will write for food...

[edenfalling]

I am having serious trouble working up motivation to write, which is frustrating. Like, I will open a document, check where I was in the story, type maybe five words, and... nothing. Blank. It's particularly annoying if I've been mentally juggling and arranging ideas earlier in the day so I know roughly where I want to go and just can't quite get there once I am actually trying to type letters on a keyboard.

One thing that I've found helpful in the past when I've had trouble writing is to switch gears and write something completely different, and also -- this is the key part -- something with an external rather than internal pressure/reward system. Like prompt!fic.

So.

Give me one to three characters plus a mood, a scenario, or a prompt word, and I will write you a ficlet that is at least three sentences or 100 words long.

Help me out, please?

---------------

1. Kiss the Bride: Susan Pevensie as Queen of Narnia, coping with marriage proposals. 425 words, for madamehardy. [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

2. In Sure and Certain Hope: Dave, John, Jade: somber but hopeful. 275 words, for shinyrock6498. [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

3. Under Pressure: Lessee. How about some Naruto: Sakura, building pressure. 400 words, for branch-and-root. [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

4. Literal Interpretation: Jade, John, Davesprite, god worship. 675 words, for asukaskerian. [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

5. Freedom Ride: Kanaya, Aradia, Prompt word: whoops. 425 words, for gracefularchitect. [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

6. Tall Ship of War: How about Shezan and/or Ilgamuth, and boats? 225 words, for autumnia. [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

7. My Sorrow's Share: Arwen and the pro/con of choosing humanity. (I'm on a Silmarillion kick.) 125 words, for mmarycontrary. [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

8. Crowning Glory: How about Susan Pevensie, combs or haircombing? 625 words, for cat_i_th_adage. (Also a cottoncandy_bingo fill, because why not!) [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

9. Picture Perfect: Karkat, Dave, Davepetasprite, likeness. 150 words, for primtheamazing. [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

10. Pay It Forward: Ayakawa Yukiko and educating the next generation, please. :) 1,150 words, for wistfulmemory. (Also a cottoncandy_bingo fill!) [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

11. Mischief Night: Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke; "strangely satisfying". 550 words, for eos_joy. (Also a cottoncandy_bingo fill!) [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

12. Necessary Measures: Rose, Jasprose, and Kanaya, bickering. 200 words, for primtheamazing. [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

13. In Abeyance, In Arrears: Bro, Dave, dour. 150 words, for anonymous on Tumblr. [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

14. Broken If Revealed: Daredevil: awkward reveal, "This is- it's not what it looks like...?" 2,150 words, for shinyrock6498. [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

15. An Unorthodox Pedagogical Approach: If you’re willing (and can without spoilers), I would love a future fic showing Naruto, Shinnin, and Sakura working together as a team while on a mission. 300 words, for wistfulmemory. [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

16. Part of Your World: Jade, Rose, prompt word: adventure. 675 words, for gracefularchitect. (Also a cottoncandy_bingo fill!) [Tumblr crosspost; AO3 version]

Comments

Part of Your World

[edenfalling]

In response to a prompt from gracefularchitect: If you're willing to take seconds: Jade, Rose, prompt word: adventure

This seems to have turned into a tiny sequel to New Roots, which is a no-Sburb AU in which Rose is a published author and Jade owns and runs a sort of combined florist/garden shop business. It's also a Cotton Candy Bingo fill for the prompt bed.

-----

Rose shifts on her quilt, uneasy at being naked in broad daylight with the windows open, though she knows rationally nobody can see into her second-story bedroom through the dogwood tree and the lacy gray curtains. But Jade said that if Rose wouldn't get a tattoo the next best thing was body art and Rose enjoys indulging Jade's more lighthearted whims, so here she is, trying not to jostle her girlfriend's hands while Jade traces cool lines over her back with a pair of black and purple Sharpies.

She doesn't know what the finished design is meant to be. She doesn't know where Jade's hands will move next. She doesn't know how Jade will want to show her off once her masterpiece is finished.

There's something delicious about being so willingly vulnerable, something charged with an energy that isn't quite sexual but could tip her over the edge into arousal at the change of a breath or a misplaced (correctly placed?) brush of skin on skin. Rose might need to write this scenario into a book someday -- altered and anonymized, of course.

And speaking of vulnerability...

"I've been thinking," Rose says into her pillow.

"A dangerous pastime!" Jade says, the words slightly mangled by the purple marker cap held between her teeth. Her right hand continues to make repetitive curved strokes in the hollow between Rose's shoulder blades.

Rose turns her head just enough to catch Jade's gaze through her sleep-mussed hair and raise a single unimpressed eyebrow. "Do you really want to start a Disney quote-off with me? Please recall which one of us grew up in a saccharine-soaked household with a mother who worshipped all things cute and even mildly redolent of magic, and which one grew up in an abandoned robotics factory repurposed into a survivalist hunting lodge."

"Yeah, and which one of us built her own television specifically to catch up on all the pop culture she missed before her thirteenth birthday?" Jade returns as she switches markers and draws a series of tiny circles over Rose's left hip. "But sure, we'll table the battle for later. I don't want you to laugh and spoil my art. End of tangent! What have you been thinking about, and why does it deserve such a vague and ominous lead-in?"

"To answer the latter: habit, I suppose. It certainly wasn't intentional. To answer the former--" Rose pauses, clenches her fingers around the edge of her mattress where the pillow will hide her tension from Jade, and says, "Would you move in with me?"

The marker stills on her back. "Huh," Jade says. "That was not what I was expecting you to say."

Rose tries very hard to keep her voice level. "Occasionally I strive for novelty. But, would you? We've been dating for nearly thirteen months, I have space going to waste, and I-- I'm tired of having to say goodbye so often. I want to know that when you say you're going home, you mean the same place I do."

"Are you sure you've thought this through?" Jade asks. "I mean, Bec might not get along with Jaspers. You might not like plants and circuit boards taking over all your shelves and tables, or long hair clogging your shower. I might not like being psychoanalyzed before breakfast every morning, or the inability to keep beer in the house for unwinding after a shitty day, or your crazy amounts of fan mail. There are a lot of potential pitfalls."

It's true; there are. Rose has listed a good three dozen in the month since she kissed Jade goodbye after dinner on Sunday and thought, 'If she lived here she wouldn't have to leave. We could wake up on Monday together. In our bed.'

"We might crash and burn horribly," she agrees. "But I want to try. If you're willing."

"Well," Jade says. "I've never turned back from an adventure yet. We'll just have to defeat any challenges together."

She leans down, careful not to smudge the still-wet lines on Rose's back, and tips Rose's chin up for a kiss.