Mailliw73

@TwiLyghtSansSparkles Thanks again for the input! Here's another updated version! I'll be submitting it today, but I'd love continuing feedback as I'd like to continue to cultivate this story. There are monsters in the forest. I reached my tainted hand out for his palm with Mama’s voice ringing in my mind. If there was danger in the forest, this thing was probably it. But I couldn’t stop. Something pulled me towards it­–him?, dangerous but familiar. Then I noticed his taint. I was revulsed, but couldn’t stop. He spoke as our fingers brushed. “So long, it’s been so long. They taught you not to embrace the joy of the forest, of course, that’s just like them.” “What? Who are you?” I asked. “Oh, daughter. You’ve forgotten me this time, have you?” he spoke, voice tight like vines in Mama’s garden. “Come.” He pulled me deeper into the shadowy forest. Never go to the forest alone. Everything Mama had taught me screamed inside to pull away. But something deeper, darker, whispered inside to go forward. The taint spread faster now. My shoulder was fully bark now, no pale skin to see. Tendrils of timber stretched towards my chest. He set me down at the edge of a pond, black in the midnight dark. Trees grasped for the night sky, creaking and swaying, crowding the water. “Go.” Don’t go past the Yanuji bushes, there’s danger. Feeling twinges of anxiety, I replied, “Why?” “You’ll remember soon, sapling.” He pushed. I didn’t resist. The momentum started me toward the pond. Quicker. Faster. Soon I was running, legs hardening to wood. Twigs branched from my body. The water was inches away. Then I was in it. Ecstasy roared through my body as roots on my ankles slurped up the water. Images flashed. Times, places, people. Memories. Trees turning to human shapes. Tree-people fighting the people of a village. My village. A time of silence in the forest. Me, sap-blood leaking from a wound in my gut. And me, reborn, stolen by Mama from the outskirts of the forest. The vision stopped. I didn’t need to look down to know that my entire body had finally embraced the darkwood that had been a long time coming, stiff, yet powerful. I smiled, breathing in the rich smell of growth in the pure air. “Asholli, welcome home.” I turned to my father, my real father, and grinned. This was going to be the best fight of my life. There are monsters in the forest. And the monster was me.

New version! There are monsters in the forest. I leaned in, uncertain, Mama’s voice running through my head. My hand, the tainted one, reached for his palm anyway. It—he?—had tubes crossing his side. I’d never seen tubes like that before. This thing was grotesque, but somehow drew me in. Something about him was magnetizing. He was tainted too. When my fingers touched his, he spoke. “So long. It’s been so long. You haven’t embraced the joy of the forest this time.” “What? Who are you?” I asked. “Oh, daughter. You’ve forgotten this time, have you?” he spoke, voice tight like vines in Mama’s garden. “Come.” He pulled me suddenly deeper into the shadowy forest. Never go to the forest alone. Everything Mama had taught me screamed inside to pull away. But something deeper, darker, pushed me forward. The taint was spreading faster now. My shoulder had become fully wood now, no pale skin left to see. Tendrils of timber stretched towards my chest. He set me down at the edge of a pond, black in the midnight dark. Trees grasped for the night sky, creaking and swaying, crowding the water. “Go.” Don’t go past the Yanuji bushes, there’s danger. Feeling twinges of anxiety, I replied, “Why?” “You’ll remember soon, sapling.” He pushed. I didn’t resist. The momentum started me forward and I began to walk towards the water. Quicker. Faster. Soon I was running, legs hardening to wood. Twigs branched from my body. The water was inches away. Then I was in it. Ecstasy roared through my body as roots on my ankles slurped up the water. Images flashed. Times, places, people. Memories. Trees turning to human shapes. Tree-people fighting the people of a village. My village. A time of silence in the forest. Me, sap-blood leaking from a wound in my gut. And me, reborn, stolen by Mama from the outskirts of the forest. The vision stopped. I didn’t need to look down to know that my entire body had finally embraced the darkwood that had been a long time coming, stiff, yet powerful. I loved it. “Asholli, welcome home.” I turned to my father, my real father, and grinned wickedly. This was going to be the best fight of my life. There are monsters in the forest. And the monster was me.

Thanks!! Thank you so much, Twi! This feedback is super helpful! When I make the changes, I'll post an updated version. Please keep letting me know of things you liked or disliked ot ways I could improve my writing.

Hi all! I'm entering a flash fiction contest and I'd love to get some feedback from you! The story needs to be 100-500 words long, which is way shorter than I tend to write, so this is a new format for me. Please let me know your thoughts! It's based off the image that's attached. Newest Version: There are monsters in the forest. I reached my tainted palm out to his, Mama’s voice ringing in my mind. If there was danger in the forest, this thing was probably it. But I couldn’t stop. Something pulled me towards it­–him?, dangerous but familiar. Then I noticed the taint in his skin too. I was revulsed, but couldn’t stop. He spoke as our fingers brushed. “So long, it’s been so long. They taught you not to embrace the joy of the forest, of course, that’s just like them.” “What? Who are you?” I asked. “Oh, daughter. You’ve forgotten me this time?” he asked, voice tight like vines in Mama’s garden. “Come.” He pulled me deeper into the shadowy forest. Never go to the forest alone. Everything Mama had taught me screamed to pull away. But something deeper, darker, whispered to go forward. The taint spread faster. My shoulder was fully bark, no pale skin to see. Tendrils of timber stretched towards my chest. We stopped at the edge of a pond, black in the midnight dark. Trees grasped for the night sky, creaking and swaying, crowding the water. “Go.” Don’t go past the Yanuji bushes, there’s danger. My fingers trembled. “Why?” “You’ll remember soon, sapling.” He pushed. I didn’t resist. The momentum started me toward the pond. Quicker. Soon I was running, legs stiffening to wood. Twigs branched from my body. The water lay inches away. Then my feet splashed into it. Ecstasy roared through my body as roots on my ankles slurped up the water. Images flashed. Times, places, people. Memories. Trees turning to human shapes. Tree-people fighting the people of a village. My village. A time of silence in the forest. Me, sap-blood leaking from a wound in my gut. And me, reborn, stolen by Mama from the outskirts of the forest. The vision stopped. I didn’t need to look down to know that my entire body had finally embraced the darkwood that had been a long time coming. Power coursed in my veins like sap and I knew I couldn’t be cut down this time. I smiled, breathing in the rich smell of growth in the pure air. “Asholli, welcome home.” I turned to my father, my real father, and grinned. This was going to be the best fight of my life. There are monsters in the forest. And the monster was me. V1:

What else do you two have?

Okay, shoot. So 2 Faction heads are down. @I think I am here. or @Fifth Scholar, I'll repeat Bard's question. Dashe was supposed to have scanned the Wildmen. What was the result? It'll help us a lot to be able to narrow down if the remaining Spirits are there or in the Barons. Elandera. Bard is right in his statement about Fifth and mine's PM. I'm struggling now. I can't tell if Galladon is more likely to have started in the Barons, Independent, or Wildmen. Wildmen makes the least sense to me because that would give the Spirits a kill role along with access to the Children's protect. I think the most likely option is an Independent. Which currently points me to Droughtbringer. But idk. Does anyone have any solid leads? I'll also share that I was roleblocked last night, which Dahad can confirm if they so choose. Though I don't think that would be a great choice, as Dahad is our only real way to stop the Spirits from winning as fast as they can. If he is able to roleblock the Spirit who makes the Conversion, then we've got at least another cycle. So, unless Dahad has already claimed in a faction, probably don't reveal here.

@Young Bard You have Lopen and Shqueeves red colored. You'll want to change one of them. Hey, hey, I've grown over the past couple years, I haven't dumped any info into the thread yet.

I believe Fifth. I have good reason to believe that the Dashe scan is legit. Shqueeves. Regardless, like Coop said, we've got a day left. Let's lynch a Spirit, but let's also use it to find another one. MetaTerminal.

So. The assumption that I believe was prevalent was that Independents are proven village. Joe just confirmed that if a Spirit were to start not in a faction, they would count as Independent and thus be able to PM. Please don't assume your Independent contacts are Village just because of their messaging capabilities.

Yeah, that's what I was saying. We'd put purple votes for those we want the Wildmen to kill.

You mean the ones we use the regular lynch on? Uh, not really? Since they're already becoming Hoed. Another way of doing it though would be to have the Wildmen attack whoever is second on the vote tally.

Apparently Coop was attacked by (most likely) the Wildmen. What if we were to propose kill candidates for the Wildmen? WE could vote in purple for those we'd like the Wildmen to kill. Obviously, it would ultimately be in the hands of each Wildman, but we could try to use that as a secondary lynch. Thoughts?

We'll have to agree to disagree on who information is more helpful for. In my experience, the eliminators typically have more information than the village does, so any the village can get is helpful. There definitely is information we don't want the Spirits to have, of course. My suspicions? Sart: Mostly because of the post where he agreed with me(weird reasoning, I know, but it felt weird) and then no posts since. Steel: just off in his posts. Elandera: I can't remember what it was that struck me anymore.

Gotcha. There's no need to know who's who. Unless you want to find the Spirits, of course. Do I personally need to know every role? No, of course not. Do I want to learn some and help facilitate a discussion so that all the factions can work together to find the Spirits? Yes. So, Bard was a poke vote. That's all. Drought, same thing. The other three were my actual suspicions.

Does Agro mean agressive? If so, I'm sorry to come off that way. I don't mean to be aggressive. If there isn't conversation though, we might as well throw away the thread, so one of my main goals is to start lots of conversation here. If that's aggressive, then fine. Inconsistent? Sure, I guess. We all typically are to those who can't see our thought patterns. Information hungry?

I don't even remember whose idea it was to have you run a store. Domi! Being in this cursed city ruins my memory. Alright, you run the store, I'll make the shoes, and I'll keep the scythe close.

Well, you can't go taking credit for Maw's, I mean, my shoes.

Got it. Thanks!

Agreed. I don't think that clarification you quoted really does a thing to my theory. I understand what the role does and I think it's still the most helpful to us while not being helpful to the Spirits if they're converted. Hey, hey, we all know that I've been the cobbler Oh yay! People think I'm dangerous still. Can I ask the reasoning behind it? Please expound if you don't mind. Some of us were on hiatus for that. I'm going to go with Sart. Aside from the post agreeing with me on sharing faction lists and one other that I can't remember right now, you haven't shared much. Please do.

@Independents, I invite you to message me. I'd like to collaborate on how we can help outside of our individual factions.

What about your own suspicions?

Recommendation: Delete that and don't post it again with your normal account...

Well, let's beat the Derethi! Based off of the conversation last cycle, my biggest gut-reads are Sart, Steel, and Elandera. I'm not sure how much I can flesh out all of the reasoning behind those, mostly just gut feelings. Because BR also said she felt something off about Elandera, he'd probably be the first I vote for, though I'm not sure yet. I just reread Dashe's role and I think that will definitely be vital for us. So, whoever you are, I recommend you share your findings with us. The Spirits don't have a kill role in this game(unless they convert Aanden or a Wildmen, and even then it's not a definite kill role) and you aren't much use to them since they obviously already know where the nonconverted ones are. My personal opinion is that relatively soon, you share your raiding information with us, so that we can start to examine our factions(if we're in the ones with converts). Joe/Darkness, if Dashe does a scan on a gang and Raoden is in that one, but no other Spirit converts, will that show up on the scan?

Bard. Droughtdrinker. I don't want to actually kill Bard when he's typically a useful and active player, but I do want to draw the inactives out of the shadows. If anyone is in a doc with Bard, will you ask him to post?