The sound of a door creaked open, illuminating the dusty room within. At the center of the room was an old wooden desk and comfy looking chair. On top of said desk were two bundles of worn and yellowed paper. A hooded figure entered the room, approaching the desk. They reached out, there hands clawed and scaly, grasping the first bundle of papers. The figure blew a light gust of breath on it, blowing up dust and revealing a word underneath, Remembrance... Repeating the action with the other bundle revealed a second word, Stranded... These were the titles of the two bundles. The two stories. Started long ago, but abandoned before completion.
Sitting in the chair, the figure grabbed Remembrance, and began flipping through the pages. Their eyes shone under their hood with nostalgia and fondness as they read the faded words. Remembering when they wrote them, the fun they had coming up with new ideas, the pain they felt when they stopped. Placing Remembrance down, they picked up Stranded, repeating the process they did with the first story. With a sigh, they placed the bundle back on the desk, and leaned back in the old creaking chair.
Both stories were... a little rough around the edges. Grammar mistakes, runaway plot points, both ending on cliffhangers... The figure was both proud of these stories, but at the same time they couldn't help but cringe a little. "Not like I can do any better now." They said as the lamented their lack of writing skill. "It's been so long, odds are I'm worse off than I ever was..."
Despite that, the figure reached into their satchel, and pulled out a quill and a small vial of ink. Placing the two items on the desk, they grabbed one of the two bundles, and turned to the first blank page. Dipping their quill in the ink, they moved to begin writing. But they stopped, their hand shaking, unable to put even a little dot of ink to paper. With a frustrated sigh they put the quill down, and set the bundle to the side. Tapping their clawed digits against the hard wood of the desk, their mind began wondering.
'How would I continue them? Should I continue them?' They pondered, looking from bundle to bundle. It was then that an idea popped into their mind. 'What if I... Could that work?' The figure grabbed both the bundles, scanning their contents once again. Pulling out a brand new bundle of paper, they began writing down concepts they liked from both the old stories, leaving out the ones that were either too convoluted, or wouldn't go anywhere without some serious rework. By the time they put the quill down, they'd filled the new bundle about halfway with a rough draft of a story that was both new, and familiar at the same time.
"Gonna be following the plot of one way more than the other... but I should be able to place elements of both stories within." They said as the pulled out a fourth bundle of paper. Setting aside the other three bundles to be used as... 'inspiration', they began to write once more. 'Gonna need a good title. Something that both captures the essence of the originals, but is still new at the same time.' Tapping the their guill on the desk in thought, paying no mind to the splattered ink splotches it was leaving, they had an idea. Moving the quill to the top of the first page, they wrote; Stranded Memories. Title chosen, they happily got to work, organizing and cataloging their ideas. 'I'm back! Oh I'm so back!' They thought with gleed as they continued writing once again.