[caesou]

username:
cae sou

name:
belle

gender:
female

story:
(retelling of arachne's myth/story)

Arachne weaved again in square centre of town. Fingers dainty and sweet, strings skimmed finger to finger without effort as patterns unfolded seamlessly. Threads danced their own orchestras, fingernails conducting the way, landing place with humility.
But her gentle hands were unlike her voice; booming confidence, alike those market merchants. Arachne was selling her skill, buying them in with her talent, advertising her strings to attract more audience. "A gift from the gods," she huffed, believing her talent was from pure genius. Not even gods and goddess could compare to her, she said.
A woman with daunted wrinkles, cane in hand, grey locks framed, a humble cloak. Weary age but a sharp tongue, "Compare not yourself to gods above, for you will feel their wrath as your pride grows more. If shame is not what you seek, pray to goddess of wisdom, Athena, and she will forgive your sin."
Fingers still spinning, Arachne pointed her nose, "Old woman, your great age does not equal a great mind. Truly, you believe I would alter my standing for your wasted words? Call upon your so wise Athena, if that is what she desires."
A pause. "Athena comes to you!"
Eyes left Arachne's loom as the woman's cane grew with beauty. Gold tip to tip, a point completed one end, robes dissipated to celeste blue, greys of hair to brown, a grand helmet encircling face instead. Skin radiating like Athena herself, with the same hissed eyes. Finally, Arachne looked up, Athena appearing a loom before her and cotton strings twined in her fingertips.
Red smearing Arachne's face she dared, "A duel? To prove that I am truly more worthier than the gods?"

------

Crowned Athena's tapestry was Zeus, centre stage and twelve gods rotated round him. Four corners held stories, challenger mortals and vengeful gods - Rhodope and Haemus' mountains, pgymy crane Juno, the stork of Antigone, Cinyras' weeping stones - while trees of olives filled empty spaces.
Arachne's loom shone with the gods and their chases. Alive was Zeus, his four animals, shower of gold, burning flame, shepherd disguise. Alive was Poseidon, four animals again and Medusa's Pegasus. Alive was Apollo, hawked wings, lion's fur, shepherd trickery. Alive was Dionysus' grapes for Erigone and Cronus' horse for Chiron as ivy bloomed flowers swarmed the ends.
Athena's hope of teaching Arachne a lesson - rival those above and instead get a taste of your own bitterness - could not be sustained. Arachne's work outbeat Athena to all aspects, colour and composition and detail all perfected to perfection.
Rage blurred Athena's head - Arachne's depiction of the gods' lack of control did not farfetch - and hungry for satisfaction, her spear glowed to burning and struck Arachne. Scream lurched, Arachne's size melted, hair glued to skin, face contorted, sprouted stomach and limbs thinned, splitted to needlepoint. A silk of thread trailed from its belly behind it as it scuttered, escaped away from the crowd. So it was, Athena's creation of a spider, only left with bitter poison and loomings from Arachne.

[heartstrung]

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★ username: eunoia,
★ name: estella or ella
★ gender: female
★ story:
estella lay lonely on the gray tinted grass under the glistening light of the moon and stars. the sky had colors
of purple and blue, in all shades. a flowing, and chilling breeze then swept through the field. estella shifted
her weight and stood up, her gaze turning towards the twinkling sky. she steadily closed her eyes and listene
d very closely to everything surrounding her. ella could hear the chirping sounds of crickets, and the owl's ho
ots. she then slowly brought her eyes open. estellas gaze still fixed on the never-ending sky of stars. she let o
ut a soft sigh of happiness. she gave a quick flick of her tail. she was now completely lost in the beyond.

[ 121 words / 500 words ]

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[melonliker]

mark !!

[Kyar]

username: kyar
name: tojek
gender: male
story:

breath.

pounding echos drumming against faded eardrums, crackling, rumbling, swirling, nothing.

"what constitutes a downward spiral? how many of us are falling, without even knowing it?"

water.

air.

ice.

weightless and so heavy, ears ringing and tumbling as eyes open to sharp pain, freezing, burning, stinging and sightless in the dark against light. which way is up? where is up? head over heels, twisting, writhing.

air.

"we spend our nights wrapping our head around the idea that we'll see ourselves falling. but that isn't the case."

water seeps rapidly into heavy jacket sleeves, mittens become sickly paddles. the force of liquid rushing past, hearing nothing, and everything. senses numbing, fingers aching. icy fluid rushes through fabric and veins, feet weighted by heavy metal, shimmering through lowlight. down here, it's so dark.

"it isn't until we can step outside of ourselves that we see. your life is made of your own choices. if you stand back and let those choices happen to you, you're guaranteed to fall. you're guaranteed to fail."

seconds pass in aching steps. shadows loom over and under, eyes forced open again, searching the murk for light. flash of silver, polished, sharpened blade. kick. kick.

lips pucker shut, violent winter water caressing their cracking surface. numbness treading on each limb, fiery heart dancing, leaping through heavy bursts of pain. no air. which way is up?

lungs tremble.

breath.

air.

life.

"if the choice is given to you, make it."

closer. faster.

hat falling, eyes open. crackling thuds above. shadows. light. hands thrust upward, meeting surface. feet hang heavy, prancing bounds through wave-dancing meadows. snagged, for a moment, in the bristled branches. upward. go.

"every day is a gift. take what you are given."

lungs on the verge, pressure, weary, slow-motion strikes.

one.

two.

aches. pains. a settlement begins to build, burning limbs, numbing body.
what, now, is real?
what's left?

water drags back, pulling, hissing as rumbles and gurgles overtake fearful cries.

what relief cold could be.

what sweetness in sleep.

"take it, and make the most of it. don't allow yourself to fall."

panic.

ice.

breath.

life.

fight.

mittens torn free, floating aimlessly down, away, drifted, carried by the lakebed. bare, bluing fists force upward, charging with the might of all the fire inside. light clatters down through the layers, spotted, ice gashed with holiday blades.

at the collision, stabbing, aching, a thin glimmer of blood swirling free. pain shocks upward.

again.

the pounding force thunders. where did you fall?

aim for the light.

"the world can never stop you."

mouth open, gasping, pleading.

again.

frozen joints, broken skin. collision.

overhead, the ice begins to crack.

(439/500 words)

[kipin]

oh my goodness owo

[Meridiem]

username: Meridiem
name: Amber
gender: Female
story:

"He left."

Her body shook with an uncontrollable shiver. Her once bright fire dimmed with the words that left his mouth. He didn't say those things, not her. He didn't know what he was saying, he was being controlled by someone to say those things to her. She could only shake her head. The heat left her hands. Thoughts of the single word no streamed across her mind. It wasn't a tangible thought for her mind to accept. It wasn't true. He wasn't leaving her, that wasn't possible. They were together. She sat down on the ground, shaking in denial.

"He didn't."

She ravaged the spot surrounding her, tearing everything out from underneath her. She screamed into the air. The rage and fire had been sparked, but this time, it was ignited on a forest that hadn't burned in centuries. Her rage burned inside her, for she could no longer accept that he had left. She destroyed everything in sight. The stones that were thrown into the air had come back down as mere dust. The grass was ripped up from its peaceful roots to be burned with flames. She wasn't going to let him go that easily, not ever.

"For this?"

She yelled into the air for him to return to her. She would give up anything to have him back. Her soul, her being, her fire, her anything, just for him to be hers once more. She wouldn't let anything in her possession be refused from an offer. She wanted him so bad. She would let everything about her be changed to bring him back. She would lose her fire for him. She yelled out her offers to the wind, hoping that something would get picked up and meet his ears and he would accept it, flying back.

"He did."

She sat there with her head in her arms. The fire had dulled to almost air. She felt cold. No warmth could reach her now. The man whom she had left everything behind for had left her for another. Her fire raged soul had been reduced to ashes. She could feel the life of the flame leaving her and turning to thin air. It didn't happen, it couldn't have, not to her. Her soul had been ripped and she sat there, crippled by her own thoughts of refusal to accept what happened. Her cold tears soaked the ash.

"He left."

The dirt fell off of her, dropping to the ground. She wiped the traces of emotions from her face. She was fully standing, holding her ground. She raised her hands from the ground and a fire rose with them. She let her arms flow out and with the flow the fire spread. The flames jumped from branch to branch, climbing everything and anything that it could touch. The fire spread quickly and quietly. She was no longer tied to this. He may have had left her, but she was no longer bound to it. The fire raged on.

(500/500)

[emporio!]

username: bucky??
name: ren
gender:  female
story:

today there is a bird on your shoulder.

"hello," you greet it brightly. it is cute, if a bit strange, with its funny little wings and brown eyes too big for its head. it greets you in return with a friendly little chirrup! and hops off your shoulder, landing in your lap. it pecks gently at the knee it finds there and you giggle. "silly little bird," you scold it gently, scooping it into your hands. "you can't be on my lap. this is a new dress!"

it chirps at you again. you bite the silly thing's head off.

you are very careful not to let anything drip onto the flowing white fabric of your dress when you set the remainder aside, though you are notably less careful with the bench you're sitting on; fluid already pools on the polished wood beside you, most likely staining the dark wood even darker. you fail to convince yourself to worry about it. you do, however, worry about the state of your dress and stand before the small puddle can reach you.

when you step forward, intending to take a walk through the remainder of mother's garden, something under your foot snaps. it is a terribly thick sort of snap, like the shell of a soft pretzel breaking between someone's teeth. you look down, expecting a wayward stick or dead leaf, but instead you are greeted with fluid staining your favorite blue shoes.

underneath your shoe is another headless bird. how dreadful.

[HowlToTheWind]

username: HowlToTheWind
name: Bastet "Kitty"
gender: Demigirl
story: In the dark of the night, the black wolf crept along the silent forest. Her eyes were as pale as the moon above her, drifting along the ink-colored sky. The trees rattled in the wind, causing her to tense her body in alarm. She calmed as she continued to make her way through the forest, her eyes darting around to catch any movement among the underbrush. She continued her journey until she reached a small hole in the dirt, just in front of a birch tree. She slipped in the hole, pressing her body as low as possible. She slid through a tunnel, then into a large burrow. It was seemingly abandoned except for the wolf, her ink-black fur barely noticeable among the gloomy shadows of the burrow. In the back of the burrow, she noticed a small white lump squirming about. She silently padded over, making sure not to cause a commotion. She reached the frail thing, it's fur was a milky white. She nudged it, realizing it was a wolf pup. She curled around it, keeping it warm for the night. She began to groom it and comfort it, helping it to stay calm. She would have many more sweet moments with the small, pale pup (208 words)

[Calibri]

Mark!

[ᴇᴜᴛᴏɴʏ]

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