Hey there! Nice to see that the thread is up :D

Life's going great for now. I currently have no school days on my timetable, since we're currently enjoying the Mid-autumm festival holiday that lasts for three days. I do have a lot of homework to do though, which is a bummer, but it's the universal standard so I can't complain about it too much... No one ever does care about getting their homework done anyways since the feat is nearly impossible to pull off. (Apart from a handful of crazed studying machines who only ever care about grades) I personally can just barely finish all the subjects despite me being the only person in in my grade who does not need to do the notorious piles of English homework that everyone else needs to work through.

Writing-wise, I'm working on another new but old idea for a story. New, because I only recently found the spark of inspiration needed to get serious worldbuilding going and old, because I've had the rough outling of the world lying around in the corner of my mind for ages. It's about humanity making first contact with a coalition of intelligent species of various aliens who were driven out from their shared home planet due to the invasion of a cosmic predator, which is in question a single shapeshifting life form that reproduces by duplicating itself like a large cell. And how both sides learn to cooperate and trust in each other through hardships and unite together to attempt to defeat the shapeshifting cell-thingy. I'm paraphrasing a lot of things here and am still working on the thingy's name, which is why this must read very awkwardly. I'll elaborate later if you're intrested.

Reading-wise! Umm. Not much unfortunately due to my homework and school. I'd say a few glimpses of The Importance of Living by Lin Yutang during my spare time.

That's all I have for now. How are things going on your side? 

I totally forgot that I'm steadily working through the third audiobook of Dumas's The Three Musketeers. Dumas is an amazing writer. I'm in awe of how he manages to juggle through such a wide range of historical characters while keeping the plot on track! If only I could write like that.

Thanks for your suggestion for the name, Hex! I'll consider it along with the list of names I'm debating. I'm working on a world map for the alien planet the coalition originated from right now. I think I'll post a picture of it if it turns out nicely. Your schedule sounds packed! And it seems really fun too with all the activities you participate in. Wishing you the best with dealing with your homework!

So... here's a bunch of questions!

What are your favorite songs/bands? Mine are mainly The Score and Imagine Dragons.

What intresting things do you like to do in your spare time? I write. That isn't really intresting I admit, but as of my time management its the only hobby I can maintain.

What stories or worlds are you working on, writing-wise and perhaps drawing-wise? I'd love to hear them and share mine.

What amusing events have occured around you these days? Today I just saw a kid ride his bike into a person minding his own bussiness on the playground. It wasn't too funny in hindsight, but both their expressions upon impact were hilarious.

No school... whoa, I'm envious too. Especially since it's Sunday and I'm regrettably at the very end of my weekend. Luckily I don't have too much homework, but I'm puzzled at how time manages to slip away anyway. I'll probably be joining a writing club at the shortest possible notice, which looks super fun but will unfortunately mean I'll have less time :/ Anyway, as regards school, everything's going pretty fine; there's been a lot of review and starting all the different subjects. Typical beginning-school crunch :|

I like the story idea, Zeal! Especially the theme of learning how to cooperate - it sounds like an interesting spin on the usual theme of science fiction *says the great expert on science fiction who's only read one or two books in the genre lol* I'd love to see a map! World-building is always so much fun :) I'm working on a romance, which is the companion novel to another romance that I already wrote and which is going to have another companion novel which is Being Planned. I'd never really tried companion novels before, and it's turning out to be such an interesting way of writing! For some reason I've never been able to write series - when I start on the second book, it doesn't feel the same as the first and I run out of inspiration and eventually abandon it - but I don't have that problem with companions, since the voice and the ideas can be completely different, though you can still include some of the same characters :D I'm also planning a story based on Artemis and Hermes, which might be written or might never be written, but it's in the early stages.

And Hex, yes I've seen some of your poetry!! It's super well-written :D

Ooh, 1984 and The Three Musketeers - classics forever. And a Scrafia?? That's... inventive :0 At the moment I'm casting about wildly for books to read - in the end I settled on rereading Prince Caspian for something like the twentieth time - but I went to the library a couple of days ago, so hopefully some of the books I got will be interesting reading.

And here's a bunch of answers!!

My music tastes are aLwAyS changing. At the moment I'm into Latin pop (I can give you tons of recs for that if you want them - ask at your own peril >:D) and Amy Macdonald's songs, and one of my current favorite songs is The Middle by Jimmy Eat World. I really need to look into Imagine Dragons at some point...

I write too!! And go on the CB and read, which are kind of classic for CBers :)

Well, I was walking along by some water (I'd gone to visit some friends), and this boat zoomed past, and the people in it waved to us and shrieked things that I couldn't even decipher and seemed very excitable/excited, and it was hilarious for some reason XDi

favorite songs/bands? Singers/bands is little eclectic but probably boygenius, Good Kid and mxmtoon. As for songs, my top listened-to this month (because I can't think of a different way to decide lol) are From the Subway Train by Vansire, Satanist by boygenius, and Dreamer by Laufey. oh and I know The Middle by Jimmy Eat World!

I think I'm generally too tired in my spare time to be interesting! :) I mainly read or do origami. I'm als into math so I've been working on a level 2 menger sponge (search it if that's unfamiliar!) made out of index cards. The folding is really simple but putting it together is finicky. Maybe I'll post a picture later because it's pretty cool looking :D

funny things recently? Well, I wore a top hat to school last friday (and rocked it, might I add-) which certainly amused my friends... a soccer friend gave it to me for scoring three goals in a season (a lame "hat trick" but hey, I play center d so I think it's pretty cool lol). When she gave it to me at soccer practice a bunch of people I didn't know like the boys team nearby and even some lady on a bicycle complimented it :D I love how friendly random people can be sometimes.

I can't say I particularly enjoy reading romances but your project sounds cool anyway, Amethyst! A companion novel definitely sounds hard but hopefully spending more time with the characters is rewarding :) what's the plot for them?

yes the Scrafia was an insane book :P I'm going to spoil it because- well idk just because! It's told through two protagonists who were former Scrabble (3rd most televised sport in the world!) world champions, married but on the outs, and on the run from the Scrafia (aka three old ladies in knit sweaters and a black dirgible) in Paraguay (I think). They play a game of Scrabble and each chapter is an interlude describing the backstory to the game they're currently in. It was honestly pretty hilarious XD

some questions: favorite subject? Amethyst, you and Poinsettia are sisters right—have you also started non-homeschool-school this year? Favorite food/meal? Favorite weather? Do you believe in the Oxford comma? (there is a right answer there...)

School started again today and I arrived at class just in the nick of time to not be late! I walked into the room with twenty three seconds left before the bell was due to ring, thank goodness. Waiting for traffic lights has never been more stressful.

I know Menger sponges! My math teacher showed us a GIF of one on his powerpoint once. I hope your model turns out well and that you don't get too dizzy trying to put it together, Hex.

I have no permanent answer to any of these questions! Maybe apart from believing the Oxford comma, which I think is a nice thing to have around and I cannot understand as to why some people like to leave it out. It makes the sentence read smoothly in my opinion, and though I'm sure everyone can understand what someone wants to say even if they don't have the comma included I still like to see it there. It's a sort of a habit in my brain.

Favorite subject? This changes depending on what subject I'm feeling the least stressed about, so for this semester up till now as I write this, its physics. In the long run though I'm undecided between chemistry and biology. I also might add German, which is not a subject that my school teaches and I am learning myself in hopes of passing the next TestDaF- a test for language proficiency similar to IELTS but for german- coming up at the beginning of next semester since I am planning to head to Germany for university.

I cannot decide upon a favorite food- I like all food apart from too-spicy ones and too-bitter ones! Perhaps coca-cola? Does that count as food?

Favorite weather: When its not too sunny because that would make the day too hot and not too cold because my hands freeze up under eighteen degrees celsius. Preferably slightly overcast with a fine autumn breeze blowing.

Right I need to go now argh- 

I'm finally back... honestly, I don't even kNoW where my time is going these days :/

Yay for The Middle fans! It's such a comforting song for when you're feeling down <3

Congrats on the ~hat trick~! I'm sure the top hat suited you no end. And yeah, sometimes people are so nice out of the blue even if you've never seen them before and will never see them again, and it's amazing.

Absolutely, it's usually rather sad for me to finish writing a book because I'm "losing" the characters in a way, but companion novels completely do away with that feeling. The only thing is that it's so strange to see a character from the inside in one novel, and then suddenly only know about that life from another charrie's perspective. Anyway, the books are actually mainly set in a soccer academy, and I'd say the overall theme is how different characters find their way to each other and make friends and find their boyfriends/girlfriends and navigate their lives. It's so much fun to write, and I platonically love every single one of the charrries :D

Whoa, the Scrafia does sound... interesting XD

Favorite subject would probably be ELA, which makes sense since I am after all a writer - I love reading literature and poems and then pulling them to pieces and discovering what they really mean. History's also been one of my more favorite subjects for a while, especially the way my mom teaches it. Zeal, going to Germany sounds great!

Yep, Poinsettia and I are sisters! And ack, no, I'm still homeschooling. We decided in the end that Poinsettia's school wouldn't be right for me, and like I've said elsewhere, the level of education I'm getting is way better if I keep homeschooling. I'm starting to seriously question my choice, though... Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out on so much. Anyhow, small life dilemmas that don't have much to do with the question, but, well, that's my life right now :P

For favorite food/meal I have way too many lol... I love lasagna, and brownies (in particular my granny's brownies, please go and try them immediately, they're amazing), and a Mexican food called fideos which is I believe egg noodles?? mixed with tomato sauce and similar magic ingredients, and tons of other food :] And yes, Coca-Cola is very much a food!

Favorite weather? I think maybe a May evening when the sunlight looks like absolute gold, or else a summer afternoon if you're next to some kind of natural water formation. Although like Zeal, I love autumn weather too.

I very much believe in the Oxford comma!! It's so useful in keeping things clear~

Sorry for dropping off, but I was a bit too busy with real life for the past week or so. I have Great news! The holidays have returned! Everyone in society now has seven days off courtesy of our national holiday. (But all students still have lots of homework, and we also have our school's monthly tests to look forwards to when the holiday is over. Boo.)

The map I was talking about is finally finished. It took a while for me to learn how to operate Azgaar's from scratch to create the entire planet, but I think it turned out pretty well, what do you think? (Azgaar is a really impressive web based map designing platform that I highly recommend checking out.) I'll be back with some basic introductions probably tomorrow, since my time right now is kind of running short.

Yo, it's been a while. My bad, sorry.

School has started once more. It's started for two days already, during which we ground our way through six tests and were treated to a series of mind-boggling questions, for instance math, where we were required to find all possible outcomes of three matches of rock, paper, scissors that three different people were playing together and to calculate the possibility of a certain person winning two rounds. It's more complicated than that actually, but I'm paraphrasing. To be simple no one in my grade wants to play rock paper scissors ever again. And chemistry, in which we learn that YES, there is a difference between the outcomes of an experiment where you are to mix two solutions and heat them over a bunsen burner and the outcome of one where you do the heating first before mixing the solutions.

And there is always a comedy show uniquely reserved for me: the classical english- wait no, chinglish test. This time I gain valuable knowledge about the legendary item 'Instruction Book'. (To aid in understanding, it might be helpful to know that we haven't learned the word 'manual' yet, so it had to be replaced otherwise no one would be able to understand the text.) I also learned that the word 'obtainable' does not exist. Nor do "goaded", "circumstance", "deduced" and a variety of other commonplace words because everyone hasn't learned them yet! And because they haven't appeared in our textbooks, I cannot use them in the test. Lol. This might seem like a rant but I'm feeling great. I just thought I'd share some wonders of our education system with you :D

Glad you like the map Amythest! I'll be jumping into a quick introduction, if you don't mind. (It's the first time I've found an opportunity to share my worldbuilding so please forgive me for being slightly too enthusiastic. Please remind me if I become too engrossed in my ramblings and feel free to ask if I didn't make things clear!)

Firstly the name of the entire planet is called Shang, like Earth is called Earth. Before I go into all 14 countries I must provide some basic info about the 4 main intelligent species that inhabit Shang: the Hyvi, the Avane, the Demi, and the Nautilus. Their bodies, instead of being biological like ours, are constructed of a special substance (which I have yet to name) with metal-like properties. Also, its deposits are found across Shang. This means that the Hyvi and Avane can extract the metal from its ore and directly smelt it into new body parts or even bodies. This, coupled with the Hyvi and Avane's unique biology(which shall also be elaborated on later if you're intrested), allows members of the two species to continuously transfer their consciousness into newly constructed bodies whenever their old one is damaged beyond repair. As for appearences, for now you can picture the first three species as various mammalian quadrapeds, i.e. cats, wolves, foxes, dogs,  etc. Picture the Nautilus as quardrapeds as well, but their legs and tail and back have large protruding fins and they have scales instead of fur-

Um... this post was going to be rather long, but I need to sleep now, apparently. I shall be back tomorrow (for real this time) to finish this introduction.

Right I'm back again! I only have a set amount of time I can spend online every day so the post yesterday had to end in mid-sentence. Now to begin introducing the four species in detail.

The Hyvi: The Hyvi are land-based mammals. Well, whether or not they can be regarded as mammals is not yet completely decided upon since I'm still working on their biology- but never mind that for now. The varieties of Hyvi (fox, cat, wolf etc.) are distributed depending on the biomes they habitat, which is also a topic that needs to be reserved for later. Their main trait is their speed at which they walk/run. Their running speed is on average about as fast as the automobile speed limit you would find on a highway, and most importantly they can maintain this speed for an impressive amount of time thanks to their powerful stamina. A Hyvi with full armor and weaponry equipped would be slowed down though. The Hyvi make up the majority of the intelligent population on Shang. Out of all fourteen countries, thirteen have Hyvi goverments with the only exeption being the Feng Dominion which is a strictly Avane country.

The Avane: The Avanes have wings, which gives them the ability of flight. Worth noting is that their wings usually do not flap, and instead are held stiff at their sides when they take flight without providing thrust. The thrust is instead generated by the Avane's heart, or more specifically the ionic force that it creates while beating. This might seem far fetched, but hear me out on how it works because this is in theory possible to achieve in physics. Remember that the Avane's body is made of Xuaninum (I've named the metal now), which is a conductor and has the usual properties of base metals. On the other hand, the Avane's heart is polarized at birth to be a natural magnet. That means when it beats at a high frequency, induced electrification will occur all over the Avane's body in the form of electric currents. These currents will then be guided out into the air through the tips of the Avane's conductive fur, which results in ion thrust that propelles the Avane through the air at speeds likable to airplanes. Some types of Avane can fold their wings close to their bodies to attain even higher flight speeds. Like the Hyvi, the Avane differ in type. Ninety percent of Avane are citizens of the Feng Dominion, with only a handful scattered across other countries.

The Demi: Less of a species and more of a unique group of life forms that are intelligent but do not belong to the Hyvi, the Avane, or the Nautilus. These individuals include some 'legends' among Hyvi and Avane said to have awakened mystical powers, but the Demi species mostly center around some special presences on Shang, including a Demi resembling a massive white Avane with a wingspan of over two kilometers referred to as Gabriel, a gray quadraped that floats over Shang in low altitude orbit who is called Firmanent, a beast that sleeps in the Thon mountain range named Kanata and a black quadraped who can fly despite having no wings and who is named Zephyr. The Demi wander Shang of their own accord and do not have nationalites. (Apart from Zephyr, who had the bluff to go wandering into the airspace over the Feng Dominion and was mercilessly brought down from the sky by the Dominion's leader Feng himself. Since then Zephyr has formed a shaky alliance with Feng.)

The Nautilus: The only aquatic race with intelligence. They range in size and shape and remain neutral to all countries and races. All Hyvi countries have signed some sort of agreement or treaty with them owing to the fact that they make up the literal backbone of Shang's sea trade since Hyvi dislike water and nearly never venture out into open water on boats of their own making.

My time's up again, so I guess see you later!

Hi again, I've really been terrible at keeping this thread consistent. Real life restricts my usable free time a bit too much (On average I only have around one hour of actual screen time I can spend on my computer) which has a direct impact on my existence here. Most of my time is also poured into writing stories as well. As of now I'm revising the beginning of the story which Shang is set in, but I also have been hit with a stroke of writer's block at the same time so actual progress is minimal. If this keeps up you can expect to see me back with a bunch of further introductions as I try to work out details in the world. 

That was all on my side for now. How have things been going for you? I'd love to hear something intresting.