Professor Tomoe Inner Senshi Admin
Activities Director
 
Title : Formerly Aurae; The Galaxy Cauldron Forums' Official Professor Tomoe Posts : 6250 Join date : 2013-07-23 Location : Chicago
![[Contest] October 2018: Ghost Stories - Winner Announced! Empty](https://2img.net/i/fa/empty.gif) |  Subject: [Contest] October 2018: Ghost Stories - Winner Announced! ![[Contest] October 2018: Ghost Stories - Winner Announced! I_icon_minitime](https://2img.net/s/t/21/09/42/i_icon_minitime.gif) 12th October 2018, 9:45 am | |
| ![[Contest] October 2018: Ghost Stories - Winner Announced! 7Wd5Qm4](https://i.imgur.com/7Wd5Qm4.png) What was that behind you? Do you hear the rattle of chains or the tip-tap of bony toes?'Tis the season for spooks, and that includes activities here at the Writing & Roleplaying Guild! The theme for this month's contest is Ghost Stories—use your creativity to interpret it! What is a contest?A contest is an event where Writing & Roleplaying Guild members submit secret entries, based on criteria, and then vote for a winner. Find out more about Writing and Roleplaying Guild contests: Guild Challenges, Contests, and Games! What are the requirements for this contest?Be inspired by the concept of "ghost stories"—write a story about a ghost, write a story about people reading a ghost story, add something spooky and ghostly into the story you write... Have fun with it! We will accept both Sailor Moon and non- Sailor Moon entries.
- Entries must be between 250 to 1500 words.
- Entries must be rated PG-13 or lower.
- Entries must be related to one of each themes from the three columns.
- Entries must be new and written specifically for this contest.
- Submit one (1) entry.
- Entries must be kept secret until the results of the contest is announced. Voting for the contests are blind—the authors identities are kept secret until the voting period is over and a winner is decided. This helps to even the playing field and avoids favoritism as no one knows the identity of the authors.
- Sailor Moon-themed entries are encouraged, but not required.
- The winner of the contest receives a personalized winning signature and qualifies for a stamp based on their number of wins.
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How do I submit an entry?PM entries to Sailor Mercury with the title "October Contest" no later than Wednesday, October 31, 2018! How do I vote on this contest?When it is time to vote, this thread will be updated with entries and instructions! Important DatesLast day for entries: Wednesday, October 31Voting begins: Thursday, November 1Voting ends: Monday, November 5Winner announced: Thursday, November 8Remember, participating in and winning a contest earns points and helps you collect the super cute Writing and Roleplaying Guild Sanctioned Contest Stamps!![[Contest] October 2018: Ghost Stories - Winner Announced! UBEjo7B](https://i.imgur.com/UBEjo7B.png) ![[Contest] October 2018: Ghost Stories - Winner Announced! Ry555Qh](https://i.imgur.com/Ry555Qh.png) ![[Contest] October 2018: Ghost Stories - Winner Announced! YOh8WMo](https://i.imgur.com/YOh8WMo.png) ![[Contest] October 2018: Ghost Stories - Winner Announced! X8BGQEA](https://i.imgur.com/X8BGQEA.png) ![[Contest] October 2018: Ghost Stories - Winner Announced! RKtUK7z](https://i.imgur.com/RKtUK7z.png)
Last edited by Sailor Mercury on 6th November 2018, 8:40 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Professor Tomoe Inner Senshi Admin
Activities Director
Title : Formerly Aurae; The Galaxy Cauldron Forums' Official Professor Tomoe Posts : 6250 Join date : 2013-07-23 Location : Chicago
| | Subject: Re: [Contest] October 2018: Ghost Stories - Winner Announced! 2nd November 2018, 3:19 pm | |
| Entry A - Entry A wrote:
- Years and years and years ago, there was a terrible war between the Moon and Earth. Some say it started with jealousy, some say mistrust, others blame the start was misplaced love, but everyone agrees that its end was nothing less than tragic. Both sides suffered heavy casualties; both sides lost rulers that day...
“They say she haunts the castle,” the girl whispered, her hand covering her mouth to hide the story. “They say, to this day, if you listen carefully, you can hear her sobbing in the night. Her sighs are the wind that fills the castle walkways, her tears constantly drip down walls in the courtyard, her agony calling thunderstorms up without warning to interrupt romantic rendezvous. They say that if you so much as meet with your lover on the anniversary of the day it happened, she will curse you to be separated from them forever, just as she was from her Earth Prince.”
They curled together in the rose-covered alcove, leaning in to hear more of the cautionary tale about their new home. She didn’t know where she ended and the others girls began, the urge for closeness and support as the story creeped through their skin and caused shivers in their spine made the touching of skin to skin only natural as they waited with bated breath for the new leader of their group to continue, their hearts bonding now in fear and worry and caution.
“But it’s not only lovers that she curses, I heard,” the young girl continued, finger to her lips like she shared a closely-guarded secret, “They say the parties are freezing cold in her presence, that only the Queen can start them off or else she will seep the energy right out of your body and leave you cold and numb and hopeless, like you will never feel happy again. They say that there used to be ice skating in the capital, but the rink was permanently closed because of her. And that flower garden on the east side?”
“What flower garden?” asked a quiet, trembling voice.
“Exactly. They say the eastern gardens were once the most beautiful in the entire Moon Kingdom, but even after they rebuilt after the war, flowers have never grown there again. They say that she won’t let them grow, that the memories she had with her friends make the gravity there too strong for flowers to come out of the soil, so it sits, desolate and dead, just like them.”
“Her friends?”
“What happened to them?”
“They were killed,” she sadly explained, pausing as they quietly gasped, “Each and every one of them, in the war. They died trying to protect her and our Kingdom and were murdered to the last for it. They say that if you even mention their names in her haunting presence, your heart will be turned to stone.”
“No!”
“Yes!” she said, nodding, leaning in, her voice dropping further, “And should you ever see her corporeal form as she slowly walks her old footsteps in this castle, unless you pray for forgiveness to the Crystal Tower in the Chamber of Prayer, you will be be driven insane by her grief and eventually take your life just as she --” her breath caught, eyes widening impossibly, and the trio of girls quickly turned to see what she saw and screamed, pushing up from the ground and scrambling to their feet even as they ran to the Chamber of Prayer, visions of Princess Serenity standing beneath the covered path through the garden burned into their minds’ eye.
But it wasn’t Princess Serenity.
As the last of the girls disappeared through a courtyard door, a tall female form stood frozen, her hand curled around a small object that she pressed to her breast above her heart. As the shock wore off, her crystal blue eyes softened and filled with tears that shone in the Earthlight brighter than her silver hair or the linked golden circles that adorned the line of her shift dress. Tall and elegant and cold, she did not well resemble the old Princess of the Moon Kingdom, and it had been long since she was mistaken for her. She was Queen Serenity II, sole ruler of her world, sole survivor of a terrible assault on her kingdom, and she was alive, despite how much she had wished otherwise in the days following the burial of her friends, her family, and her only love. That that part of her had finally gotten its wish and lived on so vividly in the minds of those children as a heartbroken, malicious spirit made her feel like a crossroads stretched out before her: she could either choose to continue embracing the ghost of her past and forever mourn the loved ones she had lost, or lay the ghost to rest and open herself up to the hearts of these new arrivals.
Luna turned a corner and paused, bowing her head slightly, “Your Majesty.”
Hope was the one thing she had been good at, and yet now it seemed like the most terrifying prospect. “Luna,” she greeted, slowly easing her grip around the object clutched in her hand.
“I apologize, but have you seen them?”
“It has been a long time since you have had to keep up with children,” Queen Serenity II replied, her tone thawing. She turned slightly, looking upon her old friend and really seeing her for the first time in a very long time. A smile, foreign to her for so long, tried to shape upon her lips, “Don’t be hard on yourself. Venus was just telling them a story in the garden; I’m afraid I must have scared them. I think you’ll find them in the Chamber of Prayer.”
Luna stared at her with shock, though of a vastly different type than the children had. She nodded and continued on the path, crossing in front of her towards the most direct route to the Crystal Tower.
“Would you mind redirecting them to the solar?” she asked, and Luna paused, turning as though she did not quite believe what she heard. Serenity did not blame her, though that long-lost smile fought harder to appear. “I’d like to play a game with them.”
“A game?” Luna replied, almost choking on the suggestion.
Her heart growing warm, she slipped the trinket into a pocket and nodded, her smile finally arriving. “I’d like to take them ghost hunting.”
Submitted by: Sailor Uranus (Kyra) We received one entry for the contest, so there will be no voting.
However, I will be awarding 10 points (double the usual 5 point value) to anyone who submits constructive feedback for the contest entry author to me via PM. This will be provided anonymously to the writer.
The deadline to submit this feedback and earn the points is the "Voting ends" date of Monday, November 5. |
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Professor Tomoe Inner Senshi Admin
Activities Director
Title : Formerly Aurae; The Galaxy Cauldron Forums' Official Professor Tomoe Posts : 6250 Join date : 2013-07-23 Location : Chicago
| | Subject: Re: [Contest] October 2018: Ghost Stories - Winner Announced! 6th November 2018, 8:40 am | |
| Thank you for entering the contest! Your participation is greatly appreciated! The winner for October is... Sailor Uranus (Kyra)! Congratulations! ![[Contest] October 2018: Ghost Stories - Winner Announced! Hxiqw8Z](https://i.imgur.com/Hxiqw8Z.png) |
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| | Subject: Re: [Contest] October 2018: Ghost Stories - Winner Announced! | |
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