Real Estate.

Rick Craft | Sonnie Marie

Great spirit level in the sky

Synonyms for “Walk”:

▪️Theystrolled through the garden hand in hand.

▪️Shetramped through the mud, her legs aching.

▪️Hehiked up the hill.

▪️The cat awoke and moseyed to her food bowl.

▪️Heprowled around the corner as the girl neared.

▪️Hemarched around the school yard, feeling proud.

▪️Sheambled into the kitchen with a yawn.

▪️Hewandered through the hallways, staring down at th map.

▪️Shetrodslowlyacross the old bridge, watching her feet.

▪️Heproceeded on his way after stopping for a drink.

▪️The boys trooped into the locker room after a long game.

▪️The boy and girl sauntered down the road.

▪️Sheplodded toward the house, having finished her jog.

▪️Hepatrolled up and down the street.

▪️The dogs roamed the open meadows.

Clarity:

She went all the way to the store by the way of a car in which she had just purchased. ✖️

Vs.

She went to the store in a car she had just purchased. ✔️

He very much loved the sounds that the cars made as they made their way passed his house at a very fast pace.✖️

Vs.

He loved the cars’ sounds as they quickly passed his house. ✔️

▪️Avoid run on sentences:

He bought a dog from the shelter because he wanted to give a homeless dog a nice new home and that made him feel like a good person. ✖️

Vs.

He bought a dog from the shelter because he wanted to give a homeless dog a nice new home. This made him feel like a good person.

▪️Cut out “was” when possible:

Courtney was smiling. ✖️

Vs.

Courtney smiled. ✔️

▪️Try using one sentace paragraphs:

She liked how the rain felt on her bare skin.

So, she chose to walk home, her feet crashing through puddles.

It took longer than it would have in a car.

But she didn’t regret it.

▪️Try shorter sentences:

Ann’s heart felt sad.

She didn’t know what had caused it.

All she knew was that she woke up one morning feeling sad.

▪️Be conside:

I like carrots. Carrots are better than broccoli.✖️

Vs.

I like carrots better than broccoli. ✔️

▪️Be Specific:

She ate a snack.✖️

Vs.

She ate peanut butter crackers. ✔️

She went out for entertainment.✖️

Vs.

She went to the theater.✔️

▪️Paint pictures:

The sun was yellow. The sky was blue.✖️

Vs.

The sky was a blanket of gold, fluttering through the pale blue. ✔️

▪️Express don’t impress:

Scintillating gold fulgrated across the sphere it was a quintessential evening.✖️

Vs.

Sparkling gold mixed through the navy sky. It was the perfect evening. ✔️

Flowing thoughts : you knew I missed you Bombay, didn’t you? (part II)

.

But It has been a month now, since life seems to be on pause. Days and week go on, and we have lost the sense of time. From laziness to anger, frustration and solitude, it has been a month now, since we all are stuck, encaged like birds. Encaged at home, in a room, in some thoughts and in our minds. We all are sitting calm like bombs, patiently waiting to taste life again. A month now, we are asked to stay away from each other, for the sake of the humanity. I feel split between my feelings. Sometimes I want to be left alone, sometimes I crave for human interaction. I feel caught by some nostalgia and reverie.

We all, here, care and worry for our loved ones. We pour out our hearts, sometimes. We make plans for the moment our wings won’t be clipped anymore. When we would enjoy the tiniest things we never thought we would miss. We do realise that we took so many things for granted. Probably, we will apprieciate things differently, value people’s company more, probably.

We tend to learn again to enjoy the simpliest things we are allowed to and that surround us. Far from the hustle and bustle. Old books smells, that breeze in your hair while walking to the grocery, the music - the companion to your solitude, that has been a remedy to your eventual loneliness. Don’t you enjoy, through that window, seeing the sun going down letting the moon and stars looking upon us at night. Don’t you find some peace to your restlessness?

Ph : Shuvangi S.C

“You know didi, at home, everyone likes It when I sing those old hindi songs, especially my father after having worked hard the whole day. He forgets all the tiredness, and I can see the smile and pride on his face. That is why I want to be a singer. For all the other drivers to listen to me in their car while working, and feel happy.”

Story telling, mumbai 2020.

Some moments from Mumbai I will always cherish, are those spent with these kids.

Sitting with them and talking, playing, seeing them being nasty around or just fighting, before they go back to work, to sell what they have – a pen, a packet of tissues, earings. I remember them telling me about their favorite hindi movies. Viraj’s love for chocolate, and burgers. Veer’s favorite subjects at school, maths or sciences. Radhika wanting to be a teacher when she grows up. Them working hard here when they can, to help their family. I remember their stories, of some people they came across, their inhumanity and cruelty, that just made my blood boil.

Life, at times, gives you more than what you expect, and sometimes, just takes away what is needed. Anything that has a value to you, or just something you have a right on. I believe as a child, you have the right to grow up in a healthy and safe environment, surrounded by loving and supportive ones. Life owes you innocence and carefreeness, untainted of burdensome responsibilities or atrocities. What is, sometimes, just taken away, way too early, reflected by worry lines on the forehead.

But everytime we would meet, just seeing them laugh was a good source of oxytocin. Astonished by their maturity, softness and purity. How they would fight with each other to share their juice or food with me or “Didi we won’t have”. Just big hearts and bright smiles.

Turn on the sound and enjoy the story

Okay I’m finally free so I’m gonna start explaining the story I saw in my dream. Let me tell you that I hardly have dreams and for me to see an entire story and that too about the Miraculous characters, of course I had to write it down.

-It was a miraculous As Above So Below (sort of) AU. If you haven’t watched that movie you should it’s absolutely insane I love it.

-Nino & Alya were the main characters and were dating. Adrien and Marinette were side characters and not dating. They were a group of four friends who were discoverers and travelers, and Alya, being one of the main, was an archeologist. This role suited Alya so much oh my god. She was so dedicated to her work it was amazing to watch her.

Anyways basically Alya found out about an ancient relic containing information about the whereabouts of the Philosopher’s Stone that grants life. The stone was one of the miraculous I think. It was the same lore as the movie, that Alya wanted to find that stone in order to save her fathers entire life’s hard work. So the four set off for somewhere in a country. Idk where it was, but the journey was them in a convertible like fucking Nancy Drew lmao as they drove off across a desert to find the cave where the relic was.

They found a hotel close to the cave (wow) and they all slept in a room that was big but had, like, three beds in line like you’d see in a hotel room.

anyways, they put their stuff on the floor like the messy travelers they were. Cameras, bags, papers, everything scattered everywhere as they had the room booked for the week.

Day 1, 

they set off for the cave. Long story short, found the base of the cave where the large stone relic was in all its ancient glory. 

The info however, was in a language that even Alya couldn’t understand. Now if you remember the scene where Scarlett desperately tries to decode the meaning behind the words, that’s exactly what Alya tries to do. Nino has a hand on her shoulder as she tries to read it. When suddenly Adrien and Marinette hear the sounds of low sirens. You know, that deadass horrifying sounds like in the movie that make you pee your pants. That. Anyways.

Adrien tells Alya that he doesn’t think they should stay any longer.

Alya desperately shakes her head. She says she HAS to try. If they can decode it today they can move on to the next part of the mission. The sound gets louder. Nino squeezes Alya’s shoulder tighter and tells her that they REALLY should go now. She’s stubborn asf like Scarlett smh

The ground starts shaking and Marinette starts saying louder and louder to Alya that they really need to be alive if they want to continue and that they should run for now. 

Suddenly the shaking gets too much and the sound gets so loud that they all clutch their heads and they faint.

When they wake up, they’re all in their hotel room. It’s the morning of the next day.

Day 2, 

They have no idea how that happened, and as creepy and sus as the experience is for them they’re determined to not give up and Alya says that she needs to read the thing from beginning to end in order to start making sense of it. She wasn’t able to do that because of the mysterious sounds and then fainting. The recording they made of the words appear blank. In all the videos it looks like there isn’t anything written on the stone at all. So they set off again.

Btw did I mention that I really liked the fact that Alya and Nino were the main characters? Idk but the vibe in the dream was perfect.

This time before heading to the cave they went into a market to see different cultural things and get inspired. It was a happy time. They were enjoying themselves. You know like that small happy scene the movie gives you before shit goes down? Yeah.

Finally the fun comes to an end (alya and nino are busy being couples the entire time. Adrien just keeps staring at Marinette because.

You know the side characters+ not dating =might end up dating somewhere along the way.)

Anyways the mood dampens when they reach the cave. They prepare mentally, take deep breaths. Grab each others hands and set off again. They reach the base again. Set up their equipment. Alya starts trying to read again. Marinette’s kind of scared and her hands are shaking this time so Adrien grabs her hands for comfort because side character moment (okay lmao I’ll stop).

So while Alya is reading the relic, the sounds start again. They all tense up, but my kids are determined. Alya continues to read when this time, shadows start appearing around them. They all black out before they can even say anything about the shadows.

Again, they wake up, confused and scared, in their hotel room. It’s the same day but night time.

Day 3, 

They’re all shaken up but preparing to head out again. As they’re in the room, Adrien feels like he saw one of the bags move on its own. He mentions it but since no one else saw it, they let it drop. It’s important to mention that as the days progress, they start noticing more and more paranormal activity. And it always occurs in their hotel room. Nowhere else.

Each day they try to go to the cave, something more horrifying than the last happens. Each time they wake up in the hotel room they’re more shaken up.

Day 4, 

Marinette’s sick of this cycle. Nino is too, but every time he tries to tell Alya it ends in nothing but an argument and a lot of tears so he stops saying it. Adrien just wants to stay alive lmao.

On day four, as it’s night time and they just finish dinner, Adrien finds Marinette at the back of the hotel building. There’s some sort of garden there, and she’s standing in the middle of it, looking at and touching the flowers. Adrien calls her and she looks up. He walks up to her and tells her that for some reason he feels like something’s not right. He confesses to her that he’s scared, and that he always had a bad feeling about this mission from the start, but with the way things are looking and with how tonight he wanted to BET an even intense paranormal activity will take place in their room because its day 4, he feels like he needs to tell her his honest feelings before it’s too late. He tells her that he loves her no matter what happens in the end, or if they make it out alive or not. Marinette smiles and idk why she doesn’t confess in return but like she smiles and nods and hugs him so I’m guessing she did say it back and stuff. My brain was just lagging to put that little info in.

When they go back to the room they tell Alya and Nino about their confession. That’s the first good news Alya has heard in a week.

Day 5. 

They repeat the process. But this time there is a heaviness that wasn’t there before. They’re stiff, but Alya says that she’s pretty sure she’s almost gotten all of it. The same sequence happens all over again. But this time real shit happens.

The ground is shaking and the sirens are deathdifying but it doesn’t even bother Alya much anymore. She’s steadying herself as she reads it out loud, when suddenly Adrien shouts “LOOK OUT”

A figure appears from somewhere. Wearing a black robe that covers its face and body completely. The sounds that start now are more core-shaking than the sirens. It’s a really horrifying scene trust me when I say that.

A green flame come’s out from the chest of the figure, and when that figure looks up, it’s just a skeleton. Marinette screams. But then, and this scene is really funny to me, the flame says that this skeleton is the guardian of the stone. It was given a spirit by Hades to protect the relic and it’s information (I gues you can say the hades au really got to my head huh). And then the figure lunges at Alya and she tries to run from it, but she falls and it grabs her foot. A hole opens in the ground that very much looks like it opens up in hell and then the figure tries to drag Alya into it. They’re all screaming and holding onto each other for support as Nino grabs Alya’s hand and tries to save her. 

They do end up freeing her from the guardian’s clutches, but then a piercing scream in the cave makes them all lose consciousness.

As expected, they all wake up in their rooms with a jolt, this time looking at each other with wild looks, when the lights in the hotel room go out. And the scream from the cave erupts in the room. Suddenly there’s a lot of sounds, and when the lights come back on again, they find that every single thing in the room is destroyed or tossed around. The belongings and clothes are literally everywhere. The wooden beds are broken in half and flipped. The curtains are torn. Ngl it was very horrifying.

Anyways so while this was fun to write, I kind of woke up after this. Thank you for your time. If you have an ending in mind, please do let me know. I really want to know how it ends.