#10x100 warmup

[crossroadsfossil]

The Star, The Spring, and the Knight of Wands

The castle is still as he remembers it. It has been years and yet the castle feels familiar. Not comfortable. His predecessor felt comfortable here, and while he took the mantle and wore the crown and the past still bled into the present, he could not afford to feel comfortable here. Past fondness could not bleed through the boundaries. The title may be the same but the holder was not. Gods, he didn’t want to come here. He didn’t want to ask this but he had no favors to barter elsewhere. He could no more rely on the old relationships than he could rely on the humans saving themselves. 

He knocked upon the door. The grounds around the castle thrummed with the faint edges of summer, a reminder that his time was short. Still, over the thrumming of the following season, he felt the ripe joy of spring, the plants that were basking in the sun and growth and the animals humming brightly with life and death alike. The soft end of winter had long since passed and everything was active and filled with energy. So focused on the feeling of the ecosystem around him he didn’t notice the door had been opened until he felt a touch upon a shoulder.

He startled, head swinging around to meet the stars’ eyes. Pale eyes in a pale face framed with shining pale metal-hued hair met his, soft amusement coloring the blacksmith’s face.

“You’ve gone and grown facial hair.” The faun blurted out, mouth running away from him as his brain fumbled for the reins. Sterling laughed.

“I have.”

“Maddie would have loved that.” The spring said, mouth continuing to run freely. The rest of his consciousness wailed and shouted for him to stop talking, for the love of all the gods that have existed. Sterling’s expression softened, still holding onto a smile on his lips and a crinkle of a laugh in his eyes.

“Is that so? Please, come in.”

.

Of all the traditions that the lord of spring was acquainted with, the breaking of bread was one of his favorites. It changed over the centuries and across continents, but the tea was welcome and the snacks laid out looked tempting. He settled his tea onto a knee and waited for it to cool sufficiently. 

“It’s good to see you, Mr. Silver.” He tried, not sure how to address the older gentleman. He was older than almost every living being on this planet, save perhaps a few of those who were not born on it, and that skewed his idea of formalities a touch. That, and the fact that he once only knew the other as the lover and partner of his former boss-slash-predecessor.

“Please, use Sterling. We’ve known each other long enough. Goodness knows you’ve been subjected to plenty thanks to Spring.” Sterling said, sipping at his tea. The faun inclined his head in agreement. His predecessor had absolutely no shame. 

“Speaking of Spring, how is…. How is he?” 

He took a moment to sip at his own tea, trying to organize his words. He had known this question would be asked. He’d known that it would be something that would be discussed upon this visit. He knew this was a hurdle he had to cross before he begged a favor. He still had no idea how to address it.

“Is he…?” The star starts, words trailing off as he came to his own conclusions in the meandering silence. The spring flails, almost dropping his cup in his haste to gesture ‘no’.

“Oh gods, no- no gods. Definitely not. He’s… He’s alive. He’s… Well.” He let out a noise caught between a groan and a sigh. “He’s in a plant.”

“A plant.”

“A plant.” The spring confirmed. He set the tea on the nearby table, internally cringing as the spilled liquid pooled beneath the cup. “As far as I and the other lords can tell, he’s… sleeping? The new autumn says he’s repairing and changing and… updating? She keeps comparing him to a phone that needs a software update.” The spring wasn’t as comfortable calling the process a ‘software update’ but it usually got the point across. 

“The witch we’ve consulted- you know her, Mrs. Bennett? She says something similar.” 

“I am familiar with Michelle, yes. It’s been a while since she and I have spoken. Since the birth of her youngest, I believe.” 

That was… quite some time ago and it triggered a sense of deep unease within the spirit. 

“Mr. Sil-” there was a sharp look from the smith. “Sterling,” The spring corrected, “has anyone taken you to see him?” The look that Sterling gave was answer enough, but he responded in the negative shortly after. The spring would need to remedy that. 

“I have… a favor to ask. You are welcome to decline it, but perhaps after I get this problem settled I can take you to the grove where Maddie is? I’m not… I’m not sure if or when he’ll return but… I can… I can do this for you.”

“I would appreciate that. What then, is this favor?” Sterling said.

“I want you to know that you can decline, seeing Maddy won’t be contingent upon this, alright?” The spring said. He wanted, no, he needed to make this point clear. Sterling waved the faun off with a huff.

“Yes, yes. The favor.”

“Ah, well. I need an expert smith to help me with an issue.”                                                                  “How familiar are you with sentient armor?”

@shiningsilverarmor

[crossroadsfossil]

10 x 100 warmup

Prompt: @yarrayora said:  rotg and gravity falls crossover where jamie and the pines twins are in the same summer camp their parents sent them thinking they'll like it cause it's "quirky" but they think it's fake and boring.

A.N: Oppse, i made it not fake and boring because I apparently am physically incapable of doing so. However, I hope you accept the twist that it’s what the camp owners think is ‘fake and boring’ to regular humans as they try to make a Fake!cryptid camp with Real!cryptids. 

When his mother had told him that he was going to an overnight, two-week summer camp this year, he was excited. Usually their summer camps were of the day-trip variety, where they would go to the local community center for theater or soccer or, for one notable summer, field hockey. This would also be the first time Jamie was going anywhere without Sophie, who was the blonde lamprey to his social life fish. He was excited for the change to go somewhere without her. None of his friends had younger siblings, and he wouldn’t begrudge them the joy of being a temporary big sibling, he would very much like the joy of being an only child again. Even for a little while. 

His mom had looked at the camp and decided it was ‘cute’ and ‘quirky’ enough for him. The tagline involved hunting for Bigfoot, and while he was initially interested in this, further perusal of the web site had his hopes plummeting to the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. They mixed about four different cryptids into one - none of them being even remotely accurate to the region. There was even an outright assassination of the virtue of tall tales being pivotal to the development of the american frontier and the modern day effects of the groundwork they laid. All in all, it looked like a money-grabbing attempt at a summer camp for kids who were a little too invested in cryptids while also giving a side-eyed sly wink and nod towards the parents.

His initial trepidation was increased to a level three suspicion and fear when he learned his mum wasn’t driving him out, but that a bus was coming to pick him up. He tried to ask his mother to withdraw him. The camp sounded bad. The transportation to the camp sounded sketchy. Even the little tooth fairies that heard about this two-week adventure were shaking their heads and chirping their worry. When a mythical creature expressed doubt and concern, usually it was a sign you should listen. His mother didn’t. Jamie, being the clever fourteen year-old he was, started drafting rescue procedures should he miss any of his radio check-ins with his friends. 

When the day arrived to actually be picked up for the camp, the level three was increased to a level eight as soon as the bus pulled up to his house. After being forced onto the bus, he was hit with a musty, rarely-used bus smell and the eager chirping of a brunette who gestured for him to sit with her. She was absolutely covered in glitter and he knew without a doubt that she would not only get along with Sophie, if his sister were here, but they would probably eat a glue-glitter-koolaide smoothie as a best friend initiation thing.  

He sat down with them. He really didn’t have a choice as she pulled him into the seat next to her. Across the aisle, what looked like her brother looked up from his journal and offered a sympathetic smile. 

“Jamie.” Jamie said, leaning over the aisle to shake hands, and maybe try to escape. 

“Dipper.” The other boy said, and, with a slight tilt of his head gestured for Jamie to join him. His sister was chattering away and rummaging around in her bag, so he took the opportunity to slide over.

Dipper wasted no time in sharing his journal with Jamie. The journal had a crude map drawn on it, along with pinpoints where they stopped to pick up people. Some had names. Others had descriptions. Dipper added Jamie’s name to one in the Pennsylvania area. Dipper and what Jamie assumed was his sister’s name appeared on a pinpoint in Oregon. 

“Oh, jeez, how long did it take you two to get here?” Jamie asked. 

“An hour.” Dipper replied, prompting an awkward giggle out of Jamie. 

“No really, how long?” 

Dipper was silent as he pointed to the bus driver. Jamie hadn’t taken stock of the man before, but now… he was realizing he needed to do what Nick was always harping about and pay attention to his surroundings. His skin crawled as he met the driver’s eyes in the mirror.

“It took us an hour. It’s been that way with each kid.”

They arrived before nightfall. Somehow. They had been on the bus for eight hours, and he had left his house at two in the afternoon and it should have been closer to ten or eleven and night and it was instead three in the afternoon and nothing was making any sense. Upon exiting the bus, Dipper’s sister had made a beeline for the supposed camp counselor. They ignored the bus driver as he got off the bus and disappeared into the forest behind them. 

“Mabel, Don’t-” Dipper’s protests fell on unlistening ears as his sister promptly began grilling the counselor.

Three days in, Jamie and Dipper got into an argument over folklore which turned into an argument about reporting experiences so as to not alienate the public. They ended up dragging in three camp counselors and six small tooth fairies and the rest of the campers into the argument. The camp counselors were trying very, very hard not to make eye contact with the fairies while they tried to coax Jamie and Dipper into swapping out language like ‘there are’ with ‘allegedly’ and ‘were reported’ and ‘an individual believed they saw’.’

“Well, then all sixteen of us campers believe we saw Mabel making out with her boyfriend in the lake.” Jamie replied, watching the despair on the counselors face. 

“Alright, for statements like that, it should be-” 

“Oh cool. So it’s perfectly correct to say we saw Mabel making out with her boyfriend, Mermando the merman, out in the lake while we took casts of the bus driver’s mothman footprints.” 

[crossroadsfossil]

I need a writing warmup. Could someone submit a topic/fandom/prompt in my inbox? 

It’ll probably be a 10x100 ficlet