Snippet 1 ~ Stars And Stargazers ————————————————————————— If you were to look out from whatever place you called home, you would see a web stretching from horizon to horizon to the far beyond. A web of what most know as stars, but what are actually worlds—specks of existence connected by invisible pathways that, with the right training and concentration, one can learn how to traverse. It is believed by the Universe Travelers who call the kingdom of Edia their home that these paths were used by the first beings to set eyes on Edia, the world's creators and high rulers, Hvitoro and Negora. For their coming into the void that became that world could not have been a coincidence, though no one, even the gods themselves, can answer how or why. The people of a nameless universe, but who are disparagingly called the God Killers, believe that the stars are the eyes or the souls of those who perished at the hands of divine beings. Others claim them to be divine beings themselves, and that when every last one has been killed, the stars and moon will vanish from the sky forever. The Lades of Kaulon believe that the stars are eyes as well—the eyes of their king god, who watches over the world and its people, keeping them safe from evil and misfortune during the night. The moon is the great eye of the king god, which slowly blinks open and closed. On the nights when his great eye is fully closed are when disasters are bound to occur, and that those born on moonless nights are not seen as well by the king god as those born under the full moon, leaving them more vulnerable to harm. The peoples of the Eternal Forest view the stars as many things, from floating lights to a view into heaven to spirits that gave up their corporeal forms to hold up the sky and guide those ever below them. Yes, these worlds and paths are ever shrouded and hidden, either by myth or mystery, but they will always be a source of beauty and wonder, to Travelers and non-Travelers alike. Snippet 2 ~ Peace In The Forest ————————————————————————— Faith stomped down the stone-lined path into the woods, enjoying the squish and slosh of the still-wet ground under her shoes. Rain dripped from leaves and branches and collected in puddles, making the woods a wonderful place to be after it rained. The stream was swollen and churning with sticks and other debris, and Faith stopped for a minute to watch as the water rushed past, never stopping, always busy, traveling on and on with nowhere to go. Turning from the stream, she left the trail and headed off between the trees in search of her favorite hiding place, a gap between three moss-covered boulders that sat next to a small, but perfect, clearing. She had found it years earlier, when her family had first moved to their current house, and had treasured ever since as her own little niche in the whole big world, one of the few places she felt most at home. There was a gap at the base of one of the boulders, in which she kept a tin box with a lock on it filled with odds and ends that she had found, bought, and collected, including a journal especially for recording thoughts she had when in the woods. Coming into the clearing now, Faith spun around a few times just for the fun of it, face lifted to the still-slightly-overcast sky, before coming back down to earth and heading over to the boulders. A bush and a clump of ferns hid the entrance to the niche, and Faith got her clothes wet and muddy and covered in leaves as she crawled through them into the small space. She had spread a see-through tarp between the boulders to give her something of a roof a few years ago, held down with some large stones she had found lying around, but it had eventually become covered with sticks, leaves, twigs, and branches, completely hiding the niche that it sheltered. The niche, with its moss-padded stone walls, dirt floor, leafy doorway, and disguised roof was the most perfect place that Faith knew of. She pulled off her backpack, sat down with her back against one boulder, and retrieved the tin box from its hiding place. Unlocking it with a key she kept on a chain around her neck—and that she always claimed was just a necklace—and then opening the lid, she dug through its contents until she unearthed her journal, then closed the box and set it down beside her. Faith opened the journal to a blank page, took a pen and a sandwich in a plastic bag out of her backpack, and after a few seconds of contemplation, began to write.
Snippet 3 ~ An Artist's Love Life ————————————————————————— Faye watched as their paintbrush made short strokes of deep, dark brown across the canvas, thin lines in the shadows of someone's hair. Sure, they knew that they were the one controlling the paintbrush, telling it where to go, what colors to pick, when it needed to mix paints to get the desired shade or hue, but sometimes it felt like they were just the hand, not the mind. They were the conduit between the idea and the finished product. Faye was pretty proud of their painting so far. It was simple, a little abstract, a little amateur in its style, but still pretty. They just hoped that Avi would like it when they gave it to her on her upcoming birthday. Their phone, sitting on a side table across the room, began to ring suddenly, jolting them out of their thoughts. They quickly put their paintbrush down, tried wiping the excess paint of their hands with a dirty towel but quickly gave up, and rushed over to take the call. "Hello, this is Jacob Goldman speaking." "Faye!" Avi's voice came over the speaker. She sounded usually chipper, which probably meant that she had something to tell him. "Sorry, did I catch you in the middle of something?" Faye winced internally, but replied as cheerfully as he could, "No, no, it's okay. I was just doing some homework. What's up?" "Oh—oh, nothing," Avi said, stuttering a little as though embarrassed. "Well, I mean, Gabrielle and I were at the mall yesterday and we saw some, um, posters for a musical that's going to be at the downtown theater over the weekend, and Gabby kind of, um, offered to buy the tickets if you wanted to go with me to see it? On Saturday? Just the two of us?" "Well, you have to tell me what it is first," Faye said teasingly. They were grinning from ear to ear at hearing Avi trying her best to ask them out without saying it in those exact words. "Hmm, I think it was, uh, Dear Evan Hansen? That musical about the guy with the cast that's really pretty. It's going to be at the theater at eight on Saturday night." "You know I couldn't stand missing that one—of course I'll go with you, ridiculous! Tell Gabrielle to snatch those ticket's while they're still available and your parents that I'll pick you up at seven-thirty that evening." Faye grabbed a pencil and jotted down the date and time on a scrap piece of paper. "And I just wanted to say, I'm proud of you for being able to ask me like this. You're making real progress, and that's good." Avi started to say something, then broke off with a relieved, sighing laugh. "I know, I know, I know, but it's still so hard to ask people for things!" she said, sounding exasperated. "But thank you, really. I knew you were going to say yes anyway, but Gabby still made me call to to make sure." They laughed. "Good old Gabby. Tell her I said hi." "I will. And that just because she's my sister doesn't mean she gets to boss me around this much all the time." The last sentence was obviously directed at that exact person, who said something on Avi's end that Faye couldn't hear. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Usual spot?" "Of course, Vivi. I'll see you tomorrow, love." They hung up, set their phone down, walked back over to their canvas, picked up their paintbrush again, and went happily back to work. Credits: Art - unknown, various sources Characters - all mine Writing - MINE DON'T STEAL Notes: This might end up being a stand-along project, this might end up being a series of writing challenges that I've made for myself, I'm not sure yet. But I'm pretty happy with finally being able to share some of my writing that I feel is, um, appropriate enough for Scratch. The challenge I set up for myself is basically this: Write a short story snippet for each picture that you've chosen. I'd also like to stress that I would not like to receive any criticism concerning my writing, whether it is about how I wrote the snippet or what the snippet is about. If you post disrespectful comments, they will be deleted. Anything concerning criticism on the how-I-wrote-it axis will probably be ignored. I usually ignore comments, sorry! The first snippet was kind of me letting myself mess around and build small myths around the sky at night, heh. The second snippet was just some weaving of a peaceful, if wet, atmosphere. It's been raining a lot where I am lately, with probably inspired the wetness. The third snippet was me enjoying the existence of Avi and Faye, oh my gosh I love those two beans. Yeah, the notes have turned into their own little snippet, so, uh, don't let me keep you here, go, um, enjoy your mushrooms. Your starry, rain-splattered, painted mushrooms. ~Alder
