Someone struck me with the lightning...

[scribblemyname]

From lithiumlaughter, xenokattz, and likeadeuce:


1. Clear your schedule for five minutes (or longer if you have time, I'm not gonna turn down more fic).
3. Then look under the cut tag, where you will find ten prompts, all of which are song titles (selected at random from my iTunes).
4. Choose one of the prompts, and - using any appropriate fandom/character[s] (meaning ones you think I might enjoy) - write. I'll take original or fanfiction.
5. Reply with your teeny weeny story in the comments to this post.
6. Repost this in your journal and make your friends write for you!



a) Brave
b) You're Not There
c) When the Wind Blows
d) Credo
e) Light a Candle
f) Gypsy Heart
g) Wonder
h) The Heart of a Child
i) Everybody Free
j) Fly to You

Comments

Light a Candle

[lithiumlaughter.livejournal.com]

Empty churches are awkward things.
Lee was reminded of this as she stepped into Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Walking up the aisle was even more awkward -- the crucified Christ looking right at her from behind the altar as she made her way up was discomfiting. Due to the sheer size of the crucifix, she could clearly see the nails and the wounds. She could see blood covering His hands and feet, and she repressed a wince. The Easter story was the one thing that had haunted her as a child. Who in their right mind told seven year olds about how the one who came to save them had been violently abused and then nailed to a cross?
She'd fallen away from any sort of faith not long after. Still, here she was.
At the very front, just before the altar, she turned right. There, nestled in the corner, was something of a smaller altar. A far more approachable one, to be frank.
Three statues stood there.
The figure of Mary looked on softly, eyes gentle but distant, as though she was seeing something that Lee couldn't. Her hands were folded in prayer, and some soul hand hung a rosary upon them. Lee had never said a rosary before in her life, but she did remember the words to the Hail Mary.
Joseph, clutching lilies and hand over his heart, looked on too, though Lee found herself thinking he seemed far more approachable. There were many stories about Mary, but all she could remember of Joseph was his kind nature.
And there, between them, stood the statue of Christ. This one was far more comforting than the crucifix. His eyes were the only ones that met hers. They were imploring, but his entire demeanor, even in this representation, was loving. Burning and blazing heart in His hands, he seemed to be offering it to her.
Row upon row of candles stood before the statues, and a small, low bench sat before that.
She tried to remember exactly what she was supposed to do. She knew that she ought to kneel on the bench, and so she did, but from there on she had no clue.
"I..." Lee began haltingly. "I'm not sure how this works."
She whispered, despite the fact there was no-one around to hear. Well, except maybe the statues. And if what people said was right, the ones the statues were images of did too. She found herself hoping so. She was especially hopeful that Christ was, even with the huge 'if' hanging in the air.
"I didn't know where else to go. If you're there, then...then you know my mom's not doing so well."
An understatement, and she knew it. The fact that her desperation had brought here was proof enough of that.
"I just want to put in a good word for her. You know, ask you to keep an eye on her or something."
There were boxes of sand on either end of the racks of candles, small wooden sticks plunged into it. Selecting one, she lit it from an already burning candle and went on to light her own.
She considered making the sign of the cross -- another thing recalled from Sunday school classes those years ago -- but remembered that it was a sort of blessing. It wasn't her who needed it, so she didn't.
Plunging the stick back into the sand, she rose from the bench.
"So, yeah," she continued, feeling self-conscious under the eyes of Christ. "Please."
She moved quickly from thereon, heading back down the aisle and out the door.

Re: Light a Candle

[scribblemyname]

Oh, I love this. The awkwardness and uncertainty, but as it said, but she was there. It was perfect, like a daughter coming home after years and years away. Just lovely. Thank you!

Re: Light a Candle

[lithiumlaughter.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, darling!

When things get really hard, we try to fall back on things we know will support us. Unconsciously, despite her time away and supposed lack of faith, this is where Lee fell. You're exactly right -- a daughter coming home, in some small way.

Thank you yet again, and thank you for the opportunity to try something original!

Wonder

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

Ice cream, the more chocolate in it the better, it was what drove her and in some ways she wasn't even aware of the pull it had on her. There were so many things she wanted to do and that taste, that one taste, was so much more than a tease. It was a bright shining moment, a real bright shining moment and in that moment she was as alive as anyone anywhere.

It took focus and it took concentration, and she was so much younger and older than her years, those years that had never been. Tommy, she wanted to say, always wanted to wake up her brother, make him listen, make him understand, you don't know what it's like to be so much on the outside looking in. Like knowing your friends are having a party and you're not invited but you still know it's happening and all you can do is wish and wish and wish you could be a part of it, and by the way, if you didn't believe in me why did you buy me ice cream? Why do you keep buying it? Why do you wash that bowl and spoon out every morning before you go to work and leave it right where you know I can find it and reach it when you're not even here? Is it weird that you don't even have to be home any more for me to find my way here? Did you know Sheba wags her tail when I'm around now?

Do you think people have to be alive to love? Because I'm not sold on the idea.

Re: Wonder

[scribblemyname]

I know where this is from, and I love it. I think she's becoming one of my favorite characters of all of them. She is so alive, but then, she never got to take the things that make life worthwhile for granted. Thank you!

Re: Wonder

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

My pleasure. I'm glad you liked it. I knew you'd know it, too.

There weren't any other options of things to write. I knew she wanted a turn.

[xenokattz.livejournal.com]

The Heart of a Child
Despite her appearance when they first met, Raven wasn't a child. Not in the same way as Charles was. Charles with his thickly woven pyjamas, his sandwiches with the crusts cut off for the birds, with his endless fascination in all things inconsequential-- Charles was a mere baby.

Right now, he was comparing the veins on a maple leaf and an oak. Raven thought of trees as safe places to sleep, away from dogs and bad men who tried to eat her.

"They're quite lovely, aren't they?" Charles held the leaves up. "All their colours, all stripey down the stalks. Could you change to this colour?"

She obediently went orange-red, then green-yellow and finally a splotchy variation of all the colours. Charles laughed in delight. "Oh, Raven, you're learning to play!"

[scribblemyname]

Oh, I love this! It's so sweet. :warm fuzzies: