the-journal-in-law

[the-journal-in-law]

Drabble #3

Prompt from: @prompts-in-a-barrel

"I missed your voice."

"My voice?"

"It's a good voice."

I lowered my gaze, mumbling, “I’m a singer. You hear my voice all the time.”

I could feel him leveling me with a look. “...have you visited her yet?”

Unbidden, tears came to my eyes. There was the rustle of clothes, and then his hand was at my back, warm and comforting. Steady.

“I can come with you if you want. Whenever you decide to.”

I blinked away more tears. “I can’t ask that of you.”

His other hand rested upon my palm. It was so warm. “I want to.”

[the-journal-in-law]

No matter how much you dislike your own writing, I promise you it’s better than AI

[the-journal-in-law]

Prompt #27

Supervillain didn't get along with anyone. It came with the job. They kept themselves far from their subordinates and sustained the appearance of an untouchable god.

So why...why was he acting so weird talking to the new recruit? Right Hand wondered, stunned.

A criminal organisation boss didn't get weird. Especially not around an excitable, wide-eyed (kinda suspicious) brown-noser.

[the-journal-in-law]

i wrote a twin cinema poem about two gay soldiers in wwi

context: the two sides, read separately, are the two soldiers thinking about their futures with each other. when read together, it's a reflection of their final thoughts when they die together struck by bullets <3

[the-journal-in-law]

Surprise Encounters

Hero is buying groceries, undisguised, when it happens. They never really expected it to happen to them, even though they ward off creeps on a daily basis.

The man that approaches them is large, muscly - the kind of man you'd either see in the back alleys or in the gyms. But Hero didn't get their spotless reputation from judging a book by its cover.

"Hey, sweetheart," the man greets, friendly.

Hero is a bit weirded out, but they've met weirder people. They turn away from the shelves of cereal to face the man. "Hello, do you need something?"

"I've seen you around sometimes in the store," the man says. "Why don't we go out and get something to eat?"

"Sorry, I'm not interested," Hero replies.

The man steps closer, towering over them. "You sure about that?" His voice has darkened, becoming near-threatening.

Hero inches away, trying not to make it seem like they want to run away. Alarm bells start ringing in their head. "I'm sure, sir. I'm sorry, but I don't feel comfortable enough with you to date you."

The man stalks closer until they are chest-to-chest. Hero's shoulders tense, but they force themself not to react. The man's face leans down until Hero can smell his breath.

Then an arm wounds its away around Hero's stomach, and before they can react, they are pulled onto a firm chest.

"They said no," says a low, rumbling voice. Hero can feel the vibrations against their back.

The man scoffs and turns away, and Hero relaxes.

"Thank you," they say, stepping away from their savior. Then they look up and see --

[the-journal-in-law]

Loss

"I wanted to hate you." The hero's voice cracks. "But then you went and saved them."

The villain stands in the remains of their broken home, the hero’s younger sibling laid unconscious on the ground in front of them. They raise their chin and scoff. “So what? Just ‘cause I saved your parents’ golden child, suddenly you don’t hate me anymore?”

The hero’s face twists. “They’re not – they’re our parents.”

“Bullshit!” the villain spits.

“They were,” the hero insists, helpless and defeated and scared. “They’re your parents, and they loved you!”

“They–” Suddenly, the villain’s world stops. Freezes. Their heart drops and races a hundred miles all at once. Dread grips their heart and punches the air out of their body. They manage to choke out a response anyway. “Were?”

The hero flinches. “It happened - it happened two days ago,” they whisper, sounding on the verge of tears. “The bomb at the city square.”

No one could prepare you for the abrupt, unexpected death of your parents. It’s the spinning, awful realisation that the people you’ve known all your life aren’t there anymore. It’s the fear of the suddenly looming, dark future, of spending the rest of your life without them watching over you, of missed birthday parties and achievements and other important life events.

The villain hadn’t visited their parents ever since that awful day five years ago. They suddenly regret never visiting, even if it would’ve ended in more grudges and hurtful words. They wish they could’ve at least had the chance to say goodbye.

Most of all, they realise their chance to make amends has been cruelly wrenched away from them, and loss and regret swirls in their stomach, a whirlpool threatening to drown them whole.

The hero had been trying to blink back tears, but now they burst out sobbing – the ugly kind, with a twisted face and hitched, gasping breaths. The villain is caught between taking a step forward – to comfort, to deny the hero’s words, they don’t know – or a step back.

Then they see their younger sibling’s head move as they begin to wake, and their body makes the decision for them. They take one step back, then another, and then another, until they are full-on sprinting away, leaving their siblings’ calls of their name in their wake and trying to deny the tears filling their eyes.

[the-journal-in-law]

Prompt #26

"Nevermind."

"You just kissed me and asked me on a date and you say 'nevermind!?'"

[the-journal-in-law]

When I was little my mom’s meatloaf was my favorite food. But ONLY her meatloaf. I didn’t like anyone else’s, and she told me that she would teach me how to make it when I was older. And when I was like 19? She finally taught me, but she told me never to tell anyone else and I was like weird but okay

Anyway, she was super fucking homophobic and abusive to me when I told her I was gay, so here’s the recipe

4-6 lbs of Hamburger/turkey burger

1 pk onion soup mix OR ranch mix

1 TBs ketchup

1 Tbs spicy brown mustard,

1 Tbs bbq sauce

1 Tbs steak sauce

1 egg

mix, shape into a loaf in a big pan, and bake at 350 for 2 hrs (maybe 2 and a half if you’re feeling dangerous)

You can get almost all of these ingredients at the dollar store, and have leftovers if it’s just you. The leftovers make great tacos if (taco seasoning is also like a dollar). Enjoy your revenge loaf

[the-journal-in-law]

i hate it when i cant even write a poem about something because its too obvious. like in the airbnb i was at i guess it used to be a kids room cause you could see the imprint of one little glow in the dark star that had been missed and painted over in landlord white. like that's a poem already what's the point

[the-journal-in-law]

Why are titles so hard 😭

[the-journal-in-law]

Prompt #25

"A dating contract," Villain read incredulously. They looked up at Hero, who looked as serious as ever. In proposing a dating contract. With a villain. "You're playing with me," Villain accused. "Why would a hero like you want to ruin your golden reputation?"

Hero leaned back, raised their brow, and told them, "What if I want to tarnish some of that gold?"

[the-journal-in-law]

“Living weapon” covers a lot and all of it is hot

[the-journal-in-law]

Working on my novel and couldn’t figure out why it felt so empty. I didn’t have any filler. It was all 100% plot. The characters only interacted when necessary. I didn’t prattle on about the scenery or how the birds sounded. I had all my fuller stuff that I loved saved in another file because I “didn’t need it”.

Y’all, I knew this existed in TV shows but it didn’t hit me until this that everything is being whittled down. We are so starving for filler that we snap up anything. I unload all mine on Tumblr or keep it in a massive Google Docs. It SUCKS.

Honestly? Death to plot necessity. Revive filler. Revive unnecessary interactions. Revive just vibing with characters sometimes. I don’t want to just consume the plot and I don’t want to just create the plot either.

[the-journal-in-law]

hello brothers and sisters

you’re probably well aware of what kosa is after this point, but if you don’t, it’s a bill that is going to be reviewed by the senate this monday(february 26th, 2024) to see if it’ll pass and move onto the house.

if it passes, queer people and queer topics will be heavily censored online, as well as topics such as Palestine.

don’t panic quite yet though, as there IS still time to help prevent it passing in the senate, and also if it DOES pass in senate, it will have to also pass the house(which is a clusterfuck right now).

you can help stop it passing by emailing/calling your senate AND house representative and telling them WHY you oppose this bill. it’s important you call both of them

if you don’t know who your senate/house representatives are:

senate: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

house: https://ziplook.house.gov/htbin/findrep_house?ZIP=

if you don’t know what to say, use these two scripts

USE THIS IF YOUR SENATOR/REPRESENTATIVE IS REPUBLICAN:

USE THIS IF YOUR SENATOR/REPRESENTATIVE IS DEMOCRAT:

and finally, make sure not to panic and keep yourself informed. the bill still has to pass house before it can be signed by biden(who really wants the bill to pass, so if you’re calling a republican with your script, maybe include that). this can take weeks or months, or it even can die in house if we are able to make it stall long enough

we also need to make a very big stink about kosa and make it trend wherever we possibly can(tumblr, twitter, tiktok, etc), and make sure people KNOW our hatred for the bill. use the hashtag #stopkosa so it can hopefully trend

i’d heavily encourage you to reblog this so the word can be spread, but know you are NOT a bad person if you don’t reblog it. i too have ocd and understand

for more resources:

here is a link to the stop kosa discord so you can get advice and updates on kosa

and here are some links with more information, call scripts, and petitions

good luck men

[the-journal-in-law]

Prompt #24

"Hey, babe."

"Mornin', baby. You look good today."

"Aw, you flatter me."

"Are you guys dating?!"

Laughter. "Oh, sweetheart, no. We'd never work that way."

[the-journal-in-law]

Prompt #23

Right Hand is jealous. It's a burning, unpleasant feeling that accompanies their deep-seated shame. Supervillain has promised them no commitment, other than heated, desirable glances that eventually led to quickies in the janitor's cupboard. Their exchanged birthday gifts, and warm mornings at Supervillain's apartment, and shared laughter - Right Hand wanted more, and they had thought Supervillain could give them that. But now that hope was dashed in the form of a young, bright-eyed new recruit.

[the-journal-in-law]