648 words

i am back to my lovely little rants but this time for multiple reasons! I have to write close to a thousand words because we have an ongoing war. we halved it but still need to get to two and two hundred fifty thousand. that was not written the right way but i honestly do not care right now. i also have to write at least four hundred words for the daily. ugh my head really hurts so i'm just goign to look away and close my eyes while i type blindly. after this i will be sleeping in for a very long time because we are all sleeping a lot tomorrow. thank goodness for that because it's been a pretty long day. I had to finsih a lot of packing and make sure i was ready to get out fo my dorm. Then i had a dress rehearsal. then i had a lunch and another extra reherasal. then i had a concert. i was also coordinating sophia's birthday thing at the same time. then i took a three hour drive. to be fair the drive was longer than it should've been because i forgot to go and get something whoops haha… my bad i take responsibility for that one. i had terrible service for most of that drive so i just talked to my dad, listened to music, and napped which was honestly very goood because i was feeling pretty sick. now i am at a hotel and am writin to finish this last cabin war and to complete the daily early. i got like eight hours of sleep the night of cabin wars thanks to my amazing cabin! I honestly don't usually get that much, but the timezone i was in made everything easier. I was able to write during the slow hours and clutch up some things, and then by the time I was tired and really needed to get to bed, some campers came in clutch and were awake. honestly maybe i'll only write like six to eight hundred words for this war because i think someone else was awake and said they could write some. there's like an hour left on it so i have faith that we'll complete it pretty easily after we halved it. ugh where are the mangos and people to write for you because that would be really great about now. what am i talking about i barely wrote anything this cabin wars lol maybe like three thousand words at the very most ahahaha- and i think my record is somewhere around twelve thousand? at least that i can remember. i'm really greatful for not having a cabin that desperately needs me to carry because that is not good for my health and makes it a lot less enjoyable. this way i can just rant for fifteen minutes every once in a while and we're good. this probably has a lot of spelling mistakes becuase i didhalf of it not looking at the keyboard and already know that I'm going to be too tired to switch it. I have a crazy headache so after this i'm going to take some tylenol and log off. ugh actually i have to finish and post the dystopian activity… okay maybe i'll take a break and then post the activity. even though i wanted to post it yesterday i really need that right now. also i keep getting jumpscared by the ac in this room, when it turns off and on it seriously sounds like someone is entering the room. okay i should have a decent amount of words by now like maybe almost seven hundred ish so i think i'm going to stop writing and add it for my own sanity. not sanity my sanity is fine… or is it maybe it's deteriorating to be honest… anyway it's really for my headache.

489 words

okay actually never mind i said that i was done writing for the night but then i saw that the challenge was the hydra which was super easy because you only have to do timed writing for like five minutes. and i can do that. and there's only four hundred words left in the war which i usually always get above in my hydras. there's actually less than four hundred, there's more like three hundred and ninety left. though if we're being particular according to my memory and mental math there are three hundred and ninety one words to write. which i am fully confident i can write in five minutes. honestly we are capable of finishing this whole war without halving if we wanted to. but i honestly don't want to. because i know it's possible with my speedy writing skills but i have better things to do like finishing up the activity which won't produce a lot of words. and just other life things that don't include writing. i know i'm a fast writer but i don't want to spend that mch more time on this because it's been busy and i have a headache. i've also noticed that i've gotten into the habit of not capitalizing things. i kind of like it actually because it takes way less effort. though i will still always capitalize for more professional things that aren't my rants. it's just easier right now especially with the way that my nails are cut to not do that. anyway i need to talk about a new topic because i feel like i've written about those things a lot. i really am going in circles with these rants. i've said this before as well but i reallly do hope nobody is reading these haha. do tell me if you are though! it would be funny. idk i need entertainment. i can hear whoever my current neighbors are. at least theyre not insanely loud. okay a minute and a half left i got this. i'm not super high up in floors right now but let me tell you that elevator was SPEEDY. it went up each floor in like less than half a second i swear! which is crazy to me because elevators are especially usually slower at the start, so going that fast with not that many floors is pretty speedy. i would say it's one of the fastest elevators i've ever been in but i have been up in the new world trade center building in NY and i feel like that probably has to take the cake. it was a cool elevator with these digital visuals, bbut i kind of wish you got to see the outside. i guess it wouldve been too fast and scary for some people. aw time is almost up but i really wanted to talk about the jazz improv pianist in the lobby… whatever my fingers hurt

A love story between a phone and it's charger…
(Written for Cabin Wars; +25 points to Bi-Fi. Also, thank you for the prompt CleverComment!)

There was a plethora of yellows and reds and blacks and blues in the throng of the store it was in. This, however, was obscured- nested in the pocket of it's owner, a phone sat there- waiting for its usage. It was coated in a case of nothing special- a black exterior, and a silver-white screen protector. And yet- it was the thing that it's owner held the most, so it knew to stay on guard.

Fwip. Suddenly, the phone was in the air, gliding above the periphery of the owner's trouser pocket and right onto the rock hard surface of a nearby table. The surface felt cold to the touch, yet beckoned to the phone- as it wasn't hot, and wouldn't burn the phone. So the phone would wait, getting all the attention around it. It was spun around to face another observer, then spun back to the original user.

…But at that moment, the phone saw two-tones.

Coiled up in silver, long and sturdy yet malleable, was the object that came towards it. They affectionately called it a charger. A charger, the phone thought, how cute. So then- the phone watched it fall. The charger was on the table, was being driven up the smoothened surface, and then- click!.

It was as if time had stopped for that very moment. As if everyone around the phone had stopped talking. As if the world was concentrated in just two objects, with the rest of the world muted and captured and laid to a peaceful rest.

The phone felt a connection. The charger and the phone were intact. It caused electricity to simmer up the phone and spark it alight as the phone felt a jolt of ecstasy. Rippling up its wires and shaking its very core.

It felt… turned on.

At that point, the phone knew that it had fallen in love.

Critique for @icebunny11:

Hiii it was really interesting to read these and try to decipher them. I was kinda being really tough on your poems, but I actually really liked them, especially the last one. They're actually really good, especially for blackout poetry because it's so hard to just pick out random words and put them together in a way that makes sense. Don't take my criticism to heart because a) I was trying to find stuff one could make better and b) these are rough drafts and if you end up making a few changes, they're going to be just about perfect. Anyway, here's my critique:


Poem 1:

I think there's potential here, but it's really hard to understand because a lot of the phrases are oxymorons, so the overall meaning of the poem is lost. It could be the narrator's thoughts to themself about this hard decision of whether to save or destroy this man? (idk) I'd try to either move the phrases around so that those that are telling the reader to, for example, “crush him with rejection” come at the beginning, where there's bitterness, but put the phrases telling the reader “don't crush him” or “help him” at the end to show a character arc. You could also try deleting some of the phrases (or shifting them into a separate poem). Ik this is blackout poetry, but it feels like the words are random, and a lot of the phrases, as pretty as they may sound, only take away from the meaning of it – which I still don't know what it is :sobs:

The rhythm of this also felt a little off. I'd try to merge some of the lines in the poem to make it more compact and easier to read, plus adjust some of the punctuation to include not only commas (and technically periods?) but also em dashes, colons, and semicolons. This might also help make the meaning clearer.

There's a lot of pretty phrases here though so if you just clean it up a bit it's going to be fire!


Poem 2:

I definitely like this poem more than the first one (sorry!), we know what it's talking about and the general meaning of it, and it has pretty good flow. You don't stumble, just going straight ahead as you're reading.

I felt that this poem was definitely better in terms of both meaning and rhythm. We know (or at least, I think this is what we know) that there's a messy war and there's a child – a prince – that's writing about the war, and the narrator's telling him to skip the bad parts and leave only the happy parts, to forget everything that was sorta going on. Still, maybe try to look through it and see where you can adjust the punctuation to make it a little clearer? I think at the beginning it would be good to delete / add / rearrange a few words to show who you're talking about exactly – who is this prince? Is he the child? I don't think you should mention the wedding because it just kinda throws the reader off-track. I'd recommend the same thing at the end because it's not exactly clear what it means in regard to the rest of the poem. Is it because the narrator realized that they were wrong, that they had gotten carried away? And the end phrase doesn't make too much sense, so adding some context would be good because we don't know what's going to happen “now.”

Overall, the main thing is just the ending. It's really good otherwise.


Poem 3:

The only thing that comes to mind for this poem is, again, the punctuation / line arrangement. For example, where you say, “Felt the Thrill / Euphoria of contest,” it might be better to add an em dash between the two lines for flow. There are a few other places where lines can be merged or different punctuation can be used just to make the poem flow better, but that's it. I really like this poem. You know exactly what's happening. It's very descriptive and gives that sense that the all the narrator wants is to win, to feel the thrill, through pain and hate, and that's really lovely.

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

◪ Noͦ 12
Wordcount: 206/200
Topic: Sleep words
Points: 300+100 for proof
Cabin: Dystopian-Xenofi love child

If I can write about anything I want, I guess I'll just info dump over here <3

Since yesterday was cabin wars, I stayed up reallyyy late to finish my fanfiction so I could add the words for the impending war of doom from chocolate, thus sleeping very late and also awaking very late. I am pretty sure I could have woken up at around 8 in the morning, but since I was having such an amazing dream, I distinctly remember throwing my phone onto the floor and going back to sleep? It explains the new crack in it and the poor alarm that was still going off by the time I actually woke up. It seems that alarms no longer work for me, no matter how many I put I just snooze them all and go right back to sleep Like I have THINGS to do, thus an alarm, so why do I do this to myself? It's a good thing today was the sleep daily; otherwise, I probably would have used up all those extra hours sleeping in for nothing, lol. At least I got a moderately interesting and embarrassing dream out of it? My dream diary awaits its new gossip session!

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

◪ Weekly Noͦ 2
Points: 2000
Wordcount: 1061/1000
Cabin: Dystopian-Xenofi love child

Part 1
Topic: You can choose to do whatever you want - have a stretch, listen to music, solve a crossword… as long as what you're doing is good for your health, it counts. Make sure to spend at least 30 minutes on your chosen activity, and enjoy the break <3

Isn't my music taste just so immaculate??

Part 2
Topic: Go outside and do something for 30 minutes!

What a nice way to tell me to get off my desk chair </3



LOOK AT THAT SKY VIEW WOWWW

Part 3
Topic: For this section, you'll be either cooking, crafting, or coloring something for 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, instead of spending just 30 minutes, I spent THREE DAYS ON THIS </3 Howl's moving castle my beloved, some of the pieces didn't even fit properly so I had to SAND THEM DOWN AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I fear I may have cried a few times doing this </3 God I'm such a nerd all I do is build figurines

Part 4
Topic: As you can probably tell, for this part of the weekly we are diving into the wonderful world of journals.
Wordcount: 500/500 (phew)

Unfortunately for Scratch guidelines, I must put markers over some of the text in my journal </3 However since I still must add proof, feast your eyes upon TEN HOURS OF MY WORK??











Ah, mysterious text, you will be missed I hope the rest of the words and pictures provide enough proof without the missing words! <3 There are also a few more pages I did but I sadly can't share them here in fear of getting shadow banned </3

Part 5
Topic: Take a moment to reflect on the last six months.
Wordcount: 561/500

Oh wow, I have some key moments to speak on!

My birthday is in February, and because I am the nerd I am, I held a dungeons and dragons campaign for my birthday party </3 Yes, I know, please don't slime me out because it sounds so corny. but I honestly had so much fun! I was the dungeon master and I put in so much effort for the campaign storyline. Since all the players were inexpeirenced and it was their first campaign, it couldn't be open world and free for decisions as they didn't really know what to do. So, I planned a full guided storyline for them with all the unique puzzles which I handdrew with symbols and a made up language, and I even made maps for them! I loved it so much, especially cause I got a cheesecake at the end of it ;P

In March- wait… we don't talk about march </3

In April, I finally started playing volleyball again! If you knew me as a proper friend last year, you would know that my knee was injured and I couldn't play any sports for almost half a year. With the assistance of my knee brace and a little bit of practice I managed to join my afterclass volleyball classes again! I was so proud of myself, even if I'm not the best players anymore and I'm probably in DIRE need of training </3 but the fact that I managed to go back has made me so very happy and I am so so so so so proud of myself! My joints still often hurts, my hip is literally hurting as I type this out, but unfortunately weak joints is what I must live with, and volleyball I cannot live without <3

In May, I GOT TOMODACHI LIFE AHHHH I WAS SO EXCITED!! The tomodachi life viral ads unfortunately hit my fyp just as hard as anybody else and I was longing for the feel of torturing small little humans on my flat nintendo screen. I was resisting the urge until the funny moment complications started to appear and you know how that always goes </3 I am not good with managing my money so I almost immediately clicked the purchase button the moment I saw it, but it's so so worth it! I play it so much just to stir up drama between my miis, and most of them are based on anime characters just so I can have cross anime interactions in my heart (yes, nerd coded once more </3 what am I even doing anymore) Maybe, one day, I'll add some of my favorite scratchers in there too ;D

Finally, in June, I got my first exam's marks back! I did top four out of six subjects, so I was pretty proud of that myself :starstruck: Unfortunately, I did get publicly humiliated by my classmates for this, and I don't think I'll ever live down the embarrasment of being pushed up to the front and being slimed out. Sometimes this really makes me feel like purposefully losing marks just so that I don't become a laughing stock, but the moment I score lesser than I usually do I ALSO GET SLIMED OUT :sob:

Anyways I'm halfway through one piece !! THIS is the real highlight of the year, considering I started in May omg

You’ll probably get this one in the UK morning, so good morning, Hopesband!

No worries about the speediness! Though I would be interested to hear more about the life of my crimson Moon, if they would be so inclined to tell me. No worries if not.

They should add me to the council of elders! I would be so productive and absolutely not lesbian for Elder Lovia. Nope. That would never happen.

Huh, so the UK system ties you to a certain course track? That’s very interesting! Yeah, in the US you can do basically whatever you want. You have freedom to switch majors basically as much as you want and you can take electives whenever. It’s pretty nice honestly.

I don’t think I went to Chinese school in the way you’re thinking… I had weekly extracurricular Chinese lessons and was stuck on preschooler level Chinese. For a good number of years. It was pretty bad.

Declensions are fun! They’re so regular and nice. Rules are great. I had no idea English had pronoun declensions, quite interesting. Never noticed them honestly, so yeah they don't have to count :yum: I do like studying grammar! It adds a certain level of formality to rules that we adopt subconsciously and I think it’s fascinating how grammar rules in one language translate to another. It’s also useful for my everyday writing, lol.

Perhaps my Latin grammar snippets will inspire you to undertake a formal education in the Chinese language… or not! Whatever you choose to do

Forgetting languages is so real. It’s so inconvenient :sob: (especially when the language you studied is amazingly useless and DEAD. literally NOBODY speaks it. it’s still fun tho)

Dreamy is a great way to describe In Rainbows! It felt ethereal and floaty, almost. Such a good album ngl.

I look forward to hearing about your experience with Monarch! I wonder if we’d agree on some of the songs.

Okay, I have a confession to make. I listened to A Moon-Shaped Pool while writing a letter to Liv, but I kind of didn’t hear the songs… I remember liking the first few ones though! I’ll have to give it another listen tomorrow, it’s getting pretty late. Hail to the Thief too, I’ll be sure to dedicate some time to them.

Of course, definitely prioritize your life Why do you despise fishing, though…? It’s so benign and perhaps even jolly. I’ll let you know when I land Mending, though! Right now we’ve just got a lot of bows. Like, a lot of bows. Mostly Mending bows.

I think I only really get break from August 22 to September 15… Unfortunate. There’s not really enough time to dedicate to travel, so I’ll probably spend it with my family & maybe meet up with Justice & Denial.

Latin poetry is really cool! It’s a little bit hard to comprehend, though, because poets are so loose with their word placements… sometimes you’ll be given an adjective or a noun and find something that it goes with another line over. Sob. I think Latin poetry tends to be more ordered than English poetry, though—it usually fits within some sort of meter, while English poetry seems to play more with the structure of the text. I will say that my comprehension of Latin is nowhere near my comprehension of English, so a lot of hidden meaning is probably completely lost on me…

Poetry interpretation is honestly quite hard for me as well! I’d recommend finding repeated patterns in the poem, like repeated sounds (consonance, assonance, alliteration) or structures (enjambment & maybe word spacing) or imagery! Also you can honestly create meaning from the poem if you can make a strong enough argument for it. Like the smoke thing in “summer, somewhere” I kind of just winged…

It might be helpful to analyze more structured texts, like stories, before approaching the wilderness of poetry.

What is English Literature unseen poetry comparison? It sounds very interesting :0 I’d love to hear more about it!

Snowboarding is a ton of fun! I don’t find it as difficult as I used to now that I know how to carve, though I’m not super confident about black diamonds. Maybe it’ll get better with time, who knows. My family usually snowboards at Mammoth, though we went up to Whistler once! It was a really amazing experience—the snow was so nice and powdery, unlike the icy West Coast slopes, lol.

Oooh, which Roblox games do you typically play? I know Sandy plays Roblox sometimes but I have no idea what’s good on there anymore…

Yes! Oh my goodness, they always have zero chemistry it’s actually insane. Maybe a little shade to straights, I’m sure they can take it. Also… golden? Like KPDH? Is that a reference to March ’26 Lyric, the goat, that I sense?

Gherkins are really good, I agree! Maybe not eating the better part of a kilogram good. That’s honestly impressive. What brand of gherkin do you typically get? I might snag a jar if they’re available here, I kind of miss eating pickles. Sour foods in general I haven’t eaten a lot of since I transferred schools.

Your perfect day sounds awesome! So musical. Would you ever consider playing a song to me sometime?

We shall glow up in the fashion department together, dear husband :saluting_face:

The way I got into Pokemon was from the cards! They’re pretty expensive now, though, which is kind of unfortunate. You can play Pokemon games on a laptop (though I’m not entirely sure about on mobile) up to generation 7, I think? Not entirely sure. You could also play Go, which has more robust multiplayer options than the mainline games do.

The LEGO phase is so real :sob: gosh, the Milky Way set is so gorgeous! It almost looks like it has a certain pride flag in the center… monocle face emoji… The Radiohead poster is really cool too! I like the composition :0

Gosh, forests are so nice! Very tranquil and soothing. Reading LOTM in the middle of a forest is actually so auraful.

Alright, take as much time as you need! The scratch bot can be mean, I know.

An uncommon interest of mine is lesbian fashion, I suppose. Aside from me being a part of that community, I think that lesbians just have immense swag and aura in a way that I can’t help but wish to emulate. Perhaps eventually I can even emit swag aura from within.

I’ve just gotten back into climbing as of today, actually! My wrists are very sore and weak right now. It was a rather stark reminder of how physically frail I am. It was a lot of fun, though! I hope to slowly get better at it and stay fit

I do not play any instruments, unfortunately. I used to, but I was kind of a dumb child who didn’t recognize her blessings and I actually ran away from home on account of a violin lesson when I was seven, so. Yeah. I was not very musically inclined back then. The only time I really sing is when I get those “i'm not a dere” reels or in the shower when a song gets stuck in my head. It’s fun though, I enjoy it.

I have a normal daily routine and an SWC-addled routine. Normally, I would wake up at 6, get ready for the day—wash face, apply sunscreen, etc—and clean something. Then I’d do some work & read or go to class, then have lunch. After that it’s either more classes or off to a library or bubble tea shop to grind out some more work, then I’d have dinner! I would head to bed at the reasonable hour of 9:15. The SWC-altered routine has lowkey ruined my sleep schedule. Now I go to bed at like 11:30 to 12 and wake up at 9 :skull: It’s also shifted my meal hours to 3-ish for lunch. RIP circadian rhythm.

Something that I’ve always wanted to do is explore more of the city where I live! We literally have a light rail. And I’m not taking advantage of it. I feel like I should get out more, but at the same time, there’s this element of having school breathing down my neck all the time. Plus scrolling kind of eats my free time evilly. I don’t even enjoy it, I don’t get why I do it.

A childhood dream of mine was to be a scientist! This really hasn’t changed all that much. I like science

I cooked today! I roasted salmon with beets & cauliflower. Accidentally used a giant wad of spices and my beets were frozen by the sheer power of my refrigerator, but it all worked out! I did hurt my hand by grabbing the handle of the pan I had just pulled out of the oven. Genius move, I know.

Latin grammar: cases! There are five cases—the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative cases! We don’t talk about the vocative or locative cases. They can be ignored. These cases determine a noun’s role in a sentence or which noun an adjective agrees with (it has to have the same case as the noun that it modifies.) Generally, the nominative is the subject of the sentence, the accusative is the direct object of the sentence, the dative is the indirect object of the sentence (something that is acted on by the subject through the direct object), and the genitive is the possessive! Ablative is… weird, to say the least. It’s used with prepositions and stuff (it carries like 50% of the latin language on its back) (that’s probably an exaggeration but i like the ablative case)

Question time!

What’s your favorite animal? What do you like about it?
Are there any objects in your house that have a special significance to you?
What makes you, you? Who is Hope Euphoriafall?
Do you prefer pencil or pen? Why?
What fandoms are you a part of?
What's your favorite time of day?

Yours to the stars and the abyss,
Pyrite
1701 words

Daily #12:
“Daily:
Welcome back from Cabin Wars! I sure hope you secured some sleep, because that's what today's daily depends on! You can write whatever you wish, but however much you sleep depends on how many words you write! 1200 minus (hours slept x 100) words, the least amount of words you can write being 100. For example, if I slept 7 hours, I would need to write 500 words. You can get 300 points for this daily, with an additional 100 points for proof. Have fun!”

Samantha sat at the bus stop, bored and tired. She wasn’t sure about this whole ‘Public school’ thing. She’d been homeschooled for her entire life, and she never had to get up This early.
Samantha grumbled.
“Why…” Samantha rolled her eyes.
“Hey.” Samantha looked up.
“What?” Samantha said rudely.
“I’m Louise.” The kid Smiled.
“Kay. Samantha.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Yeah. you too. I guess.” Samantha glared away.
“So… where’re you going?” Louise asked.
“To school.” Samantha looked curious.
“Heh, i thought so. Where?”
“I dunno. I’m new. But i know that bus is mine.” Samantha pointed to a school bus coming up the street.
“Mine, too.”
“Huh.”
“Yeah, that’s cool. We’re in the same school.” Louise looked excited.
“Yeah, i guess.” Samantha said.
“Hey, wanna do something later?” Louise asked Samantha, Clearly interested.
“Uh, i guess.” Samantha Shrugged.
“Great. Oh, looks like our school bus is here!” Louise and Samantha walked towards the bus.
“So… what’s… your… house…? like?” Samantha didn’t know how to start a conversation.
“Kinda wild. I have 2 older brothers and an Older sister, so, things get a bit crazy around there. Uh, what about you?”
“I have an older sister and a cat. And Parents.”
“Heh, okay.” Louise smiled. “Hey, you can sit next to me.” Samantha sat down next to Louise, like she said.
“Thanks.”
“No problem! And lucky you. you don’t have any brothers.”
“It’s not that bad.” Samantha said. “My penpal, Leah, has an older Brother, and she likes it.” Samantha told her.
“Yes, it is. and that’s only one brother.”
“well, i guess you’d know, so i’ll take your word for it.”
“yeah. and i’ll show you to your classroom.” Louise smiled.
“Thanks.” they rode off on the school bus together.

291 words

Weekly 2 - 1221 words - 2000 points
Part 1: i read a poetry book
Part 2: i went for an hour long run
Part 3: i junk journaled (no picture since it’s doxxing)
Part 4: i journaled about my day with my cousins (no proof since it’s doxxing, but it’s 621 words)
Part 5: 660 words
Looking back on the first half of 2026, it seems crazy just how much has happened in these six months. January feels like a long time ago, and when I compare who I was then to who I am now, I can see that I've grown in ways I didn't expect. This year has challenged me, excited me, and taught me lessons that I know I'll carry with me for a long time.
One of the things I'm most proud of is everything I've done in theatre. Theatre has always been something I enjoy, but this year I truly stepped outside my comfort zone and took on new responsibilities. One of my biggest accomplishments was stage managing the middle school play. It was definitely stressful at times, and there were moments when I wondered if I could handle everything that came with it, especially in terms of some of the stage manager drama that was going on. Looking back now, though, I'm so proud that I stuck with it and made it through. It showed me that I can stay organized, work under pressure, and help lead a team even when things get busy. Finishing the school year after everything I had going on also felt like a huge achievement.
One of my favorite memories from this year was my cousin's wedding in May. It was such a beautiful celebration, and it was amazing to see everyone together, though I do wish my family could have been a bit more supportive. It's a memory I'll always look back on with happiness because everything about the day felt so special.
Another unexpected highlight of this year has been the conversations I've had with my aunt. We've talked a lot about my social life, and I feel like she's given me advice that has genuinely helped me. Instead of just listening, I've actually tried to put her advice into practice, and I've noticed a difference. I've become more confident about reaching out to people, starting conversations, and not overthinking every social interaction. Those small changes have made me feel more comfortable being myself around others.
One thing I'm especially proud of is how I made friends at my summer program. At first, I wasn't sure how easily I would fit in, but I pushed myself to introduce myself to people, join conversations, and be open to meeting new friends. It turned out to be one of the best parts of the experience. It reminded me that making friends often starts with taking the first step, even if it feels a little uncomfortable. In a few weeks I'll be going to summer camp, and I want to carry that same mindset with me. I hope I can continue reaching out to people instead of waiting for them to come to me.
As the next school year gets closer, I feel nervous about everything that lies ahead. There will be new classes, new challenges, and definitely moments where I feel overwhelmed. But at the same time, I also feel excited. This year has shown me that I'm capable of handling more than I think I can. Even when something feels intimidating at first, I usually find a way through it. Remembering that gives me confidence for what's ahead.
As I move into the second half of 2026, I want to carry forward the confidence I've built, the willingness to take risks, and the habit of reaching out to new people. I want to keep saying yes to opportunities, even if they seem difficult, because some of my best memories have come from taking chances. Most importantly, I want to remember that growth doesn't happen all at once—it happens through small moments of courage, learning, and perseverance. If the first half of 2026 has taught me anything, it's that I'm stronger, more capable, and more confident than I gave myself credit for, and I'm excited to see where the rest of the year takes me.

Daily 12:

Welcome back from Cabin Wars! I sure hope you secured some sleep, because that's what today's daily depends on! You can write whatever you wish, but however much you sleep depends on how many words you write! 1200 minus (hours slept x 100) words, the least amount of words you can write being 100. For example, if I slept 7 hours, I would need to write 500 words. You can get 300 points for this daily, with an additional 100 points for proof. Have fun!

slept 9ish hours

Jules stood in front of the stove, flipping pancakes.
Eve walked down the stairs, yawning. “Mornin’” She said sleepily, sitting down at the table. “Morning” Jules replied, continuing to flip pancakes. “How’d you sleep?”
“As well as anyone can, with all bangin’, or dead silence.” Eve replied
“You could try earplugs”
“You know I hate ‘em”
“You’ll get used to the noises.”
“It’s always different noises.”
“Sometimes it’s silent”
“Those nights are creepy. Not even any cricket’s chirpin’.”
“That’s true.”
“Why’s Hank always up in the night, bangin’ around?”
“He can’t sleep.”
“Well, why’s he gotta do so much bangin’?”
“He’s fixing things.”
“Can’t he fix ‘em in the mornin’?”
“At least he’s doing something”
“Wish he’d do somethin’ less loud”
“You’ll get used to it”
“You always say that”
“That’s ‘cause I’m always right” Jules said, not looking up from the pancakes. Eve rolled her eyes. His back was turned to her, but she could tell he was smiling.
“Why’re you makin’ pancakes today?” Eve asked, changing the subject “What’s the occasion?”
“Gotta fuel up for the apocolypse” Jules said, transferring the latest pancake onto the stack of other pancakes.
“You alway say that.” Eve said
“Yeah, ‘cause you alway have to.” Jules said, pouring batter onto the frying pan.
“But you usually make eggs”
“We can’t eat eggs every day.”
“Okay, but why’re you makin’ pancakes today? You could make toast”
“Okay, okay, you caught me.” Jules said, smiling as he sprinkled chocolate chips onto the pancake he was making. “We just have the ingredients for pancakes today, so I thought I’d make some. You know I like to cook.” Jules said, flipping the pancake
“Yeah, that’s why you cook breakfast for the whole team every day.” Eve said.
“Yeah. But it is a bit boring to just cook eggs every day.”
“I think the team agrees” Eve said. “I’ve lost count of how many times Eliza’s said she’s sick of eating eggs” Eve joked
“Well, maybe she should get me more ingredients other then eggs” Jules quipped back, looking at Eve from over his shoulder “But yeah, I thought I’d make pancakes today. Suppose the team could use a treat.” Jules put the newest pancake onto the stack. “Plus I just like making ‘em”
“So are you gonna give me one of a those pancakes?” Eve asked, smiling and raising an eyebrow. “Here you are, madam.” Jules said, placing a plate with a pancake on it in front of her. “Enjoy, m’lady” Jules said as they went back to the stove
“I do agree with Eliza, you should make these more often.” Eve said, mouth full of pancake. “I suppose this was worth getting up a tad earlier than I’d like”
“See?! Soon you’ll be rising with the dawn, like me! To make breakfast for everybody.” Jules said, smiling a silly grin
“You wish!” Eve said back.

(480 words)

daily 12

Mr. Cinderella was so bad I have to rant about how bad it was.

Mr. Cinderella is a Vietnamese BL series about Dung, who is haunted by memories his childhood friend whom he called ‘Cinderella’ and had a crush on. However, one day she disappeared and cut contact. Due to how long ago this was, a lot of Dung’s memories of Cinderella are hazy. In the present day, Dung meets a doctor named Khoa—and Dung becomes almost certain that Khoa is Cinderella. This causes Dung to grapple with the fact that his childhood friend and crush may have truly been a man.

When I first read this synopsis, I immediately became interested. The idea of finding out your childhood friend whom you had a crush on, who you’ve also been under the conception of being a girl, may have truly been a boy, was a concept that I found myself really interested in. I thought that the show would have had some interesting potential of covering topics like internalized homophobia, identity, and the experience of being forced to come to terms with your orientation.

I’ll preface by saying that I’ve only watched three episodes of Mr. Cinderella, so you might combat some of my critiques with “Oh, you just have to give it more time” but all of the episodes are ~30 minutes, plus Season One is 6 episodes, meaning I’ve gone through half of the first season now.

My main critique of the show is the fact that we know absolutely nothing about Cinderella and Dung’s childhood besides the fact that Khoa is probably Cinderella. Again, I’ve only watched three episodes, but something you have to keep in mind is the fact that
Cinderella is literally one of the main plot points of the show
3 episodes is about 1 hour and 30 minutes of content, it’s also half of the first season.
So with that being said, why do we know absolutely nothing about Cinderella after three episodes besides the fact she’s probably Khoa? We’ve hardly gotten any flashbacks and we know nothing about what Dung thinks about Cinderella and how he remembers her even though his childhood memories of Cinderella are supposed to be what moves the story forward.

On the topic of Cinderella, pretty much all of the scenes we see with Dung and Khoa, almost none of it is Dung grappling with making Khoa and Cinderella go hand in hand in his mind. We see him grapple with this for just a few moments per episode, which really sucks since that’s what I expected the main conflict of the show to be. All scenes with Dung and Khoa is just them doing some tropey cliche romantic stuff together—this also makes me think that the person who made this show only made it to cater towards people who watch romance shows for those kinds of scenes. The best example I can think of is the fact that Dung slips and kisses Khoa by accident—a very tropey scene, but it does nothing. We weren’t at a major part of their relationship, and it didn’t serve as a milestone in their relationship like kisses usually are in media. It feels like they just kissed for the sake of having a cute little, “Oh look a romantic moment!”. Which, like I said, makes me feel as if the show is catered towards people who watch romance shows just to see the characters kiss or do other romantic things. I think moments like these are cute, but that enjoyment fades away without good buildup to these moments.

The show also feels painfully slow paced and fast paced at the same time. I suppose it was going for a fairytale “Love at First Sight” trope to reference the Cinderella motif, but the execution frankly sucks. Dung falling in love with Khoa quickly makes sense due to his childhood memories, but it makes no sense for Khoa to immediately fall in love with Dung. Here’s a list of everything Khoa does before he starts to flirt and make advances with Dung:
Sees him getting beat up and helps him and brings him to the hospital
Does it again
Dung gives Khoa his phone that was stolen
This was all that happened. He then proceeded to invite Khoa to live with him, made advances at him and flirted. Their relationship progresses so fast, which once again makes me think the show is catered to people who watch romance shows for these kinds of moments instead of genuinely interesting character dynamics. Seeing them in love is cute and all, but it ultimately feels void when the relationship met this point so quickly. No buildup means the end feels anticlimactic. It’s like if a show killed a character immediately after they were introduced. It’s not sad because we knew nothing about them. Plus, the “Love at First Sight” trope isn’t even handled well here so their relationship just feels like a cheap relationship to get people to watch the show for the couple-like moments.

The show is fast paced in their development of the two’s relationship, but the actual plot and character development is so slowly paced. Like I said, we know absolutely nothing about Cinderella despite the same flashback that plays every episode where I just them laughing so we don’t even learn anything. All the characters are so shallow that we don’t even know anything about them, and you don’t have to know a character’s backstory to like them, but all the characters are just boring. They’re very two dimensional. Even if we don’t know their backstory, they should at least still have a personality that makes the audience like them. All the personalities are uninteresting that makes it so I don’t care about the characters. The only character who’s kind of funny is a side character named Thao. The two main characters just feel so shallow—they don’t have meaningful character traits and Dung’s personality changes so much, and in an inconsistent way not in a character development way. If you showed me a clip of him from episode one and another from episode two, I probably would’ve thought they were two different characters played by the same actor.

No show has elicited such hate out of me besides this show. The concept was actually pretty neat so I feel the need to do a rewrite.

1063 words

daily 12! got around 10 hours of sleep <3 prompt from seagull!

Ron was entirely caked in dirt.

This was normal.

He wiggled further into the hole, munching on bits of soil as he went.

Birds, he thought, I hope I don't run into Jon while I'm over near his territory.

“RONNY!” a voice said enthusiastically from somewhere in the dirt.

Ron groaned. Jon.

“Hi, Jon,” he said back.

He then proceeded to inch his way towards the surface.

The surface was a dangerous place, but Ron was getting sick of living near Jon. He needed to find himself a fresh spot.

Once he broke out of the dirt, he wiggled his way to the grass.

“Ron, where'd you go?” Jon said from somewhere behind him.

Of course Jon would follow him. That was a very Jon thing to do.

“I'm finding some pebbles,” he said.

“What for?” Jon asked, puzzled. “You can't exactly carry them.”

“To… sit on,” Ron replied. “It's boring. You wouldn't be interested.”

“Nah, buddy,” Jon said cheerfully back. “Sitting on pebbles sounds perfect. Besides, you need someone to make sure you don't get stepped on!”

“I need some alone time?” Ron tried.

Jon frowned. “Needing alone time is basically just a way to call for help. What's troubling you? I'm sure I can help.”

“NO!” Ron exploded. “You can't. Go away.”

But Jon refused to budge. “Buddy, what's wrong?”

“Look,” he said. “I need to talk to Don. Alone.”

Jon shook his slimy head. “No one should face difficult situations alone,” he said firmly.

Daily 12 for lyric!
Words: 519
Extract from my novel so it's going to make zero sense

༶ ༶ ༶ ༶ ༶ ༶ ༶

Nigel sat in his seminar early on Tuesday, waiting for Miles to arrive. It didn’t take long; the guy was always early.

“Hey Nigel.” He smiled. “What you up to? How you doing?”
“Fine.” He shrugged.
“Cool, cool. I’m glad.”

His eyes lingered on him for a little too long. Nigel ignored it. He didn’t have the energy for this today.

“I know you said that you wouldn’t do another show, but-”
“Nope.”

After what happened at the end of it, Nigel was never going near that stupid theatre again. He never wanted to see Billy again after what had happened between them. It was a mistake. That’s all it had been, and that’s all it ever would be.

“So, I saw that there’s a show that’s reopening for some tech roles. Stage is filled but lights-”
“Forget it.”

Nigel wanted to leave, but he couldn’t. He really needed to stay, even if it was probably going to be pointless. Seminars usually were.

“Just- hang on. I thought that maybe you’re not enjoying it because of what it is specifically that you’re doing? They still need a lighting operator. So maybe-”
“I said no.” Nigel snapped.
Miles looked taken aback. “Sorry I just-”

The lecturer walked in, and the seminar started.

Nigel had no idea what Miles was thinking today. He was acting up for some reason. He had made it clear that he wasn’t doing another show, so why was he pushing again? It was crazy. He’d done two. That was plenty enough.

“Just in case you change your mind, it’s Anything Goes, and it’s the SST company.” Miles leaned over, whispering to him. “SST means-”
“I’ve already made up my mind.”
“Right. Sorry. Okay.”

The seminar went on as usual. Nigel put up with some stupid opinions from some entitled coursemates and it was just awkward in general. Perfectly normal for a Tuesday. But part of him was wondering what was up with Miles. He’d promised that that last show was the last one that he was going to pressure him into, and now here he was. Nigel didn’t want to know. He just wanted to get back to his flat and get his guitar out. He’d had some time with it over the last week, but not enough.

He also had a lot of essays due soon. It was nearly the end of term, so of course everything was due soon. It was fine. Just under three weeks until it was done. He then had all through the break to revise and ignore everyone here who thought they were his friends or whatever. He didn’t care about any of them. Once it was over, Nigel walked out of there. He was happy to. It meant that he didn’t have to talk to Miles or put up with any of this stuff about doing another show or having some sort of social life.

It wasn’t unhealthy to not talk to anyone and just spend all his time in his room. It was just what he did. Nigel just wished someone would understand that, but they never did.

༶ ༶ ༶ ༶ ༶ ༶ ༶

daily 12

A Jigglypuff (let’s call them Jiggly) wanders the streets of Russ with their head bowed in loneliness. The port city of Arrow Point is an unfamiliar tangle of roads and canals and terraced buildings leading to sky bridges and crossings.

The Jiggly stops to stare at the horizon with longing in their deep blue eyes. Their eyes swell like the tide as bittersweet tears begin to gather on the surface, the surface tension making their eyes glassy.

In the past, the Jiggly had a home, a family, a community of their friends, Now. they find themselves in the middle of nowhere, with nobody they recognise. Their memories are filled with scenes from the not so distant past, scenes of a sea of pink Jigglies chatting and socialising in front of the enormous memorials to the first Jiggly meditator.

See, Jiggly was not a good meditator. Their friends were, and could sit there for minutes on end in silence, accompanied by nothing but their thoughts. The Jiggly wondered what they thought about, because whenever the Jiggly tried to meditate their thoughts would be filled with the clear and beautiful singing of a Jiggly.

It didn't take long before people realised they weren't able to meditate. A Jiggly not knowing how to meditate was unheard of, but Jiggly was always told to reach for the stars and aim high so that’s what they did.

The Jiggly was kicked out of the meditation group and left to fend for themselves in Russ. They spot someone ahead of them and run after their figure.

“Hey, wait for me!” the Jiggly squeaks as they are out of breath. The silhouette turns around.

The silhouette is Denial and his eyes light up in joy and surprise when he realises he is talking to a real life Jiggly.

“Ahhh… this isn’t real… I can’t believe my spirit brethren, the Jigglypuffs, are actually stabding right hrre in front of me!”

Denial reaches out a hand to grab the Jiggly but the pink balloon is faster and doesn’t let the fake Jiggly (who is denial) go. Instead the Jiggly threatens Denial.

Then the Juggly’s stomach rumbled and they turned straight to Denial. “Hey,.. do you have food to eat?”

Denial shakes hus head but this doesnt faze the Juggly. The Jiggly takes a big bite out of Denial and Denial is very sad because he never thoight the Jiggly would be so bloodthirsty.

Then when Denial felt absolutely hopeless he hears the shouts on the horizon.

“Fear not, friends. Gehrman Sparrow, Jiggly hunter, is coming”

A local shouts out this news as a brown haired man with a sharp jawline and glasses and a perpetually cold expression steps out in front of Denial

Denial is flopping like a fish on the ground because the Jigglypuff stole his stuff and also ate him. But then Gehrman Sparrow who is so cool and really hot saved Denial by performing magic on the Jiggly. You see Gehrman Sparrow is the same person as Merlin Hermes so they can both do magic.

And then Denial found himself magically healed by Gehrman Spatrow.

“Gehrman my hero!” he shouts with wide eyes. “Forget Higgly, I want to marry you”

Sandy and Pyrite nod excitedly and they start planning the wedding. Sandy is in charge of drawing all of the invitations and the decorations whilst Pyrite helps denial pick out what he wants to wear for the wedding.

In the end denial picks a Jiggly jumpsuit because he still wants to show his love to jigglies even if one almoste ate him. It’s okay though because if that jadnt happened he would have never met his soon to be husband Gehrman spatrow.

They marry in a small ceremony with their friends and a crowd of Jigglies who got to know Denial. They all live very happily together afterwards, except they didnt becausr thats what Fors Wall wrote in her next bestseller book.

Of course that was completely baseless and non canon and Denial would never get married to Gehrman Sparrow. Instead he lived a very happy life trying not to get eaten by jigglys and exploring with his FRIEND gehrman sparrow

denial is this good now?

A little bug jumped through the grass, looking for a seed. She only needed a couple more before her stores for the winter would be full enough. And then she could rest, knowing she would have plenty of food all through the winter. While she was looking, though, she came across a butterfly.

“Why are you sitting around?” She asked it. “Don’t you need to have food for the winter?”

“Silly bug.” The butterfly said. “I go south for the winter, and it’s still summer there. There is food to spare, and I don’t have to work for it. The bug though this was a good idea, and decided that this year she would abandon her food stash and walk south.

When winter came, the bug saw the butterfly fly away south. “It’s time to go.” she said to herself. She packed up some food for the journey and headed south. Her food soon ran out, though, and it was still winter, with freezing snow all over the ground. Had the butterfly lied to her?

She found a rabbit and asked him, “Where is the summer? I have gone south for a long time, but I’ve run out of food.”

“You’ve still got a long way to go.” The rabbit told her, but he gave her some food for the journey. She kept walking, but she eventually got cold.

She found a beaver and asked him, “Is the summer still far away? I’m very cold, and I don’t know if I can make it.”

“It’s still very far,” the beaver explained, “But you can come in my dam and warm up. I will give you a sip of soup to keep you warm on your journey.” The bug went in, and got warm, but went out again and walked some more.

Eventually, she ran out of strength. She wasn’t sure she could make it. So she stopped and asked a deer, “How far is the summer? I’m not sure I can make it.”

“It’s right up ahead!” The deer told her. “You can make it!” Encouraged, she turned the next corner to see rolling hills with no snow on them. She saw the butterfly, flying toward her.

“What took you so long?” It said, looking confused. “It’s almost time to go back for the summer.” The bug was shocked! She would’ve got more rest if she had just stayed home!

332 words

Hello! Sorry that this is late, but I hope this critique is helpful for your writing <3

her father’s birthday was in a week. that means the annual crown’s birthday celebration was taking place in a week.

Maybe instead you could do: her father's birthday was in a week, which meant that the annual crown's birthday would be taking place in the same time.

the princess, othera, was in charge of making sure everything was ready as a task to make sure she was ready for her crowning that was coming up.

Uh.. What's she making sure things are ready for? You could probably change the wording and make it into two sentences instead to make the point a bit clearer.

after shouting – her voice tearing apart the chefs that cowarded beneath her – the cake was thrown out and restarted.

Cowered, not cowarded <3

the mushroom soup was too thick, the stew was lacking in both texture and flavour, the braised lamb wasn’t savory enough, and everything was horrible.

Add in overall to the sentence. “and everything overall was horrible.”

if this ceremony turned into a mess, all those nobles would blather foul rumors about how she wasn’t fit to rule over the kingdom.

“all those nobles” –> “all of the nobles”

othera summoned a bit of her strength and created a semi-gold, lightly transparent spoon and bowl. she then levitated the ladle in the pot, used it to pour soup into the bowl, then brought the bowl up to her lips.

I love your description of how she uses her powers to do and make various things! You're very good at playing out every detail about the objects being created and used differently.

“not good enough,” she said, once more, repeating the phrase for the nth time this week.

Not sure if this is intentional or not, but I like how it seems that she's just too overwhelmed and stressed by her weight to carry of making everything perfect that she doesn't even explain one bit of why the soup wasn't good enough for her standards. Also.. I think you forgot to put the number in “nth”.

othera walked away.

I think you could maybe add a bit of detail to how she walked out. Did she walk with a cocky attitude? Did she rush off with small and quick steps? It could giver her character even a bit more nuance and personality into how she acts when stressed and overwhelmed.

but othera heard; she heard all the rumors about other noble children, how elixria (“notarius curiae”) was too “unprofessional”, how sitolina (“vicecomes harmoniae”) was too “messy”, how pirnte (“comes discordiae”) was “trying too hard”, how lethe (“ioculator regius”) “behaved like a brute” – all terrible stuff.

Could you be a bit more specific to whether these are rumors based off of the parties they host? I kind of get the jist that these are rumors based off of the parties they've hosted for royals, but it doesn't say that.

That's the end of my critique!! Overview: I think wording can be a bit more precise, you don't need to overcomplicate things to seem more professional. Trust me, I used to fall down that rabbit hole lots. I hope this was helpful, and I hope you have a great SWC session!

374 words

“I don’t love you anymore.
“Goodbye, Leonard.”

You jolt awake, your emerald-green eyes staring unfixedly past the ceiling. Sleep leaves you slowly, and for a while you lay there, practically catatonic.
You had that dream again. You’ve been having it since you and Klein broke up, since you left Tingen for the Red Gloves. Since you ran away would be more apt, but you’ve never been one for looking your actions straight in the eyes.
You rub the last wet dregs of sleep from your eyes and sit up. You don your red gloves, their smooth silk like a second skin over your hands, and fix your appearance as best you can.
You still look a mess.
You still are a mess. But you wouldn’t know that, because you don’t want to know that. You run from Klein, from Tingen, from yourself.
You are broken, Leonard Mitchell.
You are not the protagonist. Nobody will save you. You are a broken, shattered husk of a man.

Duty calls to even the broken, though, and you answer its summons as you always have. Today’s mission takes you back to Tingen. The higher-ups won’t tell you why, cryptic as they always are, but you have a bad feeling about this mission. Regardless, you follow your captain to Tingen, as once you had done for Smith.
He briefs you along the way—something about the descent of an evil god, but you’re not really listening—and you listen to him quietly. The train to Tingen is full of weeping and wailing, and a knot of dread blossoms in your stomach as you wonder what could possibly have happened there.

Soest warns you to brace yourself, but you don’t listen. No amount of bracing could have prepared you for that, and anyway you can’t hear him over your thoughts, boiling and churning and—
He’s gone.
They’re all gone.
You fall to your knees. You’re in shock, maybe, and unstable.
You should have been there for them, you think. You blame yourself for running away from your lover, your friends, your Captain, but it is too late now.
Running is all you know, now.

You run from me.
Run from yourself.

Run to your captain—

and return to the soil.

7/12 - 238 words

On a calm summer's evening, when the rain begins to pour, you find yourself searching for shelter and are drawn to the warm orange glow of a brick-walled building, nestled between two closed storefronts. As you approach you get close enough to read the sign. Welcome to the Lionbrary, a cozy bookstore and cat shelter.
As you enter a bell chimes overhead of you and you hear the faint scampering of paws. The establishment itself is gorgeous, a fire crackles behind the grate of a fireplace and bookshelves fill the walls. Where there are not stacks of books there are cat trees and scratching posts, not to mention the various toys scattered across the floor. You can't spot any cat beds but the place doesn't seem to need any, judging by the quantity of cats sleeping in all the places you'd think they're not supposed to.
After standing around for a moment a small orange cat comes to greet you, rubbing his head against your leg. His name is Rusty. Rusty was named by the owner's daughter after she found him outside her middle school and brought him home, pleading with her father to keep him. A compromise was made and now Rusty lives at the Lionbrary as one of its few permanent residents. He takes his job as the official library cat very seriously, coming to greet and survey all who come to the shop, you included.

Here Comes the Sun || Project Hail Mary fanfic || 1317 words

“Here comes the sun”
Eva Stratt has always been the kind of person to see the big picture, to see how the puzzle fits together, rather than slowing down to admire the pattern or shape of an individual piece. A lot of people like to admire the individual pieces. But it’s her opinion that you’ll never get the puzzle done that way.

“Little darling, it’s been a long, cold, lonely winter”
Ryland Grace gave her the tools to save the world. It’s her job to use them wisely.
A faint smile quirks her lips up as she finishes watching his final recording. She doesn’t know what became of him. This was recorded years ago; she has no way of knowing whether he saved his alien friend or not. Whether he died in space, or whether he’s still out there in that dark expanse. Whether he’ll ever come home — or whether he’s already found it somewhere else.
She has a lot of questions she’ll never get to ask. But that’s just the way life is, and Eva learned a long time ago not to argue too much with life.
She steps out onto the observation deck, her breath puffing in the frozen air. Below her the frozen sea churns. Eva can’t remember the last time she truly felt warm — but hope lies beneath her, encased in little jars. Hope of seeing sunshine again.

“It feels like years since it’s been here”
Eva pulls a well-worn book out of a cubby in her quarters, one of the few personal items she’s allowed herself. The pages are thin and dog-eared, with the occasional neon streak of highlighter. She flips through it, letting herself skim the familiar passages.
For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again…
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Eva’s favorite story has always been that of Samson. Throughout his life, he made plenty of mistakes, and those ultimately led to his humiliation and defeat. But he redeemed himself in his last moments, sacrificing himself to wreak vengeance upon his enemies. Some might think that depressing, but she finds a great beauty in it — the knowledge that someone can turn around their life, no matter how far down the wrong path they’ve traveled. The certainty that it’s never too late to change, to grow, to become a hero. To be brave.

“Sun, sun, sun, here it comes”
The Petrova line is fading with every day, and as the sunlight strengthens, so do her emotions. Hope. Victory. Gratitude. She lifts her face to the sky, closes her eyes. Basks in the warmth both inside and out.

“I feel that ice is slowly melting”
They’re not getting rid of all the Astrophage, of course. As a fuel, it opens up an entirely new realm of possibilities. An entirely new — or rather very old — universe. Besides, it’s an alien, as is Taumoeba. The chance to study them is a dream come true for several of the scientists working under her.
And now she knows that somewhere out there, there are even further stars, with their own life-forms. How many are there, she wonders? How many others go through their lives, believing they’re the only ones out there, spinning endlessly through an empty void?
Questions, questions, questions. Some have answers. Some don’t.

“Here comes the sun”
Some found it disturbing, her big-picture view. They’d argue that she was heartless, ruthless. In truth, Eva was simply willing to do the math. One, two, three lives to save billions? That wasn’t even a choice. And if it had been needed, she would have sacrificed herself just as easily.
She sips from a mug of tea now, breathing in the fragrant steam. Project Hail Mary has kicked off more things than just saving the sun, and it’s likely she’ll never see the results of those in her lifetime. But she’s made peace with that. The world will keep spinning after she and everyone else she knows are gone, and problems will keep cropping up, and people will keep finding the courage and resilience to solve them.
Things are far from perfect. But for once, the fate of the world isn’t in jeopardy. She can take a break and enjoy a cup of tea.

“And I say, ‘It’s all right’”
As the years have passed, Eva’s stayed busy. There’s always plenty to do, even when Earth isn’t in a crisis.
When an insistent beeping wakes her early in the morning, she sits up, groaning softly as she swings her legs over the bed. She stays active and healthy, but age is rarely kind.
For a moment the message blurs before her eyes, and when she swipes away the sleep from her lashes, it still takes a moment for the words to make sense.
An unidentified object has been discovered in orbit.
Hm.
It takes her only a few minutes to dress and get ready, but even so, by the time she reaches the conference room on the ship, it’s already mostly filled with people. Several are tapping on their tablet screens, glancing up as she enters.
She takes a seat. “What’s going on?”
A woman clears her throat. “Last night — well, early this morning, to be exact — something entered Earth’s orbit. It… appears to be a spaceship.”
She pauses, and adds, “One very much like the Hail Mary.”
Eva leans forward, resting her hands on the table.
The woman glances at her screen briefly before continuing. “We’ve received a transmission from them, and, well… you’ll just have to hear for yourself.”
She slides her tablet over, and a message begins to play.
“Hello, Earth!” a cheery voice says, and the camera focuses on… not a human face, or really even a face at all. The best description she can come up with is a rock-like creature with several legs.
“We are from the planet Erid, and—”
A brief squeal, and then background chatter.
“No, no, no, you have to tell them you don’t mean any harm first!”
“Why would I mean any harm?”
“How do we even know the translator is working?”
“The speed of light is 299,797,458 meters per second!”
“That isn’t relevant.”
“Isn’t that how humans greet each other?”
A brief silence falls, and then the creature faces the camera again. “Hello, Earth!” it repeats. “We mean no harm. We are from the planet Erid, and we are here to conduct scientific research!”
“You have to tell them the other part,” someone whispers in the background.
“Is it recording right now? Can they hear you?”
“I still think you should have started with the speed of light…”
“We are here to conduct scientific research,” the creature says again, more forcefully. “As an…”
“Exchange program—” one of the other Eridians pipes up.
“Exchange program,” the first one continues.
“No, we’re here to establish a program. Right?”
“The speed of light is—”
The camera blurs, and the transmission briefly blacks out before starting again.
“We’re here to offer an exchange program between Earth and Erid for the purposes of establishing a scientific relationship. The human known as Dr. Ryland Grace believes both societies have technology and knowledge that would be beneficial to each other.”
“It’s also a long trip back home,” one of the other Eridians noted. “So it would be great if you didn’t kick us out.”
“Our atmospheres aren’t compatible,” the first one continued, ignoring the interruption. “Which is why we’re sending specifications for building a biodome that won’t kill us.”
“I want one of those miniature ones Rocky has—”
“We look forward to working with you in the future!”
The message ends, and Eva feels a smile tugging at her lips.
“So…” one of the scientists at the table says, drawing the word out.
“So,” Eva says. “It sounds like we have a biodome to start constructing.”

Wild blinks at their screen, trying to decide what to write about. They considered continuing the discussion about Brook and Flood from yesterday’s Cabin Wars, but the idea didn’t excite them. Maybe they were a bit burnt out on that topic for now. Although, there were song lyrics they associated with those characters; they did mean to write an analysis of those…
“Hhhh, but I should really try to get more variety in my SWC writing,” Wild mutters to themselves. “I should just write a nice little scene about something else. Surely I can come up with an idea that interests me.”
They wait. The motivation doesn’t come.
Instead, River does.
“We haven’t done a Half-Canon daily yet this session, you know…” she points out, looking equal parts hopeful and teasing.
“That’d be so lazy of me, thoughhhh,” Wild complains. “Like, either I put actual effort into a writing piece, or I just… transcribe whatever you guys yell at me.”
“Hey, it’s valid writing nonetheless. And it’s a step above stream-of-consciousness journaling or whatever it was you were spamming for Cabin Wars words yesterday.”
Wild shrugs. “Sure, but… this is a daily. It’s worth points. I share it with the rest of SWC. And before you say anything, yes, I’ve done Half-Canon dailies before, but only when I’m running out of time and don’t have a better idea.”
River flips her tail, glancing sideways. “Well, you DON’T have a better idea.”
Wild sighs. “I can still come up with something. This is a FREE CHOICE daily. Those are so rare—I ought to take this opportunity to write something really special! Something awesome!”
“Are you saying Half-Canon isn’t special or awesome?” River mock-pouts.
“No, I—Ugh, you know what I mean!” Wild playfully flaps their tail at her.
“You visualized yourself with a tail for that lineeee,” River responds gleefully, undeterred. “…Hey, wait, are you already writing this?”
“Maybe,” smirks Wild.
“But you said—”
“Eh, screw that. I shouldn’t be ashamed of Half-Canon journaling just ’cause it’s easier than other types of writing. Besides, I’m burnt out from Cabin Wars. I’m allowed to take a break.” Wild mentally flops backward, while their physical body steadily types away on their keyboard.
“Is Wild finally loosening up about us?” Rain joins the conversation, appearing faintly amused. “Don’t go soft on me, now.”
Chaos grunts. “It’s good that you’re taking a break without avoiding writing entirely.” She narrows her eyes. “Just don’t forget why you’re in this camp.”
“To improve my skills so that I may one day tell your Canon stories, you mean?” Wild asks her.
Chaos nods.
Wild smiles back. “Well, then it can’t hurt to spend some time with y’all—”
“Half-Canon isn't the same as Canon,” Chaos interrupts, ear twitching. “You know that.”
“Perhaps not, but I also know something else…”
“What?”
“I wouldn’t have Canon if I didn’t have you. Your memories, your histories, the tales you tell… that’s how I’m able to write about Canon at all.”
Chaos bristles slightly, but her voice remains calm. “Then it is our fault that you do not write about Canon for this daily?”
“No, you ,” Rain snorts, tossing their head at Chaos. “Wild’s trying to express gratitude.”
Wild fluffs their fur, slightly embarrassed. “Yep. Y’all are the best.”