#cocoprose

[nannercoco]

Short Story Prompt - Dream

"Kelenco, Mommy needs to wash your towel." "Cape! It's a cape!"

"Sorry. Mommy needs to wash your cape."

That stupid thing went with me everywhere right up till second grade. I didn't always wear it, mind; I was well versed in the practice of super heroes having a public persona. I always kept it nearby in my backpack though. You know, just in case.

One day I came to realize that it really was just some ratty old red towel and that all tying it around my neck meant was that I was wearing a towel. It felt so instant, like one moment I was having the time of my life and my imagination could more than make up for what real life lacked, and the next it was all embarrassing and pointless.

Something that felt like a part of my identity ever since I was old enough to consider such a thing was gone. I wouldn't go so far to say that I was having an existential crisis or anything (that came much later), but I definitely felt numbed. I now hated things I once loved out of spite for "wasting my time".

Mom was quick to notice, as mothers are apt to do, and pulled me onto her lap.

"What's got my little hero in such a sour mood?"

I crossed my arms in a huff. The word 'hero' left a sour taste.

"There's no such thing as a hero."

"Who told you that?"

I didn't answer. What did it matter who told me? It was the truth.

She sighed and turned me in her lap so she could get a better look at my face; for an instant I worried that I may be in trouble, but quickly stuck to my guns and pouted harder.

"I suppose it's true there aren't any heroes in capes running around."

My eyes stung and my lip began to quiver.

"But that's because the capes were getting in the way!"

She caught me off guard and the tears rolled off my lashes and down my cheeks. I quickly wiped at my eyes, trying to save face. Mom laughed, gently brushing my bangs away from my face.

"Heroes in real life are different from the comics, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Did you know you're named after a real hero?"

I lit up. "Really?"

"Yes!" she chimed, her smile widening once she saw mine make a reappearance. "A very important one. Leksa-Krenkoi saved a lot of people, you know. He ended a war!"

"How? Did he do it with laser beams? X-ray vision? Did he fly? Did he--"

She scrunched her nose. "Didn't I just say it's different from the comics? Anyway, how isn't really important. What I'm trying to tell you is that if you help people, you'll be somebody's hero."

"That sounds too easy!"

"But it is that easy!"

She pulled me in tight. I can still remember her perfume faintly smelling of forget-me-nots.

"You'll always be my little hero. You don't need a cape for that, and nobody can change that for the world."

I felt a spark come back to me, and my dream was alive again. 

Somehow, I'd grow up and I'd help people... while looking cool as fuck, naturally. It wasn't quite as glamorous once I achieved my goal, but hey, I had a job I was content with as a police officer and I liked to think I was making a little bit of a difference with each passing day.

However, that too was a dream that I'd eventually have to wake up from. I'm sure I probably could have made a good hero...

But as things would turn out, I make a much better villain.

[nannercoco]

dont know if you are still doing the writing thing but here is 3 more for you. Regret, Dream, and Music.

Part 1 - Regret

About ten of us were crowded around Aisha’s kitchen table. A photo of my father on the screen of a laptop lifelessly stared back at me, the large headline slowly sinking in:"KANNEL LEXTON FOUND GUILTY OF CONSPIRACY, TREASON; SENTENCED TO EXECUTION"My fingers laced under my nose and my heel tapping at a mile a minute, I was desperately trying to sort out just how I felt. I never got along with my father; he was barely around with how much he worked, and when he was home he was overbearing and judgmental. He could never talk to me without berating me about something, making sure to add that he’d worked hard to make life work for us when we moved to Emria and how spoiled I was for not striving to follow in his footsteps and climb up the business and political ladder.

But everytime I tried to swear that I hated his well-respected guts, there was always that little voice that would chime in. “He’s your dad.”

Well… he was well-respected right up until people found out that not only was I not dead after they found plenty of evidence to suggest I should be, I had been closely working with a Felspawn and I’m involved in a lot of general destruction and misery that happened before I was run out of Kuroshiro two years ago. My dad’s innocent - he didn’t know a damn thing about me before I “died”, and I sure as hell never intended to let him in on anything that happened afterward - but somebody really wanted to put on a show and they needed a scapegoat.

Trion closes the laptop, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Don’t even consider it.”

Too late.

"But he’s my dad, and this is my fault."

"We don’t know why the military’s been sitting on their ass and hasn’t come to haul you off during the past couple of years - hell, you’ve been registered and working as a Spawnhunter the whole while. But whatever the reason, breaking into a maximum security prison won’t give them much choice but to hunt you down. The public wouldn’t have it any other way."

Trion continued to lecture me, and I understood every bit of it. He wasn’t wrong, but the words still echoed. He’s your dad. This is your fault. You did this to him. This is your fault. Fix it.

I made plans. I swore I’d do it alone if I had to. And then when it came time to act…

I choked.

He may be my dad, but there’s no way I was his son anymore. I sure as hell was never the son he wanted.

This whole thing started with me getting dragged into something bigger than I was, my life saved without my say in it. Even now, I would occasionally have moments of reflection where I realized there would have been far less of a mess had I just died like I should have. Would he be like me? If I saved him, would he hate me for putting him in that situation to begin with? Would he even let me save him? The man cherished his pride so much that he couldn’t spare a single ounce of praise. I couldn’t even bear to face him when I failed a math test.

He’s my dad. This is my fault. I did this to him. This is my fault. Fix it.

It was only after he died that I wished I could have at least tried to reconcile. Maybe if I’d just listened to him in the first place, none of this would have happened.

He was my dad. This was my fault.

I couldn’t fix a god damn thing.

[nannercoco]

Cold

It’s just a job near the border, but we had to come all the way to Dalitalter for registration so we actually had permission to do it. In the middle of January. There’s snow up to my god damn neck. I didn’t pack shit for standing around in the fucking tundra that is northern Dalita.The locals would glance; some would laugh. “Must be Emrians. They don’t know what a real winter is like.” And I’m pretty sure the only reason Dalitans get through it just fine is because they’re a bunch of winos, but whatever. I was too cold to argue.Nai wasn’t fairing much better, but to his credit at least he brought a hat. I couldn’t help but crack a smirk and brush up next to him."Honey, could I borrow your hat?"The look of pure annoyance fueled my grin."Did you really just call me ‘honey’?""Do you prefer ‘sweetheart’?"He rolled his eyes and sped up his pace; I doubled mine to walk circles around him while I continued to tease."Darling? Dearest? Pumpkin?"I scrunched my face with a cooing smile."Shnookums?"He finally couldn’t resist a laugh.”Shnookums? Really, Kel?”"Aha! I knew you looked like a shnookums.""Don’t call me shnookums. And no, you can’t have my hat."

[nannercoco]

entrapment (writing prompt thing is this how you do it? I've never done this before)

"I can’t fucking believe you!"Knox lifted his head. I could only imagine what was going on behind that stupid gold mask. That stupid fucking mask that made me feel sick to my stomach every time he looked at me. There was never anything good about a person who tried to hide their face."I did you a favor.""You killed my boss!"”Former boss, and to be fair, he tried to kill you first.”"That’s not the point!"He leaned back in his seat, a hand on his knee. Seeing a chance to lay into me, he reveled a bit in his frustration."You’re the one who made the call to fight back, Lexton. You know the first thing he was going to do the moment he woke up was get the word out that you’re not actually dead and that you’re in league with a Felspawn general. I was told to keep you safe, and I did just that."He was right, but I never asked for this. I don’t need to stand here and take this!"Just where are you going?" I heard him groan from behind; halfway up the stone steps out of the basement, I turned to deliver a glossy glare."I’m going to turn myself in or die trying."Silence. I took it as permission to keep going, but I only got a few steps further before I heard him chuckle under his breath."You’re not going anywhere. You want to know why?"I didn’t falter. If he wanted me to stay put so bad, he could work for it. I’m not sticking around for this Stockholm bullshit."If you try to leave, not only will I drag you back kicking and screaming, I’ll have no choice but to kill Noirdan. Are you really going to leave your best friend for dead after he put his neck on the line to see you alive and well?"I locked up. I hate myself for it, but I really did debate it in my head. Nai would understand, right? He wouldn’t go and die on me, right?He’s put up with everything else I’ve done, so he wouldn’t hate me now… right?I sat down at the top of the stairs, leaning on my legs and staring down between my feet. There was no “good” way to go. There was only an illusion of choice afforded to me when Knox saw fit to loosen his grasp on the leash, but it never really left his hand."I wish you let me stay dead."

[nannercoco]

//How about the sentence "Don't touch that!"?

I could feel Nai glaring at me. I never needed to see it with him; I always just knew."Dad’s gonna kill us if he finds out we were in here."I knew that. Onyx always made it a point that his study was off-limits, and that was usually more than enough to deter his own kids. For such a meticulous guy, it shocked me a bit to find that he hadn’t even bothered putting a lock on the door. He knew that all a “don’t” ever got out of me was, “Just watch me!”I grinned and reached for a book on the shelf, dusty and leather-bound."You’re not in here though, so don’t worry about it."Almost like he’d been conditioned to do so, the toes of his sneakers stopped precisely where the carpet met the door frame. He shifted his weight and scooted an inch back."No, but — Don’t touch that!"I was already thumbing through the pages - some old hand-written manual on tribal rituals, or at least I think. The cursive was so ornate it might as well have been another language.He rushed over, quickly pulling the book away and slamming it shut. His strange show of assertion took me so off guard that by the time I thought to argue back I’d already been dragged back out to the hallway and the door had been closed behind me."I’m not joking, Kel! Don’t touch that stuff or… or weird things might happen!"He was scared stiff. Something had already happened. Why hadn’t he told me?I gave him a pat on the back and a forced smile before heading toward the living room."Alright, alright. I won’t do it again. Promise."His fists were still balled tight. It was only after he saw a small tilt of my head that he finally relaxed and returned the gesture with a nod.

[nannercoco]

Relationship

"Ya think we’ll get married someday?"I don’t think she asked out of genuine curiosity, though the bounce in her voice certainly suggested it. It was more the realization that we were a couple of flirty 16-year-olds who had somehow managed to bypass the fear and awe of adulthood long enough to throw off our clothes and hop in her bed. Her frilly, pink, quilted bed with a stuffed homage to practically every animal in the zoo."I, uh… dunno."She sat up with no regards for decency. I recoiled and turned my back to her, but curiosity got the better of me and within moments I was staring again. My eyes eventually met hers, and I had to look away again.This didn’t bode well."What d’ya mean you dunno?!"I knew that she wanted to hear a “yes”. We were kids whose hand-holding had lasted longer than a few months, and whose cheek-pecking had turned to lip-locking. We’d been together a quarter of our time alive. Sweethearts always prevailed, or so we’d been lead to believe."What I mean is…"My reflection helplessly stared back at me from black, beady eyes. Part of a collection laying in her bed. They’ll be shoved aside once she’s grown tired of them."I should probably go before your brother gets back."She didn’t budge an inch the whole while I gathered my clothes and tried to cover up the fact I’d just spent the past hour wrestling around. Curiosity struck again and I looked to her face; she was still angry, but her concern was sneaking out. Her eyes begged, “What next? What now?”"See ya tomorrow?"I really needed a cigarette."Yeah."

[nannercoco]

The Roof

     "Please don't jump!"      The yell from behind took me by complete surprise; I had been so sure I was alone. Curiosity getting the better of me, I turned in search of its owner and found a man maybe in his early twenties - a college student, if the logo embellished sweatshirt was to be believed. At his side, two fingers pinched a freshly lit cigarette.      "I-I was just...," I began to stammer, the embarrassing startled look on my face only seeming to urge the young man on further.      "Whatever it is, I'm sure it isn't worth that," he said, mustering every bit of strength he had into sounding as calm as he could. "We can talk it out. I'm sure there's another way."      Ugh, really? He had a lot of nerve, making me his business. "Talk what out?" The frustration in my voice prompted him to take a few slow and cautious steps closer.      He lifted up his cigarette. "Do you smoke? I mean, I was just up here for a smoke break but, uh... If you wanna join me, that'd be cool. We can talk."      I stared. He noticed, and finally his facade waned just enough to show how awkward he felt. A sigh on my breath, I stepped down from the ledge. What's the harm? There was always time for a cigarette before leaving this place.      He asked all sorts of things; my name, where I'm from, what I've been doing with my life. I wasn't entirely honest - or rather, I left some, um... questionable details out. He told me how he went to the local community college studying something about computers. Never really understood the things myself, but more power to him I guess. He went on about all these places around town. Good coffee, good people, good music, good food. Places that I, as a wanderer, probably never would have bothered looking into.      The time came to bid my goodbyes. I nearly started my way back to the ledge, but knowing the length this stranger had gone to in order to get me to come down, I figured maybe it'd be better to take the stairs instead. Beyond the creaking of the old metal door swinging closed behind me, I heard a faint sigh of relief.      It was strange. I'd never encountered this sort of thing before. At first it annoyed me, but in the end I enjoyed it. I felt relief as well, knowing that as bad of a being I may be, there were still people out there like him. I don't think there will ever come a time when all is lost.      Only a few blocks away, I found an abandoned alley; no lights, not a soul in sight. It felt so good to finally let my wings out and get a good stretch. I took to the sky, magic quickly shrouding me into the void of space and stars above.      Maybe I'd come back someday.