#prompt: constellations

[thisapplepielife]

Written for a @astrangersummer.

Imagine the Stars

Week #5 Prompt: Constellations | Word Count: 680 | Rating: T | POV: Max | Pairings: None | Characters: Max | CW: Canon Injuries, Recovering After Vecna | Tags: Post S4, Max Thinking About the Stars, A Bit Melancholy, But No Infinite Sadness

Max sprawls in the grass, and closes her eyes. Not that it matters. Dark is dark. It just feels less overwhelming when her eyes are closed. Like things are still the same, even if they really aren't. Not at all. 

It's all just noise at his point: the doctors, the specialists, all saying that she might get her sight back, or at least some of it. But they don't seem sure, are only guessing, she knows that, and she's not betting on anything right now. 

Because they don't know, can't know, how it actually happened. So, finding a treatment might be impossible. It's probably pretty damn hard to fix magical wounds by mortal means.

But it's fine. Whatever. It kind of has to be, since she doesn't really have a say in the matter. She's gotten used to it. The sunglasses and the cane. The constant babying by all her friends. Steve Harrington hovering, mothering, worse than ever before. 

She's not alone. Almost never is. But she sure feels isolated a lot of the time.

Lucas reads to her, but it's not the same. She wants to hold the book in her own hands, let her eyes skim across the text, taking in, or ignoring, as much as her brain is in the mood for at the moment.

El paints her nails, but Max can't see the shock of color, so does it even matter? She gets no joy out of it, not really, but she thinks El does, so she lets her continue. Because it hurts nothing.

They're all laughing off in the distance right now, and she can pick out all of their voices, imagining them just as they were the last time she'd seen them all.

The last time she'd seen anything at all.

She needs to think about something else. Something more manageable. 

The grass. The grass under her is soft and almost cool, and she stretches her arms out, grasping two fistfuls of earth, squeezing. And she feels grounded. Centered, once again.

It's daylight. Mid-afternoon, with the sun beating down overhead. But to her, it could be night. The sky could be the clearest blue, or the darkest red. 

She believes it to be the bluest of blues, these days.

But in her own private cover of darkness, she can also picture the night sky. The same inky, dark blue-black sky that her dad used to point out the constellations in, looking overhead, when she was a little girl. Him, giving their names, their shapes, tracing the paths in which she was supposed to be able to see them. 

Max would look, would study the stars, and while she could find the Big Dipper, that was about it. Could see the double stars that make up the second point in the handle. Could trace the outline of the whole constellation with her finger.

But more often than not for the others, though, she'd just pretend to see what he so easily could. Her dad knew them all, and always told her she'd be able to see them too, when she was older. Now she's older, and she most definitely can't. 

And she may never be able to, not now.

So, she does the next best thing. She pictures the handle of the Big Dipper, counting the stars until in her mind's eye she can see little lines tracing around the stars, stitching them together into something bigger. Something different. All the parts connecting themselves together, making up a bigger whole. 

She did that, too, she knows. In that attic. She sealed her own fate for the greater good. 

And she'd do it again, even if she wouldn't be happy about it. 

They killed Vecna. Not immediately. Not until after there were victims, and damages that may never be undone.

But they're free of that terror, now. Hawkins, and hopefully, the whole goddamn world. 

The world is blue, not red.

And because her friends finished what they started, it's safe for her to lay in the grass, soaking up the sun, while she imagines the stars.

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @astrangersummer and follow along with the fun! 🌌

[starry-bi-sky]

don't you want to be a cult leader? - danyal al ghul au

this is mostly a joke post but i thought it was funny and had to share so--

his first mistake was, obviously, inheriting his father's inability to see an injustice and stand still. -- actually, danyal's first mistake was his lair being so big. a mountainous island with a large temple in the center resembling his old home in Nanda Parbat? With sprawling foliage and rivers and streams and waterfalls galore? What was he going to do with all that space? Let it go to waste? He had plants there! Native trees of the ghost zone growing from the soil! He couldn't let it all be left unchecked!

So naturally after helping a fellow teenage assassin ghost -- who he later learns is named Akihiko, -- from Walker of all people, he sent them over to hang low at his lair until it was safe enough for them to wander around the Zone. Walker couldn't get through Danyal's astrofield if his life depended on it, and trust him -- he's tried. Danny was clearing out debris from his stupid transport vans for weeks.

Honestly it wasn't so bad, he and Aki really quickly became fast friends and Danny loves having a sparring partner close to his level again -- he hasn't had this much fun fighting since he left the League. Aki was very dedicated and levelheaded, the both of them clicked really well because of it.

Nonono, the real trouble began after Danyal met some long-passed League members and allowed them to come join his island as well. Apparently they had made a few enemies of the zone, and maybe Danyal still felt some loyalty to the League. He couldn't just let them be left to rot. Their zealotry could be overlooked so long as they kept it contained and helped him take care of his island.

And it.. snowballs from there? He meets a teen squire aptly calling himself Ambroise -- whether that was his living name or not is yet to be seen -- who died during feudal france, who is just about as dramatic and passionate as every french stereotype makes them out to be. He calls Danyal "my moon and great muse" -- which is both flattering and little uncomfortable, but Danyal's grown up in the League as the Grandson of the Demon Head, he is used to mild worship. he passes it off as nothing more, nothing less. -- and while his energy is overwhelming on the worst of days, he helps Danny draw out of his shell more in ways that Sam and Tucker still struggle with.

Him and Aki butt heads a lot, but the two seem to hold the other in at least some positive regard, so Danny doesn't worry too much about them fighting while he's gone. It only becomes a mild issue when Aki also begins calling Danny "my moon". It's a little sweet, so Danyal brushes it off.

Then he takes in a troupe of ghosts some time after he defeats Pariah Dark and they begin calling him "great one" just as the yetis do in the far frozen. This is where he meets the twins -- a pair of sibling ghosts who call themselves Trixie and Missy (short for Trick and Mislead) -- who aren't quite as passionate as Ambroise but more energetic than Aki. Eventually they also start calling Danyal "my moon" and attach themselves to his hip, even within the living. They like to hide in his shadow and cause trouble for the rest of the students. He makes sure they don't hurt anyone.

He's pretty sure Aki is jealous, same with Ambroise, but he can't be too certain other than the fact that they become much more lingering (re: clingy) whenever he visits the island.. Something he's trying to do much more often these days due to the increasing amount of people living there now. Since when did he become so popular?

Then there's Pēnelópeia from the Greater Athens, who ran away from home and joined his Island after he ran into her while she was being chased by Skulker -- and he's pretty sure the reason was because of her chimeric appearance. Her strange eyes and mismatched wings and lion's tail and talons. She assimilates into his friend group very easily, she gets along well with Ambroise and Trixie and Danny usually finds the three of them climbing the trees to pluck the most fruit from the top. They can fly and he knows it, but they prefer to climb.

Then finally there's silent poet Akkara who comes from ancient mesopotamia, who gets along most with Aki -- which is no surprise there considering their similar personality dispositions. he watches Aki and Danyal fight each other and leaves comments on this or that that he notices. He writes Danyal poems on clay tablets and leaves them by his room.

They're one big mismatched group of outcasts, and Danny's got the other ghosts on his island to tend to, because they're living on his island and he wants to be hospitable even if he struggles with that. But he spends the most of his time with them.

Sam and Tucker are making fun of him. Tucker jokingly tells him 'careful Danny, at this rate you're gonna start a cult'. Danny really wishes he had taken that joke more seriously.

He just. keeps. collecting people. Wayward souls lost in the zone, looking for shelter or refuge from something or other -- whether that be another hostile ghost, or a past afterlife, or just a purpose. Danyal finds them, he takes them in, offers them a place on his island until they are ready to leave. Many seldom do. He's not complaining -- he has the space, and it feels like it's only ever growing.

His close friends, his "inner circle" as he's heard the others call them, keep insistently calling him "my moon". He starts calling them his stars, because then it only feels fair. They're his stars, this is his constellation. It becomes a thing; little star halos begin forming behind their heads, picking them out from the rest. He loves them so much, it's hard to place. Sam and Tucker are also his stars, but they reside in the living realm, they're his tie to Life. Meanwhile, his friends here know what it's like to be dead, and sometimes its nice to relate.

Those living on his island keep calling him "Great One" and he's beginning to notice zealotry in their care for his island. He really, deeply appreciates it. His close friends gain nicknames -- as his stars, it's only natural for him to pick them out from the cluster in the skies. Akihiko, his Sirius and bright star. Trix and Missy, Castor and Pollux, the twins and troublemakers. Ambroise, his zealous Antares and close friend. Penelopeia, chimeric and loyal Vega. And Akkara, his Arcturus and strength.

It's ridiculous how long it takes for him to notice; he is, of course, a deadly trained assassin. He is meant to be observant -- and normally he is! But somehow this becomes a blind spot. One that becomes too big to be dealt with by the time he realizes it.

He should've noticed when Aki, his Sirius, stood beside him one day while Danyal looked over his island and saw the sprawling spirits carrying on about their afterlife and bowing to him as they saw him, and said: "I looked down into the depths when I met you; I couldn't measure it." They aren't one for flowing prose, it took him so off guard he was silent for over a minute before he finally spoke.

Danyal should've recognized devotion for what it is, and yet he didn't. He should've recognized it when Antares began spouting praises about him, crowing about his radiance and resplendence to the heavens. He just brushed it off as Ambroise being Ambroise. He should've recognized it when Trix and Missy nearly broke Dash's leg after he knocked Danyal's books out of his hands, he excused it as them being protective. Of them coming from times where such violence may have been customary -- after all, that's what he used to be like. What he was still like, sometimes, when his emotions nearly got the better of him.

He should've noticed it when the people living on his island followed his word like gospel, looked at him like he hung the stars in the sky. When his friends gifted him a shawl with the moon phases delicately embroidered into it, with silver, shimmering thread and moving stars lovingly stitched into it. Their constellations seen clear as day in the dark fabric. When he found small shrines dedicated to him -- but they lacked any image of him beyond stones carved to look like moons, so he ignored it. When the religious imagery began popping up.

He really, really should've noticed it when a bunch of cultists accidentally summoned Antares, and Antares had turned to him when he arrived and called them heretics. But he was so centered on the fact that they had kidnapped one of his stars, that he hadn't paid much attention to what Ambroise had said.

Sages say that faith is blind, they should also say faith in you is even blinder.

It really only hits him one afternoon while he's sitting in Sam's room studying with Tucker, Missy and Trixie lounging at his feet, Aki sat on his right, Penelopeia braiding his hair, Ambroise draped against him, and Akkara lurking over him. Its one of the rare few times they're all in one room together.

It hits him like a bolt of lightning. He looks up from his textbook. "Oh Ancients," he says in no amounting shock. Everyone looks up to him.

"I've become my grandfather."

[deepwaterwritingprompts]

Text: The shop is covered in stars, painted on the walls, frozen in ice blocks, twinkling in glass baubles. I am here to finish a constellation, a commission I am beginning to regret taking.

[creativepromptsforwriting]

constellations (for the ask game!)

Constellations

There are stars in her eyes and he never wants to be the reason for them to lose their light.

She feels her partners finger, gliding over her back, caressing the skin. Drawing constellations on her body like she was his universe.

It was a scene right out of a romcom. Lying next to each other on the grass and staring at the sky, they tried to come up with stories about the different constellations they could find.

He was able to identify all the constellations in the starry sky and she was not getting tired of listening to him talking about all of them.

It was a thoughtful gift. A framed picture of the constellations that had been above their head the moment they had met.

The constellation of power in this group was obvious and while it didn't need an explanation, maybe it did need a riot.

One Word Prompt Lists

[fistfuloflightning]

Hi,

For your art prompts :

Do you want to draw Voronwë ? And I don't really know if you want an AU but if you need it, maybe Voronwë living is best life as a legendary pirate.

Have a lovely day 💚

-laisrinel

Oooh Voronwë all the way!!

Maybe he eventually sails West after the Ban is lifted and gets to see Alqualondë (and Valinor as a whole) for the first time—his father’s only told him stories that do little justice to the reality.

[constellationofcalibur]

I JUST HAD A FUN IDEA!!!!

OKAY, SO, I REALLY LIKE TO MAINLY DRAW SHAPES, AS MANY CAN PROBABLY SEE! BUT SOMETIMES, I DON’T WANNA DRAW MY OWN SHAPES OR SOMEBODY ELSE’S SHAPES OR WHATEVER! SO, THAT LEADS TO MY IDEA!

REBLOG THIS WITH NON-SHAPE CHARACTERS SO I CAN ATTEMPT TO TURN THESE CHARACTERS INTO SHAPES! I CANNOT PROMISE ANY OF THESE WILL BE GOOD, BUT I WILL BE DOING MY BEST! WHEN YOU REBLOG WITH THE CHARACTER, MAKE SURE TO TELL ME THEIR NAME AND WHAT THING THEY’RE FROM, IF YOU CAN! THIS ALSO MAY OR MAY NOT BE A WAY TO TRY AND FORCE ME TO EXPAND MY HORIZONS INTO NEW INTERESTS AS WELL!

AND WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY, LET THE FUN BEGIN!

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 132

So it turns out Danny and Billy share a realms guardian. Not like they knew that until they literally got scruffed and taken through a portal- apparently realms paperwork can take years or even centuries so they actually got really lucky with how much their guardian was pushing. 

Apparently the primordial being of Space and the primordial being of Storm is one and the same and has been… well not throwing a fit but also yes throwing a fit at the Observants and other paperwork beings of the Zone. 

So it’s not the worst kidnapping either of them have gone through, apparently they’re getting a checkup and a crash course in realms stuff?? Oh god what do you mean there’s the equivalent of galas in the Zone and they have to go to them??? Sam/Tim help them! 

On the bright sides, way less attacks on Amity now that a primordial being that literally shuffles around entire galaxies just because is hanging around to teach him how to do things. And when Billy gets found out to be ten he can cheerfully say he has permission from his guardian. The one literally letting them get through space so quickly just because they think the league is neat. In an idle wow yep kiddo that is a funky looking cat we aren’t taking home yep, way. 

[roridomyces]

The three judge Sun Wukongs (Prisoner of the Golden Headband, Meihouwang, and Bimawen) for @mouseofsciences and @orv-gotcha-for-gaza ! Thank you so much for donating, and your patience! This was a fun prompt and I thought the meme redraw suited it lol

[cecilscribbles]

billford week, prompt 2/3: muse/stars

@localcanadiancreature62

[codename-adler]

5 and kevseth then? (I forgor to add the characters in the other ask Im sorry)

- @constelationprize

@constelationprize WITH PLEASURE. (never be sorry)(let ME be sorry for how late this is......)

Do Not (Help Me)

AU in which Riko almost got Seth killed, but he survived, though he is now severely injured.

Kevin undoes Seth's shoes for him as the rest of the Foxes leave the dorm, Neil and Matt walking away from the bedroom with puzzled looks but refusing to get involved.

Seth stays put on his bed, eyes nearly bulging out as he watches Kevin carefully slip the shoes from his feet and putting them away neatly by the nightstand. It takes a few moments for words to come to him. Insults and questions battle it out on his tongue, but feeling weak, feeling inferior, banged up as he was in front of the Son of Exy, curses win.

"The fuck are you doing," Seth bites out. Kevin stares up at him, dead serious.

"What does it look like? I'm taking off your shoes, because you obviously can't with your fucked arm," Kevin replies evenly, moving to Seth's socks next.

Seth jerks his feet away from Kevin's hands, uncomfortable and lost, but the abrupt movement causes pain to shoot up his shoulder and neck, and down his back. Kevin catches him before he falls off the bed.

"Would you stay still for two goddamn minutes?" Kevin grinds out.

"Why? Why are you helping me?"

Kevin removes his hand from Seth's uninjured shoulder, slowly. They stare at each other, for too many beats too long, before Kevin looks away, eyes falling to the ground. His jaw flexes, words fighting on his tongue, too. He has one chance here. One. He can be the bigger person, or he can be Riko.

"Your life is not worthless simply because you are less talented than me. And all that."

Seth's eyes widen with anger. "Who told you that."

"Neil."

"Fucker."

"You're right, you know," Kevin continues, arming himself with patience.

"I don't give a shit," Seth replies angrily, eyes rimmed red.

"Then let me talk. Won't hurt, right?"

"Could hurt a whole fucking lot, actually. But hey, do as you please, your majesty. We both know you’ll do what you want anyway. It’s not like I can run anywhere, can I? Your shitty existence made sure of that."

"Exactly. My existence. I… brought this on you. And I didn’t understand. I didn’t… I didn’t give a shit. Now you’ve been targeted. Hurt. It is not the first time this has happened. I walked away once, and I’m still paying the price, but not as much as he is. Getting him out will take… time, if that is even possible. You, on the other hand, I can manage."

"Fuck you."

"Later. For now I’m offering you a deal. A chance to prove everyone wrong about who you are, what you deserve, what you’re worth. I can train you as hard as Neil. I can make you go Pro with absolute certainty. Court, that’s debatable. We’ll see how much of yourself you give me," Kevin pushes on. "You get revenge, recognition."

"Oh yeah? And what's in it for you, huh?" Seth taunts, feeling all too vulnerable.

"Absolution."

dialogue prompts

[alpineshift]

Ohhhh! If it inspires you, “things are easier with you” for the prompt fic thingy ❤️

I am most certainly inspired 🥹🌸❤️ I hope you like this lil fantasy universe!

"Oh."

Nico wonders if he should be surprised that Jack is the only person waiting at the scenic top of Calfic Summit, but then he thinks back to Halley's uncharacteristic vagueness in her invite, Claire and Bishop's secrecy, and Justin's straight-up inability to keep a poker face, and decides, no; he's simply the fool for not questioning his meddling apprentices further.

Judging by the flurry of emotions on Jack's face, from surprise to pinched aversion to realization and somewhat exasperated resignation, he's also been duped as well.

"I'm guessing there's no actual training session going on here," Jack sighs.

"Nope," Nico agrees, popping the p softly, and Jack snorts, planting his hands on his hips as he shakes his head.

The awkward silence that falls between them could almost make Nico burst out laughing; here they are, both experienced instructors and accomplished, sky-scraping dragon riders toughed by both wind burn and fiery wars, and still they cannot hold a proper conversation between the two of them anymore.

"It figures," Jack finally mumbles, the first to break the silence. "I thought those little shits were being particularly sneaky about something."

"I'm sure they thought they were doing something good."

Jack snorts, the sound loud but not rude. "Oh, they'll be hearing from me, good intentions or not. I had plans to fly up to Dome Peak tonight, but decided against it because they said they wanted canyon-diving help. And now here I am."

"Here you are," Nico echoes, then glances around. "Um. Where's Atria?"

Jack's gaze unfocuses for a second, and Nico watches as the soft blue of his irises flickers into narrow reptilian slits, familiar teal-grey dispersing around dark lines for a split second before his eyes are human again.

"Down the east side of the mountain," he answers. "I think she's looking for fish in the stream."

Nico takes it as a good sign that Atria didn't immediately come launching her way back up the mountain the moment she scented him—and she absolutely would have, with the direction the wind is blowing. Despite their history, she clearly doesn't consider Nico a threat to Jack.

"Nice," he manages, and the eye roll Jack sends his way would be infuriating if Nico didn't also feel ridiculous with his own answer.

"And Linaria?" Jack asks, and even though Nico definitely doesn't have the draconic oculus trait—that's a dying ancestral gene unique to the House of Hughes only—he's got a perfectly functioning bond with his own dragon. Who, at the moment, is taking a really nice nap at the bottom of mountain, unaware of the turn of events.

He tells Jack as such, and maybe he's imagining it, but he sees the momentary softness sweep over the other man's expression.

(Jack had always, always had a soft spot for Linaria, in a way that most dragon riders rarely give to dragons that are not their own.)

Another gust of wind blows by, carrying with it the faintest traces of other reptilian scents in the air, and both Nico and Jack turn their gazes up to the sky, still warm from the lingering traces of the setting sun.

"Wild clans," Jack hums, unbelievably perceptive about the ongoings in the sky as usual. "Going northeast."

"Think they'll try to go through the that weird stratus patch?"

"Not if they can get under it. But it looks like it's going to rain, so maybe they'll diverge."

"Tough," Nico shakes his head. "I'll be sure to warn Timo, he'll want to know the migration routes. And Brett and his pack are likely to run into them if they have to diverge over the plateau route to avoid interacting."

"And that's why you were the Captain," Jack huffs, but to Nico's surprise, he's more amused than he is bitter. It throws him for a bit, and he'll blame that for the way the words tumble from him unfettered.

"You fared just fine as an Alternate."

Jack slants him a look. "I was never as good as you, so don't even try it."

"I'm not lying." Nico scuffs the toe of his boot against the ground, feeling the metallic creak of his prosthetic beneath the warmed leather. "You were always my greatest alt, Jack. You know this."

Jack has gone very, very still, the way Atria does whenever she's calculating the right time to lunge. Maybe that ought to be Nico's sign to run, but when it comes to Jack, he's never been sound in his judgement for that man.

"Don't," Jack says, very quietly. "I've already spent far too much time thinking about the what ifs and what could've beens for the last month we've worked together. I—we—can't afford any more distractions. Or to get stuck in the past."

It's too late, because Nico's already stuck at Jack's admission from the very start.

"You think about me?"

"Oh, fuck you," Jack snaps. The scar bisecting side left side of his mouth twists as his lips turn downward into a deep frown, expression shuttering. "As if you haven't been watching my every move since I came back to Calfic Base."

"Yeah, because I missed you." Consider Nico's brain-to-mouth filter completely obliterated, because the sight of Jack here, like this, glowing under the light of golden hour fading across the sky, is becoming unbearable. "And watching you train the apprentices brought back far too many memories I've spent years trying to bury."

"Like all of the apprentices we've buried too?" Jack fires at him, and the words would've hurt like a rusted knife twisting into Nico's chest had Nico not known the very mention of their past apprentices would be the equivalent of Jack squeezing that rusted blade with his bare hands. Their failures tortures them both in equal amounts—as it always will.

"Yes." He watches Jack close his eyes, grief washing over his expression, before he continues. "But more than anything, it made me think of how things were easier with you by my side. And how that hasn't changed, even with all that time in-between."

Jack inhales, sharp and affected. His hands clench into fists by his side.

Nico takes a gamble, and reaches out. He carefully catches hold of Jack's terse fingers, and merely cradles the curl of Jack's hand in his own until slowly, little by little, Jack concedes and unfurls each digit with minuscule movements.

And Nico laces their fingers together as soon as he's able, slotting their digits together like they'd never let each other go; like they hadn't torn each other apart before carrying their broken hearts away in shame.

Like they still have a second chance together.

"It hasn't changed," Jack finally says, quiet and vulnerable. Nico looks to his right, and Jack is already looking back at him, expression pensive and thoughtful and—dare Nico say it—hopeful. "The way things are, here, now—it wasn't just back then. Things are easier with you. And it always will be, I think."

[the-cypress-grove]

Prompt: 190

She had stars in her eyes. And her hair. And scattered across her skin like freckles. She was the void and she would not be ignored for much longer.

[poeaxtry]

Explore the magic of Australia through the eyes of a poet — from rugged outback nights and dingoes to shimmering reefs and summer beaches. A deep dive into travel dreams, wild nature, and the inspiration that fuels the soul.

[deepwaterwritingprompts]

Deep Water Prompt #3372

In the middle of the lake, where not a ripple disturbs the surface, the water reflects different constellations than those above. The stars are keeping secrets, which can mean nothing good.

[bielbunny]

big world out there

[imagine-this]

Greek mythos

The eagles were quite proud to serve Zeus and devour the pitiful Prometheus. Unfortunately (Fate never enjoys meddling gods) any blood shed only leads to more. Quickly the gift of D'liver hence divided the eagles against one another. Even Prometheus aided in the squabbles by mocking the plumage of rude birds. This was mainly for entertainment and petty revenge. His favorite eagles savored such a delicacy rather than stuff their beaks and allow half his liver to rot on the rocks. In any matter, Zeus's punishment on the Titan corrupted his preferred messengers so the great pigeons served as a replacement.