#I may have to go see if anyone else has made that discovery :D

[crimson--freak]

holy shit just made a magnuspod discovery!!

[oatmealdaydreams]

Y'all wanted the lore, so here ya go!

@localcanadiancreature62 tagged as requested

These are both variations of the Timestuck AU, so keep that in mind. Made these two AUs yesterday in the same hour of each other because I have brainrot and there's this really good timestuck fic I've been reading that got my brain rolling (Stan Overboard by itS_JuSt_a_thought on ao3).

Teen Dreams AU

Teen Ford ends up in 2013 with old Stan. Old Ford ends up with teen Stan in the early 1970s. The teen twins are from about a year after the science fair incident; so, teen Stan is a year into being homeless & teen Ford is a year into being in Backupsmore. No one knows how the fuck the Fords swapped places in time, but they need to get them back to their own timelines. This is all about two weeks before their birthday. Old Stan gets to see how teen Ford genuinely missed him back then. Old Ford gets a little glimpse of how teen Stan's situation was for him (this is during Stan's salesman days, think around the time he got banned from New Jersey and is heading to Pennsylvania). Teen Stan learns how much Ford cares about him and is protective of him, and he learns how to let someone else take care of him for a change. Teen Ford learns how much Stan truly cares about him and never meant to actually hurt him, which helps makes his grudge look pretty stupid in the long-run. Might have some 13 yrs old Dipper & Mabel help out in 2013. Would be interesting for teen Ford is get to know his future twin niblings & also talk about them to teen Stan when he gets back to his own timeline. PLENTY of moving parts via angst and hurt/comfort and the idea of Stan & Ford's inner-teen getting healed a bit.

Teenage Challenges AU [may change the name later, idk]

This one is the longer thought-out au, so buckle in! 13 yrs old Mabel and Dipper end up back in time with teen Stan Twins. Early 1970s an entire year after the science fair incident & Stan getting kicked out. Dipper ends up with Stan, and Mabel ends up with Ford & college Fiddleford. Fiddleford is about a year older than Ford because I say so. Their dymanics with their future niblings are more like older siblings and younger siblings than uncles and nibling because of being closer in age. Reminder that everyone is still in their teen years. The young Stan twins are between 18-19, and Fiddleford is about 19-20. So, in this context, there's like a 5-6 year age difference between the Stan twins & Mabel and Dipper. ANYWAY: Stan thinks Dipper is some homeless kid and he can't just leave him on the street in the cold, especially not when he kinda reminds him of his brother. Dipper mentions just wanting to get back to his twin sister, and well that's hits Stan's heart because that sounds a bit like himself in regard to loyalty to family. On the other side of things, Mabel has this very broken Time Tape she needs to fix to get back home. She mentions needing to find her twin brother, and with the fact that she reminds Ford of his time's Stan, well he's conflicted with feelings but he does his best to help her anyway. Fiddleford and Mabel get along quite well, especially when Mabel suggests a few ideas for his death bots that he "may never use but keeps the blueprints for because he may snap one day" & Fiddleford thinks her ideas are genius. Ford starts to see a little of himself in Mabel with her optimistic outlook when it comes to discovery and circumstances. She's also pretty good at certain math stuff and Ford admires her intellect. There's so much more with this, but this is so long already.

There, it's a post now. Have fun! And if anyone wants to write something or draw something for these, feel free to do so! All I ask is that you tag me 'cause I wanna see it :D

[happyandticklish]

Sensitive Exploration

Notes: For the anon who requested a Hazbin fic with Angel and Alastor discovering each other’s death spot. Sorry this took so long, I had to get myself back into the mindset of the characters. I hope you enjoy the result!

Summary: Alastor has a tradition of tickling the different members of the hotel, and one day Angel decides to get him back. 

“If you just tell me, this will be over faster you know.”

“F-Fahahahack yohohou!”

Angel Dust often wondered how so often he found himself on the receiving end of Alastor’s so-called “punishments”. It was a tradition he had started a while back, after he had poked Charlie in the side and she had squeaked in response. After Charlie had sheepishly explained her reaction to him, Alastor took it upon himself to fully test the sensitivity of everyone in the hotel, as he found the subject fascinating. Not that he wasn’t aware what tickling was, of course, but it had been a long time since he had encountered the concept in a real way. It became a habit that, whenever anyone in the hotel was feeling down or being particularly grumpy that day, Alastor would tickle them until they either smiled or learned their lesson.

Charlie had been his first target, of course, and by far one of the most willing recipients. Vaggie proved to be a challenge, and Alastor only braved her wrath a couple of times. Husk had protested, but once Alastor discovered that his wings were ticklish he had quickly crumpled under his devilish touch. Nifty was simply not ticklish, a discovery that disappointed both her and Alastor greatly.

That left only Angel Dust. By the time Alastor approached him, Angel had heard and seen the other’s experiences with the radio demon and was a begging mess of giggles before the other had even touched him.

Easily the most ticklish and the most cocky of the group, Angel was the most common recipient of Alastor’s whims of fancy. He could always tell when Alastor meant to tickle him, either by a certain gleam in his eyes or a smile that was slightly more slanted than usual. There was no use protesting, but Angel did so anyway, a nervous excitement bubbling up in his voice each time. Alastor would eventually back off, once he could see the other had had enough, but he made sure to give him the wrecking of a lifetime before then.

Currently, Alastor had tendrils wrapped around all six of Angel’s limbs, pinning each one to the wall. They were inside one of the hotel’s many guest rooms, as most were unused and Alastor had wanted their time to be interrupted. Alastor was currently scribbling fingers under the first pair of armpits, while four more tendrils attacked the rest. Angel was dying, helpless cackles and squeals breaking loose as he attempted to free himself from the other’s impossibly strong grip.

Alastor was on a mission that night. He had noticed while tickling the other residents that there was usually one spot on all of them that appeared far more sensitive than the rest of their body. However, whenever he was tickling Angel he tended to go all out and thus missed each particular reaction. Tonight, however, he planned to find the other’s so-called “death spot” and exploit it for all it was worth.

“Really, it’s only going to be worse if I have to find it myself,” Alastor commented briskly, switching between light scribbles over his armpits and digging in with his thumbs. The constant fluidity of the two methods seemed to be working wonders on the spider demon who was quickly in hysterics.

“I-I’m nohohot fuhuhucking tehehelling yohohou!” Angel spat, the venom torn from his voice as his words were followed by a flood of giggles. “D-Dohoho yohohour wohohorst!”

Alastor raised an eyebrow. “My, my. If I’m not mistaken, it almost seems like you want me to tickle you Angel. Is that the case? Hmm? Did I get it right?”

The blush flaming on Angel’s cheeks spoke louder than his words. “Shuhuhut uhuhup!”

“That’s not a denial.”

“Yohohour fahahace ihihisn’t ahaha dehehenial!”

“Clever comeback,” Alastor responded dryly. “Fine. Don’t tell me. I’ll simply find it all on my own.” He inspected the other critically. “Now, as sensitive as your armpits appear to be, I don’t think it’s your worst spot. Do you agree?”

Angel shook his head through his laughter, though it wasn’t clear if he was denying or affirming the statement.

“I wonder… this spot always seemed to cause quite a reaction.” With a snap of his fingers the tentacles tormenting his armpits disappeared. Angel sagged, momentary relief filling him, but in the next instant hands were squeezing his hips and electricity shot up his spine. He let out a startled yelp, his struggling increasing tenfold as he fought to get Alastor away from the area.

“And my efforts reward me.” Alastor smiled smugly, kneading his fingers into the skin. “Could this be the foretold death spot?”

“Sure! Suhuhure, yehehep, dehehefinitely!” Angel agreed, eagerly nodding his head and twisting frantically away from the surge of ticklish sensations. “Juhuhust stahahahap!”

“Sure?” Alastor wrinkled his brow. “Well that’s not very convincing.”

“Yehehes ihit ihihihis, ehehehe, stahahaha—nohoho, ahaha, pfft!”

Alastor absently spidered nails over the skin of hips, trailing down towards his lower stomach, as he considered where else the spot could be. Angel slammed his head back against the wall in frustration, squirming wildly as a cascade of wheezy squeaks escaped him. In a desperate attempt to get him to stop, Angel kicked out one of legs suddenly, trying to push the other back. Unfortunately, his resistance gave Alastor an idea.

“Ah! Right. Thank you for reminding me Angel.” He caught the other’s leg in his grasp, wrapping an arm around his ankle and locking the limb in place. “I completely forget about those knees of yours. So silly of me.”

Angel’s groan at his own self-caused destruction was cut off by a shriek as Alastor squeezed the spot right above his kneecap that had always killed him in the past. Angel burst into cackles, his leg jerking violently in the other’s hold. “No, no, no, no, no, nohohohoho! Ahahahalastor!”

“Yes?”

“Ihihihi—pfft, ahahahaha, ehehe, gahahaha!”

“You must use your words, dear.” He gripped his calf, holding his leg taut and spidering his claws over the undersides of his knees. Angel squeaked, desperation rising in his movements. “I really can’t understand a thing you’re saying.”

Angel was quite possibly going to kill him after this. Or thank him. Or both.

“Well as fun as this spot is,” Alastor said, his touches featherlight and unbearable against Angel Dust’s skin. “I think there’s another place I have declined to include in this exploration. Do you know where it is?”

“D-Dohohon’t yohohou fuhuhuhucking dahahahare!”

“Whatever are you referring to?” Alastor asked innocently, but already his claws were creeping perilously close to the other’s trembling thighs.

“Y-Yohou knohow whahahat!” Angel squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable with nervous excitement. “Ahahahal, I’m whahaharning yahaha—shihiHIHIHIT!”

Angel shrieked, arching back against the wall as fingers prodded and spidered all over his thighs. He tugged desperately at each of his arms, his legs, babbling out incoherent nonsense in a useless attempt to get Alastor to stop.

“Bingo,” Alastor said, smirking.

“Fuhuhuhuck, fuhuhuck, fuhuhuhuhuhUHUHUHUhuhuhuck! StahahAHAHAHAHAP! PLEHEHEASE!” Angel was losing his mind. His thighs had always been a kill zone, which was difficult in his line of work. Giggling in the middle of sex was not something most people were accustomed to. Not that he was particularly opposed to the combination of two of his favorite activities, but it was awkward giving out excuses afterwards. Now though, he was free to laugh and squirm all he wanted, which he did, energetically. “Ehehehe, ihihihit fuhuhuHUhucking tihihIHIHIHICKLES!”

“So it does,” Alastor exclaimed. “Astute observation. Well, I guess it’s good that you like it then.”

Angel grit his teeth, desperately wishing he wasn’t giggling like an absolute maniac so he could retain some semblance of dignity. “Yohohohou’re suhuhuhuhuhuch ahahaha dihihihick!”

“Language,” Alastor reminded him, squeezing a spot on his inner thigh that made Angel regret everything he’d ever done. “You wouldn’t want me to keep you like this forever.”

Angel’s eyes bugged out of his head at the thought as he fell into a whole new round of laughter.

As it was, he did not keep him forever but only for a couple more minutes before he finally released him. Angel let out a giggly sigh of relief, shakily supporting himself against the wall.

“That…” he panted, shooting him a glare. “Was completely uncalled for.”

“But Angel,” Alastor crooned in a way that altogether unfair. “How could I possibly resist tickling you when you look so cute laughing and helpless?”

Angel rolled his eyes, blaming the flush on his cheeks from his lack of breath. “Yeah, whatever. How would you like it if I pinned you down and tickled you whenever I felt like it?”

Angel may or may not have imagined the faint pink that tinged Alastor’s cheeks at the question. “Impossible,” he dismissed, waving a hand. “I’m not ticklish.”

“Bullshit,” Angel accused. “Everyone’s ticklish!”

Alastor shrugged. “Not me.”

“Fine then—prove it.”

“Prove it?” Alastor asked, arching an eyebrow. “And just how do you suppose I do that?”

Angel crossed his arms, leaning back confidently. “Let me tickle you.”

An unmistakable shudder made its way down Alastor’s spine at the proposition. In all fairness, even he wasn’t sure if he was lying or not. He hadn’t been tickled since he was still living, and not since he was a little boy at that. He was fairly certain he wasn’t ticklish, but there was no way of knowing for sure.

“Fine,” he said at last, calmly raising his arms above his head as though the position didn’t instantly fill him with a sense of debilitating vulnerability. “Go ahead.”

Angel had not expected the dare to work, and so was unreasonably excited at the scenario they now found themselves in. He stepped forward, placing four hands on his sides, the remaining two hanging limp by his sides and waiting for the right oppurtunity. Without any kind of prologue, Angel started quickly wiggling all twenty of his fingers against his sides and the result was glorious.

Alastor, who had not accounted for the amount of hands set against him, was overwhelmed by how unbelievably wrong he had been. He squeaked, bursting into a round of sudden giggles and attempting to somehow squirm away from the other’s touch while also not pulling his arms down or shoving him off.

“Holy shit,” Angel muttered, delight coloring his words. “You’re ticklish. This is amazing.”

“Ahahahahahaha, wahahahait, Ahahahangel! Ihihit feheheheels weheheheird!” Alastor protested, arms trembling above his head. He had completely forgotten how conflicting tickling felt, having not experienced in such a long time. A fluttery, unbearable sensation, he couldn’t decide if he wanted to rub the feeling away or have it last forever. It was truly a conundrum.

“Of course it feels weird,” Angel agreed, shaking his head incredulously. “It fucking tickles. But you know, I’m starting to feel like I can’t trust you to hold to our agreement. Maybe I’ll have to take matters into my own hands.”

His remaining arms reached up, securing Alastor’s wrists and pressing them and him back into the far wall. Their positions now reversed, the radio demon’s eyes widened as the true helplessness of his situation set in. Angel set in with a vengeance now, secure in the fact that the other wouldn’t fight back. Squeezing, poking, prodding, scratching, his fingers flew over Alastor’s torso in a manner that was altogether unfair and, of course, unbelievably ticklish.

“Wahahahait, wahahahait, stahahahahap!” Alastor protested, falling into a fit of laughter soon after. As it turned out, he was horridly sensitive everywhere and Angel took quick advantage of this fact.

“Why, Al? Is it bothering you?” Angel poked under his arms, scribbled fingers over his hips, squeezed the tops of his knees, kneaded his thighs, getting revenge on each and every spot that Alastor had tormented him with. Alastor yelped and jumped with each new method, wishing he hadn’t been quite so thorough in his own investigation. “Wow, you really are ticklish everywhere, huh? I can’t help but wonder though,” he said, parroting Alastor’s words from earlier. “Are these really your worst spots?”

“I-Ihihihihi dohohohon’t knohohohow!” Alastor replied honestly, desperately hoping it was because there was no way it could possibly get worse than this. He tugged frantically on his arms, shaking his head side to side in an attempt to somehow cope with the sensations.

The action gave Angel Dust an idea however. Alastor’s hair fell in his face, revealing those ears which had been a subject of fascination for the spider demon for quite some time. He narrowed his eyes, a thought occurring to him suddenly.

Leaving his armpits alone, his hesitantly scratched the soft material, his nails scratching devilishly against the spot where his ears connected to his neck. Alastor squealed, his shoulders coming up protectively as a flood of giggles spilled from his lips.

“A-Ah! Ahahahangel, wahahahait, thihihis ihihis tohohoo muhuhuhuch!” Alastor’s dignity was quickly crumbling. His chin came almost parallel to his chest as he attempted to trap the other’s fingers. “Ihihihi cahahahahan’t, plehehehease!”

“But you’re so cute,” Angel cooed, scratching right behind his ears and prompting a squeak from the other. “And I got to be honest, making you squeal like this is kind of fun.”

“YohohOHOHOHohohou—” Alastor started in angry embarrassment, but before he could get another word out, Angel moved his right hand over to the other ear as well and he broke off into staticky cackles.

“Holy shit man, is that radio static?” Angel exclaimed, fascination getting the better of him. “Does that happen when you laugh too hard?”

“STAHAHAHAP!” Alastor pleaded instead of answering, squeezing his eyes shut. “PleheEHEHEHease, STAHAHAP!”

“That’s adorable! I’m gonna have to do this more often!”

The thought was enough to send Alastor into an entirely new round of helpless laughter, and in a burst of clarity he managed to manipulate his shadows into seizing Angel Dust under the arms and pulling him away from him.

“Woah, hey, easy there,” Angel complained as the tentacles roughly escorted him on the ground. “This is prized real estate here, fellas.”

Alastor sagged against the wall, exhausted. His nerves were overstimulated from the sudden attack and he clutched his sides, trying to rub away any leftover sensation. “That was…”

“Awful?” Angel guessed, clambering to his feet. “Unbearable?”

“Exhilarating,” Alastor corrected, flushing gently. “I never realized how, ah, intense tickling could be. I can see now why you react so strongly each time.”

“Yeah,” Angel grumbled in agreement. “It’s not for the faint of heart, that’s for sure.” He paused, paling slightly. “You’re not gonna… uh, you know, do anything to me, are ya? Because you have to know I was just kidding around and I would never—”

“Angel,” Alastor interrupted. “I’m not going to do anything to you.”

“Oh.” Angel frowned. “You’re not?”

“No. In fact, I… I wouldn’t be opposed, necessarily, to a repeat of earlier if the right moment ever came.” Alastor spoke plainly as always, but there was a nervous tilt to his words now. “It is possible that I may have enjoyed parts of it.”

Angel stared at him, sure that he was imagining things. Was the radio demon, the terror of hell, actually admitting to liking being tickled? And revealing this information to him, Angel Dust, no less?

Before he could formulate a response, Alastor was moving past him and down the hall, calling out to Nifty and Husk at the bottom of the stairs about some new idea or renovation he had for the hotel—acting as though he hadn’t just admitted the biggest revelation of Angel’s life seconds before. After a moment, Angel returned to his room as well, though Alastor’s words never left his mind for a second.

Life was much different in the hotel after that.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “I Have Seen.”

Wrote something easy and more similar to my original stories today. I hope you like it. 

I have been thinking about taking a couple days off from writing these stories, since I have been working non stop on this and the book for over a year now, so I am considering taking a break for about a week so I don’t burn out. I haven’t decided yet, so we shall see, but I hope you all have a great day.

I have a job no one knows about.

I don’t think anyone would be surprised if they heard about my job. I don’t even think they would care all that much.

None of this explains why my work station is in the basement of a nondescript government bunker on a death planet…. A!36. I can’t explain why I need three codes to get into my office, or why I go through five locked doors, or why I am not allowed to tell anyone what I do on pain of termination and imprisonment. 

You would assume, perhaps that I am a spy, and involved in some covert cloak and dagger espionage against other species and nations: you would be wrong.

You might assume I am a weapons developer, but you would also be wrong.

Perhaps you think I spend my time wire-tapping on important calls between species and recording important information.

None of this is really the case.

In fact, what I do is quite safe and relatively simple, plenty of other non-humans are doing it of their own accord and plenty more humans do it on a regular basis. What I do is not illegal, it is not espionage, it wouldn’t even phase you.

If that is the case.

Why do so many of my coworkers go missing?

Why are there absent desks every few months?

Why can I not make any lasting friends?

Management always give excuses to those of us who are left.

They left for mental health reasons.

THey moved on to a different job.

They are moving up in the company.

They had to be let go.

All things generic and all things that wouldn’t generally raise suspicion… unless they happen so frequently as us.

You may be wondering at this point, what it is I do for a job.

Perhaps, you think, it is very boring and unfulfilling that I would go insane from sheer boredom.

No, I actually find my job quite interesting.

Perhaps you think my job forces me to watch very disturbing and violent things…. And I suppose that could be close to the truth, though no one forces us to watch the videos if we don’t want, and no one makes us read the material if we cannot handle it. In fact, there are those of us who specialize in that sort of thing.

I do.

I am a specialist in historical xenopsychology.

I study human history.

When I say that I study human history, I do not mean as in a passing fancy. I do not simply read their school children’s textbooks and accept everything I see as truth, no, every day , I come into work and it is my job, to learn about everything that has ever happened in human history, to the best of my ability.

It is my job to know the good, the bad, the ugly, and the monstrous.

I work from day to night, cataloguing and filling my brain with all the information I can before recording it as a lecture on aura drives, which are then stored away for future use in a deep backup system under the surface of this planet.

I have followed human history since the beginning of time.

And I have marveled at it.

Much of my research is flawed, I know. Human history has always been biased, history being shaped and molded by the winners of conflict. Much of what else I know stems primarily from scholarly work humans have done on their own species, looking back the centuries and making assumptions about what they were doing.

While this is a good insite -- humans trying to explain the behavior of other humans-- it isn’t necessarily correct.

For this reason, it is my job to study every piece of information that comes across my desk.

Due to a government agreement between the galactic assembly and the United Nations of Earth, I was given access to the rebuilt library of Alexandria and all of its electronic files which include photos and information on the original documents that they keep in sealed vaults below the library.

I have read every account of human history, and every second hand interpretation of human history that I could possibly find in my time working here.

I have read Darwin and his early theory regarding evolution. I have examined his evidence, which include images and diagrams of the human body spanning centuries. My determinations were made just the same as the rest of them. Humanity was a tree-living species that found its evolutionary niche through walking and the use of opposable thumbs.

This ability to walk, in tandem with the use of hands eventually gave rise to the slow swelling of the brain in comparison to other animals. Human evolved primitive tools, and even more primitive religions, societies and rules.

They developed art early on, painting on the walls of their caves, in the darkness of night surrounded by their fires.

I have read about their befriending of animals in that same darkness. Man’s slow molding of the wolf into the dog - a species designed specifically for the needs of man.

I have attempted to read every account of every atrocity ever inflicted on humanity.

I have read of wars, and battles, Marathon, Thermopylae, Kadesh, D-day, Vietnam, Korea, Russo-Japanese, World wars I, II, III,  and IV and the Panasian War. 

I have witnessed in images and first hand accounts the chilling discoveries of natural disasters gone back thousands of years. Pompeii, Mt. St Helens, Katrina, Tsunamis, earthquakes, the fire of london, 1887 yellow river flood, the 3130 California earthquake, and Haiti earthquakes. 

And I have studied and witnessed every atrocity man has ever committed on its own people. The Mongol hordes, the crusades, Mayan and Aztec sacrifices, The Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, mustard gas, 9/11, slavery in the America, the Trail of Tears, The Bataan Death March, the Berlin wall, Civil war, the French revolution, Nanjing, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I tore a hole in humanity and looked inside to see your rot. 

I study the maggots that crawl under your skin.

Don’t confuse me with someone who fears you, or is even disgusted by you. You have committed thousands of horrors, yes this is true. But humanity is not a polished gem, it is an uncut stone marred by dirt and debris, but beautiful in a way that can hardly be explained.

You scrub away the rot only to find more underneath, yet you continue to scrub, in a futile attempt to better yourselves.

It is a beautiful thing if not in vain.

I do not judge you for your crimes because I have also seen your achievements. I watched you survive  the dark ages, I learned your philosophy from the greek world which brought the beauty of democracy and equity in later forms. I watched the enlightenment of the Renaissance, and have seen your beautiful artwork from each period of time. 

I have witnessed your great nations and empires rise and fall, Assyria, Byzantine, Rome, Britain, Egypt, Mongole, Aztek, Soviet Union, The chinese Dynasties and the Communist parties. The United States, and the Asian Co-Prosperity Collective

I have seen your bravery and your loss.

I have learned about the good that walks your earth.

Humans who stood up to tyrants.

I have even examined your stories of creation, of deities who molded humans from clay or dust, watched your world come into form in seven days, or ride on the backs of giant animals. I have seen the gods gift you with fire and learned the teaching of your martyrs over the centuries. Men and women slain and stoned or pulled away by spirits. I have learned of crucifixion, death and rebirth as well as reincarnation and a return to the very fabric of the universe itself.

I see everything.

I see everything. I see it all in my dreams laid out before me like a tapestry following each woven thread through the ages. I thought if I looked back, I could know as much as I possibly could. If I dug deep enough, I would be able to see your secrets.

And I have discovered you.

I see you hiding in there.

I know what you are.

Come out, come out.

And I won’t stop until it is all over and your cities crumbled into dust and bone.

…

…

I am being called into my manager’s office. Perhaps I too am ready to go up in the company.

...

I will be back soon…

Deus 

[monsieur-guimauve]

VnC Birth Chart Analysis: Vanitas, February 7, 1871 (Part 1)

Up to analyze your problematic neighborhood vampire doctor, Monsieur Vanitas!

Disclaimer: This is just for fun, and my opinion. Please don’t take everything on here seriously! (I also doubt MochiJun had the time to individually research appropriate birthdays to fit the character’s personality but I wanted to see where this post would go lol.)

February 7, 1871 - (time unknown, location is assumed as Paris)

Chart is Locomotive Shape (Shape that has more planets covering 2/3 or 3/4s of a chart)

Moon Phase is between Full Moon and Waning Gibbous

Moon sign would have been in sign of Virgo regardless of time born

Inner planets have no fire element

Jupiter and Uranus are in Retrograde

Has a Morning Star Mercury, and an Evening Star Venus

His Mars is in Detriment (Libra) and has only difficult aspects to it

Notable Characteristics of his birth chart to significant points in the story: 

1) Noe asks ‘What is Love, Vanitas?’ 

Vanitas’s answer on not being sure and using his impulse decisions to declare love is quite similar to a scenario when people confuse their real feelings versus their emotional needs. (He has his Virgo Moon opp. Pisces Venus) In the case of VaniJeanne, the story is treating is as character growth and slow burns, but it has yet to be confirmed whether it will remain canon given MochiJun’s direction of all the characters personal discovery, other romantic prospects and strangely imitate platonic relationships.

2) 'I will save you without fail!’ and Vanitas/Noe fight from Memoire 50-53

I’m still perplex on Vanitas’ revenge and his complicated hatred toward Luna Blue Moon, but we do know his secretive feelings are quite extreme. When I noticed that his top aspect was a Mercury Opposing his Uranus Retrograde, it reminded me about Noe’s ruminations about Vanitas’ choice of being ‘free’ or bearing loneliness by himself. This aspect indicates extreme views (or personal values) and a need for a high degree of independence. With Uranus retrograde, it a more severe example of needing to change or adapt, else face death (in a creative sense). You can see Vanitas’ desperation of survival in Memoire 50-53, but his inconsistent nature is also a survival instinct to prevent others getting the upper hand over him. This aspect indicates chaos, but it’s not suggesting the individual is chaotic, but encounter many scenarios where they must deal with it, less they encounter a ‘death’. (Not a literal sense.)

3) Vanitas’ problematic behaviour when dealing with anyone really (and freaks out when he doesn’t have control of the situation)

Remember how he lied to Noe to kidnap Luca while he tried to beat Jeanne? Then he tried to hold Maria hostage and Noe got annoyed? Vanitas’ Sun square Pluto aspect helps him being decisive in solving issues and dealing with it in an efficient manner, but he can be a manipulating jerk (as Dante, Johann and Riche said) This aspect is described as:  “

 This aspect often creates stubborn and decisive people. However, they also tend to tell others what to do and they try to persuade them about the need to change their behaviour. People with this aspect may encounter death or other profound changes in their surroundings more often then usual. They have a tendency to influence others through effective manipulation at subconscious level. At first these people seem kind but in reality they are manipulating and controlling. However, they are often unaware of it.

^Also think about when Jeanne confronted Vanitas keeping a secret for her and he gave her two conditions. That face he made kind of gives of Sun square Pluto vibes. (Cause he’s manipulating her, but at that part of the story, it  seems that he was doing it to tease her.) 

Disclaimer again

I’m not a professional and just doing a little chart analysis to better understand a mysterious character make me enjoy the VnC story better. feel free to share your thoughts in the post below! :D

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #815: Last Straw (Super Smash Bros Ultimate X Persona 5)

2:12 p.m. at the Isle Defino's Restaurant.........

Pink Female Pianta: (Smiles Brightly at Mario, Peach, Ren, and Makoto After She Place Their Meals Down on the Table) I hope you all enjoy our meals for today!~ (Turns to Mario with a Dark Expression on her Eyes) Especially you, you no good criminal of a plumber....(Went Back to Smiling Brightly Again Before Walking Away) Goodbyeeee!~

Mario: (Chuckles Awkwardly) I see that.... we're....(Puts on a Deadpinned Look on his Face) Still on that phase, aren't we?

Peach: (Groans Which Pinching her Nose a Little)

Mario: (Turns to Peach While Placing his Hand on Top of Her Other One) Are you okay, Peach?

Peach: (Turns to Mario With a Reassuring Smile on her Face) I'll be fine, honey. ('Sigh') I'm just trying not let those Piantas get the better of me. I'd never realized it would be so challenging.....

Makoto: I'd say. I could never imagine getting over it that easily if I were in that position.....

Ren: ('Sigh') Tell me about it. (Turns to Mario) I'm surprised none of this is bothering you in the slightest.

Mario: (Smiles Sheepishly at Ren While Rubbing the Back of his Head Back and Forth) I wouldn't say it doesn't bother me completely. I just try and look at the brighter side of all of this, you know? I even tried not to think too hard on the messier part of the past.

Makoto: (Raised an Eyebrow) How "messier" are we talking about exactly?

Mario: Welllllllll.....For starters, back when Shadow Mario kidnapped the princess and took her to Pinna Park, there were a few eye witnesses that saw the whole incident going. It was practically a golden opportunity to prove the fact that there were two of me and all of this was misunderstanding to begin with. Yet.....They still think I was a criminal.

Makoto: (Couldn't Believe What She's Hearing) My God.... That's terrible.....

Peach: It was.....(Turns to Mario) I'm so sorry I wasn't much help to you during that time around, Mario. I was going scream out for help, but Shadow Mario, who was Bowser Jr at the time.

Makoto: (Nodded While Understanding What Ren is Telling Her) Okay.....

Ren: Yeah......

Peach: ...Taped my mouth shut at last second.

Makoto: But some of the citizens still saw you getting kidnapped during that time, right?

Peach: Yes, but....('Sigh') They were panicking for the most part.

Makoto: And there were no policemen involved?

Mario: (Shook his Head) Not a single one I'm afraid. Didn't make any better when tried telling them everything that happened during that time and even when Junior first tired to kidnap the princess, they kept telling me that I was slacking off and that I should get back to work on cleaning the Island.

Makoto: (Starts Facepalming Herself in Disbelief) I don't believe this......

Ren: I know, right? Their police system are million times worst than the one in our universe......

Mario: That..... wasn't worse of it......

Makoto/Peach: It wasn't?

Mario: Nope. (Turns to Peach) Do you remember those Star Sprites they wanted me to gather to restore the brightness of their island?

Peach: Yeah. You had to go through other worlds to obtain them, right?

Mario: .....For the most part.....There were a few citizens here that had them already. They only gave them to me after I do their chores for them.

Peach: ('Gasps')

Makoto: (Turns to Ren) Ren, is all of this is true?

Ren: Yep. And it's not even the worst of it.

Makoto: Oh sweet, merciful Johanna....What now?

Ren: (Points at a White House Standing on the End of the Dock) You see that house over there?

Makoto: (Turns to the House Ren is Showing Her) Yeah? What about it?

Ren: There these two raccoons who lives over there and they have a crap ton of Star Sprites inside. But the only way to get any of them is to trade them-

Mario: Blue Coins. ('Groans a Little') I remember how exhausting it was to get them all........(Chuckles Lightly) Good thing I got it all over it and made it back in one piece.

Peach: ............................

Mario: Uh.....Peach? D-Darling?

Peach: (Starts Taking a Deep Breath Before Speaking) Let me see if I get this right....You mean to tell that there are raccoons who are living in that house, trading Star Sprites for Blue Coins as a currency....The SAME Star Sprites that were SUPPOSED TO BE USED to restore the brightness of the entire Island.....AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT NO ONE, NOT EVEN THE AUTHORITIES, EVEN BOTHER TO QUESTION THEM AT ALL!?

Mario: .........Pretty much. Yeah.

Peach: .......... That's it. (Immediately Gets Up From her Table) I'mma sue 'em.

Mario: ('Sigh') Peach....

Peach: (Turns to Mario With a Form Frown on her Face) No, Mario! Ever since the day we arrived here, I have tried SO hard not let all of this get me. But after everything they've put you through, even AFTER you risk your life to save them, I cannot sit here and let this slide anymore! Enough is enough!!

Mario: But how are we going to find ourselves a lawyer here? We've never got one the last time we went to court.

Ren: (Already Has a Smirk on Face) No worry, you guys. Makoto and I know someone who can help plead your case no problem.

Makoto: Wait. We do? (Eyes Widened For a Brief Second Before Sighing at the Fact That She Figured Who Ren is Talking About) Ren, we're not asking my sister to come over here to court.

Ren: Ah c'mon, 'hon. She's the only person we know who has any experience being in a courtroom.

Makoto: But what if she already working this remaining week!? We can't just back to Shiyuba and ask her to come with us! She'll decline the offer quicker than you can say-

???: Why, hello my dear little sister.

Makoto yelps while quickly jumping into Ren's arms before turning around to see that it's none other than her older sister, Sae Niijima.

Makoto: Sis? W-What are you doing here!?

Sae: My boss gave me a few days off yesterday. So I decided to come here to spend the rest it with you. And before you ask, I used one of your Dimensional Rings to get here.

Makoto: Oh sis...(Hugs Sae Lovingly) You have no idea how happy this made me~

Sae: (Giggles Softly) Likewise. I'm really happy to see you again, Makoto. (Kiss the Top of Makoto's Head Before Turning to Ren) You too, Ren. I hope you're treating my little sister well as usual.

Ren: (Happily Nodded) Yep.

Peach: Ms. Niijima, I know you've just arrived here and everything, but could you please help us with our case in court?

Sae: (Simply Nodded) Of course I can, your highness. I may be prosecutor for most, but I have learned a thing or two about being lawyer in the paat. So you and Mario-san are in good hands.

Peach: (Gasps Happily Before Grabbing Both of Sae's Hands) Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!~ Is there anything we can do to return a favor!?

Sae: Only if you don't mind having me be a part of your family vacation....(Turns to Ren and Makoto with a Smirk on her Face) And that I get to share a room with Ren and Makoto in the process.

Ren/Makoto: (Eyes Widened in Complete Shock) WHAT!?

Mario: (Chuckles Lightly) You're here already, aren't you? Of course you can be a part of our family vacation! (Turns to Ren and Makoto) You two don't mind having Sae in your room for the time being, do you?

Ren/Makoto: ('Sighs in Utter Defeat') No.......

Makoto: (Turns to Ren) I knew this was a mistake.......

Sae: (Place her Arms Around Ren and Makoto's Shoulder) Oh don't be like that, you two. We should focus on something more important at hand: Winning this case!

One Court Session Later......

'Jail Cell Closing'

Sae: (Standing Behind the Cell Bars With Genuine Surprise Look on her Face) I was not expecting the courtroom to be that stubborn.......

Mario: (Sitting Next to Peach on One Side of the Cell) I can't believe they locked us up in a matter of minutes!!....And call me crazy, but I think this might be my second time coming back to this prison cell again.

Sae: (Turns to Mario) How can you tell this one is yours?

Mario: (Points at the Craved, Written Words at the Top of the Wall) It has my name up there.

Sae: (Looks Up and See the Name Mario on That Said Wall) Ah. What a...... Strange discovery....

Ren: (Sitting Next to Makoto on the Other Side of the Cell) Being in jail isn't too bad. (Crosses his Arms) Got locked up twice in row and I was still fine enough as it is.......(Suddenly Starts Shaking his Arms in a Bit of Fear)

Makoto: (Starts Worrying For her Boyfriend Before Hugging Him Lovingly and Reassuringly)

Peach: (Looking Down at the Floor With Regret on her Face) I'm sorry I put you all into this.... If I didn't thought of suing them in the first place, then none of this would've happened.

Mario: (Places his Hand on Peach's Shoulder) Your heart was in the right place through all of this, dear. It's okay. And besides.....(Starts Blushing While Smiling a Little) I thought it was really sweet of you to go out of your way to do this for me to begin. Even though you...really didn't have to.....

Peach: (Immediately Turns to Mario) But I wanted to do it for you, Mario! You've done so much for me since the day we first place. Whether it's saving me from getting kidnapped, giving me all the support and care I needed, helping me go through my common and personal problems, or everything else in between. All I ever wanted to do is to be there for you too. Because you mean so much more to me than just being my hero o-or my Knight in Shining Armor....(Tears Starts Falling Down From Her Eyes) You're the man I wanna love and be with for the rest of my life.....

Mario: (Heart Begins to Melt by Peach's Words) Oh Peach.......(Gives Peach a Loving Hug) You know just as well as I do that you've done so much for me than anyone thinks you do. Besides my own brother, I wouldn't even be half the man I am today if weren't for all the love, care, and support you've given me throughout the years. Heck, you being here with me at all as already made my day and many others before and after that, all the more special to me and I can't even begin to tell you how much you mean to me too. (Smiles Brightly) But all I know is that no matter what happens, I'll always love you from the bottom of my heart, Princess Peach.

Peach: (Heart Begins to Melt as Well) Mario.......('Sniff') (Immediately Hugs Mario Back Lovingly) I love you too!~ Never ever ever ever ever ever EVER forget that, okay!?~

Mario: (Chuckles Lightly) Of course, dear~

'Jail Cell Opens'

Blue Police Pianta: Alright, troublemakers. You're free to go now.

Daisy: (Pops Out From the Back of the Policeman on One Side) Heeeey, Cuz!~

Luigi: (Pops Out From the Other Side of the Policeman While Happily Waving at Mario) Hey, Bro!

Peach: (Eyes Widened at What is Happening Right Now Along With the Others) Daisy!? Luigi!?

Mario: You two bailed us out!?

Daisy: (Smiles Brightly While Resting her Arm Onto Luigi's Shoulder) Yep! We used the money from the safe whenever one of us get arrested.

Luigi: (Smiles Brightly as Well) We even brought the safe from the home with us the entire just in case. Are you okay?

Peach: (Smiles Reliefly and Brightly) Oh you two have no idea how-

Orange Police Pianta: Yeah, yeah. Tell 'em all about it when you get outside. Now, come on! Out of the cell! All of you!

Few Minutes Later Outside..........

Police Pianta: Now, I hope you five learned a valuable lesson about causing trouble to this town.

Daisy: But.... all they did was trying to sue you-

Orange Police Pianta: QUIET!

Blue Police Pianta: Now, as what I was saying, we'll be watching you, pals. We'll know right away if you start causing more trouble.

Luigi: Uhhh...

Mario: (Whispers to Luigi) They won't do anything, bro. Trust me on this one.

Luigi: (Shrugs) Okie Dokie. (Starts Walking Away Along With The Others)

Makoto: ('Sigh') Well.....That was a lot more eventful than I could ever imagine.

Sae: Agreed. I never thought I would start my vacation here in a prison cell....(Turns to Luigi and Daisy) Has anyone else in the Smash Family actually got arrested before all of this?

Luigi: (Smiles a Bit Sheepishly) Well, Dedede was arrested two years ago for raiding across the Area 51 by Naruto running.

Sae: ........ You're Kidding.....

Daisy: (Giggles Softly While Hugging Onto Luigi's Arm) Nope!~ It was all around the news when it happened. He even got his chewed out by Peach afterwards. It was priceless!~

Luigi: And effective.

Sae: ('Sigh') You know, I'm starting to think our arrest is more meaningless than before.........

Peach: (Sighs While Resting her Head Onto Mario's Shoulder) Well, I'm just glad all of this is over now.

Ren: Tell me about it. Don't know about you guys, but I can really go for a nice, relaxing back massage right now-

?????: RENNNNNN!!!!

And with that, Palutena and Bayonetta, along with all the members of the Phantom Thieves rushes over and hug tackle Ren into the ground one by one. All was right in the world yet again.

@keyenuta

@caleb13frede

@princekirijo

@ma-lemons

@albion-93

@italian-love-cake

@cyber-wildcat

@26shann

@shumakoweek

[violet-t-9]

Check in on my (not very realistic) wish list for episode 136

1. The M9 eventually find a way to catch up with Lucien and Cree (or even get in front of them) before they are able to go to the astral sea AND at least start the combat please and thanks (Bonus: Cree gets a wild magic effect that gives M9 some advantage or laughs).

OH NO an intuit charge they were ambushed! The TT were way ahead of them... They caught up though! Lucian and Cree are still there... oops never mind they got ahead AGAIN, no TT combat today. Well, astral sea here we come!

2. Caleb and Beau’s eyes come into play at some point but are helpful to them instead of being used against them (look, let me try to be optimistic).

They have true sight! They can communicate telepathically to ANYONE! Hey, at least they gained some magical abilities and SOME sort of profit from all that anxiety. The eyes were still used against them to sense their presence.

3. Some long one-on-one conversations between any characters please, I need the RP experience! Any two of them would have a great dynamic.

Welp, I mean, combat time! Combat is also good, who needs RP anyways :(

4. More wild magic effects from casting in Aeor! Jester, Essek, Caduceus, Veth I’m looking at y’all. Caleb and Fjord already had their fun, but I won’t say no to more. (Bonus: the effects are harmless and fun ones like how they have been).

Oh no Veth... Is tiny... At least it didn’t cost any hit points? CALEB IS A SHEEP THAT WALKED INTO THE PORTAL LMAO. That was one of the wild magic effects that I wanted to see the most and it was as funny as possible.

5. Even more Aeorian ruin exploration and finding clues that may help them with the city business, but no more side combats before getting to the TT.

Caleb rolled 31 arcana on the runic circle wow transmutation + dunamancy! Temporal alteration! 31 on investigation too wow Caleb, “primal artifact”? TIME TRAVEL?? So that’s why it’s called the Temporal Dock! Also, wow, they actually did not enter any other side combats before TT, using stealth and magic. They were forced into a side combat after getting to them though.

6. Beau and Yasha continue with their PDA AND have a private moment together (let’s hope for both, because why not).

“Yasha your hair looks really great” lol Beau is not wasting any time is she. Yasha’s defensive “she’s wonderful” was ooc but cute lol. “Anything for my princess” lmao stop you guys. No private moment, but close enough.

7. Jester and Fjord heal each other at some point OR have more physical contact (they were so cute last episode).

Jester healed Fjord! I’m sad it had to happen but it was a good heal too. Jester also picked up the paralyzed Fjord after the intuit charges!

8. Continuing to hope for Essek’s fancy dunamantic spells OR magical items (I felt Caleb so hard last episode, I too am attracted to power and skills).

Purple sparkling dunamancy fly wings oh YEAH. Thanks for maintaining concentration on Cad you beautiful war caster you.

9. Veth and Fjord diss each other at some point OR exhibit support for each other, I love their love-hate relationship.

“Fjord can shape water... yes you can, you got it” lol Also the discussion about Veth preparing featherfall and Fjord’s “yes thank you Veth”. The “marine layer” argument lol - sounded both supportive and like a diss.

10. Continuing to hope for Caleb to polymorph into anything really, or using polymorph on any party member (polymorph! Caleb interactions my beloved, this is just going to be a permanent feature on my wish list now).

Intelligence 2 SHEEPLEB MY BELOVED BWAHAHAHAHAH I love this so much. It’s not exactly polymorph, but he is a sheep guys, that counts.

11. Mention of Davexian/Charlie at some point in time (bonus: Veth does it).

Lmao Beau mentioned Davexian right away, and Veth gave a reaction right away. I did not expect a mention so soon but here we are.

12. Jester continuing to be the braincell holder of the team and keeps everybody on task (go queen I love you).

YEAH go get that natural 20 Jester! Keep track of what floor it is! She also urges them to keep moving.

13. Essek and Caleb have more of their deep wizard conversations and interactions OR be impressed by each other at some point (Bonus: another party member mentions/addresses whatever they’ve got going on).

YES wow the temporal dock scene. Also Jester thanks for the mention lol. “It’s complicated” sounds about right. 

14. Cad attempting to speak with the dead on the remaining TT members (there are still Otis and Zoran) and learning some useful information.

Well... it’s kind of too late for that.

15. Jester sees Artagan again and we finally find out what Caleb was seeing during that commune and that scry (I need answers please! Don’t try to distract me with everything else going on, I won’t fall for it).

IT WAS TRUE SIGHT? It was true sight and Beau was just not close enough! Sprinkle whispering in Jester’s ear?? Someone’s theory I saw here was true good for you! Arty has been sprinkle all along that’s why sprinkle is alive.

16. More discussion about dunamancy in Aeor and the Luxon (I’d love to know how Essek is feeling about their discovery and get his thoughts on it).

Well... time travel magic circles are certainly dunamancy. Essek is as excited as you would expect him to be - very.

17. A successful divine intervention from either cleric! (Bonus: that allows them to stop the TT)

Nope, but it may happen next week? Maybe?

18. Heroes’ feast and we learn more about the food/drink preferences or other fun facts from everybody (Bonus: great roll on the HP boon from the feast).

Welp well they ain’t gonna get that one extra hour. 

19. I know they are not gonna see the tower but I still kinda want to see Essek’s room look it’s going to stay on this wish list until it happens.

Yeah I mean I didn’t really expect this to come true any time soon. 

20. Somebody pushes a red button, again (Bonus: it’s someone we don’t expect to push the button).

I mean, Beau went underwater to grab the magical potions, that was kinda button-pushing, but it’s to be expected. She is an expositor! She investigates!

21. Cad continuing to be a MVP in combat as always OR have an amazing non-combat idea/discovery.

Cad got Yasha up as soon as she was down! ALSO that shield of retribution force damage was AWESOME. The invisibility was so smart!

22. You know the drill by now - everyone remains relatively happy and alive by the end of the episode except Lucien and Cree (they can perish), and the episode ends on a terrifying cliffhanger as always (Bonus: they end up in the Astral Sea and that’s where we finish the episode).

Wow that bonus part is a PERFECT PREDICTION if I do say so myself. I knew that getting into the Astral Sea would be a good cliffhanger. I’m figuring it out guys.

Seriously though please stay safe and alive M9 (and yes Essek is included) that’s all I want.

Nobody has been dead so far, so I’m as happy as I can be!

Score: 16/22 

Other highlights:

Their exploration last episode paid off with the teal keycard! I knew it even distractions can be helpful!

Essek rolled a 30! On stealth! WOO his first great roll probably, Matt sounded so proud of him too. Also that clutch war caster concentration save too, he is finally rolling better (well, slightly).

Caleb’s decisive wall of force and two correct-level dispel magic saved everybody twice, competent as always. I love him so much (also, sheepleb my beloved).

NICE SAVE VETH THANK YOU omg what a queen with the mage hand, truly a 2000 IQ move made by a genius. Jester is safe I’m so happy!!

Wow, what an episode! As always, CR cast gave me such a wonderful night of tension, humour, action and intrigue. I am so happy and thankful that I get to witness this story unfold! I cannot wait for next Thursday, already. I am nervous about their astral sea journey, but I trust in the cast and they will always deliver a great story.

(Plus, maybe they can actually save Yussa now, pretty please?) :D

[strangerobin]

Rue: Chapter 5 (Jasper Hale x OC Imagine)

Just some familial bonding and a new discovery.

**Note: Introducing Adeline's little makeshift family :D The problem with thinking too much is that the more you think, the longer the story gets, and you try to give more backstory to each side character until you get totally distracted by them lol So expect more appearances from Adeline's little family ;) wink And expect this to be a slow slow burn Also I hope I've done justice to Alice's and Jasper's relationship (which obviously deviates heavily from the book but whatever); it's as said before, it's always sad to see a relationship dissolve, especially when it's not because of the lack of love for each other But not every relationship works till the very end, and it's alright It's still a precious part of life**

When she was warm and fed, Adeline retreated with Loreen into the latter’s room. The raging storm in her chest was finally calming by the child’s careless humming as she laid in Loreen’s double bed, guarded by plushies and dolls of all sort. While Loreen was parked next to her enormous hand crafted dollhouse, deftly placing each doll into their designated place. There was something she had noticed that was nagging at her.

“Why are you wearing gloves indoors?”

Loreen started and whipped her head towards Adeline, clearly made uncomfortable by the question. “Um… well you see…” The child spluttered, momentarily staring at her hands before finally shrugging nonchalantly and tugging the pair of gloves off. “You’re right, I suppose they are ridiculous, aren’t they?”

She threw the pair of gloves over her dresser before stooping to stuff the rest of her miniature dolls into the dollhouse and diving into bed. Her attention already distracted by something else like any child would do.

“Ohhh! What’s this Addie? I never saw this on you before.” She pointed to the little silver locket around her neck. Clearly fascinated by the intricate carvings on the locket. “It’s absolutely gorgeous!”

“Oh this old thing?” Adeline fingered the trinket, felt the grooves and the carving underneath her thumb. It was funny how she could look at it now with a sterilised sense of calm but god forbid lose control so easily faced with the man in the woods.“It was from a friend.”

“Pretty.” Loreen murmured. Leaning closer to check out the trinket, she touched it gingerly with a finger and was immediately absorbed by it. “Must be very important if you’re still holding onto it after all these years.”

That struck a nerve and Adeline quickly tucked the locket beneath her bathrobe and shot Loreen a smile, abruptly changing the subject. “Well aren’t you chatty tonight, Lorie.”

“Well you know what I’m down to chat about?” Loreen shifted her little body so that she was on her stomach, cheeks in her hands, sizing Adeline up with her brown eyes. “Your absence.”

“You sure you want to talk about this, young lady?” Adeline laughed, amused by the child’s antics.

“I do.” Was the child’s serious reply.

“Well you have Anakin. And Teddy. I think you hardly need me around.”

“Anakin’s a tyrant, he never takes no for an answer. And he’s surprisingly very persuasive when he wants. And Teddy… Teddy’s fine, he’s a good a soul. But he’s a bit of a bore.”

Adeline snorts. “Good soul? Good lord Loreen where did you learn to talk like this?”

Loreen pouted cutely. “See this is all Anakin’s work. He’s just no fun really. I miss having you around, I need another girl to talk to!”

“Oh sweetheart I’m sure some of the neighbour’s kids would play with you.”

“They’re such children! I couldn’t possibly play with them! I’m surrounded by goldfish everywhere!”

“You’re a child yourself. And you’re not in an aquarium, Loreen.”

“Yes I am, so I really need you here with me. Besides Father never comes. I mean you’d actually be pretty undisturbed here. He calls us disappointments anyways. He only ever has time for the elites!”

Adeline smiled ruefully and reached a hand pat the little one’s head. Here she was, worrying even her little sister. “He will be around more, if he knew I was here.”

“Ahhh to be a favourite child.” Loreen sighed dramatically.

“Seriously, where did you learn to speak like this?”

“What? Because it is unbecoming of a child?”

“Exactly.”

The pair stared the other down until finally Loreen cracked.

“I might have been rifling through Netflix a bit…”

“And?"

“And I do so adore those British period pieces.”

“There we have it! I think I might need to talk to Anakin about you-“

“Oh you are odious!” Loreen pouted again, before latching onto Adeline’s arm. “Please, please, pretty please! Don’t rob me of my only joys in life! Anakin’s barely even bothers with me half the time and have you seen Teddy? No! Because he’s always out to do some boring stuff and I’m always alone! I’m bored out of my mind! I'll read anything in this house, I even read the dictionary to pass time!”

Adeline laughed again. “Alright, little lady. I’ll let you be, so long as you go to sleep right now.”

Still grumbling, Loreen got under the quilt but nonetheless snuggled close to Adeline.

“Sweet dreams dear.”

She watched the child close her eyes. Lucky child, she wished she was back in that little cottage, snuggling up to her sister, a fire roaring in the hearth. When sleep was easy and her dreams were not tainted by her demons and shadows of regret.

But just as she felt the tendrils of an oncoming nightmare, she felt a small hand reaching up to her forehead. Adeline soon felt a warmth enveloping her body, her head was on a pillow of cloud. And just before she fell into a dreamless slumber, she thought she heard a whisper.

“Sleep well, Adeline.”

*

“Jasper are you sure?” Alice asked worried, hurrying after the man as he strode with purpose.

“I’m sure.” They were at a car dealership in Minnesota. Alice had been stumped trying to scour for possible leads for Adeline, but something had changed for Jasper. Instead of the usual moroseness that clung to him, he seemed to have been rejuvenated by some unknown spark, there was a new found confidence in him of sorts. It mystified her, he was acting like a child who had been let on a secret that he only knew.

“I’ll drive you to the closest airport and you can take the next flight home.” Jasper said as he led her to the car he had bought. “Then I’ll continue on from there.”

“And how exactly are you going to find her, Jasper?” She quizzed. “If a seer can’t even find her. And she leaves practically no scent for anyone to follow if she wants.”

Jasper turned to look at her then, really looked at her; she scrutinised him equally hard on her part. Searching for an answer.

And it hit her like a bullet to the chest.

She understood then.

“She’s your mate, isn’t she?”

Jasper looked away guiltily before giving her an affirmative nod. “I think so… yes.” His eyes clouded over then, reminiscing. “It took seeing her again to confirm it. But I… I feel her in my heart, this small tugging… incessantly. Even now I can feel it, pulling at me, urging me to move, to be closer.”

“Oh Jasper. That’s wonderful news.” She had to congratulate him, despite still reeling from the shock and the ever-growing pain inside her heart. She really shouldn’t be selfish now.

“Alice.” Her hand was clasped into his large ones, and she eyed their intertwined hands before gently letting them fall. One look at him and she saw the heartbreak and sorrow in him. How torn he must be feeling right now, the dilemma he was in. “I’ve hurt you, Alice.” He finally murmured. “And it wasn’t even my intention.”

But how could she forget that for every little emotion she had, Jasper felt it tenfold more. So intense was his sense that if her heartbreak was already eating at him, it must have been excruciating when he had seen Adeline the night before.

“Perhaps I really shouldn’t..." Deliberating internally with his own doubts and concerns, Jasper struggled to find the right words to express himself. "She doesn’t want to see me... not anymore anyways. Why throw away everything we’ve built...”

Alice watched on as she was reminded of her times with Jasper then. The Quileute tribe may deem him dangerous for his skill and experience in the army, he might have had a hand in the Southern Vampire wars; but the Jasper she knew, the man she had loved was always a sweet and gentle man. Sentimental yes, empathetic even more so. All the years he had spent shielding her, simply being there for her. Alice knew that if she took away this chance from him, it would always be a regret on his part. And this wound would continue to fester like cancer, eat at him, until it ultimately killed him from the inside. Until there was nothing left but a shell of a man.

He deserved more than anyone, to love and be loved.

And if all he needed was a push, she would gladly give it to him.

“Go.” She beamed at him through her unshed tears. “Go find her and make it up to her.”

“I’m not even sure if there’s anything that needs my making up to her.” Jasper whispered in exasperation, but his caress betrayed a gentleness that was almost innate in him. She leaned into his palm one last time.

“Bring her back will you, I have a hunch we’ll be the best of friends.” She breathed. Watched as a new resolve hardened in his eyes.

“Yes ma’am” The same reply he had given when she first greeted him in that little diner in Philadelphia.

Her heart might break just a little bit more.

*

Jasper was driving his new car, not quite sure where his destination was yet. Simply letting the pull at his heart guide him.

Though to be honest, his mind wasn’t particularly on the scenery or the drive. He needed the time to think, to sort out the mess that was in his mind.

A soulmate bond.

When Carlisle had mentioned to him all those years ago; he had struggled not to be cynical about it. Because yes, it was rude; but also because he didn’t quite believe in all that bullshit after his time with Adeline and then his affair with Maria. Maria had simply manipulated and ensnared him into a web of lies and then proceeded to use him and mould and knead him into whatever she needed him to be then. There was no deeper emotion other than the feeling of being exploited by the woman.

But Adeline. Adeline, she had straight up ripped out a wide gapping hole in his heart. Do people ever get over a heartbreak like that? He had wondered.

It was really Alice who had calmed him down over the years, shed new light on his existence as a vampire, provided the companionship he so desperately needed. Helped him control the bloodlust.

If Adeline had never reappeared in his life, if she had never passed through Washington for whatever reasons, if she had not stopped to find Renesmee. Why, he thought, they might never chance to meet. He would continue his peaceful and contented life with the Cullens and Alice; and she would have continue on her merry way.

But nothing in life ever goes as planned.

The moment his eyes finally beheld her form again after centuries, he knew then. He knew then that she was the one he had been waiting for all along. Perhaps it was the way how the world seemed to have changed; how it brightened like never before. Or how alive he felt in that moment, how his dead heart almost, almost started beating again. Or how when she had left, the pain in his heart, how excruciating it had been, as if it were ready to tear itself apart. Maybe it was just the way that when she was around, every feeling that he had was intensified.

And when he felt that unknown tugging at his heart, it had all but cemented his belief.

But now that his sentiments were all but confirmed, there were other concerns that warranted his attention.

He thought back to the night they had met, rewinding and examining every little detail that he may have missed. Sure it was excruciating, but he needed more facts to pursue. He needed a plan of action to lure Adeline out of her shell, to make her at least talk to him. He didn’t think that a reconciliation was possible after her rejection, but surely some answers were long overdue.

He recalled how she had trembled at the mention of her father, how desperate she had wanted to escape from him.

Her grandmother Henriette had once told him that: there are things that are out of their control, things that are better left in the dark. Her father had needed her and what could a single unwed woman do but to comply to her parent’s wish. He had been young and rash then, had dismissed it all in a fit of fury and anguish, had chalked it up to his lack of wealth and class. But now that he thought of it, perhaps they were half truths mingled with white lies, told to protect him from a greater evil for his own sake. A tyrannical patriarch figure who was also probably a very ancient vampire.

He briefly considered just what he was getting himself into.

As he cut the line to leave the highway at the next exit, he felt another strong tug at his heart as if it were a signal that he was on the right track.

He had just passed a giant billboard that said.

Welcome to Colorado.

*

When Theodore, or simply Teddy, returned from his ‘dull and tedious tryst with his insipid chess-loving company’ as Loreen quoted, or as the man himself reiterated impatiently ‘a simple chess meeting in Denver’, he was met with a chaotic household gone rogue.

“Well aren’t you dapper, young man?” Adeline drawled from her couch she had claimed for herself, parked right in front of the TV. Sizing up the man, she took note of his wind swept black curls, the tweed blazer and the crisp silk shirt and the shiny black dress shoes. In turn, Teddy was also eyeing his sister intently.

“Is that my bathrobe?” The finely-dressed man asked incredulous, one hand on his hips, the other pointing accusingly at the former.

“What?!” Adeline defended, refusing to budge from her position. “You have grand taste. And it’s comfy.”

“And is that my Rockies t-shirt?”

“So it seems to be.” Adeline shrugged nonchalantly.

“Anakin! She’s even drinking my wine now! And she’s gone through my entire chocolate stash!”

“Oh go bother someone else won’t you!” Was Anakin’s annoyed reply.

But as Loreen had put it, Teddy was a good soul and all was forgiven soon enough with peace restored within the makeshift family.

Yet underneath the calm lurked a quiet unease.

The family was quick to notice, the listlessness and jitteriness Adeline was emanating. The more they tried to press her, the more withdrawn she grew, refusing to divulge in whatever she had hidden.

For Adeline, she had thought she was seeking safety and shelter among her half-siblings, but in confinement she was growing evermore restless. She stubbornly ignored the void in her heart, a strong reminder that an essential part of her was missing from her life. One she had all but forgotten until the fateful run in. Instead she paced the halls all through the nights, had taken to drinking coffee at night and wine in the morning. And when she rested, sleep was always fitful, plagued by strange dreams and nightmares and long-forgotten memories.

Her intuition was never wrong, it was the only gift she could fall back on in times of crises. And right now, she could taste it in the air, hear it in the wind. Something was about to happen, a reckoning of sorts she was sure, and here she was waiting for a sign.

Adeline downed another flask of coffee as she sat in the chill with a simple blanket to keep herself warm. The stars were out and she was studying them as they moved across the late evening sky.

She desperately needed a sign. This state of limbo was slowing driving her insane. She needed a way out, an escape.

“Hey.”

“Hey you.” She didn’t need to turn, she knew only one person who would be brave enough to disturb her in her reverie.

Teddy gently sat down beside her. “You’re not sleeping.”

“I can’t.” Adeline frowned and rubbed her face, exhaustion evident in her system.

“Well all that caffeine isn’t helping.” Her half brother smile and pointed at the flask in her lap.

“Well, I don’t want to sleep.” Adeline retorted with more bite than was needed.

“Adeline.” Theo admonished softly.

She shot him a warning look, though the corners of lips were slightly upturned good-naturedly. “Teddy.”

Teddy bless his soul, always the same kindhearted and gentle soul that he was. Loreen might call his person boring, but Adeline liked how he was always constant and steadfast… like an evergreen. There was a reason why he had always been her favourite out of all her siblings, not even her history with Anakin could beat this. For him, she would shield him from every hurt, every danger; and sometimes she wondered if she had done all that was good for him. If she had done right by him while raising him to be the man he was today.

“Well? What is it that you want to ask then?” Adeline rested her head on her knees and gestured for Teddy to voice his concerns.

He studied her intently for a second, as if finding the right word to begin with. “Something’s happened. Anakin tells me you were in a pretty bad state when you came but he wouldn’t divulge further said you didn’t tell him as well.”

“So I didn’t.”

“Well you can tell me. You know I’m your most trusted confidant.”

Adeline had to laugh at that. “Yes you are, my beloved brother.”

An easy silence enveloped the two as they sat shoulders touching, head tilted towards the open galaxy. This was the only thing she ever missed, in between running around the country, and hiding away from her father. This heartfelt connection with the only few people with whom she could be herself; a permanent residence, a pillow under her head at night. She had given up something similar, years ago when she was still young and naive, and very much in love, desperately so.

Now, she didn’t let herself dream on.

“Do you... do you remember New York?” Adeline dug her fingers into the wet earth, the dampness of the earth filling her nostrils immediately. “Do you remember Harlem, 1921?”

“That night when you drunk the entire club under the table?” Teddy turned to eye her carefully, even after all these years, he was still sensitive about that little fiasco she had pulled to spite their father, and probably to spite herself too. “Yeah I remember that night.”

Adeline kept her head down, her hand playing absentmindedly with the loose soil. “Do you remember when you asked me don’t you have any regrets in life?”

“And you had said yes, more than you will ever know.”

“Well…” There was a catch in her throat now and she swallowed hard to speak. “Do you have any regrets yourself Ted? Just something… anything.”

Teddy frowned as he contemplated the question Adeline had raised. But then she didn't think he had any; moralistic Teddy, gentle Teddy, worry-wart Teddy, he had too much foresight to let himself make grave mistakes like she did. “Nothing major really. Although… there is a place my mind always goes back to…”

“Which is?”

“The little diner in Philly, 1948.” The brunette hesitated, stealing a sidelong glance at his sister before continuing. “The one you were adamant we left immediately. I always thought that there was something… someone waiting for me there… and I always wonder what I would’ve find there if we had gone in.”

“Our ultimate demise probably.” Adeline shrugged.

“And why are we talking about regrets now?”

She hummed in response, turning to give her brother a tired smile. “Because, it seems my biggest regret has decided to return now to haunt me, out of vengeance.”

*

Jasper pulled into the local inn parking lot, killing the ignition as he did.

Georgetown Mountain Inn.

The modest sign glowed in the dark night.

He had circled round the interstate for a day and a half, and then into Denver city, letting his newfound instinct guide him on his search. And it had ultimately lead him to this quaint historical mining town just west of Denver.

He breathed in the fresh alpine air.

This felt just about right.

Or so he thought.

“Ruelle? Never heard the name young man if I might say so myself. You looking for someone?”

The innkeeper shook his head at his inquiries the next day. Georgetown was only a small town after all. If it’s residents had never heard of the name, then the chances of finding a Ruelle in the town was close to slim. Distracted, the man had then turned back to the phone call he was on, entirely unaware of the subtle shift in emotion of his customer.

“Marie. You got the van out? I phoned up the Emersons last night. Anakin says he’ll be round before 11 to take a look at it. Afterwards he’s got business with Ted down in Denver that’ll keep him there for a week. Ask Jim to hurry over will ya?”

The innkeeper was still on the phone when Jasper turned to leave.

“Who’s looking after Loreen? Heard they got family staying over for a while to look after the kiddo. Beats me Marie... I’m sure they’ve still got good folks in the family.”

Without a plan or even a clue, Jasper decided to cruise round town and then up the lake to take his mind off Adeline. Even if the disappointment was slowly eating at him; he had been so sure of himself, but now doubt was settling in. Perhaps he had been mistaken indeed, everything was only a figment of his imagination, wishful thinking on his part. But then again, no sane person on the run would think to use their real name, no? He reasoned with himself. He knew he wouldn’t, and he didn’t think Adeline was stupid enough to do the same. So not all hope was lost yet.

Up ahead, his line of sight fell on a quaint little house nestled within the mountainous terrain overlooking the lake.

Casually pulling into the drive; he was just able to catch a pair of brothers heading out. One was much tanner than the other and though neither looked quite related to the other, but there was a little something that made him believed that they were related. The elder was fixing up the jeep parked on the driveway while the younger one was lingering at the door, taking to someone inside the house.

He recalled the phone call his innkeeper had made that morning.

Jasper strained his ears to listen to their conversation while pretending to make a u-turn at the end of the drive.

“You sure you don’t want one of us to stay with you Ad?”

“I’ll be fine Teddy, just go. Don’t let your students down. They’ll be waiting for you.”

“Grandmaster.” A little girl, one he had missed before, chimed cheekily.

But the man, Teddy, was still unconvinced. “You still haven’t told me what’s troubling you Ad.”

“I’ll think about it.” The woman in the house replied.

“You’re still jittery.”

“It’s the caffeine.”

“Ad-”

“Bruh you coming or what?” The elder by the car shouted back towards the house.

“This isn’t over.” The younger man muttered before scrambling down the terrace towards the jeep.

There was a ringing in Jasper’s ears as he leaned forward in his seat to catch a glimpse of the woman who turned to usher the child back into the house before closing the front door.

And just as the door closed, he thought he glimpsed a pale face framed by brown curls and a pair of blue eyes.

[emerald-amidst-gold]

ooo hugs!!! maybe 33? 👀

See, the one thing about having an OC that is generally taller than their partner is that I can play with these types of things for DAYS! >:D

So, introducing, the one thing I'm sure most people have been waiting for, HAPPY FANE! *throws confetti and flowers around* (well, sorta, kinda! >:3)

***

It was sometimes difficult to remember what he fought for when the world seemed to inch closer and closer to the edge of decay and corruption, the dirt cracked, the sky held back. It was sometimes unbearable to endure when pain colored everything in shades of grey and shades of red. Most notably, that pain was the worst when Fane had to face a dragon; one of his own. It was even worse when it were multiple at a time.

The bridge to Judicael's Crossing was finally completed after weeks of minor setbacks. The scaffolding dilemma, the integrity of the main foundation making it difficult to replicate the upper walkway, and the weather, snow squalls and nipping winds chilling Inquisition workers to their bones. Thankfully, the crew tasked with reparations had prevailed, and that was where Fane found himself now; across the frozen stone and into the lair, or rather, lairs of three dragons.

He hadn't ordered anyone to mobilize into the area nor did he group together his own party. No, he went alone, unafraid and unhindered, across the freshly repaired bridge, hearing the calls, the cries, of his kin. Even in their frenzied states, if he was careful, cautious, and aware, then they wouldn't attack him on principle. Dragons knew what their nature truly was, even when madness and fear gripped their minds and their hearts so tightly, so fiercely. So, he had gone across without anybody, without Solas, even. Fane knew his sky would probably be miffed, but there was something...calling to him, and it wasn't something he could let lay.

It was why he was now traversing the inner workings of one of the ancient 'stadiums' of the Crossing, the paths narrow for his broad frame, the stone echoing with the fall of his boots. He had heard the 'call' from within the grey granite, even from across the bridge, so he had let curiosity take hold and lead him towards its end.

"I hear it..", Fane whispered to the air, breath condensing from the frigid air that neither bothered or worried him. He pressed a hand against the cool surface of a wall, closing his eyes to hone in on what he could only describe as a 'beat', a gentle 'dum dum dum'. "..It's faint, but it's a heart beat."

Fane let his hand slide down the stone as he reopened his eyes, turning his head to look down the passageway. It was dark, dank, crumbling with ice caking the edges of the stone to where it shimmered from the torch he was holding, but none of that frightened him. He had walked miles in the dark, crimson flames flickering in the distance of his mind until they blazed into an inferno, burning his memories to ash, fueling his actions to incinerate anything and everything without his consent, without his knowledge, so ice reflecting orange hues and shadows dancing upon chipped walls was nothing to him.

"It's further in.", Fane said aloud, readjusting his grip on the torch so he wouldn't drop it. He may have walked into darkness all his life, but he still couldn't see past its sturdy veil without proper lighting. It wouldn't do for him to drop his only source of it. "Maybe her nest is deeper?", he questioned as he slowly began to walk down the corridor, keeping his free hand skimming along the stone to detect the whisper of a beat.

Fane was just about to descend a set of stairs when a deeper, softer, but familiar beat had him freezing in place, skimming hand pressing flat against the stone as his eyes went wide. That beat. He knew that beat!

"No..", he breathed out airily, pushing against the wall furiously to try and find that same deep pulse of life, of kin again. "Where are you? Please, please.." He continued to press, skim, trail his fingers and palm along the stone before his actions halted again, but this time from something else.

A voice. A very familiar, albeit exasperated voice.

"Fane, what are you doing here?"

Fane blinked at lilt and silk, body still frozen in place, the beat of stone and heart forgotten as he turned his gaze to look over his shoulder. He sighed in both relief and defeat when he saw who had spoken, shadows dancing on regarding edges of a face he knew and loved all too well.

"Solas.", Fane sighed again, his body relaxing as he straightened himself to his full height, having slid down a bit to seek a beat that he could still hear in the back of his mind, in the deepest recesses of his soul. "What are you doing here?"

Solas stood several feet away, but Fane could see a light flush on the mage's cheeks, his nose, and the tips of his ears, but from the cold or a possible sprint, he didn't know. Though, the man's chest was rising and falling fairly quickly as if he had been running. Blue-grey took on an orange cast from the light of Fane's torch, making them look pale as the snow outside, but they were no less striking, no less annoyed with him, and his sky's voice held that same level of annoyance as it sounded again, bouncing off the walls delicately.

"I believe I asked that question first.", Solas reminded, arms crossed and stance reprimanding as blue eyes bore into his own. Surprisingly, no staff was present upon his back, and that made Fane smirk a little despite the situation he was in. The sky was clever, and deeply aware of the same thing he was.

Fane sighed when Solas' glare seemed to sharpen; the elf's foot tapping in aggravation, supposedly at his smirk or just the entire happening in general. He was in for it now, wasn't he? He was.

"You did.", Fane affirmed before letting his gaze wander back to the icy walls. He could still hear the beat, and his heart yearned to follow where it would crash. "I...hear one of my kin.", he admitted, glancing back to observe Solas' reaction and let out a tiny sigh when sharpness mellowed out, blue making more of an appearance in grey as graceful legs finally began to close the distance between them.

"I see.", Solas said, coming up to stand next to him but with a small frown. "And you did not come to me why?" The question held a hint of hurt, a hint of confusion in its dropped quality, making Fane grimace and let out a small growl, but not at his sky.

"I..", Fane started, heaving a heavy sigh as he tilted his head down to connect gazes more fiercely. Solas met it without flinching, expression no longer stern, merely curious and observing. "..don't really know.", he admitted once more, eyes going hooded. "I just heard the beat from across the bridge, and I..followed it."

Solas sighed softly. "I understand, Fane, but it..", he trailed off, the same flush from before reappearing and this time, Fane knew it wasn't from sprinting or mild anger.

Fane smiled a bit. "Frightened you?", he finished for the man, chuckling deeply when Solas only nodded, slender body shifting with uncommon embarrassment, but blue-grey never left him, sparkling like the palest of aquamarine. "I'm fine, Solas. More than fine actually because my curiosity paid off."

That was right. The beat he had heard just before the mage arrived was familiar to him and it meant something grand. It was faint, quiet, but that was how it was supposed to be. Most of his kin nowadays held a jagged edge to their drums of life, staccatos rushing towards the ending of a crescendo, so for him to be able to hear one fluttering, flying with grace and patience...that meant he was not the last.

He was not the last of his whitened kin. There was a white dragon here! There was! And that revelation nearly had Fane turning on his heel and sprinting down the stairs, the beat in the back of his mind picking up with his excitement, observing his emotions as it was supposed to!

Solas tilted his head, a tiny smile blooming across his lips. "Oh?", he uttered in question, obviously detecting a shift in his demeanor and coming a bit closer to where Fane was practically shuffling around. "Your discovery obviously has you excited, my dragon. Will you share that with me, at least?"

Fane nodded, feeling how the corner of his lips twitched with the want to smile. He felt...light, unburdened for once as his heart began to race along with the one he could hear whispering, 'I'm here. I'm here. Where are you?'

"I hear one of my kin.", Fane reiterated his statement from earlier, nearly laughing when Solas raised an eyebrow at him, but he was smiling a bit more, obviously basking in his uncommon excitement.

"So you had said earlier, but this seems--"

"One of my kin, my sky!", Fane exclaimed, voice wobbling with unbridled happiness and joy, laughter tickling it, warmth hugging its cool deepness. "A white dragon! There's one here, somewhere! I can hear them!" He felt so happy, so free, so hopeful! When was the last time he had felt so hopeful, not weighted down by the world's inevitable spiral due to corruption and the lack of beings needed to prevent such a spiral?!

Solas' eyes widened a bit. "You're certain?", he asked, the smile from before widening to where Fane felt his own do the same, his cheeks hurting from the action, but he didn't care! His kin! His kin was alive! They endured, someway, somehow!

Fane nodded, the tips of his hair brushing against his cheeks from the excitement coursing through him like liquid lava. "Yes! Here!", he said. With a quick movement, he grabbed a hold of Solas' wrist, bringing it to lay against the wall. There was no resistance to be had, the mage easily allowing him to take control, sky-like eyes gazing up at him with softness, tenderness, and all the love in the world. "Do you hear their heart?", he asked softly, biting into his bottom lip as he awaited the answer. He was so happy, so happy..

He hoped the sky would be happy, too. To have another dragon within its expanse.

Solas turned his gaze from his own slowly, reluctantly, a tender smile still on his face as he closed his eyes, blue and grey hidden from view as focus took hold. The pause was pregnant, unbearably long, but eventually, Fane saw it in the way elegant features brightened, went lax with quiet wonder, usually composed breath hitched with quiet excitement. The sky was happy, just as its dragon was! And as eyelids cracked open, blue holding sparks of joyous orange from the torch, Fane couldn't contain himself, couldn't contain the bubbling emotion of joy, of happiness, of jubilant static!

"I'm not the last, Solas. I thought I was the last..", Fane whispered shakily as he threw the torch down and practically threw his arms around Solas, lifting the elf off the ground with ease born of raw strength and an even stronger force; happiness.

Solas only let out a surprised grunt, but soon let out a fond, adoring chuckle, deftly wrapping his arms around Fane's neck and leaning all of his weight into him, which the other took easily and without a shred of protest. No scars, no pain, no agonizing dread could pierce the bastion of his joy at this moment! His kin was alive, alive and sane! It was the start of everything he had thus far worked towards, battling ignorance and narrow mindedness with the threat of insanity clicking in the depths of his soul, but now, now there was hope! Blinding hope, white hot hope!

A dragon's hope!

"Shall we go find them?", Solas asked tenderly, equally as tender fingers beginning to tickle the nape of his neck and the hairs that lined it, a smile to match Fane's own only ramping up his excitement.

Fane nodded happily and energetically as he leaned into lay a quick kiss to happily smiling lips before setting the mage down carefully. Solas chuckled fondly once more before reaching up to guide him back down, sealing their lips together more firmly this time, to which Fane reciprocated readily, sighing deeply through his nose and tilting his head just so to deepen the kiss immediately. He couldn't help it, he couldn't contain this wellspring of emotion, and neither could Solas from how Fane could feel their kiss quicken, grow with passion so them, so natural. And as nature dictated also, they had to part before long, their frenzied excitement literally renting their lungs of oxygen.

Fane still had a large smile plastered on his face as he pulled away, chest heaving with so much, but so was the sky's as blue and grey twinkled even in the dark corridor of a crumbling building. Solas gave one of his cheeks a tender stroke, expression loving, smile wide. Such light and levity had Fane feeling mildly playful, leaning down and in again to nuzzle at a sharp jaw, the receiver letting out a laugh filled with light. It made Fane's heart soar.

"Ready to be the sky of two dragons?", Fane whispered against Solas' cheek as he began to peck at it with tender kisses.

Solas chuckled, light and loving. "You make it sound as if they are newly hatched, vhenan.", he said, but blinked as Fane began to smirk. "...They are newly hatched, aren't they?"

Fane let out a laugh, not a huff of amused air, not a scoff, but a laugh, deep and filled with joy. Oh, the sky was vast, and he adored it!

"Congratulations, my sky.", Fane purred, putting their foreheads together to stare deep into wide, but truly happy blue orbs with hints of grey. "Looks like we've crossed the line into parenthood."

At that, two voices echoed within age old stone as laughter bubbled forth and hope laced two hearts with joy that was once thought to be undeserved amid mistakes born of care and a world enveloped in darkness and ruin.

***

DRAGON DADS! WOOOOOO! *does a happy dance* The hug is brief, but it's there! It's hard writing Fane as happy because even when he is, he's reserved about, but BAH! My boy gets happiness! >:D

[stray-tori]

TPN S02E04 - Initial Thoughts (anime-only)

viewing + post-ep talk with my friends: Google Drive (sorry, youtube denied me again)

(i) Translations are in the English (USA) CC (including the english bits as well for those who struggle with the audio/language, etc.)

pls validate my efforts and watch it.

there’s some anime-only talk about the adaptation towards the end, I wasn’t trying to be arrogant, just mention it to my friends based on some things I’d heard and without spoiling them about what is different that I do know of specifically. But if you want to avoid that, feel free to!

I definitely said it a bit too in favor of the anime, and obviously my friends’ just got my simplified thoughts on it? Like when they said it makes sense for the anime to move on quicker, but that’s not really what’s different. 

So yeah, please forgive the dubious things in that segment, I really just didn’t think about my words a lot.

.

. Random thoughts

The fish bug scenes were delightful TvT Also the animation during them trying to grab them???

The OST during Isabella’s scenes???? take me

I think we also heard the OST sneak peak from a while ago during the cave confrontation with the army force human

Don is a useless nightwatch, goddamn it Don

Don is an epic chairman.

Loved the shot of Ray shooting at the big demon (why didn’t Emma get a cool shot? :THONK:), very dynamic, very epic.

Also them running together to push the man off the cliff was... something haha.

I’m losing my mind that we’re actually just ending on the way ep1 started. Same animation loops too, eh. to be expected, and obviously adjusted for different clothing and items but. still as someone who wants to praise for not re-using animation, rip.

EMMA HAVING SLEEPING CHILDREN AROUND HER AWWWW

Eyy Ray took a bath with the others too, yay

.

. The bunker

So, the twist was that there was really.... no twist at all. Minerva was a good guy, he tried his best, he got discovered and chased.

And yet, I don’t think the bunker was previously discovered by the farms, which would at least warrant a “scare” like that, effectively making it a trap. They may have been aware of a shelter’s existence, but I don’t think they’ve been there before.

You could probably assume that the Troup that attacked our characters may have also removed the previous escapees from the scene --- but if that was the case, why leave all of the letters and other things in place. Not getting there immediately is understandable, they seem to arrived by foot (what? do you plan to keep an eye on the children the whole like 5 day march back or however long it took?? dang). So that’s not it.

So: what caused the HELPs? the person writing in the book seems to have been abandoned or more likely, are the only survivor of their group (maybe the only person in the group at all). Now it’d be an option for them to have found this safe haven and decided to just spend their days there, slowly losing their minds and doing the things on the wall. But then the message in the book, on the other hand, seems traumatized and sad, but not as lost as the carvings on the wall.

So either, they calmed down after going crazy and then once they did, they decided to leave.

Or it’s from two different people (or multiple), the one after the “HELP” one probably leaving the uplifting message in the book nearby of the scribbles.

I’m not sure which I’d find more likely, but all in all, I’m not sure why they didn’t just have the demons already know of the place and just have the letter (they probably wouldn’t have searched everything in the place) not be as obviously placed and then boom, they could still have made all discoveries they needed and when they found the help wall, it would have been from children trapped in the room while the men searched the bunker, wanting help.

* Clearly that’s not what they were going for, since there’s also day-counting things, but even that you could have explained by saying, they missed a child and the other escapees convinced them that they died, somehow and so they were left behind, traumatized by their friends being taken back and giving up for a while. It still runs into the same “but how can it be the same person?” doubt that my friend brought up, but I think that it’d justify the shock value of the wall more. Still not really making the whole “HELP” thing add up though, since that just sounds like there’s an immediate threat, when there isn’t. The only other thing I can think of is that the entire wall wasn’t one instance, so the counting could be solitude, the HELPs acute danger and the names probably also solitude. The drawing on the right also makes me think it was probably a child as well, fairly young. Poor kid.

Unless there’s something more to it I feel like it makes a little more sense, but still not a lot (WHY’D YOU LEAVE YOUR SNACKS, BRO) but seeing as we’ve left, I don’t think we’ll get to know.

.

I’m assuming the way the farm knew now is either a) they were aware but didn’t see any reason to go there unless there were children there, b) they saw the coordinate carvings (thanks Ray) or c) the pursuers contacted the farms (which would make sense, and again, thanks Ray).

.

.. the farm has a military force???

I also find it kind of funny that the farms have a military force??? Because so far, we’ve never seen them use guns to do anything. Which makes me think they might not be farm-intern but from an outside force, maybe the humans who are more “on-level” with them?

Like, what do they do all day. They’re probably not part of the buff demon guards and.... idk man haha-

.

. Isabella

Ahh I was happy to see her! I was even happier to be like “hah, prison. Knew it.” and then later reacting to the offer, even though that wasn’t exactly what I called, but damn. the pride. my fucking expression too lol, i couldn’t hide it at all pff.

Her jump in motivation is a little weird, but I do see it as, someone who has basically accepted their fate, and when that gets challenged, the will to live takes over. 

I’m also not quite sure how she’s supposed to capture them if she can’t leave?

And then of course there’s whatever they promised her aside from “freedom” (which, if that just means being let outside, good luck ma’am there’s demons everywhere) - or is the transportation to the human world included? :D

Based on her clothing in the OP, I might have guessed it’d be “become a grandma” but that doesn’t really go well with the promise of freedom so.... I don’t know where that entire thing is going pff-

We don’t know a lot about what drives Isabella but one of the few things we do know is a) will to live and b) Leslie (????), hence the lullaby in “stressful” situations.

She already got the will to live with the baseline deal, so the only thing I can think of that would make her react more than freedom would be that Leslie’s alive and she can see him if she helps.

I’m not sure if she’s interested in anything else, like how the world works or what she can do for anyone, like.... hm. Of course it could totally be something that we just don’t know yet but yeah I guess that’s my guess.

They probably won’t give up Ray and seeing as she’s more concerned about his brain than anything, I don’t think even if they did allow her to take him with her, it probably wouldn’t mean a lot to her. Plus, why lose another high quality cattle.

I guess it could be, she did seem she wanted to be a proper mother figure, but idk something tells me it’s probably not something like that.

It would also be more “???” than “OHHH” of an reveal. Then again, Leslie is also an obvious choice so.

Maybe it’s something entirely new, we’ll see :D

.

. The possibily wrong date

So when Anna writes a journal thingy, we see this

And, well, their escape happened in January 2046, so... for that to be true, somewhere along the line, an entire year would have had to pass.

I’m assume this is a production error because

they didn’t get to harvest once

they wouldn’t wait a year to talk about the plan to go back

Ray wouldn’t need an ear patch for so long, he only has a cut

the montage only showed 22nd and 23rd, if an entire year had passed, we’d have been shown more varied dates, etc.

then it makes even less sense for why the army shows up one year later out of nowhere :D

...

Smh, CloverWorks, what can you even do right.

.

Yee, thanks for reading!

[hunnybadgerv]

SWTOR Short Fic Weekly Challenge Prompt List

I found this list and was really intrigued by a lot of the prompts, they are really in depth and thought provoking. So, I linked the original location where I found them and am going to squirrel them away for those times when I really need inspiration. Or just really want to write in that fandom.

I’m wanting to write some Doc fic for @alyssalenko, but I can’t really get my brain in gear right now.

It is super long, so I tucked it under the cut.

SWTOR Short Fic Weekly Challenge Prompt List

Week of 6/1/2012 Culture Shock - The galaxy is a big place, and it's home to a wide variety of different cultures and species. It's not easy working with someone who may look similar to you, but comes from a radically different culture - not to mention being friends or even spouses with them Week of 6/8/2012 Allies - When something huge is going down, or just when you need a hand, who can you call that you know is going to have your back? Whether it's someone completely unlikely or exactly what you'd expect, who can you ultimately always rely on? Week of 6/15/2012 Confessions - Everybody has things they don't like to admit. Sometimes it's big, sometimes it's just something small. Sometimes it's nice to finally let it out. What does your character need to admit - and to who? Hidden Talents - All of our characters are good fighters, but people are good at more than one thing. What else are they good at - and how do their friends and family react to learning about this hidden skill?

Week of 6/22/2012 Rites of Passage - Sort of related to the cultural theme, there are tons of different rites of passage our characters go through. Some are common across cultures, like weddings. Some are specific to a culture, like coming-of-age ceremonies. And sometimes they are just an internal realization that your life has changed. Feel free to take this in any direction you would like. Week of 6/29/2012 Health - Jet-setting around the galaxy means exposing yourself to a ton of different viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Let's go, biology nerds! First Impressions - Our characters meet tons of people on their journeys. What are their first impressions of each other like? Are they accurate, or did someone put up a front? Write about it! Week of 7/6/2012 Communication Breakdown - Trying to communicate with each other when things are going well is hard enough, but our characters have plenty of other things that can get in the way. Bad com channels, language barriers, broken holo feeds - all those can mess up a conversation. Not to mention people who just plain don't understand each other... Week of 7/13/2012 Catching Up - Pretty much all of our characters have pasts that might catch up with them in the future. Sometimes that's not a good thing, like seeing an old enemy. Sometimes it's great, when an old friend comes to help you when you need it. Either way, it's bound to be interesting. Mix It Up - For this challenge you can write anything you like. The catch? Someone else's character has to be in it along with yours. It can be your friend's or someone else in the thread as long as you have gotten their permission and as long as your story involves your character and another player character that you don't play - NPCs, companions, etc don't count. Get creative with this one and see what cool stuff you can come up with. We have some really talented minds in here and I'm sure people will come up with some awesome stories. Week of 7/20/2012 Exploration - You could travel your whole life and not see all of Earth - so what about people who have an entire galaxy to explore? What new things have your characters uncovered along their journeys? Thank you bright_ephemera for this prompt. Dreams and Nightmares - Sometimes these are literal - a horrible nightmare or a pleasant dream that you don't want to wake up from. Sometimes it's a metaphor - your desires for the future or your greatest fear. Either way, they're a part of everyone's lives. Thank you Striges for this prompt! Week of 7/27/2012 Family - Dealing with a war sucks. It's already complicated enough, but family complicates things even more. Some of our characters' families are different species, or have different alligiances. How do they deal with the complications that family can bring? Suggested by Eanelinea. Discovery - In our characters' journeys, we make some surprising discoveries. Sometimes they're things about ourselves or our friends, other times they're discoveries about the world around us. Either way, they usually take us by surprise. Suggested by Crezelle. Canned Response - When we click on our companions, they give us one of a set of responses. Unfortunately, that's all the endgame interaction we get with them - but let's make the best of it! Pick a phrase (one or more) a favored companion says to you and write a fic around why they are saying it. Suggested by Morgani. Week of 8/3/2012 Celebration - There are many things to celebrate in life: from weddings to birthdays to holidays. Write about a celebration your character has been a part of. Prompt suggested by SveinEternity. Guilty Pleasures - We all have them. Does your bounty hunter love The Bachelor (or whatever the SW equivalent is)? Or your Jedi Consular love romance novels? What secret thing do they love - and would be mortified if anyone knew it? Week of 8/10/2012 Mission Accomplished - Ever wonder what exactly goes down when you send your companions on those crew skill missions? How does Khem handle diplomacy missions, for example? Write about your character sending one of his or her crew members on an assignment - your character can only appear when giving the mission; focus on a companion. Suggested by Morgani! What's In A Name - Names are special, they almost always have some meaning behind them. First names, family names, nicknames - none of them are ever arbitrary. Write a story explaining a name given to your character or a companion, whether it's their personal name, nickname, or alias. Week of 8/17/2012 What If? - Most characters have some major event in their past that changed the entire course of their life. What if that event never happened? Would they even take part in their class stories, meet all their companions, or be the person you played? Suggested by Morgani. My First - Firsts are usually special - first items, like Jedi and Sith's first lightsabers or an agent or smuggler's first gun. First times, like your first time connecting with the Force or your first time stepping onto your ship. Firsts can change a person and solidify who they are. Write about a special "first" in your character's life and how it shaped them. What's in a Name 2 - Extended for the week because it was so popular. If it still inspires you, keep writing it! All the stories were just that good. Week of 8/24/2012 Turning Point - Last week we wrote about what life would be like if major events didn't happen. This week, we're writing about major events that DID happen. Pick a particularly important moment for your character, one that solidified their path. Write about what they did and why that moment was crucial. Worst Day Ever - Everybody has a bad day. So do our characters. Maybe it was in their class story - like getting your ship stolen on your birthday - or maybe it was something that happened before or after. Whether it genuinely was the worst day or your character was just in a bad mood and something happened to make it worse, write about a day that made them call it "the worst day ever". Week of 9/1/2012 (Un)invited Guests - Things get complicated when you're visiting someone else, or have someone visiting you. Even if you want them there! Of course, things are extra complicated when your guest is someone you didn't want or expect to come around. ...Like No One's Watching - When we're alone we often indulge ourselves in things that might embarrass us if others knew. Bad music, bad dancing, whatever it is, we'd be pretty mortified if someone caught us. This time, write about your character's secret indulgences - and how they react when it's discovered. Week of 9/7/2012 Changes/New Paths - Week of 9/14/2012 Brotherhood/Sisterhood - Ceremony - Week of 9/21/2012 Parenthood - Many of our characters either have issues with their parents, are parents themselves, or both. Parents can make things complicated, whether it's simply the generational gap or the fact that they aren't great parents. Affection - It's more than just a game mechanic. How do your characters show it, whether to their lover or their family or to their friends? Does it always have the intended effect, or do things get lost in translation? Week of 9/28/2012 Fame - Your characters all end their class stories with a lot of newfound fame. How do they deal with it? Being recognized on the street, being on the news, finding themselves mentioned all over the HoloNet - it's got to be stressful. Alternatively, what if your characters met another famous person and had to deal with being starstruck? Bad Timing - Sometimes, the worst thing about something is when it happens. Even a good thing can end up being not-so-great if the timing is wrong. Write about a time when your character had to deal with something that just plain came at the wrong time. Week of 10/5/2012 Sacrifice - What are your characters willing to sacrifice to achieve their goals? Good/Bad Memories - Sometimes good memories can get your characters through hard times, sometimes bad memories are the extra push they use to move forward. What memories move your characters? Week of 10/10/2012 Teachers and Heroes - Everyone has someone they look up to, or someone who's taught them something important. Or a hero that they strive to be like. Who does your character admire and look toward when they're not sure what to do? Who has had an impact on making them the person they are today? Week of 10/17/2012 Xenobiology - Different species means more than different skin colors. It means different entirely different physiologies. Having friends whose bodies work so differently from your own can make things complicated, as everything from how you relax to how you dress and what your beauty rituals are (what is "lekku buffing", anyway?). How do your characters deal with differing biologies that they encounter? Best Day Ever - We've written about our characters' worst days; now write about their best days! A day when something wonderful happened, like finally beating your nemesis, or just a day when everything went really well for them, and how they reacted. Week of 10/24/2012 Disguises - Sometimes our characters have to gain entry to places that it's not easy to get into. What's a good strategy? A disguise, of course! Write about a time in which your character had to pretend to be someone or something else, and how they dealt with trying to be convincing. Worlds Colliding - Our characters fly all over the galaxy and meet people from many different worlds - metaphorically and literally. Relationships, friendships, and partnerships can develop, which often results in those two very different spheres of living coming together - which can be tough to navigate. Write about a time when your character's world met up with another's, and how they reacted. Week of 10/31/2012 Food - Everyone has to eat, and food is a major part of many cultures. It's part of your heritage and the memories you have of your family and friends. In a diverse galaxy, there are thousands of different things to eat and ways to prepare them, as well as traditions and customs involving food. Write about your characters' experiences in those realms. Loneliness and Solitude - Our characters end up with crews of interesting folks, but that doesn't mean they never feel lonely. When you're up against some of the biggest forces in the galaxy, it's hard not to feel alone. That said, sometimes being alone is a blessing - some well-deserved solitude is a wonderful thing when you need it. Write about a time in which your character felt lonely - or when they finally got some time to themselves. Week of 11/7/2012 Seasons - In space there are no seasons. But in a galaxy of thousands of worlds, it's every possible season at once, and not just the four temperature-variation ones. Write about some of the seasons your characters have experienced. Tools of the Trade - We all use tools in our everyday lives, whether it be a skill like one's persuasive powers, equipment like one's weaponry, or the right bit of knowhow to solve the problem without the need for that weaponry. Write about the tools that your characters depend on...or the ones they avoid using. Week of 11/14/2012 Deadly Sins - Everyone struggles with one of them at some point: wrath, pride, envy, lust, gluttony, greed, and sloth. Sometimes they spur us on to do good things. Other times, they hurt us and others. Write about your characters' struggles with the worst sins of them all. Seven Virtues - We're not just sinners, here. We all have our virtuous sides too, and many of our characters take one or more of the traditional "seven virtues" to heart: wisdom, justice, restraint, courage, faith, hope, and charity. Write about a time in which your characters embraced one or more of these virtues and how it affected them. Week of 11/21/2012 Home Ec - Our ships and everyday living arrangements have to keep running somehow. Maybe a slave or ship's droid handles it all for you; maybe...not so much. How do your characters manage cooking, cleaning, budgeting, ship maintenance, appliance repair, and more? Do the Math - On a more abstract level, tons of things in life can be reduced to, or perhaps just unhelpfully compared to, the math that rules our worlds. Write about your characters or things in their lives adding, subtracting, dividing, or multiplying. Or do they ever have to integrate? Or deal with binary logic? Or try to keep a limit on their eccentricity? Or handle something that's just...odd? Write about it! (Somewhat off-the-wall, but I hope y'all find something fun to play with in there, not necessarily strictly math-rigorous!) Week of 11/30/2012 I Love This Bar - We all do our time in the watering holes of the galaxy. What's your character's favorite memory of things seen, heard, done, purchased, insinuated, shot, kissed, imbibed, discombobulated, or otherwise rendered memorable in a cantina? Night of the Living Prompt - Remember all those ideas or half-finished scraps you had for earlier prompts? You know how it feels way too late to post it now? Resurrect your favorite prompt - let us know which it is! - and give us a story! (Kudos to kabeone for maintaining the master prompt list!) Week of 12/7/2012 As Time Goes By - No matter where you are in your character's story they are probably quite different from when they started. Maybe some are ready to settle down and others are starting to feel the passage of time. (All that Force leaping can't be good for the knees!) Has your character noticed any changes or have they stayed the same while others changed around them? Tell us about it. Week of 12/14/2012 First Day on the Job - Some of our characters have very long, very colorful employment histories. Others picked a job or had it picked for them when they were very young. Pick one of the jobs your character has held and describe the day they came to it. Loyalty and Betrayal - Two loaded words that can have major impacts on a person's life. Which characters of yours always follow orders? Which never compromise in loyalty to their friends or cause? How do your companions (not just that one) deal with challenges to their loyalties? Week of 12/21/2012 Laws and Governance - Our characters pass through a huge number of jurisdictions with a huge variety of regulations, forms of government, fine print, and - eek - legal penalties. Write about an interaction your character has had with government and/or the legal system. Failure - Our characters have flaws. They have bad days. They do it wrong. And sometimes they don't win. What failures have your characters experienced? What, if anything, did they learn from it? Week of 12/28/2012 Alternate Perspectives - Something a little different, most of the time we tell a story from a single character's perspective. But what were other characters thinking at the time? Rewrite one of your past pieces from another character's perspective or write a new fic from two characters perspectives. Use any prompt or just make something up. Week of 1/4/2013 Stomping Grounds - Our characters all have favorite places. Somewhere they grew up, somewhere they spent a lot of time, someplace that feels like home or might as well be. Someplace they’d rather be any day of the week. Somewhere they dream of when things go wrong. Tell us about your character’s favorite stomping ground. Week of 1/11/2013 Goals and Ambitions - Everybody has something they dream of, something they're working for in the future. For a lot of our characters it's a defining part of who they are. What are those goals? Who do our characters want to be? Behind the Scenes - Things aren't always as they seem, some events never look obvious, and wherever there's a curtain there may well be a man behind it. Write about what's really going on behind the scenes of your character's story. Week of 1/18/2013 The Story So Far - Let's step back for a moment to consider our universes. Write a summary for your characters, storyline, or entire universe as you would introduce them to a beginner. Week of 1/25/2013 Legacy - Legacy is an important part of the game, and a running theme throughout several of the stories. Is your character a part of a particular legacy, be it of family or ideology? What does your character want to leave behind when they're gone? Backfired Plans - ported from the AU thread. No good deed goes unpunished, and sometimes blessings come in disguise. What if something meant for good had bad effects, or vice versa? Week of 2/1/2013 LF1M - Dating site profiles are full of the good, the bad, and the ugly. If your character got lonely and tired of his/her designated love interest, what profile would you write for them to submit to the HoloNet's matchmaking services? Week of 2/8/2013 Climate - Our characters visit a dazzling array of planets, moons, and extremely large ships with a wide variety of climates and weather conditions. Write about a time when your character had reason to notice. Week of 2/15/2013 Working Out the Kinks - When has any device, excuse, or plan ever worked on the first try? Write about a time your character's efforts met reality and didn't go as perfectly as intended. Week of 2/22/2013 Enemies, Rivals, and Nemeses - Everyone has them. Each class story hands you a number of them, and we create more in our Legacies. So, how does your character deal with his or her enemies--quick death, public humiliation, something else? What about rivals, professional or otherwise? Does your character dream of destroying them or use them as motivation to exceed? Is there a nemesis lurking in the wings somewhere? Tell us about it! Week of 3/1/2013 Mirror, Mirror - Images and reflections can tell you a lot. Sometimes they give an accurate perspective on what's going on. But sometimes they don't quite reflect the truth of things. Distorted or un-, write about mirrors, reflections, or echoes that your characters have encountered or left. The Morning After - What seems like a good idea at night may turn out to be terrible in the morning. Or the other way around. Write about the morning after some event great or small that your character has experienced. Week of 3/8/2013 Life and Death - Throughout our stories in the game, some NPCs (and some of our own OCs) died and others survived. When did a critical death - or survival - make a difference in your character's tale? Your Song - Music is a tremendous force in many cultures, human and otherwise. Some people ignore it, some listen, some create, some sing really loud in the shower. Write something involving the music in your character's life. Week of 3/15/2013 To Market, To Market - To tread close to a game mechanic, or perhaps just to enrich/contextualize what game stuff we see: The Cartel Market brings tons of unique weapons, speeders, pets, funny-looking gear, and more to our in-game characters. Do any of those items have a story? Week of 3/22/2013 Myths, Legends, and Heroes - Everyone grows up with stories. Stories of fantastic people doing amazing things and having wondrous adventures. Our characters are well on their way to becoming heroes to the following generation. So who did your character look at as a role model? Whose footsteps did they want to follow? Whose stories did they read? Whose adventures did they follow on cheesy serialized animated holoprograms? Why are they so special to your character? Oh, Well That's Awkward - The class stories are full of interesting coincidences, especially when you take all the companion stories into account. Legacies, as part of the game structure, encourage even more strange situations and relations. So, what’s something about your characters’ legacy or story that makes family get-togethers interesting. Or impossible. Or just really unlikely. Week of 3/29/2013 Hide and Seek - Sometimes our characters need to find something they just don't have. Sometimes they need to keep something hidden from somebody else. Write about a time your character was hiding, seeking, hidden, or sought. Week of 4/5/2013 April Fool! - Some of our characters and companions enjoy jokes more than others. Has your character ever played a prank or practical joke? Did it work or did it backfire? Perhaps your character is the eternal butt of someone else’s pranks. Do they get even? How? The galaxy isn’t all doom and gloom; write about about fools, jokes, and general silliness. Week of 4/12/2013 Membership - Our characters grow into and out of all kinds of clubs, orders, cults, fellowships, schools, social circles, and professional organizations. Write about your character's membership in - or exclusion from - some group. Week of 4/19/2013 Children - we've had Parenthood, now look at it from another perspective: your characters may have kids or want them. What kids do they meet? Do their kids play nice together? What do their kids want and how do your adult characters help or hinder? Groomed - Presenting oneself to the world is a complicated thing. There are soap products to select, then hair to style, shaving to do, cosmetics to apply...alternately your characters might ignore some or all of the above. Write about your character's hair and/or grooming style. Week of 4/26/2013 Head of the Class - Our characters have been to academies, universities, boot camps, and the universal school of hard knocks: as students, as teachers, or maybe as maintenance, assistant, or thief. Write about your character's education. Week of 5/3/2013 Fashion - Most of our characters wear clothes. Do they follow fashion? Set it? Actively offend it? Are they more collars and cuffs or sweats and monkey-lizard slippers? What's their favorite thing to wear, what have they saved for years even if they don't fit into it, and what would they love to wear if they could just find the occasion for it? Write about your characters' clothing and how they relate to it. Prompt courtesy of iamthehoyden. Week of 5/10/2013 Planes, Trains, and Thrantamobiles - It's a big galaxy out there and we all have to get around somehow. Our characters encounter ticketing, hyperspace calculations, docking fees, late-running rides and more on ships, banthas, landspeeders, thrantas, troop transports, tauntauns, and/or whatever improvised modes of transportation they can get. Write about your character's transportation experience. Week of 5/17/2013 Cross My Heart - Honesty isn't exactly espoused by most organizations in the galaxy, but some individuals and groups still strive for it. Write about your characters encountering (or handing out) the right or wrong truth at the right or wrong time. Week of 5/24/2013 The Droids You're Looking For - One of the hallmarks of the Star Wars universe is the presence of droids: astromech, protocol, combat, and more. Write about the droids that support (our hinder) your characters. Week of 5/31/2013 Anniversaries - In honor of the SFC reaching the one-year mark, think about Anniversaries. Some dates are remembered and celebrated; others are remembered and reviled. From the fresh anniversary of something that happened just a year ago to the enduring remembrance of holidays for cultures and nations, people often mark the date and do something to observe the occasion. Write about an anniversary or significant holiday in your character's life. Week of 6/7/2013 Defenses - Sometimes our characters defend what's theirs. Sometimes they defend the things they care about. Sometimes they're asked to defend things they really don't like. Whether in combat or conversation, write about your character's efforts to defend something or someone. Week of 6/14/2013 Mea Culpa - Our characters have probably done a lot of wrong or perceived wrong, one way or another. Sometimes they think an apology is necessary. Sometimes they really don't. Sometimes they may want to apologize even when they didn't do anything. Sometimes the wronged party accepts it; sometimes they reject it; sometimes they're not there to hear it. Write about a time when your character or someone they know was prompted to apologize. Week of 6/21/2013 Animal Kingdom - Animals are all over in Star Wars, be they beasts of burden, metal-devouring parasites, mounts, showcase pets or underfoot vermin. Write about the animals your character has encountered. Week of 6/28/2013 Gifts - Gifts serve a multitude of functions, from hospitality, diplomacy, housewarming, affection, celebration, to manipulation or poison. They can be big or small, expensive or free, expected or surprising, public or private. Write about a gift your character has given or received. Week of 7/5/2013 Navigation - Our characters often find themselves navigating toward a goal by means of maps, tracking signals, advisors, or instinct. Write about some guidance that pointed the way. Week of 7/12/2013 Collections - This wide galaxy is a great place for hoarders...or definitely not hoarders, I don't know what you're talking about. Where would your character put all the random things you can accumulate, all the speeders, random pets, the copious crafting mats, countless outfits, armor sets, saber hilts.... or does your character only collect one thing in particular, a couple of things, or nothing at all? Prompt courtesy of Kitar. Week of 7/19/2013 Vacation - Our characters have traveled hither and thither over a dozen or more planets for work, politics, personal vendettas, and more. But where do they go to relax and what do they do when they've got some time to unwind? Write about your character's vacation time. Prompt courtesy of alaurin. Week of 7/26/2013 If I were a Rich Man - Our characters come from all walks of life. Were credits just a means to an end, or did they ever dream of wealth and how they might get it? Make it on their own (legal or otherwise), inherit from family, or play the Cartel Lotto and hope? In the course of their stories they become wealthy and powerful. What do they do with all those credits? Did money buy happiness? Did they fulfill their dreams, or was their monetary success empty and hollow? Prompt courtesy of Striges. Week of 8/2/2013 Lurkers - This is your chance to get in on the fun. If you’ve been reading this thread but never posted or commented, take a chance and post something! Write on anything you like, any length, any character, original or established in game. For inspiration, visit the prompt archive, but don’t feel tied to it. Not brave enough to share? Let us know what story (or stories) or character (or characters) you liked. Page one of the thread has several indices to the stories to help you. Out of the Limelight - his is the flip side of Fame. Through the course of their stories, our characters become famous. Household names, even. Would they have prefered to stay anonymous? What things are easier when no one knows your face? How do they deal with the need for privacy? Do they ever wish they hadn’t become heroes? What made them take the plunge instead of staying safely in the background? Veteran Writers - Tell the lurkers why you chose to post. What gave you the confidence to share your fiction with the community? Week of 8/9/2013 Wishes - Wherever our characters go, whatever they do, it's likely they have an eye on something more. Some people keep their fondest wishes a secret; others announce it to the world. Some wish on a star, a falling leaf, a found coin, or other totems. Some find a way to make it happen, and some haven't quite reached it yet. Write about your character's wish. (Prompt courtesy of Eversteam.) Week of 8/16/2013 Play Within A Play - (alternately titled My Immortal) - In a world where there are people, there are stories. And where there are stories, fandoms are likely to follow. And where fandoms go...well. Do any of your characters or their companions write fiction? Imagine what they would write in the way of thinly (or not at all) veiled fanfic. What stories do your characters tell about each other? (Keep it forum friendly, of course!) (I blame this prompt on kabeone.) Paying the Piper - There might be a couple different meanings to this, but in the end nothing comes for free, and one's choices have costs and consequences. Write about a time your character had to pony up the payment...or end up on the receiving end. (Prompt courtesy of Kitar.) Week of 8/23/2013 Mysteries - There's a lot out there we don't know. There's a lot out there some of us do know and some of us don't. Our characters are faced with many mysteries, some perhaps explainable by science or the Force or another sentient's mind, some not. What mysteries have your characters come across? Are they comfortable with not knowing or do they insist on uncovering the truth? Prompt courtesy of frauzet. Week of 8/30/2013 Competition - Life is full of competitions, formal and informal, friendly and unfriendly. Whether it's with siblings, neighbors, colleagues, or strangers met at the intergalactic traffic light, it's human (sentient?) nature to find something to try to be better at. Sometimes there's a clear goal, sometimes there's not. Sometimes there are rules, sometimes there aren't, sometimes there are but nobody follows them. Sometimes there's a prize at the end, and sometimes it's just about bragging rights. Write about a competition your character has participated in – or tried to avoid. Prompt courtesy of alaurin. Week of 9/6/2013 Technology - One of the great things about sci-fi is the futuristic technology. Star Wars boasts all kinds of innovations, from droids, tracking beacons, tractor beams, super lasers, lightsabers, blasters, and omnipresent (or not?) links to the Holonet. Some technologies date from ancient races, and their secrets are forgotten; some new technologies are just in the prototyping and testing stage; some are deployed on every street corner. Write about your characters' experiences with the tech of Star Wars. Prompt courtesy of Kitar. Week of 9/13/2013 The Sure Bet - Sometimes things just fall into place, and the goal is in easy reach just an action or two away. Sometimes there's a choice between long odds and a safe bet. Or sometimes a surefire proposition walks right up and make an offer. Write about your characters' experience with a sure bet. Did it turn out the way they expected? Week of 9/20/2013 Fitness - Let's face it, the jobs and adventures our characters go through are physically punishing. How do your characters hold up? Do they specifically work out and train, or do they rely on natural prowess? Do they ever fall out of practice? How do they compare to others, or do they go out of their way to avoid comparison? Prompt courtesy of Kitar. Week of 9/27/2013 Pimpin' Threads! - This week, a special one-time offer: Many of us have written additional SWTOR fic on this forum or elsewhere involving the characters that we've introduced or mentioned here on the SFC. Here's your chance to post a link and write a description about these extended stories! Please tag nsfw links as appropriate. Week of 10/4/2013 Words, Words, Words - It’s a big galaxy, and the big galaxy hosts a lot of languages. Some people are polyglots, switching among languages easily; some have enough trouble mastering one. Sometimes whole conversations go on in a foreign language, and sometimes only critical words that resist translation are used. Write about a time that certain words proved critical for your character. Week of 10/11/2013 Irresistible Urges - Cravings can happen for lots of reasons: addiction, pregnancy, a reminder of a favorite creature comfort, or it just being 2 AM right after all the takeout places have closed. What can’t your character do without? Write about a time when cravings struck. Suggested by irishfino, iirc. Week of 10/18/2013 Advice - In a galaxy this big there are a lot of problems to solve and there’s plenty of wisdom, given and received, to help deal with it. Your character is experienced. What advice would she give a newcomer seeking to follow her footsteps? What would he tell his children? Did a mentor give good advice? A rival? Did your character follow it? Was it useful? Prompt courtesy of Striges. Week of 10/25/2013 Superstition - Both cultures and individuals can hold superstitions, little practices and beliefs that are supposed to put some spin on reality, make good luck or ill. Then again, some people say it’s all nonsense, and some even tempt fate by crossing superstitious lines. What superstitions does your character hold to? Has any experience seemed to prove or disprove the rule? Week of 11/1/2013 Goodbye - Would you believe we haven’t had this prompt yet? Goodbyes come in many forms, from the quick “see you later” of an everyday contact to permanent loss. Write about a time your character said goodbye…or couldn’t. Week of 11/8/2013 Congratulations/Awards - Sometimes everything goes right, and sometimes our characters are recognized for it. Write about a time your character received an award or congratulations. Do they feel they earned it? Did it make a positive difference for others? Week of 11/15/2013 House of Something - The many and various worlds of Star Wars have many and various buildings (or large vehicles) that reflect their builders’ culture. Sometimes the style of architecture is really striking. Sometimes it’s less interesting than the events transpiring all over it. Write something involving a building or monument your characters have encountered. Week of 11/22/2013 Thank You - Gratitude is a big thing. People give thanks for gifts, social niceties, kind words, significant favors, for being offered company or for being left alone. Sometimes there are specific holidays or times dedicated to gratitude, and sometimes it just comes up on the way. What is your character grateful for? Do they admit it? Week of 11/29/2013 Shopapalooza - Whether it’s clothes, supplies, trinkets, spaceships, or groceries, our characters shop for a lot of things. Sometimes it’s a spending spree; sometimes it’s just window-shopping for what they can’t afford. It may be in a big chain mall, a backwater planet’s marketplace, an artisan’s gallery, or the Holonet. Write about your character’s shopping experience. Week of 12/6/2013 Heritage and Antiques - Star Wars is full of special things. Old things. Things with personal meaning, things revered as holy. The lightsaber your father wanted you to have when you were old enough. Your grandmother’s silver (or silver ship) you hope one day to give to your grandchildren. The insignia of your squad’s first commander, the one whose bravery won her (or him) a medal and gave your squad its reputation. The holocron that corrupted (or redeemed) your master. What things, places, or heirlooms are special to your character? Week of 12/13/2013 Signed, Sealed, and Delivered - Our universes see a lot of contracts made, whether verbal gentlemen’s agreements, electronic documents, or witnessed formal pacts. Sometimes contracts are entered into willingly; sometimes they’re coerced. Sometimes they’re broken; sometimes they’re protected against outside challenges. Sometimes old agreements come back at an unexpected time. Write about a contract your character made or avoided. Week of 12/20/2013 Snatched from the Jaws of Defeat - Our characters get into a lot of scrapes, a lot of desperate situations. Sometimes it may look like there’s no way to win…but a surprise might be in store. Write about a time your character had a success they weren’t expecting. Week of 12/27/2013 Altered States of Mind - Unlike dreaming, some altered states of mind happen while you’re wide awake and definitely doing things that affect the real world. Lots of things may affect the consciousness, from aggression-inducing biological agents to hypnotic music to spice to plain old alcohol. Write about your character’s experience with an altered state of consciousness. Was it fun or scary? Did it lead them to do something they always wished they could? Or was it more regrettable? Week of 1/3/2014 Why Are You Still Here? - Companions are bound to you in game but your head canon may be very different. Did a companion reach the breaking point with one of your characters? Did any of them leave or even subsequently rejoin your crew? Is there a particular reason an unlikely partnership is working, or a reason that a great-on-paper partnership gets badly strained? Prompt suggested by Striges. Week of 1/10/2014 You're Invited - Last week we talked about the companions who don't make much sense on our crew. This week let's look at other characters. We meet many NPCs during the class stories, and only some of them get to join our crews. Who would you have brought if the game let you recruit anybody? What NPCs did your character connect with but had to leave behind? Did you headcanon them as companions anyway? These need not be from the class story. Pick anyone and write about why they’re on your personal version of your character’s crew. Prompt courtesy of Striges. Week of 1/17/2014 Marketing - Somebody’s always trying to sell our characters something. Ads, promotions, coupons, flashy events, and more try to attract footsteps and wallets. Sometimes our characters are trying to sell something – be it services, unwanted equipment, or a cargo hold’s worth of hot merchandise. Besides all that, somebody’s got to be the face of advertising campaigns. Sometimes the advertising is right on and sometimes it’s…exaggerated. Write about your character’s experience with marketing. Week of 1/24/2014 Synchronicity - Sometimes coincidences happen up close and sometimes they happen lightyears away. Sometimes it’s a plan clicking into place and sometimes it’s totally unintended. Sometimes it makes things seem like they’re meant to be…sometimes it makes it seem like they’re really not. Write about a time very similar events happened to your characters at the same time and possibly at a distance. Week of 1/31/2014 Boring Conversation Anyway - Our characters talk to a lot of people. Sometimes these conversations end well. Sometimes they end...less well. Conversations may culminate in agreement, anger, happiness, thoughtfulness, kisses, or bloodshed…or get cut off before any satisfying conclusion is reached. Write about the way one of your characters' conversations ended. Week of 2/7/2014 Achilles' Heel - Our characters are powerful combatants, talented tacticians, clever diplomats and all-around legendary figures. However, everybody has that one "thing" that gets to them, that hurts them, or that proves their vulnerability in some way. A fear of heights... a particularly sensitive spot or old injury... an intolerance for bright sunlight... an irrationally severe dislike of womp-rats... what's the one thing that gets to your character, even on a good day? Prompt courtesy of TrystanLaryssa. Week of 2/14/2014 Love Letters and Secret Valentines - How do our characters stay in touch with the ones they love when they are far apart? Did they write romantic messages while they were courting? Has a new companion stumbled on some cherished correspondence with an old flame? Perhaps they never worked up the courage to express their feelings except in unsent letters or anonymous notes. In a romantic mood, what would your character write and to whom? Prompt courtesy of Alaurin. Week of 2/21/2014 Where are they Now? -- As our characters move through their stories they change the lives of many others, most of whom we never see again. The Force-sensitive Flesh Raider on Tython. Seh-run, the Abyssin on Korriban. Zi’am on Hutta. Paul and his elderly parents on Ord Mantell. That's just a few examples. Whatever happened to them? Did they became stalwart allies or bitter rivals? If they died because of our character’s actions, do they have relatives looking for revenge? We often remark about how characters from early on in the stories show up later to help or hinder our characters, or how characters from different class stories make cameos in others. How about some of these forgotten ones?

Week of 2/28/2014 Inheritance -- We’ve looked at antiques and heirlooms our characters possess. We’ve looked at legacies, both as a game mechanic and as something your character hopes to leave behind. But what about things they inherit? The things that follow them whether they like it or not. A noble or reviled name? Some nebulous family curse (mother never did say what it entailed). Maybe they’re heir to a throne they don’t want, or were passed over for one they desperately did. Perhaps it’s the family farm, the family business, or perhaps it’s literally nothing at all. What sorts of things or have your characters inherited, and how did they deal with them? Prompt courtesy of LaxKnight.

Week of 3/7/2014 Why They Fight--and Why They Don’t -- Characters manage to get into all kinds of altercations, large and small. Fights. But why? Not the easy answers: for the Empire, for the Republic, for family or the Force or bad luck any of the other reasons they might give to themselves or others. Why does your character choose to fight? Under what circumstances do they choose violence as a solution, and where do they draw the line? Even the cowards and the pacifists have reasons for their choices, and borders they will not cross. Explore it. Prompt and link courtesy of Kabeone. For a more complete essay, read Why We Fight by Michi on tumblr. Week of 3/14/2014 Life has no Reset Button -- Your character makes decisions every day, from minor ones, like what to wear, to vital important ones that change lives. Whether to capture or kill a prisoner. To stay with a partner or break up. To follow an order or disobey. They do the best they can under pressure and with limited information. What choices do they regret? Which ones might they do differently, now that they’ve had time to reflect? Would they make the same choice, knowing the consequences? Or are they even more sure now that they made the right decision? Week of 3/21/2014 This week, another prompt in two parts: Part One: Luminous Beings We Are -- Life is bound up, figuratively and literally, with light. Whether it's the physical study, the Light Side, or the dawning at the most unexpected times, we may find light altering the living space, illustrating the spirit, or showing the way. Write about your character's interaction with light. Prompt courtesy of BrightEphemera. *Sneak preview for next week: Darkness! Week of 3/28/2014 Forever Will It Dominate Your Destiny - On the other hand, darkness is the figurative and literal opposite and complement to light. Whether it's the physical state, the Dark Side, or some kind of ignorance, we may find darkness concealing what we need, dirtying what it touches, or hiding on the unexpected flip side of something. Write about your character's interaction with darkness. Thank you, BrightEphemera, for this pair of prompts. Week of 4/4/14 Passing On - “How we face death is at least as important as how we face life.” No one is truly immortal. Even those who have conquered aging and disease still have to deal with the inevitable dangers of combat and the perils of an adventuring life. What happens when death finally catches up with your character? Maybe a near miss gives her pause, an unwelcome reminder of mortality. Does he go out with a bang, a whimper, or quietly in his sleep? What happens to the ones left behind? This prompt courtesy of Mirdthestrill. (Quote courtesy Star Trek 2, The Wrath of Khan, at the risk of crossing fandom streams and interrupting The Princess Bride. It seems I picked the wrong movie to quote this week.) Week of 4/11/14 Laughing Fit- Humor is universal and yet also individual. What leaves one person in stitches falls flat for another for reasons of cultural or personal experience. Everyone’s funny bone is a little different. What about your characters? What makes them laugh? Do they have favorite comedians? Favorite parodies? Farce? Cat videos? There’s plenty of humor in everyday things as well. Maybe an amusing juxtaposition of events sets them off, a misspelled or misread sign, or a companion taking a pratfall. Write about a time when your character couldn’t stop laughing. Prompt suggested by Frauzet for Alaurin, who needs some laughter this week. Week of 4/18/2014 ...And Taxes- It’s said that death and taxes are the only certainties. We covered death in a recent prompt, so how about taxes? Both the Empire and Republic are huge, with countless fees, license requirements, and just plain old taxes. Hutt space is independant, but it still has to run. Does your character accept taxes as part of the cost of doing business, find ways to minimize the bill, or skip it altogether and hope no one notices? Write about your character’s encounters with taxes, fees, tariffs, and other means of government fund-raising. Week of 4/25/2014 Bushido - The seven classic Western virtues--see this week’s NotLP--are very individual-oriented. By contrast, the Bushido code stresses community and interaction: Rectitude (gi, righteousness or justice), Courage (yuu), Benevolence (jin), Respect (rei), Honesty (makoto), Honor (meiyo), and Loyalty (chuugi). Write about the presence or absence of bushido virtues in your characters' lives. Thank you, BrightEphemera, for this prompt idea. Week of 5/2/2014 Tests and Examinations - Tests are almost as pervasive as credits: Jedi or Sith trials, ship or vehicle operator’s license exams, weapons certifications, advanced intelligence analysis, basic maths. What kind of tests has your character taken? Did she prepare well or wing it? Pass or fail? What about retakes? Write about your character getting through some of the various testing and certifications he’s encountered. Week of 5/9/2014 Miracles and Wondrous Things - Star Wars is a universe with amazing high technology and an equally amazing mystical Force. Is there room between these two for a miracle? How would your character explain what defies explanation? Has he ever had to? What would she say to someone who disagrees? This prompt courtesy of Frauzet. Thanks, Frauzet! Week of 5/16/2014 Neither a Borrower nor a Lender Be. Whether borrowing money, your sister's clothes, your mother’s starship, or living on borrowed time, everyone borrows things. What happened when your character did? Did he lose it? Break it? Have a heck of a time giving it back in one piece? Or was your character the lender? Was the item ever returned or the credits paid back? What kind of condition was it in? Write about a time your character borrowed or lent out something. Prompt courtesy of Mirdthestrill. Week of 5/23/2014 Obsession: Everyone has interests. Occasionally, they devolve into fandom, or even obsession. What things obsess your character? Is it a favorite holoshow? A musical group? Perhaps swoop racing or huttball? Maybe something more esoteric--akk dog breeding, archaeology, perfume making, fine-tuning hyperdrive engines, or something else. Love feels a lot like obsession in the early infatuation stage. Or might it be a true obsession: intrusive thoughts or actions your character can’t ignore. Write about some of them and how they affect your character. Week of 5/30/2014 HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY SFC!!! Monuments: Beings everywhere create monuments. They can be statues or walls or great tomes or endowments to museums. Made to heroes, to wars, to governments, to benefactors, to saints, or even stupidity. They may be ancient or recent or forgotten. They may be revered or reviled, or maybe even both at once. Perhaps monuments to your character, desired or not, known or not. Write about your character’s interactions with monuments. Or: Serendipity: Merriam-Webster defines serendipity as “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for; also : an instance of this.” For many, stumbling on this thread was an instance of serendipity. Not all surprises are bad, and sometimes good things happen when you least expect it. When has your character experienced serendipity? Week of 6/6/2014 Something Borrowed-writers find inspiration everywhere, sometimes in other people’s fic. Not necessarily characters, though we had a prompt for that, too. Sometimes it’s a scene or a description, a side character or a setting. The name of a bureau, what the hyperspace vortex looks like, a slogan, or something else! We’ve been host to a number of collaborations recently, so let’s make it official. Write your story and be sure to note what you borrowed and from whom. Add a link to your inspiration if you can. Week of 6/13/2014 The Sounds of Silence-Tell a story without dialogue. Perhaps the characters are cannot speak or choose not to. Maybe the characters are incapable of speech. Maybe communications are cut off. Thoughts don’t count unless they’re audible in some way, and while journal entries or written correspondence fit the letter, they miss the spirit. Challenge yourself! Week of 6/20/2014 Background Music and Leitmotif: Imagine Darth Vader’s entrance without the Imperial March. It’s hard. His music is as much a part of his character as his black cloak and mask. Many writers have playlists for their stories, or at least particular songs that apply to certain characters or situations, or that help evoke a character or a sense of place as they write. This week’s challenge: Write a story and link the background music that goes with it, or a story centered on your character and link their leitmotif. Prompt courtesy of Mirdthestrill. Week of 6/27/2014 A Punny Story:-Often derided as the lowest form of wit, some of our most respected writers --like Shakespeare and Alfred Hitchcock--adored puns. Making and understanding puns requires a large vocabulary, a vital thing for writers. This week’s challenge: write a pun story; a story that exists for the sole purpose of setting up a pun. See this TVTropes link for some examples (click at your own risk), a wonderful music related one here by Peter Schickele (the story begins at 4:48, but the intro is totally worth it). Sadly, puns rarely translate well outside their native language. Regardless, if your story ends in a non-English pun, please include both the original and a translation/explanation. Week of 7/4/2014 Dialect and Accent: Everyone has one whether you're aware of it or not. Your words and how you say them reveal a lot about where you were born, where you grew up, what you like to read, or where and how you learned another language. What do your character's word choices tell about them? Does it mark them as ruling class, streetwise, coreward, rimward, immigrant, outsider, insider, or something else? Do they try to hide their unique pronunciation or revel in it? A source of shame or pride? Are they right and everyone else talks funny? Explore it! Week of 7/11/2014 A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words Pictures can also provide inspiration. A photograph, professional or otherwise, a scene in a movie, a well-known painting, a screenshot, a character portrait, if you’re lucky enough to have one. Write the “thousand words” (figuratively) behind the picture and share both if you can. Prompt courtesy of Jokad via the SWTOR forums. Week of 7/18/2014 There's No "I" in Team: As you play you pick up companions aplenty, maybe make friends in groups, and head-canon a lot of NPC involvement in your personal story. Over time, you wind up developing a team of players who work together in some fashion. Without that team, your character would never have the level of success they've achieved. Write about either how your team learned to mesh with each other, how they function as a unit now, or how they bond in the aftermath of a mission. Prompt courtesy of SillyMonkey71 via Tumblr. Week of 7/25/2014 Out of Time: Often, there seems not enough time in a day to get done what we need or want to do. Time management gurus to the contrary, sometimes there’s just too much going on. What about your characters? Everyone has to prioritize and has different reasons for setting priorities as they do. In fiction you can avoid all schedule conflicts, but where’s the fun in that? Write about a time your character had to make a choice about what gets done and what gets left for later, or not done at all. This prompt courtesy (in a roundabout way) of BrightEphemera. Week of 8/1/2014 Missing Something: We have things we’re good at and things we’re not. What happens to your character when something they rely on is suddenly useless or unavailable? The obvious is if your Jedi or Sith cannot call on the Force for some reason. But what about a sniper without their trusty rifle, a smuggler without their contacts, or a trooper without their squad? How did it happen? What does your character do? Week of 8/8/2014 Recurring Events: The rakghoul event is in full swing again. What other kinds of things happen to your character on a regular basis? Hyperdrive not working? Lightsaber lost? Ship stolen? Escape in the nick of time? Maybe something more prosaic, like problems with laundry. Give us a peek into one of those ongoing things your character deals with. Week of 8/15/2014 A Matter of Public Record: Every character is a wealth of information, and it's probably to someone’s advantage to know it. Everything from basic information like name, species, and gender, to more specific things, like school records, close relatives, or their favorite snack food. So what do they know about your character? What's on their public record and is any of it accurate? Has it been changed, erased, or confused with someone else’s? Who might want to know? Why? Week of 8/22/2014 Coming Home: With the advent of strongholds, what or where does your character consider home? Do they have an apartment on Coruscant, a stronghold in the wilds of Dromund Kaas, a sky palace on Nar Shaddaa? Is their ship their home, wherever it travels? Maybe home is more about the beings they’re with--their squad, their crew, their companions. We had a prompt for “Stomping Grounds,” which was more nostalgia, a childhood or imagined home. This is more at the present. At the end of the day, where does your character come home? Week of 8/29/2014 Can’t Get There From Here: Travel--or any plan--doesn’t always go smoothly. There are delays, changes in schedules, barriers blocking the way. What does your character do when their usual route is impassable? Do they follow the detour signs? Do they know--or think they know--a much better alternative route? What happens? Thanks to Frauzet for this prompt. Week of 9/5/2014 Downtime: Our characters have plenty of responsibilities. But what do they do when there’s nothing pressing? What fills those little spaces between committee meetings, the time between jobs or assignments, the days in hyperspace en route to the next big crisis? We’ve looked at both hobbies and vacations, let’s take a look at something a little less organized. How does your character fill their downtime? Prompt suggested by DoctorToDannyBoy. Week of 9/12/2014 Another Day on the Job: Our characters lead pretty interesting lives. Things they consider routine are anything but. So what does one of those days look like? What’s a regular day in the life of a special-forces trooper or Dark Council member? What problems do they face on a day-to-day basis? What unique occupational hazards do they avoid--or what perks do they enjoy? Even an ordinary day for your character is bound to be extraordinary in some way. Write about it. Week of 9/19/2014 Fish Out of Water: No one fits in everywhere. Even a well-travelled character, or one accustomed to shifting identities, can feel out of place. So how about yours? When has your character been in a truly alien, uncomfortable situation? Why were they so far out of their comfort zone? Did they wander into the wrong neighborhood? Did they miss important social cues or misinterpret what they saw? Write about a time when your character was the fish out of water. Week of 9/26/2014 Words of Wisdom: We’ve explored mentors and teachers and learning and advice. Now specifically: what words of wisdom did your character take to heart? Was there a particular quote he or she remembers? Why was it important? Because it proved true or was so abjectly wrong? Was it an intentional statement, or an offhand remark they’d be surprised anyone remembers? Write about it and why it’s important to your character. Week of 10/3/2014 Description: In the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, we generally leap right into our characters, relying on quick sketches and familiarity to carry a reader. After all, that's how short stories usually work. How about we take a step back and really describe a character. How do they look? What kind of mannerisms do they have that a casual observer might notice? How do they dress? Go nuts giving a detailed description of what you'd see, looking at one or more of your characters. Week of 10/10/2014 Crossovers and Mashups: Imagine Captain America in the Clone Wars (Captain Republic and the Howling Commandos! Captain Empire!). Or the adventures of Han Solo, dashing rogue, and his best friend Chewbacca the genius-inventor-gorilla in a steampunk galaxy far far away. Padmé as Sleeping Beauty. Star Wars, the soap opera. Star Wars itself is a hodgepodge of bits and influences from ancient mythology, old-time serials, modern sci-fi, and everything in between. Explore some crossovers with other properties or genres and either OCs or canon characters. Week of 10/17/2014 Writer’s Revenge!: “Do not annoy a writer. They may put you in a book and kill you.” When looking for inspiration for a minor or background character, or even an important adversary, why not borrow the aggravating habits of someone familiar to you? The chatterbox co-worker who can’t stop telling stories--but none of them are interesting. The neighbor whose garage band meets daily--and loudly--at six in the morning. This week, take the best revenge on someone who irritates you: make them a character in a story. Death, of course, is optional. Have fun! Week of 10/24/2014 Write a Theme: Star Wars is unusual in its almost universal appeal, and much of its success has been attributed to the Lucas’ incorporation of universal mythological themes in the story. Good stories (and modern myths) often have these kinds of themes tying the narrative together. The fall from grace, the epic journey, love conquers all, finding hidden treasures, discovering inner strength. What recurring themes weave through your characters’ stories? Sometimes these ideas aren’t obvious at the outset, but become so as you write or review previous stories. This week’s challenge: pick one specific to your character and write a story featuring it. Week of 10/31/2014 Breaking the Fourth Wall: Addressing the Audience: Characters aren’t supposed to acknowledge their audience. Suppose they did? How would they speak to all those who’ve been reading and enjoying their adventures? What might they say to the complainers? Addressing the Creator: If your character could say something about their writer, what would it be? Would they complain about something? Take the opportunity to give you a piece of their minds? Maybe ask for a favor? Or would they be grateful and thank you? This one’s a lot more meta than we usually explore; roll with it and have fun. Week of 11/7/2014 That Didn’t Happen!: Or, alternately, It Didn’t Happen That Way! Whether you follow the class and planet stories in your fic or consider them more of a springboard, the dialogue wheel still helps tease out your character’s motivations and actions. And then, there are those other times. When none of the options are in-character. No matter how many times you exit out of a scene, what combination of responses you pick, there’s no way your character would act like that. This week’s challenge is to choose one of those moments and write what really happened. Inspired by Striges' own recent experience with a Bounty Hunter quest. Week of 11/14/2014 Exactly as Planned: Last week, the challenge was to rewrite an in-game event that your character would never do. This week, it’s the opposite. Were there any quests--class or otherwise--that fit your character’s story perfectly? Maybe something happened during combat or while exploring. Flashpoints? Even a bug, glitch, or mistake can become part of your character’s story. How did that go down? Write a story about a canon event that really is part of your character’s personal canon. Week of 11/21/2014 Weapon of Choice: Ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster: What weapons does your character favor? Is she a traditionalist or does she prefer the new hotness? Does he choose something typical for his class, role, or species, or something wildly different and unexpected? Why? From Corso’s Torchy to Lord Zash’s first saber, weapons play an important role in your character's story. Take a moment and share it. Week of 11/28/2014 Traditions: Everyone has traditions. Family, cultural, or personal. Some we keep out of habit or societal pressure, others because they hold special meaning. What about your characters? What traditions do they follow? Why? Something as complicated as an elaborate religious festival, or as simple as shredding every completed contract? Maybe your character specifically avoids certain traditions they grew up with. Or adopted new ones from an alien culture. Whatever the case, there's a story in it. Week of 12/5/2014 First Impressions--of someone else: Our characters encounter many others during the course of their stories. Some become strong allies, loyal companions. Others implacable enemies. Some end up just plain useless. Still, it’s hard to size up someone in a glance. Write about your character’s initial encounter with someone who becomes important later in their story. Week of 12/12/2014 Tall tales and exaggeration: Our characters’ adventures are exciting enough, but even the most entertaining true tale gets better with a little embellishment. Has your character ever improved on the original events for cantina entertainment? Or to impress someone? Enhanced their reputation by bending the facts a little? A lot? Or has someone else on their behalf? Is it odd overhearing someone else telling stories about them? Are the tales even a little bit true by the time they come back? This week, let’s have some boasting, aggrandizement, and hyperbole. Week of 12/19/2014 A Good Villain: Every hero needs an antagonist, someone who thwarts them at every turn. This week’s challenge: write a story centered on your character’s main villain. This might be an enemy the game made for your character or one you invented in your character’s story, but either way, this is their time in the sun. Make it good. Or bad, as the case may be. Week of 12/26/2014 Parties: Every culture has social functions. For celebrating holidays, for marking special occasions, for fun. What does your character think of them? Are they an avid participant or a wallflower? Throw their own party at the drop of a hat, or have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to a not-exactly-optional affair? Arrive early and stay late, or put in a brief appearance and slip away as soon as possible? Are the parties they host the place to be seen, the talk of the town, where anyone who is anyone simply has to be? Or are they low key, private, and invitation only? What about crashing a party--or dealing with the crashers? A combination of any and all these things? In this week of celebrations of various kinds, write about your character’s social scene. Week of 1/2/2015 Resolutions: Has your character ever resolved to change a bad habit or start a better one? What prompted the impulse? Did they make a private vow or did they enlist the help of friends or family? Were they successful? Or did they slip back into old ways after a while? For this New Year Week, write about your character and resolutions. Week of 1/9/2015 Baggage: “What’s in there?” “Only what you take with you.” What kind of baggage does your character carry with them from early experiences? Good or bad. Are they mistrustful because someone took advantage of them? Insecure because of past criticism? Confident because they've overcome obstacles? Sure of their destiny- or afraid of their fate? The past shapes your character's present. Tell a story about how or why. Week of 1/16/2015 Colors: Republic Blue. Empire Red. Sith Black. Jedi Brown. We associate nations, religions, companies, families, and even emotions with certain colors. What about your character? Do they have a favorite color? Do colors mean much to them? Do they abide by the color conventions for their affiliations? Or do they choose something different because they prefer it? Why? This week, write about how your character navigates the visual spectrum. Week of 1/23/2015 Lifespan: A human in the Star Wars universe might easily live to 100 standard years. Wookiees live four times as long. Chiss, on the other hand, typically reach only 80, and Talz are luck to get to fifty. In a galaxy where beings of such differing lifespan can meet, interact, become friends, enemies, partners, or more, how do they deal with the knowledge that one of the pair will outlive the other? Perhaps by a significant amount? Does your character accept their (or a loved one’s) natural span or desire more? Were they reckless in their youth and less so in age, or the reverse? The Force is known to prolong lives--perhaps even to immortality or near-immortality. How does a character plan for that? This week, write about how your character approaches differences in expected lifespan. **Many thanks to Bright_ephemera for this handy Species Lifespan Chart! Week of 1/30/2015 Pick-up lines: Use them? Been used on? Turned down? Accepted? Laughed at? Good ones, bad ones, sincere or stupid and everything in between. Write about how your character deals with a classic (if dubious) way to connect with someone else. Week of 2/6/2015 Religious differences: Unlike most science fiction/space opera, Star Wars and SWTOR put religion and belief front and center. Jedi and Sith are the most obvious conflicting ideologies, but they are not alone. The Witches of Dathomir. The Trandoshan Scorekeeper. Voss' Mystics and the opposing Gormak Shaman. A quick perusal of Wookieepedia will find even more. How does your character view all these belief systems? Do they subscribe to any of them? None? How do they reconcile the differences among them? In a universe where the Force is undeniably real, where it inspires both hope and horror, what does your character think of those "hokey religions" and "sorcerer's ways"? Week of 2/13/2015 Cupid’s Arrow: According to legend, any heart pierced by Cupid’s golden-tipped arrow--human or deity alike--filled with uncontrollable, all-consuming desire. Classic love at first sight. But Cupid’s quiver also contained lead-tipped arrows with the opposite effect: provoking disdain and aversion. Has either arrow ever wounded your character? Or perhaps one of their close associates? An object of affection? Cupid’s influence covers the gamut of passions--from the sensual to unrequited all the way to bitter animosity. Tell a story where your character experiences irrational love or irrational hate. Or both. Week of 2/20/2015 Preparation: How does your character approach a competition, a blind date, or a delicate mission? Are they a meticulous planner? The one who has contingencies for the contingencies? Rehearsing their lines or moves until they can do them asleep? Or are they more of a “never tell me the odds” sort, walking in with an outline--if that--and winging it? Whether gathering intel and supplies or getting into the proper mental state, show your character getting ready. Week of 2/27/2015 Good/Bad Habits- We're all creatures of habit, whether it be actions (speaking before thinking, gambling, looking for all exits whenever entering a room), rituals (sleeping in the buff, wearing a particular color/article of clothing for luck), or substance use (caf, stims, alcohol, spice). Write about a habit your character has. Thanks to Alaurin for this prompt! Week of 3/6/2015 Propaganda: Regardless of their affiliations, it’s inevitable your character encountered propaganda or disinformation of some sort. Did they recognize it at the time? Later? Not at all? Did they challenge it or write it off as ridiculous? Were they offended? Shocked? Some classes--Agent and Trooper come to mind--might even be active participants. Write a story about your character and questionable official truth. Week of 3/13/2015 Who?: Remember that character? That original character? You know the one. The one you wrote a story for or maybe several and then petered out? That one. This week, resurrect them. We had “Night of the Living Dead” for prompts, this time, it’s Night of the Living Dead character. Pick any prompt and give a patiently waiting character a story. Week of 3/20/2015 What About That Guy?: Stories usually concern major characters. Sometimes the main plot is from the game, sometimes not. Regardless, stories also contain a number of incidental characters and minor plots as well. The guard at the door, the customs official who broke up the fight, a convenient corpse, the character (probably in a red shirt) who dies in the first scene to prove the situation is serious. Not to mention why was there a guard, how did the fight start, where did the corpse come from, what made the situation serious. Every story has places to explore behind the scenes. This week, pick one of your favorite works and fill in one or more of those spaces. (This prompt suggested by Feldraeth) (apologies to Galaxy Quest’s Crewman #6) Week of 3/27/2015 Incongruity--A wookie with curlers, troopers in armor dancing to a popular tune, a toddler with a lightsaber. Some things just don’t seem to go together. The result may be funny or tragic. When has your character encountered incongruous things or odd juxtapositions? Week of 4/3/2015 Japes, Satire, and Parody: Beings of every kind tell jokes, often about each other. What about your character? Do they delight in mocking those who desperately deserve it? Maybe they’ve been the butt of someone else’s spoof. Or perhaps they just enjoy seeing authority taken down a few pegs. This week, have a little fun at the expense of your character, their friends, or enemies. Week of 4/10/2015 Mistaken Identity: A classic literary device employed in drama and comedy alike. Has your character ever been mistaken for someone else? Have they made an error about another’s identity? What happened? Did hilarity ensue, or was it a more serious situation? Week of 4/17/2015 Paranoia: “Is it paranoia when they really are out to get you?”-- every Agent ever, and a healthy number of Sith besides. So how about your character? Are they reasonably cautious, just planning for the worst, or outright paranoid? Or is everyone really out to get them? Thanks to Frauzet for this prompt. (And credit to Joseph Heller for the paraphrased quote) Week of 4/24/2015 Scent: Humans as a species aren’t known for having a particularly good sense of smell. Despite this, perfumes and scents are incredibly popular, either to hide, replace, or enhance natural odors on both their person and possessions. Does your character care? Do they have a favorite scent? A soap, a perfume, an incense? Do their species’ preferred fragrances turn off others--or smell really good? How do their companions (some of whom may have better olfactory abilities) deal with the profusion of clashing or complementing scents? Or do they prefer your character au naturel? Credit to Alaurin’s story for inspiring this prompt. Week of 5/1/2015 Dance: We’ve had music prompts before, but what about dance? Whether formal or informal, group, alone, or in pairs, most cultures accompany music with dance. How does your character relate? Do they sit on the sidelines watching others or do they command the attention of all on the floor? It’s May Day! Write a story about your character and how they dance, even if it’s with two left feet. Week of 5/8/2015 Over Your Head- Interesting stories happen when your character is least expecting it, and least prepared. Maybe they misread the situation. Maybe their information was incorrect or incomplete. Perhaps an enemy (or friend!) arranged the whole thing. Or maybe they stumbled into the villain's lair on accident. Maybe the villains stumbled into theirs! What do they do? How does your character handle being in over their head? Week of 5/15/2015 Ships that Pass in the Night: Sometimes, two important characters miss each other completely. Perhaps they’re actively avoiding each other: hiding, in disguise, or incognito. They might notice one another, but without recognition. Perhaps their circles are so different they don’t realize who they've seen. Maybe they don't even do that much, passing like ships in the night. This week, write about the encounter that might have happened, but didn't. Week of 5/22/2015 You Can’t Always Get What You Want: Every character wants something. It might be tangible: food, money, an ancient artifact. It could be intangible: respect, success, fame or infamy. Often, their entire story is the pursuit of their desire. But something always gets in the way. What happens when something or someone thwarts your character? Gets in between your character and what they want? How do they deal with it? Week of 5/29/2015 Lost and Found--Characters lose things: keys, rings, treasures, friends, their way. They find things too: rings (again), companions, their courage. This week, write about what your character has lost, or what they found. Or both. Week of 6/5/2015 Happy 3rd Birthday SFC!!! Milestones:Milestones are more personal than Rites of Passage or Turning Points, both previous prompts. It's something significant for your character, something they might mark, independant of holidays, formal anniversaries, or rituals. The day your character finally paid off a loan--or the day they took one out to finance their dream. The first time your character felt like they belonged among their peers--or when they realized they never would. Their last drink, their first dance, moving out, moving on. Tell a story about your character reaching or remembering a personal milestone. Mixed Doubles: Combine any two prompts you like and write a story! For added fun, choose randomly. Three years of prompts means more than 150 prompts to pick from. Week of 6/12/2015 You Were The Chosen One! Or Were You?: Game stories often cast your character as The Chosen One, the One destined to Fix All The Problems. But not every character fits that trope, and not every one should. Does yours? Or not? Emphatically not? Or maybe they are, but not in the way anyone hoped. Bringing balance to the Force by reducing its practitioners to two Dark and Two Light certainly fulfils the prophecy, but probably wasn't what Yoda expected. Where does your character fall on the Chosen One continuum? Express it in a story. Week of 6/19/2015 Best Buddies: Does your character have a best friend? The one they’d like to hang out with just for fun, whether fun is cross-country skiing on Hoth or downing shots in a Nar Shaddaa Huttball cantina? The person who completed their sentences long before they met their significant other? Maybe became their significant other? Did your character stay in touch? Have they grown apart or away, the friendship almost remembered, but not quite important enough to restart? This week, write about your character being with, losing, forgetting, or reconnecting with their best buddy. Week of 6/26/2015 I Dare You!: Few phrases in the English language have gotten people into more trouble, except possibly “Hey watch this!” So how about your character? Do they feel obliged to accept any dare? Do they dare others? Or do they regard the whole concept as ridiculous, an excuse to overrule common sense in exchange for a fleeting moment of acceptance or popularity? I dare you to write about it. Week of 7/3/2015 Sight: Humans are a visually-oriented species, so sight is one of the easiest senses to evoke in a story and most writers use it automatically. We describe how a room looks or our character’s physical appearance. We tell the reader what our character sees. It is the most basic scene setting tool. This week’s challenge: make the character’s vision a central part of your story. Having trouble? Take it away. Maybe it’s too dark to see. Maybe they’re temporarily blinded. Maybe they’ve always been blind. Experiment! Week of 7/10/2015 Sound--Sound is the second most often used descriptor. At the most basic level there is spoken dialogue or ambient sounds. Beyond that, a character may have a distinctive quality to their voice: nasal, raspy, or with a peculiar accent. Maybe they yell. Maybe they whisper. Ambient sounds might be soothing--a waterfall, soft music, leaves fluttering in a gentle breeze. They might be loud--machinery, nearby traffic, raucous neighbors. Used well, sounds tell the reader about the setting and the characters without the writer spelling it out. This week, try to use sound in a creative way. Week of 7/17/2015 What an Incredible Smell You’ve Discovered!-Sense of smell. In the real world, scent can conjure up some of the most vivid memories and strong associations. It adds a dimension of realism to descriptions. At the same time it’s a very difficult sense to evoke in text. This week’s challenge is to make a scent important in your story, as well as doing your best to help the reader imagine it. It might be a perfume; an aroma specific to a place, thing, or event (pleasant or otherwise); or something with significance to your character. Some species or characters might be more aware of or sensitive to smells than others. Experiment! Week of 7/24/2015 Blech!--How you Get So Big Eating Food of This Kind? Sense of Taste: Taste is almost as difficult to evoke as smell, and just as subjective. A pleasant flavor for one character might be revolting to another. While this prompt ties to food, taste can also include medicine or even objects. Look beyond the obvious and try to use the sense of taste in a story this week. Week of 7/31/2015 It Doesn’t Feel Like Rock: Sense of Touch: Touch is a bit easier to evoke than smell or taste, but it’s often overlooked when setting a scene. Touch is a basic sense and every part of the body can experience it. How things feel help immerse a reader in your world and make it more real. Does your character’s armor fit well or does it chafe? Is the furniture smooth and well-polished, soft and padded, or rough and splintery? What was the food like--crunchy, spongy, chewy, tough, or silken? Does your character have a means of sensing or interpreting touch that is different from human? Explore it! Week of 8/7/2015 Followers, Companions and Hangers-on: Whether your character is The Chosen One or just charismatic, they’re bound to attract attention. How does this affect your character? Do they try to maintain their privacy, do they reach out to those interested in them like a group of not-very-close friends, or do they treat everyone like family? Maybe a particular follower (or group!) seeks to change the nature of their relationship with your character--wanting to become closer or move farther apart. This week, consider your character and the beings watching their adventures. Week of 8/14/2015 But I won't do that-is there a line your character won't cross ever? Some act they would never do under any circumstances? Has it been tested? Have they been dragged to and over each line step by step? Or did they hold firm? Even the bad guys have standards. What are your character’s? Week of 8/21/2015 Souvenirs: They’re everywhere. Especially at cultural or historical attractions. Models of famous buildings or statues, clothing with maps or slogans, super-slick guidebooks, posters or postcards. Things for visitors to take home. But at its heart, a souvenir is a physical reminder of another place or event. It might be Official or it might be something ordinary that reminds them of where they bought it. It might even be a scar or injury. What kind of souvenirs does your character have? How and where did they get them? Week of 8/28/2015 Distractions- Some characters are more focused than others but everyone gets distracted sometimes. It might be the garden-variety distraction--an urgent message, children, colleagues, someone who desperately needs six pig’s livers while your character is on their way to save the world. Or your character might distract themselves--endlessly exploring Encyclopedia Galactica instead of completing their research paper, or obsessing over shoe details rather than exercising. This week, write about how your character--Ooo, shiny. Week of 9/4/2015 Violence is the Only Option-When interests collide, some characters resort to violence to get what they want. Even if you want to avoid it, combat is inevitable. This week, write about a time your character has to fight with another in order to a to further their goal. Thanks to Oliverthefighter for this prompt.

Week of 9/11/2015 Change of Venue-Few characters--or stories--stay in one place. Your character moves from familiar places and things to new and strange ones. Does your character relish the excitement of change, or do they prefer the predictable? What do they do when they have to move, regardless of preference? This week, pick a new place for your character to be, or write about how they got there. Week of 9/18/2015 Fasting or Going Hungry - A character may go without food for a number of reasons: poverty, crash dieting, disciplines of faith or duty, declining weird alien food, forgetting to restock, or even forgetting to eat. What about your character? When have they experienced hunger? Was it intentional or accidental? Why? We had prompts for taste as well as favorite foods. This week, consider the opposite. Week of 9/25/2015 Looking Forward/Anticipation - There’s always something new on the horizon, be it an opportunity, an event, or even just a well-earned rest. What is your character looking forward to? What do they anticipate happening? Are they excited? Anxious? A little of both? Something else entirely? What future thing or event is your character eagerly awaiting? Week of 10/2/2015 I’ve got a bad feeling about this - Last week our characters were looking forward to something good. This week, they’re just as sure it’s going to be bad. When has your character known something wasn’t going to work out? How did they know? Past experience, premonition, general pessimism? Did events turn out as bad as they expected, or were they better? Worse? How bad were those bad feelings, and was it justified? Week of 10/9/2015 ...and counting- We’ve had prompts for math, but how about plain old counting and numbers? Does your character worry about how many ration bars they have? How many days (or weeks...or months!) since their last contract? Whether they have more artifacts than their nearest rival? Does your character have a lucky number? How do they show it? Maybe they just count their credits--but not before they’re in hand. Week of 10/16/2015 Promises - It seems like such a small social contract, but a promise can be a big deal. It might be a promise to a child for a treat, to communicate with a loved one on a regular basis, or to keep a secret--state or personal. How about your character? What promises have they made? Have they kept them? Did another character break a promise to your character? Some are quick to give their word and just as quick to break it. For others, their word is their bond and never given lightly. Week of 10/23/2015 Missing You: Your character relies on friends and companions, but they can't be there all the time. A companion takes a vacation. Maybe they had an appointment, ran an errand, or stormed off in a huff. Maybe they grew apart, took a job or a post in a faraway place. Maybe they just went to work for the day. Sometimes you don't realize how much you depend on someone until they're not there. Who does your character miss when they're gone and why? Week of 10/30/2015 Day of the Dead- celebrated in Mexico on the first and second of November, the modern Day of the Dead celebration has its roots in ancient Mesoamerican traditions. Returning spirits of the dead are welcomed and honored with food and stories. It is a happy festival, all about retaining and celebrating connections with family who have passed on and and less about mourning them. So who would your character remember and why? If, years after their death, your character’s spirit returned to their relatives for just one night, what would they find? There are story possibilities on either side of death’s gateway, find one this week. Week of 11/6/2015 Cheering Up- Into every life a little rain must fall, and our characters are no different. Who or what cheers them up when they're down? How would they help a friend with the blues? Whether as the cheer-er or the cheer-ee, write about some happy characters this week. Week of 11/13/2015 Strange Relations- Every character has an assortment of friends and companions. As writers, we usually pick types or occupations that fit logically with them. But what about an oddball? Obi-Wan Kenobi was friends with a smuggler-restaurant owner, hardly a likely pair. Who among your character's compatriots has unusual skills, occupations, or backgrounds? How did they meet and become friends? Why do they remain friendly despite obvious differences? Week of 11/20/2015 The no-win scenario - Sometimes, every choice is bad. Every option has unacceptable consequences. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't. Has your character faced such a situation? How did they deal with it? Did they pick the lesser of two evils or try to find a better solution? Or did they, like Kirk, cheat their way out? Do they regret their choice? Week of 11/27/2015 Insomnia - Everyone’s had a sleepless night. Maybe more than one. What about your character? Do concerns keep them awake? Are they too excited for sleep? Maybe they just chose the wrong time for a stimulant beverage. Perhaps they were so engrossed in an activity they only realized they stayed awake all night when the sun rose. A bout of insomnia could be a single event or a recurring problem. How does your character deal with being unable to sleep--assuming their species even needs to. Week of 12/4/2015 That's Cheating! - Some characters are honest and trustworthy to a fault. Others less so. The vast majority are somewhere in between. Where does your character fall? Do they play by the rules or make up their own? Have they been the victim of a cheater? At cards, a merchant, or even a relationship? Do stakes or situation matter, or will your character cheat (or not) any time? Week of 12/11/2015 The Mundane - Never mind flitting about the galaxy and fighting (or furthering) evil. How does your character handle buying supplies? Doing laundry? Repairing or replacing their gear? Homework? Housework? Reports? Letters? There's an awful lot of routine things in a hero's life that rarely make the big story. This week, pick one that should. Suggested by DoctortoDannyBoy. Week of 12/18/2015 The Times, They are a-Changin' - Even in a galaxy far far away, things change. The world, the galaxy, doesn't look the same as it did when your character was younger. How does your character feel about it? Do they take it in stride, or are they more a 'back in my day' lecturer? Was the past as good-or bad-as they remember? Or are those rose-colored glasses blinders? Week of 12/25/2015 Merry Christmas SFC! The Gift of the Magi - not the biblical reference but the short story by author O. Henry, describes gifts given out of true love and at great personal cost to the giver. Has your character given such a gift? Did the recipient appreciate it? Was your character the recipient? Did they understand the value of what they were given? Week of 1/1/2016 Happy New Year SFC!! Starting Over - Rarely, your character may get the chance to start over. To try again. Do it right this time, or at least differently. What would your character do with such an opportunity? Would they take it or are they content with their current situation? What might they pay, give up, to start over? Or have they already done so? Did it work as well as they hoped? In most cultures the new year is a time to get a fresh start. What about your character? Week of 1/8/2016 Return from Holiday - However nice the vacation, eventually your character comes back to their regular job. Is it a difficult change in mindset? Did your character leave the phone off the hook or did they check in all the time? What happened in their absence? Did everything fall apart? Did things hum along smoothly, no one noticing your character was gone? What do they find when they return? An emergency, a slow simmering crisis, or nothing at all out of the ordinary? This week, write about your character dealing with the transition from holiday to everyday. Week of 1/15/2016 Under the Weather-everyone gets sick, even the most hale and hearty character. How does yours deal with illness? Tough it out and hope no one notices? Or do they turn into a baby at the first sign of a sniffle? Whether the treatments in your world are high-tech or top out at chicken soup and herbal tea, write about your character feeling poorly. Week of 1/22/2016 Snappy Comebacks - in real life, people rarely have the perfect response to a rude question or comment. It usually occurs hours or even days after the conversation that prompted it. But fiction is different. Your character has the advantage of time-your time-to devise a fantastic zinger. This week, write about your character winning (or losing!) a verbal joust. Week of 1/29/2016 Bad luck- Sometimes things go wrong. No reason. It just happens. For some characters it's an occasional annoyance. For others, well, without bad luck they'd have none at all. Or, like Obi-Wan, your character might believe “there's no such thing as luck.” Given that for a writer, it's fun when our characters get into trouble, write about a time when things didn't go quite right for them, how they dealt with it, or how they felt about it. Week of 2/5/2016 Good Fortune- Last week we told stories about our character’s bad luck. This week, things are looking up. Maybe your character finally won the lottery, a game of poker or pazzak, or just won the flip and doesn’t have to do dishes. Maybe they found a parking meter with time left, or maybe they managed to catch the last transport off-world before the quarantine. Maybe something that looked bad on the surface turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Luck can be about big things or small. With Chinese New Year just around the corner, give your character some good fortune this week. Week of 2/12/2016 Star-Crossed Lovers - Back when most marriages were arranged, falling in love with someone wasn't always wonderful. It caused all sorts of complications. Love can be an all-consuming fire, beautiful and terrible at the same time. People in love were prone to ridiculous acts-and that hasn't changed. Cupid's golden arrow doesn't always choose a wise or appropriate match. This week, write about a time when your character or someone they care about loved not wisely, but too well. Week of 2/19/2016 Largess - A gift, usually of money, though in English the word retains its older connotations of generosity and charity. Characters often become wealthy over the course of their stories. Does yours spread the wealth or keep it for themselves? Do they make sure everyone knows all about their generosity, or are they quiet and anonymous? Maybe they were the recipient early in their careers. Did it help? Or do they see other's largess passing them by? Week of 2/26/2016 Losing Confidence - everyone has a crisis of confidence at some point. For a character, it might be a minor setback early in their story, setting them off on their path. It could occur later, where overcoming the self-imposed obstacle is the dramatic moment. Or it could even be a recurring theme throughout their story. This week, write about a time your character lost confidence in their skills or abilities, and what they did about it. Week of 3/4/2016 Theater - A movie, a play, a puppet show. A 3D holographic immersive experience. Their child's first school pageant. Your character's first school pageant. This week write about your character's experiences with the theater. Week of 3/11/2016 Taboos - some things are off limits, be it for cultural, personal, or legal reasons. How do they relate to your character? Do they not even realize the restriction? Notice, but abide by the rules? Or do they flout society's conventions and laugh? Why? Does their attitude cause trouble for them, or does it grease the wheels? Week of 3/18/2016 Pretty Things - They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and certainly people find beauty in different things. What about your character? Where do they find beauty? In artwork or song? Unusual landscapes? Stunning outfits? Well-crafted arguments, equations, or formulae? Animals, insects, or minerals? For this week's challenge, surround your character with pretty things, however conventional or strange they may be. Week of 3/25/2016 Cross Purposes - some characters are allies, others indifferent. Then there are the adversaries. And sometimes two character are at cross purposes and don't' even know it. Protagonist- antagonist is one of the most basic story structures. Give it a twist with two main characters working against each other, knowingly or otherwise. Week of 4/1/2016 Good Things Come in Small Packages: write a drabble, around 100 words, on any previous prompt or none at all. Some sources put drabbles at anywhere from 53 words on the low end to 500 at the upper end. While I don’t have BrightEphemera’s Massive Statistical Number Crunching Data of Awesomeness, I recall the majority of our stories being in the 500-1500 word range. Let’s push that lower limit. We had an unofficial drabble week a long time ago. This time it’s for real. Week of 4/8/2016 Bigger is better- write something long. 2000+ words. Use any previous prompt or invent your own. Long works have a different set of challenges compared to short ones. In the former, every word counts. In the latter, it’s hooking the reader and keeping them entertained for the duration. Go for it! Week of 4/15/2016 It Takes Two: Write a story in two parts. Use any previous prompt (or pair of prompts) or choose your own topic. The reason for the division is up to you. Switch perspectives, follow a different character, or leave the reader with a cliffhanger. Publish on successive days or in separate posts. Each section can be any length but they can’t stand alone! They must need each other to be complete. Week of 4/22/2016 Menage a Trois: Brevity is the soul of wit. Tell a story in three sentences. Stop reading and write! Week of 4/29/2016 Spring Cleaning: May Day is Sunday, time to clean out the WIP folder. Pick something and finish it, whether it’s old and cobwebby or just a few sheets down from the top. Even if you thought it solidified into a shale-like mass under the pressure of all the other WIPs. Crack it open and see. What’s inside that document you haven’t opened in ages? Sometimes pressure and long aging makes a diamond. All it needs is some polishing to shine. Week of 5/6/2016 The Hard Way--No one is good at everything, even The Chosen One. What skills or subjects did your character have trouble with? Did they work hard and eventually master them, or did they bail as soon as possible? What happens when they need to rely on that skill? Is it still a struggle for them, or have they incorporated it into their repertoire even though it’s difficult? This week, consider something your character had trouble learning or still finds difficult, and how they deal with it. Week of 5/13/2016 Nicknames--Does your character have an in-story nickname? How did they earn it? Was it accidentally bestowed or deliberately cultivated? Do they prefer it to their given name or hate it? Give it out or hope no one ever finds out? Do they even know they have one? Maybe their enemies (or friends!) only use it behind their back. Or is your character the one giving nicknames to everyone else? Week of 5/20/2016 Current Events--Events in the larger fictional world shape your character’s little slice of it, whether they want it to or not. What things are in the news for your character? What do they hear about on the Holonet or from the town gossip, read about in the paper or posted on boards? How do these events affect them? Are they concerned about current events or blissfully unaware of anything outside their immediate experience? Maybe your character is the one making headlines. Write about it! Week of 5/27/2016 Birthdays--Does your character celebrate their birthday? What do they do? Have a big party or an intimate gathering with a few close friends? Or do they hope no one notices? Perhaps they eternally claim some age they like the best, whether it’s a birthday past or one yet to come. Maybe they neither know nor care. Living another year might not mean much to them. Maybe they mark a day of different personal significance. Or maybe a significant other throws a surprise party whether your character wants it or not. Consider birthdays this week, and what they mean for your character. Week of 6/3/2016 Happy 4th Birthday SFC!!! Why Didn’t I Think of This Sooner? Character Version- Who hasn’t come up with a great idea well after it’s useful? Probably not your character, since they aren’t actually under real-world time constraints. What if they did? Characters can have regrets or second-guess themselves, too. Perhaps they come up with the perfect escape plan while fighting through guards they didn’t avoid. Maybe they wish they had bought the magical sword from the swordsmith. Maybe they remember the vital clue after setting off the trap. Consider this a chance to try some internal conflict for your character. What do they do when they realize they could have done something differently? Why Didn’t I Think of This Sooner? Author Version- Who hasn’t come up with a great idea well after it’s useful? Every writer ever. Maybe it’s a better way to relate your character to your world, maybe it’s a background event, maybe it’s a change to the world itself. But you already established all of these events. It’s ok: there’s Retcon. Writers retcon all the time. Sometimes it’s major--a reboot of the universe--sometimes it’s not--rewriting or throwing out an episode or scene or adding foreshadowing where you didn’t before. This week, make a change to something in your story you wish you’d done from the beginning. The new timeline can become your new canon or you can keep it as an AU (we have a whole thread for that, too). Stories aren’t finished until the writer says they are. Week of 6/10/2016 Scars--Reminders of old wounds. They might be visible--remnants of a childhood fall, a parent’s rage, an accident, a fire, a careless slip with a weapon or tool. The near miss that wasn’t quite a miss. But scars can be internal or emotional as well. A song that was a former lover’s favorite, a scent that summons a painful memory, a street or neighborhood your character refuses to travel. This week write a story about a scar your character bears. Consider how they acquired it, and how it affects them. Week of 6/17/2016 Special Delivery--Has your character ever ordered or commissioned something? A weapon, an outfit, a portrait, or a story? Are they patient waiting for it to arrive or be completed or do they inquire every day? Do they micromanage? Track their package down to the minute? Or do they forget about it entirely until it shows up? Perhaps your character is the one doing the delivery. Do they get lost? Wonder what’s in the mysterious box? Write about your character’s encounters with deliveries and orders. Week of 6/24/2016 Relaxing--When your character takes time off to kick back and relax, what do they do? Do they have to travel? Go somewhere where they can avoid pressure and constant requests for aid or advice? Do they escape into a good book or other entertainment? Perhaps they indulge in a hobby or visit a spa. What does your character do to relax? Or do they find it impossible? Week of 7/1/2016 Deadlines--Time is running out. Your character has something to do, to complete, to finish, to arrange, and their time grows short. What were they doing? Was it something they put off until it was critical? Did they plan for a long time and only now the pieces are coming together? Did the situation arise suddenly and demand a quick response before the critical time? Was it self-imposed or did another character impose it? A deadline is nothing more than a date or time by which something must be ready or complete. Write about it this week. Week of 7/8/2016 Overindulgence--It is possible to have too much of a good thing. The consequences vary, from a mere stomachache to a hangover to an arrest record or worse. Some characters are more prone to overindulgence than others. Has your character overindulged? Maybe they were the voice of reason while everyone around them consumed to excess. What happened? Did the incident become an embarrassing story? Tell it! Week of 7/15/2016 Wrong Size--”one size fits all” rarely does. Anything can be the wrong size: clothes, armor, weapons, starship or computer components, backpacks or duffels, the bowl of soup your character ordered. The incident could be a minor inconvenience or a major problem. The reason behind it might be a simple mistake or deliberate sabotage. Write a story where something was the wrong size, and how your character coped. Week of 7/22/2016 Lost in Translation--Some of our characters know many languages, some only one. Regardless, there will be times when a foreign concept is difficult or impossible to explain. Perhaps a term is untranslatable, words are insufficient, or maybe they’re using a bad dictionary. The results can be funny or tragic, or both in equal measures. This week’s challenge is to lose something in translation. Week of 7/29/2016 Piercing the Veil--When has your character seen things for what they truly are? Seen past the plots and the machinations of other characters to what was really going on? That sudden flash of insight when the pieces come together and everything makes sense. Was it real? How do they deal with their new-found insight? Do others believe them, or are they alone with the truth? Explore a time when your character’s intuition guided their actions. Week of 8/5/2016 Strength in Numbers: Some problems are too big for one person to deal with. Maybe your character needs specialized help; someone (or several someones) with particular skills to fill gaps in their own. They might want backup, or moral support, or someone to share the blame if everything goes south. Or perhaps they simply want confirmation that others believe they’re doing the right thing. This week, write about a time when your character found strength in numbers. Week of 8/12/2016 Camouflage: There’s more to camouflage than the standard brown and green irregular blobs. Some visual camouflage is meant to deceive cameras or other electronic sensors, not organic eyes. Other types disguise not the presence of an object or person, but its apparent movement. Even ordinary clothing can be camouflage if it lets a person blend in when they would otherwise stand out. At its heart, camouflage is concealment. Consider a time when your character needed some, or was fooled. Week of 8/19/2016 Sleeping Rough: Has your character ever been without a safe place to sleep? No money for a room, no one to share with, lost (urban or wilderness), or run away? Was it part of a training exercise, experiment, or mission and therefore only temporary? Was it indefinite, desperate, with no alternative and no end in sight? Was it voluntary and, despite the difficulties, still preferable to the situation they left behind? Have they been fortunate enough to never worry about housing, and how do they react toward another in poorer circumstances? This week, consider your character sleeping rough. Week of 8/26/2016 Can’t Live Without: Everyone has something, whether literal or figurative. Is is a person? A loved one? A pet? A country, a job, or a purpose? A moral conviction. Is it a medicine that holds a disease or condition at bay? Something less serious, like a favorite book, delicacy, or entertainment. A special item. What one person perceives as necessary someone else might regard as silly--but try taking away a toddler’s Special Blanket. Everyone has something. What is it that your character can’t live without? Week of 9/2/2016 Meeting Old Friends- Some old friends are nearly forgotten, others are close as ever. They might be separated by time and distance or right across the hall. This week, have your character meet with one of them. It could be a planned reunion, scheduled months in advance, as simple as knocking on a door for their daily tea together, or as accidental as running into them at the market. Write about a time when your character met with an old friend, however you choose to interpret it. Week of 9/9/2016 Small Victories--Not every success has to be a big one. The world (or galaxy, or civilization) doesn’t need to be saved from certain destruction every day. Some days, it’s the little things that matter. Your character’s child, who’s been struggling with something, finally gets it. The friend who’s always late, isn’t. The minor repair really was minor. Maybe the toast landed butter-side up. This week, celebrate a small victory with your character. The big ones might be more dramatic, but it’s the little ones that keep them going. Week of 9/16/2016 Promotions-- As characters advance through their stories, they often advance in their (fictional) organizations as well. Has your character gotten a promotion? Was it deserved? Did higher-ups pass over someone more qualified, or did your character work hard for their advancement? Additional responsibilities usually accompany a new position, how does your character handle them? Did they receive any extra training or were they thrown in the deep end? Did things work out for them? Are they pleased with their promotion or do they wish they could go back? Is it, as many things, a mixed bag? This week, give your character a promotion. Week of 9/23/2016 Lawbreaker!--Some characters break laws on a regular basis, others are more law-abiding. But most every character has crossed the line on occasion, if only in a very minor way or on accident. What about yours? Did they know they were violating a law? Why did they do it? Because the law is ridiculous, because it is inconvenient, because the law is wrong, because they knew they wouldn’t get caught, or do they simply not care? What law did they break? Did they pay a penalty? Personal or legal? Write about it! Week of 9/30/2016 Borders: In essence, borders are nothing more than imaginary lines between properties or political entities. Crossing the border might be little more than opening a gate or stamping a passport. It could be an all-day affair with questioning and bribery if the parties involved are hostile to each other. In space or a remote area, there are lots of opportunity for skirmishes. Someone thought the border was a light week over. The navicomp or maps are out of date and need calibrating. The patrol was supposed be gone by now. Those military exercises were planned for our side but someone got trigger happy. Transgressions could be real and deliberate, real and manufactured, or honest mistakes. This week, write about your character crossing a border, and what happened when they did. Week of 10/7/2016 Changes in Appearance--People don’t keep the same appearance their whole lives. We cut or grow hair, change styles, choose different clothes, sometimes even consider surgery, tattoos, piercings, or other permanent alterations to our appearances. Yet written characters often stay the same. This week, make a change to your character’s appearance and write about why it happened. There’s always a reason, and it’s bound to be interesting. Week of 10/14/2016 Coincidence--Coincidences that start or complicate a plot are often overlooked, but those that end it are not. Why? It feels fake. It breaks the suspension of disbelief. In an age of word processors, where adding foreshadowing is as easy as typing a new paragraph, it smacks of poor plotting. This week? Who cares. In a make-believe world where everything happens for a reason, this time the reason is because you need it to. Consider it an exercise in how not to tie up a story, or how to recognize what not to do. Sometimes it’s fun to write bad. Week of 10/21/2016 Forgetting--No one’s memory is perfect. Everyone forgets, even your character. A date or name slips their mind, the password or combination to a lock, maybe they left something at home. It’s not always a bad thing. Painful memories are sometimes best forgotten, or at least put aside for a time. This week, write about a time your character forgot something, and what happened when they did. Week of 11/4/2016 Burning the Candle at Both Ends--Too busy. There’s too much to do and not enough time to do it. Maybe it was bad scheduling or an accident or problems encountered along the way, but whatever the reason, your character has to work hard to do it. What was it? Why are they working so hard? What do they hope to gain? Is it temporary or a chronic issue for them? Can they prevent the situation, or will it happen again? This week, write about a time when your character burned a little too bright. Week of 11/11/2016 Formal Occasion--No matter how informal a character and their story, at some point they’ll probably have to dress up. Maybe it’s a formal dinner, a wedding, a graduation or promotion, or a date at the opera. Different cultures have different etiquette for these kinds of events as well. How does your character fare? Are they as home in formalwear and surrounded by numerous forks as they are around a campfire? Are they uncomfortable? Or are they most at home in high society? This week, put your character in formalwear and at a special function and see what they do. Week of 11/18/2016 Just Desserts--Everyone loves to see the villain get what’s coming to them. Maybe it’s your character who delivers justice. Maybe they’re on the receiving end. This week, hand out some just desserts in your story. Week of 11/25/2016 In A Rut--Doing the same thing over and over. No one wantS to be stuck there. It could be your character, dissatisfied with where their career is going. It could just as well be the writer, bored with what feels like the same plots and situations. Shake it up. Throw in something unexpected. Put your character in a place you never thought they’d be. Try something different and see where it goes. Or, alternately, let your character complain about the sameness. Week of 12/2/2016 Cooperation--Some characters are loners by nature but even so, they can’t do everything by themselves. They’ll have to cooperate with others. Whether it’s a willing partnership where they all gain or coerced and barely tolerated, there’s ample room for conflict. Maybe they plan to betray their partner at the first opportunity. Maybe they prefer to remain on good terms. Maybe it’s an alliance of necessity and they’ll part on neutral ground. Whatever the reason, whatever the outcome, this week write about your character cooperating with others to achieve a goal. Week of 12/9/2016 Trigger Warning-- Everyone--every character--has strong feelings about something. The old standby is “don’t discuss politics or religion” but there are many other options. What sets off your character? What’s that one topic they have to argue about? What’s their position and why? Is it rational? Was it learned and never questioned? This week, push one or more of your character’s buttons. Week of 12/16/2016 Limits-- No character is all-powerful, or at least interesting ones aren’t. There are limits to what they can do, be it legal, physical, mental, or self-imposed. What happens when they come up against them? Do they push past it, accept it, or back away? Limits are often there for a reason and breaking them can have consequences. Explore some this week. Week of 12/23/2016 Making a Mountain out of a Molehill - Some characters are more prone to blowing things out of proportion than others. Maybe it’s just certain situations. Consider a time when something that seemed insurmountable turned out to be minor. Was your character’s preparation or anxiety unreasonable? Or did their actions make the difference between a mountain and a molehill? Week of 12/30/2016 Not My Holiday - This week, most of the Western world is celebrating Christmas and the New Year but no holiday is universal, even on Earth. Are your character’s holidays in line with the culture they live in? Do they celebrate something different at a time no one else does? Do they feel left out on either occasion? Their reasons don’t have to be cultural; they might associate bad experiences with a popular holiday or good ones with something obscure. There are stories in any of the permutations. Write one. Week of 1/6/2017 Luxuries - It’s easy to think in terms of expensive things: fine wine, silk, exquisite meals, and panoramic views. Luxuries don’t have be expensive, or even things. One character might consider time alone a luxury. For another, enough to eat and a safe place to live. Yet another may relish the privileges their wealth affords them. What does your character consider a luxury and how do they indulge? Week of 1/13/2017 Omens and Portents - Whether being born under a Blood Moon or according to the signs in an ancient prophecy or just picking the winning lottery numbers two weeks in a row, our characters’ lives are filled with omens. Do they put any stock in the superstitions or consider it a bunch of baloney? Are the portents more important to their companions who expect them to be the hero? Is it a sign they should buy another lottery ticket? Omens can be good or bad, and the way your character deals with them likewise so. Explore it.

Week of 4/21/17 Constant Companions–Who’s with your character through all their adventures? Who’s their right hand, the one who’s always there? Who’s Samwise to your Frodo? Why are they there and why do they stay? This week write something featuring the person or people your character relies on most. Week of 4/28/17 Food on the Go–Everyone enjoys a quick snack. What’s your character’s favorite? What food stall do they have to hit whenever they’re in town? What take-away meal do they always bring home? What munchies do they pack along for a journey? Far from meaningless detail, something as mundane as food can tell your readers a lot about your character. Week of 5/5/17 Plants/Gardening–It’s hard to avoid plant life, even on a spaceship. In low-tech societies plants are recognized as sources of food and medicine. In more high-tech ones they provide breathable air as well as beauty. Whether your character has a green thumb or can’t tell a cabbage from a kitten, write some plants into their story this week. Week of 5/12/17 Irritating Habits–Everyone has them. What about your character or one of their companions? Gum-chewing, whistling, smoking, a preference for odiferous delicacies? Who annoys who and how? Consider, too, that rude, irritating, or just plain gross behavior in one culture may be perfectly acceptable or even polite in another. The converse is true as well. Week of 5/19/17 Forgotten Places–A ghost town, an ancient ruin, a hidden valley, an island settlement, now abandoned. Places where people were, but no longer are. What does your character think about them? When has your character encountered one? Did they stumble on it? Seek it out? Read or hear a tale about it? Does it, like El Dorado, exist only in stories? Week of 5/26/17 Titles–Queen, Lord, Baron, Senator, President, Minister, Director, Sir or Madam. A title might be formal, bestowed in a ceremony. It might be a basic term of respect or polite discourse. Or it might be earned by appearance, action, or affiliation: Erik the Red, Catherine the Great, Jabba the Hutt. What titles does your character have? Happy 5th Birthday SFC!!!!!! Week of 6/2/17 History–Personal or World, history informs your character’s actions. What part of the past shapes their present? Are they aware of it? How so? This week, consider your character’s history and its influence. Week of 6/9/17 Hope–Hope, the final thing in Pandora’s Box. Hope is what keeps people going when the night is dark and the journey is hard. Hope for a brighter day and a better way. Or just something different, some change. To fall in love, to find redemption, to find a purpose. Even a doomsday cult has hope, though outsiders don’t understand it. What does your character hope for? Week of 6/16/17 Challenge–If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. What’s hard for your character? What challenges do they set for themselves and what ones do they face? Difficulty often reveals a character’s true self. How do they face a challenge? Week of 6/23/17 Midsummer/Midwinter– It’s the turn of the seasons this week, the longest day for the northern hemisphere and the longest night for the southern hemisphere. What does midsummer or midwinter mean for your character? Alternately, write about your characters longest night or longest day. Week of 6/30/17 Curve Ball–as writers we plan our characters’ encounters. This week, throw them into something new. Something they didn’t expect. Something they never saw coming. Who panics? Who takes it in stride? Who stumbles but runs with it? Week of 7/7/17 Good News Everyone!: What would be good news for your character? Something personal? A promotion? A sale? A marriage, a child, a vacation? A divorce? Maybe something local: a tramway or road finishes construction, a botanical garden opens. Larger? Peace declared between warring factions or nations? War declared against an oppressive enemy? Is it something they expected or a complete surprise? Think of something your character considers good news and how they react to it. Week of 7/14/17 And Now, the Bad News: Something happened, and your character’s not pleased about it. Did they lose a promotion or sale to a rival? Is a local landmark shutting or being torn down? Is a plant or animal they’re particularly fond of in decline? Does an event confirm their pessimistic outlook, or crush their optimism? How did they find out? Are they shocked or resigned? No good news to soften the blow this time. Write about your character dealing with bad news. Week of 7/21/17 Looking Back: Whether it’s with fondness or relief, everyone thinks about their past sometimes. Something that held them back, or something that propelled them forward. They might consider time with a mentor, a formative event, or just a memorable vacation. Write about your character reminiscing. Week of 7/28/17 Looking Forward: No one knows the future, but that doesn’t stop us from imagining what it might hold. What about your character? What do they see in their crystal ball? Good news? Bad news? What do they see as the result of today’s decisions? Or do they live in the moment and deal with the future as it arrives? We’ve done Hope and Goals, let’s look at the pragmatic. Week of 8/4/17 Long-Distance connections – Your character’s friends, family, colleagues, or loved ones won’t always be close at hand. How do they maintain the relationship? Do they enjoy real-time, visual and audio transmissions? Is there a delay for distance – or surreptitious monitoring? Pre-recorded messages? Text messages? Letters? Maybe contact isn’t possible at all. What do they share? What do they hold back and why? Consider time as a separation, and how a character might stay connected to someone lost to them, or discover a connection to the past. Week of 8/11/17 Temptation: It comes in all flavors, all kinds, all things. And it need not be a physical thing at all, but an experience or emotion. It’s usually, but not always, a vice. What tempts your character? What siren song do they find irresistible? Do they crash on the rocks following it, do their friends help them avoid it, or do they manage alone? Not all temptations are bad, of course, and not all can be neatly avoided. Week of 8/18/17 Folk Tales: All cultures have folk tales–the stories people tell each other. The ones everyone knows, or knows a version of. They may be written down, or they may only be told around the campfire, the coffee pot, or in the chatroom. They may be cautionary tales, stories of heroism, or horror. Modern urban legends fall in this category. What ones does your character know? Where did they hear them? Which ones do they share and why? Let your character be the storyteller this week. Week of 8/25/17 Phobia: From Phobos, the personification of fear in Greek mythology, in English a phobia is more than just being afraid. Phobias are rarely rational. The brain is often eager to label anything as a terrible threat regardless of whether it’s logical. A true phobia can be debilitating, where the sufferer avoids any situation that might trigger their fear. Does your character have such a disability? What about one of their companions or someone they meet? Is it a common or reasonable thing to fear? Something others sympathize with even if they don’t appreciate the severity? Or is it something rare or mundane? Some thing or condition, made all the worse by the fact that literally no one else understands why it provokes such a reaction. How does your character deal with it? How do they help a companion through an episode? Week of 9/1/17 Windfall: Something good fell in your character’s lap, something they weren’t expecting. Does it come at an opportune time to fix a problem? Does it cause a headache (or heartache) down the road? Or do they make cider, as one does with windfall apples? Week of 9/8/17 Hero Worship: Who does your character think of when they hear the word “hero”? Is it a specific person? A type of person, or a person in a specific occupation? Have they ever met their hero(es)? Who sees your character as a hero–no matter how venal they really are? How do they show it, and how does your character deal with it? Week of 9/15/17 Flirting With Disaster: Even the most risk-averse character gets into sticky situations, or they should if you’re doing your job as a writer. Then there are others who live their entire lives on the edge. This week, write about a time when things were so, so close to going wrong. When the table shook beneath the house of cards but didn’t quite fall. Or maybe it did. Week of 9/22/17 What Goes Around Comes Around: If the Golden Rule is “treat others how you wish to be treated” then this is what happens when you don’t. Cheaters will be cheated, liars lied to, and bullies bullied. Write about a time when your character’s behavior came back to bite them, or when they had an opportunity to visit retribution on someone who wronged them. Week of 9/29/17 Frustration: Sometimes events (aka the writer) conspire to thwart your character. It might be a series of minor things–the coffee machine broke, the bus was late (so they caught it but were late anyway), and to top it off all the good donuts were gone at the meeting…where the project no one else wanted ended up in their lap. Yay. Maybe it’s a repeated error: the food stall never gets their order right, the clerk always mispronounces your character’s name. This week write about someone or something getting on your character’s last nerve. Week of 10/6/17 Conversion or Proselytizing: You! Yes, you! Can we talk for a bit about…what? What ideas does your character hope to pass on to others? What ideology moves them? Did they convert to their current mindset from a different one? How and why did they make the change? While religion and politics are most obvious choices with this prompt, consider also scientific theories, dietary or exercise regimens, brand loyalty, or comic book heroes. Which version was better, the movie or the book? Why? Does your character have to win the debate, or are they most invested in the discussion itself? Week of 10/13/17 Embarrassment: Everyone has that moment they’d rather forget. The time when every eye was on them, but not in a good way. What about your character? When has the glaring spotlight of public embarrassment shone on them and why? Is it a story they’ll never tell? Is it the hilarious tale told for laughs well after the fact? Or is it one of those things that slips out after too many intoxicants? Week of 10/20/17 Practice Makes Perfect: No matter how skilled your character is, there’s always room for improvement. What does your character do to keep in practice? Are they building on existing accomplishments or learning something new? Is it a skill they need for their main occupation, or something they do for fun? Are they edging toward perfection, or always terrible but having a great time anyway? Practice your own writing this week. Week of 10/27/17 Roadblock: Something’s in the way, physically or metaphorically. Something preventing your character from getting what they want. What is it? Why is it there? What does your character want and who wants to stop them? This week, throw a roadblock in your character’s path. Let’s see how they navigate it. Week of 11/3/17 Goals: Your character is nothing without goals. Pursuing their goal is what propels the story forward. Step back for a moment and consider how and why they set that goal. Did they wake up one morning and know what they wanted to do? Did it grow organically out of life experience? Did they go through a modern, goal-setting exercise? Is theirs a reasonable goal, achievable with a stretch, or are they unlikely to ever achieve it? Do they keep moving the goalposts? Does someone move them for your character? Set a goal this week. Week of 11/10/17 NO PANTS! Relaxing at home. Nothing planned, nothing going on, nothing pending, no crises. No pants. What’s that mean for your character? Is there any place or time when they can truly relax? Do they fantasize about relaxation while dashing between disasters? Are they stuck in the doldrums, praying for something–anything–to happen? Or do they take “no pants” more literally? Week of 11/17/17 Don’t Stop Believing: Countless writers guides council you to include the moment when your character considers quitting. For some stories, it’s the centerpiece, if not the center. Somehow, they go on. Complete the quest, finish the journey, save the world, make a difference. This week, write about your character facing such a moment, and not giving up. Finding the strength to go on. Week of 11/24/17 Success: It’s said that nothing worth doing is ever easy. Certainly your character’s journey shouldn’t be, or it wouldn’t have been interesting. And the writing of it might not be either, but now it’s done. Quest complete, journey over, book finished. How does it feel? Does your character celebrate? How? Is this success just a little one on a much longer road, or is it the big one they’ve been waiting for? If so, is there a bigger goal on the horizon, one they couldn’t even see until they got here? Let your character bask in success for a change, and think about whether their story is really over. Week of 12/1/17 The right way, the wrong way, and my way: It’s said there are three ways to approach a task. What does your character think? Do they follow the rules, willingly break them, or choose their own path? Maybe all three at different times in their story? What about teaching someone else? Are they as inflexible as the saying suggests or will they entertain new solutions? Week of 12/8/17 Accommodation: Does your character need something outside what’s considered typical for their species? Are they more at home in enclosed or darkened spaces–or the opposite? A special diet due to allergies or disease? Something more obvious, like ramps instead of stairs or fixtures and handles being at more convenient heights? What about something basic, like being left-handed in a right-handed world? Week of 12/15/17 Recurring Nightmares: An actual nightmare, one that isn’t real? Or a real nightmare situation occurring over and over? Write your character in a recurring nightmare this week. Or a recurring dream, if you’d prefer. Interpret the prompt as literally or loosely as you like. Week of 4/13/18 Smuggler’s Blues: Has your character trafficked in less-than-legal items? Even by accident or for personal use only? What was it? Drugs? Stolen merchandise? Banned books? People? Translated media that isn’t officially available in that language? Fruit, vegetables, plants, or animals that aren’t allowed to leave their country of origin, or aren’t allowed into the destination? Cheese? Maybe your character purchased smuggled items. Maybe they’re they’re the smuggler. There are plenty of reasons for someone to circumvent import restrictions here on Earth and at least as many elsewhere and when. Surely there’s a story in it. Week of 4/20/18 Hurts so Good: Pain is supposed to be the body’s signal to stop. Humans (and fictional species) often ignore it or even seek it out. Sure, sure, BSDM; look beyond the obvious. Think of hot foods–temperature hot or spicy hot, where the heat is a critical part of the enjoyment. An exercise program, where short-term muscle pain means you’re doing it right. A good roller coaster, haunted house, or horror movie is supposed to cause anxiety or fear and all their attendant sensations, things we usually find unpleasant or painful. Write about your character seeking, enjoying, observing, declining, or railing against such an activity. Week of 4/27/18 Reunited: Characters who spend time apart must come back together. Do they look forward to it? Dread it? Count every moment until they can reunite, or invent ways to prolong the separation? Do they have any special rituals? A particular knock or bell ring, a call to their partner, a hug or kiss? Furtively sneaking in and hope no one notices? How do they catch up? Long conversations? Bare mumbles? Did it matter for them how long they’ve been apart? Is a few hours separation as hard to bear as a month? Week of 5/4/18 Ordinary Heroes: Your character might be a hero in their own right, and they probably had many others to look up to. So who in their lives was a hero to them by being nothing other than themselves? Who did they admire as a person? Whose example did they hope to follow? Was it a relative who always accepted them, no questions asked? A shopkeeper who always had a kind word for everyone they met? A teacher who expected the best and wouldn’t take less–and who also helped students discover what their best looked like? Write a story involving an influence on your character’s character. (inspired by This Post. May the Fourth Be With You) Week of 5/11/18 Censored! [Redacted] Strikethrough! Restricted! Takedown!: When has your character encountered censorship? What was it? Something they wanted or needed but weren’t allowed? Why? Something they created that was blacked out, altered, or removed? Was it a report, a discovery, a work of art or fiction? Did they agree with the censor or fight the decision? What problems occured because of the restriction–or lack thereof? Week of 5/18/18 Favorite drinks: Living things eat and drink, and sentient creatures with cultures have a variety of beverages to choose from. With variety comes favorites–so what is your character’s? Cocktails automatically come to mind, but a favorite drink can be any beverage. Your character could have different favorites for different parts of the day–their favorite wake-up drink won’t be the same as their go-to wind-down libation. It might be something they grew up with, or something a loved one recently introduced them to. Maybe it used to be a favorite but they grew out of it, associated it with painful memories, or relocated and simply can’t get it or the ingredients. Expensive or cheap, rare or common, mind-altering or otherwise, share one of your character’s favorite drinks. Week of 5/27/18 Carry On: How does your character get back to “normal”? To recover from their injury, whether physical, mental, or emotional? Life goes on and so does your character. How do they do it? Some recover with barely a pause, others take longer. Not everyone has healthy coping strategies. Maybe they cope by moving through unhealthy or destructive habits before they can start to heal. Sometimes healing leaves scars that never go away. Write a story about your character carrying on. Keeping calm optional. Week of 6/1/18 Happy 6th Birthday SFC!!!!!! Mistakes Were Made: The perennial apology-not-apology. Someone made mistakes, frequently not the person making the statement. So what happened? Was your character the mistake-maker or the one wronged? Who is “apologizing” and for what? Will anything be resolved, or is this papering over a systemic problem? Again? Is it a way to give someone a well-deserved second chance, or a perpetual offender getting away? Week of 6/8/18 Skeletons in the Closet: What’s that thing your character hopes no one ever finds? Some shameful Secret they’d just as soon remain a secret? Does anyone find out? What happens? What does your character imagine will happen? Is it reasonable, overblown, or conservative? While there are loads of things a character can be ashamed of, consider that shame is personal. What fatally embarasses your character might be no big deal to others or society at large. Alternately, it could be even worse now than when your character hid it in the first place. Rattle some skeletons in your character’s closet this week. Week of 6/15/18 Tired: Sleepy? Overworked? Bored? Or really Done With This Sh*t? Everyone gets tired, physically and mentally. What is your character tired of or from? Why? Do they fix it? Can they, or is it out of their control? Just don’t be too tired to write it. Week of 6/22/18 Kissing Frogs: Fandom often revolves around romantic pairs, especially finding “the one:” your character’s soulmate. Surely they don’t find their soulmate on the first try. They must have had other relationships. Ones that didn’t work out or didn’t last. What happened? This week, write a story about one of the frogs your character kissed on the way to finding their prince/princess. Week of 6/29/18 Keep on Keeping on: Now that our characters have been on the job for quite some years, what keeps them going? What makes them do just one more job, instead of retiring, settling down, or doing something completely different? Tradition, momentum, habit, joy, satisfaction, can’t think of a reason to change or anything else they’re good at. Everyone’s reasons are their own. What’s your character’s? Prompt courtesy of frauzet. Week of 7/6/18 Set the Standards: What’s the minimum your character will accept, be it service, the kinds of jobs they’ll take, or the places they’ll go or stay? What about the people they’ll work with or date? Do they have standards for decency or conduct? How do they define them? What’s their reasoning for their personal limits? Have they ever been tested? Are they reasonable, inflated, underrated, irrational? Week of 7/13/18 Look Behind You: What’s behind your character, literally or figuratively? Where did they come from? What did they leave behind to get where they are now? A village, town, city, or planet? Family, lovers, friends, rivals, or enemies? Ideas or beliefs? Do any of them catch up or are they forever in the past? How does your character feel about that? Week of 7/20/18 Once in a Lifetime: Some things only come around once. A show, a natural phenomena, an opportunity. Grab it, enjoy it, experience it while it’s here or available, because your character won’t ever have another chance. What is a once-in-a-lifetime event for your character? Are they able to take advantage of, appreciate, or participate in it? What happens afterwards? Week of 7/27/18 Treat Yourself: Indulge! What’s a treat for your character? Food, a spa day, a movie/theater/holovid/musical? Surely they have something they love to do that they maybe don’t do often, something that makes them feel good about themselves. We torture our characters enough. This week do something nice for them. Week of 8/3/18 Friends: Our characters collect any number of friends and helpers during their adventures. In fact, few characters can do without friends. They’re part of what makes a story vibrant and alive. Friends don’t have to be sycophants; they can (and probably should) disagree with your character about things. Things that matter, not easy things like favorite foods or colors. Friends and companions breathe life into your character’s story. This week, write something where one of your character’s friends has an important role as well. Week of 8/10/18 Friends to Lovers: This one is almost a given in many stories. Many people enjoy reading (or writing) a story where the characters find their friendship growing into something more intimate. Whether it’s a coffee shop romance a super-slow-burn fic, write characters going from friends to lovers this week. Week of 8/17/18 Lovers Back to Friends: Then again, love doesn’t always work out. It’s easy to take the hostile view of a breakup. Where both characters end up disliking or avoiding each other. This time try something harder: they remain friends despite their previous intimacy. It needn’t happen right away. Few people are so mature. This time, imagine it does or has to and how your character handles it anywhere along the timeline. Explore what it means to retain real friendship, not merely stating “we’re friends.” Week of 8/24/18 Friends to Enemies: Hate is always easier to evoke than love or friendship, so easy prompt this week. Or is it? Imagine one of your character’s friends becoming an enemy. Why do they diverge when they obviously got along well? A slow drift or one inciting event? Losing a good friend hurts, and making one an enemy means the wound never really heals. How does your character live with it? Week of 8/31/18 Enemies to Friends: Occasionally, your character and an enemy end up on the same side. And beyond sharing a common goal or working together just this once, they begin hanging out and relying on each other. Why? What converts their enemy to a friend? Note: this is not necessarily a heel-face turn. If your character is villainous their enemy might end up on the dark side. They have cookies, after all. Maybe both decide the struggle is futile and retire together. What about your character’s other friends? Week of 9/7/18 How Hard Can It Be? Words usually uttered before discovering exactly how hard it can be. When has your character underestimated a situation? What thing looked easy then turned out to be less so? How did your character handle it? Did they rise to the occasion? Realize their error? Back out and try again? Fail completely? All of the above? Be as humorous or serious as you like, but this week have your character discover that the easy thing is, in fact, rather more difficult than they expected. Week of 9/14/18 What’s the Worst That Could Happen? Inevitably, not what actually happens. In life the real result may more often be better, but as writers it’s far more fun to make it worse. This week, put your character in a situation they’re sure they can handle, and make it worse. What’s the worst that could happen? Just let me get started. Week of 9/21/18 It’s All Downhill From Here! The situation is handled, crisis solved or averted, nothing left but the cleanup and a smooth glide to the end. On the other hand, maybe it’s more like a downhill slide into a swamp or off a cliff. It’s fun to shake up reader–and character–expectations. Throw up some roadblocks or dig some potholes in their easy ride. Make that smooth landing less so. Complete disaster optional. Week of 9/28/18 Never Going There and That’s Final! Until, of course, they have to. What place does your character avoid? Is it a single, physical place? A city, county, or planet? A type of place: Zoos, spooky dark forests filled with snakes, buffet restaurants? Why do they hate it? There must be a reason, however irrational. Now put them there anyway. Tell the story of why and how they ended up someplace your character swore they’d never go to under any circumstances, and what happened after. Week of 10/5/18 What Might Have Been: Almost everyone wonders how their life might have turned out if they’d made different choices, been born in different circumstances, or combination of both. How does your character answer this question? Suppose they were cast in a different role in your story or as another one of your characters? How would their lives be different? How would your story be different? Explore what might have been with your character this week, either as a dream, a discussion with another character, or a full-blown AU. Thanks to Lady_Thorne and Lord_Thorne on the SWTOR forums for this prompt. (Special message for the SWTOR crowd: thanks to everyone participating in what has to be the longest continually running forum thread in MMORPG history. Still going since 2012.) Week of 10/12/18 Listen: More important than being able to act, perhaps, is the ability to listen. To hear someone voice their concerns or point of view without filtering through their own experience or opinion. When has your character really listened to another one in your story? They need not be converted, but they ought to gain understanding. Some characters don’t care; that’s fine and valid. This week, let your character be the quiet one and really listen to someone else in the story, then show what they do with their new perspective. Week of 10/19/18 Oblivious: Not everyone is observant, and even the most vigilant character misses something on occasion. When did they miss something obvious? It could be a physical object or an idea. The proverbial elephant in the room or a solution that’s staring them in the face. Maybe your character just overlooks cues everyone else sees. What happens when someone else points it out? Week of 10/26/18 Comfort Food: It might not be a favorite. It doesn’t have to be from childhood, though it often is. It might not always be the same thing, depending on circumstances. Sometimes, preparation is as much a part of the comfort as consuming. When all else fails to dispel your character’s demons, what food(s) do they turn to for comfort? Week of 11/2/18 Voice of Reason: In every group, for every plan, there’s always one Voice of Reason, and their plan might be safest but not always best. Does your character listen? Do they plunge ahead anyway? Or are they the sane one trying to dissuade the rest from something reckless? Whose approach was right? What, in hindsight, might have been better? Week of 11/9/18 Ship of Fools: The colloquial meaning is that of one wise person surrounded by idiots, but the original allegory has everyone on the ship unable to navigate it, all the while vying for the chance, or to influence the one currently botching the job. Regardless, the ship goes nowhere, often with recriminations all around. When has your character sailed on a ship of fools? Were they the wise one dealing with incompetence? Or just as clueless but putting up a better front than the rest? Week of 11/16/18 Power! Given this blog started in a Star Wars fandom, it’s surprising this prompt never appeared before. What does your character consider power and how do they pursue it? Just as important: why? Some seek power for its own sake but most have an agenda. Are they a reformer? Do they want to change the system they’re part of to fit their vision? Do they want the ability to destroy whomever they view as enemies? A secure enough position to voice their opinions without backlash, or at least without fearing the consequences? Do they gain power despite not wanting it, because their fellows see them as a leader? Or are they seeking more mundane power? A ship fast enough to outrun the authorities? Superpowers: magic, reality-bending abilities, flight (if they can’t already), telepathy, or teleportation? Week of 11/23/18 Butterfly Effect: In essence, tiny changes in starting conditions leading to wildly different results. Modern behavioral psychologists contribute the nudge: a small push toward a desired behavior or goal. Our lives are filled with examples. How about your character? Is there a slight difference in their backstory–or current story–that could change it entirely? When did they receive a nudge and how did it shape them? What events pushed their later actions? We had a prompt for turning points, which was more about large, obvious events that put your character on their path. A butterfly effect might be so small as to go unnoticed at the time but proved no less influential. Week of 11/30/18 The Last Straw: Your character’s companions don’t rubber-stamp your decisions. They agree or disagree to a greater or lesser extent. And, sometimes, they leave. It’s unlikely to come as a complete surprise, but even so there was probably one incident, one particular choice, that drove them away. How does your character deal with it? Are they forgiving or vengeful? How does the companion make their exit? Do they confront your character or just leave without a goodbye? What are their reasons, and does your character consider them reasonable? What was the companion’s last straw? Week of 12/7/18 Paralyzed: Literally unable to move. Is it a disease? An accident? Are they completely paralyzed or does the condition affect only part of their body? What happened to cause it? Is your character paralyzed with indecision; all options equally bad (or good?). Maybe they’re overwhelmed and terrified to make any choice. Maybe they’re paralyzed both physically and emotionally. Or one and not the other. Paralyze your character this week, and write how they deal with it. Week of 12/14/18 Happy Together: Your character encounters numerous others in their story. Who’s special? Who is the one they just want to see happy, preferably with them? It could be their SO but it doesn’t have to be; happiness comes in all flavors and sizes and doesn’t have to involve romance. Or, for that matter, even being outwardly nice. There are lots of relationships (fictional or otherwise) where observers would never know how much the people involved respect and care for each other given how often they throw insults around. This week, write your character and another happy together, in whatever form that happiness takes. Week of 12/21/18 Good Intentions: It’s said the road to hell is paved with them. Most characters, outside of the truly villainous, want to help and to make things better. Usually we let them. Good intentions can backfire or have unintended consequences, some of which might be worse than the original situation. They can also be far better! It’s our story; we do what we want, and things need not always be bad. This week, begin with your character’s good intentions and tell us what happens. Week of 12/28/18 The Fine Print: Any Bounty Hunter knows better than to sign anything from Gault without reading it first, still there may have been contracts our OCs wish they hadn’t signed. What details did they miss? Was it something small and insignificant, even humorous? Something major and problematic? How did they inconvenience your character? Did they get back at the beings who made the contract and took advantage of them? Chalk it up to a learning experience and move on? Something else? Was the contract more akin to our familiar Terms of Service Agreements that no one reads deciphers anyway? Did they fulfill the contract or did they renege? Why? This week consider what may be hiding in the fine print and how it affects your character. Week of 1/4/19 Keep Grandma Happy: Okay, okay, not necessarily Grandma. Every family (or other social unit) has that one person whom you simply appease. The one you don’t want flying off the handle because it’s such a bother and not worth the resulting tirade and calming down process. Surely your character’s circle has one. Who is it? Is it your character? What’s their hot button and why? What do the other characters do to avoid it? How do they settle them down when, inevitably, it gets pushed? Does someone push it on purpose for the fireworks? (note: while the intent of this prompt is humorous, feel free to make a more serious case, i.e. trigger or content warnings. Polite characters avoid the topic out of empathy or compassion and only dickish ones bring it up.) Week of 1/11/19 If Wishes Were Horses: then beggars would ride. We often think of wishes as something for children, but everyone does it. Wishes can be for anything from a lucky chance through feasible-but-difficult to outright impossible. What things does your character wish for? Little wishes? Not much more than good luck? Middling-possible wishes? Things that could happen given some work and luck? Something that could never happen? Prohibited by the laws of physics or just wildly improbable? There’s nothing really wrong with wishes, however impractical or unlikely. Every so often, wishes come true. Week of 1/18/19 To Sleep: perchance to dream? Humans spend, on average, one third of their lives asleep. We have rooms, furniture, phrases and clothing all dedicated to this biological necessity. What does your character do to sleep? Do they have special rituals? Do they need a sleep mask and soothing music or can they fall asleep anywhere, anytime? Do they prefer near silence and darkness? White noise and a night light? Are they always uncomfortable in a strange place? Does having a familiar object–pillow, blanket, childhood teddy bear–make it better? Pets? What about snoring or tossing and turning? Do they have a bedmate (or housemate) to annoy, or who annoys them? Maybe their sleep schedule is at odds with the rest of the world for some reason. Maybe they don’t have a sleep schedule–their days are too erratic. Perhaps they don’t require sleep themselves but find it an interesting trait in their companions. Week of 1/25/19 Loyalty: True loyalty is a complex subject. Essentially, someone puts your character’s well-being equal to or exceeding their own. It doesn’t mean agreeing with everything your character says or does, but offering a different perspective when warranted. It contains elements of being a friend and a lover, without necessarily sharing the more intimate or personal components of those relationships. Though, one hopes that friends and lovers are also loyal. Perhaps this is why betrayal hurts so much; the one who had your character’s back had a knife all along. Other times we mistake a loyal character leaving for betrayal, when in fact they can no longer bear to watch someone they care about self destruct. Consider who’s loyal to your character this week, to whom your character owes loyalty, why, and what might happen to change those dynamics. Week of 2/1/19 You’re Not the One I Was Looking For: It’s fun to set your character up with the perfect match. The One They’ve Been Dreaming of. Hold that thought–what about someone else? Someone close, maybe overlooked. Someone who’s right for your character in all the ways that matter, but not necessarily the ones your character thinks are important. Maybe they catch your character on the rebound; maybe they’ve been there all along but never thought about your character in a romantic way. Maybe a casual hookup turns into something more. This week, consider your character finding, not the one they were looking for, but The One just the same. Week of 2/8/19 Bus Stop: How did your character meet their Love Interest? Blind date? Friend-of-a-friend? Co-worker? Professional matchmaker? Your world’s equivalent of a dating app? Chance meeting at a bus stop? This week, tell the story of how they met. Week of 2/15/19 Kiss The Girl: or guy, or nonbinary person; whoever or whatever it is that your character is falling for (and, we hope, is falling for them as well) this is it. The Kiss. The Moment you’ve been waiting to write. So write it! Make it the end after a slow burn, or start with the Kiss and move forward. Week of 2/22/19 Storybook Love: After it all, the meeting, the spark, and the kiss, how does the story go? What happens after? Or during? How does your character’s love become part of the rest of their story? Maybe their love is the whole story, the prime mover of the plot, but what else happens around them? How does their relationship affect the other characters and the larger story of their lives? Write some of the book around their storybook love Week of 3/1/19 When I’m Sixty-Four: What happens when the infatuation wears off? When the rush of novelty and discovery fades? What do your characters still love about each other? Why do they choose to stay together? It is a choice, after all, and they could decide otherwise. Perhaps they do. That’s a story, too. Week of 3/8/19 Forbidden Fruit: Something forbidden is often that much more desirable, a focus of obsession. What is something your character can’t have? Not something they’re not likely to get. Something they could have, or an activity they could engage in, but chose not to. What is it and why must they avoid it? What are the consequences if they indulge? Are they physical, social, or something else? Do they think about the forbidden thing constantly, desiring it even though they know they shouldn’t? Do they really not care about the thing? Have they tried it and discovered it wasn’t as good, as interesting, or as exciting as they thought it would be? Was it better than they ever imagined? Week of 3/15/19 Insulting: Our characters often get into physical altercations, but what about verbal ones? When was a well-delivered quip or challenge just right to take down an opponent? Who did they insult and why? What was the response? Your character might have disrespected an authority figure who’s so far removed as to neither know nor care–though in some societies they might care very much and deal with it harshly. Maybe your character was the one insulted. Was it deserved? How do they react? Most of all: What did they say? Week of 3/22/19 Injury: Since our characters do often get into physical altercations, what injuries have they suffered? In a cinematic world it might be limited to minor scrapes, or serious wounds that heal in no time and without a scar. More realistic stories may have more lasting repercussions. How are their injuries treated? Technology, magic, herbs and other ‘traditional’ remedies? Some of everything? How long is their recovery? How complete? Does it make a difference if they received aid right away or if it took time before they could do so? Do they avoid doctors? What are the doctors like in your world? Think about a time your character was physically hurt and the medical help they received. Week of 3/29/19 Lasting Repercussions: Every battle leaves a mark, every injury a scar. They might not be visible, due to magic or high tech medicine. They might be psychological, but no less real or damaging. They might be social: new enemies or a change in class or status. The entire world may have changed. All your character’s conflicts, verbal or physical, have repercussions. Write about one.

Week of 4/5/19 Evil Twin: A subset of mistaken identity. Suppose there was another character, related or no, who looked so much like your character that everyone assumes they are the same person? Further suppose that this doppelganger has the opposite personality of your character. What happens? Do people trust them when they shouldn’t, or get surprised when they’re generous? How much trouble do they make for your character? Does your character even know they exist? Do they figure it out? What happens? Week of 4/12/19 Idiot Helpers: your character has companions, friends, and underlings. No doubt most of them are competent, but even the most reliable companion messes up. Some of them might be constantly messing up, misinterpreting your character’s instructions, and running ridiculous (or even contradictory) side schemes of their own. How does this complicate your character’s life? How do they deal with that companion they can’t get rid of or can’t bear to part with, but who is laughably incompetent? What kind of harebrained schemes are they getting into and how do they complicate your character’s life? Week of 4/19/19 Devil Boss: Our characters aren’t always independent. Sometime they have to take orders. And sometimes those orders, the one giving them, or both, are impossible. How does your character deal with a ridiculous situation? One they maybe aren’t meant to survive, complete, or would have to be insane to attempt? Suppose the orders they get are incompatible or in direct opposition. Maybe the orders aren’t so bad but their boss is just a pain to deal with. This week, imagine your character dealing with their boss, or at least someone around whom they should tread carefully, but who isn’t at all obliged to do the same. Week of 4/26/19 Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: Think Han Solo turning the corner into the stormtrooper barracks. When has your character done something that made the situation worse? Tried to roll with the situation, but ended up in hotter water instead? Stuck with the original plan even when events changed so as to render it useless? Maybe things didn’t get worse, but definitely didn’t improve at all and now there’s a different crisis. Write about an idea that seemed like a good one at the time, but turned out less so. Week of 5/3/19 Compromise: insisting on having everything their way all the time is a sure way for your character to lose friends and alienate allies. When have they had to compromise? Accept less than everything in order to get some of it? Negotiate a deal where everyone wins and no one really loses? It could be any kind of situation–from sharing a meal to deciding how to run a government. There’s bound to be some things they can’t bend on and others they may, and they have to negotiate similar stances with others. Write about a time your character needed to compromise and did, or didn’t, and what happened. Week of 5/10/19 Going Camping! Camp is everywhere this week. In its broadest definition, Camp is something so over-the-top, in poor taste, or ostentatiously awful it’s enjoyed as ridiculous or ironic. Ideally both at the same time. To say camp has no standards is to misunderstand its true nature: it’s not mainstream, doesn’t want to be, and is quite happy as it is thank you very much. This week’s challenge is to incorporate camp in your writing. Introduce (or bring back) a campy character. Include a campy setting. Tell a campy story. Write something campy! Week of 5/17/19 What is your Quest: A staple of video games and stories alike. In the most epic versions your character must retrieve/destroy an incredible artefact, thus demonstrating their worth and saving the world. A more mundane quest might be to get herbs from the neighbor’s garden…who happens to be a witch. Perhaps enough pig livers to make a pie…strangely, not every pig has a liver. This week, send your character on a quest. What are they doing and how will they get there? A quest can be an entire book or only one small part. Likewise, your story could detail the full quest, beginning to end, or one small but significant event during it. Week of 5/24/19 Under My Skin: Something latches on to your character and won’t let go. What is it? An idea they can’t stop thinking about? An offhand comment by another they keep mulling over? A slight, real or imagined, that wont quit ruining their day? A person who fascinates them–or drives them crazy? A literal parasite they picked up and really ought to have looked at? Week of 5/31/19 Games: Cards? Dice? Board? Ball? Video? Games of chance, games of skill, physical games as individuals or teams. Quiet pastime games, crowd-entertainment spectacles. Coliseums, pitches, dining room tables. Games for all ages, games for children, games for adults. Sentient species everywhere play all kinds of games and for various reasons. There could be no lasting repercussions, or it could be deadly. This week, make a game or its outcome important in your story. Happy 7th Birthday SFC!!!!!! Week of 6/7/19 Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: Our characters lead dangerous lives. They’re sent on missions they’re not expected to survive. They’re gone for long periods of time and no one hears from them. They may have alternate identities or roles they don’t want to (or can’t) let loved ones know about. Sometimes reporting agencies get events wrong. Sometimes people make assumptions. Comic books aren’t the only places where death isn’t necessarily permanent. Write about a time when your character was declared dead but wasn’t and the complications that ensued, or when a close associate (enemy? !!) comes back to life after everyone believed they were gone for good. Week of 6/14/19 You’re My Only Hope: It is your character’s most desperate hour. They (and possibly their friends or organization) need help. The kind of help they can only get from one person, and they’re not at all certain they’ll get it. How do they convince the person to aid them? What kind of help is it? Why do they need it and why is this other person so special? What happens if your character fails to recruit them? Is their help really that crucial? Do they end up a liability afterward? Week of 6/21/19 Bodies: Everybody has a body, your character included. How do they take care of themselves? Are there features they like and ones they don’t? Things they change regularly? Others they accept as permanent? Do they make allowances for their own unique issues and inform others of their requirements? Do they try to hide what they see as imperfections? Compensate for a lack, reasonable or otherwise? What about upgrades or other alterations? A cyborg might replace parts for any number of reasons. In a magical or biologically advanced setting they might regenerate, regrow, or augment what occurs naturally. Alternately, they might be stuck with what they were born with, good and bad alike. This week, give some thought to how your character relates to their physical form. Week of 6/28/19 Vulnerable: Our characters aren’t always in charge of everything. Everyone has weak spots. Everyone gets In difficult situations. Consider a time when your character was vulnerable in some way. Physically– maybe they’re a prisoner. Emotionally–a loved one or dear friend took advantage of them. Spiritually–they discovered the universe doesn’t really work the way they were taught. Even the least introspective character has vulnerabilities. Peek through a gap in your character’s armor and find a story. Week of 7/5/19 Liability: A disadvantage or debt: a liability is something your character is responsible for, or something that holds them back. It could be a literal, monetary debt. It might be something they inherited but don’t want. Perhaps another character, who really ought not to be in that situation. Maybe your character is the liability, endangering the mission because of inexpertise or some other qually. How does everyone deal with it? Week of 7/12/19 Craving: Sometimes, you just gotta have it. What is “it”? We often think of craving in relation to food, but it can be anything: intoxicants, attention, validation, touch, or affection. Nearly anything can be desired intensely as to be craved. Write about a time your character craved something, how they went about getting it, and what happened after. Why was it so important, anyway? Week of 7/19/19 Forced Arrangements: A marriage, an assigned partnership, dormmates, weekend conference roomies, seatmates for a long trip or event, even a blind date. Sometimes your character has to deal with another, with little say in the matter. How serious is the situation? How long does it last? How does your character handle it? What happens afterward? Do they part as friends and keep in touch or never speak again? If permanent, how do they make it work? Week of 7/26/19 A Favor: Your character needs help, and someone owes them a favor. Perhaps your character is the one who owes a favor. These are social obligations with no clear monetary value, yet we seem to know instinctively when a request is reasonable. Even when it’s not, we may find ourselves honoring it. In some circles, a favor maybe more codified and ritualized. Yet while money may be involved, it’s never the real debt. Do your character a favor and write about them cashing in or fulfilling a social debt this week. Week of 8/2/19 Dear Diary: A diary, a journal, a personal log. Whether it’s a way of summarizing the day, a method for working through problems, or an aid to memory, people and characters find writing in a diary to be a helpful tool. What about your character? Do they keep a diary? What do they write about? Perhaps they find one belonging to a relative, a lover, a mentor, or even a stranger. Do they read it or return it? Week of 8/9/19 Dear John: before breaking up via text was a thing there was the “Dear John” letter. Has your character written one? Received one? Breakups are never easy. The letter (or text) means one person doesn’t have to face the raw emotions (and possibly violence) of the other. So what would your character write, or what did their letter say? Week of 8/16/19 Dear Mum and Dad: letters from camp: It’s summer in the northern hemisphere, time for Vacations and Summer Camp. Does your character send their children to camp? Did they go as a child? What about boot camp, or postcards from a trip to a distant locale? Who do they write to and what do they say? Do friends or relatives send messages to your character from their vacations? Business trips? Write some camp letters or postcards this week. Week of 8/23/19 Dear Editor: Prior to comment sections, there were Letters to the Editor, where newspaper or magazine readers made their opinions known, and sometimes were published. Has your character ever spoken their mind in this official way? What was the occasion? Do they troll everyone on every message board they can find? Disagree politely? Usually ignore it all but this..this cannot stand. Let your character rant in public this week. Week of 8/30/19 Dearest Love: In worlds where instant communication is the norm, there’s still something special about a love letter. Where letter-writing is the only kind of long-distance messaging they’re even more treasured. Simultaneously raw and full of heartfelt emotion and meticulously edited. Every word considered and weighed. They embody the uniqueness of love. Who might your character write a love letter to? Have they ever received one? What did it say? Were the feelings reciprocated? Week of 9/6/19 Playing for Keeps: A phrase originally from the game of marbles, if you played for funsies you went home with all the marbles you brought. When playing for keeps, you kept yours plus any you knocked out of the circle, even if they were your opponent’s favorites. You might even target those on purpose. Playing for keeps suggests a risk and a chance for genuine loss from which there is no recovery. An outcome which your character does not have full control over, and will likely change things for them. This time, someone loses. Things will not be the same in the aftermath. There’s no chance for de-escalation. This week, your character is Playing for Keeps. Week of 9/13/19 Adventure Time!: Adventuring isn’t a typical career. Most people stay at home with ordinary jobs, taking care of the farm figuratively or literally. What was it that changed your character’s course? Were they always adventurous? The first one climbing the rock or jumping in the pool since toddlerhood? Were they pushed into it by circumstance or a timely visit by a wizard? Gradually funneled into an adventurous life one decision at a time until they hardly recognize their lives? Explore your character’s first step off the ordinary path for the one less taken. What was your character’s very first adventure? Week of 9/20/19 Sole Survivor: Sometimes it’s a mission gone bad. Only one of the team made it back. Maybe no one was expected to return, but one did. Maybe it was a game, and they were the last one standing when everyone else got eliminated. If it wasn’t your character, perhaps it is a close associate or even a new contact. This week, consider a character who survived a situation when no one else did. How did they get there? Where do they go afterward? How do they deal with it? Has it happened before? Is the character considered Bad Luck personified? Are they Good Luck–guaranteed to win? Write about your character being the sole survivor, or encountering one. Week of 9/27/19 Hypocrisy: We’ve covered lying before but this time it’s a special kind of lie: putting up a virtuous front for public accolade while not actually believing in those virtues or actively violating them in private. Nearly every character (and person) engages in some hypocrisy, overlapping with those insidious little white lies told to keep the peace. Have they ever encountered some whoppers? In themselves or others? What did they do? What could they do? Who was involved? What was the outcome? Did anything change? If your character, they might be in for some soul searching assuming they want to atone. They might just as easily fight the one who uncovered them. Write about your character encountering blatant hypocrisy. Week of 10/4/19 Happy Place: When your character’s feeling down, frightened, or overwhelmed, where do they go? What’s their “happy place”? Is it a literal, physical location? An actual place they visit that never fails to ground them? Is it an object that brings soothing memories with it? A story, a book, or a piece of music? An activity that helps them refocus? Is their happy place a lie? A bar where they can drink away their feelings, a painful memory that crowds out the new one, a story, song, or activity that distracts but offers no real solace? This week, write about your character’s happy place. Week of 10/11/19 Inappropriate Attire: When has your character arrived for an event in the wrong clothing? Why? Was it a social gaffe? Did they interpret “fancy dress” as a formal affair when what was intended was a costume party? Were they told it was casual but not, apparently, that casual? Maybe they prepared for the wrong conditions–it’s never this hot (or cold!) this time of year! Those shoes seemed like a good idea at the outset but now, not so much. Who would have thought they’d need a high-visibility vest? Or that going armed and armored was such a faux pas? This week write about your character being completely inappropriately attired for the occasion and what happened after. Week of 10/18/19 Message in a Bottle: Has your character ever received a message from a stranger? Was it spam, and they decided to mess with the sender? Was it a misdirected communication, meant for someone else? Was it a blind message, sent without knowing who might receive it? What did it say? Maybe your character sent such a message. Did they hope for help? Were they seeking a random connection with someone else curious enough to answer? Open the bottle and write about the message inside. Week of 10/25/19 Lost!: Really, really lost. So far off course that they don’t know where the course is, let alone how to get back on it. The compass is gone or broken. The sun or stars are hidden behind the clouds. The radio dead or not receiving signal. How did your character get into this situation? Is is real–as in they are physically lost? Is it metaphorical–they’re in a completely unfamiliar situation with no idea how to get out of it. Most importantly: how are they getting home? Week of 11/1/19 A Matter of Life and Death: This week the stakes are high. Your character has to intercede or maybe they’re the one in the situation. It’s a matter of life and death. Whose? Why? How did the situation get this serious? Is there any way out? Is it really a Matter of Life and Death or did someone use the distress beacon to order pizza? Week of 11/8/19 Wrong side of the Bed: Every character can have an incident that ruins an otherwise decent day. As an author, that’s fun to write. What about those times when they just wake up in a bad mood? No reason, no inciting incident, They’re annoyed from the get-go. Those are usually the days that go from bad to worse. Does someone try to get them out of their funk? Are they usually bright and sunny and this is a noticeable change in disposition? Maybe it’s only a matter of degree and their companions are walking on thinner eggshells. This week, write about a time when your character got up on the wrong side of the bed and what the rest of their day was like. Week of 11/15/19 Love Language/Showing Affection: Every person, every character, has their own way of showing affection. There are culturally sanctioned ways, which often differ by gender and class. Everyone’s different, though, and how they show affection is often how they perceive their standing in another’s eyes. Write this week about your character showing affection in their own way, or recognizing another’s unique love language. Week of 11/22/19 Beauty: In the eye of the beholder and only skin deep? Or is there in truth no beauty? It’s more common to make our characters physically attractive than not, but modern human (and especially Western) standards are not universal. How does this play in their unique cultures? What does your character consider beautiful? Does it align with their society? What does beauty mean to them in the context of their story? Do they see themselves as beautiful? What would they do to become so, or more so, or do they care? Week of 11/29/19 Masks and True Faces: Some of our characters wear physical masks. Why? Do they protect their body against harm, their identity against retaliation, or hide something they are ashamed of? Some eschew protection and flaunt their identity, their face, their safety. Other characters take on new personalities and identities depending on who they’re with or the job they need to do. Not a physical mask, but protection just the same. Write about the masks your character wears and to whom, if anyone, they show their true face and self. Week of 12/6/19 Infodump: Writers often need to give the reader information. A lot of it. A backstory, a history, a strange device, a motivation. You need a character to monologue. This week’s challenge is to create a scene around explaining something important about your character, their world, or their current situation. Infodumps don’t have to be boring! They can be funny, ridiculous, serious, or even deadpan, all while still being interesting. Your infodump doesn’t even have to match the tone of the rest of your story. This week: tell, don’t show. Week of 12/13/19 Sweater Weather: It’s winter here in the northern hemisphere. Definitely time to break out the jackets, scarves, and long sleeves if you haven’t already. What does your character think of cold weather? Are they the ones wearing shorts in the snow, or are they always cold even wrapped in blankets? Do they come from a place with an actual winter, but now live elsewhere with different traditions or no seasons at all? Are they accustomed to an unchanging climate and the seasons always throw them off? What is this “winter” you speak of? Wait, there’s something besides cold? Of course, sweater weather also suggests cuddling, cups of hot chocolate, tea, cider, or even soup. Be romantic, dystopian, or anywhere in between this week. Week of 12/20/19 Festive Food: Few human holidays are celebrated without food. Special cakes or cookies, the bread that only comes out for the holiday, roasts, stews, vegetarian, carnivore, and everything in between. Some of the special foods are cultural: everyone all around you is making the same things because of course everyone makes them. Sometimes it’s a special thing in your family alone: Grandma’s holiday bread, Dad’s special cookies, Auntie’s secret-recipe casserole. Sometimes the special thing is special because it is part of a culture otherwise left behind: the thing no one makes here, but does where you’re from. What special food does your character associate with holidays and why? Do they make and enjoy it and share with their friends? Who likes it and who hates it? Does your character hate it, but make it anyway because reasons? Week of 12/27/19 Second Chances: Everyone screws up. Who gets a second chance? Under what circumstances will your character give another a second chance? Honest mistake? Unforeseen circumstances? Deliberate sabotage? Will some characters (main or otherwise) allow anyone a second chance? No one? Nobody is owed a second chance; no one can earn it. They don’t have to be forgiven for the initial wrong. Give someone in your character’s story a second chance this week. Or don’t. That’s a story too. Week of 1/3/20 New Year, New You: Make a new character, or write for a character you haven’t before. It can be a completely new OC, a new character in your game or story, or an established character in a property you like but never wrote them before. Write anything from a short scene to a complete fic or story. Week of 1/10/20 Face Your Fears: Write the kind of scene you find most difficult. Falling in love? Action? Smut? Exposition? Description and scene-setting? High emotions? Every writer has something they find hard to write. It’s only human to avoid including it. But at some point your story will need that kind of scene. Face your fear now. Week of 1/17/20 Travel Without A Map: This one is easy for those habitual pantsers out there. Write a scene or a whole piece without having any (or as little as possible) preconceived idea of where it’s going. Let your characters tell the story they want to tell. They might surprise you! Write the whole thing, beginning to end. Don’t go back and change things! Not even typos! Or try not to fix typos–that’s hard. The goal this week is a word-vomit, totally unplanned draft that nevertheless is complete of itself. Travel without a map or GPS, but do make it home at the end. Week of 1/24/20 Self Care: Write the kind of scene you need to write or read. Not necessarily the next one to finish your fic. The kind you need to write: fluffy happiness, cathartic violence, something silly, something deep and philosophical, something satirical and full of sharp cutting edges. This is for no one but you. There’s no obligation to share it with anyone, even SFWC. And if you prefer, take the week off and write nothing. Recharge. You have permission. Take care of yourself this week, however that looks to you. Week of 1/31/20 Complete Something: Remember that word-vomit first draft from a couple weeks ago? Edit it to completeness. Alternately, pick something from your WIP pile and finish it, whether it’s the first draft or final, ready-to-be-posted version. Choose a work that’s not done, and finish it. Move it from the inbox to the outbox. There are few things that feel as nice as finally finishing something. Wrap up the Month of Meta with that feeling of accomplishment. Week of 2/7/20 Right Person, Wrong Time: When has your character met another who could be a perfect fit…but not now? It might be a soulmate, a mentor, a social connection, or a patron. But your character isn’t ready for their help, guidance, friendship, or love yet. Maybe your character is, but the person they meet is the one at the wrong time. Why are “the stars wrong”? Does the relationship require a personal change on someone’s part, or are there social or cultural forces in play? Do they ever figure it out? Or do they remain out of sync for the whole story? Week of 2/14/20 Chocolate! It’s Valentine’s Day here in the US and everything is red, white, and shades of pink. And chocolate! Does your character’s world have a day for romantic love? Is there a food or treat associated with it? Is it like chocolate: sweet, creamy, indulgent and yet ordinary any other time? Is it actual chocolate? Who would your character give it to, or who do they hope to receive it from? What does that person mean to them? They don’t have to be lovers, after all. Or does your character ignore the whole meaning thing and use it as an excuse to stock up? All of the above? Week of 2/21/20 Found Family: Many of our characters collect a wide circle of friends and hangers-on. Do they have a closer inner circle that’s more than friends? A found family, a collection of characters that interact the way a tightly bonded family might but aren’t related? No one has to fall into stereotypical roles. There doesn’t have to be a “Mom” or “Dad,” “Kid Brother” or “Big Sister.” They don’t always get along, but they always support and care for each other. Write a story involving your character’s found family if they have one, or their adventure with someone who does. Week of 2/28/20 Ride or Die: Who sticks with your character for all their adventures, good or bad, boring or exciting? The one they call for a spontaneous vacation, to get them out of jail, or to help them move to a second-story walkup apartment. Hopefully their love interest (if they have one) qualifies, but Ride or Die is neither exclusive nor necessarily romantic. It doesn’t even have to be reciprocated. Write something where this relationship is front and center. The story doesn’t work unless the characters absolutely, unequivocally, have each other’s back, no matter what happens. Week of 3/6/20 Time Change: When has your character been out of sync with their surroundings? In space all planets have their own day-night cycles as well as years. Travel to a new place at light speed or more means having to adjust to a wildly different schedule upon landing. And what time does the crew keep in transit? Is there an agreed-upon standard or does every captain choose their own? Fantasy settings can still have abrupt time changes: long-distance teleports, extended sleep spells, world-altering magic. Does a place like Discworld have time zones? Maybe your character is the habitual early riser in a world or night owls, or the reverse. Week of 3/13/20 Bad Advice: What’s the worst advice your character received? Something so patently wrong they disregarded it immediately and questioned the giver’s sanity or intelligence? Something they thought was valid but proved less so in practice? Something they fervently believed in until their own repeated experiences made them change their mind? Write about your character and some colossally bad advice. Week of 3/20/20 Rock Your World: When has your character received unexpected, life-changing news? Was it good or bad? Both? Maybe they learned about an otherwise-unknown relative, received a large inheritance, or acquired a large debt. Perhaps they received medical news–positive or negative. A domestic animal showed up on their doorstep and decided it lived there. Whatever happened, their life is different from this day forward, and it isn’t their choice. What do they do? Week of 3/27/20 Forbidden Knowledge: The secret technique, a hidden history, a coded text. What does the secret technique do and why is it secret? What was your character taught, what really happened, who hid the truth and why? Is the code unbreakable or was the key lost on purpose? Is it really a code or is it actually a lost language? What does the text say? Worlds abound in knowledge that’s forbidden to to learn or at least difficult to find. Have your character search for, find out about, or discover some this week. Week of 4/3/20 Cooking: We’ve had several prompts about food, but how about its preparation? Does your character cook? Does their species prepare food at all? What counts as preparation--and how literally do they “gather” or “hunt down” ingredients? Do they like cooking but usually leave it to someone else? Are they terrible at it but clueless to that fact? Are they really quite good cooks, whether they enjoy it or not? Do they only ever prepare one certain dish? Or are they perfectly content to survive on their world’s equivalent of instant ramen, military ration packs, or cheap takeaway? Week of 4/10/20 Auto/Biography: We often write backstories for our characters with no intention of using the information directly in their adventures. But suppose someone in their world did? Who would write your character’s biography? What would your character want in it? What would they write if they did it themselves? Is your character protective of their legacy or are they willing to authorize a warts-and-all tale? Would your character exaggerate their adventures for the sake of a good tale, or downplay them as irrelevant to their later work? Do they want to be venerated as saintly and good, or feared as a tyrant no one would dare cross? Something in between? And who would read or listen to the tale? Week of 4/17/20 Won’t Get Fooled Again: Everyone’s been fooled sometime. When does your character notice a pattern? It is a similar scam, or the same person running a different one? What was it about the interaction that tipped off your character? Are they fooled, have they learned, or are they giving someone another chance? Is it worth it? Is the issue so minor that they don’t mind? Are they playing a game with a loved one or friend and fooling is the point? Is your character wrong and the exchange was on the level the whole time? Week of 4/24/20 No!: Not just no, but hell no. Absolute refusal, you can’t make me, never gonna do it. When has your character outright refused another’s request? What about orders? Demands? Did they agree and then think better of it? Did they go along and quit when they reached their limit? Did the request seem reasonable on the surface but turn out less so? Was it just awful from the get-go? Did they say no just for spite? What were the consequences for refusal? Week of 5/1/20 Relying on Technology: Regardless of setting, our characters rely on technological innovations. In a fantasy setting, those might be cunning spellwork or finely-crafted weapons. The far future could have memory-dubbing and cybernetics. In any setting, food production, travel, and medicine often employ technology we barely acknowledge. What technology in your character’s world do they absolutely rely on? What can they not get along without? Do they even realize how much they need it? What happens when something goes wrong in the way it functions? What if it breaks and can’t be repaired, or at least not easily or quickly? How much trouble do they have when the things they expect to work just...don't? Week of 5/8/20 Ever Your Servant: Who serves your character? Not their friend, lover, or companion, characters or NPCs intended as equals, but someone of lower social station. Someone who’s hired for their skills and paid for their work. A butler (hello, Alfred), a maid, the barista at their favorite coffeeshop. Perhaps a slave in societies that allow it or a droid or a golem in those that don’t. This week write a story concerning your character and another who serves them. Week of 5/15/20 Because I Can: When has your character done something just because? Was it a harmless act done on a whim? A luxury or trip they can finally afford? A crime they knew would go unpunished? A cruel act enabled by power? A heroic one, likewise enabled by power, lack of oversight, or cleverness? Something small that makes them happy? This week, write your character doing something just because they can. Week of 5/22/20 Bored: Everyone gets bored. Some more easily than others. When has your character been bored? They could be snowbound at home, waiting for an appointment, or a passenger in a vehicle with nothing to do. Perhaps it’s boredom spiked with danger. They’ve sent their distress signal and there’s nothing to do but wait. How do they keep themselves occupied? Do they bother? Can they easily escape their situation but choose not to? Write about your character dealing with boredom. Week of 5/29/20 Welcome Back/Welcome Home: Some people have fond memories of your character. Parents, old friends, or mentors. Others, perhaps, not so much: exes, enemies, people they've wronged. What kind of welcome does your character get when visiting them again? Is it what they expect or very different? Happy 8th Birthday SFC!!!!!!! Week of 6/5/20 Putting Up a Front: A character might feign bravery to convince themselves or inspire others. They might pretend a breakup doesn’t hurt. Putting up a front is performative; hiding vulnerability behind a mask a person hopes improves or maintains their status. Suppressing emotions comes naturally to some characters, less so for others. When--if ever--has your character put up a front and why did they do so? Week of 6/12/20 Do I Have To?: There are bound to be tasks your character needs to complete that they’d really rather not do. It could be anything from routine chores to some major (or expensive) repairs to their ship, home, or estate. It might be putting up with ridiculous demands from a boss or overlord. It could be something that goes against their moral code--wherever their personal moral compass points--that they nevertheless feel they have to do. It might be something they personally find unpleasant and no one else understands why. Maybe it’s something they’ve been putting off, or something they’ve only just been assigned. This week, write a story where your character asks, literally or figuratively, do I have to? Week of 6/19/20 Like a Child--No Inhibitions: We had the prompt Like No One’s Watching for your character indulging in some activity they liked but were embarrassed to engage in. This time, let them shed those inhibitions. Children do the things they love and don’t care who knows about it. Be it singing on the bus, wearing colors or patterns that “adults know” don’t match, eating the whole slice of cake because it tastes great, or making stories in their favorite make-believe world. This week, write a story where your character is going to have fun regardless of other’s opinions, or a time when they remembered being so free.

[imaginedcreaderinsert]

Reader and her boyfriend get into an argument at the tower and he hits her? Dick is furious because he’s in love with her but the reader is just embarrassed?

Thanks for the request and I’m so sorry it took so long! But alas, here it is. I really wanted to write this one, as well as some other I have pending, but I just couldn’t find the words. I’m not 100% satisfied with this one (there’s no lemoney or anything unu), but I think I made my point across towards the important thing of this relationship. Don’t stay in one where physical abuse is condoned!

SUMMARY: As stated by ask, thought I think I took some liberties, Reader has been a Vigilante for some time in California, all on her own. The Titans arrive, and both join forces: Dick and Reader click specially well together, but to his demise, she is already in a relationship. A happy one? He cannot really say, specially when the red flags start to arise and a surprising discovery comes up.

WORD COUNT: 4780

TW: Swearing and past mentions of physical abuse in a relationship. It’s not hardcore, as always I try to make it somewhat vague, but I thought I should let my readers know. Oh, and warning, I THINK, Dick in this one is somewhat OOC. I think it might be due to my lack of sleep, but just beware.

Please don’t give it up — Dick Grayson x Reader

They all dealt with their own human affairs in the best fashion that they knew. The secret identities were given; it was something that no one was supposed to share unless absolutely necessary (which hadn’t been the case yet), and thus the exertion of powers was forbidden (unless, again, of absolute necessity). No one got into no one’s business, and as hard as it was becoming, Dick himself made that rule after having Kori meddled into his own private relationships. So now he couldn’t come between (Y/N) and his stupid human boyfriend, as much as he wanted to. It was stupid anyways – as much people liked him in, he was definitively not supposed to be there.

           But he should start from the beginning. (Y/N) had joined the group a little after the Titans had settled themselves down on the Tower. She had already been a Vigilante in San Francisco; thus “they” were the ones entering her territory. She worked the city alone, and as such received the help without resentment or suspicions. After all, all she wanted to do was keep safe as much as anyone else. It was her home after all. As a lonely vigilante (Y/N) tended to go on her own, and maybe that’s why she had such a crazy magnetism to Dick. She never spoke too much of anything unless questioned, she was intelligent and clearly knew everything she talked about. In that sense she was a bit like Tim: definitely not the star or talker of the room, but the most intelligent by far. She had started to join forces with the Titans before her official joining months before their first crisis on the city: massive bombings, attacks on civilian areas. It was pure terror, specially in the famous Golden Gate Bridge (who would have said they would be JUST like those superheroes in movies?). That was, if Dick remembers correctly, the first time he saved (Y/N)’s boyfriend. Now he wishes he would have just let his car sunk in the bottom of the ocean.

           The crisis had made them both coordinate; she had taken care of a certain area of the city all by herself (she had been backed up after with the help of the Titans, reluctantly he must said), while his group and some more had taken care of the other. They had been a good team, good leaders. (Y/N) accepted her place within them, as one more but always above everyone else. Dick and everyone else thought something would flourish between them that same night, when they got tipsy and drunk celebrating the latest addition: they had been a bit touchy, jabbing each other with witty jokes and comebacks, until… She had just excused herself, saying she had to go back to her own apartment. He perfectly remembers the conversation and the silence following it:

           “You know the Tower is just your home as much as-“

           “Yeah, no, absolutely. You’re the sweetest. Seriously, I just have to go check on somebody after the crazy day. And I should definitively feed my dog.”

           “Oh yeah? I had one too back in Gotham. Well, half. Ace was never really mine.”

           “Really? I’m sure he misses you. I would.” And yes, she must have been flirting; the rest of the Titans had given them space, moving towards the windows while they appeared to be exiting. Her small and hot hand had paused on his chest, maybe just trying to keep stable. “Byron is always like crazy when I get home. I really hope Daryl has taken him today to the vet, though. Ugh, who knows, he told me-“

           “I’m assuming Byron is your dog and Daryl your br-?”

           “Boyfriend, yeah. We’ve been now some time.”

           At that point they had been at the elevator, she almost in and him in a “suave” manner leaning into the iron of the doors so that the conversation could go in a little bit more. But he almost stumbled into it as soon as she said that: and everyone else could, seeing as there was a bit of a silence and after some not-so-glamorous half-laughing half-choking sounds from Wally.

           And that had been one of their last nights alone. At least for some time, seeing as Dick thought it would be just a momentary infatuation, a bit of a crush. Something temporary based solely on lust, seeing as he knew little to nothing on her. She was secretive still, quiet, as commandeering as she could be at times. She was an enigma that Dick liked to detangle and know more than he would admit to himself. It had taken months for him to finally acknowledge that what he felt was definitively something more meaningful that a simple crush or shallow sexual desire.

           That’s when he knew he was fucked.

           …

           “Oh, no, no, he is currently working at the San Francisco Chronicle. Yeah, he’s a photographer. Would you mind if maybe we… Posed sometime for him? Or gave him something exclusive? I mean, I would do it myself but he knows me too well. He would know it’s me.” Dick, Wally and her had been sparring for a bit. More concretely, she and Wally had been. He was correcting both of them from aside, seeing as it had become increasingly difficult to talk without actually falling for her. Wally honestly felt bad for him.

           “What do you mean? Haven’t you-? Does he know?”. Wally was probably the only one with a stable healthy relationship. Linda knew. They were perfect. Everyone knew they would get married, and that’s why Dick had backed off, thinking that was the case for (Y/N) and the nameless perfect boyfriend he had pictures in his own mind.

           “No! No, fuck, no. Daryl is… Difficult, to say the least. He thinks I’m working at some crappy editorial. He’s a bit protective. And a bit of an asshole.” It sounds slightly bitter, added in the last second, improvised. Like she didn’t mean to say it. Her eyes cross his, and she quickly averts it, going back to Wally’s. “We’ve been together for years, but it’s not the type of thing I would tell him”

           “Yes, I know. It’s the type of thing you tell to a stupid bunch of teenage kids with delirious dreams of sweet greatness and-OUCH. That hurts!”

           “Keep your head on the game, West.”

           He gains hope. That small breach he has caught you on, after some months half-ignoring you half putting distance between you both, he thinks he may be able to fill. He can be the glue. He will try, as douchey as it can sound.

           …

           “You are insufferable, Dick Grayson!”. She shouts, as they enter the kitchen. She is using a small towel to take off the sweat from her forehead. Wally had been more of a tutorial in comparison with Dick’s force. He had full on challenged her. “So smug, fuck… And now I have to go back home like this. I hate you.”

           “Can’t help it. You like to be riled up”. He is bold. Wally chokes on his water, and quickly excuses himself, probably knowing which way he was trying to take things to. And he definitively was not good at hiding emotions.

           “Oh, come on, like you don’t like to be defied and challenged. You have a huge masochistic streak, Grayson”.

           YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW, he screams inside his own head, smiling just a bit, in that way that makes her roll her eyes off. Even if she claims some kind of rush when saying she has to go, he can see she doesn’t want to. Her arms rest on the kitchen counter, cool marble that has her face in pure bliss, and her legs, he imagines, are jelly. She should just-

           “Why don’t you take a shower at the Tower stay? Or… At the very least I can call you a taxi.”

           “I don’t have clothes here, and it’s fine. I’m not spending much time at home anyways; I think it will be good…” There’s a small silence, where he thinks he might have fucked it up. Did it sound too forward? Could he ask how things were with the famous boyfriend? No, that was probably too petty, too jealous-“… But I won’t say no to the taxi. Just today, though.”

           “Sure. Let me call it up.”

           …

           That brings the problems.

           “I’m sorry, I will be back in a second. It’s urgent.” They were in the middle of a debriefing. Patrols for the week, which she takes more seriously than anyone – but the mobile had started vibrating like crazy, even she had it on silence. Apparently, that one contact was special and overruled every control and silent tone. Dick could only imagine who it was. “Just continue.”

           She takes it up, and her voice changes immediately: sweet, cheerful, giggly. Even as he continues talking, Dick can hear her feet on their way to the lounge, as far as possible. Is it that private? He can’t get distracted as he is giving out missions, but her tone makes all of them stop, stare at the door where (Y/N) is elevating her voice. Dick shushes the Titans up like a bunch of kids with the latest gossip and orders them to stay, as he gets out of the room towards her.

           “No! What the fuck is your problem, D.?”. Ouch. She had been using the same name with him in their latest sparring session. That fucking hurts. “No! Of course I’m not, how-! No, oh my God, if I have to repeat myself one more time, Daryl! I’m not cheating on you!”

           There’s a deafening silence, a small dance of victory in his own head. He knows he should be taking it more seriously (they might break up and he knows she loves him), but he can’t help but take this small point from Daryl’s ghostly presence whenever they talk and he gets brought up.

           “A friend, Daryl. He got me the taxi because I was tired, I had been at the gym, I told you! Fuck, you never listen to me. And after that I even had to take Byron out, even when you promised-“. She gets cut off, again. It’s annoying really, and she sighs, loudly and exasperatedly. “Listen, if you are just going to shout like a fucking caveman be my guest, but I’m not listening to anymore of this bullshit”.

           “(Y/N)!”. He shouts so loud from the phone he can even hear it. Then she hangs up and lets herself drop on the sofas. She looks tired; his smug and hopeful detective abilities tell him, shout him, it’s because this is not the first time you’ve had that conversation, at that level of heat or shouts. Has his name been brought up at any point? He feels really like a small kid, wishing for little and petty things like that towards her.

           “Eavesdropping is not very nice, Grayson. Care to come in or are you going to make me stand up?”. She asks, sarcastic as ever and inviting him to sit in the place next to her, patting the velvet slowly of the furniture. “Just come in. And don’t say anything. Just hug me.”

           He complies.

           …

           They have been flirting a bit more this time. (Y/N) is not sleeping there anymore, and from what Dick knows, they talk everyday for a couple of minutes, in an almost muttering tone, sometimes with too many silences and too many breaks on both behalves He wishes he could feel bad for her, she is suffering a bit after all, but every time they laugh together and she punches his arm, jokingly, he thinks he makes her forget about it.

           Until that happens.

           It’s a shooting in one of the top-rated working areas of San Francisco, where a lot of offices are conglomerated together. It is a panic. The fact that they have to deal with human weapons, rather than with some random and new alien race, makes it easier to control, but nonetheless it’s hard to see the blood, get in the midst of the terrorists. Especially when they get into the Chronicle’s tower where (Y/N)’s boyfriend is working at that same morning. None of them had truly made bonds with the city or its inhabitants, but she has been raised there. It’s her home. Without thinking, not too much, she gets midst of the flames, with all the smoke and possibility of collapse when Daryl tells her that he is still inside, trapped with some colleagues. There’s no time to do anything other than follow her; Wally helps, but he is the only one save (Y/N) and Dick to enter the building, save the civilians left inside and… Fuck, her boyfriend who immediately recognizes her. It was not too difficult, to be honest, especially when they know each other so well and with half a mask broken (bullets, fire, desperate attempts to get there as fast as possible).

           It’s a week after that and no one knows a thing about them. (Y/N) has completely disappeared from the tower, and save the occasional “I’m okay” texts he sends to Dick, just so that he can sleep, no one knows what’s going on… Until she appears in front of the doors of the Tower with him by her side. It sickens Dick to the pit of his stomach.

           …

           They are mostly staying there. He goes back for Byron, for work, for meeting some friends, but he waltzes around the Tower like he is one of them, when he isn’t. When he voices his concerns, he is met with protests and mumbles of him being too grumpy, too attached to the rules. He is not! But it is supposed to be top secrecy, and there they have a civilian who is… Too touchy for his own like. For anyone’s, really. Dick is not comfortable at his own home and that (Y/N) starts to notice. They still spar, talk until late, but it weird to have Daryl always gazing directly at him: he is sure, he knows. But he never says a thing, and thus it is… Okay. Until it stops being and the red flags appear. The incredible rage within Dick Grayson wakens.

           “You are just so controlling! All the time!”. She shouts. There’s no one else at that hour in the tower. It’s way too early, and his early-birds are already on patrol outside. “You don’t-can’t control me! Okay?! This was MY thing even before you knew about it! Nothing has ever happened to me, fuck, and if it were to happen-“

           “You are a woman, (Y/N). Biology-“

           “Oh my God. If you are going there Daryl Lane-“

           “But it is true! It’s just-!”

           “No, shut up or I’m going to punch you, I swear on everything!”

           Things are silent after that, but there’s an obvious tension on the room until he decides to leave, in a rush. Dick hides in the shadows, at a corner, hoping he won’t see in time, but he is too blinded by rage. He turns around, hoping maybe she will come to him. But he doesn’t know (Y/N) at all. She won’t come, specially not on a subject like that. And as he expects, he gets alone on the elevator before disappearing from their sight. He is tempted to go by her side, but she needs space. And more than anything, he doesn’t want to get accused of being a stalker.

           …

           Daryl stops coming. Fall passes, and winter comes in: thus the appropriate parties, alcohol, and inevitable encounters are to happen. Their final one is the night before Christmas Eve. They are celebrating, as usual, some white Christmas with a wave crime that has almost disappeared from California. They can actually take time for themselves, and (Y/N) and him are closer than ever; they talk until very late, then sometimes take it to one of their bedrooms, a midnight improvised snack, or sometimes marathons of stupid black and white movies (which she loves, adores. She is going to love her gift, he knows). Everyone knows they are crushing on each other hard; one would think that her boyfriend would be still an obstacle, but they are not talking anymore. She went to see him once, and that has been it since; after, she has just perfectly fitted into the Titans, like a second family. And of course, she has brought Byron with her… Who is the first that knows someone has entered the Tower.

           “B.?” She asks, confused as the dog runs from the table where they are all clinking their glasses. Dick doesn’t notice, hasn’t been paying attention to security these days, and that might have been his fault. It wasn’t supposed to happen. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

           The tone makes everyone turn around – and there he is, Daryl in the flesh, slightly drunk and freezing, it appears. He looks embarrassed, but confident at the same time. It’s strange. She gets up, in all her elegance, and grips Dick’s shoulder before going to him. She mutters, almost only to him: “Don’t come”. The rest will understand, but he knows she considers him the closest one. The only one who could actually come and intervene, if he wanted to. They are close friends, after all.

           “I’ll be back in a sec. Stay here”. He says, after a couple of seconds, getting up and coming onto them, the closest room where they have entered to talk in private. The door is slightly opened.

           What he sees shocks him. From his position, she is giving Dick her back, thus letting him see the tense and anxious lines of her shoulders and neck: almost scared, fearing the encounter. Her legs are in a battling position, even when he is not doing anything, just talking-

           “I’m sorry, you have to believe it. I didn’t mean to-I would never-you know I’m not the type. I didn’t mean to shut you. Slap you.”

           Out of everything, he did not expect that. If anything, he sounds honest, but his own blood is boiling and there’s nothing that can stop that for the moment. It is her business to deal with… But still, they had grown closer, she could have told him.

           “I don’t know what the fuck you are doing here, but you should go. You have no right over me, over anyone, woman or man, to put your hand on them like that. You are a piece of trash, Daryl.”

           “I know, I-“

           “No, you are scum, I-I don’t really know what you expected. That you would come here, sit with us for dinner and after-what? Go home, have sex and everything okay?”

           “(Y/N), I-“

           “No, fuck off! I have been hiding so much for your sake, so that you wouldn’t feel like less! I feared your reaction about my other life a lot, Daryl. I felt s bad because I know how much you hated lies, how you felt about it, and I loved you. I loved you so much, but you are just a piece of shit, trying to put me in your small traditional box! I am not going to do your dishes, clothes or work! I am not your sweet little girl for you to care and patronize-“

           “What, so you are his?! You are such a hypocrite, (Y/N).And the worst kind, a bitch. You are for his use alone or what? You never let yourself be pampered like that, treat like his own little princess-“

           “Who are you talking about?!”

           “Your friend Nightwing! Fuck you, you have been having these little chats, secret meetings… Have you fucked him? Have you sucked his cock while I was here, waiting for you on bed and cheering you on?”

           “You are piece of scum, Daryl! I have not been rejecting you these last months because of him. Yes, I do like him, but I would not go behind your back like you did! Fuck you!”

           “You are such a-“. His arm moves. His hand gets higher. He knows he has to act quick, and thus opens quickly the door, shoving her behind him, directly going against him to push him brutally into the wall against his back. It cracks behind them, pictures hanging on that same wall falling to the floor. The commotion makes everyone move, to their room, worried to what might be happening. “Fuck!”

           She gets in the middle, Dick already up and prepared to get into a fight at any moment, while the other is still confused on the ground. He can feel his own raged breaths: fury, instinct taking over rationality. He is destroyed on the floor but he still wants to annihilate him. How dare he, how would he-?

           “Dick, Dick. Hey, look at me. Richard!”. He looks at her, smaller in frame, tugging at his chest in the opposite direction of the room. She is trying to separate them. “Just go, please, don’t do anything else. Shut up, please, go and-“

           She seems to be close to crying, desperate in her voice and trying to get him out, as she is making him go through the door. Her eyes won’t even reach his, and he is now desperately trying to make contact, even as she shoves him out the door, with a whimper and finally closing the studio off. He is just as confused as the rest of them, but he won’t talk.

           …

           “Can I come in?”. Dick looks surprised. Did he not hear her? She had been looming around her own room for some hours now, everyone in their respective rooms after the night had been fucked up like that. No one felt like partying or drinking anymore. Still, his door had been opened, explicitly for her. He nods, and she finally comes in, closing the door behind them. “Okay, I’m going to talk, and I really don’t expect you to understand but… Okay.”

           >> Daryl and I had a very complicated relationships for some years. His family is fucked up and he had substance abuse problems in the past. I’m not excusing him, Dick, don’t roll your eyes. I just want you to understand where he comes from, why he is the way he is. He is not a bad person. No one is… But he thinks like that. He has to be the very best man, the most masculine out of everyone and always the best. It is his problem, but I tried to make it mine and help him. It did not work and it only put me in a difficult position, you know: always trying to be less so that he could be more. That’s partly why I never shared my secret identity with him. And why Cali’s own Vigilante was born. I needed something like this for myself. I was drowning, otherwise… And then you appeared.

           She laughs in pure incredulity; her hands gets buried in her own hair, as she brushes it off and goes to his bed, where he has been laying waiting for her. She sits down, her hand resting on his leg.

           “Okay, “you” as in “The Titans” appeared. That saved my ass because… Well, California is enormous. I could definitively NOT cover it all, so you all appearing was a miracle, honestly… But you appeared, Dick. You, as in Nightwing, as in Richard Grayson and the rawest “you” possible.” She looks at the door, almost embarrassingly, laughing a bit to herself. “I had such a big crush a couple of years ago I almost didn’t believe that you were right in front of me. Or that we got on so well, apparently… I kinda wished I didn’t have to go back home a lot of times, and… That’s because I felt something for you. And that was dangerous, because I had a boyfriend but-but things didn’t click with Daryl the way they dd with you, D. Really, truly. It is such a big cliché, but you made me feel seen, heard. You made me feel special, and I got hooked onto the feeling but-but I’m not like that. And I still had a boyfriend. Fuck, hell, I thought I was only lusting for you, but then-then months came by and it was still the same. And then we talked night after night, we cuddled under blankets, we took care of each other and… And things started going bad at home. He knew I was not in love with him anymore, and who could blame him? And while I didn’t want to act on my feelings with you, he did. Physically.”

           She sighs, like it’s taking a bit out of her. She frowns, looking at her own thigs as she gets both legs on the bed. Dick has the urge to embrace her.

           “The second time you offered me a bed here I wanted to take it in so badly, Dick. I swear to God I didn’t want to back there. No one had ever hit me, and-“. She chokes. She is… Strangely embarrassed, panicked. She won’t look at him, making herself small in the bed, vulnerable. “I didn’t know what to do. I still loved him; not like before, but wanted to stay true to him, be loyal, and he hit me. He said sorry after, he had been too drunk, but I knew he wanted to. And I just didn’t know how I could stay there after that, but still I-he promised things would get better, and I believed him, Dick. And then they didn’t.”

           She confesses she trusted things to get better because they normally did. She had been hit before, but she couldn’t tell anyone; she was alone, isolated from her family. And the Titans, they would mock her! Obviously not to her own face, but someone like her being slapped by her very normal and human boyfriend?! The laughing stock. She felt embarrassed by it, not being able to stop him, the red mark on her cheek, shameful and making her weak, less.

           He felt enraged. Not at her, of course not: at Daryl for making her feel powerless like that, stupid and less of the incredible woman she was because she was being hit. No one should feel embarrassed by it, much less be silenced for it. Dick embraces her, piecing the rest together all by himself. Things had started to go well, but the taxi had made him feel insecure, and thus they had exploited at each other not much later, resulting in a second slap in a short period of time which made her put distance between them. Intelligent. But then he had come and-

           “I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have felt like that all by yourself… But I understand. It was your own struggle to deal with, and you didn’t want anyone else to know, but… There’s people here that love you, (Y/N). I love you, for starters.” He blurts it out naturally, taking both by surprise. He gets red, closing his eyes and trying to keep his cool. “I meant-What I mean is that I feel something strong, or rather strong for you. Since the start. Or something like that, fuck-I’m sorry, I didn’t want to come off so strong, but… But fuck yes, I-I do love you.”

           She climbs him. Slowly, almost torturing him in the silence of the room, sheets rustling as he moves his back up to straighten it. He is nervous, maybe as much as she is.

           They kiss. Lips trembling, fear still in he system, an intense desire to care for the other in his. It’s a long but caring kiss as he opens slightly his mouth and she enters his cavity, her tongue conquering space and his hands going for her hips, stabilizing them. He has been dreaming with that for at least three months.

           “Be my girlfriend.” And she can’t help but nod, as she kisses him up again. And again. And again, until they both are a mess of juvenile panting and squirming under the sheets.

           “Get properly into bed, I want to cuddle you.” She says, turning off the lights and getting closer to his face, climbing him up until her face can be buried in his neck. He kisses her forehead, heart beating fast but tranquil, at the same time. They have time, she loves him, and the only thing he wants now is to protect her between his arms.

           And she couldn’t feel any more secure, as she gets into bed and closes her eyes near his neck, protected and cuddled up by his strong arms on her waist.

[yukipri]

Hi. Can I ask about Sabolu/ AceLu #40

Thanks so much for sending this in! Sorry it took a while, my response is LONG ^ ^;;;

40. Describe their first time (if any).

Oooh boy, here goes

AceLu + SaboLu, in that order. 

This ended up being LONG, so this is just Part 1, Ace & Luffy -> AceLu version. I’ll make a second post with SaboLu! *SWEATS*

Mostly lead up on Learning about the Existence of Sex, as well as slight non-graphic mention of sex with the younger party age 17 at the end.

~~

Contrary to gossip among Ace’s more raunchy crew mates, there was nothing sexual going on between him and Luffy prior to Ace leaving the island. There weren’t really even any pre-pubescent growing-up episodes, or weird questions.

The reason being, neither of them had any clue what “sex” was.

Clueless Luffy aside, one might assume that Ace at least would have known. He certainly looks and acts like he does, and Luffy certainly assumed Ace Knew Things.

And of course Ace acted like he Knew Things! He’s the Big Brother after all, and he has his pride, and when tiny dumb lil Luffy stared up with his sparkly eyes, all admiration and expectation, of course Ace had to have an Answer.

And before, Sabo was there, laughing quietly when Ace turned to him in wide-eyed panic while Luffy was facing the other way. And Sabo would explain, simplified but not mocking of his brother’s ignorance, and Ace would turn around and boast about his knowledge to Luffy while Sabo snickered in the background.

So, when one day, Luffy sees a pair of frogs on top of each other, he turns his ever inquisitive eyes on Ace, and asks, “Ace, what’re they doing?”

And Ace turns to ask Sabo, and…

Sabo’s not there.

Hiding the stab of pain (which would turn into a full three hour bawling session if Luffy noticed), Ace thinks. What would Sabo say? What’s the Smart Right Answer?

“Luffy,” Ace says. “Look, the frogs started the pile for you. They’re asking to be stacked. So we should find more frogs to stack!”

Luffy accepts the explanation with glee, especially since it comes with a quest! And so the brothers spend the next hour finding additional frogs to stack on top of the first pair Luffy found, who croak indignantly at having their activity interrupted.

It continues like this, and seven years is a long time for two boys with little to no guidance to find misunderstandings to pile together, much like they piled together random animals they found in the middle of copulating (Look Ace! This morning, some boars wanted to be stacked! And look there, the bears want to be stacked too! The brothers certainly had no idea they were creating unwilling animal orgies).

When Changes began happening to their bodies, Ace makes up additional, well, Bullshit.

While Luffy accepts Ace’s words as the Real Grownup Truth, some part of Ace should have remembered that it was all stuff he’d made up in place of actual facts from Sabo. But as the years passed, he’d come to accept them as How They Are.

Their ignorance certainly isn’t just the boys’ fault. They live with bandits after all, and there’s certainly plenty of vulgar talk going around. But if any of the bandits try to explain in any greater detail when Ace starts showing mild interest, Dadan thwacks them, daring them to imagine facing Garp’s wrath when the marine discovers they’d corrupted his darling grandsons.

Makino and the Mayor come by and help with their education, but it’s mostly things like manners, how to read, and how to fix their ripped of clothes. Stuff like their Bodies is something they left to family.

But unfortunately Garp, of course, also avoids The Talk, because of all the many responsibilities he’d avoided in the raising of his grandsons, this is certainly one he’s especially keen to avoid. He gives Ace an incredibly vague explanation to “If you do the Do, make sure to wrap it!” before disappearing, leaving Ace to mutter to himself, “Wrap what?” An even more garbled and meaningless version is passed from Ace to Luffy.

Ace leaves the island at seventeen, confident and strong, and completely oblivious to much of what the world has in store.

Shortly after he leaves the island, Ace meets his first crew mate, one ex-med student who goes by “Masked Deuce.”

To Deuce, Ace looks like a fine roguish young man in his prime, his chosen Captain, and Deuce hates to admit it, but definitely popular with the ladies. At their first island together after escaping the deserted island where they met, Deuce is proven right when the ladies hanging around the brothels crowd out to wave and call at Ace. Deuce wonders darkly if they’re going to make a stop, but Ace just waves cheerfully back, and they continue on their way.

“They sure don’t look very sleepy for people who want to sleep so much!” Ace laughs, and Deuce thinks he’s one to talk. But they head back to their raft with supplies and without further incident. That’s when Deuce has his first Bad Feeling that something may be amiss.

A few years later, after they’ve joined Whitebeard’s crew, a drunken Deuce will screech that one day, he should get to bash Monkey D. Garp’s face in. Garp OWES it to him!!! After what Deuce went through, after realizing how freakin’ EMPTY and beyond neglected some parts of Ace’s education had been!!! The Whitebeards are lucky, because the Ace today exists because of Deuce’s suffering!!!

Because Deuce realizes quickly that when Ace heard that ladies want to “sleep with him,” he thought it was an offering to nap together. When Deuce asked with mounting horror whether Ace knows what sex even is, his Captain responded with the most blinding pure smile and enough confidence that Deuce almost believed him, “Naked wrestling!” When Ace saw animals copulating (and in one memorable case, a random human couple in the alleys), he took it upon himself to generously stack a third, and if possible a fourth creature on top.

Forget knowledge of the Act, Ace didn’t even know that some people, well, had Different Parts down there. And Deuce groaned and restrained himself from bashing his head against the mast, because why would he? According to Ace, he grew up 95% with mostly just himself and his precious lil bro Luffy. He knew a grand total of two women, Dadan and Makino. The former, the thought of whom naked made Ace pale, and the second, who only stopped by occasionally but certainly had no reason to uncover herself. Ace didn’t know what a textbook was, and squinted when Deuce desperately asked if he’d at least seen porn magazines.

Sure, some women have biggish chests, but so do fat people, and Ace’s chest isn’t so bad either if he says so himself. So of course Ace had no reason to assume anything else was different.

Deuce remembers the agonizing incident where he’d hired a few hookers to help educate Ace. The ladies had been cackling non stop, Ace had cheerfully announced, “Ah, I see, so they’re like Fishmen! Similar, but with a few different Mystery Parts.” And Deuce couldn’t even applaud Ace’s open-mindedness, because he was too busy wanting to dig a hole for himself to die in due to mortification, cursing how the subject of his embarrassment didn’t even share a sliver of his shame.

Ace slowly filled the gaping holes in his knowledge with help from his crew (mostly Deuce), taking his own ignorance in good stride and laughing brightly with each new discovery.

But the thing that concerned Deuce most, was every time Ace Learned Something New, he’d scratch his head and mutter, “Oh shit, that’s not what I told Luffy.”

Deuce is extremely concerned for one Monkey D. Luffy, and occasionally mutters a prayer for the unfortunate youth who had apparently obtained the vast majority of his worldly knowledge second hand through Ace.

But despite now having knowledge of sex, Ace still doesn’t particularly express any interest in trying it himself. He continues to just wave at the ladies and even men who want his attention, just as cheerfully as he had in the beginning.

When Deuce cautiously inquires why, Ace just shrugs. “You’re supposed to do it with someone you love, right?” And Deuce doesn’t really have the heart to tell him any different.

~~

Three years after Ace sets out for sea, Luffy follows.

The brothers’ reunion comes faster than expected, for which Ace’s grateful, because not only does he get to see his precious little brother again, he also has the chance to maybe correct some of the things he’d told Luffy growing up before Luffy spends too much time in the outside world.

And so when night comes in the desert in Alabasta, Ace takes Luffy aside and they go a ways away from the men’s tent where Luffy’s crew sleeps, far enough away that the fire Ace lights on his arms to keep them warm can’t be seen, and their voices are washed away among the dunes.

They’re catching up Ace wants to hear all about Luffy’s adventures, yes, but Ace also feels responsibility to clear up any misunderstandings he’d caused. And his crew had warned him, including his new Whitebeard family, that it might be dangerous to leave a little brother as adorable as Ace claimed in such complete ignorance.

Ace insists that Luffy is strong and can beat up almost anyone who wishes him harm, but their words still catch on something that makes Ace feel a weird twist of something in his gut. Would Luffy know what kind of intentions are behind a wandering hand, a lecherous sneer? Wouldn’t Luffy also assume sleeping just means napping? This is a new kind of potential danger, something that Luffy’s definitely not aware of, and the thought of it sneaking up on Luffy unawares makes something dark and ugly rear in Ace’s gut.

But a lot of Ace’s complicated doubts and fears are swept away by the desert winds when Luffy crawls into Ace’s lap and leans back against his chest. Luffy likes human contact, he always had, but Ace used to like to pretend he didn’t (they both knew otherwise), so Luffy usually wasn’t clingy unless he was feeling especially vulnerable. 

Luffy’s thin, rubbery arms wrap tightly around Ace’s torso, and his grip is strong, but vibrating, somewhere between shaking and tension. The flames on Ace’s arms sputter out, and Ace carefully puts his own arms around Luffy, now more open with himself than he’d been three years ago, and accepting of how he craves this too, and had felt starved of Luffy’s affection during their time apart.

It can’t be more obvious how much Luffy had missed him, and Ace feels the same.

Luffy’d grown over three years, from a gangly child who still worried Ace, to a still gangly but strong young adult who’d already begun earning a name for himself as a pirate. His lanky body fits perfectly in Ace’s arms, because even though Luffy’d grown, Ace’d grown too, and Luffy still feels petite in contrast.

Ah, Ace thinks as he squeezes Luffy tightly, burying his face in his little brother’s neck and drowning in his familiar scent, allowing himself to openly display his affection in a way he’d only done a handful of times on the island. Luffy practically purrs, leaning back and nuzzling Ace’s cheek, practically begging for more attention.

Something stirs in Ace’s gut as Luffy’s lithe form squirms against his bare chest, pushing fruitlessly against Ace’s unbudging arms before deciding that it’d be easier to just contort himself so he’s sitting facing Ace. And then suddenly their eyes are meeting, and Luffy looks so happy, and Ace thinks oh.

Someone I love.

Ace leans in to press their lips together, and Luffy is curious but doesn’t hesitate to push back and attempt to imitate.

It never crosses Ace’s mind that this is something that he shouldn’t be doing with Luffy. They’re Brothers, yes, but the word can mean a lot of things. Ace is Brothers with all the Whitebeard pirates too, and they’re undeniably a family and their bond means the world to him. The brother he shares with his crew is a bond of shared admiration for their leader, a bond of family through how they all see Whitebeard as their chosen paternal figure. It’s about a shared goal, a shared experience, a shared choice.

But brother in that context is different from brother with Luffy and Sabo. With Luffy and Sabo, their brother means an unbreakable bond, of connection that is stronger than anything they were born with, something that overcomes Ace’s hatred for his blood father, Sabo’s disgust for his heritage, and Luffy’s own missing parents. It means a willing and deliberate promise of permanence, a steady and stable treasure that will continue glowing at their core no matter how they change and grow.

It means love, Ace thinks, and knows Luffy feels the same.

~~

“So Luffy, that thing the frogs were doing?”

“Yeah?”

“This is what they were doing.”

“Oh, okay! So they were feeling good.”

“…Yeah, they were feeling good.”

Ace leaves it at that.

~~

(and then the war happens. And their first becomes their last.)

~~

*COUGHS* or DOES it?

ANYWAY, barely a “first,” but a long rambling rant, ty for reading

Get to know my Shipping Preferences & Ships Ask Meme

[creepercraftguy]

Danganronpa AU Fanfic: Chihiro’s Secret.

Summary: This is a fanfic for a rewrite/AU for the first Danganronpa game in which Chihiro Fujisaki is the protagonist instead of Makoto Naegi, and the crimes and people who die are different. It’s the second class trial, and in order to assure their own survival, as well as the survival of everyone else, Chihiro has to make the ultimate sacrifice to stop everyone voting for her.

This fic contains heavy spoilers for Danganronpa 1.

Word count: 2724

“Wait, you’re accusing me!?” Chihiro exclaimed as she suddenly understood the explanation completely. “Of course…” Celestia Ludenburg, the Ultimate Gambler sneered wryly “after all, you fit all the criteria for the crime, do you not?” “It’s true,” Byakuya Togami, the Ultimate Affluant Progeny, who sat next to her added “Chihiro Fujisaki does seem the most likely suspect as of this moment…” “The fuck are you talking about?” Mondo Owada, the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader boomed “that’s obviously bullshit! You’re saying this little dude killed Toko!?” Despite the fact that she was certain that another murder would not happen, Chihiro Fujisaki, the girl known far and wide as the Ultimate Programmer, had found herself in the courtroom of the confined academy. After being locked in the school by the malicious Monokuma and forced to play a killing game in order to escape, Chihiro had already lost two people prior to this point. As much as she’d hoped it was just a one time thing, yet another murder occurred. Someone had taken the life of Toko Fukawa, the Ultimate Writing Prodigy, and everyone had worked together to uncover the clues and find the culprit. However, due to certain circumstances, the suspicion had now fallen upon Chihiro herself. “Look at it this way Mondo…” Celeste began to explain “I saw Chihiro last night, in the warehouse may I remind you, carrying a duffel bag. She left my sight not longer later, which means other than my account, she has no alibi for night time, the time frame in which Toko was murdered…” “Not only that, but the fact that Fujisaki is a girl means that she would have been able to access the scene of the crime with no issues,” Byakuya added “after all, the scene of the crime was, as a reminder, the girls locker room…” “J-Just hold on a second!” Makoto Naegi, the Ultimate Lucky Student exclaimed “there’s no way any of that is true!” “He’s right!” Kiyotaka Ishimaru, the Ultimate Moral Compass, seconded “Chihiro? A killer? Be serious!” “You said exactly the same thing about Sayaka, Makoto…” Byakuya reminded him “and look how that turned out…” Makoto cringed as if he’d just taken a knife to the gut. Sayaka whom had died before was a close acquaintance of his, and unfortunately, she’d attempted to get away with her own crime and frame Makoto for it. “Y-You cannot deny that Mr Naegi and Mr Ishimaru both have a point though…” Hifumi Yamada, the Ultimate Doujin Author, chimed in “doesn’t it seem a little unlikely…” “You’re letting her cutesy little appearance fool you,” Celeste glared at him menacingly “so long as Chihiro Fujisaki is a participant in this trial, she is also a potential suspect.” “Celeste and Byakuya have a point…” Sakura Ogami, the Ultimate Martial Artist, pointed out “while I personally doubt the very idea that Chihiro would be responsible for something so heinous, she was the only girl who was sighted that late at night that we know of…” “Hold on a fucking second!” Mondo boomed “what about Celeste! She could have done it! If she saw Chihiro that late at night, then that means she was also snooping around!” “Do you really think I would do something like this?” Celeste asked “there is another thing that makes Chihiro suspicious, and relieves me of slight doubt…” “What’s that?” Aoi Asahina, the Ultimate Swimming Pro, asked with a frown. Celeste giggled smarmily “Chihiro specifically told me when I ran into her late last night that she was on her way to exercise…However, hypothetically, if that were true, then she would have headed to the changing rooms, correct?” “I…I see…” Sakura thought “if Chihiro really did go to the changing rooms as she claimed, then she would have found Toko’s body before any of us…” “If that happened, why didn’t the body discovery announcement go off?” Yasuhiro Hagakure, Ultimate Clairvoyant, asked. “Because the body discovery announcement only plays when three or more people discover the body,” Makoto reminded him “if Chihiro found it by herself, then it wouldn’t have activated…” “Then if Chihiro really found the body…” Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Fashionista, began to ponder “then how come she didn’t like, call out for help or go get someone?” “I think the only logical reasoning is because she’s the one who really killed Toko Fukawa…” Byakuya stated bluntly. “H-Hold on a second!” Chihiro began to well up with tears “I-I-I didn’t…do it!” “I can’t say I expected someone like you to be capable of killing someone…” Celeste smiled “or that you’d be such a good faker of tears…” “Quit picking on her!” Hina exclaimed “she wouldn’t do anything like that!” “But where’s your proof?” Byakuya asked “so long as there’s a plausible way that Chihiro killed Toko, then she remains the prime susp-” “Then what if your reasoning isn’t as plausible as you thought?” Someone suddenly piped up. Everyone in the courtroom turned to the direction of the voice, seeing that it had come from Kyoko Kirigiri, a mysterious girl who had yet to share her talent with everyone. “Chihiro Fujisaki is not the killer, that much I am certain of.” “How can you be so sure?” Byakuya asked “do you have some kind of proof?” “Something like that…” Kyoko wryly smiled “but first of all, I’d like to make a request…Monokuma? Would you mind if Chihiro and myself stepped out of the courtroom for a brief moment?” “Hey, hey, hey, wait a second! What do you think you’re saying Missy!?” The monochrome menace exclaimed “you can’t just leave the courtroom in the middle of the trial!” “I’m making a polite request of you,” Kyoko told him “and the only reason why I’m doing this to ensure two things. The trials fairness and your enjoyment…” “My enjoyment?” Monokuma repeated “are you saying the trial will get more interesting if I let you go?” “Exactly…” Kyoko smiled “do you agree then?” Monokuma sat in silence for a few seconds before suddenly saying “You get 8 minutes. Tops.” “Thank you, that is perfectly enough time…Chihiro? Let’s go?” “Huh? Wh-Where?” Chihiro asked confusingly “Yeah, where are you going!?” Taka exclaimed “what are you trying to pull Kyoko?” “You’ll see as soon as we get back, but this is important…” Kyoko said, taking Chihiro’s wrist and heading for the elevator.

Chihiro was dragged along by Kyoko in utter silence until the two of them arrived at the dorm rooms. They came to a stop outside of Chihiro’s room and Kyoko turned to her seriously. “I’ll cut right to the chase,” Kyoko said “it seems that you and I got our blackmail letters mixed up…” “Y-You mean you had my note with my secret!?” Chihiro exclaimed “d-did you…r-read it?” “Yes…” Kyoko replied bluntly “Chihiro…I’m sorry to force this upon you, but right now, you’ve become the prime suspect for the murder. I think you know what I’m about to ask of you, but there’s only one certified way out of this debate. Are you willing to make that sacrifice?” It was true. Chihiro knew exactly what Kyoko was about to make her do. The Ultimate Programmer could feel fear welling up from inside her; invading her entire body…But she also knew that Kyoko was right. She realized at that moment that this wasn’t just about her…If she couldn’t prove her innocence…then it would be the end for everyone. Chihiro hated the very idea of death, and she’d already bared witness to it in the walls of this hellbent school. But no matter what, she couldn’t allow anyone else to lose their lives. So even if it was an action that could never be taken back…She had to do it. She had to prove that she couldn’t have killed Toko! “Now then…” Kyoko smiled “I believe it’s time for a wardrobe change…”

Back in the courtroom, even though the trial had paused because of Kyoko, the debate had most certainly not ended between the rest of the students. “Byakuya…” Makoto sighed “do you really think that someone like Chihiro is capable of murder?” “I’ll repeat what Celeste told you all earlier,” Byakuya replied “so long as Chihiro Fujisaki is a participant in this trial, she is also a potential suspect…And right now, the order of events directly points to her…” “Chihiro was the only one of the girls who went to the changing rooms in the dead of the night. The time and location of the murder.” Sakura added. “Y-You don’t think…” Taka stammered “that she on purposefully let Celeste catch her at night so that she’d have some semblance of an alibi?” “What the fuck are you talking about bro!?” Mondo boomed “that account is what’s got her on the ropes at the moment! How is that an alibi!?” However, the debate suddenly came to a screeching halt as Monokuma suddenly piped up. “Lucky you Ms Kirigiri…” he grumbled “you made it back in the nick of time…” “Sorry for the short recess that we took,” Kyoko said, returning to her podium “it won’t happen again…” “Let me guess…” Byakuya sighed “did you and Chihiro go off and find traces of another female on the floor? Something you forgot to pick up before we arrived here?” “Nothing of the sort…” Kyoko smirked. Celeste rolled her eyes. “It’s obvious that she can’t prove a thing…” she sighed “any moment now, the truth will spout out like a fountain from little miss Fujisaki’s mou-” “Chihiro…is that you?” Makoto suddenly cut Celeste off. At these words, Byakuya suddenly looked to the side at Chihiro, who was somewhat hiding behind Kyoko. “Hold on a second…” he said suddenly “something isn’t right here. Kyoko. Explain. Now. What the hell’s going on here?” The silence in the courtroom was deafening. Chihiro continued to hide behind Kyoko’s figure. She turned around and gave the small programmer the warmest smile she could. “Chihiro…It’s ok…” she said “you can do this…”

For as long as they could remember, Chihiro remembered they had been too feminine for their own good. “But you’re a guy!” “You don’t act like a guy!” “Why aren’t you manly!?” They’d dealt with those kinds of comments almost every day. After years of hearing this type of detest, they were backed into a corner, and found only one way to escape that didn’t involve asserting authority. After attempting this, they’d found that all of the jabs and name callings had finally stopped. It was all thanks to their appearance. Even though a part of them was sick to the stomach for their choice…being the way they were made everyone else comfortable. The old Chihiro Fujisaki had practically died and been replaced…but a part of their spirit was still inside the new one. Now…this fragment of old spirit was being forced to resurface. The Ultimate Programmer, Chihiro Fujisaki’s life had been a lie. Right now, as Chihiro stepped away from Kyoko and headed back to their own podium, questions began to go through their head. How would the other’s react? Would they hate them? Would they hurt them? Would they laugh and insult them? Would they be weirded out by them? Would they never talk to them again? Chihiro could never know for sure…but instead of focusing on everyone’s thoughts and feelings towards them now and in the near future, they decided to reflect back on the laughs and good times they’d had so far, despite the situation. And they’d hold on to that as their personal hope. Even if they hated them for it, Chihiro was going to do this…so they could save everyone’s lives… “I-I’m sorry…but I’ve been telling you all a pretty big lie up until this point…” Chihiro stated with all the confidence they could muster “but I think I need to reintroduce myself to you all…My name is Chihiro Fujisaki, I’m the Ultimate Programmer…

And I…am a boy!”

“WHAT THE HELL!!?” Taka was the first to cry this out, immediately noticing Chihiro’s change in attire. It wasn’t much of an appearance change altogether, but with the 8 minutes Monokuma had given him, it was enough. He had ditched his skirt and his shoes and replaced them with sports shorts and trainers. “What the-!?” Makoto seemed similarly taken aback by the sudden reveal. “Wh-What is the meaning of this?” even Sakura seemed genuinely shocked, as her massive frame trembled, her eyes unable to divert her stare. “M-Ms Fujisaki…Was…A TRAP!? CURSES!” Hifumi squealed and shock and clenched his fist in rage at the same time. “OMG is this like…Genocide Jack? Is it a split personality from trauma?” Junko covered her mouth, her eyes wide from the surprise. “D-Don’t tell me…” Hiro stammered “Ch-Chihiro’s been possessed!? NOOOOO! God, Buddha, anyone, please help us!” Chihiro couldn’t help rolling his eyes as he then exclaimed “No! Please wait! It really is me! Here, I can prove it!” The person closest to Chihiro other than the currently panicked Hiro was Byakuya. Chihiro turned to him and handed him his Digital E-Handbook. Byakuya uncomfortably fiddled with his glasses as he read through it. “Chihiro Fujisaki: Ultimate Programmer…Gender: Male…I-I see…so that’s what this was about. Kyoko, the reason you asked to leave with Chihiro earlier…that was…” “To help him get changed into a more suitable attire,” Kyoko finished his sentence “I figured even if he showed everyone his E-handbook, it still wouldn’t be easily believed. So I asked him to change his appearance to…drive the point home if you will…” “So…you were actually a boy?” Celeste asked, not breaking face “but in that case, why lie to us?” “I’m sure Chihiro has some reason for hiding his true gender identity from us, but I don’t see how that is relevant to the case!” Taka boomed “save these questions for after the trial!” “W-Well…Not to cut off this discussion or anything…” Hifumi cut in “but uh…why does the fact that Ms Fujisaki…er I mean…Mr Fujisaki?” “Mr Fujisaki is fine…” Chihiro smiled at him warmly. “V-Very well…” Hifumi sighed, clearly his brain was exhausted, then clearing his throat, asked “why does the fact that Mr Fujisaki is actually a guy matter to this case?” “It explains why, if Chihiro was telling the truth, and really did go to the changing rooms, he didn’t find Toko’s body, and thus didn’t let any of us know. Thus, his alibi is more solid.” Kyoko explained to him. “Oh! I get it!” Hina exclaimed “if Chihiro really was a boy, then her…uh..HIS handbook would have recognized him as one, right!?” “That’s right,” Monokuma cheerfully answered “Chihiro Fujisaki is actually a dude. Because of this, his handbook would only allow access to the male’s changing room. If he tried to enter the girls, then you know what would have riddled him with bullets!” “That explains why you always turned us down when we invited you to exercise…” Sakura contemplated “Chihiro, I am extremely sorry for my blindness…” “D-Don’t be sorry, it’s my fault!” he said “but…you really don’t care?” “Huh? Why would we?” Mondo asked “I mean, I was shocked out of my pants at this, don’t get me wrong…but you’re still Chihiro right? Who cares if you’re a chick or a dude?” “Speaking of which…Mondo, I have something to ask you…” Kyoko cut in “it’s not exactly relevant to the case or anything…but you knew Chihiro was a boy before any of us, am I correct?” “What? Seriously!?” Makoto exclaimed. “Wh-What gave you that idea?” Mondo stammered. “It was something in the way you speak. I don’t know if you noticed this Mondo, but you tend to refer to men and woman differently,” Kyoko told him “When it’s guys, you refer to them as “dude” and for girls, it’s “chick”. Recently, you began referring to Chihiro as a dude, which made me think you knew something we didn’t…” “Aw shit…busted…” Mondo sighed “sorry Chihiro. I woulda’ spoke up sooner…but it didn’t feel right coming from me…” “Don’t worry…I doubt anyone would have believed you anyway…” Chihiro smiled at his friend. “Um…I don’t mean to be a buzzkill or anything…Except I totally mean to be a buzzkill…” Monokuma interrupted “but I’m already bored of this discussion. It would be a real shame if I got so bored that I punished you all on the spot like this, so can we resume the trial please?” “Oh! Of course we can Monokuma!” Chihiro beamed with newfound determination “of course we can!”

[friendlyfacestabbing]

Swords Jacket: Roman’s Sash

okay, remember how waaaay back in the planning stage I said I didn't have much of a clue for incorporating Roman's sash and braid into the jacket?

that's entirely true 

I knew I couldn't use an actual sash because things sewn onto the outside of jackets made for routine stabbing do not last long, and actually make things more dangerous for me and anyone else (like, you go in for a grapple, the Last Thing you want is big loops hanging off to get tangled in)

but fabric paints exist. and embroidery is A Thing. personally I prefer embroidery (and it'll have to be machine embroidery as hand embroidery is not an option)

but here's the thing: I don't know if the sewing machine I'm using can do it. I don't have a design. I don't know how to embroider.

I go to a dedicated sewing shop to see if the folks there have any advice or pointers.

them: hang on a second *gets one of the displayed sewing pieces, a fabric journal cover with gorgeous intricate machine embroidery across it* me: oh! Yes! Like that! That's exactly what I want to do! :D them: this was sewn on a $3000 state-of-the-art machine by a seamstress with over thirty years experience in the industry as their final work for their textiles post-grad degree. me: ah.

time to break out the fabric paints right?

WRONG

what do we do when we're scared and procrastinating?

we Research.    *cracks knuckles*     let's get started.

first: make sure the sewing machine can do the embroidery. okay so all the sewing I've been doing to this point has been on my housemate's sewing machine, a nice new shiny modern thing. unfortunately, it's a bit limited in the amount of tweaking you can do to your stitch settings, but maybe it'll do for the embroidery thing?

hmm. nope. it'll only give me these three options^, and none of them will work.

maybe a different machine.... my machine; an ancient thing, gifted to me by a crone from lands I have not travelled in many seasons.  it predates the internet. when it was built the Berlin Wall was still up. ancient I tell you. being older it's a bit more versatile with stitch options, so I can do this:

embroidery capable machine acquired!!! (also I've decided to use two threads on top, as that will make the stitches more visible)

second: find a design. so I spend May researching embroidery throughout history. there is a lot. and some of it is very old and crazy unbelievably stunning. 

like look at this^ that's hundreds of years old and was done by hand using plant dyes and it still looks incredible!

Holy random botany detour Batman!!! at the same time I make the happy but seemingly unrelated discovery that the acanthus plant has been a feature of decorative motifs since ancient Greece. the Romans adapted this motif from there, aaaand then it keeps on showing up through history. it goes through evolutions in style (Baroque, Ancient, Gothic, …Romanesque) and is used on everything from embroidery to architecture to calligraphy to home decorating. 

(acanthus thru the last 2000+ years^) and people still grow it today!

So. a decorative motif stretching back to Ancient Greece and Rome. with a huge application during the Medieval period, an interpretation in almost every Western historical period since then, use in a really diverse range of creative endeavours, and a stylistic variation literally called “Romanesque”.

also, I really like plants. :D

this focusses my searching somewhat. I collect reference pics of acanthus motifs from all over the internet. everything from quilting patterns to photos of extant garments to calligraphy sketches to scans of 19th century sewing manuals. I end up with a folder of roughly 700 embroidery concepts.  then I take my concepts and narrow down to a few of the best options:

a hand embroidery pattern

a medieval manuscript from 1304

some acanthus border sketches

probable designs found!!!

third: practise embroidery. only way I'll learn to do embroidery, is by, y'know, doing embroidery. I do a few of these practice runs on fabric scraps:

and then the Main Test. the full embroidery design. I'll use one of my op-shop denim jackets to try the design on, as it's a similar fabric weight, and manoeuvring a full garment is part of what will make the real thing hard so, may as well get used to that as soon as possible.

first design is a bust. too detailed and intricate. I get the scroll in the blue rectangle sewn down with much swearing and agony, and then give up. I love the design, but it's not worth it.

second? WORKS. (you may remember a brief post from last month in which I was yelling about a major breakthrough? this is That)

I now have an awesome embroidered denim jacket, and a working design for my swording jacket. :D

the design is inspired by the border of a page from a 1304 manuscript of German medieval poetry called the Codex Manesse. look at this page! that's gold leaf!!! and it's in such good nick for a manuscript of that age!!!

I've sketched out a version I can use, resized it, made a stencil of it, and traced it onto the paper I'll use to transfer it to the jacket. Next up, embroidering the real thing. I’ve got this. >:D

[adventuringsidhe]

A Discovery of Witches Season 2 - I Have Issues With This Season!

Before anyone gets defensive, I do like this show. It’s not my favourite TV show, but I’ve been very reserved in liking a show too much after Game of Thrones. Seriously, that show ruined my way of enjoying a show forever. The last two season, whatever you felt about GOT, in terms of storytelling, it was a disaster and decisions made within it were stupid and non-sensical. But I digress (even thinking about it makes me irritated). 

A Discovery of Witches Season 2 was a long, drawn out bore fest. If I’m to sum it up, that is how it felt. There is one thing that really bothered me more than anything by the last episode and this may seem trivial but it made me dislike the main characters (which I was struggling to like throughout this whole season anyway).

Jack.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, in season two, Diana brings a little orphan boy into her and Matthew’s tudor home, feed him and gives him a place to stay. They then go on throughout the entire season to allowing him to grow attached like family to them (we’re talking months here if not over a year). Give him education, reading, and caring for him at night when he has night terrors etc. Basically adopting him. So, why am I so bothered? Well, by the end of the season, Diana is pregnant, and their going back to the present. So they just say their goodbyes to Jack and leave.

That pissed me off so badly I can’t reconcile with them as characters. It was obvious he had grown attached to them, bonded, and basically like family, even mother and father to him, only for him to be left behind by them. I think that is pretty shitty no matter how you look at it. Whether intentional or not, they brought him into their home and treated him like their own child, but then at the last moment because they’ve to come back into the present era, they leave him. I don’t know, but I just found that whole story line a little shitty. Jack had no family and was living on the streets, stealing because he was hungry, only for this couple to give him a home and only later abandon him again. Shitty.

It honestly reminded me of that Youtube couple who adopted a child that had needs, only to ‘return’ him a while later because they couldn’t cope with him, while giving a sob story and a few tears.

I was struggling to like Matthew throughout this whole season, he acted really shitty towards Diana, which bothered me so much, and it was all played down as ‘protecting her’. Bsht. ‘But look how good he was with Jack?’ Yeah, that was the only good thing about him this season, and then made worse by his easy disconnection when they had to leave by the end of it.

I know some fans will disagree with me and excuse this behaviour because their from the future and Jack is from Tudor times, so blah blah reasons. I get it, you love these characters, but I just didn’t this season, and major flaws in their ‘good’ persona broke through which just weren’t nice at all.

So yeah, I didn’t appreciate them taking in an orphan and making him feel like family, only to abandon him at the last moment because you got to return to the future and you’re pregnant. Kinda shitty in my opinion.

Matthew - Blood Rage.

Never mentioned in the first season, and honestly - it was such a lame thing. Another vampire series where you never see the vampire’s teeth. This is getting boring and kind of childish. A series that has magic, blood, violence, sexual moments, doesn’t have vampire teeth? Boring. Sorry not sorry. The vampires in this world are boring, not scary, not even interesting. Matthew is made out to be a good vampire, who restrains himself, blah blah crap, but honestly - I have more connection to Lestat, Lois, Claudia, Blade, Stefan, Eric, Pam even Bill (William Compton) etc. Matthew though? No, he just wasn’t as good this season. They tried to make him have a ‘issue’ because of the time, etc, but I just thought he was a bit of an dick. Blood rage also was a poor excuse and given a modern plot too, with some character had blood rage, along with Marcus. Anyway, I just didn’t like him this season or the whole ‘blood rage’ excuse.

Diana.

Look, I appreciated the whole ‘’They’re not teenagers’’ thing when it came to this show, same with True Blood. I hate teenage romances or that follow teenagers around as if they have more years of experience than a 30 something. I appreciate the change of audience, the maturity, the complexity, the lived in past, all those things that come with older characters that I can relate too so much more than a teenager. Which is why I like vampire shows like True Blood, movies like Interview with the Vampire, Blade, Vampire Hunter D etc. They are fantastic, deeply complex characters with amazing stories.

Diana though...meh. I was so into the magic thing in the first season, what drew me to it, not the vampires (lost interest once I knew I wouldn’t see the teeth). However, this season, I’m so over the ‘’must protect Diana’’ thing, I just found myself nodding off in parts. She’s treated like a sacred divine being, and the only one of her kind. Those ‘’chosen one’’ stories can be intriguing in some cases like Harry Potter, who, grew over time and had complex emotions about it, and he did suffer immensely for being the ‘’one’’. Diana however, this season - is a bit of a bitch. A know it all. A little too smug. 

I’m also tired of the whole ‘’rich vampire who played a role in major historical things’’. The rich vampire who can give you the world is a nice thought, but I don’t like it all that much, it just makes it harder to buy into the whole secrecy, living in the shadows stuff. It seems everyone in Tudor times knows about Vampire, Witches and Daemons, so...a bit weird honestly.

Diana getting pregnant I knew was coming, as its apparently in the books too (not into the books, sorry). But, it’s another cliché like Twilight. Honestly, this is very similar to Twilight but their older. Yeah. And Diana has magic and apparently the most powerful being on the planet. I get that their these incredibly intertwined lovers who were destined for each other across time and space, which is all nice and everything, but Jesus....is their no one else or anything else important to them at all? I also thought it was cheap as f**k bringing Diana’s dad in at the last moment, as this emotional weight, which just didn’t do it for me at all. It’s really sad to say this but I lost all connection to Diana this season, and to their love story. It fizzled out faster than my lemonade when I leave it to sit in a warm spot.

The Other Characters

Their really wasn’t that much time with them at all to bond with. Marcus’s relationship with the auctioneer woman? That escalated quickly. Seriously, one moment their having a one night stand, to the next, he tells her all the secrets of his world and bringing her to France and meeting Ysabeau. Is he planning on staying with her forever now? Like what is going on there? No interest.

I wanted to know more about this baby born of Daemons but damn they left it so late and gave so little time and by the end it’s hard to care about everything. These stories really need to stop trying to add multiple characters and stories into a just one story. Just make one story. Not several packed into a main one. Flesh it out better, slower with other characters. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love the aesthetic of this world, the design, the beauty of it. Even the magic is interesting, to a point, if a little simple for my taste. I do appreciate what they’re trying to do, but once again the stories fall flat, the characters become distant to the audience (talking of myself, maybe others don’t feel that way), and not relatable at all. This is fantasy, and we can’t related in many ways, but their lives, choices and feelings do make it relatable. I remember watching Interview with the Vampire and seeing how much consequences Lois’ choices caused him, it was devastating because you knew Lois had to make a choice which wasn’t always right and it burdened him immensely. Even as bad as the last few seasons of True Blood were, their were heavy, heavy consequences on all the characters for everything that had happened throughout the show and all the years.

This show just felt very Twilight by this second season, and as much as Twilight is okay back in the day, now it feels outdated in terms of relationships, intimacy, toxicity, danger, and other things important to us in terms of love, romance, family and friendship. 

Another tv show I’ve been disappointed in unfortunately, like Game of Thrones, Outlander (even though the standard is still there, the story has gone off too far not for me to hold interest anymore), are but a few that I was really into and then slowly they veered off course and so did my love for them. Same with A Discovery of Witches, which is only in its 2nd season but already it feels flat.

Anyway, rant over lol! Only my opinion, you can love it or not, just a random opinion on a personal tumblr page.