Tantivy
7/9 prompt
A 'porter grabs her around the waist and they're gone before she can yelp in surprise. When they reappear, she's held down by two men and her domino is ripped off of her, despite the copious amounts of spirit gum involved. The light makes her squint as her eyes adjust to not having lenses.
"Hm."
"I still don't recognize her,"
They put the mask back on, as if that would help. She blinks in confusion. They take the mask off again and tilt their heads this way and that, trying to figure out who she is,
"Not all of us are Bruce Wayne." she comments dryly.
They've loosened their hold on her and she flips sideways, using their weight to propel them into the air and ground, respectively. After the second man is knocked out by the floor, she picks her mask from his hands and sticks it back in place.
Snuff
7/10 prompt
It's too easy to talk them out of starting to go on patrol. Revi almost feels bad about snuffing out their hopes to become superheroes that kids like them used to (and in some cases, still do) look up to.
She isn't surprised when, a month later, she hears about a group of teenagers taking out small crime rings. She's just glad that Zam managed to talk them into starting off small.
Showing posts with label angsty mutants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label angsty mutants. Show all posts
Sunday, July 11, 2010
6/20 to 7/8
Couvade
6/20 prompt
"We am never getting pregnant again," Lucien whines as he throws himself into the nearest armchair,
"You were never pregnant," Matt corrects, "All you've done is carry around Cam for a few hours today,"
"Well it felt like it was nine months,"
"It wasn't,"
"Nine weeks?"
"Maybe nine hours," Matt taps his watch,
I can't believe you were timing me, Lucien rolls his eyes,
"Daaaad!" Cam's cry echoes down the hallway to them.
"Your turn," the two men accuse at the same time,
"No. No, that was obviously a B flat,"
"Not on your life!"
Heliolatry
6/21 prompt
Space makes it hard to imagine that once, humans had thought that there was only one sun, their sun. And that they worshiped the ball of gas as a god. Ever since space travel had been popularized, there had been a wave of cults and sects racing to find their god somewhere in the infinite expanse of space.
Riley figures that one day, people will look on the lost searchers like he looks on the religions of the past. Pity and a bit of intrigue.
Proliferate
6/22 prompt
Unsurprisingly, getting the astral nanites to spread was the easiest part of the plan. Actually, taking over the universe hadn't been a part of the plan at all. But Arcane would be hard pressed to let that fact slip.
She sets up an airport-security-like entry into her universe, but for the exact opposite reason her father had done the same. The "scanning" machines were to inject the astral nanites into unsuspecting visitors (really, tourists deserve it, anyway.) Arcane has to go through one, herself, but there isn't any danger since she's the one controlling them. In fact, she needs a small amount in her body so they can relay information from the other nanites hopefully spreading around the multiverse at the moment. If only there was a way to get them to go faster.
Rococo
6/23 prompt
Writing was something that Jordan had never been good at. Most of her friends had assumed that because she was a good artist (or at least a persistent one), she was also a good writer. That she was an "artsy" type.
The truth is that Jordan is really more of a science person. It's easier to watch, experiment and interpret than to create stories. Or pictures, really. Even the task of writing a book report or a history essay is daunting to her. Something about sentence structure never really stuck, so she has to spend more time making sure sentences make sense than choosing the right words.
Jordan sighs. Waiting another day to finish her strategical analysis probably wouldn't hurt.
Haptic
6/24 prompt, brining the pr0ns
Her touch is everywhere on my body. Her nails trace the curve of my hip making me shiver when she finds a sensitive spot. Her mouth traverses a shaky path down my neck. When she stops to bite at my pulse, I moan and roll further into her. She shifts, flooding cold air over the length of my body. All at once, her teeth are teasing my nipple, one hand spread over my stomach and one expertly finding my clit, teasing and frustrating. I groan and push at her hand, silently begging for more. She smirks against my breast. When she thrusts into me with the hand previously on my stomach, my entire body buzzes, tingling with spots of fire.
Oh yes, the blindfold was a very good idea.
Cakewalk
6/25 prompt
"Well that was pretty sad," Hunter comments,
He's too busy licking the remaining cake from his hands to notice Revi's look of disgust.
"No, it was pretty gross. I'm pretty sure I have cake in places cake should never go," she gripes, "Why would someone even think that building a death theme park out of cake was a good idea?"
"Because they were hungry at the time?" Hunter smirks,
"And then he calls it Cakewalk? Really? I almost miss actual death threats,"
Enthrall
6/26 prompt, rather suggestive, slash again
His eyes are bewitching as they meet his from across the room. They say the unspeakable things between them.
His hands are mesmerizing as they peel away the leather and masks, boots and belts.
His lips are beguiling as they press against his neck, fingers, lips. They ply open his mouth and become mind-melting.
His voice, though, his voice is enthralling. As they arch into each other, clinging, clawing, he cries out. And he is lost for good.
Zephyr
6/27 prompt, sadly smut free
The breeze on the balcony of her temple ship is constant and chilling. It's not the sort of full-on wind that cuts to the bone. More of the kind of wind that constantly messes up your hair.
Arcane frowns as yet another lock of hair finds its way into her face. She glares half-heartedly at the sky as she tucks the offending hair back. With her hair temporarily not threatening to get in her mouth, she eats another mouthful of her ice cream, watching the land fly by below her.
On her head, Lebensraum shivers. Arcane tucks the armadillo into her arms, temporarily abandoning her ice cream for warmth.
Next to Arcane's half-full bowl, is Lebensraum's small, empty bowl.
Yen
6/28 prompt
The nature versus nurture argument is lost on Arcane. It's never been a contest, for her. Her blood has always told her what to do. Or at least given her a good hint.
Her blood thrills at seeing others of its kind. Blood and more blood is what it calls for.
Kill kill die death die kill death die kill is what it chants to her, telling ever cell in her body.
She's learned to ignore it. Instead, she keeps her friends with her. Her blood itches and keens at the idea, but it will alwaysl be here when she needs it.
Especially if her friends ever betray her.
Yaw
6/29 prompt
The ship tilts, sending them stumbling sideways before they grabbed onto something.
Pandora is off before Jacen can stop her. Riley signals both of their Mirrors, telling them something's in the engines. Captain pins Jacen with a look that says stay, or else. Jacen swallows nervously, but stays put.
Pandora has a crappy mental map of the ship and gets lost twice before she finds the engines.
"Fuck," she whispers,
"What?" Riley answers almost immediately,
Pandora realizes she's accidentally opened a link to Riley,
"Sorry...Uh, looks like there's a bunch of charges on the engines..both sides," Riley can hear her chewing her lip, "One went off early...I don't know how to diffuse them,"
"It's alright," Riley knows Pandora is panicking, "I'll tell Captain and..."
Riley doesn't know what Captain will do...
"Just...keep it together down there, alright?"
Pandora takes a shuddering breath, "Okay."
Macabre
6/30 prompt
Backstabbing isn't particularly her style. It's her father's. But he's the best at what he does (backstabbing and running away, preferably up a tree), so it's in her best interest to just stick to what he knows.
And stick in what she doesn't. Like Gold Zenith's back. Right now.
She separates the spinal cord through the gap in the vertebra at the back of the woman's neck. A skill she's learned from slaughtering cows for chili. Zenith gets out an "Oh!" which is still impressive, because her brain is no longer connected to her body.
"Hm. I wasn't expecting that," Dan says, watching Zenith's body slump,
Arcane sets about skinning the body before Dan gears up to vaporize it. She feeds the skin into one of her pocket dimensions as the body disappears.
"Ready to go?" Tristan asks,
He's impatient already, despite the lack of a real battle. Dan nods and they continue further into the temple.
Hunky Dory
7/1 prompt
Gadg stumbles (falls) into Revi's apartment after both of their work days finished and before Revi has to work again.
"How goes it?" Revi asks, shutting the window behind him,
"As well as can be expected, I suppose," Gadg sighs himself into the nearest chair,
"Doesn't sound too bad,"
Revi goes back to her pasta, sitting adjacent to Gadg. He rolls his head back over the arm to watch her,
"Come tell me that when you have a kid. And Lucien."
Evanescence
7/2 prompt
After leaving M.R.C., Jordan assumed the influences from the school would sort of melt away. Instead, she catches herself, years away from the school, layering her thoughts to keep telepaths away. She thinks she's forgetting something every morning when Amyntas isn't on her shoulder. She goes to several different martial arts classes because she doesn't know what else to do with her time.
Jordan realises that the only thing that's bled away is her friends.
Vespertine
7/3 prompt, my new favorite word
"What're you doing up so late?"
Jacen sidles up to Pandora, sitting cross-legged to look down at her. Pandora lays on her back, staring at the smooth ceiling.
"Is it late?," she rolls her head to blink at him,
"Not really. More like early. I think it's--"
"4:30. I just forgot to check the time," Pandora replies, looking sidelong at him, "Did I wake you up?"
"No," Jacen looks skittish for a moment, "Another nightmare,"
"Yours?"
Jacen feels masked concern,
"No...no. I mean, it didn't feel like mine..." Jacen rubs the back of his neck, "Does that make any sense?"
"I dunno. It's easy for me to tell, y'know?" she shrugs, "Machines don't really think like people,"
Pandora pauses for a moment, then sits up to face Jacen,
"I think...I think I could turn it off," she says, biting her lip,
Jacen narrows his eyes at her,
"I think I do it with my Implant sometimes,"
She reaches behind Jacen and places one finger on the base of his skull. Her eyes glaze over as she "talks" to his implant. Jacen feels a surge of electricity and before he knows it, Pandora is up and across the room.
"Oh." she looks like she's seeing the outside of the airlock,
"What happened?" Jacen rubs the back of his neck which now feels a bit sore,
"I, uh, I got it...off, I mean. Sorry...about the power surge, I mean," Pandora looks around for an excuse, "I have to go."
Jacen watches Pandora high tail it out of the crew quarters, probably around to engineering.
Power surge?
Rataplan
7/4 prompt
There's a sort of rhythm to how Pandora works.
Most others are annoyed by the clanking coming from the insides of the ship. Jacen's heard it all his life, though, and he enjoys the metallic percussion.
Riley likes to complain loudly against the crawl spaces while she's in them. Jacen snickers because Pandora only goes there to annoy Riley.
Jaques manages to know when something is seriously wrong by tempo and always sends Sofia to help. Sofia knows better than to get in Pandora's way and hands her tools as needed.
Pandora doesn't hear the rhythm. She works with her music blaring in the back of her head so she can't remember the last time she was in a dark, cramped space.
Squelch
7/5 prompt
She disregards the useless drone from Archer, instead focusing on the blank page in front of her. Jordan shakes the pencil a few times, as if to tease the lines out of it without having to do any work.
When she gives up on that, she tries chewing. Mostly around the eraser to avoid the sour rubber taste. The wood crunches satisfyingly, but gets her no closer to what she's trying to draw.
Yet another roadblock is that she isn't even sure what she's trying to draw. Just an itch behind the eyes that tells there's something that needs to be put on the page.
She touches the pencil to the paper and draws a quick line, then a curve. And doesn't remember what she was so afraid of.
Bijou
7/6 prompt
She marvels at the design of the new nanites, the first time she catches a batch. They're quite exquisite, if she does say so herself (and she should, after all, she made them), small and incredibly efficient. They're not quite self-replicating, but given a small amount of organic matter, blood, let's say, gives them enough energy and material to build another. Luckily, the attributes of the blood don't particularly matter. No Family traits will be passed on through nanites.
Though, that is an intriguing idea.
Arcane throws the petri dish filled with dangerous, invisible robots over her shoulder. She needs to find a library.
Gizmo
7/7 prompt
Matt's room is actually a frightening place to be. It's a cross between a junk yard and a clean room and Max has no idea how it's even possible to create such a combination.
The first time Max goes to visit Matt, he's assaulted by several piles of scrap metal. It was mostly his own fault, still rather traumatic when Matt informed him he might be attached to a landmine. Matt, of course, was unaware of Max's discomfort and instead was more excited about using Max to help him build faster. Something about pliers without pliers getting in the way.
Turns out, co-opting Max as a lab assistant was a very good move on Matt's part. Max is extremely fast on the pick-up, especially when Matt actually takes the time to explain the premise or draw up an actual blueprint. The human pliers idea didn't work out as much...Max's hand is shakier than a crack whore in a barn. Without crack.
Max comes in every once in a while with blueprints of his own. Usually small robots which can be fairly autonomous. Max says its a reference to his other name. Matt never really asks him to explain because Max's designs are structurally intriguing and barely functional. Matt likes a challenge and Max doesn't mind his designs being re-engineered so long as he learns something.
The night before Matt's test, he realizes the drawer filled with Max's robots is empty. He doesn't bother to check if any of his own inventions are gone. Nothing else had been touched and Max is the only one so familiar with his room's organization. Max is too honorable to borrow from anyone without asking. And Matt knows Max isn't planning on coming back, anyway.
Sibylline
7/8 prompt
Kyle and Alex became friends through their high school's stage crew. They were two years apart, Alex being older, but the boys automatically took to one another.
When Alex manifests, Kyle knows enough to hide him from the government. It isn't hard to convince his mother to agree. She's been against the government ever since her other son had been taken.
"We can't keep him too long," his mother says,
"I know."
Kyle goes upstairs to pack his things. He isn't the same size as Alex at all, but he figures a few clean pairs of underwear will be appreciated. Now Kyle just has to wait out the coma Alex has been in for the past few days.
"Am I awake yet?" Alex asks,
"I think so," Kyle answers,
He swivels around, away from his computer, watching Alex.
"Have fun?" Kyle asks sarcastically,
"At some point...I think," Alex sits up on the edge of the bed, "I know where we have to go,"
Kyle nods. He doesn't question the fact that Alex isn't going alone,
"Want some soup first?"
Alex grins like a teenage boy offered free food.
Somewhere near half-way to South America, Kyle collapses. Alex counts the hours until Kyle will come to and keeps watch.
"Have fun?" Alex asks once he knows Kyle is awake,
"I don't know what you're talking about," Kyle says, "Nothing happened,"
Alex nods and hands Kyle a Fig Newton. They rest when the sun comes up and wake up again near dusk.
They'd been living in The Body for almost two months and Kyle was feeling thoroughly miserable. Chris allowed Kyle to stay with The Body as long as he wanted. At first, it was unbelivably cool to be able to hang out with mutants all day and night. For the most part, they didn't even care that he wasn't a mutant. He had a bit of a disadvantage during gym, but he made up for it in his other classes. But too soon, the newness of being with mutants wore off. Instead, Kyle felt an intense sense of alienation. He doesn't belong with mutants. Even if he supports their cause, he shouldn't be in this school, this community.
He begins packing his bags when a sense of the walls closing in on him made it hard to breathe.
"Ow," Kyle says when he wakes up,
Alex is there again, back facing him, like the night in the desert so long ago.
"Feeling better?" Alex asks,
Kyle has a pounding headache, he's intensely hungry and it looks like an earthquake destroyed his and Alex's room.
"Much."
Ugh, finally caught up. I'm going to blame this on being sick...a week ago? Then needing to catch up. Yes.
Edit: I just realized there are a few missing prompts somewhere in the middle...I guess I fail at copy+pasting. Expect them to be rewritten by the end of the weekend.
6/20 prompt
"We am never getting pregnant again," Lucien whines as he throws himself into the nearest armchair,
"You were never pregnant," Matt corrects, "All you've done is carry around Cam for a few hours today,"
"Well it felt like it was nine months,"
"It wasn't,"
"Nine weeks?"
"Maybe nine hours," Matt taps his watch,
I can't believe you were timing me, Lucien rolls his eyes,
"Daaaad!" Cam's cry echoes down the hallway to them.
"Your turn," the two men accuse at the same time,
"No. No, that was obviously a B flat,"
"Not on your life!"
Heliolatry
6/21 prompt
Space makes it hard to imagine that once, humans had thought that there was only one sun, their sun. And that they worshiped the ball of gas as a god. Ever since space travel had been popularized, there had been a wave of cults and sects racing to find their god somewhere in the infinite expanse of space.
Riley figures that one day, people will look on the lost searchers like he looks on the religions of the past. Pity and a bit of intrigue.
Proliferate
6/22 prompt
Unsurprisingly, getting the astral nanites to spread was the easiest part of the plan. Actually, taking over the universe hadn't been a part of the plan at all. But Arcane would be hard pressed to let that fact slip.
She sets up an airport-security-like entry into her universe, but for the exact opposite reason her father had done the same. The "scanning" machines were to inject the astral nanites into unsuspecting visitors (really, tourists deserve it, anyway.) Arcane has to go through one, herself, but there isn't any danger since she's the one controlling them. In fact, she needs a small amount in her body so they can relay information from the other nanites hopefully spreading around the multiverse at the moment. If only there was a way to get them to go faster.
Rococo
6/23 prompt
Writing was something that Jordan had never been good at. Most of her friends had assumed that because she was a good artist (or at least a persistent one), she was also a good writer. That she was an "artsy" type.
The truth is that Jordan is really more of a science person. It's easier to watch, experiment and interpret than to create stories. Or pictures, really. Even the task of writing a book report or a history essay is daunting to her. Something about sentence structure never really stuck, so she has to spend more time making sure sentences make sense than choosing the right words.
Jordan sighs. Waiting another day to finish her strategical analysis probably wouldn't hurt.
Haptic
6/24 prompt, brining the pr0ns
Her touch is everywhere on my body. Her nails trace the curve of my hip making me shiver when she finds a sensitive spot. Her mouth traverses a shaky path down my neck. When she stops to bite at my pulse, I moan and roll further into her. She shifts, flooding cold air over the length of my body. All at once, her teeth are teasing my nipple, one hand spread over my stomach and one expertly finding my clit, teasing and frustrating. I groan and push at her hand, silently begging for more. She smirks against my breast. When she thrusts into me with the hand previously on my stomach, my entire body buzzes, tingling with spots of fire.
Oh yes, the blindfold was a very good idea.
Cakewalk
6/25 prompt
"Well that was pretty sad," Hunter comments,
He's too busy licking the remaining cake from his hands to notice Revi's look of disgust.
"No, it was pretty gross. I'm pretty sure I have cake in places cake should never go," she gripes, "Why would someone even think that building a death theme park out of cake was a good idea?"
"Because they were hungry at the time?" Hunter smirks,
"And then he calls it Cakewalk? Really? I almost miss actual death threats,"
Enthrall
6/26 prompt, rather suggestive, slash again
His eyes are bewitching as they meet his from across the room. They say the unspeakable things between them.
His hands are mesmerizing as they peel away the leather and masks, boots and belts.
His lips are beguiling as they press against his neck, fingers, lips. They ply open his mouth and become mind-melting.
His voice, though, his voice is enthralling. As they arch into each other, clinging, clawing, he cries out. And he is lost for good.
Zephyr
6/27 prompt, sadly smut free
The breeze on the balcony of her temple ship is constant and chilling. It's not the sort of full-on wind that cuts to the bone. More of the kind of wind that constantly messes up your hair.
Arcane frowns as yet another lock of hair finds its way into her face. She glares half-heartedly at the sky as she tucks the offending hair back. With her hair temporarily not threatening to get in her mouth, she eats another mouthful of her ice cream, watching the land fly by below her.
On her head, Lebensraum shivers. Arcane tucks the armadillo into her arms, temporarily abandoning her ice cream for warmth.
Next to Arcane's half-full bowl, is Lebensraum's small, empty bowl.
Yen
6/28 prompt
The nature versus nurture argument is lost on Arcane. It's never been a contest, for her. Her blood has always told her what to do. Or at least given her a good hint.
Her blood thrills at seeing others of its kind. Blood and more blood is what it calls for.
Kill kill die death die kill death die kill is what it chants to her, telling ever cell in her body.
She's learned to ignore it. Instead, she keeps her friends with her. Her blood itches and keens at the idea, but it will alwaysl be here when she needs it.
Especially if her friends ever betray her.
Yaw
6/29 prompt
The ship tilts, sending them stumbling sideways before they grabbed onto something.
Pandora is off before Jacen can stop her. Riley signals both of their Mirrors, telling them something's in the engines. Captain pins Jacen with a look that says stay, or else. Jacen swallows nervously, but stays put.
Pandora has a crappy mental map of the ship and gets lost twice before she finds the engines.
"Fuck," she whispers,
"What?" Riley answers almost immediately,
Pandora realizes she's accidentally opened a link to Riley,
"Sorry...Uh, looks like there's a bunch of charges on the engines..both sides," Riley can hear her chewing her lip, "One went off early...I don't know how to diffuse them,"
"It's alright," Riley knows Pandora is panicking, "I'll tell Captain and..."
Riley doesn't know what Captain will do...
"Just...keep it together down there, alright?"
Pandora takes a shuddering breath, "Okay."
Macabre
6/30 prompt
Backstabbing isn't particularly her style. It's her father's. But he's the best at what he does (backstabbing and running away, preferably up a tree), so it's in her best interest to just stick to what he knows.
And stick in what she doesn't. Like Gold Zenith's back. Right now.
She separates the spinal cord through the gap in the vertebra at the back of the woman's neck. A skill she's learned from slaughtering cows for chili. Zenith gets out an "Oh!" which is still impressive, because her brain is no longer connected to her body.
"Hm. I wasn't expecting that," Dan says, watching Zenith's body slump,
Arcane sets about skinning the body before Dan gears up to vaporize it. She feeds the skin into one of her pocket dimensions as the body disappears.
"Ready to go?" Tristan asks,
He's impatient already, despite the lack of a real battle. Dan nods and they continue further into the temple.
Hunky Dory
7/1 prompt
Gadg stumbles (falls) into Revi's apartment after both of their work days finished and before Revi has to work again.
"How goes it?" Revi asks, shutting the window behind him,
"As well as can be expected, I suppose," Gadg sighs himself into the nearest chair,
"Doesn't sound too bad,"
Revi goes back to her pasta, sitting adjacent to Gadg. He rolls his head back over the arm to watch her,
"Come tell me that when you have a kid. And Lucien."
Evanescence
7/2 prompt
After leaving M.R.C., Jordan assumed the influences from the school would sort of melt away. Instead, she catches herself, years away from the school, layering her thoughts to keep telepaths away. She thinks she's forgetting something every morning when Amyntas isn't on her shoulder. She goes to several different martial arts classes because she doesn't know what else to do with her time.
Jordan realises that the only thing that's bled away is her friends.
Vespertine
7/3 prompt, my new favorite word
"What're you doing up so late?"
Jacen sidles up to Pandora, sitting cross-legged to look down at her. Pandora lays on her back, staring at the smooth ceiling.
"Is it late?," she rolls her head to blink at him,
"Not really. More like early. I think it's--"
"4:30. I just forgot to check the time," Pandora replies, looking sidelong at him, "Did I wake you up?"
"No," Jacen looks skittish for a moment, "Another nightmare,"
"Yours?"
Jacen feels masked concern,
"No...no. I mean, it didn't feel like mine..." Jacen rubs the back of his neck, "Does that make any sense?"
"I dunno. It's easy for me to tell, y'know?" she shrugs, "Machines don't really think like people,"
Pandora pauses for a moment, then sits up to face Jacen,
"I think...I think I could turn it off," she says, biting her lip,
Jacen narrows his eyes at her,
"I think I do it with my Implant sometimes,"
She reaches behind Jacen and places one finger on the base of his skull. Her eyes glaze over as she "talks" to his implant. Jacen feels a surge of electricity and before he knows it, Pandora is up and across the room.
"Oh." she looks like she's seeing the outside of the airlock,
"What happened?" Jacen rubs the back of his neck which now feels a bit sore,
"I, uh, I got it...off, I mean. Sorry...about the power surge, I mean," Pandora looks around for an excuse, "I have to go."
Jacen watches Pandora high tail it out of the crew quarters, probably around to engineering.
Power surge?
Rataplan
7/4 prompt
There's a sort of rhythm to how Pandora works.
Most others are annoyed by the clanking coming from the insides of the ship. Jacen's heard it all his life, though, and he enjoys the metallic percussion.
Riley likes to complain loudly against the crawl spaces while she's in them. Jacen snickers because Pandora only goes there to annoy Riley.
Jaques manages to know when something is seriously wrong by tempo and always sends Sofia to help. Sofia knows better than to get in Pandora's way and hands her tools as needed.
Pandora doesn't hear the rhythm. She works with her music blaring in the back of her head so she can't remember the last time she was in a dark, cramped space.
Squelch
7/5 prompt
She disregards the useless drone from Archer, instead focusing on the blank page in front of her. Jordan shakes the pencil a few times, as if to tease the lines out of it without having to do any work.
When she gives up on that, she tries chewing. Mostly around the eraser to avoid the sour rubber taste. The wood crunches satisfyingly, but gets her no closer to what she's trying to draw.
Yet another roadblock is that she isn't even sure what she's trying to draw. Just an itch behind the eyes that tells there's something that needs to be put on the page.
She touches the pencil to the paper and draws a quick line, then a curve. And doesn't remember what she was so afraid of.
Bijou
7/6 prompt
She marvels at the design of the new nanites, the first time she catches a batch. They're quite exquisite, if she does say so herself (and she should, after all, she made them), small and incredibly efficient. They're not quite self-replicating, but given a small amount of organic matter, blood, let's say, gives them enough energy and material to build another. Luckily, the attributes of the blood don't particularly matter. No Family traits will be passed on through nanites.
Though, that is an intriguing idea.
Arcane throws the petri dish filled with dangerous, invisible robots over her shoulder. She needs to find a library.
Gizmo
7/7 prompt
Matt's room is actually a frightening place to be. It's a cross between a junk yard and a clean room and Max has no idea how it's even possible to create such a combination.
The first time Max goes to visit Matt, he's assaulted by several piles of scrap metal. It was mostly his own fault, still rather traumatic when Matt informed him he might be attached to a landmine. Matt, of course, was unaware of Max's discomfort and instead was more excited about using Max to help him build faster. Something about pliers without pliers getting in the way.
Turns out, co-opting Max as a lab assistant was a very good move on Matt's part. Max is extremely fast on the pick-up, especially when Matt actually takes the time to explain the premise or draw up an actual blueprint. The human pliers idea didn't work out as much...Max's hand is shakier than a crack whore in a barn. Without crack.
Max comes in every once in a while with blueprints of his own. Usually small robots which can be fairly autonomous. Max says its a reference to his other name. Matt never really asks him to explain because Max's designs are structurally intriguing and barely functional. Matt likes a challenge and Max doesn't mind his designs being re-engineered so long as he learns something.
The night before Matt's test, he realizes the drawer filled with Max's robots is empty. He doesn't bother to check if any of his own inventions are gone. Nothing else had been touched and Max is the only one so familiar with his room's organization. Max is too honorable to borrow from anyone without asking. And Matt knows Max isn't planning on coming back, anyway.
Sibylline
7/8 prompt
Kyle and Alex became friends through their high school's stage crew. They were two years apart, Alex being older, but the boys automatically took to one another.
When Alex manifests, Kyle knows enough to hide him from the government. It isn't hard to convince his mother to agree. She's been against the government ever since her other son had been taken.
"We can't keep him too long," his mother says,
"I know."
Kyle goes upstairs to pack his things. He isn't the same size as Alex at all, but he figures a few clean pairs of underwear will be appreciated. Now Kyle just has to wait out the coma Alex has been in for the past few days.
"Am I awake yet?" Alex asks,
"I think so," Kyle answers,
He swivels around, away from his computer, watching Alex.
"Have fun?" Kyle asks sarcastically,
"At some point...I think," Alex sits up on the edge of the bed, "I know where we have to go,"
Kyle nods. He doesn't question the fact that Alex isn't going alone,
"Want some soup first?"
Alex grins like a teenage boy offered free food.
Somewhere near half-way to South America, Kyle collapses. Alex counts the hours until Kyle will come to and keeps watch.
"Have fun?" Alex asks once he knows Kyle is awake,
"I don't know what you're talking about," Kyle says, "Nothing happened,"
Alex nods and hands Kyle a Fig Newton. They rest when the sun comes up and wake up again near dusk.
They'd been living in The Body for almost two months and Kyle was feeling thoroughly miserable. Chris allowed Kyle to stay with The Body as long as he wanted. At first, it was unbelivably cool to be able to hang out with mutants all day and night. For the most part, they didn't even care that he wasn't a mutant. He had a bit of a disadvantage during gym, but he made up for it in his other classes. But too soon, the newness of being with mutants wore off. Instead, Kyle felt an intense sense of alienation. He doesn't belong with mutants. Even if he supports their cause, he shouldn't be in this school, this community.
He begins packing his bags when a sense of the walls closing in on him made it hard to breathe.
"Ow," Kyle says when he wakes up,
Alex is there again, back facing him, like the night in the desert so long ago.
"Feeling better?" Alex asks,
Kyle has a pounding headache, he's intensely hungry and it looks like an earthquake destroyed his and Alex's room.
"Much."
Ugh, finally caught up. I'm going to blame this on being sick...a week ago? Then needing to catch up. Yes.
Edit: I just realized there are a few missing prompts somewhere in the middle...I guess I fail at copy+pasting. Expect them to be rewritten by the end of the weekend.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
6/10 to 6/19 prompts
The Whole Shebang
'kowtow', prompt for 6/11
Patricia never understands the relationship between Isabella and Chris. She calls him 'master'as if, if she doesn't, he'll throw her out. And Chris, in turn, accepts the title. When Patricia had first gotten here, she had thought that's how all of the younger mutants addressed Chris. He was basically Dumbledore, after all. Chris corrected her. Patricia thought it was because she was Jordan's younger sister. Then, upon becoming further integrated into The Cult, she discovered that most of the other mutants called Chris...Chris.
She still isn't sure how the whole kowtow from Isabella to Chris started. She's almost sure it's entirely one-sided, too. Like a neurotic behavior Chris had tried to correct but eventually forgot.
Patricia just accepts the act and moves on.
The Age Old Debate
'juggernaut', prompt for 6/12
"Who would win...Juggernaut or The Blob?" Max asks Jordan,
"Ah, the age old question," Jordan flips onto her back, "The Unstoppable Force versus the Immovable Object,"
"I don't think there's a right answer," Max warns,
"Well now I can't say it'll be a tie,"
Jordan flicks Max's ribs and he feigns being hurt,
"I won't hold it against you if you cop out," he taunts,
"I think Blob's been defeated more times...like way more times than Juggernaut. And Juggernaut's definitely smarter with the whole blocking his only weak point," Jordan chews on her bottom lip in contemplation, "Yeah, I say Juggernaut would win,"
So They Say
'vernacular', prompt for 6/13
Revi and Hunter are perched on the edge of a building. Batman style. Disguised amongst the gargoyles.
Hunter is busy listening and looking. Revi is mostly zoning out.
Hunter shifts his weight forward and Revi is behind him, free falling off the skyscraper. Hunter repels head-first off the building and onto a shorter one, nearby. Revi unfurls the wings drawn on her back and floats a few feet above him,
"Where to?"
"West side. Down near the good part of town,"
'The good part of town' is vernacular among mutants meaning 'mutant-free' zones. And 'mutant-free' is vernacular for 'lots of bigots with guns.'
"Fuck."
"Yeah. I don't even know why I take you on these," Hunter snickers, "You make my life so much harder,"
Revi rolls her eyes. She doesn't reply, they're getting close.
Do you need a breather? Revi throws a look over her shoulder,
No, Hunter shakes his head,
They drop, as one, behind the ring of thugs. It's already a mess. There's a girl with her throat cut. Hunter thinks she's alive, but when he isn't sure it can't be a good sign. They're working on getting another girl's pants off. They barely notice the thud and Revi and Hunter take out three of the thugs before the rest notice what's going on.
"Fucking mutants!" one of them screams,
"Did these two fucking tattle on us? Did they use their goddamn mutant mind fuck powers on you too?!" this one has a knife,
Shit says Revi's slight change in fighting stance,
"Ooh," Hunter feigns sympathy, "You just pissed her off,"
Hunter nearly laughs as Revi launches herself into the five other thugs. She doesn't have to worry about separating them from the other girl, now that they'd rather try to kill her. Hunter trots up to the girl, slowly, making sure he doesn't sneak up on her,
"Are you alright?" he asks, standing a large personal space away,
The girl looks up at him and he sees only fear in her eyes,
"I'm not gonna come near you," Hunter holds his hands out to his sides, "I just wanna make sure you're okay before I go check on your friend,"
He's not even sure if the girl can hear him,
"I think she's in shock," Hunter adds, "Can you tell me her name?"
"Elsie," after a long moment,
Hunter nods and leans down to check on the other girl. The cut is jagged and shallow, which is good in two ways. First, it means these guys are amateurs. Second, it means that the girl will probably live if they can get her to a hospital quick enough. Hunter can hear her heart when he's this close. But that means it's extremely weak,
"Rev!" he yells over the melee,
"Yeah, go!" she yells back, "I'll meet you there in 5,"
Hunter picks up the girl and is off within seconds. Her head is cradled so that he hopefully won't jostle the wound too much when he sprints.
Revi crouches under another punch because this guy keeps trying to pull the same trick. He ends up punching his friend for the third time that night. His friend has had enough and that's two people Revi doesn't have to worry about now. She smiles toothily at the remaining three and cracks her knuckles. One of them makes a break for it. While the other two are threatening him, Revi disarms the one with the knife, then rearms his wrist. He's in shock from the blood loss. She trips the other when he rushes her and knocks his head against the curb. It's an accident but she's more than willing to take credit for it. She knocks the last two out by clunking their heads together while they were arguing. Revi takes a beacon out from her belt and lets it automatically alert the police while she checks on the girl,
"You doin' okay so far?" Revi asks, her voice softening,
The girl nods. She's still plastered against the wall, shirt ripped and pants half-way undone,
"What's your name?" Revi asks, taking a slow step towards the girl,
"E-Erica," her voice cracks and she swallows nervously,
"Alright, Erica. Do you know who I am?"
She nods,
"Then you know I'm not here to hurt you?"
Another nod,
"Okay good. I want to help you, Erica, but you have to let me know it's okay, okay?"
"I-I don't...I don't know how,"
Revi nods,
"They said you were both mutants. Is that true?"
Erica nods again, she gestures to the empty space where there's still blood pool on the ground,
"Elsie...was...is a-a hydrokinetic. I'm a pyrokinetic. We're-we are best friends," Erica takes a deep breath, "We were supposed to go to M.R.C. together,
Revi senses the oncoming of tears and Erica collapses into her arms. Revi holds the younger girl as she cries. Revi counts the minutes in her head while the girl cries.
"Can I take you to the hospital, Erica?" Revi asks when the sobbing stops, "The doctors and I would like to make sure you're doing okay,"
Erica nods, wiping at the tears still falling with the sleeve of her T-shirt. Revi animates Amyntas and helps Erica climb on. Amyntas pushes away from the ground as the sirens come around the corner.
Revi finds Hunter after she drops off Erica,
"How'd we do?" she asks, leaning against the wall with him,
"Not too bad," Hunter shrugs, "Elsie's in a coma. She's all stitched up, though, and they gave her as much O neg as they could spare,"
"Erica's with the counselor now," Revi pauses, waiting for a few doctors to pass, "They were headed for M.R.C."
"Double rescue mission," Hunter smiles, "How many points is that? 100?"
"Oh yeah," Revi smiles back,
"Wanna take shifts?" Hunter asks,
"Nah, I'll leave Phaedrus and Nyx here," Revi taps her thighs absentmindedly, "We can come back later and see if their parents have shown up and ask permission to take them,"
"Now I remember why I take you with me,"
"Riiiight."
Quintessential
6/14 prompt
"Quintessence?" Arcane repeats the name,
"Right," Mark replies, "She's blonde and tall,"
Blonde means crazy. Tall means Mark's slept with her. Arcane used to be bothered by the Tree's incest, but now it's more like a science, trying to figure out who in the Family will make the most powerful offspring.
"Is she evil?"
Arcane is hoping she's not, the last thing she needs is another crazy woman.
"No...just...very crazy," Mark answers, "It would be like having Two-Face on your team,"
But Quintessence is powerful. Arcane would take that bet.
Mark shakes his head at her, but knows the decision is made.
Vocabulary II
6/15 prompt 'festoon'
"No, just festoon it," the set dresser tells her,
From the way the set dresser emphasizes the words and gesticulates, she thinks it was meant to clarify what she's supposed to do with the drapes,
"Uh. What?"
"You have to drape the drapes,"
The set dresser makes the same motions again. She shakes her head at the other woman, standing 20 feet below her,
"Couldn't you have just said that in the first place?"
She leans the ladder on 3 legs to get closer to the hooks installed in the set's wall.
"It's a technical term."
Indemnity
6/16 prompt, continuation from 6/14's prompt
"What's this?" Quintessence asks,
"Insurance," Arcane answers from behind her,
Arcane clicks the collar together around the taller woman's neck. Quintessence seems more curious than angry she is untrusted,
"What's it do?" she asks again,
"Astral dispersion collar. I figured decapitation wouldn't do much to stop you if you went all stabby on me," Arcane explains,
"Very wise,"
"I am a Drake. So wise and reckless would be more accurate."
Oscitant
6/17 prompt
"I'm tired," one of her kids yawns,
"No you're not," Jordan pokes at the child,
He rolls over so he's face down on the stage. Another child across the room yawns,
"Oh gods, you're spreading it now," Jordan stresses, "Hurry and get up, before it becomes an epidemic,"
But it's too late. There's an empath somewhere in the theater and yawning is contagious enough by itself. Within seconds all of the children are yawning and Jordan thinks she can line them up so they yawn in order.
Another round of yawning starts.
I'd better make it a circle, Jordan thinks to herself.
Hegira
6/18 prompt
"Where are we going?" Tristan asks,
"A much better place," Brass answers,
"Oh fuck," Arcane slaps her hand to her forehead,
"Precisely, my dear," Brass smiles, "Lubreland and my estate,"
Arcane leaves her hand over her eyes as they pass through the gaudy entrance with more lights than an entire travelling circus and more phallic symbols than...She doesn't even want to think about what else would have this many dicks all over it. At least Tristan looks mortified, too.
"Why are we here, Brass," Arcane growls,
"This is where the portal to my dimension is," Brass explains, "If you get there...I've got a special surprise for you, dear,"
"You are literally my father," Arcane gags, "Or literally the opposite. I don't know how Ragnarok fucked that one up,"
Brass shrugs and wiggles his eyebrows lewdly at her.
"So where in hell do we need to go to get to your dimension, Brass?" Arcane asks,
"Finding out is half the fun!"
The dwarf is already out of sight when Arcane tries to kick him.
"Fucking Brass," Arcane says,
"No, please, no," Tristain mumbles,
The now-pair comes to what seems like the center of the park, but the whole thing is shaped like a fun house, so who really knows.
"Well we can try the Tunnel of Love, the Ramrod or the One-eyed Weasel," Arcane grimaces as she reads the ride names,
"I can't believe he only thought of three innuendos," Tristan replies,
"You are no help. Love Tunnel it is. Sounds the least painful,"
They set off in a random direction because navigating by any logical sense would be useless here.
"They all sound...I think I'm gonna need a raincoat or something,"
A robotic dwarf ushers them onto the swan-shaped boat and doesn't offer them a raincoat. The seats are sticky and both adventurers grimace. The ride starts and the swan boat is propelled into a pair of lips and the darkened tunnel. Once the light from the beginning of the tunnel is gone, things start to go sour. Tristan yelps as him and Arcane are picked out of their seats by robotic claws. Both are placed in giant glass tubes overlooking a cloning machine with a conveyor belt attached. Brass is in a lab coat and goggles and has the audacity to wink at them. Both Arcane and Tristan are pricked with needles and their blood taken into long test tubes. Arcane curses at Brass, but the noise is lost against the glass. Tristan also looks livid.
The cloning machine hisses and groans as the two samples are added into the machine. It ruminates on that for a while and then beeps. The machine starts turning out Trivians, combinations of Arcane and Tristan literally split down the middle. Sixty four go into Brass' pocket dimension. Sixty fucking four. With their combined genetics that's a shitstorm waiting to happen.
Brass waves goodbye at them as their tubes begin to lower to the ground.
"It's a trap!" Tristan exclaims belatedly.
Amok
6/19 prompt
Jordan never thought she would be a teacher. She had actually decided that teaching would be the last thing she would be doing. She hated-- still hates-- kids, so why would she ever teach them? What would she even have to teach them?
Then she went to college for theater and had to have an actual day job. Turns out, most theaters run shows at night, which conflicts with her...other...engagements.
Chris offered her a job, of course. He was starting a normal high school, after all, and normal high schools have musicals once or twice a year.
And that was probably how Jordan ended up in the midst of fifty or so teenage mutants while they scamper around the theater, desperate to finish painting the set or focus a light or test choir mics or find a lost prop or strike something off the punch list.
It's hell week/crunch time/the week before opening night. It's also their second hell week, so that's really not an appropriate title.
Jordan can't complain, even though she's spending more time in the theater than in her bed. Well, she could complain. But she won't because she loves the chaos of it. She loves standing still and watching her kids run around like chickens with their heads cut off. Jordan's at home with chaos.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Prompts 6/2 to 6/5
Game On
6/2 prompt "What makes it a game anyway?"
6/2 prompt "What makes it a game anyway?"
There are a few things that make a game a game. Rules, a quantifiable outcome and negotiable consequences. Rules are the obvious part. Quantifiable outcome can be many things: how much money you win in poker, player set goals in The Sims, the point values for hitting people in the driving game, certain death in Russian Roulette. Negotiable consequence is the ability to bet your pants in poker instead of your last $100.
In this way, The Sims is only sometimes a game. There is no built in score. There is no clear goal or end to the game. There are rules, but not many. Russian Roulette is not a game. The consequences are non-negotiable by definition. The driving game (if you don't know what the driving game is...) is most certainly a game. It has rules, there is a quantifiable outcome in the points system and has negotiable consequences...mostly in whether or not you actually are going to play for the most points.
Not Quite There
6/3 prompt "Is it even possible? Write about someone who has no enemies."
6/3 prompt "Is it even possible? Write about someone who has no enemies."
From the minute she was born (she's still not exactly sure when), she's had at least one enemy.
Her first was her father. He refrains from killing her, though, because he's missed too many chances to kill her before. And Mark hates to admit his mistakes. She repays him by not killing him.
Next was her mother. Mark warns her that her mother is probably the one who made her in The Vat. Morganna never admits it and Arcane owes Mark so she kills her mother and takes her throne. Literally.
Mark gives her a list of her grandfather, half-siblings and cousins. She doesn't ask questions, just takes her ice cream and goes to work.
One day, Arcane will be able to say she has no enemies.
Grin and Bear It
6/4 prompt "What made your childhood bearable?"
6/4 prompt "What made your childhood bearable?"
Jordan's childhood is completely normal. To her. Most other people (those not raised by M.R.C.), would say she was abused as a child.
The teachers did nothing to end fights, even among the children. Jordan thinks they thought it was a good way to prepare them for what's to come later. She can't exactly say they were wrong. Jordan is more well prepared than most of the teens who come to M.R.C.
She beats one teen in a fight once, just to prove a point. She wins, of course.
It wasn't that fight that made it so the other children (even the new ones) didn't come after her constantly. It certainly didn't hurt, though.
Horror Movies
6/5 prompt "Who scared you and laughed?"
6/5 prompt "Who scared you and laughed?"
Jordan half stumbles and half sprints out of the greasy establishment. She barely keeps herself upright as she gasps for breath.
“Let me get this straight,” a deep voice from behind her makes her jump,
Jordan turns to see Lucien and Stefan there, barely containing their laughter. She glares at them, still trying to steady her legs.
“So, you can face down people who you know can, and will, kill you without so much as blushing...but you can't sit through a horror movie?” Stefan taunts Jordan,
“It was almost half-way through,” Jordan pants,
“Ooh man,” Lucien laughs, “You're saying that's the longest you've ever lasted in a scary movie?”
Jordan manages to actually stand up to fix her two older brothers with a half-assed glare. This sobers them a bit, but they continue to snicker. Jordan groans and drags a hand over her face. She's never going to live this one down...
The bright side is she's wearing really dark pants today.
Game On- This is what you get when you ask a game major about what makes a game a game. I'm pretty sure that's by Jesper Juul's definition of a game. I was too tired to go get my game design book.
ANYWAY. Hell week is over. Finals week next week.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
It was never inconvenient for Jordan to be barely over 5 feet in height. In M.R.C., powers did the talking and the walking. And the rarer the power, the better. Jordan's power was nearly unheard of. Thus, no one ever picked on her for her height. Age was also not much of a factor here. The younger you came to M.R.C., the better off you were. The age your body recognized your power didn't particularly matter, but the length of time you stayed at M.R.C. did matter. The longer you had stayed the more allies you had. The longer you had stayed in M.R.C. the more training you got. So Jordan never wished that she was taller or older. Instead she wished she was faster and more flexible.
5/26 prompt "When did you wish you were bigger or older?"
5/26 prompt "When did you wish you were bigger or older?"
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Soap Opera
She settles into the couch with her sister and brothers. Five of them are squished onto the three person couch. She picks up the remote and switches on the show. The Grey's Anatomy logo flashes on and off the screen. The girls feign interest and the boys feign disgust. They watch and pretend to be normal.
For the 5/18 prompt "Why do they watch soap operas?" Oof, I'm a day behind because I spent last night drawing *lame excuses* But! I'm totally drawing a comic tonight >_> I promise?
For the 5/18 prompt "Why do they watch soap operas?" Oof, I'm a day behind because I spent last night drawing *lame excuses* But! I'm totally drawing a comic tonight >_> I promise?
Monday, May 17, 2010
Daily Prompts Rush
Don't Stare
The little girl was excited to be out. It was the first day of summer and it was sweltering. Her mother had allowed her to tie her own hair back. Using mismatching hair elastics, she had made uneven pigtails out of her dark brown hair. Even better than that, her mother had promised her ice cream.
They took the short walk into town and she was enjoying the rock in her sandals. When they arrived at the ice cream store, it was already swarming with older kids. Most of them were too old to acknowledge her existence. She felt comfortable observing them while her and her mother were waiting in line for her double scoop of strawberry ice cream. One of the older kids noticed her staring. He stared back unblinkingly.
"Honey, it's not polite to stare," her mother's hand came down on her shoulder.
She blinked. The older boy was gone.
Ssss
She straddles the bike and spurs it to life. The black bike starts with a slight shudder and a softer than normal purr. She slides the bike from its parking space and into traffic. The bike slices through the parallel cars. The drivers sneer at her as she shoots past them. She sinks into a curve and senses the road close to her leg. She shifts out of out of the curve easily and back to skirting traffic.
Anger
She couldn't believe it. She could not believe it. She pressed her thumb and middle finger on her temples, trying to clear her head.
She breathed in.
And out.
It wasn't helping. She was still seeing red. She began to glare at her computer again, reading the message over, faster than the first time. She slammed the laptop closed, not even caring about the well being of the machine. Who did he think he was? She knew she shouldn't care about something so insignificant as getting blocked on facebook...but wasn't he the one who had broken up with her?! She blew out a breath between her teeth.
Then laughed haltingly. She was done with this.
Nosy Neighbors
Jordan and Max (and Lucien and Matt and Hunter and Caitlin) had to be careful about the neighbors they lived with. They had to be observant (in case they needed to ask if anyone had been looking for them) but not nosy (in case they had a fight break out in their apartments.) The neighbors couldn't be overly outgoing (so the neighbors didn't find out they were mostly nocturnal.) The neighbors had to be deep sleepers (so the neighbors didn't find out they were mostly nocturnal.) The neighbors couldn't leave things out on the fire escapes (in case they needed a quick escape route.) (Also, it was a fire hazard.)
Phew. I've been playing too much Gyromancer, hence the title. Also, hence me writing all of these in one day. I've been writing, I've just been neglecting my prompts. So here they are.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
French Fries
“I can't decide what to eat,” Jordan complained,
Max trotted out from the kitchen to plop down on the couch near Jordan's feet. Her feet automatically sought out the warmth under his legs.
“Wait until you get a craving or something,” Max advised,
“Pregnant women get cravings,” she replied with a hint of disgust,
“We'd better be careful then,”
Jordan scowled at him.
“Well you'd better decide soon, it's almost time for work,”
Max meant her night shift, she knew. But it made her stomach growl insistently. Jordan actually knew what she wanted to eat. She just knew she couldn't get it tonight. What Jordan wanted were the fries from M.R.C. But that was not something she would freely admit. The fries from M.R.C were the typical frozen, mass packaged ones. Everyone else thought they had too much potato and not enough crunch.
“You know what I would kill for right now?” Max glanced sidelong at her,
No, Jordan eyed him warily,
“Those fries from M.R.C.” Max sighed, “Everyone else hated them,”
Jordan nearly jumped him right there,
“What? You liked them too?!” Max read the gleam in her eyes, “You've been sitting on that secret for how long?”
Shut up, Jordan smiled, “I didn't want to repeat Matt and Lucien's tater tot fiasco from last week,”
Prompt for 5/11 "Would it taste as good now as it did then?" Which I'm pretty sure was given last week...
Max trotted out from the kitchen to plop down on the couch near Jordan's feet. Her feet automatically sought out the warmth under his legs.
“Wait until you get a craving or something,” Max advised,
“Pregnant women get cravings,” she replied with a hint of disgust,
“We'd better be careful then,”
Jordan scowled at him.
“Well you'd better decide soon, it's almost time for work,”
Max meant her night shift, she knew. But it made her stomach growl insistently. Jordan actually knew what she wanted to eat. She just knew she couldn't get it tonight. What Jordan wanted were the fries from M.R.C. But that was not something she would freely admit. The fries from M.R.C were the typical frozen, mass packaged ones. Everyone else thought they had too much potato and not enough crunch.
“You know what I would kill for right now?” Max glanced sidelong at her,
No, Jordan eyed him warily,
“Those fries from M.R.C.” Max sighed, “Everyone else hated them,”
Jordan nearly jumped him right there,
“What? You liked them too?!” Max read the gleam in her eyes, “You've been sitting on that secret for how long?”
Shut up, Jordan smiled, “I didn't want to repeat Matt and Lucien's tater tot fiasco from last week,”
Prompt for 5/11 "Would it taste as good now as it did then?" Which I'm pretty sure was given last week...
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Batman Camp!
The main gym was set up with multiple risers run out so that there was a sort of stage in the center. The teachers were already giving the mass of students an impatient look. Even though less than half of M.R.C. was coming to this seminar, the mutants still managed to fill the risers.
“Students, welcome to the Stealth and Advanced Combat Seminar,” King announced,
“Batman Camp!” Chase practically squealed to Max,
Max was literally giggling.
Seminar started with a lecture. King went over basic stealth maneuvers that they'd been learning for months. Max and Chase took notes and could barely stay in their seats. The next hour was spent by Knight explaining a worksheet with over 200 ways to silently kill someone.
A short demonstration with Drake and a thick-skinned Special helped them to find pressure points on any humanoid.
“Avoidance is always the easiest way to win a fight. And the easiest thing to avoid is someone who's looking for you. You already know where the person following you is headed, and why they're going there. And that makes them easy to avoid,” King explained as the first day ended.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Today, padiwans, the training truly begins,” Knight teased with a smirk,
They spent the whole day walking on the creaky floorboards of the gym until no one remembered that the floorboards were capable of noise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The third day, they practiced being silent while various limbs were being broken. Then they spent the rest of the day learning how to walk silently, to stay poised with those broken bones. One arm was cake. Two arms was no different after one. One leg was difficult, but Max saw at least an Airbender and a Waterbender do it. Two legs meant crawling along the floor silently, trying to keep your elbows from contacting the floor in the wrong spot.
The floor squeaked for most of the day, but ceased complaining by the end of the day.
There was a long line to get into the Med Center because the Meds appointed to Batman Camp concluded the younger Mutes needed more practice balancing. They brushed the blood out of their teeth before they went to bed. Max never felt more like a super hero.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the fourth day, they were condemned to the main gym, accompanied only by the older Mutes. It was unfortunate because those still in Camp had been tasked with trying to avoid those previously graduated.
Max was paired with Lucien. Which was unfair in two ways. First, Chase got to play with Jordan. Second, Lucien played dirty. Max only finished before Chase because Max had gotten so used to getting randomly blinded by Lucien that he just hid in plain sight. Lucien snickered when Max came out of his hiding spot. Chase finally managed to elude Jordan after slipping to the bottom of the pool (she always checked the rafters first).
“Batman would've checked the pool,” Lucien whispered to her later,
Camp continued with an obstacle course only in the rafters. After the first Mute fell, the rest had to battle against sweaty palms and the shakes. At the end, they were tasked with hanging upside down on a wire for as long as possible. The vomiting and fainting weren't any prettier than the broken limbs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was day five and there were only two days of seminar left. The Campers were getting antsy at the inevitable return to class. King “treated” them to learning basic parkour moves that would help them on the streets. Wall jumping, leaping across alleys and grappling edges. Max finally figured out how the parkour “club” got started. King was surprised when some of the Mutes caught on a bit too quickly.
Idiots, a telepath scolded all of them,
Everyone else fell at least once after that.
“Good,” King said with a hint of suspicion,
The mutants then unanimously voted that they should move on to combat maneuvers instead of advanced parkour moves.
Max was partnered up with Chase. They practiced “shadowing” each other. This meant they each tried to stick to the other's blind spot. Chase was more successful, but Max was a quick learner after Chase continually avoided his attacks. Since shadowing was fairly easy to learn the basics of, they moved on to some pressure point work before the day was over.
Max felt a lot more limber after having multiple pressure points abused. Chase said he had a headache.
Jordan grinned at Max that night when he declared that parkour was Batman Camp's version of extra credit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day six was disturbing for some and exciting for the serial killers among them. And make no mistake, some at M.R.C. were seriously disturbed. And disturbing. The Mages had created for them anatomically correct constructs. The constructs were killed one by one. It was a test of sorts: making sure that you had done your worksheet on the first day. Each of them were required to kill 5 of the constructs before lunch. Chase seemed to be enjoying himself. Max reminded himself that Jordan probably took pride in it, too.
After lunch (mystery meat sandwiches), they had another parkour lesson. More basics: climbing up buildings, jumping through windows and side-flips. Jumping out of windows wasn't a strictly parkour, but it was fun, so no one argued.
Max was sure that a side-flip was a name that King had made up. Hunter called it a barrel roll.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The seventh day was a doozy. Jordan had refused to tell them what the topic of camp was when they asked.
“You'll find out,” Jordan said before disappearing,
They did, in fact, find out.
The gym was completely dark when they walked in. Max had a feeling it had something to do with darkbenders because the gym's “ceiling” was open to the upper levels of the school.
Max walked into Chase when they stopped.
“Today,” King told them, “you're going to learn to see in the dark. Without your eyes. Without extra equipment or enhancements. Without powers, in some of your cases,”
Chase whistled a curse Max couldn't understand.
King earplugged Chase. (Even Chase couldn't see in the absolute darkness the other darkbenders had created.) Chase still felt people's breath on his skin, the air currents in the room. He couldn't interpret any of it. He could still hear through the earplugs. But not what he normally heard. No heartbeats, breathing, rustling of clothes. He felt vulnerable.
Max felt like he was isolated from everything. He couldn't feel the floor below him because he couldn't see it. Max teetered, almost falling. He couldn't keep his balance all of a sudden.
“Gain your balance,” King said, smooth and calm,
Max realized he could tell almost exactly where King was standing even if he couldn't see him.
“Take a step.” King said again, “Towards me.”
King had moved. Max stepped forward, a bit to the left. Chase had already moved. King listed off a group of names, told them how to correct where they had stepped. Chase wasn't surprised his name wasn't on the list. Max was. They repeated the exercise.
They did an obstacle course. An easy one. Avoiding walls and holes. They learned to feel with his feet before he stepped anywhere. They did a parkour course afterward. They counted the steps from one end of the ledge to the other before jumping. And hoped they landed.
At the end of the day, Max realized he didn't know how to see in the dark at all.
Hmmm...I don't know how well this flows. It could probably use a bit more editing, but I just finished it and wanted to post it :P
“Students, welcome to the Stealth and Advanced Combat Seminar,” King announced,
“Batman Camp!” Chase practically squealed to Max,
Max was literally giggling.
Seminar started with a lecture. King went over basic stealth maneuvers that they'd been learning for months. Max and Chase took notes and could barely stay in their seats. The next hour was spent by Knight explaining a worksheet with over 200 ways to silently kill someone.
A short demonstration with Drake and a thick-skinned Special helped them to find pressure points on any humanoid.
“Avoidance is always the easiest way to win a fight. And the easiest thing to avoid is someone who's looking for you. You already know where the person following you is headed, and why they're going there. And that makes them easy to avoid,” King explained as the first day ended.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Today, padiwans, the training truly begins,” Knight teased with a smirk,
They spent the whole day walking on the creaky floorboards of the gym until no one remembered that the floorboards were capable of noise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The third day, they practiced being silent while various limbs were being broken. Then they spent the rest of the day learning how to walk silently, to stay poised with those broken bones. One arm was cake. Two arms was no different after one. One leg was difficult, but Max saw at least an Airbender and a Waterbender do it. Two legs meant crawling along the floor silently, trying to keep your elbows from contacting the floor in the wrong spot.
The floor squeaked for most of the day, but ceased complaining by the end of the day.
There was a long line to get into the Med Center because the Meds appointed to Batman Camp concluded the younger Mutes needed more practice balancing. They brushed the blood out of their teeth before they went to bed. Max never felt more like a super hero.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the fourth day, they were condemned to the main gym, accompanied only by the older Mutes. It was unfortunate because those still in Camp had been tasked with trying to avoid those previously graduated.
Max was paired with Lucien. Which was unfair in two ways. First, Chase got to play with Jordan. Second, Lucien played dirty. Max only finished before Chase because Max had gotten so used to getting randomly blinded by Lucien that he just hid in plain sight. Lucien snickered when Max came out of his hiding spot. Chase finally managed to elude Jordan after slipping to the bottom of the pool (she always checked the rafters first).
“Batman would've checked the pool,” Lucien whispered to her later,
Camp continued with an obstacle course only in the rafters. After the first Mute fell, the rest had to battle against sweaty palms and the shakes. At the end, they were tasked with hanging upside down on a wire for as long as possible. The vomiting and fainting weren't any prettier than the broken limbs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was day five and there were only two days of seminar left. The Campers were getting antsy at the inevitable return to class. King “treated” them to learning basic parkour moves that would help them on the streets. Wall jumping, leaping across alleys and grappling edges. Max finally figured out how the parkour “club” got started. King was surprised when some of the Mutes caught on a bit too quickly.
Idiots, a telepath scolded all of them,
Everyone else fell at least once after that.
“Good,” King said with a hint of suspicion,
The mutants then unanimously voted that they should move on to combat maneuvers instead of advanced parkour moves.
Max was partnered up with Chase. They practiced “shadowing” each other. This meant they each tried to stick to the other's blind spot. Chase was more successful, but Max was a quick learner after Chase continually avoided his attacks. Since shadowing was fairly easy to learn the basics of, they moved on to some pressure point work before the day was over.
Max felt a lot more limber after having multiple pressure points abused. Chase said he had a headache.
Jordan grinned at Max that night when he declared that parkour was Batman Camp's version of extra credit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day six was disturbing for some and exciting for the serial killers among them. And make no mistake, some at M.R.C. were seriously disturbed. And disturbing. The Mages had created for them anatomically correct constructs. The constructs were killed one by one. It was a test of sorts: making sure that you had done your worksheet on the first day. Each of them were required to kill 5 of the constructs before lunch. Chase seemed to be enjoying himself. Max reminded himself that Jordan probably took pride in it, too.
After lunch (mystery meat sandwiches), they had another parkour lesson. More basics: climbing up buildings, jumping through windows and side-flips. Jumping out of windows wasn't a strictly parkour, but it was fun, so no one argued.
Max was sure that a side-flip was a name that King had made up. Hunter called it a barrel roll.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The seventh day was a doozy. Jordan had refused to tell them what the topic of camp was when they asked.
“You'll find out,” Jordan said before disappearing,
They did, in fact, find out.
The gym was completely dark when they walked in. Max had a feeling it had something to do with darkbenders because the gym's “ceiling” was open to the upper levels of the school.
Max walked into Chase when they stopped.
“Today,” King told them, “you're going to learn to see in the dark. Without your eyes. Without extra equipment or enhancements. Without powers, in some of your cases,”
Chase whistled a curse Max couldn't understand.
King earplugged Chase. (Even Chase couldn't see in the absolute darkness the other darkbenders had created.) Chase still felt people's breath on his skin, the air currents in the room. He couldn't interpret any of it. He could still hear through the earplugs. But not what he normally heard. No heartbeats, breathing, rustling of clothes. He felt vulnerable.
Max felt like he was isolated from everything. He couldn't feel the floor below him because he couldn't see it. Max teetered, almost falling. He couldn't keep his balance all of a sudden.
“Gain your balance,” King said, smooth and calm,
Max realized he could tell almost exactly where King was standing even if he couldn't see him.
“Take a step.” King said again, “Towards me.”
King had moved. Max stepped forward, a bit to the left. Chase had already moved. King listed off a group of names, told them how to correct where they had stepped. Chase wasn't surprised his name wasn't on the list. Max was. They repeated the exercise.
They did an obstacle course. An easy one. Avoiding walls and holes. They learned to feel with his feet before he stepped anywhere. They did a parkour course afterward. They counted the steps from one end of the ledge to the other before jumping. And hoped they landed.
At the end of the day, Max realized he didn't know how to see in the dark at all.
Hmmm...I don't know how well this flows. It could probably use a bit more editing, but I just finished it and wanted to post it :P
Monday, May 10, 2010
Monster Hunters
“I'm not sure we're cut out for this,” Chase worried his lower lip,
“You'd be bored otherwise,” Jordan replied from the branch above him,
Jordan had binoculars pressed to her eyes with one hand and was balancing on the branch with her other. Chase had his eyes trained on the same spot in the distance. Trees bent and rustled angrily. It was on the move.
Chase hissed in a breath,
“Don't get nervous,” Jordan advised, “We've seen worse,”
“It's the waiting,” Chase half-whined,
Wuss, Jordan rolled her eyes.
They could feel vibrations through the tree. Jordan stored the binoculars in her skin and leaned forward on her branch.
It had teeth. And fur. Six legs, two tails, one ear and no eyes. Chase nearly choked on the smell.
“Oh god, I think it's in heat,” Chase complained,
The monster lunged at their tree. It was easily twenty feet standing. Chase had to hop onto another branch. The tree bent and snapped back. Chase and Jordan remained unimpressed. The monster lunged at them and the tree twice more before giving up. It propped itself up on the tree and began to study them.
Don't move, Jordan signaled,
Yeah, boss, Chase whistled back,
The monster flinched off the tree at the sound, bounding away into the tree cover.
Sorry, Chase glanced sheepishly at Jordan,
Don't worry about it, Jordan shrugged imperceptibly, It'll be back.
The monster came back, ear back and head low to the ground. It sniffed around the tree, circling it several times. It propped itself back up against the tree to sniff at Jordan and Chase.
After a half hour of more investigation of Jordan and Chase, the monster sat back from the tree and made a strange bird-like noise. Chase made the noise back. The monster was up against the tree again, sniffing at Chase. Chase repeated the noise. The beast made a whining noise back. Tried to paw at Chase's feet.
Get down, Jordan leaned forward a bit,
Off the branch? Chase looked at her incredulously,
Yesss, Jordan artificially hissed at him with a nod and a glare,
I'm gonna hate you if I get eaten, Chase sighed.
Chase hopped down, branch by branch. The beast heard him coming to it and backed off to wait for him on the ground. When Chase got his feet on ground again, the beast sniffed around him while Chase tried not to breathe. Finally, it laid down in front of him. Chase, on impulse, reached out to scratch the beast behind the ear. It relaxed even further into the ground, so Chase continued.
Jordan landed behind Chase without much noise.
Cool, Jordan stood confidently, as if this what she had expected from the start,
There's no way you could've known this would happen, Chase furrowed his eyebrows,
I tamed a dragon, remember? Jordan rolled her eyes at him,
Jump on, Jordan instructed with a wave,
I wish you would stop trying to kill me so Max will be your partner, Chase looked at her as he sat between the beast's shoulder blades.
Jordan giggled at this.
After running the creature into a few trees, Chase steers with his knees back towards where he and Jordan had come from.
“I guess I'm safe from monster movies with you around,” Chase comments on their way back,
“I hope so,” Jordan grins at him.
I watched The Host last night. Apparently it has some sort of social commentary...but I'm not sure what that commentary is besides "Don't dump chemicals into rivers because bad shit is gonna happen," Which they blatantly state at the beginning of the movie. Anyways. Chase made a friend :)
“You'd be bored otherwise,” Jordan replied from the branch above him,
Jordan had binoculars pressed to her eyes with one hand and was balancing on the branch with her other. Chase had his eyes trained on the same spot in the distance. Trees bent and rustled angrily. It was on the move.
Chase hissed in a breath,
“Don't get nervous,” Jordan advised, “We've seen worse,”
“It's the waiting,” Chase half-whined,
Wuss, Jordan rolled her eyes.
They could feel vibrations through the tree. Jordan stored the binoculars in her skin and leaned forward on her branch.
It had teeth. And fur. Six legs, two tails, one ear and no eyes. Chase nearly choked on the smell.
“Oh god, I think it's in heat,” Chase complained,
The monster lunged at their tree. It was easily twenty feet standing. Chase had to hop onto another branch. The tree bent and snapped back. Chase and Jordan remained unimpressed. The monster lunged at them and the tree twice more before giving up. It propped itself up on the tree and began to study them.
Don't move, Jordan signaled,
Yeah, boss, Chase whistled back,
The monster flinched off the tree at the sound, bounding away into the tree cover.
Sorry, Chase glanced sheepishly at Jordan,
Don't worry about it, Jordan shrugged imperceptibly, It'll be back.
The monster came back, ear back and head low to the ground. It sniffed around the tree, circling it several times. It propped itself back up against the tree to sniff at Jordan and Chase.
After a half hour of more investigation of Jordan and Chase, the monster sat back from the tree and made a strange bird-like noise. Chase made the noise back. The monster was up against the tree again, sniffing at Chase. Chase repeated the noise. The beast made a whining noise back. Tried to paw at Chase's feet.
Get down, Jordan leaned forward a bit,
Off the branch? Chase looked at her incredulously,
Yesss, Jordan artificially hissed at him with a nod and a glare,
I'm gonna hate you if I get eaten, Chase sighed.
Chase hopped down, branch by branch. The beast heard him coming to it and backed off to wait for him on the ground. When Chase got his feet on ground again, the beast sniffed around him while Chase tried not to breathe. Finally, it laid down in front of him. Chase, on impulse, reached out to scratch the beast behind the ear. It relaxed even further into the ground, so Chase continued.
Jordan landed behind Chase without much noise.
Cool, Jordan stood confidently, as if this what she had expected from the start,
There's no way you could've known this would happen, Chase furrowed his eyebrows,
I tamed a dragon, remember? Jordan rolled her eyes at him,
Jump on, Jordan instructed with a wave,
I wish you would stop trying to kill me so Max will be your partner, Chase looked at her as he sat between the beast's shoulder blades.
Jordan giggled at this.
After running the creature into a few trees, Chase steers with his knees back towards where he and Jordan had come from.
“I guess I'm safe from monster movies with you around,” Chase comments on their way back,
“I hope so,” Jordan grins at him.
I watched The Host last night. Apparently it has some sort of social commentary...but I'm not sure what that commentary is besides "Don't dump chemicals into rivers because bad shit is gonna happen," Which they blatantly state at the beginning of the movie. Anyways. Chase made a friend :)
Sunday, May 9, 2010
A Series of Prompts
A Recipe for Disaster
“What're you cooking up in here?” Tristan trotted into the lab,
“Reverse engineering Mark's DNA based on a sample I took for Morganna,” Vivian replied,
“Hasn't he inhibited cloning on his genetic materials?”
Tristan looked over Vivian's shoulder as she manipulated a few alleles at a time.
“Yes. Which is why I need to make some,” Vivian answered,
“So have you told Mark you're cloning him yet?” Tristan asked, frowning a bit,
“Of course not,” Vivian grinned as if she had fangs, “If I told him what I was doing, I'd be dead,”
“Where'd you learn genetics from?”
“Drakes are famous geneticists, I figured I was too,” Vivian said, using Tristan's previous logic against him,
Tristan threw up his arms and groaned in frustration.
“I figure I'm gonna combine Nyx and Boba Fett. Mark's sex chromosome is going to be damaged because I say so. And I'm going to have a normally aging clone to raise for myself,” Vivian ignored Tristan, “Not really planning on mass producing clones, though,”
“Thank god,” Tristan agreed, “Done?”
“Done,”
Vivian dipped a ladle into the glowing, soupy mixture. She transferred the alleged genetic material into a test tube, then inserted the test tube into a hulking piece of machinery which was more or less shaped like a cryogenics chamber. Vivian stared at the machine as if she was puzzling through how to work it, then poked at a few buttons. The machine made a sound like an elephant falling down a staircase. A moment or two later, the door popped open and Vivian pulled out a toddler by the wrist. The girl looked exactly like Mark: dark hair, dark eyes and pale skin.
“Damn,” Vivian said.
For the 5/8 prompt "What are you cooking up in your head?" Loosely interpreted :P
Tater Tots
“You know what I miss?” Matt asked Lucien,
Lucien grinned and tossed one of Matt's dead inventions from hand to hand.
“I miss tater tots,” Matt answered, taking the intelligence core from Lucien,
“No way,” Lucien sat forward in his chair, “M.R.C?”
Matt nodded, feeling wary,
I can't believe you, Lucien snickered,
Oh come on, Matt sighed,
“They were good!” Matt insisted,
“No! We didn't even have ketchup!” Lucien laughed, “What you should miss is Open Gym,”
“Me?” Matt asked incredulously, “You're saying I should miss Open Gym. You know who you're talking to, right?”
“Yes. A man who misses crappy tater tots,”
“Missing tater tots isn't normal, but missing getting set on fire during capture the flag is?”
“Tater tots without ketchup,”
“Getting set on fire during a children's game,”
Lucien and Matt frowned at each other. Lucien broke down laughing first,
“All right,” Lucien stood up, “Let's go,”
“Go?”
Lucien hauled Matt up and started poking around the mess of gadgets in Matt's desk,
“M.R.C., obviously,” Lucien waved at Matt,
“Tater tots?” Matt asked giddily,
Lucien grinned, wrapped his arms around Matt and activated the teleporter.
For the 5/7 prompt "Would it taste as good now as it did then?" More loose interpretations.
Holidays
“Does Valentine's Day have any real historical significance?” Max asked,
“I don't know,” Matt answered, “Why?”
“Well, back at school, everyone always said that Valentine's Day was just a Hallmark holiday. But St. Valentine was a real person right? So isn't that historical significance?” Max rested his head on the end of Matt's bed,
“Not really my area of expertise,” suddenly Matt's face was serious, “But never tell the Gossips that,”
“That I hate Valentine's Day?”
“Yes. They think that its a good prank to make other Mutes 'fall in love' on Valentine's Day,”
“Its February isn't it,” Max paled,
“Yuuuup,”
5/6 "What's your least favorite holiday?"
Forgiveness
Vivian is a big fan of forgiveness.
Vivian forgives her mother for using her as Vivian strikes the final blow and her astral form disperses.
Vivian forgives 26 for trying to skin her by throwing the goblin off the asteroid they shared and watching him fall.
Vivian forgives Wraith for trying to ruin her plan to take over the universe by skinning his lemon form (not Vivian's fault).
She forgives Epitome for trying to reality-shape her away by severing the other woman's spine.
Vivian forgives M.E.A.T. by turning them into chili.
Vivian forgives the piranha children, the robot wolves, the minotaurs, the imps, the Light Runners, the dwarves, the synthetics.
Of all of the people who hurt her, she forgives them all.
For the 5/5 prompt: "Who hurt you and should be forgiven?"
Friday, May 7, 2010
Turning Back II
Max blinked at the white door that looked so familiar. It should. He grew up there. Not in the door. He grew up in the house that contained the door. He glanced around the porch. Everything was the same. The same creaky step leading up to the porch, the same peeling paint, the same dingy flag hanging (not fluttering). It was eerie.
Max knocked.
His mother opened the door, looking tired and pale. Her hair was longer than he remembered, and threaded with gray and white. She looked at him and Max saw confusion, pain, sadness and anger go through her,
“You're not my son,” she whispered,
Max didn't say anything,
“You can't be my son,” she said, voice shaking but loud,
Max realized he didn't even know what to say to her. He had waited so long to come back here. Too long, it seemed. But after the news about Alex he had to come back.
“Is Alex here?” Max hesitated, “Is dad here?”
His mother just looked furious now. Even with the tears.
“No. No. No one's here! You're not my son! They said he was dead! You're not my son!” she yelled at him,
Max flinched. He wasn't used to getting yelled at by his mom. He wasn't used to his mom looking mad at all.
Max bit his lip and nodded solemnly. He stepped backwards away from his mother, knowing he could never think of her as that again. Knowing that she hated him for not being the son she remembered. He stepped off the porch, heard the door being quietly shut behind him.
This is the second part of the 5/4 prompt...it took me forever to finish even though it's super short >.<
Max knocked.
His mother opened the door, looking tired and pale. Her hair was longer than he remembered, and threaded with gray and white. She looked at him and Max saw confusion, pain, sadness and anger go through her,
“You're not my son,” she whispered,
Max didn't say anything,
“You can't be my son,” she said, voice shaking but loud,
Max realized he didn't even know what to say to her. He had waited so long to come back here. Too long, it seemed. But after the news about Alex he had to come back.
“Is Alex here?” Max hesitated, “Is dad here?”
His mother just looked furious now. Even with the tears.
“No. No. No one's here! You're not my son! They said he was dead! You're not my son!” she yelled at him,
Max flinched. He wasn't used to getting yelled at by his mom. He wasn't used to his mom looking mad at all.
Max bit his lip and nodded solemnly. He stepped backwards away from his mother, knowing he could never think of her as that again. Knowing that she hated him for not being the son she remembered. He stepped off the porch, heard the door being quietly shut behind him.
This is the second part of the 5/4 prompt...it took me forever to finish even though it's super short >.<
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Risky business
Max eyed the ledge with suspicion.
“Come on,” Lucien urged, hanging over the edge,
Max raised his eyebrow at Matt. Matt was studiously ignoring the ledge and shrugged at Max's eyebrow.
“Don't even tell me,” Lucien groaned at Max,
“The most dangerous thing I've ever done is skip a class...” Max said to the ledge,
Jordan scaled up the wall using the corner of the adjoining wall and walked along the ledge until she was standing next to Lucien's hands,
“What now?” she asked with a sharp look at Matt,
I didn't say anything, Matt buried his face further into the book,
“Ugh,” Jordan sighed, “We keep getting stuck with prudes don't we,”
Lucien nodded,
“Look, if the biggest risk you take is jumping off this ledge into that pool,” Jordan fixed Max and Matt with a look, “then you'd still be one of the most cautious people here. Chris alone brings at least a hundred Mutes back from the dead each week. If you can't die, what's a risk?”
Max blushed. Jordan sighed again and disappeared off of the ledge. Lucien fixed Matt with an accusatory look before following her down into the dark pool.
Notes: Written for a prompt of "What's the riskiest thing you've done all week?" on 4/21 and not posted until now >.<
“Come on,” Lucien urged, hanging over the edge,
Max raised his eyebrow at Matt. Matt was studiously ignoring the ledge and shrugged at Max's eyebrow.
“Don't even tell me,” Lucien groaned at Max,
“The most dangerous thing I've ever done is skip a class...” Max said to the ledge,
Jordan scaled up the wall using the corner of the adjoining wall and walked along the ledge until she was standing next to Lucien's hands,
“What now?” she asked with a sharp look at Matt,
I didn't say anything, Matt buried his face further into the book,
“Ugh,” Jordan sighed, “We keep getting stuck with prudes don't we,”
Lucien nodded,
“Look, if the biggest risk you take is jumping off this ledge into that pool,” Jordan fixed Max and Matt with a look, “then you'd still be one of the most cautious people here. Chris alone brings at least a hundred Mutes back from the dead each week. If you can't die, what's a risk?”
Max blushed. Jordan sighed again and disappeared off of the ledge. Lucien fixed Matt with an accusatory look before following her down into the dark pool.
Notes: Written for a prompt of "What's the riskiest thing you've done all week?" on 4/21 and not posted until now >.<
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Armor 3
Matt found out back in M.R.C. that Max had programming experience in a rather round about way. One of the Fates had caught a whiff of a memory. When the Gossips did their weekly mind-tapping of the Fates, they collected that same memory. The memory then got lost in the shuffle of many minds. For a while. When Rebecca went into the Gossips' collective to look for information on Max all hat time ago, she got a hold of that same memory. Since the Gossips were not above gossiping about their own, they gossiped. So Matt heard from one of the wanna-be Gossips about Rebecca's taking of information on Max. Matt tracked down Rebecca and had to convince her that he wasn't spying for Jordan. Luckily, Rebecca was an empath, so that went quickly. Matt picked Rebecca's brain(s) (remotely, of course) and found that brilliant glimpse of java syntax hidden in the memories.
And, being a fan of efficiency, there was one last detour for Matt to make. Matt bought a book on C syntax and code optimization.
Matt stole Max's extra time for the next month. They both learned a new language. Max went too slow for Matt. In return, Matt went to fast for Max. In some ways, this was the equilibrium they always had. Another month and they could effectively pair program in C.
Max resisted counting how many hours they spent programming the heads-up display (Max refused to call it anything but a HUD), then the muscle-to-motor translation, then a basic data management and storage component. There were a few null pointer exceptions. Then came the seg-faults. Both were accompanied by headaches and extra eye strain.
When Matt returned Max to his free time, he realized the suit had no native A.I. He decided he didn't care. Matt strapped in and immediately got cuts in places he would never mention. He got into the store of Jordan's costume material and learned how to sew. Matt avoided cuts this time. Then he jumped through a wall by accident. Luckily, it wasn't a load bearing wall. Unluckily, Lucien was home and Matt thought he was going to be permanently blind as punishment. Matt fixed the wall, then the exo's calibrations. The next time he broke a wall, it was on purpose. He could save installing a compact jet pack for later.
Max went with Matt the first time he took the exo outside of the lab. They left (late) after nightfall. Matt was awkward jumping across gaps between buildings. For once he wished he had practiced parkour with the rest of his class.
Max echolocated some kids beating up a younger kid with a crowbar. Max stayed perched on the roof overlooking the wide alley as Matt crashed down. The kids started at the large, angry looking exo-suit which had suddenly appeared in the alley with them. The young kid had enough sense to take off. The kid with the crowbar threw it at Matt's helmet. Matt giggled a little, but no sound escaped the exo. The kids stared in horror as Matt advanced on them, his motions seeming almost human. At the last second, they scatter. Matt stared after them but can't decide which to pursue. Max dropped down and informed Matt that he needed to be more decisive. Matt decided that the exo still needed work.
Note: Sooo that's the last in the armor series! I have a feeling there's terrible tense shifting in there...
And, being a fan of efficiency, there was one last detour for Matt to make. Matt bought a book on C syntax and code optimization.
Matt stole Max's extra time for the next month. They both learned a new language. Max went too slow for Matt. In return, Matt went to fast for Max. In some ways, this was the equilibrium they always had. Another month and they could effectively pair program in C.
Max resisted counting how many hours they spent programming the heads-up display (Max refused to call it anything but a HUD), then the muscle-to-motor translation, then a basic data management and storage component. There were a few null pointer exceptions. Then came the seg-faults. Both were accompanied by headaches and extra eye strain.
When Matt returned Max to his free time, he realized the suit had no native A.I. He decided he didn't care. Matt strapped in and immediately got cuts in places he would never mention. He got into the store of Jordan's costume material and learned how to sew. Matt avoided cuts this time. Then he jumped through a wall by accident. Luckily, it wasn't a load bearing wall. Unluckily, Lucien was home and Matt thought he was going to be permanently blind as punishment. Matt fixed the wall, then the exo's calibrations. The next time he broke a wall, it was on purpose. He could save installing a compact jet pack for later.
Max went with Matt the first time he took the exo outside of the lab. They left (late) after nightfall. Matt was awkward jumping across gaps between buildings. For once he wished he had practiced parkour with the rest of his class.
Max echolocated some kids beating up a younger kid with a crowbar. Max stayed perched on the roof overlooking the wide alley as Matt crashed down. The kids started at the large, angry looking exo-suit which had suddenly appeared in the alley with them. The young kid had enough sense to take off. The kid with the crowbar threw it at Matt's helmet. Matt giggled a little, but no sound escaped the exo. The kids stared in horror as Matt advanced on them, his motions seeming almost human. At the last second, they scatter. Matt stared after them but can't decide which to pursue. Max dropped down and informed Matt that he needed to be more decisive. Matt decided that the exo still needed work.
Note: Sooo that's the last in the armor series! I have a feeling there's terrible tense shifting in there...
Friday, April 30, 2010
2/3 of the Armor Trilogy
Part 1:
Jordan took about a second to dismiss the idea. The dull metal exo now stayed in storage with with Matt's other failed inventions.
“Its been done before,” she had said,
Matt frowned at the exo suit like it had betrayed him. At least he hadn't bothered to try and program it yet.
“And if I did want armor, it wouldn't have boobs,” Jordan had added as she left.
Part 2:
Jordan frowned at Matt. Then the armor. He had modified the chestpiece to remove the extra “room”. It was painted a matte black now, except where the plates overlapped. The greased metal there shone silver.
“Didn't you fail combat?” Jordan asked,
“No, I got a D. I bribed King with a simulation room..deck...”
Jordan hummed. She was seriously considering it this time, Matt realized,
“There are no guns,” Matt offerend,
It wasn't for lack of wanting them. Matt couldn't find a power source that could fuel the suit and support any sort of energy weapon. And he would be damned if he was going to use conventional weapons. Matt scoffed mentally.
It also just so happened that Jordan hated guns.
Jordan hummed again in a slightly different tone. Deeper, this time. Matt was almost there,
“There are no nano-bots this time,” he smiled,
Jordan chuckled darkly at that memory,
“Whatever you want, then,” Jordan added as she left.
Note: Part 3 probably going up tomorrow. Its actually longer than part 1 and 2 combined! Surprising, I know. Remember: Evil plans in the comments.
Jordan took about a second to dismiss the idea. The dull metal exo now stayed in storage with with Matt's other failed inventions.
“Its been done before,” she had said,
Matt frowned at the exo suit like it had betrayed him. At least he hadn't bothered to try and program it yet.
“And if I did want armor, it wouldn't have boobs,” Jordan had added as she left.
Part 2:
Jordan frowned at Matt. Then the armor. He had modified the chestpiece to remove the extra “room”. It was painted a matte black now, except where the plates overlapped. The greased metal there shone silver.
“Didn't you fail combat?” Jordan asked,
“No, I got a D. I bribed King with a simulation room..deck...”
Jordan hummed. She was seriously considering it this time, Matt realized,
“There are no guns,” Matt offerend,
It wasn't for lack of wanting them. Matt couldn't find a power source that could fuel the suit and support any sort of energy weapon. And he would be damned if he was going to use conventional weapons. Matt scoffed mentally.
It also just so happened that Jordan hated guns.
Jordan hummed again in a slightly different tone. Deeper, this time. Matt was almost there,
“There are no nano-bots this time,” he smiled,
Jordan chuckled darkly at that memory,
“Whatever you want, then,” Jordan added as she left.
Note: Part 3 probably going up tomorrow. Its actually longer than part 1 and 2 combined! Surprising, I know. Remember: Evil plans in the comments.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
I still haven't titled this...
Jordan milled through the small house and strange faces. She was stuck here. At an engagement party. Not so much of an innovative idea as an obligation in the wedding process. As Jordan shouldered through the crowd, she couldn't help but feel like she was in some sort of surreal dream. Everyone was smiling. They were disarmingly happy and laughing. She caught sight of Inherent perched on top of the stairs, obviously avoiding the joyous horror below. Jordan was jostled into an adjacent room. Rebecca (as she preferred to be called now) and her fiancé were enjoying being showered with attention. Jordan paused to observe them. They were so deliriously happy (and probably not drugged), that she couldn’t help to think cynically.
It was never that easy for her and Max. She wasn’t usually so insecure as to compare her relationship to someone else’s, but in this case, there was no helping it. Jordan loved Max. Simple enough. But it was anything but easy. The core of their relationship, somehow, was fighting. Not against each other, usually. But fights where they're surrounded by enemies, standing back to back, are always the best for their relationship. And that wasn’t healthy. Or so everyone told her. But it worked.
A lanky pair of arms wrapped around her waist as Jordan was suddenly made aware of her surroundings.
“No need to worry,” Max whispered, “When is anything we do normal?”
Jordan leaned back against her long-term boyfriend’s chest and grinned comfortably.
A/N: Questions/comments/evil plans in the comments. My sister is majoring in military dictatorship, so it runs in the family.
It was never that easy for her and Max. She wasn’t usually so insecure as to compare her relationship to someone else’s, but in this case, there was no helping it. Jordan loved Max. Simple enough. But it was anything but easy. The core of their relationship, somehow, was fighting. Not against each other, usually. But fights where they're surrounded by enemies, standing back to back, are always the best for their relationship. And that wasn’t healthy. Or so everyone told her. But it worked.
A lanky pair of arms wrapped around her waist as Jordan was suddenly made aware of her surroundings.
“No need to worry,” Max whispered, “When is anything we do normal?”
Jordan leaned back against her long-term boyfriend’s chest and grinned comfortably.
A/N: Questions/comments/evil plans in the comments. My sister is majoring in military dictatorship, so it runs in the family.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Proper work attire
Max yawned as he palmed open the door to Jordan and Chase's P.I. office. Jordan gave him a once over before deciding which glare to give him.
What the hell are you doing? was what she decided on,
Chase snickered,
Max was wearing his usual early morning attire of sweatpants, an old college T-shirt and no shoes.
“Why do you look like a skank ho?” Jordan asked through her hologram screen,
She was not pleased. Max swept over to the edge of Jordan's desk. He kissed her on the top of her head before bending his stomach out of the way of her punch.
“But I like it when you come to work dressed like a skank ho,” he whispered to her,
Chase snickered,
Max sprinted to the safety of the back room before Jordan could throw anything damaging at him. Jordan groaned,
“That was only once!” she yelled after him.
Memories, memories
(If you're confused, see the note at the end)
Jordan's earliest memory is of her parents. It is also the only memory of her parents. They're in a kitchen, the three of them. Jordan, her arms still toddler-sized, sits on the kitchen floor, next to the large fridge. Her mother and father are at the L-shaped kitchen counter mixing pancake batter. Her father, who is undeniably Asian (Jordan thinks Chinese), is smiling at her like she just told a ridiculous joke. Her mother is blonde-haired and fair-skinned. She is holding a large green mixing bowl in her arms and wearing a white shirt with thin black stripes on it. Jordan can't remember for the life of her what her father was wearing, though.
Matt's earliest memory is of Chris and Legos. They had spent the whole day together working on one of the motorized Lego projects Chris had gotten for his birthday.
Matt ended up taking the lead where the mechanized components were considered. At the moment where his memory really starts, Matt is towered over by the ferris wheel contraption pictured on the box. Chris is standing over Matt and the ferris wheel looking like a king surveying his land. Matt feels giddy because his brother is proud.
“Little brother, you might have something going for you, here,” Chris says.
Max remembers, oddly enough, nuts. Specifically, a bowl of mixed nuts and perhaps berries. His father, sitting with his arm around him, has a matching bowl of matching nuts and perhaps berries. His father has a heavy mustache, wavy brown hair and a comic in one hand. The comic is held open and upright by his father's large hands so Max can look at the pictures while his father reads it to him. Max knows the pictures are of Spider-Man, but he can no longer remember the story written there. Now, he only remembers the shape Peter Parker's body makes as he swings from building to building, grappling Green Goblin mid-air.
A/N: I figured I should put this at the end instead of the beginning. Anyways, this was written for the prompt of "earliest memories" (in case you couldn't tell). The confusing part is that these characters are a part of one of my stories and you have no context as to who they are. Any questions/comments/evil plans can be posted in the comments :>
Jordan's earliest memory is of her parents. It is also the only memory of her parents. They're in a kitchen, the three of them. Jordan, her arms still toddler-sized, sits on the kitchen floor, next to the large fridge. Her mother and father are at the L-shaped kitchen counter mixing pancake batter. Her father, who is undeniably Asian (Jordan thinks Chinese), is smiling at her like she just told a ridiculous joke. Her mother is blonde-haired and fair-skinned. She is holding a large green mixing bowl in her arms and wearing a white shirt with thin black stripes on it. Jordan can't remember for the life of her what her father was wearing, though.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucien remembers his younger sister. He is in the hospital with his father, also Chinese, stocky and a bit overweight. His mother is on the hospital bed with a spotted blue hospital gown. Her brown hair is stringy with sweat and her face is flushed, but smiling. His sister is in his mother's arms. Her eyes are still shut, and a tuft of black covers the crown of her head. Lucien can tell (from across the hospital room) that she looks a hell of a lot like him. He feels a spike of fondness for her before sibling rivalry kicks in.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matt's earliest memory is of Chris and Legos. They had spent the whole day together working on one of the motorized Lego projects Chris had gotten for his birthday.
Matt ended up taking the lead where the mechanized components were considered. At the moment where his memory really starts, Matt is towered over by the ferris wheel contraption pictured on the box. Chris is standing over Matt and the ferris wheel looking like a king surveying his land. Matt feels giddy because his brother is proud.
“Little brother, you might have something going for you, here,” Chris says.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Max remembers, oddly enough, nuts. Specifically, a bowl of mixed nuts and perhaps berries. His father, sitting with his arm around him, has a matching bowl of matching nuts and perhaps berries. His father has a heavy mustache, wavy brown hair and a comic in one hand. The comic is held open and upright by his father's large hands so Max can look at the pictures while his father reads it to him. Max knows the pictures are of Spider-Man, but he can no longer remember the story written there. Now, he only remembers the shape Peter Parker's body makes as he swings from building to building, grappling Green Goblin mid-air.
A/N: I figured I should put this at the end instead of the beginning. Anyways, this was written for the prompt of "earliest memories" (in case you couldn't tell). The confusing part is that these characters are a part of one of my stories and you have no context as to who they are. Any questions/comments/evil plans can be posted in the comments :>
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