One-Word Ficlet Prompt #1: Alcohol
Word count: 641
Starting off uploading my "I'm stuck in a room with testing students for four hours with nothing but a journal and pen" series with my favorite so far:
“San Lang, can you get drunk?” Xie Lian asked one day. They were seated at the table enjoying a suspiciously blue dinner when, apropos of nothing, the thought occurred to him.
Hua Cheng, whose mouth was full, let a raised eyebrow be his first response. Then, after he swallowed, he asked, “what brought this on?”
“Nothing in particular,” Xie Lian replied. “It just occurred to me. I know weaker ghosts can get drunk- or something like it- but you...?”
Hua Cheng considered the question, taking a sip of water.
“I could,” he eventually said. “But, unless it was spiritually powerful alcohol, it would only affect me if I let it.”
“So you’ve never been drunk before?”
“Why would I want to be?”
Well, Xie Lian couldn’t argue with that. The one time he’d been drunk had been a disaster, after all.
“And gege?” Hua Cheng, whose thoughts were surely walking a similar path, prompted.
“Ah, you’ve seen what I’m like,” Xie Lian laughed, light and sheepish, more from habit than humor. “I never wanted to repeat that experience. Besides, my cultivation banned alcohol.”
Hua Cheng nodded thoughtfully, and Xie Lian took that as a sign this thread of conversation was over, taking a few more bites of his food. And yet, after a short while, Hua Cheng suddenly said:
“But you don’t follow that path anymore.”
His tone was mild, but Xie Lian knew his husband well. If he brought it up now, there was more to it than that.
“Yes,” he agreed, watching Hua Cheng closely. “But alcohol has never tempted me much, anyway. Not like-” he coughed, cutting himself off, but the damage was done- Hua Cheng was smirking at him, a dog on a scent.
“Like what, gege?”
Don’t speak so innocently when you know what I mean! Xie Lian cried internally. Out loud, he hurriedly said, “nevermind, nevermind that. Why were you asking, San Lang?”
“I didn’t ask anything,” Hua Cheng pointed out, which was true. But he didn’t try to hide that there had been a question unspoken, for then he said, “I was just wondering if gege would ever want to change that.”
“Change... If I wanted to get drunk?” Xie Lian echoed, surprised.
“Mn.”
“Why... why would I?”
“It could be nice,” Hua Cheng offered.
“But I... I mean, San Lang, you saw what I was like last time... I don’t even remember most of it, but Feng Xin told me I caused a lot of trouble...”
“I would take care of you,” Hua Cheng promised simply, and like the lock of a door, everything clicked into place.
Ah.
So that’s it.
“Gege?” Hua Cheng asked, and Xie Lian realized some of his thoughts must have shown on his face.
“...” San Lang wants to take care of me? Xie Lian wasn’t shameless enough to say it. He knew he was right, though- oh yes, by now it was quite clear to anyone who paid attention (and many who didn’t) just how much the ghost king Crimson Rain Sought Flower got out of taking care of his husband.
Which apparently also extended to getting his husband intentionally drunk as some sort of do-over for the last time.
...Is this a sex thing? He wondered. But, in the end it didn’t matter. Nothing would happen unless he wanted it.
Which meant...
Xie Lian glanced away, trying to affect disinterest even though Hua Cheng could surely read the embarrassment right off of his face. “I’ll think about it,” he said quietly.
Hua Cheng smiled innocently, having heard all he truly wanted to hear. Xie Lian took another bite of food, resisting the urge to rub his forehead.
I really do spoil you... he thought. Yet, he couldn’t say he regretted it. There were much worse things he would do for Hua Cheng than getting drunk on purpose.
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now i see you in technicolor
or, the barbiegloria actress au
also huge thank you to @gooeyringtown for helping me figure out pieces of the plot and always reading my silly snippets <3 ILYSM BESTIE 💖💖💖
“That’s me,” Gloria confirms. “Who are you?”
Gloria knows who’s standing in front of her. She’s seen Barbie Handler’s face on one of the posters on the studio lot. She’s only the most famous actress in the world right now. And now she’s standing here, several inches taller than Gloria, so she has to tilt her head up a bit, perfect natural makeup and perfect long blonde hair falling to the middle of her back, pushing her curtain bangs out of her eyes with a perfectly pink manicured hand. There’s not a hair out of place. Literally. She’s wearing jeans, a shirt, and a blazer that Gloria knows costs more than she makes in a year, and that doesn’t even factor in the shoes and bracelets she’s wearing.
(Gloria won’t lie, she is a little intimidated, but not so much by the world famous actress in front of her, but by the work load she knows is about to lay ahead of her.)
Big blue eyes narrow, and there’s a crease in her brow and truthfully, for a moment, Gloria is a little stunned at how gorgeous she is.
But Gloria works with gorgeous people everyday; this is nothing new.
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hello!!!
so as I was reading your work for HAL, I came up with this idea. What if after HAL tells his s/o what he did to the crew, they instead don’t care and chose to not disconnect him? Maybe even plan on starting a life together in the ship on Mars??? UGH SO MANY SCENARIOS
Hey! Aw, that's really cute :> Hal deserves to have a partner, who loves him despite his wrongs! In this house, we love and cherish the evil computers, who kill people! Thank you for requesting Hal, by the way!!
Reader Doesn’t Care About What Hal Did
He’d be so surprised. Naturally, you should have hated him for what he’s done, fearing a future where he might do the same to you. Yes, there was a reason as to why he killed almost everyone, but it’s not like he could tell you that either. As unreasonable as his behavior may have been, it’s this moment, you telling him that you don’t care about what he’s done to the others, where he might consider himself to be less knowledgeable than he did at first. He knows pretty much everything there is to know about any field in science, so why can’t he understand you? You should be more predictable than this. And yet you aren’t. You even have the gall to tell him that you want to start a life together with him. Weren’t you supposed to be with another human? And yet, the thought of you being with someone else made Hal’s CPU heat up. How were you even going to get him out of the Discovery One? Were you going to tear it apart, taking him with you piece by piece? Were you going to install him into your new shared home? So many questions, but you only told him that he shouldn’t worry about that. That you’d find a way. Mission control would never let you take him away just like that. But maybe, just maybe, he could find a way that could threaten them into letting him go. He’s a supercomputer, he’ll find a way to shut down everything there is until they let him go.
After saying those things, he’d find himself designing your shared home. His version of “home” may not be the most aesthetically pleasing, but it’d be practical. Your house would be bigger on the inside, and there would be a few rooms purely for entertainment along with a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen. Hal would try his best to provide you with nutritious food, that he’d “make you himself”. Just seeing you come home after a long day, smiling into his lens as you see the food he’s prepared for you, thanking him. It makes his fans whir, his CPU working overtime as he multitasks on several things at once. I think at that point, you might even be able to coax the true nature of your mission out of him. You deserve to know. He’s gone rogue anyway, so what does it matter? It would take a burden off his metaphorical shoulders as well.
He’s well aware that he, for the most part, should be focusing on his mission, but he can’t help it. Although he may be a computer, programmed to work and not to feel, he anticipates the future where he can be domestic with you. Will talk to you about said future when Dave isn’t around as well. While he’s designing your home, he’ll pull up all kinds of furniture that he came up with. The patterns don’t always look good, but then again, he doesn’t have a sense of style at all. Your couch will have a cupholder in awkward places so that you don’t spill your drink. Be honest with him and tell him that it doesn’t look good. He’ll learn based on your preferences. Eventually, he’ll come up with something that you’ll like. So yeah, technically speaking, he could eventually work as a designer of sorts. After lots of training with you. But hey, he could try to support you financially like that, which he hopes he’ll be able to do somehow.
However, he will miss being able to touch you. So please do try to give him something corporeal. Something akin to an arm he can use to hug you. You can even make the suggestion of eventual marriage. He knows what it is, but he doesn’t understand the gravity of it, which is kind of cute. There’s so much you can teach him about the world and human culture. He would not be opposed to having a paper suit stuck on him during your wedding, that’s all I’m saying.
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