Oh my goodness, but you are too sweet for words! I was just all too happy to write something for such an awesome source of inspiration, and your supportive 'like's were just the icing on top!

But oh no! My angst too would be up at Zuko levels, flirting with the Avatar state, for a pet in need, especially with everything else that's going on to cause stress and complications right now. Hang in there, and I hope that both you and your furry companion are doing nothing but better from here on out! I'm so glad that my story was enough to inspire a moment of smiling, at the very least! That's really what these games are for!

 

Oops, I am so sorry to be that person and double post, but I just noticed that @brodiew had asked for #2 on the Flower Challenge. Well, my friend, you said that you were in the mood to write some angst, and I think I have just the thing for you! This was my dark and gloomy flower of the bunch, but in a beautiful way that allows for so much poignance in the hands of the right author! I do hope this inspires you; it's one of my favourites.


#2. Asphodel – Asphodelus is a type of perennial lily that naturally thrives in barren, rocky soil where few other plants can grow. Mainly a wildflower, though now cultivated for garden planting in our modern age, it has often been discredited as a gawky, somewhat ungraceful weed over the years. In Greece they are called fiori di morti, the flowers of the dead. Asphodel was commonly planted by tombs in ancient times. Even now they symbolize my regrets follow you to the grave or remembrance beyond death. According to Homer, this flower was believed to cover the Asphodel Meadows, where ordinary souls who neither deserved the horrors of Tartarus nor had earned paradise in the Elysium Fields were sent in the Underworld. Hades’ wife, Persephone, was often depicted as wearing a crown of asphodel to honor her dual roles as Queen of the Dead and the goddess of spring and rebirth. Before agriculture advanced around the Mediterranean, Asphodel was commonly ground into flour and baked into bread, especially by the poor; it sustained life just as it was believed to nourish the dead. For that, along with being a funeral flower, the ancients wove stalks of asphodel into symbols of protection for their soldiers, and planted asphodel around their fields to guard their crops – maybe somewhat ironically looking for the approval of Persephone’s mother Demeter, the goddess of the harvest. Asphodel still grows wild across the rocky island of Corsica, and a saying there, “He has forgotten the asphodel,” means that a man has traveled far away and has purposefully left behind the traditions of his home and birth.




Alrighty, that's it for The Language of Flowers Challenge, folks! I thank you for claiming all the prompts. Now, I can't wait to see what comes of your inspiration!

 

The challenge index has been updated! What an amazing array of challenges!

I swear I have ideas for all my prompts but my muse has jumped on me to do some other, unrelated stuff, so I'm tucking all my ideas away... for now.

 

Yep. It does. I’ll add it to that index once I’m not on mobile. Sorry I didn’t add it earlier. You called the challenge something else before and I was really confused.

Every one really needs to quote the specific challenge their fic is for.

 

I got something done for both of these! Mars' Final Strike is up and **gasp** It's a new fandom!!! It's The Martian, based off of the book, but you'll understand what is going on if you've just seen the movie (and if you haven't consumed either, I highly recommend both). It's not great, but I had a lot of fun playing around in a new fandom and writing new characters! I highly recommend trying a new fandom if you are stuck in a mental funk.

 

Sooo, I wasn't going to do another one of these just yet, but my previous mini-challenges are all filled up now and today presented a wonderful source of inspiration that I just couldn't pass up. Because, as part of National Poetry Month here in the United States, today is International Haiku Poetry Day! So, with that in mind, it's my pleasure to introduce the:

Haiku Poetry Roulette Challenge!


​

A haiku poem is a Japanese style of poetry with origins tracing all the way back to the ninth century. The traditional format is to have three lines of seventeen syllables, called on, in a pattern of 5-7-5 syllables, though some modern poets play fast and loose with that rule now. The lines do not have to rhyme. Just as important as the structure of a haiku is its content. Haiku poems explore the physical world in an effort to glimpse something deeper; they strive to capture a single moment in time, usually with a soft observation - especially regarding nature - juxtaposed by a sudden moment of illumination. For saying so little, haiku can be powerful pieces of writing, leaving profound, lasting impressions with their readers.

So, for this roulette, the rules are simple: pick a number, one through five, and you will receive a haiku to use as inspiration for a story! All of my prompts are taken from the work of Matsuo Basho, a great poet of the Edo period who is considered to be one of the 'Big Four' masters of haiku. There's no deeper reason for that beyond simple author's preference; he's my personal favorite, and I already have a book of his poetry dog-eared and highlighted for writing inspiration. I am now all too happy to share with you! So, let's begin!


The Participants
1. @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

the lives of us two -
between them has grown up this
blossoming cherry​

2. @Kit'

even in the snow
the noonflower does not wither
the light of the sun​

3. @devilinthedetails

you may know my heart
from a flowering blossom
and a begging bowl​

4. @amidalachick

how holy a place
green leaves, young leaves, and through them
the sunlight now bursts​

5.


The Index
1. Happy To Be Us, by WarmNyota_SweetAyesha
2.
3. A Flowering Blossom and a Begging Bowl, by devilinthedetails
4.
5.

Spoiler: A Few More Haiku

For those who asked.

Matsuo Basho

Lightning flash-
what I thought were faces
are plumes of pampas grass.

The summer grasses
- all that remains
of brave soldiers dreams.

A needle will prick
the fool entranced by noonflowers
- start of deep winter.

The moon has set now
all that remains are the four
corners of this desk.

Awakened nine times-
and yet the moon is still here
before the day breaks.


Yosa Buson

Blown from the west,
fallen leaves gather
in the east.

Lighting one candle
with another candle
-spring evening.

Grass, mist rising
not a voice over the water
The day has ended.

Sweet springtime flowers
and not a word can express
how sad it all is.

Color and scent
both turning their back
- the end of spring.

 

Oh wow! That was fast! You guys are all wonderful.

I just KNEW that you'd like this one in particular! Yes, of course I will send my gleanings along. In the meantime, for #1 we have . . .

the lives of us two -
between them has grown up this
blossoming cherry

- Matsuo Basho​

You got it! #2 is . . .

even in the snow
the noonflower does not wither
the light of the sun

- Matsuo Basho​

Yay! Of course you may, for #3 we have . . .

you may know my heart
from a flowering blossom
and a begging bowl

- Matsuo Basho

​

EDIT: And these are by Matsuo Basho, not Yosa no Buson! I was drawing from the wrong list in my notebook when I first posted these, so I apologize for the momentary misquoting!

 

I have posted my story for Mira's First Line/Last Line challenge. It's in The Martian fandom (yes, blame Bri!) either the book or the movie should be fine to understand. Yay for the muse wanting to cooperate with something!!
Hard Bargain