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.

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.

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?"

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...

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 :)

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 >.<

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.

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.

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.

A/N: I wrote this after being angry with a girl for showing up to work looking like a skank ho. Questions/comments/evil plots go in the comments. From my mutants story, again.

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 :>