Prompt: The Weather Outside

“Come on! Come on!” Kitty darted into the room and jumped on Zaree's bed, shaking the sleeping sylvari. “Look outside! Come see!”

Zaree yawned and blinked blearily. “Wh-what?”

“Come on!” Kitty grabbed her hand and tried to pull her sister from the bed. The sylvari yawned again and slowly followed the tugs. Kitty led her like an eager puppy to the upstairs hall with a wide window looking out on the Salma District. “Look! Look!”

Zaree rubbed her eyes in the bright morning light and looked outside before breaking into a grin. “It's snowing!”

Prompt: Candlelight

Helen's fingers moved swiftly in the flickering light of the candles. She was determined to finish. She's never made, let alone worn, anything so daring before. Yet, when she saw a similar outfit on display in the tailor window on the District Promenade, she knew she had to have something like it.

The candlelight flickered across the golden threads she was embroidering with, across the pages of her sketchbook where the pattern was carefully replicated. She knew her mother would never approve her leaving the house in the design.

But... what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her... right?

Prompt: Oath

“Lightbringer Delma implied you had an oath. What is it?”

“I will not torture.”

“Not even when it's employment may be a vital tactic?”

“I am sure you have agents who cannot craft explosives or firearms. Use me for my strengths, let others use theirs.”

“Bold words for an initiate.”

“Words of one who knows themselves and knows orders cannot account for everything.”

“Yes, Delma said you do not follow orders implicitly and without question.”

“If it is a problem-”

“No, agent. It is not.”

((Drabble based on how I picture Callista's 'interview' for rising from initiate to the agent rank went over.
Lightbringer Delma was Callista's mentor/introduction to the Order.
Who is addressing Callista? Well, I'm afraid that is classified.
I also think Delma's review on Callista would have been very interesting.))

Prompt: Muffins

Deoir tore a small piece off, eating the banana muffin slowly as she wrote in her notebook.

One of her minions scuttled onto the table, it's croaking chatter almost buzzing as it snuffled around. Deoir flicked her fingers to shoo it off as it neared her breakfast. It deterred the minion for a few moments, but the creature returned, thinking it's creeping approach would go unnoticed. Enough was enough, and Deoir pushed it off the tabletop. It fell on the floor with a thump and screeched a complaint.

“Be glad I did not disembody you, my pet.”

Prompt: At an Impasse

“Jormag ain't no Spirit 'a the Wild, Finn.”

Finn smirked disdainfully. “Ye still dreamin' o' bein' a shaman, tiny sister?” Caedyn's fists and jaw clenched silently. “Can't be that, so ye thinks be joinin' up with better fighters. Can't be hunting a dragon on yer own, can ye?”

Caedyn snarled back. “I'd like ta see ye try and make it inna Vigil.”

Finn snorted. “ 'Tis for weaklings, Cae. Yer just lost to the old ways. The right ways.”

Pulling her punches, Caedyn threw only words as she left. “I ain't ta one lost."

Prompt: Deepest, Darkest Fear

Returning home, where things were warm and happy, nearly made Zaree forget Scarlet and her tower. It was in her sleep, that the last of the toxins in her system had their fun.

She awake from a nightmare, clutching Pyre to her chest and looking around in fright. No, the house wasn't on fire. She checked with a yawning Sunana, who sniffed the hall to assure her all was well. Family safe. Still, Zaree cuddled for a while with her griffon plush and Sunana as Scarlet's voice echoed in her head. “I know what it is you fear!”

Prompt: Introspection

“But- My Lady, if you just got to know her, yo-”

“I certainly shall not.” The fierce-faced Countess glared severely at Diana. “Nor shall I permit my daughter to be in the presence of that creature. You may risk your own child, Diana, but do not drag the family into your folly. Good Day!” With a swish of skirts, the Countess barely took her leave.

Diana sighed, trying to find a logical way to suit her actions and beliefs with preventing a break in the family. One thing she was sure of: Callista would remain a friend.


((Diana is speaking with Countess Julie Eldmere, Helen's mother and head of the family House.
Julie has confronted Diana about the reports that she has been receiving that Diana has hosted a charr guest in her home. If you hadn't guessed, the majority of elders in the Eldmere House hold some prejudiced views dating back to their Acalonian heritage in regards to the charr.))

Prompt: Madness

“Have you heard Scarlet Briar's claim to have seen the Alchemy?” Blinna squeaked.

Teekla rubbed her temple as she continued typing in her database. “I have.”

“Well... don't you want to know how? See it for yourself? Prove all your theories definitively?”

“Considering Briar appears to be using portals to alternate dimensions, I think there is ample proof for my theories without plunging myself into a similar madness.”

“Wait... she's what?”

Teekla sighed. “Nevermind.”

Prompt: Missing Someone

Seneca rubbed over the worn letter, refolded so many times the creases were starting to tear. The last letter from Khaal before she had received the MIA report.

“Is that from Clallisa?”

Seneca tucked away the page and walked over to stroke Tychus' head. “I thought you were asleep Lil' Soldier.”

“I miss Patch. And you looked sad, like me, so I thought maybe you missed your friend too.”

Seneca smiled warmly and stroked the cub's ears. “Well, we'll just have to write Patch a letter in the morning. Would you like another story?”

Tychus nodded.

Prompt: Chivalry

“One day, I will be a great hero, just like the first Lady Eldmere!”

Helen remembered saying those words when she was only eight. Now on the brink of sixteen, it seemed like she might finally have her chance. She listened to her cousin's odd plant friend with eager interest. “So, you have a chivalric guild, is that what you said?”

“Oh yes!” The sylvari bounced on the balls of her feet. “We're called the Lanterns! And we help people and fight bad guys and do everything nice and right, you know!”

“Can I join?”

Prompt: Shattered

Caedyn brought her sword cleaving down, but the shaman charr blocked her strike. His claws grated the blade, sending tendrils of fire racing into the tempered steel. Caedyn yanked the weapon free before they reached the hilt. The fires faded the moment the blade raked out of his claws. The shaman smirked at her flinch and Caedyn's blood boiled. With a yell, she swung at him again.

He met her this time. Staff locked with sword in a great clash. But it wasn't just the sound that died away. Caedyn's sword, made brittle with the shaman's trickery, shattered.

Prompt: Misinformed

The little kit lay quietly, listening to the voices of Seneca and Onyx in the candlelight. It was one of a few nights when she did so, unable to find sleep even in her weary recovery. Later on, she would remember bits and pieces of their conversations.

Speculation was distorted to truths about herself. So, later, when Grax told her she was pregnant, she dismissed it as impossible. It took some gentle, adamant conviction to make her realize she was misinformed. That she was as able to possibly bear cubs as any other female charr.

Prompt: Mute

“Welcome, sapling.”

Deoir was so tired of that greeting that she ignored the speaker entirely. The sylvari's brow furrowed at her lack of a response.

“Don't mind her!” Offered a sister who had awoken minutes after Deoir. “She hasn't spoken yet!”

“Oh,” a wave of compassion poured out like a tide. “Shall I send for a mender? They are our heal-”

“No. Thank you.” Deoir interrupted, annoyed that her lack of gibberish chatter was being treated like an abnormality. She walked past their startled, disapproving looks, determined to get this orientation over with quickly.

Prompt: Survival

That first week of battle on the Brand was devastating. The Flint convoy lost several warmates, including Seneca's fahrar mates Harvest and Medge. After 43 years, the group of charr who had bonded as cubs were down to three: Braun, Markus, and Seneca.

A younger, newer Flint approached Seneca as they made camp. Battle fatigued and dispirited, he asked her how she'd survived for so long. Seneca pushed aside her own feelings of loss and pain to respond with humor. “Oh, one part luck, two parts good equipment, but mostly just having a damn fine warband at your back.”

Prompt: Berserk

It had been a handful of years ago that the old section by the Gladium Canton had been expanded for the growing numbers of plebeians using the area. Old abandoned alleys and storage bunkers that had stood vacant for years. They were of no particular interest to Citadel residents. Even Callista had told her, “It is just a place, Senna. It holds no more terrors than its destruction will end memories.”

Still, Seneca relished demolishing one particular unit. Markus eyed her with bemusement when she stepped back, panting with exertion. “Hellfires, Senna. You're going berserk with that sledgehammer.”

Prompt: Frivolous Purchase

Teekla was normally rather practical in her purchases. That isn't to say that she didn't have fine tastes. On the contrary, she preferred finely tailored clothes, quality supplies for her works, and good food.

But, she did have a soft spot for masks. And, despite the fact she rarely wore the accessories, there were occasions where she came across a particularly aesthetically-pleasing specimen that she could not resist.

Prompt: Reluctance

Even when she gained the respect of her fahrar mates, who would come to look at her as Legionnaire of their warband, she was more acquaintance than friend.

So it was a new experience to have someone so eager to spend time with her. She thought she might lose his friendship when she turned down his first offer of being her mate. Yet, he stood fast in the face of her demurrals and reluctance. Over time, he convinced her to open up and pushed her doubts that she would be a good mate away.

Prompt: Blueberry!

“I'm so sorry, my Lady!” The servant apologized repeatedly as he cleaned the mess from the spilled tray.

“I'm- it is alright.” Helen replied meekly.

“It is a blessing that your dress is a dark purple already, thank the Six for small fortunes.” remarked one of the guests near Helen. Lady Bethsha, if she remembered correctly.

Helen looked down at the spattering of blueberry tart on her dress. “I- I should head home. To change. Ex-excuse me!” She stuttered nervously and barely remembered to dip in a slight curtsey before she fled the party.

Prompt: Fishing

The Lionguards looked around the vessel once again. The Lieutenant suspicious of reports linking a similar ship to suspicious activities. However, in all appearances, it was as the elderly captain said. Nets and fish were heavy on the ship, the crew ragged from a day's work.

“I- I ain't mean to be rushing your fine men, no sir. But you see, I best be sellin' my fish a'fore they go all foul.” The old fellow coughed and trembled with age. “Ya understand, I'm sure.”

The Lionguards left soon after, leaving a mischievious Mazu grinning behind her fisherman disguise.

Prompt: Creatively

If there was one aspect to her life as a pristine noblewoman that she had confidence in, it was her artistic talents.

True, she would never consider herself the most accomplished pianist in a room, nor was her singing voice strong (at all), but she had great skill with her needle or pen. She was so pleased with her talents in sketching and needlework. And truly, the two blended so well. She could sketch a design and use it in embroidery. Her secret pleasure was creating lovely clothes to be used on adventures.

Prompt: Harshness

Seneca's hackles bristled at the human smirking at the bar. The old charr wasn't all that thrilled to share one of her favorite haunts with a race she considered to be an untrustworthy lot full of avarice. She ignored him as best she could, staying on the far side of the bar and not even looking in his direction. That is, until he tried to draw her into conversation.

“I'm not in the mood, mouse.” Seneca said with a frostiness that was usually not present in her easy-going manner. “You drink your ale and leave me to mine.”

Prompt: Pet

Zaree looked at the man with confusion. “I don't have a pet.”

The man grunted and muttered, “Rangers...” under his breath. He gestured to Sunana, who was sitting quietly and staring at him with her large, amber eyes. “Fine then. That big cat ain't allowed in this here establishment.”

Zaree looked at Sunana, perplexed. “But Sunana is my friend, and she is very well behaved, you know.”

The store owner shook his head. “No animals!”

Prompt: Puppet Strings

It is odd; the ideas people get about necromancy. Take her minions.

There were some who assumed she stole souls from the Mists and imprisoned them, forever, to decaying forms. It made Deoir want to laugh at their foolishness.

No. But neither were the spells crafting her minions a crude manipulation over the lost companion souls yearning for purpose. It was a delicate art with the forces of decay. Like an elementalist played with water and earth with invisible strings, so did she bind bones and fungals to blend life and death to her desires.

It was a beautiful art.

Prompt: Extremely Loud

Teekla sighed as she looked up at the Norn. “Would you mind reducing the volume of your vocalizations?”

The singing drunk eyed the scholar that was attempting to wearily eat her dinner. “Eh? What now?”

Teekla groaned another exasperated sigh. “You are extremely loud-”

The Norn cut her off with a roaring laugh and slapped her heartily on the back. Teekla was almost forced headlong into her soup. “Ack,” Caedyn said through her continued chuckles. “Já! 'Tis how moot songs is supposed to be, small 'un!”

Teekla pressed her face into her palm. Intolerable norn...

Prompt: Frogs!

The scream and clatter of dishes brought Diana to the kitchen. She halted at the door as the cook barreled out, shouting, “Get them out! Out!”

Diana walked into the room to see her daughters looking guiltily at her. Her question died on her lips when she spotted half a dozen little green tree frogs sitting and jumping about on the table. She had never seen the like outside of picture books. “Where did these come from?”

“I brought them!” Zaree eagerly replied to her adopted mother's interest. “Aren't they ever so nice?!”

Prompt: They Made Me Do It!

Primus Shadowbolt looked grimly around the group of fidgeting youngsters. His eyes passed down the row, meeting defiance in a few, masks of bland innocence, and... ah, here... guilt. He towered over the weak spot, fixing his sternest glare upon the unfortunate kit. Medge squirmed under his glare and finally broke down. “They made me do it!”

Murmurs of protest broke out all along the ranks. Seneca turned on her fahrar mate, pouncing on her with a snarl, “Traitor!”

And Shadowfist thinks the boys cause all the trouble, Shadowbolt thought scoffingly as he pulled the quarrelsome females apart.

Prompt: Jabberjaw

“Ain't a jabberjaw, eh?” Caedyn grinned to the charr keeping watch like a silent hawk. The charr's blue-gray eyes flicked to her, solemn and grave as an aged shaman.

Caedyn didn't know much about this fellow Lantern member (and friend of Zaree's) besides that she was a Pact member. Well, and that she was as deadly as Bear in a fight and more silent than Leopard.

The Slayer had been talking for several hours during the watch, and, though the charr showed evidence of listening, she never showed much expression or offered reply. Until now.

“I prefer listening.”

Prompt: Snoring

Seneca was leaned back in a chair, her head tossed back as she snored loudly in her sleep. Until, with a particularly loud, nasally-guttering snore, she startled herself awake. She looked around, to meet the wide eyes of Callista. The little one had been staying in her quarters a few days now, still sporting a few wraps and bandages. “Err... what happened?”

“You were making noises.” Little Callista dutifully reported with her small, raspy voice. Seneca choked back a teasing denial in the face of the earnest, injured cub.

She grinned, self-deprecatingly. “It's called snoring, Lil' One.”

Prompt: Innovation!

The crew of Higglety Plump had no idea what their captain had been pouring her money and time on until she unveiled her creation on the ship.

A series of flying skiffs had been welded and made from the salvages of defeated Aetherblade ships. The crew had endured many close encounters and some great victories with the rival pirates. There was always the worry of how the air ships could easily get the upper hand. Now Mazu had given her crew a backup plan. Matching the Aetherblade tech with a small fleet of swift ships of her own.

*Timeline for Zaree's Characters*

Since my Drabbles can be really scattered throughout my character's lives, I decided to at least have them somewhat more clear by putting the year they take place.

Occasionally, I have a Drabble that includes a flashback, and for most of those I will include the current year and the past year.

If you really want to sink into the Timeline of my characters, you can find my own spreadsheet timeline with all my characters here.


Couple things to note:

1. The timeline is based in the Mouvelian calendar for Guild Wars 2. More information on the GW2 Timeline here.
2. You can find a link to seasons on the GW Wiki. While there isn't a direct conversion (AFAIK) to converting the  Mouvelian calendar to our Earth calendar, I am going to go with the idea that roughly:
   Zephyr = (Mar, Apr, May), Phoenix = (June, July, Aug),
   Scion = (Sept, Oct, Nov), and Colossus = (Dec, Jan, Feb).
   Not going to be a perfect fit, but I generally ballpark it anyway. I'm also bias to interpret it in the Northern Hemisphere seasons.
   Of course, my dates may be subject to change if we get lore changes.
3.  I also want to note my charr timelines are based on the idea that a charr develops very fast their first year. (Wiki notes that after a few days, cubs can follow their mothers over even the harshest terrain. They eat meat within a month of birth, and are fully independent several months later.)
   So I tend to think they are closer to the development of a six year old human by a year old (just lagging in some of the language/mental areas, and they usually still have some more feral qualities to them. Callista got those feral traits stamped right out/forced to master some development skills faster to survive during her months/early years with her sire, but again, my timeline for her may be subject to change if lore clashes.
   While I'm on the subject, I'll also note how most lore states fahrars are usually entered at a VERY young age (newborn/weened) to forge those brotherhood/loyalty binds. I like to think Callista's late arrival to the fahrar is part of the reason (especially young Callista) was so tied to Seneca. The two have a very uncommon mother/daughter bond for charr society.

Now, if you want good old-fashioned Earth dates, here are my character's birthdays!

Deoir: March 15th (1326)

Lasaíriona: March 31st (1327)

((Cordelia [Callista's fourth child]: April 6th -1333))

Naevia Truthspark: April 22nd (1309)

Jaida Nurmiri: April 22nd (1291)

Seneca Flintfire: May 14th (1276)

((Aelia and Robar [Callista's first/second children]: May 29^th -1327))

Helen Eldmere: June 19th (1310)

Éadaoin: June 26th (1327)

((Kitty Nilerabanwen [Diana's daughter]: July 21^th –1320))

Caedyn Köttrdóttir: July 28th (1298)

Zaree: Aug. 25th (1325)

Ayana Pyrgomache: Sept. 22nd (1299)

Phaedra Growlchirp: Sept. 25th (1307)

Mazu: Oct. 12th (1285)

Kanika Tanaka-Uba: Nov 1st (1294)

Freya: Nov. 17^th (1307)

Callista Ironmaker: Dec. 3rd (1305)

Gaia: Dec. 31st (1320)

Diana Nilerabanwen: Jan. 10th (1297)

Ynghild Hranfdóttir: Jan. 20th (1304)

Teekla: Feb. 4th (1289)

((Vyron [Callista's third child]: Feb. 23rd -1331))

Prompt: Slay It!

She seriously had not had any idea what she was getting into. All she knew, was her little Asura friend was insistent on coming out to this supposed vacation resort, and Seneca had given way to curiosity, and perhaps a little motherly protectiveness, for the perky little one.

So that was how she ended up here... Buried under a dog pile of karka who were stomping on her plated armor and getting sand... well, let's just say sand was managing to find its way in everywhere.

“That's enough!” Seneca roared, surging up and sending karkas scattering. “We're eating crab tonight!”

Prompt: Broken Wheel

The traveling pair were forced to stop by the roadside to replace a broken wheel on the wagon.

“If they turn me away, will I be a Gladium?” Callista stood stoic, with eyes fixed to the cart as she spoke.

Seneca stopped twisting loose a bolt to look at the worried cub. “They aren't going to label an orphaned cub a Gladium, Lil' One.” She grinned wryly as she continued, “And I wouldn't let that happen to you anyway.”

Callista glanced at her mentor and away with a nod, picking up a ratchet to help.

Prompt: Screaming at the Heavens

She had gotten forgetful and used her power to cool her drink. Her mother noticed how she frosted her mug and her sharp reprimand stung Helen's feelings. “Don't use magic like a cheap parlor trick, Helen. You are a Lady, act respectable.”

She slipped out of her room that night and glared at the stars with teary eyes. She ran down to the Plaza of Melandru, climbing on the vacant towers cast in moonlight. “Why would you give me powers if I'm not supposed to use them?!” She shouted to the silent Gods. “It isn't fair!”

Prompt: My Head Hurts!

Teekla sighed and leaned back in her chair. Her left hand rubbed her temples as she slipped her pen into its holder. “Dory, willow bark tea, please.”

The little robot made a chirping beep. “Willow- tea- unavailable” Teekla sighed with disappointment as her G.O.L.E.M continued. “Recommend- chamomile- tea- alternative.”

Teekla shook her head, getting up from her chair and slipping on her velvet coat. “Negative, Dory. That will not alleviate the headache coming on. A trip to the herbalist is in order.”

Dory chirped compliantly. “Understood.”

Prompt: Fixed!

The click echoed around the rocks.

Slag!

Callista rolled away, pulling back the slide of her rifle. The bullet was lodged in the chamber with a dent on the butt of the casing. She heard the alert among the Renegade band below as her claws went to work removing the dead bullet. Precious seconds ticked by as she put her gun to rights. Normally, she would have blended back and waited for another opportunity, but time was of the essence. So she took the risk and lifted enough from the rocks to take her shot, faith in her gun.

BANG!

Prompt: Power Hour!

A rumbling noise shook the cabin house as Caedyn and her brothers armed themselves and headed outside. The dredge had been challenging the family frequently with their desire for the lands and mines of the Sigurdarson clan. The dredge alliance with the Flame Legion made them bold in their attacks across the north. Theirs was not the only homestead under attack, but, by the Spirits, it would not be one to fall. Caedyn and her brothers gripped their weapons as forces spewed from a Legion portal. Blood ran hot as the family surged into battle.

Prompt: Kisses

After her first kiss with Grax, Zaree remembered the delighted looks of her friends. She still liked hugs the best, though.

It had taken a minute to consider her approach. Charr had ever so many teeth, so a kiss on the lips wouldn't work. She decided on the nose, like the ones she gave Sunana. After asking Grax to lean forward and popping on her toes to match his height, it worked perfectly.

She was quite proud of herself. The evenings that followed, she practiced by giving Pyre a kiss before going to sleep.

Prompt: Compromise Moves Us Along

“F**k peace talks.” Markus snarled, knocking back a whiskey. “Think I'll forget what those mice wanted to do with my mate after they killed her?” He continued with a deep growl, referring to Kira's death many Wintersday's ago.

Seneca nodded her agreement until the Legionnaire cut in with his well spoken argument on behalf of favoring the alliance against the bigger threat. Certainly those of the Flints who had seen the destructive Branding understood the menace of the dragons, he reasoned.

“Fine.” Seneca snappishly agreed, before Markus could grumble. “If the mice leave me alone, I'll do the same.”


((Some of the off-duty Flints were gathered outside the Blade listening to the reports and rumors flying around the Citadel with the return of the Claw of the Khan-Ur and the tentative start of peace talks between humans and charr.))

Prompt: Forever

“Daddy loveded me?”

Diana brushed her daughter's curls with a sad smile on her face. “He loved you very, very much. He still loves you.” Diana placed a finger under her daughter's chin, tilting her head so their eyes met and she bent to touch her daughter's nose with her own. “Even though he is far away in the Mists, he will always love you. Forever.”

“Forever is a lot, right?” Kitty asked.

Diana nodded. “Yes, it is.”

“Is it more than ten?”

Diana's smile brightened and she hugged Kitty close. “Yes, dear. Forever is a lot more than ten.”

Prompt: Frozen

A voice made its way into her consciousness. “Deoir. Deoir, dear, you need to breathe.”

She snapped into awareness. The sound of the forest, the smell of the lake, the light shaking of her shoulders, and the burning need of her lungs all rushed into her senses. She gasped, opening her eyes to the world around her. It was the same, but also completely different.

“Goodness, you froze on me there.” Eona continued. Deoir could see the worry and friendliness in her face, but she couldn't feel it.

At last! She was Soundless.

For the first time, she smiled.

Prompt: Run

“It's gonna be close, Captain!” The watcher in the crow's nest called, watching the Aetherblade ship bearing down from behind them.

Mazu collapsed her spyglass, her eyes flicking in the direction of the enemy ship. “Keep the cannons ready! Steady on, Water-Whiskers!” She called to the gunners and helmsman in turn. The fleet and injured ship was making a run for the cliffs. The narrow passage would be tricky for an inexperienced crew, but Higglety Plump's fine crew would sail through like a nimble fish. Meanwhile, the airship would be forced to struggle with the forceful winds of the cliffs.

Prompt: Nightmares

As quietly as she could, Callista slipped from her sheets and padded on silent feet to the door. She was risking punishment, she knew, but she couldn't help herself. She was careful and stuck to the shadows as she tried her mentor's quarters and then the forge upon finding the first vacant. She huddled by the dark shadows of Seneca's worktable. The remembered nightmares didn't make her heart race now. The darkness seemed far less intimidating in the company of her guardian, still unaware of her presence at the moment, and pounding at her anvil in the firelight.




((This Drabble is a precursor to my Drabble for “Needy”.

When I first wrote it, I had two paragraphs and far too many words. To edit it down, I cut the first paragraph. If you would like to read the full, I included it below:))

Callista couldn't sleep. Twice she had tried since lights out to do so, but dreams of her sire's face looming before her would shake her from her rest and bring her back to the quiet barracks. Her pupils were wide as she looked around the dim room. Her fahrar mates slumbered away in the beds around her.

As quietly as she could, Callista slipped from her sheets and padded on silent feet to the door. She was risking punishment, she knew, but she couldn't help herself. She was careful and stuck to the shadows as she tried her mentor's quarters and then the forge upon finding the first vacant. She huddled by the dark shadows of Seneca's worktable. The remembered nightmares didn't make her heart race now. The darkness seemed far less intimidating in the company of her guardian, still unaware of her presence at the moment, and pounding at her anvil in the firelight.

Prompt: Silk and Satin and Lace

Caedyn's sixteenth Wintersday. She and her brothers eagerly tore into their gifts as their father snored in a chair, unable to muster enthusiasm at the absurdly early hour.

“What by Koda's furry balls be this?!” Caedyn exclaimed indignantly, holding up a bright pink dress of satin and silk, trimmed on the bodice and sleeves with froths of white lace.

Her youngest brother grinned mockingly. “Figur'd it were perfect for ye.”

“Heimskr Finn!” Caedyn cursed, as her brothers started to chuckle. “Let's be seein' you wear it!” She launched herself at him, only to be caught by Tryggr as Finn escaped.

Prompt: Happy Thoughts

Callista's thoughts began to wander as she waited through a lull on her current mission. Sometimes, her contemplations were on another project or formula. Sometimes they were of a more philosophical bent. But this time, as they were so prone to do as of late, her thoughts dwelt with Dryden.

Her cheeks blushed under her fur, recalling his affectionate teases, warm looks, and his easy, crooked smile. She thought of his complaints about Seneca chewing him out for purchasing a human-made dagger. She knew, despite their arguments, that the two truly liked each other. It filled her with warm contentment.

Prompt: Hope

She dreaded this year. Cursed it even. Sixteen meant coming out before the queen and her introduction to society.

She was surprised when her father summoned her to his study and presented her with a private gift. A foil. As well as lessons with a master.

“If your mother finds out, I will deny having any part in all of this.” Her father winked at her, conspiratorially.

Helen hugged his frail frame tightly. Dread giving way to hope for what the year would bring. “Thank you, father!”

Prompt: Inspiration

Perhaps it started with her time manipulation studies as a mesmer. Or the unexplained shifts in magic-atmospheric meteorological studies. Or perhaps her travels through the waypoint stations started her contemplations on how space and time could bend through the Eternal Alchemy. All she knew for certain, was she was in the middle of her theories before she knew she had begun.

She did remember the first time she discussed it with a colleague.

“Multiple Tyrias?” Pterr said skeptically. “Surely not.”

“On the contrary.” Teekla replied, confidently. “It would explain so many clashing equations on the workings of the Eternal Alchemy.”

Prompt: Old Dogs [Cats] Learning New Tricks

Flintblood chuckled as Seneca described being piled upon by a herd of angry karka. “I would have paid good money to see that!”

Seneca grinned widely. “Certainly learned a thing or two about crab bashing out there.”

“An old cat like you learning new tricks? Now that sounds far-fetched indeed!” Flintblood roared with laughter as she dodged a tin cup Seneca chucked at her head.

“Scorchin' pup.” Seneca growled at her. Her wry grin betraying her as she spoke with mock anger. “No respect.”

Prompt: Suffering

((Told in Seneca's Voice))

I baulked when Onyx asked me assist her with an injured kit upon reaching her shack. “I'm no medic.” I reminded her. To which, she reminded me of how few trusted friends she had as an elderly gladium.

Seeing her patient really put things in perspective. You think you've suffered some rough hardships in life. You wouldn't think a cub, been on Tyria a mere fraction of the time you have, could have it worse. Until you see one so malnourished and mistreated it shames you to see what some in your own race, your own city, are capable of.

Prompt: Ridiculous Sunsets in a Sickening Sky

It might seem odd for a necromancer to despise a scene of ambient death, but it seemed to Deoir, that it would be unnatural not to. The further she pushed toward Orr, the more unbalanced the order of nature became. Death and decay had beauty in the cycle. But they lost the symmetry when the powers of death magics ran amok. When the decay was so prevalent, that it clouded the sky, casting shades of putrid gray upon even the most colorful of sunsets, beauty was lost.

Such power, Deoir deemed, requires better control and respect for the natural world.

Prompt: Moving

She took a studious look around her childhood room. The familiar pale walls. The yellow blanket covering the slim bed. The little desk that she had outgrown years ago but never replaced.

“Is this the last one?”

Diana nodded to the man. “Yes, thank you.”

She watched as he easily lifted the trunk and carried it away to the cart. One last look, then, around the room. It seemed oddly alien to her now that it was devoid of all her belongings. It was done. This was no longer her home. She had a new home to call her own.

Prompt: Unpaid Bills

“Aww, come on, Nixior! Just the one, for old times.”

Nixior raised her brow. “Not happening, Mazu.”

“Please!” Begged the asura, giving her best puppy eyes look at the bartender.

The charr gave Mazu a pointed stare as she wiped down a mug. “Imagine how fast I would lose business to debt if I extended unlimited credit to everyone.”

“But you know me!” Pleaded Mazu. “I'm a regular! You know I'll be good for it.”

The bartender chuckled. “Especially you regulars.” She shook her dark head, whiskers twitching in amusement. “Pay up your tab and then I'll get your rum.”

Prompt: Indecision

“Pick something already!” The man behind Zaree grumbled.

She bit her lip, looking over the selection of fudge at the confectioner's booth. She only had enough copper for one piece. She couldn't decide. They all looked so good! Orange chocolate. Chocolate and caramel. Mint Chocolate. How does one pick between so many good things? She looked to the tired worker behind the counter. “What's Dark Chocolate?”

“Extra cocoa, less sugar.” He answered in a flat monotone.

Zaree's eyes went wide. Extra chocolate? “I want a piece of dark chocolate, please!”

Prompt: I Immediately Regret This Decision

She heard from Gron that the best thing to cook was bacon with a splash of whiskey, so, naturally, Zaree wanted to try it.

She wasn't expecting the flash of fire when she splashed whiskey into the pan. It scared her so much she dropped the whiskey bottle. When the fire was put out, she stood in the burnt kitchen, hair leaves baddly singed and minor burns on her hands. Worst of all, was the angry charr chef who wanted to drag her 'shrubby hide' to the Bane.

Zaree wished she had never tried to cook whiskey bacon.

Prompt: A Horrible Night to Have A Curse

“Achoo!”

The kit shook her head, trying to clear the dusty, burning smell that accompanied her father's hexes.

Her muscles ached with the paces she had been put through that day. Her back was sore from his discipline. She was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep.

But he had been drinking.

And it seemed to Callista, he was always most punishing when he smelt of Firewater. This night was no different. He had locked her in the weapon's chest with a hex that never let her relax. The eerie glows made her hackles rise as she huddled down.

Prompt: Bad Instincts

“Drustan, Ollie, Olaf! Where ye be?!” Young Caedyn walked around the yard, looking for her elder brothers. She stood in the snow with her hands on her hips, considering which direction in the forests to trek, when she was pelted from behind. With a growl, she spun around, scooping up her own snowball and stalking toward the evergreen bushes that lined the house.

Unfortunately, her hunch couldn't have been more wrong.

As she came to the eaves of the roof, she was buried under an avalanche of snow. She dug herself out with her brothers' laughter ringing in her ears.

Prompt: Heroic

“Way to go, Firequencher!”

Seneca tried to smile, but it was more of a grimace. She was quickly growing to hate that name.

How could she explain that her actions hadn't been the idealized heroics her fahrar mates thought they were. True, she's been the first to make an enemy kill. To get revenge for a fallen mentor. But how could they possibly understand it was happenstance. A fluke. How could she admit to how frightened and cowardly she'd felt.

She was no hero, she wanted to shout. She was even afraid her side of events would make her shunned.

Prompt: The Wings of Liberty

“It's amazing.” Mazu grinned with glee. The sea breeze was blowing back her hair and ears. The salty air damp with the splashing waves on the hull of the ship. “It's what I always dreamed flying would be like.”

“Aye, s'hore is!” Agreed Pugsly. He rubbed his nose. “An' captain's really good to all of us. Ain't like some boats where you're gonna be chained to your chores.” The yeoman explained to the new cabin girl.

Mazu held her hat as the wind threatened to snatch it away. “Liberty on the seas.” She chuckled. “I could get used to this.”

Prompt: Dim

Teekla rubbed her eyes and looked around. The evening was settling in and the only source of light, besides the waning sun, was the fireplace.

She hailed a passing barkeeper for the tavern. “Could you provide me with some illumination.”

The norn blinked at her, uncomprehendingly. “I don't think we carry that stuff.”

Teekla suppressed a sigh. “I mean: Can you bring me a lantern or candle, please?”

“Ah.” The norn looked down at her with a scoff. “Why didn't you say so. I'll get you a candle.”

Teekla pinched her nose as the norn left. Such a dim race.

Prompt: Good Things Gone Bad

She wondered sometimes if she had missed some sign. Had there been clues before this year to indicated the change in her friend. Mazu tried to examine her memories, but she was no more enlightened after the reflection than when she had started.

David. Mr. Grundy and her had been friends since childhood. They grew up together in the rough and tumble underground. They had been through so much. He had been there with her from the first time she sailed on the seas to when she had hired her first crew for Higglety Plump.

Yet, he betrayed her. Why?

Prompt: Volcano

Since her outcoming and curtsey before the queen, she had been able to learn much more about the other noble families. It turned out that there were plenty of women among the nobility that had skills in elementalism. And there were women who served in the military even while having noble titles.

She sometimes wondered if her mother's aversion to those careers was more to do with mere vanity. After all, her mother had been appalled at the mess she had made when she did a little science experiment and created a volcano with baking soda and vinegar.

Prompt: Overwhelming Happiness

“This will be your room”

Zaree looked around, bouncing excitedly on her feet. “For me?!” She exclaimed with surprised delight. “Really, really?!”

Diana chuckled. “Yes. Really, really.”

Zaree darted up and hugged her new mommy. She was overwhelmed at getting a new family, a new nickname, and a new home, all in one day. She started laughing and crying at the same time.

“I'm not sad! I promise!” She explained with alarmed wide eyes to Diana.

Diana kissed her head with a smile. “Sometimes we cry when we are happy.”

Prompt: Embarrassment

“Look'it her pads!” Her fahrar mate pulled Callista's stiff arms into view for the Primus.

“How did you get these scars?” He asked, taking her rigid paws for his own inspection.

Callista's eyes were cast down, ears back with embarrassed shame and guilt. “I do not remember.” She lied.

Her arm was released to her relief. Her eyes darted up to her Primus, only to witness the pity in his look. She looked away again, shame aching so strong, it was like a physical blow. She resolved to find gloves, before the next sunrise, that could hide her unsightly paws.

Prompt: Cheese Fries

Diana didn't eat much at the dinner. It was true, she was nervous. And she had a good portion of pre-wedding jitters twisting her in knots. But, in all honesty, it was more to do with the fare.

Why did the wealthy find things like oysters and fish eggs and snails appealing?
Diana lost her appetite just looking at the dishes laid out delicately on porcelain plates.

By the Six, what she wouldn't give for a plate of cheese fries right now.

Prompt: Death Long Overdue

Laments over the the death of the noble Centurion turned Senna's stomach. She abandoned her drink when she could stand no more.

The closer she got to her quarters, the more grim her thoughts turned. Should have been drowned from birth. Tossed in a river in a sack full of roc-

Her thoughts were broken, coming into the room and seeing the small form sleeping silently on the cot near her own bed.

Yet, if he had never lived, neither would Callista. Her mind whispered with infuriating logic.

“Still lived far too long, you ask me.” Seneca muttered to herself.

Prompt: Self Sacrifice

Her profession was not for the light hearted. Nor the squeamish.
There were so many times she gave of her own life force, her amber blood, her health, to further her research and bolster her works. Whether it involved her spells and crafts as a necromancer, or her practices as an apothecary of poisons. Even times she voluntarily risked a great deal to build her own immunity.

Still, anytime the effects seemed too great, she reminded herself the results would be worth the self-sacrifice.

Prompt: Am I A Monster?

Caedyn slammed the house door behind her. She sat down, burying her head in her arms, her anger and frustration ebbing aside and leaving remorse and guilt in their wake.

A hand on her shoulder, and she heard her eldest brother's serious voice. “You alright, Cae?”

“What kind of sister I be, sayin' words like that!” Caedyn snapped, knocking his hand away. “Like I be some damn feral monster lost to me blood.”

“Nae. Ye spoke fer love, Cae, no less.” Tryggr calmly countered. “Drustan be needing a kick in his drunken ass a'fore he done slay himself.”

Prompt: To Live or Die

“He would have killed us both if you had not.” The pale stranger murmured. Zaree could feel her fright still shivering through the empathetic bond, despite the consoling tone in her voice.

Zaree bit her lip, shock at her own actions still overlaying every thought. “I was not supposed to, was I? Everything has a right to grow.”

“Not when they try and stop you from growing, sapling.” The pale sylvari took her hand. Zaree felt her kindness and conviction in her emotions as well as her words.

Zaree nodded her head, imprinting the words to memory. “Okay.”

Prompt: Is It Over Yet?

She couldn't stop it. Not when she knew what was coming.
She trembled as he chained the manacles from her hands and feet together, essentially forcing her to stand where she was.
She didn't watch as he stalked behind her.
Her eyes squeezed shut when the footsteps stopped.

As the first lash snapped, Callista gasped, bolted upright in bed.
Shivering, heart racing, and eyes wide as she looked around her makeshift tent.
She usually didn't have such nightmares borne of old memories these days.

The stress from her Whisper mission must be getting to her.

Would they ever end?

Prompt: Pyrrhic Victory

The last Svanir fell under her claws, his life blood bleeding in the snow. Her keen Leopard's nose caught the scent of death before she transformed. She fell on her knees in the snow, her own blood soaking red into the white grounds.

Wind whipped her hair as she looked over her shoulder from where she had come. She had won, in the end. But this was no victory for the skaalds to praise or to add to her legend. Not when Guðmundr and the rest of the scouting party, save her, laid dead at the site of the ambush.

Prompt: Superfluous

“By the alchemy, what superfluous nonsense is this?!” Teekla groused through gritted teeth. Her fingers playing across the keyboard like a practiced pianist.

“What are you doing?! I spent all afternoon writing this code!” Her colleague snapped at her. “You better be grateful I have it backed up to undo your meddling.”

Teekla snorted. “Additional waste of your memory space, then. You don't even utilize arrays to condense the repetitive coding.”

Her krewe mate's eyes blinked and looked over Teekla's shoulder to see the code on the screen. “A what?”

Teekla rolled her eyes. Statics grads. She sighed to herself.

Prompt: Warmth

Zaree knew her adopted mommy did not particularly approve of Sunana sleeping on her bed with her, but it was so hard to resist those begging amber eyes. And she did make sure to shake out the fur on the sheets in the morning and keep her large feline friend from digging her claws in the bedding.

“Okay, but just for tonight.” Zaree conceded for the umpteenth time.

Besides, snuggling in the warm covers with her best friend as a pillow and her plush griffon hugged and nestled in her arms was the best way to sleep, well, ever!

Prompt: Spicy

Callista eyed the half-eaten plate of fire flank steak with a side of extra ghost peppers. “I think I may avoid your workshop this afternoon.”

“Why's that?” Seneca asked, cocking a brow.

“You're eating ghost peppers.”

“I know.” Seneca replied, confused by what seemed a non sequitur “I love 'em.”

The older charr answered her own unspoken question when she let out some silent, but odorous flatulence. “Oh.” She turned a disgruntled face and dug back into her meal unrepentantly. “Give me a break. I'm an old gal.” Her eyes flicked up to Callista's quiet, knowing look. “Oh, shut up!”

Prompt: The Future

“Callista, come eat.” Onyx called to the tiny kit contentedly stacking blocks.

“Okay.”

She heard the sounds of the nimble kit climb onto her chair and start lapping juice from her wide saucer cup. Still need to master drinking from a glass, plenty of time to practice in the fahrar. Onyx thought to herself. She heard the door opening. Scent told her it was Centurion Bloodblade, unfortunately, her blind eyes couldn't show her the deep scowl marring his face as he examined his own daughter.

“Starting tomorrow, your services are no longer required, Onyx. I'll be taking over training.”

((First story I've written up of Callista's early cubhood with Onyx before her father took over 'raising' her. Callista doesn't remember this time since she was quite young during it.))

Prompt: Limited Time

Seneca sighed and slapped the screwdriver back in Vibius' paw. "Left Loose, Right Tight. It isn't that hard to remember." She looked over at the other greenhorns of her squad who were getting the panels back in place. Most were breezing along just fine, but Urtok seemed to have taken umbrage with Axtus' alignment and had abandoned his own to fix the elderly retired soldier's.

Seneca called out to him. "Tok! Tribune is only gonna care that we got the cooling sorted, he isn't gonna give two whiskers if the ceiling panels aren't perfectly aligned. We're on a schedule here!”

Prompt: Darkest Before the Dawn

“Mazu!” David whined. “It's four in the morning! Can't we go back to bed?”

Young Mazu grinned widely, though it was pretty hard to see in the dim room. Only a lone candle flickered on the dresser, which she'd brought with her when she snuck from her own house. She forced a hat on her friend's head, having been an eager assistant to getting her groggy pal dressed for their escapade.

“No! It has to be now!”

“But why?!”

“Doncha know?” Mazu enthused. “Always darkest before the dawn! What better time to steal some of the apples just before harvest?”

Prompt: Cookies and Cream

“Cookies and cream. My favorite snack when I was your age.” Seneca grinned, setting out the treat for her favorite kit.

Callista reached for the drink right away, tilting the mug to carefully and awkwardly lap at the cream. Seneca restrained a chuckle as she poured herself a serving. “Try to sip it.” She demonstrated.

Callista tried, but some cream spilled down her face and onto her shirt. She ducked back and looked apologetically guilty at Seneca, her muzzle and whiskers wet with cream.

Seneca chuckled warmly. “With our muzzle and teeth, it takes some practice, Lil' One.”

Prompt: Louder Than Words

Before she became Soundless and learned to shut them out, it was as though she had an inner set of ears. Able to hear the emotions of those close and as far away as 100 yards. Their feelings shouting, often drowning out the conversation of those around her.

True, other sylvari could feel her emotions as well, those nearby, at least. But it had never seemed as though anyone but her felt suffocated in the communion. No one else found the connection to be louder than words.

Prompt: Adversity

She received so much advice with the condolences at the funeral.
A few people commented on her strength to carry on through adversity.

With her husband gone...
His murderer unknown...
The reason for his death a mystery...

Carrying on wasn't the hard part, in her mind. She could do that.
It was finding closure when there were so many unanswered questions.
She supposed maybe time would be the answer. She hoped so.
Certainly the authorities were telling her as little as the Six.

Prompt: Tiny Things Are the Most Annoying

“Eeik!” Helen flung the spider off her arm. The arachnid couldn't have been more than a few centimeters big. “Eww!” She squealed, shaking her hands and arms in complete disgust. “Gross! Eww!”

She shivered and shook her hands out some more, glaring at Ralph, who was doubled over with laughter. “I hate bugs! Especially spiders! Eight-legs of gross, crawling- BLEEEEH!” She shivered all over again and hopped on her feet. “Let's get out of this cave! NOW!”

Prompt: Dazed

She blinked, her vision swam, black threatening to close in and make her pass out once more. Her ears were ringing. She couldn't seem to move. Everything hurt. She closed her eyes, willing the world to stop spinning.

The noise began to make sense. She could tell there were voices, but they were all talking over each other.

“What's happening?” She croaked, glad to see the blurry lines of a familiar face hovering above her when she opened her eyes again.

“There was an accident, Senna.” Flintburn's gruff voice broke through the haze. “We're gonna get you out. Hang on!”

Prompt: Blind

Callista had tried to avoid the well, but a strike on the side made her stumble. When her paw hit the edge of her sire's seal, it burned her foot. The unmistakable acrid smell. Extra flair: a bright light flashed before her eyes, blinding her temporarily to the world around her.

She stopped herself from crying out when she was knocked down and lifted harshly by her scruff. She wasn't able to stop the mewl when she was thrown.

The grating under her and the slam above told her what her eyes couldn't. He'd locked her in the chest again.

Prompt: Favorite

“You can only have one favorite!” Freddie insisted.

“Just one?!” Zaree cried with incredulous shock. Like an affectionate mother told to pick only one favorite child. “But I can't! I love them all!”

“I want more than one too!” Agreed Kitty, who was usually a stickler for rules and regulations. “I like pink AND purple the best!”

Freddie scowled peevishly and crossed his arms over his chest. “Girls!”

Prompt: Hijinks

The first time she wore a costume for Mad King's Day, she was too young to really appreciate donning the identity of something or someone else. But, as she got older, she learned the thrill and fun of being able to fool people into believing you were someone else.

Like, say, an Inquest recruiter...

She looked to her friend, wearing matching Inquest garb to her own as they rode the back of a giant Inquest golem they had hot-wired and stolen from some Inquest agents passing through Applenook.

Prompt: Is It Just Me, Or....

It probably didn't help that she had to cant her head to hear what he was saying and missed the beginning, but when he finished the joke, she was the only one not laughing. It was noticed quickly. Suddenly puns and silly observations were darting back and forth.

She knew was she was supposed to do. But she just... couldn't.

She said the only thing that came to mind. “You're teasing me.” Her tone was flat, expression serious.

They laughed. And, somehow, that was enough.

Time passed and her own amusement grew, though her reply stayed the same.

Prompt: Go the Distance

“Glitching Sparks!” The progeny cursed under her breath. She was on the top rung of the ladder, but the tome she desired was still out of reach of the little Asura. “Inconsiderate adult bookahs!” she muttered as she contemplated her options.

She slid to the ground, after a moment's calculations, she worked out the most effective method:

Little feet found footholds on the shelf, pushing up, climbing with care until she reached her prize. “Got it!”

“TEEKLA!” Her mother shouted with appalled shock and reprimand in her tone.

The clone shattered, dropping the book into Teekla's waiting hands below.

Prompt: Bitter

“Scorch me, Senna. That was harsh!” Kira commented, having overheard her turn down the flirting fellow.

“He's only after one thing.” Senna snorted. “When he gets it, he'll move on to the next tail.”

Kira gave her warmate a pointed look. “Not every guy you meet is gonna be a copy of Gaius, you know.”

Seneca sighed and took a deep drink from her bottle of whiskey. “So I outta repeat the experience until I find the one who isn't? No thanks.”

Prompt: Passion

He slid his paws under her shirt, caressing her sides as he bent down, brushing aside her hair to get to the downy fur behind her ears.

His mouth nuzzled so close to her neck, she could feel the sides of his fangs pressed against her. Heated air blew her fur as he breathed her scent deeply and licked her fur with warm kisses. It stirred and melted her all at once.

The rumbling growl as he pulled her soft form to his hard chest might have frightened a human, but it sang with passion to her.

Prompt: Home

Helen carefully watched the house. When she saw no evidence of activity near the front windows, she made her way to the back, keeping close to the tall hedges that lined the edges of the walls.

She slipped into the kitchens, startling the cook before she took off her hood.

“Bless the Six, child. Don't sneak about!”

Helen nodded with an apology, keeping her sack with her wand and adventuring clothes hidden behind her back. The cook continued muttering as Helen slipped up the servant's stairs. She darted inside her room, collapsing against the door with a sigh.

“Made it...”

Prompt: Denial

“Flintfire, if this is becau-”

“No.” Seneca interrupted her Legionnaire, standing up with a groan. She pressed her paw against her ribs, her face grimacing with pain. “It's because I'm not the best one for the job.”

“You have tenure with your squad.” The Legionnaire reasoned. “You've been with the Flints over 22 years.”

Seneca looked her superior in the eyes, determination in her own amber ones. “No. Flintburn should take Braun's place as Foreman. Not I.”

Prompt: Forgiveness

She heard her name and turned to see a face that she hadn't seen in years.

“Becky!”

The Seraph nodded. “I heard about Sir Nilerabanwen. I'm sorry.”

Diana ducked her head. “Thank you.”

“And... Well, I wanted to tell you I'm sorry. About the things I said before you left. I know we were rivals and all. But- well- it was-”

Diana laid a hand on Becky's arm. “It's alright. I think, if you'll recall, we both said things we wish we hadn't.”

The women smiled at each other. A childhood rivalry laid to rest.

Prompt: Awkward

Deoir stared at the human male. “Stop doing what, exactly?” She knew, but she enjoyed watching the man squirm as she gazed at him with her pupil-less, white eyes.

The man fidgeted and gestured with a weakly pointed finger at the minion on Deoir's lap. The one she was stroking like a housecat. “Petting that... thing!” The man spat the word with disgusted horror.

Deoir gazed at him coolly. Silent. Her hand frozen over her minion's back for a long pause before she finally replied in a single, soft, drawn out word.

“No.”

Prompt: Unexpected Happiness

Upon delivering a message to the Legionnaire of the Claw warband, she was invited to join their meal at the campfire. Callista accepted, but had no expectations of making friends among the comrades boisterously celebrating their latest victories.

She took a meal and sat under a birch on the outskirts of the campfire. Looking on, from the shadows, as most of the Claw members got drunker and rowdier.

Unnoticed. Save for one fellow, with a lopsided face, who spotted her and settled next to her under the tree.

“Nice to find another sober charr around. Name's Dryden Bloodclaw. What's yours?”

Prompt: Bubbles

Mazu's eyes opened.
The light shimmered in speckles and beams around her.
Bubbles clouded most of her vision.

She pushed toward the sunlight.
Her lungs burning as she swam, being forced to hold after the energetic battle demanded more.
She broke the surface, gasping.
The burning of the once proud ship in the wreckage around her.
Screams. Cries from what was left of the crew.

She looked around.
Relief bloomed, seeing David clinging on a piece of flotsam.
She paddled over and joined him.

“Where's Pugsly?” She shouted over the noise.

David just looked at her with frightened eyes.

Prompt: Frustration

Caedyn stalked away from the Razor warband unit she had been marching with.

She was angry. Insulted. Annoyed.

Usually, she was willing to overlook or conform to their unfamiliar rules and odd manner of doing things. But to have her challenge ignored! To be told that it was her behavior at fault, while the one who insulted her honor smirked and retreated back into the ranks like a coward!

Caedyn kicked the snow, her pupils constricting to slits as they reflected her Leopard bond's anger at being denied her due.

“Ain't right!” She snarled viciously at the peaks around her.

Prompt: Ridiculous

Zaree bit her lip and cocked her head. "Why?” She repeated.

“I.. I don't know!” The man waved his arms in exasperation. “It's just what they say.”

Zaree looked outside at the thick rain. “And it would hurt the cats and dogs if they fell from as high as the clouds. That wouldn't be nice at all.”

The man went back to drinking his ale. “You're right. Ridiculous phrase. Forget I said it, lil' bush.”

Zaree bit her lip again and glanced outside, her confusion still on her face. “Okay. I'll try.”

Prompt: Ostentatious

“No, no. This is too much!”

Diana breathed a sigh of relief that someone had spoken up. She was trying so hard to please Juliard's family. He just had so many relatives that she could hardly keep them straight, let alone fight their strong opinions. At least she recognized the small, elderly woman who had offered her disapproval of the frothy, white cream puff of a dress Diana was trying on.

“Too many feathers!” Grandmother Anna Nilerabanwen continued, tapping her cane on the floor. “It needs ribbons that match the lace.”

Diana sighed.

Prompt: Good Memories

Seneca recalled that last morning with Braun and Markus.

Markus came to her shop first to restock replacement parts and jokingly flirt. “Come on Senna. All those naps are a sham. I know you got the energy to ride me like a-”

A dark paw whipped out and smacked the orange charr up the backside of his head. “Oww!” Markus turned to see the Foreman behind him, sipping his usual morning coffee. “Oh, hey Bossman.”

Braun cocked a brow at him. “Shouldn't you be getting your toolbox in order, Flintfist?”

Seneca chuckled to herself. Yes, those were the good times.

Prompt: Duty

All mines had been triggered. They were out of grenades. Running low on ammo.

Callista reloaded her rifle, calling down her ranks to her brevet. “Status report.”

“SNAFU, boss.” Scarmaker grunted. “Down to my last refuel on Blastie.” He referred to his charrzooka.

Callista eyed the last keg of fuel and turned to Blazemaker, a charr with some talents in guardian magics. “Can you cast a shield of sanctuary if we implement PhoenixII?”

Blazemaker blinked. “Aye. Magic's 'gainst Centurion's orders, ain't it?”

Callista ducked and fired into the risen waves before replying. “It is.”

Blazemaker grinned. “Let's FUBAR these risen.”

Prompt: A Strange Noise

“Mazu..” The larger, human boy's voice quivered, echoing with the dripping water in the pipes. “Let's go back!”

“No way!” The asura child retorted, leading on with her loaded slingshot prepared to shoot. She turned the corner, to the section where the strange, clicking, rustling sound was coming from. Something moved in the shadows and Mazu took her shot.

A metallic ping. A squeak. The splashing, scampering of little feet running away in the sewers.

“Aww man. Just a rat in a can! Bor-ing!”

“Can we go back now?” David asked his friend.

Mazu rolled her eyes. “Fi—ne!”

Prompt: Sun

Zaree grinned up into the warm sunbeams with closed eyes.

It was funny how many people thought she could eat sunshine like a normal plant. It wasn't true, though Zaree did love the sun.

Kitty's mom used to ask her if she would like to sit in the sun every time she came over. Zaree didn't realize her offer was because Diana thought Zaree could photosynthesize. Her adopted mother was ever so surprised when Zaree told her that she ate normal food.

Although, Zaree didn't know Diana was also surprised by how much she could eat.

Prompt: You Make Me Feel Like

Callista looked up from the text she was reading as Dryden walked over and plopped tiredly next to her on the bench. Her eyes flicked to the papers stacked on his table. She was about to ask if she needed to move anything, when he reached up to run a gentle paw through her long hair. It was glossy and crimped from being held in braids during the day.

“You took your hair down.”

She nodded.

“Sure's a beautiful sight to come home to.” He said, looking at her.

His look and words made her feel she was.

Prompt: Hide Your Tears

In the summer heat by the forges, most charr would at least remove their gloves to let their pads breathe, sweat, and cool in the air.

Seneca understood.

She remembered when Callista had been recovering under her care. When Callista had told her how she had gotten the veined scars on her palms. The story, one of the first Callista explained, had shocked Senna; perhaps as much as Senna's tears had shocked the little kit.

“He told me, I could not cry.” Callista said softly, holding up a cloth to her psudo-primus. “So I always tried to stop mine.”

Prompt: Seeing Red

Teekla looked at her hands, flipping them before her.

It wasn't just the room. She noted, having been disconcerted to waken to a room washed in Inquest red.

“It's a spectrum shifting lens in the lighting fixtures.” Came a smug male voice.

Teekla scowled at the dark eyed Asura now properly dressed in Inquest garb. “Obviously.” She snapped bitterly.

“I would have thought you would like it considering your little Golem is red-”

“Dory is Magenta.” Teekla interrupted heatedly. “ You ground-crawling, primbling, infirm of purpose, meal worm!”

Prompt: Needy

She remembered a time as a young pup when she couldn't sleep and snuck away from the fahrar barracks to find Seneca working late at the forge. She worried she was being needy and dependant, wanting to be near Seneca. Weak, as her sire would have said.

Seneca had smiled her warm smile, touched Callista's head with her nose, and told her she could never be needy.

'No,' Callista thought as Dryden licked small kisses on her neck and stroked her tail in a manner, she suspected, he knew she loved. 'I can be. But perhaps not unforgivably so.'

Prompt: Party

She spent the whole morning growing a leafy sundress for the occasion as Diana iced cupcakes.

There was food and games. But the best part, was seeing all her friends! Children from all the major cities that she had gotten to know as well as her adult friends. Most of the later were from the Jester Guild.

And all the gifts she got! She snuggled with Pyre in bed as she looked around her room that night. Eyes drifting between items stack in her new bookcase to Kahlana's mechanical wonder.

It was everything she could have hoped for and more!

Prompt: Sleeping

Diana smiled, watching the girls slumber together in front of the fire.

They had been enjoying the first thick snowfall of the year. Kitty had reveled in teaching her big sister the proper rules for snowball fights. Zaree had learned her version of them from Norn children in the north and those rules were not to Kitty's satisfaction.

Diana's smile grew as she recalled their antics. Sunana must have sensed her. The big cat lifted and turned her head to look at Diana. She stayed put, however, as the girls were using her warm tummy as their pillow.

Prompt: Warm Beer

Caedyn grinned at her charr companions as they walked around Meatoberfest. She hadn't traveled far beyond the homestead before, but she reveled in the new experiences.

“Got any Highlander Ale?” Caedyn asked the bartender, falling back on the family favorite.

The charr shot her a look before digging around and sliding her a bottle. Caedyn popped the cap and took a swig before realizing the brew was warm. “Ack!”

A chuckle from one of her companions as he slid her a Blood Whiskey. “Here Slayer, try this.”

It was damn good. After that day, Caedyn had a new favorite order.

Prompt: Power

She had gained a lot of knowledge in her Dream, but knowing something isn't quite the same as doing. As fully experiencing it for yourself.

So when she called upon the magics in decay and death, rising up her first minion from the ground; it gave her that first taste of her own talents.

It was a rush. A thrill. A joy.

For Deoir, joy was not something she often experienced for herself.
Her talents in necromancy granted her every wish.
They gave her pride, pleasure, and power.
She was no longer a slave to others; she was the Master.

Prompt: Things You Wish You Could Unsee

Later, Seneca would wonder if she would have been among the dead if not for her cold. During the night, her sweetheart, Tillius and their fahrar mate, Faze, had engaged in a footrace outside the Citadel walls.

A surprise ambush on the pair by a group of Adelbern's ghostly people had cut down the young adolescent charr.

Seneca and her fahrar mates had been pulled from their beds to see her young love laid out dead as a warning and a caution against humans living or dead.

The sight was more haunting that the human souls ever could be.

Prompt: Trying Something New

After searching several carts in Rurikton, Helen finally came across the book she was looking for. A record of a great Ascalonian mage named Cynn.

Helen wondered if the elementalist from over 200 years ago had disobeyed her parents to learn magic as well. She doubted it.

It was a mediocre read in Helen's opinion, but the part that interested her was the summoning runes.

Eager to try, she practiced tracing the pattern in the sand again and again. She shocked herself when she leaked a little bit of power into the rune and created a briefly-lived, tiny ice elemental.

Prompt: Chocolate

Zaree looked over the brown, hard block with large eyes. “This is choco-wate?” She asked her young, human sister.

“Yes!” exclaimed Kitty eagerly. “It is the goodest thing ever, EVER!”

Nodding, Zaree took a large bite. Her cyan eyes went wide as she looked at Kitty, her cheeks budged out as she chewed.

“See?!” Kitty jumped up and down, golden curls flouncing around her face. “It is good?! Right?!”

Zaree nodded earnestly and proceeded to eat the chocolate bar in record time. She looked around. “Where do I get more?!”

Prompt: Pride

Callista was used to being a little on the outskirts of the fahrar. She still bore a bit of the begrudged tolerance of a newcomer. Her bland personality compared to her fahrar mates didn't help endear her to them either.

That changed the day she brought in a practice pistol from her weapon-making training with Seneca. Everyone wanted to try it. And when Callista not only showed no qualms of sharing, but promised to make everyone a copy, she was immediately given favored status among the young pups.

Callista took great pride in having earned her place with her skills.

Prompt: A Hole in the Head

The little kit held a paw to her ear, trying to stem back the flow of blood. His attacks had been too fast and too strong for her to block. Usually he avoided injuring her face or tail, though the fault would be her own for not defending his strike properly. It always was.

He was growlingly reprimanding her. Callista had to cant her head to favor the right, to hear what he was saying over the white noise buzzing in her left ears.

“... useful as that hole in your head.”

Prompt: Symbol

Seneca looked over the shoulder of her young apprentice. Callista was using some scrap metal to practice etching designs. A hobby Seneca had never pursued herself.

Callista had definite preferences in her designs. They seemed rather Nornish to Seneca. A series of interlaced knots with no beginning or end. The one she was working on at the moment was almost a basket weave, with gentle loops connecting the strands seamlessly together.

When she asked about them, Callista admitted they were inspired by Norn tattoos.
What she loved about them was the symbolism she found in them. Their endless flow.

Prompt: Compassion

Diana just couldn't invest an interest in politics and networking. Still, she wanted to fill her days with more than being a housewife for her new husband.

It was walking away from the Manor Hill in Salma that she came across a harried woman trying to keep a boisterous group of children together. It turned out, the woman was head mistress for the orphanage.

The next couple of years went by, and Diana found purpose and joy in helping the children in need of love at the orphanage and also volunteering her skills as a nurse at the Salma Hospital.  

Prompt: Comfort

The first meeting with Rugar was unsettling. His optimistic words, “I used to be like you,” perhaps should have been a comfort, but only reminded her how broken she was.

She knocked on Dryden's quarters; for a moment, doubting her right to disturb him, as her emotions tumbled. She shocked herself by reaching boldly to him when he answered, halting as her paw brushed his shirt. Her troubled, confused eyes flicked up to his.

“What's wrong?”

She ducked her head, uncertain how to explain.
It was when he folded her in his arms that she realized what she had needed.

Prompt: Descent To Madness

It was too much.

The never-ending flashes between memories and emotions. She had stopped trying to remember names and faces long ago. A crowd of siblings and strangers, who drove their own hopes, pains, and perspectives upon her. Selfish, every one of them.

How was anyone expected to stay sane through it all?

Even when she awoke from the Dream, and the emotions were limited to those around her.
To always be so pulled and flung about by other's petty, fluctuating moods was driving her insane.

Bless the day she met the Soundless.

Prompt: Outside

Her first day outside the Grove and she could not look around fast enough.

She climbed Morgan's Spiral to get as close to that bird's eye view from her Dream as she could. She skipped across fields, and ran over bridges, and swam through crystal waters. She rolled in the grass with glee. She nuzzled and played with the fern hounds until they all fell asleep together in a pile under the starry sky.

Everything was so vivid. There were so many sights and sounds and smells.

Tyria, she decided, was plum wonderful.

Prompt: Childhood

The pale progeny was laying on the floor, her feet swinging in the air as she filled out her 'Young Asuran Minds Daily Integral Puzzle Exercises'.

Her ears twitched as she heard her parents arguing in the next room. It seemed that was all they ever did when their paths crossed.

Teekla couldn't fathom how they had ever agreed to be together for a contractual period. How had they worked together in the same lab? Certainly, they had the evidence from those days of teamwork to support their claims, but, sometimes, Teekla wondered if the evidence was a clerical error.

Prompt: Medicine

Seneca walked stiffly to her desk and pulled the bottle from the drawer. She had really hoped to make it without painkillers today. She hated being dependent on them.

It seemed two weeks was not enough time for her old bones to recover from the accident and the surgery that followed. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised. The medic had banned her from heavy work for two months to allow her ribs time to heal.

Two months on painkillers that she couldn't mix with liquor.
Two whole months. Really.
Damn, this was going to last forever.

Prompt: Breakfast for Dinner

Diana stroked Kitty's golden tossed curls and kissed her head. The little girl was sniffling over her scrapped up knees and elbows she got from falling down the stone stairs while chasing her friend in a game of hide-and-seek.

“I tell you what sweetie, how about I make whatever you want for dinner?”

Kitty looked up with tear-filled eyes. “Can... can we have pancakes?”

Diana laughed and hugged her close. “Yes, of course. Pancakes for dinner. It sounds wonderful.”

“The kind with chocowatey cwip?”

Diana touched her nose to her daughters. “Yes.”

Prompt: Grit

She clenched her teeth, used her Greatsword as a cane to regain her feet.

Her head was ringing, the world swimming in a double vision that made her nauseous. She could feel the sticky, warm blood on her face from where she struck against a rock from the shock-wave of the explosion.

“Damn yer furry balls. Don't ye dare kick ta the Mists af'er all that!” Caedyn shouted to the Kodan she had rescued from the dredge camp.

The great bear turned to her. “My strand is balanced upon life for my Path.”

“Yer worse than a Raven.” Caedyn grumbled.

Prompt: Self-Consciousness

Helen smoothed her skirts once again.

She twisted her fingers nervously as she looked around the room. The names were more familiar to her than the faces. Her mother had insisted that she attend and represent the family. But Helen feared the impression she would give would be lackluster at best. This was supposed to be her world. This society of jewels and champagne. Of glamor and nobility.

Why did it feel like she didn't belong here, then?

Prompt: Time

Teekla sighed and snapped her pocket watch closed as she waited for the charr to return. When she did, Teekla looked at the thin manilla folders in her paws incredulously.

“Is that all you have?! These are the inventors of the printing press! Surely, you at least have the blueprints and schematics, if not any research and historic logs.”

The charr looked nonplussed. “You'll need to file paperwork with another department-”

Teekla groaned and pressed her temples, tired of wasting time on red tape with the militaristic government and their file system.

Prompt: Betrayal

Was it because she talked too much? Zaree wondered as she watched the newly revived Selda talk amongst the Jesters.

Because she could have pretended and played a game if she had known.

So why did they not tell her? Or Selda?
Why did it seem like everyone else knew but them?
Why would her friends not know they would be hurt? And scared?

She was lost. Confused.

Even Briar's plant magics couldn't drive away this strange ache in her chest.

Prompt: Dead End

“Back to your warband, Legionnaire pup. Leave the strategies to the veterans.” Snarled the Centurion before retreating into the ranks of her own band. The older charr glared at Callista, daring her to challenge her orders.

No, thought Callista, looking at the conceited faces. Even should I win, it will not my voice listened to. It will merely create a power struggle amid the battlefield.
She turned away, chagrined and grim. Determined to keep her warband alive as long as she could, on what her instincts warned was a suicide mission.

She'd consolidate them against orders, if she had to.

Prompt: A Passing Stranger

Deoir watched from her perch on the fallen limbs of a decaying tree in the swamp.

The charr was hardly suited for the environment. He could not have looked more out of place if he had tried.
Deoir would have dismissed him without another thought when he turned his glowing eyes to her.
This passing stranger was in search of her.

An odd day indeed.

Deoir would hear him out. Consider his offer. And, in the end, agree to work with his Order.

After all. Sometimes a stranger has just what you want to make your goals a reality.

Prompt: That Sinking Feeling

Diana knew something was wrong. Very wrong.
A motherly instinct warned her with a dropping weight in her chest.
She ran from the market and searched the house frantically, only to find a note from the babysitter, saying that they were going to the apple fair in Shaemoor.
This did nothing to ease the worried mother, who again raced to the door to search for her daughter.
She opened the door to a sight she would never forget:

Her tear-cheeked daughter on the shoulders of a brilliant green and purple plant person.

Prompt: Addiction

She wouldn't deny that she had addictions a plenty.
She drank rum like most landlubbers drank water.
She liked her larder stalked with jerky and those hard cinnamon candies.
But her greatest addiction?

Ah, that was the sea.

The freedom. The power of the wind and the waves.
The way she looked in the calm as well as in a temper.
She was a tempermental beauty and Mazu considered herself to be her best lover.

And love her, she truly did.
Her crew might think Higglety Plump was her great love.
But it was the sea she sailed on.

Prompt: Love

((Dryden's POV on Callista))

There was a difference. Compared to that first time he'd seen her sleeping, she was so much more at ease.
Before, she would have worn the layers she did during the day. She would have held herself still.

His eyes caressed her form.

Her hair splayed around her relaxed, dreaming face.
She had moved in her sleep; the sleeves and edges of her cobalt robe fallen back to reveal her arms and legs, along with her bare feet and hands. Myriads of the scars she so diligently hid from the world were exposed trustingly to him.

Trust in her love.

Prompt: Revelations

It was so very different, to face the death of a friend. Death was part of the cycle, she knew. But she was used to thinking of her friends and her self as having a right to grow for a long time yet.

When Selda 'died', she was sad and frightened that she would never see her friends again if they died for real.

It was the comforting words of Grax that explained the ones she loved would never truly part from her. And one day, we would all be reunited in the Mists.

((Zaree's thoughts))

Prompt: Contempt

Wintersday of 1298 AE. A ceasefire treaty had been called between the sieging charr forces and the men of Ebonhawke.

Seneca and Kira were laughing, drinking around the campfire, when a zing in the air cut off one of the voices.

Seneca watched, in disbelief, as her warmate fell dead. A human gang, armed to the teeth, surrounded and trained on her.
“Should have known mice can't keep a truce,” she growled.

“Hell with the truce. Ol' Jack pays 10 gold each charr pelt we bring 'im. Sometimes more if got as good a skin as yours.” The leader sneered.

Prompt: Hopes and Dreams

It was a question her mother never cared to ask.

“What would you like to do, Helen?”

No, her life was laid out.
She was the heir to Eldmere family and that title and privilege came with a long list of expectations.
Not only that, but her mother did not approve of dirtying a lady's hands with common magics and battle.

Still, nothing could stop Helen from dreaming of being as brave and fearless a fighter as her ancestors who had traveled to Kryta with the exiled Prince Rurik. Dreaming of being a Seraph. Dreaming of love that wasn't arranged.

Prompt: Doppelgänger

“The blueprints are here. Find them and we can find where the walls are weak.” Snapped a masked woman to her hooded partner. They pulled scrolls from the shelves, tossing them carelessly about as they dismissed them.

“This area is restricted. I must ask you to leave.” Came the stern command from a prim, regally dressed asura.

The woman threw a dagger, but her attack proved harmless as the scholar shattered into a cascade of magenta butterflies. The room flooded with light as a force field pushed the intruders from Durmand Hall's archival room.

“Tsk. Bookahs. You never listen.”

Prompt: Death

Survivor. Resolute. Strong. Courageous.

Seneca used so many words to explain how Callista survived her father. But Callista knew in her heart that the truth was that she was afraid. Afraid to die. To be sent back to that world with scorched ground and eerie lights in the darkness.

Alone. Where her paws, her form, was nothing but a shimmer. A ghost to be blown away with the wind.

She had been twice, before those rending yanks on her stomach and chest pulled her soul back to her mortal Tyrian form.

“You'll not go to the Mists yet!”

She agreed.

Prompt: Giggles

“Girls?” Diana knocked on Kitty's bedroom door.

A twittering of giggles was the response before the door opened and Zaree popped out.
She has grown leaves out on her back like wings and wore a crown of paper daisies.
Kitty was right behind her wearing a clash of bright colors, including a hot pink tutu.

“We are pretending to be princesses!” exclaimed Zaree, giggling and bouncing on her feet. “Kitty is the Dancing Princess and I am Princess of the Fairies!”

Prompt: Annihilation

“Embrace the power of Nightmare or die!”

Deoir looked coolly at her jailer. “You think the Court has a monopoly on power in Tyria?”

She reached into her plantlike robes, flung a flask to the ground. Her eyes blazed as she called upon her hex. Veins of necromancer magic spread across the camp, raising a swarm of locust corpses. The skeletal insects exploded in clouds of poisonous vapors.

As the jailer collapsed, so did the vines on Deoir's cell. She stepped across him dismissively. “What a simple fool.”

She looked fleetingly around the camp of the newly dead. “All fools.”

Prompt: Hot Springs

The steamy spring nestled in the Wayfarer Foothills was, perhaps, not a regular frequent of Caedyn's. But she figured it could become so.

That is, if that Vitaak fellow and his great supply of whiskey and his floating bar were to return. She'd be certain to bring plenty of coppers to splurge on bottles of the good stuff.

It certainly made for a fine end to a day of a hunt. And an appreciative audience for moot songs was as welcome as fast-flowing booze. Even if it did come with a few charr p***ing in the pool.

Prompt: Shock and Awe

The blinding flash and rumbling ground had been unsettling.

That had been nothing to the roar that echoed from miles away.

Yet, even that was no preparation for the sight before them.

“F***ing s**t! The h**l happened?”

Any of the band could have voiced the thought that they all shared.

It was Seneca, lifting her hefty, great hammer, that woke them from their stupor. “Boys. Our outfitting trek just turned into a battle.”

The squad of Flints turned to where she was looking. A mob of devourers, corrupted with crystal shards, were bearing down upon the convoy.

Prompt: Water

She sat amid the perfumed bubbles of her bath. The water was turning cold, but she didn't care.
She was concentrating.

She held her hand perpendicular, several inches above the water's surface. Her fingers splayed like a fan.
She drew a stream of water up like string with her mind, weaving it like a silk ribbon around her fingers.

A rap came at the door and broke her focus. Gravity dropped the water with a graceless splash.

“Lady Helen?”

Prompt: Oh Gods, What Have I Done?

Callista stumbled back, the wild snarl dying on her face as reason returned. Her eyes took in the mangled body. Blood splattered on the ground, on her, on her claws.

She ducked her head away from the battered female pulling herself to her feet. The whispered, coughing thanks too low and deep for Callista's deaf side to hear.

She fled. Barely made cover behind a tree before she retched.

In a daze, she fulfilled her duty. Set charges for a distracting explosion to the Flame's food supplies.

Only her first victory that day would be the one hauntingly remembered.

Prompt: Playing with Fire

Her eyes looked curiously over the dais and the strange stone-like gauntlets atop it.

Eagerly, she reached out and traced a finger over the small statue carved in the middle of one.

Color bloomed from her touch. The once stone surface melting into gold, green, and purple metallics. A golden tendril wrapped up the sylvari's arm. So quickly did they rise from their setting and attach themselves to her arms, that she had no time to react.

It was as they began to burn with fire that she let out a frightened cry that brought Sunana running.

Prompt: Calm Within the Storm

The crew of the Higglety Plump slumped wearily against the battered, sea-tossed vessel where they could.

That is, until Captain Mazu rapped the railing on the forecastle.

“Look alive ye seadogs! This storm will have her second round yet."

"If you want to make it home to the Arch 'n spend your gold, keep those hatches batten down and bilge her while you can. We may be a'tween the devil and the deep blue, but no storm is draggin' us to the Mists this day!”

Prompt: Behold, Mortality

It was in the middle of one of her daughter's tantrums that Diana heard the knock at the door.
Thinking it was her husband, she thought nothing of answering the summons herself, tucking her springing hair back into place.

One look at the grim expression of the Seraph was enough to tell something was wrong.

“Are you Lady Juliard Nilerabanwen?”

Diana's eyes darted around the stranger's face as she answered, “Yes.”
Her hands clutched the door at what she saw in the officer's apologetic eyes.

“I regret to inform you, madam. But your husband has been killed.”

Prompt: Coffee

There were a lot who argued whether the invention of the dielemental capacitor or the G.O.L.E.M. Matrix were the greatest achievement in Tyria.

But, in Teekla's opinion, nothing came close to the wonderful creation that was coffee.

It fosters alertness, stimulates memory, and reduced stress.
The bitter drink kept her stamina strong during late night studies in her college days and now allowed her the energy to pour through just one more scroll before she succumbed to the inevitable need for sleep.

Clearly, the best invention out there.

Prompt: Shenanigans

“What? Want to hear another of my mischievous fahrar tales?” Seneca chuckled as she looked around the eager faces at the Blade.

Scarred faces, weary faces, faces of charr most more than half her age.
All who had already tasted the glories and bitterness of war.

But, for a moment, they could forget their orders, their pains, their losses.
They could laugh at an old biddy and her tales of bygone days.
For Seneca, it was the best way to end a day.

“Well now, there was this one time we decided to use peanut butter for war paint...”

Prompt: Unconditional Love

She barely remembered those early days in that place.
It had changed quickly as her life became one of expectations and shame. Punishments and pain.

But something lingered on from even those first days. That desire to please, that wish, no matter how much she might fear him...

Even when she grew, when he was nothing but a bitter memory.
Even when she could feel her anger and hate for him. For what he had done.

There was still a part of her that unreasonably, secretly wished...

That he had loved her back... even just a little.

Prompt: Newborn

The mewling cries of her baby quieted at nearly the moment she clutched her newborn child to her chest.
Her heart melted as her stomach dropped, looking over her perfect little girl.

She could hear his ominous words replaying in her mind:

“It had better be a boy.”

There is only one thing I can do, Decima thought, cradling her baby close. I have to run.

((Decima is Callista's mother))

Prompt: In Dreams (Good Ones)

It was a beautiful thing. To dream outside The Dream.

No obtrusive feelings, emotions, and memories.

Instead, she dwelled in a glen. A haven, humming with the peaceful balance of life and death. A world entirely her own, with no expectations of an invasive mother or meddling siblings.

One day, she promised herself, she would build and rule this utopia. This corner of Tyria that belonged to no Dream but her own.

This paradise.

Prompt: Tyranny

The boatswain looked over his shoulder, snarling at the captain. “Ye can't-”

“I can!” The brown asura replied before he could finish. “My ship. My rules, Mr. Grundy. We has ourselves a deal 'n you broke it. Lucky for you, the shoreline be only a league away. I might start swimming before the sun sets.” She cocked the hammer of her jade pistol.

Grundy stepped a pace back, the gangplank bouncing beneath his feet.

“Don't make me tell you to get off my ship again. Or you'll be fightin' the tides 'n sharks with a lead ball in your shoulder.”

Prompt: Rivalry

“Yer a bloody hot-headed fool!” Caedyn snarled, her words distorted in Leopard's form.

Her brother only growled. Lost in his embrace to the wild, feral nature of his Wolf self. He lept upon Caedyn, his fangs digging into her neck. He might have killed her if Caedyn had been less flexible and quick.

She threw him against the wall of the cave. He backed off, limping and snarling as the sound of running feet drew near to their combat.

The two could smell Tryggr's approach. Finn transformed first.

“Must come for ye. Ev'rone knows, I be the best!” Finn sneered.

Prompt: Perseverance

"You give away your moves.” Her fencing instructor scolded. “You must not lead with your eyes. You must dance on your feet.”

Helen tried to attack again, but Monsieur Roussell countered her easily and scored a hit to her arm. “Too slow! Again!”

A dozen more times and Helen broke away: sore, disheveled, and frustrated. Yet still determined.
She saluted her instructor with her foil.

This time, she thought of her cat, Sammy. When her attack was parried, she anticipated it, dropped into a twisting passata sotto.

She missed, but Roussell smiled. “Better.”

Prompt: Lovely Outing

((A prompt which I somehow managed to turn into something sad...))

The note crumpled in her graying white paw as she closed her amber eyes.

She remembered:

Walking in the snows to watch the moon shine over the Shiverpeaks...

A warm smile on his dark face as it flecked over with snow...

A gentle caress on the ears as they talked for hours free from duty...

That beautiful view of the mountains...

But most of all... Him.

...

The paper fell careless to the floor. Only a few words visible in its partially wadded form:
We regret to inform you... M.I.A. ... 

Prompt: Why Can't I Hold All These Feels?

((Told in Seneca's voice))

That first night with Callista in my quarters, she startled us both awake crying out in a nightmare.
It took some warm milk and consoling before she was calmed enough that I eased her into my lap. I watched her with worried fondness as she curled in my lap, silent as usual. It was when I started purring that she began trembling like a leaf.

“If this is frightening you Lil' One, we can stop.” I told her.

“No.” Her raspy, kit voice whispered. “I'm- happy.”

Prompt: A Pain That Won't Fade

Her father raised his claws, their tips glowing green. The answering glow of the spiteful curse wrapping upon the manacles on her wrists. She desperately tried to hold her ground, wincing, ears flush to her head. The acrid smell burned in her nose, though not nearly so painfully as the necrotic spell burned her skin. His voiced echoed in the concrete room. “Even your gladium trash mother didn't want a runt like you.”

For some pain, even time does not dull. Callista reflected sadly, buttoning her long shirt sleeves to cover the bands of scars on her wrists.



((Originally, I made this one slightly too long. If you would like to read the Full Version:

The memory played itself ruthlessly in her mind as it had in her dream:

Her father's face snarled as he raised his claws, their tips glowed a bright, chartreusean green. It matched the harmonious glow of the spiteful curse wrapping upon the manacles on her wrists. She desperately tried to hold her ground, wincing as her ears laid flush to her head. The acrid smell burned in her nose, though not nearly so painfully as the necrotic spell burned her skin. His voiced echoed in the concrete room. “Even your gladium trash mother didn't want a runt like you.”

The words stabbed just as harshly as they had then. 
For some pain, even time does not dull. Callista reflected sadly, buttoning her long shirt sleeves to cover bands of patchwork scars and sparse fur on her wrists.))