Chapter Aesthetic Challenge - 5/18 - Inspired by @starlitesymphony
Chapter Five: Derelict
The cannon had landed softly against the sandy ocean floor, an abandoned derelict.
Yeah, only one line this time, sorry. Spoiler-y chapter.
Derelict can mean so, so many things. And each of those definitions is applicable, here. Dilapidated? Check. Someone doesn’t do what their duties require of them? Check. A person without a home, basically a vagrant? Check. (I mean, isn’t Dione always that?) Something that’s been abandoned, especially from a ship? Well, read that line up there.
But when talking about shipwrecks? As a nautical term, derelict means something that’s sunk to the bottom of the ocean with no hope of ever being recovered.
Basically what I’m saying is this chapter is an absolutely delightful time for our protagonists. A wonderfully stellar experience.
The rest of the challenge aesthetics can be found here!
For a writeblr, this blog really doesn’t have much of my writing on it, does it?
This also acts as the return to, uh. The ~40 last line tags I’ve been tagged in. Oops. For convenience’s sake, I’ll just be tagging y’all under the read more. ^^’
Short 239 word snippet~
The sea witch had been right. The sun was low when I popped up the trapdoor, light straight from the horizon cutting my eyes. I used a hand to shadow my face as I hefted myself back up on deck, my appearance startling a few of the crew who were chatting at the rails. Most scurried off to look like they were working, but one stood frozen, paling against the hueing sky.
“Y-you… are you… really…?” I lifted an eyebrow at the lad’s stammer, the question lacking a reason.
“Am I… what?” I placed a hand on my hip as I raised myself to my full height, the fear wafting off the panic-stricken sailor putting a smirk to my face. “Ye gonna answer, lad, or do I gotta--”
“Phoenix. You’re… You’re The Phoenix! Oh!” He stiffened. “I interrupted The Phoenix! P-please don’t kill me, sir!”
“If ye ever call me ‘sir’ again, I’d be mighty tempted to. But uh, be a shame if I had to kill me own crew, aye?” The squeak that came out of him was more mouse than human.
“W-what?” I chuckled.
“Well, I was told ye don’t have a captain. Where’s yer first mate?”
“... Lost at… sea…?” The questioning tone he said it with was likely more because of apprehension at admitting it than uncertainty.
“Then I s’pose that makes me the most qualified person on board fer the position, don’t it?”
Phoenix: Oh, this ship doesn’t have a captain? Guess it’s me, now.
That’s not really how it works, Nixi, but everyone’s too terrified to tell you otherwise.
So, the 40+ ones I was tagged in? Here’s who tagged me: @bookenders (x3) @inkpot-dreamer @inexorableblob (x4) @ardawyn (x3) @starrywritingg (x3) @junekinn (x2) @igotablankpage @elisabethrosewrites @typewriter-jade @emritcheson @aslanwrites (x2) @nemowritesstuff @mvcreates @drabbleitout @marlettwrites (x3) @sahados-shadow @rainy-rose (x2) @bigmoodword @lookslikechill @tenacious-scripturient @runningonrain @whynotwriting @dc-writes @abalonetea @radley-writes @ink-flavored @carmenwrites @royalbounties @feathertoquill @scripturientworld
Apologies if I missed anyone, there were, uh. Quite a few, as you can see. Of course, this is from a buildup of no tag game answers from me over the past long while, but still! I am! So surprised? So many people tagged me? And several times in several cases? Y’all either actually want to see more of my writing, or you like my blog, or maybe you’ve just heard of me. That’s still really cool.
Gonna tag a few people I admire who don’t show up in that long list! @bookish-actor @quartzses @phoenix-the-write-thing @pens-swords-stuff
So, I’ve been wanting to make some aesthetic edits for One Siren’s Soul for a while now, but I’ve been uncertain as to how to go about it! Although I’d love to do the Writeblr A-Z Challenge, I’m not sure I’d be able to share quite as much as 26 themes without being really spoiler-y (and also a lot of themes I want to show fall under the same letters -u-). Instead, since I’ve also been wanting to share my chapter titles and how I came up with them, I’ll be doing a weird mix of the two, inspired by @starlitesymphony‘s Plot Point Aesthetic Challenge!
Each chapter will get an aesthetic edit, a tiny snippet (of the ones I’ve actually written so far), and an analysis of the title I chose~
Each of OSS’ chapter titles appear somewhere in the chapter, either nearing the end, or in a crucial part. Each snippet will be the part that includes the word, lacking context!
Feel free to join in, and modify the challenge to best fit your wip!
Below the cut you can find the links to all the chapter aesthetics I’ve done. I’ll be editing it as I go~
Beware a lot of out-of-context spoilers (and unedited writing), so read on at your own risk!
For those of you on the OSS taglist: Although I’ll be taking my time on these, let me know if you’d rather not be tagged in each individual chapter--you’ll be able to find links to all of them from here.
here are your questions! i hope you enjoy them: What kind of drunks would your characters be? | What are your characters' hopes and dreams? | What's your favourite line in your current WIP?
Ohh, thank you for the ask, mate!! Wonderful questions~
So wonderful that I went on a full-scale rant, so... Long answers can be found below the cut!
What kind of drunks would your characters be?
Fun fact: Quill has never drank alcohol and does not want to no. So it’s! Wonderfully fun writing a pirate wip, with characters who definitely do get drunk, with zero first hand experience and a confusion as to why people like drinking at all. It’s fine.
Celestine, as far as she can recall, has never drank alcohol. At the moment, she can’t drink anything aside from her magical salt water (for reasons~), so she’s never had the opportunity! I imagine she would get super bubbly and passionate. About her inventions and machines. And... maybe about... something else, too. Particularly if her crush is nearby.
Dione! Can’t drink either. If she could though, wow, she’d be down immediately. She weighs nothing at all! Russian blood isn’t gonna help her there. (Although her Vietnamese genes probably wouldn’t help, either.) She’d likely be your philosophical drunk. Getting all theoretical and wondering about the meaning of life and asking all the questions like “why are we really here?” and all that stuff. She might also get really sad, though, since in her mind she’s messed up a lot and has a lot of reasons for being guilty.
Phoenix is my only main character who’s drinking is a common occasion. Not to an unhealthy extent, but with her weight and build, it’d be difficult to be to an unhealthy extent anyways. It’s difficult to get her drunk, too. When she is, she’s somehow even more boisterous than normal, and much more prone to laughing too loudly at truly unfunny jokes and hugging people way too hard oops.
Colin is clumsy enough without being drunk and he knows it. Also... uh. Just. No. We’re not giving Colin alcohol. I’m just flat out saying that now, thanks.
What are your characters' hopes and dreams?
These are quite spoilery for a few characters, so I’ll be light on my answers here~
Celestine wants to remember who she used to be. Aside from that, revenge is a great motivator. (She secretly wishes she could use her inventions to help people, but, uh... she’s a realist rude brat who would never admit she actually cares for others.)
Colin wants to explore! He loves adventure, and is always on the lookout for new stories and learning new things. His greatest dream is to become well known as a great adventurer, as a legendary storyteller!
Phoenix would love to settle down somewhere and have a peaceful life, helping out a small community, but not for a long while yet. She loves the feeling of being on the sea, and the adrenaline of a good fight is too much of a part of her.
Dione wants to make up for past mistakes. She doesn’t have any other plans aside from that. She doesn’t let herself have dreams.
What's your favourite line in your current WIP?
Too. Too many. Have a sort of favourite because I have a terrible memory~
The ropes binding my hands incinerated in a bolt of electricity that scattered flares of white sparks across the deck, scorching the wood in fractal patterns.
