#fmb writing

[eli-writes-sometimes]

Finding the Write Time - "Did you think I would be okay with this?"

I'm taking part in @did-i-do-this-write's monthly, writing challenge, Finding the Write Time!

This month, the prompt was "Did you think I would be okay with this?", and I used it to write about what happened just before this story I wrote for February's prompt!

I love this challenge, and I'm especially glad that I got to flesh out something that I wrote earlier this year!

(Plus, there's a bonus little thing at the end!)

@meteorify if you're interested :)

----

It's been six months, three weeks, and two days since my life ended. I might still be alive, but the light of my life, the person that kept me going through everything died that night, and my soul died with her.

Even now, as I sit slumped on the floor, staring at a photo of the five of us from over a year ago, all so young and full of life, I wonder how there's any way that I can move on. The hole in my chest just feels like it's growing larger and larger as I stare at her face, eyes tracing the features that I knew so well for the millionth time, her smile frozen in time and so far from the pain that I saw in her eyes on that night.

In one of the Lair's other rooms, I can hear Kai and Ash. They're laughing softly to each other as the TV chatters in the background, and I can't imagne how they can stand to laugh, to even smile, in a world where she isn't here anymore. What's the point of smiling in a world with no joy?

As I bite back the tears that threaten to drown me, I'm shocked out of my thoughts by the harsh electronic sound of the phone ringing.

I pull myself up from the floor with weak arms, and stumble to the desk where the radio lay abandoned, and flick my finger in its direction. The accept call button weakly pushes down and I use all my energy to will the radio closer to me. It slowly slides over the table, and no sooner is it next to my ear than the overly-cheerful voice of Jane Doe spills out.

"Hello there! Who am I speaking with?" She sounds far too happy considering there's nothing in this world to be happy about. "It's Skywalker, Jane. What do you want?" I put on my best Leader voice. "Ah, Agent Skywalker! Just the man I wanted to talk to!"

That doesn't sound good. 

"What did you want?" "I need to ask you about how the hunt is going for a new member of the Band! You know, the hunt that you assured me would be over in a week or two... three months ago."

I choke back the groan building in my throat and opt instead to say nothing.

"Ah." She sounds significantly colder. "Your silence speaks volumes. Do you have at least one candidate?"

More silence. She doesn't want to hear what I have to say, so I might as well not tell her. 

"Not even one? I must say, Skywalker, this is a disappointment." "What do you want me to say?" I burst. "There's no one on this planet that could replace her, how can you expect me to try? Why would I want to? She's gone, and there's no way to bring her back, so sorry if I'm not exactly in the mood to try and replace her!"

Now it's Jane's turn to fall silent. I hear her inhale deeply two or three times before her voice finally returns.

"Well. I didn't want to have to do this, Skywalker, I really didn't, but you're not leaving me much choice here."

My stomach drops. "What- what don't you want to have to do?" "If you and the Band do not manage to find a new member in the next - oh, I don't know - two weeks, then the faculty and I will have to step in and we will assign you a new member based on new recruits and how long they have been waiting to be assigned a taskforce. We wanted to give you as much freedom to mourn as we could, but enough is enough." 

My breath catches in my throat, and my thoughts speed up to a thousand times their normal speed.

A new member- assigned by Jane?! 

"But we- we agreed! The Band could choose someone that worked well with us, that we all got on with, but you- you planned to just pick someone else!? Did you think that I would be okay with this- did you think that we would be okay with this? This isn't the choice that you said you'd give us!"

She sighs. "I wanted to give you that choice, I really did. But you just took too long. Now you have a fortnight until we make the choice for you - up to that point, it's still up to you. I suggest that you make the most of this time."

I open my mouth to protest, to say something, anything that could make her reconsider, but she hangs up before the words come out.

I barely manage to make it to the couch before my knees give way. I collapse next to the discarded photo, and I pick it back up. 

Carmen's face stares out from the center of the photo, one eye on the camera and one on me as she clasps my hand in hers; I can almost feel it now, the warmth of her skin against mine, just like all the times that we shared when she... when she was still her.

My whole world died that night, and now Jane wants me to find someone else, someone with all her spirit and fire, that understands us the way that she did, in two weeks like it's nothing? It's impossible. But if we don't...

I can't think about the alternative. I don't know what to think about. What the hell are we going to do?

-----

And as an added bonus, this is the photo that Riley was looking at! I drew it a while ago, and I thought that it would be cool to incorporate sme of my art into my writing :D

[eli-writes-sometimes]

Finding the Write Time - "We have to try"

I'm taking part in @did-i-do-this-write's monthly challenge, Finding the Write Time!

This month, the prompt was "We have to try", and even though I'm submitting this at the last minute, I still managed to have some fun with writing some backstory for Phoenix and the Band taking part in the Karaoke Kontest!

I let this idea brew for a while, but I managed to plan and write it in about 45 minutes, so I'm happy!

I'm starting to like it here at the A.R.A. - I've managed to work my way into the others' lives, ad they've made their way into mine.

As I think about this, lying on the couch with a sci-fi book, I can hear Niamh training, Riley on a call with a senior agent, and Ash and Kai laughing at some episode or another of what I assume to be Doctor Who. The realization that I understand these people and know as much as I can about all of them isn't an unpleasant one, and I feel a small smile creep its way across my face as the thought develops.

Of course it's this moment that someone chooses to knock on the door.

"Phoenix, could you get that?" Riley's voice echoes from the back room, and I shout a confirmation as I pull myself up.

Stumbling towards the front door of the "Lair" as the blood returns to my legs, I reach for the handle and just manage to wrench it open in time to see a flash of orange hair disappear round the far corner at the end of the hall.

"Hey! Was that- oh they're gone." I give up on shouting after whoever it was just as quickly as the words leave my mouth.

I'm about to shut the door when a small spark of neon yellow catches my eye. Below me is a small flyer, with bright colours and a cartoon microphone almost leaping off the page.

"What the..." I mutter as I bend down to pick it up. It's nice quality paper, and the colours are even more striking up close.

Above the microphone are emblazoned the words TEAM BUILDING EXERCISE along with a date, time and location - 12/06/25 17:00, Grand Hall.

November 12 - it's in a week. The Grand Hall, though... for as long as I've been here, which I'll admit isn't that long, I've never heard of anywhere like that. It might be offsite, but that seems like a lot of effort for something that doesn't seem compulsory.

"Riley!" I call out as I shut the door, hoping that he's done with whoever he's talking to. "Yeah?" He doesn't seem too annoyed at me shouting for him, so hopefully that means he's done. "Do you know what this means?"

I run into the back room and show him the flyer.

His eyes immediately narrow.

"Where did you get that?" "Uh- I think someone left it outside? It was just lying on the floor outside the door. What is it?" "It- well."

He takes a deep breath, and moves over to one of the chairs in the corner, collapsing on it with a slow exhale.

"Okay, well. So, for the last few years, there's been a monthly event for all the taskforces, organised by my friend Jae - you remember them?"

I nod.

"Right, them. The faculty told them that we - the taskforces, that is - had to all bond somehow, and so they came up with the monthly team building project. We used to participate a lot, but now..." "Oh. Right."

I don't need him to tell me what happened to stop them from taking part

"But what is it?" "It's a-" He looks up at the cieling with a small laugh. "It's a karaoke competition." "Sorry, what?" "You heard me." "And the Band... took part in this? Willingly?"

His eyes flick away from me for a second.

"Not all of us were as- enthusiastic," he starts, clearly choosing his words carefully, "but she made up for all of us." "Oh."

Somehow, it always links back to her. Carmen worked her way into every single part of their lives, and now she's inescapable. Everywhere I look, traces of her memory remain.

"Wait- if Jae's organising this, don't they know that you're not doing it anymore?"

From my admittedly limited interactions with Jae, they seem to really understand Riley and what Carmen's death did to him.

"That's what I thought." Riley sighs and stares at the wall opposite him for a minute. 

It doesn't look like I'm getting any more information out of him, so I wander out of the back room into the lab, where Ash and Kai are still watching Doctor Who, Kai lying on top of the couch with Ash sitting cross-legged on it in front of him.

"Hey guys?" I start. "Yeah?" Kai glances over and points his "screwdriver" - apparently a glorified TV remote - at the screen, pausing the episode as I walk over. "Do you guys have any idea why someone would leave this in front of the door?"

I hold up the "team building" flyer, and I see Kai's eyes widen for a second.

"Is that-" He looks from the flyer, to Ash, to me, back to the flyer. "Yeah. I asked Riley what it was, he told me it was some kind of karaoke thing?" "Shit..." Ash sighs.

"Someone left that outside?" Kai asks. "Yeah. I didn't see who it was." I shrug. "Huh..." He tilts his head to the side slightly, thinking about it. 

"Do you have any idea who it might have been?" I ask, but he shakes his head. "Could be someone trying to fuck with Riley. Might not be an actual invitation." "Is there any chance it might actually be? A genuine invitation, you know." "It's unlikely..." He starts, but Ash perks up her head with a start and interrupts him.

"Wait-" "Yeah?" Kai jumps. "It might actually be an invitation - if not from Jae, then maybe from someone else? Ollie, maybe?" "Why would anyone want to invite us back? We were pretty clear when we said that we wouldn't be coming back."

Ash shrugs.

"Maybe they heard that we had a new member, thought we'd want to rejoin." "Why would we? It's not like Phoenix is going to jump at the chance to spend one night a month singing random songs with us."

"Can you not talk about me like I'm not here?" I interrupt. "Who says I don't want a part of this?"

I don't really know why I'm encouraging this - it doesn't sound anything like my kind of fun. There's just this thought, somewhere in the back of my mind that somehow... I could bring them back together, the way that Carmen seemed to when she was still around. Some optimistic corner of my mind seems to insist that I could be the one to fix this broken group - and maybe karaoke is the way to do it.

I cringe even as I think it, but the thought won't leave me.

"Do you- want to do the contest?" Kai sounds just as surprised as I feel. "Why not? It might be fun. Especially if you all used to do it, people might like to see you all back doing it, especially now there's a fifth person."

Ash nods. "It's not like we can use the four man band excuse anymore." 

I don't know where the courage comes from, but I straighten up and finally decide to stand up for my idea.

"We have to try, right? Someone clearly wants us there, so we might as well take them up on it, don't we?"

Kai's wings bristle as he glances back and forth from me to Ash to the floor.

"I don't know..." he mutters softly, "Riley might not be as enthusiastic about it..."

Ash exhales heavily before pulling herself up and standing beside me.

"You know what?" She says finally. "If you're really serious about this, then we should go for it. Show Jae and Ollie that we're back in business, even if it was some kind of shitty prank." "Seriously?" I can barely believe that she's on my side. "Seriously." She smiles. "I'll handle Riley, don't you worry. You and Kai work on what we're going to sing next week."

Her face breaks into a grin and she lightly punches my shoulder.

"Carmen'd be proud of you, kid."

I try not to show how much that means to me, and I mask my joy with a small smile.

"Let's do this, then."

[eli-writes-sometimes]

Finding the Write Time - "I don't think it's even worth it"

I'm taking part in @did-i-do-this-write's monthly writing challenge, Finding the Write Time!

This month, the promt is "I don't think it's even worth it", and I managed to plan and write this story in about 35 minutes! (with the help of very fast music and caffeine!)

I love this challenge, and I managed to get a full story down about Riley and Niamh discussing needing to recruit a new taskforce member! (I wonder who "Pen Hunter" could be...)

---

It's never good when Jane Doe calls.

She's been hounding us for months now to try and get a new member, but always just in messages sent to Kai's computer, which he dutifully deletes, half the time without even telling us that she sent them.

Clearly, Jane's had enough - she called Riley twenty minutes ago and I can still hear his muffled side of the conversation through the walls of the lair.

Ash and Kai have run off to god knows where, so all that I've got left to do is try and guess what she wants - and I think there's only one easy answer. We're going to have to find a new member.

Riley is not going to be happy.

Obviously Carmen's death hit him the hardest out of all of us - he still can barely think about her, and it's been six months - so I can only imagine how he must be feeling as he tries to negotiate with Jane.

I sit on the couch in the main room of the lair for another few minutes before I hear the door open again.

"What did she want?" I ask, quickly turning to look around at Riley as he trudges towards me.

"You know what she wanted." He shakes his head and quickly wipes his eyes when he thinks I'm not looking.

"We need a new member?"

He nods, confirming the worst.

"She said that if we don't have at least an idea of some people that we could recruit in two weeks' time, then she's going to choose for us."

"Are you joking?"

"I wish I was." He sighs and wipes his eyes again, not even trying to hide it. 

I groan and lean back into the couch.

"But she's got no taste! She doesn't know how we work! Surely- surely she has to know that whoever she picks isn't going to work well with us? She has to!"

"She says that she doesn't want to have to, but we've given her no choice. We need to either have a new recruit or a list of potential members in two weeks, or we're not going to have any say in it at all."

He sighs and collapses onto the couch next to me.

"Fuck." I mutter

There's a moment of silence before he speaks again.

"I- I don't think it's even worth it."

"What?"

"All this - hunting down someone else, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack! How are we going to find someone who'll fit with us who's going to live up to- to- her. You know who."

"You'd rather let Jane decide?"

"I'd rather not have anyone decide! The four of us can do this together!"

I sigh.

"We can't, and you know it. We're too divided, me and you, Ash and Kai, we'd never work together properly without a fifth person to connect us. You know that as well as I do. You're the leader, you were the one that thought of the Band in the first place."

"Only because it's a literary trope."

"But you know what I mean! We need all five of us, and the Five Man Band is not going to function without a fifth person!"

He rests his head in his hands.

"I just can't do it. I can't think about her. Trying to look for someone else is going to mean explaining why we're down a person, and then I'd have to tell them- I can't do it."

"That's what you've got us for." I put a hand on his shoulder. "One of us can do it, try and explain the idea to someone, then you can talk to them and see how they fit with us."

He shakes his head.

"No, it has to be me. You said it yourself, I'm the leader."

"Well then lead!"

I can't take it anymore. I stand up and pull his head up to look at me.

"Right, I'm going to just say it because I know you're not going to come to your senses by yourself. We need you to lead, you say that you need to be the one to talk to a new member, then do it! Just do it! You're not going to get anywhere by sitting in here all day, wallowing in your grief - you need to do something with it."

He shakes his head and I see his mouth open to say something, but I cut him off. Lecturing him like this feels wrong, but I have to get through to him somehow, and clearly the gentler approach isn't going to work.

"You can still mourn her, I'm not trying to stop you from doing that, but Jesus Christ, we need to have someone else! We're going to be stuck like this forever unless you do something, so please! We need you. You know we do."

He sighs, and opens his mouth a couple of times, but no sound comes out.

Eventually, he wipes his eyes and looks up at me sadly. 

"I- I- I don't know how."

"Okay, how- how about this. Is there anyone that you can think of, anyone, that you might have knon that might be a good member of the band? Not to recruit them immediately, not even to talk to them, but just to consider? We don't have to do any more than that yet, but just to scope them out, see if they might work?"

He starts to shake his head, but I cut him off before he can deny it.

"Come on, man, anyone? You've never met anyone else in your life that's an Anomaly?"

"I- I- wait."

"There we go..." I hope that I sound encouraging enough.

I can tell that he doesn't want to think about it - I don't need to read his mind to tell that he'd rather lock himself in his room for another six months than talk to anyone new, but I press him.

"I- I think there might be someone."

"Go on..."

"I- I went to high school with her, she- she was a shapeshifter, I think. She was the only other anomaly in my English class, but I think she could control her ability enough for her to be a good fit... maybe? But I- I haven't talked to her in years, and she only knew me from before I transitioned, so I- I don't know..."

I feel him slipping, so I jump in to try and keep him going.

"Okay, so we start there. Just try and locate her, see if she's done anything that might make her recognizable to anyone else - not that it would matter if she's a shapeshifter, I guess... but still. Just look into her, and then see if you're up to talking to her?"

"I- okay. Fine." He sighs, wipes his eyes one more time, and pushes himself up.

"Great. Do you want me to find Kai, get him looking for her?"

"Y- yeah. Yeah, please."

"Great."

I'm about to walk away to find Kai when Riley reaches a hand up to stop me.

"Niamh-"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. I- I needed that." Saying it clearly takes some effort, so I try and smile to return the favor.

"Any time."

I nod and walk to the door.

"Wait- RIley?" I call out, just before I leave.

"Yeah?"

"What was her name?"

"Uh- Pen. Pen Hunter. I don't remember what it was short for."

I nod.

"Hunter. Good."

The door hisses open, and I leave Riley to be alone. I can tell he needs it.

---

Five Man Band taglist - @meteorify (anyone who wants to be added, just ask!)

[eli-writes-sometimes]

WIP Whenever Tag

Tagged by the amazing @druidx (I think it might have been a sideblog, but I hope you're ok with me tagging your main!)

Rules: Share a line or paragraph from something you recently worked on. If it's on Wednesday - great! If no, no worries :) (it's Friday night and I have a weird burst of energy, so I'm embracing the "whenever"!)

I'm going to share a snippet from a short story I wrote a while ago about Kai and Phoenix's first meeting!

(For context, he's watching a Doctor Who episode, which is the interjections in italics)

---

For the next couple of minutes, I just sit there, basking in my achievement and forcing myself to try and forget about my sense of normalcy crashing down around me.

Don't turn your back.

I think I can hear voices.

Don't look away.

The main door of the base just opened. They're back.

And don't blink.

I point the screwdriver at the door, quickly shutting it before anyone can see me in here.

Good luck.

The Doctor's face disappears, and I turn the laptop off. I tuck my wings in and curl up to try and avoid being visible from the door. I don't expect them to come in here, but if they do then I don't want them to see me.

"....and in here, this is the lab..." I hear Riley's voice, mufflled by the thick door, and an unfamiliar voice responds. "...kind of things do you..." they ask, and I curl myself up tighter.

"I can show you if you want," Riley says, and I jump as I hear the sound of numbers being punched into the keypad.

I pull out the screwdriver, and point it over to the door. I've never tested it with the door actively trying to open, but there's a first time for everything.

---

Tagging (no pressure) - @oh-no-another-idea and anyone else who wants to! (I'm really tired rn, it's hard to think of anyone - if you see this, then I've tagged you!)

[flyingmistbunny]

Roses of blood in the vibrance of day

Violets plague gardens and lurk in the shade

Fairytales wilt--the decay of ye olde

The chills through my veins cause my heart to beat cold.

[flyingmistbunny]

As winter approaches.

I realize as it gets closer and closer to winter, the days should be shortening, but...hmm, you'd think after all these years one would get used to it. I'd like to think that I'm a creature of the sun, that I thrive on the bright light radiating from the star that greets us good morning everyday as it brings it to us. 

But then I'd feel like I'm half-lying to myself. 

It's at the exact moment right now where there's just the right amount of sunlight to illuminate the night sky. The darker, cool colours still dominate the surroundings, but somehow they seem brighter as the sun sinks into the horizon, the pale streaks of solar beams being the only thing visible. They're reaching out, long luminous claws scrabbling for a hold in a star-spotted blanket before the night leaves it behind. 

It's a natural gradient, beginning from a pale, dawn-ish orange-yellow lining the horizon, and ending in a calm, glowing cerulean. The inky outlines of the plants are harsh contrasts to the background before they seem to start spreading out, shadows flourishing in its home territory. The dimly lit lamps now act as beacons to the houses in the distance, warm, vibrant flickers suddenly enhanced. 

The moon is the center of attention, the soft emphasis in a work of art, the speck of vibrant silver in a sea of ink. She looks down upon the earth, watching over us so the sun need not worry, glowing a gentle reassurance. 

The sun may bring a new beginning, feelings of new opportunity and hope, but it's the moon that has the courage to stand alone in a crowd of difference, to be our light in the dark, the courage to say goodnight. 

They say come winter, a trail of sheer cold, emptiness, and sorrow soon follow after it. The trees will stand naked, the birds flee south, woodland creatures stashed away in their concealed dwellings. 

They speak of its barrenness. 

But I feel its beauty. 

~*~

            (And in this moment of soothing reflection, you realize, "Oh shit.

                                           I have homework.")

[flyingmistbunny]

So here's a little plotbunny that popped into my mind last year. Unfortunately, it was never branched out on. XD;;; What do you guys think?

"He is a normal college student struggling through life. She is a spy, a criminal, a deadly snake. All he wants is a break. All she wanted was her brother back.

Such a shame he's dead.

Convinced he's the cause of Ivan's death and the possible unveiling of the most dangerous organization in the world, Natalya - the youngest, the brightest, the most lethal -  is sent on a simple quest to locate and target the only suspect - Alfred F. Jones. Her mission - find him, break him, and dispose of him. Permanently.

But everything is not what it seems.     

Deception and deceit are this tale's closest ally, coming from the most unexpected sources, causing a most shocking, treacherous matter in the midst of it all. However let's not forget the most pressing conflict, the sudden thorn in the side of these plans:     

 What happens when you fall in love with your assassin?"