#november-joy

[myramysticmoon]

Inktober Day 2 Part 1

Part 1/3. Yay for getting past the first day! Tbh I tried 2020 and 2021 to do Inktober on my own, and both times I didn't get past day 1. I think beginning things is the hardest part of the creative process to me, lmao. But now that we're past that block, things are looking pretty good! This first piece I think turned out really cute. I imagined a very lighthearted and playful scene with a little bit of spookiness. At least from the puppies' perspective.

Prompts: Scurry, Puppers, Frog

Lists: Official list, kniftykat's list, november-joy's list

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A small band of puppies appear to be running about! One is a floppy-eared dachshund, another is a bold german shepard, and the third is a sweet labrador. All three stumble and scurry over each other, having fun playing outside in the soft grass of someone’s backyard. It has recently rained, so the cool dew on the lawn is exactly what the puppies needed to have a cool day. A tail wag here, a playful paw pull there, a cute sight for sure.

Oh? What’s this? The dachshund appears to have spotted something lurking in the grass! It jumps closer and closer, and by now the other two have noticed as well. The german shepard places themself heroically between the beast and the other two dogs, while the labrador tries to bark. Suddenly, out leaps the terrifying bea-! Oh, wait. The dogs all sit and stare in confusion. This creature seems to be quite small to be worried about, and too jumpy for it to be that fast. Is this a frog? Can this be a friend? The german shepherd carefully pads forward to investigate, gently leaning their snout down to the frog.

The frog, on the other hand, looks just as curious and cautious as the puppies. With a ribbit, they hop to the side of the german shepherd. This jumpscares the dogs a bit, but they ultimately decide their curiosity outweighs their fright. The frog then continues along their merry way back into the grass, but not before regarding all three puppies and giving a goodbye ribbit. The puppies also give a slight yip in response, look between each other, and then continue on playing in the cool yard. I suppose this makes them acquaintances with the newly found frog friend? They certainly hope so!

[myramysticmoon]

Inktober Day 9 Part 2

Part 2/2. I'm quite proud of this one. This was written nearly entirely consecutively. Hardly any stops except to reply to friends. And also, it deals with a favorite sub-genre and aesthetic of mine, that being Southern Gothic. Of course, living in the southern US most of my life means I have a pretty good idea of some spooky things that happen here, too. I hope you enjoy~.

Prompts: Deer, Field

Lists: smalltownspells's list, november-joy's list

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    It’s a foggy night, and the full moon rises over vast farmland in the country. The faint light barely illuminates the low fog, giving everything a silver tinge and a mist quality. Off in the distance from your farmhouse is a wheat field that you’ve been cultivating. It’s almost time for the harvest, you’ll be reaping the field next week, but you’ve had some problems with other critters trying to get their share. Namely deer. Since the problem arose, you’ve been diligent in your watch over the field. Your dad has a hunting rifle in case any critters get a little too close, so you figured you could probably scare them off. Though so far, you’ve seen nothing.

That is, until you decided to stay up later than you probably should. You’ve had trouble sleeping tonight, and thus decide to step out onto the porch overlooking the field for some fresh night air. That’s when you see a figure off in the distance through the fog. You quietly swear and start to head into the house for the rifle, but something stops you upon looking again. Wasn’t just to the right a second ago? Why is it suddenly on the left? Hesitantly, you pull out your phone to see if your camera can get a better look. As you do and zoom in, you notice the silhouette is a little… off. It should be slimmer, shouldn't it? And the antlers look to be connected by some sort of thread. Suddenly, the deer turns toward you after grazing on the wheat.

That’s when you’re sure you don’t think you can call this a deer. Its eyes reflect purple in the camera. You’re honestly stunned and stare in silence, until you notice your phone’s low battery notification. You scramble to take a picture, but your phone powers off before you can touch the screen. You curse under your breath and make a split second decision to get the gun. Rushing inside, you can hear rapid rustling coming from the field. You grab the rifle, heart racing, unsure what will happen, and fling the door open.

Nothing. The rustling stops on a dime, and no silhouette is found. You check around the corners of the house. Still nothing. You stand in silence in the middle of your porch, looking on in bewilderment. Convinced that something was very much there. You wait for a minute, then two, then ten. Moments pass by and it’s completely still. Silent. Slowly you go back into the house, locking the door behind you, and set the rifle by the door. After taking a second to process, you decide it’s best to sleep on it. Maybe the restlessness caught up with you…

[myramysticmoon]

Inktober Day 8

Part 1/1. I had a sudden spark of motivation today, so we definitely take those. It definitely helps that I woke up early, but I also woke up due to nightmares sooooo. Give and take I suppose? Anyway, I figured I'd try my hand at dialogue this time. I also had a prompt of "Word Generator". So I went to one, and hit it a bunch of times with my eyes closed until I stopped and it landed on "glamorize". Pretty fun word! I hope you enjoy this small interaction. I'd love to play this version of chess, tbh.

Prompts: Match, Bear, Werewolf, Chess, Word Generator (Glamorize)

Lists: Official list, kniftykat's list, thainaaraujo's list, november-joy's list, a-chaotically-small-lunta's list

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“Wait a moment, what do you mean my king is in check?” A werebear sits across a werewolf, in between them a table with a game of chess set on it with quite a few more black pieces on the board. The werebear, clearly bewildered, is unfortunately playing white.

“I said what I said, your king is in check.” The werewolf says this with a sly, casual grin on his face. He looks over the board and finds the bear’s reaction all too amusing.

“Okay, there has to be a better way to do this for me. Clearly regular chess isn’t working to be a match for you.”

“Alright, what do you have in mind? Chess is just chess, really. I don’t see how you can add anything to it.”

“Easy. We glamourize it.” The wolf looks on in confusion, having no idea what this implies.

“I said what I said. We add new rules and twists, skew the existing rules, and make nonsense of it until I can win against you. Let’s start with a d20.” The bear gets up and goes over to a bookshelf the two roommates share. He picks up a huge coin bag, opens it, and rifles around for a favorite purple d20. He then sets the bag down, goes over to a bin with playing cards in it, and picks out a standard deck. He then looks the shelf over for a moment, claws on his chin in thought, and suddenly perks up at the sight of Clue. He draws out the box, carries all the items over to the table, and sets them down. The wolf, naturally, is still confused as hell.

“Here’s my thought. This d20 is used as an attack roll for any chess piece against another chess piece. The AC and attack bonus is based on the point value for each piece. Then, if it’s a tie, we play War with the cards. Alternatively with the cards, we could each get half the deck and flip over one card from the top to add that amount to the roll or the AC. Now, for Clue, I suggest we both pick a location, a weapon, and a person. In order to kill each other’s kings, we have to guess who did it, with what, and where. Every piece one person knocks out, one thing must be ruled out. Sound good?”

The werewolf sits there for a moment, gears turning as he processes the sheer amount of wild information thrown at him. He then slowly returns that sly smile to his face.

“You crazy bear, you’re on!”

[myramysticmoon]

Inktober Day 1 Part 2

Part 2/2. This second piece is really just me rambling. That'll happen from time to time depending on the prompts. I think this is a pretty good introduction to me and who I am in general. Feel free to share what your witchsona would be!

Prompts: Witchsona, Wand, Pumpkin

Lists: thainaaraujo's list, smalltownspells's 2019 list, november-joy's list

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I imagine my witchsona to be quite similar to me, tbh. I am indeed pagan, and most of the aesthetics line up with mine quite well. Though there are definitely a few things I’d add. A pointy hat that stayed up and pointy, for one. Oh, and I’d love a witchy robe or cape to go along with a long skirt. I also really want a black cat despite being mildly allergic. Nothing will stop me from having a feline familiar. I’d also absolutely have a lot more candles and a few small house plants. Definitely would go hard on the pumpkin spice every fall, too. Though if I get a jack-o-lantern, they may have some words to say about that.

Another thing I’d want is my own wand. I have a branch I’ve had for years out in the garage that I always figured I could use, but honestly I’m not sure what tree it’s from and what kind of properties it would have. I’ve always liked birch trees, so maybe I could go with that. Ginkgo trees are another favorite, but I doubt they’d be easy to find around where I live. Lots of books and journals would also suit me quite well, even if I don’t end up writing in a lot of them. Maybe some bookmarks with pressed flowers in them, too. That’s about it, though. I think I’d be very happy with that kind of aesthetic. Hopefully I can work towards that in the coming years.