#wip Skeleton Keys

[cometkov]

OC-TOBER 2021, DAY 01: JOURNEY

hosted by @oc-growth-and-development; prompt list here

“Why don’t you want to stay?”

“I want to go someplace. I love it here—it’s my home—but I can’t stay. I’d lose my mind walking down the same block for the rest of my life, seeing the same people on the train every morning, watching the sun tip from the same angle every night. Same this, same that. Same me.”

I followed Mercy’s gaze into the distance where the city blazed against the dark horizon. It all looked so small. I could reach out and hold it all in the palm of my hand. “Doesn’t it scare you? It’s like…it’s like when you read about characters going on some grand journey. They face goblins and dragons and everything wants to kill them at every turn. And none of it would have happened if they had just stayed put.”

She scoffed, but not condescendingly. “Looks like you and Robin really are twins.”

“Robin wants to go places too. They want to get the hell out of Pinnacle and have a normal life.” And I’m the only thing stopping them.

I didn’t say it, but Mercy had a way of prying into people’s minds, knowing what they really meant. Or maybe I was really that open of a book.

She leaned over the edge of the river, stomach pressed against the railing until she was nearly ninety degrees. You know, you have this really bad habit of turning nothing into something.”

“You don’t know them like I do. All their life they’ve wanted to get away, to go to college in some far-away country and pour through unfamiliar books. All they’re doing with me is rotting away.” My fingers curled around the rail, cold metal and chipped paint biting into my skin. It all came spiking through my blood. Sharp. Unpleasant. It hurt to know I was holding them back. I tried not to think about it, but all that talk of ‘away’ got to me. There was an entire world out there, and I wanted nothing to do with it.

I took a step back, quickly stuffing my hands into my pockets. “Sorry. Just forget it. We should head back now anyway.”

Mercy matched my pace, not so easily deterred. “It’s not—what did you say, goblins and dragons? It’s not a hero’s journey, it’s just life. Robin can make their own decisions. If they’re staying with you, it’s because they want to.”

“Right.” I nodded. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. I hadn’t wanted to talk about it in the first place. Everything always seemed to come spilling out despite that, though.

[cometkov]

breathing & drowning & breathing & breathing

But the words are a flood—rushing through one ear and spilling out the other. It’s all storm water and debris sloshing in my skull, pulling me under and under and under.

But the words are a flood—rushing through one ear and spilling out the other. It’s all storm water and debris sloshing in my skull, pulling me under and under and under.

“Robin,” something warm pressed against my chest, “Breathe.”

It comes like a command this time. Like it’s something I’m bound to do. Breathe. Breathe.

So I do.

Sun pours through the dark halo of clouds swirling in my mind. Miraculously, when I beg my lungs to unfetter, they obey. The air burns like orange juice and toothpaste—a sign I shouldn’t after all.

“You’re okay,” she says, her voice clear as still water.

“I’m okay,” I repeat, forcing myself to take another gulp of flaming oxygen. “Cr…Crater Lake…” And suddenly I’m struggling to pace myself. It’s like I can’t get enough of this whole breathing thing. “It’s this lake in Oregon. Really deep. Really clear. You can see…maybe…maybe 150 feet down into it. It doesn’t have any rivers or anything. The only thing feeding it is rain.”

Brier nods. I can see her now: kneeling beside me, hand pressed against my chest and coaxing the anxiety from my lungs.

“Yeah?” she asks in a way that means go on. ]

[ “A-And there’s a legend that it’s a crossroads between heaven and hell. Or not really, but kinda. It’s like…the spirits from above and below.” It comes easier now—the air, the words, the existing. “Skell and Llao. Llao ripped out Skell’s heart and Skell chopped up Llao and threw them in the lake. Now all that’s left is their vengeful spirit. There are a lot of supernatural sightings there.”

“Where did you hear about that?”

“Google.”

She smiles gently. Then, looking away from my shaking hands to my trembling face, she asks, “What happened?”

“I don’t know. That’s the end of the legend.”

“I mean what happened with you?”

Oh. I shove my fists between my legs. “Nothing. It was nothing.”

Brier doesn’t say anything for a few moments, just looks torn up inside. She thinks she’s not good at this because she’s a passive force: a sit there and listen person; an offer you something sweet person; a here’s a blanket let’s listen to the crickets person. But I need that more than she realizes.

I put my hand over her’s so it’s like we’re both touching my heart. “It’s nothing. Really. I just need a drink or something.”

She perks up immediately. “I’ll make you some tea.”

My body feels lighter. I let myself nod. “Yeah. Yeah, thanks.” ]

[cometkov]

(for the record these are traced, i just wanted visuals for my crow Wonders)

[cometkov]

skeleton keys excerpts, except i haven’t written anything substantial for months and i’m looking over old writing (ｰ ｰ;)

[ ID: Something hot whispered against my neck, behind my eyes, in my blind spots. Goosebumps rose like vapor over my skin.

You do not belong here.

It spoke from nowhere and everywhere at once. I searched the trees, the shadows of bushes, the gaps between the leaves, but was met only with neon ghosts; scorching, invisible memories. I shouldn’t know this. I shouldn’t know this.

You do not belong anywhere.

Hot. Paralyzing. Like falling out of the sun. I was covered in it—a phantom burning. It was all oily things I should have forgotten. All matches and kerosene. All catching fire like moths and porch lights. I shouldn’t know this. I need to go home.

So where do you long for? ]

[ ID: Mercy crossed her arms beside me, looking up at the sunset. “You guys live in the middle of nowhere, right? If I spun around in a circle, would the whole sky look like that?”

I considered it: the towering oaks and bristling pines, the blur between flowering and evergreen, and how the spring ushered in colors like no other. “I don’t think so. There’s too much forest.”

“I want to go to Nebraska one day,” she went on, eyes blazing, “Or Iowa, or Wyoming, somewhere with big cornfields that take up the whole place so when I look up I feel like I’m drowning.” ]

[ ID: They collapsed. Inward, at first, like a dying star. Then, it all came spilling out. They wept into me, their cries becoming mine. I didn’t know who held who, only that we held each other and that was all that mattered. We were together and it was okay. ]

[cometkov]

WIP MASTERPOST — SKELETON KEYS 

for starters, check out the wip introduction and shitty powerpoint summary.

skeleton keys tag

sk inspiration

my general writing

CHARACTERS

🗝 Brier Greene // #a menu for brier.

📋 Robin Greene

🧸 Mercy Durand // #just one more plushie for mercy.

🕯 Sage Uchida

additional characters: Auster; Oak; M; Opera (the cat)

WORLD BUILDING

what are Wonders? // #wip sk: wonder inspo

Pinnacle // #wip sk: pinnacle vibes

info dumps: Halloween, cats.

[cometkov]

WONDER

/ˈwəndər/

noun

a creature that has been possessed by a spirit and subsequently undergoes a process of rapid decay.

I watched the Wonder stalk out of the forest, a silent fear blooming in my chest as the foul stench of rot and miasma took hold of me.

for wonder (v.) as in to be struck with awe and excitement, look elsewhere. you will find no admiration with these creatures.

WHAT ARE WONDERS?

OVERVIEW

to understand what a Wonder is, you first have to understand how the world works. energy flows through the Earth—through river and rock, through smoke and air, even through your very bones. when energy flows in a current, ley lines form; when ley lines intersect, energy hotspots form. these hotspots eject small blips of energy, like a fire spits out embers, called Sprites that are relatively harmless; however, if a Sprite is powerful enough, it can possess a living host and cause trouble. when a Sprite possesses something, it’s called a Wonder.

to most people, Wonders are indistinguishable from normal animals except in late stages of decay, where they may appear sick, injured, or rabid. however, a select few can see their true nature. these people are called Wondermongerers (or WMs for short).

although Wonders are not inherently evil, because of their nature of possession, they pose a threat to animals and people alike. it is the job of WMs to keep Wonders in check and prevent them from causing chaos.

when a Wonder is powerful enough to maintain a body for a long period of time, it gains consciousness and may even begin to integrate with its host, although these cases are extremely rare and very specific conditions must be met. this is generally the point in which a Wonder becomes dangerous. development of an ego means the ability to choose destruction—it is no longer a side effect of nature.

RELATION TO WIP

all main characters except Robin can see Wonders. because of this, Robin has become very aware of how Brier (and others) react in order to gauge a situation they cannot perceive. they also keep a hefty notebook with all the information they learn so they can still be of use.

MORE INFO

because i love these funky little creatures, here’s a short list of the current Wonders i have (though not all of them will make it into the actual story)

Oak; a powerful Wonder that has deemed herself the guardian of Pinnacle’s forest and made it her personal duty to scare the living hell out of Brier. she has the ability to shape-shift between animals and a humanoid form, but she has a giveaway sign of two tails.

Honey Bear; a bear with a body made of yellow, holey gelatin that looks very similar to honey.

Dust Bunnies; what Brier calls Spirites since they appear as fuzzy balls of light that vaguely resemble a rabbit.

The Corvids; the collective horde of crow Wonders that terrorize Brier by stealing her keys, snacks, shoes (it was only once but it was kinda funny) and various other items of importance.

The Ink Wonder; tentatively named the Grim Legend for its ability to posses stories, this Wonder is the reason Brier and Robin have to go to the city. Auster tasks them with sealing it and things go wry, to say the least.

M; it’s a secret, shhh...but i will tell you my favorite part about her design which is her scarlet and gold eyes that are simultaneously a painful and delightful experience to describe

[cometkov]

TOP 3 WIP INSPIRATION TAG

tagged by @pheita

this tag is perfect because Skeleton Keys is just me seeing something cool, getting insanely jealous, and forcibly jamming it down the wip’s throat. that being said, the top three things that have influenced me are...

1. every single youkai media i have ever laid my eyes on

you name it: spirited away, natsume yuujinchou, gegege no kitaro, mushishi, kamisama kiss, kemono jihen, mieruko-chan, all of them have made me go ‘oh my god funky little creatures hhhhhhh’ and create the youkai-like ‘Wonders’ of my wip.

2. Lemon Boy by Cavetown

this is the song i would listen to on repeat for hours when thinking about SK. for a long time, i saw brier as lemon boy and robin as the gardener. even though their dynamic has definitely evolved past the song, i still listen to it when i need to brainstorm.

3. THIS

the very first thing i wrote for SK was like. less than 100 words for a prompt from corvidprompts. i shoved it into my drafts and never posted it (again, it was very short) but thought about it almost everyday and eventually it turned into my wip today! brier’s name was originally eris; she was a full-blooded demon before i developed the weird circumstances around her existence later on. robin’s name was actually brier (which is incredibly funny to me now) and i imagined them with an undercut. it’s now the first post in my drafts. i keep it there to remind myself how far ive come with both the wip and my writing in general!

tagging (with no pressure ofc) @harehearts @quartzess @theguardianofmagic

[cometkov]

SKELETON KEYS, february 2021; (361 words) why are they in a car? where are they going? who cares! *throws some quality sibling time at you*

The trees looked like giant dandelions, branches bare except for their fluffy white, snow-heavy tops. A few with thin trunks bowed under the weight to create mock-arcs along the side of the road.

Robin snored softly from my shoulder, lulled to sleep by the rocking of the car. As I rested my head atop of their’s, I could hear the faint, electronic thump of music drift from their headphones. I gently pried their phone out of their hand and tucked it into their coat pocket where I could feel a small collection of pens. A wrapper crinkled against my wandering fingers.

Bingo.

“I’m pretty sure that’s considered stealing,” Auster chided, watching me through the rear view mirror as I peeled the plastic open.

“It’s payment for my shoulder service.”

He shook his head and chuckled, but let me munch on my animal crackers in peace. They were the ones with tiny sprinkles and a neon pink frosting that tasted only vaguely of strawberry. They dissolved into a thick glob in my mouth.

It took me all of five minutes to finish the small pack. I busied myself with the scenery outside the window: a dreary landscape and the occasional absurdly-colored car passing by. It wasn’t that I hated winter, but there just wasn’t much to do inside. On the bright side, some of the Wonders went into hibernation and left me with less to worry about for a few months.

Robin complained about the cold, but loved the excuse to sit on the living room couch, swaddled by a massive blanket, and read for hours. Every once in a while I could coerce them into making snow angels or having a snowball fight or walking me to the store for candy. I’d always promise them a coffee out of it.

As if stirred by my very thought, Robin squirmed awake. I lifted my head so they could do the same.

They unsuccessfully tried to stifle a yawn. “Are we...there yet?”

“Still another hour.”

“Jeez, wake me up when we’re there.” They readjusted their headphones before nuzzling up against me again. I hope they had more snacks in their other pocket.

[cometkov]

was going to do some light editing on a long car ride but wrote 1.5K instead...i mean, i’m not complaining, just surprised. in celebration of doing the bare minimum as a writer, here’s my favorite part:

Mercy gave me an encouraging push before her hands fell away. “Come on, Brier. Off you go.”

I keep my skates as straight as possible, shifting my balance between feet as I let gravity and bent knees do the work. There was a fleeting moment of pride I felt before the wheels began to wobble and the inevitable crash came.

Robin cackled, pointing and laughing at me despite having been the one on the floor just moments ago. "See! It's not easy!"

is this just Robin making fun of Brier? mmmaybe. is this chapter just me having the time of my life with character dynamics? pppossibly.

[cometkov]

FIND THE WORD TAG

tagged by @pheita

WATER;  I stuck my head under the faucet, letting the sound of water rush past my ears and drown out the murmuring nightmares. The sink's bowl was so shallow that my nose squashed against the drain, but I was too tired to lift my head anyways.

STONE; Precious stones hung around her neck, others secured to her knuckles with thick, gold wire.

BREATH; My lips peeled apart, lungs gasping. I needed it. Where was all the oxygen? It had been there. I know it had. I had been breathing. I had been fine. What was going on?

[cometkov]

LAST LINE TAG: despite the world attacking me from every angle this weekend, i did write a tiny bit...

tagged by @makeitmonstrous

I shifted awkwardly, hyper aware of my existence and the fact other people could perceive me. I wasn’t sure I liked it very much.

tagging @quilloftheclouds @kaylewiswrites @drowsy-quill

[cometkov]

PINNACLE

fictional small town in upstate New York

one of those places where weird things happen™️ and everyone pretends it’s normal (it’s not)

not terribly far from a highway, but a thick stretch of forest on all sides of the town makes it feel isolated

speaking of the forest—don’t

the things in there pretend you don’t exist. have a little courtesy and do the same.

notable sites include: a grocery store that only sells one brand of bread, but five diffrent milk favors, a pseudo-shrine at the entrance of a small hiking trail for appeasing unspeakable things, and a red barn.

RELATION TO WIP

Pinnacle is Brier and Robin’s hometown; the two currently live there with Auster as their guardian and rarely leave. there isn’t really any reason to until the story starts to kick off.

Oak is a resident Wonder (what supernatural creatures are called in the wip), specifically of that not-to-be-mentioned forest. because weaker Wonders mostly live there, Oak has declared herself its guardian (though some may argue she’s more of a king).

MORE INFO

if you, like me, are a little too into researching flora and fauna for your made-up place that isn’t even the main location in your wip, here’s some more details!

Pinnacle is located vaguely in the purple region, not terribly far from Syracuse. in theory, it’s not the middle of nowhere, but it sure feels like it! because of the aforementioned forest surrounding the town, any noises from outside are essentially absorbed and the tall trees make it difficult to spot the town from the highway a few miles down.

so the forest is actually two forests that eventually grew to meet. one is mainly quaking aspen—which looks cool as hell. it’s reminiscent of birch because of the black and white bark, but the best part is that it looks like eyes. yes, you read that right. eyes.

so now the forest really is always watching! there are also some maples sprinkled in, but that’s just the lower-forest. as you travel north, the trees begin to transition to coniferous species like spruce, pine, and hemlock.

there’s actually a small hiking trail that runs north to south that shows this change off well! locals know to always be respectful to the forest—you never know what’s nearby after all. there’s a small shire-like area at the entrance of the trail. someone threw away a music box there once and people began to notice that despite sitting in the dirt and rain, the wood never started to rot. a few whispers here and some gossip there and bam! people started leaving little trinkets inside the box before going on a hike and when they returned, the item was gone. usually people just leave a dime, but other common gifts include small snacks and jewelry. someone left a letter once and when they checked later, found an antler sitting on top of the music box with the letter tucked beneath it. from what, they never found out...

RELATED LINKS

Skeleton Keys tag

SK introduction post

my writing tag

[cometkov]

META TAG GAME

rules: infodump any cool meta about your wip! this can be anything you like: lore, worldbuilding, character development, metaphors, themes, symbolism, etc. just any cool details about your wip that makes it what it is.

tagged by @wordsofpaintandsmoke

the whole vibe of Skeleton Keys is basically the small cross section in a venn diagram where wacky scooby-doo gang meets deeply disturbing, eldritch horror and i must admit i am having the time of my life writing it

originally everything was going to take place on a school campus but now its in the library in NYC

food symbolism! Brier’s hunger is supposed to symbolism want/desire and connect to the idea of ‘feedig’ yourself. a lot of times we deny ourselves things because we think we don’t deserve them or that our wants are evil, but i want to try to subvert that. also i just think character with weird eating powers are cool :^P my allergies and anxiety also make it difficult to eat so i am living vicariously through Brier and her many, many snacks

when i first started Skeleton Keys, Robin used he/him pronouns, but flipped to she/her, and then bounced between she/her and they/them until finally! Robin uses they/them now and is nonbinary

Mercy has a plushie collection, out of which my favorite is a polar bear named Ursa because it’s based off a stuffed animal i have irl

tagging @bookishdiplodocus @aheadfullofstories @piyawrites (no pressure ofc! only if you want to!)

[cometkov]

LAST LINE TAG

tagged by @aheadfullofstories

My lip split from the impact. Thin red rivers trailed down my wrist, to my fingers, as I wiped my mouth, but I couldn't afford to worry about that now.

tagging @pheita @wordsofpaintandsmoke @bookishdiplodocus (if you all want to, plus anyone else who wants!)

[cometkov]

🕯 SAGE UCHIDA

She fiddled with one of her rings, twisting the silver band up and down her finger. “You know, this would be much nicer if I made some tea.”

❤️: cats, gemstones, gardening

💔: conflict, Ten of Swords

Sage is a sweetheart through and through. She vaules the little things in life, finding comfort in everyday routines or objects, and hates only one thing: arguing (and bad fortunes, but those can’t really be helped). She’ll go to the extreme to avoid conflict, but in the end it’s a vice that might come back to bite her.

Her black hair is waist-length and her eyes are hazel. She is the shortest among the main cast. Usually, she wears very flowy clothing like dresses and skirts.

related links: #oc sage; SK intro

[cometkov]

🧸 MERCY DURAND

“Don’t touch that!” Mercy snatched the plushie away, tucking it back into the mound of stuffed animals. She glared at us. “I’ll curse you if you so much as lay a pinky on Mr. Snuffles.”

❤️: stuffed animals, cooking, rollerblading

💔: dirty dishes, secrets

At first glance, Mercy may seem cold or stand-offish, but she just takes some time to warm up to strangers. She actually loves having company; spending time with friends, family, and being around people in general puts her at ease. Her loyalty may be fierce, but that doesn’t mean she won’t criticize her friends when she thinks its needed (especially if its because they’re messing with her plushies).

She has curly, voluminous black hair and matching black eyes. Out of the main cast, she is the second tallest. Though she is mostly dresses professionally for her job as a library page, her casual wear has more pops of color.

related links: #oc mercy; #just one more plushie for Mercy; SK intro post