SF's "Write Your Butt Off" II - Return of Writer's Block

[Rafiel's Aria]

1 hour ago, TheSilentChloey said:

What the fuck?  Excuse my language but what kind of a freaking prompt is THAT?!

 

Sweet mother of Grima that is a recipe for a disaster.

It's less of a thematic prompt and more of a prompt that encourages you to play with the form and writing technique of your story. I'm not sure how that makes it a disaster. XD Just a little different that the prompts that have already been chosen. You can basically write whatever you want as long as it doesn't use exposition. 

I like it for sure. It poses a different sort of challenge, and being the nerd I am, I love to play with technique and form...almost as much as themes. I'm not going to make any promises this time around. I've been so busy. ;A; But I really do want to write! 

[TheSilentChloey]

Well I'm done.  1300+ words.  Anyone up for grammar?

[Shoblongoo]

On 1/15/2019 at 11:29 PM, AnonymousSpeed said:

Oh yeah, Shob didn't even get his story about intoxicated Fire Emblem girls. Poor guy.

My Jimmies are so rustled I'm tempted to just bang one out in media res or w/e and submit it for this round.

Congrats on the long overdue win. Good prompt.  

Edited January 22, 2019 by Shoblongoo

[Ottservia]

10 minutes ago, Shoblongoo said:

My Jimmies are so rustled I'm tempted to just bang one out in media res or w/e and submit it for this round.

Congrats on the long overdue win. Good prompt.  

Well I was gonna write something similar with odin just didn’t have the time. It was a fun little idea about odin being a sword wielding demon as a dark mage when he’s drunk. But oh well what can ya do

Edited January 22, 2019 by Ottservia

[Rapier]

Round 7 is up. I'll try to write this time.

[Jotari]

@TheSilentChloey A Night to Remember

Spoiler

It feels like there's both too much and nothing at all really happening in this story. It's all just references to places and elements in a world that I'm admittedly unfamiliar with (though you do make it sound interesting). There's some nice description sprinkled throughout but I don't have any sense of the actual characters or importance of the plot.

@AnonymousSpeed Ferrous's Night Out

Spoiler

Really like the dialogue in this one. Felt realistic in it's incoherent rambling. What didn't feel realistic is that he could just sleep in the place without significant attempts to send him somewhere. It did facilitate the ending though which serviced the story well.

 

Edited January 23, 2019 by Jotari

[Anacybele]

Huh, I guess I'm the first person to post an entry this time!

Title: To Be a Leader
Words: 4300 (huh, neat number!)
Fandom: The Legend of Zelda (specifically Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, though that's not indicated in this piece. It ties into a larger fic)

Spoiler

To Be a Leader

 

“NO! Damn it all! We’re trapped!”

“What was General Judo thinking?! It’ll take us forever to navigate our way out of this massive mountain range!”

“The enemy went this way, he said. We have to go after them, he said!”

“This is the last straw! He’s so incompetent!”

“General Aldin would be ashamed! Though why he had any faith in Judo, I can’t figure out.”

“Yeah, I was furious when I heard he was to take over when the late general died!”

Several well-armored knights atop their now halted horses began shouting and complaining amongst themselves while even more lamented the newly made wall of rock behind them. They barely escaped the large rockslide without a scratch on anyone or their steeds, as the wall extended many feet behind them at this point. And as far as they knew, this had been their only viable escape route.

One knight in slightly more ornate armor and ebony hair stepped into the fray a moment later, though he looked more concerned than truly upset or angry.

“Hey now, Judo is young and has only been at this a few months,” he said. “Give him a little more time.”

 “Yeah, Deputy Commander Conan’s right,” one of the other knights who hadn’t started shouting put in. “Also, don’t forget that General Judo wasn’t even supposed to take over that soon! General Aldin’s death was sudden and nobody expected it when it happened.”

“I admit, if anyone saw those arrows coming, they had to be psychic,” another knight added. “Judo does tell a good joke. I give him that much. It helps when times are tough. Laughing is good for the soul!”

“Yeah, totally! I support you, general, don’t worry!”

Yet more knights who took Judo’s side soon came to his defense against those who weren’t. Yet, Judo himself didn’t speak for a few moments. The dusty-brown haired knight, garbed in great ornate armor and displaying bulk and muscle that any serious body builder would be impressed with could only heave a sigh of stress and shake his head. Though it was more at himself than his comrades. Judo could not stop kicking himself for not having anticipated the trap that now left his group in a bad predicament.

He knew he had to say something soon, though, as he was the leader and needed to calm his troops down before the situation got even more out of hand. He then cleared his throat to do so.

“Listen, everyone,” Judo spoke up. “I screwed up, that’s no secret. And I can’t apologize enough for it. I appreciate those who still defend me though.”

“And I can’t believe anyone still is!” one of the angrier knights spat. “We have families and friends who might get worried about us! And I’m not even sure you deserve to wield Orion! The treasured sword of the Hyrulean knights should be in the hands of a real leader!”

“Hey now, I wouldn’t go that far,” another knight stepped in again. “Judo’s strength is second to none! He’s crushed many in duels and arm wrestles. A warrior that powerful would put Orion to the best use possible if you ask me.”

“Don’t be an idiot! There’s more to being a leader and knight than just having muscles!” another retorted.

“That’s not what I meant! And I’m an idiot? Says the guy who snuck a fake spider in my tea! That prank was not funny at all! I hate spiders!”

“I didn’t know you were arachnophobic, I was just trying to make a funny joke. Judo can’t be the only guy around here who’s funny!”

“So you do admit he has some good qualities!” one of Judo’s defenders pointed out with a sly grin.

“SHUT UP!”

Now several of them began yelling and shouting again, seemingly almost to the point of getting physical. Now Judo was feeling his blood begin to boil, and Conan could only bring a hand to his face and sigh. With that, Judo spurred his steed for a moment and allowed the stallion to let out a huge neigh that made everyone jump in their own saddles.

“ENOUGH ALREADY!” Judo thundered. It soon became quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

“Look, regardless of whether or not I should be leading, fighting amongst ourselves is not helping our situation,” the young general continued. “Like I said, I messed up, and now we all have to work together to get out of this. I realize everyone has family and friends. I do too, my mother came to Mayia with us, after all. And King Daphnes could very well need us soon, as I realize now that Hyrule may be in as much danger as Mayia, maybe even more, if these monsters travel there. I’m not sure why His Majesty sent all of us, I think that was an unwise decision on his part, but it is what it is.”

“He probably figured that there wouldn’t be any danger before we returned,” Conan pointed out. “But I agree, it wasn’t the smartest move. In fact, Judo, my intuition tells me that your suggestion of the monsters going to Hyrule is correct. I’ve a feeling we were lured out here from the beginning, not just for this trap. Those monsters could’ve come here first in hopes King Daphnes would send help and leave Hyrule vulnerable. It’s actually rather clever.”

“Oh no. And your intuition is almost always right.”

“Indeed…”

Judo thought for a moment again. He did remember that the monsters that attacked were said to be stronger and more intelligent than those that had once attacked Hyrule before. It would be just like them to concoct such a scheme.

“Well…” Judo began again. “I again apologize to everyone. But right now, all we can do is keep traveling these mountain roads and tunnels in hopes of finding a new route.”

“And how are we going to do that?” one of the knights who had argued against Judo wondered annoyingly. “We have not found any other paths already, and our horses obviously can’t climb. We can’t even risk light slopes because they could break their legs!”

“You’re right. But we will find something. If there’s one thing Aldin used to tell us all,” Judo continued. “It’s that there’s always an answer. Sometimes it may be difficult to find, or right there in front of you. But he always believed in a solution no matter the situation.”

 The other knights and Conan had to agree. The old general did have a lot of good advice and encouragement. It was what made Aldin the leader he was. Part of Judo now pined for such skills himself, wondering if he could ever be like his mentor and idol. As things stood now, though, that didn’t seem likely. Aldin had had faith in Judo that he could take over for him, but all he’d been able to do was cause a divide between his men. Judo wasn’t even sure if he could hold things together now rather than make said divide even worse.

“So how about this,” Conan spoke up. We stay together right now, but somewhere down the line, we can split into two groups to cover more ground. These mountains have echoes, so someone can whistle really loud to notify the other party if they find something. And don’t forget, not all of us are stuck. We have a third group we left behind in the Mayia Plains. We might find a way to contact them for help.”

“Good ideas,” Judo agreed. “One group will be led by myself and Conan will take the other. We’ll decide later when to split off. Heck, I actually think right now, we ought to set up camp somewhere first and wait to divide into groups until morning. It’s getting to be late afternoon now.”

“That’ll work well enough,” Conan replied. “We don’t want to risk getting lost in the dark.”

“Then it’s settled. Everyone understand?”

The knights all nodded and voiced their approval. And with that, the group hustled their horses down the road in the direction away from the rock barrier. Thankfully, it was wide enough for three or four knights to travel in a row. All they had to do now was find a location to pitch their camp. Judo and Conan had a map of the mountains that they surveyed as they traveled. They noticed a small valley nestled deep within the range and decided to go there. It even had a few branching paths which was perfect for splitting into groups later. They had to take a few turns to get there, but it wasn’t too far from their current location.

Along the way, two knights asked Judo to tell one of his many jokes to pass the time. And with a goofy grin, Judo knew he could not say no to this. He never was able to with how much he loved to make people laugh.

“Alright,” he agreed with a chuckle. “I think I have a somewhat appropriate one. What do you call a tight bra? A booby trap. Heh heh heh.”

Several knights erupted in laughter, remembering that they themselves had fallen for a trap, which was why Judo felt the joke rather appropriate, even if at the same time, it might’ve also been rather inappropriate. Some other knights merely rolled their eyes, probably wondering how their comrades could be cheery at a time like this.

As Judo suspected, the sun had begun to set when they arrived at the clearing. The knights immediately went to work in setting up their tents. Several tents were shared as well. Judo and Conan also bunked together in one. The horses were placed in a large stable tent that always took several people to put up. But with enough help, it could go up in a timely manner. Some knights carried materials for tents on their horses while the majority of it was kept in a small wagon that was accompanying the group.

Once the tents were up, the warm glow of campfires began appearing with wood collected from nearby trees. As Judo sat at one, simply staring into the bright waving flames, he couldn’t help but not even realize when Conan approached him moments later.

“Judo? You haven’t even taken your armor off yet?” he said. “And you’ve not been smiling or laughing much at all. That’s unusual.”

“No… I’m sorry,” Judo replied. “I guess telling even one joke wasn’t enough to cheer myself up this time, even if it worked for some of the others. I have a lot on my mind.”

“I see. And I understand,” Conan said. He sat down next to his friend and commander, having already shed his armor and now only wore his knight’s tunic and boots.

“Don’t let what some of the guys said get to you though,” he continued. “Like I said earlier, you just need a little more time. You haven’t fully adjusted to your new position yet. And it sounds like Aldin hadn’t had enough time to properly train you to lead either. You’re having to figure things out basically all on your own and that would be hard for anyone.”

“I suppose,” Judo agreed, but then buried his face in his hands. “Oh really, who am I kidding? They’re still probably right. I’ve already made a ton of mistakes. We got attacked just as we left Hyrule because I didn’t think to send a scout to survey things ahead of us or anything like that. During our encounters with the enemy in Mayia, I had no idea what commands to issue, the attacks were sudden. I can’t seem to think on my feet well. My men are fighting amongst themselves over me, so they’re now more or less in a verbal civil war. I can’t seem to hold things together at all. And several of our men have been injured already. Two are dead! You yourself pointed out that some of those casualties could’ve been avoided. And now this. And you even tried to warn me that there might be a trap somewhere, but I thought we could catch up to the enemy and cut them down.”

“I see. That is true, I did warn you sometimes.”

“Yeah. I promised General Aldin I would do my best for him and be the leader he wanted. Now I just feel like...I completely let him down. He had so much faith in me, and now it seems that that faith was very ill placed. I feel I should talk to King Daphnes when we return to Hyrule and request that someone else lead.”

“Hey, I understand. You might have made mistakes, but like I said, you’re still learning and you have time to grow,” Conan pointed out. “The best leaders learn from their mistakes. Because not even the best leader is immune to making them.”

“That’s true…Though I’ve also been kicking myself for…other things too, admittedly.”

“Ah, Kelli?”

“It’s much to do with her, yeah.”

Judo then lamented his childhood friend, whom he missed dearly and wished to see again for the first time in years as soon as he returned home to Hyrule. And even now, she still meant more to him than anything.

“I sent a letter to her, but there’s been no word on if she got it,” Judo said. “Something might have happened and now I wonder if she’ll ever get it… And if she would also think I failed my general… I feel I would embarrass her.”

“Man, no, don’t think like that. From what you’ve told me, Kelli would never stop caring deeply for you. She looks past any flaws you have. And I’m sure she wants to see you just as much as you want to see her no matter what.”

“I hope so. I do still look forward to it, and showing her that even if I can’t lead, I’ve become one of Hyrule’s best warriors. She can at least be proud of that.”

“That’s the spirit.”

Conan then shot Judo an encouraging smile.

“Thanks,” Judo replied, returning the gesture.

Kelli… Judo began in his mind, now rather distantly thinking of his beloved friend. The promise we made as children when you left is one I could never break. I waited for you, and now you wait for me. And I will return.

The young general still had other thoughts in his mind as well, however, and spoke up once more a moment later.

“There’s one other thing I can’t stop beating myself up for either though. And I haven’t mentioned it until now because I’ve felt so awful about it… But you’re my friend, Conan. So I think you should know.”

“What? What’s wrong?” Conan wondered.

Judo then brought a hand to his neck, a lump forming in his throat as he remembered how bare it now was.

“While we were still journeying to Mayia, I realized my most precious possession, a sword charm my father had given me when I was a kid, was not around my neck anymore. That’s why I suddenly looked like I’d seen a ghost. I had to have lost it when we were attacked upon leaving Hyrule. I did get struck once or twice, and the chain probably broke. I had been meaning to replace the fastening. This was the only thing I had left of my dad, and now I’ll probably never get it back…”

“Oh, my… I’m sorry. I remember when you told me about your dad. That’s awful.”

“Yeah… I messed up so bad that I couldn’t even keep my dad’s necklace safe!”

“Hey… Sometimes times are tough. But we’ll get through it together. I’ll always have your back.”

“Heh. Conan, I have no idea what I would do without you. I might even be dead if not for your advice and tactical prowess.”

“I don’t know about that, but I’m glad to be there for you, buddy.”

Before either of the two could say anything more, an annoyed voice suddenly rang out.

“HEY! Who threw a rock at my tent and knocked it down?!” one of the knights demanded. “Is this another one of your stupid pranks, Dennis?!”

“What?! I didn’t do anything!” the knight named Dennis retorted. “Not everything that happens to you is a prank, moron!”

“You did once dump pebbles in some guy’s tent…along with a dead lizard in his armor,” another knight pointed out. “I can see why—”

“AH! My tent got hit too!” another knight shouted.

“AGH!”

“AUGH!”

Suddenly, pained cries rang out from other places in the camp, and Judo and Conan gasped when they saw a few arrows and more rocks flying from cliff sides above them. Moments later, monsters began making their way down towards the camp, armed with swords, shields, and a manner of other weapons. Some were bipedal lizard and dinosaur-like creatures with beady golden and navy blue eyes. And others were skeletal humanoids, also bearing those eye colors.

“CRUD! We’re under attack!” Judo realized. “And we’re more vulnerable down here since we can’t easily escape!”

“Damn it,” Conan uttered angrily. “We have to do what we can to fend them off! Or else we lose everything!”

“Right,” Judo said. “EVERYONE, GRAB YOUR WEAPONS NOW! Guard the tents! And get those injured men to the medical tent as quickly as possible!”

The knights were now scattering to retrieve their weapons and what little armor they could strap back on in a short amount of time. Some of them wielded lances, some axes, and some even used bows. Judo was thankful that he still had some of his own archers with him, as they would not be able to reach the monsters on the cliffs otherwise.

Judo himself quickly retrieved Orion from his tent, the long, somewhat broad blade with gold and red embroidery, still caked with a little blood from previous fights, and went to join in the brawl. Conan soon spoke up again.

“Judo, we have to guard those who are firing at the enemies on the cliffs. Tell everyone else to protect them closely.”

“Alright, will do,” Judo obliged. “We still have some bomb arrows left, right? From when the Mayians gave some to us to help out?”

“Yeah, those should be helpful. I’ll tell the guys to use them.”

With that, the two leapt into action and charged towards the monsters. Judo began cutting through them as quickly as he could. Orion was powerful enough to take one down in one, maybe two swings. He was able to cleave a Lizalfos monster clean in two. The Dinolfos were somewhat larger and more powerful, and took more effort, but even they could fall to Judo’s blade quickly. Conan had drawn his lance and was sure to watch his commander’s back.

“Judo, there’s still more coming!” he reported. “And two more men just got taken to the medical tent!”

“Blast!” Judo exclaimed. “Alright, we need to take things up a notch!”

With that Judo began to attempt to take on multiple monsters at once. Some might have thought him crazy to do so, but that was before they saw his full might.

“I can do more than just swing a blade, you know,” Judo said to his opponents with a sly grin.

He then drove his foot into a Lizalfos behind him immediately after chopping a Dinolfos in two. When a Stalfos came at him, he grabbed him by its collar bone and swung him over his head right at another pair comprised of a Lizalfos and Dinolfos. Both collapsed to the ground as the Stalfos’s bones broke apart upon them.

“Heh heh, now that’s what I call getting t-boned,” Judo laughed. “Joke’s on you!”

“Nice one,” Conan commented with a smile. “Agh!”

Suddenly, an arrow scraped his shoulder, and unfortunately, it was his lancing one.

“No!” Judo cried. “Conan! YAGH!”

A Dinolfos had suddenly dug its claws into the left side of Judo’s face. Blood trickled out of the newly made gashes. He was lucky that the creature’s hand missed his eye. Conan now grimaced more at his commander than his own wound, though Judo was still easily able to swing his blade right through the creature’s torso.

“Ugh… Sorry, Judo…” the deputy commander uttered, dropping his weapon and clutching his shoulder. The arrow had managed to cut almost an inch deep.

“That looks bad. Go to the medical tent now,” Judo ordered while shielding a strike from a Lizalfos. “I think I have a plan now for finishing this. We’re losing too many men too quickly.”

“Alright… What are you thinking of doing though? I might be able to offer advice.”

“Well, remember the box formation you had us use a few times before? You know, to guard a vulnerable ally or someone that we’re escorting? I’m thinking we should have everyone surround the camp with the archers inside the box.”

“Yes, that could work! Provided we have enough men left… This valley is still rather sizable.”

“I think we can manage. I can hold off a large section on my own with Orion’s range. Now go! You’re bleeding a lot!”

“Alright, good luck! I’ll try to get back out here soon though, the cut didn’t get my bone or anything.”

“Got it, but if you don’t feel like you can lift your weapon, don’t try to. I can’t have you making the wound worse.”

“Of course.”

With that, Conan rushed off, leaving Judo to issue his orders.

“EVERYONE, LISTEN UP! Surround the entire camp in box formation!” he commanded. “Don’t leave any wide openings! Archers, fire from inside the box!”

No one was hesitant to follow, as at this point, even Judo’s non-supporters were willing to try anything to win this fight. Though a few were rather reluctant, wondering if their general knew what he was doing for once.

 Judo rushed to the main entrance to the valley, as this was where a majority of the monsters were coming from. Another group of them were just about to enter when the general held his sword out behind him and began going into a spin. He gradually spun faster until he struck every enemy within a few feet of him and then leapt into a fearsome jump strike. Almost half a dozen enemies were thrown backward by the impact. This was Judo’s favorite move to use when he had to take on several enemies at once, and it was also his own version of the spin attack often taught to Hyrulean soldiers.

With his load lessened now, Judo took a quick look at how his men were doing. Just as he’d hoped, the enemy’s strength now appeared to be dwindling. Not as many were coming after them now. One or two would nearly break through the barrier the knights had formed, but none managed to reach any tents.

Within minutes, the worst of the battle was over. A few stragglers remained for a little while, but the other monsters began retreating, realizing now their efforts were futile. As soon as the final threat was gone, nearly each and every knight sagged on their feet or steed and began panting. Even Judo himself wasn’t hesitant to sheath Orion and drop to his knees. Moments later, a familiar voice spoke up again.

“Wow,” Conan said, now with his shoulder wrapped in a bandage. “I come out here again as soon as I could lift my weapon without too much pain and I find the battle is over! I’m impressed, Judo. Nice job!”

“Ha… Thanks,” Judo replied between breaths and stood to his feet a moment later.

“Hey, I knew you had it in you,” the deputy commander said with a friendly smile. “You never cease to amaze me.”

“Heh… I guess I did do well this time. And I might have my head on straight now too. I do feel better.”

“That’s good. Remember what you and all of us did today now. You don’t need to lack confidence. Those monsters cleverly tricked us into being more vulnerable and attacked when they had the best chance. And they still lost.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Like I’d said a little while ago, joke’s on them! Ha ha ha!”

“That’s the Judo I know and admire! You’re never without that catchphrase of yours.”

“Nope. And you know, maybe I’m also now these monsters’ worst knightmare. Heh heh heh!”

Haha, there you go!” Conan commented, chuckling as well. “We should help clean up the camp now, though, after you get your face bandaged. Some of the tents were damaged, and the campfires were destroyed. There are monster guts lying around now too.”

“Ugh, gross. This won’t be fun. But yeah, or else it’s going to reek of dead monster corpses later.”

“Yeah, and that’d be a monster of an odor.”

“Hey, that’s my job!”

“Well, maybe you’re rubbing off on me.”

Conan threw his friend a wink.

“Heh, I guess. I’ll be in and out the medical tent soon.”

With that, Judo quickly got his face cleaned up and bandaged. He then joined Conan and their men and had everyone that wasn’t too injured join the cleanup effort. They also inquired about the injured and learned that thankfully, no one had died. Some of the knights that had been against him before even praised Judo for his quick thinking. They still weren’t certain he could handle the job of being general, but they admitted he had taken a step forward. Judo was glad to know, and wondered now if the monsters had actually done a good thing here. He had needed to begin growing up as a leader and maybe a knight in general, and it seemed that he now was.

 

 

Edited January 25, 2019 by Anacybele

[AnonymousSpeed]

On 1/22/2019 at 9:50 AM, Shoblongoo said:

Congrats on the long overdue win. Good prompt.  

On 1/21/2019 at 9:58 PM, TheSilentChloey said:

What the fuck?  Excuse my language but what kind of a freaking prompt is THAT?!

 

Sweet mother of Grima that is a recipe for a disaster.

Y'all are fun.

On 1/22/2019 at 9:50 AM, Shoblongoo said:

My Jimmies are so rustled I'm tempted to just bang one out in media res or w/e and submit it for this round.

Multi-prompting, nice.

On 1/21/2019 at 11:05 PM, LdotRage said:

I'm new here, but I think I'll give this one a shot. It's been way too long since I've written a proper in-media-res short story, since I over-explain everything, lol

Oof, tell me about it. Honestly, one of the hardest things for me in these contests is cutting everything down enough.

On 1/21/2019 at 11:56 PM, TheSilentChloey said:

Well I'm done.  1300+ words.  Anyone up for grammar?

I'll check grammar, if someone hasn't already done so.

[TheSilentChloey]

13 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Y'all are fun.

Multi-prompting, nice.

Oof, tell me about it. Honestly, one of the hardest things for me in these contests is cutting everything down enough.

I'll check grammar, if someone hasn't already done so.

Thanks I'll PM the link for you.

[TheSilentChloey]

Title: The Silent One

Fandom: N/A

Word count: 1, 347

Spoiler

“Well this sucks.” Chloey groaned as she read the post on the forums.  “What kind of a damn prompt is this?”

 

She was of course not particularly happy about it.  The fact of the matter was she was annoyed from the already bad day and this just made it worse.  It was a cursed thing really. Add the little to no proper explanation and it was really ticking her off.  Oh sure it was easier to think of some more questionable words to describe said prompt but she'd been making an effort to cut the swearing down.  None too successfully.

 

A string of curse words later and she still had nothing.  No smart alec comment to make and no snide remark about how she felt.  Worse still she was still stuck on one of her more long standing projects, Invisible Ties.  She wondered what she was going to do since the story and Shadow Tactician had taken on lives of their own.  The Crazy Summoner was also in dire need of an update and True Love's Cost was on a cliffhanger.  Plus there was her more recent story Hentai Heroes…

 

Chloey let out a disgruntled groan.

 

This wasn't going to go down well.  The young woman turned the volume of her ipod up and simply let the music wash over her as she sat lost in thought.  It was going to be a long afternoon.

 

She sighed as she rocked back and stared at the ceiling, “Even worse is I don't get it.” she grumbled to herself, “Plus no one really likes what I write unless they have enough foreknowledge about it…”

 

She was at an impasse.  She wanted to just give up already, throw the towel in and call it quits.

 

A loud sigh escaped her.  No, she couldn't do that. It wasn't an option.  She had to come up with something.  It was both her gift and her curse.

 

Naturally she wanted to try to grow as a writer- who didn't- but when others said things she wasn't entirely comfortable with hearing...well that didn't help matters.

 

She pulled out her phone and stared at it.  She tapped the screen and unlocked it to reveal a picture of FEH's Grima.  She smiled softly. Strange how that sneaky dragon grew on her. As if he was begging for his tale to be told, and Chloey had a thing for anti-heroes.  She wondered, not for the first time if she was making the right choice. He seemed to be rolling his eyes at her and she sighed, “I suppose I should write something then.  I don't know how good it will be, but…”

 

The summer sun outside was merciless.  The heat making her very uncomfortable even though she was reduced to shorts and a tee shirt.  She hated it. Worse still it was only the first couple of weeks in January- the heat would last a full month more and she didn't even have the will to go inside her parents’ house just to cool down.  It wasn't worth being burned to a crisp just to get to the next available piece of slightly less hot shade.

 

She sighed.  What was she supposed to do again?

 

The music changed to one of the songs from Sims 4 and she smiled sadly.  She closed her eyes and tried to yet again think about what she wanted to write.  She checked through her own personal prompt list and sighed. She could do a couple, but they weren't the prompt that was asked for.  She sighed and added the new prompt. She'd think of something. If not Fire Emblem based, then she'd tried something else. Impatiently she tapped her ipod to change the song and pulled up a Harry Potter clarinet sound track.  She knew it was the play-along as it lacked the sound of a clarinet, the instrument she'd spent the last three years learning how to play.

 

It saddened her that her mother didn't really get it, though Chloey knew better than to expect her parents to be remotely interested.  If it didn't bring money then it didn't matter to them.

 

She sighed as she looked at Grima again.  He seemed to be his usual smirking self, though perhaps that was a projection of her own device.  She pulled up docs and stared at the blank white thing. She rolled her eyes and began to type up a random story…

 

And she deleted half of it.

 

She frowned and started again.  About half way through she realised she missed something and proceeded to go back to the start…

 

And deleted it again when she realised it wasn't what she wanted to say.

 

The soft vibrations of her phone as she typed was beginning to annoy her.  A frown crossed her face and she tapped away again. She sighed and let out another groan.

 

She didn't want to hear what kind of argument was going down again.  The voices having rose to the point that she could hear them from where she was.  Her parents could act so stupid sometimes.

 

She continued typing.  Ignoring the yells about how things weren't being done.  She didn't need that today, or any day really. Chloey sighed and stood up, still typing.  She would have to make an adjustment to the story now and while she wasn't exactly sure what kind of mess she was writing she could appreciate it was going to both drive her crazy and annoy her at the same time.  Still- she could have had worse.

 

Another yell sounded and blue eyes rolled in their sockets.  She didn't need to be dragged into the hot mess that was her parents’ marriage failure.  Nor did she need to be scolded again over something she didn't do. She'd had enough of that.

 

Her fingers paused as she read what she'd wrote.  She swiped up and down and up again. It could work...it sort of fit the prompt, though she knew deep down no one but her would truly get it.

 

Oh well.

 

She couldn't go without something.

 

It still annoyed her however as she had some prompts that she felt would really push people to go outside their comfort zones like she'd been made to almost every single time now.  Chloey sighed.

 

Maybe she did not do this for the gratification- though to be fair that was maybe part of it.  She didn't do it because she had the time to spare- unemployment notwithstanding. It confused her slightly, but then she realised something she'd once said, about growth for the sake of growth.  Maybe that was her reason. It was better than just because she could.

 

Chloey sat back down and looked over what she had written.  Something seemed to always stand out to her.

 

Ever since she'd started writing in the first place, it was a theme that she seemed to revolve around.  The characters in her mind's eye...she shut the app on her phone down, looking at Grima again. She sighed.  A part of her understood better than anyone else what she was truly thinking.

 

She only wanted…

 

She only wanted to create a world for characters where they could live in peace, no more fighting.  She would become their shield, if nothing else. She thought back to the character that gave Chloey her username.  The Silent Chloey.  A human-demon hybrid, doomed to fight the darkness in her heart.

 

In a way that character evolved, alongside Chloey, though perhaps it was more accurate to say Chloey gave rise to The Silent one.  She had spent so much of her life lied to by those she was supposed to trust…

 

Chloey sighed deeply.  No one could even come close to scratching the surface of how dark Chloey herself was.  She would keep it that way. No point in letting others bare what was her own burden. She smiled softly.  It was almost time for her to wrap up her story and she had a good one liner to part with.

 

Who else could know what she had seen?

And now that's about done.

Spoiler

For those who are not aware Hentai Heroes is an mature content Summoner bangs X character in heroes, mostly just for lols but it does have some plot elements...sometimes XD

 

Edited January 26, 2019 by TheSilentChloey
Missing word lol

[Dragoncat]

Chloey...I feel like this needs to be said, nobody lynch me for this.

But if you don't like the prompt, it is unfair for you to rant about how much you hate it. Picture yourself as Anon right now, how would you like it if your prompt got made fun of like this? If you hate it that much, why did you even write for it. Nobody's forcing you to write for every round.

[TheSilentChloey]

42 minutes ago, Dragoncat said:

Chloey...I feel like this needs to be said, nobody lynch me for this.

But if you don't like the prompt, it is unfair for you to rant about how much you hate it. Picture yourself as Anon right now, how would you like it if your prompt got made fun of like this? If you hate it that much, why did you even write for it. Nobody's forcing you to write for every round.

Can I just point out IT'S JUST A STORY.  It just goes to show that a humorous attempt falls flat yet again.

 

Because the entire thing was meant to be funny.  It was poking a joke at me.

 

So yes.  Yes you are getting "lynched" for the stupid comment, as well as making me annoyed first thing in the morning.

 

Glad to know people still can't actually get where I'm going with my stories. 

[Anacybele]

It doesn't help us understand any better if you're being rude, you know. I didn't know it was meant to be a joke, I couldn't tell at all. Dcat doesn't seem to have noticed either. And I think I recall you saying once or twice that you have Asperger's? Well so do we, and you should know as well as we do that people like us don't always see jokes the way others do.

Also, it actually isn't a bad piece in itself, imo. I just didn't like that it seems to insult the very prompt you entered it for.

[TheSilentChloey]

32 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

It doesn't help us understand any better if you're being rude, you know. I didn't know it was meant to be a joke, I couldn't tell at all. Dcat doesn't seem to have noticed either. And I think I recall you saying once or twice that you have Asperger's? Well so do we, and you should know as well as we do that people like us don't always see jokes the way others do.

Also, it actually isn't a bad piece in itself, imo. I just didn't like that it seems to insult the very prompt you entered it for.

The thing is it could have been ANY prompt, that's the joke.  But as I said humour falls spectacularly flat.

 

Also me being annoyed is not helped by buttons being pushed and words put into my mouth, e.g "Oh it's insulting the prompt and imagine how X person would feel about that"

I'm pretty sure if said story was in another round it would have been seen the same regardless so... *shrugs*

[DarthR0xas]

3 hours ago, Dragoncat said:

But if you don't like the prompt, it is unfair for you to rant about how much you hate it.

I'm not sure unfair is the right word for that. Since it's perfectly fair, if you put something out on a public forum then one reserves the right to criticize said thing. It could be deemed unprofessional, unnecessary, or a "dick move", but it still lives within the perfect plausibilities of fairness.

3 hours ago, Dragoncat said:

Picture yourself as Anon right now, how would you like it if your prompt got made fun of like this?

I'm pretty sure Anon is pretty chill about this whole endeavor, just kinda the vibe I get from him. He might be a little down over the blasting of his prompt, but everyone else loving it and the stories that'll come from it would probably keep him on the up and up.

That said, while I'll reserve most of what I have to say on the story for the write-up on all of them during the voting period, I personally found it kinda entertaining. I wouldn't call it funny persay, but that doesn't mean the joke didn't land. Sometimes, you need to vent, and if that's in a weird self-aware story about yourself, then I'm all for it.

[Dragoncat]

Okay, I will move forward with this and call it good, but I still think it was kind of rude.

[Anacybele]

1 hour ago, DarthR0xas said:

I'm not sure unfair is the right word for that. Since it's perfectly fair, if you put something out on a public forum then one reserves the right to criticize said thing. It could be deemed unprofessional, unnecessary, or a "dick move", but it still lives within the perfect plausibilities of fairness.

Well yes, you're right, but Dcat and I felt that this wasn't constructive criticism. Chloey even used the f word. I'm not saying she can't use this piece in the contest, she can. But it feels like it's in bad taste. That's all.

But there's no changing it. So might as well move on as Dcat said.

[AnonymousSpeed]

4 hours ago, Dragoncat said:

Picture yourself as Anon right now, how would you like it if your prompt got made fun of like this?

I proofread it and thought it was kind of funny.

[TheSilentChloey]

8 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Well yes, you're right, but Dcat and I felt that this wasn't constructive criticism. Chloey even used the f word. I'm not saying she can't use this piece in the contest, she can. But it feels like it's in bad taste. That's all.

But there's no changing it. So might as well move on as Dcat said.

Because apparently my defalt shock reaction is to swear...

And I was joking Ana.  Like I said humour falls flat.

 

5 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

I proofread it and thought it was kind of funny.

I'm glad some people caught that XD so it's not a complete lost cause.

1 hour ago, DarthR0xas said:

I'm not sure unfair is the right word for that. Since it's perfectly fair, if you put something out on a public forum then one reserves the right to criticize said thing. It could be deemed unprofessional, unnecessary, or a "dick move", but it still lives within the perfect plausibilities of fairness.

I'm pretty sure Anon is pretty chill about this whole endeavor, just kinda the vibe I get from him. He might be a little down over the blasting of his prompt, but everyone else loving it and the stories that'll come from it would probably keep him on the up and up.

That said, while I'll reserve most of what I have to say on the story for the write-up on all of them during the voting period, I personally found it kinda entertaining. I wouldn't call it funny persay, but that doesn't mean the joke didn't land. Sometimes, you need to vent, and if that's in a weird self-aware story about yourself, then I'm all for it.

Well it wasn't intended to be a self-aware thing...but hey it happens sometimes *shrugs*

[Anacybele]

2 minutes ago, TheSilentChloey said:

Because apparently my defalt shock reaction is to swear...

And I was joking Ana.  Like I said humour falls flat.

Yes, I'm aware of that now, and that's my mistake for not knowing. So I'm sorry about that. I'd said before, sometimes Aspies don't pick up jokes well, and that time I didn't.

[TheSilentChloey]

48 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Yes, I'm aware of that now, and that's my mistake for not knowing. So I'm sorry about that. I'd said before, sometimes Aspies don't pick up jokes well, and that time I didn't.

Yeah I know.  I probs shouldn't be so prickly either.

[Dragoncat]

3 hours ago, TheSilentChloey said:

Yeah I know.  I probs shouldn't be so prickly either.

This is all we're asking, honestly.

[AnonymousSpeed]

5 hours ago, DarthR0xas said:

I'm pretty sure Anon is pretty chill about this whole endeavor, just kinda the vibe I get from him. He might be a little down over the blasting of his prompt, but everyone else loving it and the stories that'll come from it would probably keep him on the up and up.

It doth please me more to hear this than to hear that the prompt was generally popular.

4 hours ago, TheSilentChloey said:

I'm glad some people caught that XD so it's not a complete lost cause.

So, I didn't actually read all the posts before responding, I just kinda wanted to deflate things and get that out of the way. Going back and reading the posts, I don't mind any prickliness from you, though I do think your response to being called prickly has come off as a little bit arrogant, personally.

***

Anyway, that's that. Looking forward to see what else comes in through the tubes, we've already got a very interesting opening set of pieces.

Edited January 27, 2019 by AnonymousSpeed

[Anacybele]

You're handling this well, Anon, I'd have been rather annoyed to see someone...well, get angry at my prompt like that. I mean Chloey's initial post, not her piece. So definite thumbs up to you, sets a good example.

Also, glad my piece is already drawing interest! ^^

[Jotari]

6 hours ago, DarthR0xas said:

I'm pretty sure Anon is pretty chill about this whole endeavor, just kinda the vibe I get from him. He might be a little down over the blasting of his prompt, but everyone else loving it and the stories that'll come from it would probably keep him on the up and up.

 

30 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

It doth please me more to hear this than to hear that the prompt was generally popular.

He's not the only one of this opinion.