Prompts and Drabbles

[scribblemyname]

I'm getting ready to read about 100,000 words of canon review for the collaboration, which is no small chunk, and before I do, I kind of wanted to write some drabbles. Any prompts?

1. fandom or canon - tagset of fandoms
2. character(s)
3. fluff or angst
4. one to three word prompt

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I won't lock you into any characters if you can use this:

Queen protects king

(Full quote being: "Every man needs a woman in his life when things are a mess; because just like in chess, the queen protects the king.")

[scribblemyname]

I love the quote. As for the pairing, hmm... :thinking:

[(Anonymous)]

I almost did the full quote last time, but...

"Delicate tangles"

Or "emptiness of my hand"

(From her poem in Joe vs the Volcano, "Long ago, the delicate tangles of his hair filled the emptiness of my hand.")

X-Men Comicsverse Drabble: Tangled

[scribblemyname]

Between Rogue and Remy were all these delicate threads, the ties that bind. While the love was there, the trust was fragile and easily broken. It tangled up in the fears she harbored and the lies he wielded.

"Ah never know what angles y'all are playin'," she'd chide him when he begged her one more time to just trust him. "Last time Ah did that, didn't turn out so well."

And Remy couldn't deny it, but the last time he'd trusted her, she'd abandoned him in Antarctica. "We could always forgive each other, neh?"

Another try, another touch, another thread.

[(Anonymous)]

Okay, so these aren't prompts, but I stumbled on them last night trying to get around my own issues, and they might be encouraging, so passing along for others to see/use if they can:

positivewriter.com/quotes-writing-memes

[scribblemyname]

I LOVE these! Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

Dancing in the rain

Seven Days Drabble: In the Rain

[scribblemyname]

Wesley kissed her on a Monday near the lake. It was raining.

It was raining again on Wednesday when she found him there. He didn't remember her, didn't remember her name, but he knew her, and there was just something...

"Something about the rain."

"Wesley," she said softly, hands held out for his.

He let her take them and lead him into a dance his body remembered and he somehow knew. He knew the way they twirled, the way she fit into his arms, the way she smelled in rain.

He didn't remember, but he recorded, read again, knew.

"Lena."

[(Anonymous)]

Friendship

(So vague, I know. Sorry.)

Kingdoms and Thorn Drabble: Dangerous (or She Bites)

[scribblemyname]

Sear's protective. She wanders into the hospital where Meld works when he can get away with it (as much as Rachelle fights to keep him from overworking, from pouring too much of himself into the broken bodies of the wounded and sick, she won't stop him) and waits for him to make his rounds with all the patience of family.

The medics rib him sometimes. "Your girlfriend's here."

They don't tease about Rachelle because she's no one's girlfriend and says so, but Sear...

He shrugs it off because they're friends, they're family, and she's protective. She doesn't stick to words.

[(Anonymous)]

Traditional food

(Cooking, eating, thinking about... Don't care. Been writing a character who makes it for his sister and it's been interesting and fun, so passing along accordingly)

Original Drabble: Comfort Food

[scribblemyname]

There was something comforting about making tradition food together with family in the traditional way. No matter how much better the new things were, the modern things, it didn't have the warmth of slow-roasting a batch of golden granola, honey-sweet scent and darkening almonds filling the air with its scent.

"These were the best mornings," Marie told her mother. "It was always a good day when you made granola."

Her mother smiled and put an arm around Marie's shoulder. Marie had her own house now, her own children, but every so often she came home.

Those were the best mornings.

[scribblemyname]

Do you want me to drop in prompts? From what you said, I wasn't really sure what mood you were in.

[(Anonymous)]

A part of me would desperately like to write again and get the voice out of my head.

Another part of me is saying I've got no business doing it.

*sigh*

Um... I guess if you have some, go ahead. As long as you have time to post them and it's not inconvenient for you, then even if I can't write, it doesn't hurt, right?

[(Anonymous)]

Love, hate & siblings

[(Anonymous)]

Function over form

MCU Drabble: A Violent Grace

[scribblemyname]

They call her graceful in a fight.

She says thank you because it's expected, it's polite, and she's all about appearances, but not the beautiful appearances—the effective ones.

Natasha was beautiful when she needed to be, utilitarian when she needed to be, homely or mousy or stunning as the need arose, but when she really went to work and showed them all why her name was the Black Widow, when she fought sweaty and bloody and dirty and scraped up and ruthless, she wasn't graceful, wasn't beautiful.

Killing wasn't beautiful. She was a weapon, not a piece of jewelry.

[(Anonymous)]

Not a fairytale

Kingdoms and Thorn Drabble: In the End

[scribblemyname]

This wasn't a fairytale, this thing between them. If you asked Rachelle, this wasn't even love.

But when Justus stretched out beside his wife in their bed, he couldn't find it in him to care. Who cared if no one else understood the complicated look in her eyes as she stared back? Who cared? In the end, he'd do anything for her, she'd do anything for him, and when they bound their lives together, both of them were better off.

"I love you," he murmured in her ear sometimes.

She shook her head and kissed him to shut him up.

[(Anonymous)]

Always a good idea

Andromeda Drabble: Don't You Trust Me?

[scribblemyname]

"Aww, come on, Beka. Don't you trust me?" Harper wheedled when she rejected his latest grand idea of renovating the Maru.

"Always a good idea," Rommie murmured sarcastically.

"How about never," Beka corrected.

"Hey!" Harper protested. "Who saved everybody from the big bad tunnel to another dimension? Who didn't do anything inappropriate to the most gorgeous android ever to tempt a man? Huh? Me, that's who."

"He has a point," Rommie acknowledged.

"Nope," Beka disagreed, crossing her arms. "No way am I handing over my baby. Find yourself another toy."

"Well, fine then. Ignore my genius."

"Sure thing." Beka grinned.

[scribblemyname]

Fluff
Platonic Kisses

or kitten kisses

or wet kisses

Mothers, cats, and kisses

[(Anonymous)]

Needed some pointless fluff, so put all of those in one longish fill.

---

Zoya opened the door to a cat in her face. Small, furry, and mewing, it put out a paw toward her face and made her almost jump back. The woman holding the kitten frowned, and Zoya would have sent her on her way, but this time she didn't have to guess or wonder about the stranger's identity. Other than the eyes, which were so much like Alexei's it was uncanny, she was staring at a woman who looked like a slightly—and only slightly—older copy of Khrystyn. Their mother. Had to be.

“Khrystyn is out—”

Two loud squeals interrupted Zoya, and soon mother and daughter had collided in a hug, the mother combing back Khrystyn's hair and touching her face and fussing over her with a bunch of signs that Zoya couldn't keep up with even as Khrystyn answered them back.

She looked down at her hands. When did she end up with the cat?

“So, so sorry. So rude,” Mrs. Samarin said, coming back toward her but not taking the cat. “Too long since I saw my little girl.”

Khrystyn laughed. “She acts like it was years when it was only months. Ah, Mamochka, what is this? I am not so old and single I need a cat because I'm lonely.”

Her mother gave her a look that was so like Alexei's Zoya wanted to laugh. “Cat is not for lonely people. People are for lonely cat. I found him, saw those little eyes so like my Lyosha's, and I could not leave him behind, poor little thing.”

Khrystyn looked at Zoya. “You like cats, right? Not allergic?”

“What? We're not keeping a cat,” Zoya protested even as the thing started to lick her. Khrystyn and her mother laughed, and Zoya grimaced. She had a feeling she wouldn't win this battle, not unless she did claim to be allergic, which they would all know was a lie.

“Animals know when people need them,” Mrs. Samarin said. “He has claimed you. He stays.”

“I think he is a she,” Zoya said, mouthing half her words because she couldn't sign with a kitten in hand. “And no. It's not happening.”

“Come now, Zoya. Let me have one pet I can keep since you refuse to let me have the others,” Khrystyn said before picking up the kitten and cooing at it. “Mamochka is right. Kitty has Lyosha eyes. Couldn't send away a cat with Lyosha eyes. We are doomed.”

Zoya rolled her eyes, but her reaction was overshadowed by the other “pets” Khrystyn wanted to keep coming in the back door. Brown had a rather mangled kite in his hands, and he seemed pretty dejected about it.

“I'm telling you—it was a question of air speed, not a design flaw. It just wasn't ready for the sudden gust of wind that carried it off,” Alexei said, picking up a corner of the kite and shaking his head. Mrs. Samarin clapped her hands over her mouth, tears at the side of her eyes.

“Yeah, well, I'm still trying to understand how I let you talk me into flying a kite,” Brown muttered, shaking his head.

Alexei shrugged. “I think I'm just one of those people you either have to embrace the madness with or run headlong into the hills. You embraced the madness, buddy. There is no hope for you.”

Brown smiled, a bit rueful, still turning the kite over in his hands. Zoya thought he was reliving a bit of childhood nostalgia there, courtesy of hurricane Alexei.

Mrs. Samarin said something that reminded Zoya of the food, golubtsi, though Zoya doubted that was what she'd called her son. His head jerked up, and she was on him faster than she'd gotten to Khrystyn, hugging and kissing him in a way that put Khrystyn's show when he first came to shame. She had happy tears streaming down her face, her words coming in a mix of what Zoya assumed was Russian, despite Alexei's claim that she didn't speak it, English, and signs with her hands, in between kissing his face and hugging him over and over again.

“Ew, Mom,” Alexei said, wiping at his cheek. “That was all slobbery.”

She rolled her eyes, stepping back and cupping his cheek, her words sounding stranger than before, but then Zoya was used to Khrystyn who rarely spoke with her voice, just her hands. “I can't help it. I missed my baby.”

He rolled his eyes. “Seriously? I haven't been a baby in almost thirty years—shut up, Khrystyn. I don't care if you don't want me telling Brown how old you are—and I really hate everyone calling me that. No more. Please. Or I will hitch a ride with Brown over there and not come back.”

Khrystyn shook her head, but she kept on smiling. She didn't believe it, and neither did Zoya. Alexei said he would go every day and never managed it. He wasn't leaving today. Mrs. Samarin took Alexei's hands, leading him into the kitchen as he put on a show of groaning and protesting, but Khrystyn bounced excitedly, coming back to Zoya's side and pulling her over to where Brown was.

“This is going to be good. And I'm not just saying that because the two best cooks I know are in the kitchen,” she said, clapping as Alexei and his mother started arguing about which pan to use and Alexei kept taking the spatula away from her. Khrystyn smiled. “I love watching them do this. I could do it for hours.”

“Why?” Zoya asked, but her answer didn't come from her friend. It came as Alexei smiled at his mother, throwing dough at her, and she just laughed and caught him for another “slobbery” kiss on the cheek before ordering him to get the fruit.

“They're adorable, right?” Brown asked. Both of them looked at him. “What? I can't say what everyone is thinking?”

“You can,” Khrystyn said, smirking at him in a way that had him frowning. “It makes you almost as cute. Too bad you just can't handle the competition.”

She pinched his cheek. Brown glared at her, and she laughed, prancing away to join her family in the kitchen. He shook his head, frustrated. Zoya almost felt sorry for him, but he'd chosen this. He could have walked away from all of it if he'd wanted to, but he'd chosen to befriend Alexei and his sister. His sticking around had nothing to do with the case and was all about them.

“You miss it.”

He nodded. “Haven't seen a greeting like that since my mom died. She wasn't quite as bad, but that reminded me of her.”

Zoya knew other people would have given him a hug or some other form of sympathy. She held the cat out instead. “Kitten?”

[scribblemyname]

Angst

dreams

or wake me up

or let me sleep

[(Anonymous)]

I think I could do more than one of these, so I might circle back to it. We'll see. In the meantime, because I was making lots of progress with this story and they're on my mind...

---

Alexei looked up, frowning as he did, and Zoya tried to ignore it as she sat down in the other chair. She had tried—tried reading, tried painting, tried everything she normally did when she needed to sleep and couldn't—and it wasn't working. She'd already been through the nightmare twice, and she couldn't do it again. Not that horror, not the doubts and fears that were worse than usual thanks to the feds coming into her life and casting doubt on the one truth that had kept her sane since her family died.

“You should be sleeping.”

She shrugged. “Could say the same about you.”

He tried to force a smile. “Couch isn't comfortable.”

“Liar.” He had his nightmares, ones she'd never asked him about, ones she had hints of and didn't think she wanted the truth of, and she had hers. Difference was—when he had them, his screams could be heard. Hers couldn't.

He lowered his head, aware she'd heard him. “I'm fine.”

She shook her head. Neither of them were. Neither of them were going to admit it, either.

[scribblemyname]

smooth move, buddy

[(Anonymous)]

So this is more the aftermath of said smooth move, and it's slightly longer than a drabble, and I should probably have made it more clear that Khrystyn is deaf. Alexei and Brown can hear but were raised in Deaf families so they sign while speaking.

---

The silent tirade ended with the slam of the door, right in Brown's face, and while Alexei did his own jerk when it happened, at least it wasn't in his face this time. The other man sighed, leaning against the wall in frustration, his signing betraying his agitation.

“You could have warned me about your sister.”

Alexei snorted. “Khrystyn fights her own battles and mine. She doesn't need my help.”

“Maybe she doesn't, but I apparently do.”

“I'm not teaching you to make golubtsi. Or solyanka. That is how I get out of the doghouse. You are so on your own, buddy.”

Brown glanced at the door, shaking his head as he did. Alexei had a feeling if his sister could see the agent now, she'd be smiling. Poor guy had it bad, and he didn't even know it. Of course, knowing Khrystyn, she'd let him squirm a bit before admitting it was mutual. Alexei smiled, settled in on the couch, and prepared to watch the show.

[scribblemyname]

angst

promise me nothing

[(Anonymous)]

I saw the promise nothing and wanted to have the part where Zoya asks Alexei this. It actually ended angstier than I expected after his initial response.

---

After a few quiet minutes, she leaned over and poked Alexei in the side, and he frowned at her. “Why do you always have to do that? There are other ways of getting my attention even if I'm not looking at you.”

Zoya shrugged. She wasn't explaining about being nicer and how it was too far for them, a gap she couldn't allow herself to bridge. “I want you to do something for me.”

He blinked. “Since when do you want favors from me? You don't even like it when I make your favorite foods for you.”

She shook her head. “Don't do the funny teasing stuff right now. It won't work. It's just annoying.”

“If I offend you that much—”

She put her hand on his mouth. When he stopped talking, she pulled it back. “Need... If we do this, that if I do get more memories back somehow and we learn there really is a monster out there, one that didn't die when my family did... Don't tell me it will be okay. Don't promise me everything will be fine. It won't be. Khrystyn is going to say it will be, but you and I know better than that.”

“Zoya—”

“You said you knew what it was like to have hopes crushed, to be disappointed over and over again.”

He grimaced, but he forced a nod. “Foster care is good at pulling the rug out from under you.”

“So don't promise me it will be okay. Just don't.”

He reached for her hands, cupping them in his. “I won't promise you that it will be okay. I'll promise you that you will be okay. Not right away, not immediately, but you're strong enough to get past it, to keep going and stop this monster if he's out there. Not only that, but you have a strong person there to support you like Khrystyn.”

“Not like you?”

He snorted. “You know I'm not that strong. I'm just... not.”

“You are stronger than you think.”

He tucked her hair back behind her mangled ear. “No. I'm weak. I'm trying hard not to drag the rest of you down with me, but it could still happen.”

She sighed. “You frustrate me.”

“I can't promise you something I can't give,” he reminded her quietly. “You said you didn't want false hope. I'm not going to give it to you. Khrystyn is hope. Me... I'm not. I'm something else. I don't even know what that is. Comic relief, maybe.”

She looked at his eyes, at the pain and emotion in them, and she could have challenged that, but she didn't. She pulled her hands free and went back to her room alone.

[scribblemyname]

whisper your name

[(Anonymous)]

Not actually sure I want to go here or will, but this was the first thing that came to me for this one.

---

“Shh,” Alexei said, holding her against him, trying to tell himself she wasn't that badly hurt, that she'd be fine. “It's okay. I'm here. You're going to be all right.”

“A... lex... ei.” Zoya's voice croaked out, hoarse from disuse and damage, and he pulled her close, knowing he was just as lucky as he was cursed. The first word she'd said in years was his name, but it might also be her last.

[scribblemyname]

pillow fights

[scribblemyname]

hidden love notes

[(Anonymous)]

Sunshine

Kingdoms and Thorn Drabble: This is How You Hear Your Name

[scribblemyname]

"Sunshine," Whisper said softly, too low for the baby across the room in her crib to hear, but Sunshine's wispy head turned anyway at her mother's call.

Red Wolf watched, waited for what it was Whisper was trying to show him.

After a long moment, Sunshine lost interest and turned back to her teddy bear and patting its little jacket.

Whisper looked at him and said almost painfully loud, "She can't hear me, Wolf."

He looked over. Sunshine hadn't even noticed. "She responded," he breathed. The first time.

"To intention."

Something sensed by Whisper's ability, his... Sunshine's.

He reeled. Deaf.

[(Anonymous)]

(_____ is like) slow acting poison

[scribblemyname]

oooh. ouch.

[scribblemyname]

promise me everything

[(Anonymous)]

Very angsty.

---

The hand on her shoulder made her jump, and Khrystyn looked up to see her mother frowning down at her. She hadn't realized anyone had come in. Alexei said the floor outside his room always told him when people were coming—it creaked—and that his door was easily slammed, but he could hear. Khrystyn couldn't. She didn't have that kind of warning.

“What are you doing in here?”

Khrystyn tightened her grip on Alexei's old stuffed bear, the ratty thing he'd stolen from her when he was a baby and never gave back. She didn't know how to answer that. She was still waiting for the world to make sense again, and it hadn't, not since she learned her father had hurt her brother.

“I miss him, Mamochka. I want my brother back. I want Lyosha.”

Her mother sat down next to her, wrapping her arms around her and rocking her. Khrystyn still didn't understand. It was her father who'd done wrong, and they'd taken him to jail. She agreed with that. She didn't know that she'd ever forgive him for hurting Alexei. What she didn't understand was why they'd taken Lyosha away, too. He hadn't done anything wrong. He hadn't told them about what their father had done, but he wasn't bad. He must have been scared.

Now he was alone and probably terrified.

Promise me, she begged her mother silently. Promise me we'll get Lyosha back. That he'll be okay and we'll be a family again. Promise me we'll find a way to be happy again. Promise me we'll see his beautiful smile and I can tease him, that he'll make me laugh, that we'll know what fun is. Promise me that this ache where my brother used to be will go away.

Promise me I'll stop feeling guilty for not hearing him cry for help when he needed me. Promise me I'll be there next time he needs me. Promise me we can fix this. Promise me... everything.

Her mother held her close, but she didn't make any promises.

[scribblemyname]

call me crazy

[(Anonymous)]

Just a bit of silliness.

---

“Crazy. That's what I am. Absolutely crazy.”

Zoya bit her lip, and Alexei said what she was thinking. “Are you expecting one of us to disagree with you? Because I don't think it's going to happen.”

“Nope,” Khrystyn agreed, smiling at Brown before circling around her brother and kissing him on the cheek just so he'd grimace and rub it off in disgust. She grinned, and he glared at her, so she stuck out her tongue at him. She leaned against the counter and smiled at Brown. “You are with us now, and that must make you completely crazy.”

Zoya shook her head. “I'm not crazy. Maybe you are. Maybe Alexei is. Not me.”


“Well-adjusted and normal apparently doesn't belong in this house,” Alexei said, turning around with a frown. “I really am going crazy. What happened to my coffee?”

Zoya held up the cup, forced to mouth the words instead of putting it down. “Sorry. Most of the time you get me one first, so when you left it by me I assumed it was mine.”

“Ew, gross,” Alexei said with an exaggerated shudder. “You've got my cooties now.”

She rolled her eyes, Khrystyn laughed, and Brown shook his head. “Yes. Definitely crazy.”

[scribblemyname]

midnight rendezvous

[(Anonymous)]

This is not really the kind of rendezvous that is usually meant by the word, but it just... came.

---

Khrystyn rose, leaving her bed and walking to her door. She glanced down the hall toward her mother's bedroom. The light was off, and it looked quiet, though she couldn't be sure her mother wasn't awake. She didn't know if her mother did the same thing she did, the same thing she'd done for years now, waking in the night and looking for trouble.

She went down the hall, stopping to turn on the light in the kitchen. She sighed when she saw her brother on the floor, curled up against the cupboard. She had tried leaving the light on for him, knowing he'd be in here, knowing he had some strange fixation with the kitchen being safe. She didn't know why, though. Lyosha wouldn't tell her. He wouldn't talk to any of them about what happened in the foster homes.

She knew it was bad. She didn't know how.

Khrystyn sat down next to him, pulling him close to her. He shuddered, and she put her hands in his, signing. “It's okay.”

Alexei lifted his head for a moment. He did not answer, just put down again, and she knew they'd be back like this tomorrow night and the one after, every night for as long as it took for him to be able to sleep again, until she saw a real smile again, until he was willing to sign when he spoke and laugh like the Lyosha he'd been before they took him away from them.

[scribblemyname]

kiss me senseless

[(Anonymous)]

“You are so infuriating,” Brown told her, his hands and signing betraying his frustration. He looked like he was ready to strangle Khrystyn, even as she just stood there, a slight smirk on her face, not saying a word. “Do you have any idea how... how... how absolutely frustrating you are?”

“Some,” she answered, still smiling. “Lyosha tells me this often, using his hands more than his mouth. I tell him it is what big sisters are for.”

“You're not my sister,” Brown muttered, and she laughed, the sound abruptly cut off when Brown dragged her close and kissed her, making the smile disappear and the hands still and the room become unnaturally quiet. Seconds passed, several of them, and then he let her go, allowing her to suck in air. As though just realizing what he'd done, Brown cursed and went straight to the door.

Alexei looked at his sister. “You're not allowed to give him a sign name about kissing. It has to be one we can all use.”

Khrystyn blinked, taking a minute to look at her brother. He turned to Zoya, grin on his face.

“Look at this. He managed to get Khrystyn speechless. This is a day for the history books. My big sister is actually speechless. He is my new favorite person in the universe. Sorry, Zoya.”

She rolled her eyes, but he went on, clearly enjoying this more than he should. She touched Khrystyn's arm, getting her to look at her. “You okay?”

Khrystyn put a finger to her lips and smiled before nodding. “Better than okay.”

[scribblemyname]

a windy day

[(Anonymous)]

Windy meant kites. Made it silly. Sorry.

---

“What?”

Zoya grimaced. She'd made that awful noise that passed for her laughter, hadn't meant to, but Alexei seemed to get that out of her more than most people did, far more than she liked. She looked at him, and he gestured with his hand, telling her to go on.

She shrugged. “You were singing Disney.”

“So?”

She mimicked a helpless look. “So I never thought you would be singing Disney of all things. Where's the traditional Russian lullaby?”

He gave her a look that was half-glare, half something else. “My mother was deaf. She didn't learn to sign until she got to the states. She didn't learn any Russian lullabies. She doesn't know Russian. No one bothered to teach her. To their minds, she was good for cooking and little else. That's what she learned, what she taught us. I don't know Russian or lullabies in it. I do, however, know Disney.”

“And you want to go fly a kite?”

“Up to the highest height and send it soaring,” Alexei agreed, taking her hand without thinking in that way he always did even though he knew she didn't like being touched. “Look at that wind. Perfect for flying a kite. Coming with me?”

“You're nuts.”

“Khrystyn will be so jealous that she had to work.”

“I am not flying a kite.”

“Will you at least paint mine? Just a small thing, make it pretty? You're good at that.”

Zoya rolled her eyes. “There is something wrong with you.”

“If you don't paint my kite, I'm going to have to commandeer you for a musical number.”

“Ridiculous,” she mouthed because he still had her hand, but he just grinned and pulled her into an impromptu dance while singing the song, and she didn't know if she wanted to laugh or curse this day for being windy. She knew one thing for sure—she was lucky Khrystyn was working right now.