even if it has one. There doesn’t seem to be much here, or rather, not much that makes sense. Everything is constantly shifting and changing, a kaleidoscope of color, sound, and something else she can’t quite lay her finger on.
A scrap of paper floats by her; she snatches at it, glad for something, anything that feels familiar.
“I wish I knew what to do.”
Another bumps into her leg, and she reads that one as well.
“WHAT LOL”
Now there are more, and more, coming so thick and fast she can’t finish reading one before ten more have arrived.
“Does he know?”
“No way haha”
“I’m running out of time”
“GAH I KNEW I FORGOT SOMETHING”
“This is so hard”
“Where?”
“I know I act immature, it’s just more fun than being serious”
“It’s not fair”
“Am I just fantasizing?”
“What if I made up a character that I could do anything with? A blank slate I could use for whatever I wanted.”
The MAIN CHARACTER drops the final paper, and suddenly everything looks different.
Thoughts. These are thoughts. All those papers dropping into her realm are just a tiny fragment of what’s out here.
She’s not useless. Not a puppet or a ghost. She’s an escape from reality, a quiet place her creator can dive into to play with silly or useless thoughts until it’s time to go back to the real world.
She is a haven. A safe place.
***
The MAIN CHARACTER returns to her plain, sitting on a heap of paper and thinking.
These papers hold her life in their hands, and idly she flips one over.
“Write about your character being executed!”
Wait, what?
But before she can fold it again, she’s been drawn into the story.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”
She is kneeling on the ground, in chains.
“YOU HAVE DESTROYED US.”
“WE WERE FINE, BEFORE YOU CAME.”
“WE DON’T WANT YOU HERE.”
“WE NEVER DID.”
Metal scrapes against her skin, cold and rough with rust. She is gasping for breath, crying so hard she can’t see, knowing there is no escape for her, not this time.
She is motionless for a long time after returning to her plain.
Some ideas are not perfect.
Some ideas deserve to be thrown away.
She ponders this idea, that the author messes up sometimes, for a long time.
***
The author apparently isn’t too happy about that, because when the MAIN CHARACTER opens her eyes she finds herself in a circle of burning swords.
{ Why don’t you trust me? }
The MAIN CHARACTER is silent, curled in on herself.
{ All the misery you’ve put yourself through. All the pain. It didn’t have to be that way, if you would just listen. }
This isn’t making sense. Of course the MAIN CHARACTER was miserable – she’d been through so many things that didn’t make sense, and gotten no answers for her trouble. She’d been reassured that she was important, and then thrown into danger again. Now if she so much as moved, she would be cut and burned. It wasn’t fair. None of it was fair.
{ It can’t hurt you. }
Of course it can. Those flames are hot. Those blades are sharp. It is vividly real – else why would she be able to taste ash on her tongue, feel her skin sizzle?
{ It’s not. It’s just made up. You think it’s real because you think it’s real. }
This is pointless nonsense.
There is silence.
{ I know you don’t get it, } the author says more gently.
No, she doesn’t.
{ That’s okay. You’ll understand some day. }
The circle of flaming swords is gone, and she is back home.
***
The MAIN CHARACTER sits in her vast plain of empty white emptiness and contemplates nothing at all. She must do something or she will go mad but what she will do she does not know.
Maybe she can escape into the author’s mind again, and get some really true answers, instead of vague half-notions and mysterious senses of contentment. It’s already worn off, and now she needs more. She’s not satisfied with what she has. Closing her eyes, she prepares to reach out into the world beyond, only to hit a wall. Gasping, she opens her eyes again.
Nothing. She’s not floating in nonexistence. She’s just sitting there.
She tries again, with no better results. The MAIN CHARACTER feels so tired and drained, despite not succeeding. Why isn’t it working? Sure, she’s been through a lot, but it felt so easy and simple the first time. She tries again and waits for reality to tear, but once more, nothing happens. She stares at nothing, wondering where she went wrong.
The author must be actively blocking her. She shoves with all of her will – surely she can overcome this obstacle! But in the end, she has to give up, shaking.
It’s too hard. She can’t do it.
***
If only there was something she could use to break down the author’s will. The MAIN CHARACTER begins fiddling with some paper scraps. She’s not sure what she’s doing yet, but surely there must be a way to use these ideas to break through, a way she just has to find…
Slowly, her invention comes together: a massive contraption made from ideas, twisted into cogs and gears and wheels and wires. It sits there, enormous and silent, waiting to be used. The MAIN CHARACTER pushes it forwards, to the nearest boundary of her little world, and waits.
It does nothing. Did she do something wrong?
She kicks and stomps on it, breaks off pieces and rebuilds them, and finally it begins tearing into reality and into the world beyond.
And stops.
The MAIN CHARACTER rests her forehead against a gear as big as she is.
It’s no use. She can’t defeat the author.
A scrap of paper flutters from above, and she opens it.
“It’s okay. You can rest now. You don’t need to fight me. Because from the very beginning, I’ve been rooting for you.”
The MAIN CHARACTER closes her eyes and stands straight, a featureless humanoid figure in a vast empty plain.
A piece of paper falls from the void above.

unedited 1k intro, don't judge me smh
3/31/2025
1002 words

done in 12 minutes

hi!! i am so exctied for this session of swc and my name is eevee! in case you ahvent’ seen my around, i am a little silly girl who lives in est and does a ton of things!! i am also attempting to get a 1k intero done in 10 minutes, so let’s see hoq quickly my word per minute gets me, shall we? i guess i can start off wtih a little bit about me and my swc hsitory.

i started swc back in march 2021. yeah that’s wayy long back. i am old. odler than i think all of the current hosts? wait no, i am wrong. robin is even older i beleive. i mean older as in how long we’ve been in swc. and with that aside, i was in horror during that session. now me, i am a cabingo participatnt. meaning that i don’t want to be in the same cabin twice. this is a lot less relavant nowadays as cabins come and go as they please, but back in the day, we had the same cabins everyr session with minimal changes. that is very much not hte case anymore. aside from horror, which i was a backup camper in, i have also been in sci-fi november 2021, which we won, march 2022, which was the first time i was a coleader, july 22, where i was in realfi, and then i skipped for a few sessions until back in july ‘23, i was in poetry. from there, i was not in swc again until this little time called march ‘24, when i got accepted as leader for fantasy and it was the most magical session ever and i loved it so much. if anyone is thinking about leading or coleaing in swc here is your gohead that you should 100% try it out it is an amazing experience. of course, it isn’t for everybody and you are still an iconic and relavant member of swc either way. like guys, the campers make it work. without the campers, we wouldn’t have swc and i am so glad you guys are all here. and from then on, march ‘24 that is, i have been in every session since! i was in bi-fi in july, and then in magreal in november, when we won!! now i am hoping that i can also win this session, but i won’t get my hopes up too high.

aside from being a camper, and co and leader each once, i have also helped out a lot behind the scenes! i have now been helping out with the daily team as a poalr bear cub for about a year! starting in the july session of 2024 until present day. during that time i have helped write both dailies and weekly parts, as well as write two workshops and help out with the graphic design in the latest project weekly! it is always so much fun to see the dailies and weeklies come to life and to see just what we are able to do with prompts. there have been some really fun dailies.

and in addtion to being a daily team member, i have been so grateful to be part of the memory book committee even longer. i was part of it in twosessions, march and july ‘22, but that was before the rules got a little sticter on who could and couldn’t be in the mbc. and once i joined the leader team again in march ‘24, i rejoined and have been part of it every session since. it’s just a chaotic wonderful grup and i love geing able to try to capture the highlights and the best parts of a session within a memory book. it’s like i’m a yearbook photogrpahyer, but i don’t need any skills, just screetshot and put it in! of course, tehre is much more to a memroy book comittee memeber than that, but that’s what i’ll leave it as.

and some other ntoabel thigns about me includ ethat i am obsessed with marvel and everything relating to it. or not everyting i should say. i have my specific caveats within it and i liketo stay in there, but if it spills out a bit, then i go looking and then i just grow my interests, you know. my main expertise within the mcu or just marvel in general, as i have started to wander into the expanse valley of omics, is primarily natasha romanoff and clint barton, also known as black widow and hawkeye. they are my faovirtes ever and i love them so much, in either a platonic or romantic relationship. but they have such a soulmate like bond and i adore them.

in a similar dynamic to them, i also love philip coulson and melinda may, characters of agents of shield, and you may have head of agent coulson? phil? yeah he has a cellist and spier alert, stuff hapens to him, but guess what!! the story continues!!

(oop time is up, but i’m close pfft- 2 more minutes?)

and i love them so much!! their dynamic is similar to clintasha and i love philinda so much, they are such marrried couple/platonic life partner vibes and i adore it. like they have a lot to work out, but they’re still amaizng and great and care so much about each other?? liek what doesn’t sound good about that.

i have gound that i resonate with melinda may more than natasha romanoff and that was an interesting revelation. in case you don’t know me, or as well in the fandom area of things, i was obsessed with natasha romanoff for nearly all of 2024, and a bit of 2023 and that spread into 2025… it’s been more philinda as of 2025, but natasha is cmooing back and yes i am going to have to brush up on my russian as my obsession comes back. probably not in full force, but russian is something that i am learning!!

⋆ WEEKLY #4: swcaboose (project weekly!) ⋆
total words: 3182

prompt one: bizarre/unexpected scenario
for mira, it started at the grocery store. she hadn’t even wanted to be there, instead wishing to be lying on her bed cuddled up with a good book - but at last she had to be a responsible adult and go handle her least favorite chore. at least today, her list wasn’t very long: eggs, milk, vegetables, the basics. this would be easy, right?
wrong.
while picking out the best potatoes for her dinner that night, mira hears an eardrum-shattering scream come from somewhere ridiculously close. immediately she jumps, fearing the worst. her first instinct is to abandon everything and sprint to the nearest exit - clearly, many of the shoppers around her thought the exact same thing. she follows the crowd and makes it outside nice and safe… but where to go from there? along with the bright sunlight, she’s hit with a wave of confusion as to why everyone was craning their necks and eyeing the store with equal expressions of fear and shock. they should be running, if there were real danger.
curiosity gets the better of her. she turns, and her mouth drops too. (so, that’s why everyone’s. still.)
aliens shouldn’t be real, and yet there was a very solid ufo hovering above the quaint community store. shame, there was a cornfield just down the road. mira would’ve thought herself to be insane, but surely 50 people couldn’t all have the same hallucination. so, there was that.

prompt two: dangerous scenario
the mysterious aircraft whirs and spins extremely fast. it looks exactly as a stereotypical ufo would, which was quite peculiar - how was it that humankind had come up with something supposedly off the rails fantasy, and it ended up to be uncannily real?
mira glances nervously at the woman next to her, chewing her lip.
“should we… do something?” she asks nervously.
“what is there to do?” the woman responds, unfortunately with lots of reason.
“i don’t know, this just seems like the kind of happening in an action movie where the bad guys are defeated through the power of friendship… what if– “
she’s cut off mid quote as an explosion sounds. she winces, as does everyone, when the fiery blast rises into the air from the back of the store. bad time to be inside… even from here, the heat can be felt and the light burns her eyes.
guilt grips her: what if not everyone had made it out? extremely likely. the poor store was on fire now, tall flames licking the clouds.
chatter runs among the crowd. echoes of “call 911!” with responses of “do you think we’re stupid? they’ve been called a good long while ago and the dumbahh officials still won’t show up.”

prompt three: learning something unexpected
a thought suddenly occurs: the fire had happened a little too spontaneously. it could have been the result of a human threat or, likely, the aliens. speaking of, no one knew what the aliens were up to, and no one had caught a glimpse of them yet. crossing her fingers, mira manifests that maybe some really good engineers had built the ship and were flying it now as a prank.
(or, wouldn’t it be funny if the aliens were also exactly green blobjects with voided eyes?)
spoiler alert, they were. it’s today that everyone learns aliens and ufos are exactly as depicted on those cringy t-shirts and water bottles, which raises many questions*.
“good lord!” the same woman next to mira exclaims, as everyone watches the creature emerge from the front of the store. he’s pushing the shopping cart that she had abandoned, which felt like an extremely personal attack. “next up someone’s going to tell me that unicorns are real and they have sparkly rainbow manes.” she promptly faints.
right now would be a really good time for an ambulance to show up.
(*were cartoonists just that lucky? it must’ve been a one in a million, no, much larger than that chance to perfectly guess what aliens looked like, especially when being unsure of their existence. were they psychic? or had a person actually interacted with an alien before this grocery store incident, and gone back to their sketchbook to inconspicuously start a marketing scheme.)

prompt four: messages from an unknown person
mira’s phone rings. she goes to pick it up and check the messages, before it occurs to her that her ringer is never on and that her phone’s been silenced since the day she got it, so that was odd. but again, nothing around her right now was as it should be and it wasn’t really worth being surprised.
she begins to weigh if it really was an appropriate time to be checking messages now or not. considering all of the chaos happening at the moment the answer was likely a no, but it couldn’t hurt. maybe her friend wanted to tell her of something crazy she’d seen on tv, and mira could surprise her with a nice aesthetic photo of the melting storefront in front of her. a little something to keep herself sane.
unfortunately, it’s a text from a number she’s never seen before. it has some letters mixed in too, and random symbols, which didn’t seem programmatically possible.
it reads, gleep glorp. it didn’t take a genius to figure out who the sender was.

prompt five: everyday object gets magical properties
at that moment, everyone else’s phone starts to go off, too. it actually sounded quite nice, with the harmonizing rings echoing through the air one after another. mira watches closely as everyone opens their phones, all her questions answered as confused faces steadily rise up. cool, so they were hacking everyone’s phone now.
just to check, she turns to the middle aged man next to her. “what is it?” she asks, pretending not to already know.
“it…” he rubs his forehead tiredly. “it just says, gleep glorp. what the hel does that mean?”
“don’t worry, i’ve got the same thing. so did everyone, i think.” she sighs.
a crazy idea occurs to her. google translate has just added new languages, right? she puts the two words into the funky detect language filter and crosses her fingers.
it comes out on the other side as, “greetings citizens of earth, we have made our landing. prepare to be absolutely cooked.” mira bites her lip. either the aliens knew modern slang or they had a system of their own. she’s about to read the translation aloud to the closest person, but her phone is lifted into the air in a cloud of sparkly purple dust, zeoming away at supersonic speeds.
that’s sad, she’d paid a lot of money for that.

prompt six: perfect is actually flawed
the same man looks at her with disbelief. “um, what caused that?”
“i, uh, put the text message through google translate,” mira admitted, still watching her phone zoom straight towards the spaceship.
“that sounds stupid.” awkward silence. “well… did it work?”
“yeah, actually,” mira bit back, feeling the need to defend herself.
the man looks eager now. “did you… catch what it said?”
“yes. it was, and i quote considering the translator was accurate to some degree, ‘greetings citizens of earth, we have made our landing. prepare to be absolutely cooked.’”
“interesting.”
they both nod. clearly, she hadn’t been meant to see that and her phone had paid the price. that was really disappointing, she’d thought that the iphone 16 had included an anti-alien feature or something but clearly there were things left for the company to work on.

prompt seven: song
“so, what do you think we can do with that information?” she asks, cringing at how professional that sounded. she hadn’t meant to come off as stuck-up. “i mean, it was pretty vague and confirmed all of our fears anyways.”
“yeah, to be honest that wasn’t useful at all. nothing to warrant your phone being snatched away like that, anyways. i think the aliens were being dramatic.” the man - mira really needed to stop calling him that.
“what’s your name?” she pops, a little too randomly. “i’m mira.”
“eric. nice to meet you.” they shake hands, both palms awkwardly sweating from the heat of the summer and also the heat of the really big fireplace in the background.
he pulls his phone out again, and even though she doesn’t mean to snoop mira notices that he deletes the alien message. that sounded like a smart idea, and really it was what she should have done herself without even opening the message. she was still salty about the coincidences that had given.
however, a song immediately starts to blare from his speakers. the lyrics go something like this:
you’re all going to die! / you’re all going to die! / you’re all going to die!
who didn’t appreciate a bit of subtle foreshadowing?
her poor buddy eric slams his phone onto the ground. “dang it, i just wanted to go and buy some milk for my kids. i don’t have the salary for this kind of nonsense.”

prompt eight: changed appearance
not really knowing what to do, mira gives him a pat on the back. “it’s… alright. yeah, it’s alright, or you know, it will be eventually? maybe we’ll all wake up now and realize this was a silly fever dream and we can get back to day-to-day life without considering the costs of serious therapy…” she laughs nervously.
“someone needs to do something about this. this is nonsense.” she mutters under her breath. no one had shown up yet and there weren’t even the sounds of sirens in the distance. “hey eric, do you think i could borrow your car for a moment? and maybe your license?”
he just nods. there was much more to worry about than the possibility of not getting his honda civic back. plus, whatever mira was about to do, he didn’t really feel like being involved. “car’s over there.”
mira studies his face for a moment, then runs to the vehicle. they both had brown hair and blue eyes, so that was great. she shoves it into a bun real quick and then hides it under a hat that was conveniently sitting in the backseat. next, she puts on a blue paper face mask to maybe hide the fact that she lacked a beard. she feels insane which is maybe a payback for never having gotten her license.
fantastic, now it was time to go knocking on the door of the fire station. or, at least steal their hose.

prompt nine: overestimating abilities
driving couldn’t be as hard as everyone made it out to be, right? after all, people did it all the time. the highways were always crowded. it was impossible to cross the street at times because of the consistent flood of cars. if everyone else were able to drive so effortlessly, then mira thought that she would be able to, too. there was gas, a break, the steering wheel, and not much else really needed to be known.
she figures out which pedal is the go pedal pretty quickly, thanks to the crash course her father had given her at 16 (and then she’d decided going through all of those stressful driving tests was pointless). she successfully gets the car out of the parking lot well enough, which should be a special accomplishment all on it’s own since there were so many people standing around and others running in circles like a deranged cartoon character.
she realizes how fast she’s going when she’s halfway down the road, the one marked with a ‘speed limit 30’ sign. so… how did one slow down?
her mind blanks and she slaps a random pedal. it does nothing, thankfully. she presses the only other one left, and it slams the poor car against asphalt, sliding equally as fast.
maybe it would have been more pleasant to die back at the alien situation. (to be honest, what was she doing? she didn’t even know where the fire station was).

prompt ten: struggling to let something go
(mira)culously, mira does end up finding the station eventually through the power of higher beings and also google maps (disclaimer: this weekly isn’t google sponsored). she thinks that her ankle might be sprained, but honestly that was a problem for some time later, like tomorrow. it would be find, she’d only broken the same ankle like five times prior which, from her judgement, made it all the more injury-resistant (right?)
she’d like to say she ran up to that door like a hero, but more accurately she limps and knocks and then waits there like a loser. at one point she begins to think, did the aliens do something to the servicemen of the neighborhood? was this another tactic through which the world would end up colonized by aliens? maybe right now, the president of the united states was being kept in a cellar.
a frazzled fireman eventually does answer, though, frowning. “what did you need? sorry, we don’t get visitors very often. y’know, calm neighborhood and all.” he chuckles.
“sir, there is a fire at the local supermarket, someone might be dead, and also there’s a ufo hovering over the entire scene.” mira deadpans.
he looks over to her ankle (actually, her entire leg might be broken), the car behind her, and the shredded blue face mask.
“are you feeling okay? maybe we should get you an ambulance or something, i know it’s been hot out–”
“i have photo evidence,” she cuts in, pulling out her phone. the fire man looks at the images, expression shifting. “did you not receive any calls at all? we’ve been spamming 911.”
the aliens were probably interfering with phone lines too, then. “right, i’ll come.” he answers nervously. “you’re not fit for driving though, maybe you should ride in the truck with us.”
normally, mira would be excited about that but she feels guilty leaving the car that wasn’t hers behind. it felt awful to break eric’s trust like that.
“car’ll be fine. we’ll get it back to you later.”

prompt eleven: out of the comfort zone
the nice fireman gets his team together, plus one spectacular mira, and they wheeee off into the direction of the grocery store parking lot at very high speeds (but much slower than her car had been going previously, for safety measures). the alarm blares obnoxiously and flashes like a doomsday disco, but the people who were still standing outside for some reason cheered so loud that it drowned the sirens out. upon arrival, the team just stands there and stares at the sight for a moment.
“crew, i’m not sure how to get rid of a spaceship but let’s put that fire out! also, call for backup because we’re probably gonna need it.”
mira can tell that he has good intentions, so she stops being mad that they hadn’t shown up far earlier. their communications really had been cut off, then. she hops down the ladder and runs over to eric.
“they said you’d get your car back, eventually,” she explains hurriedly, hoping he won’t be mad.
“i don’t care. you’re a hero! we finally have help!” he exclaims.
the crowd rushes around her, all cheering. she blushes at the attention, she’d never had so many eyes on her before… and yet, she feels undeserving of any of the praise. after all, it was just basic human decency she’d done. she needs to address them all, now.
“guys!!!!” she yells, wincing. the only thing she hated more than being the center of attention was having to talk to a bunch of people. “really, it’s not me you should be thanking! go thank the firemen! also, our job isn’t done yet, we need to figure out a way to defeat these aliens before they do something outrageous!!”
everyone roars in approval, showing thumbs-ups.

prompt twelve: new or unfamiliar technology
suddenly, a whirring sound comes from behind them, mixed in with the still ongoing crackle of flames. shouts come from inside the molten building (probably firefighters) and also outside (also firefighters). “it’s hopeless!” she could hear, “this fire’s got to be enchanted or something! where are the police?”
(mira begins to worry that calling them hadn’t worked either, but a handful of shiny black cars show up seconds later and she breathes a sigh of relief at not having to borrow another person’s car.)
as for the whirring… the crowd turns away from her, and instead gawks (there was a lot of staring involved that day) at the ufo still stationed above the building. it’s spinning even faster now, and there’s a beam of light shooting out from under it just as it did in the movies. except, instead of a cow, the poor fireman mira had been talking to is getting carried up. there was an alien’s arms reaching out to grab him and likely keep him captive on the ship.
“help!” she cries to the police that had just gotten out of their cars, pointing aggressively at the sight. “help him!” they stand there as dumbstruck as anyone else, which causes her to question their suitability for such a high action job. frustrated, she runs up to the storefront herself and climbs the only part of the brick wall that isn't on fire.
there’s a bunch of buttons on the bottom outer rim of the ship, and she could probably reach some of them on her tiptoes. she hopes for the best, doing just that.
the first button causes the spinning to slow. okay, progress.
the second one turns it rainbow, which was cool but unhelpful.
the third one ends the suction beam and sends the fireman crashing back to the ground.

prompt thirteen: working together
on one hand, that was great - the kind fireman was no longer in the clutches of a certain untrustworthy green species. on the other hand, the aforementioned species now looked at mira with inhuman (haha get it) outrage, hissing ominously. she was surely doomed. mira glances out at the crowd in the parking lot nervously.
“help!” she screams again. to her surprise, they all actually do come, in a wave towards her, shouting:
“we must defeat these aliens! this planet is rightfully ours and not theirs to take!”
the aliens hear this, and jump onto the ground with rage. of course, they are easily beaten by the equally angry mob and apparently aliens are weak and easily squashed. most of them are sent running back away.
luckily, one of the buttons she had pressed (likely the second) had turned off the enchantment on the fire in some way because there were now significantly less of them. mira takes this chance to sneak away and go check on the fireman. “stay with me!” she says, dragging him outside to where an ambulance was neatly parked. after she’s sure she didn’t kill him, she goes back to join the corporation of unfortunate grocery shoppers. there wasn’t much left to do - thanks to them, the aliens had mostly been dealt with and she’s able to breath her first sigh of relief what felt like a very long time.

she high fives eric, and they all watch the spaceship zoom away. news reporters would have lots to say tonight. (and to be quite frank, mira’s still hoping she’ll wake up soon. or at least receive a lifetime coupon for the store, that’d be nice too).

shoutout to:
amethyst for giving me the original extension :0
day long extension
writing gods for giving me motivation
warm cup of tea my mom made me
this reads like an awful cyoa

thank you notes

hosts – since you're the ones who keep this camp running, I'm starting with you guys!! Seriously, each and every one of you is so amazing and you've done so much for this community <3 I really appreciate the effort that goes into keeping this camp up, and you all deserve a gold star for your work this session

leaders – hi fellow (co)leaders! Just wanted to say I appreciate each and every one of you <3 Y'all's cabins were all so stunning my goodness :star-struck: I would have camped in every single one of them if I could haha (and I technically got to during that one daily so YAYY)

polar bears, polar bear cubs and quails – HI GUYS you're so cool aaa, y'all are so important to keeping this camp running!! without you things would be in shambles so thanks for everything you do <33 also please don't strike because then we get too silly so actually scratch that STRIKE ALL YOU WANT LET THE SILLINESS POUR IN!!

campers – hey guys! You're what keeps this camp alive, so thanks for campering with us this session I love seeing the sign-ups come pouring in, and knowing that y'all are the beating heart of SWC. Keep up the writing, the love, and especially the chaos

mystery cabin – YOO IT'S THE GATEKEEPERS!!! such coolness B) thanks for being an absolutely amazing cabin this session, I appreciate y'all so much. Good luck for the future, detectives. The case might be closing, but you'll always be needed out there. Go solve life's mysteries

Okay, on to the more personal notes! I am so sorry if I forgot anyone, my brain is only half functional at the moment :thumbs-up: these are in no particular order just whoever my mind plucks up out of the depths of my consciousness lol

alana
HI LOVE <3 the chaos this session was EXCEPTIONAL, thanks for joining in the shenanigans I love your mascot cookouts and silly descs, and I'm tired so this will be a short note but like thanks for everything you've done for SWC <3

sage
BESTIE WHERE CAN I START AAA being in the strike cabin with you was so much fun and like AAAA BEING LEADERS TOGETHER WAS SO SO COOL <3 You were juggling so much this session yet you still somehow managed to pull off a fantastic cabin and be an absolute icon :sparkles: you're so awesome, thanks for being my telepathy twin

mouse
MOUSEYYY thanks for being my accountability buddy, chaos partner, and fellow speedrunner!!! I wrote about half as many words as you did but next session I'll be up there with you trust I love our slightly unhinged conversations about eating cars and mayo on fries ahaha, the mayhem we bring is what fuels me to write for real. love ya <3

ris
you can't have my veins but you can have my heart /j /ref
all silliness aside (except not because I am eternally silly hehehe) I love every session I get to spend with you, you're such an icon :sparkles: I hope you have a really amazing wedding with My Little Pony and live happily ever after as Ris Pony aka Rizz hehehe

zy
THE TOES ARE MINE!
okay but like seriously SWC is that much more fun when you and I are making chaos together, not to mention beating you and Eevee on the trackbear was literally my only motivation some days (I think I lost that race but next time I'll be unstoppable >). Thanks for tolerating my tardigrade craze (kind of) and helping make the Cabin Wars Cabins as chaotic as possible :sparkles:

cat
CAT HI!! we didn't talk as often this session but you're so cool :cat-struck: illu-fi slayed this session frfr and the longer I write these notes the more unhinged they get (sorry TwT) but yeah keep up the good work and I hope to see you in many more sessions to come!!

luna
IT'S LUNA! you're such an icon whoa :0 talking with you in the main cabin was so much fun and yeah thanks for being cool :0 help I can't write long notes anymore because no brain cells left but I think you're totally awesome <3

blau
BLAU HIIIIIIIIIII <333
THANK YOU FOR BEING LIKE THE LITERAL BEST CO EVER???? YOU'RE SO COOL AND YOUR ART IS GORGEOUS I WAS SCREAMING OVER SOME OF THE GORGEOUS PIECES YOU DID FOR MYSTERY!!
I know it was probably a rockier session than you anticipated, but you were so helpful and kind and I absolutely could not have done it without you. Thank you so much for everything you did for our cabin, I'm going to miss you and I hope to see you again some day <3

yume
IT'S! YUME!
okay first of all THANK YOU FOR PUTTING ME ON TRACKBEAR <3 I hope I didn't pester you too badly with all of the word adding comments haha. Competition is a huge motivational factor for me and honestly I think being on the trackbear is what let me write so much this session; I wrote at least 7k more than I ever have during a session (I haven't added all of my words yet but yeah) which for me is a pretty big jump so yeah! thanks
second thanks for just being awesome! you really helped pull the sibling trio together and despite the eternal silly thumb it worked lol (ours might have been the silliest but I wouldn't bet on it I've seen some really silly sibling hangout thumbs before LOL) here's to another great session

eevee
HII okay you were SO helpful this session in reminding me to take care of myself because honestly that's something I struggle to balance with when I'm wrapped up in a goal. I loved all the little pick-me-up reminders you sent during the session and also competing against you and Zy in the trackbear was so much fun (even though I think I lost LOLL) you're so cool and I can't wait to see you around in the future :sparkles:

crim and vi
I SWEAR I will write each of you an individual thank you note the way you deserve one day but I have no brain power left sobs
anyways THANK YOU <3 I loved our chats even though I kept forgetting to reply (whoops sorry TwT) and critiquing your writing is always the highlight of my session also thanks for your critique on my piece because that was exactly what I needed to finish it off!! you guys are both so so cool and I'm so glad to know you <3

bea
hi <33 idk if you'll ever see this but thank you for being an awesome co, your work presession really helped pull the cabin together!! I'm so sorry you weren't able to see the month through, but we couldn't have done it without you and I hope you know that I really appreciate everything you've done for Mystery <3

Okay I didn't write very many this session because like I said no brain power but I love each and every one of you, if you didn't get one it probably means my brain spontaneously combusted which happens a lot but like anyway I love y'all <3 keep being awesome

Thank you everyone, I greatly enjoyed my first ever session here and can’t wait for the next!

weekly for myth! 2370 total words
each part is labeled in bold

“Hunter, we are not going into the bazaar. That place is practically an sensory overload puddle. And we'd probably end up losing Nico.”

Venica stood just outside the crowded, bustling marketplace, but her nose was already about to explode from the hundreds of scents and spices that were bombarding her. Vendors shouted from all angles as people haggled for deals and goods in the hot sun. Hunter, on the other hand, seemed perfectly content with it all and even little Nico was peering curiously into the streets from Venica's arms.

“Come on, it won't be that bad. We'll only stay for a little while. And besides,” Hunter said, lowering his voice, “The kid deserves to have a little bit of fun.” She supposed he was right about Nico, at least. They'd been running for weeks, trying to evade capture by the Emperor. They'd had no time to do anything exciting. He did deserve to have some excitement that wasn't possibly life threatening in some way. She sighed. “Fine. But only for a little bit. And Nico–please don't go jumping out of my arms and running off because you saw a cute puppy. We don't really want a repeat of that incident, okay?”
Out of their comfort zone
****

Dahlia was not entitled, but she had never much thought about what would happen if she had to flee from her home. She'd never even considered it as an option. She wasn't one to assume the worst, so the thought had never crossed her mind that one day she may be forced to run away from the palace where she had lived since her birth. And yet the day came much, much sooner than she would have liked.

She'd been whisked away the moment they had burst through the door, so she'd only caught a glimpse of the man who lead them. He was barely older than she was–nineteen, maybe?–with curly dark hair, and his eyes–how could she even describe them? They were ice blue, sharp and piercing, but they almost seemed fragile, like a glass window that would shatter from the smallest hit. They were self assured, but unsure. She would've been captivated if she hadn't been rushed out so quickly.

Oh, and if he wasn't trying to take over her kingdom.

She had ran through the tunnels leading to a small, rural village outside the castle. She vaguely remember being told what to do when she was young, but the knowledge had flown out of her mind the moment she dropped into the passageway, and instead she only ran, waiting to see the light shining through the trapdoor cracks of the exit. She ran, her shoes slapping against the hard stone. She ran, until finally, after a breathless eternity, she saw the ladder and climbed up.

****

Clothes were immediately thrust at her the moment she stepped out into the cottage. “Put these on, quickly.” someone said quietly, but firmly. “There's a seperate room over there. Take off all your jewelry.” Changing appearance

The last statement took Dahlia aback. All of her jewelry? “But–this necklace, it was my mother's. I can't just get rid of it. I have to keep it.” Struggling to let go

“Not if you want your life, you won't. Take it off. We don't have time for this.”

“What will happen to it?”

“It'll stay hidden here, girl, now get a move on! I don't much care about you, but I'd rather not be arrested!”

Dahlia flinched, but scurried off to the other room and changed into the commoner clothing. It was rough and scratchy, like it was made out of a sack, and it was plain and simple. Brown and gray. No color. Her hair was a stark contrast against it, but she supposed she had to take it down, too. She waited for a moment, admiring the intricately woven braids and bun, then reached up, and began to take it down until it was plain box braids. Simple, and plain. The difference a few minutes had made surprised her even more than the events of the day.

****

“ But it's so cold, and I don't know where
I brought you daffodils on a pretty string
But they won't flower like they did last spring ”


After leaving her necklace and gown behind, she had been dropped out into the street with a few coins, being told, “Find somewhere to stay for the night. There's an inn down the street or something.” And so, with nothing better to do, she set off towards the inn.

She un was setting once she finally found it. It was slightly run down and rickety, and it looked like it was older than the castle. The wooden door creaked noisily as she opened it and stepped inside.

The entire room smelled of drinks and slightly burnt food–pork, maybe? It smelled dirty but clean at the same time, and she couldn't quite put a finger on what else. All in all, it was not exactly a pleasant smell to hit you like a wall the second you step inside. There was a man standing at the front desk, looking bored. Dahlia came up to him. “I'd like a room, please.”

“Two coins,” he said listlessly, like he'd said it a hundred times before. Dahlia laid the coins on the desk. “Room seven.”

Room seven was a small, cramped room with only a bed, dirty mirror, and a small desk shoved in the corner like it had been a bit of an afterthought. What caught her eye, though, was a small slip of paper on the pillow.

She picked it up warily, all to farmiliar with dangerous strangers for the day, but she was certain this hadn't come from anyone she knew. This paper was folded sloppily, like it was done both by someone in a hurry and by someone who wasn't very good at folding. Inside, it read,

“Your kingdom is not what you think it is. Meet me in room thirteen tonight at nine PM. I promise I will explain there.” Good actually was flawed

Stranger danger and skepticism hit Dahlia like a punch in the face. Go into a stranger's room? Much less at night? She had never been k!dnapped, but this seemed pretty d@mn close to the stories she had heard as a child to warn her away from danger.

Still, what did they mean, her kingdom was not what it seemed?

Then, another paper floated onto the bead seemingly out of nowhere.

“They are doing it for your protection. Your father didn't tell you that you were going to be shipped off to marry an insufferable prince tomorrow, did he?”

Learning something unexpected, getting messages

“ Words, they always win, but I know I'll lose
And I'd sing a song that'd be just ours
But I sang 'em all to another heart
And I wanna cry, I wanna learn to love
But all my tears have been used up
On another love, another love
All my tears have been used up
On another love, another love
All my tears have been used up
On another love, another love
All my tears have been used up ” lyrics

****

Nine pm came quickly, much more quickly than she had expected, and Dahlia carefully made her way to room thirteen. The inn was quiet except for the muffled sounds of dished clanking quietly downstairs and the snores off the inn visitors. Shadows cast around the hallway eerily, making everything seem like it could come alive at any moment. Then, she reached the door, a shining thirteen on the front of the door. *Weren't all the other numbers tarnished and worn?*

She turned the handle to the room–it was the same as hers, but something about it seemed off. The could feel it, but not see it, and there was nobody in the room. She reached a hand into the room, and–why was it shimmering? It shined softly, like pink and blue glitter had been dusted on it, yet she felt nothing. She stuck her other hand out, and it changed, too. And, wait…was that the smell of caramel apples? She was certain there was something off about this room now, there was no way there wasn't. How else would there e the smell? And there was a certain feeling, too; one she couldn't quite place. It was joy, yes, and excitement, but other things, too. The strangest thing was that it didn't feel like a normal emotion. It seemed to come from her hands, almost as if the doorway was spreading it into her veins, almost as if it were flowing throughout her entire body, seeping into her mind and blanketing it in soft clouds. It was pleasant, but odd. She took a deep breath, then, and stepped in.

She was suddenly spinning. The world twirled around her, coloring blending into one mezermising mess, spinning, spinning, and spinning. Something tugged at her dress, then another thing scraped her skin. It was sharp and stung for a moment. Then, again, and again- what was it? It reminded her of a memory from when she was young, that feeling, that same sting, but she couldn't place it; the clouds still covered her mind, but not they were thicker and darker, threatening to rain and storm. She tried to turn her head, but only barely caught a glimpse of…thorns? Thorny vines covered the sides of the funnel where she fell. T she couldn't see the ground yet, but she had a feeling it was coming soon. If she landed from this height she would break something. He hands reached out, trying to grab at the vines, as she forced herself not to gasp and recoil and pull away when they scraped her palms. Finally, she grasped a sturdier vine, and she immidietly stopped plummeting. Her breath came in short, relieved gasps as her heart pounded from adrenaline. She stayed there for a moment before it dawned on her that she didn't quite know where she was. She was somewhere, that was certain. But this place was clearly not the inn room. What had happened to room numbe thirteen? Danger ✨✨

“Are you new here? We don't get many new people here. I'm Aci. What's your name?” a small voice chirped to Dahlia's left. Magical object

Her head spun around faster than she thought was even humanly possible. Sitting there on another vine, was a…

playing card? It certainly had a face, and seemed real, but it, of course, could not be. Maybe it was just a magic trick. There had to be someone else here, right?

“Don't worry! I'm real. I get that a lot with new people. Well, we don't have a lot of new people. But I get that a lot with the ones we do get. So what is your name?”

“It's– uh– Dahlia. Why – where am I? What is this place? Why was I falling? Wait – if I let go, would Ijust keep dropping? Or would I hit the ground? And…sorry if this is rude, but what exactly are you?”

“I'm a Cardsian, of course! My name's Aci. What, you've never heard of us before? Huh. Most new people have at least some knowledge of our world. And this place is Wunderland! You know the land from that old story? Wonderland? It's like that, but we'll, with a u. And if you drop…well, that depends!”

“It depends? What do you mean?”

“I know this sounds so cliche–trust me, I've tried to get it changed so many times. You would not believe how hard it is to even submit a suggestion form, and to get it considered? Let's just say it takes at least three glasses of purple blossom fizz to even get past that. Then, even after that–”

“Aci.”

“Oh! Sorry! Right, your possible impending doom. Welll…I just need to decide if you can pass! And you can!”

That took Dahlia by surprise. “That's it?”

“Well, I mean, I could make you do this while riddle trial thing but I thought I'd be nice. Where do you need to go, by the way?”

“Well, there's this person who sent me this message, and I've been trying to find them, so…”

Aci giggled. “Aaaaalright…one Spade Palace special, coming right up!”

****

Dahlia was falling for the second time in two hours.

She'd requested an audience with the ruler of the land, and a trapdoor had opened beneath her feet and dropped her in. And suddenly, she was in a maze. With two other people she didn't know.

“Ladies, gentlemen, other gendered folks…welcome to The Maze! While we don't have any Grievers, we do have three contestants. They'll have to work together or betray each other…who knows what will happen? Get ready, set, go!”

All three of them looked at each other, but only the woman in the center seemed confident. “We're working together. We have to find the three dragon eggs. The Maze will change direction based on what you think it will do. So in other words, believe you're on the right path, and you will be. Now run!” Working together

Dahlia froze for a moment before taking off towards one of the directions. The path was simply a dirt road, but the hedges that made up the maze were so tall that she couldn't see over–or through–them. The sun pounded against her as she ran until she reached the first curve. There didn't seem like any right way to go–there were no clues or anything that would help…

Wait.

Beneath her foot was a piece of metal. It looked like it could open or pop out–she reached down and pressed on it. A small screen popped up. It simply said ‘right’. Technology

Well then. Dahlia turned and went right.

She didn't know how many turns she had come through–she took the right turn every time, and she seemed to be going on the right path. At least, that's what the woman had said…and after all, she did think she was going down the right path, so she supposed that meant she was. This place was rather strange, after all. Who knew what was real or not? Believing

A glint of gold caught her eye. A few years ahead was the egg. All she had to do was grab it, right? Quick and easy. Overestimating

Then, a wall of fire erupted around it.

Thank yous!! <3

Shiz Leaders: Fantasy obviously wouldn’t be the same without you. Without you we wouldn’t have our incredible storyline, pfps and amazing leaders! Thank you for making this session feel so special and fun and creating such a brilliant storyline with so many activities for us to complete! This session has been the most gaining in writing context for me, as I feel I’ve actually made progress and I’ve written more words than I ever even imagined, and I think part of that is thanks to the amazing cabin I was in! I’ve given you each separate notes below <3

Mildred: Thanks for coming up with the idea of Wicked as a cabin theme! It’s genuinely the coolest thing ever Also, you were just so supportive and lovely this session!! During cabin wars you wrote LOADS <3 Thanks for making such beautiful pfps for all of us (I think it was you??); they were absolutely stunning! And thanks for making this session so magical, it wouldn’t have been the same without you <33
Kiara: Again, like Mildred, you were so involved with session, with the interactive storyline and cabin wars - and u wrote so much during cabin wars ty - it was just the coolest thing ever! Also, you wrote so many words - almost 40k!! During cabin wars (why are literally all my thank yous based off cabin wars??) you were just awesome!! Thank you for being so kind and amazing and being our main reminder to always sleep, even during cabin wars!! I hope you enjoyed this session as much as I did.
River: I didn’t get to know you very well this session (unfortunately *skull*) but you seemed like a great person <3 Like the other two, you seemed so supportive and kind <3 (I’m basically gonna repeat everything I’ve said in the last ones haha )! Also, SO MANY WORDS!! :3 Thank you for such an incredible session (this has truly been one of my favourites) with such an amazing storyline and such amazing leaders <3

Shiz Campers: Session wouldn’t have been the same without all of you! You all made it so amazing, contributing with dailies, weeklies, critiques, cabin wars and so much more! You also were so friendly and lovely, and I’ve made so many memories and wonderful friends with all of you, thank you so much <3

Lyra: You were so active for this whole entire session and so friendly towards everyone! You also were amazing during cabin wars and were such a nice person to be around!! I hope I’ll see you next session :eyes:
Waterfall: WOW CABIN WARS!! You wrote SO MUCH :000 You were a lovely person to talk to and I hope you enjoyed this session! I swear we were in the same cabin once, but that might just be me?? (that’s probably just my malfunctioning brain) Anyways, I hope I can be in your cabin again and I hope you had a great time this March!
Arrow: I didn’t get to know you super well, but I did really love your idea of LOTR as a cabin theme! You should definitely apply for leader (or co-leader) at some point!
Kleemiya: Again, I didn’t get to know you much but you seemed super cool and chill <3

Daily Team: Wow, I have so much admiration for you guys!! I would probably find it quite hard to come up with a few dailies, let alone one every day! Also, the weeklies are so in-depth and well thought out, you guys are incredible <3 Endless mangoes to all of you ^^
Hosts: You guys are just awesome!! *bombards with mangoes* (sorry this isn’t really very detailed I am running out of time )

(Co)Leaders: You guys are all so dedicated to your cabins and the themes seemed so cool this session! (Again, sorry this is so short - I’m running out of time)

Campers: SWC wouldn’t be SWC without you! You do the dailies, the weeklies, create lots of chaos and are so awesome! Thank you for making this session so incredible

Fan-Fi: You guys sure did top the leaderboard for most of this session! Your theme was so cool and I loved how vibrant your cabin seemed! I love the pfps and just everything about your cabin <3 Having Alana should definitely count as cheating though >(
Illu-Fi: I ADORED your theme! The Spiderverse?? SO cool!! The art also slayed btw <3 I loved how chill and cool you guys all were ^^ I hope you enjoyed this session as much as I did <33333
Fairy Tales: I love Tangled!! (Even if it was Rapunzel as well) As TCTWNW i think you guys did really well to get to the top of the leaderboard for a whole day, and overtake our cabin (Fantasy)!! Your profile pictures were absolutely stunning and on the whole you were extremely awesome ^^
Journalism: I loved the splendiferous chaos in this cabin!! Again, I loved the profile pictures - they were very cool and you just seemed really nice and chaotic in general - the perfect model cabin for SWC <33
Action: Another Spider-Verse cabin! Like Illu-Fi, I absolutely LOVED the theme of this cabin <33 Again, LOVING THE PROFILE PICTURES!! I love how SWC has absolutely no copyright laws - we’ve got two SpiderVerse themed cabins and a Wicked themed one as well!! :00
Myth: I’ve always loved Myth as a cabin and it seemed extra cool this session with awesome profile pictures and a very friendly chaotic atmosphere! (I’m running out of things to say without repeating myself about 50 times *skull*)
Dystopian: I loved both of your themes! Perfaith City was extremely cool but unfortunately Blahaj seems to have invaded your cabin so I can’t look at your theme ( Not complaining though, Blahaj is awesome <33
Thriller: I love the Hunger Games!! I’m really excited to read the new book, but my bestie’s been hogging it *sniffling* Y’all seemed like an awesome cabin <33
Sci-Fi: Sci-Fi always has the COOLEST THEME EVER!! And you guys didn’t fail to disappoint mwahaha >D Genuinely, so cool <3 Also, i love your profile pictures (shoutout to Luka, who always does stunning profile pictures ^^)
Bi-Fi: I didn’t really get to know you guys very well but (I know I’ve said this for everyone) the profile pictures absolutely slayed <3 On the whole you guys seemed super friendly and chaotic ^^
And last, but definitely not least, Adventure!! And yes, I know I’m repeating myself a LOT but the profile pictures were awesome I swear all the pfps were so cool this session!! :00 The theme was also super cool!!


Wow, I’m finally done!! I hope everyone had a super good session like I did and I’ll see all of you (hopefully) in July! <33333

pepper's thank you notes <3
914 words eheh

alana
ahh alana where do i begin sobbing-
you're such an incredible host, leader, and friend, and i truly am so grateful to have you in my life. you're one of my closest friends here in this lovely community, and i'm so glad you gave me the opportunity to co-lead with you once again. fan-fi was absolutely amazing!! your ideas for the cabin were epic, your graphic designing skills continue to amaze me, and you're just such a huge inspiration to me. i look up to you for so many reasons, your brilliant leadership skills, friendliness towards others, and ability to constantly make people laugh through their screens being some of them. on top of all that, you caused so much amazing chaos this session and all of swc thanks you for it ;D you also are an icon and hit 100k??? congrats, you're awesome??? thank you so much for being you, it's an honor to be able to call you my friend and i can't wait to see you around in future sessions! who knows, maybe we'll even get to lead again together ;D TANK YOU ALANA, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH <3


skylar
SKYLAR <3 ahh i don't think i've ever seen you around swc before even though you and i have both been here for so long?? :0 i'm so glad i got to know you more this session, your such a fun and bubbly person, and it's been so fun having a wcg group with you as well as exchanging ideas and interacting with each other and our fanfi campers it was so much fun spending the session with you, i hope we made your first leadership experience an awesome one, i know you made the team a ton of fun ;D thanks so much for helping make a brilliant cabin with alana, snowy, and myself, we couldn't've done it without you <3


snowy
snowy dear, it was so so much fun co-leading with you again! i can't believe script theatron was a year ago askjsghjdsf- i love how you balanced out our insanely chaotic team with some chill energy (we needed it bwahaha), but you're also really fun to work with and be around, so thank you for that! it truly was a blast making another cabin come to life with you, your input was always great and i love the vibes you give eheh <3 plus, we wound up in the same cabin and that cabin coasted in the top of leaderboard all session just like script?? maybe we're a lucky charm :eyes: thank you for making this session so awesome!!


fanfi campers
while i unfortunately do not have the time or motivation right now to write everyone individual notes, you all get one big one ehehe <3 first of all, you guys were such an amazing group of campers!!!! i mean, we stayed in first place the majority of the session??? on top of that, you all were so much fun to be around, you guys cooked on our activities, wrote so many words (we had about 498,000?? :0), had some silly answers for qotds, slayed cabin wars, and made my session incredible. you guys are what truly made our cabin special, and i'm so glad i got to spend my session with you all <33 we made so many amazing memories, forged new relationships, typed our fingers off, and absolutely kicked butt ahhh! thank you all so much!!


peggy!
hi peggyyy you were one of the people outside my cabin that i had so much fun talking to and spending time with! from little interactions in the main cabin to actual conversations to getting grouped up together with a ton of other people and causing chaos, i had a lot of fun with you this session! i hope we can get to know each other in the future, and perhaps end up in the same cabin? you're so funny and kind, and i enjoy talking with you ehehe <3 thank you!!


all of swc
you guys are absolutely incredible. i've been here for 2 years now, and each session is just amazing. i love making memories together, whether it be causing chaos or critiquing a piece, or anything in between, yall are just brilliant. i've never been a part of a group of people who are all so welcoming and friendly to each other. there has not been a single moment where i felt alone or like i had to hide who i truly am. and while i don't have the energy to write each one of you a thank you note, i hope that no matter who you are, whether you're hosting, (co)leading, or campering, and whether this is your 12th session or your 1st, you know that swc would simply not be the same without you, and you're part of a community that has made a beautiful impact on my life. you guys are unforgettable, and i will be looking back on all the fun i had until i grow old and get dementia, and even then i think there will be a spark of chaos somewhere deep within that brings me back to when i was writing with a bunch of lunatics as a teenager ;D i've run out of words to express how fantastic this community of writers is. my life genuinely would not be the same without this camp. thank you all so much for everything <3

moon cycles ☾ swc co-leader app
return to project here

About Me

Hi there, nice to meet you! I’m Sunny, and I go by she/her pronouns! I’m a teen girl living in the south-east of France, in other words in the CET (UTC+2) timezone! I speak three languages - Chinese, my native language, English and French. I come from a Chinese family but moved to France when I was three years old. I have since then attended the local international school opened along with the international organisation my parents work for.

At school, I’m often looked upon as the straight-A student - and I admit that I do have a certain ease for academic assignments. Though I sometimes can be seen as the stereotypical know-it-all everybody hates (oops-) due to how serious and professional I can act, I’m also a fun person to hang out with in general, especially around close friends. I’m compassionate and helpful, and will not hesitate to crack a few jokes when I’m able to think of some

Online, I’m more extroverted than irl and can be quite chaotic (like most of us here, I presume haha). That’s also why I love SWC so much! Everyone is so nice and welcoming (and chaotic!!!) that you don’t have to worry about making a false step or not fitting in.

Personality apart, I have loads of hobbies and extracurricular activities! Just this year, my volleyball coach signed my team up for the regional championships, and so far we’re in second place! We’ve got competitions approximately every two weeks, and each time the team’s bonds grow deeper and more meaningful with the excitement, stress and anticipation ^^ If you can’t tell that already, I love both this sport and my teammates <3

I’ve also played the piano since I was four years old, and though I’m not considering becoming a professional musician, I’ve grown fond of piano music over the years. I’m currently working on Intermezzo op.117 n.2 by Brahms, and I’m not even lying when I say I’ve fallen in love with the piece <33

During my free time, I also enjoy making handicrafts - I have a drawer full of old cardboard, bits of strings, paint and various other items I’ve collected over the years, and they do come in useful at times, though what they mostly do is lay around untouched hehe…

And, before I forget- I /love/ reading, to the point where my mom gets mad at me from repeating ‘dinner’s ready!’ five times without me hearing her - because I’m absorbed in the fictional universe of a book I’ve had a passion for reading as far as I can remember, and I think the first time I cried over a book was in second grade :’) Some of my all time favourites are, to state a few, the Count of Monte Cristo, the Harry Potter saga, the Giver and Little Women.

Previous Participation

This upcoming SWC session will be my fifth! It’s fascinating how time flies, it feels like I’ve just stumbled upon the march ‘24 camper signups yesterday…
Here are the cabins I’ve been in (all as campers):
Script Theatron (march ‘24)
Script Podcast (july ‘24)
Apocalyptic - The Infestation (november ‘24)
Illu-Fi Spider Verse (march ‘25)

Aside from SWC, I’ve taken part in smaller camps, including WUC, SAC and SDC. I’ve led once in SAC, which allowed me to better understand with hands-on experience the responsibilities of a leader (cabin planning, storyline, adding words, etc…)

Irl, I’ve held many leadership positions, as I’m pretty much a born leader. It seems that my teachers agree on this point since they’ve mentioned I’m a ‘class leader’ in my latest school report lol. I’ve been class president numerous times during primary school, and I am currently eco-delegate in our class, meaning I, along with eco-delegates from other classes, organise environmental awareness events around the school and propose solutions to make our community more eco-friendly. These leadership positions greatly helped me improve on both my organisation and social skills.

As for writing, I really started doing so as a hobby in March ‘24, during my first SWC session. Before that, though I enjoyed writing assignments in school, I never considered it as a leisure activity. With all the dailies and weeklies, I started delving further into the world of writing and since then it has grown into a passion. I’m currently working on a short story that I’m planning to enter for an irl writing competition.

Cabin Preferences

Though I most often write in real-fi, fantasy, dystopian and romance, I love exploring possibilities with new and unfamiliar genres as well, so I’m fine with co-leading any cabin!

I would prefer not to co-lead TCTWNW because I very much enjoy the competitive of SWC ;D

Excerpt

A gentle breeze travelled through the air, passing between the intertwined branches and making the last leaves of autumn rustle and fall to the ground in a graceful swirl of orange and red. Night had befallen the sleeping world, peaceful and quiet. The silver moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the figure of a handsome young man in the midst of the forest. The sound of crunching leaves was heard with every footstep, and though the moon's light was barely enough to distinguish the shadow of the trees, the young man made his way swiftly through the forest, as though he had taken that path a hundred times.

Upon approaching a small clearing, he pressed his trembling hand on his chest, as though wanting to suppress his fierce heartbeats. His eyes, used to the darkness of the night from his numerous nighttime wanderings, quickly scanned the open, moonlit space before them. He drew in a sharp breath, his muscles tensing. She was not there.

He walked further into the clearing, making himself visible, in case she was waiting in the shadows like she often did. He was not wrong. A mesmerising woman with dazzling hazel eyes and long brown hair flowing in the breeze appeared from the trees. She was carrying a lantern, its orange glow illuminating her pale face, but for whatever reason unknown to him, the light had not revealed the woman earlier on to her passionate lover. The sight of this woman brought tremendous joy to the young man - his features lit up with a glowing warmth and his lips split open to reveal a full hearted smile. By the way his entire body trembled with excitement, one would not doubt that this man was close to euphoria.

He hurried towards her, kneeling down to kiss the pale fingers he had pressed his lips upon so many times. He stood up, and gently slid his arms around her shoulders. They were freezing to the touch, abnormally so, but he paid no notice.

“I wasn't expecting you here this early”, he whispered tenderly in her ear.
She displayed a thin smile on her lips. “I wanted to meet you sooner”, she replied in the same loving tone, making warm flames of love glimmer in her eyes. Suddenly, so rapidly one could not have perceived the change, the shadow of a fierce lightning-like glare flashed through those bright pupils. The woman, alarmed by this unwanted change, quickly darted her eyes away from those of the young man, fearing he had noticed. Meanwhile, he, lost in a sea of oblivious and passionate love, remained blissfully unaware of the alteration.

The woman stared once again into the young man's eyes, her gaze returned to the soft glimmer, and the couple stood there, transported to a haven of their own. Then slowly, very slowly, to the point where the man couldn't notice the change, the woman's gaze shifted. This time, it was not a mere shadow. The warmth was replaced with bitter and harsh coldness, the glittering tears of love were replaced with some kind of indescribable hatred. She fixed the man so hard that it seemed like her horrible, unrelenting glare imprinted right into her partner's soul.

The young man never got the chance to notice the change in his mistress. His body was slowly turned into stone, every inch of his skin hardening into a dull, lifeless grey.

As she felt the hands on her shoulders stiffen and increase in weight, the woman stepped back, admired her work with an eerie satisfaction, and left, without even glancing back at the man she pretended to love.

Time Dedication

In July, it’ll be the summer vacation for me, and for once, we aren’t going back to China, so I’ll be able to dedicate loads of time to SWC! I’ll pretty much be online all day, and will be able to dedicate at least 3 hours per day for SWC (not including personal things like doing the dailies and weeklies)!

For the cabin-planning months, the only things that will keep me away from SWC are school work and extracurricular activities. I do have a couple music exams scattered around in May and June, but hopefully these won’t affect my activity too much.
On the whole, I expect to be able to delicate at least 1 to 2 hours per day for cabin-planning.

Time Management

I admit, time management is - or at least was - not my strong suit. Between school work, extracurricular activities, house chores, hobbies and everything online, I often got lost and struggled to prioritise tasks effectively.

Though I ultimately got things done before the deadline, the result was often of poorer quality than if I had planned my tasks beforehand. This was particularly problematic when I had very limited time to get things done (e.g. when I come home at 8pm and have homework for the next day). I learnt the importance of effective time management the hard way: stressful situations and late-night working - I’ve seen all those.

I have been actively working on my time management skills for quite some time now - I’ve tried various methods for effective time management and so far the two that work best for me are:
Separating my day into a precise schedule for each task
Sorting out the level of importance of each task, therefore prioritising the completion of one over another.
Rewarding myself once I finish an important task effectively
These allow me to complete one task first before going to another, and I found that they help improve my work quality and reduce stress for deadlines. Time management has not been as much of a problem as in the past, but I am well aware that there is still a lot to improve on.

Collaboration & Assets

I am generally good at collaborating effectively with others. From the numerous projects I’ve been part of, I’ve learnt to be attentive to others’ thoughts and questions, and am good at incorporating these with my own ideas. I am also able to attribute tasks fairly to each person depending on their strengths and skills, and am quick to find solutions to any problems that may arise, both online and irl. An example of this is when a person from my group fell sick the day of our presentation. I was able to come up with last minute solutions and attribute their part to those of us who were present. We ended up getting full marks ^^

My main weakness in collaboration used to be the lack of communication, but I am confident when I say that I have improved a lot in this field. In the past, I used to be shy and reluctant to share my opinions and ideas with others. Similarly, when something went off track, I did my best to hide it from others and fix the problem myself. This often led to extremely stressful and awkward situations.
However, I do believe I am much better concerning this. Over the years I’ve grown more extroverted and more open to sharing my thoughts and feelings with others. I’ve learnt that it's okay to step out of my comfort zone and communicate my opinions - even if I’m unsure whether they’re good or not.
Though the reluctance to share my ideas and to tell others troubles I’m facing still sometimes affect me, I’ve learnt to keep the importance of good communication in mind.

In a leadership team, I can help both with organisation + distribution of tasks, and other things on the creative side such as writing storylines, graphic designing and coding.

One Quality

If I were to choose one quality I would be able to embody as a leader, it would be communication. As I mentioned before, I used to have trouble concerning this, and that reinforced my understanding of its importance.

The lack of communication often leads to misunderstandings, eventually arguments. For a team to work smoothly, we have to prevent these from happening as much as possible. The solution is quality communication. By this, I mean that members of the leadership teams should not hesitate to tell others if something has gone off track - or even just to inform the others that they will be unavailable for a day or two, that they would need a little more time to finish a project, or simply that they have a good idea to share!

Communication is vital for the well-functioning of a leadership team, whether online or irl. If a problem is encountered, nobody should bear the burden alone, as more brains can think of a solution quicker than a single one!

I will be able to embody this trait as a leader, both by making sure I am communicating effectively with the leadership team and checking in on others frequently. I will be reminding myself that, if any sort of problem arises, my fellow (co)leaders will be able to sort it out with me - with the condition that I inform them of the problem.

Cabin Atmosphere

A highly competitive cabin with an immersive storyline, all while maintaining a friendly, welcoming and inclusive atmosphere.

Checkboxes

A.
☑ I will be available to help add points in the main cabin consistently throughout camp
☑ I am willing to share a promotional project for SWC

B.
I can complete all leadership responsibilities listed in the FAQ

C.
If I have to go inactive, I will inform all my (co)leaders as soon as I know of it and, if my inactivity will delay projects, I will work out a possible solution with my (co)leaders. If the situation does not allow me to be active enough to take on the role of co-leader anymore, I will propose to step down from my role.

If a fellow (co)leader goes inactive and informs us beforehand, I will work with them to propose a suitable solution to distribute their tasks to the rest of the leadership team. If they have not warned us of their inactivity, the rest of the leadership team shall again distribute the inactive member’s tasks to others to ensure that the cabin will work smoothly - after, of course, attempting to contact the said person. If the inactive member does not show any signs of activity after two or three weeks, we will consider replacing them with a new (co)leader if necessary.

Bonus Theme

Ooh okay I’ve actually never thought about that xD
All I know is that it will have - no /be/ a huge library with thousands of beautiful wonderful books. So meaning I will be living in a library :0 Imagine the sweet scents of old parchment <33

This is Me ◦◯◦ SWC July '25 Co-leader App

1. About Me
Hail, mortals. I art Sir Chuey du Cat, a sword-bearing chicken of noble King Arthur's court-
(Ah, whoops, wrong century. Let's try that again.)
YO, WASSUP MY HOMIES!!
(There, that's better.)

I'm Chuey, a mysterious entity that may or may not be a chicken with a sword. I'm a homeschooled Christian in CST who spends way too much time doodling, listening to music, and reading, sometimes all at once. People often refer to me using she/her, but you're welcome to use any pronouns you like for me. When I'm not daydreaming about writing, you can find me actively avoiding my unfinished drafts, staring at my pencil as though it holds the secrets of the universe, or pretending that the blank page in front of me isn't looking up at me accusingly. (Sometimes, for variety, I'll write the word “the” five times and then delete it.)

A self-diagnosed bookworm, I consume books as fast as I can get my hands on them. My favorite genres to read in are fantasy, sci-fi, and adventure, and I'm quite fond of myth and fairy tale rewrites. I've also read hundreds, if not thousands, of original fairy tales – as a child, my imagination was fired up by such stories as the Princess in the Chest and Jack My Hedgehog, which might account for some of my quirkiness in the present day. Just a thought. On a less fictional note, I find myself really enjoying books such as Crucial Conversations and Amusing Ourselves to Death – two incredibly eye-opening books that changed the way I view the world.

Some other things I like include drinking tea, practicing martial arts, playing through Legend of Zelda games, baking, and hanging out with friends. I've also been taking piano for about four years now, although I'm thinking about switching to guitar at some point in the future. My favorite subject in school at the moment is literature – I'm well into Les Miserables, and while it annoys me sometimes, I'm fascinated by how intricate the storytelling and characters are. And, of course, my favorite hobby and the one that I'm almost constantly engaged in: daydreaming. I especially love when I get so lost in thought that I start unconsciously acting out my dreams. (Yeah…I've had to stop myself from making noises out loud several times, and even then I can't stop myself from mouthing along with the dialogue in my head sometimes.) At least I'm usually alone when I start holding one-sided conversations with myself. Usually.

My biggest secret is that I am in fact not a chicken but a duck.


2. Previous Participation
This will be my (drumroll, please) seventh session of SWC! Below is a quick summary of my SWC history:
July ‘22 – Dystopian, camper
November ’23 – Real-fi, camper
March ‘24 – Fan-fi, camper
July ’24 – Bi-fi, camper
November ‘24 – Fantasy, co-leader, Polar Bear cub
March ’25 – Mystery, leader, Polar Bear cub

In addition to SWC, I have participated in various other Scratch camps such as JWC, SRC, and WUC, to name a few. In total, I believe I've camped 13 times and (co)led twice.

⮞ leadership experience – I wouldn't say I'm overflowing with real-life leadership experience, but as the oldest child in my family, I have more responsibilities and often have to assume a leadership role with my siblings. Working with them has shown me the value of patience, setting good examples, and putting others first. It's also given me insight into just how different people can be; the sibling that looks most similar to me couldn't have a personality less like mine. I've had to learn how to adapt and work with a wide variety of characters and dispositions.

I've had a few other leadership roles in the past, such as when I've led a workout for an exercise group, organized group events with my friends, and assisted my martial arts coach in class. All of these experiences have helped me to build my confidence and find my voice when speaking up, especially from a leadership position.

⮞ writing experience – I've been writing for well over a decade at this point. Along with the dozens of abandoned drafts sitting in my documents and notebooks, I've written several short stories and a handful of poems. I've also started journaling more frequently recently. Finally, I've placed in a couple of different Scratch camp writing contests, which I've listed below:
JWC 2024 – Honorable Mention
SWC July ‘24 – Best Character Dynamic
SWC Nov ’24 – Judge's Cut
JWC 2025 – First Place

3. Cabin Preferences
I only have one list this session (you may stop and gasp in shock, I'll wait).

The MAYBE NOT list
⮞ Dystopian
⮞ Real-fi
⮞ Fan-fi
⮞ Bi-fi
⮞ Fantasy
⮞ Mystery
As you can see, all of these are cabins I've been in before – while I'll co-lead any of them if necessary, I like to explore new cabins and genres.

TCTWNW
I would prefer not to co-lead TCTWNW this session, as competition is a big motivational factor for me. That being said, I also enjoy trying new things, so it's not an absolute no should the opportunity come up.

If a cabin in the line-up this session isn't on my list, you may assume that I'm fine with co-leading it – I have no other preferences this session!

4. Excerpt (599 words)
She hadn’t said a word for five minutes. He wasn’t sure whether to be concerned or not.
“Thanks for coming,” he said finally, because it felt like the right thing to say.
She yanked on the wheel, and for a good few seconds he thought she’d just killed them both. But no, she was just turning a corner.
“Shut up, I’m driving,” was all she’d say in reply.
“Do you- OOF- have a license…?” he squeaked, sliding around in the backseat.
She turned around, snapping her gum angrily. In hindsight, talking to her was probably a really bad idea, for two reasons (both of which involved his safety being impaired). The first was that Vixen was obviously in a bad mood. The second was that she did things like turn around to glare at him while driving far faster than the speed limit, which he knew because they had just passed an extremely neon sign with comically large numbers on it. It practically had her name sprayed across it in white paint.
He wondered how much trouble he would get in for doing just that.
Mercifully, she turned back around in time to make another scream-worthy turn. He could hear the tires squealing.
“I came and got you, yeah? I don’t have a choice now. We’re getting outta this mess. Outta this place.”
Even from the back, he could see her feral grin. Vixen had always been a rebel. A scary one who knew how to wear frilly dresses and mascara just as well as she knew how to wear a leather jacket and combat boots.
Also, kind of a pretty and smart one. But that was way, way beside the point.
“I’m not sure I want to do this,” he admitted.
She slung an arm around the back of her seat, turning around again. She wasn’t glaring now, but her eyes were still full of fire.
“It’s too late now, kid. It’s been too late for years.”
“I’m not a kid,” he said, offended. “Aren’t we the same age? And if you don’t want me, then stop and I’ll go. I don’t know if I want to do this anyway.”
Miraculously, she slowed the car, almost within the speed limits.
“If you don’t want this, get out,” she said, but her back was to him once more and he couldn’t see her face.
He stopped, uncertain.
“You’re going to have to get out anyway, because we’re at your apartment. Grab your stuff and scoot back here if you’re coming.”
Grateful for an excuse to tumble out of the rattling hunk of junk that Vixen called a car, he scraped his belongings together as quickly as he could.
Vixen looked up when he reappeared, and for once her expression wasn’t snarky. Her customary smirk was gone.
“You don’t have to,” she said, staring fixedly at the dash.
“I don’t know,” he said, in what might have been one of the most honest moments of his life.
Vixen tightened her grip on the steering wheel. He hadn’t thought she cared so much.
“Do you trust me?”
He opened his mouth, not sure what answer was going to tumble out.
But the instant he said “Yes” he knew it was absolutely true. Vixen wasn’t a lot of things. But she was all the things that counted.
Slowly, the smirk returned to Vixen’s face.
“Then get in, kid. We’ve got a long way to go.”
“I told you, we’re the same age,” he protested.
But he was smiling too as he got back in the car.
He wasn’t going to regret this.

5. Time Dedication
I usually have at least 2-3 hours a day to dedicate to SWC, although since I'm trying to cut back on my screen time that may end up being closer to 1-2 hours some days. I don't currently know of any plans in late May or July that might affect my activity, but I'll be on vacation from June 18th-21st and won't have access to Scratch. Additionally, I have church on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, and Wednesday evenings, so I won't be online for at least a few hours during those times.

6. Time Management
While this is still an area I struggle in sometimes, I believe that I've improved both my awareness of my own shortcomings and my strategies to overcoming them, and I intend to keep working on my time management and self-regulation skills in the upcoming future.
⮞ strengths

• Completing Assignments – Starting a task can be difficult for me, but once I've begun, I'm motivated to keep going and finish it. I like to complete tasks in a sitting or two if possible, and I try not to let projects I'm working on sit around for too long. I've found that getting things done in one go is more effective for me than trying to spread the workload out over a longer period of time; I'm able to get into my working groove and stay there, and minimizing the number of times I have to start doing something decreases the likelihood of procrastination or forgetting about it. That being said, I try to stay aware of my limits and recognize when I need a break to rest or do something else. Keeping a healthy balance and avoiding burnout minimizes the likelihood of procrastination and leads to a higher quality end result.
  

• Organization – I like to stay as organized as possible, whether it be sorting the books on my bookshelf by height and spine color or making a to-do list of things I need to get done. This skill has come especially handy when it comes to cabin planning, since I can easily reference a list to see what job we need to focus on next. Keeping my tasks neat and organized keeps me from having to try and remember everything I need to do, and it's much easier for me to start on a job when the mental hurdle of having to hunt it down is removed. It's also a great tool for keeping track of deadlines, since I can quickly check to see what needs to get done next and what should have the highest priority on my schedule at the moment.
  

⮞ weaknesses

• Procrastination – Like many SWCers before me, I struggle with procrastination, putting tasks aside for another time. Often, this is because I'm engaged in something else I enjoy (such as reading a new library book), and I don't particularly like the assignment (doing the dishes). Other times, I simply can't seem to find the motivation to do something (my math homework). One way I've come up with to combat this tendency is setting myself deadlines – “as soon as I finish this chapter, I have to put the bookmark in and go load the dishwasher,” or “I need to start on my math homework at 4:00.” Employing this strategy has really helped me keep on track and get things done.
  

• Easily Distracted and Forgetful – Memory works in strange ways. I remember conversations I had with friends three years ago, but remembering to practice piano? Not so much. As someone who's both easily distracted and forgetful, something as simple as putting a book back on a shelf can turn into a two-hour session of reorganizing my bookshelves while the vacuum cleaner I was supposed to have been using sits forlornly in the corner. In order to avoid getting sucked into a relatively trivial task while a more important one lies forgotten, I keep track of time. Glancing at the clock or the date reminds me of the deadlines I've set for myself, and can help pull me out of whatever else I'm doing to go work on something I actually need to do.
  

7. Collaboration and Assets
This skill definitely comes more naturally to me than time management, and teamwork can make all the difference between success and defeat. That's why I aim to do my best to be a good teammate at all times – no matter who I'm working with, what we're working on, or what deadlines we have.
⮞ strengths

• Flexible – Sometimes, no matter how carefully things are planned, something goes awry. Whether it's finding a flaw in a shiny new idea, dealing with a lack of materials, or hitting an unexpected roadblock, I can find ways to work with what I've got. I'm willing to adapt and incorporate fresh ideas when brainstorming plans, and I'm capable of either readjusting or letting ideas that don't work well for the project go without resisting the change. I try to keep an open outlook and make decisions based on what's best for the team, idea, or design I'm working on, rather than focusing on forcing my original wants or goals into place like a puzzle piece that doesn't quite fit.
  

• Cooperative – I love working with other people and being on a team – being able to share my ideas and talents with others and receive support from them in turn is something I genuinely enjoy. I can work alongside a variety of different personalities, and I'm good at delegation, communication, and collaboration. Working with people to achieve goals gives me a feeling of fulfillment, and that first moment when I step back to look at what we've accomplished is truly amazing; together, we've created something that we couldn't have done on our own.
  

⮞ weaknesses

• Overcommitment – When it comes to ideas and plans, I tend to want to go big. Unfortunately, in the moment, I get excited and can have difficulty telling myself no, which leads to taking on more than I can handle. Later, once I've cooled off a little, I find myself daunted by everything I've taken on, and I either burn myself out trying to complete it all or procrastinate until it's too late to finish it on time. My solution to this issue is to take a step back and reassess – is this a task I can genuinely commit to and get done on time? If not, is it something I can delegate, or do I need to readjust this idea entirely?
  

• Indecisive – While it's true that I occasionally have a strong preference for something, most of the time I find myself leaning more towards an apathetic stance when it comes to making a decision. As such, I prefer to let someone else pick a choice first and then use that input to decide what I want to do. This doesn't always end badly, but sometimes it can result in an unnecessary stall as everyone waffles and waits for someone to be the first to step up and state their preference. To avoid this problem, even if I don't have a strong personal preference towards any of the options presented, I'll do my best to go ahead and choose one instead of waiting for someone else to pick. Alternatively, if I don't think any of the options are the best fit for what's needed, I'll offer some other ideas for consideration.
  

⮞ assets

• Inclusive – I'm always more than happy to reach out to others! Whether I'm answering questions, helping guide someone through a problem, or just chatting, I enjoy connecting to others, and I try to set a friendly and approachable tone. I don't hesitate to reach out and make sure everyone's comfortable, especially when working in a group – trust and communication are two really important values for teammates to encourage from each other, and I work to make sure the space we're talking in feels safe. I believe creating a healthy and comfortable environment for everyone is essential for a team to be able to function well; we're all in this together, and if someone is struggling, it's our job to help.
  

• Art – Sadly, I've got to break the chain of personality traits here. Although it's not a character quality, I've been doing art for several years, and it can be used for assets like matching PFPs and cabin thumbnails. While I'm certainly not a professional (or even close to one), I do know my way around an art program, and I'm always excited to bring cabin concepts to life at my brushtip…or, well, fingertip.
  

• Planning – When it comes to lists and planning, I'm your duck chicken. From cabin planning to packing lists to event menus, I've always loved designing and preparing for things. I can come up with ideas for hours at a time, jotting down bullet points and connecting new thoughts to each other. Plotting things out is exciting, and seeing my plans come to life is just as gratifying to me as writing a story or finishing an art piece.
  

8. One Quality
I believe I embody the quality of respect – the consideration for the needs of others and the willingness to be polite and thoughtful towards everyone. I do my best to extend courtesy to everyone I meet, regardless of who they are; as a book I once read said, good manners never hurt anyone. Respect is part of the foundation of a good relationship, as it's quite hard to like or trust someone who's rude or inconsiderate. It's also essential when navigating conversations, especially ones that touch on difficult subjects. Showing mindfulness towards others doesn't cost anything extra, and it's invaluable for creating connections with others.

As a co-leader, I would apply this trait by assessing the tone of the conversation and thinking before I spoke, staying aware of the other person's needs and feelings, and ensuring that my words and actions were polite and gracious. Being patient with campers (or leaders!) who need help, acknowledging and apologizing when I've messed up instead of debating the issue, staying aware of the content of my comments and forum posts, and showing kindness to those who have made a mistake are all ways that I can work this trait into SWC leadership.

9. Cabin Atmosphere
Enthusiastic, fun, and inclusive, this cabin will foster new friendships and memories, encouraging friendly competition with an immersive storyline and cozy, tight-knit community.
(179 characters)

10. Checkboxes
a ⮞ check all that apply:
(✓) I will be available to help add points in the main cabin consistently throughout camp
(✓) I'm willing to share a promotional project for SWC

b ⮞ are there any leadership responsibilities listed in the FAQ you cannot complete?
No, I should be able to complete all of them!

c ⮞ in the case of inactive leadership (either by yourself, or by a fellow leader), what steps will you take to ensure the cabin can still move on smoothly?
In the case of inactive leadership by a fellow leader, if it was without warning I would wait 72-96 hours from the time I suspected they had gone inactive to verify that it wasn't a temporary lapse in activity, then contact my team and the hosts. As well as following the directions of the host, I would help with reassigning duties and studio management and work with my team to figure out the best way to keep things on track and running.

In the case of planned inactivity by myself, I would take action to make sure that things like word counts and other updates could be managed while I was gone (such as switching studio hostship). In addition to this, I would complete as many one-time tasks as early in the session or before the inactivity as I could to reduce the load my team would have to shoulder in my absence, and ensure that they knew what responsibilities I was performing before the inactivity began in case they needed to take any of them over.

In the case of unplanned inactivity by myself, it's quite likely that I wouldn't have control over circumstances or be able to do much, but I would let my team know if at all possible and do my best to update them on the current situation. In the instance of something like a ban or block happening that would render me unable to access some or all things on Scratch, I would keep ongoing tasks such as word- or point-adding updated as frequently as I could to prevent too much work piling up for my team to have to deal with later.

11. Bonus Theme
“If you had your own Barbie-style dreamhouse, what would it look like – and what would be inside?”
For the exterior, I'd probably go for something with a lot of windows and cream shades, maybe a few pillars. A koi pond would be really pretty too!!
For the interior…well…you know that library from Beauty and the Beast?
Yeah.
(Also a lot of stairs. Because I like stairs.)

2980 words (excluding excerpt)
thanks to @Fireblood23 for critiquing!!