Insanity Round
How is this different from the official challenges? These are drabbles only. Also, you will be posting your replies to this post instead of to the community.
So read the prompts, write a story, submit a prompt! But most of all, have fun!
( RULES )
So read the prompts, write a story, submit a prompt! But most of all, have fun!
( RULES )
Now they were here, Joker was happy to be visiting his family. The massive influx of relatives had provided an excellent excuse to book a hotel room instead of staying with his dad, he'd bitten the bullet and figured out a present for Hillary, so the most difficult parts were past. He even had a way to fend off his Aunt's constant attempts to fatten him up. His Feed-the-World Aunt would finally find her match in Rhi Walking-Metabolism Shepard.
Shepard herself wasn't so sanguine. She stood by the mirror, back ramrod straight, in an unconcious but perfect parade rest that would have looked natural in blues but seemed odd in jeans and a leather jacket.
"You're the one who wanted to come," he pointed out.
She snorted, a 'what the hell was I thinking?' sound. "I'm... not good at families."
"You're good at people."
"I mostly shoot them."
"Okay, yeah, about that -- it probably won't be nessecary at my aunt's potluck."
A corner of her mouth twisted up. "I'll try to keep that in mind." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a ration bar, her standard pre-meal meal when they were going out.
He stepped up behind her and neatly caught the bar before she got it to her mouth. "Rhi, babe, there'll be enough food for an army of biotics, and it'll all taste better than that." He rested his head on her shoulder, enjoying the scent of the worn leather. "Except for Mary's jello salad. Avoid that."
She turned her head to look at him, brown eyes warm. "Jello salad?"
"Yeah." He kissed her, enjoying the way she relaxed in his arms as much as her always-eager mouth. "The jello salad you can shoot on sight."
With many appologies to my much beloved great grandma Mary, queen of the frightening jello salads.
prompts
- Hope is the thing with feathers
- That perches in the soul
- and Sings the tune without the words
- and never stops at all
(prompts from Emily Dickinson).
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"I'm so glad I got you back. After Earth, I don't know what I would have done without you."
He inhaled deep the familiar scent of her hair, while caressing her very supportive waist.
"Oh, you would have kicked ass. And then eventually you would have found me somewhere and made me do all the ass kicking while you would concentrate on cool poses."
Shepard laughed and looked up to his scarred face.
"Seriously Garrus, you are my trusted one in everything. And you give me hope when I have none of it left. You are like my personal dove!."
Garrus looked at her confused.
"A..dove? Is that a good thing?"
"Yes, it is a bird that usually symbolizes hope and peace to humans. You're that for me."
Garrus didn't look convinced.
"Uh-huh. Didn't you just eat something made out of that creature, nuggets you called them? You humans are so strange, eating the animals that represent hope for you."
She playfully punched him with enough force to cause a clanking sound against his collar.
"Don't be an ass, that was chicken as I explained to you!"
"Ouch. As you humans say: potato, potato. And I better start watching myself, or you'll end up eating me along with the rest of your hope creatures." He rubbed his collar, sounding very amused.
Shepard huffed and yanked him closer to her.
"Careful what you say there, I might just eat you. And you might just enjoy it."
He bent closer to her, sounding as smug as ever.
"Yeah, but who's going to do all the ass kicking for you then?" And then he kissed her and she stopped babbling.
PROMPTS
I Want My Tears back
Rest Calm
Slow, Love, Slow
(prompts borrowed from the band “Nightwish”)
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[ME3 AU endgame spoilers]Each second of the clock ticking past tightened the bands squeezing Kaidan's chest. The Normandy's systems still reported biometric readings from Shepard's suit, but they painted an alarming picture. If they couldn't track down her GPS signal soon, they were going to lose her, but navigating the debris field of the destroyed Citadel was a tricky business even in the Kodiak and Cortez's skillful piloting.
"We'll find her, Major," Cortez said in response to Kaidan's hovering behind his seat, trying to re-assure him, but Kaidan heard the tension underlying the words.
"Keep looking." Kaidan's voice was rusty, hoarse from shouting during the battle on earth, choked on the fear clawing at his throat. I can't lose you again hammered inside his mind in time with his pulse, the beat of the migraine pounding at his skull. He fought the urge to throw up. He couldn't leave the read outs.
"Vital signs are fading," Dr. Chakwas's voice came on the comms. "We need to get to her now."
Cortez said through gritted teeth, "I'm trying, doctor--there!" A large piece of the structure loomed ahead of them, large enough that some of the life support systems might still be intact.
Kaidan slammed his helmet on, ignoring the pain lancing between his eyes from the motion, and barked to Vega and Garrus, "Move out. Let's find her."
----
PROMPTS:
- Two roads diverged
- I took the one less traveled by
- That's made all the difference.
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She couldn’t remember the details of the crash or how much time had passed since then. The only way she could tell that time was still in fact moving was by tracking the reports and rumors that trickled in slowly.
There was still no body.
After the Alliance picked them up there had been hope that the twenty-one unaccounted for souls were just what their status indicated - Missing in Action. But after a few weeks (had it been that long? how long had it been?) the reports started to add ‘presumed’ and swap out another word for ‘missing’.
She didn’t like that presumption. What she needed was more information. If there was one thing she had learned in her short life, it was that you always needed more information. She was used to operating on scraps and presumptions and intuition, but more data never hurt. And while there was a lot of chatter about the destruction of the Normandy, there were still too many questions that remained unanswered.
There was no body, but the Alliance had already set a date for a memorial service.
They were wrong, and she would find the proof.
Her omnitool beeped and flooded the cabin room with light.
Shepard was still alive. She just knew it.
---
Appealing directly to the Alliance was useless. The paperwork had already been filed, the speeches already prepared, and the politicians were already practicing their solemn looks and brave faces. She needed someone with a personal connection, someone who cared, someone she could trust.
Which was why Liara found herself in Lieutenant’s quarters. It was bare and impersonal space, no doubt shared between more than one officer on a rotational basis, but it was private. He had tried to feign warmth upon her arrival, but Liara could tell that she was not welcome. He looked tired. She asked him how he was doing and received the non-response that she expected. She indulged him in a few more awkward exchanges before deciding it was better to just be direct.
“She’s not dead. I just know it.”
He stared at her with a look of bewilderment and sadness and resignation. “Liara-“
“There are too many missing pieces, too many rumors, too much speculation. The Alliance hasn’t even finished scanning the Amada system yet and already there are reports coming from Omega about an unusual amount of activity spiking in the Nebula immediately after the crash-“
“Liara-“
“It’s just unreasonable that that the Alliance could close the case so quickly, when they haven’t even located the wreckage of the ship and-”
“Liara-“
“-Shepard’s hardsuit vitals weren’t recorded anywhere after the ship began to break up, despite Joker’s account clearly stating that she was still alive after the initial explosion-“
“Li-“
“And given the fact that there is no body-“
He grabbed her by the shoulders suddenly, and she saw anger and a flicker of a blue in the normally staid biotic’s large brown eyes. “Liara, she’s gone.”
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He searched her face for a moment, surprise and confusion mixing across his own before turning away and raising a hand to his temple. “You don’t have to, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”
“Shepard isn’t dead, Kaidan.” She watched him take a shuddering breath. “She can’t be.”
His back was still turned to her.
“I just- I just thought you would want to know. I’ve put together some leads about what may have happened and where she could be, and I think they’re very promising-“
“Leave.”
“What?”
“I need you to leave.”
“I just thought that you of all people would want-“
He turned to face her sharply. “This isn’t about what I want. She’s gone, Liara.” The anger began to recede from his countenance after a moment, leaving only the tired, defeated look from earlier. “You just need to accept that.”
She stared at him in disbelief. “I can’t.”
He shook his head. “Then I’m going to need you to leave.”
She could feel her jaw working, trying to find something to say that would convince him of her certainty, but all she found was the desperate need to cling to this one little hope for herself. She couldn’t accept the alternative, couldn’t process this grief that was threatening to drag her down- not until she had proof one way or the other. She turned to leave.
“The service is in two days.” His voiced seemed to catch. “You should be there.”
She nodded.
But they still didn’t have a body.
---
-Reconnect
-Rewind
-Regret
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I love this, but you knew I would. :)
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AGREE. We've all got to do our part. goes back to writing for kmeme prompts /whistles innocently
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It's easy to tell the rookies from the veterans when it comes to watching Shepard fight; the first time Vega sees his commanding officer race across the field in a blue-fringed comet, he swears until Kaidan considers thumbing the mute button on his omni-tool. The second, third, fourth and fifth times come very rapidly after that, though by the seventh the novelty has died down and by the ninth Vega has mostly learned the rhythm of it.
Even on the Normandy Shepard never sits still for long - she's never where anyone expects her to be. Claimed she was going to check her weapons down in the armory? She's perched on Garrus' console instead, asking him about what he did in the 6-month gap. Said she'd be right down to check on Liara, Ten minutes later and Liara goes looking for her, only to find her sitting in the lounge swapping stories with Vega. Nobody seems to mind, though. Even if she's erratic in where she goes, when or how long is never a problem. Everyone gets equal time.
"I'll sleep when I'm dead," she said once, and a part of her means it. Garrus folds his arms as he watches her from the doorway of her cabin. She's nearly elbow-deep in datapads and spirits-know-what else, mumbling under her breath and using her biotics to carefully hold up more pads than she could with arms alone. It looks impressive and terrifyingly self-destructive all at once, because he can see the dark shadows under her eyes even in the ruddy crimson light of her room.
No, Commander Shepard never stops.
prompts, florence and the machine edition
- Hurricane Drunk
- Cosmic Love
- Kiss with a Fist
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So, welcome! And, no, there are no rules about filling your own prompts.
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