Challenge #25

The challenge for this week, based off the Seven Holy Virtues, is Temperance!

"Constant mindfulness of others and one's surroundings; practicing self-control, abstention,moderation, zero-sum and deferred gratification. Prudence to judge between actions with regard to appropriate actions at a given time. Proper moderation between self-interest, versus public-interest, and against the rights and needs of others."

If you would like to join us for Fan Friday, please send us your work! Just e-mail it to us at inkedfeathersfink@gmail.com! 

See you Wednesday!

Virgin Bride

            She lay in the green grass, sprinkled with dew that early May morning. The wind rustled the leaves of the trees above her and, if she had inhaled, she would have smelled the fresh sap on the wind. The sun had risen an hour ago, it fell on her hair and made it gold and warmed her cold skin. Her skin, pale like the moon and as soft as a feather to look at and touch, made her seem like a Snow White after being put into her glass coffin.

            Her nightgown was as white as her skin, if not whiter, and made her look like a pressed white rose from between the folds of a book. The only marks on her, that made her look tainted, were the purple petals around her neck from a her father’s fingers and the dark earth staining her feet from how far she had run.

            Fourteen years she had spent in that cottage. Fourteen years without a mother and a drunkard father. Fourteen years she had spent untainted. And fourteen years she had spent fighting back. This last day of her fourteenth year was a triumph to her kind. She had run and fought and screamed and cried. She caused such a fright in her father that he would be caught that he ran when his senses came back to him, letting him flee the scene and leave her intact.

            She was his now, that old crow’s. The one in the shadows, who prospers in another realm to guide souls from one place to another. He fell for her when she fought, he fell for her when she lived, and he was sure to have her for his own no matter the cost. So when it was time for them to fly, the crow and the dove, he told her of everything and anything she wished to know. He held nothing back and proved his love slowly, knowing that time is all it takes for a rose-bud to blossom in the light of the sun.

            And he was her sun, he knew that very well. And it seemed that she did as well, for when they reached the golden gates in the clouds she sighed a wish to the angels guarding the door and they nodded in blessing. This blessing was pure, as pure as she, and the two flew out happily to marry and just be.

When Love Waits

When I opened my door that morning I was confused with what I found. He brought me a white rose with wide beautiful petals, one of them dyed blue. The thorns still intact, and dew droplets clinging onto it.

~

“Marina give me my hat!!” Tyson yelled. I ran away from him, the tall grass skimming my knees. I giggled all the way across the field as he chased me. I was sixteen and he was seventeen. 

I popped the hat onto my head right as he grabbed me from behind. I laughed even harder as we fell to the ground. He grabbed his hat, the rim was beginning to fray. I smiled up at him and he smiled back at me. His whole face lit up when he smiled, even his eyes seemed like they glowed.

“Can I kiss you?” He asked. I was silent, frozen in spot. I didn’t know if I wanted him to kiss me. He’d been my friend for so long. I swallowed the lump in my throat before I spoke.

“You can kiss me when you find a white rose, with one blue petal.” I say, leaning in closely and kissing his nose. I pluck the hat off his head again and run off back through the trees giggling all the while.

I was barely seven years old, and he was eight and a half when I met him.  The hat barely fit him, but the team logo was brand new then. I said hi to him and he responded by throwing dirt in my hair. Kids are kids so they say. I responded with a fist to his eye, and that's how we became friends.

"Tyson, where'd you get that hat anyway?" I asked him one day in middle school.
"Oh, this old thing?" He asked. We were eating lunch by the old tree. He pulled  the crusts off his sandwich and gave them to me.
"I got it from my big brother." He said taking it off to show me. By now the team logo was dirty, no longer the bright white it used to be.
"He gave it to me before he went to Afghanistan." Tyson looked at the hat like it was an old friend.
“I miss him sometimes you know?” He said. I touched his shoulder, trying to comfort him the best I could.

~

When I looked up, he was standing there. He was wearing that stupid old hat, and a smile was spread across his face. I hadn't seen him since he joined the army, almost 4 years ago.

“Do I get that kiss yet?”

Challenge #24

The next seven weeks will be based off of the Seven Holy Virtues! This week, we will be writing stories based off of the virtue Chastity! 

"Abstaining from sexual conduct according to one's state in life; the practice of courtly love and romantic friendship. Cleanliness through cultivated good health and hygiene, and maintained by refraining from intoxicants. To be honest with oneself, one's family, one's friends, and to all of humanity. Embracing of moral wholesomeness and achieving purity of thought-through education and betterment. The ability to refrain from being distracted and influenced by hostility, temptation or corruption."

If you would like to join us this week for Fan Friday by submitting your own works based off of this challenge, please do! You can send us your work via email at inkedfeathersfink@gmail.com! 

See you all Wednesday!

Thank You Video!

Thursday Fan Entry

About Angela: Angela is the Fan who submits drawings instead of stories. She is the one who created the Feather and Ink characters that we now use constantly. She is super talented and if you would like to check out more of her work you can go here: http://iessentials.deviantart.com/

~

Wednesday Fan Entry

Bio:
Josh is a scatter-brained 17 year old man-child whose aim is to get through life as awkwardly as possible. So far he is succeeding with flying colours. He likes reading, writing, listening to indie music, playing video games, and bad puns Oh, and pizza. Pizza’s pretty cool too.

Josh started writing and reading Feather and Ink's stories after Ink introduced him to them from Vindictus. The two play there as much as possible. It seems like a swell trade since Josh introduced Ink to nutella and peanut butter sandwiches.

Water Element Entry:

The Ocean by Her Lonesome

The rhythmic crash of waves from the perpetually churning sea sounded once more in the boy’s ears. It was an odd thought that it had presumably behaved this way for every other person who had ever been on this beach since time began. He raked his fingers through the sand that he lay on again, and stared towards the ocean. The horizon seemed to be set ablaze by the setting Sun. He spoke aloud, briefly gazing at the stars above, beginning to peep out of the darkness. “Hey, do you think it’s kinda neat that something so... ancient still exists?” His focus returned to the shimmering palate of colours that was the ocean.

 The girl lying next to his right, also on the fine sand asked, “What do you mean?”

The boy continued, “I mean this ocean. It was here when my grandfather was alive. It was here when my grandfather’s grandfather was alive. It’ll be here when my grandchildren have grandchildren.”

“I suppose when you think of it like that, it is pretty cool, yeah. So many things from the past have disappeared. It’s awe-inspiring to think that the first humans ever would’ve seen something beautiful like this, and that the last humans ever will also see the same thing.”

The sweet, somber light of the twilight sun reflected off the dark glittering jewel that was the sea, and cast an orange glow on beach.

The boy softly spoke. “I know it doesn’t really, but the ocean seems to go on forever, doesn’t it? Have you ever thought that maybe, there are two people like us lying in the sand on the other side, seeing the Sun come up?”

The girl furrowed her brow. “I guess so. I mean, I know this world’s a great big place, with lots of people everywhere, but it seems almost... surreal to think that there other people in some far off land I’ll never see, just living their lives like us.”

The boy laughed, and the pair was silent again.

  “Y’know, you might think this sounds stupid, but maybe if the ocean doesn’t go on forever, do you think it might at least exist forever?,” the boy wondered aloud. He lifted his hand out of the sand and watched the grains fall through the spaces in between his fingers.

The girl pondered the thought for a moment, and looked at the sand sifting through the boy’s hand. : “Hm... maybe it will, maybe it won’t. I’d like to think it would always be around in some form or another, but I haven’t seen anything on Earth that lasts forever. Not cities, or buildings, or even mountains and forests. Who’s to say the ocean’s exempt?”

“Time takes its toll on all things, it’s true. I suppose the ocean is no exception to that. But mean, it makes me kinda... sad, that maybe someday humans won’t be able to see something beautiful like this,” the boy said melancholically. The salty smell of the sea mixed with the fresh air that blew from the ends of the earth towards the sandy enclave where the two lay. The Sun finally sunk below the once ignited horizon, leaving Night to cool the Earth and her waters in its soothing darkness.

As the glow of day faded from their skins, she smiled, and turned her head to look at boy for the first time in hours. She gently put her hands in his and said, “Well, maybe humanity will somehow continue to exist when this world is dead and gone. Maybe they’ll find something even greater, more mysterious, and more wonderful than this ocean could ever hope to be.”

The boy looked back at her, and smiled in return, “Maybe.” Still not letting go of the girl’s hand, he stood up, and helped her stand up. “I guess we should be heading back home now that it’s dark.” He gazed upon the ocean once more, and saw that without the Sun, the ocean had become cold and dark like ink, with the light of the pale moon beginning to glower off the shadowy sea. He smiled as he realized that the ocean was just as beautiful as it was during the day, in its own haunting, lonely way.

The girl tapped him on the shoulder, “What’re you thinking about?”

The boy snapped out of his thoughts, and looked at the girl a bit stunned. Then he laughed a little. “I was just thinking about how your dad will kill me if I don’t get you back soon.”

The girl laughed as well. “Well, we better get going then.” She took her phone from her pocket and looked at the time. “It’s only a quarter to ten. We should have plenty of time to get back.”

She put her phone back, and then the two walked hand in hand down the beach towards the lights of the small town nearby, leaving the ocean by her lonesome.