Almost Drabbles

Ilianasarigo · March 7, 2021, 6:23am

Summary

angsttttt

It’s fun to write, but too much and I feel cringe writing it. Perhaps it’s a feeling left over from when people cringed at anyone expressing too much emotion, perhaps it’s fear that I won’t be able to write these characters at all realistically, or perhaps it’s both.

ohh, interesting. I tend to get into the character’s head or not based on how much is described specifically from their pov, but I can see seeing third person from a farther perspective or first person from… first person.

that’s an interesting way to describe it!

XD there is no such thing as polite disgust, it only exists in the minds of the people doing it

I just randomly gave this entire family pun names XD I thought after bill I should keep it going

each of their plotarcs feels like its entirely own seperate story XD except that I haven’t really explored quartz or amethyst as much. Because they’re not having character arcs really

they are unraveling, but they don’t need sleep because of magical healing. The mental toll of constantly being aware is a thing though. I’m not sure what exactly that’ll end up being.

XD good reasoning there

awww XD

Summary

The phone in Jade’s pocket vibrated. Mom had insisted she borrow one so her family could find her, after a few days of Jade being mostly invisible.
Being invisible had decreased people complaining about her quickly, but it also didn’t take long for Mom and Brian to start getting worried. Jade had walked around visible to show them she was okay, but she hadn’t predicted the phone.
Len had texted her a video. It seemed to be security camera footage of a hostage situation.
Jade’s eyes widened as the Gem Squad showed up, minus Diamond, and Quartz proceeded to do what Quartz did best, though in the video it was censored with a blurring effect.
Crystal said something to her with a horrified expression, though there was no sound, and Quartz ignored her to talk to Amethyst.
After a few more moments of tense talking Quartz and Amethyst disappeared in a flash of blue light, followed by Crystal.
Jade wondered if Crystal would continue to stick to them after this, or if killing humans was crossing a line even for her.
Whatever. It was none of her business.
Len didn’t send a message along with the video. Jade hoped her mother hadn’t seen it- there were videos out there of Jade with the Gem Squad, and she didn’t want to be interrogated about that.
She hadn’t thought about the Gem Squad in a while. Good thing she’d left so early on.
It didn’t seem like they’d really turned to the dark side yet. Perhaps they were killing and traumatizing more people than they were saving, but the trio of toxic mean girls didn’t seem to want to rule the world yet.
Jade wondered if Diamond wasn’t with the Gem Squad anymore. Jade hadn’t been keeping up with the latest videos of the Gem Squad since she’d left, but on a spurt of curiousity she started doing some searching.
Boredom made a lot of time for morbid curiousity.
There were a few clips of them, but not as many as Jade had expected. There were way more conversations about Torian and clips of him and his family.
It was public that they were staying here now.
Jade scrolled through the comments of a video of him and his family. Some people thought they should be doing interviews. How annoying, as if it was Jade’s family’s responsibility to be some kind of public figures just because of Jade’s powers.
Other people felt sorry for them. The thought of random strangers feeling sorry for Jade made her uncomfortable.
And of course there were people making fun of Jade’s frilly dress and pretty appearance.
Was everyone in the world just awful, seriously? Fake pity, callous nosiness, and people just there to make jokes at someone else’s expense.
She clicked to a video that was recommended after that one.
Lotta Bucks. Jade generally tried to avoid the girl.
She complained about how her mother was spending so much time with that woman, how Torian was insufferably snooty and she was worried about him spying on her in compromising situations-
Jade paused the video to unclench her jaw and breath deeply.
She’d never once teleported into someone’s private rooms or bathrooms. She might spy on people for her and her family’s safety, but she had limits.
Lotta made her out to be some kind of perverted villain when Lotta had always been the one making trouble with her.
She scrolled down to the comments, half expecting everyone to be siding with Lotta, and that half of her wasn’t disappointed.
“Okay, of course they’re siding with her. They are her fans, if they’re watching this video.” Jade said to herself.
She put a hand over her mouth, hoping nobody had heard her. She was hiding out in the attic, and she’d rather nobody knew where she was.
She’d started getting into the habit of talking to herself after days of not talking to anybody.
The phone vibrated again. It was a message from Prina.
‘hey, wanna hang out with me? I asked Brian but he was on the phone with his friend and Len is being annoying so I won’t talk to her :(:(’
“Nice to know I’m your last choice.” Jade muttered.
Well, not really her last choice. She hadn’t asked Mom or any of the Bucks. Or the maids or mages or guards.
‘sure. where are you?’ Jade texted.
She needed something to think about besides the endless, depressing world of the internet and her bad public image.
‘my room’
They’re each been given a room to stay in, even the twins. Jade didn’t spend much time in hers because she didn’t want to be easily findable.
Jade teleported into Prina’s room.
Prina was sitting on the bed, phone in hand.
“It’s been ages since I’ve seen you!” she said.
“Well, that was kind of the point. People don’t like it when I’m around too much.” Jade said, sitting next to her.
“Too bad for them.” Prina said. “Have you been exploring the mansion? It’s really cool, isn’t it?”
Jade nodded, but before she could say anything Prina continued.
“Len’s been really annoying. She’s always glaring at me and saying I’m annoying when she’s the one acting like the world is ending. She’s so gloomy.”
She paused.
“I miss her.” she admitted. “But don’t tell her I said that!”
She looked at Jade.
Jade nodded.
“I promise not to.” she said.
Prina smiled.
“I downloaded a really cool phone game. It’s free so you don’t have to ask the Bucks to buy it for you if you don’t wanna talk to them which I can kinda understand since they’ve been making all those videos about you and all…” Prina trailed off, glancing at Jade.
“Oh… I actually only saw one video about me and I didn’t even watch it all. But I assume it’s bad.” Jade said, rubbing her forehead.
“They’ve been saying all sorts of awful things. I tried telling them they’re wrong and they shouldn’t be making assumptions like that, but they just treat me like a kid.” Prina frowned. “I guess you get used to treating everyone like a kid when you’re a billioinaire.”
“Yeah. And they donate to charities, so everyone assumes they’re great people and right about everything.” Jade said sourly.
“Well, I’ve seen a lot of people who hate them, but it’s more about the hating them than the defending you. A lot of people seem to be jealous of their money and honestly I can relate.” Prina said.
Jade sighed. She just wanted to get out of this place.
“Hey, what if you made videos defending yourself? I mean people might not agree with you but you could at least tell your side.” Prina said uncertainly, as if worried she’d offend Jade.
Jade felt a rush of annoyance at the thought of having to deal with the huge mob of faceless people who hated her before even knowing her.
But what else was she going to do with her time? And when she thought about it, making some attempt to get people on her side could be helpful for her safety in the long run.
“I guess you’re right.” Jade said after a long pause. “I’ll have to think carefully about what I say, though. I don’t want to jeapordize our situation here.”
At the same time, she hated the thought of kissing up to Lotta and the rest of the cloying Bucks either.
Prina smiled.
“I’ll help you if you want.” she offered.

Next:
Warning

m.mausambi · March 8, 2021, 2:20am

Summary

:0

ohh

I feel like I write angst unconsciously XDD
though I do have a bad habit about both making a character experience angst and another character being like “you think that’s bad? that’s nothing at all,” and often dislike my characters when they pity themselves? I never put them through anything too bad, though, and I’m working on taking their pain less personally so I can write more variety of scenes

XDD

yeah! I used to write first-person mainly because it felt jarringly personal, but then there are so many biased narrators and first-person writing has lost some of its charm for me. right now, second-person feels jarringly personal, lol, as if forcing me to immerse into the scene no matter what mindset I’m in.

I just randomly gave this entire family pun names XD I thought after bill I should keep it going

XD

and they’re all so gooood

ohh

ohhh

yeah!

XD I wanna write more fluff scenesss

:0
so that’s how they see Crystal

cool name, by the way!!

it’s alright, you can punch her

truee

ooOh

aaa. this is just cringey. This is pure cringey. the end is sorta cute, maybe?

Ry swings his legs and goes higher. “Favorite food?”
“Most soupy noodles?” Remus guesses.
Ry grins. “You eat everything, so I could be wrong. But don’t you have that one indian restaurant you’re in love with?”
“Wrong,” Remus grins, pausing his climb up the jungle gym to glance over at him. “You know I live for ice cream.”
“Ice cream doesn’t count as food.”
“According to who?”
“It’s like, 70% sugar!”
“Your point is?”
“Talking about your eating habits stresses me out.”
Remus laughs, and sits down on the top rung, continuing to watch Ry play on the swings.
“What do you even eat all day? The slop they serve in the cafeteria?” Ry asks.
“And instant ramen.”
“Ramen.”
“Who said we wouldn’t judge each other?”
“My mistake. That’s before I knew your favorite foods were sugar, grease, and preservatives.”
“Favorite color?”
Ry gives him a look, but plays along. “Um… Green?”
“You’re getting all these wrong. Pink.”
“You always wear green hoodies!”
“I like black. It’s the color of my soul.”
“Yeah, right,” Ry scoffs. “If your soul has a color, it’s a sparkling, neon, rainbow.”
“Flattering,” Remus snorts. “Favorite season?”
“Winter.”
“You finally got one right! Uhh, fall?”
“…I guess spring isn’t bad?”
“I thought you were more the autumn-sorta person.”
“But fall leads to winter.”
“I guess so.”
They lapse into a sort of silence, before Ry brings the swing to a stop. “Wanna grab some ice cream?”
Remus, who’d zoned out, looks down at him, starting to grin. “Yes.”
He starts climbing down, until he misses a rung and hits the ground hard.
Ry, who’d been turning to leave, saw the whole thing, and covers his mouth, covering a laugh. Remus blinks away the pain and pushes himself to sit up, the front of his hoodie damp and autumn leaves sticking out of his hair.
“You are such a doofus,” Ry says, picking out a few leaves, but ultimately starting to laugh again as he remembers Remus’s expression.
“Stoppp,” Remus whines, batting Ry’s hand away as he stands up, brushing some of the leaves off himself.
“I mean-- your face, though–”
Remus scowls at him, until his mouth twitches upwards at the corners, and he hugs Ry without warning. Ry flinches, as Remus’s damp hoodies presses against him, until he relaxes, laughing.
“I guess I deserved that,” he says, trying to push him off. Remus just rubs his arms on Ry’s shirt, ignoring him.
“Remus,” Ry says, until Remus finally steps back, grinning at the mess he’d made of his clothes.
Ry looks down, frowning. “You got dirt on me.”
“We match now,” Remus grins.

“We match now,” though ;-; I could picture this under way darker contexts, where Remus earns Ry a criminal record just to say the same lol (Remus is originally a pretty dark/chaotic character from a fandom that I extracted all the cute bits from and made my own [more wholesome] character XD)

next!
right

Ilianasarigo · March 10, 2021, 12:28am

Summary

aww. well, it is easy for it to get to be too much. It matters a lot how much of what’s causing their angst is shown in comparison to how much they’re thinking angsty thoughts.
I’m thinking about this because of a story I recently started reading for my book club.

I write a ton of angst, just things like the character’s entire home planet being maliciously destroyed I’m not sure if I CAN write anything like accurately.

My stories start getting me down when everyone’s arguing for long periods of time.

ohh hmm!
I love biased narrators, it kind of gets you into their head. When it makes it confusing what’s really going on though, I like that less the more unclear it gets.

but it’s also a ton of fat! maybe not nutritious, but filling

i mean to be fair that’s pretty much most people’s favorite foods XD well, sugar and fat.

I can never guess people’s favorite colors XD since it tends to be different between what they wear and what they like to look at

ohh XD

Summary

Relaxing on the couch with a cup of tea on the table in front of her, Crystal wondered if it was right to rummage around in people’s dreams. These were murderers, but that was the kind of justification Quartz used when killing. Just because someone was doing bad things didn’t mean it was okay to do anything to them.
“It IS for the sake of preventing more killing. I wouldn’t be doing this otherwise. And invading someone’s privacy is not even comparable to killing them.” Crystal said firmly, but the voice in her head warning her that it was a slippery slope, that if she kept this up she’d become like Quartz, was still there.
Darius was out on a late shift for a grocery store job he’d recently gotten, so Crystal was alone on the living room couch.
She let her gaze drift to the ceiling for a moment, dropping into the past.
She’d been alone for almost twenty-five years now.
When she was nineteen, Caroline had gotten married to her then-girlfriend Susan. It hadn’t taken more than a year for them to have the conversation about kids. They had agreed it wasn’t going to work out, since Susan had wanted kids and neither her or Caroline were about to give up on or delay their career plans.
Since then Caroline had reconsidered her reasons for wanting to meet someone. She had a great group of friends, and she’d never met anyone that seemed perfect when she’d dabbled in dating later on.
Caroline laughed at the hastiness of her youthful self.
She still couldn’t believe she’d done something like get married before asking important questions like kids.
Shaking her head, Crystal pulled herself out of her reminiscing and closed her eyes, focusing on the task at hand. She was more concerned about Quartz than Amethyst, so she reached out toward Quartz first.
Amethyst seemed to be purely evil, but selfishly motivated and not particularly ambitious. Quartz had a burning drive to fight evil in the way she saw as right.
Feeling a link to Quartz, Crystal gently sank into a dream. She felt that Quartz was awake and aware even when she started. That was disappointing, Crystal had hoped to slip quietly in while Quartz was unaware of her. Then perhaps Crystal could see Quartz’s dream and possible details about where she was before the dream changed into the scenery that appeared in this kind of communication.
Quartz was standing in a shallow sea of cold white water. There was a slight fog that blurred the edges of the vision and it was snowing lightly.
“Have you come to discuss the Gem Squad?” Quartz asked, crossing her pale arms.
Crystal wondered if she’d end the communication if Crystal said no. Maybe, possibly, Crystal could reason with her.
“I’ve come to talk about what you did. It’s never okay to kill people, Quartz. We didn’t know anything about the situation. Those people could have been blackmailed into it. They could have not been planning to harm their hostages. They could have never murdered anyone before. And even if they were murderers, it was never our place to carry out judgement on them. We are not the law. We’re regular people who have been gifted with the power to help people- if we use it carefully and never go thinking we’re god.” Crystal pleaded, looking into Quartz’s skeptical pink eyes for some trace of empathy.
“They knew what they were getting into. Are you calling the Gem Squad to meet again, Crystal?” Quartz asked, waving a hand as if to sweep Crystal’s words aside.
Crystal closed the distance between her and Quartz, Quartz becoming clearer and solider as she did.
“Are you saying you’ll continue to kill people no matter what I do?” Crystal asked, her heart beating hard, dread coursing through her veins.
“You won’t stop me, girl.” Quartz said derisively, meeting her eyes.
Crystal grabbed Quartz’s shoulders, trying to gather up the will to try to kill her, but she wavered. Was it really right? Was there some other way? Maybe she could put her to sleep.
Quartz grabbed Crystal’s throat and put a hand to her chest, where the blue crystal would go in her regular form.
Choking, Crystal tried to detach herself from Quartz as Quartz’s hand sunk into her chest, merging unpleasantly with her.
Crystal couldn’t feel her body in the real world. She struggled and tried to push her power at Quartz, but she couldn’t feel it.
“Let her go!” a high, angry voice demanded.
Quartz’s eyes widened, and she pushed her hand deeper into Crystal, trying to find the source of her power and take it.
A wave of amber split around Crystal and washed into Quartz’s ears, pushing angrily into her head.
Quartz tried to pry herself out of Crystal, seperate herself so she could pull away to safety, but as she was struggling her eyes turned amber and she went limp.
“I promised I’d never kill anyone else, and you’re not about to make me break that promise.” Darius said with Amber’s voice.
He raised his voice and commanded her,
“You’ll never hurt another person.”
“Do you really think that will work?” Crystal panted, pushing Quartz away from her and trying to feel her real body again.
“I left one of those pieces of gem that usually floats around Amber with her, so if she tries anything I’ll find her again and…” Darius said, trailing off as he took Crystal’s hand and pulled her back to the real world.
Darius immediately transformed into his real form.
“I’m sorry. I hesitated, and you had to risk yourself to help me. Do you feel okay?” Crystal asked, also calling her gems back to her chest.
Darius closed his eyes.
“I hate that body, but if it’s just for a bit, I don’t think I’ll lose myself. Still. You have to be more careful with yourself. I’ll back you up when you go to face Amethyst.” he said firmly, though his face said he dreaded it.
Caroline was tempted to take him up on his offer, after what had almost just happened to her.
“No. You shouldn’t have to transform. This isn’t your responsibility, it’s mine.” she said.
Darius frowned.
“I won’t transform unless you become unresponsive. But I’m not letting you try this alone again.” he insisted firmly.
Finally, she nodded.

Next:
fancy

m.mausambi · March 12, 2021, 1:42am

Summary

true! I just tend to feel my characters are spoiled lol, since I keep writing about these vague things that, when I put myself in their shoes, would’ve destroyed me little by little. But then I never get around to them not feeling self-sorry since I never get that far in my stories before I’m like “I don’t like where this might go, so I need to re-write this asap.”

I’m thinking about this because of a story I recently started reading for my book club.

oO

I write a ton of angst, just things like the character’s entire home planet being maliciously destroyed I’m not sure if I CAN write anything like accurately.

:0 true!

My stories start getting me down when everyone’s arguing for long periods of time.

^^very relatable. When my characters are down, I’m like ;-; low-key in pain
worse when my main characters feel strong negative emotions

there’s too many of them, tho They’re all starting to sound more alike than unique, and first-person narrative is just ughhh sometimes XDD just like, the same brand of pacing, emotions, and presentation?
there’s this thing with first-person with my own stories (I’ve been writing in first-person for years now) where I’ve noticed-- with first-person, you’re very very limited in what readers are allowed to notice, and there’s this very… unique brand? to first-person, where characters have to experience their worlds the same way. Things happen to them, and you can’t write what they feel about it, you have to show it over time through their actions and other interactions since they’re unaware of how the things around them affect them. And they’re never aware of so many things you can only hint at, and stuff they act on that they don’t understand themselves all end up getting similar treatment… idk XDD

ohhh

oh true! XDD

:0

:0 history!

:0 ohhh I didn’t see her that way, but that makes sense!!

pretty!!

:OOOO
I thought he couldn’t transform because the shadow of the sword wasn’t with him anymore!
woahhhh

my problem with writing remus and ry is that they’re too alike, and I’m trying very hard to emphasize their differences so i can write their relationship XD I’m too used to writing opposites.
Also I feel like they’re both ace… Ry might be aromantic. lol, I never know anything until I write it out and then observe patterns. This is what happens when you’ve never really written romance and you suddenly try XDD
COME TO THINK OF IT, all of these remus-ry moments are looking alike. mmMM. But they’re so cute omggg

Ry spots Remus sitting beneath the campus tree, his backpack in the dirt beside him, watching the passing crowds with a steady stare.
The sight brings Ry to a pause. It’s always strange to see Remus… not moving. He tucks his cold fingers into his pockets as he approaches, wondering if this is what Remus felt like whenever he saw Ry taking his break from… humanity, in general.
“…Hey,” he says, and Remus turns to him, blinking. They stare at each other a second, before Remus smiles.
“Hey.”
Ry grins, taking that as invitation to join him, and sits down in the grass. “I should’ve snuck up on you.”
“And then what?”
“Mm,” Ry says, leaning against the rough tree bark. “I don’t know. You might find out next time. What were you up to?”
“Besides just sitting under a tree?” Remus asks, amusement in his eyes. They’re sitting side-by-side, shoulders brushing. “Nothing much, really. Taking a break from classes. You?”
Remus holds out his hand, and Ry takes that as cue to hand over his, as Remus intertwines their fingers. Remus seems to like that sorta thing.
Ry can still remember vividly, back when they were still friends and Remus was just someone he found fun to be around, other guys occupying this space. Secret glances and stolen moments of quiet, physical touch that seemed insignificant, but intimate at the same time. It’s really different from the energy Remus has most of the time. Ry wonders what he’d been thinking back then, if he’d ever thought it’d be him Remus would find comfort in. He still finds himself reddening slightly, even if this has become some kind of their new normal.
“I could really use a cup of coffee,” Ry’s suddenly saying.
“There’s literally a coffee shop around the corner.”
“That’s so far away.”
“Do you have any classes left?”
“Uh,” Ry blinks.
“…Are you skipping?” Remus grins.
Shoot. “No-”
They stare at each other, Remus looking like he was having way too much fun. “Didn’t you tell me to carry you to class the next time you tried to skip any?”
“Shut up and let me enjoy the moment.”
“Are we doing this princess-carry style? Or piggy-back?”
“Please,” Ry rolls his eyes. “You’re bluffing.”
“Wanna bet?”
Ry snorts. “You complain about the groceries–”
He cuts off as Remus lets go of his hand, shifting to his knees as he holds Ry at his back and under his knees.
Ry starts laughing-- “Oh my god, you’re actually gonna try?”
He loops his arm over Remus’s shoulder, curious to see if this would work. Remus tries tugging him up.
“A-- little–more difficult than I thought–”
Ry covers his face when he notices people looking, but can’t stop laughing. “Admit it. You’re weak.”
“Just-- give me a sec–”
When Remus gives up, Ry curls over, breathless with laughter. “That-- that was pathetic.”
“Piggy back?” Remus says, catching his breath as he’s grinning.
“Sure,” Ry grins. “If you can.”

It ends in a similar way, and they’re both gasping with laughs now.
“Alright. If anyone ever asks, we can tell them I lifted you off the ground at least an inch.”
“No way. They’re getting the full story.” Ry ends up rolling on the grass laughing.
Remus rests against the tree again, still trying to catch his breath. “Should’ve gotten it on video.”
Ry stares at the sky as he calms down, as dark orange and blue clouds fill the evening sky.
“Hey,” Remus says, standing over him, now. “You probably missed class anyway. Wanna check out the English building?”
“…What’s in the English building?”
“It’s haunted.” Even upside-down, he can make our Remus’s grin.
Ry sits up, shaking his head. “No way.”
“Come on,” Remus says, a whine in his voice. “It’ll be hilarious!”
“You said it was haunted.”
“Yeah!”
“…I think I’ll head to class.”
Remus barks out a laugh. “Too late, Ry.”
Ry reaches for his backpack, but Remus steps in his way.
“We don’t have to if you reaaaaallly don’t want to,” Remus says, as he pulls Ry to his feet. “But I’ve heard the seniors talking about how the walls definitely have something living in them.”
“Nope. No way.” Ry steps around him to grab his backpack off the ground. “Never.”
“Ryyy,” Remus whines, grabbing his hands to make Ry turns around to look at him.
“No.” Ry curses the power of Remus’s pleading stare. He pulls his hands away, turning to leave. “See you at the dorm?”
Remus’s voice falls when he says ‘Yeah,’ and Ry rubs his sweaty palms on his hoodie as he glances around the darkening campus grounds. He already knows how this’ll end.
“Fine,” he snaps, turning around.
“…Wait, really?”
“Why can’t we ever go on normal dates? Like. I don’t know. Fancy restaurants,” Ry says, walking in the general direction of the English building.
“Because we’re fun?” Remus laughs, catching up to him and slipping his hand through his. “They swore they saw something crawling around the corner when–”
“No ghost stories.”
“Nonono, listen, it’s gonna be hilarious–”
“No-”

next!
pool

anon39043209 · March 12, 2021, 4:41am

It was scorching that day may be too hot, and they were all tired from their daily run. Danielle wanted to get rid of the sweat and dirt clinging to her body. So did all of her friends as well. They were far away from Danielle’s house but close enough to reach Oliver’s home. With that, Danielle made a decision.

“Guys, we are going to take a dip in Oliver’s pool,” Danielle says with a grin.

“Surely, you must be mistaken when you say that,” replies Oliver with some confusion. “why my pool? Besides that, we don’t have any swimsuits either.”

“We don’t need it,” Danielle told him. “We’ll just swim in the outfits we have on now.”

“Sure, I’m down to take a swim in the pool,” Mary answered.

“Yeah, me too,” responds Nathan.

They all hurried to Oliver’s house to take a dip in the pool in the hopes of getting refreshed. They needed to be relaxed and comfortable on a hot summer’s day. As they hopped in the pool, the tension, sweat, and dirt just washed away, along with their troubles.

Note: Welp, I’ve tried!

Next:
Sovereign.

m.mausambi · March 13, 2021, 7:01am

XD me when someone else plans things and says it’s going to happen at my house

Nice!!

“Ryryryryry,” Remus is saying, and Ry blinks, having fallen asleep against him.
“Mm… hm?” Ry asks, blinking at the movie that was still playing on TV.
“Let’s do that,” Remus says, pointing at the screen, where, when Ry focuses, a king is renouncing his sovereign empire. “We need to build a pillow fort! Go get pillows from our rooms! Ohh, and tons of blankets. Grab all the blankets.”
“Aye aye, captain,” Ry yawns, attempting to disentangle himself from amidst the mess of stray popcorn and blankets they’ve turned the sofa into.
“King.”
“Aye, aye, king?”
Remus snorts, as he pushes Ry to get off the couch. “Um, close enough.”
Remus starts pulling out all the couch cushions, while Ry goes to get the pillows and blankets.
When Ry comes back, staggering from all the things he piled into his arms, Remus hurries to grab some of the teetering blankets from the stack and tosses them onto the now-cushion-less sofa.
“And no dramatic speech is complete without hot chocolate.”
Ry plops down in the middle of all the cushions on the floor. “I just wanna sleep. I’m tired.”
“Nothing some hot chocolate can’t fix! Now go make us two cups because you make them waaay better than I do.”
Ry watches Remus crawling through the pillows, and pulls him over by his arm.
“Let me just sleep,” he says, burying his face in Remus’s hoodie.
“Stop,” Remus laughs, pushing him off. “We have to re-live this scene today.”
“I’m sleepy.”
“I’ll make the hot chocolate later. So let’s just, get these pillows up?”
Ry doesn’t move, and Remus finally gives up, settling beside him.

next!
rein

Ilianasarigo · March 14, 2021, 6:14am

Summary

aww XD

I remember when I first started daydreaming about all these angsty characters- emery, dream, mar, nori, and so on- I didn’t have the part where they become significantly happier planned out. For some of them it literally took years (with vast periods of time where I wasn’t daydreaming at all) for them to get to their plotpoint where they become happier.

I recently wrote down Dream’s backstory… it’s very messy XD I realized just how much there was in terms of random background worldbuilding, and also just how much I’ve completely forgotten. I have the vaguest memories of characters and daydreams, but can’t fish any more of it out of my mind.

For some reason some kinds of angst are fun for me to write and others, like just a group of companions who get into screaming matches and generally hate being around each other, are stressful XD

I haven’t read that many. i just remember some edgar allen poe stories with unreliable narrators.

ohhh yeah, writing in any limited perspective can be frustrating, trying to figure out how to show things without getting outside of the character’s perspective.

she’s the kind of person who convinces herself she’s the good one, that she’s in the right, even when she’s murdering people she doesn’t like for no reason other than she feels like it XD
I’m still trying to figure her out since she hasn’t gotten much screentime at all tho -_-

I guess his shadow is always sort of seperated from him, since transforming pulls it out. I guess the seperation is sort of permanant.

ohh

yeah, I have trouble writing characters that are too alike to be differnet enough. I worry that there’s too much overlap in some of the characters in Sparkly. Like Torian and Leilah are both kind of dedicated to their family and that’s a big part of them. I tried to make Torian more cynical about people and Leilah kind of like or want to like everyone by default, but idk if it worked. And she’s got more of a sense of fun XD and he’s more confident and sure of himself by far. I guess there are enough differences if I can just show them properly.
Then there’s Darius and pretty much all the other good guys… I guess the clearest difference between characters is what they care about and struggle with. Though they might not do the same things in each other’s positions either…

I feel like that’s the most important thing for me and also the one I worry about most often, making characters seperate from each other, doing things that line up with their personalities rather than what anyone would do in their position.

all my first characters in romance XD
in order to make it not like that I had to very consciously put in indicators that they were interested in each other AND attracted to each other. And I did that from the very first scene they met, just to make sure it came across.

awww this is adorable XD

that sounds fun XD

this is bringing back memories of playing with couches and cushions and blankets. The couch, stripped of cushions, with the matress layed on top and I think some cushions and another couch beside it? was a tank. There was a person on top, one inside, and one on the other couch that the inside of the tank opened into.
The mattress on its side with the couches on either side of it was a dragon when we were little enough not to be way too heavy for that XD
man those were fun

they’re so cute! XD

that was good!

Amethyst felt a tugging at her mind. She ignored it, turning on the library computer.
This was a perk of having this form she hadn’t considered before- being able to use human things without making the long journey to the top and then to a human city and having to avoid demon hunters.
Now she had free rein of all the resources that humans gave each other- although people would film her while she did it, she didn’t mind that.
“Are you really Amethyst?” the person at the computer next to her asked.
She ignored them, browsing the trending news stories. Some silly human scandals, a big string of robberies in the wake of the Gen Squad disbanding…
“Oh? Looks like little Jade is starting her own social media career.” Amethyst mused, clicking on a video.
Jade and her sister were trying to debunk some gossip someone started about them, apparently.
Clicking to the next video, Amethyst felt a hand on her shoulder.
“You guys are my heroes.” a blond haired woman said emphatically.
“I’m so glad to hear that dear.” Amethyst said, turning around to put a hand on the woman’s shoulder and leaning closer to grin at her.
The woman smiled shyly back, meeting her gaze.
What a strange reaction. A beautiful human form made the complete leap between creepy and whatever this woman was smiling at, huh.
Amethyt leaned closer and smiled wider to see how the woman would react, but before the woman could, a dark haired woman pulled her away from Amethyst.
“She’s a murderer.” the black haired woman said, glaring at Amethyst.
“Bravo, bravo!” Amethyst said, clapping. “You’re absolutely right. I love killing people.”
The woman glared at her but didn’t shrink back, so Amethyst walked right up to her. She found that getting in people’s personal space tended to make them uncomfortable.
“If you try anything, you’re being recorded live for the whole world to see so don’t think you won’t get off without consequences.” a guy from the crowd said.
Amethyst waved at the crowd, a mass of nervous people, more than half of them holding up phones.
“Do you think I care? What consequences could have any impact for me? The Gem Squad has disbanded. If I decided to kill and eat all of you, nobody could stop me.”
There was a moment of stillness as everyone stared at her.
“She’s joking, right?” somebody in the crowd said.
Suddenly Crystal was standing in front of Amethyst, glaring at her like an overtired hen.
“You’re not going to hurt anyone, ever, Amethyst, or there will be consequences. Don’t make me make you.” she said firmly.
“What makes you think you can?” Amethyst asked, putting a hand on Crystal’s arm.
Crystal shrugged herself free.
“D- Amber will back me up. She’s watching the livestream right now.”
“You two have some kind of relationship, do you?” Amethyst pried, noticing the slight name slip up.
Crystal stared back at her.
“Fine, fine. I’m not suicidal, you know.” Amethyst said, waving her hands.
Crystal didn’t leave. Amethyst stared evenly back at her, guessing she wanted Amethyst to say certain words.
After about twenty seconds, Crystal sighed.
“Promise you won’t hurt anybody.” Crystal said wearily.
“I won’t blast this room apart like Quartz did those guys the other day.” Amethyst said, waving her hand with a breezy smile.
“That’s way too specific.” Crystal muttered.
She turned to the cameras.
“If Amethyst causes you any trouble, get her on public television and I promise I’ll come help out.” she said, then disappeared.
Amethyst hadn’t planned to kill everyone anyway- one person was plenty to eat at once.
“That’s a pity, you all look delicious. Do watch yourself walking around at night.” Amethyst smiled and waved at the room of humans trying to figure out if she was joking, then teleported back to her cave.

Next:
winged

m.mausambi · March 15, 2021, 8:49pm

Summary

:0 ohhhh

that’s really cool though, that there’s so much!!
i can’t fit a lot of ideas in my head before forgetting them, so I HAVE to have it written down somewhere.

ohhh XDD
this defines the Gem Squad though XDD

I haven’t read that many either, come to think of it! I think maybe I just got sick of them after writing them so much, trying out third-person, and then re-realizing all the things I had to learn to write first-person effectively! (none of which I found I liked much anymore)

this became second-nature to me because of how long and how much I wrote first-person. It just got… ughhh XDD

ohhhh
I got that she was kinda just bored and wanted some sense of purpose, and took on this righteous, nosy “my definition of right and wrong are universal, and according to me, you need to be eliminated” vibes

ohh XD

right! their circumstances and age groups are totally different though, so I didn’t get the feeling that they’re the same. I got that they all had very different personalities

ohhhh
my characters are all pretty different, and they have these… vibes, particular to them in my mind XD?? idk if they’re actually unique, but to me, they feel unique

aaaa those are different??? XDD
emotional and physical attraction, maybe?

hhhh. romance is hard XDD

yaaay, I wanted to make it fluffy and adorable

:0

SOMEONE TELL ME HOW TO TURN OFF EMOJI RECS ON WACKY. WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO HAVE : D OR :0 WITHOUT A THOUSAND EMOJI RECS??? LET ME TYPE WHAT I WANNA TYPE.

:o

that sounds fun!!

XDD I was wondering what form they were in

XDD picturing a magical girl sitting at a drab library computer workspace

:0

XD I thought she was gonna get kicked out, tbh

LOL AMETHYST
I was like, ‘um, aren’t you being creepy–’ and then amethyst immediately addressed that XDD

XDD
the voice of reason is back

ooO I’m loving their unique relationship!

:00 smart!!

I shouldn’t like her this much.

Noon watches the maids drag the perfect arc of a winged eyeliner on her face in the mirror. They’ve already fitted her into an extravagant salvar, a thing of beautiful neon colors and intricate golden embroidery that flows down her waist and brushes the ground. And now they’ve moved on to making her look a lot less like herself, and a lot more like the humans on magazine covers.
Noon honestly feels insulted.
She thought she’d dressed herself up quite nicely, but as soon as Emora caught her on her way to Dilna’s room, she had the maids take her away so as not to ruin the night. Her exact words had been, ‘When their eyes stop bleeding, they’ll laugh at the unfortunate tastes of the Sajan’s spirits,’ so here she was.
Noon yawns, and the maid doing her make-up pauses, before continuing her work.
She feels strange, on this mantle in the middle of the room, as maids flutter about her in an energetic buzz.
Someone dressed in glittering magentas interrupts the sea of reds that are the maids’ uniforms. Noon watches them approach in the mirror’s reflection, maids parting around them respectfully.
Dilna pauses at her elbow, blinking as she takes in Noon’s appearance, before meeting her gaze in the mirror.
“…I know,” Noon says, because Dilna doesn’t seem to be able to find words at the moment.
Dilna blinks, shaking her head.
“Meera,” She says, touching the shoulder of the maid in front of her, who was pinning something onto Noon’s shoulder.
The older woman pauses, looking towards Dilna. “You shouldn’t be here. Go wait with with Ray.”
Noon finds the interaction strange, as if Dilna were a child being told to let the adults do their jobs.
“I came to get Noon,” Dilna says, but now she sounds uncertain.
“She’s nowhere near ready yet.”
Noon would like to disagree.
“…Alright. I’ll head downstairs.”
“Can she please stay?” Noon sighs, probably surprising them. But Noon figured they’ll stop dragging this out if they had Dilna waiting at her elbow.
“No,” Meera says, as if that’s the end of that.
Dilna nods, and Noon closes her eyes as the girl leaves her to her fate.

…so that’s not how you use the word ‘mantle,’ lol. i knew it was strange, and it bothered me until I looked it up.

next!
rely

Ilianasarigo · March 20, 2021, 9:50pm

Summary

I forget all the details, but there’s a few important plotpoints that stick in my head because I was daydreaming one moment for hours- that’s literally how slow my daydreams could get XD

some of them, yes XD

ohhh

yeah now that I think about it she must have been pretty bored unless she was working on something else before becoming quartz XD

yaay!

ohhh

yeah XD

ohhh XDDD

I wonder if people bump into the gems floating around them or if the gems are intangable XD I guess intangable

I’m aware that sparkly doesn’t feel that complete, but I think I’m at the point of one more plotarc then wrapping it up. I need to figure out what the sparkly asteroid thing is- probably aliens. but then the sentience in crystal, what would that want… these are the things I mentioned briefly in taht one chapter…

oof XD

awww

Summary

“You’re so silly! You really thought I ate people!” Amethyst cackled, slapping her thigh in hilarity.
“I was just making sure.” the passerby said, his cheeks reddening behind the phone he held up.
Amethyst knew she could rely on the humans to accept her statement that it was a joke. They were very happy to assume she was human, after all.
“You’re so cute.” she added, out of breath from laughing.
“Thanks.” he said uncomfortably. “Do you have any statements to make about your identity?”
Amethyst stared at the camera for a moment, thinking about her answer.
“Actually…” she said slowly, “I’m ready to tell you all about the daily life of a superhero, and some dark secrets I’ve been hiding.”
She put on a shy air and looked away from the camera, scrunching up her face like she was going to cry.
“Actually…” she started again, and stared seriously at the camera.
“Yeah?” the guy said, leaning forward perhaps despite his better judgement.
Amethyst held her serious expression for another moment, then took a deep dramatic breath.
“Just kidding!” she said, drinking in the guy’s disappointment and cackling.

The power of Quartz couldn’t do much with the constant voice in her head commanding her not to harm anyone. It was annoying, so annoying.
Especially since Matilda’s granddaughter Euphemia kept telling her she should be in a nursing home.
She couldn’t even poison Euphemia’s tea. She’d tried, but something had prevented her hand from moving the powder into the cup.
The only other way Matilda could see to escape from her granddaughter’s constant nagging about nursing homes and caretakers was to transform into Quartz.
In the young and healthy body of the magical girl, nobody could tell her she belonged in a nursing home.
Dread filled Euphemia’s face as Matilda turned into Quartz, the perfectly groomed magical girl sipping tea on the couch in front of her.
“You should respect your elders, little girl. If I say I don’t need to go to a nursing home, you and your thirty years of genius should sit down and stop talking back.” Quartz said.
“…Of course.” Euphemia said after a moment. “Well, tea has been great, grandma. I have to be going now.”
Quartz just watched her go, smiling at the girl’s fear.
Euphemia didn’t know about the command for Quartz not to harm anybody.

“I just love keeping my skin sparkly fresh. And that’s why I use FreshSmooth Euclyptus shampoo!” Quartz smiled perfectly.
Jade shook her head. Quartz was taking sponserships now?
“Actually, that’s a good idea. I should do that.” she said, wheels in her head starting to turn.
Prina looked at her curiously.
“If I earn enough money I can buy us a house and hire security as well. It’s not out of the possibility with our fame.” Jade said, clicking through her emails.

Leilah and her classmates were clumped around Jaziah’s phone, staring at a video.
“I literally could not care less.” Jade said in response to the interview question, her annoyance suggesting that she thought the question was for her specifically.
Surprisingly, the question of how they felt about their alternate form was directed at all of the three Gem girls the interviewer had gotten their hands on.
“Oh it’s wonderful. I feel so young!” Quartz said, tittering.
“It’s very pretty. If I wanted to seduce someone it’d be a breeze.” Amethyst said.
“Yuck.” Leilah said, then covered her mouth.
“No, yeah.” Derek said. “She’s probably some really old guy in real life.”
“And like, shouldn’t they be addressing the controversies or at least doing more superheroing?” Milana said.
“Right?” Derek said.
Leilah felt a twinge of guilt- she hadn’t done anything superheroish at all recently despite using her form to visit the moon twice.
She might have even taken this interview for the experience if she hadn’t been afraid it was a trap.
“Crystal’s the only one who’s still really a superhero. She hasn’t been doing all these stupid interviews, she hasn’t dissappeared off the face of the earth, and we still occasionally see her doing something heroic. Did you see that video where she cleaned up a trashy neighborhood?” Milana asked.
“Yeah, that was really cool.” Jaziah said.
Maybe Leilah should do stuff like that. If she wasn’t in any one place for long it should be safe even if people were filming her.

“It feels like someone is trying to talk to me, but I’m not sure from where.” Caroline said, putting a hand to her crystal.
She looked distracted.
“Do you need me to make dinner?” Darius asked.
“No, but thanks for offering.” Caroline said, handing him more vegetables to chop. “Maybe I’ll ask you in the future.”
“I’m not very confident in my cooking skills actually.” Darius said.
“That’s fine, it’s not that hard.” Caroline said with an encouraging smile.

Next:
honest

m.mausambi · March 22, 2021, 8:59pm

Summary

ooOOh

some of them, yes XD
XDD

XD
I just remember her thought process from when she killed her mother

:0

:00

lol amethyst

:0

XD everyone getting into the show business, and Crystal just watching it all go down with worry on her TV

XD

ohhh

ooOOh I can feel that things are starting to wrap up now that you mention it!
A\///||||/////\\V////|||||I||||||/////|\\\\

Sylvia takes a few breaths, fingers wrapped around the door knocker.
Knock.
Just knock, leave the present at the door, fly out of there before anyone is any wiser.
A door behind her opens, closes, someone goes down the stairs of the apartment complex.
Sylvia lets out a breath. Alright. Try not to incinerate people while you’re at it. They’re all just passerby. No one is trying to hurt you. Though if Abba sees you, that’d be a whole different story…
And then the door is swinging open, and with her hand still on the knocker in a white-knuckled grip, Sylvie stumbles forward a few steps over the threshold, and suddenly, her sister’s wide, dark eyes are level with hers, just a few inches away, looking back at her in shock.
The smell of home slams into Sylvie, and she’s pinned in place as memories, so, so many, flood her senses.
Okay.
This is getting weird.
Well, weirder than it was already.
Look, she doesn’t know what to say to you. Say, something.
Sylvie holds up the huge bag in her hand, a grin plastering her lips. “Happy birthday.”
Renna’s eyes go to the colorful tote bag in utter disbelief. “Um.”
Sylvie removes her fingers from the knocker, grabs both of Renna’s hands in both of hers as she passes along the bag.
“Happy birthday,” she says, as warmly and as sincerely as she can, even as she strains to sense anyone beyond the threshold. Is Amma here? Is Abba? Do they know she’s standing right here, so close to them?
Renna jerks her hands out of her grip, as if burned, and the bag hits the ground. Sylvia focuses on her sister, surprised. Renna blinks back at her, mouth open, as if to say something.
Ouch.
“Well, it was nice meeting you,” Sylvie says, smiling despite her sudden exhaustion. She wants to get away. As soon as she could. Does Renna hate her that much? “This is all I came for, honest. Soo… bye?”
It comes off more like a question, but before her sister can say anything about it, Sylvie’s turning away, heading to the stairs. She takes the stairs three at a time, not having the heart to keep her gait measured, to pretend she wasn’t running away.

next!
blur

Ilianasarigo · March 28, 2021, 10:31pm

XDD

well this is awkward XD

aww

A girl sat on a rock, facing away from Caroline. She shone with all the colors of the rainbow, her dress an elaborate concoction of floof and frills.
She turned to Caroline, her eyes wide.
“Where am I? Who are you? I want to go home.” she said.
She looked like a teenager, like the entire Gem Squad, but she had the innocent eyes of a young child.
“You’re on my planet. I think your consciousness is inside me right now. Don’t worry, we’ll get you home.”
The words slipped out of Caroline’s mouth without her thinking about them, but she considered the words anxiously for a moment.
If this creature went home, would that mean she would take her power with her?
The creature nodded, trusting Caroline.
She couldn’t avoid taking a child to their parents for the sake of crime fighting. Caroline hoped that was the reason she was making this decision and not because she was exhausted by the responsability being Blue Crystal put on her.
“Where is my body?” the girl said, looking around the empty plains nervously. “I want it back.”
“I have a shard of it here, but last I saw, most of it was in space. I can take you to it.” Caroline offered.
“I want the whole thing not some tiny shard.” the girl said, screwing up her face.
“And I said, you’ll get it.” Caroline said patiently.
Caroline opened her eyes, still aware of the creature’s presence inside her. Her crystals split and surrounded her, and she made herself intangable and rose through the roof.
As she had in her dream, she rose farther and farther above the earth, moving so fast the world below her became a shrinking blur, and entered space.
It was easy to find the asteroid with the creature fully conscious.
The rainbow girl slipped into the asteriod, and the gems shifted shape into the form she’d appeared in Caroline’s head.
“Okay I’m going home now! Come with and meet my Ren!” she said, grabbing Crystal’s hand and teleporting before she could protest.
Crystal found herself floating in a blindingly bright place with many shimmering colors. She felt her eyes adjust rapidly to the ever present glow. There were massive pillars extending from far to either side of her into arches above her head in the faint distance. Spaces in between the pillars extended into smaller passageways, and in front of her there was an equally massive entrance into what looked like a throne room.
Overwhelmed by the granduer, she limply let the girl pull her through the air into the throne room, where an older, brighter person surrounded by a floating mist of tiny white rocks was talking to a boy with a long cape of dark multicolored gems.
The older person beamed when they spotted the rainbow girl.
“You’re finally home, Czesh!” they said.
“I was sleeping and got a bit lost. But look I brought a friend!” Czesh said.
“Uh… nice to meet you.” Crystal said uncertainly.
“You know they have kind of short lifespans though?” the boy said.
“Yeah, so what?” Czesh replied.
“It’ll be much longer if you leave that shard with them.” the parent said.
“You can have it as, as a reward for keeping my consciousness.” Czesh said lightly.
“Thank you. What about the others?” Crystal asked.
“The other what?”
“There are a few more shards with other people… other humans.” Crystal specified.
“Oh, I don’t need them.” Czesh said.
So nothing would change with the Gem Squad.
“Is there anything else you’d like, human?” Czesh asked.
Warning bells went off in Crystal’s head- if creatures with much longer lifespans, unknown moral codes, and immense power hung around earth, it could be bad.
“No, you’ve been great. Thank you so much for showing me all this, um, Czesh?”
“Yeah?” Czesh asked, misunderstanding Crystal’s questioning tone.
“So that is your name. Anyway, I’ll be going home now?” Crystal said.
“Byebye! Maybe I’ll stop by your planet sometime.” Czesh said.
Crystal smiled at the little girl, trying not to wonder what kind of trouble she could cause wandering around earth.
She was relieved to find that her teleportation brought her straight back to her room as usual.

Next:
Tender

m.mausambi · March 29, 2021, 1:21am

Summary

XDD I was
tired
and I typed random stuff and started playing around with it since it looked cool

:0 the gem squad merged into one person

:0 I thought this meant the rest of the gem squad, who felt they needed her or something
but ohh
XDD but since Caroline has been the necessary (something they needed but not wanted) voice of reason, I thought they’d want her back in their lives in some way, like some sort of mother in a very dysfunctional family XDD

:00 the space you drew from your dream???

ohh the combination of all colors

XDD no kidding

XDD Caroline is the very sane one in this story. She takes responsibility of the entire planet like a mother would a child. Very responsible. XD

tw for...a mental breakdown while cooking in the kitchen

“Are you done, yet?” Remus asks, propping his chin on Ry’s shoulder to look at the stew. Ry tries to shrug him off, to no avail.
“Not yet,” Ry says, feeling the effort of making all of this food catching up with him. He’s been cooking for the past few hours, under the steady glare of his kitchen lights and the grimy heat of the stove’s flames.
“It looks finished.”
“The meat’s still tender. It hasn’t cooked all the way through.”
“I could help–”
“No.”
Remus frowns, and lifts his hands to tickle Ry’s sides. Ry jolts away from him, and the ladle falls from his hands and clatters across the kitchen floor, spilling some stew.
“Remus, please.” Ry sighs, bending down to get the ladle. His boyfriend is faster, though, and pulls it out of the way.
Ry gives him another exasperated look, too tired to argue. Besides, both their families are in Ry’s living room now, and if he starts an argument, it’s going to make things uncomfortable.
“Alright, fine,” Remus says, swiping at some of the stew on the ladle and licking his finger. It tastes as delicious as it smells, and he’s been hungry for a while now. “I’ll send May in.”
“No.” Ry’s quick to snap, stepping forward to grab the ladle. Remus turns, holding it out of his reach.
“She wouldn’t mind–”
“I’m almost done!” Ry snaps.
Remus frowns, crossing his hands. “What’s up with you? Why’re you being such a killjoy?”
Before Ry responds to that, he closes his eyes, counting to ten as he clenches his fists in his apron.
“This was supposed to be fun,” Ry hears Remus say, and he feels Remus’s hands cupping his face. But he’s not in the mood to be pacified-- the stew really needs his attention right now-- and he steps back, out of his reach.
“Just leave the cooking to me, please,” Ry sighs, as he turns away to root through one of his drawers. He pulls out the other ladle, and tries to get to the stove again, but Remus blocks his way. “It’s going to start sticking at the bottom,” Ry hisses. “Get out of my way.”
“I think I can manage something as simple as stirring for a while, yeah?” Remus comments, scowling.
“You’re ruining everything,” Ry says, fighting hard to keep his voice low. “I’ve already planned–”
“I’m going to help.”
“Remus!”
Remus turns to the stew, starting to stir it, and all Ry could think about was the fact that he hadn’t washed off the ladle after it hit the floor. Ry covers his face, trying to focus on his breathing.
“It’s gonna be fine, Ry.”
‘It would’ve been, if you’d kept out of my way,’ Ry wants to say, but he feels like he’s going to scream something unintelligible instead, so he roots himself in place, trying to block out the sound of Remus’s voice and not feel the world falling apart on his head.
Remus, for his part, knew he’d done something else to piss of Ry other than just showing up while he was cooking, and turns his gaze from his tense boyfriend to the stew. The meat? How could you even tell if the meat was cooked or not? “Uhh, Ry? What should I be doing?”
When he doesn’t hear a response, and glances over to him again, Remus’s lips thin.
“May!” Remus calls, which elicits a strangled groan from Ry, who Remus is 99% sure might start crying or attack him. Which one, he’d really rather not find out. “May!”
“Coming!” May’s voice comes, from the living room.
Out of the corner of his eye, Remus can see Ry start rocking back and forth where he stands, just as May pokes her head through the kitchen doorway, laughing slightly.
“What’s up?” May asks, though her eyes immediately go to Ry. She hurries in, muttering a string of things in another language and slapping the back of Remus’s head on her way.
“Hey–” Remus protests.
“Nonono sweetie, what did he do this time?” May’s asking gently, as she wraps Ry in a half-hug.
Ry refuses to respond, though he stiffens even more, unused to being shown such obvious concern.
“He said something about the meat not getting cooked?” Remus says, looking over. “Oh, May, no, don’t touch him-- can you come here and check the stew?”
“What did you do, Remus?”
“Nothing, I swear-- May, please come look at this stew, it’s starting to bubble and I don’t know, don’t witches’ caldrons look like this?”
May sighs, and Ry feels her breath brush his wrist as she pats his back one last time and goes over to Remus.
“Turn the heat down,” she saying, taking the ladle from Remus’s hands, as she looks over the stew. “Is this what I’ve been smelling from across the hall? MMm, your dad’s gonna love this, I just know it. All the spices…”
Now freed, Remus hesitates, looking over at Ry, who’s turned around and is walking off out of the kitchen’s other entrance.

XDD omg

next!
fling

Ilianasarigo · April 6, 2021, 3:15am

this looks like a reaction- but like an alien one XD

I feel like Caroline would be helpful for Torian and Leilah, but Neris and Matilda wouldn’t listen to her

no, though it does sound like a dream!

That thought did cross my mind!

she is XD

ohhh this feels so real

this is so well written!!

“You can really fling that thing!” Leilah said awkwardly, trying to compliment Derek’s frisbee throwing skills.
Even after several years in this friend group, she still felt awkward speaking up. Still, she was much more confident than she had been.
“Thanks!” he said, then started pouring a diluted energy drink from a gallon bottle into his mouth.
Everyone else took sips from their normally sized water bottles, chatting about the match.
After a few more, they all packed up. Milana’s house was on the way to Leilah’s, so they always walked home together.
“I’m gonna miss Jaziah when they move. They’re the best at dealing with Derek when he’s being annoying.” Milana said.
“Yeah.” Leilah said.
They were one of the few people she’d ever been friends with. Of course she was going to miss them.
She wanted to express her appreciation to Milana for her and everyone letting her be a part of things and treating her like she wasn’t less than them, but the words didn’t come to her.
After a moment, Leilah said,
“We aren’t going to be able to stay together forever, are we? We’re going to move to different places, get busy with work, not have time.”
Milana pursed her lips.
“Come on, you’re being bleak! There’s still the internet!” Milana said.
Leilah nodded, her throat tight as she wondered if they’d have time, or if it would feel the same.
“But I do get where you’re coming from.”
They walked in silence for a moment, the late day sunlight slanting down on them.
“I want to tell you that you’re very important to me.” Leilah said, stumbling over her words as she tried to express her feelings. “Since you’re my friend, can you keep a secret?”
“Of course! You can tell me anything.” Milana said.
“Come into these trees,” Leilah said, pulling her into a park where the trees shielded them from the view of passerby.
“So, uh…” she’d been planning some kind of grand reveal, but it sounded stupid now that she here.
She transformed into Diamond.
“Yeah.” she finished awkwardly.
Milana’s jaw hung open, and she stuttered,
“Y-you’re… you’re Diamond!”
“Yeah.” Leilah said, forgiving the stupidity of Milana’s statement because of her shock.
“Since when? How? What even is… this?” Milana said, waving her arms to indicate Leilah’s form.
“I dunno, it just showed up a few years ago as this gem on my chest and I can like transform and teleport and stuff.” Leilah said.
“That’s so weird. That’s so weird. You’re like, world famous. Do you realize that you’re world famous?” Milana said, still freaking out.
“Trust me I’ve thought about this a lot. Anyway, this means I can visit you anytime in the future.” Leilah said, hoping things would remain normal between them.
“…Yeah! And so much more. Or, do you not want me to like, use you for your powers? I won’t ask you to if you don’t want me to, I get how that could be, like, annoying.” Milana said.
“No it’s fine.” Leilah said. “Want me to take you somewhere cool?”
“Absolutely!” Milana said, her eyes shining.
Leilah took her hand and made her weightless, then teleported them into the sky over a mountain range.
Milana stared around, her eyes shining, but her hand was locked in a death grip around Leilah’s.
“Wow, we’re really… we’re really here.” she said excitedly. “This is amazing!”
Leilah gave her some time to drink in the sight, remembering how incredible her own first time in the sky was.
“But I’m not gonna fall or anything, am I?” Milana said.
“No chance of that.” Leilah said.
Her powers were definitely reliable enough to make one other person float. Even at her weakest, she would have been able to do this.
She mentioned it to Milana.
“These powers are incredible. Even when I’m not really sure what I want to do and I have trouble doing stuff like strong barriers and extreme healing, I can float effortlessly and teleport anywhere instantly.” Leilah said.
“You’ve had to do strong barriers and extreme healing?” Milana said, her mouth hanging open.
“It was a long time ago, I’ve learned to stay out of trouble,” Leilah said, somewhere between enjoying and uncomfortable with Milana’s impressed expression.
“You’ve gotta tell me about all of it!” Milana said, squeezing Leilah’s arm with the one that wasn’t gripping her hand.
“Sure!” Leilah said, smiling.

I finallyyyyy got that writtennnnn
I wonder if I should have made them speak a bit more fluently now that they’re older… but I didn’t specify how much older. ahhhh at least I got it done! I think that’s their ending. Next is everyone else.

Next:
brown

m.mausambi · April 10, 2021, 3:10pm

Summary

~~I totally get the feeling~~

XDD

good point

ohh
aw it’s the endinggg
well, I wish Leilah the best ^^

They were slipping out the backdoor to their cafeteria by the time Dilna starts second-guessing her decision to follow Safa along.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Dilna asks, lifting her skirts, even though they were still on dry pavement. Beyond the overhang they stood under, a steady, grey rain splatters the grass, mud running along the concrete pavement in small rivulets.
“You think I’d risk not looking like this on my graduation day?” Safa asks, gesturing to her own face and dress. “Relax, Dil. I called someone.”
“Please just tell me where we’re going.”
Safa hums, looking into the pouring rain, ignoring her. Dilna purses her lips, and follows her gaze, even if she can see nothing beyond the busy street, cars crawling along as their headlights glare into the weather.
She turns her gaze to the sky, catching sight of movement.
Safa curses under her breath beside her.
It looked like Mr. Grimheild and Professor Oraine. They’re probably trying to clear the weather up before the big event. Their crimson and coral cloaks swirl around them as winds buffet their forms. Dilna can make out the faint shine of their spirits with them.
She gives Safa a curious look, but now Safa’s typing away at her phone.
“What is it?” Dilna asks, trying to look over her shoulder. She catches the name of who she’s texting-- “Tell me we’re not going to one of Roake’s parties.”
Safa continues to ignore her, her eyes focused on her phone.
“Safa.”
Safa grabs her arm, her brown eyes wide as they meet Dilna’s. “We gotta run. The courtyard, right now.”
“What–”
But Safa’s already dragging her along, and Dilna thoroughly regrets her life decisions.

next!
fluctuate

Ilianasarigo · April 17, 2021, 4:37am

sameee

I’m… not sure how I’m gonna end sparkly. I’ve been writing some kind of long time skip. Kind of a cop out, wanting to show more but not having the patience to.
I think I’m just leading up to a scene where everyone talks to each other about living their unnaturally long lives.
This is thematically nothing like what’s come before, and it’s kind of irrelavent and useless- but it’s also what I’d be really curious about reading a story like this.
The problem is, this gets really depressing.

Edit: yes it did get really deppressing. Not as bad as I’d worried it would though.

this sounds pretty

aww XD

TW for suicide btw, also this is all the remaining chapters not just the one with the prompt word.

brown (neris’s ending)

“I saw you transform.” said an unfortunate demon woman, caked in sticky brown mud in an unsuccessful attempt to disguise herself.

“Oh my, now you know my secret. Whatever shall I do?” Neris said absentmindedly.

They weren’t particularly worried about some random demon knowing who they were.

“You could do so much to make a better place for demons in our society if you told the public.” she said, shifting her wings under her ragged cape.

“Any why would I do that? You don’t think I’m actually altruistic, do you?” Neris asked.

The demon woman frowned, then leaned forward seriously and whispered,

“Think of their expressions.”

She really knew how how to catch Neris’ interest.

“Oh, fine fine.” Neris said, waving a hand. “But they’ll undoubtedly come after us with pitchforks when I confirm that we eat humans.”

The demon shook her head.

“Make the human eaters out to be a small minority. It’s true that a few of us choose not to, so play that up.”

Neris had to admit that lying was one of their favorite activities. Right after playing pranks and eating humans.

“This has been so hard to admit, since all of you think of us so badly.” Amethyst said, making a sad face into her phone.

She had left the dog filter on, since she thought it would be funny.

“I’m a demon, but I swear I don’t eat humans! Really, you people think we’re monsters!” she sniffed, wiping imaginary tears out of her eyes.

She ran her eyes over the live chat.

There were people talking or laughing about the dog filter, people who were offended since they thought she was joking about being a demon, a few death threats, someone whose mother had been eaten by a demon…

She chose a comment to read out loud.

“I don’t believe you.”

She transformed back into Neris, waving a wing in front of the camera to emphasize their point.

They continued skimming the chat.

“Why, it sounds like you didn’t even believe me! I’m hurt, truly.” they said, the effect somewhat ruined by their more intimidating voice and sharp red eyes, though their teeth were hidden behind the dog filter.

They turned back into Amethyst in a wave of purple gem pieces, reading the strange mix of outrage, death threats, disbelief, jokes, ambiguous emojis and indifference with a satisfied grin.

eyes (torian’s ending)

Jade opened her eyes. She didn’t usually sleep, but today she’d missed it so she’d slept through the night.

Her family was out of the spotlight, and with the security guards always posted around their large house and larger property, they were able to even invite guests over or take bodyguards with them and go out.

Despite the fact that she felt safe after years with no confrontation, Jade had never transformed back.

There was simply no reason to.

“Hey, Tori. Want to play video games with me?” Prina asked, poking her head into the room.

Prina and Len, though they had an on and off friendship, had united on calling her Tori. They’d said Jade seemed too formal and Torian didn’t seem to suit her anymore.

Jade floated to the floor, setting her feet to the ground even though she didn’t give herself any weight. She’d found sleeping in midair to be most comfortable, after some experimentation.

She sighed as she nodded and followed Prina to the game room. Len was already playing something, and she finished her game, deciding to play with them.

Jade wondered if living in so much wealth was making them all lazy, or out of touch with regular people.

“There was a time when I hated my powers.” Jade reflected. “I was just a normal kid. There was no reason for the powers to choose me, and I found them unpredictable. The godlike power freaked me out. But now, it’s just a part of my life.”

And perhaps it was a part of her, too. Jade felt the crystals around her as if they were her own limbs, the power inside her intertwined with every part of her being.

“Things change. That’s life.” Len said, taking her eyes off the game they were setting up to look at Jade.
“True, but I think we’re also the people we always were. Like… Tori’s still who she was before all this happened, just with some sparkles and responsibility on top of it. And we might be rich now, but we’re still good people.” Prina said.

“That’s what every rich person says.” Len said with a snort.

“See, you’re the same pessimist you always were.” Prina said.

weapon (Darius’ ending)

Amber was a weapon, nothing more. And the knowledge that that form always existed inside of Darius weighed on his mind.
He wasn’t aging. That had become obvious by the time twenty years had passed. And although he hadn’t transformed at all since subduing Quartz, the amber gem hadn’t disappeared from his chest.

Caroline hadn’t aged either, but she seemed to be filled with energy and a sense of purpose from her job as a veterinarian.

Darius had been married for eighteen years to a woman named Nala he’d met at the tech company he’d worked at then.

He hadn’t wanted to tell her he was Amber, but the gem in his chest was unavoidable and made the truth obvious.

Over time, he’d come to tell her about his past in vague, blurry strokes. She never demanded that he tell her anything. That was one of the things he liked about her.

“Dad, how come you never get older?”

Darius looked at his fifteen year old daughter, Lily.

“I’m surprised you never asked me that before.” he said.

“Well…” she scratched her head sheepishly, “I guess I kind of thought you were just immortal or something.”

Darius tried to laugh at that, but his smile faded and shook his head.

“The truth is, I don’t even know if I am immortal. A long time ago, I was handed a power I didn’t want. I’ve never figured out how to get rid of it. I even…”

He’d gotten a medical professional to cut the gem out once, but it had grown back in months. Amber’s power was coursing through his very blood, inseparable from him. He hated it like a poison. It tained his beautiful, average life. It was a reminder of the darkness in him, of things he’d done, and at best of the uncomfortable fact that he could transform into a girl.

Darius shook his head.
“Don’t worry about it. Did you do well on your test in school today?”

Epilogue

Jade cried bitterly, the memory of Prina’s aged hand going limp in hers, her lined smile as she told Jade she was worried about her. Because Jade was the only one left.

It seemed sudden now how time had passed. Everyone grown old around her as she stayed young, and now she was alone.

Forming her gems into a reflective green sword, she curled her hands around the hilt and pointed the blade at her stomach, considering.

Darius had made it clear that he didn’t want the media involved. Still, at some points he’d had to fight them off, telling them he’d had some vague magic make him immortal. There was frequent speculation online that he was one of the gem girls, but he’d refused to make a statement.

“I’m telling you.” he said to the reporter as his great grandson watched from the porch, “I don’t do interviews.”

“It won’t take long, it’s just a few-”

Darius tried to quell the boiling anger rising up in his throat, making his hands clench.

“Don’t make me hurt you. I’m just here to live a quiet life with my family.”

The reporter swallowed visibly and backed away.

He’d dealt with other reporters like this. He hadn’t had to resort to violence even in the case of the intruder who wasn’t a reporter- a woman who’d wanted to get revenge for her mother, who had been in the mansion Darius had burned down as Amber.

He’d teleported her to a far off dimension. He’d promised his loved ones, even though all but Caroline were dead now, he’d promised that he’d never go crazy again.

In the years after Neris had revealed themself, violence against demons had ramped up to new heights. They’d gotten used to teleporting around for many years until finally they’d settled in a town that had a high demon population along with humans.

“You’re my hero, Neris. This town couldn’t have been created without you.” an enthusiastic half demon said.

What a strange sight he was. Just a few generations ago someone like him would have been unheard of.

Neris laughed.

“You’re so flattering. I’ll do my utmost to be a role model to you and everyone.” they said with a tone of sincerely, meeting his eyes.
Neris still ate humans, quietly, from far away communities. They had been planning for a while now to tell everyone that- the best time would be at an event celebrating the peace that was steadily growing between the two species. They couldn’t wait for everyone’s reactions.

Life had been a lot of things. Colorful emotions, joy, sadness, guilt, anger.

“I’m still technically alive, yet it’s all gone somehow.”

Yet the world around her was still full of color.

Leilah watched fish swimming overhead through strands of Diamond’s long red hair. She’d lived in the moment for a long time now, free from the constraints of duty, love, pain, even her mortal needs.

Time passed without measuring or judgement, fluctuating between night and day in an irrelevant flash.

She stared at the beauty of the world, the fish struggling for life, loving, fighting, fleeing as they desperately made their way through their short lives.

The world was beautiful. She loved it even though she no longer considered herself a part of it.

“Sorry if I’ve inconvenienced anyone by gathering you all here.” Crystal said.

She’d taken Darius here to these grassy plains herself, knowing that he didn’t like to transform, but everyone else she’d simply called and hoped they’d come.

To her surprise, they all came almost right away.

Jade was holding a green sword, but most of them looked unoccupied.

Matilda had been murdered years ago. Her immediate family members were suspected, but nothing was ever proven.

“No, it’s okay.” Diamond said, turning into her real form.

Jade nodded in agreement.

“I am ever so curious about what you all have been up to.” Amethyst said.

“I guess I am too. You’re the only people who were alive when I was a child.” Darius admitted.

Jade sighed heavily, running a hand through her messy hair.

“How do you all stay so lively?” she wondered.

“Humans are endless fun, my dear.” Amethyst said, smiling as though she had evil plans.

“I’ve got to look out for my descendants. Each generation brings a new set of people with a new set of problems, and I want to do the best I can to help them. Maybe make up for some of the harm I’ve done.” Darius said.

Like all of them, he had the air of a much older man despite his youthful appearance.

“I agree with you. The world goes on, and they still need help. With years and years of experience, I’ve become a very skilled veterinarian. And there are so many other opportunities to help the world that my power and age give me.” Crystal said.

“I was never really a hero like the rest of you. I’m just content to watch the world go by.” Leilah said, her voice peaceful.

“I feel like I left myself behind in the world that had my family in it.” Jade said heavily.

Leilah put a hand on Jade’s shoulder.

“I feel that way too, for my friends. But in my case, there’s a piece that lives on.”

“I don’t get why people are so sad when someone dies.” Amethyst said.

“Perhaps attachment isn’t something you’re capable of experiencing. Even so, you’ve done a lot for demonkind.” Crystal said kindly.

“Would be a pity if it all came apart now.” Amethyst said.

“It’s become clear by now that you’re off your rocker, Neris. I don’t think anything you do will destroy the image of demons that’s been built up.” Darius said. “At least I hope not. I hope people aren’t that stupid.”

“Never underestimate humans!” Amethyst said with a laugh.

Jade shook her head and Leilah smiled slightly as if agreeing with Amethyst, Jade, or perhaps all of them.

Next:
strong

m.mausambi · April 17, 2021, 9:27pm

Summary

:00

ohh

it’s not! XDD
that sounds interesting!

:00

oO pretty wording

:OO

ohh

;-;

nerisss

;-;

:0

:0 ? why’s it bold

ohh

:0

they still remember each other!

…XD

:00 ???
ohh I guess they can still die
I thought this chapter was like, centuries after the last one

XD

:0

but she’s talking about a different world/dimension, right? the one she took Darius to

oO

XD it’s sorta nostalgic, that so much time passed and they can still be in each other’s company

“Go away.”
“I would love to,” Mica’s saying immediately, and Wren’s been obsessed with her long enough to notice the dry sarcasm in Mica’s tone. Mica probably thinks Wren’s overreacting. Mica probably has no idea why she’s acting this way. Mica’s probably standing at the foot of her bed, arms folded and expression carefully neutral, ready to handle whatever it is that Wren can throw at her.
Wren contemplates flinging a pillow at her face, because it’s all so Mica, that it’s almost too much to bear.
“Your dad’s waiting downstairs. Should I go tell him you don’t want to see me?”
Wren’s hands clench in her bedsheets, but she still doesn’t sit up to acknowledge her.
Eventually, Mica lets out a slow breath.
There’s the sound of some shuffling, fabric sliding against plaster wall.
Then it’s just the two of them, breathing in the same air, in the same room, a few feet apart from each other in the tragic mess that is Wren’s room.
She really should’ve cleaned up last week.
Wren breathes in the scent of her cotton bedsheets, as the strong smell of summer rain seeps in through her open window, permeating the room with a humid heaviness, and a slow breeze brushes her exposed skin.
Wren feels weighed down, by the thing that has been sitting quietly in the middle of her chest for weeks now. She really wants nothing to do with it at all anymore, but weeks of denial have just built up to this, to the heaviness spreading out from her chest to her entire body, as something hot and sticky thrums against her temples, a headache aching to become a bigger nuisance.
Eventually, Wren is pulled out of her self-pity by the sound of something tapping against wood, and Wren listens to Mica tap out a few patterns she probably doesn’t realize she’s doing.
“Stop that,” Wren says, even though it takes physical effort to speak, even though it feels like she’s dragging herself over hard rocks beaten warm by the sun in the middle of a distant forest, the power and rage roiling and surging inside her right before she’s about to explode.
The tapping stops.
Eventually, Mica gets up, and Wren’s aware of her leaving.
Almost imperceptibly, her body feels a little heavier.

…I’m playing with this style XDD
this author who tends to write a lot of… depression, probably. they never call it depression, though

next!
alliance

Ilianasarigo · April 19, 2021, 9:57pm

it was the prompt word XD

ohh I guess they can still die
I thought this chapter was like, centuries after the last one

it’s like… just about when the oldest person alive back then had died. I figured that the characters could die since leilah nearly died when amber attacked her, although she healed herself before she bled out. And they seemed pretty worried when fighting. So stab wounds, if they get through their barriers, can kill them.

I think she lives in the same world as Darius, just in a different part of it than he used to live. And though they’ve moved a bit farther from each other, they still live nearish to each other.

ohhh

Aeor put his hands around the Uweyo’s warm coat as the cold wind threatened to sweep him off the rocky, barren mountaintop.
The wolf pushed her nose into his shoulder in response.
“The alliance between the demons and the wolves can’t last forever, but our friendship will.” Aeor said.
The wolves couldn’t stay with the demons forever. The demons would have to figure out how to not fight each other themselves.
But Aeor didn’t plan to stay to see the future of demonkind unfold.
“We will go far away together, Uweyo.” he said.
As the demon and the wolf descended from the mountain and crossed the horizon, their outlines merged until they seemed to be one creature.

Silence descended onto the cave as Taris finished telling the story. The green light of luminescent moss cast a soft glow on the stalactites and her son’s face.
“It’s important that you know the stories passed down through demonkind. You’re named after the hero of this tale, after all.”
Aeor nodded. On some level he appreciated learning about his people’s history.
Taris didn’t spend much time around him, but she made sure he learned what he had to to survive. It was more than some demon mothers did.

Next:
four

Ilianasarigo · April 25, 2021, 1:38pm

The four guardians of the land lay down their weapons on the pedestal that held the statue of the goddess, showing their eternal devotion to her.
The statue’s eyes pinned them down, her flowing hair similar to the flourishing green puffs of greenery on the top of the trees surrounding her.
Fen was glad of the softness beneath their knees. They snuck a glance at the other heroes. Eyes closed, heads bent, focused.
Goddess, Fen wondered, looking up at her mysterious face, would you really mind that I’ve been talking to the harpies?
Without a true message from her in years, they were left to assume what she wanted based on past messages, tainted by their own bias.
If she does mind, if she thinks we should fight this species reaching out their hand for peace… I don’t think I can obey her.
The others got up, having knelt for a minute.
Aqua shot Fen a curious glance as she picked up her sword.
Fen shot her what they hoped was a disarming smile as they put a hand around their staff.
“We’re winning the war with Blue Skies,” Daro said, rubbing his green hair, “Are we allowed to accept their surrender?”
“You’re all too dependant on the goddess’ words. She gave us a sense of right and wrong for a reason. Perhaps she wants us to be more independent,” Frey said, their yellow dragon eyes flashing.
“Wouldn’t she have said so?” Aqua wondered.
“No point in wondering. I would accept it if they surrender. No need to drag out the war.” Fen said.
“I wonder if we ever really knew her, from her brief words… if we wouldn’t know she’d respond to our questions now based on her past words…” Fen said.
Aqua snorted.
“She’d suggest our countries intermarried for peace. Probably involving some unwilling parties who had to be substitute to make it work. Remember what happened with Green Trees?”
“Well, she’s not the goddess of mind reading. It would have been a good plan if they hadn’t hated each other’s guts.” Daro said, smiling.

Next:
Slide

Ilianasarigo · April 28, 2021, 5:23pm

I slide the blade out of my gauntlet, fixing my eyes on the beast in front of me.
“Please, I didn’t do it.” he says, raising his monstrous black demon arms in front of his face in preparation to defend his life.
I rush toward him and he blocks my blade with his arms, the force of my blow causing him to skidthrough the old wooden wall and crashing into the yard beyond.
I jump back, expecting him to strike back, but he takes that chance to run.
“Get back here!” I yell, waving my blade as I chase him down an alley.
He jumps into a window and I stop, my human legs unable to pursue him directly.
As I look around, a grand piano falls out the window and I barely avoid being crushed by it as it blocks the alley with a crash.
It firmly stops up the alley, and I spot his dark shape running away on the other side of the piano.

Next:
Together

Zena · May 1, 2021, 4:39pm

From the very moment she met him, there was an undeniable attraction towards him. Not romantically, she was sure. It was the aura of someone who was dependable, reliable, genuine. Days, months, seasons, years passed. They were together, always, standing next to each other in the face of adversity. Together, in moments of joy. Together, in the moments of loss. However, they were together no longer as she sat in front of his gravestone, alone.

Next:
Death