557 words daily for DYSTOPIAN


Birthday candles. Bright lights. Red dress. Mom taking photos.

Sweet 16.

Ixis was overwhelmed with the amount of people that came to her birthday party. What felt like every second, a new girl walked into the room, with a new dress, new shoes, new look, and bent their bodies trying to get a peak at Ixis. Ixis on the other hand stayed in a corner. It was her birthday party, but she was lurking in the backseat, talking only in quick spirts.

Ixis had chocolate brown hair and dark blue eyes. She had a thin figure that she wished was stronger.

Much like her figure, she wished her speech was stronger. She would love to be the type of gal that can talk hours on end about nearly nothing like some of her friends did. People who talk on end for hours get all the attention after all and Ixis did like attention. But, her talking never got to that point.

In an attempt to become a good speaker, Ixis joined speech and debate a bit ago. It was a wreck. Every word came out slower than the one before, slurred, tongued wrong, clashed t's turned into r's and hearing her parents speak Russian all day didn't help her get better.

One by one, the party guests came up to her, begging to get more words out of her. As polite as they were, Ixis was reminded of her speech and debate days when they kept asking,

“Can you repeat that again?”

So Ixis figured she'd prove her worth in ways that weren't her speech. Friends come and go, but knowledge stays forever, unless you alizheimers.

After the birthday party, she wept. More importantly, she hit the books. Day after day, another textbook was opened. She would skim through the problems, time herself, and was aiming to get a perfect score on an SAT practice test in order to get a near perfect score on a real SAT in order to for once prove herself smart. She wanted people to gawk at her knowledge her wisdom. She was considering learning perfect Russian not for fun, but to impress others.

Ixis desperately wanted attention, and she was afraid she wasn't gonna get it.

At school, Ixis always gave out her phone number. Also said hi to everybody. Maybe she wasn't the best at words but she genuinely wanted to be there for people and for people to be there for her.

—–

At the end of the day, Ixis shouldn't have cared so much about what others thought about her. She was gregarious and compassionate. The teen spent hours a day texting, calling, making gifts for other people. Cooking food for other people. Praying for other people. But, at the end of the day, Ixis had half decent parents, enough money for her hobbies to take off, and a good mind. Ixis knew she had a good mind. So the girl stopped caring.

This marks when the teen became a lady. When the teen girl grew out of her thin frame. Although she remained small in stature, and did not grow taller than 4 feet and 6 inches, she became bigger than anybody she knew.

Whenever the young lady would hear about a birthday party she wasn't invited to, the girl scoffed.
“I know I'm kind. I'm not insecure.”

2026-07-12 Daily #6: WIP (582 words) - Things are finally going to go well for me this year

“Excuse me?” I say automatically, even though I know exactly what she’s talking about.

She stares at me. “You’re not?”

I’m caught off guard. “Uh … no?”

Bon sighs. “Well, then, this is weird.”

(redacted). I have to commit.

“Yeah. What are you talking about?” I say in fake indignance.

Her shoulders slump. “I don’t know. I … it’s nothing. I’ll talk to my Clairvoyancy teacher.”

“ … Sure.”

She looks at me for one more moment. I blink several times. Apparently not seeing anything in me, she heaves herself off the floor and once again trudges down the hallway.

As soon as she’s out of earshot, I punch the floor.

“Owww!” I growl, clutching my fist.

Why do you have to do this to yourself, Harriet? Why?

I don’t understand. I’ve screwed myself over. For some reason, I got defensive when Bon asked about the visions. I didn’t expect it. So I just reverted to my default state — incredulous and defensive. Now she thinks she’s crazy, I think I’m crazy, and neither of us know or are going to find out what the visions are. And it’s only a matter of time before someone has a vision again. What’ll we do then? How will I keep pretending I never saw what we both saw? … Does she know I was lying?

I stand up, turn, and walk out of the school. I never make it to first period.

Chapter 3

Oh no, I think as I walk into Florology the day after next.

I can see the anger radiating off of Bon Lane already. Her shoulders are hunched, and she’s writing something, practically effervescing those scribbly zig-zag comic lines that show someone’s mad. I don’t know what I did this time, but I probably deserve it.

I wish I could enjoy this class. I’m about to actually try and pay attention to the beginning of Unit 2: Superfloral Abilities 101 when a hand coming from my left slaps a note down onto the desk. Bon’s manicure is growing out.

Her insufferable handwriting reads, I asked Mrs. Sooth about the visions.

That’s all it says. Really? She’s forcing me to involve myself? I glance over at Bon, but she’s casually taking notes.

What did she say? I write, trying with all my might not to escalate.

She said there’s a legend about reincarnations.

I read the sentence once, twice, three times. Then that day comes back to me. When we bumped into each other and the world seemed to tip on its axis. I remember I thought, No one remembers their past lives. That would be way too much information to stuff into one brain.

Oh, Harriet, you (redacted) jinxed it.

I want to crumple up the paper and run away. I don’t want Bon Lane and me, in our past lives, to have been … No. I’m not going to reply to her note. I’m going to drop out of school and become a polar explorer in Antarctica.

Fortunately, I don’t have to do anything before another note arrives on my desk.

The stories have it that once in a while, someone’ll start remembering flashes of a past life. But it’s always with one other person, specifically.

I don’t want to keep reading, yet my eyes move down the scrap of paper against my will.

Oh, sorry, I forgot to mention. It’s two-sided. The two people will both have visions of each other.

Oh, God. Bon’s going to k!ll me.

Chapter Five: Yellow - July 12th, 2026 - 641 words.


This morning my parents took us to the new Project Hail Mary film. It was quite interesting, though I only really took in about an hour of the film. About halfway through, I excused myself to the bathroom and stood up by the projector for the rest of it. I counted 12 people on their phones for a majority of the movie. This is one of many things I find strange. Seems like a waste of time and money to me. By the time the film was over, I had snuck back into my seat. No one noticed I was gone.
The weather outside was oddly cold for July. Probably only 80 degrees, if I were to guess. The drive home was short, but included an odd amount of twists and turns which made the route almost impossible to memorize. On Brannen there was a group of probably five or six motorcycles cruising the street. They weaved in and out of cars, completely ignoring the annoyed honks they got as they sped away. Sometimes I wish I could do that…though I don’t know exactly what part of that I wish I could do. I’m not a huge fan of motorcycles, and breaking the law has never really excited me. At least not as much as it does for others my age. I’m not a very brave person. Actually, I’m quite the opposite. I’m quite yellow, as Holden Caulfield would say.
With how bad I am at confrontation, you’d assume those I surround myself with would be equally horrible. You know, like how the “popular” kids usually stick together. Or the “jocks”, or the “nerds”. Instead, I don’t think I’ve ever made a friend who isn’t the complete opposite of me. I don’t really fit into those stereotypes. I find them dumb. Everyone is different, everyone is the same, so who cares anymore. I promise I won’t like you any better whether you’re the “emo girl” or the self obsessed “jock”. Either way, all the friends I’ve made either do cheer, or football, or extra credit homework, and I just don’t fall in that same bracket. I prefer watching. Usually I’ll sit on the top bleacher during the football games and watch the jocks play, and the cheerleaders cheer, and the school band play their instruments. Those are some of my favorite nights of the month. No one there even knows who I am. I’m just “the kid at the top of the bleachers” to them. The kid who’s always watching them, and studying them. If you didn’t know any better, you’d probably think I’m some fancy recruiter. Sometimes i’ll even dress up in a suit to see how many of the football players break a sweat when the see me. This would probably work if I didn’t look 12. What with my unkempt hair and my dumb outfits. My socks never match cause I don’t care enough to look in the morning, and my shoes are almost always untied because all the knots I make just fall out. I’ll usually wear some dumb tie like Ken Jennings that doesn’t at all match the theme, or color combination as the rest of my clothes, or some baseball hat for an obscure team that no one knows. I’ve been made fun of for this a multitude of times. Some kids call me childish, others would call me lame, the most common one was people just telling me I’m not cool. High school bullies are dumb like that. They think the same stuff that made you cry on the swingset in the second grade will make a 16-year-old break down. It’s just dumb. It’s all pretty dumb. One of these days I'm gonna go find them and tell them how dumb it all is. Or I won’t. I probably won’t. I’m pretty yellow.

Chapter Five: Yellow - July 12th, 2026 - 641 words.


This morning my parents took us to the new Project Hail Mary film. It was quite interesting, though I only really took in about an hour of the film. About halfway through, I excused myself to the bathroom and stood up by the projector for the rest of it. I counted 12 people on their phones for a majority of the movie. This is one of many things I find strange. Seems like a waste of time and money to me. By the time the film was over, I had snuck back into my seat. No one noticed I was gone.

The weather outside was oddly cold for July. Probably only 80 degrees, if I were to guess. The drive home was short, but included an odd amount of twists and turns which made the route almost impossible to memorize. On Brannen there was a group of probably five or six motorcycles cruising the street. They weaved in and out of cars, completely ignoring the annoyed honks they got as they sped away. Sometimes I wish I could do that…though I don’t know exactly what part of that I wish I could do. I’m not a huge fan of motorcycles, and breaking the law has never really excited me. At least not as much as it does for others my age. I’m not a very brave person. Actually, I’m quite the opposite. I’m quite yellow, as Holden Caulfield would say.

With how bad I am at confrontation, you’d assume those I surround myself with would be equally horrible. You know, like how the “popular” kids usually stick together. Or the “jocks”, or the “nerds”. Instead, I don’t think I’ve ever made a friend who isn’t the complete opposite of me. I don’t really fit into those stereotypes. I find them dumb. Everyone is different, everyone is the same, so who cares anymore. I promise I won’t like you any better whether you’re the “emo girl” or the self obsessed “jock”. Either way, all the friends I’ve made either do cheer, or football, or extra credit homework, and I just don’t fall in that same bracket. I prefer watching. Usually I’ll sit on the top bleacher during the football games and watch the jocks play, and the cheerleaders cheer, and the school band play their instruments. Those are some of my favorite nights of the month. No one there even knows who I am. I’m just “the kid at the top of the bleachers” to them. The kid who’s always watching them, and studying them. If you didn’t know any better, you’d probably think I’m some fancy recruiter. Sometimes i’ll even dress up in a suit to see how many of the football players break a sweat when the see me. This would probably work if I didn’t look 12. What with my unkempt hair and my dumb outfits. My socks never match cause I don’t care enough to look in the morning, and my shoes are almost always untied because all the knots I make just fall out. I’ll usually wear some dumb tie like Ken Jennings that doesn’t at all match the theme, or color combination as the rest of my clothes, or some baseball hat for an obscure team that no one knows. I’ve been made fun of for this a multitude of times. Some kids call me childish, others would call me lame, the most common one was people just telling me I’m not cool. High school bullies are dumb like that. They think the same stuff that made you cry on the swingset in the second grade will make a 16-year-old break down. It’s just dumb. It’s all pretty dumb. One of these days I'm gonna go find them and tell them how dumb it all is. Or I won’t. I probably won’t. I’m pretty yellow.

Dear Skylar,

Hopefully cabin wars went well for you! I feel like everyone ends up having to solo cabin wars at some point apart from me, because somehow every single weekend of cabin wars, I’ve been busy. It’s actually diabolical. Don’t worry, I do fear your mobile WPM. The fact that you can type at a decent speed on mobile is terrifying. Although I wonder if having autocorrect turned on would help my mobile WPM — I spend about half the time going back to correct my typos. And I typo a lot. Maybe I should just turn autocorrect on at this point.

A Zenbook? Do you feel very zen when you use it? Wowwwww I’m soooo funny haha don’t worry you don’t have to laugh so much

Woah, the processor has 24 cores and 5.60 GHz?? That’s a beefy computer. Or maybe it’s not, but by my standards it definitely is. Hopefully you can run all of your fancy engineering programs on it.

Nooo, no games? It’s okay, there will be another sale. The Steam autumn sale is at the start of October, and there’s a train fest sale happening really soon. I don’t think the games you’ve been looking for will be in that sale, but there might be some new ones you’re interested in! You know, trains. If I remember correctly the biggest discounts are usually during the summer and winter sales but I think they’ve evened it out a bit between the different sales now.

I love how you’re saying your laptop has a massive screen when I’m sitting here behind a monitor. I guess it’s all perspective. Yay, Scratch vector editor! I’ve long given up on trying to use that thing, it’s genuine ragebait how they’ve got like two options to edit shapes. But to be fair, for a children’s programming website I’m not complaining. Perhaps we shall see some Skylar coding projects on Scratch soon…

You’re reminding me that I said I would start volunteering soon to get some experience. Guess what I haven’t even started on? Oh well. Apparently getting a job is pretty hard, so good luck! I’m sure you’ll get one soon, and then you can start buying all the games you’ve ever wanted to play. And also saving for university, because those are some steep fees.

花卷! I love them, although we haven’t made them recently. Maybe I’ll ask my mother to teach me how to make them, because you’ve just reminded me of just how tasty they are. I think the names are always translated to scallion because scallions are just another name for spring onions? At least that’s what Wikipedia tells me… The rice cooker, yesssss. Does your accommodation have a kitchen? When I went around an open day a lot of the first year accommodations didn’t have kitchens, but I don’t know if that’s different for your university.

My summer break has basically just been me staying at home and playing Minecraft with my friends. So I didn’t really get up to much… This should really be my reminder to actually do something productive, or maybe just something that’s not playing video games, oops.

Oh yeah, I could also lock in on Chinese. I haven’t done anything yet, unsurprisingly. How far into the HSK course are you? I really don’t know where to start in the HSK books.

I have the same problem with the writing comp where I can’t submit a lot of my ideas because Scratch just won’t allow it. Also because I haven’t actually written much in the first place. I really need to start thinking of ideas for the comp, because I really want to submit a piece again after I didn’t write one for last session. I’m pretty sure this is a year since the first time I submitted to the writing comp as well, although I haven’t submitted much — one fanfic and one original, lol. Hopefully we can both get some ideas for the writing comp — maybe we could do some word wars where we just write down any ideas we have.

I also need to lock in for Artfight because I thought it would be a great idea to try an animated mass attack, knowing I wouldn’t be able to draw for the last week of July. And I kind of hate the style which I started drawing it in, but I’m not sure whether to restart completely or to just do the entire attack in that style. I should just make a decision soon so I can actually lock in.

I saw your attack for your irls! It was so good, and hopefully they really loved it. Trying to maintain a battle ratio is so real. It’s also hilarious how almost all of my attacks this year have been friendly fires. I think I’ve done maybe two attacks which aren’t friendlies.


Yeah, that’s true about the World Links. For a normal event I think you have to grind more every single day, but for World Links, you can kind of cram all your tiering into a few hours, which is what I just did for VBS. It wasn’t great for my sleep schedule, but to be honest staying up until 2am every three days is probably a normal occurrence in my sleep schedule anyway so maybe it didn’t affect my sleep at all. Oooh, good luck for Our Golden Days! How many days is it until it comes to EN?

Yeah, the trick to tiering if you’ve got a lot of energy is short songs. I think Hito Envy, Viva Happy, Fire Dance, and Jackpot Sad Girl are some of the shortest songs. And then, if you’ve not got much energy but you’ve got a lot of time, I’m pretty sure Lost and Found on 3x energy is the best.

Woah, S ranks! Yayyy!

I’m glad you’re starting to like VBS. Welcome to the better group /j. To be honest I don’t play many of the VS songs, but I think that’s because a lot of my favourite vsynth songs have group covers, or they’re just not in the game. I think my issue with WxS isn’t even their voices, I just don’t really like the songs they have. They’ve got some pretty good covers — Reincarnation Apple, living millenium, Love ka? to name a few, and some fun commissions, but I’m just not that interested in their other songs. I think I have the same issue with MMJ, to be honest.

Ooh, I actually rarely ever listen to cover songs, so maybe I should do that more. I think the only cover song I regularly listen to is Beyond the Way, but that’s not even surprising at this point. I think I would listen to sekai versions more than the original, but I have a playlist of all the vocal synth songs I listen to and I didn’t add any of the sekai versions into that playlist. And I’m too lazy to make a new one. So original versions it is.

You will get that Daybreak Frontline FC soon! I don’t know how the Master chart is, but the Append chart is absolutely undoable. Don’t try it. I promise.

If I said I saw MCR live, I am so sorry for being so sleep deprived I can’t even string together a coherent sentence. I didn’t actually get to see them, but my friend did. They played loads of my favourite songs and she sent me a few videos of some of them! Hopefully I will go to a concert soon, because there’s now been three concerts I’ve wanted to go to — Radiohead, MCR, and Three Days Grace with I Prevail. Actually, I’m pretty sure that last concert is in a few days, but I’m not going anyway, lol.

Very soon you’re going to be a high note warrior, lol.

Okay I’ve kind of just been replying to everything you said and I haven’t really asked you any questions yet so I’ll give you some here:

Do you decorate your room? How do you do it?
What’s your favourite hobby?
Tell me/teach me about one of your interests!
What was the last book you read and what did you think about it?
What’s one of your niche or unusual interests?

Okay, that’s probably enough from me,

Hope

(1388 words)

Self-Care Weekly

Self-Care Sunday:
I did do this on Sunday, just so I could call it that. But I spent 30 minutes reading.

Wellness Walk:
30 minutes playing with my cats! They're so adorable. <3

Crafting!

Journaling Jubilee:

2026:

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

◪ Noͦ 13
Wordcount: 734/550
Topic: Pending Work
Points: 650+100 for proof
Cabin: Dystopian-Xenofi love child

Unfortunately, I cannot provide all the writing here as it is fanfiction, but I shall provide screenshots for proof!!

Daily #13 for lyric
554 words

The next morning, Billy quickly packed a suitcase with enough clothes to see him through the holidays, and headed off to the train station. He couldn’t believe it was over. All his lectures, three shows, everything.

He was finally going home for a whole month before coming back for exams. There was still so much to do before he was actually done. But for now, he was happy to enjoy a small break.

The city disappeared into rolling fields, with the occasional town flying past without stopping. Billy hadn’t made this journey many times so far, but he did like it. It wasn’t that long either, just a twenty minute journey.

Someone could have picked him up, but he didn’t want to bother either of his parents with it. They had enough on their plates anyway with his sisters. They were always busy, but Billy loved it. He was the same, and he’d been perfectly happy to drive them about while he’d still had his car.

When he got there, it was a short bus ride back to his house. Billy grinned, seeing Charlotte, the youngest of his sisters at twelve, in the window.

The door flung open, she shouted “Billy’s home!” and ran at him.
Billy had to drop his things to catch her. “Hey Charlotte.” He spun her around before dropping her to the ground again. “You’re getting big.”
It was at that moment that Billy’s mum appeared in the doorway. “Hey sweetie,” she held out her arms for a hug, “how was the journey.”
“It was fine.”

Billy grabbed his things and walked inside, quickly dropping them off in his old room. It was just the same as before, but he felt different. Maybe it was the dust collecting on everything, or maybe it was because he was different. A lot had happened since Christmas anyway.

When he went back downstairs, it was hugs and greetings from everyone. They were all happy to have him back, well maybe everyone except Eve, the oldest of his three sisters.

“You’re back.” She shrugged.
“Yeah.” Billy held out his arms, and she reluctantly came in for a hug.

She was always like this. Billy just had to remember that. It was just weird being back.

They had a few hours to kill before dinner, and Billy was trying his best to talk to his sisters and not let any of them know what was going on with him. They did not need to know about the small situation he was currently having with Nigel.

He was trying his best to connect with Eve, who didn’t seem as talkative these days.

“How football going?” He asked her.

Billy called his family every week, but she was seemingly never around.

“It’s fine.” She shrugged. “We won today.”
“That’s awesome.” Billy smiled.
“Yeah but I let two goals in.”
“Hey, you didn’t let them in.” He was trying to break through to her. “I’m sure you’re great.”
Eve shrugged. “I’m okay.”
“Eve.”
“I don’t need your pity.”

She walked off. Sounds about right. As much as Billy wanted to be friends with her, he did have to admit that it was easier with Lily and Charlotte.

But it was nice to be back, even if he did feel like his sisters were about to drive him crazy.

daily 13

She buried her head in her pillow—why were they here? Why? Why?

Her father sighed and placed down a glass of water on Ran’s nightstand—it was almost ironic, given the fact that was something she typically did when her father had hangovers. She, stubbornly enough, buried her head deeper into her pillow. She didn’t want to leave—she didn’t want to do anything—she just wanted to be and do nothing.

Again, the question pulsed in her mind—why were they here again? After leaving Shinichi to live on his own for years? Shinichi didn’t even know how to cook when they left him, leaving Ran to come to his house to deliver meals. What right did they have to act like they were victims when their son was the one who had to suffer due to their negligence?

Whenever Ran mourned, anger would just resurface once again. She had no one to place the blame on, no one to curse for Shinichi’s disappearance—no one to put at fault. Desperately, she required an outlet before she burst.

The easiest people to blame were Shinichi’s parents. For leaving him on his own, for going to America for seemingly no urgent reason, for not being the parents they should have been. Ran has been irked by her father more times than she can count—but she knows just how deeply the man cares for her—he didn’t abandon her.

With that thought, Ran became suddenly aware of the cold shoulder she was currently giving her father. She turned around to face the light embedded in the ceiling for a moment as she prepped herself to say something. “Yeah.” She landed on the most minimalistic response—her throat was absolutely parched, the words were somewhat difficult to force out.

Her father nodded absentmindedly and didn’t dare face Ran. “Yukiko invited us over for dinner.”

Ran would’ve screamed if she was in the right mind to. It was a move that took a lot of nerve—what could the woman possibly want from them? What was the point of her invitation? Ran almost wanted to run out of the building to her karate center to blow off some steam if she had been allowed. Ran immediately turned around, “I don’t want to go.” She said simply.

Strangely enough, pools of a horrific regret began to settle in Ran’s stomach. The more she tried to ignore it—the further up it crawled through her spine, all the way to mind as it began to relentlessly attack her thoughts.

It was so hard to hate Yukiko and Yuusaku. They were terrible. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Ran knew this better than anyone else. So why couldn’t she force herself to hate? It wasn’t fair to Shinichi that she was thinking this way—it wasn’t fair to anyone.

Surely all parents had some kind of natural paternal instinct that came with being, well, parents. Ran supposed that feeling only caught up to them in these extreme circumstances. Ran didn’t have the energy to argue about the morality of such a thing.

She forced herself to wonder—to consider the possibility that Shinichi’s parents could be hurting just as much as her—she wanted to doubt it, of course, but just the seed of doubt was enough to make her question it all.

“Nevermind. I’ll go.”

The words were tinged with a lackluster regret immediately after they left her mouth.

559 words

Daily #13:
“Daily:
Do you have a project that you’ve put on the back burner for a bit too long? Or perhaps a shiny new idea in your notebook begging you to write it? Today, you can spend a day working on those projects (or another one) by writing whatever you want! Let the words flow and write at least 550 words for 600 points. Sharing proof earns you an additional 150 points!”

We arrived at our new house in St. paul. We still lived in the twin cities, but it was st paul, not minneapolis.
“This place is weird.” I said. “I don’t like it.”
“Really?” Maria said. “I kind of like it.”
“There is a low place to do my” I didn’t hear what clover said very well.
“There are so many outlets!” Courtney looked around.
“This house looks like it’s from the nineteenth century!” Maria looked at the walls.
“It’s so pretty!” Cynthia sat down on the floor.
“Yeah, but i miss our old house; my room, the fancy dining room, the chandelier…”
“This house has a chandelier!” said Cynthia.
“And it looks like that was added on recently.” Maria said.
“But it’s not the same.” i looked around. “Where’s my new room?”
“Hmm, i never figured that out. i’ll figure it out before we have to go to bed.” mom said.
I have to admit, the house was pretty cool. But i missed our old house.
“Where’s the kitchen?” Courtney asked.
“I think this is it!” Cynthia ran to a big, gray-ish green room.
“wow…” it had a green chandelier, and it had eight giant cabinets, and that was just on the ground.
“Courtney, come see this!” Cynthia ran out and grabbed Courtney, then ran back in.
“Woah!” Courtney was impressed. Maria came in.
“I need a snack. All i’ve had today is potato chips, Grapes, and Water.” Maria walked back out of the kitchen.
“Wait, Maria, come see this!” Cynthia dragged her back in.
“Wow.” Maria opened The cabinets.
“You can climb in them!” Cynthia said.
“I can’t. you’re just short.” Courtney told her.
“Hey, that was mean.” Cynthia said.
“Not in a rude way, just a comment.” Courtney said.
“It was still rude, Courtney.” Maria Leaned against the counter.
“Whatever.” Courtney Shrugged.
“Sage, Come in here!” Cynthia told me.
“Okay…” I climbed in. “hey, this is cool!”
“See?” Cynthia was pleased.
Cynthia got out of the cabinet.
“Guys, come see the bathroom!” She yelled.
“Ew, You’re so gross.” Courtney said.
“Look at the fancy scented soap!” Cynthia was excited. About soap. Seemed reasonable. “And
look, there’s a golden toilet brush!” Cynthia Pointed to a Toilet brush that was, in fact, Gold. Courtney sighed and rolled her eyes.
“And look, the toilet is blue!!” Cynthia Pointed at it.
“ooh!” I looked at the toilet. It was so pretty!
That sentence did not sound that nice when i said it.
“Hey, mom, have you figured out our rooms?” Maria asked.
“Yep, i’ll show you.” Mom led us up the stairs. “Maria, this room’s yours.” it had blue walls and a brown wooden floor, and a chandelier.
“I love it!!” Maria Ran into her Loft bed.
“What about mine?” Courtney Asked.
“This is it.” Mom showed us a room the same colors as Maria’s, and it also had a Fancy fan on the ceiling.
Courtney gasped.
“So Many outlets!” Courtney Jumped into her bed.
“This is Clover’s.” It had many… corners.
Clover mumbled something and went into her room.
“This is Cynthia’s.”
“I can’t wait to decorate it!” Cynthia ran into her room and got out some stickers.
“Where’s mine?” I asked.
“This is it.” I gasped. It was SO PRETTY. I jumped into my bed and started reading. The next thing i knew, i had woken up. i guess i was tired.

563 words

Weekly 1 - Part 5: Reflecting on first half of 2026 <3

Ahh let's see, I love a good, cheesy reflection on whole 6 months!

Well to start off, wow.
Look at all the opportunities you've earned but never properly looked back on and felt proud, and took a moment to bask in that memory.

Violin

My proudest achievement. I've earned a huge opportunity, a spot of the stage with the orchestra, and me and my sister as soloists. That's like the unrealistic, scary dream I've always had, but never thought would happen. I'd also like to make myself take a second to acknowledge the fact that I get to share with my sister, which I never realised how much easier, both in our relationship and on the stage, it is.
Of course, I'm still preparing the double back concerto but wow, what an opportunity (don't blow it, don't blow it, don't blow it ughh shut up inner voice)!

I think I should also acknowledge the fact that I don't feel like I've practiced a whole lot, but that's because it's became part of my everyday routine, and something always feel really bad if I haven't practiced enough (and reallyyy guilty haha).

[bTennis

I had my up and downs this year, so I'm going to try being more steady and focus on steady improvement <3. Also haven't been playing many competitions, I think just 2 - a team one and Junior Tournament, which wasn't that bad.

I've also moved to having two coaches, but my older sister needed more time so that was unfortunately pushed back haha. But I'll work more to hopefully get it back!!!

School

School's going pretty well but urm…get rid of those B's!!!!!!!!! At the very least I didn't get a C, which to be fair I shouldn't even know what a C should mean, I only know As and Bs and blegh B- anyways back to my reflection.

In school I've made many friends, but 4 very special ones that stayed by my side (including my sister :rolleyes and well met a couple that weren't quite as nice and kind. But but but but I managed to deal with it…..okay….?

Scratch

Yay scratch - one of the most fun part of my life! Of course, the first accomplishment was the fact that I made an account lol, but I'm also proud of the projects I've done and the fact that I'm starting with very simple project but doing them the best I can! I'm currently doing F4F on my alt but i think I'm going to stop it as soon as I get to…150? Yeah or 100 or 200. But yeah I just released my first violin projects and I think my thumbnails are getting better…kind of? But I just figured out (brain wave) that I can make pictures transparent and they make the best backgrounds! I'm also probably gonna try Pic collage…or not actually I'll just stick to Canva.


Overall

Overall it's pretty good, but I think I'd like to meet less stressful deadline hehe and focus more.

So yeah, there's my reflection of the first half of 2026 <3 I might have missed something hehe, but this just oges to show that so so much can happen in 6 months - 26 weeks!!

Do you have a project that you’ve put on the back burner for a bit too long? Or perhaps a shiny new idea in your notebook begging you to write it? Today, you can spend a day working on those projects (or another one) by writing whatever you want! Let the words flow and write at least 550 words for 600 points. Sharing proof earns you an additional 150 points!

Courage stood by Sheer's side, at the top of the cliffs, overlooking the sea.
The salty air ruffled their fur, and Courage felt the wind sting the scratch on his shoulder—a mark from battle training. This scratch wasn't very deep, but someday, he would get real scars. Like true warriors did. He smiled at the thought.
“You're going to get yourself killed one of these days, you know,” Sheer teased him, seeming to read his mind.
“I'm not afraid to die for this Pack,” he responded. Instantly proud of how cool that statement sounded, he stood up a little straighter.
Sheer glanced away, seeming to gaze at something on the horizon. “I don’t fear death, either. Death is the easy part. It’s everything before it that’s difficult…”
Courage blinked in surprise. “Are you thinking about Legend again?” Both of them had been shaken when Legend died. He had been Courage’s greatest role model, and with him gone, Courage felt that part of himself would be forever broken. But wallowing in sorrow wasn’t going to help.
“Hey,” Courage said, nudging her side as gently as he could. “Grief is part of life. But sometimes, pain shows us who we can be. And it doesn't mean we can't hope that everything will work out in the end.”
He smiles softly at Sheer, wishing he could pull that invisible weight from her back.

Sheer stood by Courage's side, at the top of the cliffs, overlooking the sea.
Sheer glanced sideways at the scratch on Courage's shoulder. She could see the blood matted in his fur, and the scent of it made her sick. The wound was small, barely even a scuff, but it felt like a premonition of worse things to come. She shook her head, trying to clear the disturbing visions from her mind.
“You're going to get yourself killed one of these days, you know,” she warned him, her tail twitching worriedly.
“I'm not afraid to die for this Pack.” Courage responded, puffing up his chest. Sheer wondered if that was really true, or if he was just trying to live up to his name.
Sheer turned her head, not wanting him to see the flash of pain that crossed her face. “I don’t fear death, either. Death is the easy part. It’s everything before it that’s difficult…”
She really did mean ‘everything’. An inescapable aura of sorrow hung over her no matter where she went or what she did. It seemed like the bad always outweighed the good. Even her love was only causing her pain. In comparison to the heartache of daily life, the thought of dying didn’t seem so terrible.
“Are you thinking about Legend again?” Courage’s question took Sheer a moment to process. Legend and his death did cross her mind often, but she tried to keep the memories buried. She wasn’t expecting to hear his name out loud, so plainly, so calmly.
She felt Courage nudge her softly with his nose. “Hey, grief is part of life,” he told her. “But sometimes, pain shows us who we can be. And it doesn't mean we can't hope that everything will work out in the end.”
But I know how this will end, Sheer thought, hunching her shoulders. Her prescience had never failed her before. There were even darker days to come.
However, as she turns back to Courage, she sees him smiling, and in that moment, she loves him more than ever.

daily 2

Lyssa was a girl made of stone and ice today.

When Lyssa was made of stone and ice, she didn't have feelings. She was cold and emotionless.

When Lyssa was made of stone and ice, she didn't feel the grief that often threatened to swallow her.

When Lyssa was made of stone and ice, she didn't have to remember the way her sister's body hung limp in her arms as she carried her out of the water.

When Lyssa was made of stone and ice, she didn't care about the way people's gazes turned towards her when she walked by.

Her eyes were set firmly ahead. Fixed, unchanging. Stone and ice.

Her fingers grasped the lilies in an iron grip. Fixed, unchanging. Stone and ice.

Her feet walked forward without wavering. Fixed, unchanging. Stone and ice.

Her breathing was steady and even. Fixed, unchanging. Stone and ice.

The coffin was in front of her now. Dark wood, lightly carved with a single flower.

Inside, a cold body, waiting patiently to descend into the dark.

Lyssa knelt down and placed the lilies on the casket.

She would not let her armor crack. She was not fragile, she was not broken.

She was made of stone and ice. Nothing less.

The whispers followed her as she strode back to her seat, but they didn't bother her.

The whispers would follow her for long after today. There was no use in letting them bother her.

Lyssa sat down and let the officiant's voice drown out all the others.

After that, it was her turn to speak.

She had written her eulogy days earlier, perfected it each day that followed.

Her hands shook a bit as she stepped up to the pedestal, but she quelled the thoughts and began.

“Azalea was the light of my life. I cannot remember a time that she was not with me. We loved each other, and it was the greatest thing. That day, when I found her in the river, my heart shattered. And it is shattered still. I find it hard to breathe now that she is gone; my source of happiness has vanished into a million particles of dust. It surrounds me, but I cannot grasp it. My sorrow is greater than anything you can imagine; it is terrible. It looks above me, forever there and never receding. It haunts me in every step I take. But I will do my best to move on, for she would want me to. She would not want me to throw away my life because I felt I could not move on without her. Azalea would want me to live to my fullest, and so I shall. Because I love her.

”I remember the days we laughed together, ran around in the meadows, carefree and happy. Those days are no more, but I will remember them forever. They will always be with me. I cannot banish such things from my memory; I will never forget what I have of her.

“Azalea was a glorious child, running around carefree with me. We loved each other, and still we do. Forever we shall, indeed.”

Lyssa stepped down, her head bowed, and returned to her seat. A tear threatened to escape her eye, but she did not let it.

She was stone and ice.

Daily 13 || Story continuation || 601 words

Bagliora found Paulina's best friend terrifying. Walnut was twice Bagliora's height, and she felt like he could kill her with just a look. She was having a lot of regrets about going with them as they led her away from Exlin City into the wild, where she could really hear the plants whispering around her. Yet as she began to get to know the two teenagers, she felt a strange feeling, one that she was unfamiliar with.
She told them many times that she didn't really need their food, yet they insisted on sharing with her, and she found herself comforted by the new tastes. They would give her a lot of hugs, which she hadn't felt in a long time, and comfort her when she was overwhelmed by the voices. She tried very hard to hide her powers, terrified of how they'd react, yet when they leaked out, they were unfazed, helping her work through them. When they suggested trying to help her learn how to control them, she turned them down, grateful that they listened. She was so scared of them yelling at her like Terrence had if she failed to control them.
Paulina always kept a small pouch with her, and when Bagliora asked, she showed her the seven colorful crystals inside. She said that they were the ‘chaos emeralds’, and they enhanced the natural abilities of whoever used them. She offered Bagliora the chance to use them, but the thought of even worse plant abilities terrified her.
And when Paulina and Walnut used them they became massive and even more terrifying. She couldn't fathom what would happen to her…
As time went on, Bagliora found herself coming out of her shell, maybe even trusting the two a little. The two changed as well as they spent time with them; Walnut's gentle demeanor somehow become even more gentle and comforting to be around, while Paulina did her best to not spook Bagliora with her fast, loud, chaotic antics. She tried to avoid talking about her childhood, yet sometimes something slipped out that made Paulina and Walnut more concerned for her. And as they comforted her, letting her grow to feel okay with doing things that had been forbidden before, she began to wonder if maybe they could help her with her powers.
After a few years of the three travelling the world together, Bagliora started to feel a physical pull to somewhere nearby. A bit scared and unsure, she told her friends about it, who agreed to help investigate. Paulina went ahead to see if she could find anything, leaving Walnut and Bagliora alone for a few days. When Walnut was suddenly asked to help someone, Bagliora decided to go ahead to find Paulina. Paulina was surprisingly not too far away, having made friends with a strange cat. Bagliora felt herself overwhelmed by the whispers, like they were louder the closer she got to the pull.
Yet the cat spoke to Bagliora like the plants did, teaching her how to naturally calm them down and block them out. She was Springfield, the plant construct and Bagliora's ‘sister’ from a long time ago. Bagliora hardly remembered her, not mentioning it at first.
Springfield had very similar powers to Bagliora, and taught her everything. It took some time, yet somehow with the lack of whispers and Springfield's comforting voice in her head, Bagliora finally learned how to master and control the powers that had plauged her her whole life. She wondered why it hadn't gone that way with Terrence, yet she didn't even care anymore. For once, she felt free.

beginning of a possible writing comp entry (and my novel, hopefully)!

Lyssa was a girl made of stone and ice today.

When Lyssa was made of stone and ice, she didn't have feelings. She was cold and emotionless.

When Lyssa was made of stone and ice, she didn't feel the grief that often threatened to swallow her.

When Lyssa was made of stone and ice, she didn't have to remember the way her sister's body hung limp in her arms as she carried her out of the water.

When Lyssa was made of stone and ice, she didn't care about the way people's gazes turned towards her when she walked by.

Her eyes were set firmly ahead. Fixed, unchanging. Stone and ice.

Her fingers grasped the lilies in an iron grip. Fixed, unchanging. Stone and ice.

Her feet walked forward without wavering. Fixed, unchanging. Stone and ice.

Her breathing was steady and even. Fixed, unchanging. Stone and ice.

The coffin was in front of her now. Dark wood, lightly carved with a single flower.

Inside, a cold body, waiting patiently to descend into the dark.

Lyssa knelt down and placed the lilies on the casket.

She would not let her armor crack. She was not fragile, she was not broken.

She was made of stone and ice. Nothing less.

The whispers followed her as she strode back to her seat, but they didn't bother her.

The whispers would follow her for long after today. There was no use in letting them bother her.

Lyssa sat down and let the officiant's voice drown out all the others. It droned for an eternity of minutes before it gave way to her own.

Eulogies were expected from each immediate family member, and no exception was made for girls of stone and ice.

Her speech was full of meaningless, flowery words that meant nothing to her— with a crackly voice that sounded as if it hadn't uttered a sound in centuries. A voice made of stone and ice to match her unchanging skin.

Lyssa stepped down, her head held high, and returned to her seat. No tears threatened to escape her eyes, for she was not fragile, and she would not break.

She was made of stone and ice.

mildred critique

She wiped her mouth and put a finger to her mouth

You’ve used “mouth” twice in the same sentence—perhaps replace the second “mouth” with “lips” instead

“Then mom hates lemon pie too.”

This piece of dialogue sounds slightly disjointed, and since the protagonist has already asked why their mum hates lemon pie you don’t need it to be stated as well ^^’ I don’t think you need any dialogue here really, you could just have a pause instead

My sister poured the lemon cream into its crust. “My fingers get sticky from the lemon juice, she’s afraid it’ll stick to her.” My sister murmured. “She thinks the smell of lemon zest will get all over the house, and then everyone will smell like it.”
My sister sighed and placed the pie in the oven. “I guess I'll have to wash my hands before she gets home, then.”

You’ve used “my sister” as a sentence starter three times in a row excluding the dialogue anjfsnkjg, a bit of variation / shuffling around of these sentences would be beneficial

My sister insists she wants to eat lemons—but my mom insists that if she wants to eat fruit so badly—it has to be anything but a lemon.

Incorrect use of em-dashes here, the second one can just be a comma

My sister shrugged, “There’s more to a lemon pie than just the lemon.”

I’m assuming the “lemon pie” is a metaphor for being demigender (or similar)? If that’s the case then this is a really good line

2. A Vietnamese slang term used to refer to non-binary people—created by combining the feminine pronoun, chị, and the masculine pronoun, anh.

Waiiit this is really cool I didn’t know that!!

I enjoyed this a lot!! The metaphor came through really clearly, and was a cool and nuanced exploration of the topic :yum: I enjoyed the narrator’s character voice, and the piece flowed really well—just overall enjoyable to read yayyy.
I honestly don’t have much critique at all, the whole thing just worked If you were going to include one more thing, I’d probably add a bit more around the societal expectations of gender—currently the protagonists’ mum has a clearly nonsensical reason for “not liking lemons”, and that definitely works for your intention of showing readers how little sense restricting the identity of others makes, but exploring the society side of the issue would 1) give the mother a stronger motivation and therefore more complex characterisation overall, and 2) make the point that this is a fault built into the very system of society, rather than something that can be blamed on individual uncomprehending parents.
Thank you for letting me read this!!

Chapter Six: Peace. - July 13th, 2026 - 779 words.

Objectively, I am quite a boring person. There’s nothing all that special about the way I do things, or how my mind works. I’ve reached the point of Summer where I just want it to be over. Lately, I’ve been sitting in my bedroom listening to music all day. Sometimes I’ll take my brother to the park. My parents insist I go everywhere with him. I get they’re just trying to keep him safe, but you’d think that’s the whole point of buying a house on the nice side of town. I go with him anyways so that I can be around people every once in a while. I am probably the most introverted introvert you’ll ever meet, but I love being around people. People I don’t know at least. There’s a sort of peace when it comes to strangers. They don’t know who you are, you don’t know who they are, but you’re both existing side by side. In the same grocery store, or parking lot. Strangers are so easy to please as well. When you expect everyone around you to just exist, it’s quite a shock when they take it any further. Recently, I’ve made it a bit of a routine to attempt to complement someone wherever I go. Usually it’s just their hair, or I’ll wave at their little kid. The other day I complimented my cashier's necklace and he seemed quite happy about it. I enjoy things like that. I don’t know why. Usually I won’t say anything at all. I’ll just watch them. I was at the store with my father recently around 9:00am. I’ve been to that store probably 100 times by now, but never that early. I was in the produce section retrieving him some asparagus when this old lady was attempting to get some tomatoes. She was waiting on my father, but she didn’t seem to have even an ounce of impatience in her expression. Here she was, probably 85 years old, in the produce section of the Whole Foods at nine in the morning, and she just seemed so happy. So at peace. That’s another thing I like about people. They’re all so different. Some people you can just smile at and you can see their heart do a somersault in their chest, and others won’t even bat an eye. Today at the park, some kids were on the swing set. My brother went up to them and asked if he could swing and they just gave it to him, no hesitation. No “I guess…”, no “uh, sure”, not even a side eye or eye roll. They just gave it up. Kids are pretty cool like that, if you at least raise them right. I’m a big fan of kids. They have the whole world at their disposal and they don’t even know it. If you tell a little kid to “stay young”, they’ll look at you like you have a second head. Nothing matters to little kids.

I’ve always found identity to be quite confusing. Well, this is one of many things I've found to be quite confusing. Others include: names, colors, shapes, sounds, memories, the human mind, extraterrestrial life, politics, time, finances, and anthropocentrism. Either way, interestingly enough, there are several different theories around personal identity. The Body Theory is one of them. It was created by Bernard Williams who asked that if you swapped all mental content, including your memories, personality, and interests, into someone else's body, and their mental content was moved into yours, who contains your identity? In actuality, he asked that if one was given $100,000, and the other was tortured, who would you choose to give the money to. If you give it to your body, you lie in the belief of Bernard Williams, who stated that one’s identity resides in their physical body. If you do not believe this though, you may lie on the side of John Locke, who created the Memory Theory. The Memory Theory states that one’s identity is defined by their consciousness and memory. In simpler terms, he believed that if you can remember it, you are connected to that person. I don’t really know what to believe. I’ve noticed that’s a common outcome of mine. I change quite consistently. I’ve cut my hair four times in the past six months, and I’m planning on dying my roots blue before school starts up again, so the Body Theory likely doesn't relate to me. On the other hand, I have a horrendous memory. I either recall nothing, or I’ll get these insane flashes of deja vu. At least then I can actually be something constant I guess.

⪻ weekly #2 ♪ 7/14/2026 ⪼

back to directory

part 1

done! watched some episodes of wednesday <3

part 2:

done! took a walk around my house!

part 3:

drew sandrone! :0

part 4:

journaled a few of my thoughts + worries but i’m not comfortable sharing unfortunately </3 (i think some of my cabin war ranting can be counted since i was mostly talking about my worries kasjdha)

832/500 words

part 5:

reflected on this year and my journey! again, not comfortable sharing

521/500 words

‹ back

Hi Cat! <3

I don't think we've interacted a lot so I'm also very excited to get to know you better! I remember looking up to you when I was a newer SWCer, and I'm really happy to be your penpal this session.

I'll introduce myself too! I'm Lyra (she/her), I'm a Spanish high school student, bookworm, writer, musician and artist too! (I see we have quite a lot in common!) I'm interested in basically anything, and as you already know, I like STEM.

Wow! I play piano and violin, you guessed it! :00 I also have a ukelele at home, and I like playing it for fun, and I enjoy singing! I mostly create and play music, I don't listen to it that much, and I don't really have specific favourite artists (my playlists are more like a mix with a few songs from every artist, and then other very different songs) but I like Coldplay, Lindsey Stirling, Owl City, Blü Eyes, and a few Catalan groups and artists. I want to listen to more music, do you have any song recommendations for me?

Yes, I've heard of that book! I haven't read it though, what is it about? I enjoy reading a lot of different genres, which include fantasy, adventure, sci-fi, real-fi, and dystopian. My favourite books? I have a lot, some of them are Spanish books that haven't been translated to English, but others I really enjoyed are The Fifth Wave, Silence is Goldfish and The House in the Cerulean Sea. I'm currently reading Last Night at Telegraph Club, a recommendation from one of my friends in a Scratch chatroom (DBD).
I hope you find those 20 books somewhere, because having to buy all the books to read them is annoying.

Sure! I get why many people hate STEM, because the things teachers teach in school are often boring, but many of the things they don't teach are very mindblowing (especially things like quantum mechanics or relativity), and this is why I like learning about math and physics. I also consider myself a very curious person, I like learning about the reasons things happen.

You said you're also an artist? I enjoy art too, mostly traditional art, and I'm very bad at digital art for some reason :') You draw digital art, am I right? I remember the profile pictures you created for the Classics Cat Cafe like a year ago (a year already? time flies), they were soo cute <3

Anyways, I hope you have a nice day! Looking forward to reading your reply <3
- Lyra