Of Words and Wonders

Weaving stories, one word at a time.

[breathtakingdestinations]

Porthcaw - England (by Tony Armstrong-Sly) 

[odonianpoet]

[llesbianwrites]

✹ SALTSKIN — A WIP INTRO.

genre — horror

pov — third person limited

major themes — life & death | love & fear | humanity | sacrifice | obsession | devotion | duty

✹ synopsis

Things weren’t always this bleak. It’s what they tell themselves, huddled over lamplight and pressed against each other. It wasn’t always this bad, right? Right? The sea (if it could even be called that) didn’t rise up to meet ships. It didn’t gobble down cities. It didn’t thrum with malice and something far too alive to be just briny waves.

It wasn’t always like this, right?

For Pitchpullers like Alys, it doesn’t matter. She makes her living venturing into the darkest part of the waves and gathering the chunks of saltstone that blossom there. It’s dangerous work, certainly, but what isn’t dangerous about the caverns in which she lives? What doesn’t involve risk? Bad things happen on the Pitch. Everyone knows that. But to say the waves come alive…

She doesn’t believe it until it happens to her. Stranded, she’s forced to accept whatever help comes — and that help comes with a price. Indebted to a woman who’s name she doesn’t even know, Alys must now do the impossible. Go to the surface, where only the maddest of Pullers venture, and bring back a vial of bottled sunlight. Only then will the waves recede. Only then will people stop dying. 

It’s dangerous work. She hates that only makes her want it more.

✹ characters

alys — the weary captain. circumstance led her to the pitch, but it was her choice to fall in. she wishes she could regret it. 

valencia — the broken heir. they had all they needed and still managed to stumble. it haunts them to this day.

quickpenny — the clever gunner. there’s little she loves more than the smell of gunpowder and brine. there’s little she hates more than blood. 

nastja — the sourtounged engineer. the pitch is scary, but she’s scarier. at least… she hopes she is.

blue — the gentle doctor. sweetness is her shield and kindness is her sword. on the pitch, it’s as good as any weapon.

petra — the silent navigator. she picks out the false constellations in the caverns above. she does what she can to keep her past a secret. it’s enough.

lmk if you’d like to be added to the taglist!

[orarewedancy]

So I work at a video game store in a mall and across the hall from us is this really nice suit shop. One day one of the guys came in an asked if they could use our microwave (the store they used to go to closed down) and we bargined for use of their bathroom in return since the mall bathrooms are like a 5 min trek.

So for like three months now we just have these men in really nice suits come in and talk while using our microwave and teach them about nerdy shit? Then I, the goblin king in various shitty tee shirts and paint stained pants, walk into their super expensive store and just get greeted with “Yo dude what’s good?” and talk about the pains of steaming silken dress shirts properly and it’s my favorite business interaction every day

[orarewedancy]

A new jewelry store opened up right next to our store and when I used the bathroom today we were talking about it. I hate it on principle (they flooded our systems closet during building) and immediately both Suit Guys™ working went on mini rants. “Their suits are baggy as hell, I wouldn’t trust them to sell me a $9,000 ring when they can’t get a fitted jacket. They look so unprofessional, ” and “I saw one of the dude’s wearing a teal shirt. It’s fall, and you go with teal? At least get a color to match your store if you’re gonna ignore the seasons like that, Christ, but teal is awful.”

I live for this commentary fam.

[chrispineofficial]

#flower shop/tattoo artist au is out #suit shop/nerd store au is in

[orarewedancy]

I feel the need to add a story to this? My co-worker brought his longboard to work, and one of the suit guys reminisced on how he used to ride pretty often. So Co-Worker and I were like, “Dude, go give it a spin, who cares, this mall is huge.” He was nervous about it because there are mall cops on segways everywhere (with helmets, like bruh, full on Paul Blart) and he was worried he was gonna get caught, and eventually we made a bet that he could ride down to Macy’s and back (it’s like a straight shot). So dead ass, this man hung up his jacket, took a running start, and zipped down the hallway with his tie in the breeze.

He evaded the mall cops and claimed that was, “One of the biggest rushes he’s ever felt.”

[me-choy-me-noy]

LOVING THIS CONTENT

[archae-heart-deactivated2021012]

late summer || downeast maine

[sheherazade-deactivated20201117]

i will forever be fond of and wholly adore characters that are just like:

what’s a doomed, tragic fate, angry unseen forces, and the weight of a hostile world with no relief in it, compared to my undying, deep loyalty towards my loved ones? what’s an angry god who has it out for me, compared to me and my very fast car? what’s the grief, the heavy shackles of existence, compared to my beating, raw, extremely loud and alive heart?

characters full of stubbornness, full of the will to keep living, keep experiencing, keep defying, keep loving on.

[redlipstickresurrected]

Eiji Ohashi aka 大橋英児 (Japanese, b. 1955, Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan) - For years Eiji Ohashi has been capturing Japan through its lonely Vending Machines at Night and during Snowstorms.  Photography

[prokopetz]

Studying the history of magic, you learn that a. you can tell a lot about a culture from the sorts of things they felt the need to ward against, and b. people were a lot more concerned about the possibility of being struck by lightning than you’d expect based on the statistical likelihood of that happening.

[weltenwellen]

Child inside of me, repeat to me your love for beautiful ruins. Assure me again that to read is to write the future.

Adonis, tr. by Khaled Mattawa, from “Concerto for 11th/September/2001 B.C.”, Selected Poems (via weltenwellen)

[jinxproof]

Pan Haowen | Broadcast F/W 2020

[ofwordsandwonders]

So, here is a Concept: Meet Fii and Ksii. In 1217, they are lovers - Fii is a muse and Ksii is a singer. In 1879, they are enemies: Fii is a rebel librarian and Ksii is an assassin tailing him. In 2017, they are students and work mates in an old bookshop: Fii is a shy writer and Ksii is an aspiring journalist. In 3012, they are rivals and to-be-companions: both are assigned in completing a ritual pilgrimage, because while Fii’s soul is talking to his former lifes, Ksii’s soul isn’t, and they need to figure out why Ksii’s soul stopped doing so. Ksii is certain Fii betrayed her, but Fii doesn’t believe it, because he has seen so many dreams of them together. And the narrators are Fii (in 1217), Ksii (in 1879), Fii (in 2017) and Ksii (in 3012). We never get to see the whole view of their relationship in different times - only how the other sees it. And ah, I’m so excited about this concept.

[j-k-i-ng]

“Golden Hour & Light Trails” by | Stefano Guerrini

[churchrummagesale]

Ordinary Vanity

[theoptia]

Rabindranath Tagore, from Selected Poems; “Unending Love” tr. by William Radice

﹙ Text ID: I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times / In life after life, in age after age forever.﹚

[ravens-play-exy-too]

i know we joke a lot about wanting to read very specifically niche content and when that doesn’t exist,, the never ending pain of having to do work and write it ourselves but,,,,,, that’s truly the beauty!!! of writing. if we don’t see that super specific niche content,, we can make it from scratch!!! we are creators. we can create these crazy and wild and perfectly imperfect worlds that we haven’t seen yet and tailor and fix what we have seen but want represented better. we can create the wild utopias and crazy dystopias of our dreams and give our characters the futures and happiness we ourselves seek. we can create our own happiness. and despite of—or in spite of all the hard work that entails—that happiness will always be worth it.

[ofwordsandwonders]

what my characters should be doing: - solving an ancient mystery - fighting against a corrupted organization - sneaking around and spying on suspicious people - murder, poisoning, cool sword fights and illusion magic what they are accually doing: - baking - slicing apples - singing songs and playing banjo - gazing at the sea (most of the time In Deep Thought) - making flower crowns - discussing philosophy

[merfolke]

working on the plot: 🚫🙈🤢🙅

working on tiny worldbuilding/character details that probably won’t even make it into the story: 👌😍💯👁️