Waking up to sunlight flooding through my window I check my clock on the nightstand - 8:37. Wait, 8:37! But,I swore that I had set my alarm to wake me up at 7 even. I had even went to bed by 10 so that I wouldn’t want to oversleep in the morning. I get that it is a Saturday but I do have to go get groceries from the store and by 10:00 in the morning there’s usually a lot of people. Then, I hear a weird voice - “Morning”. I SWORE THAT I HAD LOCKED ALL MY DOORS AND WINDOWS I think as I slowly turn my head to see a blue and green jellyfish floating in the air at the bottom of my bed.

“Yeah, I turned that off when it beeped like an hour ago” it continues as if I’m not staring at it wondering how in the world it had gotten into my room in the first place.
Almost like it could read my mind - could it? The Jellyfish (it’s capitalized now since I feel like it’s a true character now) said, “Yeah, I escaped from the aquarium. The new guy accidentally fed us something and well… yeah. Now we have magic powers and can teleport”

“You… can what now?…” I ask trailing off. You know what - it’s not going to be AI or computers that take over the world - it’s going to be jellyfish. A bunch of Jellyfish that
seem kind of radioactive but, at the same time it is so cute.

“Yeah, we can also talk now. Uh, in case you couldn’t tell.” It replies. “My name’s Gerald.”

“Gerald?” I ask. You can name yourself anything as a magical radioactive rainbow jellyfish and you pick Gerald?

“Yeah, Well you see the new guy - he started like a week ago. I do kind of feel bad for him since he will probably be fired and he was looking for the job for a while..”
Wait, radioactive rainbow jellyfish know that the new guy who worked at the aquarium had been looking for a job for a while. How do they even know all that? “So, he was named Gerald. I saw it on his pin and he was always really nice to us. Anyways, I felt like naming myself Gerald was kind of you know - honoring him. Like, I don’t feel like I can get him a new job.”

“But, you’re a jellyfish…”

“Yup, speaking of which we are taking over the planet so I think what they say in movies is YOU’RE UNDER ARREST - pretty much you get to see our home base”
Gerald smiles which I feel like is an interesting thing for a jellyfish to do but,
you know what if they’re taking over the world well then, might as well go along with it.

Unofficial critiquitaire done with @z3phy_th3_cr4zy
Word Count: 200

For the first part maybe add a But to the ‘I tell her there’s no need.'.

One thing I thought when I read it is that it mentions that they sleep in the same room as the biggest family and it also mentions that “He sleeps in the same room as my family and he is very respectful.” (about Teng) which my mind connected as he's part of the biggest family which made me wonder why Duabci's mother wanted Duabci to “meet” Koob Meej if Koob Meej is sleeping in the same room. Or if it's meant more in a way of getting to know Koob Meej better. (This was just something was slightly confused about when reading it)

The one last thing I have to say about this is if the plane crash landed on an island with sand unless the sand would be more wet and compacted the landing could accidentally flip over the plane on softer sand. (I'm not an expert at all on this so I might be wrong) And that doesn't really matter with how the ending after the crash goes.

Overall, I did feel like the story flowed well throughout! Hope this is good!

Daily 17
Word Count: 378

For this recipe for cinnamon rolls you will need:
Oil (to spray in your dish)
2 tablespoons or 30 grams of butter
Dough ingredients:
2 cups or around 300 grams of flour
2 tablespoons or around 25 grams of sugar
2 teaspoon or around 8 grams of baking powder
Salt - eyeballed
3 tablespoons or 45 grams of butter
⅔ cups of milk or around 245 grams of milk
Filling ingredients:
Sugar - white, or brown sugar
Cinnamon

Directions:
Before you start baking the cinnamon rolls:
Preheat oven to 200 C or 400 F
Put oil in your pan
While the oven is heating put in a dish with the 2 tablespoons of butter (so that it melts) - make sure to check on it as you work on the dough
The Dough:
For the dough, mix together your flour, sugar,baking powder and salt. (The salt is eyeballed and you just figure out how much to put in)
Then, put in the butter. It usually works best to mix it in with your hands until the butter is in smaller pieces that are around the size of a lentil
Mix in the milk until your dough forms. The dough should be sticking together but, not be that sticky (it will be more sticky if you use gluten free flour over wheat flour)
Rolling out the dough:
Take the dough out the bowl or dish you started making it in and onto a floured surface. Then, roll it out and make a square or rectangle. (it doesn’t matter which as long as you can still cut it) Then put the melted butter onto the dough.
Making the filling:
Mix together some sugar. You don’t want to mix too much filling but, add as much sugar and cinnamon together as you want to make the filling. Put a bit of filling on the bottom of your pan or dish you’re making the cinnamon rolls in.
Finishing the recipe:
Now, put the filling on the dough on top of the butter. Then, roll the dough together, and then cut it. Put the cinnamon rolls in the dish and into the oven. It should take around 20 minutes but, make sure to watch it so they don’t burn,

And, now you have cinnamon rolls.

Weekly 3:
Total Word Count: 897

Part 1:
Word Count: 333

My reasons for procrastinating doing a lot of things are a bit long. That is because there are some different reasons on why I don’t really want to do things and procrastinate them. The list also changes depending on the task. For example I might procrastinate sleeping because I want to read a book instead. For writing for SWC my main reasons on why I procrastinate are because I do my homework and I don’t count my homework for words. Like, if I have a essay that I have to write for school I am usually tired after writing that. And I do have a reading goal too. So, I am usually tired and have to do things so I procrastinate my writing or I’m not inspired to write something at that moment. Mainly it’s because I don’t have inspiration or really know what I want to write and that does set me back on my writing. But now, for the thing I am going to be doing for Part 4 which will be reading. The main reason I procrastinate reading is if I have other things going on. Which sounds great - it sounds like me effectively managing my time. But, it usually isn’t. It’s usually me trying to figure out what more things that I can do to procrastinate things by telling myself that I do have more things to actually do and work on. Or my brain remembers something that I completely forgot to do and I unintentionally procrastinate things. For example if I finally sat down to read the book that I’ve been meaning to read for a while and then I suddenly remember something else I have to do I’ll tell myself that I have to go do that instead of reading that book. In conclusion, I mainly procrastinate things because, either I don’t really want to do them at the present time or I unintentionally procrastinate them by remembering something else and then forgetting about the original task.

Part 2:
Word Count: 234

For my productivity motivation, I tried stretching a bit, drinking water and taking some deep breaths. I think that me walking around and stretching helped me by waking me up a bit. It also already got me up and that made me more motivated to begin actually doing things and being productive. Since my brain was already more active I felt like I was more ready to begin doing things and being productive instead of telling myself that I will go and be productive in 5 minutes. Since, if I tell myself that I’ll go and be productive in 5 minutes it can stretch to 30 - even if I am not doing anything and am staring at the wall. I think that drinking water helped me freshen up my mind a bit by hydrating and helping myself focus on what I was working on with more of a clear head than I had before. Since it helped me clear my mind, I felt like I could focus more than I could before. The last thing that I tried was taking some deep breaths, to help me kind of focus but, I don’t think it helped since I mainly felt like I didn’t have enough air or I had too much air in my lungs. But, the other 2 methods that I tried (stretching and drinking water) I do believe helped me increase my productivity.

Part 3:
Word Count: 330

I did attempt the Eisenhower method to create my chart. I do occasionally use some form of the Pomodoro technique if I need to get something done - except instead of setting a timer, if I’m writing an essay I’ll attempt to finish writing the paragraph by the end of the song (usually 2-4 minutes) I’ll later go back and edit that but, my main issue with attempting to get something done is starting so it usually does help. The Eisenhower method with the chart doesn’t exactly work for me though. This is mainly because the main things that I have to do are my responsibilities or other things. That means that the delegate section is empty when I attempted to fill it out with what I needed to do. My delete section was also mainly empty since I was putting in things that I knew I needed to do, for example making sure that I wash the dishes. That fell under the “Do Now” section and that was the main part of the chart. The Decide on whether to do or not was a larger section - mainly for things like debating whether or not I want to do the daily for SWC. Because that is something that I do need to decide on whether or not I have enough time to do. And since I might not have enough time to do it - it could get moved to the delete section if I decide to not do it. But, the main problem for me using the Eisenhower method was that my Delegate and Delete sections were pretty much empty - with my Delegate section empty and my Delete section would get things added to it if (and only if) I decided that I didn’t have enough time to do something optional. (Like the daily) And while that isn’t exactly a “problem” I believe that the Eisenhower method doesn’t work for me currently but, I may reattempt using it in the future.

JWC - Writing about a winter landscape daily
Word Count : 402
- - - -
The bright white snow sits in the woods coating every surface with the individual snowflakes falling onto the mounds of snow as they pile up onto the ground. The snow sits heavy on the trees and coats the ground heavily. The air is the sort of cold that makes your breath fog in front of your face, the kind of cold that you wish for in the summer heat, the kind of cold that makes your hands slightly numb inside of your gloves.. Sun reflecting off of the snow and sending sparkles of light everywhere. The sort of natural glitter that you can see in the sun and when the full moon reflects off of it at night. When you look into the far hills the trees just look fully white and their branches occasionally droop with the weight of the snow sending it crashing to the ground in a flurry of white. The snow coats anywhere that hasn’t been covered by branches and gets blown into the places that have been by the wind. A squirrel scrambles up onto a fallen tree sitting there for a second in the peace and quiet of the falling snow. The falling of it makes a small noise - just soft enough to be heard but not disturbing the peace of the wind blowing in through the trees. Some with their leaves buried underneath all of the snow and the evergreen trees with their green leaves slightly swaying in the wind. There are some icicles on the empty branches on some of the trees as the snow melted and refroze. The branches sway in the breeze and they shake a bit more snow down onto the mounds of snow on the ground. It lightly floats down and adds more of a dusting onto the snow that is just quite everywhere. It almost whispers as the snow gets pushed by the breeze into a smaller pile by another tree. The woods have a peace to them in these winter months. They don’t have the same loudness to them, they are more quiet as some animals sleep. And the snow piles higher as time goes on, it will melt later on but as the time is now in this wintery wonderland, the snow, ice, and cold breezy air, will carry on into the warmer months carrying the essence of winter that will come again in the later months.

JWC - Writing something based of a song daily
Word Count: 409
Song: Faouzia - Born Without a Heart

It’s an interesting thing when you are considered a villain. An interesting thing is how people can twist stories into some other version of the story that benefits them. How they can blame you, how they can make you seem like you were born this way and that you are just a heartless person. And it’s not like I don’t have any emotions. It’s just at a certain point I stopped caring about the people who hurt me crying.
And I guess that I just don’t care anymore now. I used to care more and I saw where that ended me up. Because, I would rather be seen as someone who doesn’t care and is just heartless than I would prefer to have my heart in shambles again. And when someone breaks my heart and then just blames me for everything I stop caring about them and everyone else’s opinions of me.
The thing is I never started out like this. I never intended to be the person that people see as “heartless” and that they joke that I was “born without a heart”. But, when you stand in an empty street under a streetlight you change your mind on things. “Hurt people, hurt people” and maybe that’s where we ended up - with you hurting me and me hurting you back.
And it’s not like I was born heartless. I just wasn’t that smart with how I used my heart or with who I trusted and gave it to. Maybe, if I had chosen differently I wouldn’t have become someone who doesn’t talk to people anymore so that I don’t hurt myself. Maybe, hm, it is an interesting word, a word that has so many more possibilities. A word that has doors that were possible once hidden behind it. And if we were different or in a different world maybe I wouldn’t be the way that I am now. Maybe. Maybe we would still talk. And I wouldn’t be standing here feeling like the world is a different place now. It’s technically the same thing, the same place, but it feels different now. Like, I can’t fully heal after everything, I can’t wake up from all of the scary dreams I have. And you can blame me even though I will always still find it slightly funny when you’re the one who broke me first. It’s so much better to just move on now and hope you do too.

JWC - Daily write about a ghost that haunts a vending machine
Word Count: 372
- - - -

Transcript of conversation between Interviewer || alive || (they/them) and Eloise Moor || deceased || (she/her)

Interviewer: Hello, I've started recording our conversation with Ms. Eloise who wishes to clear some facts on people's claims of her stealing people's money.

Eloise: Hi, yes. Thank you very much for meeting with me today.

Interviewer: Of course. So, for some main facts, you are deceased correct?

Eloise: Yes. People would most likely consider me a ghost.

Interviewer: Okay, and would you like to start telling your story now?

Eloise: Yes, so when you become deceased and come back - in some people's words as a ghost - you get a haunting assignment. And as a haunting assignment occasionally you get a “ not so nice one”.

Interviewer: Like you haunting the vending machine?

Eloise: Exactly! And unlike some ghosts being assigned to haunt people's cars which is a more nice assignment I got stuck with haunting this vending machine.

Interviewer: And about you “stealing people's money”?

Eloise: Can you not refer to it like that? It makes it harder for me to actually do it without consideration of the people who's money I take to pay my taxes.

Interviewer: Alright, and you mentioned taxes, correct? Would you like to fully explain that better?

Eloise: Yeah. So, when you become deceased you get your haunting assignment right?

Interviewer: Yup, you said that.

Eloise: And then you have the GHA which is the Ghost Haunting Association. We have to pay taxes to the GHA. And the GHA apparently used that money to maintain the road between the living and the dead. Which helps you have a safer journey to the afterlife. And I need to pay my taxes.

Interviewer: So, to summarize what you just said. You take people's money to pay for your taxes.

Eloise: Exactly. And it's more considered stealing unlike when other ghosts who haunt at the laundromat or people's washing machines because they can take the coins that people forget in their pockets. In other words they get less criticism but we're all just trying to pay our taxes.

Interviewer: Okay, thank you so much for your time today.

Eloise: Of course. Have a nice rest of your day.

July '26 SWC
Daily: 1
Write a letter to your future self
~*~
Word count: 353


Dear future self,

I don’t really write any letters to you. Funny, isn’t it? That I usually do write letters to other people but not to myself, or technically you. Us? One of them, we’re technically the same person.

Anyways, we’ve changed so much over the years. We’re so different than we were even a year ago. This past year has truly flown by. We’re currently entering into our 3rd SWC session. We’ve really kept writing even when SWC wasn’t in session and so far in the past six months we have written over 45,000 words. That’s something that as of now I’m really proud of. (Current me? Present me? Exactly who we are is kind of confusing in this letter.) We’ve done some things that entering into it seem terrifying, but it always worked itself out in the end. I hope that you’ve kept doing that - doing things even if they seem scary and to keep going with things.

We are currently getting really into chess. You’ve been listening to a lot of Noah Kahan lately. Mainly the Great Divide album. Which I can’t really blame you for, it’s a really good album. We’ve set a reading goal for this year, which is 175 books. This year you might actually achieve your reading goal. I hope we do, that’d be great.

I hope that you’ve kept changing, that you’ve fought through everything that the world has thrown at you. I hope that you passed all of your classes, the exams, the presentations, and the essays. Don’t worry about disappointing other people, it’s truly what you think of yourself that matters and being proud of yourself.

Remember that nothing is truly as hard as it seems in the moment and that one day you can look back and think about all of the things that seemed hard at the time or that made it seem like the world would end, but they haven’t. And remember to live. Just live in the moment, enjoy yourself, enjoy every moment that you have with all of the people who you care about.

Sincerely,
Past You

1k Intro
Word Count: 1152
~*~

Hi!
My name is Fanta (she/they)! This is technically my first time writing a 1k intro. I have attempted to write a 1k intro before that I have scrapped and never finished. Though writing a 1k intro is something that I feel is a bit ambitious considering the fact that my actual writing goal for this entire month is 7k.

I’m in Dystopian this session and this session is my 3rd session of SWC! My first one was July 25’ and the other one was November 25’. It feels so surreal that it’s truly been a full year since my first SWC session! Though I have also participated in WUC October 25’ session and JWC 26’. Though it truly was my first SWC session that convinced me to write more for fun and my own enjoyment.

Anyways, my main hobbies. My main hobbies are basically just reading and writing. Chess and listening to music might also count. I don’t play any instruments or anything really interesting in any way, like playing any sports, or being in theater. I honestly feel like I’m kind of a boring person due to that. I do also crochet and paint or draw sometimes, on the occasion, when I feel really into it.

That doesn’t mean that I am really good at crocheting in any way, I can basically just make the basic shapes : square, rectangle, circle, deformed blob. All four of those are definitely standard shapes that they teach you in geometry. Deformed blob is definitely a standard shape. One hundred percent. (sarcasm)

If I do paint or sketch the main media that I usually use are pencils - more specifically graphite - and watercolor paints. While I do like using acrylic paint I feel like it can kind of get annoying to deal with at times if I’m attempting to paint something and the paint is getting everywhere. Plus, watercolor paints are easier to change the different opacity of the paint while in my opinion that is slightly harder to achieve using acrylic paint. Though acrylic paint is nice as you can paint over other things in your painting and you have less of a worry of using too much water. I haven’t experimented with oil paints so, I also can’t give a full opinion on that. I also really don’t do painting that often and do draw a lot more often, though I usually mainly draw people, or characters from something that I’m writing rather than doing landscapes or still lifes. But, I don’t usually do a lot of artwork in general.

I do feel like my reading taste has changed a lot over the years and time in general. It also just changes so frequently. I am also really great at starting series and then not reading the series. I do mean that I intend on reading the series, but usually getting the rest of the series means going to the library. And then, if the library doesn’t have the book, I have to wait for the book to be back in the library for me to check it out. An example of this is the Wings of Fire series. I have only finished reading books one through twelve and it’s been over a year and a half since I started reading the series. Which means that I might finish the series by the end of the year or by the end of next year.

Or there’s the series of which I have been in the middle of reading, have completely forgotten what happened in the first two books, but it’s been over a year since I read the last book, and so then I have to start re-reading the series.

I do feel like I don’t write as much as I would like to write, I do have like seven different works in progress right now. A majority of which I am kind of planning and working on or they’ve just been sitting there for nearly a couple of months now without me editing them. (I swear that I will finish all of them eventually.)

I feel like this is kind of not really fully about me now, and is kind of a rambling mess and who knows what at this rate so: some of my favorite books and series are.
The Renegades Trilogy (Marissa Meyer) (I do also really like the Lunar Chronicles but, I am currently only on Cress. I’ve read Cinder. Scarlet, and Fairest, which probably wasn’t the ‘right’ order to read it in. )
Wings of Fire (Tui T. Sutherland) (Even though I have only read books 1-12)
City Spies (James Ponti) (I am currently re-reading the series to read Europa with all of the previous information and am excitingly waiting for Operation Oz)
The Riordanverse (Rick Riordan) (I’ve only not read The Serpent’s Shadow, The Ship of the Dead, and The Sun and The Star Duology.)
Vesuvius (Cass Biehn)
The Arc of Scythe (Neal Shushterman) (I haven’t read Gleanings yet)
The Naturals & The Inheritance Games (Jennifer Lynn Barnes) (I haven’t finished reading Games Untold yet though I am really excited for both Dangerous Impulses (November 3rd!!) and The Gilded Blade. (July 14th!!!))
Wildelore (Amanda Foody)
Skyward (Brandon Sanderson) (I have only read the first book and am currently around halfway through the second book)
All That’s Left in The World (Erik J. Brown)
Cemetery Boys (Aiden Thomas)
Radio Silence (Alice Oseman)
Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe (C.B. Lee)
Spells for Lost Things (Jenna Evans Welch)
Valiant Ladies (Mellissa Grey)
Heartless (Marissa Meyer)
Mystery Royale Duology (Kaitlyn Cavalancia) (I’ve only read the first book but, I want to read Hunting the Strange)
The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) (I love all of the books almost equally though I feel like I might love The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Sunrise on the Reaping slightly more than the main trilogy. Though I read Catching Fire and Mockingjay in two days and I love them so much.)
The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
Keepers of the Lost Cities (Shannon Messenger) (I’m currently on book 8!)
The Grishaverse (Leigh Bardugo) (I’ve only read the Shadow and Bones Trilogy, Six of Crows, King of Scars, and Demon in the Wood but I do want to read the rest of the books.)
The Sunbearer Duology (Aiden Thomas)

That might be all of them though I feel like I missed some of them, I love all of the books listed above so much and I feel like they have all contributed into a part of who I am today.

I feel like mainly I listen to Noah Kahan, though some of my favorite music artists do also include:
Baby Jane
Josie Edwards
Olivia Rodigo
Counting Crows
Goo Goo Dolls
Alanis Morissette
ABBA
Smashing Pumpkins
Solya
And Lennon Stella. Though I actually do want to wrap this up because I want to go write the daily.

Farewell.

July '26 SWC
Daily: 2
Misheard lyrics
“I got the brains for a city job” -> “I’ve got the brains of a city child” - Paid Time Off ~ Noah Kahan
~*~
Word count: 706

I sat at my desk after working on my latest scientific breakthrough, of which I personally think will be great. Oh! You’re wondering what it is. Thank you, that's very kind of you.. Since, I have already accomplished making a machine that can take one person’s memories and project them for another person to see - you can just see it for yourself through my eyes.

A bright flash of light and energy shoots through the air, there’s a swirling in the air and the world flips.

It’s the afternoon as I walk into the main meeting room that we have in the office. My briefcase is in my hand as my black oxford shoes click against the tile floor. I had just finished eating a nice lunch of chicken, beans, and rice that I had warmed up in the breakroom. When I opened the door into the meeting room I saw that Cody was sitting in a chair at the long table, leaning the chair backwards.

“Hey, man. You wanted to talk?”

“Hey.” I say placing down my briefcase on the meeting room table.

“So. Your latest great idea?” Cody asked, still with his chair leaning backwards.

“Yes. You’re going to fall if you keep doing that.” I warned him. He does it constantly, I don’t know if it’s purely to annoy the living daylights out of me or what but, one of these days he’s going to fall backwards off the chair.

“Uh huh, uh huh. Yeah,sure.” Cody said. “Didn’t you say you actually wanted to talk about something instead of just telling me off.”

I pushed some of my brown hair back from my face. “Indeed I do.” I said, opening the briefcase.

Earlier I had stuck a piece of paper onto one of the sides of the briefcase, so that when I would open up the briefcase I would have my main presentation already on the side of the briefcase and I wouldn’t have to hold the piece of paper.

“So. I figured out how to do brain transplants that can have people have an entire other person’s brain and everything.”

Cody stared at me just blinking. “What?” He had said, shifting his chair back onto all four legs. As you should! I do not support or encourage leaning backwards on your chair while you are deep in thought. You might get distracted and fall. This is also coming from experience. Just trust me.

“Yup.” I pulled a ziploc bag out of my briefcase. “You see this is a brain that I have already collected from somebody.”

“You just have a brain sitting in a ziploc bag, sitting in…your briefcase.” Cody said slowly.

“Mhm. Comments? Questions? Ideas?” I said

“I’m a bit… distracted by the brain sitting on the table right now.” He said.

“Yeah. I feel like random brains can do that. That’s why I had it sitting in the fridge up till a bit ago.”

Cody just stares at me blinking again.

“Dude. You good? You’re kind of acting like your brain is disconnected from this world.” I said.

“Uh. Yeah.” Cody raised his eyebrows, put his hand on his forehead and leaned his head onto the table, staring deep into the wood grain like it could tell him the secrets of the universe.

~
Now, I sit at my desk, drinking my coffee out of my favorite mug. (White, with a cartoon unicorn above a rainbow on it that says Your opinions are wrong.) I stare at myself in the window that shows my reflection against the dark. Me - James Winters, my hair is still in the messy bun that I had put it in this morning before rushing out the door, my button up shirt is the same color gray as all of my other button up shirts in my closet and while I look the same way I almost always do I feel slightly different. As though my ideas and project plans have aligned in ways that are unseeable to the human eye. I do have a lot more work to put in on this project. Brain transplants are very serious business and messing this up could be potentially highly dangerous. But the future feels clearer and lighter.

July '26 SWC
Daily: 3
Talk to another SWCer from another cabin than you are in
~*~
Word Count: 541

FANTA: Hi! What are your favorite things to do outside of writing?

@light-keeper / ALICE: While I technically was in Studio Art last year, and for the two years before that, I honestly don't enjoy it too much, although I do like to doodle a lot. Something I really enjoy would probably be reading, but I haven't found anything that really piques my interest yet. However, my cousin did just get me a new book, I think it was The Rainshadow Orphans, and the summary looks interesting, so I'm excited to check it out. What genre of book (or any media, really) do you enjoy the most, and why?

FANTA: I do understand the part doodling a lot, mainly because I do attempt to draw sometimes and they usually don't turn out the best but, somehow when I am just doodling on some random piece of paper it turns into the best random face that I drew. The question about my favorite genre is a bit hard to answer. I mainly do read books, and I read a wider range of books if they're fiction. I have been trying to get into reading some more non-fiction. I don't think that's the genre that makes me enjoy reading something it's the characters and the portions of it though I really do like reading mystery, fantasy, and contemporary when they have really nice components and I really like the characters. The Rainshadow Orphans sounds really interesting! Is there a specific food that you feel like you couldn't live without?

@light-keeper / ALICE: I don't have a favorite food in particular, but I hope it would count if I just said all types of noodles. They can be eaten in so many ways, and pretty much every noodle dish I've had has always had a great flavor. Thinking practically/literally though, probably like… A salad? I don't know, it would be something with a good amount of nutrients. I don't really enjoy it that much though; some types of lettuce are too bitter. Do you have a favorite genre of music, and if so, what's one of your favorite songs and artists from that genre?

FANTA: I don't think that I have a specific favorite genre actually. I think that a lot of my favorite music artists are considered under some type of rock music. Like, alternate rock or pop rock. Or it's Indie Pop like Solya or Lennon Stella. But, I do think that I do listen to Noah Kahan the most who I think is usually considered Indie Folk. I don't think that really do have a certain taste in music for genres, it's kind of more specific to the day, and what I am feeling when I listen to music. In the sense of sometimes I want to listen to more pop music and sometimes I just want to listen to other types of music. Though it is kind of very specific to the day itself. Noah Kahan might be my favorite artist though and I think that my favorite song is Paid Time Off or American Cars though I do like pretty much every song by Noah Kahan. If you could have any superpower what would it be?

@light-keeper / ALICE: I think either flight or telekinesis. Teleportation is probably the fastest, but I'm kind of concerned as to how it would actually function (would it make a clone at that location and kill me…?), and I also think I'd enjoy the feeling of flight and being so high up. I guess breathing could be a problem though, so I guess I'd have to stick to low altitudes if I don't have the ability to breathe properly so high up. Telekinesis would be nice for a lot of things, namely packing, writing (so my hands don't cramp up), and also just daily tasks like washing dishes. If it was a stronger version I'd probably mess around and see what I could pick up. Do you do any extracurriculars, and are there any that you'd like to try?
Also, I'll be off for a few hours cause it's time to sleep for me! I swear I'll respond in the morning

FANTA: Does playing chess at my local library count? If it does then I think that's the only main extracurricular I have. I would actually probably like to try to play a sport like football or ice hockey. Or learning how to play an instrument like the violin or the piano. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you want to go and why?

@light-keeper / ALICE: I think I'd go to Taiwan, or maybe China to visit relatives and to do some more sightseeing. The things we did see were actually so amazing though, I was so surprised that there were so many mountains in Taiwan haha. The food was also so good, and things' pricings were actually insanely low. Although, it'd have to be in winter or some other, less hot, time of year. What academic subject are you most interested in, if any?

FANTA: I think history is probably the most interesting to me. Learning about the different places in the world, how people operated and evolved throughout time, the rise and fall of different empires, just kind of all of history is really interesting. What's your favorite architectural style? Or period of architecture if you don't have a favorite style?

@light-keeper / ALICE: I think I like Victorian buildings, they just look so fancy and pretty, although I guess they're probably harder to maintain? But aesthetics-wise, they look amazing, and I love how detailed they are, especially in comparison to some more modern looking buildings, which look so plain and boring (usually the ones I see are just black and white and made up of rectangular prisms). Victorian architecture just looks like it has a lot more personality in comparison. If you had to spend a week in one building, what building would it be? (also, are we almost done? Just wondering)

FANTA: I do feel like I agree with your opinion of modernism mainly because I feel like older buildings and architectural styles appear to have more character and thought put into them. I don't have a specific building that I would plan to stay in for a week and I would have to plan it through but it would probably be interesting to stay in a museum for a week. Possibly a museum with a planetarium though I don't have a specific museum in mind.

July '26 SWC
Daily: 5
Continuation of your favorite media
~*~
Word Count: 394
One of Us is Lying universe

Addy wakes up on Saturday with a mouth full of her wife’s dark brown hair, the Southern California sun shining in her eyes, and Daisy licking her face.

“Keely. Honey.” She whispers slightly nudging her wife. “I’ve got to get up.”

“Mhpm.” Keely shifts off of her, stealing the rest of the blankets while doing so. Addy lays looking on their mattress just staring at the ceiling for a couple of minutes before actually pulling herself out of bed.

“Alright. Let’s get going.” Addy says to Daisy, once she’s actually dressed in something other than her pyjamas that she can wear outside to walk the dog.

The day outside looks gorgeous through the window of the house that her and Keely bought a couple of years ago before they got married. The fact that they got married almost 3 whole years ago feels so surreal. The chaos has kind of died down in Bayview after everything that happened. That’s probably why they even got a house here and still live here. I mean, not everything’s perfect after all, it is Bayview, who knows why the police even still have a job.

But, they’ve all changed throughout the years. Addy's grown out her hair and decided to only keep the ends dyed purple, it usually brushes her shoulders, even though now she has it pulled into a ponytail in the back. Bronwyn and Nate literally have a child now - who’s 2 years old. Even thinking about that makes Addy feel old.

The hallway leading to the stairs are filled with the pictures of them - Addy, Kelly and Daisy - as well as the rest of the Bayview Crew throughout all of these years. Bronwyn and Nate’s wedding, their own wedding, the day that her and Keely got Daisy, the day that they had bought their house, Cooper and Kris’ wedding, the first year that Cooper’s team had won the World Series, just a lot of memories are on these two walls.

But, she doesn’t really have a lot of time to reminisce on everything and moments of her life that mean so much to her or Daisy might decide that the doormat by the front door has become the new bathroom. She hurries down the stairs to grab Daisy’s leash and head outside into the morning sun that will assault her eyes with even more brightness.

July '26 SWC
Weekly: 1
Fantasy
~*~
Part: 1
Word Count: 342
~*~
Common features in Fantasy Novels:
- Potions (Potions can include but are not limited to: enhancing powers, sleeping potions, appearance potions, and truth potions.)
- Spells (Spells can be tied to a certain creature, being, or characters power of powers though they don't have to be. Ex : Fantasy Novels in which a character in the human world cast a spell that sends them to the magical fantasy world.)
- Magical Animals (Sometimes the animals are causing chaos and mayhem, other times they might be pets or allies to the main characters. They can also be both or the main characters can be magical animals.)
- Swords or other weaponry (Other weaponry can also include spears, daggers, twin blades, axes, magical wands, etc. Magical wands are included in this list because they can help channel the beings magic if they have any or create magic in a dangerous way that can be considered weaponry.)
- Complicated spelling of names (This can be swapping out letters with other letters to spell the same name but make it look more like a fantasy characters name. Fantasy character names occasionally have a certain look to them and you can just tell.)
- Magical amulets or lockets / or just necklaces in general (They can be cursed or just something that everyone wears. Example of the second one include both Witchlings and registry pendants in Keepers of the Lost Cities.)
- A wise character that if the novel includes teens or tweens they usually go to for assistance or are a leader of some revolution / underground project that is possibly not legal.
- Orphans (Their parents are occasionally lost to dragons or Gravaldor. Or the child was given up at a young age and is now in an orphanage.)
- Magical tournaments or tests (In some fairy tales this can be for the princesses or princes hand in marriage. (Red Queen) Or it can be for a sacrifice (The Sunbearer Duology) for humanity. Or to showcase your abilities and bring honor to your people.)
- Some urban fantasy can also mix together mythology within the novel or story.
~*~
Part: 2
Word Count: 525
~*~
Main modern day breakdown
In the world of Aquanthidil, on one side of the world there are The Sunlight Isles and on the other side The Lunar Lands. They both get just about the same amount of sunlight and moonlight - The Sunlight Isles are just closer to the equator and warmer.
The Sunlight Isles are a group of islands that used to be the second continent and named The Sunlight Lands, once there was less land they changed it to The Sunlight Isles.
The Sunlight Isles do produce their own food as well as The Lunar Lands, they do both kind of stay separate due to the great distance between them. The Sunlight Isles main land attributes include: mountains, beaches, and farmable land. They do have different democracies on the separate islands that make up The Sunlight Isles. Usually with one main leader who’s elected by the citizens in an annual voting system.
There are usually dragons that can occasionally cause chaos and ruin crops or people’s houses though most dragons that are in the area are peaceful. A majority of the 17 islands do believe in mermaids, as they are also recognized as full citizens and have voting rights in some of the islands, though other than the smallest island (Everflow - known for it’s amount of waterfalls (a grand total of 77 waterfalls)) none of the island believe in sirens or recognize them as citizens. (Everflow does both)
Some of the islands are close enough together to just be connected through bridges that form connections between the islands though you do need to have your full identification and just like at the ports they do put down your information on a sheet of who went through at what time.
Evermore is the second largest island and it’s known for its large amount of wildlife and fauna. A lot of the other islands also get their healing creams, lotions, and potions or medicines through Evermore.
There are quite a few different professions some of which include:
~ Knights (Even though they none of the islands are a monarchy the knights exist to take care of any problems with any magical creatures),
~ Regional Leaders (Hold an important role in law making and keeping everything in control on the islands)
~ Farmers
~ Shop Owners (Shops can range from tailors to bakeries to apothecaries)
~ As well as some others
Some more history of how The Sunlight Lands became The Sunlight Isles
Around 352 years ago, there were really heavy rains for around 19 years - that are commonly referred to as “The Great Floods” - that caused there to be very little crops, it caused erosion deep enough that what was The Sunlight Lands at the time separated off into different islands. The land mass that made up The Sunlight Lands rested just on the top of the water and didn’t go too deep - unlike The Lunar Lands which are fully solid rock and minerals all the way to the bottom of Aquanthidil. Now in modern times they have anchors put down and The Sunlight Isles are fixed in place to prevent them from moving like they used to in the past.
~*~
Part: 3
Word Count: 1861
A Yonix is basically a phoenix with dragon wings that is the size of a phoenix - just with more leathery wings that are commonly associated with air dragons.
Character description:
Stella - 21 - around 185 cm tall - she/her - red hair wavy hair that she usually wears pulled back in one Dutch braid - works as a knight - has some powers that allow her to sprout plants from the ground if she has the seeds for it but, it’s more of a weaker power - her weapon of choice is usually her sword (it looks pretty much like a viking sword with a more golden shine) Sunfire.
- - - - -
The windy day brings in the scent of salt that you can never truly escape on Everlost or just any of The Sunlight Isles’ islands. The rock that I’m sitting on is warm from the sun. I can feel the heat radiating through me as I sit with my legs stretched out, resting after the day walking. My satchel is sitting next to the rock and Eris looks between me and the satchel, her Yonix eyes - contrary to popular opinion, in my opinion Yonix eyes which are a greenish yellow do have a certain look to them, sometimes human eyes can do the same thing but it’s different - tracking me and I can feel the attitude radiating from her. The attitude of “where is my lunch, human? Why haven’t you fed me yet?”.

Me and Eris met 9 years ago, an amazing day for me - if I ask her she’ll tell me that it wasn’t an amazing day for her but, I think that she’s lying about that, I mean, it wasn’t an amazing day for her, but I think that she’s lying that meeting me wasn't a great thing for her - a day that I found more purpose in my life than I had before. With all of my love for Emi, they as my sibling are amazing but, it isn’t the same as the two most life changing things that have happened to me. The first one being meeting Eris, when she was injured from crashing into a rock when she left the nest and fell instead of flying right as the rest of her siblings did, and the second being when I achieved official knighthood. It’s been my dream since basically the beginning of as long as I can remember - probably back when I was 6 years old is when it started - when I realized that I could actually become a knight and set my sights on that position.

I love Emi and the apothecary as well as Cathy, Forest (Cathy’s firebreathing frog - I have no clue how that happened but, it did), and the rest of Emi’s cats. It will always feel like home, though what makes it home is the people there, not the building itself. Maybe Evermore does feel more like my home since I have spent a majority of my life there and could probably give you directions to just about anywhere in Evermore. I did wander a lot throughout my teenage years. I’ve met some great people through my knighthood - like Lilith who if I’m usually assigned to do any assignment with she’s definitely the person who I would choose. Usually any time that I mention Lilith, Eris will just roll her eyes, I have no clue what her problem is. Maybe, I just didn’t fit in there at the apothecary. I mean, I know that Emi thinks that I just wanted to leave them but, I think that they’re better off just them and in their world that is almost perfect and they don’t have to deal with me anymore. They’re definitely the better sibling out of the two of us - not like we have any other siblings who would be the better sibling.

I should probably stop having long, deep thoughts about life, and if I ever really fit in at the apothecary, if I actually have a personality, if I should actually change my profession and entire life so that instead of traveling and sleeping outside under the beautiful stars while attempting to figure out why dragons are upset about some random thing I can come home everyday and Emi will be happier with me. But, I don’t think that I would actually be happy with the last option - it’s just not me. I understand that Emi is someone who can and enjoys spending time with their garden and cats but, I feel the need to feel the wind in my hair, the weight of my sword - Sunfire - on my back, the taste of the salty air on my lips, and to see everything that I can. Though I will most likely not actually commit to my main dream of actually going to see the Lunar Lands - to be able to see a place that isn’t just an island, a place that has a large amount more species than we do, just a sight and a spectacle to see - because Emi would definitely worry way too much about me and the boat that I’d be on sinking or something. They worry too much about me - I should really stop thinking about this all or I’m just going to fall back into the spiral of ‘should I quit my job or not?’.

“Alright, let’s get going.” I say, standing up and brushing off my hands on the napkin packed in my satchel and shoving it all back into the satchel. We still have a couple hour walk until we’re going to get to the part of the shore here on Everlost. Why did so many of these islands get named Ever something? There might be some reason back in history but, people back a few generations didn’t exactly pass down oral history the best so, I’ll probably never know.

~*~*~*~

Dragons have a certain aura around them that I can’t describe; it’s a sort of power that you feel through them - a lot of the dragons that exist and are alive, since they mate once every 50 years, and only have one egg from that - have been alive since the Great Floods. They hold great knowledge and they are truly magnificent in my opinion. They managed to survive something that a lot of different species on this side of the world didn’t like: alicorns, pegasi, unicorns, tanuki, and harpies. Those are just some of the species that were basically wiped away when their habitats were taken by the Great Floods.

This water dragon is looking down at me - which I mean, for a dragon, really isn't that hard to do, unless they’re a newborn dragon. This one does look really unimpressed though after I spent around 2 minutes digging around my satchel for my notepad. I usually use my notepad in these situations because I like to take notes to properly make sure that I have all of the details for reports. Yes, yes, Eris does slightly make fun of me for it - mainly the fact that I look like I’m some kind of journalist. But, it has worked for me so far, I mean I have a 98% happiness report. You can file a report on knights if you think that they’re committing misconduct or if you’re unimpressed with how they handled themselves. Moments like this are definitely why I have a 98% instead of a 100%.

“So, how can I help you?” I ask, with my notepad now in hand, looking up at the water dragon.

She squints one of her eyes down at me. “If you could get rid of the griffins who sit on the cliff and make noise every night that would be acceptable.”

I look down at my notepad. “I could ask them to make less noise at night.”

“I honestly don’t think that they’re going to listen to you.” Thalassa says.

“Well, Thalassa, I’m not allowed to evict anyone from their homes.” I say with the most calmness I can manage.

She sighs. “It’s more of a situation where I already tried to talk to them and they didn’t listen to me.”

Yeah, that’s probably not going to work for me then. I fiddle with the edge of my notepad paper. “Do you have their names? Or any other information that I can use to file an official report?”

“Yeah. I think that the main three of them are named: Stribog, Aether, and Enlil.”

I take a couple of notes down on my notepad for later information and the report that I’ll make to file and shoot Thalassa a smile. Thalassa is still looking at me slightly weird and I grab my satchel and start backing away, this feels really awkward. “So, I’ll file that report and get back to you soon.” I say, gesturing with my hand at Thalassa.

“Mhm.” Thalassa says, possibly wondering why I’m walking backwards instead of walking forwards like a normal person.

I turn around, tuck my notepad into my satchel and, hurry back down the steps that are made of some kind of brick and worn in here, to head back to the main path, find where these griffins live, if they’re home, handled that, and then to go find a place to spread out my blanket for the night before heading back to Evermore. Somehow Evermore even though it’s the seventh largest island, it has the largest knight sector and that means that we occasionally get sent to a lot of the islands or just all over. Sometimes pathways open up in the universe, almost like holes in the world and then you can just go through those to a different island but, otherwise we have to go by boat, to port, and then onto the island or by bridge if it’s one of the two that are closer to Evermore - Everlost and Evergreen. The holes in the universe are extremely rare - it’s thought that they’re remnants from ancient magic that we’ve lost the ability to actually do but, these parts of the magic appear sometimes.

~*~*~*~

I have a crick in my neck and my fingers hurt but, I do have my weekly reports all filled out. They’re all finished up, which means I can go home and Eris can stop occasionally opening an eye on her perch and asking me if we're going home yet. Honestly, being a knight has a lot more paperwork than people think. I still absolutely love my job though.

“Hey. Would you want to get something to eat?” Lilith asks, appearing somehow in the doorway, her smooth brown hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and her green eyes shine in the light coming from the small window I have here in my office. If office is even the right word for the space that’s basically a closet in which someone shoved my desk two years ago and I’ve stayed here since.

Eris shoots me a look when I say. “Sure. Just let me grab my cloak and we can go get something to eat.”

I send her a look back as I grab my cloak and she flies off her perch to follow the two of us.
~*~
Part: 4
Word Count: 558
~*~
Swapped with light-keeper / alice https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/873189/?page=1#post-9280972
~*~
Even though the Great Floods are what made the Sunlight Isles not a lot of us like the water. I know. It’s shocking isn’t it? That quite a few people don’t like the thing that basically wiped out a large chunk of half of the world. In my opinion it’s really not that bad. Then again, if you ask literally anyone who knows me, they’d probably tell you that I am kind of known for having kind of bad ideas. Only sometimes though. I swear, sometimes my ideas are actually good.

“Stella! Are you coming?” Lilith shouts from the shore. We’re going swimming today, since we got the day off after being named best team in the knight sector. A full day off is a full day off and it’s really nice and warm outside which is just perfect for us to go swimming. Yes, we do spend a lot of our time outside, and our job outside is pretty enjoyable but this is specifically supposed to be fun. I mean, it’s apparently what some people on the Lunar Lands literally go on holiday for.

“Yeah.” I shout back, I somehow ended up being the one of us who is currently carrying everything and both Emi and Lilith are already down at the beach while I’m still carrying 6 different bags full of things that I am most likely sure that we don’t need for a couple of hours of swimming and two folding chairs, the canopy that Emi wanted to bring so that they can sit under it and read, a bunch of other stuff.

I am not going to argue with Emi though about any of the stuff in the bags or if we actually need 6 different towels because they and Lilith have started talking to each other and they might be getting along and I’m just so happy that the two most important people in my life are talking to each other and that they like each other.

I drop everything that I’m holding onto the sand in a pile - something that Emi will most likely not be happy with when they see it and chastise me for the messy pile. But, that is a later me problem and later me is a very capable person. So, I can just run straight into the water now with nothing in my hands, and just the wind in my face blowing my hair backwards as I run straight into a small wave that’s coming into the shore.

The water is almost sparkling in this sun and everything feels so surreally happy right now. Even Emi seems to have a small smile on their face which is a kind of rare occurrence considering that they usually have a lot of walls surrounding their emotions when we’re out and about in public. I turn my body and head to look over at Lilith who went over to the bags to go get some water to drink and as she’s getting up off the sand she turns to look at me and she looks slightly confused. A look passes her face and she opens her mouth to say something life feels like it’s in slow motion.

I turn around and there’s eyes. So many yellow eyes.

And then I’m falling and there’s just water and
blackness
covers
my
vision.

July '26 SWC
Daily: 6
Screenplay writing
~*~
Word Count: 527

EXT. OUTSIDE GARDEN - EARLY MORNING

The garden, an elegant in a sense, light filled place on most occasions, it’s filled with the life of many plants and cats.

The stoneworked pathways are overgrown with the life that overflows from the edges. If you’re not careful you can end up trapped in some of the magical plants that are grown there by EMI who is currently singing in the early morning light in the back of the garden.

EMI usually spends their mornings in the back garden watering her magical plants that they grow for their apothecary shop. Their shining red hair is tied back in a bandana, they’re wearing a green plaid dress, and they’re highly energized for the morning time that it is.

EMI
(Sung loudly in a slightly off-key voice)
MAYBE IT’S ALL IN MY MIND
SWEAR IF I SAW YOU TONIGHT

EMI
(Lower voice, slightly questioning directed at CATHY (cat - Felidae family))
What?

CATHY says nothing and continues to stare at EMI

EMI
(Lighter, more airy voice)
Do you want breakfast?

CATHY continues to say nothing and stare at EMI

EMI
(Slightly exasperated voice)
Can’t you just tell me what you want?
Is it my singing voice?
Gods, what is it with you today?

EMI puts down the watering can that they are currently holding and brushes any dirt on their hands onto their dress. They turns away from CATHY to survey the entirety of the garden

CATHY
(Lower voice, that is intended to be more spooky but truly isn't’)
Breakfast
Breakfast
Breakfast

It sounds like a cultish chant.

EMI turns back around to look at CATHY.

EMI
(Slightly annoyed voice)
Seriously?
I ask what you want, you don’t want to say anything. I turn around, you start a cultish chant for breakfast.

CATHY
(Serious voice)
Yes.

EMI puts their head in their hands and sighs.

EMI
(Exasperated voice, sighing)
There really is no way of winning is there?
I offered to give you breakfast earlier but, no, no, you say that you’re just going to wait until after I’m done watering my other children.
Come on. Inside we go, you get breakfast, I get breakfast, I feed your siblings, I start work.

CATHY and EMI start walking back from the garden back into the house and shop which share a building and the house area is more in the back kitchen and the loft area.
EMI
(Rambling voice, talking to CATHY)
Every single other thing that happens on the daily happens, with absolutely nothing of note to mention to literally anybody since apparently STELLA (twin sister to EMI, looks pretty much the same except she has more tan skin) decided to go fight a dragon and become a knight instead of helping with the apothecary.

CATHY
(under breath and with a bit of a cough)
Sounds like you’re bitter.

EMI
(Gasp, and a more offended tone.)
Me? Bitter?
No. Absolutely not.
I am completely happy for Stella for making her life choices in which she gets to go fight dragons in armor and be happy, without me.

CATHY
(with an audible general attitude of doubt in their voice)
Yeah, yeah, definitely

FADE OUT

July '26 SWC
Daily: 10
Retelling a fairy tale with a plot twist
~*~
Word Count: 542

I sit on the tram, with one of my headphones in (an amazing invention of this world), looking through the window as the city passes by. Even now, after around two years in this world, I do question if I made the right choice. It isn’t everyday that you find out that you have a fairy godmother and I could have asked her for anything really, like to give me more freedom from my stepmother or to be able to, I don’t know, go to the ball. But, the second one wouldn’t get me out of that place, would it? I mean, my stepmother would still be there, she could still control my life from somewhere else even if I had met someone at the ball. I don’t doubt the power that she could have if she wanted to. And she wants, it almost seems like she always wants more, and she’s upset when she doesn’t get her own way.

I asked my fairy godmother to take me out of this world and away from everything that was there and then. I think that might have been some sort of semblance of the right choice for myself and for everything that I was attempting to hold together - mainly myself and every single part of that house that seemed to come closer everyday that I was in it.

The main thing that I regret is that maybe, just maybe, I should have tried to get Charlotte out of there. I don’t know if there’s some sort of time dilation between here, in this city, on Earth, and the world that I came from. But, if there isn’t then two years is a long time to be stuck in that place, that house, and everything that it entails. She was kind of the only part of that place that was sane. The only person who I really cared about.

Now, I’m here. Attempting to get a university degree, since somehow my fairy godmother can create a bunch of paperwork that makes it seem like I was actually born here, I had parents (that became deceased two years ago, right after I turned 18, how tragic), I was homeschooled (apparently an explanation of how I acted slightly weird when I originally got here.), and I had passing scores that are apparently enough to get into a university. And, I mean, I did somehow get past my first year of an engineering program so, cross my fingers as these people say, that I finish it, and find a job in the field.

The music is soothing as the tram comes to a stop and I get up to step out. I’m supposed to be meeting up with some of the other people who I’ve met throughout the last two years and have basically become my friends. Alice was my dorm roommate and since the day that we both moved in she’s always been really nice to me and she just radiates with this sort of sunshiney happiness.

“Cindy!” I hear Alice shout from behind me and I turn around to go meet her. I think that I might have made the right decision being here and being able to find the tiny happy things in life.

July '26 SWC
Daily: 14
No prose
~*~
Word Count: 771

September 1st 1971
Anna,

How are you doing? I hope that when you come here next year, you’ll love it just as much as I currently do. I met my dorm mates today. I mean, I got into Gryffindor, obviously. Could you imagine if I didn’t? Dinner was great and I’ve got my first class tomorrow and I’m so excited to learn so much more. (Though you already know that!) Everything is going great so far and I’ll write to you tomorrow with more about my first day. Tell me about how everything is going on at home! I’ve got to head to bed soon and send this out. Love you so much!

Grace

~~
September 2nd 1971
GRACIE!

I’m great. AND YOU? Everything feels more lonely without you here. I’m wishing you the best on your first day of class. I do know that you've spent so much time with reveiewing everything. I’m sure that you’ll do great. Everything at home is basically the same without you here, except it’s missing you. I’m going to head to make breakfast now, Eris woke me up in the middle of the night pecking my head. Pick a better time to send your letters. Love you and miss you so much.

Anna

~~
September 2nd 1971

Anna,

Love you too. I’ll try, but everything was so amazing today and this is kind of the only time that I can write to you. My classes were great and I’m really happy to be here. Hope that everything is going on great at home. The DADA class was just fantastic and I don’t have words for how happy I am to be here. The Halloween feast is going to happen in around 2 months and I’m so excited for it. I’ll see in you in December!

Grace

~~
September 1st 1972
Anna,

Do you really not love us or something? Why are you doing this to us? Why would you choose slytherin over everything? Over basically your entire family and everything that it means? We weren’t raised like this. Anna, why? Just why?

Grace
~~
September 2nd 1972
Grace,

I’ve thought about this entire thing a lot. Maybe it shouldn’t be you asking me why I’m doing this to us. You won’t even look at me in person. If you actually wanted to talk to me and fight about all of this, maybe don’t be a coward and actually look me in the eyes when you spit words at me.

Anna
~~
September 3rd 1972
Anna,

Wow, there you go calling me a coward. You could have argued with the sorting hat. You could’ve done something. This is just betrayal at the entire family line at this rate. I never really want to see you again. I can pretend to be someone who is your sister at family events but you no longer feel like you’re my sister. You feel like a stranger who possessed her body.

Grace
~~
September 1st 1972
Maybe all I want is to be somewhere people care about me. Maybe that's all that I want. All that I want people to understand.
September 1st 1973
Why doesn't she love me anymore? I think that I know it deep in my soul but, at the end of the day I think that it’s me.
November 2nd 1973
Happy Birthday to me.
August 14th 1977
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry to the younger version of me who had so much hope for the future version of us who they thought was going to be a good person.
June 14th 1979
Grace,
I think that the end is going to come for me eventually. I think that eventually is a lot closer than I think. Though I think that in the end everything is going to be bad, mainly because there was no way that any of this was going to end well. I just hope that you live after this all and survive everything. I’ll look after Mum in whatever comes after this and I hope that I won’t have to see you there for a while. I think that I owe you an apology for a lot of things. I wish that I had attempted to hold us together better than I did. I wish that I maybe I had asked the sorting hat to put me in Gryffindor. I wish that I had actually been a better sister to you. But, I can’t create all of my wishes of the past to actually have happened. I’m sorry for everything that happened that was my fault. I know that you probably don’t but, I love you.

Anna

July '26 SWC
Daily: 15
Survivor - a character driven to protect their life as they know it
Fantasy
Lost - anyplace foreign to the characters
Stream of consciousness - the narration of a characters thoughts and reactions as they occur in a continuous flow
~*~
Word Count: 803

I guess that I had never thought about how important the way that my life used to be was. But, now looking back, it was everything. It was everything that had ever mattered to me. And now I’ve basically lost everything, or I will if I don’t achieve this. Getting pulled for the trials is usually considered an honor but, I don’t want this honor. I don’t want to be here if it pulls me away from my entire life as I know it. Especially in a different foreign place that I’ve never been before. The castle walls rise above me and I don’t exactly want to be here. That’s my last thought before I enter into this place that may seal my last free moment of life into this one place in time.
~*~
As these people talk, they’re technically my competition and I don’t know if everything is okay. I know that it’s not. In one part of my mind, I can hope that everything will turn out okay. But, I’m attempting to take down people who have literal years of training with weapons and powers that go far beyond my ability to grow plants. How are growing plants supposed to help me while I’m attempting to survive trials against these people who are going to be the end of me and the end of my life. I need to fight for my own life if I actually want to live. And I want to live, with every part of my soul, I want to live. I don’t want to give in to these people.
~*~
“What does it feel like to have this honor to be chosen for the trials?”
It feels like everything that was within my reach and being happy has fallen apart. It feels like I’m nauseous thinking about everything swirling around my head. It feels like I don’t want to be here anymore, I want to be home, I want to be back to my old life, I want to live, I want to live so much that it hurts in the depths of my heart and soul. It doesn’t feel like an honor, it feels like everyone wants me gone and I’m fighting against a rising tide that I know is going to drown me but, I have a need to win against it.
“It’s an honor to be here for my region of this kingdom.”
~*~
The sword is heavy in my hands and raising it makes me feel unbalanced but I need to win this even if it hurts other people because I need to live. There’s just something about this moment in time and just about every moment in time that makes me want to win and live. I think that it’s the thought of every single other memory that I have had before and every memory that I want to make flying away from me. I need to win and I know that I’m going to hurt so many more people on my way there. All of these people deserve to live and I might be a part of the reason why they won’t. I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. To them - all of the people who I might have hurt -, to a younger version of me, to my mother and my sister, who won’t know if I leave this world until multiple weeks later, to every single person who I have ever done anything to that hurt them. I’m sorry I think as I raise my sword and charge forward.
~*~
I think that I am losing parts of myself. I don’t feel like myself anymore. I have two more battles and I can go home. I almost want to shed my skin and leave myself here. I don’t want to be here anymore. I can barely look at myself anymore. The plants that I see now seem to look at me with disdain - like every single time that I ever grew a plant was a dishonor to them and they don’t want to be associated with someone like me.
~*~
“How does it feel to have won the honor of the trials?”
I have done so many things that I didn’t want to do. I have hurt so many people. I don’t think that I am myself. I think that it feels like the world is going to end as I stand here as a disappointment to my mother and my sister. I just want to go home - the only thing that I have meant to achieve and accomplish throughout the entirety of this entire set of trials.
“It’s truly an honor to stand here as a victor for my region. Thank you so much.”
My smile feels fake on my lips. It is fake. All of it is fake. I’m not real anymore.

July 26' SWC
Daily: 17
Emojis (Sparkles, Mushroom, and Teacup)
~*~
Word Count: 515

In the morning the sun rises and I wake up to the sun coming through the window. The sun sparkles. The world is sunny. It’s commonly sunny in Wonderland. Unless it’s not sunny. Then it’s not sunny in Wonderland. It’s like how the world turns. It just does.
~*~
I stand in the garden with my shears in hand. I do quite love my job, in fact I do get good health benefits, I even had the chance to take leave for a whole three weeks to take care of my pet. Oh, and we get sick leave in case we get sick and can spend time at home to get to feeling better.
As the Red Queen says “the giant mushrooms can tend to themselves until you’re back.”
Working here is probably the best job that I have had.

A girl with blonde hair and a blue dress enters the garden as I prune the roses.
“Who are you?” I ask, looking at her. She’s short, she looks to be quite younger and looks around like she’s startled to be here. I mean, people usually are when they enter into the Garden. It is some form of a controlled organized chaos that exists amongst this world. Which I personally think represents how all of these plants would act in nature, they wouldn’t grow in really neat rows and not grow into one another - they’d kind of commingle.
“I-i’m A-alice.” The girl now named Alice stutters out.

I stick out my hand. “Pleasure to meet you Alice.”

“And who are you?” She asks. Ah, yes, it was quite rude of me to ask for her name and not properly introduce myself.

“Ah, yes, I’m Rosetta.” I say to her. “Do you wish to inquire where you are? I mean, it’s a new place, that I do not believe you have been before. I believe that I would know.”

“How would you know?” Alice asks, basically ignoring my main question.

“I work here.” I say. “I spend a lot of my time here and usually visitors aren’t allowed in this section of the Garden without specific permission from the Red Queen.”

“Oh.” Alice says quietly. “I think I may be lost.”

“And why would you think that?” I ask to her. “Are you truly lost or are you in the midst of finding yourself?”

“I think that may be the same thing.” She says fiddling with her skirt.

“Ah, but don’t think of the world in just a light or dark perspective or you may be caught in the dark forever.” I say to her. “Do you wish for me to take you to the castle and mayhaps we can help you find your way home?”

Alice nods, still looking slightly nervous.

~*~
Quite an interesting day that I had today, I think as I walk back to my humble abode. The days end today but, will they end tomorrow. I don’t know. I don’t think that anyone actually knows. But, I can make myself a cup of tea and savor it today even if I can’t tomorrow.