[BoomARat]

Mark!

[gravestones]

dropping out! Just can't seem to get my ideas in order for this lovely child.
Good luck to everyone who's participating! I hope you all have fun <3

[opossumbreath]

▇ U S E R;; Rodentspawn
▇ N A M E;; Grimoire {Grim}
▇ /ɡrimˈwär/ (noun)
1. a book of magic spells and
invocations.
▇ G E N D E R;; Female

OKAY so it might be a little
confusing bc I wrote it in Southern
Gothic Lit style, but basically the
bayou is haunted and killed her so
she would come back as a spirit of
the marsh to protect it because it
trusts her since she was never
afraid of it!

400/400

Spanish moss and kudzu vines cling to every surface, climb the bark of bald cypress trees that have stood for centuries and have more knowledge than you could ever hope to acquire. Ma and Pa always told you the bayou was a strange, wicked place, a place that folk like us should never set foot in, everyone knows there’s dark forces in the Southern Marsh that make it come to life at night.
But there was a deep pull inside of you, something old, to be feared.
“Curiosity killed the cat,” Ma said as you slunk home with slitted eyes, satisfaction stuck to your skin along with humidity and mud. Until the day you didn’t come home.
The bayou sang it’s whistled wind tune in your ears, beckoned you with branches like arms and the sickly sweet smell of sap in the heat. It was too hard to deny its siren call, no matter how many times you told yourself you’d stick to carved out trails like the neighbourhood kids you always found yourself knee deep in swampwater in the middle of the Southern Marshlands the next day.

It wasn’t different from any other day really, your hair pulled back from your sweat slick face, mud sloshing below your barefeet. The air hung humid, sticky even though black clouds rolled through the sky like a warning, rumbled growls but didn’t release its promised downpour. Your eyes were bright, you’d learned to ignore the voices in the shadows, much like the rest of the town, even if they were louder in the bayou. Almost like the screams of cicadas, and you might have even been able to convince yourself it was just that, if the noise ever stopped.

The swap was thicker with mud in some places, sometimes it clung to your toes, and sometimes it didn’t let go. The earth sucked at your feet, and while you usually just waited calmly until it freed you (you knew it was just lonely and touch starved), this time was different, because instead of the feeling of mud on your barefeet there were claws. A scream caught in your throat as it dragged you down, until all you could taste, smell, or see was the deep brown of the dirty water.

You didn’t come home that night. You were a part of it now, and you couldn’t help but be okay with that.

[found.]

There is a certain kind of place you reach while in the wood - after you've walked for days and days into the lush heart of it, until the canopy is thick and green overhead and ------------.
It is not quiet, as one might imagine. It is alive and thrumming with the sound of life. Of the insects buzzing their incessant excitement and the wind gently caressing the leaves. Of dried foliage crunching underfoot and the distant cry of some animal, of hushed creeks and birds singing their tinny melodies and a million other things.
It is not noisy, however. ----------


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her mother had lived alone in the forest, as Allison was doing now - she'd created a small cottage out of brick and redwood and -----
But the wilderness was too harsh for her tender heart, she spent many a sleepless night cowering in the far corner of her small bedroom, cowering under the covers she'd torn from her bed.
------
Allison, once, discovered her mother hiding in that c
"What's wrong, mother?" she whispered gravely, her fur prickling with quiet alarm. "Has illness befallen you?"
Her mother, in turn, swept the quilts back from her face and stared at her daughter. "The beasts are scrounging around in the dark. I can hear them - their footsteps in the night, their quiet growls - right outside of our cottage." She shivered in her skin, the wane moonlight shining through the curtains and casting an eerie glow on her face. "They are taunting me, they do every night. Soon they shall grow bored of their games, Allison. We must-"

"They will not harm us," Allison whispered confidently. "I can speak to them. I will, in fact, right this second." -----------

_____________________
"You are a wild girl, Allison," her mother stated simply, smoothening the hair that fell down past her delicate child shoulders. "The forest, I expect, will take care of you. And anyway, you've always been so fond of the wood. And its beasts."
With that, she drew her into a tight embrace, full of bittersweet love. "We are not of the same kind, my dearest Ally."
A strained pause, and then: "I love you."

Allison grew numb and began to tremble - from what, she could not really discern. Her mother's words had stirred a deep sense a dread within her gut, but why? ---- She could not bring herself to speak.
Later that evening they went to bed and Allison was immediately lulled to sleep by the whisper of the trees. And when the morning came, she awoke to find the house unusually quiet.


SO MUCH STUFF, Ah

[seabear]

username: Imortapose // galvani name: TBD // gender: Female
writing: (0/400 words)
reserving post!

[nyota]

username:
galvani name:
gender:
writing: (400 words max)


marrrk

[Trphlthdl]

username: Queen Of Aces

========✧

galvani name: Gaea
===== ➳ after the earth goddess

========✧

gender: female

The tree leaves rustled with a sweet summer breeze, inviting anyone to stroll under the branches that promised reprieve from the sun that baked the asphalt. Under the trees, in the patches of sun speckled ground, a young galvani could be seen, turning rocks and weaving flower crowns. Her eyes were bright, and the flowers woven into her hair seemed to glow.

A year later in another summer young rains blessed the parched earth with water, and still, in the forest danced the galvani. Rain or shine. Rain or shine.



In another year and an overcast day, the galvani in the forest sits in the trees humming to herself. The flowers are replaced with long fronds of grasses, dropping seeds when she moves.

The year after she will have discovered a cave, and seen the beauty of the mushroom and moss that grow in it. Perhaps it is the beauty of the mushroom, it's place in our world completing a pathway of life, that causes it to stay for years as she grows. Perhaps the moss is soft and comforting for when she is uneasy, that she keeps it in her hair. Perhaps there is no reason. Perhaps there is every reason.

Perhaps it is their beauty in which she finds her calling, or perhaps it is the challenge involved. Perhaps she sees the importance of the overlooked, and seeks to get appreciation for that which she has been told is strange.

Perhaps she is following in her Grandmother's footsteps, creating beautiful things out of unlikely materials.

Perhaps it is not just the meticulous care she affords her greenhouse full of mushroom and moss centerpieces, but the love and care she gives them as well that causes them to flourish. [290/400]

[lol]

username: lol —— name: bridget (named after my mother, and it's an irish oriented name meaning strong spirited) —— gender: female
writing: bridget, her paw firmly grasping at a mossy twig that was set above her head. the twinkle in her eyes was a loud scream for help; help for finding herself, help for the pain that she inflicted on others, and help for moving on. the day was long gone, and bridget was currently stuck in the middle of a forest with a pack of other galvani's that were fleeing from a war that they lost. the fully fledged irish female glared at one of her companions who was nearby; they were struck with a god awful wound across their body, and the spirit she once saw within them had disappeared.
"oi, feelin' any better bridget?" glaring upwards, she saw one of the many survivors who accompanied the trip over to britain. feeling herself shake in the cold weather, and her lip tremble, she shook her head slowly.
"love, i'm far from feelin' any better. i've lost many friends this olagonin', me heart feels peeled, and me paws ache for the time i haven't spent a warm, cozy bed." dipping her head, the rain had continued to pour while the other galvani glared at her for some time. "i... don't remember the last time i was having craic, and, i can't quite figure out why i'm going home." blinking her eyes in a exhausted manner, she dug her paws through mother nature's dirt, and shook her head. "i don't have me mam, nor me dad. i lost me brother when he was quite young due to the cold weather—..." feeling her fur shake throughout the wind, she narrowed her eyes, and started to move forward. "just like this weather here." the sloppy grin that blew upon her face was short lived as the galvani was still puzzled. "he was quite the shaper, and the mask he wore everyday was so... different." at this point the other galvani had to stop her because they were lost, and behind on her story.
"bridget... you're stronger than you think. you're the soul survivor of your family, and you're out here fighting battles for galvani's all over the world. just because you didn't die in battle doesn't mean you didn't do your job. you should know that better than any other creature here; you're such a strong young man." the tone was set, and bridget shook her head once more.
"sir, i'm a female."
(399 out of 400) ALSO small note!! this is galvani was giving me mulan vibes, so bridget is technically fighting a war as a male. so that's why she's confessing that she's a female at the end!! sorry for the poor context lol
goodluck everyone!!

[Spirit23Wolf]

username:
galvani name:
gender:
writing: (400 words max)
Mark

[mugwart]

username:
galvani name:
gender:
writing: (400 words max)

res omg what a sweetie