[wishbone!]

username: plantfood
name: elias
gender: neutrois
story:

gonna practice my spooky writings for this one...

[idyll]

username: Alonzo
name: Brandr
gender: Male
story:

His axe was lightning, catching the moonlight as it cracked back and forth, making its mark with every swing. His breath hissed between parted teeth, billowing sharply along either side of his face like screaming wisps of storm cloud. His feet pounded the frosty earth like swift aftershocks.

His confidence was volcanic. One target, then the next. He was godlike.

He was surrounded by enemies, desperate to strike him down. But Brandr was unmatched in speed. He was a storm, doing all striking.

In such a rush, he lost focus.

Bark splintered in his face.

He staggered backward, blinking pine needles from his eyes.

Stupid tree.

Glowering, Brandr sat heavily. That was unexpected. He was an unstoppable fighter! No way he should have missed that tree...

It must have moved, he decided with a huff. This absolutely had to be the only tree in the forest that could move. He snarled at the offending plant, lips peeling back over his dry teeth.

“Hey, elves, stop that! I was doing so awesome that time!”

“Are you shouting at a tree?”

Brandr nearly fell onto his axe. Fitch was so silent on his feet that the wind could have carried him over.

“I was training! And this tree moved!”

Fitch gazed at the tree. “I’m surprised it didn’t flee, with your noise.”

“Hey! Some elf is messing with me.” He huffed again, pouting at the ground.

Fitch had the audacity to laugh. "You’re blaming your faults on an elf.”

Brandr bristled. “What else could it be?”

Fitch didn’t meet his eyes. “Perhaps you.”

“What?”

“Your strength is admirable. You were aptly named… ‘firebrand.’”

“See?! There’s no way—”

“You cannot dance through life on your toe-tips without taking blame for your faults.”

“My… faults?”

“Everyone makes mistakes, no matter how brave. If you're to be a true warrior, you must lower your pride. Some things are your fault.”

“Fitch, I have to die honourably to go to Valhalla!”

“Being honourable doesn’t mean being self centred.”

Brandr spluttered, but his face burned curiously. “Well, what does it mean, then?”

Fitch’s eyes were full of the moon. “Being honourable means protecting what you love. Your family. Your homeland. You don’t have to win to be worthy of Valhalla.”

Brandr was silent for a long while. He let his axe fall into the frost with a dull thud.

When he spoke again, he seemed tentative, a far cry from before.

“Do you think I can learn to do it? Be honourable… for real.”

“You must know what you’re fighting for.”

Determination flashing in his eyes, Brandr sat up straighter. “I’ll fight for my homeland! And family!” He shifted his feet. “At least… I’ll do my best.”

Fitch gave an almost invisible nod. He stood, and started to walk away.

Brandr sprang to his feet, afraid he’d said something wrong. “H-hey! Where are you going?”

Fitch didn’t turn. He simply paused.

“I’m proud of you, Brandr. You found humility.”

~~

(Context: This is a viking story.)

[498 words]
Fitch

[shinjitaro]

mark

[Endlessechoes]

mark! res. kalon spotting motorman/nessie/any cryptic in general

[allu]

mark

[Madziu]

username: Madziu
name: Alexis
gender: Female
story:
I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. My life was just black and white. I had tried everything and more and yet I kept failing. Nothing seemed to be going my way. I guess, nothing ever really liked going my way. I always seemed to have to work twice as hard as my friends to get to the same reward. But this time, twice as hard couldn’t even begin to describe the anger I was starting to feel. I had to keep it down and I couldn’t show it. There were some that had it worse than me. Years and years of nothing, some never realizing the full potential, what we were all missing.
But one day, it all changed. I guess it should have been a joyful day for myself. Everyone always celebrates when it begins but when you work in a trauma center you get torn in two different directions. I could tell that they had noticed it as well, the change taking over. Everything was about to change, to take on new meaning. Well, that is, if they survived. Call me every name in the book if you’d like, but I headed straight towards them.
I had whispered to a friend about what happened earlier, I needed to tell someone and somehow all the attention turned toward them. I was grateful that so many of my co-workers wanted to help save what I had just begun to see. Though we were far from being in the clear. Nothing ever seemed to go my way. I always had to work twice as hard as everyone else to reap the same rewards. But, this work I poured my heart and soul into and so did they. Because on that fateful day both our worlds turned upside down. From our black and gray lives, we began to see colour.
(310)

[doge fruit]

snop

[jules_]

username: julibee
name: Chionae
gender: female
story:

The body resists drowning with all it's power, not allowing your lungs to take in the water until the very last second, until you burn from the oxygen leaving your veins. Once the fight is lost, the water comes flooding in to quell the blaze, bringing peaceful darkness in it's wake.

Smooth pebbles, rounded by centuries of tossing and turning restlessly in the water, caressed her back. The water was cool and provided gentle pressure, as if a kind being was holding her tight and safe while she lay in the dark.

It was peaceful, quiet.

The only sound was the drowsy rush of blood through her veins as she gazed silently towards the surface. Fingers of dawn had begun to pull back the night sky, the shallow pond sparkling as if the stars had dropped to the ground. What lay above was blurry, like a memory, soft and fuzzy from the wear of time. Trendrils of purple blossoms from the water lilies kissed the surface as they danced in the breeze, ripples refracting the growing light all around her. Each bright beam sent a shock of dread deeper into her heart.

Her soul was a fire that started somewhere deep inside and spread until every fiber of her being was screaming with flames. It boiled the water around her in it's fury, tearing her world to shreds as she was forced to take to the land once again. Chionae could not die, not from illness nor fire, war, or water, yet her body hovered on the great cliff right at the second before drowning, when the body resists the inevitable with the greatest might. Her soul had never sat quite right inside of her, and so it dragged her to the deepest depths until she was ignited. You can only give so much of yourself away before there is nothing left, and so she did. Tearing pieces of her soul to heal and revive those around her; pulling herself into a million pieces until there is nothing left but ash.

The water rushes in above her, dark and comforting. It fills her lungs, sinking her to the bottom, the fire extinguished.
And in the morning the phoenix rises once again, the hearths of her soul reignited by the dawn,
and so she drowns forever

//385 words

[khvoxtic]

username: planiteri
name:
gender:
story: (500 word limit)

[bakuraas.]

username: golden-boy
name: macabre
gender: nonbinary
story:
photosynthesis - a story in verse

i hate the forest.
i hate the trees the most.

i went into the forest before,and now i have saplings inside of me.
a tree cried on me once. it sobbed when i left,
left with saplings in my skin.

sometimes, i try to sleep on my arms,and i feel the saplings.
the leaves brush my face, and the branches try to squirm into my ears.
i don't sleep anymore.

sometimes, i try to eat,and i feel the branches.
the bark makes everything taste awful, and the wood makes my hands cramp up.
i don't eat anymore.

in the morning, birds sit on the branches.
it hurts so much. i can feel my stomach being used, keeping the branches in place.
i try to shoo them away, but none of them understand.

i killed them,
and it stopped.

i just want it to be over, i just want the trees to end it.
i want to stop thinking about the trees, but i can't, the saplings keep growing,
and i only became more paralyzed.

my mother didn't want to take me to the forest, she was crying, i was crying too.
i took my bike to the forest, sometimes, my legs stopped because of the roots.

i hate the forest,
but i had to go there.

i couldn't die in front of my mom, she didn't deserve that.

the forest was silent, it was cold, it was deadly.

i laid down, feeling the saplings grow out of my flesh.
i felt the roots curl around me like a home.
i felt my pain melt away.

they killed me,
and it stopped.

i saw the sky,
i felt the grass,
i heard the birds,
i smelled the pine.
i was still alive.

i hate the forest,
but i cannot complain.

sometimes, i get company, and the sounds of the woods fade away.
i hurt someone who visited.
she started to grow saplings too.
she said they hated the forest, and hated trees the most.

just like me.

i cried.

i knew she was going to die.
i knew she was going to be like me.
i couldn't let her be like me.

i killed her,
and the cycle stopped.