7/21

Occlude
7/21

It's hard to figure out what conclusions to draw when several bodies with their jaws wired shut show up in the park. They all appear at around the same time and appear to be in the same stage of decomposition, so really, it could have been a freak disaster at a dentist school or something. But the leap from accident to serial killer was not a far one. More like a short stumble. But they never make assumptions. Outwardly.

The investigation goes on and no more bodies appear. For a while.

Three months later, another cluster of bodies, jaws wired shut, float up from the lake. They are only a few weeks old, but the smell is horrid. Definitely a serial killer, now. It's not good news, but it's progress.

Evidence is hard to come by. Serial killers are often meticulous. This one doesn't disappoint. The bodies from the lake are almost immediately abandoned because the only hint they can give is their identities. One of them is working on cross referencing the victims' schedules and hobbies. It seems like business as usual.

They find the killer in a school at night, stealing copper wire from a metal shop. When they search his house they find tools for puncturing bone and sedatives. And a body. It's strange because there's only one and the rest of the murders had been en masse. They brush it off, satisfied with knowing they got "the guy".

Aeromancy

7/11

"Do you think the clouds know anything about the future?"

"Why?"

"Well, there's so much space in there...and there are so many. And the water cycle has been going on since the Earth was created, right? All that water must know something."

"It's just water, though,"

They sit in silence on the green grass hill for a while. The sun is lulling and washes out the colors around them with its brightness.

"I guess."

Subtilize

7/12, now with extra Lost reference.

Arcane is fuming by the time she's pulling Karma off Obsidian and Dark Archer (at the same time) for the third time today. And after having to pull her off each of them, separately, two times each. Karma whines like a neglected puppy which only infuriates Arcane more.

"You're getting fixed, girl," she growls,

"Noooo!" Karma protests.

Arcane considers herself fairly level-headed. She's faced down certain death with nary a drop of sweat. She'd fended off an annoying goblin for a whole year without once thinking about killing the creature. But her daughter? Her daughter drives her up the wall without even trying.

Arcane executes a series of nerve pinches without even looking and finds a clean table to put Karma down on.

"Sorry, dear, I let you be raised by another when I should've raised you myself,"

Arcane digs into her pocket dimension and produces a long, wicked looking pair of scissors.

If it works for a dog it should work for a human, too, she tells herself.

---

Listen, kids, don't try to spay or neuter your kids in real life. I think you'd get arrested.

7/9 and 7/10

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.

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.

6/10 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.

Actual pictures?!

Daily drawings from the past week: golf, glove and antiquity

Prompts 6/2 to 6/5

Game On
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."

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?"

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?"

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.

Happier Times

Jacen learned long ago that the one thing that could get Pan out of a funk was the completion of a run.

The first job The Harlot and her crew had together was a simple smuggling run. Pan ended up being hired last, only a few days after Jacen. Jacen thought she must have been born angry from the way she glared at everyone. He saw a lot of her during the week they spent getting to the pickup location and Captain kept them all together for "bonding". So many people together all the time made Jacen nervous. It made Pan more aggressive and unapproachable. Once they got to the pickup, Pan disappeared into the cockpit with Riley, Captain and Roderick.

After that, Jacen didn't see Pan for the two weeks the run took.

She emerged from the crawl spaces of the ship just in time to return to the cockpit and generate docking authorizations for the ship. Riley had said that Pan was perfectly polite once Captain had given her a job to do. Jacen thought the pilot was just fucking with him.

But once their cargo was successfully sold, Jacen spotted Pan smiling and joking with Riley. He sat down with them under the pretense of needing coffee. That was when the three had become inseparable.

6/1 prompt "Write about one thing that generally makes you stop frowning." I am on a space pirate rampage over here. I blame ME2.

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?"

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?

First sins

Her first sin was undoubtedly anger. Wrath, technically. It's not so much a part of her anymore. No, she needs to stay level-headed now.

But when she was a child and a teenager, she fed that sin (she didn't know it was a sin, in her defense) like it was her pet dog. She had always wanted a pet dog. She would have spoiled a dog. She did spoil Wrath.

To her, Wrath is red. It has many eyes, many mouths and many teeth. Its tongue laps at her belly, stoking the fire of rage there. It has only recently gained a leash (and some chains.)


For the prompt "What was your first sin?" for 5/17

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.

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...

Sphere Collecting

A lady with gray hair carefully lifts a crystal sphere off of her mantle. She places it on the coffee table, making sure it won't roll away. She shuffles into her aging kitchen, stopping in front of the tarnishing mirror to fix her short, wispy hair. The lady carefully fills a porcelain kettle with cold water, produces a handful of loose leaf tea from a jar and methodically places it into the kettle. The kettle is placed onto the burner as it clicks to life. She checks the coffee machine which had been started half an hour ago. The machine is still slowly dripping the potent liquid into the pot below. She shuffles back into the living room, surveying the layout there. Her chair is placed perfectly in the sunspot and the loveseat is angled towards her chair. The sphere, thankfully, is still in place in the middle of the table. She frowns at the table, trying to figure out what is missing there. She gasps as she realizes what is missing. The lady returns with a plate of assorted cookies and places it to the side of the cookies.

The doorbell announces that her visitor has arrived. She hurries to the door and pulls it open as fast as her creaking joints allow.

“Come in, come in,” she says to the other woman,

The woman is taller than she expected. The other woman's hair is long and black, her eyes look strange, but they never stay still long enough for the old woman to see.

“Marianne, is it?” the woman has a soothing, confident voice,

She steps inside Marianne's house with a wide smile.

“I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting you so early,” Marianne's voice wavers, “The tea's still on...and I wasn't sure if you like coffee or not,”

“Coffee will be fine,” the mysterious woman answers,

The woman sits in the loveseat. Her attention is immediately on the sphere so carefully laid on the table. The kettle whistles. Marianne starts, but the woman seems unaware.

“The coffee...please?” the woman prompts,

Marianne starts again, this time towards the kitchen.

When Marianne returns, the woman is holding the antique sphere in her hand. She opens her mouth to admonish, but realizes that the woman's sphere is discolored in the middle, a sort of swirling pattern that makes it seem like it has motion. Marianne finds herself compelled to sit on the loveseat with the woman, if only to get a closer look at the intriguing pattern. The woman takes the coffee from Marianne's hands and holds the sphere in her hands a bit closer to herself.

“Do you mind?” the woman asks after taking a gulp or two,

The woman gestures towards the sphere on the table. But she's reaching for it before Marianne answers. The woman's finger no more than caresses the surface of the sphere before it begins to change. The sphere in her hand and Marianne's sphere now look identical. Both spheres contain the same swirling pattern in their cores.

“Oh, excellent,” the woman smiles,

“I don't understand...that ball has been in my family for generations...it's a priceless, one of a kind...!” Marianne cries, feeling on the verge of fainting, “It's never done that before!”

“Ooh,” the woman coos at her, sounding disappointed, “This is a sphere, not a ball. And it is just what I've been looking for!”

“How...how did you get a copy? How did you get it to do that?” Marianne sinks further into the chair,

“These spheres require a certain...touch...to work,” the woman regards her own sphere with pride, “I can't be sure which is the copy, actually. I was worried that mine was the fake. But with two...! With two I have twice the power. This...this is amazing!”

The woman's odd eyes began to take on a manic gleam that was unsettling Marianne. She sinks further into the loveseat. Suddenly, the woman stands, holding both spheres,

“I'm going to need this. Terribly sorry,”

And the woman is gone, leaving only the faint smell of coffee.

Pchoooo! For the 5/10 prompt "What if someone had the same exact one-of-a-kind object as you?"

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 >.<

Turning Back I

Vivian never goes back. There's no need, really. All of her “relatives” from the Prime Material Plane are non-existent, or not her relatives. There's nothing for here back there, either.

This thought doesn't depress her. It's simply a fact of her life. Which, admittedly, has gotten exponentially crazier as time has gone on. Fake memories or not.


I really liked today's prompt: "Why didn't you go back?" So I have another one written for Clockwork :) Posted here

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 >.<

Sweet Dreams Are Made of These

I crouch over a puddle of black water. The puddle is slightly wider than my shoulders and surrounded by gray dirt. I see my reflection staring back at me and lean in. Slowly (suddenly) my face submerges in dark water. It pulls me down and I float (sink) towards the bottom. Everything is perfectly clear in the black water. My consciousness evaporates (floods) away.

Note: I probably have to pay loyalties or something for that...Today, only evil plans in comments.

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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 :>