Inktober 2018

[Ranger of the North]

I can do it occasionally XD

[Ranger of the North]

Prompt: musicxxxxxxxxxxxTheme: literalxxxxxxxxxxxDay: 04xxxxxxxxxxxWords: 174

Ft. Feed the Machine by Nickleback, Speak Life by TobyMac, Perfect by Simple Plan, and Human by Holly Starr.

xxxxxDo you know what music is? Music is a language that transcends all others, expressing what can otherwise only be felt — the bond of friendship forged by blood and fire, the grief too deep for words — hot Summer holidays and cosy Winter evenings by the fire at the same time. Melodies turn joy to sorrow and sorrow to joy, tugging honesty from the hearts of the ‘fine’ and cleansing souls in rivers of salt.
xxxxxPut words to the rhythm and you can control the world, setting feet tapping and hands clapping without a second thought, mouths speaking and repeating and enforcing in their minds whatever you tell them, whatever the music says.
xxxxx“Pay with your life; the duller the knife, the longer it takes.”
xxxxx“Speak life, speak life, to the deadest darkest night.”
xxxxx“I’m never gonna be good enough for you.”
xxxxx“Maybe we could never be a perfect people, but maybe that’s okay.”
xxxxxPeople say ‘be careful what you wish for’, but what they really mean is ‘be careful with your words’.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

This is just beautiful, Ranger, absolutly beautiful.

[Ranger of the North]

Thank you so much 😊 ❤

[Ranger of the North]

Prompt: talking creatures/objectsxxxxxxxxxxxTheme: unexpectedxxxxxxxxxxxDay: 05xxxxxxxxxxxWords: 173

xxxxxIt was the hour when all things wake.
xxxxx“He-llo, he-llo, he-llo,” ticked the grandfather clock jovially. The fridge hummed of cool drinks and good food, and the oven yawned a fresh-baked-bread yawn. In the lounge the couches creaked and chattered comfortably together, almost — but not quite, for nothing ever truly can — drowning out the gentle, enticing whispers of the books in their shelves.
xxxxxHeadboards and bedposts examined the dreams they’d caught during the night curiously, while pillows giggled together over all the many wilds things they had heard. A portrait grinned from the mantlepiece.
xxxxxShaking off the last of the lingering night, doors and windows opened wide to let in the new day; curtains sung a cheery ‘Good morning!’ as they swept from their nightly resting-place.
xxxxxOutside, the trees danced where they stood, clapping a genial welcome to the bobbing flowers. The sun sent out a warm, rosy hug to encompass everything in sight as she crested the horizon, and tousle-headed humans clambered out of bed to greet the new day.

[Ranger of the North]

Prompt: “You’re about to leap off a cliff. How is that in any way alright?” — “I’m immortal!”xxxxxxxxxxxTheme: shenanigans
Day: 06xxxxxxxxxxxWords: 200

xxxxx“Sunny,” he said, twisting his cane with knobbled hands. “You can’t do this.
xxxxxShe shook her head, pacing restlessly before the windows. “I have to.” She was beyond agitated, breath shuddering wildly as she ran her hands haphazardly through her hair. “War darkens the horizon, it’ll come whilst we sleep if we do nothing — yet if I make any move, war comes anyway! It — ‘twill be best if we’re facing it, y’know?”
xxxxxHer way of speaking, archaic yet modern all at once, about did his head in ordinarily. But today he was too in-earnest to pay any mind.
xxxxx“You’re about to begin a war — you’re about to jump off a cliff,” he growled, anxiety making him harsher than intended. “How is that in any way alright? ‘Look before you leap’!” His voice had risen steadily higher with every word, and he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to steady the erratic beat of his heart.
xxxxx“I’m immortal!” She was trying to joke, trying to lighten the mood for his sake, but at ninety years he figured he knew when he needed to be worked up — heart be damned.
xxxxx“The rest of the world is not.”

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Day 5 totally reminds me of a little short story I'd read in one of the old books when I was a child. Perfect and lighthearted.
Day 6 seems like the dramatic beginning of a fantasy movie.

[Ranger of the North]

Day 5 totally reminds me of a little short story I'd read in one of the old books when I was a child. Perfect and lighthearted.
Day 6 seems like the dramatic beginning of a fantasy movie.

Aww, I'm glad!
That. Would be cool. I want to know what happens next myself, tbh XD

[Ranger of the North]

Prompt: rediscovering heritagexxxxxxxxxxxTheme: unexpectedxxxxxxxxxxxDay: 07xxxxxxxxxxxWords: 213

xxxxxJane stared at the sealed envelope. It stared back from its place on the table, inexorably there. It was the results of a DNA test, one she had been dreading receiving. She’d always wondered why she looked nothing like her siblings — or parents, for that matter, and even many of the extended family. And the odd snide joke from her father and grandparents had only furthered her suspicion that maybe — just maybe — she had been adopted.
xxxxxWith a deep breath, since it still hadn’t disappeared from her table, she reached forward and picked it up; gingerly, as though it could burst into flame at any second. The thing was dynamite.
xxxxxShe would dearly have loved to just ask her parents, but... well, if it was true, they’d have kept a secret for sixteen years, wouldn’t they? What would stop them from continuing it? She’d sent the query off under the pretence of curiosity, a homeschooling schoolwork experiment. Now she was almost regretting it.
xxxxxWith bated breath, not daring to hesitate any longer, she tore the envelope open, scanned the few lines there — and dropped it like a hot coal. It held the truth she’d always known. Always, if she’d only stopped to think about it.
xxxxxHer parents were blood.

[Ranger of the North]

Prompt: “I can’t breathe.”xxxxxxxxxxxTheme: angstxxxxxxxxxxxDay: 08xxxxxxxxxxxWords: 248

xxxxx“I — c — I can’t breathe —” Seb clutched desperately at Tina’s sleeve, every word forced out between ragged gasps for air. Red stained his fingers, stained his mouth, soaking through Tina’s shirt as he fought to live.
xxxxx“Hush — hush. I’m here, it’s alright,” Tina stumbled brokenly. “You’ll be okay.” But there was no denying the wet streaks down her face. Blood, hot and sticky and a bright, dangerous red bubbled inexorably between her fingers. She couldn’t hold it. Seb was dying.
xxxxx“I — I almost — regret this,” he managed through gasps of blood — then suddenly he was still.
xxxxxI’m sorry — she wanted to scream it to the skies, and would have if it would help; but there was no reversing the march of time, and Seb would never know how broken he was leaving the world.
xxxxxHe was dead.
xxxxxTina got to her feet, staring with anguish at his still body. She should have been quicker. The knife had dropped from Seb’s hand long ago, and lay in a pool of its own making. She should have checked on her friend as soon as she heard he wasn’t doing well, should have assured him he would be missed, should have reminded him he was loved, should have, should have, should have.
xxxxxShe had tried but it was too late.
xxxxxWhat little remained of Tina’s control crumbled, and she sank to the ground in a storm of gut-wrenching sobs.
xxxxxShe was too late.