Final thread I make of Writing competitions
Time to vote!
All in One
[size=small][spoiler]The frigid wind is merciless as it bears down on Elena during her evening stroll back to her apartment block. On most nights she can hope to only have to endure the cold itself, maybe a light breeze to slightly enhance the chill. Tonight, the breeze has become a gale that feels to her like it could simply push her over if she doesn't march against it. It wildly shrieks into her face and ears, easily piercing the many layers of clothing on her like an icy sword stabbing through armor and chilling the skin beneath. Her vision is often obscured by sheets of snow being blown this way and that way by the wind. While her clothing was insufficient to completely deal with the less than usual elements at play that night the mask tightly clasped over her mouth and nose was still able to keep the foul arsenic and nickel that lurked in the air out of her. Elena had purchased the mask after learning that the elderly man who had lived in the apartment next to hers had died due to respiratory issues. And that he hadn't actually been elderly at all. She had been well aware of the risks living in the city posed before coming to live here but that was the first time the repercussions of said risks had played out right in front of her.[/size]
[size=small]With each block that she passed while walking defiantly into the wind Elena found more of her numerous resentments bubbling towards the surface: her disdain for having no choice but to spend the company wages at the company store; contempt for whoever it was that thought painting each building with a bright, cheerful color would be enough to make things less gloomy; remembering yet again that the sun hadn't risen for two weeks now and likely wouldn't again for another three; the list went on. Whenever her thoughts would wander in this direction they would sooner or later come to ponder just what exactly she was doing here in the first place. Well, the very prospect of a steady job had been enticing enough and the pay was just icing on the cake so she supposed she couldn't blame herself too much for jumping at the opportunity like she had. At moments like these, Elena would remind herself that eventually she would be able to leave all this behind and move on to brighter pastures. It didn't totally nullify the doubts and disgruntled thoughts lingering in her mind but it did give her a reason to keep moving forward.[/size]
[size=small]Having lost herself in her own thoughts, as she often did when not working, Elena quite nearly walked past her own apartment block. A sideways glance at the building beside her snapped her out of her musing as she confirmed that, yes, this was indeed where she lived. She could stop walking now. And just like that, everything that had been occupying her thoughts for the past dozen or so minutes was whisked away like pieces of paper during a storm. Relief washed over her like sunlight as the concrete confines of the block banished the fierce wind from her. As she had many a time before, Elena walked over to her own apartment, fumbled around some in her pockets for the keys through gloved hands and then opened the door into her little sanctuary. The small apartment that had been completely bare when she had first inherited it could now be considered homely, with little touches like a rug from her family's home and a small portrait of the president with a caption reading "ACT CLEVER" on the bottom given to her as a joke by a coworker. After discarding the near wardrobe's worth of clothes she was wearing and brewing herself a quick cup of hot tea she flops down on the cot and snuggles in under the comforter. In spite of everything, Elena wears a look of contentment as sleep takes her.[/spoiler][/size]
[size=small]LucianDreamer[/size]
[size=small][size=small][spoiler]The life of a ship undergoes three legs of a long journey, and many things can go very wrong for her. Many a ship has partaken in the trials, but only so few can survive the treacherous high seas. The era of navigation is as ancient as man, for man have used nothing but the heavens to calculate the movements, and as technology pushes forward to build bigger vessels, even the strongest known to any captain on board can still sink because the ocean waves is always stronger than we are. The first step for a ship to pass is to weigh her down to dock safely, because no ship can sail without first being laid down. Any ships who fail to weigh down successfully are known as failed vessels.[/size]
[/size]
[size=small] The second step of a ship is to test its maximum design speed and the amount of punishment she can take hold, some ships are destined to feel fear not by its looks, but from the experience of her crew. The bigger she is, the more she can take, but bigger displacement slows her down, forcing a crew to work harder to make it go faster. Every vessel in history takes on a form that makes up her personality in every detail from the hull up to the masts. When it comes to dealing with the waves, the ship’s crew has to make a tough decision, sail through it or go around it, and an unprepared crew can seal the captain’s and the ship’s fate. Once the ship makes it back into safe harbor again, the vessel itself already knows she passes the second stage.[/size]
[size=small][size=small]Last and not the least, the third and final step is to see how long she can make it before she can decommission. This may seem like the toughest out of all the three, because not every vessel can survive very long, and count that as a total loss in the service. Not only that, some cannot even compete with the rapid expansion of tech growth, rendering her obsolete and struck down. When a ship does make it through many years until it shows age, the crew can then thank her joyfully for living a long life for passing the third and final stage, and can preserve or scuttle her into the darkest depths. Resources can be replaced anew, but ships and the crews’ lives that serve onboard them do not, and the cycle of naval service will keep going until not a single man can touch the helm. [/spoiler][/size][/size]
