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theprissythumbelina · 4 months

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Mortal Sparks

Maius 5th, 4593 AP: Diary of Alyss Enberdale

People are bad at describing things. My aunt fought in the first war, and she told me it was like being an ant on a running track. Sometimes you wander around doing ant things, and sometimes a trampling horde of foreign creatures run atop and leave you untrampled by chance as your fellows are smashed.

I fought in the second war, and it wasn't much like anything. It was like nothing. It was war and war is only like itself. It's surviving, and then at some point, you realize to survive you’ve ended someone’s life and you don’t even feel bad about it. And you feel bad for not feeling bad. And then everyone tells you you’re acting strange, but they’re the ones that took normal people and exploded things in their face and made them kill people whose faces they never see and they tell you you’re acting strange.

They called it combat fatigue like I drank too much disgusting coffee and didn’t sleep right at 9:30 that night and acted grumpy the next day. I don’t have a better word. I like my aunt's word better. Shell shock. Not professional enough for the military, but it's better for me.

My CO recommended me for leave after the incident. That’s what they call it in the military, an incident. You can’t describe it. I told my aunt that and she told me you can, if you give it time. They gave me a few months. A few months to see if I was dangerous or useful and when I was neither they threw me away. I can describe how I feel. I feel like gum. Old gum. The war was a mouth that chewed and chewed and chewed until all my flavor leeched away, then it spat me on the sidewalk. I’m on the sidewalk to this day. I’m a spot on the sidewalk.

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Chapter One

Here, at the end of summer, roses and wildflowers bloomed one last time before autumn’s cold. Nicolette crouched among them on the side of the road, rooting for the husks of cicadas that had already mated and died. She had figured out long ago that clients didn’t appreciate knowing the true origins of their patience tea, though that didn’t stop housewives and schoolteachers from buying it in cans that they pretended to their husbands were coffee.

Her apron pockets full, she stood and began to make her way back through town, past the over-decorated municipal hall, through Main Street with faded advertisements for meats, butter, and milk. At 7:40 on a Sunday, the whole town was empty, the entire populace segregated away in one of the two churches.

Most respectable citizens sat in the Imperial Cesarian Church, a stately building of thick walls and plaster statues. They called the congregation of the newer Alastrian Church ‘rabble’ and ‘uncultured’, while the Alastrians called the Cesarians ‘esoteric’ and ‘unwelcoming’. The Cesarians were quite sure the Alastrians didn’t even know what esoteric meant, but it was a moot point trying to teach those who did not want to learn.

Nicolette was fairly sure she did know what esoteric meant, and that the Alastrians were using it correctly, but as neither group took any notice of her beyond buying her charms and teas, she kept her thoughts to herself, and simply nodded when members of either church attempted to impart their wisdom in her earshot. No one cared what she had to say anyway.

The last two story building marked the edge of town proper, with the pavement petering to a stop a few feet further. Still, the chipper, clean one story homes continued. Nicolette, as was her habit, paused here, her toes right at the end of black pavement. Daisy’s home sat clean and peach-colored three houses down. Her father should have returned from his business trip last night, smelling like bus and cigarette smoke. Maybe he hugged her with his briefcase in his hand. Maybe he went right to bed. Maybe Daisy had stayed up for him later than usual, worrying with a cup of tea in her hand. It wouldn’t have been Nicolette’s tea, Daisy always said it made her sleepy. It would have been raspberry, maybe, or chamomile.

But Nicolette wasn’t welcome there anymore, father or no father, and so she turned to the right and made her way through the alley between the last store building and the first house. This road wasn’t even gravel, but dirt. A small crevasse made by spring rainwater meandered its way from one side of the road to the other, forcing Nicolette to hop across it twice before it escaped into the house’s fenced yard. She walked past the houses on the other side as well, slightly more dilapidated than the first, and through an empty lot of gravel to the backside of her own house. Houses on this row, those that were inhabited, tended toward small and grey-brown. Most didn’t have a large padlock around the low front gate. Nicolette didn’t bother unlocking it, but stepped up over a cinderblock and slid down the other side, holding her skirt taught. The yard grass had turned brown months ago. The only living thing in the yard besides Nicolette herself was half of a heritage rosebush. It had been her mother’s, and Nicolette did her best to keep it alive.

Her door was locked as well, this one a shiny, new lock. Nicolette lifted the key from around her neck and twisted it into the hole. Her mother had never had to lock the door. People knew better than to come over uninvited. But this lock was to keep the inside from coming out.

Inside, Nicolette faced the wall, listening to the thump, drag, thump.

“Hi, Mama.” She said softly. She turned, and faced her mother’s clouded eyes.

End snippet

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This is the first snippet I've posted in a long while, and I would especially appreciate feedback! The chapter heading section is a part of one of the MC's diary, written in first person, and the actual chapter is third person from the other MC's perspective. This is meant to introduce both at the same time, and as the book continues, the reader will get insight into Alyss' past while the plot continues in the main chapter with Nicolette in the present. Thoughts, likes, dislikes and others appreciated!

Tagging for eyes, I don't do this often so please excuse the intrusion! @thetruearchmagos @sam-glade (thank you for your advice by the way) @thewriteflame @autumnalwalker (I'm counting this as a WIP extract) @pheita @chauceryfairytales @dyrewrites @thewriteflame @teacupsandstarlight @theathenverse @sergeantnarwhalwrites @winterandwords @hessdalen-globe @writeblrsupport @jacqueswriteblrlibrary

#writing #writeblr #nicolette #my writing #wip mortal sparks #writing snippets #original fiction #original fantasy #feedback requested #writeblr community #prisswrites #original excerpt

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aurevives · 10 months

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— Aure Vives, excerpt from ‘Hymnal bite’

#poetry #my poetry #original poetry #poem #my poem #original poem #poems on tumblr #poets on tumblr #vent poem #vent poetry #sad poem #sad poetry #heartbreak poem #heartbreak poetry #love poetry #love poem #lovecore #excerpt #quotes

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fairydrowning · 1 year

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I want a simple and quiet life. I want ordinary things in life like a simple breakfast with my own family. I want a life where home is not just a place to live but instead it's a place where no heartaches, where no-one grieve over people or different things, where no one hurt or fear from anything. I want a house where we all heal and we raise a family that doesn't need to heal. A simple life where we all eat dinner together while laughing over simple things.

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stantheanomaly · 6 months

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I looked at you, and suddenly, every heartbreak I've ever had, made sense.

- Suvrahadip Ghosh, Making Sense

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lovebloodandmonsters · 1 month

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— Carolina Outcrop

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badassindistress · 6 months

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Astarion, or; the Easiest Shirtsleeves - Done!

It is a fantastic vampire shirt and took about a day to make, 10/10 can recommend!

See the process here

#i started at 3 yesterday and finished about 5 today #but rudely i did have to work today #and i did kinda lose my quick and easy vision to handhem everything #so I'm gonna say this can be a four hour project if you topstitch and zigzag #astarion or the easiest shirtsleeves #a talia original #talia's adventures in dressmaking #excerpts from my life #sewing progress #historybounding #astarion #floofy shirt sewalong addendum #i've got posts for the last steps half written but i'll post them later #costume dramatics

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dame-nostalgique · 1 year

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Experimenting with poetry and embroidery 🦋🕯️

#poetry #poem excerpt #words #embroidery #spilled ink #writing #poem #original poetry #poetry on tumblr #writeblr #my photography #quotes #spilled poetry #dark academia aesthetic #dark academia art

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misscalming · 10 months

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(Spock got completely fucking wiped out while in a small tinny boat and is living his best “castaway” (2001) life rn ) (( edit: excerpt from my fic ))

#an excerpt from my fic #star trek tos #star trek #star trek the original series #tos star trek #star trek spock #spirk #jim kirk #captain kirk #james t kirk #spirk fanfiction #leonard bones mccoy

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tendermimi · 1 year

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meriem evangeline, from carnivorous lamb

#a poem from my poetry book coming soon!#I desperately want to do a title reveal hehe #poetry #poem #original poem #poets of tumblr #writers of tumblr #spilled ink #writer #writings #excerpts #words #quotes #mine ♡︎

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a-dreamersjournal · 5 days

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The never ending search.

Screaming into Oblivion for ages, looking for you, somewhere I lost my Voice. I can't remember clearly, was it my voice that I lost? Or just the strength and will to whisper your name?

What was it? What was your name? What was the word looking for which made me so miserable.

Was it you that I lost? Or was that me? Was there ever a difference between two?

Why is it that I can never look at me without catching a glimpse of you? How are you woven so well in the tapestry that I AM?

You don't show yourself, you don't answer when I call you in the darkest of night but you still never leave me alone.

When will this search end? When I only find you while I'm looking too deep within myself.

You've consumed my existence, my love. There is no me without you, and no you without me.

As overwhelming as it might be right now, we're ONE and the SAME. This is not a letter to you, this is a letter from me to myself. From you to yourself.

We've never been apart after all.

One Love.

#poetry #literature #spilled ink #prose #spilled thoughts #academia #original writing #dear diary #journal #writers on tumblr #the tortured poets department #writersblr #creative writing #writerscommunity #poems and poetry #excerpts from book i'll never write

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aurevives · 10 months

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— Aure Vives, ‘An extraordinary amount of joules’

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wedarkacademia · 1 year

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I kept your laugh as a bookmark in my story.

~ Pia, excerpt from If I Have You, I Still Have Hope

#excerpt #original content #original #words #mine #text #true words #words of mine #original writing #quotes #spilled truth #spilled thoughts #spilled #spilled words #hope #dark academia #personal

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stantheanomaly · 6 months

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Some are luckier than others. Some get love in abundance, while others crave for a drop from that bottomless ocean.

- Suvrahadip Ghosh, Unfairness of Love

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amateur-scribbler · 13 days

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I want you to hate me. Because I truly love proving myself right.

I love satisfying the sick whispers of self loathing and controlling the narrative of how this love will end, in time.

Because I know how to hurt you and sometimes I do it without even trying I’ve got this bitter guilt and this ever-quick poisonous bite.

I am not loveable or cute or the girl everyone wants to fawn over I am the girl people compare to hurricanes because it’s a promise that I will destroy everything in sight.

It’s an imposter, a facade, some type of trick of the light this version of me you love has never aligned with the one that whispers harsh truths to me late at night.

No, I’m not her, and I don’t deserve any of your love, because given the chance I’m still that sharp tongued snake always ready to poison the ones who take a selfless step in the murky waters to try to hold my head above.

So I’ll push you so far away, to the point that you stop understanding why you ever even contemplated fighting to stay.

Because honestly I truly love being right.

Letting you think I’m a monster means you’re finally meeting the dark voice who’s been whispering words of hatred to me every night.

The self fulfilling prophecy - t.k.o

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die-rosastrasse · 1 year

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Yesterday's journal page 📖🤍

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badassindistress · 10 days

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So apparently I never shared the shortcut to happiness that is making a lacy parasol. Let me rectify that:

I found this plastic parasol in a thrift shop, I think it was a prop for a restaurant or something. Pretty, but not actually functional as a parasol (it got to 40c when i made this, i had ample opportunity to test it out).

I had lacy parasols on the brain and before I could convince myself to try and tat one, I realised I had lace too sturdy for dresses, and also this doily:

This worked so well. I zigzagged over the lace and then cut the back (an old tablecloth with a permanent stain) away carefully. I cleaned the parasol of the old glue and glued the new fabric on with fabric glue, handstitching down the edge.

It had to dry overnight, but it was done in time for me to parade around with. Instant happiness.

#i will say i used the plastic version a few times in the swimming pool it was that hot #also walking around a castle in a white dress and with parasol is a great experience #they let me go through the pretty gates and everything #a talia original #talia's adventures in dressmaking #excerpts from my life #parasol #lace parasol #crafting #image id in alt text

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