November 3rd || You knew I had to break out the Stardew Valley reference xD <3 I blended two of the events that take place on the pier (Winter Market and Dance of the Moonlight Jellies) because I think it gives it more vibes hehe || 573/400 Words

The sun hung low in the sky, giving way to night. I walked towards the pier, looking around at the boats that had pulled up to the docks. Abigail leaned against a building, and we waved at each other as we passed. My eyes watched the sparkling waters, peace falling over me, as it always did in this place.

Vendors called from their boats, lights glittering over the serene blue water of my town.

“Staying up late, huh?” A voice asked behind me, and I turned around to see Mayor Lewis visiting a vendor with a painting, “your grandfather would be proud— we’ll make a town girl out of you yet.”

“Better than that corporate city I came from,” I said, laughing a little, but my heart still stung at the years of my life I had wasted in that factory, “and it’s pretty out so late— I never knew.”

“Cause you’re always going to bed at seven,” Sam said, approaching us, “You might as well be Sebastian with how much time you spend sleeping.”

I roll my eyes at him, then turn back to Mayor Lewis, “It’s so crazy— how the jellyfish visit us on their journey,”

He nods, “it’s one of the many beauties of this town, something that makes it seem almost magical.”

Honestly, I didn’t know what I would have done if my grandfather had not sent me to Stardew Valley. The early mornings on the farm, the late nights hanging out with friends… all of it was brought together to form a community, something that brought life into the world that had previously been white factory walls and floors.

It was the quaint life of this town that brought me joy, more than I had ever found before. The friends that felt like family, and the mysteries that were just waiting to be uncovered.

As I walked towards the flower vendor, Sam fell in stride with me. “It’s pretty out, is it not?” He asked, looking up towards the sky.

I nodded, “I’ve said as much,” I said, laughing a little.

He rolled his eyes, “It’s almost as if I have programmed responses.”

We walked onto the boat, the dim blue lights casting shadows overhead.

Then Sam turned around, and grabbed my sleeve, “Wait, it’s starting! Come on, we don’t want to miss it!”

We joined Vincent and Jaz, who were both yawning with the late hour, but I gave them both hugs and congratulated them on staying up as late as they did. Sam lifted his brother in his arms and brought him closer to the edge of the dock, so he could get a good view. I joined them, looking out into the waters.

Then, came a soft blue light, glowing. I gasped and looked down at the water, as glowing shapes began shifting, drifting closer to us on their journey. The jellyfish appeared from the horizon, and the entire town gathered at the docks to watch them pass.

A large green jellyfish floated near me, and I leaned down to look in the water. I looked up to point it out to Vincent, but the young boy was already asleep. Sam looked at me and shook his head, laughing.

As I watched the jellyfish fade away into the night, my heart was full— I felt so lucky to have my community, my friends, and the people who would be there for me no matter what.

November 4th || Songfic time! I wanted to do something based on “favorite crime” by Olivia Rodrigo— this went off in some odd tangent but I don’t have that much time today so I’m not one to complain bwahaha <3 || 662/300 Words

I was sleeping when the sirens started. Sitting up in bed, I peered out of the window next to me, lifting the blinds to see red and blue lights flashing, cars and fire trucks and ambulances blazing down the street in a flash of color.

Oh no.

That was the only thought in my mind as I tore out of bed, running towards my sister Leslie’s room.

My mom was already there, her face one of pure terror— her mouth open in a gasp that only the heavens could hear. I ran next to her, grabbing her hand. A part of me knew what was coming, but it still didn’t brace me for the way my heart dropped when I saw the bed empty. The worry only intensified when I saw the way the mattress was torn open with claw marks.

I looked to my mother, “she hasn’t come home.”

My mom shook her head, “I don’t think they caught her, love. We would know if they did.”

We would know by the reinforcements the police department would be sending, I thought to myself. I closed my eyes, willing the tears to stay away. This was not a time for sadness. It was a time for action— my sister could not be caught.

“You know what you have to do.” My mom said, her eyes meeting mine, watering as well.

I shook my head yes. It had been years since I had shifted— but I knew that if Leslie was starting to go on one of her sprees again, I would have to constantly stay in my heavenly form.

Closing my eyes, I focused on my breath and the sensation of my chest, rising and falling. Slowly, I reached for the core of the magic that lay between my rib cage, the soft blues and navies floating like the northern lights in the back of my mind. I drew on that power, urging it to come from within and out into the physical world.

With a soft pain between my shoulder blades, I could feel my wings sprouting. Only when I felt the muscles lock into place, slightly sore with disuse, that I reopened my eyes and turned towards my mother. She was looking at me in awe— as she always did when I transformed.

Me and my sister were born to a mortal mother— and an immortal father. A rogue angel, he had fallen in love with my mother when he had run away, and they had had two children together. Leslie was my older sister by three years. When the other angels had found my father, they had taken him away from us, and we hadn’t seen him since. They had also placed a cure on Leslie— for every five years she lived, she would have one year where she became one of the dark angels— beasts that could hardly control their own thoughts, and thirsted for bl00d to take back to their master, the king of the dark lands.

This curse had been placed on her, and ever since, we lived in constant fear that it would finally be the year, the year that maybe she didn’t turn back.

And it had been my job to watch over her. My heavenly form had been undisturbed, but I didn’t like to use it because of the energy it took to mask it from the others. After all, the magic it took to keep the illusion that there were not two giant navy-blue angel wings sprouting from my back was a hard one to maintain.’

And so I took off towards my sister— hoping that she was safe. That she was okay. That she hadn’t taken a life— even though that was an impossible ask.

Because as long as she lived, I would always be her sister. I would always be there for her, no matter what crimes she committed, what lengths she went too… she was always Leslie to me.

November 6th || Pumpkins (Delirious Kiara Version!) || 430/250 Words

I remember when I was little, I watched a cartoon almost obsessively in fall. Its main character was a square pumpkin, and I can not for the life of me remember what it was called. Pause for buffering while I look it up. It was called Spookley the Square Pumpkin! That is a fun name <3 And I remember just loving it for some reason– I was mesmerizied. Maybe it was because I was on vacation and it came on while I was looking at the hotel screen, but something about it was just so fun to me, to the point where it was the very first thing that came to my mind when I was thinking about this daily.

According to the netflix summary, it is about when a small square pumpkin has to save the pumpkin patch from a storm. Honestly, I don’t remember that much about it, just the way that the square pumpkin started rolling to save his friends. If you couldn’t tell, I am very delirious and kind of in the middle of an adrenaline rush so I am going to yap about this square pumpkin and other pumpkins in my life!

I carved pumpkins last weekend! I actually did not have a ton of time to do it because of Hadestown, but I always carve a cat pumpkin (because I love <3) and it’s always my like signature thing– my family makes fun of me for it but I really do love it! I always free hand the face in sharpie and then carve it out! My brother and father like to do very intricate designs– my brother did a storm trooper this year, and my dad did that one guy from scream. I think that they put way too much perfectionism in it and should just do animal faces as well :zany: But I really love spending the entire fall season with my family– from leaves falling to pumpkin aesthetics (and mushroom aesthetics!) to dressing up for halloween and all the wonderful fall things– I am a fall girl at heart <3

Pumpkin spice lattes– I have actually never tried one! Because I don’t like the taste of pumpkin that much I know, I know, it’s bad. But I just don’t love the texture or the taste! I do, however, help my mother make pumpkin pie for thanksgiving, and I’ve been doing a lot more cooking and baking recently so she might let me make it by myself! If she doesn’t I’m petitioning her to let me make apple pie instead hehe >

November 7th || 3 Genres: Fantasy to Sci-Fi to Epistolary/Apocalyptic (help I'm so tired this week what is this :sobbing: ) || 1010/500 Words

The castle was burning down. My eyes watered as I ran from the smoke, trying with everything inside me to get out, get away… as far away as I could. My dress flared out behind me, and I tried my best to not inhale.

I stumbled, hitting the ground, crying out in pain as my knees scraped against the hard cobblestones of the courtyard. The flames were coming closer, but my foot was caught in my dress, and I couldn’t get up. I was coughing, the smoke infiltrating my lungs, my eyes spilling with tears, my voice rough from my cries. The fire, it was getting closer, the fire overtaking the only home I had ever known.

I heard my brother’s cries… was he still in the castle? No, no! He was the crown prince, we couldn’t lose him too— I couldn’t lose my brother.

With every last muscle I didn’t know I possessed, I stood up off the ground, ripping my dress in the process. I’m sure the Nannie’s couldn’t scold me now— we were in a desperate situation, after all. And I ran back into my flaming home, yelling for my brother.

”Andrew! Andrew! Where are you!”

“Here!” I heard my little brother’s voice, and I sprinted towards it. I saw him cowering in his room, the fire licking in from all sides. My arm was in pain from where it was scorched, but I couldn’t find it in myself to care.

I grabbed him, lifting him up in my arms. He ducked his head close to me, and I stood up, carrying him out, trying my best to shield him from the worst of the fire, even if that meant taking the brunt of it myself.

Finally, I made it. I put Andrew down, rolling on the ground to snuff out the fire that had lit my dress. Slowly, I lay down. Andrew cried, but I motioned him away “Go find people from the palace— get help. Be safe.”

And I watched as the world faded into darkness.

When I awoke, there was a beeping noise in my ear. I yawned, before realizing that I couldn’t move a muscle in my face… and that I couldn’t breathe. There was some sort of gel around me, and it was suffocating me. I tried to move my arms, but the thick sludge around me made it almost impossible. I closed my mouth, holding my breath.

I heard murmured shouting outside, and then the gel slowly started to drain away from my eyes, my nose, my mouth… I gasped in a lungful of air, and was surprised I couldn’t feel any of the after effects of the fire.

That’s when I remembered the fire. Oh goodness, Andrew. Was he okay? Where… was I?

There was a loud noise, kind of like a woosh, and then the door in front of me opened wide. A hand reached in, and my eyes widened, unsure of what was happening.

I grabbed the hand, using it to step off of the raised platform I was on. My eyes quickly adjustign to the brightness of the space around me… but it was far brighter than any candle could have ever pulled off, the floors and walls around me made of some unfamiliar substance. My legs wobbled, almost as if they hadn’t been used for a long time.

I looked at my arms– there were dark marks that I supposed were burns, but they did not hurt the way burns I had received in the past did. Touching them, they didn’t even ache. Confused, I turned towards the person whose hand I was still gripping, and stepped back in shock.

It was a young woman, with a shock of hair that resembled the pink flowers outside of the castle that my mother loved to pick and make into bouquets. Her skin was a deep tan, many shades darker than mine, and freckles dotted across her nose. Her hair was shorn short, above her ears, and I wondered what had happened to make it so.

And that wasn’t even starting on what she was wearing– some sort of white suit that was bulky and… pants? That was menswear, I didn’t know what she thought she was doing, the nannies would scold her for sure!

Speaking of.. Where were the nannies? Where was Andrew?

“Where am I?” Was the thought that I ended up speaking out loud.

“Maybe a hundred thousand years after your time?” The woman responded, and I drew back in shock. Impossible.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that we cryogenically froze you when we saw your body buried– perfectly preserved in the ash. We just now managed to acquire the technology to bring you back to life… and here you are.”

I understood maybe half of those words, and I was so incredibly confused.

That was when a resounding boom rattled the ship, and I screamed.

~

Dearest Lilith–

I do hope that you are doing well. I know that you are probably struggling, and I have no idea where you are, now that we all landed on this unfamiliar planet. I am writing to you because paper was one of the only things that I could salvage from the wreck, even though I know you would laugh and tell me that it is terribly outdated. But it is what I grew up with, so I sincerely hope you’d understand.

– Amerith

Amerith–

I don’t know where you are now. I don’t know what you’re doing. My comm is hardly working, so writing letters is the only thing that will work. This planet is harsh and too hot for me– and the gravity is absolutely wacky. However, I have found water and edible plants (there were several days I spent with a terribly sore stomach before I found the right ones) … I am just so confused about what is going on, and why we were attacked, and why we ended up on an Earth That Isn’t Earth. Please, I hope I can find you.

– Lilith

Weekly One || 1,577/1,000 Words

Part One || Poetry! This was just a huge braindump and I actually really like it eee <3 || 240/100 Words

It will be easy, someone said,
To turn off those voices inside your head
It will be simple, they told me
To lift up the pen and write my own story
Now I am looking, wondering do you,
Feel the same way about life too?
Yes, you’re just a stranger I met on a train
But is this the moment we begin again?
Is every person who comes into our lives
Fated, as if to recognize,
A familiar face, from a moment’s passed,
Like the mother of old, come back at last.
Some say if you fall in love, you will meet again,
But you can’t even love your own best friend?
So you make up the people inside your head,
Who will make you happy until the end.
And then, have you truly lived life at all?
If you’ve only been giving into the scrawl
Of pencil on paper
Thoughts in a mind
Searching, searching, as if you’ll find
Something magical, in that life of mine.
They say it’s extraordinary,
But what if it isn’t enough.
To fill a bucket that’s cluttered with stuff,
With hopes and dreams, a wily thing,
And something that glitters, underneath the songs
That people sing.
And when you find that piece of paper, what do you see?
The words that are scrawled come back to me.
And then I close my eyes and say,
“There’s something waiting out there… it’ll find me someday.”

Part Two || Songwriting || 216/200 Words

It was when they put up the maypole,
And filled their pockets, full of stones,
And grabbed a ribbon, and sang along,
That I knew something was wrong.
Because I found, this town upon,
A mountaintop, they took me in,
I stayed the night, and told my stories,
And they reached for my soul…

He approached me, when the sun rose,
And took my hand, gave me a prose,
Of something greater, a bigger love,
Reaching towards me…

And we danced, we danced,
Until our shoes wore through,
I didn’t know, what else to do,
When the stones pierced my soles,
And the entire world turned red,
Their eyes widened, a dark smoke
Rose from within, they told a joke,
As all of them, disappeared…
What have I walked into here?

This mountaintop town, they all came down,
And swarmed around me, in a crowd,
Reached for my soul, and cried aloud,
And then I woke up…

I was still in my bed,
As they set up, the maypole,
And I still, had my soul,
Was this world ending?

This mountaintop town, they all came down,
And swarmed around me, in a crowd,
Reach for my soul, and cried aloud,
And then I woke up…

Something was not right…
In this world, I had a fright.

Part Three || Scriptwriting: East Wind Ghost (one of the scrapped ideas from my childhood I wanted to bring back <3) || 583/300 Words

Lights up on a therapist's office. Signs on the walls advertise mental health hotlines and overly-enthusiastic self-help methods. This is clearly not the most ideal place for a struggling teen… LARK EVER (16) enters from stage right

LARK: (impatient) For the last time, doctor. I promise you that I’m not crazy.

A figure in the chair turns around, an aging doctor with mad-scientist hair and huge glasses. Probably more fit to be working in a lab than a therapist's office. This is DR. YOUNG

YOUNG (condescending): Lark, honey, I am not saying that you are crazy. I am simply saying that there were a lot of traumatic events that happened recently, and manifesting ghosts can be something that is a side effect of this. I do have medicine, if you want to get this taken care of.

LARK: Pardon me, doctor, but I truly think that these ghosts are real…

YOUNG: tsk tsk… ghosts are not real, and I surely hope that you are not suffering too far underneath these delusions.

LARK: I’m sorry doctor that I’m not the perfect little therapy patient you want! My best friend disappeared, and I can see his ghost. Do you not think this is something that is worth addressing?

YOUNG (muttered): I was not paid enough for this.

LARK: And I’m not paying you so that you can prescribe me random medications and pretend like the ghosts aren’t real. There are more and more of them in this town… I know that you can see them too. I know that this town was touched by them.

YOUNG: It was true, when I was little I saw these ghosts. But I started taking this medication and it eased my mind after the trauma I went through, which is why I relate so strongly to your plight, Lark. I know that this medicine is going to help you. Here, just let me

YOUNG reaches towards LARK with a bottle of prescription in his hand. Lark bolts up from her seat, running towards STAGE RIGHT

LARK: Doctor, I promise you, I don’t want this.

Suddenly, a young man appears from behind her. He is much paler than LARK or YOUNG, in an almost undead way. His eyes are wide, and he looks at the scene with a sort of sordid smirk. He is enjoying this. By the way LARK turns to him and gasps, she knows him… and this behavior is not normal at all.

ETHAN: Lark, Lark. Is this poor man bothering you?

YOUNG (not hearing everything, but can still connect slightly with the paranormal whispers): Who’s there?

LARK: Get away from me… both of you!

ETHAN (laughing): Oh darling, you thought when I passed I was going to be the same person, when I came and haunted this town. But this town has taken too much from me for me to act normal.

LARK: Doctor… the ghosts in this town are not their normal selves. Lately, they have started becoming… corrupted. Old Mrs. McClain is suddenly haunting her ex-husband, when she used to dote on him… even Ethan isn’t the same. I know Ethan… and this isn’t him.

ETHAN: Perhaps you just didn’t know me well enough.

YOUNG: Lark, I promise you, this medicine will help.

LARK: No! Stop! I can help them, the ghosts… I know I can!

LARK turns her back and runs, exiting stage right. ETHAN and YOUNG watch her go, YOUNG terrified, ETHAN smirking

Part Four || Speech || 538/400 Words

Wait, you all are, here, right? Except you aren’t. You’re reading the words on this touchy-magic thingy that somehow transports words and pictures and sounds across the world. But wait— what’s the world?

There are so many things in our modern day that would never make sense if we tried to explain them to an alien. Technology is just one explanation— take the fact that we are willing to wait in a two hour line for a two minute ride— what’s the point of that? There isn’t— if you were an alien. But we know the reward at the end, we are familiar with the thrill that comes, the fun and the excitement, the bonding and the adventure that maybe we can’t get at home.

There is magic in the things we take for granted, the things that if we back up and look at are really funny, weird, or even sometimes outright stupid. That’s okay— there’s nothing wrong with that. It just brings a new perspective, thinking about it.

Why do we care so much about the number of likes on a social media post? If twenty people came up to you and told you look pretty or beautiful or your voice sounds incredible, or that your life seems fun and interesting. If twenty people in real life told us that, we would feel really good, right? So why is it that we need a million likes online— is it because things are distributed? Is it because society is built on a fake number of validation? Either way, that would sound incredibly strange to aliens.

Other things— fashion trends? Hats? Halloween? Scratch Writing Camp? Even trying to explain some of these things to people in our everyday life sometimes seems confusing and impossible. It’s a “you got to experience it to figure it out” kind of thing— but have we ever stopped to think about what would happen if we hadn’t figured it out? What would happen if we thought about every little thing we did, trying to figure it out.

That’s what school is for. Where hundreds of children gather together and sit in classrooms— some of them learning, some of them writing random numbers and letters on a piece of paper, some of them staring into space and not paying attention at all. Why? How? What for?

So we can be productive human beings in a society that is built on validation, that’s what. A society that is built on the idea that everybody has to work for something, that everybody has to be useful.

But some people are not productive? And those people are treated as less? That’s all things that wouldn’t make sense to aliens.

Our world is weird, there are things that wouldn’t make sense… yet things that we take for granted, things that we strive for and do and live for. But when we take a step back, what’s going on? Why are we doing these things? Why do we want to do this, why do we live for that? Why do we have to do that?

These are all questions maybe we should be asking ourselves more often— to see something magical and unknown living beneath the structure of society.

November 10th || Touch Grass || 311/250 Words

Today was the first snow of the year! It’s honestly very early for it to be snowing where I live– normally it doesn’t snow until a bit of the way through December or the very end of November at the very latest, but I guess the seasons have been a bit wacky this year. Like, it was October and we still were having like 80 degree weather which is kind of crazy in my mind.

But what makes the snow a little less enjoyable is that the roads were really icy on the way to school– there were so many police cars and fire trucks and ambulances driving past to deal with accidents that had happened because of the snow and ice. And in my school there isn’t really anywhere to put winter coats because we don’t have lockers and my backpack is full as is, so I literally had to freeze on the walk from the bus to my home in the afternoon and from my car to the school in the morning– it was not as bad as it could be but just prepared me for a very cold winter :sobbing: my hands are still like ice cold bwahaha

It is supposed to warm back up again tomorrow which is good, though! I want my pretty crunchy leaf season back > So yes! I did go touch grass today, even though the grass was covered in snow and a little frozen. I was half hoping that we would get like a two hour delay or something because of all of the ice on the roads, but because it is still light outside when we are going to school, they didn’t do anything about it. Even though the probably should have because my mom was slipping and sliding a little bit as she was driving me to school in the morning.