J. V. Nightingale
LightNews LightNews
banner
jvnightingale.bsky.social
J. V. Nightingale
@jvnightingale.bsky.social
20 followers 7 following 77 posts
they/star/he

So much has been happening in my personal life. I feel disoriented and overwhelmed and hopeless, and I don't foresee an end to any of it. I'm so sorry...
Posts Replies Media Videos
jvnightingale.bsky.social
A very tired-looking white cat
October 20, 2025 at 11:24 PM
jvnightingale.bsky.social
The start of one of my favourite chapters. It's really just scenery, but I liked it.

#writersky
A document in dark theme, reading: "The great gongs of a distant church bell echoed through the open air; once, twice…ten total times it rang. With it came the low, howling wind, which brushed against their skin as they sat outside and stared up at the star-spotted sky. Each pinprick of light sparkled like tiny gemstones sewn into black velvet, a scant few clustered into patterns while all others were scattered like paint splatter. It's probably time to head inside, the Muse advised. "Perhaps," Jean yawned, though they had no intention of following through. Instead, they watched a cloud crawl through the air, visible only through its eclipsing of the light. Slowly, Jean was able to determine its shape, but only after no part of it hid outside their field of view. They hadn't bothered to turn their head or otherwise glance in the direction the cloud came from; in their drowsy state, their eyes remained locked on what was above them." The word "brush" in "brushed" is highlighted in blue.
August 16, 2025 at 12:02 AM
jvnightingale.bsky.social
This is early in Chapter VII, when Jean and Cassidy meet for the second time.
A screenshot of a document in dark theme, the text reading: "When the two, at last, arrived at her small office, Cassidy closed the door behind her and pulled out the chair that sat on the opposite side of her desk from hers. The two sat down near-simultaneously, and Jean took a brief moment to observe their new surroundings. A calendar hung just behind her on the cream-coloured wall, the date not marked, but the month accurate. To its left was a framed pressed flower—a chrysanthemum, if Jean was unmistaken—its tiny petals as white as paper and soft as fabric. Between them loomed a clock which produced a faint click with every second, reminding them of their grandparent's house. The sound would have been comforting had it not been for Cassidy's presence. She rearranged the objects on her dark, wooden desk—some papers, stationary, and a rather fancy pen—then interlocked her hands in their place." The word "flower" is highlighted in blue.
August 15, 2025 at 11:59 PM
jvnightingale.bsky.social
Surprisingly, I don't have anything for the 12th-15th, but I'm going backwards anyway, so I suppose it doesn't matter much.

This is the beginning of Chapter II, the start of a peculiar dream which Jean later learns has more significance than they first thought.

#writersky #WIPsnips
A screenshot of a document in dark mode, the text reading: "II: The Spectre Before them stood a perfect, untouched bookshelf, which filled the whole of their vision so that through only the gaps between the tops of books and the bottoms of shelves could they see a backdrop of nothingness. Their periphery no longer existed, and a heavy fog blocked out all other sensations. For all they knew, there was no air surrounding them, no floor under their feet, and no smell of wood and paper, as they had grown to expect. Were they…real? It all felt real, just with a sort of mental haze that kept them locked in the present, unable to think. Schrödinger’s lucidity. Where were they, anyway? Toward a sudden clicking sound, their head turned. One of the books had been pulled, a yellow one, the furthest left on the middle shelf. It stuck itself just a centimetre out into the open. Next, straight across, another followed suit, a red hardback—no, a white—no, its colour was unbeknownst to humankind. Somehow, the memory of the yellow book had stained itself blue. They knew it was wrong. It was always blue. Three more clicks: below, above, below. Oh, it's a star." The first instance of "real" is highlighted in blue.
August 15, 2025 at 11:54 PM
jvnightingale.bsky.social
This turns out to be a very bad idea, as Jean predicted lol

#writersky
A screenshot of a document in dark mode, reading: "'Max, I don't think this is a good idea.' They pivoted on their heel. 'What if I get stuck, and you aren't able to reopen the door? What if there's something down there that could hurt me? Regardless, this is blatant trespassing! If we're caught in any way, shape, or form, I could lose my job, or worse—isn't trespassing illegal?!' He placed a gentle hand on their arm. 'You worry too much. Wasting your time fretting over possibilities will only lead you to miss the opportunities right in front of your face. Just head down while we still have the chance.'" The word "lead" is highlighted in blue.
July 22, 2025 at 2:16 AM
jvnightingale.bsky.social
Graphic design is my passion.
A poorly constructed moodboard with a backdrop of an assortment of dark library images and a foreground of scattered memes. In the top left is one reading "This is my boyfriend, Max, and this is Max's boyfriend, Demarcus," with the speaker labelled as Jean. Some distance from that is an image if a white cat staring at the camera. It has a bit of a fisheye effect. Next to that is a screenshot of a Tumblr post by yourlittlebunny which reads, "me when i realise i have ocs and can make them suffer as much as i please" and has a low quality image of a grinning emoji face. Below it is a four-image meme captioned, "hey look my nonbinary friends showed up". The images, in order, are a biblically accurate angel, a fairy, Mothman, and a spotted cat. In the centre left of the moodboard is a meme of a beady-eyed hamster captioned, "can I come over and stare at you like this". Below that is the meme of the person driving with an evil grin, captioned, "me when i my characers".
June 27, 2025 at 6:08 PM
jvnightingale.bsky.social
An out of context bit of a conversation between Max and Jean that I thought was cute (though it is definitely only a draft ^^;)
#writersky #WIPSnips
A screenshot of a document in dark mode, split between two pages, reading: "With a smile finally lighting their face, they nodded. 'Thank you for letting me get that off my chest.' 'My pleasure!' he beamed. 'Do you feel better now?' 'Yes, much so.' 'Great!' He rolled onto his feet and added, 'Any time you need me, just let me know. I'm always here for you.' A hint of red adorned their cheeks as they averted their eyes and thanked him again. Max could not help but reflect their widening smile as he took in the subtle glint in their dark eyes. He wanted to return to their side, take their hand in his, and comfort them further, but he reminded himself of the list of assignments he already neglected for them. His heart sank, but he lifted his bag by the strap and slung it over his shoulder regardless. The bliss in Jean's face faded in an instant. 'Are you leaving?' 'Yeah, sorry. I have a lot to do.' 'Oh. Um…' They glanced at his shoes, then his bag. 'Is it all homework?' He nodded. 'You can do it in here if you want. I mean, I don't have anything I need to do right now—and frankly, even if I did, I'm not doing it tonight. It's up to you, but—' 'I'd love to!' He tossed his bag on the bed before hopping onto it himself. They pushed themself back, despite him having plenty of room. 'A-are you sure?' 'Of course! I'll take any excuse to spend more time with you.'" The word "side" is selected in blue.
June 27, 2025 at 5:25 PM
jvnightingale.bsky.social
Didn't have "challenge", but I did have "difficult." Here's a bit of dialogue between Jean, Max, and Demarcus:
A screenshot of a document in dark mode, reading: "Max leaned in to inspect the page. 'Is this everything?' They shrugged. 'I suppose so.' 'Then let's move on.' Demarcus sat down on their opposite side, then, as if he made a mistake, he quickly rose. 'What can we make of the other items here?' Both of his companions contemplated his question, looked at each other, then returned their attention to the paper. Not a word was spoken. 'Oh, come on! Aren't you writers or something? You two should be masters at this!' Jean sighed. 'Literary analysis is difficult when you're in the midst of the narrative.'" The word "difficult" is selected in blue.
June 26, 2025 at 4:14 PM
jvnightingale.bsky.social
A bit of a boring snippet that definitely needs to be edited, but this is what I got:
A screenshot of a document in dark mode, reading: "For better and for worse, what remained of the day's classes were not nearly as monotonous. Most of them went smoothly—typically, even. The last, however, surprised them with a short essay they failed to study for, having neglected it in favour of more pertinent assignments. The problem itself was a simple one: they had to explain the theme of the short story the class had been discussing over the past two weeks, but they needed to also provide textual evidence for the points they were to make, and the only notes they were allowed to use was to be an outline they were supposed to have written beforehand, one that Jean had not even started. The instant the ocean blue booklet was handed to them, their mind went blank. They stared at it and listened to the scratches of other students' pens against paper, but they could not bring themself to begin writing. They could only provide an answer to the question, not support; they understood the moral well enough, but the majority of the details escaped their memory long ago. A jumbled mess of words and concepts was all that broke their mental silence, and no matter how hard they concentrated, they struggled to string any of them into something cohesive, let alone acceptable. Throughout the course of the story… That train of thought trailed off into vague concepts, substanceless ideas of the feelings they wished to convey. The author tells of…no, warns of…depicts… Need help? They resisted the urge to slam their head against the desk." The word "theme" is selected in blue.
June 25, 2025 at 4:40 PM
jvnightingale.bsky.social
I'm late, but I didn't have anything for today's prompt (24/6), so I looked for one I knew I would have.
A screenshot of a document in dark mode, reading: "In a blink, Jean appeared in their own room. Their whole body went numb, then slowly tingled back to life as they pushed themself as far as they could into the wall, knocking their elbow into the leg of their desk as they did so. Max knelt down beside them—they hadn't noticed he was near them until his movements jolted them out of their skin—and Demarcus followed. They hid their face behind their knees before either of them could look at them. Max slowly rubbed their back in circles as they struggled to breathe. "What happened?" he whispered, despite his growing worry. "Are you okay?" "I don't know!" they choked before clutching the sides of their head and shaking it. "I don't know. I don't know…" Their body rocked back and forth against their will. Their eyes stung, and their throat threatened to close entirely. Lifting their head, they pulled a lock of hair out of their hair tie and ran their fingers through it. The softness of it reminded them of the stuffed animals they had as a child, especially when they wrapped it around their hand like a bandage. Tears clung to their waterlines but did not roll down their cheeks when they closed their eyes. "I don't know…" they muttered again out of pure impulse. Their rocking began to slow, and they managed to resist the urge to repeat the same phrase over and over, but they could not stop themself from humming instead." The first instance of the word "hair" is selected in blue.
June 24, 2025 at 4:42 PM
jvnightingale.bsky.social
Apparently, this is the only usage of "desperate" (not "desperately") in my entire draft lol. Anyway, here's Jean trying to use magic again and it going very poorly:

#writersky
A screenshot of a document in dark mode, which reads as follows: "Focus on your target. The words echoed through their mind. Will it to rise. They took a breath in, then out. Focus. Their palm tingled. Numbness spread from its core to the rest of the hand. They could no longer keep their fingers from twitching as the sensation of pins and needles climbed up their arm. Underneath the skin, pure magic filled them with warmth and energy. Even with their eyes open, they faintly saw the strands of power that stretched from the base of their skull to their wrist. It hurt. Everything hurt. They kept their focus on the pawn. They must not become distracted. Focus. It lifted into the air before they could formulate a command, the spell cast with little more than willpower. A pressure began to build where the magic pooled. Raising their arm provided no remedy; it felt as though their bones were being squeezed, and they were shocked to find that nothing had begun to swell. Instead, their hand struggled not to seize in a desperate attempt to contain and control whatever was overtaking it. All at once, their joints stiffened, and the pawn exploded, sending shrapnel bolting like lighting all over the room." The word "desperate" is selected in blue
June 23, 2025 at 3:32 PM