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[stillsyns]

Aaand GO. Syns Time! Join us on Discord.

HELLO LOVELIES.

It’s SynS time! Or will be, soon. Please come play tomorrow night (Friday) starting at 7 pm AT - which is 6 pm ET, 3 pm PT, and 10 pm GMT.

Discord invite link, if you’re not already part of the server: https://discord.gg/SADyPjq

[stillsyns]

HELLO LOVELIES.

It’s SynS time! Or will be, soon. Please come play tomorrow night (Friday) starting at 7 pm AT - which is 6 pm ET, 3 pm PT, and 10 pm GMT.

Discord invite link, if you’re not already part of the server: https://discord.gg/SADyPjq

[stillsyns]

So it’s been hard - really hard - to find a time when people are available to gather in SynS chat. Please vote on this poll to let us know when you’d be available, so we can change the day to something where people will actually be around.

[stillsyns]

HELLO LOVELIES.

It’s SynS time! It’s been a blipping age since we’ve all gotten together on Discord, so please come play tonight starting at 6 pm AT - which is 5 pm ET, 2 pm PT, and 9 pm GMT.

I miss you all. <3

Discord invite link, if you’re not already part of the server: https://discord.gg/SADyPjq

[stillsyns]

Bingo Time!

Three cards for the third month of March, and two bonus cards! These cards have no expiration date - use them whenever and for whatever you want! We’d love it if you posted your works to our AO3 collection or right here on the blog via submitted post, but it’s absolutely not a requirement.

Happy Birthday, Syns!

[stillsyns]

Happy Birthday, SynS!

So it appears that SynS is 4 years old! Last week, technically, but it's never too late for a birthday party. Join us in chat on Discord tomorrow (Friday, March 5th) evening starting at 21:00 (9 pm) UTC, which is 5 (your mod cannot tell time, apparently) 4 pm ET. Never been to SynS before? It's a great time to start.

There might even be a prompt bingo card or three for the month of March...

[stillsyns]

Chat Is Open: December 19th Edition

What it says on the tin - chat is starting right over here on Discord!

Yes, it’s been ages. We’re still all alive and kicking, though, so feel free to join us for some quality (ha) writing screaming and assorted shenanigans.

[stillsyns]

Are you still accepting generator prompts for June? Maybe it should be postponed to July, since June is over halfway finished?

Yes we are! And I think it’s going to be a holdover, yes - we’ll push June and July together and have some fun with the generators.

[stillsyns]

Chat Is Open: June 6th Edition

What it says on the tin - chat is starting right over here on Discord! Join us for some quality (ha) writing screaming and assorted shenanigans.

[stillsyns]

Prompt Call!

It’s time for the monthly call for prompts! Actually, it was time several days ago, but your mod has the memory of an average goldfish. Again.

Your theme for May is Generator Prompts. We have two prompt generators, one for SSSS and one for aRTD - come up with prompts by clicking the buttons! If you'd like generic prompts, just don't click the character buttons.

SSSS machine: http://idleleaves.epizy.com/ssssmachine.html aRTD machine: http://idleleaves.epizy.com/artdmachine.html

Send your prompts via ask-box, or e-mail the mods at idle.leaves at gmail dot com or nerdanel.istarnie at gmail dot com. Keep in mind that relatively simple prompts tend to work better than complex or drawn-out ideas.

Questions about prompting or how this all works? Check out our FAQ.

Happy prompting!

[stillsyns]

May Prompt List - Song Titles

General

Any - Close to Home Any - Drive It Like You Stole It Any - First Love / Late Spring Any - Little Talks Any - Pink in the Night Any - Shut Up and Dance Any - The Path to Isolation Any - True Trans Soul Rebel Any - You Should See Me in a Crown Any/Any - Me and My Husband Any/Any - Unnecessary Tension Any/Any - You Know How to Make a Boy Feel War

She-Ra

Adora/Catra - Not Given Lightly Adora/Catra - Over My Head Catra - Without Me Entrapta - Help Is On the Way Glimmer - I May Fall Scorpia - Are Friends Electric

aRTD

Hannu - Fear of the Water Little Hare & Tuomi - To Noise Making (Sing) Ville - If I Were a Boy

CoH

Any Cyborg - New Person, Same Old Mistakes

SSSS

Any - Anyone's Ghost Any - Copenhagen (Let Me Go) Any - Death Thrice Drawn Any - Dominion Road Any - Science/Visions Any- Smoke Signals Any - The Kids Don't Stand a Chance Any - The Last Snowfall Any Adventure II - This Place Was A Shelter Any Finnish Mage/Any - Sing Me to Sleep Any Ghost - We Will Become Silhouettes Any Kade!Mage - Help I’m Alive Any Mage - Hands, Be Still Any Prologue - Abide With Me Any Prologue - Apocalypse Lullaby Any Prologue - Patient Zero Any Prologue - Saddest Generation Any Prologue - Tomorrow Never Came Any Prologue - Where Do We Go From Here? Any Prologue Hotakainen(s) - Six Months in a Leaky Boat Any Toivosaari Resident(s) - Almost Idyllic Any Troll - Unholy Faces Any Troll - We’re So Starving Emil - Sleep on the Floor Emil/Lalli - Curious Hands Emil/Lalli - Hideaway Emil/Lalli - Hold Me Like a Fire Emil/Lalli - Nice and Quiet Emil/Lalli or Onni/Reynir - Not Given Lightly Ensi - Claws in Your Back Ensi - Feather Moon Ensi - Somewhere Love Remains Ensi & Lalli - Heirloom Ensi & Lalli - Only the Wild Ones Ensi/Hilja - I Can Make You Feel Young Again Lalli - I Run So Far Lalli - I Won't Let Go Lalli/Reynir or Onni/Reynir - Somewhere Only We Know Mikkel/Onni - Is This A Joke? Mikkel/Sigrun - Heavy In Your Arms Onni - A Quiet Darkness Onni & Tuuri - Second Child, Restless Child Onni & Tuuri - The Mother We Share Onni/Reynir - Ballad of the Mages Onni/Reynir - Call It Dreaming Onni/Reynir - Dog Days Are Over Reynir - Palm Dreams Sigrun - She-Wolf Sigrun & or / Any - I Dare You Sigrun/Tuuri - Can't Take My Eyes Off You Sigrun/Tuuri - Come Into The Water Sigrun/Tuuri - Here Comes the Sun Sigrun/Tuuri - High Enough to Carry You Over Sigrun/Tuuri - In Another Life Sigrun/Tuuri - In Twilight Hours Sigrun/Tuuri - Night Swimming Sigrun/Tuuri - Remember My Name Sigrun/Tuuri - Turn Out the Lights The Crew - How Bizarre The Crew - How Far We've Come Tuuri - Bets Against the Void Tuuri - Build Me Up From Bones Tuuri - Bury a Friend Tuuri - Didn't Know What I Was in For Tuuri - Little Trouble Tuuri - Lullabye for a Stormy Night Tuuri - Shallow Grave Tuuri - Sky Full of Song Tuuri - When I Rise Tuuri - You Were A Kindness Tuuri or Ulrika - Drive Tuuri & Any - Come Into the Water Tuuri & or / Any - Don't Dream It's Over

[stillsyns]

Chat is Open: May 16th Edition

What it says on the tin - chat is starting right over here on Discord! Join us for some quality (ha) writing screaming and assorted shenanigans.

[stillsyns]

For prompt “Any - A little while and then this body / will be stone; then / it will be water; then / it will be air.”

Original Danish ghost character. Contains: Disease, death, apocalypse, haunting.

Surviving

She’d read about this in the yellowing Reader’s Digests her uncle had stacked along the shelves of this always-too-full house, with its smell of must and unwashed dishes. They called it an out-of-body experience. People had them when they were dying.

But she’d had the vaccine. They’d been out of space in the makeshift hospital, but the nurse in the mask had beckoned her over and given her the jab anyway. “Good luck,” he’d said as he’d waved her and her mother away. The rash had been only an itch on her neck, then; half her mother’s face was gone.

The cold storage bag of food lay beside the sofa where her body curled in on itself. Electricity had gone out some time ago, and they’d stacked some of the perishables in it, hoping she’d get the chance to eat it. Hoping at least she would survive. She had the best chance of all of them, with that vaccine.

She could see a dark line connecting her to that breathing shell, still, silent. She tried to swim down, go back into her body, but all she could do was move left to right, right to left, scrabbling, too high, dangling helplessly in the air.

The voices had been growing more numerous as she waited for the experience to be over. Some were gibberish. Some said dark things. She wished she could feel the chill of fear. She could feel nothing.

The morning came. Then a day, and another night. And another. And another.

Her body, unblemished except for that smattering of rash, stopped breathing.

She looked up, looking for the white light the Reader’s Digest had talked about. She was tired and ready to go home. To go to the light.

But the light never came.

Another. Another. Another.

She couldn’t smell the must or the rotting things, so she just watched them fall apart. The sight of rats scuttering through the house made her hungry beyond compare, but some some living thing with teeth got them instead. Nobody came. The line connecting her to her body began to shred. She spilled her incorporeal body upstairs, through more and more stacks of newspapers and photo albums and chests full of old winter clothes. But she shied away from the windows.

Night and day, day and night. Expanding and retracting, like a slow heartbeat.

This was its house now, not its uncle’s. Rain beat on the windows, on the roof tiles, and then later heavy snow shrouded the windows. The air murmured despair. There was nothing else. Wind pummeled the house. It threw a branch through one of the upstairs windows, letting in snow and rain and washing out the signed posters of bands whose names it could no longer recognize. Sunlight dried and bleached the Reader’s Digests.

There was nowhere to go. This was its house now. It was its house until it fell down, and then it would still be its place. The air would never be quiet again.

[stillsyns]

Prompt Call!

It’s time for the monthly call for prompts! Actually, it was time several days ago, but your mod has the memory of an average goldfish.

Your theme for May is Song Titles.

Send your prompts via ask-box, or e-mail the mods at idle.leaves at gmail dot com or nerdanel.istarnie at gmail dot com. Keep in mind that relatively simple prompts tend to work better than complex or drawn-out ideas.

Questions about prompting or how this all works? Check out our FAQ.

[stillsyns]

Chat is Open: May 9th Edition

What it says on the tin - chat is starting right over here on Discord! Join us for some quality (ha) writing screaming and assorted shenanigans.

[stillsyns]

Chat is Open: April 25th Edition

What it says on the tin - chat is starting right over here on Discord! Join us for some quality (ha) writing screaming and assorted shenanigans.

[stillsyns]

Ghosting Hour

Sigrun/Tuuri - What is a ghost? Something dead that seems to be / alive. Something dead that doesn’t know it’s dead. 

Tuuri doesn’t know she’s dead, Sigrun is sure of that.

She can’t not not know, when Tuuri shimmers into existence in her bed at night, lying there as if she’d been sleeping there all along - and maybe she has, invisible, intangible, unknown? How long has she been there?

Sigrun tries to imagine what it must be like - being there but having no one to talk to if they can’t see you, feeling cut off from the world and wondering how the hell that happened; why everyone is ignoring you, wondering what’s going on in their heads to be so mean. So when Tuuri fades in on the stroke of midnight - and she’ll fade out again when the red glare of the ship’s clock in the quarantine section switches from 00:59 to 01:00, Sigrun doesn’t lose any time.

She makes Tuuri feel alive. They talk, in hushed voices. They laugh, faces pressed into Sigrun’s thin pillow. Tuuri reads to her, sometimes. Rarely.

They kiss, even if the dead cold doesn’t ever leave Tuuri’s lips, and she never flushes with life or warmth. Her body stays translucent, an outline, shimmering, like a sheet of paper held up against the sunlight. But even so Tuuri is solid to the touch, and her body the familiar one that Sigrun came to know and love on their trip, even if it is cold now. Maybe Tuuri feels the warmth of it all.

She muffles curses in Tuuri’s hair when those icy fingers slip between her legs, and not even that particular warmth can drive away the goosebumps racing over Sigrun’s skin. She comes hard, bucking and clenching around Tuuri nonetheless, and returns the favour until Tuuri lies pliant in her arms, eyes half-lidded as if she needed rest and shouldn’t be resting forever instead.

Sigrun doesn’t tell the others. It’s too wild, too weird. She assumes that none of the others can see her, except maybe Twig, whom she caught sitting up on his bed in the dark a couple of times, but Lalli is nothing if not discreet. She’s not worried on that count, especially if he can see his cousin, mage that he is.

During daylight Sigrun sometimes wonders if she should tell Tuuri, to see if telling her that she’s dead will send her to rest for good. But that would mean - another plunge face-first into the snow, even if it’s figurative this time. If Tuuri left her - Sigrun would have blood on her hands twice over.

Other times she thinks that maybe the meds the ship’s medics are pumping into her when they come in in full hazmat suits to take care of the infected arm are what makes her hallucinate Tuuri. Maybe she’s on a drug high and has wish-fulfillment dreams, or something like that. Her mind playing tricks on her.

Or maybe Tuuri is really there, haunting her in the best possible way.

Sigrun wants to believe that. Nothing else will do. And nothing else will do for Tuuri, who appears like clockwork at ghosting hour, almost as alive as ever.

It’s almost enough.