#prompt practice

[tracyk13]

Prompt Practice

1. This story involves an intelligent bookworm, a laboratory, a dead body, and a huge mistake.

Detective Silver

She never spoke about her origin story. How do you explain that you were not exactly human? The world was not ready. She doubted the world would ever be ready. It continuously haunted her in the dark hours of the early morning when her primal appetite urged her to do the unthinkable. 

When the urge to feast gnawed within, she retreated the place of The Beginning. 

Smooth black surfaced laboratory tables held glass vials and flasks filled with unknown liquids. Many had evaporated into strange glowing crystals after years of abandonment. The chemist responsible for their creation once held great influence, testified by the faded awards and diplomas framed along the walls. Now he was a pile of bones swept into a dusty corner. 

Her nose wrinkled at the memory of slime covered flesh between her teeth. The teeth had been new. Some creation of a chemical byproduct, a source of DNA, and a curious little insect that investigated the wrong corpse. Her first memory in a strange body. The fragmented part of the Before the Beginning recalled only the foraging for food. 

The hunger pains wrenched her soft guts into terrible knots. 

Making her way to the bookshelves required navigating the rubble left by the explosive event that must have killed the chemist. Broken ceiling tiles and chunks of concrete formed a little maze of cleared path from the many previous visits. Tiny steps one way. Skirting a debris pile ready to collapse. Tip-toeing through shattered ceramics. The strange muscle memory tingled the back of her brain on realizing how she missed skittering from shadow to shadow in search of food. 

Instincts constantly urged her to seek dark, damp places. Here in this refuge she could remove the tight bun and let the silvery blue hair flow free. Long antennae sprang forward, brightening her world with thousands of senses. Every temperature and wind change guided her movements. A fabulous array of scents drew her closer to the musty pages. 

Her appetite surged. The forbidden treat now in reached. 

Books were treasures. The source of knowledge and comfort. She devoured every word on every page she ever encountered. Ever since the Beginning. Everything she could possibly learn about the new world she became part of came from books. Beginning with these. 

She plucked a thinning equipment manual from the shelf and flipped through the tattered edges, smiling at the old borrowing scars. Ripping out a yellowing page piled guilt upon guilt at destroying these sources of information. 

Yet savoring the ancient tastes eased her craving for home.

At least temporarily. 

The bright ringing alarm announced a disruption in the peace. “Detective Silver, here.”

“A report came across the radio of a suspicious death at the Marquee.”

“On my way.” She tucked the book back onto the shelf for the other bookworms that roamed the rubble. She popped the remaining piece of paper into her mouth to free up her hands for securing her hair and antenna. Her job demanded attention.

!!! Feedback for improvement welcome !!!

[wellbehavedyeti]

Drabble prompt: A young mother finding out her newborn is the Chosen One and deciding how to handle that.

“No.” “And they wi- er, what?” “No.”

A brief look of bewilderment danced across the witch’s face before it turned sly, knowing. “What do you mean, ‘no’? Believe it or not, your child is the Chosen One,” he explained and gestured at the scattered bones and cards on the table. 

“Oh I believe it. I’m just saying no to that nonsense right now. My child is not going to be a Chosen One,” she spat back before he could continue, the bewildered look making it back on his face. 

“You can’t just, tell a prophecy "no". That’s not how this works.”

The mother rolled her eyes, changing the position of the child in her arms that had begun to stir from all the noise. “No. No. No. No, No!” she said in a hushed tone, her hand hovering over the baby’s face as if it would stop the sound from reaching it, “There is no way! A chosen one, in this economy? Do you realize just how much work that’s going to be? It’s already hard enough raising two kids and you go and tell me the third is some special savior of mankind?!” 

“W-well, I” the witch stammered but the mother had already started shaking her head. 

“Not to mention that! A savior! The world is a mess as it is, multiple historical events. World governments at war, cost of living growing out of control, people tossing out education because it’s ‘scary’ and you mean to tell me that something worse is on the way?! And only my child can stop it?! No pressure. None at all,” her tone growing increasingly frantic, brushing her hair from her face just as the child in her arms began to stir again and cry. The mother pointed an accusing finger at the witch, “This is a sham! A trick, obviously, trying to charge more or…” 

“It is nothing of the sort!” the witch snapped, the feathers on his raggedy coat almost swelling like an actual bird, “You didn’t come to some soothsayer or fortune teller, you sought out a witch! Two counties away, I might add. What kind of insight were you looking for?”

“I don’t know! Peace of mind? ‘Hey Darlene, it’s gonna be rough going but all your kids will come out healthy and live happy lives’ or ‘Here are the winning lottery numbers’ or something. Not ‘Hey, not only is the end of the world going to happen in your lifetime but your family is going to be responsible for its survival’,” Darlene whined, her attention on the now upset infant she brought in with her. Sorrow etched itself boldly on her brow as she looked down on the poor thing, noting that from this point on any semblance of a normal life had been stolen from them and replaced with responsibility before they could even walk. “This is why no one trusts magic anymore,” she said, trying to put some acid behind her words but she couldn’t bring herself to do it, “You go in for a headache remedy, you leave with the consequences of someone else’s actions.” 

The witch sighed, slumping slightly. “I will waive the fee for this telling,” he said just loud enough to be heard over the child’s cries, offering a kind smile, “It’s the least I can do for the Chos- er, this child.”

Darlene rolled her whole head with her eyes, stopping on the witch with such an intensity he flinched slightly. “Oh, the ‘least you can do’ well guess what, buddy? You’re gonna be seeing a lot more of us because YOU are going to help train him.”

“What!?” the witch exclaimed, getting to his feet, “There has to be someone more qualified than I, surely!”

“Why do you think I had to travel two counties to see a certified witch? You’re it, pal! And now that you’ve saddled us with this responsibility, you’re gonna help!”

“Really!? Is that how we’re doing this?”

“YUP!” she replied loudly, her lips popping on the ‘p’ as she left a wad of cash on the table and turned to leave, “See you in about three years when he starts walking and talking, Teach.” 

The witch sank in his chair, watching the mother leave with the still crying child. He winced as she slammed the door, letting the weight of it sink in. “Well…shit.”

[daily-prompts]

I need everyone’s best character advice. STAT.

[writers-potion]

how do you write a liar?

How to Write Liars Believably

Language

The motive of every goal is the make the lie seem plausible while taking blame off the speaker, so liars will often project what they say to a third party: "Katie said that..."

Referring to third parties as "they" rather than he or she

In the case of a deliberate lie prepped beforehand, there will be an overuse of specific names (rather than pronouns) as the speaker tries to get the details right.

Overuse of non-committal words like "something may have happened"

Masking or obscuring facts like "to the best of my knowledge" and “it is extremely unlikely," etc.

Avoiding answers to specific, pressing questions

Voice

There's isn't a set tone/speed/style of speaking, but your character's speech patten will differ from his normal one.

People tend to speak faster when they're nervous and are not used to lying.

Body Language

Covering their mouth

Constantly touching their nose

fidgeting, squirming or breaking eye contact

turning away, blinking faster, or clutching a comfort object like a cushion as they speak

nostril flaring, rapid shallow breathing or slow deep breaths, lip biting, contracting, sitting on your hands, or drumming your fingers. 

Highly-trained liars have mastered the art of compensation by freezing their bodies and looking at you straight in the eye.

Trained liars can also be experts in the art of looking relaxed. They sit back, put their feet up on the table and hands behind their head.

For deliberate lies, the character may even carefully control his body language, as though his is actually putting on a show

The Four Types of Liars

Deceitful: those who lie to others about facts

2. Delusional: those who lie to themselves about facts

3. Duplicitious: those who lie to others about their values

Lying about values can be even more corrosive to relationships than lying about facts. 

4. Demoralized: those who lie to themselves about their values

Additional Notes

Genuine smiles or laughs are hard to fake

Exaggerations of words (that would normally not be emphasized) or exaggerated body language

Many savvy detectives ask suspects to tell the story in reverse or non-linear fashion to expose a lie. They often ask unexpected, or seemingly irrelevant questions to throw suspects off track. 

[pcktknife]

miku design i dont think i ever posted

[declamationark]

DPxDC prompt: Danny Phantom is an extremely high-level threat due to his capabilities and experience battling against his ghostly enemies. Batman is creating a contingency plan for him and Constantine's advice, as the one who dances the tango with the Infinite Realms? A bone-weary sigh of "plop him down a telly and put on a NASA documentary or something. It's like you haven't been dealing with teen kids for decades now fer fuck's sake."

[finemealprompt]

DP x DC Prompt #16

When Hal had asked him which town he protected, Danny was more than happy to tell him, "Amity Park!" When Hal asked Danny where it was, Danny hadn't thought the response, "At this moment? Or where it was last week?" would've caused such chaos in the meeting.

Danny knew not everyone's town traveled across the country, but he didn't think it was odd enough to warrant this kind of reaction.

[demonic0angel]

Story Idea

Story idea where the Batfamily stumbles upon a painting that was kept away because it's considered haunted and take it home. It has reportedly caused hallucinations, dizziness, headaches and nosebleeds, unnaturally unlucky incidents, “accidental” deaths, and much, much more, whenever one is kept in someone’s home. It's one of the Team Phantom members, but I like to think it's Jazz because she's a good introduction to the ghost craziness.

However, at night, they discover why the painting is called haunted. When night falls, the painting talks and has conversation with people, just like a regular person. At first, only Jason could see it and he thought he was going crazy until Jazz was eventually able to chat with all of the Batfamily members and says that she’s actually part of a collection. A collection of 7 paintings that were all created by her little brother for their family, which also included his portrait, and they have to collect them all or the paintings will continue to wreck havoc on the mental and psychological health of everybody around them. (The only reason the Batfamily is safe is because Jazz is a less haunted painting than the others and the Batfamily are already halfway insane).

Cue ghost and spy shenanigans as the Batfamily all have to search for the 7 paintings created by D. P. Fenton, a mysterious individual who created 7 works of art and trapped his loved ones’ spirits inside of them.

Sketches of the paintings

[ailithnight]

DPxDC Prompt #8

Danny was practicing shapeshifting with Amorpho when he felt the tug of a summoning and heard the distant words drifting into his mind.

Normally Danny would just ignore it. Or if it seems like this was a group that needed some sense scared into them, he'd shift into his Horror form and terrify them into never pulling this shit again. But then he heard them mention live sacrifices, and Danny just had to step in before that happened. So he let the summoning pull him on through, briefly forgetting he was shapeshifted into a... less than ideal form.

Danny lands in the circle right on top of one of the intended sacrifices, a group of people in weird outfits and, is that guy green? Irrelevant. Immediately Danny on knows something is very wrong. His powers feel muted and far away. His form suddenly feels, locked somehow.

He casts his gaze across the summoning circle and, to his horror, recognizes the binding ritual. These cultists wanted to bind and seal him in one of these mortal's bodies after they were sacrificed. But they fucked up the spell. Or maybe Danny fucked it up by coming in too soon? Irrelevant again.

What matters is the spell went sideways. Instead of locking Danny into one of the sacrifice's bodies, it locked him into his own form while pulling most of his abilities just out of reach. Now he's here. In the shape of- He's stuck as-

"Dude, is that a pigeon? Did the Ghost King, like, send you to voicemail?"

[thatskindarough]

Thank you guys for sending prompts, they were a lot of fun :3!

@helloworld112358 @dawn-the-rithmatist @lickthecowhappy

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 292

“Oh I am blaming all of this on you T,” one of the beings in the summoning circle groans, burying their corpse-pale head in clawed hands as their white hair flickered. 

“Me? Excuse me, I wasn’t the one to accept the summoning!” another being protested, hood hiding most of their face save for molten-gold eyes and glittering runes or code on dark blue skin. “I was trying to figure out how to convince PK to change our schedule to include more sleeping, so don’t look at me, look at S!” 

“Well I didn’t accept it,” the only girl-sounding one scoffed, her crown of thorns seeming to writhe and bloom in her black hair for a moment. She crossed her arms, narrowing green eyes just a few shades darker than the white-haired one. “Maybe talk to whoever decided to summon us?” 

All of the sudden the cultists and heroes were being peered down at by a trio of… honestly whatever they were, because they didn’t seem to be the “Infinite King” the cult had been attempting to summon. Actually, they kind-of-maybe looked like kids… Which probably meant their parents or caretakers wouldn’t be too pleased. 

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

He broke through to the surface, taking large desperate gasps of air before getting sucked back beneath by the current. Danny fought against the water as hard as his little paws would allow.

Just when he felt all hope was lost and he was sinking, a large hand enveloped his entire body and hefted him back into the open air. Shivering and coughing out water he didn't catch whatever the man had said. He continued shivering violently as the guy wrung out Dannys fur.

The mans hands were warm despite the brown leather gloves covering them. They made Danny feel comforted and energized almost as if the man had...oh gods! He did! The man had ecto inside of him! Thank the ancients! Now he just had to stick with glove guy and he could recharge! It would be slow but still!

"Here we are little guy." The man said and Danny noticed all at once that the man had been walking the whole time Danny had been stuck in his head. He looked around and noticed the Animal Shelter sign in front of them.

No. No! Danny needed to stick to this guy if he ever hoped to become a human again. But despite how he dug his claws into the flesh of the mans exposed arm and yowled the man in the red mask managed to get him lose and left him in the care of an animal social worker.

Danny was checked out and placed in the tiny jail cell alongside other kittens and cats, many who were scared, miserable or just desperate for love and attention. This of course meant he needed to plot a jail break. Fortunately, he could still used most of his powers but without any ecto around he would have no way to recharge them outside of food or indulging in his obsession.

Needless to say Jason was a little startled when he woke up the next day to not one, but five little kittens meowing at him for food. He swears the one sitting smugly on his chest is the same one he dropped off at the animal shelter yesterday, but that couldn't be right...

One call confirmed it. All of thier animals had escaped last night and there was a suspiciously animal sized arch taken out of the wall with an unknown tool. Demon brat would be delighted at the news.

Unfortunately for Hood the smug little black cat he rescued yesterday had decided that his shoulder was the perfect perch and stayed there more often than not. Little guy got into food often but refused to eat kibble and any attempt to get the kitten away from the mashed potatoes resulted in violence or density shifting to get back to the food.

At this point danny almost didn't care if he returned to being human so long as he got to eat more of his humans cooking. He swears Jason is magical because everything he makes tastes amazing

[starry-songs-canvas]

All Plans Fly Out the Window

There’ve been quite a few long lost twins Damian and Danny meeting at galas, right? All very cute, happy, relaxed, etc.. Well what if we add a little twist?

——————————————————

Vlad Masters.

A very suspicious figure that only in the last few years rose to wealth and power from almost thin air. Companies that were doing decent simply handing over the keys. No court has ever been able to prove foul play, all judges siding with Masters even when counter mind control measures were in place.

Any evidence or stories implicating Masters were either retracted or removed with great speed.

Bruce did not want another Lex Luther to deal with, and yet he first needs evidence. All of his computers were tightly secured with little connection to the Internet, and the ones that were refusing to be hacked. (“It’s almost as if it’s… alive, B.”)

Therefore, while risky, a more hands-on approach was needed.

Tim and Bruce were to stay in the spotlight, keep Masters eyes on them. While Damian would sneak away and snoop under the pretense of, “being bored”.

However, all of this went out the window when Masters introduced his godson, Daniel Fenton who when shaking their hands said in the League of Assassins dialect in a pleasant tone,

“What the **** are you doing here?”

[writers-potion]

Let's Talk About Pacing Our Fight Scenes.

For Fast-Paced Parts:

Short words with single syllables. Immediately > at once/ endeavour > try/ indicate > point at/ investigate > check out.

Short sentences, the shorter the better.

Partial sentences to blaze through multiple senses and actions within a few lines.

Short paragraphs

Lots of verbs.

Few adjectives and adverbs.

Cut down on -ing form of verbs, as it can make words longer

Use simple past tense

Avoid conjunctions and link words.

Avoid internal thought - your characters are irrational, ruthless and in the flow of pure action.

For Slow-Paced Parts:

Use medium/long sentences

the paragraphs are longer: three lines minimum

Include longer words with more syllables

Use adjectives and maybe a couple of adverbs.

Insert the thoughts of the PoV character.

Words for Action Scenes

act, alter, attack, avert, back, block, bang, bash, battle, beat, beg, belt, bend, best, bite, blacken, bleed, blind, blister, blow, blunt, boil, bolt, boot, bore, bow, box, brace, brag, brash, brawl, break, breathe, brush, buck, bulgde, burn, burst, cackle, call, can, carry, cart, carve, catch, check, chop, chuck, clack, clank, clap, clash, claw, clear, cleave, click, cliff, cling, clip, close, club, cock, coil, cold, collar, come, con, connect, corner, cost, count, counter, cover, cower, crack, crackle, cram, crash, crawl, creep, crinkle, cross, crouch, rush, cry, cuff, cull, cup, curl, curse, curve, cusp, cut, dart, dash, deepen, dig, deep, dip, ditch, drive, drop, duck, dump, ede, effect, erect, escape, exert, expect, feint, fight, fire fist, fit, flag, flare, flash, flick, fling, flip, flock, force, gash, gasp, get, gore, grab, grasp, grip, grope, group, hack, harden, heat, help, hit, hop, hurl, hurry, impale, jab, jar, jerk, join, jolt, jump, keep, kick, kill, knee, knock, knot, knuckle, leak, leap, let, lever, lick, lift, lock, loop, lop, plunge, mask, nick, nip, open, oppose, pace, pack, pain, pair, pale, palm, pan, pant, parry, part, pass, paste, pat, peak, peck, pelt, pick, pierce, pile, ping, piss, pit, pivot, plot, pluck, plug, plunge, ply, point, pool, pop, pose, pot, pound, pour, powder, pray, preen, prepare, prey, prick, prickle, print, probe, pry, pull, pulp, pulse, pump, punch, pursue, push, quarry, quarter, quest, race, raise, rake, ram, rap, rasp, rear, retreat, rip, riposte, rivert, roar, rock, roll, rope, round, rouse, run, rush, sap, scale, scalp, scan, score,scream, seek, seep, shake, shape, sharpen, shock, shoot, shop, slap, slap, slash, slice, slick, slip, slit, smash, snap, snare, snatch, snipe, sock, space, spar, spark, speed, spike, spill, spin, spit, splash, spoil, spring, spur, spurt, spy, squirm, stand, steert, step, stick, strap, strike, stuff, suck, support, swat, sweat, sweep, swingm tack, tag, take, target, taste, team, tear, tent, test, thrash, throw, thrust, thud, tick, tide, tilt, time, tire, top, toss, tower, toy, trap, trick, trigger, trip, triumph, trouble, trump, try, tuck, tug, twril, twitch, weaken, wet, whip, whirl, whirr, whoop, whoosh, whop, work, zap, zip.

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[justbreakonme]

“He’s sleeping so well…” she whispered, poking her head around the cracked bedroom door, seeing where just the top of his head was visible above the blankets.

“I know.. I gave him some meds, he didn’t even ask what they were, just- took em.” He shrugged, sighing.

“We gotta be careful. He’s not gonna tell us if he’s hurting or hungry or something.” She eased the door shut, following him out to the living room.

“We’ll just have to watch. Like- like a baby. They can’t tell you things either.”

She rolls her eyes. “Babies cry. He doesn’t.”

“Shit. Yeah, I guess. Well, still. We can figure this out.”

She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I know…”

He looks back over his shoulder at the closed bedroom door.

“We’ll just have to learn as we go. I mean, we know he likes the bed at least?” He shrugged again, wandering towards the kitchen and the unwashed dinner dishes.

“Did you see his face though? God, I doubt he’s ever had a blanket, much less a bed…” she turns on the coffee maker, “Same with dinner… I hope we didn’t make him sick, just, springing that on him?”

He grimaces, looking at their dirty plates. “We might- Well, I think if he was gonna be super sick, we’d have seen it by now. In the morning, he might not feel too great but we can handle that then and hopefully keep better tabs for next time.”

She slowly adds water to the coffee maker, then scoops two measures of decaf coffee grounds, methodical and silent. Only when the machine started to hum did she sigh, resting her head in her hand.

“I think we bit off more than we can chew.”

“Me too,” he rests a hand on her shoulder with a sigh, “but he needs us, and even if we’re not perfect, if we can help in any way, it’s better than nothing, right?”

“…right. Better than nothing.”

[adoptable-fanfic-prompts]

Red Robin Writing Prompt

Tim only told Jason that Jason had been cleaning up Gotham the ‘easy way’ is because Tim knows for a fact how easy killing is. He had his first kill before he was even 7 years old.

No one realizes this until Joker makes Tim “choose” between shooting one of two batfam members and Tim just picks up the gun without hesitation and shoots the Joker in just the right spot for it to be fatal but for it to not be an instant death.

Tim turns to Jason, “Like I said: Easy way out.”